and people that explore our nation's past on american history tv here on sundays booktv brings you the latest in nonfiction books and authors. its television for serious readers. learn, discover, explore weekends on c-span2. >> c-span's shop.org is c-span's online store. there's a collection c-span products. browse to see what's new. your purchase will support our nonprofit operations and you have time to order the congressional directory with contact information from members of congress and the biden administration. go to c-spanshop.org. >> the u.s. senate is about to gavel in. today lawmakers will focus on the nomination of jill ruby to be under secretary of energy for nuclear security and administrator of the national nuclear security administration.

the confirmation vote for her is set for 1:30 p.m. eastern. now live lie to the floor . senate here on c-span2. live. the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. the chaplain dr. barry black will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. almighty god, who inhabits eternity, you have given us the gift of this day. we will rejoice and be glad in it. may our lawmakers never forget that they borrow

their heartbeats from you. lord, continue to sustain them and give them all they need to glorify your holy name. may your spirit so move them that they will live exemblare -- exemplary lives. lord, compel them to be just and honest in all their dealings. may they remember that our country is no better than our citizens and no stronger than its commitment to righteousness. we pray in your righteous name. amen. the presiding officer: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to the flag.

i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the presiding officer: the clerk will read a communication to the senate. the clerk: washington d.c., july 22, 2021. to the senate: under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable tammy baldwin, a senator from the state of wisconsin, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: patrick j. leahy, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved.

mr. schumer: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: last night, madam president, the senate took a vote on whether to proceed to a debate on infrastructure. unfortunately, our republican colleagues blocked the senate from taking this first entirely procedural step. i understand that the effort to finish the text of the bipartisan bill has progressed since i announced this vote last week. the negotiators have made significant progress but there is still some outstanding issues. therefore, at the end of the vote yesterday, i changed my response to a no so that i may move to reconsider the vote at a future time. my colleagues on both sides should be assured as majority leader i have every intention of passing both major -- my

colleagues on both sides of the aisle should be assured as majority leader i have every intention of passing both major infrastructure packages. the bipartisan infrastructure framework and a budget resolution with reconciliation instructions before we leave for the august recess. i laid out that precise schedule at the end of june, and i intend to stick with it. a new report by the chief economist at moody's mark standee, hardly a liberal economist, someone who actually served as economic adviser to senator mccain, concluded that both major infrastructure proposals are essential to maximize our economic potential, not just one, both. and together they would give a massive boost to the economy, ease inflation pressures, create jobs, increase productivity, and reduce income inequality. these are incredibly worthy goals. and the senate is going to keep working on both tracks of infrastructure in order to

achieve them. now on another matter, today in the energy and natural resources committee, president biden's nominee to lead the bureau of land management tracy stone-manning will receive a vote to advance her nomination to the senate floor. while it sometimes flies under the radar, the bure bureau of ld management is responsible for overseeing nearly 250 million acres of public lands and 700 million acres of mineral rights, a vast tract of the united states of america. no agency is more important to the maintenance of public lands for public use. b.l.m. will play a huge role, bureau of land management that is, will play a huge role in the fight against climate change as well. over the past four years under donald trump, the agency abandoned its mission, shrunk public lands, targeted our national monuments, and opened up those beautiful landscapes for corporate industrial

development. in short, the next leader of the bureau of land management has a tall order in restoring and protecting america's public lands. ms. stone-manning is exceedingly qualified to take on this important job. after serving on senator tester's and governor bullock's staff, she went on to lead the environmental agency in montana where she was respected not only by conservationists but by ranchers and fossil fuel interests as well. she developed a reputation as an honest broker, someone who is firm in their principles but always also to try and build consensus. and yet the members of the republican minority on the committee are trying to turn this consensus-driven, well respected nominee into another partisan flash point. dredging up a letter she forwarded while in graduate school and claiming it was evidence that she is, quote, an ecoterrorist. the claim is just as hysterical as it sounds.

ms. stone-manning has the full support of the chair of the committee, the senator from west virginia, mr. tester, the senator from montana, and from me. we need someone like ms. stone-manning to manager our public lands. a staunch advocate for conservation but also an honest broker, someone who will repair the damage of the last four years and be a faithful steward of america's national treasures, someone who understands that conservation policy has a critical role to play in the fight against climate change. ms. stone-manning has all of those qualities and i am -- and i look forward to moving her nomination to the senate floor. and i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. mcconnell: i ask that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: with covid-19 cases ticking up all across the country, with some bureaucrats and elected officials actually talking about reimposing various measures on the american people, the biden administration continues to let illegal immigrants pour across our southern border. and reportedly, they are considering loosening our border security even more. remember when the biden campaign's rhetoric and then the biden administration's early actions led to a rush on the border, they tried to wave it

off as a seasonal springtime surge. but of course that wasn't true. the numbers just keep climbing. customs and border protection had more encounters on the southern border in june than they had in may. nearly 190,000 encounters last month alone. the highest number in 21 years. law enforcement is coming across huge groups of hundreds of individuals. with almost three months still remaining in fiscal year 2021, c.b.p. has already encountered more illegal immigrants than it did in the entirety, the entirety of fiscal 2019, which was, of course, before covid. we've exceeded that total with almost three months to go. the biden administration claims they are addressing the crisis by simply speeding up the rate at which they get migrants out

of custody, out of border facilities. as if simply reducing the head count was the goal. of course, that's no solution at all. it's the individuals are simply being released into the interior of our country. orderly legal immigration is part of the heart of the united states of america and always has been, but it simply is not a universal human right for everybody in the western hemisphere who would like a better job or to break our rules and turn up at the border. no country, none, no country in the world could govern itself that way. in fact, this ongoing crisis is sprewell unfair and uncompassionate to the men, women, and children that it continues to entice into the scorching desert sun. border control agents are having to double as humanitarian workers and e.m.t.'s.

they rescue people who get lost, who are at risk of drowning, who have been simply abandoned by smugglers or traffickers. and amidst all this, in the thick of this crisis, the biden administration has spent weeks flirting with ending its title 42 authority, declaring the covid emergency to be finished and over at our southern border and letting even more people stream across. covid is already on the rise again. the border is already in crisis, and the president and his team want to end the emergency safeguards at our border? reimpose covid prescriptions precautions on the american people but end the covid emergency for illegal immigrants? how does that make any sense? meanwhile, our democratic friends here on capitol hill say they want to push a massive amnesty plan into the reckless

spending spree they want to pass later this year on a party-line vote. as if damaging inflation, soaring costs, lower real wages and more debt were not punishment enough for the american people. democrats also want to stuff a massive amnesty plan into their tax and spend spree. it's like they have systemically identified the worst idea for american families on every single issue and set about rolling them into one huge reckless proposal. now, on a completely different matter, last year, on a broad and bipartisan basis, congress passed sanctions that were designed to block russia from completing its nord stream 2 pipeline project. the biden administration recently waived those sanctions to allow the pipeline to move forward. now it appears the

administration has cut a deal with germany that will allow the pipeline to become operational. the initial press reporting about this deal does not inspire confidence that this administration is taking the russian threat as seriously as it should, nor does it indicate that we're standing with our ukrainian partners who are struggling to defend themselves against moscow's aggression. the administration appears to have ignored the border implications of the nord stream 2 project and russia's approach to europe at large. green energy initiatives or promises of diplomatic meetings will not address the real risk moscow passes, not even close. just a couple of years ago, washington democrats were absolutely melting down over their belief that the prior administration was being too soft on russia and leaving ukraine in the lurch.

where is the outrage today? for several years there, my colleagues across the aisle sounded like big-time russia hawks. so i hope they will now join republicans in pressing the administration to explain this curious decision. to explain how president biden intends to impose meaningful costs on moscow for all its misdeeds at the same time they have america greasing the skids, greasing the skids for this putin pipeline. now, one final matter. next week, president biden is set to meet with prime minister of iraq estapa al-khomeni. the meeting comes at an important moment for our shared efforts at peace and security in iraq and the entire region. isis has been significantly weakened in iraq and syria after years of shared efforts, but the terrorist organization remains a

grave threat. and isis is far from the only threat iraqis and the iraqi government are facing. for years, iran has systematically sought to undermine iraq's sovereignty. iran's well-armed proxy militias report to tehran, not baghdad, but they operate inside iraq. these groups have conducted campaigns of intimidation and assassination against peaceful protesters and independent journalists in iraq. the same brutal methods they employ in syria, lebanon, and in iran itself. these iranian-backed militias are also threatening our own american interests in iraq. iran wants to pick fights with a superpower while making the nation of iraq bear the risk. the fact is the u.s. is in iraq at the invitation of their government. we are there to support the iraqis and help the iraqis kill

terrorists and defend their sovereignty. our presence in iraq also helps our operations in syria against isis and al qaeda. again, it's pretty obvious the terrorist threat is not over. remember the disastrous withdrawal of u.s. forces from afghanistan may not simply be felt in that country. a taliban victory and resurgence of al qaeda could embolden jihadists all over the world just as the rise of isis did in the wake of president obama's withdrawal from iraq. as we watch afghanistan descend into chaos and isis continue to lash out in iraq and syria, now is not the time for either the u.s. or iraq to pretend that our shared mission is over. as i have warned again and again, terrorists don't observe our political timetables. they don't pack up just because we lose face or lose focus. so let's hope this administration is already learning from their mistakes in

