all answered in the same way. that's never happened in my house. so i i would ask them a simple question. a national conversation about race is not something that happens on tv here and national conversation on race happens at our dinner tables, with our families. we should not expect that the nation will speak on race with our families are not. in the best way for our families and to show our kids that this is normal conversation is to have family over ofno another re to sit around the table. what i like to say to people is, will never geton all the issuesf race on the table -- >> we will leave these remarks from yesterday as the u.s. senate is about to gavel in. last night former virginia

senator john warner died at his home in alexandria. he served in the senate from 1939-2009. he was 94. the senate will continue work on a science and technology research bill with a number of amendment votes expected throughout the day. now live to the floor of the u.s. senate here on c-span2. the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. the chaplain, dr. barry black, will lead the senate in prayer.

the chaplain: let us pray. eternal god, we boast of your power and magnify your name. although our nation is beset with dangers, you remain our strong fortress. lord give our lawmakers the wisdom to seek your solutions to the great problems they face. remind them that more than human ingenuity is needed. may our senators prove your promises by faithfully and patiently trusting in the unfolding of your merciful providence. give them a passion

to turn from evil, as they seek to glorify your name. remind them that though the righteous face many troubles, you deliver them from them all. we pray in your great name. amen. the presiding officer: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to the flag. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the clerk will read a communication to the senate. the clerk: washington, d.c., may 26, 2021. to the senate: under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the

honorable tina smith, a senator from the state of minnesota, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: patrick j. leahy, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved.

mr. schumer: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. surely schumer well, we were greeted this morning by some very sad news, that our former colleague, senator john warner of r, of virginia, had had passed away at the age of 94. a five-term senator, he was a consensus builder, authority on military affairs, one of the last world war ii veterans to serve in this chamber and he actually interrupted his law school studies to join the marine corps during the korean war. the kind of stature that he had, his great -- great, great

reaching across the aisle in bipartisanship is something that this chamber misses and we miss him. at my request, the flags will be lowered to half-staff on behalf of his honor. on behalf of the senate i want to ex our condolences to his family. now, on the competition act, the senate today will continue work on the bipartisan u.s. innovation and competition act, legislation that will supercharge american innovation and preserve our competitive edge. not just for the next few years, but for generations to come. it will be true that our children and even our grandchildren will benefit from this legislation. right now this legislation doesn't get the big focus of the press, a, because it's

bipartisan, there aren't too many clashes, b, because it's positive and, c, because it long term. it won't have an immediate effect tomorrow, but it will have a profound effect in three, four, five years and generations later. it is really important legislation. i think it is one of the most important things this legislation has done in a long time. the hallmark of the bill has been its bipartisan. it pulls together bipartisan legislation from no fewer than six senate committees, it includes the input of nearly every member of the senate. the vote tallies you're seeing from this bill are from another era. maybe the john warner era. 24-4 in the commerce committee, 21-1 in foreign relations, the senate as a whole voted to proceed to the bill by 86-11. and the process here on the floor is no less than bipartisan. i heard it from both sides of

the aisle, let's try to do regular order. let's do amendments the way we used to. well, we're doing just that. we've already considered ten amendments, more than i can remember in a long time. eight of which were led by republicans. so it's hardly the democratic majority is only doing what we want. three republican amendments were adopted by voice vote last night. i mean, who would have ever thought that the senate would adopt an amendment from senator rand paul by voice vote? we did it. so, look, we're moving forward in a very bipartisan way. we'll consider at least another three amendments of the bill today and if both sides continue in good faith to schedule amendment votes and debate and there are no 11th hour decisions to delay or obstruct, there's no reason we can't finish this bill by the end of the week. that's my intention. taking a step back, the depth of bipartisan on this bill reveals two things.

one, members want to work together if given as can chance. this bill came through the regular order, senate committees drove the process and here on the floor members have participated in robust debate and a robust amendment process. but, second, and maybe he even more importantly, it reveals that democrats and republicans are united in our efforts to preserve and maintain american leadership on the world stage. we all know that investing in sciences, innovation, and technology holds the key to our future. the key. it's been one of the great hall marx of america from 1950 on. maybe even earlier, from thomas edison on. maybe earlier than that. but today -- today we've let that lag. we became far too complacent. and the united states commits less than 1% of its g.d.p. towards basic science research. 1%. that's the fault of government, but it's also the fault of the

private sector. the world is so competitive and global competition is so severe, companies feel they can't invest as much in the kind of research that might pay off profits five or ten years down the road. so while all of this is happening, the chinese communist party spends nearly 2.5% on research and has pledged to the world that they will increase scientific investments by 10% in the future. if that happens unchallenged, the days of america leading the world in science innovation, the days of america being the leading economic power of the world will be over and we'll regret it and look back ten or 20 years from now and say, why the heck didn't we do this? it was so simple and easy. but we have to. i heard my friend from illinois, senator durbin, say that in 1990, the united states produced 37% of the world's

semiconductors, what we invented, today it is 22%. many have predicted at this rate we will produce less than 6% in a few years from now. if we don't step up our game right now, we will fall behind the rest of the world. that's what this is about, investing in science and tech so we can outinnovate in the industries of the future. we know that scientific investment will produce them and if we're at the forefront of this, we'll have america continue to be the leader in these new technologies yet unimagined. around the globe, authoritarian governments smell blood in the water. they believe that squabbling democracies like ours can't come together and invest in national priorities the way a top-down, centralized authoritarian government can.

they are rooting for us to fail so they can grab the mantle of economic global leadership that will define the next century. we cannot, must not let that happen. i don't not believe we will let that happen. the strongly bipartisan work on this competition bill has revealed that in this chamber, we still believe, democrats and republicans alike, united and moving forward, that another american century lies on the horizon. let's move forward. let's finish our work and pass the u.s. innovation and competition act as soon as possible, certainly before the end of the month this week. now, on another matter, the january 6 commission. last night, i filed cloture on the house-passed legislation to create an independent commission and report on the events of january 6. there is an obvious and urgent need to establish such a commission. what happened on january 6 was a travesty.

