and for consistency over time to be able to enable kim rees come to be able to achieve what they want to achieve. i think that's really important. let me ask you, because i know some of the work that you're going to be doing to the american rescue plan funding that eda already received is regionally oriented. i mean, you've got build back better initiative on regional clusters. how do we be authentic in engaging rural communities with some of the cities, whether they be midsized metros are even larger metropolitan areas that sort of -- >> we believe this record a program now. you can finish watching it at finish watching it at our websitec-span.org. the u.s. senate is about to gavel in to debate the nomination of a a u.s. distrit

court judge for new mexico. no votes are currently planned for today's session. and now live coverage of the u.s. senate here on c-span2 . the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. the chaplain, dr. barry black, will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. almighty father who sees the entire human family at a glance, we claim today your promise in philippians 4:19, that you will

supply all our needs. as our lawmakers seek solutions to complex problems, provide them with the wisdom they need to keep our nation strong. lord, bring healing to the sick, solace to the grieving, -- and strength to the weary. also supply our need for the blessing of your continuous presence. continue to stand within the shadows guiding the events of our lives with your merciful providence. 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., september 15, 2021. to the senate: under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable alex padilla, a senator from the state of california, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: patrick j. leahy, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. morning business is it closed.

also under the previous order the senate will resume consideration of the following nomination, which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary, margaret irene strickland, of new mexico, to be united states district judge for the district of new mexico.

the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. mr. cassidy: i ask unanimous consent that i be permitted to speak for up to ten minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cassidy: thank you. mr. president, just a few weeks ago, southeast louisiana was pummeled by murk ida on the 16th anniversary to the day of hurricane katrina's landfall. ida knocked out power across the

state including the entire stiff of new orleans including its suburb, jefferson parish, it took lives and devastated communities. i have some posters to place here. this is in st. john paris in louisiana and this is in galiano, and you can see both the flooding and the damage to housing. hurricane ida struck louisiana's shores as a category four storm with winds up do 150 miles per hour, making it the fifth most powerful storm to hit the united states. and i'd aye hit two -- ida hit two days after the anniversary of the strongest storm to hit louisiana in 164 years. laura devastated southwest

louisiana. so ida hit southeast and laura, last year, hit southwest. unfortunately for my state we're no stranger to extreme weather. 2020 set a record nationally for the most named storms in a single season, with 30, five of which hit my states also farmers had catastrophic damage to livestock during winter storms. in the aftermath of ida, 29 louisianans and 85 americans total died. yesterday was the first day the number of folks in louisiana without power was below six figures, those in the lower jefferson parish are estimated to have power restored septembeo weeks from today and be a month

after ida made landfall on august 29, and i will put up pictures of jefferson parish and of the fusch parish. so, again, flooding and damage with power lines knocked down and lines hanging from the sky, it seems, but you can see the kind of devastation it did to electrical grids and, again, here is damage widespread in lafusch parish. there have about 949 requests for assistance. the blue rif program, -- roof program, when the -- it is for

the tarps, it is a measure of how many people who had significant roof damage. the blue roof has almost 50,000 validated requests and the national flood insurance program, 10,579 claims. the small business administration, 17,083 disaster assistance loan programs and temporary sheltering snns to 10,000 house holds. as louisiana wins to recover, we need supplemental disaster resis -- resistance. this goes back to the 2020 storms and last week the white house budget office sent a formal request to congress acknowledging the unmet needs for these communities over a year later. i recall i spoke with the blue

tarps hows shingles blow or, and you put a blue top, if you fly over lake charles now, a year after those storms, you still see blue tarps. which is to say homes vulnerable to a rain event like hurricane nicholas, in which rain continues to come through, damaging the inside of the house making the homes unlivable. not surprisingly, many folks are not back in their homes. it's time to pass the disaster assistance bill for laura, for delta, for the winter storms and for ida. second, we must also take steps to prevent this level of devastation in the future. ida gives us a harsh reminder that we need to strengthen the infrastructure that protects us from the worst of these storms. including -- and including improving highways an evacuation routes, hardening our electrical

grid. i will put up pictures of larose, louisiana and st. bernard. again, this community is without power and this community, you can see the destruction done to port facilities. the bipartisan infrastructure investment and jobs act which awaits a vote in the u.s. house of representatives is a critical missing piece. it benefits all states, by the way. the president of the senate right now, his state has been affected by natural disasters. resiliency money would really mean a lot in your state. it would mean a heck of a lot in my state. it would mean a lot in every state. but to speak specifically of louisiana, louisiana received almost $6 billion over the next five years for roads and

bridges. that's $1.2 billion more than we would ordinarily receive. there was an additional $8.8 billion available nationwide for transportation infrastructure including evacuation routes and at -- in at-risk coastal infrastructure grants. in louisiana, this money could help complete interstate 49 in lafayette and complete the segment in the south and complete the segment at i-49 to give an unfettered evacuation route if the storm hits either new orleans or the bayou region. it also includes interstate 12 through the florida parishes as we call them and a new mississippi river bridge in baton rouge. it should not take hours to go through a ten-mile -- literally hours to go through a ten-mile stretch in the capital region of louisiana when a storm is on its

way and there is a mandatory evacuation order. now, by the way, we know resiliency works. we know this investment pays dividends, because the damage from ida could have been worse. but george w. bush made a commitment 16 years ago to build levies -- levees to protect these parishes. when i went down to jefferson parish recently, and i met with elected officials, one of them looked to the ground and said the ground is dry. we did not flood. and we did not flood because 16 years ago, george w. bush said we shall build a levee system. we shall build resiliency. and now the onus is upon us to make the commitment to harden the grid, to bury the power lines, which not only protects louisiana in a hurricane but

texas in an ice storm and the west from forest fires caused by arcs from utility lines to a dried out forest. in the infrastructure investment and jobs act there is $26 billion specifically to strengthen our nation's electrical grid and to prevent these sorts of widespread power outages and these sorts of natural disasters. this funding includes $5 billion to enhance the resiliency of electrical grids from extreme weather and natural disasters. $12.5 billion to increase power transmission to maintain reliable access to energy, and $9 billion to develop and deploy new technology to strengthen grid reliability and resiliency. now, some of these pots of money are specifically targeted for states like louisiana which have been impacted by federal declared natural disasters over the last ten years. that's the way the -- to build

resiliency. so my plea is that we cut politics and actually get something done for the american people. i was meeting with a parish councilwoman at jefferson parish. she said if we get to the point where we don't do what's right because of politics, our country will go down. i said that to another group of people shortly after that, rock red republicans, some of them wearing their maga hats. i quoted the councilwoman. they all said that's the situation we're in now. so my republicans were agreeing with that republican councilwoman but speaking more generally if we don't do what's right because of politics, our country will suffer. we've got to get this bill done and put the politics aside. there is so much good in this bill. there is flood mitigation dollars, coastal restoration dollars, permitting reform to get projects done early and on time, and i could keep going. but recovery is a two-pronged

approach. it starts with aid and it finishes with the bipartisan infrastructure bill. a bill that helps our communities rebuild from past storms and better prepares our communities for future storms. my folks in louisiana are strong, they are resilient, but we need the long-awaited supplemental disaster aid, and we need to build resiliency for the future. both is how we prepare not just my state but our nation. let's finally get it done. with that, mr. president, i yield the floor. and i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from california. mr. padilla: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. padilla: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent to withdraw the cloture motion with respect to the motion to proceed to s. 2093. the presiding officer: without objection.

