having to go through to the emergency room is a greater performance wireless as well you for martin luther king 55 years ago declared that all of many inequalities healthcare was in domain. in terms of, i need you. the officers were doing there. they were defending this capital will be this year er for your commitment to congress's the senate gap is wide enough for floor. >> senator from iowa. a senator: are we in a quorum

call? the presiding officer: no. ms. ernst: thank you, madam president. we've all experienced a bit of buyer's remorse this past year. the uncertainty caused by the pandemic had folks stockpiling too much or just online retail therapy for things they may never use. but when it comes to impulse buying, no one can compete with democrats in washington. if running up the taxpayer's tab was an olympic sport, democrats would easily take home the gold. over the past six months the democrats have run up trillions of dollars in new spending. and as we were just days away from hitting the nation tea debt

limit, these same democrats are preparing to charge trillions more to the nation's credit card paid for by taxpayers, of course, to purchase more of their pricey partisan pet projects and other items on that progressive wish list. their reckless spending spree started in march with their strictly partisan $2.1 trillion of so-called covid bill. the democrats assured us the $1,400 stimulus checks and $300 a week enhanced unemployment benefits included in the bill would get america bass on its feet. -- back on its feet. well, folks, it's july 28, we have ten million unfilled jobs.

last week jobless claims increased and hardworking americans are feeling the pinch and paying more for almost everything from gas to groceries. the democrats' poisonous progressive policies are failing us and iowans and the rest of americans know it. yet, democrats, they just keep on spending. right now the majority leader is plotting to fast-track an everything but the kitchen sink tax spending bill that could cost $3.5 trillion. so what's in this latest bill? more poisonous progressive policies. one of the most harmful provisions to families everywhere, and emfarm families in -- and especially farm families in iowa, is what i like

to call the farm-to-table tax hike. the democrats want to pay for part of their radical agenda by increasing the tax on family farms being passed from one generation to the next. but that tax won't only hit farmers and ranchers, it will increase the cost of producing and purchasing food for all of our families. americans recognize president biden's budget-busting bills are a key factor in the skyrocketing costs. yet the democrats keep packing their bills with progressive pet policies and projects they know won't make your life better but that will appease their political base. and their answer when things don't get better is always, wait, we didn't spend enough. folks, it's laughable to argue

that washington hasn't spent enough when our national debt now exceeds $28 trillion. the shop aholiks who -- shop aholiks who control the purse string are addicted to using other people's money on things we don't need or can't afford. let's review the repeat for bidenomics. $2.5 billion for biden's so-called legislation, $ 1.7 billion for amtrak, $135 million for the national

endowment for the arts. $50 million for environmental justice grants. plus a $3.5 trillion for the proposed reckless tax and spending spree, we still don't even know what goodies are included in this grab bag, but it is likely to include parts of the socialist green new deal. and doubling the size of the i.r.s. by hiring an army of new auditors. add on nearly $10 billion for swampy earmarks to pay for pork projects. the list goes on and on and on like the world's longest cvs receipt except you don't expect any savings here, folks. and when you add it all up, the

grand total $6.8 trillion. as these bills come due, president biden's reckless spending spree will leave us with buyer's remorse for years to come. it's time to cut up washington's credit card and make d.c. start living within its means, just like every hardworking family across iowa and america do. thank you, madam president. i yield the floor. mr. blunt: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from missouri. mr. blunt: madam president, when president biden was campaigning last year, he made the pledge over and over again that he wouldn't raise taxes on any american making less than $400,000 a year.

frankly, i think that's a good pledge and it's one he keeps making. but right now it seems that the facts would prove that he and frankly our democrat colleagues here in the congress are pushing for this reckless tax spree, this reckless spending spree in a way that makes it impossible for him to keep that pledge. the tax foundation -- and people can check this as they want to verify these numbers -- looked at president biden's ten-year plan. the plan he outlined in his 2022 budget. this is not a plan that the tax foundation or any other group came up with on their own. they found that his plan would mean a higher average tax burden nationwide, including for middle-class americans. in some states the average taxpayer would see increases immediately. in others tax hikes would grow over time as the various

provisions, a change in the way the president's plan says they would change. no matter what the president says, the tax burden getting heavier under his plan for middle-class families in every state. in missouri the tax burden on the average filer would be $618 higher in 2026 than it is today. in new hampshire it would be $1,072 higher than it is today. and, madam president, maybe most importantly in nevada, it would be $1,293 higher than it is today for the average taxpayer. and if that doesn't convince you, there's another analysis recently. this one was from the reliably liberal tax policy center. it predicted that three out of every four taxpayers earning $75,000 to $100,000 a year would

be worse off next year under the biden plan. by 2031 that organization estimates that 95% of the people making between $75,000 and $100,000 would suffer losses on their tax bill. the tax and spending spree envisions monster tax hikes on business but we all know when you raise taxes on business, they have to get the money from somewhere. in fact, there are only a couple of places to get the money. one is from workers and one is from customers and trying to figure out that balance where you don't lose customers and you don't lose workers. pretty hard to figure out. you really can't isolate middle-class workers from these tax impacts. you also can't isolate middle-class customers from

these impacts. you can't keep those families from paying higher prices when a chunk of the business tax that the president and democrats talk about have to get passed on to customers. so president biden's tax increases are likely to boost inflation, even more than we've seen already and we've seen a lot of it already. go to the gas pump. go to the grocery store. go to the -- buy clothes. go to have the basic necessities you have to have, and you're going to see that they are substantially higher than they were a year ago or two years ago before covid, a year ago during covid. the president's budget effectively repeals the individual tax cuts enacted by republicans in 2017. the cuts that were enacted in that law for americans really across income levels have rate

reductions that have to be extended in four years. the president's plan doesn't call for extending any of those rate reductions. under the president's proposal, someone making $94,000 per year will see her marginal tax rate jump from 24% to 28% in 2026. added to that, you've got higher taxes that dem democrats plan to impose on family farmers and ranchers hoping to -- who are hoping to pass along their family business to the next generation. frankly, madam president, instead of advocating for these middle-class americans i just talked about, our democratic friends seem to be fixated on restoring a tax break that overwhelmingly benefits wealthy americans in high tax states. they're pushing to allow people to deduct more than $10,000 in state and local taxes on their

federal returns. that scheme, by the way, would allow the top 1% of earners to increase their after-tax income by about 2.5% while the bottom 60% of all filers if that law is changed back to what it used to be, the bottom 60% of all filers would gain less than .01% on average. it's clear that president biden's tax hikes will hit a lot of americans and a lot of americans that make less than $400,000. the higher tax cost will hurts people who are already struggling with higher prices at the pump and everywhere they shop. and it will hurt our economic recovery. my friends may not want to admit and i wouldn't neither if i was them that they're going to raise taxes on middle-class families, but that's exactly what they're

doing. and if anybody doesn't know it now, they will know it if democrats in the senate and the house get their way. i would yield the floor. mr. scott: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. scott: madam president, less than 72 hours the suspension on the federal government's debt ceiling will expire. that leaves congress with two options. continue with the reckless, wasteful spending it's accustomed to without any accountability to the merge people -- american people or finally face reality. make some tough choices and chart a path forward that lowers the federal debt and gets spending under control. washington is constantly spending more money and taking on new debt without any plan to ever reduce the debt. since 1960 congress has raised or extended the debt limit more than 70 times.