the culmination of months of deliberate lies about our elections, propagated by the former president, a dishonest man and his allies. the capitol was breached for the first time since the war of 1812. capitol police officers were brutalized. one was killed in the attack. i shouldn't need to remind this chamber of the scene on january 6. we were all there. at world cup point, i was within 20 feet of these white supremacist hooligans. that day continues to haunt us. faith in our elections, in our democracy has nose dived. in a variety of polls -- listen to this. in a variety of polls, more than half of the republican party believes the election was rigged, and joe biden isn't the real president. that is a flashing red warning sign for our democracy. if the american people, if a large chunk of them believe the

big lie, if the majority of americans believe that our elections are not on the level, we are on the road to ruin. this grand, beautiful, wonderful several century-old democracy could teeter when people don't believe it's fair, when people don't believe that the elections are on the level. and all the fighting in the past, all the fighting, i can't remember a moment in history where people doubted the veracity of our elections. they may not have liked the outcome, but they believed they were on the level. if you stop believing that and believe me, it will spread. one side will feel that way one day and then the other side will feel that way the next day, and then nobody will believe in this democracy. but right now, unfortunately, mr. president, there is a lack of courage from the other side when it comes to defeating these lies. down the hall, house republicans have started to make ridiculous

claims about january 6, defending the mob, blaming antifa for the attack, pretending the entire event was just a peaceful protest. congresswoman cheney, a brave woman, was literally fired for saying that joe biden is president, for just saying the simple fact that joe biden is president. we need an independent, trusted, bipartisan commission now more than ever. it's critically important to establish a trusted record of events and begin to restore faith in our democracy. and i think our republican colleagues know it, or at least they used to, because over the last few months, a funny thing has happened. mr. schumer: our senate republican colleagues have gone from mostly supporting the idea of an independent commission to mostly opposing one, and they can't seem to get their stories straight. over the weekend, one republican told a national news program that it was, quote, too early to establish a commission on january 6, even though more than

five months have gone by. another republican senator said the commission's works would drag on indefinitely. which is it? too early, too late? of course both concerns are silly. there is no justification for a waiting period, and the legislation itself includes a firm deadline for the commission to issue a report, no later than december 31 of this year. one republican said that he wouldn't vote for a january 6 commission, quote, until it was bipartisan. of course the legislation we're talking about was negotiated by the republican ranking member on the house homeland security committee, the committee of jurisdiction. house democrats accepted every change requested by the house republican leadership, and the bill received 35 votes in the house and likely a lot more if house leadership didn't flip their position at the last minute. despite the pressure of donald trump to go along with his big

lie, 35, 35 house republicans voted to go forward. they're brave, should be commended, and shows that this truly is a national, a bipartisan national need. another republican senator, in worried tones, said the january 6 commission should be more like the 9/11 commission and be chaired by outside independent investigators appointed by both parties. hello. i hate to break it to my republican colleagues, but the legislation passed by the house is modeled after the 9/11 commission, and you guessed it, would be chaired by outside independent personnel appointed by both parties. they say they want that in the bill, it's in the bill. what's really going on here? why the various shifting reasons? why republicans can't support a

simple bipartisan, down the middle, 50-50 commission to report on a very serious event in our nation's history. well, it seems the real reason has nothing to do with the structure of the commission, nothing to do with the details of the bill. it all has to do with politics. according to "politico" this morning, the republican leader, senator mcconnell, told his members behind closed doors that, quote, regardless of tweaks to the bill, approving the commission could hurt the party's midterm election message, unquote. again, that is a quote from a report in "politico" magazine. or "politico" newsletter, whatever "politico" is. let me repeat that. according to this report, the republican leader of the senate opposes any independent inquiry into the january 6 insurrection because he's worried the truth could hurt republicans politically. look, i am sorry. if an independent commission to study an attack on our democracy

isn't a republican ad maker's idea of a good time, this is too important, too important. we cannot let the big lie fester. we cannot let faith in our elections continue to erode. we must get at the truth and restore americans' confidence in this beautiful, noble, ongoing experiment in democracy. the senate will vote on the commission. i hope our republican colleagues rise to the occasion. i yield the floor.

mr. mcconnell: mr. president. the presiding officer: the minority leader. mr. mcconnell: i was saddened to learn this morning that our friend and former colleague, senator john warner, passed away last night. by the time i arrived in the senate, john was already churning a long wake as one of this body's foremost voices on national defense. as a wartime veteran of the navy and marine corps, he was deeply devoted to the men and women who serve in uniform. as a proud virginian, john took seriously his commonwealth role as host to massive portions of america's military might, including the largest naval base in the world. and as a former secretary of the navy, he brought pentagon clout and technical chops that would help the senate play a hugely

consequential role in defense policy. john's career was capped, of course, by years as chairman and ranking member of the armed services committee, but john made an even wider impact. my predecessor, chairman of the rules committee, was a principle patriot across the board. he was also a truly old-school virginia gentleman. john knew a thing or two about horse racing, for example. and that's high praise coming from a kentuckian to a non-kentuckian. members on both sides of the aisle looked to john as a trusted mentor and friend. our thoughts today are especially with our current colleagues from virginia. so many senators past and present knew john very well. most of all, we're thinking today of his wife jean, his children virginia, john, and mary, and the entire warner family. the senate will keep them all in

our prayers in the days ahead. now, on a completely different matter. today, two senate committees will consider and vote on two very different pieces of legislation. over in the russell building, the environment and public works committee just approved a bipartisan bill led by chairman carper and ranking member capito to invest in better roads and bridges for the american people. this would be the first major action on surface transportation since the fast act six years ago. it would raise baseline funding for roads and bridges to an all-time high, and as expected, our colleagues just reported this bill out unanimously 20-0. that is legislating done right. our colleagues are modeling the approach that would let congress build a successful big picture infrastructure bill later this year. meanwhile, in the hart building,

the finance committee will spend its afternoon marking up a left-wing partisan bill written fully within the spirit of the green new deal. maximum pain for working american families in exchange for minimal, minimal environmental gain. under the guise of clean energy for america, chairman wyden is leading the charge against the most reliable and affordable ways to power our country. the legislation he's drafted is the sort of policies that would increase the price of gas at the pump, hike the tax burden on independent american producers, of course killing jobs, discourage the industry-led innovations have already been reducing emissions without hurting workers, and drag the united states away from energy independence back toward reliance on imports from places like russia, venezuela, and the middle east. in exchange, the bill would have

ordinary americans subsidize the lifestyle preferences of wealthy people in places like new york and san francisco. so one committee unanimously approved its smart, targeted bipartisan approach to key infrastructure projects that america needs, and another will consider a partisan descendant of the green new deal that would raise taxes, probably raise gas prices, and leave us with a less reliable electricity grid. really, this contrast is a fork in the road that the biden administration is facing large -- which route to take. a lonely road leading to the far left versus a mainstream bipartisan road leading straight ahead toward practical policies that make americans' lives actually better. the senate knows how to walk that road. this last highway bill passed

the senate with 83 votes. just last month, we passed a water infrastructure bill with 89 votes. if president biden wants to secure lasting solutions, build a lasting legacy, and improve the lives of americans in practical ways, he's got the map in hand. for the sake of the country, let's hope he and his party decide to follow it. on a related matter, democrats' hard-left turn has affected the entire u.s. economy and is hitting american families right where it hurts. in january, president biden inherited safe and effective vaccines. he inherited a reopening economy and a country that was sitting on more pent-up savings, sitting on more pent-up savings than anything economists had seen in living memory. that was the condition of the country when the president took office.

