in. today lawmakers will continue working on an image to the infrastructure built which includes more than $1 trillion in funding. it provides money over several years for roads, bridges, public transit, rails, water projects, airports, broadband internet, an electric vehicle charging stations. live coverage of the senate here on c-span2. dr. barry black, will open the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. .god our look with love upon us today. enable us to go from strength to strength as we strive to live in day-tight compartments. guide our senators around the

obstacles that hinder them from living for your glory, as they seek to fulfill your purposes for their lives, empower them to stand for right and lead the consequences to you. lord, give them the grace to seek you with their whole hearts, knowing that those who passionately pursue you will find you. may they daily surrender themselves to you through prayer and obedience as they remember that victory comes from you. we pray in your loving name. amen.

the presiding officer: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to the flag. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the presiding officer: the clerk will read a communication to the senate. the clerk: washington d.c, august 3, 2021. to the senate: under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable raphael warnock, a senator from the state of georgia, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: patrick j. leahy, president pro tempore.

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from maine is recognized. ms. collins: mr. president, i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. schumer: good morning, mr. president. are we in a quorum? the presiding officer: we are. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: now, mr. president, senators continue to work through the bipartisan infrastructure bill here on the floor. members from both sides want to be able to consider as many germane amendments as possible, but we must work efficiently to allow those votes. yesterday was a positive day in that respect. democrats and republicans agreed to vote on three amendments, two of which were led by republicans, two bipartisan amendments, one led by senators thune and tillis, another led by senators padilla and moran with adopted with over 90 votes. we have one, potentially two more amendment votes lined up this morning. we can hold even more amendment votes today if our republican colleagues grant us the consent to do so. the bottom line is this, the senate can work through

amendments rather efficiently when we have cooperation between the majority and the minority as we have had in this bipartisan legislation. it can go rather slowly, of course, without that cooperation. in either case the senate is going to stay here until we finish our work. i'll conclude my remarks now in order to give time to the other members waiting to speak, but i will come back to the floor shortly afterwards to join the chair and ranking member of the rules committee in asking the senate to award the congressional gold medal to members of the capitol police force who defended us from a violent mob on january 6. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. morning business is closed. under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of h.r. 3684, which the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 100, h.r. 3684, an act to authorize funds for federal aid highways,

highway safety programs and transit programs, and for other purposes. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator frommen is -- from maine is recognized. ms. collins: thank you, mr. president. while we're awaiting others to come to the senate floor, let me express my deep sorrow about learning of the deaths of two more police officers who responded to safeguard all of us in the capitol on january 6. my heart goes out to their families and their fellow officers, both here on capitol hill and also in the district of columbia police force. i'm wearing a button that was given to me several years ago

after the capitol police once again acted historically, and it says thank you capitol police. i hope each and every one of us will take time today to thank these courageous men and women who are working so hard to keep us safe. and many of whom still bear the physical injuries and the emotional trauma of that dark day in our nation's history. mr. president, i would like now to turn to briefly speak about the broadband provisions that are included in the infrastructure package. my friend and colleague, senator jeanne shaheen, from new hampshire, and i worked with a

number of our colleagues on both sides of the aisle to craft this package. mr. president, the pandemic that we have endured for more than a year laid bare the disparities in access to high-speed internet. it made it difficult for children to be educated online, impossible for some individuals to work at home, and removed the possibility of telemedicine consultations for some of our sick and seniors. mr. president, the fact is that approximately 19 million americans still lacked access to high-speed internet. we talk a lot in this bill about

bridges and building bridges, and we do need to do that. well, mr. president, it is time for us to bridge america's digital divide and build a 21st century broadband infrastructure that will need our -- that will meet our country's needs not only today but for years to come, to be futureproof, if you will. the bipartisan infrastructure plan invests $65 billion to address our nation's digital divide once and for all, and i would note, mr. president, that that is in addition to the previous funding that we provided in the covid bills to help bridge the digital divide. also in the march $1.9 trillion

bill, there was language that was authored by senator manchin that allows states to use some of the allocations that they received to invest in broadband. in addition, i'm hopeful that we will consider and adopt an amendment that senator cornyn has authored that will give more flexibility to states to invest in broadband using some of the allocation that they receive. our bill, the bipartisan infrastructure investment and jobs act, would provide more than $42 billion in grants to states for deployment. it does not favor particular technologies or providers, and projects would have to meet a minimum download, upload bill standard of 100 over 20 megabits

per second. the funding includes a 10% setaside for high-cost areas, and each state, territory, and the district of columbia would receive an initial minimal occasion, a portion of which could be used for technical assistance and supporting or establishing a state broadband office. in my state of maine, the governor has used some of those covid funds in order to establish a new maine connect authority that will be very helpful. states would be required to prioritize deployment in unserved areas first. that is so important. then they could move to underserved areas. mr. president, i talked to a