thank you. mr. president, i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. portman: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. portman: i ask unanimous consent to dispense with the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. portman: i'm here on the floor of the senate today to talk about our economy, talk about the new massive tax hikes that democrats and the house of representatives have now proposed to pay for the $3.5 trillion spending spree that is called reconciliation. i want to talk about why it's bad for american workers, why it's bad for our economy, bad for small businesses, bad for american families. they call it the build back better plan but it's really tearing down what helped us to be better. what helped to make us a more fair economy and opportunity economy by getting rid of the positive aspects of the 2017 tax reform and tax cut legislation and instead putting in place

massive new tax increases. by the way, these tax increases go even beyond eliminating the tax relief that was provided in 2017. in many cases it provides additional tax increases even higher than we had before 2017. we had a historically strong economy leading up to covid-19 in large measure because of this 2017 tax cuts and jobs act which focused on expanding opportunities for businesses to grow, for families to take home more of their hard-earned cash, and for the united states as a country to be able to compete globally. it made us more competitive. as a result, before covid-19 we saw record growth in jobs and wages. in february of 2020 as we were getting into the covid-19 pandemic, we had 19 straight months of job growth, wage

growth of over 3% annualized. for 19 straight months we'd seen wages go up every single month. we had wages above inflation for the first time really in a decade and a half in my home state of ohio. this benefit in wages went mostly to lower-income workers and middle-income workers. exactly what you would want. this follows a study by the nonpartisan congressional budget office or c.b.o. that found that 70% of corporate tax cuts end up going into workers' wages. 70% goes into workers' wages and benefits. so it all makes sense. as we made america more competitive, as we made our businesses more competitive, small businesses and large businesses, what we saw was wages going up. and wages going up for everybody. but again, percentage increases were actually among those who were at the lower end of the income scale or middle-income workers. during that time period just before covid-19 hit, we also

tied the 50-year low in unemployment. we had 3.5% unemployment. we had historic lows in unemployment, by the way, the lowest ever for certain groups in our economy, including black workers, hispanic workers. we had in 2019 a median income for u.s. households that had the largest adjusted inflation adjusted gain going back to at least 1967. so you had to go back to the 1960's to find incomes rising that much. and before the pandemic, we had the lowest poverty rate ever recorded. so for 60 years we've been recording the poverty rate in this country. it was the lowest it had ever been going into the pandemic. that's good news. we should be celebrating that. and again what democrats are now talking about doing is going back and changing the very law by increasing taxes in a massive

way that created so much of that opportunity. those 2017 reforms also helped the u.s. compete globally by stopping what were called corporate inversions that were recurring problem during the obama administration and during the first year of the trump administration. this is where u.s. companies actually said you know what? our tax laws are so bad in this country, we're going to invert, meaning we're going to become foreign companies. so we had companies in my state of ohio and other states around the country actually say we're not going to be american companies anymore because we can't compete with the tax code we've got here. we're going to become foreign companies. a lot of us criticized that and strongly urged these companies not to do it. but the reality was our tax code was driving it. that's one reason we changed the tax code in 2017 to stop this movement of jobs and investment overseas and to say we'd rather have you invest here in america. and it worked. prior to that time there was what they called the lockout

effect where companies would keep their earnings oversaves. if they made money overseas, they kept it overseas. they never brought it back to america. after this law $1.6 trillion in overseas earnings came back home to america to invest here and create jobs here. as a result of these changes, by the way, the largest u.s. companies increased their domestic research and development spending, r&d spending, by 25% to $707 billion and increased their capital expenditures by about 20% to $1.4 trillion. that's good. we like that. we want more money to come back into america, invest in america, increase research and development to make us more efficient and more technological and therefore more competitive, more productive. and we like the fact that there were capital expenditures going up because the tax code worked to create that incentive. all of this should make it clear that the opportunity economy we

had in those couple of years before covid thanks to the 2017 tax reform changes largely, worked for everybody. workers took home larger paychecks. the average american family saved at least $2,000 on their tax bill. but this tax plan before us now would throw all that out. again, tears down what makes us better. the massive tax hike being pushed by president biden and congressional democrats would be the largest tax increase since 1968 and almost no aspect of the tax code is left untouched. this includes increases in estate taxes. now, this is a problem because if you're a business and you want to pass along your business to the next generation, you got to be sure the estate tax isn't so high that the government in effect has a confiscatory rate where you have to sell the business in order to pay the taxes. capital gains taxes go up.

this is taxes going up on investment. we want to encourage capital gains because that's assets you hold for a while. we want to encourage more investment in this country. that creates more jobs. makes us more productive. it increases taxes on retirement accounts, increases income taxes. it increases small business taxes. so if you're a small business owner in america, watch out. it increases corporate taxes. we talked about how we lowered corporate taxes to make them more competitive, and the result was they created not just more jobs but higher-paying jobs and brought money back from overseas. the list keeps going from there. american workers and families will find themselves losing more of their hard-earned cash from all sides. each of these proposed increases will be harmful but it's one of the people involved in the 2017 international tax reforms, i'm particularly concerned about the effects of undoing the reforms we put in place there to make us more competitive. and specifically the issue of raising the corporate tax from

21% to 26.5% as proposed. some including here in the senate would like to raise that tax even higher. what's the problem with that? well, it's pretty simple. once again america would have the highest corporate tax rate among all of the developed countries in the world. that's not a good thing. because it makes us less competitive and it's about our workers. ultimately they're the ones who bear the burden as we said. at 26.5% we would have a national average on the corporate side of 31% when you take into account the fact we have state and local corporate taxes here. other countries for the most part don't do that. they have a federal tax only. this means again we're going to have the highest corporate tax rate in the developed world. by the way our rate would also be higher than china so it's not just developed countries, it's also countries like china that we're competing with that would have lower rates than us. it creates an unequal playing field. making it really hard in some

cases impossible for u.s. workers to compete against rivals in places like china but also the european union and elsewhere. it also makes costly and complicated changes for u.s. companies to operate outside the united states punishing american workers who have jobs here that support those international sales. remember, we're only about 5% of the global economy and 25% of the g.d.p., the economic mass. our country is something, you know, that we want to grow because that creates more jobs here. and if you're a company in america that sells overseas, that's something we should encourage because it creates jobs here in america. i'll give you an example in my home town of cincinnati, ohio, procter & gamble is there and

sells all over the world. it creates a lot of jobs in cincinnati, they have 14,000, 15,000 jobs now in our area. 40% of the jobs are there only because of the international sales. they support the international side of the business. so this notion that we're going to raise our taxes so high that your can't compete internationally because other countries have such lower rates that their companies are going to beat you in the marketplace every time, that takes away jobs in america. we want to be a country that does business overseas, sells stuff overseas because that creates jobs here. under the democrats' plan, investment in the united states will slow and companies will begin, once again, saying i'm going to just become a foreign company. i hate that. we want more american companies here. they intend to take their jobs and investment with them when they do that, by the way, which makes sense. as i said, according to multiple

studies, including the nonpartisan congressional budget office here in washington, it is americans who will bear the burden of higher taxes in the form of lower wages an benefits and lost jobs. there was a 2017 study by another group called the tax foundation that found had that 70% of corporate taxes are borne by workers. it is not surprising that the nonpartisan joint committee on taxation here in the congress found that two-thirds of the democrats' corporate tax hikes would fall on lower and middle-income taxpayers, which includes the small businesses that file taxes as individuals. meanwhile, because of the huge tax increases we're talking about, companies are going to raise their prices. american families are going to feel the pain in the form of higher prices at the store on top of the surging inflation we're already seeing thanks to the biden administration's spending policies they've already put in place, that