but democrats had already dreamt up a massive record-shattering washington spending spree, like one house democrat admitted way back at the start of the pandemic, liberals saw the crisis as a tremendous opportunity to restructure things to fit our vision. a tremendous opportunity to restructure things to fit our vision. democrats had already decided to run up the american people's credit cards no matter what. their first purchase was the $1.9 trillion excuse for a covid bill that democrats rammed through on a party-line vote. even liberal economists, even former advisories -- advisors to presidents clinton and obama said the democrats bill was way larger than the remaining hole in our economy, badly tailored and might well cause inflation.

so everyone from republicans to liberal economists warned the democrats that could easily cause inflation that would hurt ordinary american families. well, look where we are today. where are we today? we just got the most dramatic monthly inflation report in over a decade. ask any working family about gas prices, food prices, home prices, lumber prices, used car prices. one survey just found that more than 80% of american families are literally tightening their household budgets because of the threat of inflation. but the problem with the democrats' product wasn't just how much credit and borrowed money it flooded into the economy. the problem was also how little of substance american families got for the money. larry summers, former president

clinton's treasury secretary, put it this way. what's striking about that bill is that all of the trillions of dollars -- this is larry summers, bill clinton's secretary of the treasury, alcohols had a role in the -- who also had a role in the obama administration. here's what he said. what's striking about that bill, the covid bill, is that all of the trillions of dollars, all of it does not include a penny directed at building back better. he continued. it transfers to state and local governments that don't have any new budget problem. it's paying people who have been unemployed more in unemployment insurance than they were when they were working. it's giving checks to families in the 90th percentile of income distribution. that is larry summers. he's a democrat. he's a friend of the

administration. the democrats' hard-left turn has already hurt our economy, but they still seem to think that massive bill should only actually just be the appetizer, just the appetizer. the administration proposed a total of about $7 trillion -- trillion dollars, $7 trillion of spending in its first few months in office. that absurdly overpriced covid package would actually be the cheapest, the cheapest of the three massive bills democrats actually want to pass. from some perspective about $7 trillion is considerably more money in inflation-adjusted terms than america spent fighting and winning world war ii.

the biden administration wants to tax, borrow, and print more money than america spent on world war ii to finance a grab bag of miscellaneous liberal programs that would further jack up prices on the things families actually need to buy. it took less money to win a global war than these democrats want to spend on a hodgepodge of stuff, stuff like electric cars and welfare programs. $7 trillion. $7 trillion of mediocre socialism and liberal social engineering. no serious expert thinks this is what our economy actually needs. no wonder, no wonder larry summers says he's concerned that these proposals are, quote, substantially excessive, way

overdoing the requisite response, end quote. the sooner this administration can get the memo, the more bipartisan progress we'll be able to make, and the better off working families will be. the presiding officer: morning business is closed. under the previous order the senate will resume consideration of s. 1260 which the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 58, s. 1260, a bill to establish a new directorate for technology and innovation in the national science foundation, and so forth and for other purposes. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the following amendments will be called up and reported by number.

the clerk: durbin amendment 2014, kennedy amendment 1710 and sullivan amendment numbered 1811. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from virginia. mr. warner: mr. president, we're not in a quorum, are we? the presiding officer: correct. mr. warner: mr. president, i rise today you to mourn the -- i rise today to mourn the passing of a statesman, a patriot, a mentor, a friend,

and someone who loved this institution as much as anybody i know. and that is the passing late last night of senator john warner. i'm joined here by my friend of 39 now, maybe 40, 40 years, tim kaine, and we're going to go back and forth a little bit as we talk about someone who played an enormously important role in both of our lives, i can say on a personal baifsz and a political basis. let 3450e -- me get some of the basic facts out. john warner was 94 years old when he passed. he was born in washington, d.c. d.c., a family from amherst,

virginia. joined the united states navy at the age of 18 in the waning days of world war ii. served 1945-1946. left the military and rejoined the marines in 1950 when the korean war was started. after he left the military, he was a, worked for the u.s. attorney, worked in private practice, got involved in republican leader politics in virginia at this point. i think senator kaine will probably speak to this, being involved in republican politics in the late 1950's, early 1960's, that was the progressive party in virginia. ended up serving president nixon as secretary of the navy, then was head of the bicentennial. in 1978, in a campaign that tim

will probably comment on, got elected to the united states senate where he then served for five terms, 30 years. john warner was a remarkable guy. he was someone, i say this again respectfully, he looked the part, he sounded the part. he could say things that if it came out of my mouth or even somebody as eloquent as senator kaine, it might sound a little over the top. coming out of john warner, it's always sounded senatorial, thoughtful, and pretty darned cool. how i got to know john was really kind of an unusual way. i was a little bit active in democratic politics in the late 1980's, early 1990's. then i had the audacity in 1996 to actually run against john warner, which, by the way,

john warner versus mark warner managed to confuse the hell out of most virginians. the takeaway from that campaign, we had a bumper strip in the campaign that simply said idea -- mark, not john. honest to goodness truth i was in danville near the north carolina border one day and got out of the car and somebody saw the bumper strip and i'm trying to shake hands, i was not that well known and looked at me and said, see that bumper strip, is that a biblical reference? there was no divine intervention. the right warner won that race and john warner got reelected. and the thing that i didn't understand then that i understand better now is after you run against somebody, even in a respectful campaign, you bear some scars, some bruises,

whatever. i got really close to john warner in terms of that race. almost beat him. but afterwards -- i was thinking about continuing maybe maybe, thought about running for governor. john warner was willing to become my friend. and got elected governor. he was republican, i'm a democrat. and anything i tried to do as governor that was hard, like a transportation referendum up here, john warner was right there by my side saying we're going to do what's right for virginia. we had a battle where our budget was way out of whack and i had a two to one republican legislature, and i can still remember sneaking him into the state capitol so the press corps wouldn't see him. and he got up on the third floor where the pressroom was, and in like a zeus moment said politics