selectman recently from swan's island off the coast of maine. they desperately need access to broadband services, and they do not have it. i'm thinking of what a difference it would make to the lives of the people who live on that island. i've also talked to people in northern maine. for example, the town of easton, maine, where one family told me that it would cost $15,000 for them to be connected to the internet. they don't have that kind of money, mr. president. few people in maine do. so that's why there is another part of our bill that speaks to affordability, and in this provision, which is -- we plussed up to $14.2 billion,

additional funds would be devoted to subsidize broadband service for eligible households that meet need-based criteria. an example would be eligibility for school lunches. mr. president, i will talk a little further about this later. i see the republican leader has arrived on the floor. i yield the floor. mr. mcconnell: mr. president. the presiding officer: the republican leader is recognized. mr. mcconnell: it's been more than six months since the biden administration and our democrat-led congress were sworn

in, so let's zoom out from the daily political drama and ask the simplest possible question. how is it going? mr. mcconnell: how is the leadership working out for middle-class families? or put more directly, what big aspects of our national life could democrats even claim are headed in the right direction on their watch? in january, our democratic friends inherited the most favorable trend lines that any incoming administration could possibly ask for. three safe and effective vaccines have been discovered, developed, and were already spreading across our country. our economy was packed with dry powder and ready for an historic

comeback. it was already morning in america when this democratic government showed up. mostly what they had to do was not get in the way. so where are we six months in? the u.s. economy has broken some recent records, mostly the wrong ones. inflation just clocked its steepest 12-month increase in more than a decade. the month before, a separate measure of core inflation rose at its fastest rate since 1992. our gas prices, our grocery prices, soaring costs for everything from household purchases to automobiles to housing itself. inflation is painful enough, but it isn't the only problem. employment growth has not been fast enough. last quarter, g.d.p. grew much

more slowly than anticipated. six months and trillions of dollars of government spending into the democratic efforts at a recovery, and gallup says america's economic confidence is still only neutral. we're not, we're not where we need to be. what about the rule of law? there is still an historic surge in people trying to come across our southern border, but administration officials have spent far more energy denying responsibility for the problem when -- than trying to fix it. catch and release is still the name of the game. according to news reports, out of tens of thousands of illegal immigrants who have simply been released into the interior of our country without a court date, -- now listen to this -- just 13%, 13% have shown up at their mandatory meeting with

i.c.e. afterwards. so the border is functionally open, especially absurd at a time when many leaders are asking american citizens to step up various covid precautions. not much testing, social distancing, or mask wearing is happening in the rio grande valley. meanwhile, a surge in violent crime including record-breaking murders in many places has too many citizens afraid of their own city streets. perhaps our democratic friends think foreign policy is going well. i sure wish it were. the president's rushed pullback from afghanistan has left our friends and partners in the lurch and rolled out a red carpet for a taliban takeover that is already under way. its approach to iran appears to be promising big concession toss our adversary for no reason, even as their terrorist proxies

continue to attack u.s., israeli, and arab interests all across the region. while i appreciate the administration's tough talk on russia and china, those words ring hollow when they fail to impose real consequences on cyberattacks and propose to cut our defense spending after inflation. so what about covid-19 itself? certainly the pandemic is not the fault of any administration or any political party. but this administration posted with great confidence they had a playbook that was guaranteed to crush the virus. they have continued to roll out the vaccines the prior administration developed, and for that they certainly deserve some credit. but especially recently, americans have received far too many mixed messages and muddied communications about masks, vaccines and what risks remain and for whom. meanwhile, the democrats' allies and the teachers' unions

continue to speculate publicly that perhaps schools may not remain open this fall after all. they are flirting with another lost year for our kids. even when there are safe and effective vaccines that can reduce adults' risk of grave illness to almost nil and when we know that mercifully this virus has mostly spared children from serious illness the whole time. so look, everyone is rooting for america. everyone is rooting for the recovery that middle-class families deserve. but that is not what democrats' decisions and policies are delivering. no wonder america's optimism has been in free fall the -- freefall the last few months. one survey found that a majority, 55%, are business mystic about where the country is headed in the coming year. that pessimism has increased almost 20 percentage points

since just this spring. the soul of america has not been restored. it is anxious. it is uneasy. and in too many cases, the more the democrats' policies have taken effect, the more problems american families have faced. now certainly the six-month mark still provides plenty of time for my democratic colleagues to recalibrate. we have already notched some bipartisan wins here in the senate. our colleagues could put away the partisan approach that has already supercharged inflation, slowed rehiring, and is settling back -- setting back our national security. but alas, our democratic colleagues are signaling they are still addicted to going it alone. my friends on the other side are signaling that a few days from now, just a few days from now, they will begin the process of ramming through reckless multitrillion-dollar taxing and spending spree that will stick