$9.5 trillion, the so-called stimulus, that was one of the reasons, according to economists right, left, and center, including larry summers, who is a democratic economist, those are inflation numbers, when you throw the money out there, it makes it more expensive to buy everything from gas to clothing to food, inflation is eating up the gains. so this is not what we want to do to for our economy. on the small business side, the vast majority of small businesses pay their taxes on their individual tax reform. so about 80% or 90% of the businesses in ohio or around the country don't pay their tax as corporations, they pay their taxes as individuals. so think about the small businesses in your community, they are probably partnerships or what's called subchapter s companies, pass-through companies of some kind, they

might be sole proprietors, but their tax bill comes through on the individual tax form, unfortunately the democrats are increasing the taxes on those people too. a lot of those people will be lumped into the top bracket of income tax code and therefore they will pay 39.6% income tax plus and 8% surtax. that takes them into a tax rate that is well above what they are paying now. they'll be in the 20's now and will be in the 40's under this new proposal. you might say, well, that's for the people in the top bracket. those people in the top bracket are often small businesses, all of the money in the small business is toward your revenue. you may take nothing out of the company. you may just take a dividend to just pay your taxes, that's what a lot of small companies do. i grew up in a small company like that.

you know, we would issue a dividend to pay the taxes, but our -- our income included all of the income of the company. that's the way america works. that's the way our tax code works. some have argued it shouldn't work that way, but that's the way it works, so when you raise taxes on individuals, you are also raising taxes on small businesses. adding to this, democrats now say they want to eliminate the really important 20% deduction on qualified income for small businesses. so for all the pass-through companies in america, pay attention. you know, that 20% deduction that's out there, democrats are now saying they want to eliminate that all together. that was designed to enable smaller businesses to be able to compete, to be able have a level playing field between the corporations, the "c"

corporations, which tend to be the larger companies and the pass-through companies. additionally small businesses that earn over $5 million will be saddled with an additional 3% surcharge under the democrat plan. this means that so many small businesses that drive our economy, that are successful, that are employing so many people are going to have a harder time hiring workers or paying them competitive wages. again, they tend to be the smaller businessings, but they are the backbone of our economy. about half the americans work for businesses like this, it may be 80% or 90% of the businesses but because they are smaller, they employ half of the people. this is where we get so many innovation and where they get a start. this is where the american dream is found. under current policy, the congressional budget office expects that as the economy continues to recover from the pandemic, tax revenues will grow

here, quote, to 18.1% of the economy, g.d.p., 2022, so next year 18.1% of the economy will be tax revenues and fluctuate between 17.5% and 18.1% of the economy through 2021. they are saying taxes as a percent of the economy will be between 17.5% and 18.1% between now and 2072, -- 2071, -- 2031, over the next ten years. this is interesting, because democrats are saying, well, taxes need to be higher. the historical eanch is 17 -- average is 17.3%. the congressional budget office says we're going to be 17.5% and 18.1%, whereas the historical average is 17.1%.

even this year as tax repeats are expected to be less it is expected to be 17 poib 2% -- 17.2% based on the congressional budget office. why the great urge to raise taxes? why tear down what worked? why put america in a position of paying higher and higher taxes as a percent of our economy. contributing to this revenue growth, congressional budget office expects tax repeats will climb to $279 billion in 2023, or 1.5% of g.d.p. according to the tax foundation, this will be a record high in nominal terms, so that will be a record high in corporate tax repeats and nearly matching corporate tax in g.d.p. prior to the 2017 tax reform. again, i ask people to think about this. remember, you're taxing worker,

according to the congressional budget office, but also the repeats will be at record levels and very lows to, as a percent of the economy, where they were before the 2017 tax reform. what we should take away from the findings is that the economy is growing as we come out of this pandemic. we know this to be true. we've known it for months really. the congressional budget office projected back in january, that without any additional government help, no new covid-19 packages, including -- not including the $1.9 trillion spending package that congress passed in march, that the economy would fully recover by mid-year and they were right. even as much of that spending has not gone out from the $1.9 trillion. payroll tax revenue has risen by about 4%, suggesting that workers are taking home bigger paychecks than before. so the economy is beginning a

nice recovery. we need it to continue. the last thing you want to do is slap a bunch of taxes on the economy right now and have the economy go down and have workers, in particular, bear the brunt of that. why would you want to throw out a tax code that has helped fuel this unprecedented recovery we saw pre-pandemic and brought in more money in the process? in 2017, with this tax reform, we helped usher in an economy powered by workers and powered by small businesses and powered by more competitive larger businesses. it wasn't powered by big spending here in washington, d.c.. the results worked. it was truly historic. moving ahead, let's stay the course, instead of hiking taxes and putting a damper on american prosperity and american opportunity for everybody to get ahead. a massive tax increase won't make us build back better. a massive tax increase will tear

down what makes us better. i yield back my time.

ms. klobuchar: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota.

ms. klobuchar: mr. president, are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: no. ms. klobuchar: okay. mr. president, i come to the floor to speak in support of very important new legislation, the freedom to vote act. that i introduced yesterday with the members of the voting rights working group assembled by leader schumer which includes senator manchin, senator merkley, who is here with us today on the floor who has been such a leader on voting issues, including the for the people act, senator padilla, senator king, kaine, tester, and warnock. the freedom to vote is fundamental to all of our freedoms. following the 2020 elections in which more americans voted than ever before in the middle of a public health crisis, we have seen unprecedented attacks on our democracy in states across

the country. these attacks demand an immediate federal response. the freedom to vote act will set basic national standards to make sure all americans can cast their ballots in the way that works best for them, regardless of what zip code they live in. i want to thank senator schumer for his leadership in pulling together our working group that got this legislation across the finish line, and as i mentioned, senator merkley and manchin for their work on this crucial bill. it has been over eight months since that violent mob of insurrectionists stormed through this very spot and desecrated our capitol, the temple of our democracy. they opened the desks in this chamber. they got up and sat at that desk where you are sitting now, mr. president. it was an attack on our

republic. and as i said from the inaugural stage just two weeks later under that beautiful blue sky sky at the very place where you could still see the spray paint at the bottom of the columns and the make-shift windows behind us, this is the day our democracy picks itself up, brushes off the dust, and does what america always does, goes forward as a nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. we took back our democracy that day, democrats, republicans, independents, all sitting at that platform, seeing a new president and vice president be nawgd. we -- being inaugurated. we took back our democracy that day, and we will take it back this day with this new bill, with the support of 78% of americans who favor two weeks of early voting, a very important provision in this bill, and 83% of voters who support public

disclosures of all contributions. we will take it back again from those who are trying to take away people's constitutional right to vote. with over 400 bills introduced in nearly every state to limit the freedom to vote, we can't simply sit back and watch our democracy be threatened again. whether it is threatened with bear spray and crowbars and axes or long lines or the elimination of ballot boxes or the secret money, it is still under siege. when we are faced with a coordinated effort across the country to limit the freedom to vote, we must stand up and do what is right. sometimes people say what is going on? it worked so well during the pandemic, during the public health crisis. more people voted than ever before. well, that is because they voted by mail. that that has become some state,

both blue states and red states change their laws to make it easier to vote while still protecting the sanctity of the vote. so why is this happening? i think our colleague, senator rafael warnock, put it best when he said some people don't want some people to vote. we will not stand for that because that is not how a democracy works. leader schumer has said he will bring this new bill to a vote as soon as next week because we know our democracy cannot wait. this bill builds on the framework put forward by senator manchin in june and includes many of the key reforms in the for the people act, guaranteeing all americans, as i noted access to 15 days of early voting, including weekends. look what just happened in georgia. we just had a field hearing down there with the rules committee. in georgia, all of a sudden they passed a law that said yeah, you can vote on weekends early on,

but when it counts in a runoff period in those last 28 days, you can't vote on weekends anymore. that's only done for one reason -- to make it harder for people to vote. that's why this bill is so important. what else does it do? ensuring all voters can cast a mail-in ballot and make it easier to register to vote. that is pretty important as we see republicans, democratic, independent voters all across this country wanting to be able to cast mail-in ballots, the safest way for so many of them to vote, even today. some states even require them to get a notary signature in the middle of a pandemic through a glass window when they're in the hospital. you wonder why we want to have some federal minimum standards in place. what else? increased transparency through the disclose act. i already noted 80%, over 80% of people in this country want to

see that, whether they are democrats, republicans, or independents. it would require super pac's and issue advocacy groups to disclose donors who contribute more than $10,000 and stop the use of transfers between organizations to cloak the identity, to hide the identity of the source of those contributions. it would counter partisan interference in election administration and protect election officials because not only do we need to make sure people can vote, we need to make sure their vote is counted. it would prevent voter purges by requiring states to use objective and reliable evidence to remove voters and prohibit the targeting of voters solely because they haven't voted recently. while giving election administrators flexibility to remove voters based on state records. as stacey abrams has said, if you don't go to a meeting for a while, do you lose your right to assembly? no, -- to assemble?