be damned. we're going to do what's right for virginia. the truth is we ended up fixing that challenge, virginia got named best state for business. we made record investments in education. i'm not sure if we would have gotten there if john warner hadn't been willing to not only use his own personal political capital. but this is the time when everybody was signing those crazy no new tax pledges, and john warner said politics be damned, let's do what's right for virginia. tim will talk probably a little bit about this. his role as chairman of the armed services committee was legendary, and there is not a sailor, soldier, marine, airman anywhere in virginia, for that matter anywhere in the country that doesn't owe a debt of gratitude to john warner. i live in alexandria, close to the river. i look out my window each day and see the woodrow wilson bridge, which was for those of us who live in this region was a

big bottleneck and decay. how john warner got $1.2 billion for that bridge when it was way down the list in terms of getting reif you refurbished isa story that can't be told on the senate floor. but as john got older, i tried my one hiem against him, if he wanted to stay in this seat, i think he could stay as long as he wanted. in if -- in 2008 he decided he would go out at the top of his game. i would go see him. i know senator kaine would as well. always ask his advice and counsel. tell two more quick stories and then eel yield -- i'll yield to my friend senator kaine and we can go back and forth a little bit. in 2014 i was so extraordinarily honored when john warner, republican senior senator john warner endorsed mark warner for the u.s. senate. that kind of thing doesn't happen in politics too much

these days. and i can remember up and down through the shenandoah valley there was one trip where senator kaine and i were campaigning with john, and he was at that point already in kind of his 80's with a walking stick. let me assure you, we had both been former governors and we had both kind of thought we knew our stuff, but whenever john warner was in the room we were the junior guys and followed his lead. as a matter of fact in the last campaign where he endorsed me again, there was one fundraiser we went to. he introduced me. i did my little talk, and then he kind of took his walking stick and whacked me on the shins and said, sit down, mark, i have more to say. and for 30 minutes told old stories about how the senate used to work. i never been at a fundraiser where people got more than their

money's worth than that night. john was disturbed about where our country was headed, the lack of respect for the rule of law, what was happening to his beloved republican party, but he always kept that burning sense of optimism. i saw him four or five weeks ago, pretty frail, but he still oftentimes with a pocket square and looking like he just stepped out of a, you know, hunt country magazine, but was asking about, how, you know, how we could get the senate back on track and how we could always put our country first. i want to say a couple of other things, but let me yield at this point to my -- my dear friend senator kaine. we in virginia, we're blessed to -- our country was blessed to have him and i'm going to miss

him horribly. but i do know this much. when i'm wrestling with an issue, i often will think, you know, what would john warner do, and i would follow that mantra, the chances are i'm doing the right thing for virginia and for our country. i will miss him greatly, and i'd be happy to yield to my friend and colleague, the other senator from virginia. mr. kaine: well, mr. president, i want to thank my best friend in politics, senator mark warner, and i just realized something. john warner defeated in an election my best friend in politics, and john warner also defeated in an election my political hero, my father-in-law, who was governor of virginia from 1970 to 1974. so i want to talk a little bit about john's effect on me

personally and also when i was mayor of richmond and governor and i will hand it back to our senior senator. when john came back from the pacific in world war ii, he came back to complete his studies at washington and lee. he was a pacific ship guy in the navy and went back to lexington. my father-in-law was a submariner in the pacific during world war ii and also came back to complete his studies at washington and lee and john warner and lynnwood holton, my father met and they were part of the same fraternity. and john warner used to say my father-in-law broke a paddle across his backside in a fraternity hazing. they had a friendship for 75

years. my father-in-law still alive. he'll be 98 in september. it was an amazing friendship. they worked on frojts together. we were -- projects together. we were a one-party state burdened by the dixie-crats. and they had to build the republican party. my father-in-law was the first elected governor in virginia at the time john was secretary of the navy. one day a navy ship moored on the river and destroyed a bridge and my father-in-law called mr. secretary, yes, governor, one of your ships has broken one of my bridges. they had so much fun together as friends. in 1978, they ran against each other to be in this body, a four-way republican nominating convention. neither of them won. dick ovenchan won, john warner

was second, my father-in-law was second and dick ove nchan was killed in a plane crash. my father-in-law threw his support behind john warner and john warner was the longest serving senator in virginia history. when i married ann, i was adopted into the john warner friendship society because of being part of the holton family. we were friends and i enjoyed him and admired him and saw his work here. i came into public life as a city counsel council. i was a young whipper snapper, i was mayor when i was 39 and by now john warner was mid-70's, but he would produce for the capital city. as mark knows, he had the same relationship when he was

governor, i was goarn, i was -- governor, i was 45 or 46 and john -- i treated him like he was the senior partner, he kind of treated you when you were governor, he was like, we have to produce for the governor. we were working on the metro silver line project that derailed to dulles and the g.w. -- after decades of work and john warner helped us get in and save that project. a tremendous friend, a tremendous supporter, but i'll say this and then hand maybe to senator reed who might want to say a word and then back to senator warner, because i think senator warner might want to be our closer here. i got to know a new side of john warner when i came to the senate. i felt like we were like best friends and family friends and you helped me when i was

governor. i came to the senate in 2014. he had been gone for four years, but i started to meet people i didn't know, john mccain and carl levin and jack reed and so many others who i did not know before i was here and then i really learned about john warner, i learned about his chair of the armed services committee, i learned about how he was in the middle of whatever gang was trying to do something good. i learned about his love for this institution. i learned about his love for his fellow senators. i was on a ticket with one of those fellow senators, senator hillary clinton, and stood with senator warner when he stood out to endorse us and he talked about such depth about working with senator clinton. i came to the dining room with john warner and it was like i brought in the pope.

we sat down and all the staff, everybody working in the dining room, all the senators and their families were coming over to talk to john warner because they loved him so much and one of the reasons they loved him because they knew how much he loved the institution. there is so much i can say, but i will tell one more thing. john and i during my first term were talking about the senate and we were both regretting that the senate of today was not the senate that john warner served in. the relationship-based senate was turning into a more partisan senate and we were being candid about that. but when we finished, john said to me, old friend -- old friend is what he would call you. old friend, that's the way it is, but it's not in the water supply and it's not sick building syndrome. it's just in the character and priorities of people who walk in the doors every day. if you don't like the way it is right now, guess what, you will

walk in the capitol tomorrow and it can be different tomorrow if you try to make it better. that was john's attitude about this country and about this institution, and it's just -- it leaves a big hole in my -- i'm just grappling with the big hole in my life not to have john warner to go to and seek his advice. and with that, i yield to the chairman of the armed services committee, the senator from rhode island. mr. reed: thank you very much, senator kaine and senator warner. i am here today to pay tribute to to an extraordinary gentleman, a great senator, a decent and honorable individual, the paragon of what we'd all like to do, john warner. john was someone who appreciated everyone, respected everyone, and treated people with kindness