middle-class families with higher costs, more inflation, fewer jobs, and lower wages. it's not the strategy that will turn around democrats' lackluster report card. it will do just the opposite. it almost seems designed to make every problem that families are facing considerably worse. it would meet significant inflation with another massive avalanche of printing and borrowing. it would hammer a tenuous economic recovery with historic tax hikes and job-killing green new deal regulations. it would for some reason respond to a live border crisis with a big amnesty to lure even more people here illegally. no working american in kentucky or anyone else would look at a plan like this and get on board, and either will, mr. president, a single republican. if washington democrats really want to take the remarkable head

start they inherited at the dawn of this recovery year and squander it through bad policy, they will need to do it all alone. ms. collins: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from maine is recognized. ms. collins: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i would ask unanimous consent that my remarks on broadband be printed together in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. collins: thank you, and i will resume then now. mr. president, this allocation of funds is so important to rural america as well as unserved areas in inner cities. the bill that we have before us

includes $2 billion to support programs administered by the u.s. department of agriculture, including the reconnect program that provides loans and grants or a combination to fund the construction, acquisition, and improvement of facilities and equipment that provides broadband service in rural areas. supplementing that are private activity bonds where $600 million has been allocated. this is based on a bill that's introduced by senator hassan and senator capito, another bipartisan bill that is called the rural broadband financing flexibility act. it would allow states to issue private activity bonds to finance broadband deployment, specifically for projects in

rural areas where a majority of households do not have access to broadband. we also included an additional $2 billion for the tribal broadband connectivity program which was established by the covid bill that we passed in december and is administered by the n.t.i. in the department of commerce. grants from this program will be made eligible -- will be made available to eligible native american, alaska native, and native hawaiian and for broadband deployment as well as digital inclusion, workforce development, telehealth and distance learning. our bill also includes $2.75 billion for the digital

ect act which was -- equity act which was introduced by senators murray, portman and king. it includes two ntia administered programs for communities that don't have the support needed to take advantage of broadband connection. in that regard, i would note, mr. president, an article that appeared this morning in "roll call" that is entitled industry groups equity advocates applaud infrastructure bills broadband provisions. i'm proud of that, mr. president. we worked very hard to make sure that there was widespread support for this legislation --

for this -- particularly the broadband provisions. we also included additional funding, a billion dollars, for the so-called middle mile. this would create a state grant program for the construction improvement and acquisition of middle-mile infrastructure. and i would note that eligible entities include telecommunications companies, electric utilities, utility cooperatives, a wide range of businesses and organizations that could help us with that middle mile and that refers to the installation of a dedicated line that transmit a signal to and from the internet point of presence. competition of middle-mile routes is necessary -- completion of those middle-mile routes is necessary to serve

areas and reduce capital expenditures and lower operating costs. so originally we had $500 million for this. the final package has a billion dollars at the request of certain members of -- from the presiding officer's side of the aisle. so my point, mr. president, is that the broadband provisions in this bill are going to make such a difference. we are in an era where i think most of us would agree that access to high-speed internet is another way that we connect just as roads and bridges are ways that we connect. we connect to family members, we connect to friends, we connect to our colleagues at work, we connect to health care providers, we connect to

educators, and it is absolutely essential that we make this investment, and it is a generous investment, so that we can eliminate the disparities that were laid bear by the pandemic -- bare by the pandemic and bring high-speed internet to every section of the country. the technologies may differ, the providers will certainly not be the same, but this investment will make a real difference to so many americans who today still lack access to high-speed internet. thank you, mr. president. i would yield the floor and i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

quorum call: .

the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: thank you. are we in a quorum? the presiding officer: yes, we are. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: well, mr. president, ... as you know, as we all know, january 6 unleashed many horrors, but it also revealed many heroes, a day that many of us remember for its violence, anger and destruction was not without its share of bravery, sacrifice, and selflessness. i am of course talking about the capitol police and the

metropolitan police. in a few moments my colleagues, senators klobuchar and blunt, will ask the senate to award them the congressional gold medal. it is the highest expression of gratitude that congress can bestow. i cannot imagine more worthy recipients than the men and women who put their lives on the line to defend this temple of democracy. i want to thank senator klobuchar, the chair of the rules committee, and senator blunt, the ranking member of the rules committee, for working so hard on this. and i want to commend the house and speaker pelosi and the house members who voted for it as well. now i must mention that i am still stunned by what happened in the house, where 21 members of the house republican caucus voted against this legislation. the senate is different. i expect this to pass unanimously. that's why we're here doing it

today. but those folks in the house were some of the same folks who likened the january 6 attack to, quote, a normal tourist visit, who deny the events that day were an insurrection, the same folks who screamed the loudest about the dangers of defunding the police, refuse to defend the police, the very police who shielded them from a vicious mob on january 6. for the life of me, i don't know how they sleep at night. that's one of the many reasons this gold medal is so important. the gold medal is about setting the record straight and recognizing the true heroism on display that fateful day. my colleagues, we have a moral obligation to never forget what our first responders faced down, a mob of white supremacists and domestic terrorists stormed the barriers with vicious force, using flagpoles as spears and fences as battering rams.