afghanistan. when the iraqi prime minister visits next week, the white house should provide strong assurances that the u.s. will stand strong with our friends and continue to support our partners who are standing up to terror and to extremism. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the senate will be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. mr. durbin: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. durbin: madam president, america is a nation of immigrants. but for the native americans, the first people who were here, all of us have come to this country at various stages in our family life personally, through our parents, grandparents, and

beyond. and we have built within the confines of our nation an amazing story to tell the world of how such a diverse group of people can come together in one place and make a nation that has an impact on the world itself. that makes it very difficult to understand sometimes why we struggle so much with the issue of immigration. it is so central to who we are, what we have done, what we will become, and yet when the conversation comes around about immigration policy, immigration law, we desemibl into -- desemble into warring factions that get too little or nothing done. mr. president, you would be surprised to know it's been almost 36 years, 36 years since this congress has passed any

meaningful or substantive immigration law. the last real effort was under president ronald reagan. that's not an indication that our immigration system is perfect. it's far from perfect. there are many problems with it, as we look at it in a critical and important way. i look at it from a perspective that maybe is different than some. i am the son of an immigrant. my mother was brought to this country at the age of 2 from lithuania. became a naturalized citizen. was very proud of that fact and raised her three boys to be proud of it as well. just a few steps from this chamber is my office that i have decorated with the naturalization certificate of my mother right next to my desk, a

reminder of who i am, where i came from, and also a warning to anyone coming into the office that this senator feels very strongly about the issues of immigration. and now i have a responsibility as chairman of the senate judiciary committee to actually deal with the laws surrounding immigration. it's not an easy assignment. if we fail for 36 years to come up with a law, it's because there are strongly held views on both sides. yesterday was a good illustration of that. i called for a hearing with my friend and colleague, senator alex padilla, a california senator, on farm labor, farm workers. the reason we wanted to call this was because it was not only timely, but we have received a bill from the house of representatives which they passed on a bipartisan basis to rewrite the laws on farm workers. they did a great job. i want to commend them for the

effort in sending this legislation our way, this bipartisan legislation with 30 republicans joining most of the house democrats to enact it in the house of representatives. and now it's over on our side of the rotunda. it is a timely and important question. we estimate that there are 2.4 million migrants who come to the united states each year to plant and to pick our crops, to milk the cows, to process the food, to work in poultry and meat processing. and without them, these industries would struggle to survive. that's not my analysis. it's the analysis of the american farm bureau and many other organizations that represent agriculture in america. of the 2.4 million who come to the united states to pick these crops, half of them are undocumented. that means that literally they work in the fields picking the

crops that reach our tables, and they could be deported at any minute. the bill that came over from the house of representatives addresses that. here's what it says. it says, if you can prove that you have worked picking crops for at least ten years -- ten years -- and you can pass a criminal background check, we will give you the opportunity to apply for citizenship. but it's not instantaneous. ten years is just the starting point. you then have to give us four years more of working in the fields, and then we'll give you a green card. and in five years more, you could be eligible for legal status in the united states and citizenship. they're going to go through all kinds of reviews and background checks on your path to that

moment. so literally we're saying to farm workers, if you will give us 19 years of your life picking our crops, we will give you a chance to be a citizen. i've just heard that process characterized as amnesty. amnesty. for people who are breaking their backs in the sweltering heat of america with the toughest jobs imaginable, spending 19 years of their life putting food on our table and then passing a criminal background check some call amnesty. i won't. and if you would have listened yesterday to the hearing, you'd understand why even that process, as bipartisan as it was in the house, is in a tangle of politics here on the senate side. two speeches given by members of the republican membership of the committee really told the story.

they started talking not about farm workers picking crops or milking cows or processing our food. they started talking about terrorists, drug dealers, human traffickers, violent criminals coming into our border, across our border. and they rejected the notion that we should give any of them the opportunity for citizenship at any point. they didn't even read the bill. about 19 years of hard work in the fields before you could possibly qualify. they just said, reject it. and when i listened to that, i wondered what they had for dinner last night because it's quite likely that whatever they had, whether it was a vegan diet or one that included meat or other food products, it was on their plate because unwith of these people that they have just

-- because one of these people that they have just characterized as a terroristed has been working day in and day out to make sure there is food on their plate. we heard about a dairy farmer in woodstock, illinois. she and her husband own a dairy farm. that may be one of the hardest assignments in the world. those cows are going to get milked twice a day if if you're going to make a -- if you're going to make a living, and you better be prepared to do it every single day twice a day. she and her husband did it for years, won awards for their work, and now they've just sort of semi-retired into row crops, which is challenging, too, but not like a dairy farm. she said, the thought of continuing our farm was impossible unless we had immigrant labor. the jobs on her dairy farm are tough, demanding jobs. people aren't lining up to apply for those jobs.

they needed immigrants to make it work and they couldn't get it. and there was a fellow that was there yesterday, an extraordinary person. i just met him for the first time. i ran across him by watching television. i said yesterday in the hearing that my appetite for television starts with the chicago bears and goes through baseball, a lot of politics and news, but i never miss, if i can help it, the cbs sunday morning show. and two weeks ago, this man named shane meyers, whose home is in idaho and who farms in oregon growing asparagus, came on the show and did such a remarkable job, i said to my wife, i'd like to get him before my committee. well, he was there yesterday. i told the story again. he told about the asparagus field. there aren't many left in the united states bass it is tough work and -- because it is tough

work and some people just can't make it and how tough it is for him when finally the entire asparagus crop is ready and there are no people to pick the crop. he took his entire production of asparagus and basically said, because i can't clear immigrant workers across the border, 90 of them, to pick my acreage on asparagus, i'm just notifying the p you can in the area, it's -- the public in the area, it's free. come and take it. it is going to rod in the fields if you -- it is going to rot in the fields if you don't. he grew up in oregon or idaho in a community that was half and half. he said, i am a very conservative person politically but how can you say that these people haven't earned their opportunity for citizenship? they work so damn hard and nobody else wants to do this work, and we count on them.

and he said, i just happen to believe that growing these crops in the united states is a good thing. american consumers more and more are saying, we want some standards, we want to know about the chemicals you're going to use on these crops, we want to know about your farming practices. i pay close attention to those in america. other countries that send us those crops don't pay any attention to it. and he made a very, very valid point. and when i think about those workers and how critical they were to him and his livelihood, it's hard for me to sit here or stand here and ignore some of the criticism of this farm workers bill. i want to salute michael bennet of colorado in particular. he's a colleague here. he has time and again been able to mobilize the growers and the farm workers into an agreement on a bill. he did it again. he did it once before. i saw him do it, almost

miraculously, with our gang of eight effort on comprehensive immigration reform seven or eight years ago. now he's done it on this bill. it's amazing. arturo rodriguez, a member of the farm organization. rodriguez was there and he was speaking for the workers again bringing workers from michigan and georgia who were young hispanic women who were working in the fields just a few weeks ago and now are sitting in the halls of congress begging for this legislation. when i think about all that and then hear that work effort, that bill being dismissed by the republican leader this morning as mass amnesty -- mass amnesty, that was the phrase he used -- it saddens me and it angers me.

it saddens me that many of the senators that say these things aren't listening to these farm workers who are giving their lives so that we can have food for our families. tom vilsack was there yesterday, the secretary of agriculture. i like him, voted for him twice to be ag secretary. glad he has the job. he told the story of going to the state of new york, meeting a man who had been a migrant worker picking crops for 20 years. this man had heard about vilsack's arrival and about this legislation that was pending. and he said to the secretary of agriculture, i hope this happens so i can see my family. and vilsack said to him, your family? where is your family? he said, in mexico. he said, i've been here for 20 years picking crops in the united states of america going from field to field and state to state, 20 years, and i haven't been able to see my family in

that time. and vilsack said, why? he said, because i'm undocumented. and if i cross that border to see my family, i may never get back here again to pick the crops and earn the money and send it back to my family so they can get by. we don't think about that very often, do we? we think, oh, these workers come in and everything is just normal. nothing is normal about being undocumented and picking someone's crops and not being able to see your family for 20 years. so, mr. president, i'm not going to give up on this issue of immigration. america shouldn't give up on immigration. there are a million reasons why the theory that helping to find good immigration laws is mistaken in some way when you consider the fact that -- when you consider the fact that each year we minority leaderrize a million people -- we naturalize

a million people. i just described that, waiting for years for that opportunity. we say a million americans through this process is normal and good for us. i think it is. there are some who say, if you said to the farm workers, you have a path to citizenship, a 19-year path to citizenship, back-breaking work in the fields,er that we are -- in the fields, that we are sending a message to turn them loose, come on in, no questions asked. i couldn't disagree more. we should have a process in america in immigration which we're proud of. it reflects our heritage and our belief in immigration as part of our future as well. i think there are just some basic things that every member of the senate should consider, and i believe it should be the basis of our immigrationpologies. first, we need a -- of our immigration policy. first, we need a secure border.

in the age of covid-19 and drug dealing, i want to know who is coming into this country and what they're bringing. that is not an unreasonable question to ask at our borders. a secure border is important for those reasons. secondly, we should never knowingly allow any person to come into this country who will do us harm, nor allow anyone to stay in this country who threatens us. and, third, we need an orderly process, one that respects the law because the united states cannot absorb all of the people who want to come here right now. we have to have an orderly process, knowing who's come in to the border and what impact they will have on our nation. and then instead of throwing around all the labels of mass amnesty and human trafficking, acknowledge who these people are. one of the things that the senator from kentucky referred to i'm sure is a decision last week in a court in kentucky.