and he has monumental achievements, but at the end of his days, i think people will remember him most for the kindness, the personal help of those things that he did naturally because he was an extraordinarily -- an extraordinary gentleman. he also was a patriot, not in words, not in wearing a lapel pin or doing something like that. he joined the navy at 18 years old at the end of world war ii because he wanted to defend and serve the nation. he didn't get overseas, but in 1950, with the korean war, he decided to drop everything he was doing and join the united states marine corps, and he served with distinction and left the service as a captain in the marine corps. so he knew what it was like to be a sailor, a marine, a soldier, an airman, and he never forgot that. and that-month-olded -- that

molded his service to this country, it was about service, it was about sacrifice and it was about protecting the other fellow. that was john warner. he was bipartisan, because again, his focus was on the country. it wasn't party, it was principle and what is best for the country. and i think that dedication stems from the fact that he knew that all across the world, all through his tenure in the senate and his public life, there were thousands of young americans defending us, and he wanted to make sure they were well prepared and well protected. and as chairman of the armed services committee, he did that. and he did it in an extraordinary bipartisan way. he set a tone and temper with the committee that is still with us today, that is imbued in what we all try to do. now, he was someone who had a

sparkle in his eye. he always had a sense of humor, a sense of, i won't say mischief, but probably close to mischief, and i can remember the codel he organized. this was his major codel going into iraq in 2003, and, of course, it was bipartisan, senator levin, senator cornyn, myself, myself and others. we were in there because john had to see first hand what the troops were experiencing, what he could do to help them, what he needed to know about the situation. again, public service even if it's inconvenient is something that he did constantly. but also, he said, as i said, this sense of mischief and twinkle in his eye.

now, as we flew out of iraq, we had to find a place to spend overnight so the crew could rest. and john, being a very sophisticated gentleman, a former secretary of the navy, knew that there was a nice place to spend a few hours. so we landed in suda bay and john arranged that we would get on a bus, drive up to this beautiful restaurant overlooking , and have a nice night of greek food and have a night of fellowship, bipartisan fellowship and you could tell he was enjoying himself because other people were enjoying themselves. we will miss him. and i just hope and pray that his example of thoughtful, principled bipartisanship is

recognized and honored today its it was when he was here with us. with that, i would yield to my colleague. mr. warner: thank you, senator reed. i know that senator thune is here and i will be brief. you mentioned, senator reed, about his occasional twinkle in his eye. i'm not sure this is the right time to tell the story. that twinkle would light up when he would talk about his sailing trips with senator kennedy and senator chris dodd and talking about selected locations at selected moments in time. and many of them in rhode island. the two other comments i want to make is, one was, again, to show that both of our political parties sometimes go awry, but one of the things that john warner did, he didn't need to do this, he was a sitting senator, well respected, senior, there

was a fellow in virginia that was getting into politics that had kind of a checkered history. and sometimes was not necessarily always willing to tell the truth. his name was oliver north. and jordan -- and john warner did not think that mr. north had the personal characteristics that ought to be a senator of virginia. and at great political risk to himself, he was willing to make that known. didn't leave the party, his party. he said that his republican party had to stand for principles, truth, and the respectful rule of law. again, an example of the john warner that was so special. more recently, as senator kaine knows, we in virginia, we have a

very checkered history with race, and in the aftermath of brown versus board of education, there are a number of school divisions that literally shut down rather than letting white children go to school with black children. and in prince edward county, which is a little town called farmville, a group of black students had done a walkout, their case had become a brown versus board of education case, for a couple of years, black students had no place to go because there was -- they took the public money and put it into private academies and there were no public schools. a great blot on the history of virginia. and leaving these young people, now not so young, when this issue came up in 2002 or 2003, with a big hole in their

education. so we thought we could maybe end up providing these individuals an education, give them a couple of years of community college education. a fairly audacious idea from a local editor of the newspaper there. we came up with this. and at first, the legislature didn't want to do this. didn't want to take this on. so john warner got on the phone and called one of his friends, john kluke, a very successful business guy, and said will you put up the money, only a couple of million dollars. john and i worked up something let's go back to the legislature and shame them in doing the other million. we did that. it was one of the moving days of my life to see these individuals who had been cheated out of their education receive the ability to get an education, and

john warner never wanted an ounce of credit and i don't think even to this day that story has been told too many times. i will close with this. i know i'm not supposed to do this. i will do this briefly. john warner appropriately got recognized for his service and has a submarine named after him. i remember going to the commission. he and his wife jeanne, they were so proud of the young men and women who were serving on that boat and that carry on the kind of sense of patriotism and public service that he exemplified, as we have both said. we're going to miss him a lot. i hope we will take that sense of his heart and courage and commitment and maybe rededicate ourselves to trying to follow in those -- follow that kind of example. with that, mr. president, i yield the floor.

the presiding officer: under the previous order, amendment number 1911 rather than amendment number 1811 will be called up and reported by number. the clerk: sullivan amendment numbered 1911. mr. thune: mr. president. the presiding officer: the republican whip. mr. thune: mr. president, before i give my remarks, i want to echo what has been said on the floor here by our two colleagues, two senators from the commonwealth of virginia about senator john warner, and just say, too, that when i first got to the senate, my first six years in the senate, i was a member of the senate armed services committee. when i got here, senator warner was the chairman of that committee. and i had known him a little bit from a distance because i had worked as a staffer out here back in the 1980's, but i, you know, got the chance to know him

in a very personal way as the chairman of the senate armed services committee, and i have to just, again, associate myself with many of the comments that have already been made about him, but he truly was a gentleman in the truest sense of the word, somebody who represents everything i think that is good about public life in politics and legislating and making public policy and cared profoundly, deeply for our men and women in uniform. as the chairman of the committee, that was his number one priority. of course, as has been mentioned, he was a marine, secretary of the navy, had just a deep, deep passion to make sure that men and women who defend this country on a daily basis were respected and had the resources, the equipment, the training, everything they needed to succeed in their jobs. so it was just a -- he truly was a -- couldn't have been a kinder person to me.