washington's choice to keep raising or suspending the debt ceiling is like raising the limit on your credit card month after month with no plan to pay it off. it's reckless and it's this kind of fiscal irresponsibility that is hurting american families and causing the rise in inflation we're seeing. as you can see here, 87% of americans are worried about inflation. 87%. low and fixed income families are having to cut on purchases because of rising costs. look at these numbers. gas up 52% in 12 months. milk 11. bacon 16%. eggs 6%. iew tiles 6%. i'm here for families all across florida who are worried. i'll give you a couple of stories. a father of three in jacksonville who is typically helping to take care of two other kids because the father is out of work. he's starting to work a second job driving for uber because of

prices rapidly increasing in price. now his uber job is becoming less and less profitable because of the rise in price of gas. a mother of four said she used to be able to go to the grocery store and spend a certain amount of money for an entire month's groceries. thousand she can't. $200 is no -- a week is no longer enough to feed her family of five. she's forced to choose between buying gas to get to work and groceries for her families and is picking up extra jobs to get by. i can relate to this. i grew up in a family that struggled for money. my mom would take in ironing for extra money. she would send me or my brother to the grocery store with exact change but she told us, you've got to check the prices. prices keep going up. if it does, you have to figure out how to get the food we need with less -- with the money we have. i have spoken to the owner of a construction company in west palm beach como says -- who says material are going up. $24 for a sheet of plywood is

now $80 a sheet. drywall is going up a dollar a board. prices of hardware like screws are going 10% to 15% per month. delivery prices are going up due to gas and shortage of truck drivers. his employees are complaining about gas and afraid of what it means if the price continues to rise. a restaurant owner in tampa told me the cost of meat has gone up from $-9d a -- $9 a pound to $ $18. it has been very hard on his business. another family in kissimmee told me how hard it is to keep food on the table because everything is so expensive. they're having trouble keeping the car because of the cost of maintenance and gas. but if he doesn't have a car, he wouldn't have a way to get to work to take care of his family. the price of gas affects nearly everyone and right now average gas prices are up nearly a dollar since last year. for a family that fills up the tank once a week, if you drive a car, it means joe biden raised your expenses $600 a year. if you drive a truck, that means

joe biden raised your expenses at more than a thousand dollars a year. biden and the democrats say they care about people. but they have done absolutely nothing to help families struggling to keep up with inflation. their plan is to spend more, more, more money, not less. we have nearly $30 trillion in debt and there are no plans to slow down. now, biden and the democrats want to spend another $5.5 trillion under liberal priorities with no consideration of how this might impact families. right now the message that president biden and the democrats here in washington are sending to the american people is clear. we don't care about inflation. they don't care about reckless spending that's causing prices to skyrocket. if they say that's the cost of getting their liberal wish list done, so be it. i think it's a disgusting approach and i'm not going to stand for it. i'm here to say that enough is enough. it's time to wake up to reality. 87% of americans are concerned

about inflation. we have to take action to get government spending under control which is why i've introduced the federal debt emergency control act. my bill prevents washington from mindless spending by requiring that two-thirds of the senate vote to increase the debt before approving any bill with deficit spending. we're -- it would also terminate unobligated funding for the american rescue plan and any previous spending bills sending it back to the treasury general fund for deficit reduction. finally, it would ensure that any bill reducing the debt by at least 5% over ten years is fast tracked through the legislative process. i've also introduced an amendment to the senate rules to require that all committee-reporteds, including inflationary impact statements so americans can see the true impacts of government spending. america -- americans deserve to now hoe their hard-earned dollars are being spent and how washington spending is affecting inflation. this will ensure they do. i welcome all mf i -- all my fiscal responsibility colleagues to join me to say we don't

accept the status quo. we won't watch in silence as people try to spend us into oblivion. we won't stand by while inflation wreaks havoc on our spending and businesses. while i was governor in florida we paid down one-third of our state debt by living within our means all the while we had taxes and fees about a hundred times. we can do it here but have to start acting responsibly today and the time to do that is now. it's time to stand up for our grandkids. this isn't political. it's good government and common sense. thank you, madam president.

lawmakers today continuing work on president biden's nominees on national labor relations board. a vote to confirm gwen wilcox should occur later today. further votes later in the day. later this week, the senate will vote on 2.1 billion dollars

emergency capital security supplemental spending bill. some news to pass on, reports are a deal has been reached on the bipartisan infrastructure bill. the new bill provides 1.2 trillion dollars in spending. look for reaction on the senate floor today. live coverage of the u.s. senate here on c-span 2.

mr. marshall: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from kansas. mr. marshall: thank you, madam

president. america has seen number of horrendous financial crises before, but none that have so quickly developed as the fiscal crisis this white house created with trillions of dollars of drunken spending and taxes proposals. the most glaring, almost parity-level example, is the administration's $3.5 trillion and growing newly labeled human infrastructure package, which is nothing more than a rosy sounding title for socialism. the results of these radical tax-and-spending policies -- what are they? a sluggish economy, inflation and one of the most dramatic expansions of the welfare state in recent history. recently the department of labor reported consumer prices climbed for the third straight monthjumping over 5% in june. every day we see inflation impacting hardworking americans. this past weekend we held five town hall meetings in kansas and thanks to this administration's

economicpologieses, runaway inflation has replaced covid at the top of the mountain of concerns for my people in my state. we're paying 40 cents more for milk and almost 20% more for a home than we were this time last year. while wages have increased, inflation continues to outpace them by more than t--1. i've heard loud and clear the concerns from kansans and especially from small business owners, the backbone of our economy, about the impacts of the democrats' reckless summer tax-and-spending spree. one tax proposal, the elimination of stepped-up basis, would be devastating to small businesses and family farms. as that provision allows them to hand down their family business from one generation to the next without paying a costly tax burden. under the administration's plan, the average farmer would have a new tax obligation of nearly a quarter of a million dollars, as cropland values in kansas have

risen 220% since 1997, not to mention the economy-killing policies of eliminating 1031 exchanges appeared taxing capital gains at ordinary income levels. on the spending front, this administration continues to pursue unsustainable and irresponsible spending policies that are actually ruining our economic recovery. further, they want to increase the debt limit without implementing any spending reforms. this is going to crush our children and grandchildren, leaving their generation to pay for the social sins of this generation. instead of getting our fiscal house in order and curbing back on massive government spending, this administration and democrats in congress are working to pass trillions more in reckless spending under the guise of infrastructure. pre-covid we had the greatest economy in my lifetime. that came about because we lowered people's taxes, lowered regulations, and we lowered energy prices. we need smart, targeted investments, not radical

spending that leaves this country at a disadvantage and kills jobs. thank you, madam president. i yield back. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from utah. mr. lee: madam president, for far too long, the federal government has been borrowing and then spending money that it simply doesn't have. this is something that we've long understood as a problem for the future, for future generations. but now it's not just a problem for the future any more. we're already -- anymore. we're already feeling the consequences right now. americans of this generation are paying the price today. why is this the case? well, politicians in washington vote for enormous, reckless spending packages, and they do so for short-term political gain and praise. we all know that that does happen. we all know that whether it's a

spending bill that's soon to come before this body or another, if it spends a lot of money, it probably will bring people a lot of praise. but it's the people, the hardworking families in utah, in every other state across the nation, who are forced to pay the price, the price for the praise and the political gain of the politician who votes toker that sort of thing. they are the -- who votes for that sort of thing. they are the ones who bear the brunt of inflation's consequences. it is making day-to-day more expensive. it is the poor and middle class of america who are hit the hardest. every single day it is getting more expensive to fill cupboards, refrigerators and bellies. every day it's getting more expensive to buy gas to drive to work, to drive to the doctor, or drive your kids to the school. every day it's getting harder to buy a house, buy a car, or pay the bill for the heat and the air conditioning in your home.

to give a few specific examples, gasoline prices are up over 50 for from last year. this hurts people not only at the pump but with everything they buy as everything they buy is also more costly to transport and therefore more costly to purchase. chicken prices are soaring. boneless, skinless chicken breast is trading at $2 per pound compared to the $1.0 it's averaged over the decades. some diapers that have cost $25 per package now cost around $40 and there are fewer diapers in each package. we in utah are certainly feeling the punch. according to a recent survey you 85% of utahans are worried about inflation, as well they should be. now, what is the democrat spending package amount to? a multitrillion-dollar inflation

bone. so far we haven't seen text and we haven't seen estimates about how much the bill will cost exactly. we haven't even even seen what democrats in the white house would like to the bill. but recent estimates suggest that it'll spend about $4 trillion, maybe more. the last thing we need for our already-frightening inflation is to spend that amount of money. it's taking an already bad situation and making it far, far worse. in fact, this is the first time we've seen a spending package of this kind, one that spends the amount that it does. and i don't just mean the first time we've seen something like this in the senate this year. i mean when we're talking about a spending bill that's likely to cost $4 trillion, maybe more, that's more money than we in this body have ever spent. in fact, i would dare say it is

more money than has ever been spent for one legislative proposal in the history not just of the united states of america but the history of the world. i mean, look at it this way. there's no entity in the history of the planet that's amassed more economic power than the united states government. the united states government, which in recent years has been spending at the rate after about $4 trillion a year. this bill in one bill could well spend that in one single legislative package. this is an astounding amount of money. no one has ever spent money in such a large quantity in the history of the world. what's more, this type of legislation has great potential -- in fact, a darn near certainty -- to carry out a reverse robin hood mission. it is perverser with war rob the poor to give to the rich.