that judge ruled in a way that troubles me -- i think troubles many people -- that the daca program created by president obama that has given up to 850,000 young people a chance to become at least legal in america temporarily was unconstitutional and wrong. i think his decision is terrible, and i hope that the biden administration appeals it and we win the appeal. but the people who are affected by that decision, by the daca decision, are young people, agency i mentioned, infants and toddlers, who came here and know no other country. they pledge allegiance every morning in school. they believe that's their school. most of them when they were teenagers finally realized that they have a problem, they're undocumented. should they be given a chance to become citizens of the united states?

overwhelmingly the american people -- democrat, republican, independent -- say yes. that's only fair. give them a chance. they were brought here as kids. give them a chance. those dreamers, those daca recipients, and have them characterized as the beneficiaries of mass amnesty is unfair and, frankly, it doesn't reflect very well on us as a nation. if we cannot find in our values, in our hearts an opportunity to give these young people a chance to prove themselves, it really disappoints me that my colleagues would take that position. these young people are remarkable. for 20 years of my public life, i have come to know them, and i'm always amazed by the fact that i don't have to put a footnote at the end of that sentence and say, except for a few here and there. by and large, i have never run into one who has run into problems. i know it happens occasionally, but it's so rare. these are remarkable young

people, dreamers who just want a chance to be part of america's future. i've come to the floor over 120 times with color photographs telling their individual stories, each one an amazing testimony to who we are as americans and why these young people want to be part of us. and and what they can bring to this country, remarkable stories. doctors, numberses, teachers, engineers, members of our military, frontline workers on covid-19. they do remarkable things. one of them yesterday appeared in a video before our committee, vicente ray yes, sir. he's a daca recipient. his mom and dad are undocumented. he's studying robotic engineering at a university in california. do we need him? i mean, can we do without him? i assume we can do without him but wouldn't we be better if he were part of us, part of the

american family, and part of our future? that's what daca is about. that's what dreamers are about. if we help him, is that mass amnesty to give that young man a chance? incidentally, he told his story. he used to be out there picking those crops and his mom and dad still are. every morning he said before they go to the fields for the ten-hour day, back-breaking work picking crops, he said mom and dad hug me. they hug me and i hug them back because we know something. there's a secret in our family. my mom and dad are undocumented, he said. they may not come home tonight. that's what that family faces to go out and do this back-breaking work. and that's the reality. and it dismisses mass amnesty to even talk about a path to citizenship for vacinte, to help his mom and dad from being

frightened of being deported. that's what i work for in this senate and the senate judiciary committee for many years. i hope we can find some republicans who will step up and join us in that effort. we need at least ten of them. that's hard to find. maybe we can find them. i'm hoping that we can do it soon. we have a lot of work to do in this country, for the dreamers, for the farm workers, for itself frontline -- for the frontline workers who were there when we needed them so desperately during the covid-19 pandemic and they're still there today doing that work. we're a big, wonderful nation that has a great story to tell. and it's a story of success written by immigrants with their blood and their toil and their dedication to this great nation. we need to renew that effort. mr. president, i ask that the statement i'm about to make be placed in a separate part in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: mr. president, this has been one of the most difficult years ever for the

capitol police here in washington. these are men and women who work in this building and nearby in our office buildings and protect us to make sure we can come safely to work every single day and our staff and our visitors and tourists who come to the capitol building. these men and women are amazing. and we know that january 6, 2021, is a date that they'll never forget. they were on the front lines of the violent january 6 insurrection that shocked this building, our nation, and the world. hundreds of capitol police literally fought for hours that day to protect this building and to protect me and other members of the united states senate. the attack left one capitol officer brian sicknick dead and more than 140 total officers from the capitol police and d.c. police injured. some members said it was the most savage fighting they had

ever witnessed or been part of. many of them thought they'd die that day. yet they were back at their post the very next day and the day after that and the day after that and this morning, too. on april 2, the capitol police were still struggling to heal from the insurrection when their department suffered another devastating loss. a driver rammed his car into a barricade just outside the capitol, barricade i go through every morning and one officer was injured and another officer billy evans was killed. killed. the memorial to him is still at that barricade. only once before in the 193-year history of the capitol police had the department lost two members in the line of duty in the same year. that was on july 24, 1998. this coming saturday is the anniversary of that event. the 23rd anniversary of the murders of capitol police

officer jacob j.j. chestnut and detective john gibson. it happened on a friday afternoon. i remember the day. most members of congress had already gone home for the weekend, but the capitol was still filled with staff and tourists. officer chestnut was at his post guarding an interest on the east front of the building when a man with a 38 caliber smith and wesson revolver and a history of serious mental illness walked in and shot him point black in the back of the head. the shooter than ran through the nearest open door seeking to escape. on the other side of that door, detective gibson had just worn the congressional staff -- warned the congressional staffers to hide under their desk and now he was face to face with that shooter. for the first time in his career, detective gibson fired his weapon in the line of duty hitting the man four times. the man shot back hitting detective gibson twice. both officers died. john gibson had 18 years with the capitol police.

j.j. chestnut, a vietnam veteran had 20 years in the air force before he joinedded capitol police. he was ready for retirement, thought he would be able to take some time off with his family. but he lost his life that day. they became the first civilians ever to lie in honor in the capitol rotunda. today the capitol police headquarters are named after them. their murders remain the darkest days in history of the capitol police until january 6, 2021. until a defeated and bitter president donald trump incited an angry mob and sent them to this capitol to try to overturn a presidential election. the images from that day are sickening and we've seen them over and over. on february 3, brian sicknick became the third capitol police officer to die -- to lie in honor in the rotunda. i had a chance after that to speak to his parents. they were so proud of him. and they thought he had a safe

job as a policeman. working the u.s. capitol, that has to be a safe place to work. among the mourners paying their respect in the rotunda that day were president biden and the widow of officer chestnut. mr. president, the men and women who safeguard this capitol deserve more than words from us, more than speeches. they protect us with their courage and they stand up and fight for us whenever they're called on. men and women in law enforcement are on the front lines when it comes to the nation's gun violence epidemic. so far this year at least 36 police officers in the city of chicago have been shot or shot at. it's too easy for convicted felons and people with serious mental illness to get their hands on guns and use them. more than 90% of the american people, all political faiths, believe we should have serious background checks to keep guns out of the hands of people who will misuse them, convicted felons, mentally unstable people.

the house passed a bill h.r. 8 in march that would fortify this effort to keep guns out of those hands. senators murphy and manchin have been leading the negotiations. they're not coming along very well. i wish they were. i hope our republican colleagues will join us in supporting that. in the meantime, i hope that we don't allow the events of january 6 to just become a matter of history. there are still important questions that need to be answered. and the capitol police have done something unusual, maybe the first time in memory. they've written us a letter and begged us to have a commission to really look into and investigate what happened on january 6. they have so much at stake that day. they risked their lives for us. and sadly senator mcconnell has not agreed to move forward on a bipartisan commission. speaker pelosi is trying to put one together now and it's not easy. i commend her for her effort. it would be a shame for us to walk away from the events of

january 6 because of worries about political consequences. we owe it to the american people. we owe it to the capitol police. we owe it to the families of those who were injured and those who died to do our part to get to the bottom of what led up to january 6. if we want this capitol to be available for future generations to visit peacefully and in a positive way, let's do our part to make sure we get to the bottom and answer that fundamental question. mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from so south dakota. mr. thune: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, inflation is on the rise.

inflation in june was at its highest level in 13 years and consumers are facing the effects. higher prices. americans are facing increases in rent. and the restaurant bills and their grocery bills and gas prices and the list goes on. want to buy a used car? expect to pay a lot more money than you would have a year ago. mr. president, inflation happens when the amount of money out there exceeds the supply of products. when that happens, when demand outstrips supply, prices increase. and that's what we're seeing now. and it's being aggravated by democrats' decision this spring to flood the country with unnecessary money. mr. president, during times of crisis, there's a place for increased government spending. the money the government invested in covid vaccines, for example. the forgivable loans provided to small businesses to help them weather the pandemic. and the increased assistance to hospitals and health care providers as the crisis escalated. but crisis spending, mr.