as a rookie out here -- i remember i was standing over there offering an amendment to the defense authorization bill. i think it was my first probably amendment on the floor. it was something that he as the chairman opposed. and he, i think, probably coffee vitiated me if he had wanted to, but he had that -- as mentioned, he that just misdemeanor, disposition, somebody described it as a twinkle in his eye, he truly had that. he really was out of central casting. if anybody ever wanted to cast somebody, he certainly could have had a career in hollywood because he looked the part. but it was more than just looking the part. he lived it. he was truly not only a gentleman but a great senator for the commonwealth of virginia and a great patriot to this country who got up every day and thought of ways that he could make our country stronger and better. so my thoughts and prayers are with his wife jeanne and all of his family today. mr. president, the last several years have been difficult ones

for cattle producers in my home state of south dakota and around the country. a 2019 fire and later covid caused reductions in meat-packing capacity which left cattle producers with cattle to sell and no place to sell them. and even now, with our country well on its way to full reopening, meatpackers are still not back at full capacity. at least in part it seem because the enhanced unemployment benefits the biden administration is providing are not encouraging workers to come back to work. throughout these challenges, ranchers have struggled, but meatpackers, meatpackers have seen continued substantial profit margins. while certainly market forces can see the price for cattle fluctuate, the gap between meatpacker profits and rancher profits raises some questions. most especially because more than 80% of the meat-packing market in this country is concentrated in the hands of just four companies. that level of concentration creates the opportunity for

market manipulation. the gulf between rancher and meatpacker profits and the significant power that these companies have over the beef industry has raised concerns that we're looking at something more than just an issue of supply and demand. that's why i wrote to the department of justice at the beginning of the pandemic urging the department to begin an investigation into the meatpacking industry to make sure that there was no market manipulation going on. and the department of justice responded by directing the justice department's antitrust division to initiate an investigation. well, that was a year ago, mr. president. and since then, we've heard nothing. no results from the investigation have been released, and it's not clear whether the investigation is still ongoing. and so last week, i led several of my senate and house colleagues, along with south dakota representative dusty johnson in a letter to attorney general merrick garland urging the department of justice to continue investigating the beef sector to determine if improper and anticompetitive activity has

occurred. it is essential that we hold the highly concentrated meatpacker industry accountable to the consumers and producers who depend upon it, and i will continue to press the department of justice to thoroughly investigate this situation. mr. president, another important thing that we can do to help ranchers start to see better prices for their cattle is to encourage competition in the meatpacking industry. as i said, more than 80% of the meatpacking industry in this country is controlled by just four companies. encouraging more companies to get into this marketplace and encouraging small meatpackers to expand will dilute the power of these four companies and create more competition for ranchers' cattle which will lead to higher prices for ranchers when they bring their cattle to market. and that's why i introduced the strengthening local processing act in february with senator merkley. our legislation would help strengthen and diversify national meat processing capacity by providing new resources for smaller, more local meat processing operations.

encouraging new meatpackers to enter the market and smaller meatpackers to expand their operations will provide livestock producers are more marketing options and thus increase competition for their cattle. plus spreading out and expanding our nation's meat processing capacity over more plants will make our nation's meat supply less vulnerable to interruption in situations like the coronavirus pandemic or natural disasters. during the pandemic, outbreaks of covid at meatpacking plants seriously compromised supply. as empty grocery store meat sections attested. had meatpacking capacity been less concentrated, it's likely that we would not have seen such significant shortages. mr. president, last month, i requested that the senate agriculture committee hold a hearing to consider the challenges facing the livestock industry as well as the bills that have been introduced this year to try and improve the situation. i recognize that there are

contrasting views among cattle producers on the best path forward to improve the cattle market, but i'm hopeful that a hearing would help lead to the passage of legislation that would improve the outlook for cattle producers. i also recently introduced, along with senator tester, an amendment to the legislation the senate's considering today that would require the u.s. trade representative and the u.s. department of agriculture to review the 2015 world trade organization ruling that led to the repeal of mandatory country of origin labeling or cool, and identify how it affected u.s. consumers, producers, and the supply chain. if the review finds negative impacts, the amendment would require the administration to submit to congress legislative or administrative actions to address the impacts. i am a long-time supporter of country of origin labeling, and i have been raising the importance of this issue with the new biden administration. and, mr. president, i will continue working on a path forward for country of origin

labeling. there is strong demand for u.s. born and raised beef, and consumers want to know where their food is coming from. the least we can do for our ranchers and the consumers who depend on their products is to provide them with the benefit and certainty of seeing made in the u.s.a. labels on grocery store shelves in south dakota and around the country. mr. president, i think i speak for a lot of americans when i say there are few things i enjoy more than a mouth-watering burger or a really good steak, and there are a lot of men and women out there in south dakota and across the country doing the demanding work of raising cattle so that the rest of us can enjoy ourbergers and steaks and roasts and roasts. i'm very proud to represent south dakota ranchers here in the senate, and i will continue to make it a priority to support cattle producers and make sure that they have fair and transparent markets for the

commodities that they produce mr. president, i yield the floor. mr. grassley: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: first of all, i compliment senator thune on his remarks and agree with everything that he said and particularly to emphasize his call for a hearing before the senate agriculture committee, something we have been trying to get done for a long period of time. and i hope that will soon happen. secondly, i would like to follow up on the comments that the two senators from virginia made about senator warner. senator warner came to the senate two years before i did, and i remember him almost constantly talking about the number one responsibility of the

federal government, our national security, protecting the american people, and he was always -- whether he was secretary of navy or whether he was a senator from virginia, he was always speaking strongly about keeping -- making sure that our military was strong to meet its constitutional responsibilities. i also remember that he was a person that quite frequently would speak up in republican caucuses when he had a disagreement with the leadership of the day or the position of the caucus for the day or maybe he would even be in the minority of the caucus, speaking on something that he felt strongly about. and i also remember his speaking in terms of after reagan airport was shut down because of 9/11 and the consequences that

brought to the economy of northern virginia, how he worked so hard to get that airport opened up again. the third and last reason for coming to the united states senate floor at this time to speak is to tell, like all of my colleagues would do, condemning the troubling increase in hate crimes, whether it's on any minority group or today i come to the floor because of the recent attacks on jewish americans. anti-semitism has been called the oldest hatred throughout the history of the jewish people, they have been subjected to cruelty, discrimination, and violence. even in modern times, even here in america, jews are still not safe from this hatred, and that

is profoundly bad and sad situation. no jewish american should ever experience bigotry based on their religion, nor should they be subject to threats, harassment, or injury because there is a jewish state of israel. we can express disagreements about foreign policy and about conflict in the middle east, but we should never allow those disagreements to become dehumanizing and abusive. yet, in response to the terrible conflict in gaza recently, jewish americans have been attacked in recent weeks. the anti-defamation league has said that the reporting of anti-semitic incidents has gone up 63% since the start of that

war between israel and hamas. in new york, two jewish teenagers were surrounded by an angry mob just this last saturday. the boys were told that they had to chant free palestine or chant kill all jews before they were beaten and choked. on thursday, a man wearing a yarmulke was beaten by a gang of men who chanted words like hamas is going to kill all of you. in los angeles, anti-israel protesters attacked jewish patrons at a restaurant. the attackers reportedly said death to jews and free palestine an orthodox jewish man was chased by cars flying a palestinian flag in another incident in los angeles. i hope that we all condemn this

