vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: on this vote the yeas are 53. the nays 40. 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. the senator from michigan is recognized. ms. stabenow: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i rise today to speak about how far our nation has come in the past six months. just for a moment think back to where we were in january.

every day hundreds of thousands of americans were being diagnosed with covid-19. and on many days, more than 3,000 or even 4,000 of our moms and dads and brothers and sisters, children and friends, neighbors were dying of this horrible disease. meanwhile, millions of americans were out of work just six months ago, and small businesses were unsure whether or not they could reopen safely. during these cold, dark days, it was easy to wonder if things would ever get better. but something else happened in january. on january 20, president joe biden, vice president kamala harris were sworn into office. and with their inaguration came a laser focus on defeating this horrific disease and getting our

country moving again. they had some amazing tools in their arsenal, vaccines that proved to be more effective than anyone could have hoped, thank goodness. and i'm so proud that michigan workers at pfizer have played a big role in producing these lifesaving vaccines and getting them shipped all over the country. when president biden and vice president harris took office, only 5% of american adults had received at least one shot. now only six months later, 70% of americans over age 30 have received at least one shot. that's a total of 300 million vaccine shots in only 150 days. and we're seeing the results. this week michigan governor

gretchen wit whitmer was able to drop our state's restrictions. that's great news for our small businesses and our restaurants and our entertainment venues just in time for peak travel season in beautiful michigan. nation wild more than two million jobs have -- nation wild more than two million jobs have been created since he took office, to million jobs since he took office six months ago. half as many people are applying for unemployment each month as were in january. and next month families will begin to receive advanced child tax credits that are going to lift half of the poor children of our country out of poverty. incredible. these monthly payments of $250 or $300 per child will help families pay for the things they need to care for their children and it will also boost the economy. we made amazing progress, and it

wouldn't have been possible without leadership from the white house. around $20 billion in funding for vaccines from congress, the dedication of our medical professionals, the hard work of our small businesses who have done so much to keep their employees and their customers safe, and the willingness of so many americans to literally roll up their sleeves to protect themselves and each other. it's true we have a lot more to do, of course. many families in commune -- families and communities are still struggling to get back on their feet. we need to continue to support our small businesses who have been through so much. and we know that some states and regions are lagging behind on vaccinations for a number of reasons. that is so unfortunate because we know that these vaccinations

are safe. they're free to receive and they are amazingly effective. the numbers prove it. on january 23, 3,322 americans died of coronavirus in a single day. and yesterday 370 people died of coronavirus in the united states. of course that's still 370 too many lives lost. each one of those lives was precious, and our hearts are with everyone who is grieving. and there's still a risk that variants will spread in cases -- and cases could rise again, especially in areas with low vaccination rates, which is why it is so critical that people get vaccinated. it is so important to get vaccinated not only for yourself but for your friends, for your

neighbors, for your children. we've come a long way, a really long way in the last six months. it's really amazing. and it's just in time for the 4th of july. americans have a lot to celebrate this independence day. it's a day we give thanks for our nation and for the freedoms we enjoy as americans. and this year we have a few extra freedoms to celebrate. the freedom to get together with friends again, the freedom to eat dinner at a favorite local restaurant, the freedom to attend a live music event or go to a movie, the freedom to live our lives without -- with a lot less fear, a lot less fear. and the freedom to give our loved ones a hug. and i know i'm cherishing every hug i can give my 95-year-old mom.

all of these freedoms are things to science and an administration that believes in science and the willingness of americans to trust the science. to my fellow americans, thank you for that, thank you to our president, and happy 4th of july. i yield the floor. i have eight requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. the presiding officer: duly noted.

mr. schumer: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. jackson-akiwumi i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: without objection. all those in favor, say aye. those opposed, say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. schumer: madam president, i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar

number 67. the presiding officer: question song the motion. all those in favor, say aye. those opposed, say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, department of state tusra zeya, to be an under secretary for civilian security, democracy, and human rights. mr. schumer: i send a cloture motion to the desk. ifer officer the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of executive calendar number 67, usra zeya of virginia to be an under secretary of state. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that attritting of the names be waive atd. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: question is on the motion. all those in favor, say aye. those opposed, say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. schumer: i move to proceed

to executive session to consider calendar number 63. the presiding officer: question is on the motion. all those in favor, say aye. those opposed, say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, department of labor. julie a.su of california to be dependency equity. -- deputy secretary. mr. schumer: i send a cloture motion to otodesk. officer the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of executive calendar number 63, julie a.su of california to be dependency secretary of labor signed by 17 senators as follows. mr. schumer: i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum calls for the cloture motions filed today be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: thank you, madam president.

i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to legislative session, be p a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: thank you, mr. president. i note the absence -- i yield the floor. i yield the floor to mr. christopher coons, d, delaware. mr. christopher a. coons. mr. coons: thank you, mr. charles e. schumer. the presiding officer: the senator from delaware is recognized. mr. coons: madam president, today has been a great day for the american people, a great day for our democracy and for bipartisanship. some of you may know that just hours agriculture over at the white house a determined group of republicans and democrats led by senator kyrsten sinema, senator joe manchin, senator susan collins and a number of others announced a deal on an infrastructure package with the white house that represents the

largest investment in infrastructure in a generation, and this is a big accomplishment. i'll talk about it in a few moments. but i also with a tonight bring your attention to something that happened earlier today on the floor here that may just go overlooked because of the other important news of the day. by a vote of 92-8, this senate passed the growing climate solutions act introduced by my friend and colleague from michigan, senator debbie stabenow, the chairman of the agriculture committee, and my colleague mike braun, this bill, the growing climate solutions act, is a great example of how we can bring everyone to the table to find common ground on solutions that will protect our environment, help create jobs, and combat climate change. it will help farmers and foresters in delaware, in michigan, in texas, across our

whole country, and we will benefit from changes in the way that they care for their land or forests and it will help them to participate in carbon credit markets. it will provide a framework for rewards america's farms and forests and those who tend them for climate-smart practices. this is a commonsense, broadly bipartisan bill that will help us create a more sustainable future for our communities, our country, and our planet with our farmers and our agriculture community taking the lead. it reminds me of another signature moment that happened just at the very end of last year when in december the bipartisan energy act of 2020 was passed. senators murkowski and manchin shepherded that into law late last year and it modernizes our country's energy policies across a dozen different major areas. each of these bills -- the growing climate solutions act and the energy ability of 2020 -- were in part fostered by the

bipartisan senate climate solutions caucus. founded in 2019, this caucus has held 30 meetings, many focused on natural climate solutions such as the growing climate solutions act. every member, all 14 members of this bipartisan caucus, cosponsored the growing climate solutions act, and i applaud senators stabenow and braun four for build be a significant coalition to support it. a coalition that ranged from some of the most active environmental groups to the american farm bureau, one of the strongest voices for america's agricultural community. our work on climate is far from done. members of the climate solutions caucus have introduced a whole series of bipartisan bills that would promote natural climate solutions. senator portman and i have the tropical forest and coral reef reauthorization act. senator shaheen is leading the

forest incentives act, senator rubio, the restoring resilient reefs act and many more. we should enact these appeared many other bipartisan bills on which we are taking the lead. let me be clear, i support bold action on climate. i support president biden's climate agenda. there are many more things we can and should do, but i think it is possible for us to move ahead on those that have enduring bipartisan support in this chamber and across our country and to move ahead on those things that perhaps do not yet enjoy bipartisan support but where the need to act is urgent. let me also, if i can, speak for a few more moments, madam president, about the historic deal reached earlier today on infrastructure. this is about creating jobs. this is about investing in our economy and our communities and our country, and this is about strengthening the united states globally against our adversaries

and competitors. i need not remind you that just one year ago public health and economic crises created by the covid-19 pandemic were ravaging communities all over our nation. and today, under the leadership of the biden administration, covid-19 cases and deaths are down by over 90%. more than 70% of adults over the age of 30 have been vaccinated, and as a result businesses are opening, communities are opening, states are opening, our unemployment rate has come down significantly, and our economy is recovering at a robust pace. but if our economy is going to be sustainable, if it's going to be long term, if it's going to be robust, we have to make long overdue investments in infrastructure. globally, the united states now ranks 13th in infrastructure. in every state we have roads and bridges, tunnels, water systems that are crumbling or aged. just in my little state of delaware, we have more than 200

miles of highway deemed in poor condition. and as the climate continues to change, low-lying states like mine are particularly susceptible to increased damage. we had more than ten extreme weather events causing up to $2 billion of damage in the last decade, and a lot of that damaged our infrastructure because it is built right up against the waterways, the coasts, the bays. we have one of the most important railways in the country, the northeast corridor. one day without service on this northeast corridor costs our commit $100 million -- costs our economy $100 million. it happened during super-storm sandy a few years ago. across our state and every state, infrastructure is in dire need of repaver resilience and and upgrading. we are losing our competitive edge and our global competitors like china are outpacing us. that's why i was so encouraged

to see the bipartisan u.s. innovation and competitiveness act pass this body just a few weeks ago. a key piece of it was the bipartisan chips act that recognizes we need to invest in cutting-edge r&d, in semiconductors and in the industries of the future. but we can't move people, capital, products, and ideas if we don't invest in our infrastructure -- the broadband, the highways, the ports and the roads that make us competitive globally. the new federal spending on infrastructure that is the core of the deal announced today is a down payment on rebuilding our roads bridges, fixing our lines and public transit and expanding for-profit and airport capacity. it also includes $47 billion towards climate resiliency, critically needed work to make sure that our infrastructure can sustain the growing storms all across our country. i think this is a

once-in-a-generation opportunity to put america on the right track, and exactly at a moment when the leaders of china and russia are telling the world that american democracy can't work, that the riot that occurred in this building on january 6 is foreshadowing the collapse, the failure of american democracy. it is important for us to show our citizens here at home and our competitors abroad that american democracy still works and that we can deliver meaningful solutions for our states, for our country, and for the world. there's a lot more for us to accomplish on president biden's agenda and we'll have to move that forward. but i think this is a day for us to celebrate. legislating together and finding a pathway to the house and to the president's desk for the biggest investment in infrastructure of my lifetime. this is a great day for this institution and our country. madam president, i rise today in