president, is for just that, a crisis or at least it should be. unfortunately democrats have never met a temporary government dollar that they didn't want to keep spending. temporary government programs aren't really a thing for my friends across the aisle. and so as the crisis was waning and our economy was rebounding, democrats doubled down on the crisis spending and passed a massive covid relief bill filled with unnecessary handouts. hundreds of billions of dollars for state governments. the majority of whom were doing just fine without it. in fact, many are running surpluses. tens of billions more for schools who had barely made a dent in the billions of dollars they'd already been given. republicans in at least -- and at least one liberal economist warned that democrats' massive spending plan could overstimulate the economy. but democrats didn't listen. and so it's no surprise that the

flood of unnecessary government dollars is currently helping to boost inflation. and here's the kicker, mr. president. after flooding the economy with unnecessary money, democrats are now preparing to double down on that strategy. that's right. despite passing a largely unnecessary $1.9 trillion bill just four months ago, democrats now want to spend an additional $3.5 trillion. $3.5 trillion. and the truth is that number is likely to be even higher. a lot higher. one estimate suggests that the $3.5 trillion is likely to be more like $5 trillion or $5.5 trillion. that's from an independent analysis by the committee for responsible federal budget where president biden's own treasury secretary used to serve on the board. mr. president, that's an inconceivably large amount of money. to put that number in perspective, the entire federal

budget for 2019 was less than $4.5 trillion. the entire federal budget. so democrats are just casually tossing out a new spending bill that might very well exceed the entire federal budget in 2019. i can assure americans that that much money would fuel increased inflation. consumers would continue to be squeezed by rising prices and watch the value of their salaries decrease. but the damage would not be just limited to the effects of inflation. americans would also suffer as a result of the massive tax hikes democrats are envisioning. democrats plan to pay for all or some of their spending by raising taxes left and right. on small businesses, large businesses, investment, well off

americans. all of them and more will see tax increases under democrats' plans. now, the president of course likes to repeat his mantra that he won't raise taxes on those making under $400,000. in fact, that isn't really true as the president's plans for a second death tax will undoubtedly hit middle-class americans. while it's true the president won't be raising income taxes on americans making less than $400,000 a year, middle-class americans will unquestionably bear a substantial part of the burden of his tax hikes. because raising taxes, any taxes has consequences for everyone. democrats like to pretend that raising taxes is a consequence free enterprise, but that isn't even close to being the truth. and it doesn't take an economics degree to recognize that. it's common sense. raise taxes enough on anyone or any business and that individual's behavior or that business' behavior is going to

change. a business facing a substantial tax hike may raise prices. it may freeze salaries. or it may not hire as many new workers. and all of those decisions will be felt by ordinary americans. mr. president, think about it. if a business raises prices to deal with the impact of a tax hike, who's going to feel it the most? ordinary americans on a budget. what's more, most americans, if they're not self-employed, or working for government, are employed by businesses. and if the business they work for isn't doing well, their prospects are going to be significantly affected. if businesses hold down wages to deal with the impact of tax hikes, for example, ordinary americans' long-term earning potential will be diminished. these effects may not sound as concrete as being handed a tax

bill, but they have just as real of an impact on americans' income and americans' lives. studies suggest that 50% to 70% or more of the burden of corporate tax hikes is borne by workers in the form of things like lower wages. combined democrats proposed business tax hikes with their massive proposed increase in the capital gains tax which would chill the investment that helps drive job creation, and you have a recipe for permanently diminished economic growth and a permanent reduction in opportunity for american workers. mr. president, if democrats received any mandate in the last election, it was a mandate for moderation, for compromise, for bipartisan cooperation. democrats are behaving as if they had received a mandate for a partisan revolution. they're busy driving the country down the road to socialism with a massive and permanent

expansion in the size of government, and a reckless tax and spending spree will hurt the very americans they claim they want to help. i helped some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle put the brakes on their party before democrats' massive spending spree ends and economir for the american people. mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from virginia. mr. warner: thank you, mr. president. i rise in support of the cyber incident notification act of 2021, and i am very grateful to be joined by my colleague and friend, the senior senator from maine, because this topic i'm about to describe, she was way ahead of the curve, as she is on so many issues, but she was so far ahead of the curve that what we're talking about now if the

congress of the united states adopted her proposals back in 2012, back in 2012, we might not be dealing with literally the catastrophic effects of cybersecurity incidents. but we didn't. and that's why we're putting forward the cyber incident notification act of 2021. because it seems like every day, americans wake up to the news of another ransomware attack or cyber intrusion. the solar winds breach which we learned about last december resulted in a compromise of hundreds of federal agencies and private companies. the truth was, as we discovered, that actually got into 18,000 companies in this mishap. similarly, the ransomware attack on the colonial pipeline last may resulted in gas and fuel shortages and price hikes across the entire eastern seaboard, demonstrating how broad the ripple effects of these attacks can be. the truth is these attacks can

affect hundreds or even thousands of entities connected to the initial target. earlier this week, the united states and allied governments publicly accused china's government of conducting an extensive hacking campaign on microsoft e-mail systems, which again compromised tens of thousands of computers worldwide, including those used by some of the world's largest companies, accountors, and -- contractors, and governments. these events are finally the wake-up call that senator collins predicted a decade ago, a wake-up call for many of us in washington, and even for those individuals who sit on these companies, boards that have to understand now the threats and capabilities possessed by our adversaries. these events also revealed major gaps in our nation's efforts to combat and contain cyber threats with insufficient communication

between the private and public sector. mr. president, these attacks and hacks demonstrate that our i.t. and critical infrastructure, much of it operated appropriately by the private sector, is under constant daily attack. they also demonstrate that we need to get a better insight into cyber incidents as they happen, mid incident, so that the u.s. government can bring to bear its most effective capabilities and respond rapidly to protect our critical infrastructure systems. and we saw that recently when the f.b.i. and the department of justice were able to claw back some of the ransomware from the colonial pipeline account. but in colonial pipeline, what happened was we had a responsible private sector company that notified the government that we cannot rely upon the goodwill of private entities to individually, case by case decide whether they tell the government. we need quicker and more

comprehensive notification. in a sense, one entity is being attacked, if that sector is being attacked, we could then notify other companies in that sector real time. the truth is we should have done this much earlier. in fact, solar winds showed us that when it comes to wide scale breaches of u.s. networks, nobody is responsible for collecting information on the scope and scale of these attacks. this is alarming because this information allows us to develop a full picture of what was targeted and taken, what was at risk, and the type of techniques and tactics used by our adversaries. these are all issues of critical national security. but senator collins knows under current law, there is no federal mandate that companies disclose when they have been breached, even if they operate critical infrastructure. rather, there is a hodgepodge of guidelines, depending on

industry, which as we have seen at least some companies then use as an excuse not to report or literally creating a whole set of legal gymnastics to avoid any level of disclosure. unfortunately, this leaves our nation vulnerable to criminal and state-sponsored hacking activities. again, the bottom line, mr. president, is we cannot just rely on voluntary reporting to protect our critical infrastructure. we need a routine reporting requirement so that vital sectors of our economy that are affected by cyber breach, get the full resources of the federal government and the private sector can be mobilized to respond to and fight off these attacks. that's why i have been very proud to work not only with senator collins but also the vice chair of the intelligence committee, senator rubio. and in total, 15 of our colleagues, bipartisan, mostly all from the intel committee but also the chairman of the defense appropriations committee, the

chairman on the cyber committee, that to introduce legislation this week that would require federal agencies, government contractors, and the owners and operators of critical infrastructure to report cyber intrusions within 24 hours of their discovery. the purpose of this legislation is to ensure that the federal government is aware of and can take immediate action to mitigate cyber intrusions that have the impact -- that has the impact to affect our national security. and part of that notification will be not just to let the government know but to let others in the private sector know as well. consequently, the bipartisan cyber incident notification act of 2021 would require covered entities to notify the department of homeland security 's cybersecurity infrastructure security agency or cisa when a breach is detected so the u.s. government can mobilize to protect critical industries across our country. these covered entities include

health care, transportation, financial services, agriculture, energy, and information technology sectors. now, the executive branch should have the flexibility to respond to shifting threats. the bill leaves some discretion for this and future administrations to determine whether other entities or classes of entities should be included at a later date. the incentivize that this information sharing take place, the bill would grant limited immunity and confidentiality to companies that come forward to report a breach. it would also include data protection procedures to anonymize personally identifiable information and again to safeguard privacy. these are not liability protections that would shield network operators, though, from negligence or misconduct. rather, they would help prevent companies that come forward under this legislation from facing reputational risks just for reporting this vital information to the government. ultimately, i see this kind of

notification providing value, as i said, to the private sector, as well so that we have this common defense. there is no way we can solve this problem, government alone or private sector alone. in the case of immediate threats to the u.s. infrastructure, there should not only be a rapid public notification, but in appropriate cases swift government action. ultimately, mr. president, we need to recognize that the threat landscape has fundamentally changed from even a few years ago. again, a few years ago, senator collins had this approach, and if the private sector was concerned about undue mandates, but the world has changed. and even many of the business organizations now agree, as long as we grant that limited immunity and confidentiality, that they realize that we need to put this reporting mechanism in place so that the public sector and the private sector can respond. because the truth is there are literally tear a bites of sensitive data out there

including intellectual property, personal information, contracting details, and others that could be exploited. or for that matter, what if the solarwinds attack had not been exploiting and taking out information but had been a denial of service attack which we saw russia take place against ukraine a number of years back? that would have taken place with solarwinds and completely shut down our economy. and as we have all seen recently, a dramatic upsurge in ransomware. the truth is every company, virtually every part of government is under daily attack from these cybercriminals and in some cases foreign intelligence services. the federal government must have the expertise and the willingness to share this information real time to make sure that we can counter this. i think this is a sensible first step in putting finally in place the kind of broad-based cyber strategy our country needs. so i urge my colleagues to join the 15 of us and pass the cyber

incident notification act of 2021. again, i know my friend, the senator from maine, is here. we have been spending a lot of time together, but i really appreciate her lead sponsorship of this legislation. i will say it on the floor of the senate as i have said in so many -- so many private settings, mr. president, over the last number of weeks and some of the other things. if we just listened earlier to the senator from maine, we would be in a lot better shape today in this country. with that, mr. president, i yield to my colleague, the senator from maine. ms. collins: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from maine. ms. collins: thank you, mr. president. first, let me thank my good friend and the leader of the senate intelligence committee, chairman warner, for paving the way for this legislation. he cares deeply about our country's response to these terrible cyberattacks and

intrusions, and i am so grateful for his leadership and for his working with me to produce the cyber incident notification act of 2021. as the chairman has mentioned, this is a bipartisan bill. it is broadly supported, and it would strengthen our response to cyberattacks, and thus help to prevent future cyber intrusions. it would require government agencies, federal contractors, critical infrastructure entities which are overwhelmingly owned and operated by the private sector and other important sectors to notify the u.s. government if they become the victims of a significant

cyberattack or intrusion. this effort, mr. president, is a direct outgrowth of our work on the senate intelligence committee and reflects our long-standing concern regarding the lack of timely notification of the cyberattacks that can lead to extremely serious consequences for our economy, for our national security, for our individual privacy. mr. president, in september of 2019, for example, russian hackers gained access to the solarwinds software. this resulted in a supply chain compromise that was downloaded by up to 18,000 of its customers.