make no mistake. when we passed spending legislation like this, a small handful of well-equity canned already wealthy people will get rich. they'll get very rich. why? because they see it coming. they know how to benefit from it and how to capitalize on to. but that is a very small group of people and that's a small comfort to those who will be hurt by it. we'll get to them in a minute. that's the first category of people. then you have a second category of people who are well-to-do and maybe they don't capitalize off of it. but they do end up paying a price. they find goods more expensive. but this small category of people consisting of well-off people might not actually feel the pinch because perhaps they've got enough saved up, they've got enough assets. it doesn't meaningfully impact their standard of living or quality of life. but even those first two categories -- those who will get rich off of a bill like this and those who won't feel a real impact -- they make up a really small segment of the u.s.

population. quite possibly percentage-wise in the low single digits. but poor and middle-class americans, many of whom live paycheck to paycheck, will be most hurt as they will be the ones to feel their paychecks, their limited paychecks, stretched thinner and thinner reached and every week. the u.s. economy doesn't make more goods because congress decides to spend more. to the contrary, it can't. all we have the ability to do is channel existing wealth. if we just add more dollars to an economy that already has access to a relatively finite group of goods and services, we're just going to increase the cost. that's how poor and middle-class americans get stuck with the bill. that's why poor and middle-class americans end up being harmed in

this bad bargain that's really good for a small handful of wealthy and well-connected, may be good nor a moment for a -- for a moment for a small handful of politicians who will get political praise for voting for it. it's really bad for the poor and middle-class people. that's wrong. at the end of the day, government is not the one hurt by reckless spending packages like this one. people are. real, breathing human beings are. the government doesn't go hungry at the end of the month. the government doesn't worry about paying rent when the kids need braces. the government isn't forced to choose between buying groceries and paying medical bills. the government doesn't forgo family reunions when it's time to tighten the bill. taxpayers do. families do, especially poor and middle-class families. the reckless spending must stop. this inflation bomb is exploding.

mrs. blackburn: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mrs. blackburn: thank you, madam president. my colleague said it so very well. the inflation bomb is exploding, and people in tennessee are incredibly concerned about that. i hear about this every single day from tennesseans. they are also concerned about the fact that it seems that the democratic majority has been unable to push forward a budget that would be bipartisan, that would have appropriate spending, that would prioritize the needs and the concerns of the american people. until just a few hours ago, we didn't have any insight into a infrastructure bill that would be bipartisan, and i applaud those that have worked so diligently to reach a bipartisan

agreement. but the american people have started to lose a lot of their trust and a lot of their patience with washington, d.c., and i -- i think that we can say rightfully so. because they are watching the costs of government go up. they are watching the hesitancy to move forward on their concerns, and they are speaking out to us. and so i had a tennessee indiana this week ask me -- a tennessean this week ask me why washington was wasting so much time because time is money, and they want to see things done. and we know that we need to see what these bills are going to look like.

we are hearing that the majority wants to bring forward this tax-and-spend spree of legislation that would be trillions of dollars. and we know that what would end up happening is this would be something that i call it lie, cheat, steal. you don't say exactly what you are going to use the money for. you don't say exactly where the money is going to come from within the budget. eventually all of it comes out of the taxpayers' pocket. and you're stealing hopes and dreams from future generations who are going to -- they're going to have to pay the bill for this. it is our children and grandchildren and future generations that are going to have to find a way to bring -- to find a way to pay for all of

this. this is why i have brought this chart here to the floor. i have used it recently here on the floor to remind us of ronald reagan's words. freedom is nevermore than one generation away from extinction. it has to be fought for and defended by each generation. very true words, and what a good reminder to us, because as we give government more control over our lives, as we give them more control in the federal budget, as the government takes more money out of the pocket of hardworking taxpayers, what do we see? we see less freedom. and there is such concern that the democratic majority has refused to come forward and say how they want to spend these

trillions of dollars. i think part of that is because there is not a way to pay for it, and they don't plan to pay for it. instead, they are going to send that bill to future generations. madam president, this is dangerous. we are upside down on this national debt. when you look at how that debt clock is ticking. but we have to choose to spend taxpayer money where it matters, and it still matters. it matters to tennesseans what their tax dollars are spent for, and it matters how they are spent. and another thing that matters to them is what we're spending it for and the driving of inflation across this country. if my democratic colleagues continue to dig this hole, future generations will be in so

deep that it will be very difficult for them to compete on the global stage. they will be vulnerability to the debt traps our adversaries in beijing set for nations that have made the same mistakes that the democratic majority wants us to make. spending more money than you have to spend for programs that you cannot afford. i'd argue that existing in a state of dependence and vulnerability created by our own government is the opposite of freedom. it is the opposite of freedom. is that really what we want for our children and grandchildren, to leave them with so much federal debt that they are covered in debt, that most of their paycheck is going to go to

the federal government to pay for programs that have long outlived their usefulness? i think not, and that's why it is so important that we look at what is happening right now as there are these conversations about budgets, as there are these conversations about the tax-and-spend spree that my colleagues across the aisle would seek to propose. i would also offer that that type spending is not governing. what it is is a power grab. what it is is taking care of your friends and not those that elected you to serve. the american people can see what is coming at them from a mile away, and they are expressing their concerns to this out of

control tax and spending spree. i yield the floor. and i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. whitehouse: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: i ask the pending quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. whitehouse: with the permission of both sides, may i ask unanimous consent that the vote scheduled to start in three

minutes start now. the presiding officer: without objection. the question is on the nomination. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote: vote:

vote:

vote: the presiding officer: has every senator voted? does any senator wish to change his or her vote?

if not, the yeas are 52, the nays are 47. the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table, and the president will be immediately notified of the senate's action. the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of executive calendar number 258, david m. prouty of maryland to be a member of the national labor relations board, signed by 17 senators. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived. the question is, is it the sense of the senate that debate on the nomination of david m. prouty, of maryland, to be a member of the national labor relations board, shall be brought fao -- brought to a close. the yeas and nays are mandatory

under the rule. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: 53 yeas, 46 nays, the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, national labor relations board, david m. prouty, of maryland, to be a member. the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. murphy: mr. president, rightfully this body is consumed with pending votes on infrastructure but i want to draw my colleagues' attention to another matter of both importance and urgency. mr. president, one of vladimir putin's favorite tactics during

the chechen rebellion was to kidnap the innocent relatives of rebel leaders and hold them captive until the leader surrendered. sometimes if they would not give up, the families would disappear. this was all in gross blatant violation of human rights laws. it's one of the many reasons that russia is an adversary not an ally of the united states. we don't do business with nations that prey upon the innocent. we don't align ourselves with nations that use kidnapping or torture as a tool to stay in power. a few months ago sultan and carrie sultan were startled by a knock on their door in the early

morning hours. it was the egyptian authorities, their relative is a sultan, for the past year the sultan family has been the subject of consistent coordinated harassment and detention by the agents of the dictator. now, ce krerch -- he would hassle people in a more judicial manner. he cannot deny the systemic method he used the system in egypt to eliminate his political opposition of the political arrests have come at a dizzying pace since 2013, but it is believed that there are 60,000

people in jail today in egypt because they are political opponents of the cece government. putin jails his advocates today but his doesn't come close to the egyptian regime. only china and iran execute more people every year than egypt and many of these executions are for political crimes. journalists are currently under constant threat in egypt. the country ranks 166 out of 180 by the press freedom group without borders. he has had his campaign manager beaten up causing candidates to drop out of the race, shockingly he won with 97% of the vote.

putin was less greedy, he gave himself 70% in his presidential election. why, you might ask, is egypt our partner and russia our adversary if their behavior is so malignantly similar? why does russia get sanctioned and egypt get showered with military assistance. egypt's 1979 peace treaty with israel remains one of the most -- for the last 40 years egypt has been a peace broker egypt contributed forces to the first gulf war in 1990, the u.s. and egypt often cooperated on counterterrorism work. our ships often get preference when going through the suez

canal, although we pay for that privilege. all of that's important but none of it is enough to justify the damage done to u.s. power and prestige when the whole world watches america deliver this giant blank check eachier to egypt while sisi engages in this violation of human rights. how do you tell russia and china to stop their campaigns of political oppression when we endorse sisi's? egypt has come to believe that it can act any way it wants and carry out political oppression, and congress and the president, whether a republican or democrat, will keep the money coming. it's a stunning amount of money, the assistance package that egypt gets every year is bested by only one other country in the world and that's israel.