this chamber to pay tribute to a dedicated delawarean, a friend who is wrapping up 36 years of public service to our state and our nation. lynn terri pfeiffer, a member of my staff, is retiring at the end of this month. she's been a high-spirited, pure had of hearted presence for us as long as i've known her, and i am deeply grateful to lynn for her service and grateful for her significant contributions. before i say farewell, though, it is only fitting to highlight her long career and offer up some thanks and some thoughts from her friends, family, coworkers and well-wishers. it doesn't start with her more than eight years serving in my offices for the senate in wilmington, delaware. she grew up in a community along the creek where it empties into the river known as claymont,

delaware. she graduated from claymont high school, the same year biden was first equity willed to this chamber, and it was at claymont high school where some members of my staff report she said in good humor that lynn made a name for herself playing a mean clarinet. didn't know clarinets could be mean. lynn's public service career began shortly thereafter. she started a ten-year run with delaware's department of labor, the department of health and associate services, and the division of personnel. after that, her career continued across city, county, state, and federal governments. from 198 to 1992 she worked for mayor dan frawley. she took on responsibilities for our lieutenant governor and now governor john carney and later for paul clark, my successor in new castle, county. paul said it was his good fortune to have hired lynn. she was a shining light in a field of governing service and

an absolute joy to work with. i am privileged to call lynn my friend appeared wish her the best in retirement. governor carney offered similar sentiments saying, when i was lieutenant governor, lynn helped make our office run smoothie and always offered a helping hand to constituents. she's compassionate, hardworking and a good friend, and i am personally grateful for lynn's many years of dedicated service. i wish her and her family all the best in retirement. for more than eight years in my office in wilmington, lynn has seamlessly managed my front office and college intern p program. and i can't tell you how hard a job it is to be the person who answers the phone day in and day out particularly when serving a senator like me who seems to draw all sorts of attention and angry phone calls. so, lynn, thank you in particular for handling all the calls and complaints and concerns of delawareans who call in day in and day out. lynn has remained our beloved gatekeeper, the first person to

greet visitors, someone who has handled sometimes literally hundreds of calls a day. she's known for being reliable and trustworthy. she's highly regarded by my whole team and recognized for her breadth of knowledge of our state. who's who, which call needs to be answered first, who are the morphs and shakers. -- movers and shakers. she remains calm with the constituents. some of the calls can be emotionally difficult. whether assisting someone needing a vaccination appointment or dealing with a veterans benefit question. she's run my internship program flawlessly. during her more than eight years of running that, she has interviewed, hired, and supported more than 150 college interns, a good number of whom have come on to join our full-time professional staff. she is a true force multiplier. several simplify our interns have gone on to be staffed both in wilmington and in washington.

many have gone on to be activists, attorneys, nonprofit leaders, mentors and volunteers. it is a profound understatement to say that my team and i and my wife annie and i will deeply miss lin. we have known lynne going all the way back to their time together in the women's democratic club in delaware when we were young couples and looking forward to some day both being parents of twins. on my current staff, marcus wright who is my outreach coordinator added, lynne is always at the top of her game. as her counterpart in d.c., i learned to lean on they are knowledge and follow her example. she helped me be a better staffer and i know her an enormous debt of gratitude. desiree, one of my seasoned, capable workers says she is ever present and incredibly dependable. my deputy scheduler said line not only helped me through the intern program but i'm getting for interview interns with her.

she's watched me go full sir call during the past four years. brian cunningham, a beloved former staffer said, i always appreciated lynne's warm greetings for the littlest guests to the office. he means his kids. it was lynne who had a stash of snacks and always a kind word. among her coworkers she's learned a lot of good natured nicknames, linny, leonard skinner, others i won't repeat. but she's on the hearts and minds of those who served alongside her in delaware. her dedication goes far beyond government service. she volunteered her time with so many different groups. she's also served as chair of the 22nd district committee serving pike creek and newark for many, many years and was honored with the distinguished service award from the new castle county democrats in 2008 for her tireless service. on the home front her pride and joy include her husband and twin

sons matthew and christopher. we can't forget the behoffed family canine ellie. in her retirement she'll have more time to spend with dennis, matt, chris, and network of friends going all the way to the clay month days. she looks forward to spending her mornings with dennis making him coffee, reading the paper together and staying up late as dennis dozes off trying to finish the daily crossword. she surely will have more time walking around the neighborhood and spoiling her dog with treats. she loves animals and wants to use her new found time to volunteer to help service dogs and others support animals. the famous sufficient jet when speaking about the fight for women's rights said i always feel the movement is a mosaic. each of us puts in our own little stone and then at the end you see a beautiful mosaic. when looking back at lynne's years of public service, 36 years, this analogy seems apt. she has been a hardworking and head strong person, someone who has done incredible things,

often behind the scenes and helped create her own great mosaic through her decades of dedication and service to our community, our city, our county, our state, and this senate. whether it was throwing her support behind joe biden amid a senate reelection run or helping constituents in my office or the hundreds of folks she has trained and recruited and mentored, lynne's mosaic will last long and reach far leaving her mark on delaware for many, many years to come. she will undoubtedly continue to accomplish good and meaningful things, finding those moments in small pieces of colored stone or glass or ceramic and putting those in place adding to her ongoing mosaic of life. in closing through her career, her volunteerism, her civic activism, lynne has made a real difference. i can't thank her enough for her first class dedication and friendship. she will be deeply missed in the senate and filling her shoes will be near impossible. lynne, thank you. best of luck in all your future

endeavors. you're treasured as you celebrate the next chapter of your life. thank you, madam president. with that i yield the floor. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from texas is recognized. mr. cornyn: madam president, dating back to his time as a member of the senate, president biden, then-senator biden, frequently shared a piece of advice from his dad. quote, don't tell me what you value. show me your budget. i'll tell you what you value. he's not wrong. we've heard countless iterations of the same message from president biden. actions speak louder than words. talk is cheap or as we say in texas, sometimes someone is all hat and no cattle.

i want to take president biden up on his advice. we spent plenty of time hearing what his values are. he's talked about the importance of rebuilding our economy following the pandemic. we all agree with that. restoring public trust in government. check. protecting low and middle-income families from tax hikes. check. and standing up to russia and china, the two greatest threats to the world order. these are priorities shared by americans with diverse political views, and they're critical goals that any president, republican or democrat, should have. but we don't have to take the president at his word when he talks about the force of each of these -- importance of each of these things because we have his budget. we have a written plan from the president of the united states outlining how his administration wants to turn his spoken intentions into concrete action.

so based upon president biden's budget, what does he value? it just takes a quick glance to see that responsible spending is not one of the things that he values. the overall price tag of the president's budget is a whopping $6.4 trillion. even with the president's massive tax hikes, the united states would still be running more than a trillion dollar deficit each year. it would only take two years for our debt burden to reach the highest level in american history surpassing even world war ii era debt. as a reminder, the government has spent a massive amount of money over the last 15 months as we know. much of it was a necessary investment in our fight against covid-19. on top of that funding, though, our democratic colleagues circumvented the bipartisan legislative process and added an additional $2 trillion on a host

of partisan pet projects. only about 10% of which related to covid-19, even though that was the caption on the bill, a covid-19 relief bill that was only 10% covid-19. now, perhaps nobody expected the president to dramatically cut spending and solve our national debt problems in one go. but this is not a time after trillions of dollars of necessary covid-19 spending to go on another unrelated spending spree, especially once you see where all the money is going. once again this is his budget. these are his values. one of the most critical lines in any president's budget is discretionary spending. for a decade my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have pined for parity between defense

and nondefense spending. as soon as they get unified government, majority in the house, majority in the senate and white house, what do they do? well, they abandon that parity argument and provide a measly 2% to defense spending while providing 16% increase in the president's budget to domestic spending. hardly parity. the federal government simply cannot provide for the common defense without the resources to do so. in the nation of growing threats which we all have acknowledged, china, russia, iran, north korea, you would think that the president would propose a substantial increase in defense spending but he proposed a whopping 2%. now, compare that to the department of education where the president's budget calls for a 41% increase, a 28% increase for the department of commerce,

and a 22% increase for the environmental protection agency. well, when you adjust for inflation, madam president, the small increase for defense spending actually represents a decrease. the department of defense isn't the only national security agency that the biden budget expects to do with less. even with the hum humanitarian crisis on our border, the department of homeland security remains flat. once again after inflation, that will represent a decrease in spending over the current year. customs and border protection personnel are working overtime to take care of unaccompanied children, to stop dangerous drugs from crossing our border, and to enforce the laws that we in congress have passed. they need more support to handle the situation in a fair and humane way. cutting already thin resources

for the entire department will only make the circumstances at the border more dangerous for law enforcement, for local communities that are being overrun by the huge numbers of people coming across the border, and danger to the migrants themselves. if this $6.4 trillion budget doesn't support our most urgent priorities, what does it support? what priorities are so critical that they supersede the need to support our national security and protect our borders? well, for one the administration would double the size of the internal revenue service. i'm sure that's good news to every tax paying american. the president has called for increasing the number of i.r.s. agents by 15% a year for the next decade. we've previously seen the damage that a politically motivated i.r.s. can do. we saw the apparent leaking of

taxpayer information recently that is supposed to be confidential by law. and we can remember the i.r.s. targeting controversy under the obama administration. bureaucrats at the i.r.s. subjected conservative groups that they disagreed with politically or ideologically to a different level of scrutiny than left-leaning groups. and unfortunately, with this sort of huge investment in the i.r.s., it looks like the biden administration simply wants to weaponize the i.r.s. once again. but that's just the start of it. a massive portion of the president's budget stems from two of the programs he's already told us about. one being the $2.6 trillion american jobs plan, which relies on a very generous interpretation of the word infrastructure. and it reads like the green new

deal 2.0. more than $200 billion to build or retrofit more than two million affordable and sustainable places to live. a civilian climate corps and unrealistic 100% renewable electricity by 2035. his budget includes a range of other spending to address climate change, including over a billion dollars to help other countries, not americans, not the united states but other countries to lower their emissions. i'm sure china will be glad to take our money while continuing to build coal-fired power plants to meet the demands of their growing economy. then there's a broad range of spending for president biden's $1.8 trillion so-called american families plan. you've got to love the names of these pieces of legislation, which includes everything from universal preschool and free