these hackers then conducted follow-on operations that compromised nine federal agencies and 100 private sector networks. we did not become aware of this hack until more than a year later, and only then because a cybersecurity firm called fire eye voluntarily notified the federal government and the public. mr. president, just to reiterate that important point, fire eye was under no legal obligation whatsoever to tell us that the software had been compromised, even though it affected nine federal agencies. we are grateful that fire eye told us about this hack, but the

fact that companies are not mandated to do so leaves our economy and national security vulnerable to future attacks and lessens our ability to respond effectively when such intrusions do occur. where would we be right now if fire eye had not voluntarily disclosed the intrusion? would the russian's operation still be ongoing? how much sooner would we have become aware of these russian cyber operations if key sectors were required to report cyber incidents to the u.s. government? as the senator from virginia very kindly and generously

noted, i have long been concerned about this problem and focused on it. in 2012 when which was the ranking member of the senate homeland security committee, i joined with my chairman and dear friend, former senator joe lieberman of connecticut, in introducing a bill called the cybersecurity act of 2012. that bill would have, among other things, addressed this gap in cyber incident reporting. unfortunately, our bill did not become law. how much more prepared we would be today if it had been enacted. my 2012 bill would have led to improved information sharing between the private sector and the federal government that likely would have reduced the

impact of cyber incidences on both the government and the private sector. having a clear view of the dangers the nation faces from cyberattacks is necessary to enable both the public and the private sector to mitigate and reduce the threat. we've just recently seen the impact of an attack on a major pipeline. just think what the consequences would be of an attack that crippled our electric grid. mr. president, what we are proposing, the cyber incident notification act, is common sense and long overdue. our bill recognizes the additional burden that this reporting requirement places obstruction of justice parts of the -- places on parts of the private sector and so it

therefore provides additional liability protection for companies reporting cyber incidents and requires the government to harmonize these new mandates with any existing reporting requirements to help avoid duplication. the bill also requires the government to produce analytic updates for the government and industry practitioners regularly so that they are aware of cyber incidents taking place and targeting their sectors. this should be a two-way street of exchange of information. mr. president, let us not delay any longer in passing a robust cyber incident notification requirement. failure to pass this bill will only give our adversaries more

opportunity to gather intelligence on our government, to steal intellectual property from our companies, to compromise our personal privacy, and, most of all, to harm our critical infrastructure. thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i would yield the floor, unless the senator from virginia -- mr. president, again, my thanks to the senator from virginia, the chairman of the intelligence committee, for his hard work on this bill. let's get the job done. thank you. and i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call: quorum call:

mr. barrasso: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. barrasso: thank you, mr. president. i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. barrasso: thank you, mr. president. i come to the floor today to oppose the nomination of tracy stone-manning to be the director of the bureau of land management. this morning the senate energy and natural resource committee voted on her nomination. every republican on the committee voted no. before our business meeting was over, senator schumer came to this floor, to that desk, and he praised this nominee to the skies. president biden and the democrats have wrapped their arms around this nomination and they won't let go. so the question is, who is this

nominee that the democrats are embracing and every republican voted against? well, tracy stone-manning is a graduate student, collaborated with ecoterrorists. these are people who hammered hundreds of metal spikes, 500 pounds of metal spikes into trees in our national forest in idaho. this is the kind of metal spike that they used. ten inches long, very thick, 500 pounds of these into the national forest. so tree spiking involves nailing, hammering these rods into a tree. so what happened? why do they do that? well, they want to stop progress in terms of logging. they want to stop progress in terms of firefighting because if a logger or firefighter were to hit this rod with a chainsaw,

the chainsaw would shatter. devastating injuries have occurred as a result. if the saw is used in timer mills, sawmills, were to hit one of these as they're planing through the tree to produce boards, the entire blade sha shatters and has been described to me by someone who works -- who has worked in one of these mills, it's like a hand grenade going off damaging people all around in the vicinity. well, the results can be fatal, and there are examples around the country where this has actually happened. now, even "the washington post" has labeled tree spiking as ecoterrorism. so tracy stone-manning as a

member of a radical group ed edited, typed, and nowmly sent -- anonymously sent a profanity-laced letter to the forest service. here are just a few quotes from the letter. she typed, you bastards go in there anyway, and a lot of people could get hurt. she typed, i would be more than willing to pay you a dollar for the sale, but you would have to find me first and that could be your worst nightmare. this is the letter she typed to the u.s. forest service. she then mailed this threatening letter to the target of the tree spiking, and the target was the u.s. forest service. she and her circle were investigated. they were investigated for their involvement with this ring of ecoterrorists, and this ecoterrorist attack that actually occurred in the u.s. forest. she was subpoenaed. she was ordered to give hair

sampling, handwriting sampling, fingerprint samples to the investigators. she knew full well who the tree spikers were, and she could have easily gone to the authorities to identify them. she didn't. covered it up for four years. refused to cooperate with investigators. so recently, within the last couple of months, tracy stone-manning came before the senate committee on energy and natural resources. she came for her confirmation hearing. and since that hearing in the statements that she made to the committee, an affidavit she swore under oath and signed, since that time in the last couple of months and more recently than that, actually last week in one case, several people involved in her original

case have come forward to the press and to the committee to set the record straight from the record and the story she told the committee at the time. so the lead investigator on this case wrote a letter to chairman manchin and to me. i'm the ranking member on the committee. that investigator who i will tell you has worked as a special criminal investigator for the united states government for 28 years, been a long time member of the u.s. military, served in vietnam, and retired as a criminal investigator because of death threats made to him and to his family by the person -- by the group that worked on this ecoterrorism. he retired but he wrote toe the committee. he came forward. and he said that she was the

nastiest of suspects. he said she was not -- that not only did she have knowledge of the plan to spike the trees, he said she was one of the pla planners. he wrote to us and said, quote, it became clear that ms. stone-manning was an active member of the original group that planned the spiking of the post office timber sale. so there he is, criminal investigator. then just last week one of the convicted tree spikers, one of the people that actually went to jail because of that, he came forward in an interview in the press. in an interview in e.n.e. news, the convicted tree spiker confirmed that tracy stone-manning knew of the plan to spike the trees, in his words, well in advance. now, according to the investigator's letter, ms. stone-manning's lack of cooperation actually set back

their initial investigation many years. eventually when she was identified and received an investigation target letter, she had to make a decision. the lead investigator said she only agreed to testify after she was caught and after her lawyer negotiated an immunity deal. tracy stone-manning, she helped plan the tree spiking. she covered up for the terrorists and their activity for years. she refused to cooperate with authorities. and she only testified when she was caught and given immunity. after all of this, she created a story and lied to our committee about the incident. under sworn affidavit to her committee questionnaire, she said it was an alleged tree spiking, and that she was not the subject of an investigation.

i specifically asked her, did you have personal knowledge of, participate in, or in any way directly or indirectly support activities associated with the spiking of trees in any forest during your lifetime? her response under oath was no. both the cop, the criminal investigator, and the criminal, the man who went to jail as the group went to jail for this, they both came forward after her hearing to say that tracy stone-manning was lying to the senate. over the past 30 years she has made contradictory statements about the ecoterrorist incident and the network. in 2013 she told a montana state senate committee that she was intimidated into sending the

letter by a stranger. yet in courtroom testimony she admitted the tree spikers were her friends. she was one of the ring leaders of the group. mr. president, there are many qualified democrats who could run the bureau of land management. it's within the federal government, this is the group that oversees o one-eighth of al the land in the united states. it's astonishing the democrats are digging in to defend a proven liar and an ecoterrorist collaborator. so senator schumer came to the floor today and made it very clear that he's going to support this deeply flawed nominee. will other democrats do it as well? will other democrats that have millions of acres of b.l.m. land in their states, will they join him? things have certainly changed

and it's interesting what's happened to the bureau of land management and the nominees, because president obama's b.l.m. director, bob abbey came forward. he said that her actions should disqualify her from leading this important agency. we're talking about president obama's director of the bureau of land management says her history and her past and her activities should disqualify her. one biden administration admitted to nbc news -- this is within the last week -- that her nomination was described as a massive vetting failure. a massive vetting failure. now, there's going to be more to say about this nominee when an attempt is made to discharge her

out of the committee . if they get to that point, a cloture vote on the floor and again a vote on confirmation. lots to be said. more information will come out. it's just hard for me as the ranking member of that committee to imagine a nominee more disqualified than tracy stone-manning. she's collaborated with ecoterrorists. she's lied to the senate. she continued to harbor truly extremist views that most americans find reprehensible. i strongly oppose her nomination. i urge all of my colleagues to do the same. tracy stone-manning is unfit to serve. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor.