most outrageous of all in light of this policy, egypt arrests and imprisons american citizens. mohammed sultan is not the only american to be arrested and tortured as a political prison. a person from long island, new york, was arrested while visiting family in cairo. he died in prison. there were dozens of other american citizens, and we are providing billions of dollars to egypt. when countries accept our money and continue to thumb their nose at our values, it makes america look like a patsy. it makes us weaker as a nation. so many of us cheered when president biden took office declaring that, quote, there would be a foreign policy that

unites our democratic values with our leadership and one centered on the protection of human rights and president biden's team has been outspoken on human rights in our foreign policy by calling out abusive dictatorship by -- and those who muzzle free speech and chinese misinformation and sanctioning corrupt oligarchs all over the world. the biden administration has chosen to make them a priority because they see the coming fight between chinese and russian model autocracy and american-led democracy and over the last four years, donald trump's affection for dictatorship gave our adversaries a big head start. president biden knows the future of the world depends on our willingness as a nation to take a strong, immediate stand right now for democracy for everyone.

let's be clear. an administration that wants to lead on democracy and human rights cannot send another $1.3 billion to egypt with no strings attached. to do so would be to endorse sisi's crackdown and send a bright, blinking message to the world that america talks a big game on democracy but isn't willing to do much about it. luckily joe biden doesn't have to take the heat when it comes to a change in egypt policy. he can simply blame congress and tell sisi that he's just upholding the law. why? for more than a decade, congress has been conditioning some of the aid we give to egypt on its human rights record hoping that if we tied a portion of the $1.3 billion to things like holding free and fair elections or releasing political prisoners, allowing the media space to operate, that the egyptian government would make progress. but nearly every single year the state department waves those -- waives those conditions and just

gives egypt the money, even when the conditions aren't close to being met. only once and i'll give him credit for this, in 2017 secretary tillerson cut $95 million in temporarily held up another $150 -- $195 million of egypt's aid money but even that $195 million was released before all the conditions were met. never has the state department just said the obvious. the conditions weren't met, we're not going to waive them, you're not getting the money. and we're talking about a portion of the money. this year $300 million of the $1.3 billion. it's painfully clear the lesson egypt has learned over the years is a simple one. america is not serious about human rights. and so we don't need to invest in improvements. we're going to get the money anyway. this year congress has said that the secretary of state should withhold $300 million of military aid to egypt if sisi doesn't substantially reverse his campaign of political

oppression and intimidation. what we know unequivocally is no meaningful progress has been made. the latest arrests of mohamad's family was done in february of this year. that was like a thumb in the eye of the new administration and the new congress. like clockwork every year right before thible waiver is giving biff the state department, egypt normally does release a few of egregiously detained prisoners but it's always window dressing. the trend every year is more of the time, more human rights violation, less democracy. this year the united states must withhold the $300 million in accordance with the law passed by this congress. it will send a message to egypt that we're serious about reform and maybe more pornly, -- more importantly, it will send a message to the world that we are willing to walk the walk, not just talk the talk. now, this town freaks out whenever the security assistance gravy train goes off the rail,

even for a moment. keeping the pipeline of american -- regimes it makes a lot of people rich in washington. and those people are whispering in the ears of congress and the administration right now making the claim as they do every single year that the sky is going to fall if egypt doesn't get its $1.3 billion. all of it, all of the $1.3 billion as they have every year since 1987. they'll say that all the lines of cooperation that i mentioned earlier will disappear. but in reality the return on investment for military aid to egypt, it's been diminishing for a long time now. there's no reason to believe that the things we get from egypt, access over flight rights, continuing to uphold the peace treaty with israel will be overturned. should only get $1 billion rather than $1.3 billion this year. why is that? because in 1987 those benefits egypt ploys were -- provides were arguably concessions to our requests but today egypt does those things not because we pay

them to do it but because they have their own reasons to do them. for years the united states looked the other way. well, another regional power saudi arabia carried out its own dizzying campaign against it own -- against its own people. we did and said virtually nothing. we awarded saudi arabia with record amounts of armed sales and then one day they kidnapped a u.s. resident and chopped him into pieces and america was made a fool in the eyes of the world. in some ways we've had a hard time recovering from that day. mo ha mad soltan believes there is no other nation in the world that cares more about standing up for democracy and civil rights than america. egypt doesn't care. they harass and imprison his relatives at will. because they can. let's not make the same mistake with egypt as with saudi arabia. egypt notices when we talk tough and do nothing. so does the rest of the world. so withholding $300 million of their $1.3 billion until egypt

makes real concessions on reform, it won't fundamentally harm u.s. interests in the middle east. it will only make us more safe. it's the best opportunity for the biden administration to show that we mean it when we state that the stakes in the fight between oug autocracy and democy are sky high and we're willing to do more than just talk about our values. america has the capacity to live them as well. i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: mr. president, it was one week ago that the senate held a procedural vote on a bill that hadn't even been written and to no one's surprise it failed. republicans for our part said it made no sense to advance to more than $1 trillion infrastructure

plan before knowing what was in the plan and how it would be paid for. our democratic colleagues argue that the bill text was imminent coming any moment, any second, and it was critical to get the process started. well here we are one week later. i guess the bill text wasn't imminent because we still haven't seen it yet. earlier today we heard that there was an agreement, i assume in principle, on the major portions of the proposed plan which i can see as a major sign of progress. i want to commend all of our colleagues, including senators portman, collins, romney, and cassidy who have been working hard on our side of the aisle to achieve consensus and on the democratic side senators like senator manchin and sinema and others. but this infrastructure plan

that we haven't seen yet is no more ready for action today on the floor than it was last week. we made clear last week that we wanted to see the details before voting on a frill dollar bill -- trillion dollar bill that will impact every community across this country. until this bill is actually written and we have a chance to review it, including all the details, the costs, the pay fors, and the impact it will have on our states, i will not support it. and i imagine the majority of my republican colleagues feel the same way. now i say that also believing that it's important for us to get a bipartisan infrastructure bill. i actually want us to. but part of the challenge is this groups of gangs that operate outside of what we would call regular order here, that

is, the committees of jurisdiction where all senators get to participate in the final product including on the floor of the senate, that's really not possible when you have a group, a small group, a subset of the senate negotiating a deal among themselves and then they present is to us as a fait accompli and say you've got to accept it. well, it doesn't work very well ordinarily but i'm willing to give them a chance because i know they've committed a lot of time and effort into this. but it's going to depend upon a couple of things. my vote ultimately is going to depend upon a couple of things. first of all, we fund our highways, our roads and bridges mainly through the gas tax. it's the amount of money that goes into the gallon of gas that's dedicated for the highway trust fund. well, because our cars are getting more mileage now and

because we're seeing alternatives like electric vehicles, the highway trust fund is simply inadequate to fund the demand of our infrastructure, roads and bridges and the like. but that's no excuse for us to get away from what is heretofore been a pay for model or a user fee model. in other words, infrastructure should be paid for by the people who use it, not people who don't use it. and that's why the gas tax, at least as originally conceived, paid a lot of sense. but we made a couple of mistakes. one is we didn't index it to inflation and secondly, we just couldn't account back when the gas tax was adopted for the innovation we've seen in transportation. natural gas-driven vehicles, electric vehicles and the like that pay nothing for our roads and infrastructures.

and i think it's a very serious problem for us from a fiscal point of view to get away from the user fee model. first of all, we know that we've had to spend a lot of money to fight the covid-19 virus to deal with the public health and the economic consequences associated with it. that's why we passed -- i believe it was a total of five bills last year alone on a bipartisan basis to defeat this virus. and you can tell from some of the face masks being worn here in the chamber right now we have not yet been able to defeat it finally, notwithstanding the discovery and broad use of vaccines and other treatments. but an infrastructure bill is different than a pandemic because we actually should be in the position of paying for our spending rather than borrowing from future generations. and i appreciate the good work that's been done by the

bipartisan negotiating group to try to come up with some credible pay fors. but they haven't been able to use the traditional user fee model because president biden and his administration took it off the -- took it off the bargaining table which means you have to use other pay fors outside of a user fee model in order to pay for it or else you just merely add to our debt and pass on the responsibility to pay those bills back to future generations. while i don't think any of this is news to the majority leader who once again is scheduled to vote before we have a bill that we can actually read, discuss with our constituents. i, for example, would like to be able to discuss the contents of the bill with my friends at the tax department of transportation