no, you don't. if you don't go to a church or synagogue or a mosque for a while, do you lose your right to exercise your right for religion? no, you don't. you shouldn't lose your right to vote. it would also prohibit partisan gerrymandering, this bill will, so that voters choose their elected officials, not the other way around. now, my home state of minnesota is a great example of how this can all work. when you make it easier for people to vote, they'll vote. i have never seen this as a partisan issue. in election after election, our state leads the nation in voter turnout because we have things like now no-excuse voting by mail or 46 days of early voting. our bill doesn't go that far because we're setting minimum standards, because that's what we have in our states. same-day voter registration. what's happened as a result? high voter turnout every time. who have we elected? we have elected a democrat

governor like our present governor, wife elected republican governors like tim pawlenty and we have elected independents like jessie veteran due a. what have i -- jest-- jessie investment. ne. tura. these continue to hold the coveted title of first in voter turnout, very close to the precider's state of colorado, overseen by our executive steve simon who continues to push for improvements in our elections. the freedom to vote is fundamental to all our freedoms. protecting it has not always been easy. throughout our country's 245-year history, we have had to course correct and take action to ensure that our democracy for the people, by the people, actually lives up to its ideal. voting is how americans control their government and hold elected officials accountable. it was the founding principle of our country, and it has stood

the test of wars, economic strife, and a global pandemic. but as we have seen in states like georgia, florida, iowa, montana, and most recently texas, we are up against a coordinated attack aimed at limiting the freedom to vote. this demands a federal response, and the constitution could not be clearer. it says right there that congress can make or alter laws regarding federal elections. just last week, legislation in texas was signed into law that makes it harder to vote, and many states are already under way drawing new congressional maps. without this bill, there will be nothing to limit many states from drawing gerrymandered maps that will distort the voices of americans, not just for one year, but for the next decade. the urgency for a federal response, which is why as chairwoman of the senate rules committee i have worked to

ensure that voting rights are a priority. it's why one of our first hearings this year was on the for the people act. why? and i see reverend warnock here, why we took the rules committee on the road to georgia in its first hearing in 20 years. and just last month, senator baldwin and i held a roundtable discussion in wisconsin on what's been happening in that state and what would have been put into law, including only having one ballot dropoff box in the entire city of milwaukee if the governor hadn't stood in and vetoed it. and we're not done yet because these discussions with voters are the most pressing testament that the threat to the freedom to vote is very real and affecting people of all walks of life across the country. we can't sit back idly and watch our democracy be threatened. as president biden said in philadelphia, the fight to protect the right to the vote is the test of our time. americans have fought and died to protect this freedom, and 56

years after the voting rights act was passed by this chamber and signed into law, we are still continuing this fight. we have asked our colleagues on the other side of the aisle to join us on this bill. we have made many, many, many changes to this legislation in response to concerns they have raised, in response to concerns senator manchin raised, in response to concerns the secretaries of state have made across the country. we have adapted this bill to make it much easier to implement in rural areas, in small towns. we are proud of this legislation. but yet, what do we hear from the other side of the aisle? well, over the last few months, one of their refrains, which i find so amusing, is they say this will somehow result in chaos. truly, chaos is a five-hour wait to vote in the sun in georgia without food or water. chaos is prohibiting eligible voters from voter rolls and

prohibiting mail-in drop boxes and having only one in the entire harris county in texas for five million people. chaos is voters in wisconsin waiting in line to vote for hours in the rain wearing home-made facemasks and plastic garbage bags. that angry mop on january 6 that came right into this chamber, that was chaos. you want to stop the chaos? federal minimum voting standards, telling extremists they can't spend millions on sham audits. that stops the chaos. getting dark money out of our politics. that stops the chaos. and making sure that people have a voice by ending partisan gerrymandering, that stops the chaos. so once again, i urge my republican colleagues to recognize the work being done in manial of their own states to restrict the freedom of americans to exercise their sacred right to vote. our nation was founded on the ideals of democracy, and as we have seen for ourselves in this very building, we cannot afford

to take it for granted. we have so much work to do. voting rights reform. this bill guaranteeing the freedom to vote is about the salvation of our very democracy. i urge my colleagues to join us in supporting the freedom to vote act. mr. president, i see my colleague, senator merkley, such a great leader on the for the people bill, senator warnock, such a great leader, new in the senate but already establishing himself across the country and in georgia as a leader on voting rights, they are both here and i yield the floor. mr. merkley: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. merkley: i so much appreciate the words of my colleague from minnesota who has brought the rules committee to bear in a maximum capacity to fight to defend the freedom to vote for all americans.

when i was in high school, i had the opportunity to live in west africa under a dictatorship as an exchange student, and in that country, the military dictatorship would exist until there was a new military coup and then there would be another military dictatorship, and that had happened time after time after time. so as a 16-year-old, i saw the contrast between a nation where citizens had no voice in the future of their country versus the united states of america where the foundation of our republic, the core vision of our nation is that each citizen has the opportunity to participate, to fight to help shape the american dream.

the path into the future to the benefit of a better nation. president johnson noted that the ballot box is so essential that the -- so essential, that the vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised for breaking down injustice. that bt box is the pulsating heart of our democracy. president lincoln when he was speaking at gettysburg, speaking that the soldiers who died there did not die in vain because they fought to preserve the vision of government of, by, and for the people, that it shall not perish from this earth. well, it is the vote that preserves the vision of government of, by, and for the

people. it is free access to the ballot box. and over the course of our history, we've sought to fulfill that vision through the 13th and 14th amendments, through the 15th amendment, through the voting rights act of 1965. but here we find at this moment in our history the right to vote is under attack once again. some 18 states have passed some 30 laws trying to target specific groups of individuals and prevent them from being able to vote. these strategies in state after state are to make it harder to vote and easier to cheat. i'll tell what you this bill does. we're talking about today, the freedom to vote bill, it makes it easier to vote and harder to cheat. it takes on three key forms of corruption that are haunting our

election system. first it takes on dark money, dark money unleashed by citizens united that allows billionaires to buy elections around this country. do a poll of democrats, republicans, and independents and ask should we have this dark money, source unknown, haunting our election system, producing all of these attack ads and you have no idea where they came from and citizens of every political stripe will say absolutely not. dark money, the hidden manipulation of the elections by the powerful, buying these vast sets of television ads trying to destroy the character of candidates in order to manipulate the outcome should not exist. it is in the d.n.a. of americans that this is a corrupting force. well, this bill takes on the dark money. the second thing that it takes on is gerrymandering.