the presiding officer: the

senior senator from ohio. mr. brown: thank you, mr. president. earlier this month, lee won the national spelling bee. it's disxiewrnlging that that barrier needed breaking. she grew strength and courage from another trailblazer whose story has not been told and honored the way that zalia was. in 1996, 13-year-old nicolea cox became one of two black students to compete in the spelling bee. she competed -- black communities across the country cheered her victory, they looked forward to her joining the national competition. she was celebrated in churches

an clubs and celebrated. band leader fats waller, and tap dancer who history knows as mr. bojagles brought her on stage. she had little idea of the treatment she would endwiewr at the tip of the jim crow south. she was forced to ride -- she's essentially ohio's representative at the national spelling bee. she was forced to ride in segregated train cars. she was forced to stay in a private home instead of at the willard hotel. nine years later my parents -- my dad came from overseas and my mom from georgia met at the

willard hotel at the end of his service. she could not stay at the hotel because she was african american. while all the other white competitors did. in a dinner for the finalist, she and her mother were forced to enter through the kitchen hotel and sit away from the other finalists. despite it all, she played it through the competition and the judges gave her a proper noun to spell. she hadn't studied it. proper nouns were supposed to be off limits. they wouldn't listen to the beacon journal reporter who covered her. she pointed out to the judges -- that the judges weren't following their own rules. she was eliminated. of course she was. her achievements, her story soon faded from memory until now. zalia talked to the media about scrolg through pictures of

national spelling bee competitors and no one looked like her. to get to her office -- her office -- her -- her, i reiterate. every picture in the hallway are people that look like me that were secretaries of the treasury until janet yellen -- well, older than certainly the presiding officer, but looked like we do. she saw miknola cox's face and told reporters when she was competing, she taught of magnolia and thought of her 85 years later. now more kids are seeing themselves in the faces of champions. that's why black history matters, mr. president. it matters in the class roovment it matters in movies, in matters

on the senate floor, it matters in books, it matters in the national news. it is how we shine a light on the injustices that magnolia and zaila had to overcome and how we show kids these aren't dreams only for certain kids, these dreams, these aspirations, these achievements in 21st century america should be for everyone. i ask that everyone join me in honoring magnolia cox. mr. president, i ask that the previous comments be placed -- put in a different place in the record. thank you, mr. president. over the past week we've put money directly -- directly in the pockets of the families of 60 million american children. in ohio 2.1% children -- 2.1 million children, their families got hundreds of dollars

each in tax cuts, money to help them keep up with the cost of families. money that will be spent in the local economy. the largest tax cut for working families in american history ever. stories important to our -- poured into our office in ohio, you are hearing from those in hawaii, all from parents working hard to make ends meet, they now have a little bit extra of their own money back to spend on groceries, medical bills and school supplies. we talk a lot in this body about caring about families. if you care about families, this is all about empowering families. families decide how to spend these dollars. mitch mcconnell doesn't decide, brian schatz doesn't decide. it's harding you work raising children and how they raise their kids. listen -- listen to just -- i think all of us are hearing these stories.

some on our website. some in the townhalls, we're hearing the stories. rob, from ohio, said he's going to spend it on bills and necessities, special necessities for my kids. tracy said she's going to use it to pay for my children's sports fees. one mother said my 8-year-old was able to attend camp for the first time. she was just thrilled. we know how expensive medical bills are and so many parents talked about how this will help them afford health care expenses. leanne from akron is going to be able to afford my daughter's medical bills. haley said that she will use the tax cut to pay for speech therapy for my child and another said it will pay for the dyslexia tutoring, another wrote that it would pay for the

orthodontist. and another mother said that her son was sick and had to go to the emergency room and our money will go to the emergency medical bills to make sure our son can thrive. you may remember, mr. president, there were two votes on the child tax credit, first an amendment to take it out. every republican voted to take it out and a bill on march 6 to vote it -- to vote for it and i know every republican voted against it. i know it's about tax cuts for the rich. we can get to that later. we know another benefit of this -- this is money spent in communities. i'm not getting any notes from parents saying, thank you, senator brown for this child tax credit, i'm going to put more money in my swiss bank account. we have heard how this money supports the economy and

supports jobs. katie said month one she is using it for a family vacation, month two is for school supplies that supports hotel jobs and retail jobs, lindsey said that she's using it for back to school clothes, brittany from butler said that she will be able to put new windows in the kids bedrooms, sound like work for a handy man or woman or a local window business. another said that they are going to start a child college fund. these families are struggling, they are going to start -- i don't know for sure, but it sounds like lisa may have a couple of children and so she gets this -- they are little so these going to get $300 per child, so she will get $600, $600 august 15, $600 september 15 and october 15 and

november 15. she's going to put $100 of that every month into a 529 college fund so her child -- the whole idea of infrastructure is building a base, a foundation to launch children that too better lifestyles, to launch children into a more productive life, to give kids opportunity. that's what this does. that's what the child tax credit does. this is -- and it's almost everybody, 92% of ohio's kids, families are getting a tax cut every single month. so many parents talk about the cost of child care and we hear how this will allow them to afford the child care that allows them to go to work. court any wrote that her tax cut is slightly half the cost of daytime tuition in athens, in southeast, ohio. she said it's appreciated so much to get -- get our child in child care. it comes back to one question, mr. president.

i think you know this. who's side are you on in these incites are you on the side of the parents who work hard every day for their families and the dignity of work roundtable in our senate banking committee, mr. president, a woman from west virginia said working and poor should not be in the same sentence. these are families working hard. give them a little bit of a break so they can rise above the poverty line so they can afford some things to launch their children into more productive lives. are you on the side of these parents who work every day or are my colleagues go -- going to raise taxes because this expires next year if we don't continue it. i haven't seen anything on their side to continue it. we her what happened in 2017. mr. president, you remember this. in 2017, you could walk out this day pretty much any time of day and look down the hall in 2017 and you could see lobbyists

lined up outside of mitch mcconnell's office, all well dressed, all really well paid. all hat in hand, some literally, other figuratively, saying, senator mcconnell, we need this tax break and you know we spent $1.2 trillion on that tax cut. they don't want to spent $100 billion -- $100 billion is 8% of $1.5 trillion. so they'll do $1.5 trillion in tax cuts, 70% of it went to the richest people in the country yet they don't want to do to -- do tax cuts for children. i remember getting on my website, i never heard, thank you for that big tax cut in 2017, i could buy another yacht. thank you. we don't hear those stories, here's the stories that you hear about the children that need

that tax cut. you remember when they lined up outside of our colleague, senator mcconnell's office, you -- you remember that tax cut. they promised it would trickle down to everyone else and then it would create all this prosperity. we know it didn't happen. they kept the money for themselves. no shock there. corporations spent that money on stock buybacks for their executives. they ended up always in the pockets of their executives. now this year without a single vote from republicans in congress, we passed tax cuts for everyone else. a pretty simple context. tax cuts for billionaires, or do you want tax cuts for working families. every single month, these checks are coming. $300 per child if your child is from newborn to 5. $250 per month if your child is from 6 to 17. every single month we show we're on your side, we're putting more of your own money back into your

pockets. mr. president, i know you join in this. we will not stop fighting to make sure parents' hard work pays off. we will not stop. we will deliver on this. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: i ask the calling

of the quorum be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. grassley: many bills get introduced in the senate, and they don't seem to go anyplace. the reason is that there are meant to be simply messaging -- they are meant to be simply messaging documents, making a statement, telling people what you believe, not necessarily the motive of passing a piece of legislation. i usually do not care to commend on these bills. it's simply not worth the time. but when i see the combination of false information spread in messaging bills that negatively impact my state, i must set the record straight, and that's why i'm here. several colleagues just introduced a bill to repeal the renewable fuel standard.

i have been a proud advocate for renewable energy. iowa is the leader in both wind and renewable fuels. when it comes to the renewable fuels standard, it is hard to argue that there has ever been a more successful, clean fuel policy implemented across the world. between 2008 and 2020, the use of biofuels under the renewable fuel standard resulted in a savings of 980 million metric tons of carbon dioxide. that's the equivalent of removing over 200 million cars from the road for one year. the renewable fuels standard makes gasoline more affordable,

it generates good-paying jobs, it reduces oil imports, and reduces our country's greenhouse gas emissions. the messaging comes from the bill -- the messaging coming from the bill rehashes the same talking points about ethanol that big oil has trotted out for the past decades. so once again, big oil raises its ugly head. of course, big oil's talking points have been completely debunked by the latest science and even our nonpartisan research from the congressional budget office. and congress depends a great deal upon the research done by the congressional budget office.