horrible wave of violence against jewish americans, but members of congress can do more to take down the temperature. we should all vilify -- we should never vilify israel or israelis. these only foster other hateful attacks, encouraging others to do dehumanizing things. we can talk about geopolitical problems without demonizing people. that's pretty common sense. i remember how far anti-semitic violence can go. in october of 2018, robert bowers attacked the tree of life synagogue in pittsburgh, pennsylvania, killing 11. he did so after complaining that our first president with jewish members in the first family, president trump, that is, was surrounded by a jewish

infestation. and that was his words. it was the deadliest attack on the jewish community in history. while battling the recent spike of asian americans and pacific islanders hate crimes, we need to remember to combat all hate crimes. i look forward to opportunities and hearings or legislation to see if we're doing everything that we can to protect our jewish brethren and all americans. i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. first, i ask unanimous consent that both senator sullivan and i be allowed to complete our remarks, me for up to 12 minutes and senator sullivan for up to 5 minutes before the vote. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection? mr. barrasso: thank you. i come to the floor today to talk about the ongoing crisis at our southern border. over the past few weeks the biden border crisis has been overshadowed by several other crises facing our country under

this administration. inflation has surged. the price of gasoline in wyoming and likely in your home state as well, mr. president, is now over $3 a gallon. democrats have been on another spending spree. it's a trillion-dollar spending spree. hiring has plummeted across the country, terrorists have attacked our closest ally. the response from the biden administration actually on that attack has been to treat both our closest ally, israel, and the attackers, hamas, as equals. i could go on and on. the most serious challenges facing our nation have escalated ever since president biden has taken office. but you can't forget the border crisis that we have now under president biden. over the last several months, basically since president biden took office on january 20 and he changed our border policies, the crisis has only gotten worse.

president biden flipped on a big green light and said come to america. that's the message that people heard all across the world. he sent a clear message that the border is open. on his first day of office, president biden shut down construction of the southern border wall. he stopped all deportations for 100 days. he brought back a program basically known as catch and release. those policy changes have led to a dramatic increase in illegal immigration. in march our border agents caught 170,000 immigrants crossing our southern border illegally. in april they caught even more, 178 illegal immigrants in just 30 days. the numbers have gone up and up. i heard a report yesterday that we're now at a half a million people since coming in illegally ever since president biden has taken office. a half a million, that is the population of the entire state of wyoming. come into the country illegally

since january 20. this year we're on a pace for illegal immigration to hit a 20-year high. our border agents are overwhelmed. two-thirds of the border patrol are too busy to be out there enforcing the law. they're too busy either taking care of kids, unaccompanied minors, or adults who have come across with the families and have done so illegally. only about one in third are out there trying to stop the bad guys who are coming into this country, human traffickers, drug traffickers some even we know on the terrorist watch list. in fact, they are so overwhelmed that they're doing something now they've never done before. they are releasing illegal immigrants directly into the country without even giving them court dates. instead they're telling them to report to i.c.e. facilities sometime in the next couple of months. this is unprecedented. this is worse than catch and release. this is an absolute total

surrender by the biden administration on people coming into the country illegally. and this is in addition to the tens of thousands of immigrants who simply escape. border patrol calls them getaways. they got away. they got into the country without being stopped. we saw these folks doing this when a number of us went to the border a month or so ago. chanting across the rio grande river, you cannot stop us now. the top republican on the homeland security committee, senator portman, revealed last week that there were 40,000 of these gotaways just last month. how many of them were drug smugglers? how many are human traffickers? how many are on the terrorist watch list? we will never know. over the same month deportation hit a record low. mr. president, the crisis might have disappeared from the headlines, but it hasn't gone

away. and the people living near the border are being impacted dramatically. it's only getting worse. 50,000 unaccompanied children across the border since joe biden became president. unprecedented. at a time of a global pandemic, these children are not social distancing, let me tell you. that's what we saw when we saw them crammed in like sardines into the dona facility into the tip of southern texas. the media reports that the department of health and human services has left some kids on buses overnight. this is a humanitarian crisis. nowhere for them to sleep, nowhere to bathe. one teenager named joel said he was left on a bus for three days. that's how president biden and his administration is handling the situation. i know democrats love to lecture republicans about humane immigration policy. this is not humane, mr. president. this is not humane.

the white house is now boasting that they're transferring the kids out of border patrol facilities. nothing to brag about there. that is what the law mandates. they're just sending them from one overcrowded government facility to another overcrowded government facility. it seems like they're playing a shell games with these kids so they can play with the numbers. but the problem hasn't been solved. no,sir, it has not. thousands and thousands of children keep showing up, and the crisis keeps getting worse. the biden white house has told the world anyone under 18 can cross our border. we'll let them in. and they are coming in record numbers. so it's not a surprise that tens of thousands of families are taking president biden up on the offer. not just families. criminals are taking advantage of these children.

criminals know the border patrol is overwhelmed. criminals know if they use kids to distract our agents, they'll be able to make an end run, get away, get around and bring drugs into the country. border patrol has come to the congress and has told the appropriations committee in the house that they're seizing four times as much fentanyl this year as they seized last year. they're not sure how much they're missing, but we do know that this is a drug that killed more than 30,000 americans in 2019. border patrol has already seized more fentanyl over the last seven months than they did over the previous year. they've seized enough fentanyl at the border, people trying to move it into the country illegally. the volume that has been seized at the border is enough to kill more than a million people. and that's just the drugs that

we know about. imagine the drugs we don't know about. how are democrats going to deal with this border crisis? many, mr. president, are ignoring it. neither the president nor the vice president have been to the border since taking office four months ago. neither one of them. many democrats are trying to distract people from the issue. say why are the president and vice president not going? they know if they will, tv cameras will go with them and it will attract more attention to the crisis, the humanitarian crisis, the national security crisis that they have created. now, some democrats are actually proposing that we make the crisis worse. last week the senate had an opportunity to finish the border wall. remember, mr. president, the border wall has already been paid for. only one democrat voted to complete the wall.

every other democrat voted to block it. they voted against finishing the wall even though we have already paid for it. i've been there, i've seen areas of the wall. the materials are there laying on the ground, just needing to be lifted up and connected to other portions of the wall. and that construction stopped the day president biden took the oath of office. the border patrol officers say it would make a huge difference in their lives, in their jobs, in protecting our nation if they could just put up in place that final spot of the wall. some democrats are actually encouraging even more illegal immigration. democrats in washington just sent $26 billion in taxpayer money to the governor of california. now what does he want to do with the $26 billion that was sent to the governor of california? he wants to give some of that money to illegal immigrants.