gerrymandering where districts are drawn to favor one political party over the other. ask americans across this country is it right that politicians should choose their voters rather than voters choosing their politician? and they will say no. ask if they believe in the vision of equal representation as a key to adjust society and they will say yes. they want equal representation. republicans say yes. democrat, say yes. imeds say yes -- independents say yes. this bill takes on gerrymandering and puts an end to it with national standards for redistricting. now let's turn to the ballot box. i never thought i would live to see the day that we go into a time machine and return before 1965 in which one of the two

parties is determined to block targeted groups from voting, to target black americans from voting, hispanic americans from voting, low-income americans from voting, college students from voting. this is completely un-american. this is racist. and it is a past that we had proudly put behind us, but this bigoted past has arisen to haunt us once again in these some 30 laws in some 18 states targeting specific groups of americans. this bill says that strategy of cheating on election day by trying to block targeted groups from voting will not stand. we will make it easier to register. that's what this bill does. we'll make it easier to vote before election day to undermine

those election-day shenanigans. we'll have 15 days of early voting. we'll have the opportunity for voting by mail. we will make sure that our i.d. laws are not used in a fashion to favor one party over the other. core protections against these strategies designed to d disenfranchise americans and manipulate the outcome of elections. i'll tell you what else this law does. it takes on elections subversion. we've seen strategies of elections subversion in many of those state laws. so this bill says you know what? no, you cannot have frivolous challenges where one person stands at a poll and challenges the legitimacy of every single person who comes into that poll place in order to make it hard for people in a certain location to vote. it protects election officials

from improper removal. it protects election workers from intimidation and harassment. it preserves election records so they cannot be manipulated. it guarantees that we have paper ballots that can be recounted. it prevents observer interference in the elections. and it makes sure that people in line if something terrible should happen and those lines are long will still be able to have access to water and food, which is a strategy that has been now employed by several states to say you know what? welection day we're going to mae sure targeted precincts have long lines, and then we're going to say you can't even get a sip of water from a friend in that line in order to try to stop people from voting. wow. the lengths these republican

house -- statehouse and state senators and governors are going to stop people from voting. oh, we've seen the strategies of the past. we've seen eliminating the number of precinct voting locations to make it harder for targeted areas to vote. we have seen locating them in new locations to confuse people. we've seen false information put out by where the locations are to make it harder to vote. we have seen the understaffing of key places to create long lines. well, early voting, vote by mail, and protections in this bill stop these efforts to cheat in election, across our country. so we are defending that most powerful instrument ever devised by human beings for breaking down injustice with this freedom to vote bill. we are defending the right of every american to cast a ballot. we are fighting against the big

three corruptions being infesting, if you will, our election system across the country. this should be past 100-0. i invite my republican colleagues to remember the oath they took to the constitution and to remember that the right to vote is at the very heart of that constitution and join us in these core protections and to pass the freedom to vote act on the floor of this senate. thank you, mr. president. mr. warnock: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from georgia. mr. warnock: mr. president, i'm proud to stand on the senate floor today with my colleagues senator klobuchar and senator merkley in support of the enough freedom to vote act that we just

introduced. and i want to talk about why it is so important, urgent that congress act right now to protect the sacred right to vote that is under assault across our nation. first i want to thank my friends who worked with me to get us to this point. senators klobuchar -- senator klobuchar who has worked on this issue for so long, senator merkley also. senator manchin and senator schumer, padilla, kaine, king, and tester. our work is a testament to democrats' commitment to protecting access to the ballot box for every eligible voter. i think it's important to v remd us that we were -- to remind us that we were blocked from debating this issue in june. it bears repeating so that the american people understand that that's what got stopped in june.

not the actual bill but the ability to debate the bill on the senate floor. but i'm proud that our group was able to come together. we decided that we were not about to let this fight to protect voting rights die in this congress. the passing voting rights is the most important thing we can do in this country. because if we're going to lengthen and strengthen the cords of our democracy, that won't just happen. we will have to work for it. we will have to fight for it. we will have to stand up for it. and that's what we intend to do. and that's why we worked on this bill through the negotiations on the bipartisan infrastructure deal. that work is very important. i've often said regarding our infrastructure work that america needs a home improvement project. that that work is not only an infrastructure bill, it's a jobs

bill desperately needed. we've got to build back better, create an infrastructure so that families can thrive, so that workers can be engaged in the work that grows our economy, creates more jobs. but even while that work was going forward during the august recess, we were focused on writing this bill. the freedom to vote act will improve access to the ballot for all eligible americans by setting national standards for absentee voting, early vote, and in-person voting, it will make sure that the drop box is available for workers. it will enable the work that is so necessary to strengthen our democracy. this bill will end partisan

gerrymandering. yet another way in which the voices of ordinary people are squeezed out of their democracy. and it will advance commonsense reforms to secure our elections. i'm especially proud that this bill specifically addresses the wave of voter suppression laws we've seen take root in my home state of georgia and all across this country since january. what kind of congress would we be if we did not respond to all of these voter suppression bills that are mushrooming all over the country? a violent insurrection on this very capitol driven by the big lie metastasize into a kind of voter suppression cancer all across the body politic. this is our moment and this is the work that we must do.

and so i'm proud that this bill includes provisions from my preventing elections subversion act that will prevent what we're seeing in places like fulton county, georgia, right now, where partisan actors will interfere with the work of local officials taking over the election, subverting the will of the people even while the votes are still being cast. it will also prevent a neighbor from leveraging baseless challenges to a voter's ability to cast a ballot and have it counted. imagine that. that's one of the provisions in s.b.202 down in georgia. your neighbor can decide to challenge countless numbers of people and their right and legitimacy in casting their ballot. tie up the whole system with

these kinds of baseless accusations. how will it be possible to certify any election? and so simply put, the freedom to vote act is all about securing our elections and making the ballot box accessible so that every eligible american can exercise that basic right, the right to vote no matter where they live. and so as we do this work as challenging as it is, as disappointmenting as it was to have -- disappointing as it was to have our beloved colleagues on the other side of the aisle block debate, i'm not discouraged in this moment. i am encouraged by the voices and the legacy of those who committed to the idea of freedom. john lewis was my parishioner.

although he has transitioned to eternity, his voice still echos in the halls of this congress. every member of this chamber ought to be able to get behind voting rights. it's the only reason we're here in the first place. and so i hope my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will cosponsor and support the freedom to vote act. and i look forward to talking with democrats and republicans about how we can get this done while we continue working on economic and infrastructure packages. because, mr. president, we have to walk and chew gum at the same time. we have to repair our country's infrastructure, but we also have to protect and repair the infrastructure of our democracy.

it's not either/or. it's both/and. we've always had infrastructure. we've always had roads and streets. we've always had bridges. john lewis walked across a bridge in order to repair the infrastructure of our democracy. a bridge to the future. and so i know that some of my friends on the other side of the aisle are already saying that they're not going to support this bill, but in the past i remind them, voting rights legislation has passed out of this chamber with strong bipartisan support. i hope that this day will be no different. i say at least give this bill a chance. come let us reason together. let's talk about it. let's have the voting rights discussion that we didn't have in june. it's not too late.

let's have the discussion that the american people deserve. let's have an open debate and input from both sides here on the floor of the united states senate. that's why we were sent here. there's a lot from my republican friends -- there is a lot for my republican friends to like in this bill. and my democratic colleagues and i stand ready to hear what you don't like. together we can try to find common ground. so i hope my republican friends will give this bill fair consideration and that we can get bipartisan support to get over the finish line. mr. president, as i close, i want to remind all of us that the only reason we're here in this chamber at all is because somebody voted for us. voting rights is not just some other issue alongside other issues. it gets to the heart of who we

are in the first place -- a democracy. and we'll always disagree about a whole range of issues, but after politicians have argued their case about infrastructure, about taxes, about health care, about national security, the most powerful words every uttered in a democracy are the people have spoken. shame on us if we allow the people's voices to be silenced in this chamber. voting rights are preservative of all other rights, and right now the right to vote is under attack. our democracy is in a 911 emergency, and we must act now. i know that for those who've been in this body for a while, there is a sense in which, you know, you offer up proposals and

they don't always make it and you live and you fight another day. when i look at what's going on across our country, i think that if we don't address what's happening right now, we will have crossed a rubicon that imperils our democracy for years to come. and i'm not go to sit here silently and allow that to happen. too many people died, too much blood was shed, too many sacrifices made, too much is at stake. and it's beneath the legacy of the greatest deliberative body on the planet to refuse to even have a debate about voting rights. and so i hope that my beloved colleagues on the other side of the aisle will come and reason

together. and let's pass this out of this chamber with strong support. we've gotten some things done this year, but i believe that if we don't pass voting rights, history will rightly judge us harshly. folks who sent us here are counting on us. history is waiting on us. our children are watching us. and a great cloud of witnesses -- john lewis, a white woman named viola louisa who died voting rights -- a great cloud of witnesses urging us on to march toward the mark of the high calling, the high calling of our democratic ideals.