community college to mandatory paid leave policies and using the tax code to disguise more washington spending. if you read through the president's budget which as he said reflects his values, you see the incredible way that president biden is simply caving in to the radical left. mothers are no longer called mothers. they're now called birthing people unbelievably. well, it's one thing for far-left activists to use these kinds of terms on twitter, but it's entirely different to diminish the role of women in an official government document. women are more than birthing people, madam president. and i think it's insulting to women to characterize them or define them by that. the president doubled down on the woke ideology by proposing

taxpayers funding for abortion. we know abortion is enormously controversial in our society, but this is a jarring break from a decades long bipartisan consensual ban provided by the hyde amendment. it also stands in stark contrast to the views of most americans. the majority of americans say they oppose using taxpayer dollars to support abortions because they are morally or religiously opposed to the practice. adding to the list of absurdities is a massive expansion of welfare. we already know under the covid-19 relief bills, the administration has argued in favor of paying people more not to work than they would work -- earn if they did work. a number of governors have refused the $300 weekly supplement because of their concern that this was actually

discouraging people from returning to work and we're hearing from employers all across the country that it is hard if not impossible for them to find the workforce they need to get the economy growing again. business owners in my state across the country are already struggling to find a reliable workforce following the unemployment benefits that our democratic colleagues insisted upon. we can't continue to discourage americans from going back to work because our economy will never recover if we stay on that path. overall the president's budget would dramatically increase the size of government and the role it plays in our everyday lives, especially with education. as my friend senator tim scott has said, putting washington even more in the middle of americans' lives from the cradle

to college, is that really what the american dream is all about? more and bigger government intervening in our lives, denying us the freedom to make our own choices and to seek our own way? well, it's no wonder that the white house rolled out the president's budget so quietly. you know,frequently a lot of this happens on friday afternoons, after the press has left and nobody is paying much attention. so while president biden has told us what he values over and over again, his budget actually speaks to much more. this is not the plan of someone who's fighting for a strong national defense and a swift economic recovery. this budget prioritizes climate justice over american military service members. it further hampers our economic

recovery at the expense of hardworking taxpayers, and it prioritizes the redistribution of wealth over the process expect of -- prospect of economic growth, which would lift all boats. and it digs the united states deeper and deeper into debt, creating a massive financial pit that our children and grandchildren will have to dig their way out of. we're writing the checks that they will pay the bills, and that i believe is immoral. it's all well and good to tell the american people that you value the same things they value -- freedom, security, prosperity -- but this, which in president biden's own words, reflects his values, this is into the blueprint to rebuild america. this is indeed strong evidence that president biden has bowed down to the woke political left in his own base and is ready to

bury the united states and future generations with unprecedented debt. when he released this budget, president biden said, where we choose to invest speaks to what we value as a nation. madam president, the president of the united states has made clear what he values. the nation, it's future, it's prosperity, its security -- not much. madam president, i yield the floor and i'd note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. lankford: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma is recognized. mr. lankford: i ask unanimous consent to put an end to the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. lankford: i often come to this floor to be able to speak about issued of the day, agreements that we have, -- disagreements that we have, ways we can solve the problems of the nation. today i come to tell a story. 1774, an englishman met benjamin

franklin, spent a lot of time together just in conversations and franklin convinced this young sailor and writer and young friend to move to america, to move to his hometown, to philadelphia. a few months later, 1774, he did. franklin saw something in this young man that no one else saw; that englishman who loved freedom and who saw the glaring injustice of the british crown. two years later on january 10, 1776, wrote a short pamphlet that changed the course of history. the man's name was thomas payne and the short work that he wrote was called common sense. it was the first publication that declared we should call for independence for thesecolonies. it didn't include his name because if it included his name, there would be a certain death with a under the from the kippage.

but it made the case for freedom for each person, for an elected government rather than a monarchy in the case of religious liberty. in short, he made the case for the united states of america. he wrote these words -- the cause of america is in great measure the cause of all mankind. many circumstances have and will arise which are not local but universal, and through which the principles of all lovers of mankind are affected. in the event of which their affections are interesting. he wrote about the rule of law and how that would be different than living under a monarchy, and he challenged the young colonists to be able to pursue more. he wrote, but where some say is the king of america? i tell you, friend, he reigns above and doth not make havoc of mankind like the royal brute of

great britain, yet he may not appear to be imperfect. proclaiming the charter, let it be brought forth placed into divine law the word of god. health a crown be placed on which the world may know that so far we may approve a monarchy that in america the law is king. for as in absolute governments, the king is law, so in free countries the law ought to be king. and he wrote, as to religion, i hold that this this indisputable government, i know of no other business which government has to do their whim. suspicion is the companion of mean souls, he wrote. and he said it affords us a larger field ford our christian kindness where we were all one way of thinking, our religious dispositions would want matter for probation and on this liberal principle, i look to the

various denominations among us to be like children of the same family, differing only in what is called their christian names. he shared a lot of great ideals and common sense. he challenged the colonists to dream of an america that would set the example for the world. thomas paine's ideas weren't all great. he wrote a long section in common sense saying that when we form our own constitution, we should take these 13 colon niece and we should elect a president and alternate among each state so each state would in turn have a different president for the whole group. it's a fairly terrible idea that we never implemented. but this passion about the law being king, we did. this passion about religious liberty, we did. this passion about america would be the example to all mankind,

we did. 150,000 copies of "common sense" were printed. that is an enormous number for that time period. on that january day when the first printings of "common sense" started being passed around the colonies, it famed the flame of that spark, freedom in the hearts of the colonists. by june 11, 1766, congress had appointed a committee of five to draft the declaration. john adams of massachusetts, bing minute franklin of pennsylvania, thomas jefferson of virginia, robert livingstone of new york and robert sherman of -- i think two redheads in that group. the declaration ended with this simple paragraph -- we're familiar with that declaration. it said, we therefore the representatives of the united states of america, in general congress assembled appealing to the supreme judge of the world

for the rhesussitude of our intentions do in the name and by the authority of the good people of these colonies solemnly publish and declare that these united colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent states. and it ended with, and for the support of this declaration with a firm reliance of the protection of the divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. and they gave that all. john hart, one of the signers of the declaration from new jersey, ended up hiding in the woods that december of 1776 just a few months later while the soldiers hunted him across the countryside. he died before the war's end. richard stockton also of new jersey wasn't so lucky. he was dragged from his bed, thrown into prison, treated like a criminal. his home was looted, his fortune

stripped away. thomas nelson of virginia, he commanded the militia and served as a governor during the revolution. he had to instruct the artillerymen to fire at his own house when the british started using it as their headquarters. nelson used his personal credit to raise money for the cause. the revolution left him in distress. he was unable to ever recover what he had lost. thomas hayward, arthur middleton, south carolina sirens were captured when the british seized charleston. they spent the rest of the time in prison. they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. on that december, when all this was going on to all these signers of the declaration,

thomas payne wrote again. this time he wrote directly to the patriots serving with george washington in the freezing winter. on december 23, 1776, thomas payne wrote these words -- these are the times that try men's souls. the summer soldier, the sunshine patriot will in this crisis shrink from the service of their country. but he that stands by it now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered. yet we have this consolation with us that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. what we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly. it is dearness only that gives every living thing its value. heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods, and it

would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated. there's a good thing for us to be able to stop and reflect on these simple words, what we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly. sometimes i am afraid that as we approach the fourth of july each year we have forgotten the sacrifices of previous generations. in our time period and in this wealthy moment in our nation's history, we seem to have esteemed too lightly what was obtained too cheaply and forget the great sacrifices of the past. generation after generation of american history has set an example of how we have worked for a more perfect union, generation after generation has

served each other and the children that come after them so that they could have a better future. it is our generation's turn. the generation that i speak of could have never dreamed of the capitol that stands on this hill. the generation that i speak of could have never dreamed of 50 states that would cover this continent. but they did dream this because it's in thomas paine's introduction, the cause of america is in great measure cause of all mankind. this fourth of july we should recommit ourselves to the cause of freedom, the future of our nation, and the service to our children and the children not yet born. we are still a great nation conceived in liberty, born to greatness, if we are willing to work and sacrifice and give for

each other. no generation in the history of the world has inherited more than we have. no generation. should not receive it too cheaply or hold it too lightly. ironically, as i end my story, an english man became a writer and the inspirer of a nation. i must tell you the end. thomas paine died a bitter and broken man. he remained the revolutionary and a fighter. he could never stop searching for the next revolution. he went off to france to be able to support the french revolution and almost lost his head for it, ended up in prison there. he came back to america and determined that george washington wasn't as loyal as he

was, and he spent his last years writing against president washington and that he was the real traitor and he wasn't strong enough. he ended up dying alone, isolated, rejecting his faith and a bitter man. fellow senators and fellow americans, the war's been won. freedom, that gift has been passed on to us. let's protect it. let's cheer risch -- let's cherish it. let's pass it on. each generation should be passionate about passing on that to the next generation. that's why on this fourth of july, it's not just a day off, it's not just a day to be at the mall, it's not just a great day to be at a lake. it's a great day to contemplate how you will serve our nation in the days ahead in this generation and how you can pass on the freedom that we have to

our children. our nation still needs people who will build on the foundation of liberty. we need writers and soldiers and moms and dads. we still need people that will run for city council and school board, people that will pick up trash in the neighborhood, people that will march in a protest, then intentionally go love people and work for reconciliation of broken relationships. we need people who will start new businesses, give to nonprofits, get involved in a church, and love their neighbor as their self. we are free. as the bible says in first peter chapter 2, we should live as free people but not use our freedom as a cover-up for evil. those of us who have freedom should help others to live in the same freedom we have, to

serve with joy. that's the legacy that was passed to us. that's the legacy we should pass down. i yield the floor.

a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from alaska is recognized. mr. sullivan: madam president, it's thursday. it's my favorite time of the week. i get to come down to the senate floor typically every thursday and talk about an alaskan who's doing something amazing for their community, their state, maybe even their country. heck, this one is kind of world. what i refer to as the alaskan of the week -- love doing it. we have a really special alaskan of the week this week who i'm going to talk about. lydia jacoby, a very special 17-year-old who is from sue ward, -- from seward, alaska. we're so excited about this.