-- with the texas department of transportation and the governor and other people who are very much engaged in what the infrastructure and my state looks like, what it should be, and what we need in terms of investments in the future. but i can't do that if the bill text hasn't even been released yet. and the majority leader knows that. so the question i have is why in the world would the majority leader schedule another vote before the bill is even rel released, before we can read it and consult with our staff and outside experts like my friends at the texas department of transportation. well, we've seen contradictory signs about what our democratic colleagues really hope to do when asked about the -- the fate of the bipartisan infrastructure plan, the democratic majority whip said talks have gone on

long enough. and he would support rolling it into the democrats' reckless tax and spending bill that nancy pelosi said she would not pass in the house, a bipartisan infrastructure bill, unless at the same time she was able to pass what has anomaly been called a $3.5 trillion spending bill but we know it's a lot more money than that. president biden spilled the beans when this bipartisan group was at the white house a few weeks ago where he said he would not sign the bipartisan bill into the law unless at the same time he would sign the partisan reckless tax and spending bill on -- that's passed purely on a partisan basis. in other words, they're linked both by speaker pelosi and by president biden. now, president biden did walk

that back, or at least he tried to. but speaker pelosi has remained adamant that she will not pass any bipartisan infrastructure bill in the house unless she can get the votes in the house and presumably in the senate in order to put pressure on some of the democrats who are resistant to see us continue to add to our national debt and fuel inflation by more reckless spending, as well as the huge tax increases that would necessarily go along with it. so i'm beginning to wonder whether there was actually a sincere desire on the part of our democratic leaders here in the senate, whether they actually wanted to pass a bipartisan bill or whether their goal was really to pass the reckless tax-and-spending spree bill that speaker pelosi said could not -- had to pass if we were going to pass a bipartisan

bill. we also need to know, mr. president, whether senator schumer will honor requests for people who were not part of the negotiating group -- the gang or -- i don't guess they call themselves g-10, g-20 or g-21, whatever they are called. but it is a subsection of senators that have been negotiate being the bill. but the question is whether the majority will permit other senators who are not part of that negotiating group to offer amendments to the bill and whether they will permit us to have debate and votes on those amendments. because i didn't delegate the responsibilities i have as a senator representing 29 million americans to them to negotiate a bill for my state. that's my responsibility. and i insist on having a chance

to read the bill, to consult with them, and to see what the impact is going to be on my state. and to consult with my governor and the head of the texas department of transportation and others to see whether this is something they believe i -- that earns my support and that texas should support. now, none of this is mysterious. this is the normal way of doing business around here; moving bills through committee, democrats and republicans get a chance to shape those bills in committee and then the majority leader brings it to the floor and then everybody else gets to participate in the process. i hope in his rush to get this bill out the door that the majority leader will allow a reasonable amendment process. this isn't like the early days of the pandemic when we were experiencing a global emergency.

we need to deal with our infrastructure needs. but this isn't emergency spending. this is part of the daily or annual bread and butter of what the legislative process should be about. that's another reason why we shouldn't pass a bill without responsible pay-fors. well, we've seen this kind of political maneuvering before. in fact, senator schumer's design-to-fail agenda practically dominate the work of this -- dominated the work of this chamber last month. he scheduled votes on some of the most controversial bills out thereto in order to orchestrate republican opposition, legislation that exploits the cause of pay fairness to line the pockets of trial lawyers, a bill to seize states' power to legislate their own regulations, as provided for in the constitution; and to cement democratic majorities in the congress for the foreseeable

future. now the majority leader is threatening to tank an infrastructure bill so he can go on to another partisan tax-and-spending spree bill, which makes me think that is really what they care the most about. rather than give the negotiators tomb to succeed and the rest of us time to understand what's in the bill and to consult appropriately with our constituents, senator schumer turned what should be a unifying process to build consensus into a divisive one, all in order to tee up his desire to see us pass a multitrillion-dollar tax and spending bill. that's on top of all the spending that we've done on a bipartisan basis for covid-19, at least until the first part of this year when our democratic colleagues insisted on pushing through another $1.9 trillion of unpaid-for spending, all in the

name of covid-19 when we all know that only about 10% of it was addressed at the pandemic, which causes all of us to recall rahm emanuel's famous statement that an emergency is a terrible thing to waste. and in the name of covid-19 relief, another $1. 9 trillion was added to our children and grandchildren's debt burden. well, the reckless tax-and-spending bill that speaker pelosi so desperately wants a, the price tag has been -- wants, the price tag has been put on that legislation at another $3.5 trillion. i don't most of us can really get our head around what a trillion is. it's more than a billion, we know. it's a whole lot more than a million. but this kind of reckless spending is really unprecedented, except in a

national emergency like covid-19 relief. some budget experts have estimated that the reckless tax-and-spending spree bill that speaker pelosi so desperately wants could cost actually $5.5 trillion, and if our democratic colleagues insist on rolling the bipartisan infrastructure bill into that plan, it will cost taxpayers even more. well, as a reminder, our democratic colleagues spent more than $2 trillion earlier this year alone, as i mentioned. and the as a result result -- and the results of this reckless spending spree speak for itself. democrats have sent big incentives to workers to remain at home, not back at work, through september of this year by enhancing their unemployment benefits with an additional federal government bonus, which provided in my state about 80%

of the people collecting unemployment unemployment insurance were making more on unemployment insurance than they were going back to work, so it is no wonder we had trouble getting people back to work and businesses had to cut back on their open hours, restaurants had to close down because they simply couldn't find the workers or the businesses could compete with the federal government thor these essential workers. we're a long way from reaching prepandemic employment rates and job openings are at record highs. this is borne out by polling -- inflation. we're seeing inflation at a 13-year high. consumers are feeling the sting of rising prices for virtually everything they buy. that's what happens when too much money chases too few goods and services. prices go up, and we're seeing

the cause of that inflation, it's impact on gasoline, on groceries, on appliances. folks are shelling out more money for these products today than they have been as recently as a year ago. and if you've gone to the used car lot recently, you're bound for some serious sticker shock, and you can't even get a new car because of the semiconductor shortage caused by the pandemic. but over the last year alone, used car prices have gone up an eye-popping 45%. well, as i said, there's another reason why new cars aren't available, and that's because the semiconductors that make these computers on wheels actually run have not been available because 90% of them are made overseas in asia. now, we've taken an important step to try to deal with this

supply chain of semiconductors that affect our economy and national security when we passed the u.s. innovation and competition act last month here in the senate. so we are capable of doing things on a bipartisan basis if i have goin' the opportunity -- if given the opportunity. "the wall street journal" recently called this bill, the innovation and competition act, the third infrastructure initiative and noted that while smaller, it's freighted with us why as much long-term economic and strategic importance -- with just as much long-term economic and strategic importance. we can't let the one that passed the senate last month slip through the cracks. there's a lot on the line for our economy and national security, and we need the chips program up and running, which is a $52 million investment in domestic manufacturing of advanced semiconductors, something that we rely on for asia and principally taiwan, that produces 63% of advanced

semiconductors, and we can only imagine if that supply chain from taiwan or asia was disrupted by another pandemic, a natural disaster, or, heaven forbid, a military conflict. so i want to make sure that our colleagues know i appreciate the work they put into this bill but i know they also appreciate the individual responsibility that we have as senators to participate in the process, particularly when it comes to spending a trillion dollars on infrastructure. we need to have the text of the bill, not just a summery. i appreciate our colleagues giving us -- some of us -- a notebook. it's a bipartisan infrastructure investment jobs act summary. that's helpful. but that's not legislative text. and then we need an open amendment process so that those of us who weren't party to the

bipartisan negotiations can participate in the process. hopefully make the bill better. i would like to see us actually substitute some of the spending pay-fors with a user fee model that's been traditional using the gas tax. but as i said earlier, the gas tax has become a little outmoded and insufficient to pay for the infrastructure we all want and need. so, mr. president, there's a real need to invest in america's infrastructure, and it's never been more important for us actually to pay for those investments in a responsible way. as it stands today, our debt-to-g.d.p., gross domestic product, ratio is at the highest level since world war ii. this is not the time to continue spending and spending and spending until our grandkids are left sitting in a pit of debt so

deep they will never climb out of it. now, i'm encouraged that our colleagues have gotten us this far, but the bill is not ready, and we need to see the text and be given adequate time to read it and consult with our constituents about it and to satisfy ourselves that the summaries they provided us and that the pay-fors are real. senator schumer would be wise to postpone today's vote until members on both sides have had a chance to evaluate the details of this legislation. with that, mr. president, i yield the floor. mr. menendez: mr. president?