a nation where every voice is heard and every vote counts. mr. president, i yield the floor. mr. kaine: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from virginia. mr. kaine: mr. president, i'm very proud to stand with my colleagues on the other floor to talk about the freedom to vote act. i was proud to work with my colleagues over many months -- really, my purpose beginning in may to help negotiate the bill to a place where it would do what needs to be done to accomplish the objectives my completion -- my colleagues have described so well. i want to offer a few words about why i am so impassioned about getting this bill done. by my count there have been 1,$94 people who have served in the united states -- 1,994 people who have served in the

united states senate. 1,994. 100 of us share a unique experience. 100 of us were here on the only day in the history of this body when we were attacked by violent insurrectionists attempting to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power. so from whatever state we represent or whatever our background, we are unified in having shared an experience never to be imagined, never to be forgotten, and never to be repeated. i believe the fact that we've shared this experience together with members of the senate staff who were here with us put at -- this puts a unique responsibility on our shoulders. first, let's understand what that day was about.

there are some who are trying to kind of downplay it. it was tourists visiting. okay, we can laugh that off because we know that wang the case. but -- that wasn't the case. but there are others who are trying to downplay it in other ways. it was a riot, it was a protest. even that it was a violent protest. that's not what it was. if it had happened on january 5, it would have been a violent protest. if it had happened on january 7, it would have been a violent protest. but it didn't happen on january 5. it didn't happen on january 7. it happened on a day established by law at a time established by law for a purpose established by law to disrupt that purpose. it was a violent protest organized and inflamed by a president to occur at precisely

the moment that the congress of the united states was carrying out the constitutional duty to certify the election of joe biden and kamala harris as president and vice president of the united states. it was designed to disrupt that certification, and it succeeded. for five or six hours, we were locked out of the chamber while the rampagers tried to stop the certification of the election. we were barricaded in the midst. peak of the covid crisis side by side with staff in a room as the insurrectionists tried to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power. those words -- peaceful transfer of power, disrupting -- what does that mean? let's unpack it further. it was an effort to disenfranchise more than 80 million people in this country who had voted for joe biden and kamala harris. it was the single-largest effort

to disenfranchise voters in the history of the united states. that's what happened as we were barricaded, first, in this building -- and how glad i am that you pages were not here. how glad i am that i told my staff not to come to work that day. no one should have had to experience that, but it was an effort that succeeded for a period of hours to disenfranchise more than 80 million people. here's a powerful story. on that day, we knew who had been elected president and vice president. we knew what the house majority would be. but we did not know what the senate majority would be. the senate majority wasn't clear in november. and it wasn't clear in december. and it wasn't even clear on january 5 when my colleague, who just spoke from georgia, had his race called that he had won a

special election in georgia. as we were under attack, it was still in doubt as to who would be the majority party in the united states senate. and as we were barricaded for hours in the midst of covid in a room side by side with television monitors showing us what was happening at the capitol, there then came a breaking news report that the last senate race had been called in georgia for jon ossoff and so democrats would now have a senate majority. i'm a religious person. things happen for a reason. it was unclear who would be in leadership in the senate, but in the midst of a pandemic that had unnecessarily killed 600,000 americans and now with an ongoing attack against the capitol of the united states, unique in american history by people trying to disenfranchise 80 million people, the news

suddenly cam, we want new -- the news suddenly came, we want new leadership. we need new leadership. there is a reason for that. there's a reason that it happened in the middle of this attack. we have a burden on our shoulders to live up to the responsibility that we 100 uniquely share, and that responsibility is to make sure that no voter -- not 80 million, not 10 million, not a million, not 10, not one -- that no voter is disenfranchised in this country. that's why we've been given this unique opportunity to lead at this moment in time. that's what being victimized by that attack means in terms of our responsibility to this country and to our history. we have to carry out that responsibility. now, if this were a hollywood

film, what would happen is the democrats get the majority and then all of a sudden we put to rest disenfranchisement, democratic majority, we can stop the disenfranchisement of voters. you go, no, the big -- but, no, the big lie didn't stop. the big lie didn't stop when we found out that we had the majority. and this is often the case in powerful stories in human history like, you know, when moses leads people through the red sea to the other side. it's not great when they get there. they've still got work to do. we got the majority, but we have work to do. because in state after state after state, as we colleagues indicated, legislators in states where there are republican governors and republican legislative houses have thrown up one burden after the next to

disenfranchise people just as there was an effort to disenfranchise 80 million on january 6. let me be clear -- these state legislatures -- legislators, they may not be wearing camp auschwitz t-shirts, they may not be carrying confederate flags around, they may not be beating up police officers with flag poles or fence rails, but they're acting out of the same big lie that president trump repeated ad nauseam when he encouraged people to come and be wild at the u.s. capitol to overturn the peaceful transfer of power. and so the states are embracing these strategies, so well-described by my colleagues, to make it harder for people to vote, to enable partisan politicians to take the power to count votes away from elect editorial officials if they don't like what that count would show, to even criminalize people

who are trying to help their neighbors vote. imagine this. making it a crime to give somebody water as they're waiting to vote? a crime punishable by up to $1,000 fine, by up to a year in jail? this is the same big lie tactic that led to the attack on this body, and it's happening all over this country, and there is a burden uniquely on our shoulders if we were paying attention on january 6, to stand boldly to stop it, and to stop it once and for all. that is what the freedom to vote is about. it's about ensuring that these mass efforts at disenfranchisement that reach their most vivid and flowering in the violent attack on our

capitol don't occur, and that people have the ability to get access to a ballot and to have confidence that their ballot will be counted with integrity, and that weird schemes and stunts and penalties and criminal punishment won't be thrown in their path like one high hurdle after the next to keep them from participating in a democracy that we proudly proclaim ourselves to be. and that's why i'm so proud to be one of the cosponsors of this bill with my colleagues, because i was a civil rights lawyer for 17 years. you might think that's why i like this bill. no. the thing that makes me passionate about the bill was i was an eyewitness to the biggest disenfranchisement effort in the history of the united states, and i don't think we can say, yeah, we were here, we were eyewitnesses to it, it happened to us and the people we care

about but there's nothing we can do. we can't say, after having seen what we've seen and done what we've done and been where we've been, that there's nothing we can do. we can't. we have to act. let me just conclude and say this. i've been on ten ballots and been sworn into office many times, as a city councilman, as a mayor, as a lieutenant governor, as a governor and u.s. senator. when you get sworn in, you'll always say some version of this. it varies slightly in local and state offices, as the president knows, who was also a mayor and governor, but it always has some version of this within it. a pledge to support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies, foreign and domestic. i had an epiphany in the days after january 6, and the

epiphany was this -- when i would take that oath of office, it was just kind of like the thing you would say so you could do your job. and if you had asked me, hey, senator kaine or hey governor kaine or hey councilman kaine, what is your job, i would have given you a job description and the job description would be i want to build schools, i want to make sure our troops have the resources they need to keep our country safe. i always had a job description in my mind. i've been in elected office for 27 years now. i've always had a job description in my mind -- education, health care, defense. the next thing on my to-do list, i always had a job description in my mind. never did i think, until after january 6, that my oath of office was my job description. we say that oath of office, and we sometimes don't think about it. no, that oath of office is my

job description. i'm kind of sorry that it took me 27 years to figure that out. support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies, foreign and domestic. those who would disenfranchise 80 million or those who would disenfranchise one are domestic enemies of the constitution of the united states. i've pledged to support and defend that constitution. this bill, the debate that we'll have, the vote that we'll have, is a test of whether we mean what we say. i so look forward to engaging in this most important debate with my colleagues in the days to come. and with that, mr. president, i yield the floor.