those of you who have been following our alaskan of the week speeches might notice this is the first new poster board we've had ever. this is the poster board of the alaskan of the week for lydia, because we're so excited about her. but before i talk about lydia, i always like to say a little bit about what's going on in alaska. a lot of people always ask about the light, curious about the light in the summer, particularly as we just had our summer solstice. if you want to come up and really see, come on up. we're open. we'd love to have you. trip of a lifetime. if you're thinking about coming to alaska, come to see it yourself this summer. every american should come on up. but i'll give you a hint on the light that's happening right now. if you were in seward, alaska, where lydia is from, the sun will rise at 4:33 a.m. and set

at 11:26 p.m., with a loss of just 36 seconds from the summer solstice, which occurred a few days ago. so that's a lot of sunlight. it doesn't really get dark when the sun goes down. it's a great time to be in the state, come on up. great time to be in alaska. i can't wait to get home for the recess, our fourth of july. lots of sun, lots of excitement. and there's particularly a lot of excitement around this young intrepid alaskan, lydia, who on tuesday in omaha, nebraska, swam the second fastest time in the world in the women's 100-meter breast stroke finals in the olympic trials. she's the second-fastest breast stroker in the world, and she's

only 17. this singed her spot to represent the united states in the summer olympics in tokyo. madam president, this is an incredible and, we'll admit it, rather unlikely story that we're all so proud of in alaska. now with regard to the olympics, alaskans typically punch way above our weight. winter olympics, we really, really punch above our weight with many, many alaskans making the olympic team for the winter olympics every four years. we've done well in the summer olympics as well. olympic veteran rugby player alan kentler will be competing this year and shortly we'll be learning if allie oskander, really an amazing young woman,

steeple chase champion and another incredible athlete, will be in the olympics this year. we're going to learn soon. but we've never sent a swimmer to the olympics. you don't always equate alaska and swimming. she'll be the first, and alaskans across the state are cheering on lydia. so let me tell you a little bit about this remarkable young woman. her parents, leslie and richard, are both boat camp captains. leslie is the educational coordinator for the marine science explorers program at the kenai tour. rich is a maritime instructor at the alaska vocational technical center, what we call avtech. by the way, a little aside, avtech does great work. i've really enjoyed my visits there, so rich keep up the

great job there. he's also guide for arctic and antarctic trips. so that's mom and dad. they moved to alaska -- they moved to alaska when lydia was nine years old. richard came to the state in 1992, fresh out of college. and like so many, they fell in love with the state and stayed. they raised their daughter, as i mentioned, in the town of seward, alaska. a little under 3,000 people there, just hours south of anchorage, nestled between resurrection bay and soaring mountains. its motto is alaska starts here. i love seward alaska, going to get there as much as i can. it's known for stunning landscapes, a strong, generous

community, amazing people. if you're visiting alaska, you've got to go to seward. so leslie and richard sign lydia up for swim classes when she was just a toddler. she joined the swim club when she was six years old. when she was ten, she was selected for the alaska swim zone team. state qualifying meets allowed her to go on trips. in between all this, she was a musician, learning to play the guitar. she played at folk festivals. she was also in theater and in track, all-around great athlete, all-around great young woman. as she excelled at swimming, her parents continued to be, in their words, quote, surprised and amazed. obviously she has a deeply competitive streak, but you wouldn't know it when you meet her. her parents were surprised, quote, in the right setting, that streak can really be turned on, rich said.

when she has a lousy race, she just shrugs it off. her dad remembered one of her first swim meets when halfway across the pool she inhaled some water. she jumped out, didn't want to get back in. well, she's back in, as her dad said, she's come a long way. one of her coaches, solomon damiko, describes her as, quote, kind, quiet, and confident. he said she has an intense fire and when she sets her mind to something, like the olympics, she goes for it. now, neither of her parents pushed her too far. they wanted the drive to come from her, not them, but it certainly did come from her. solomon, her coach, is a former marine and athlete. alaska is full of intense runs,

and one of the most challenging is in seward, alaska. it's during the 4th of july. it's a 1.5 million climb almost straight up and straight back down, mount marathon. he's run this 24 years in a row. that's tough, solomon, her coach. solomon really didn't know much about swimming when he started coaching the small seward swim team. in fact, seward, alaska, doesn't even have an olympic-sized swimming pool. but they all worked hard. he encouraged them to be the best that they could be, to enjoy life, but to also lift weights. strength, solomon said, is needed to swim well.

especially breaststroke. lydia swims five to seven days aweek. she lifts weights about three hours a week and as solomon said you want athletes to be outcom driven. she fell in love with all the hard work. no one was going to give her a hard time if she missed practice or a session. but every single opportunity she had to swim, she would be there. well, madam president, on sunday lydia will head to hawaii to train with team u.s.a. and then a few weeks later, she'll head to tokyo. now, because of covid restrictions, unfortunately, her parents won't be there to watch in person. her father said it's a bit of a weird thing to send your kid across the world, but she is an experienced traveler and there

are great people involved with u.s.a. swimming. we are over the moon proud of her, her dad said, and so are we. we are so proud of you, lydia. you are a role model for so many aspiring swimmers, not just across alaska, but across the country, so thank you for representing alaska and our nation so well. good luck in the olympics. congratulations on your success and congratulations on being our alaskan of the week. madam president, i ask unanimous consent that my following remarks be put in the congressional record in a separate location. the presiding officer: without objection.

mr. sullivan: madam president, as my colleague from oklahoma, senator lankford, just gave a wonderful speech on the 4th of july, we are all focused on heading had home for the 4th of july, celebrating freedom, celebrating our independence, celebrating liberty. and we all know that that freedom is not free. there is a saying in the korean war memorial etched in stone that says those very words, freedom is not free. the sacrifices of our military are something that all of us are going to be thinking about over the course of the 4th of july

week, weekend as we celebrate and commemorate american liberty, american independence, and american freedom. our military has helped provide us here at home and also importantly abroad. madam president, i had the opportunity to go on a congressional delegation with two of my senate colleagues, senator coons, senator duckworth a couple of weeks ago to south korea and taiwan. and it doesn't matter where you're from in america, when you're democrat or republican, when you go overseas and you go to places like that, countries and places that literally exist because of the sacrifices of the american military, it makes you humble and it makes you proud. south korea, taiwan, vibrant

economies, vibrant democracies and if you know the history, those two places wouldn't be that way if it weren't for the sacrifice literally of tens of thousands of americans. it's no exaggeration to say whether it's in those places or in places at home or in europe or in asia, that the united states has been one of the most powerful forces for liberating humankind from oppression and tyranny than any other force in the world. think about it. hundreds of millions of people across the world and in our own country over the decades has been -- have been liberated by men and women wearing the uniform of the united states. as we contemplate the 4th of july week, weekend, that's

something every american can take pride in and should take pride in. but, madam president, as we all know, freedom is not free. many of us think that defending our nation should be our priority number one as part of our job in the united states senate. budgets are a reflection of an administration's values and priorities. and if you look at this budget, this is the $6 trillion blowout budget of the biden administration where up here you have every single federal agency with double-digit, 20% increases, 40% increases, 15% increases across the board. the two agencies charged with the national security of our nation, the department of defense and homeland security,

in terms of priorities for this administration, are dead last. actually if you adjust the budgets for inflation, these are cuts. almost 3% cut in our military budgets and probably close to 4% to 5% for homeland security. budgets reflect values of administrations and priorities. and this administration right now is prioritizing our military and our national defense dead last. we had the secretary of defense, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff in front of the armed services committee last week. and i showed them this chart, and i asked them, how can you tell the troops that you lead that this administration prioritizes our military and national defense over other

missions of the federal government? they couldn't give a really good answer because there is no good answer. if you look at this chart, if you look at the biden administration's budget, they are prioritized at the bottom. madam president, this is a battle of ideas and when we come back from the 4th of july recess, we're going to have this battle. i know i have colleagues, democrats and republicans. i've spoken to many on both sides of the aisle who fundamentally disagree with this. fundamentally disagree with this. you might remember last summer we had a debate when senator sanders brought forth his, quote, defund the pentagon amendment. that's what he called it. at the height of defunding the police, we had senators saying we're going to now defund the pentagon, 15% across the board cuts to the military. that's what senator sanders

wanted, by the way, senator schumer was a cosponsor of that and now they are in charge of that. majority leader, chairman of the budget committee. and in many ways they are getting what they want, almost a 3% cut to the military. i don't think it's what the vast majority of the united states senators want. so we're going to battle this. we're going to battle this and i'm going to ask my senate colleagues on both sides of the aisle to work with me to reject this. we need to reject this. we shouldn't prioritize our military dead last, which is what the biden administration and, unfortunately, some of my colleagues here are doing. i'd like to end by just noting tomorrow is another anniversary. we're talking about the 4th of july, but june 25 is the 71st

anniversary of the outbreak of the korean war, which was june 25, 1950. unfortunately, not enough americans, in my view, have a lot of knowledge of the korean war. it's even called the forgotten war. i don't think it should be called the forgotten war. it should be called the noble war because americans went to a place they didn't even know to defend freedom, which they did after a hard, difficult, violent struggle. but in the summer of 1950, we lost thousands and thousands of young americans -- young american soldiers, young american servicemen. why? because they were not prepared to fight. we went from 1945, having probably the most for formidable

military in the world to five years later, because of defense cuts, because of lack of leadership by civilian and military leaders in the united states, a military that could not fight, a military where we lost thousands of young american soldiers because they weren't ready because budgets had been gutted. madam president, we can never allow that to happen again. and as we head into the 4th of july weekend to celebrate the 4th of july and our hard-fought freedoms and liberty, we need to look at this budget, come back here and say to the president and others, we are not -- we are not going to prioritize the national security of our nation last.