the presiding officer: the senator from new jersey. mr. menendez: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that at a certain time during my remarks, i be allowed to address the senate in spanish. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. menendez: mr. president, i rise today to urge leaders across the united states and governments around the world to stand in solidarity with the people of cuba as they cry out for freedom, for libertad, and for an end to decades of dictatorship. what is happening in cuba today is nothing short of historic. yes, we've seen protests take place in years past, but the demonstrations that began on july 11 stand apart. what began as one small pro-democracy protest in san

antonio spread across the island in a matter of hours. cubans from all walks of life took to the streets in a courageous call for democratic change. among those clamoring for freedom were afro-cubans demanding an end to discrimination and injustice. young people dreaming of a brighter future in their country, artists and activists from the san ysidro movement singing and ordinary citizens facing widespread food choices access to health care. the people of cuba are crying out for freedom and we must hear them. [speaking in spanish] this is

not about politics or ideology. the free world has a responsibility to stand with those who are not yet free. and the people of cuba are anything but free. let's dispel the myths about what life is under the cuban regime. for decades the regime's ruthless and repressive tactics have systematically silenced the cuban people while party insiders and cronies enrich themselves at their expense. today cuba remains a one-party communist state with the basic principles of political pluralism and representative democracy are outlawed, outlawed. there are no free and fair elections in cuba. it may have appeared on a ballot but there are no other

candidates. he was not chosen by the people, but handpicked by the castros as their successor. he has the same ideology, he says the same things, he talks about the continuation, continuation of oppression. there is no freedom of the press in cuba. independent journalists are routinely targeted with violence, harassment, imprisonments and raids on their homes and offices. there is no internet freedom in cuba. the regime monitors online traffic, blocks sites and charges so much money for data that most cubans cannot afford access. and when the regime gets scared about what the cuban people are saying and doing, they shut down the whole internet. yeah, they shut down the whole internet.

the only reason a government shuts down the internet is because they fear their own people. but this has consequences. i recently had a catholic priest visiting here in washington from cuba. he told me an incredibly powerful story. he said this young man came to see him in church and said, i would fight, i would give my life for the cause of freedom if only someone would know that i died. if only someone would know that i died. there is no freedom of expression in cuba. hundreds of activists, artists and political dissidents are taken prisoner every year without due process. others are beaten in the streets or terminated from their jobs

for daring to express a contrary opinion. cubans can even be imprisoned for the orwellian offense of, quote, precriminal dangerousness. you heard me right. pre-criminal dangerousness. let that sink in. the political police can arrest you if they decide you might commit a political crime in the future. fortunately, the regime's brutality has failed to extinguish the flame of liberty alive in the hearts of the cuban people. their courageous call for freedom is truly awe-inspiring. and yet, the regime responded to these protests as all authoritarian governments do, with repression, with censorship, with violence.

the regime's internet outages tried to stop the cuban people from using social media to open the eyes of the world to the repression and injustice they live with each and every day. yet, it was too late. the truth went viral. images of everyday cubans chanting down with the dictatorship and singing patria or homeland and life spread around the world. and so did countless videos of the regime's violent crackdown. make no mistake, the incitement from violence came from the top. it was miguel diaz canel who

encouraged to attack peaceful protesters and ordered on tv, the order to fight has been given on the streets and pledged his supporters lives over our dead bodies. we are prepared to do anything. what leader of a country invokes the people of the country to turn against their brothers and sisters in the country in violence? who does that? diaz canel did that. the regime confirmed one death, yet independent reports suggest additional lives were lost as well as numerous cases of violence and even torture. i have seen many of the videos. we can't show videos here on the senate floor, but i tell you if we could, it would be incredibly compelling and

incredibly graphic and incredibly violent. international human rights groups believe that more than 500 people have likely been detained, most facing arbitrary charges. likewise, don't take my word for it, the u.n. high commissioner for human rights, michelle bachelette expressed her concern about the excessive force of the people in cuba on a large number of people including journalists. it is particularly worrying that these include individuals allegedly held incommunicado and people whose where abouts are unknown. we have seen many videos and many stories of families trying to find out where are their loved ones. where their loved ones. already the regime is preparing summary trials for protesters that deny them access to legal representation, subject them to

sham sentences, and make a mockery of due process. luis manuel, a leader of the san ysidro movement of artists, known to promote exreemed -- freedom of expression has been jailed with resistance and public disorder. for what? for merely announcing on social media that he intended to join the peaceful protests. for merely announcing that he intended to join the peaceful protests. this artistic leader, this individual as one of the leaders of the san ysidro movement jailed. for what? for nothing. the head of the union of cuba is

already behind bars. he is a renowned civil society leader who spent eight years in prison for organizing an entirely legal electoral referendum under the existing cuban constitution and was declared a prisoner of conscience by amnesty international. the regime has also unjustly detained multiple journalists who are craibltionly reporting on the -- courageously reporting on the events of july 11. regime security forces also violently assaulted a photographer for the associated press. arrests have surged in recent days, but the politically motivated arrests have taken place throughout 2021. rapper and afro-cuban art iist s

been in prison since may. he is one of the artists featured in the protest anthem patria y vida. in cuba you can be arrested for singing. this builds on efforts to advance the cause of freedom. [speaking spanish] from the patriotic union of cuba's efforts to unite activists in support of democracy, berto solel and the intrepid leaders of the ladies in white, these are the spouses, daughters, mothers of political prisoners who

repeatedly face violence for attending church services and walking peacefully in white through havana's streets with a glad i don'tiola in their handsh a gladiola in their hands, walking peacefully along the streets dressed in white with a gladiola in her hands. to the christian liberation movements work exploiting tools afforded by the regime's own constitution to advance democratic change. this month marks nine years since the movement's leader died in a suspicious car crash that has never been fully investigated due to the regime's obstruction. i believe he was assassinated. decade after decade cuban patriots have dedicated their

lives and given their lives to the cause of democracy and freedom. they have struggled to rebuild communities and preserve values relently attacked by cuba's communist leaders. they have worked tirelessly to alleviate the hardships that force hundreds of thousands of cuban families to abandon their homeland in search of opportunities abroad. the suffering that the cuban regime inflicts on its own people extends beyond its borders. for over two decades cuba has provided military and intelligence assistance to venezuela's dictatorship. it has exported its repressive tactics from havana to caracas. it has shared its failed economic model with venezuela's kleptocrats, and it should be no surprise that venezuela is now a failed state with a devastating humanitarian crisis. cuba also provides safe haven to

members of colombia's e.l.n. guerrilla group. the regime continues to deny extradition requests from the colombian government. in addition, cuba has also harbored and still harbors american fugitives evading the u.s. justice system. they include joanne chesimard, who remains on the f.b.i.'s most wanted list for her role in the murder of new jersey state trooper forester, and a terrorist who took part in several bombings in the united states including a tavern in manhattan in 1975. as it exports criminality and repression across the americas, the cuban regime is a cancer that spreads instability across our hemisphere. against this backdrop, the

people of cuba cry out for freedom, and i urge our partners in the international community to listen to their voices, hear their cries of desperation. [speaking spanish] they want freedom from a system that denies them basic human rights and control over their own destiny. they want freedom from an economic model that places the interests of corrupt party and military oligarchs above those of the people. but there is no freedom today in cuba. there is no economic opportunity. there is no justice. the regime has turned a blind eye to reports documenting a disturbing rise in violence

against women. it continues to treat afro-cubans as second-class citizens unworthy of political representation and opportunity, even while they are the leaders of the freedom movement inside of cuba. and it continues to deploy cuban doctors to foreign countries against their will and under conditions that meet the definition of human trafficking. the regime sends cuban doctors abroad, takes away their passports, monitors their activities, threatens retribution against their families, all the while while garnishing 75% of the wages that that country is paying for that doctor. these medical missions aren't humanitarian aid. they're forced labor. the regime continues to engage in gross economic mismanagement. money that could be spent caring for the sick or vaccinating people against covid-19,

instead goes to new hotels and tourist destinations. and despite the growing number of international companies there, cuban workers cannot be hired directly by those companies. so you own a hotel like the spaniards do in cuba, you don't hire the worker directly, you go to the state employment agency. they send you the worker, you pay the state employment agency, which means they pay in dollars and they pay the worker a fraction of that. if you don't like that, they will get someone else. fire at will. they have no rights. they cannot be directly hired. they are contracted by state-owned employment agencies that garnish their wages and