a nonpartisan group of professional people that study things a long time before they release their information. now, my pro-oil colleagues that i that the renewable fuel standard causes food and feed prices to rise. however, in 2014, the c.b.o. looked at this issue and the impact on food prices. if the renewable fuel standard was fully repealed. the congressional budget office concluded that american food prices would be just .25% higher if the renewable fuel standard was kept in place versus total repeal. out of a $100 grocery bill, the

impact is no more than a quarter. but when you consider that there is a savings of $5 every time you fill up your gas tank, due to the renewable fuel standard, consumers safe money overall with the renewable fuel standard in place. my colleagues that introduced this messaging legislation also claimed falsely that corn ethanol achieves little to no reduction in greenhouse gases. now, this must be the most ridiculous assertion made against ethanol. i'd like to invite my colleagues to visit iowa to see how far ethanol has come in reducing emissions. the most recent research from harvard shows that corn ethanol

greenhouse gas emissions are 46% lower than gasoline. research by the u.s. department of agriculture found the reduction in co2 could reach 71% by next year if farmers follow best practices. at a time when the nation is working to reduce fossil fuel consumption and protect our environment, why would my colleagues introduce a bill that would increase our dependence upon foreign oil and at the same time increase greenhouse gas emissions? and some of these people on this bill have the most pure environmental record in the united states senate. renewable fuels like ethanol have a 40-year track record of

making fuel more affordable and vehicles more efficient. to limit this consumer choice at the pump is completely irresponsible. attempts to limit consumer choice which are driven by big oil interests. that must be defeated. the united states should continue to build on the progress of the renewable few standard and bring policy to the table that brings greenhouse gas emissions and brings jobs to rural america. let me end with a history of the i.r.s. because this legislation is a story of -- of irony if you consider how we got to the renewable fuel standard in the first place.

you see, big oil wanted it. why did they want it? well, a lot of states where they had smog had what they call the oxigenate requirement that was in the clean air act that congress has passed over the decades. so in order to meet that standard, big oil would add what they call mtbe, a product made out of petroleum that they added to their gasoline to -- to meet the oxygen standards to reduce smog. so after a long period of time people realized that the mtbe was poisoning groundwater in california, maybe other places as well, but i remember mostly

the conflict being in california, and they were being sued. so by 2005 big oil decided they didn't want to be sued and what could they do to get out of it? well, the r.f.s. was the answer. so i was chairman of the finance committee at the time. they came to us with the ideas of the irfs and it fit into a lot of things that we from agricultural interests were trying to accomplish as well. so the renewable fuel standard was written in cooperation with big oil. the first time in three decades that big oil had any interest in working with the ethanol industry. and then after three or four

years of working with us, they have been attacking the irfs since then and this piece of legislation that i'm speaking about today is just one more example of big oil trying to attack ethanol and i gave all the facts about ethanol being good for the consumer, good for the environment, and -- and good for less reliance among foreign countries for our energy sources. in fact, everything about ethanol is good, good, good. i yield the floor. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 122. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i move to executive session to consider calendar number 122. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all in favor say aye. oofd, no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, department of justice, todd sunhwae kim, to be an assistant attorney general. mr. schumer: i send a cloture motion to the desk.

the presiding officer: the clerk will read the cloture motion. the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22, do hereby bring to a close debate on executive calendar number 122, todd sunhwae kim, to be assistant attorney general. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: . mr. schumer: i ask that the mandatory quorum call be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion agreed to. mr. schumer: i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. paul: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator for kentucky. mr. paul: i ask unanimous consent that the following interns in any office be granted -- the presiding officer: senator, we are in a quorum call. mr. paul: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that we vitiate the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. paul: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the following interns in my office be granted floor prills for the remainder of the congress, thai sharp, virginia smith, gramy marshal and jack hartman. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. paul: thank you. i notice the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

quorum call: mr. paul: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from kentucky. mr. paul: i ask unanimous consent to vitiate the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. paul: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that we go ahead and commence with the previously arranged vote. the presiding officer: is there objection? hearing none, without objection. morning business is closed. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session and resume consideration of the following nomination, which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, department of energy. jill hruby of new mexico to be under secretary for nuclear secretary. -- for nuclear security. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the question occurs on the nomination. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll.

vote:

vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: is the yeas are 79. the nation's are 16. the nomination -- the nays are 16. 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 actions.

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from utah. mr. romney: as if in legislative session, i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of s. res. 314, submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 314, commemorating the past success of the united states

olympic and paraolympic teams and supporting the united states and paraolympic teams in the 2020 olympic games and paraolympic games. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection, the senate will proceed. mr. romney: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. romney: mr. president, i rise today to introduce the resolution with senators bennet, hagerty, klobuchar, and coons to honor the 2020 olympic games that officially start tomorrow. more than 600 of our finest athletes have traveled to tokyo to represent the united states. these threats trained their entire lives to compete this month on the world's biggest stage. they have shed blood, sweat, and tears and have sacrificed countless hours, many while

working separate full-time jobs and raising families of their own. of course, no one thought the 2020 olympics would be starting tomorrow. covid-19 did not just delay the games for a year. it also meant hundreds of qualifying events around the world had to be canceled and relocated. we recognize the dedication of the athletes and coaches of the united states olympic and paraolympic teams as well as the family, friends and loved ones who support them. we're grateful to our friends in japan who have committed tremendous resources to provide a safe and secure games. i think with great gratitude for these people in japan, the people of that great country, for the enormous sacrifice they've made to host the world, to demonstrate to the world that qualities of the human spirit are great indeed, and to make their home a place where the entire world comes together and celebrate the human spirit and its accomplishments. and while these games may look a

little different this year, we stand with team u.s.a. and we'll be cheering them on as they bring many medals back home. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call: quorum call:

quorum call: quorum call:

mr. warnock: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from georgia. mr. warnock: mr. president, since my first day here in the senate -- the presiding officer: we're in a quorum call. mr. warnock: i ask that the quorum be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. warnock: mr. president, since my first day here in the senate, and even before that, one of the issues i have been working to address is how my own home state of georgia, where state leaders have been digging in their heels, refusing to

expand medicaid, how it is that citizens can somehow provide affordable health care to their families. nearly 500,000 georgians who are uninsured. they are in the medicaid gap. and that's why last week i introduced the medicaid saves lives act, legislation that would create a program almost identical to medicaid that is administered by the federal government. it would allow people in states like georgia who have not expanded medicaid an alternative path to health coverage. because we know that medicaid literally saves lives. i was proud to introduce this legislation with my colleagues, senators baldwin and ossoff and

that it has the support of health care stakeholders in georgia and across the country. entities like the georgia hospital association and the grady health care system. understand how expanding medicaid in georgia will improve health outcomes across the state, strengthen our rural hospitals, and health care workforce, and create good-paying jobs. medicaid saves lives and also saves jobs. as it turns out, the right thing to do is also the smart thing to do. and so i'm glad that this plan is on its way to being included in the forthcoming economic package, and i'm going to do everything i can to keep pushing to make sure that it happens. but today i come to the senate floor to talk not so much about

policy as much as to talk about the people behind the policy efforts that we lift up. we should all waste endeavor to see the human face of the public policy we put forward. and so i want to talk today about cynthia english. she is a truck driver in albany, georgia. it's a town in the southern rural part of our state. cynthia turns 46 in just a few days. her birthday actually is this coming saturday. happy birthday, cynthia. cynthia, a hardworking woman, suffers from diabetes and hypertension. she says that she has previously applied for medicaid and other health care programs but has been repeatedly denied because she does not have any children.

she does not have any dependents. and so she has been denied in spite of her relatively low income. she is in the coverage gap. she says that those denials made her feel like she couldn't get any type of help. in fact, cynthia says that in the past, her diabetes and her blood pressure have had her, quote, in real bad shape. so much so that complications with her diabetes once sent her to the emergency room. think about the cost of that for her and for all of us, unable to get the kind of routine care that all of us need but especially if you have a chronic illness like hypertension or diabetes. it doesn't make sense for her or for us that she is in this situation. without health care -- without health insurance, cynthia says

she couldn't go to the doctor, and that due to the cost, it was hard to pay for medication. to put it bluntly, as cynthia said, when you're sick in georgia, they still really don't help you if you don't have any health insurance or medicaid. thankfully, cynthia was able to find the good samaritan clinic in albany. as a pastor, i have to say that's a good name for a clinic, the good samaritan. it offers health care to people like her in the coverage gap. she has been able to receive care for her conditions, including a pinched nerve in her neck and back caused by sciatica and other conditions that went undiagnosed for far too long because of her lack of health insurance. if it wasn't for the good samaritan clinic, cynthia says

she wouldn't be here, but it's still not enough. grateful for them, but that's not enough. that clinic does amazing work, but that's not enough. mr. president, in other states, cynthia would be eligible for medicaid. and according to cynthia, having additional support provided by medicaid would help her pay for her medications and get all the care that she needs. a hardworking woman, doing all the right things, cannot get the coverage that she needs. so, mr. president, behind the public policy, we have to remember the stories of real people. people like cynthia. because there are millions of cynthias in georgia and across our nation who need the medicaid saves lives act.

until we get this done, i am going to keep lifting up cynthia's story and the stories of other georgians who would benefit from this critical lifesaving legislation. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor.