i yield the floor. a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from maine is recognized. mr. king: madam president, i rise to talk about a moral obligation and a national security obligation. we are leaving afghanistan after 20 years, the longest war in this country's history. during the entirety of that 20 years, there were brave people in afghanistan, afghanistan people, who helped us, who were translators, who were guides, who assisted us in the struggle against terrorism and in the struggle against the taliban. and as we leave, those people are in grave danger. the taliban has made no secret of the fact that they are in grave danger. they have already started killing them. if we leave without providing

for the safety of those people, providing them a way to maintain their lives, it will be a stain on this country that will exist for generations. not only is it a moral and ethical obligation, it's a national security obligation, because if we don't take care of the people who took care of us, who is going to come to our aid the next time? who is going to come to the aid of the americans who turned their backs on those who risked their lives on behalf of this country, the answer is no one. so this is not only an ethical and moral obligation, this is a matter of national security in terms of our standing in the world and our ability to work with allies and others against adversaries of this country and other countries in the world. the average time i'm told it now

takes to process the paperwork for one of the people that we're trying to get out of afghanistan through the special visa program is 600 days. we're going to have a military presence in afghanistan less than 90 days. there's a mismatch there. we've got to take steps to protect these people. now, maybe it's surging -- we've talked about military surges. let's surge some paperwork, people, to get this work done faster. but i don't believe we're going to be able to do that. now, by the way, i'm not saying we open the door to everyone. there are 18,000 people on tear list. that's not to mention their families, that we just open the door and say everybody come here. because as we know, afghanistan has been the home to very dangerous terrorist groups, al qaeda, isis, and others. so we do have to have some

processing. but we've got to be able to process these people in a way that protects us in terms of our national security, but also gets them out of harm's way. one possibility -- and i'm delighted that just a few hours ago the president mentioned that he's going to be working with other countries to find a safe place to move these people while we're doing the processing. i think that's exactly what we have to do. we can't just hope that when we leave in august or -- september 11 is the deadline that the president has established, that we just hope the taliban won't take over kabul. the taliban won't take over other regions of the country and start murdering the people that helped us. this isn't a speculative problem. this isn't something we think may happen. they've told us it's going to happen. i learned all my life, believe people when they tell you what they're going to do.

and this is one of those situations. we know what's coming. and if what ends up coming is a blood bath, that blood is on our hands. i've talked about the national security, but i think more important, this is a moral and ethical obligation. to meet the safety needs of those people that helped us. i've had friends who have fought in afghanistan and at the are agonized about this. they're agonized about what's going to happen to people that they know that they've worked with that have put their lives on the line for america, what's going to happen to those people when we leave. this is a moment of tests for this country. this is a trial for us. and history is going to judge us as to how we meet this test. and it's -- this isn't something -- we're not talking about landing a man on the moon or some kind of terrible

technological challenge. this is just putting resources in the right place and making the arrangements to take care of these people. it can be done. it can be done. and if it isn't done, shame on us. i know that's a phrase that's often use, but it fits in this case. if we don't protect those who protected us, shame on us. on december 1, 1862, abraham lincoln came to this capitol to talk about the course of the civil war and what was happening and he was trying to move the congress out of some -- the politics as usual as they dealt with this extraordinary crisis. his final words echo over the last hundred-plus years. and i think they apply exactly today. here is what abraham lincoln said. fellow citizens, we cannot

escape history. we of this congress and this administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves. no personal significance or insignificance can spare one or the other of us. the fiery trial which we now pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the latest generation. this is a test of the moral integrity of this country. we must, we must defend those who have defended us from a peril that we know is imminent. this fiery trial through which we pass this summer will light us down. we in the congress and the administration, as lincoln said, will light us down in honor or

dishonor to the latest generation. mr. president, i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. reed: thank you, mr. president. i first ask unanimous consent that brittany phifer, a coast guard fellow in my office be granted the privileges of the floor for the remainder of this congress. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reed: thank you, mr. president. i would also ask unanimous consent that savannah johnson, an american political science associate in my office be granted the privileges of the floor until we recess in august. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reed: thank you, mr. president. let me commend the stirring and thought provoking words of my colleague from maine, senator king, about our responsibility with respect to those who aided and assisted us in afghanistan and the status of this special immigrant visa program. i think we have to begin with

the decision to leave which put these individuals at risk. in many respects, president biden's hands were tied from the outset with regard to our policy in afghanistan. he inherited a flawed agreement from the trump administration which required the united states to withdraw all military forces by may 1 in exchange for the taliban's agreement not to attack the u.s. and coalition forces and to constrain al qaeda from using afghanistan as a safe haven. it does not appear that the taliban have observed many of the conditions of this agreement, but we have observed the condition of leaving promptly. the president originally set a date of september 11, but military personnel have been able to rapidly redeploy and

within weeks we should be moving all of our military personnel. the manner in which this agreement was reached was also deeply flawed. it was negotiated exclusively between the trump administration and the taliban, keeping our allies -- even the afghan government out. president trump's go it along rush to the exit mentality led to a deal with the taliban -- where the taliban emerged as a key benefactor and the united states and our allies won very little. while the taliban is held to the condition of not attacking the united states or its allies, as i indicated before, the remaining conditions were virtually unenforceable. by any measure the taliban has clearly violated the spirit of the agreement as overall violence inside afghanistan has steadily increased over the last year. the taliban has also not made clear that it will constrain al

qaeda as required by the agreement. and during this transition period, the taliban has gained enormous momentum on the battlefield. as "the washington post" recently reported, taliban commanders motivated by their battlefield gains have overrun a number of afghan bases, even as u.s. air support for the afghan army has dwindled and set up numerous check points along the main highways leading in and out of kabul. at least 24 afghan command doughs and -- commandos and police officers were killed in an ambush by the taliban in northern afghanistan just last week. it appears that taliban's tactics will only continue to intensifies a the transition of u.s. and coalition personnel continues, especially as our air strikes decline. according to "the new york times," there have been multiple instances where the taliban -- with the taliban taking advantage of the situation, has been able to negotiate the

surrenders of afghan forces. by their count since may 1, at least 26 outposts and bases have surrendered after such negotiations. violence has increased against the civilian population as well, including a horrific attack against a school outside of kabul, chillingly timed to target teenage girls leaving classes. the taliban's strategies contrasted with peace talks that appear to be going at a glaition yal pace -- glaish yal pace. they have no strategic interest to sit down and discuss power sharing. the government of afghanistan appears to hold a much weaker hand in these negotiations having proven unable to govern in a way that earns the confidence of the people. these concerning political developments are playing out against a backdrop of regional players that should have high incentives to cooperate to ensure stability and security in

afghanistan. however, nations like iran, russia, and china may in fact be working -- to the united states interests and others such as pakistan could be using their influence in a much more constructive manner than they are today. taken together, these dynamics create a highly challenging landscape. if not addressed deliberately, they could cause a cascade of instability both inside afghanistan and across the region. to mitigate such an outcome, we must exercise caution and plan prudently. and again, echoing the comments of senator king, this brings me to one of the most immediate and pressing consequences of the situation. how do we help those whose lives were put on the line because they assisted the united states? there are many press reports of

the taliban threatening afghan civilians who helped us. "u.s.a. today" profiled one afghan interpreter who explained if the u.s. forces leave afghanistan, i cannot guarantee for one minute what's going to happen with me, with my family. these threats cannot be ignored. we must demonstrate that we have the capacity to protect those who have a target on their backs because of their association with the united states. more than that, we must ensure that we continue to secure the irreplaceable assistance of the people who willingly risked their lives to help the united states. the next time our service members are in conflict in a distant land. if we set the example of leaving those who assisted us behind, who will assist us in the future? currently the processing of afghan candidates through special immigration visas or

s.i.v.'s which the state department says is the primary focus may prove too little too late. while the backlog of candidates 18,000 today, it is unclear how many potential s.i.v. candidates will feel compelled to apply as conditions change on the ground. processing applications has been further complicated by a long vetting process, declining security conditions, and a recent spike in covid cases across afghanistan. which has forced the embassy to shut down visa interviews. in order to handle the demand, we must add at least 20,000 additional visas for the next fiscal year and do so immediately and find other ways to further streamline the process as senator king described. we may also come to find that the s.i.v. category does not encompass all those afghans who would likely be targeted by the taliban. we should be identifying others

who may be at risk and start planning to ensure the safety of those who would seek asylum as a consequence of a potential taliban takeover or if control of a country fractures. now is the time to think about creative solutions and importantly, understand what will be necessary to ensure that we live up to our moral obligations. i know full well that the united states is capable of this. we have been publicly assured by the chairman of the joint chiefs general milley and general mckenzie that the military can carry out such an evacuation if directed to do so. we have successfully conducted evacuations of refugee populations in the past, including a significant number of vietnamese refugees in 1975, iraqi kurds in 1976 and kosovo albanians in 1999.

it's imperative we deliver on our promises now. providing safe harbor for these afghans who are most vulnerable is front of mind but we must also ensure that there is a planning process across the board to ensure success following the transition of our military forces. and i'd like to quickly highlight several key questions. first, can the united states and its allies and partners continue to constrain the threat from terrorist groups like al qaeda and isis that would seek to use afghanistan as a base for operations? the biden administration has discussed its intent to conduct over-the-horizon operations, but we need to ensure that we have accounted for this complexity second, how will the united states continue to distribute and oversee aid to the afghan government and afghan security forces? the afghan government remains unable to generate enough

revenue to independently fund its military operations. instead relying almost solely on foreign contributions. we must have robust mechanisms in place to ensure that aid is provided and goes to the intended places. third, how can the international community assist the afghan security forces with maintaining readiness, particularly airpower? after all, international contractors depart the country. again, another term of the dough harass agreement. after 20 years, we have not created add cadre of individuals inside afghanistan who can independently conduct high-level maintenance on its aircraft, which raises serious questions about how the afghans can continue air operations without international contract support. forum, does the international community have real leverage to effect taliban behavior through

political and diplomatic channels? now is the time to understand what levers are available to mitigate a potentially disastrous situation for the people of afghanistan and particularly that of women and girls. fifth, will n.g.o.'s be able to continue activities to benefit the people of afghanistan? there appears to be a lack of coordination, including by the department of defense, to ensure deconfliction methods are appropriately transitioned to the afghan government which puts humanitarians at risk and could delay the delivery of lifesaving assistance to populations in hard-to-reach areas. the time to address these challenges is now. i urge the biden administration to continue to work through these pressing issues and i call upon congress to assist where we can. the consequences of inaction are too grave to risk. we must rapidly increase the