will not allow them to organize. as the cuban people push for a new dawn in their country, a vibrant cuban-american country here has never wavered for their brothers and sisters on the island. they have worked tirelessly to ensure their cries for help are heard around the world. in rallies and demonstrations in my home state of new jersey, in florida, and, yes, here in washington, cuban americans are standing with loved ones on the island and living around the world and calling for an end to a system that has robbed generations of cuban families of their dignity. for me in my 30 years in congress, this has been a constant struggle. from my days in the house of representatives, helping pass the cuba democracy act, to the tragic downing of the brothers

to the rescue of civilians flying over the straits of florida between cuba and the united states looking for those people who had been taken to the sea who tried to seek freedom and shot down, which led to the libtrad act and where thousands of cubans were being held when the boatless were making their way to the united states and where we eventually brought them to the united states. from presentations in geneva at the u.n. human rights council, there condemning the regime, and here as a member of the senate foreign relations committee, leading to a bipartisan

resolution unanimously passed out of the senate foreign relations committee today, and so much more. so i marvel at some of my cuban brothers and sisters with their insulting remarks towards me. since july 11, president biden and secretary blinken have repeatedly spoken in support of the cuban people and make clear the united states stands with them in their call for freedom. more importantly, the administration is backing up its wodz with action -- words with action. last week president biden invoked the global met medical medical -- met knits can i act, the president and -- magnitsky act, -- for their violent and repressive actions.

secretary blinken, the secretary of state made clear the administration will continue to hold human rights abusers accountable. i urge the administration to consider additional global magnitsky designations and to revoke the existing visas of senior cuban officials. such steps are greatly needed. with the diaz-canel using this political weapon against its citizens, the administration is pursuing ways to help cubans gain unrestricted access to the internet. they need access to information. they need to be able to communicate with each other. they need to be able to tell each other what's happening in their country. they need to be able to organize peacefully to create change in their country and we must accelerate our efforts to provide them with the tools they

need to do so. whether that's satellite feeds, whether that's tethered global balloons, whether that's a multiplicity of options because a beam can be jammed, we need to find a way to get the people of cuba internet connection. the united states also must continue working with international partners in support of democracy and human rights in cuba. last week i was proud to lead a joint -- the first time ever -- in support of the cuban people with my counterparts who chair the foreign affairs committee of the united kingdom, estonia and lithuania, and foreign ministers of 20 nations condemned the mass arrest of protesters in cuba and call on the government to respect the universal rights and

freedoms of the cuban people. many of these countries have never ever expressed themselves in solidarity with the cuban people. i'm proud to see secretary blinken and the administration make that happen. i applaud those governments that joined secretary blinken, but i also note the absence of those, including canada and spain and the european union, does spain care more about spanish hotel investments than it does about the human rights of the cuban people? [speaking spanish ] does canada place more priority on mining investments than it does on fundamental freedoms? i would hope not.

these universal principles should unite all of us. the administration is convening a working work to study some remittances. for too long the cuban military has managed the remittances that cuban americans send their families on the island, using fees and currency conversion to enrich itself. the united states would never allow the spanish, the mexican, the arrange teen military to -- it is time that we insist that cuban americans freely and directly support their loved ones. [speaking spanish ]

the steps taken thus far by the biden administration are important, but we must do more. today the senate foreign relations committee approved my resolution, along with colleagues in both the republican and democratic side, expressing our solidarity with the cuban people and condemning the regime's abuses. this bipartisan, bicameral initiative deserves the support of the full senate and i hope we will pass it on the floor this week. it's also time for the biden administration to issue a new executive order to provide direction for u.s. policy towards cuba. the order should hone our accountability measures for persons involved in human rights abuses and those who materially support them. it should solidify our strategies on internet access and support for the cuban people and congress should review options to increase funding for u.s. democracy programs as well

as internet freedom initiatives. [speaking spanish ] the united states must also find new ways to work with trusted, impartial international partners, including international organizations to provide vaccines and other aid directly to the cuban people. the cuban regime has grossly mismanaged its pandemic response. it has refused to participate in -- and refuses to vaccine people. cubans continue to suffer. the united states must lead a serious effort to push for the demilitarization of the cuban economy. the military-owned company rains

supreme over the country. it is run by castro's son-in-law fueling the rise in oligarchs. the cuban people will never obtain economic prosperity while the regime controls the economy. after years of effort by the trump administration to slash funding for programs that we had to bring back which provides for the cuban society, i'm pleased that the biden administration has requested $20 million for these programs and make clear america will continue to stand with those on the front lines of the cuba pro-democracy movement. it is time also for the united states to launch a campaign in support of labor rights inside the cuba. there is no acceptable

explanation for why cuban men and women are unable to be directly hired and directly paid by international kption and organizations -- companies and organizations that are present in cuba. if we are serious about empowering the cuban people, they must have a direct say in their livelihoods. the biden administration should pursue the success of past campaigns such as the principles in south africa that will require businesses to engage directly with the cuban people and their employment. the biden administration should also maintain the state department's cuba restricted list which can help businesses and organizations directly engage with the cuban people instead of regime conglomerates. additionally the united states and our allies must send a message to members of the cuban military. the cuban military slogan is that it draws its power from the

people. well, the people are protesting. in reality you should not use your power against the people. [speaking spanish ] additionally, let's be clear when we send that message to the cuban military not to turn its arms against its brothers and sisters, the world is watching what is happening in cuba. there is a future in a democratic cuba under civilian control for members of the military who refuse to repress their fellow citizens. but if you're involved in human rights abuses and have blood on your hands, you will be held

accountable. it's also worth noting to cuba's military leaders that their future with this regime is anything but certain. in the last ten days -- in the last ten days five cuban generals have died under highly suspicious conditions that the regime seems intent on covering up all of a sudden five cuban generals in ten days have died. i don't know at this time that i'd want to be a general in cuba. to those who want to blame cuba's misery on the u.s. embargo, i would say that it is the cuban regime that needs to lift its embargo on its own population. it is the regime's own restrictive policies that have left the average cuban destitute while oligarchs run state-run stores that are brimming with dollar goods out of reach of the

general population. [speaking spanish ] the steps are laid out by the libtrad act, which would legalize political activity, holding democratic elections. if the regime ends its iron-fisted rule over the cuban people, this lays out what the united states is ready to do. the united states would work directly with a democratic government to take steps to remove the embargo, to engage in direct trade with cuba, to support its return and membership to international financial organizations and so much more. it's all there in u.s. law. this is not a promise of something that could happen.

it is a promise of what would happen if there is a change in cuba. it's time for the cuban regime to take the steps and accept the demands of the cuban people. let me close, madam president, on a personal note. i constant here on the floor of the united states senate as the son of cuban refugees who came to this country in search of freedom and opportunity. today we we bearing something tt my parents never got to see. [ speaking spanish ] we are bearing witness to a historic moment in which cubans from all walks of life are coming together to demand that same freedom. we are bearing witness to a deep discontent within the cuban people with the status quo and life under one of the most repressive regimes ever known. for more than 60 years they have

lived without liberty and justice, without freedom of expression, without human rights and the ability to determine their own future. [ speaking spanish ] freedom because with freedom everything else comes. let us not repeat the mistakes of the past. let us not fall victim to tired myths. let us embrace the facts over the fiction. most importantly, let us hear the cuban people's cries for free dpom. -- for freedom. it is our job to stand with them, to empower them.

to ensure the international community helps them achieve their dreams and aspirations. [ speaking spanish ] thank you, madam president. i yield the floor. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. barrasso: thank you, madam president. i come to the floor today to oppose the democrats' reckless tax and spending spree. democrats passed the bill -- pass the bill, every american will end up paying more and clearly pay more in taxes. also pay more the cost people are seeing today at home, goods, gas, groceries. these prices all continue to go up. first let's talk about taxes. this bill would be the largest tax increase in the history of the united states. actually in the last half

century. the bill raises taxes on small businesses and that means higher prices on everyone and also fewer jobs. the bill raises taxes on farmers and ranchers who will have a harder time in terms of passing down the family farm or ranch to their kids or grandkids. the bill raises taxes on savings and investments so seniors will either have to work longer or retire with less. it includes trillions of dollars in tax increases. yet democrats seem to be pandering to their elite donors. they made sure to include special exemptions for rich people in blue states and for the owners of electric vehicles. now, a study at the university of california berkley clearly not a conservative university, they say nine out of ten electric vehicle subsidies go to the rich, go to the rich. nine out of ten according to berkley go to the rich. democrats also would give tax breaks for people making up to