capitol police officers were swarmed, beaten, crushed between the door ways, tasered repeatedly. 140 officers were assaulted that day. 15 required hospitalization. seven people have lost their lives in connection with this attack. just this week, sadly, i read this story and i ached, two more police officers todd kim their own lives -- two more police officers took their own lives. this past six months have been the hardest in the history of the capitol police force. yet they still keep watch, they still stand guard. they do their jobs every single day with professionalism, excellence, and grace. awarding the congressional gold medal is a way to commemorate their sacrifice, make sure that the truth of january 6 is recognized and remembered

forever. to our capitol and metropolitan police, thank you, thank you, thank you for all that you do. this recognition is the very least you deserve. and once again i want to give real praise to my colleague from minnesota as i yield to her. she's done an amazing job as head of the rules committee in many different ways, and this is one of many, and i want to thank senator blunt who always works in a spirit of bipartisanship. we're in quite a bipartisan week here, and that is a good thing. senator klobuchar. ms. klobuchar: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota. ms. klobuchar: mr. president, i thank senator schumer for his leadership. the fact that we in the senate were able to come unanimously behind this important, important resolution which i will describe in a minute, and i also thank senator mcconnell. and i certainly thank my

friend, senator blunt, for his leadership. we must pass this legislation honoring the capitol police and other heroes who protected the capitol on january 6 by awarding them this congressional gold medal. senator blunt joined me from the beginning in sponsoring the senate version of this legislation and worked with me on the rules committee. and thank you to the presiding officer, senator padilla, for his great service on that committee to continue the work of getting to the bottom of the security planning and response failures that we saw on january 6. while that work goes on, it is important that we recognize the bravery and patriotism of those who defended our democracy and our lives with congress' highest honor. the insurrection at the capitol was more than an assault on democracy. oh, it was that in a big, big way. but it was also an actual

life-or-death situation for the many brave law enforcement officers who show up here to do their work every day. we will never forget the haunting sleeks of the police -- shrieks of the police officer pinned between the doors by the rioters pleading for help. we will never forget officer larry dunn who told his story again, recounting how he fought against the violent mob for hours, and after it was all over broke down it in tears telling fellow officers in the rotunda that he had been called the n word multiple times that day. and he looked at his friend, his fellow officer, and said, is this america. these medals today, these congressional gold medals that will be displayed for millions to see, one at the smithsonian, one in this capitol, one at the metropolitan police, one with

the capitol police, they answer that question. no, officer dunn, that was not america. but these medals that recognize your bravery, this is america. or then our own officer eugene goodman, who after saving senator romney from walking directly into the mob of insurrectionists, ran by himself to take on a group of rioters and then diverted that mob away. we've all seen it on the video. we know what he was doing. allowing the rest of us to safely depart. tragically the attack on the capitol also cost the lives of four brave officers, including capitol police officer brian sicknick, who died the day following the attack. and i had the honor to meet his family. four other officers died following the events of january 6, a d.c. metropolitan police officer, jeffrey smith.

his colleagues gunther hashida and kyle defreytag whose passing was reported just yesterday. and of course capitol police officer howard liebengood. we are also so inspired by the work of their loved ones who have come to capitol hill to fight for a 9/11-style commission to look at the insurrection and why it happened, to get to the bottom of it and to advocate for the capitol police to support their officers. it has been reported that at least 140 more officers sustained injuries from defending the capitol. the courage of these officers will be remembered forever. we responded. senator blunt and i join with senators portman and peters on the homeland security committee to meet with officials from multiple agencies and review thousands of documents. we convened major public hearings and then interviewed many, many other witnesses.

our resulting bipartisan joint report focused on the security, planning, and response failures related to the violent and unprecedented insurrection at the capitol, and it includes key findings and recommendations that must be put in place without delay. i am pleased that we have introduced our bipartisan bill, which will make sure that the new police chief will be able to call in help from the national guard without calling a bunch of other people in the middle of a crisis. we have just passed on a bipartisan basis, thanks to senators leahy and shelby, major security funding that will help to give the police the resources they need and fund the improvements needed to this capitol. we also have put in place two new sargeants at arms, one in the senate, one in the house, as well as a new police chief, chief major, who i just met with for a lengthy period of time yesterday to go over all of our recommendations. and by the end of the year i will appear in this chamber with

a checklist to make sure that they are either done being implemented or in the process of being implemented to be done soon. another key priority that we called for in our report with advance last week when the president signed into law, as i said, all of the funding that we need, and what that includes that i didn't mention, $4.4 million for mental health support for capitol police officers and the many officers that are still dealing, as we can see, with trauma to this day. passing this bill, which of course already passed the house -- and, yes, i agree with senator schumer about how it is impossible to understand why some people voted against it, but it still passed with bipartisan support -- is another step forward to honor the heroism and sacrifice of our law enforcement. those medals, when little kids walk by and see them at the smithsonian, their parents are going to be able to tell them this happened.