number of s.i.v. visas and we must, along with the administration, plan for all the contingencies that if i've outlined. and with that, mr. president, i would yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from new york is recognized. mrs. gillibrand: mr. president, i rise for the 15th time today to call for every senator to have the opportunity to consider and cast their vote for the military justice improvement and increasing prevention act. this bill would move serious crimes like sexual assault out of the chain of command and put them in the hands of the most capable people in the military -- independent, impartial, highly trained prosecutors. i began calling for the full floor vote on may 25. that was about a month ago. in that month, an estimated 1,36 service members have -- 1,736 service members have been been

raped or sexually assaulted. many will not report the crimes because they lack faith in the system. and yet this vote continues to be delayed and denied day after day, week after week. i've heard opponents of this bill argue that we can't make this change because the military lacks the lawyers necessary to carry out the work. today i would like to address this one unfounded claim. let's look at the numbers. the navy, for example, has an active duty population of just over 330,000 members. their military justice system has 935 military lawyers or judge advocates known as j.a.g.'s. that number includes more nan 100 special litigators and 85 at the o-6 level j.a.g., which means the colonel or above commanders. and last year that -- they completed just 78 general

court-martials which are usually cases involved in serious felonies that our bill discusses. now, let's look at the civilitiian counterpart. take the san diego county district attorney's office. san diego county has a population of 3.3 million people. to serve that population, the d.a.'s office has just 300 prosecutors who handle 40,000 cases a year. so, the navy has one-tenth of the population but three times the lawyers. in total, our armed services have just over 1.3 million members and more than 4,000 j.a.g.'s. the issue with our military justice system is not that it lacks the lawyers. it is that it does not entrust the most serious crimes to the people who are most professional and trained to address them. in fiscal year 2020, the armed services completed 720 general court-martials and in fiscal

year 2019, they completed 895 general court-martials. if 300 prosecutors in san diego county can handle 40,000 cases a year, i trust that more than 4,000 j.a.g.'s in our military -- some of our nation's best and brightest -- can handle 895 general court-martials i have trust in those military lawyers' ability to handle these cases because they are in fact already working on them. this reform would not give them more work. instead, it would relieve them of the time-consuming work it takes to get a commander properly briefed on a case and allow them to make decisions on those cases instead of just making recommendations to commanders. in short, making this reform would not require finding a host of new lawyers to do this work or to overtax the lawyers our military already has. any claims otherwise are nothing more than a delay tactic. the military justice improvement

and increasing prevention act will deliver results our service members and their families deserve. it is supported by the experts, by service members, and by a bipartisan, filibuster-proof majority of senators and it is time we bring this to the floor. i ask unanimous consent that the shall at a time to be determined by the majority leader in consultation with the republican leader, the senate armed services committee be discharged from further consideration of s.1520 and the senate proceed to tits consideration, that there be two hours for debate equally divided in the usual form, and that upon the use or yielding back of time, the senate vote on the bill with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: is there an objection? mr. reed: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island is recognized. mr. reed: mr. president, once again i object to the senator's request for reasons i have previously stated.

but in addition, mr. president, on tuesday night secretary of defense austin release add statement conferring that he had received the independent review commission's recommendations and that the administration would work with congress to remove the prosecution of sexual assaults and related crimes from the military's chain of command, a recommendation and outcome i agree with. i have made that clear for weeks now. and this statement makes it clear that the argument before us is not about removing sexual assault or crimes connected to sexual misconduct. the argument is about removing felonies like barrack larceny, destruction of government property of a significant value, crimes that have been handled by the military chain of command effectively for years and years and years.

in addition, secretary austin notably praised the comprehensive nature of the i.r.c.'s assessment across all four lines of effort, not just military justice reform. but, as importantly, prevention, climate and culture, and victim care. the necessity to approach this issue in a holistic and comprehensive manner is vitally important if we want to actually reduce the incident of sexual assault in the ranks. we would be naive to believe we can simply prosecute ourselves out of this problem. that isn't how this will work. accountability is important, but it must be part of a larger reform. i hope we can all agree at that it is far preferable to prevent a sexual assault than to simply prosecute one. i want to highlight secretary austin statement that the department will need new

resources and authority to implement these recommendations and must work with congress to secure additional authorities and relief, where needed, as well as additional personnel. funding and sufficient time to implement. and so as i've said a umin of times already, i intend to include the administration's recommendations that derive from the president's independent review commission in the markup of the defense bill, subject to amendment. colleagues who have dedicated themselves for many years to issues of national defense and are knowledgeable of the ucmj will have an opportunity to make amendments, to make suggestions, to debate this bill in detail, and then the result will be reported to the floor of the senate and all senators although have such an opportunity. that is what we have done

traditionally, particularly when it comes toss significant changes in the uniformed code of military justice. and with that, mr. president, i would reiterate my objection to the senator from new york's request. mrs. gillibrand: mr. president? the presiding officer: objection is heard. mrs. gillibrand: i also commend general austin on his recommendations. he's the first secretary of defense in the last ten years, in the last really 100 years that has said that sexual assaults and related crimes should be taken out of the chain of command, of which i agree completely. he's also acknowledged that it is not necessary for good order and discipline or command control, that the convenienting authority be the -- convening authority be the commander. the convening authority can be the prosecutor, which is our bill. while sexual assaults are handled poorly within the military, so are other crimes when it comes to racial disparity. we have evidence that has been detailed and recorded by the department of defense that if

you are a black service member, you are up to 2.61 times more likely to be prosecuted or proportioned for crimes -- punished for crimes due to racial bias within the military justice system. so if we want a military justice system that's fair for everyone, both plaintiffs and defendants, we need a bright line around all serious crimes. i believe that if you allow trained military prosecutors the ability to review the case files for all serious crimes, more cases and sexual assaults will go forward and end in conviction and then the bias that's seen in other cases will also be reduced. so for the chairman to say that there's no evidence that the command hasn't been doing a good job in other crimes, i would say that's not true. there is a great deal of evidence that there is racial bias in how our military justice system is used at the detriment to black and brown service members.

second, i'd like to say that the commission's recommendations are expansive and excellent and we look forward to the receiving those recommendations. those recommendations may well require additional personnel and additional resources because they are across many lines not just about prosecution. my bill, the military justice improvement and prevention act, does not require more resources or more personnel because it is literally creating a bright line at felonies. while those prosecutors were normally prosecuting those cases, the only change is they get to see the case file first. they get to make a decision as to whether there is enough evidence. so i agree that general austin statements are important and meaningful. i agree that the commission's pork work is excellent. i disagree strongly that the broader reform of a bright line

around felonies isn't needed because it is and it shows in the prosecution of sexual assault and it shows in the racial disparity of convictions and prosecutions and nonjudicial punishment for black service members. with that, mr. president, i yield the floor. mr. president, i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. mcconnell: mr. president. the presiding officer: the republican leader is recognized. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent that further proceedings under

the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: yesterday, president biden announced that his administration would attempt to combat the alarming rise of violent crime unfolding in our cities across our country by making it harder for law-abiding americans to exercise their constitutional right to keep and bear arms. and today, our colleagues on the judiciary committee voted on the nomination of a person the president intends to lead the effort, david chupman was tapped to be the director of the bureau of cholesterol, tobacco -- of alcohol, tobacco, firearms, and explosives. if he's confirmed, this nominee would bring to the job a dangerous and unprecedented hostility to the second amendment. we know it from his record as an antigun extremist, and we know it from the reputation he earned

among a.t.f. veterans as, quote, an activist and a rabid partisan. it should go without saying that these are exactly the wrong motivations to encourage at the helm of the agency charged with firearms enforcement. then again, it should also go without saying that responsible gun owners don't cause surges in violent crime. they actually prevent them. unfortunately, democrats' latest bout of cognitive dissidence on crime didn't begin just this week. let's consider what's unfolded over the past year. last summer, across america, peaceful protests were overtaken by lawless rioters. for nights on end, violence and looting left cities in flames. and in too many state capitals

and city halls, local officials froze under pressure from the left and failed to protect their citizens, their homes, and their businesses. in fact, at every level of government, elected democrats instead rapidly embraced radical calls to defund the police. to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars, states succeeded in gutting local law enforcement budgets and validating the worst stingts of the antipolice agitators. the president of the minneapolis city council called on her colleagues to, quote, imagine a úan, police were told to make due after a cut of $150 million. in seattle, the police department budget shrank by nearly 20%. defunding efforts here in washington were passed by

committee unanimously. the biden administration has amplified these efforts by appointing avowed supporters of defunding the police like vanita gupta and kristen clarke to high-ranking positions at the justice department, the agency charged with enforcing federal criminal law. now, we didn't have to imagine the consequences of betraying the brave officers charged with keeping the peace. millions of americans have been living this dangerous new reality literally for months. last year, closed with the nation's sharpest one-year increase in homicides in decades. in new york city, the murder rate jumped nearly 45%. and in my hometown of louisville, it's already on pace this year to exceed last year's all-time record.