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from california. mr. padilla: mr. president, before i begin, i ask unanimous consent to deliver a portion of my remarks in spanish. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. padilla: thank you very much. in spanish we say in espanol.

but i know you know that, from colorado. mr. president, i rise today as we mark the beginning of hispanic heritage month to reflect on a historic leader whose work inspires me in this fight for voting rights and the work that we have before us. valasquez, recipient of the presidential medal of freedom, dedicated his life to improving the freedom to vote in latino communities. everywhere he went he brought a simple motto. you might have heard it. [speaking spanish] your vote is your voice. willie valasquez was born in

1944 and was raised in a community in texas which specialized in redlining and government neglect. he understood that the path to greater recognition for latinos was through participation in our democracy. and so willie set out to make sure latinos across the southwest could participate. in 1974, willie value -- valesquez founded the the southwest organization legislation project. through his efforts, willie helped bring the vote and a powerful voice to many latino communities. now willie's successes were built on the hard-earned victories of past civil rights leaders. especially critical was

congress' 1975 extension of the voting rights act. yes, a bipartisan reauthorization of the federal voting rights act which established protections for language minorities like spanish speakers. in just ten years, with willie's and other activists' hard work on the ground, the number of latinos registered to vote nearly doubled. and in the same ten years, the number of latinos holding elected office also nearly doubled. that is the power of the freedom to vote and the power of what we can do here in this senate, here in congress. give every american a voice in our democracy. in his time, willie fought to do exactly this.

like generations of americans of all ages, colors, and creeds, and genders that came before him, their efforts reflect a fundamental truth about our country. we are stronger when more americans can vote. we are stronger when all communities have a say in government. but the path to realizing our highest ideals has never been easy. from a convention hall in seneca falls to a bridge in selma, from willie's home in san antonio, texas, to this very chamber, the voting rights victories of each generation have been hard fought and hard won, and it is no different today. in recent months, we've seen

the latest challenge to the core of our democracy. scores of new laws proposed by republican state legislatures to target the past five decades of gains in voting rights. cynical politicians spreading false claims of voter fraud because they fear losing in a fair election. you can see the danger of it, even in my home state of california, where just yesterday we held a recall election. republicans ran a campaign of disinformation, spreading baseless claims of massive voter fraud before the polls even closed, before they even opened, and long before a single ballot was even counted. it's straight out of donald trump's playbook, the same

playbook that perpetuated the big lie and fueled the domestic terrorism that the world witnessed on january 6. and it's no coincidence that the cynical claims of voter fraud are often targeted at communities of color. in the face of these challenges, we must overcome together again. we must renew our collective fight for our democracy. it is up to us. the time is now to get the job done. mr. president, it's an honor to lead the freedom to vote act alongside my colleague, senator klobuchar, senators merkley, warnock, manchin, king, tester, and kaine. the freedom to vote act will make it easier for all eligible

citizens to register to vote and to cast their ballot. this bill will set a baseline of protections for voters across the country with is commonsense proven reforms that have already been successfully implemented in blue and red states across the country. i urge all of my colleagues to join us and vote to strengthen our democracy. as the first latino to represent california in this body, in the united states senate, i'm proud to be spending this hispanic heritage month fighting for voting rights, because so many of our communities' gains have been achieved through political participation and

representation. the fight to expand voting rights is indeed part of our heritage. it's also a tradition that unites americans because we have come together generation after generation to expand the promise of our democracy for all. yes, we are strongest when every eligible voter can make their voice heard. your vote is your voice. [speaking spanish] thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. ms. klobuchar: i thank my colleagues, and senator padilla, your great experience as secretary of state and how that has assisted us in coming together on this bill. senator warnock, the passion

and firsthand experience you have in georgia. senator kaine, an extraordinary speech, where we all had to step back and think about our job descriptions to protect and defend the constitution. that's not just ours on this side of the aisle. it's also our colleagues on the other side of the aisle. we have this special obligation to protect this democracy and to cherish it and to pass it on to the next generation, and the way you do that fundamentally is guaranteeing americans the freedom to vote. that is all this bill is about, putting in place minimum national standards that we see in so many of our states, but that sadly right now are threatened in a number of those states, for no other reason, except to quote reverend warnock, that some people don't want some people to vote. our democracy is too important to let that happen.

so with this, we're going to end our segment here, and we will be back to discuss this bill more next week. but i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to legislative session and be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. klobuchar: i have six requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have approval of the majority and minority leaders. the presiding officer: duly noted. ms. klobuchar: i understand that there is a bill at the desk that is due for a second reading. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the title of the bill for the second time. the clerk: s. 2747, a bill to expand americans' access to the ballot box and reduce the influence of big money in politics and for other purposes.

ms. klobuchar: in order to place the bill on the calendar under the provisions of rule 14, i would object to further proceeding. the presiding officer: objection having been heard, the bill will be placed on the calendar. ms. klobuchar: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of senate resolution 365 submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 365, honoring the life, legacy you and achievements of macnolia conform. the presiding officer: is it is there objection to proceeding? without objection, the senate will proceed. ms. klobuchar: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. klobuchar: i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it

adjourn until 10:15 a.m. thursday, september 16, for a pro forma session with no business conducted. further, that when the senate adjourns on thursday, it stand ajourneyed until 3:00 p.m. on monday, september 20, 2021, that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed. and that upon the conclusion of morning business, the senate proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the strickland nomination. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. ms. klobuchar: if there is to further business to come before the senate, i ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order following the remarks of senators grassley, ernst, and cornyn. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. klobuchar: thank you.

ms. ernst: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. ms. ernst: mr. president, words can't describe the emotions i felt watching the ruthless taliban once again seize control of afghanistan, the very same country from where terrorists plotted the attacks on america two decades earlier. the world watched hopelessly as tens of thousands of people, including american citizens and our afghan allies, desperately attempted to escape the terror and bleak future certain to return under the rule of the taliban.

through the chaos and the panic, the brave men and women of the united states armed forces, who once freed the nation from the terrorist regime, stood as protectors at the kabul airport for those who were desperately seeking a way out. then on august 26, a terrorist attack at the airport claimed the lives of 13 of these brave service members who were assisting with the evacuation, macing one of the deadliest -- marking one of the deadliest days for u.s. forces during the 20-year conflict. marine corporal daegan william-tyeler page was one of

those killed in action on that day. daegan was a young man from red oak, iowa, who truly represents the greatness of our state, our country, and the united states marine corps in which he proudly served. daegan may have been just 23 years old, but he died a hero who lived a life of service to his community and to his nation. our hearts go out to those to whom he meant the most -- his girlfriend, jessica; his parents, wendy and craig adelson; and gregg and jenny page; his grandparents and his four siblings, cory, garrett, mason and emerson, to whom

daegan has always been a hero, even before he became a marine. the wounds of war obviously aren't just borne by the warrior. it is the family of the fallen who will carry these scars for a lifetime. the hole left in the lives by the loss of daegan can never, ever be filled. so let's also keep daegan's family in our prayers. being from red oak, iowa, i know daegan's family. i've grown up with daegan's family. it was my best friend in red oak

that texted me after that explosion at the kabul airport, and shies a the one that told me that -- and she's the one that told me that wendy's son daegan had been killed in that explosion. so i gave the family time to come together and that next morning i called wendy's mother, peggy. i love peggy very much. i love their entire family very much. and i tommed her i was so sorry about the loss of daegan, and she told me, joni, just please let everybody know what an amazing young man that daegan was. and he was an extraordinary young man. and she told me before we ended our conversation, and she said, joni, give that precious libby