$400,000 a year for all sorts of things, including sending their kids to summer camp. is that what the democrats want to vote for? tax breaks for people making up to $400,000 a year to send their kids to summer camp. well, the contrast with republicans could not be cle clearer. where democrats are making more handouts for their friends, republicans actually simplify the tax code. where democrats' increases are going to eliminate jobs, our tax cuts increased job growth, increased employment. lowered unemployment, raised wages. the across-the-board tax cut, it helped businesses and working families. and the result was the best economy in my lifetime. in the months after the tax cuts, nearly 200 companies, 200 companies announced raises for their employees. six million american workers received either a bonus or a raise or an increased retirement

contribution. six million americans after we passed that law. now, before the pandemic, unemployment was at a 50-year low. wages were growing at the fastest pace in a decade. and the biggest wage gains were for people at the bottom of the economic ladder. on average american households' income rose by more than $4,000 a year. well, this is more than the increase over the entire eight years of the obama-biden administration. we had the lowest poverty rate in a half a century. child poverty was down. income equality went down. the top 1% share of taxes went up so the richer folks were actually paying more in taxes. so after republicans cut taxes, we saw the lowest unemployment rates ever recorded for african americans, for hispanic americans, and for asian americans. when we began to reopen the economy last year, it was the fastest recovery in american

history. that was because we had such a strong economy before the pandemic. what a contrast to what we have with the democrats over the last six months. since democrats took control of washington, we've seen the fastest rise in core inflation in 40 years. the fastest rise in core inflation in 40 years. and we've also seen the most unfilled jobs in american history. the american people are already paying more at the grocery store, paying more at the gas station. now the american people are bracing for the fact that they're going to end up paying a lot more on tax day as well. yet just as bad as the democrats' tax increases, on top of that we see reckless spending. democrats tell us the bill costs $3.5 trillion. this is nearly the cost of -- that america spent in world war ii. yet the bill is actually much more expensive than $3.5

trillion and because democrats continue to use accounting gimmicks to hide the real cost of the legislation. last week a nonpartisan group released a study showing the real cost is likely $5.5 trillion. this is on top of the $6 trillion we've already spent in coronavirus relief. $5.5 trillion is larger than the entire economy of japan which is the third largest economy in the world. madam president, this is clearly a recipe for inflation. so now democrats are waving around a report from a single discredited economist who says oh, don't worry about inflation. well, the people of my home state of wyoming are worried about inflation because they're living it. now, this same economist has been wrong over and over and over again in his career. he predicted a recession under president trump. instead we saw the best economy of our lifetime. it wasn't even close. his work was an influence on

president obama's stimulus plan which gave us the slowest recovery in 70 years. so hard to know why the democrats would want to even turn to this person other than he's saying what they want him to say. who are you going to believe? him or your own two eyes and the people of wyoming believe their own two eyes when they go to fill up with gas or they go to the grocery store or other stores and they see their paycheck being eaten away. now, democrats now tell us they can spend their way out of inflation. spend their way out of inflation. this isn't just wishful thinking. this is radical. it is extreme. it is dangerous. it is scary. our economy doesn't need a dime of stimulus. we don't even need stimulus. we didn't need it four months ago when democrats borrowed and spent an additional $2 trillion. prices are going up because

democrats spent too much already. the money supply hasn't gone up this fast since world war ii. one democrat senator this weekend said inflation is happening because of money we've already spent. well, if this is true, then why would we want to add fuel to the fire and spend more? why would we want to do that? democrats are printing more money without creating more goods and services. so if you print more money without creating more goods and services, this is almost a textbook definition of inflation. the two bills coming to the floor now would bring democrats' total for the year to $8 trillion in additional government spending. according to an estimate from the manhattan institute, this is enough to give every american $60,000 or it is enough to cut income taxes by one-third. instead democrats are preparing more payoffs for their friends

and donors. this bill is a full giveaway to union bosses, trial lawyers, left-wing professors. it includes taxpayer funding for full time professional climate activists. it includes corporate welfare for connected companies. this tax and spending spree is utterly reckless. not one republican will vote for this bill. all it takes is one democrat in the senate or a handful in the house to stop in freight train to socialism. all it takes is one democrat concerned about our future willing to say we shouldn't weigh down our children with debt or our economy with massive tax increases. president biden and the democrat party are in charge of this runaway train. each and every democrat is going to be held responsible for the consequences. this includes more inflation, more worker shortages, more debt, and more dependency. democrats did enough damage with their last spending spree.

this new spending spree is much worse. unlike this -- their last spending spree, this bill includes massive tax increases. it's one more reason why the american people are already speaking out against this reckless tax and spending spree. people across the country and certainly home in wyoming are fed up, and the poll numbers are showing it. 74% of americans -- we're talking republicans, democrats, independents -- 74% of americans are concerned this spending spree will accelerate inflation. 78% are rightly concerned about their own wages going up at a time when their -- with their own taxes going up at a time when their wages have been getting eaten into by inflation. mr. president, people are going to remember how you vote on this bill. they're going to remember it. they remember it every time they go to the gas station, every time they go to the grocery store, and they're clearly going to remember it when they go to vote.

so election day will come. people will make their votes as citizens, and they will realize what the democrats have done with this reckless tax and spending spree and how it has impacted them as they are paying more in taxes, having a greater national debt, and inflation eating away at their paychecks. thank you, madam president. i yield the floor. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from nevada. a senator: i rise today to tell you about brian newman, an iraq combat veteran who was wounded while serving our nation overseas in 2004. ms. cortez masto: brian has spent years working with the wounded warrior project to help other veterans get the benefits that they need. years after returning home, brian applied for an annual clothing allowance of $841. this allowance should be available to veterans like brian when a medication or a medical device causes irregular wear or

damage to their clothing. as many vets with service injuries will tell you, their clothes wear down much faster than other people's and the prosthetic can rip or tear clothes as well. some veterans need tailoring to make clothing fit more comfortably around their injuries. others have to treat skin conditions with creams that damage their clothes. these veterans get compensation for the expenses associated with their injuries and rightly so. our veterans have given this country so much, and congress has a responsibility to hold up its end of the bargain, to care for them when they're injured during their service to our nation. but right now this benefit isn't accessible for many veterans, and that's wrong. and we need to change it. in the case of the clothing allowance benefits as brian discovered, the v.a. currently requires veterans to be evaluated for this benefit in person every year.

one year brian physically went to a v.a. clinic to submit the clothing allowance application and his request was denied because the v.a. had no record that he received a prosthetic at that specific clinic. at that point like many vets, brian gave up on the process in frustration. that's just unacceptable. these are brave men and women who are living with severe burns or who wear prosthetic devices as a result of their service. in many cases the v.a. already knows these veterans have a medical condition that isn't going to change year from year. and that didn't make any sense to brian. so he did something about it. he reached out to see if congress could solve the problem. he did. he did it, he said, less for himself but more for the many veterans in rural states like mine in nevada who live hours away from the nearest v.a. brian knows that many of them are so worn out by the process

of applying for what's owed them that they just give up. these men and women are tired of jumping through hoops to access their earned benefits. so why are we forcing them to navigate this complicated bureaucracy? there are certainly places to cut costs but this isn't one of them. the senate can fix this problem easily, and i've introduced a bipartisan bill to do just that. i'm glad to be working across the aisle with my colleague across the side of the aisle, senator boozman, to -- my legislation requires the v.t.a. to automatically renew this clothing allowance. veterans can get it until they say they don't need it anymore or until the v.a.'s records indicate that they don't require them. this will make sure they aren't forced to drive long distances to access a v.a. benefit they are owed. i am looking forward to moving this legislation through congress so we can make life a little easier for the 40,000

wounded warriors who currently receive this benefit and for the thousands more who qualify. there shouldn't be any red tape stopping veterans frommest going their benefits, so -- frommest going their benefits, so let's pass this bill and fix this problem. i'm going to continue to work in every way i can to ensure that veterans in nevada and across the country get the federal benefits they need. thank you it and i yield the floor. i ask unanimous consent that all remaining time be yielded back on the nomination. the presiding officer: is there objection no without objection. the question occurs on the nomination. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll.

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