new fears arose in communities across the country, and as democrats flirted with their imagined future without police, americans did exactly what you would expect of a free people. they looked to their own defense and exercised their second amendment rights in record numbers. the f.b.i. processed nearly 40 million background checks on gun purchases last year, shattering previous records, and nationwide, 40% of the guns sold last year were purchased by -- listen to this -- first-time buyers. in particular, members of racial minority groups joined the ranks of gun owners in record numbers. so let's review. in city after city, powerful democrats vocally refused to uphold their responsibilities to protect public safety. violent crime filled the void. against this backdrop, the american people chose to defend

themselves by exercising a core constitutional right. but now as democrats at the state and local level play politics with public safety, democrats here in washington want to make gun ownership in america more burdensome than ever. prominent voices on the left, including some of our colleagues, fan the flames of a dangerously misguided experiment and law-abiding americans are paying the price. here in the senate, republicans have been focused all along on making american communities actually safer. it's why we supported tim scott's efforts to pass police reform that empowered law enforcement to do their jobs very well rather than federalizing and defunding the police. it's the reason chairman lindsey graham and 46 other republican senators joined me today to demand publicly that the department of justice cease its efforts to restrict the use of

common pistol brace devices by lawful gun owners. we're talking about a plan that would turn millions of law-abiding americans into criminals with the stroke of a pen. it would be an outrageous violation, and we expect d.o.j. to withdraw this attempted confiscation. federal law enforcement should focus on the criminals committing violent crimes in american cities, not on law-abiding gun owners. so republicans will continue to stand for americans' second amendment rights as a matter of public safety and of basic freedoms. now, on another matter. as the senate headed into the june work period, the democratic leader laid out an agenda that was transparently designed to fail, a string of far-left proposals that were not intended to become law or to make a difference in the lives of the american people. they were designed to fail and

provide political theater for liberal activists. and sure enough, the senate did reject democrats' brazen attempt to rewrite the rules of american elections permanently to their own advantage. we did reject their bid to exploit the cause of paycheck fairness to fill the pockets of the trial lawyer and other radical proposals like the one crushing legal penalties on organizations that failed to conform to left-wing social preferences didn't make it to the floor. but let's remember this was never just about policy. if our colleagues actually believed the substance of their plans were viable, they would have submitted more to scrutiny in committee. we know how things work in this body. when a narrow majority actually wants to make a law, that's not what we have actually seen. so, mr. president, senate democrats weren't out to pass any legislation this month.

they are designed -- their designed to fail agenda was to indicate the institution itself was somehow broken. on this count, our friends across the aisle failed spectacularly. see, the framers designed our chamber to be a proving ground, a place where good ideas would rise to meet high standards and bad ones would actually fall flat. so this month our senate colleagues proved the senate is working quite well. we turned away an underhanded attempt to open employers to predatory liability and a hostile takeover of our election system and the whole time productive work continued on bipartisan proposals that are actually -- actually intended to become law. from infrastructure to agriculture, many of our colleagues have been hard at work demonstrating right way to go about legislating.

in the commerce and e.p.w. committees, they approved smart legislation with wide bipartisan votes. this morning on the floor we considered another bill from senator braun that more than half of our colleagues actually cosponsored. as we head back to our home states and take time to celebrate our nation's founding, let's double down on efforts like these and leave designed to fail partisan antics in june. on one final matter, earlier today a bipartisan group of infrastructure negotiators took the results of their efforts down to president biden. it was an encouraging sign of progress after leading democrats had gone out of their way to slow the process. remember, at the first sign of an agreement last night, and then again this morning, both the democratic leader and the speaker of the house made it clear they would hold a the

bipartisan agreement hostage, demanding trillions of dollars in wasteful spending and job-killing tax increases in return for even considering it. the top two democrats literally pulled the rug out from under their bipartisan negotiators with these unserious demands before they had even made it down to the white house. so president biden's show of support earlier today appeared to be a major breakthrough for earning democrats' support. but alas, that optimism was short-lived. less than two hours after publicly dmeng our -- commending our colleagues and actually endorsing the bipartisan agreement, the president took the extraordinary threat of threatening to veto it. it was a tale of two press

conferences, endorse the agreement in one breath and threaten to veto it in the next. less than -- in less than two hours. it almost makes your head spin. in less than two hours, it also makes your head spin. an expression of bipartisanship and then an ultimatum on behalf of your left-wing base. i have no doubt that the president is under enormous pressure from some on the left to deliver a laundry list of radical climate demands. the democratic leader and the speaker have already made it clear they'll do whatever it takes to keep their runaway spending train chugging along all summer. and more and more members of their body are having to contort their positions to keep pace with the expectations of the green new deal fringe.

but, really, caving completely in less than two hours, that's not the way to show you're serious about getting a bipartisan outcome. so, look, i hope our colleagues can recover and get their good-faith efforts back on track. mr. durbin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the democratic whip is recognized. mr. durbin: mr. president, this week marked the official start of summer and by all means it should be renewal for our nation, but as we recover from covid-19, we find ourselves facing another crisis, an epidemic of gun violence in america.

the gun violence we're seeing in america today is devastating and it's the direct result of generations of underinvestment, policy failure and cycles of trauma. yesterday president biden spoke to the nation about this challenge and laid out a clear strategy to keep our communities safe from the scourge of gun violence. the president has called for important reforms to crack down on gun trafficking and gun dealers who willfully violate the law. i agree with this strategy and i'll do everything in my power as chairman of the senate judiciary committee to support it already the administration has worked to rein in the proliferation of untraceable ghost guns. what are these guns? they are guns that can be ordered on the internet, they can be made in component parts with no serial numbers, impossible to trace. we need to issue regular reports on firearms trafficking patterns and trends and promote model

legislation to keep guns out of the wrong hands. these are all important steps and so is the president's call for federal resources to support programs, programs like ready chicago which support dhoas in the community -- those in the community who are most at risk. they help save lives in the city of chicago and they desperately need federal support. president biden made clear yesterday he is committed to this. every monday, sad as it is, the people of chicago awaken to read the heartbreaking headlines about the toll gun violence has taken over the weekend. what was last weekend like in the city of chicago? 52 people were shot. five fatally. young children and babies don't escape this violence. more than 50 children under the

age of 15 have been shot in chicago this year. kadan swan, 1-year-old shot in the head while riding in the car on lake shore drive, michelle adams was shot and killed, 14-year-old savannah quinnterro, was shot and killed by gang members in a neighborhood. they are among more than those who have been shot this year. we're seeing gun violence across the nation. don't believe it is just a problem in blue states. red states face it too. while the shoot -- a shooting can happen anywhere, gun violence has disproportionately claimed the lives of black and brown americans, living in communities where it is often

easier to find a gun than a good-paying job. i visited schools across chicago rand i asked students -- and i asked students if they knew someone shot in those neighborhoods and nearly every child's hand goes up. 90% of chicago's homicides occur in neighborhoods where 60% of the city's youngest kids live an -- and learn. it causes damage that, unlike a bullet wound cannot heal with time alone. science shows us that trauma produces changes that can last a lifetime. i often ask audiences think about your youth, think about one event in your life that you still remember to this day. i hope it was a happy one. i hope it wasn't a sad one. think about the fact that no matter how old you are, something that happened when you were a tiny kid is still very

fresh in your memory. now think about a child who has witnessed a shooting or been the victim of a shooting, that's going to be with him for a lifetime unless we do something. childhood trauma it make it harder for kids to learn and form healthy relationships and it can do serious harm to a child physically, mentally and emotionally, harm that can change their lives. but with the right care and support, kids and victims of gun violence can deal with trauma and rise above it. across illinois, i've seen programs in schools, hospitals, community centers, and churches that provide the nurturing environments and treatment our children experience trauma need to thrive. if we want to end the epidemic of gun violence, we need to invest in community-based solution that end the cycles of trauma. last week i joined senators

capito, duckworth, and murkowski, introducing a bipartisan bill that will invest in those solution, the rise from trauma act. this bill would invest billions of dollars over the next eight years in community-based efforts to support children and families who have endured trauma. this alliance directly -- aligns directly with what president biden said yesterday and what he requested in his american jobs plan. it would help end violence where it begins in environments where kids are neglected, abused and left to defend for themselves and this legislation would have -- doctors, teachers, service professionals, community leaders to help kids who have experienced trauma. i believe the rise from trauma act will help offer long-term solution to the epidemic of gun violence. but we also need to protect our families and neighborhoods in the short term. in addition to immediate steps,

the administration is asking us to address violent crime. i've been working with leaders in my state to make additional resources available. earlier this week senator duck worth be and i -- duckworth and i sent a letter to the governor and how to use more than $ 130 million to help support and protect illinois from crimes. they are available now to help police, the victims, to help the neighborhoods and when we talk about really caring and really wanting to do something to make a difference, i'm sorry that i have to remind the senate that this bill, the american rescue plan, passed the united states senate without a single republican supporting it. not one. not one republican vote. and to most effectively the spike in gun violence, the senate must confirm the director

for alcohol, tobacco, firearms and ex explosives -- and explosives. i couldn't help but listen to the republican leader talk about david chipman. he was considered today, the judiciary committee, 11 democrats and 11 republicans split along party lines on his vote. it was expected. but senator schumer can still bring his nomination to the floor. it's no surprise that republicans opposed him. but let's put it in context for a moment. how many times have you heard a gun debate and you heard someone say, we don't need any new laws, we just need to enforce the laws that we have. don't dream up some new law that's going to burden someone who is an innocent, law abiding gun owner, enforce the laws we

have. what agency do we look to for that? the department of justice and where do they turn? they turn to a.t.f. they keep an eye on where guns are being sold and who is buying them. let's look at the tobacco, alcohol, and firearms agency under president trump. i would like to give you his or her name but i can't because there was no leader. in four years president trump never nominated any single person to head this agency. was it an oversight? an accident? far from it. those who are on the side of increased gun rights at the expense of safety don't want anyone to lead this agency. they want this agency to go away. and david chipman, a man with over 20 years experience in the field who worked for this law enforcement agency risked his life in doing so has been

nominated by president biden to head the agency and the republicans can't stand the idea. the fact that an actual law enforcement agency person who had this experience would lead the agency just drives them wild to think about it and they are opposed to it. and, yes, it's true. he is for gun safety and he's made it clear. let me tell you about a couple of radical ideas he had. he believes that we should keep guns out of the hands of felons and people who are mentally unstable. well, there's a radical idea when it comes to gun safety. so radical that 84% of the american people, some say 90% of the american people, including gun owners, support this idea and so does mr. chipman. if that makes him radical in the eyes to some colleagues, to me he is as mainstream as they come. he believes there are some guns that really have no place in the

ordinary self-defense sporting and hunting world and can only be used as machines for killing. over half the american people happen to agree with him, i do too and for that reason many republicans oppose him and i've heard he's a radical, a zealot. i heard all of these words. he lived his life through the a.t.f. for 20 years, he has the support of law enforcement and deserves the chance to lead this agency and these ideas that he had, wouldn't it be wonderful if the united states senate -- think about that, if the united states senate could pass legislation to require background checks to keep guns out of the hands of convicted felons? the american people want it. we can't touch it. you ask people on the committee, on the republican side, well, what should we do about gun violence some they've got an answer. what is their answer? we need more guns in america. we need more people carrying guns in america.