eight senate democrats have introduced a bill to give free health care to children who are here illegally. they introduced the bill this month knowing full well about the child migration crisis at our border. this bill would only make the crisis worse. the democrat promises of government benefits are a magnet to illegal immigrants. democrats talk a lot about compassion. this is not compassion. the compassionate thing to do is to stop the crisis. we know how to do that. we know what works. democrats don't like to admit it, but president trump was historically successful in controlling our border. democrats say that the system was dismantled. this is the exact opposite of the truth. democrats are dismantling it today. democrats need to stop giving our taxpayer dollars to illegal

immigrants. democrats need to turn off this magnet that is drawing 50,000 children to risk their lives and take a very dangerous journey, many paying those to traffic them to bring them up to the border and carry them across. we need to go back to the policies that make our border secure, enforce the law, finish the wall that we paid for, bring back the remain in mexico policy. mr. president, this crisis might be overshadowed by the other crises that are hitting now in this administration, ones for which joe biden is responsible, yet the crisis at the southern will not go away -- southern border will not go away until we take action. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor and suggest

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

mr. sullivan: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from alaska. mr. sullivan: is the senate in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are. mr. sullivan: i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. sullivan: mr. president, for decades, even centuries, america's universities have been the envy of the world and one of america's biggest comparative advantages, at their best they are hubs for innovative thinking, places where free exchange of ideas are not only encouraged but expected on campus, they have been the backbones of innovation that have changed countless lives in america and really across the world for the better. now, of course, freedom of speech is enshrined in the first amendment of our constitution. the birth of our nation was the result of our founding fathers escaping tyranny in pursuit of freedom of thought and

expression and since the inception of our country, we have prevailed over every country and empire that we have competed with in part because of america's commitment to the free exchange of ideas, and our universities have traditionally amplified this long-standing american ideal and comparative advantage. but, unfortunately, mr. president, this is changing. today it is becoming increasingly clear that many of our universities too often stamp out the exchange of ideas for certain politically correct narratives. this is having a chilling effect on our students on campus, and most importantly, their ability to express themselves. let me present some disturbing findings. a recent gallup survey of 3,000 undergraduate students found

that 81% of students widely support a campus environment where they are exposed to all types of speech, even speech they find offensive, 81%. however, that same survey found that only 59% of college students believe that free speech rights are secure, and that's down from 73% just four years ago. mr. president, that same survey also found that 63% of university students in america agree that the climate on their campus deters students from expressing themselves openly. almost two-thirds of american students. it's remarkable. it's dangerous. not just for university life but for american life, and i believe

it's unacceptable. fortunately we can do something about it with the simple amendment that i have offered today. this bill that we're debating right now, the endless frontiers act will be sending billions -- tens of billions of dollars, taxpayer dollars, to america's universities. my amendment says in return for these billions of dollars, when applying for national science foundation funds, universities will be required to attest that they are protecting free speech, religious liberty, and prohibiting discrimination on campus and explain what steps they are taking to ensure compliance. that's it. a letter to the n.s.f. once a year for billions in federal research dollars. now, mr. president, already we're hearing that some universities oppose my amendment, calling it, quote, burdensome. well, here it is.

it's two pages. it's simple. it's easy. this university opposition actually illustrates the problem that in exchange for billions of dollars in federal research money, america's universities can't be bothered to demonstrate to congress and the american people that they are committed to the principles of the first amendment, which, by the way, have made our country and our universities so exceptional. mr. president, censorship, oppression, and one-sided thoughts are characteristics of communist china, not america, and certainly should not be the characteristic of america's great universities. to the contrary. one of the best ways to compete with and win against communist china is to ensure that america,

and, yes, our universities, remain what they have traditionally been, laboratories of free expression, free thought, creativity, innovation, and ingenuity. my simple amendment will help make sure this happens and i encourage all of my colleagues to vote yes to support this amendment and american free liberty, free thinking, and innovation. mr. president, i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. under the previous order, there will now be two minutes of debate equally divided prior to the vote on sullivan amendment 1911. mrs. murray: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: i rise today in opposition to s. 1911. it is an amendment that claims to be about protecting free speech, but that could actually have a very chilling effect on speech at our institutions of higher education. i share the goal of fostering campus environments that protect free speech and pt free exchange of -- and the free exchange of

ideas but i have multiple concerns about the way this amendment goes about advancing those goals. it is not the role of the national science foundation or the inspector general of the national science foundation to police speech on campuses. deciding what is appropriate regulation of speech should not be left to agencies that are not experts in constitutional analysis or in issues related to first amendment protections at our institutions of higher education. i believe it would be a mistake to use today's amendment to make substantial change without the opportunity for input from students, educators, and stakeholders. i've heard from many institutions of higher education as well as civil rights groups who strongly share my concerns, so i urge my colleagues to vote no. mr. sullivan: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from alaska. mr. sullivan: with all due respect to my colleague from washington, when the universities say they can't do this because it's too burdensome, again, to me that

actually demonstrates the very problem my amendment, my simple amendment is trying to resolve. all it is saying is in exchange for the tens of billions of dollars that america's universities will be getting as part of the endless frontiers act, they have to do one simple thing. once a year send a letter to the national science foundation saying -- and this is in the amendment right here -- they have committed to protecting free speech, viewpoint diversity, the free exchange of ideas, academic freedom, and the protection of religious liberty and the -- and prohibiting against discrimination. that's it. that's it, mr. president. it's very simple. this is what universities should be doing. it's a letter once a year. it's very simple in exchange for billions and billions of federal research dollars. i certainly hope all of my

colleagues will support this amendment. simple, needed. again, this is how we outcompete communist china which is all about what the endless frontiers act is focused on. so i encourage my colleagues to vote yes. the presiding officer: the question is on the amendment. a senator: i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: the yeas are 49, the nays are 51. the amendment is not agreed to. under the previous order, the

senate stands in recess until 2:15. recess: procedural test phone bill to establish a commission to investigate january 6 he was little complex. live coverage here on c-span2. >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government funded by these television companies and more including mediacom. >> schools and businesses with virtual and we pollock

powered a new reality. we are built. >> mediacom supports c-span along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy . >> the senate is working on the science and technology bill this week which includes funding for the national science foundation . republican senator rand paul of kentucky spoke about what he called wasteful spending by the agency. >> about 50 years ago william foxfire rose in this esteemed body and told us rnabout government waste. he called it the golden fleece award. they were studying things like dating and love and what makes love when we have these great scientific studies about love. these are centuries he says i to this because no one