the presiding officer: the senator from alaska. mr. sullivan: mr. president, is the senate in a quorum call? the presiding officer: no. mr. sullivan: thank you, mr. president. and it's thursday, it's that time of week that i like to come down to the senate floor, recognize someone special, someone we call our alaskan of the week. and it's -- well, it's part of

my, like i said, favorite time during the week. i think some of our press likes it because it signifies most people are leaving. when we had pages, they loved it, but you get to learn about alaska and some great individuals who are doing something great for their community, their state, sometimes the country and sometimes the world and sometimes it's people who maybe don't want any recognition but deserve it. so i'm going to talk about our alaskan of the week who is 85-year-old chad rassari, and it's a real amazing story, mr. president. first i want to talk a little bit about what's going on in alaska right now. in anchorage, where our alaskan of the week lives, the sun rose

at 5:08 a.m. and will set tonight at 11:01 p.m. that is a lot of sunlight, a lot of energy even though we lost 41 seconds yesterday. my message to everybody is you still have time to come up to alaska, bask in the midnight sun, or at least midnight twilight depending on where you are. if you have to wait until next year, we'd love to have you, i would tell you, if you come to alaska next year, one of the many things that you should try to see or even participate in if you're brave enough is the annual mount marathon race on july 4 in seward, alaska. it is a race that chad resrai

has run 25 times. at 85 years old this year, he was officially the oldest person to have ever finished this race. so competing and finishing any race at the age of 85 is impressive, but let me tell you why finishing this race at that age is truly extraordinary, an inspiration to everybody if you're watching, and, trust me, has inspired tens of thousands of alaskans for his feat. first the history. the race dates back to 1915 when legend has it two of what we -- of what we call sour doughs were

in a bar in alaska. they were wagering how long it would take to get up and down the 3, 022 peak in steward alaska. one insist cysted that it could be done in less than a hour, the other said no way. the loser was to buy the house a round of drinks. somewhere in there some entrepreneur decided to make it a real race, to make it on 4th of july, and so every year the mount marathon race has happened for over 100 years now. the fastest runner in that first race, the race where there was a challenge in the bar in 1915 did it over an hour.

the legend is one hour and two minutes so he lost the bet and had to buy rounds. but the race has lived on. now the record holder is david norris, he's from anchorage, who ran the 2016 mount marathon in 24 minutes and 16 seconds. david has since won the race two more times. here's the important thing. the race itself, it's more than a mile, and half of it is straight up a mountain, and then back down the mountain, which is even more precarious, another mile and a half. "outside" magazine called it, quote, the toughest 5k on the planet earth. others use less polite words to describe it. but everyone who knows about the race will agree that anyone who

takes to the mountain and completes it is a rock star. this again is from "outside" magazine. and if you're watching or you're interested -- interested -- go google "mount marathon race in seward, alaska," you'll get a sense from the pictures. here's what "outside" magazine said. just a taste of what this race is like. and i'm quoting here. quote, the dissent from mount marathon is sort of a controlled dive, hectic sliding dive off soft rock, sometimes there is snow up there. it is part running, part skiing, part falling, and it often leaves finishers dripping with blood or with gravel, shrapnel embedded in they are butts, legs, and knees.

this is the most pure mountain race i can think of. it is straight up and down, no messing around, one of this year's runners, who is one of the few professional runners who come from all over the world to run this race. he said, alaska doesn't mess around. so that's the race that's the race that 85-year-old chad resari ran three weeks ago. thousands of people come out to watch it. it is a huge event in seward. runners from around the world, and our 85-year-old alaskan just completed it. so who is this tough, now-fabled person in my state? chad was born in hawaii. his parents are filipino. he spent most of his younger years with his parents on a sugar plantation in maui. he was an active kid, ran with

his high school running team, and on his off time sometimes ran up mountains. good training for mount marathon later in his life. after high school, he spent seven years in the seminary. he's a deeply religious man. at the end of his time, he and his mentor decided that he should serve god not as a priest but as a layperson and as a longtime member of our lady of guadalupe parish in anchorage, he stayed faithful to his mission since. when my team was talking to him yesterday, he was on his way to mass, which he does very, very, very regularly. after the seminary, chad was open to a new experience. someone told him that the wages in alaska were high -- $2.50 an hour at the time compared to

about 90 cents an hour where he was. also he had a brother in the army stationed in anchorage, so he said, might be a good idea, who knows? i might be able to find some gold in alaska, too. also he'd read in "reader's digest" that you could grow strawberries in alaska, which is true, so he was intrigued. a.rrived on march 12, 1962. it was 15 degrees below zero. chad said, quote, the weather was a little cool. i'll probably like it here. he didn't really like the heat and humidity in hawaii. he initially worked as a custodian at catholic injure high, then got interested in coaching students. as a pastor took note of his interest in teaching, he helped send him to then the alaska

methodist university, now alaska pacific university to get his teaching degree. until 1966, when chad retired, he taught p.e., first at central junior high and then at meers high, he taught basketball, soccer, track and field, you name it. great coach. and he loved working with students and teachers and the other coaches. throughout those years and obviously later, he practiced what he preached. not only did he continue running, he lifted weights, winning first place in his weight class in a powerlifting competition in 1973. although he continued to run and stay in shape, a he ran the fabled mount marathon race just twice -- in 1963 and 1964, but then he took a long break because the training for the

race is very rigorous and time-consuming. he was married then to edna, 49 years now, teaching, coaching, raising three daughters. he just didn't have time to train for this race. but in 1996, after he retired, he started to train and run mount marathon again, and he began in earnest. from that time, he has only missed this race twice, once when the smoke from forest fires made it too danger to us and again last year when the race was canceled due to covid. but he really hasn't missed it at all. what's his secret? i'm not surety i have any secret, he said. my wife is a nurse and she makes sure i have my fruits and vegetables and, like a lot of alaskans, i eat a lot of fish, he said. they go to mass daily.

they always say their evening and morning prayers. when they travel, they pray for their own safety and the safety for everybody on the road or on the airplane with them. that's what the lord would want us to do, keep others in mind. you can see chad is a good man, a spiritual man. he credits god for giving him the strength and stamina to do what he just did, make it up a 3,000-foot mountain, a mile and a half straight up. this race, when he was officially the oldest person to ever have run it and complete it, was very challenging. it was also particularly special for him. all across the trail the people watching -- and when you go to seward, you'll see thousands of people -- the people running the race, the officials, everybody

in alaska seemed like they were cheering chad on. 85-year-old chad running one of the toughest 5k's on the planet earth. one of his former students, now in his 70's, was also there. cheering him on. this year his youngest daughter trina also ran the race. tough family. and when the finish line was in sight, he could see her and his other daughters joanna, sheilah and their children who all ran up to urge him to finish strong, get to the finish line. his wife, his niece and her husband, his friends were all there cheering for him when he crossed the finish line of mount marathon, two hours, 29 minutes, 23 seconds. up and down a steep mountain in

alaska at the tender age of 85 years old. it was challenging, he said. and after he was definitely tired. but here's the thing -- he plans to do it next year. and the year after that. and the year after that. he says, as long as he can do it, he's going to continue to do it. quote, for some reason, i just enjoy running that race, he said. so, chad, thank you for being such a great inspiration. thank you for praying for everybody, keeping your fellow alaskans and americans in your prayers. congratulations on being the oldest person ever to run the fabled mount marathon race. and, importantly, congratulations for being our alaskan of the week. mr. president, i'd yield the floor.

mr. reed: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island is recognized. mr. reed: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the consideration of the following nominations. calendar number 167, 196, 197, 198, 199, and 200. that the nominations be confirmed en bloc, 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 any of the nominations, that the president be immediately notified of the senate's action. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reed: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to legislative session and be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reed: mr. president, i have seven requests for committees to meet during today's session of

the senate. they have approval of the majority and minority leaders. the presiding officer: duly noted. mr. reed: thank you. mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of s. resolution 316 which was submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 316, resolution to authorize representation by the senate legal counsel in the case of a.o.l. alpha bank, john doe et al. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed. mr. reed: i further ask the preamble be agreed to, the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reed: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of calendar number 91, senate resolution 67. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 91,

s. res. 67, resolution calling for the immediate release of trevor reed, a united states citizen who was unjustly found guilty and sentenced to nine years in a russian prison. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed. mr. reed: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reed: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar number 93, senate resolution 165. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 93, senate resolution 165 calling on the government of the russian federation to provide evidence or to release united states citizen paul wheelan. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed. mr. reed: i further ask that the resolution be agreed to, the committee-reported amendment to

the preamble be agreed to, the preamble as amended be agreed to, and the motion to reconsider considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. so ordered. mr. reed: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar number 105, s. 2382. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 105, s. 2382, a bill to authorize the national cyber director to accept details from other elements of the federal government on nonreimbursable basis and for other purposes. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed. mr. reed: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reed: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 3:00

p.m. monday, july 26, 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. that upon the conclusion of morning business, the senate proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the kim nomination. further, that the cloture motion on the kim nomination ripen at 5:30 p.m. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reed: if there's no further business to come before the senate, mr. president, i ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until 3:00 p.m. monday. the senate continuing work on president biden's nominees.

omnis confirming undersecretary for nuclear security and administrator of the national nuclear security administration which manages the national nuclear warhead stockpile. the vote was 79 -- 16. republicans casting all votes in opposition for the confirmation. we will have more with senate coverage when lawmakers here return on c-span2. ♪♪ >> weekends on c-span2 are intellectual. every saturday you will find events and people for our nations on american history tv. on sunday, book tv brings the latest in nonfiction books and authors, television for serious readers. learn, discover, explore. weekends on c-span2 of. ♪♪ >> the house committee investigating a january 6 attack

on the u.s. capitol was at first hearing tuesday. officers from the u.s. capitol police and washington metropolitan police department will tell numbers what they saw and experienced on that day. watch the hearing live tuesday 9:30 a.m. eastern on c-span three online@c-span.org or listen with the free c-span radio app. ♪♪ >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government funded by these television companies and more including while. >> the world has changed. today fast reliable internet connection is something no one can live without so it's there for our customers with speed, reliability, value and choice. now more than ever it all starts with great internet. >> box supports he spent as a public service along with these other television providers giving a front row seat to democracy