three -- two or three of the members of the committee today on the republican side, senate judiciary committee, were proud to speak about this issue of concealed carry. one actually said she carries a gun. i don't know if she does it in the capitol building. that's her business. but that's how far it's come. this notion that the solution to gun violence is more guns when 109 people a day are dying in america from gun violence, this isn't happening in other nations around the world. we are unique and we should be embarrassed by this unique situation that we have so much gun violence and gun death in america. president biden made it clear yesterday as well that this notion that he is for defunding the police is is ludicrous. he called for billions of dollars to our police to do their job more effectively and i support it. i want to make sure the police that receive these funds are well trained and administer

justice in a fair way and without the abuses that we have seen with the death of george floyd and other instances. but, yes, invest in that. but have the wisdom to understand that the police need helping hands as well. the police would gladly give the issue of domestic violence over to social workers and psychologists who really could get into this situation and find an effective solution that doesn't risk lives and doesn't endanger the lives of the police. they need a helping hand and we should give it to them. and when it comes to law and order, i hear the republican leader come to the floor and talk about the need for law and order. and i can't help but think that it was just two weeks ago when he was given a chance to support a bipartisan commission to look into the worst lawlessness we've seen in the united states capitol since 1813, when january 6, 2021, thousands coming from

the speech by president trump formed an insurrectionist mob and descended on this capitol. i'll never forget that day as long as i live. yes, we ought to get to the bottom of it. who financed that? who planned that? who was behind that? there are serious questions to be asked and answered. and who stopped the bill with a filibuster from a bipartisan commission asking and answering those questions? the same senator who was coming here a few minutes ago giving a speech on law and order. it doesn't follow. if senator mcconnell believes that we should have law and order, shouldn't it start with the senate chamber and the capitol building? isn't that our first responsibility as elected members? of course it is. and what happened january 6 cannot and should not be swept under the rug. it's interesting to me as i consider the nominees of the biden administration and the reaction on the republican side. mr. chipman was the latest victim of their attacks.

they even went so far, mr. president, as to doctor films so that it reflected the presence of mr. chipman at events he didn't even attend, events he had no business with as a member of a.t.f. that's the links they'll go to undermine the biden administration nominees. i can't help but notice that when it comes to assertive women of color, that really drives many republicans to a level of rage, vanita gupta, kirsten clarke. these women are extremely talented, professional women with amazing resumes who are now luckily serving this nation because of a vote in the senate. but the opposition to them was -- went way beyond anything that was rational or explainable. senator mcconnell said we shouldn't make ownership of a gun more burdensome. i think that's generally right, but if making sure that convicted felons don't own guns

is a slight burden on those who are legally entitled to own guns, i think it's not too much to ask. i'm all for people exercising their second amendment rights, to use guns safely, respe respectfully, following the law, and store them as well in that same fashion. and to ask them to go through a background check to make sure they're qualified is not too much when it saves lives in the process. gun lobby tries to stop the senate from confirming the director for the a.t.f. but we're going to move forward and do it. there hasn't been a senate confirmed director under president trump. in fact, there hasn't been one since 2015. this man, mr. chipman, is extremely well qualified. 25 years of experience, worked in the field in virginia, texas, and michigan. he knows the agency inside and out. he's the right person. background checks, is that too much to ask? i don't think so. we should pass a bill.

in march the house of representatives passed h.r. 8, a bipartisan bill to close the gaps in background check system. we ought to do the same. addressing gun violence is a top priority of the senate judiciary committee. in fact, the committee has already held four hearings on the topic. the first was the day after the mass shooting, the most recent mass shooting in boulder, colorado, that left eight people dead. sadly, unimaginably, listen to this number, mr. president. that was just one of 299 mass shootings in america so far this year. that's more than one mass shooting every single day. what is going on? how can we tolerate that situation in our country? yet during the first hearing on gun violence in our committee, one of the republican members of the committee described the hearing as, quote, ridiculous theater. ridiculous theater.

you want to know what is ridiculous theater? you want to know what it really looks like? it's filibustering a piece of gun safety reform like yiewrchessal background -- universal background checks supported by 90% of the people. it's calling for an enforcement of gun laws already on the books and blocking anyone from being confirmed who will do it. ridiculous theater is tweeting slogans in response to a spike in gun violence rather than coming up with solutions. mr. president, you know as well as i do and maybe even better there have been too many funerals, too many lives lost to the scourge of gun violence. can we get serious for one moment on a bipartisan basis and dedicate ourselves to reducing gun violence and saving lives in america? we have a president who's ready to lead us in that direction. i hope my colleagues on the other side of the aisle will join democrats in enacting legislation to keep america safe. mr. president, i yield the floor.

the presiding officer: the majority whip is recognized. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent the appointment at the desk appear separately in the record as if made by the chair. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to executive session and consider the following nominations en bloc, calendar number 146, 151, 152, 182, 186, 192, 229, 156, 190, and 194. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will consider the nominations en bloc. mr. durbin: i ask consent the senate vote en bloc on the nominations without intervening action or debate and if confirmed the motions to be consider be be considered made and laid on the table all without intervening action or debate. no further motions be in order to the nomination, any

statements related to the nominations be printed in the record, that the president be immediately notified of the senate's action, and the senate then resume legislative session. the presiding officer: without objection. the question is on the nominations en bloc. all in favor say aye. yeas appear to have it. all opposed no? the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the nominations are confirmed en bloc. mr. durbin: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations, calendar 201 through 228 with modification at the desk and all nominations placed on the secretary's desk in the air force, army, marine corps and navy and space forces, that the nominations be confirmed en bloc, the motions to be con considered be considered made and laid on the table with no intervening action or debate. no motions be in order to the nominations, the president be immediately notified of the senate's action and the senate

resume legislative session. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to executive session, the foreign relations committee be discharged from further consideration of the following nominations, 357 as modified by the list at the desk, the nominations be confirmed, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. that no further motions be in order to the nominations, that any related statements be printed in the record, that the president be immediately notified of the senate's action, and the senate then resume legislative session. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar number 76, s. 1662. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 76, s. 1662, a bill to increase funding for the reagan udall foundation for the food and drug administration and for the foundation for the national institutes of health. the presiding officer: is there an objection to proceeding to the measure?

without objection, the senate will proceed. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent the bill be considered read a third time and the senate vote on passage. the presiding officer: without objection. all in favor say aye. those opposed no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the bill is passed. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of s. 2255 introduced earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. 2255, a bill to extend the trade adjustment assistance program for one month. the presiding officer: is there an objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection. dissh i further ask the bill be read three times and passed no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the

senate proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar number 66, s. 272. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 66, s. 272, a bill to amend the federal funding accountability and transparency act of 2006, to require the budget justifications, and appropriation requests of agencies be made publicly available. the presiding officer: is there an objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection. mr. durbin: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the committee-reported substitute amendment be agreed to, the bill as amended be considered read a third time and passed, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the judiciary committee be discharged from further consideration, the senate now proceed to senate resolution 219. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. res. 219 designating may 18, 2021, as

casa gal volunteers day. the presiding officer: is there an objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection. the committee is discharged. the senate will proceed. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motioning to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the committee on agriculture, nutrition and forestry be discharged from further consideration and the senate now proceed to senate resolution 268. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. res. 268 expressing support for the designation of june 2021 as national dairy month and so f fort. the presiding officer: is there an objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection, the committee is discharged. the senate will proceed. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: mr. president, i ask

unanimous consent that the judiciary committee be discharged from further consideration and the senate now proceed to senate resolution 270. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 270, honoring the memory of the fallen heroes of the granite mountain intraagency hotshot crew. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection. the committee is discharged. the senate will proceed. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, kelly amendment at the desk to the preamble be considered and agreed to, the preamble, as amended, be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent the judiciary committee be discharged from further consideration and the senate now proceed to senate resolution 27. the presiding officer: the clerk will reportment. the clerk: s. res. 278279 designating june 21, 2021, through june 25, 2021, as national cybersecurity education week.

the presiding officer: is there an objtion to proceeding to the measure? without objection, the committee is discharged and the senate will proceed. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent the senate now proceed to otoen bloc consideration of the following national resolutions submitted earlier today -- senate resolution 284, 292, 293. the presiding officer: is there an objection to proceeding en bloc? without objection, the senate will proceed en bloc. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent the resolutions be agreed to, the preambles be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, all en bloc. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent the committee on veterans' affairs be discharged from further consideration of s. 1095 and thed? proceed to its immediate consideration. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. 1095, a about toil amend title 38 united

states code to provide for the disapproval by the secretary of veterans affairs of courses of education offered by public institutions and so forth and for other purposes. the presiding officer: is there an objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection, the committee is discharged and the the senate will proceed. mr. durbin: i ask that the bill be considered read a third time. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: i know of no further debate on the bill. the presiding officer: is there further debate? if not, all in favor say aye. all opposed, no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the bill is passed. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent the committee on veterans' affairs be discharged from further consideration of h.r. 2441, the senate proceed to its immediate consideration. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: h.r. 2441, an act to direct the secretary of veterans affairs to expand the rural access network for growth

enhancement program of the department of veterans affairs and so forth. the presiding officer: is there an objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection, the committee is discharged and the senate will proceed. mr. durbin: 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: without objection. mr. durbin: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it adjourn to then convene for pro forma sessions only with no business being conducted on the following dates and times and that l ting each pro forma session, the senate adjourn until the next pro forma session, monday june 28 at 9:00 a.m., thursday, july is it at 11:00 a.m., monday, july 5, at 25:30 p.m., and thursday, july 8 at 12:00 noon. i further ask that when the senate adjourns on thursday, july 8, it next convene at 3:00 p.m. monday, july 12. further that following the

prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed. further, that upon the conclusion of morning business, the senate proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the zaya nomination, that the cloture motions ripen at 5:30 p.m. the presiding officer: without objection. so sorded. mr. durbin: if there is to further business to come before the senate, i ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until monday, june 28, at 9:00 a.m. t.

>> earlier today and the a.m. t. senate education committee had a hearing on something returning to college campuses this fall. will hollowed hear from college and university presidents any student about getting students and faculty say from