this attack happened, and there were brave police officers and staff and others in this building that stood up that day and protected our democracy, and we will be forever thankful to them. we're hearing a lot about gold medals, and some by our own u.s.a. team who we're so proud of, last week at the olympics. well, this is our olympics. this is our gold medal, and it goes today to the capitol police officers and the metropolitan police officers and others that protected us that day. i thank senator blunt, who is here with us as well. mr. blunt: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from missouri. mr. blunt: mr. president, i'm proud to join my friend and colleague, senator klobuchar, as we have introduced and support this amendment. every day when i come to work at the capitol, the first person i see is almost always a u.s.

capitol police officer. and no matter how late i leave at night, the last person i see is almost always a u.s. capitol police officer. i was working in this building on 9/11, and one of the last people to leave that morning as the capitol police were encouraging us to get out of the building, but the last person i saw as i left the building, who was still in the building was a capitol police officer. the capitol police have a hard job to do. they not only defend us, but they defend democracy in a way that other police officers are not asked to do. and they always do it at the highest level of professionalism and dedication, never more evident than it was on january 6. it was a difficult and sad day for americans, but especially for law enforcement officers who serve and protect the capitol.

and for their families, mr. president. i've often said that maybe very possibly the hardest job to do in america today is to be the family member of someone who works in law enforcement. maybe the second-hardest job is to be the person working in law enforcement. but those families on that day were watching television, listening to the news, seeing their very worst fears play out for all the world to see on a day that was horrific for them, horrific for the person they love, horrific for those who love this building and what it stands for. and i'm incredibly grateful for the heroic actions we saw that day from the capitol police, from the metropolitan police who along with chief contee, the acting police chief at the

time, were here in 10 or 12 minutes, here in force in that period of time. others came from around the region and all the law enforcement who were here to help that day, we are deeply appreciative of. the legislation we have here calls on us to recognize the selflessness, the dedication, the willingness to stand in the way of danger as others are able to try to get away from danger. it honors the sacrifices they make and their families make every day. i hope by passing this congressional gold medal bill by unanimous consent, we send a clear message to law enforcement officers that we are united in our appreciation of all they do to keep us safe. i urge my colleagues to join not only in supporting the unanimous passage of this bill, but also to be quick in talking about our

deep appreciation for those who serve in such a special way as we try to do our work here every day. and i yield back. ms. klobuchar: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota. ms. klobuchar: than -- thank you to senator blunt. i ask unanimous consent that the committee on banking, housing, and urban affairs be discharged from further consideration and the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of h.r. 3325. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: h.r. 3325, to award four congressional gold medals to the united states capitol police and those who protected the u.s. capitol on january 6, 2021. the presiding officer: is there an objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection.

the committee is discharged and the senate will proceed to the measure. ms. klobuchar: i ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. ms. klobuchar: mr. president, i want to thank my colleagues, every single one of them, including senator blunt and senator collins who is here with us today, for supporting this legislation and honoring the heroism and patriotism of the courageous law enforcement officers who risked and in some cases sacrificed their lives to defend our democracy. i also want to thank senator blunt for his work on the senate version of this legislation, as well as senator schumer and senator mcconnell, and i thank senator blunt for joining me

today. now that it is headed to the president's desk, no more motions, this is done, i look forward to seeing this bill signed into law. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. mr. thune: mr. president.

the presiding officer: the republican whip. mr. thune: mr. president, i would associate myself with the remarks of my colleagues who have just been here acknowledging the heroic work done by the capitol police on january 6. clearly, they were very deserving of all the recognition that they have received and what they went through on that very harrowing day i think is a reminder to all of us, mr. president, of the importance of the work that they do day in and day out, and just the challenge that they face defending this capitol and the people who work in it, and i, like my colleagues, am enormously grateful and just want to join in recognizing that with the award that they just received. and also, mr. president, to point out that we are in the midst of a debate here on a bill that has been negotiated in a

bipartisan way. it's great to see republicans and democrats working together, talking together, coming up with solutions, whether you agree with them or not. but the fact that there are people sitting down across the table from each other and working through some of these big issues that we face here, one of which obviously in this country is maintaining a strong infrastructure, is -- it's encouraging, and in many ways it's refreshing to see that, mr. president, happening here. and why it's sort of ironic, too, that in the light of that spirit of bipartisanship that we continue to see nominees brought to the floor that don't reflect that spirit. the senate voted last week to bring tracy stone-manning's nomination to the senate floor. it's difficult to know exactly what president biden was thinking when he decided to nominate ms. stone-manning for the director of the bureau of

land management. perhaps the administration's vetting wasn't thorough enough. otherwise, it's pretty difficult to understand why the president would nominate an individual with ties to an ecoterrorist organization, an ecoterrorist organization to head the bureau of land management. that's not all. she was actually involved in a tree-spiking plot during her time in graduate school, sending a threatening letter to the u.s. forest service at the request of one of the individuals involved in spiking trees in an idaho forest. tree spiking, as many knows, involves hammering spikes into the trunks of trees to cripple chain saws or the equipment at the sawmill where the trees are processed. it poses a significant threat to logging and mill equipment, but most seriously, it poses a threat to human life. in a famous incident, a worker at a lumber mill in california was engaged in splitting logs when his saw hit a spiked log and the saw exploded. i will let a "washington post" story covering the incident speak for itself, and i quote from the "washington post."

he was nearly three feet away when the log hit his saw and the saw exploded. one half of the blade stuck in the log. the other half hit alexander in the head, tearing through his safety helmet and face shield. his face was slashed from eye to chin. his teeth were smashed, and his jaw was cut in half. alexander had never even heard of a sabotage tactic called tree spiking until he became a victim of ecoterrorists. someone who objected to tree cutting had embedded a huge steel spike in the log that violently jammed the saw, end quote. and then "the washington post" continued, and i quote again, tree spikes are among the most vicious of the strategies. while the tree is still in the forest, the spike is driven in at an angle so the head is hidden in the bark. it can shatter a chain saw on impact, sending pieces of razor-sharp steel flying, end quote. mr. president, it's very hard for me to believe that we are seriously considering confirming

an individual to head the bureau of land management which was in any way involved with tree spiking. furthermore, ms. stone-manning apparently initially refused to cooperate with the subsequent investigation into the tree-spiking incident, only coming clean after it became clear that she could face criminal charges for her role in the incident. equally troubling is the less-than-forthright response that she provided to the senate on her nominee question heir about whether or not she had ever been investigated by law enforcement organizations -- a law enforcement organization. mr. president, ms. stone-manning's involvement in the tree-spiking incident is not the only reason to be concerned that she has extremist views. as a graduate student, she also argued for population control, in one instance referring to a child as a, quote, environmental hazard, end quote. last year, she took advantage of twitter to promote an article her husband wrote in which she -- he expressed satisfaction at the idea of seeing homes people have built in forests burn in fires.

mr. president, president obama's first bureau of land management director withdrew his support for ms. stone-manning's nomination over her involvement in the tree-spiking plot. a deputy director at the b.l.m. under president obama also expressed his concern over the nomination, noting, and i quote, much of the focus seems to be whether this is a democrat or republican thing, but the lens i look at this through is as a 38-year career person in both agencies. you need the career employees to implement your agenda successfully across the west. your leader has got to be respected by career employees and across the landscape in both blue and red states, end quote. mr. president, his point is well taken. how are b.l.m. employees and the many americans who regularly interact with the bureau of land management going to feel about working with ms. stone-manning? our public lands are used for a variety of purposes, including recreation, livestock grazing

and timber harvesting. what kind of attitude should we expect ms. stone-manning to display toward timber harvesting? is this really the best president biden can do when it comes to the director of the bureau of land management? 75 house republicans said in a letter to president biden urging him to withdraw the nomination, and i quote, there is no doubt that someone with this history of extreme violent views should not be in a position of authority and an agency responsible for managing 245 million acres of federal lands and 700 million acres of mineral estate, end quote. mr. president, i wish i could say that ms. stone-manning's nomination is an aberration, but in fact president biden has nominated a number of candidates with extremist views for various offices. last week, we voted on his nominee to head u.s. citizenship and immigration services, a nominee who failed to receive even a single bipartisan vote in committee due in part to her refusal to say she won't

completely bypass congress when fashioning policies to deal with those who are in the u.s. unlawfully. then there is the president's nominee for head of the bureau of alcohol, tobacco, firearms, and explosives, david shipman, whose main interest seems to be targeting law-abiding gun owners and who has communicated a clear disdain for gun owners in public remarks. this nominee was also apparently the subject of a complaint for making racist remarks while working at a.t.f. then there are the multiple president biden nominees now serving in the department of justice who have publicly expressed their support for defunding the police. that's right. president biden filled key posts at the justice department, the department charged with enforcing the law and prosecuting criminals with individuals who have gone on the record with their support for defunding the police. and i suppose it's no real surprise that president biden would nominate an individual to the bureau of land management who once referred to a child as an environmental hazard when you consider who he nominated to

head up the department of health and human services. h.h.s. secretary campaign financier becerra's rabid views put him far to the left of the majority of americans. polls consistently show that a strong majority of americans believe there should be at least some restrictions on abortion. president biden's h.h.s. secretary doesn't seem to support any restrictions on abortion. and if he does, i would sure like to hear about it. during his time in the house of representatives, secretary becerra repeatedly voted against banning pargs, an abortion procedure so heinous that i think most americans would rightfully shrink from seeing it performed on an animal let alone a human being. i suppose it's not hard to believe that president biden nominated an individual to the below of land management who once described a child as an environmental hazard. mr. president, president biden tends to present himself as a moderate and someone who will bring people together.

he said in his inaugural address i pledge this to you, i will be a president for all americans. in practice, however, too often he seems to be a president for the far-left wing of the democratic party. i hope that my democrat colleagues will think twice before confirming ms. stone-manning as head of the bureau of land management. involvement with ecoterrorism should be a disqualifying factor for heading up this agency. mr. president, i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president.

the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. ms. lummis: this amendment is the first step to determine how we invest our infrastructure moving forward. since 2008, we have repeatedly bailed out the highway trust fund. that makes it a trust fund that we cannot actually trust. a highway cost allocation study provides the data that we need in order to make long-term sustainable and fiscally sound decisions about how best to invest in our nation's aging infrastructure. these studies used to occur regularly, but the last one was completed over 20 years ago. my amendment would direct the department of transportation to carry out a study in four years giving those of us here in congress a full year to analyze the results before the highway

programs expire once again. we can't continue to burden future generations with out-of- control spending, and this amendment is a signal to future congresses that we must find lasting solutions for infrastructure investment. i want to thank senator kelly and senator cornyn for their support in this effort, and i urge the rest of my colleagues to support this amendment. thank you, and i yield back. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. kelly: as we work to pass this bipartisan infrastructure investment and jobs act to upgrade and modernize our country's infrastructure, i'm glad to be here joining senator lummis to introduce this amendment to include our highway

cost allocation act. as a former engineer and astronaut, my career has taught me about the importance of having the data to tackle a complex issue. this bipartisan amendment would require the secretary of transportation to conduct the first comprehensive study of vehicle highway use in nearly 25 years. this information would inform decisions to address the highway trust fund's revenue shortfalls during its next reauthorization cycle. that's important for growing states like arizona and other western states and for our entire country. so i urge my colleagues to support our bipartisan amendment and i yield back. the presiding officer: the senator from delaware. mr. carper: i ask unanimous consent that senator capito and

i be allowed to speak briefly before the vote. the presiding officer: the senator from west virginia. mrs. capito: mr. president, i rise to support this amendment. this amendment, as we know, would require the department of transportation to have an allocation to study vehicles. vehicles are different than in 1997 and roadway use has increased significantly. this would analyze the direct cost of highway use by different types of users and compare that to user fee revenue contributions to the highway trust fund. this is about gathering roadway use information to inform the highway trust fund shortfalls. i encourage my colleagues to vote yes on the lummis, kelly, cornyn amendment. the presiding officer: the senator from delaware. mr. carper: i want to join my voice with that of senator capito. i rise in support of the amendment offered by senator

lummis, senator cornyn, and senator kelly to have a highway cost allocation study. we're going to vote on in a minute or two. it helps to determine the costs in terms of road use and damage that are attributable to the different types of vehicles that use our roads. this study will evaluate vehicle weights and miles in each class to determine the use and damage to roads and then compare them to the amount paid in user fees to the highway trust fund. my colleagues know that the highway trust fund spends more than it collects in two decades. to equitably address this growing shortfall this will help us to understand how roadway users benefit from roads and how they should fairly contribute to the upkeep of the roads, highways and bridges and it will ensure that all vehicles pay their fair share. i strongly urge my colleagues to

support this very worthy amendment. and i note the be absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. carper: i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. carper: i ask unanimous consent that the following amendment be called up to the substitute and reported by number. number one, lee -- it's number 2255, substitute and further, that the following -- following the vote on amendment 2181, the senate vote in relation to the lee amendment with no amendments in order to the amendments prior

to a vote in relation to the amendment with 60 affirmative votes required for adoption and five minutes for senator lee and one minute for myself for debate prior to the vote. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. the clerk will report the amendment by number. the clerk: the senator from delaware, mr. carper, for mr. lee, proposes an amendment numbered 2254 to amendment 2157. mr. carper: as a result of this agreement there will be two roll call votes at 11:45 a.m., the first is on the lummis amendment 2181, the second vote is on the lee amendment 2255, we will continue to schedule additional votes following the caucus lunches. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the question occurs on the lummis-kelly amendment number 2181. is there a sufficient second?

there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: on this vote the yeas are 95, the nays are three, the amendment is agreed to. the senator from utah. can we have order, please. mr. lee: madam president, infrastructure is important. we all need it. we rely on it to get to and from our homes, to and from work. not all of it has to be federal appeared what is federal can be made -- and what is federal can be made more efficient. my amendment today is directed at exactly that set of objectives. it would finally resolve the fiscal insolvency of the highway trust fund and give americans a tax cut.

it would allow americans to pay less at the -- and federal state, and local governments to build more. pay less, build more. that is the emphasis of this entire amendment. we should pay less for what we need and we should build more of it. specifically, my amendment would transfer $120 billion of unused covid-19 funds to the highway trust fund. it returns the scope of the highway trust fund dollars so that they can be used only for projects on the interstate highway system. this was why after all why the gasoline tax was created and it ought to be what we use it for today. after all, most roads are not interstate, most systems are not the interstate highway system. the federal government doesn't need to do all of it. and, in fact, what we find is when states an localities do infrastructure, they can do so more efficiently, far less expensively as a rul of the

byzantine regulation that's you have to do when you do a road project. this also includes a five-year plan to pay for the outstanding obligations and my amendment reduces the fuel tax from 18 cents .4 cents to 7 cents cents and diesel tax to .3 cents cents, to keep needs with the interstate highway system. we can't forget that burdensome federal regulations and intervention that balloon the costs of our country's infrastructure projects, the competitive enterprise institute has estimated that federal regulations and intervention cost american consumers and businesses nearly $2 trillion annually. we know that within federal infrastructure projects, there are a multitude of federal regulations that drive up the costs of each project by as much

as 20%, in many cases more like 30% and i'm told in some cases even more than that. the presiding officer: order, please. mr. lee: we drive up infrastructure costs when we make the projects federal. it doesn't need to be this way because most of these are not federal projects. that's why my amendment also addresses two key regulatory challenges in our infrastructure context. one, it reforms the nepa process to ensure that projects are given certain time lines and not stalled out by frivolous lawsuits -- mr. carper: madam president, the senate is not in order. the presiding officer: the senate is not in order. please take your conversations off the floor. mr. carper: thank you. mr. lee: so, one, it reforms nepa so that our infrastructure money actually goes to nepa rather than resulting in endless delays brought by nepa and new

nepa-related issues. and it results in lower labor costs, the senate has a choice today, madam president. you can choose to pay less and build more. you can offer americans a tax cut, a tax cut that will affect poor and middle-class americans most acutely, most immediately, more most directly and it will also simultaneously provide long-term solvency to the highway trust fund and lower the costs of our nation's infrastructure projects. allatively, if you don't want to vote for it, you can continue to saddle the american people with more debt, more insolvency and more taxes or you can continue the current practice of allowing for needless, pointless delays in our infrastructure projects that really harm americans. look at the end of the day we just want more of our tax

dollars funding steel and concrete to go into the downso -- ground so america's moms and dads can spend more time with their families. the choice seems very clear to me. i urge all my colleagues to vote for this amendment to build more and pay less. the presiding officer: the senator from west virginia. mrs. capito: i ask unanimous consent to address the senate for two minutes. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mrs. capito: thank you, madam president. i have great respect for my colleague from utah, but i am in firm opposition to his amendment. it would completely undo months of bipartisan hard work. the two major bipartisan infrastructure bills that chairman carper and i and the e.p.w. committee passed unanimously would be totally undone here. the bipartisan gang spent months carefully and considerably negotiating this agreement with the white house. all of these meaningful investments that i talked about

yesterday would be gone, the new bridge program, gone, supplemental funding for the appalachian system, broadband gone, we have come too far to throw this away. time is of the essence. there is reform for that in this bill as we look at it, let's get it across the finish line so i urge my colleagues to vote no on this amendment. thank you. mr. carper: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from delaware. mr. carper: i too rise in opposition to learnt lee's amendment -- senator lee's amendment. this dismantles the federal funding that each of our states rely on to rebuild, repair our federal highways. it would strip the reauthorization in this bill and replace it with with an interstate highway bill with a topline funding of less than $25 billion over five years. at a time when we have 45,000

structurally deficient bridges in our nation, this would leave travelers at risk due to serious disinvestment. senators have come together, democrats and republicans, to bring this infrastructure bill to the floor because we recognize that states are in need of serious investment to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure. it's not a partisan issue. e.p.w. voted unanimously to advance a highway bill out of committee on a unanimous vote, 20-0, that bill increases the topline funding for our highway federal programs by 37% to a little over $30 billion the highest authorized by this congress and it is much needed. senator lee's amendment would go in the exact opposite direction. it would reduce the funding in the bill to less than 40 -- the presiding officer: the senator's time has expired.

the question occurs on lee amendment 2255. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: on this vote the yeas are 20, the nays are 78. under the previous order requiring 60 votes for the adoption of this amendment, the amendment is not agreed to. mr. wicker: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. -- mississippi. mr. wicker: i ask unanimous consent that joseph caliconi, an f.c.c. detailee in my office, be granted floor privileges for the remainder of the congress. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. wicker: thank you, madam president. at this time, i ask unanimous consent that the senate recess until 2:15 p.m. the presiding officer: without objection. the senate stands in recess until 2:15.nd the space force.

this is 45 minutes.pace force. >> to be able to serve as the chairman of the space and science subcommittee for the department of within the senate as a former