of yours a hug for me, like i used to so many years ago when she was a little girl. and she said, you never know when you will get that last hug from someone you love. and peggy, i did. i gave my daughter libby a hug. so while daegan was a tough marine, he really was, again, an amazing young man. he was fun-loving and he had a giant heart and a soft spot for animals. he had three dogs -- shia, gracey can and finn. growing up in red oak and then in omaha, daegan's commitment to service began at a young age as a longtime member of the boy scouts. while he was just a child when the terrorists attacked america

on 9/11, he answered the call to serve his country by joining the u.s. marine corps after graduating. daegan's family said he loved the brotherhood of the marines and was proud to serve as a member of the 2nd battalion 1st marine regiment in california. daegan was always a dedicated team member. it didn't matter what it was, but he was dedicated, according to his former hockey teammates who together won the nebraska state championship tournament. omaha's hockey community is fittingly paying tribute to daegan by placing hockey sticks on their porches in his memory. a memorial service to celebrate daegan's life is being held this

friday at st. paul lutheran church in omaha. like his family, teammates and fellow service members, we mourn the loss of daegan but also honor his heroism and his valor. he has been awarded the purple heart for making that ultimate sacrifice while in the line of duty. his life in red oak, iowa, in omaha, nebraska, and his death remind us that this world is a very dangerous place with many wishing to do the united states harm. our protection here at home depends upon the sacrifice and the service of many heroes, those like daegan. let it not be forgotten that

thousands of other lives were rescued from pending doom because of the bravery of daegan and the 12 other service members who lost their lives that day. while standing guard to ensure the safe passage of others out of afghanistan. while it's heartbreaking that he was taken from this world too soon, daegan will forever have the gratitude of our nation. so, wendy and gregg and to your families, please accept my heartfelt condolences on the loss of your beautiful son, daegan. the american people will never forget him, nor will they ever forget his life of service. seem at the fidelis, dae --

semper fidelis, daegan. and godspeed. mr. president, i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: mr. president, are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are not. mr. cornyn: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, in the fine am days of the united states -- in the final days of the united states military's presence in afghanistan, our country suffered a devastating loss. 13 service members were killed in a terrorist attack at the airport at kabul marking the deadliest day for the u.s.

military in more than a decade in that country. these young men and women, all between the ages of 20 and 31, were taken from loving families, parents, siblings, spouses, fiancees, even with a baby on the way. in laredo, texas, on monday, i had the solemn honor of attending a funeral for one of these heroes and offering my condolences to his family. marine corps lance corporal david lee espinoza was only 20 years old when he lost his life last month. but he represented the very best of the marine core, the united states military, and the very best of america. from childhood he dreamed of serving in the military. he joined the marines right after high school to serve his

country and to protect our freedoms. and last month, he made the ultimate sacrifice in service to that mission. the pride in this young marine around the gratitude for his service and sacrifice was visible throughout the laredo community. driving through laredo from the airport, the streets were lined with folks, including schoolchildren holding up american flags in honor of lance corporal espinoza. veterans from across the state proudly stood outside the entrance to st. patrick catholic church to pay tribute to their fallen brother and across the street a giant american flag hung from the ladder of two fire trucks. i attended the mass officiated by the bishop in paying my respects to lance corporal espinoza's family and her members of his -- of and other

members of his family. there's nothing we can do to bring back lance corporal espinoza. but we can ensure that his service and sacrifice and that of the other service members killed that day will never be forgotten. i join those across the country who are morning the loss of their heroes and honoring the sacrifices they made for our freedom. and to me, one of the most unique things about the united states military, this is not just about our freedom. they were protecting the rights and the freedom and the dignity of people on the other side of the planet. our nation is forever grateful to these young men and women and their loved ones who have made unfathomable sacrifices for our freedoms. mr. president, we were back in session after a busy august,

and we're hitting the ground running in the united states senate. this week congressional committees have heard from top biden administration about the disastrous withdrawal of our troops from afghanistan. in the months to come there will be more questions about the decisions that led to the collapse of that country and how the administration plans to protect the american people from terrorist threats moving forward. you know, the whole premise of our going to afghanistan in the first place was to deny vacuums that could be filled by terrorist organizations like al qaeda and isis, and thus represent a threat to the homeland not only of people in europe and in the region, but also to the people here in the united states. some called 9/11/2001, a

failure of imagination because we never imagined that terrorists overseas would plan and execute a terrorist attack that would kill 3,000 americans using two airplanes to fly into the world trade center. so now with the embarrassing and disastrous withdrawal by the biden administration of our troops from afghanistan, the question is how long will it take the terrorists to reconstitute themselves and present a clear and present danger to not only the region but also the continent of europe and the united states. but for right now, we deserve, and the american people deserve answers and accountability. and it's not just these 13 marines that lost their lives in afghanistan. other american service members have lost their life and

literally their limbs to try to deny safe haven to terrorist organizations like al qaeda and isis. and i worry that they may worry that their sacrifices may have been in vain if in fact these terrorist occupy this vacuum which has now been created with a very hospitable taliban which was responsible for hosting al qaeda in the first place. i worry these troops feel like their sacrifices has been in vain. but i want to assure them that they did what they were asked to do by their commander in chief with honor and respect and great personal sacrifice. and no matter what happens going forward, nothing will ever change the respect and the honor

that we have for them and their service. we also, mr. president, have a fast-approaching government funding deadline. to be specific, we have about 16 days before we will be knee-deep in a government shutdown unless congress appropriates money to keep the lights on. following a year and a half of economic instability, there is no justification to unleash even more uncertainty on our economy and on hardworking american families. then on top of that, we're told that our democratic colleagues intend to pass a $3.5 trillion, probably closer to $5 trillion reckless tax and spending spree bill, otherwise known as reconciliation. during the last year, during

the covid-19 crisis, we worked very well together because we knew this was a national emergency that did not respect political parties or ideology or persons, and we had to do everything we could on an emergency basis to help. but that emergency is quickly getting in our rearview mirror, and our democratic colleagues seem to be determined to continue to recklessly spend borrowed money that will have to be repaid by the next generation of americans and to raise taxes to the highest level in recent memory, thus compounding the risk not only of inflation, which is a regressive tax on working families when the food that they put on the table, the gasoline to buy the appliances they buy, all are seeing prices

going up at very, at quickly escalating levels, there is a real danger that this sort of reckless tax and spending spree will have a very negative effect not only on them, but also on our economy more generally. for months we know our democratic colleagues have been debating back and forth about how much they're willing to spend on a liberal wish list. the chairman of the budget committee initially floated a staggering figure of $6 trillion. now i never dreamed that in my lifetime, certainly in my service in the united states senate, i would ever vote for a $1 trillion bill but i did during the emergency called covid-19 because i thought it was necessary. but this kind of reckless spending is not necessary. this is ideological, an

ideological juggernaut to try to achieve things to transform this country into some western european social democracy, social welfare state. well, after months of negotiating among themselves, our democratic colleagues have now settled not on a $6 trillion figure, but on $3.5 trillion. still a shocking number. nonpartisan budget experts, as i indicated, say the actual cost would end up closer to $5.5 trillion. so don't be fooled by this so-called appearance of self-restraint. this plan is chock-full of damaging tax hikes, permanent welfare with no work requirements, green new deal climate mandates, and a laundry list of socialist policies. a party line vote just before

the recess laid the groundwork for the biggest government spending bonanza in american history, but now some of our democratic colleagues are experiencing a little buyer's remorse, perhaps given the rapidly approaching date for the 2022 elections, and they're expressing some remorse or hesitation before swiping the taxpayers' credit card once more. senators manchin and sinema have both voiced their opposition to the extreme $3.5 trillion figure. earlier this month senator manchin wroad an op-ed explaining why he won't support such irresponsible spending. our colleagues ought to read it and to consider his arguments. he said democratic leaders in congress have proposed passing quote, he quotes, the largest single spending bill in history with no regard to rising inflation, crippling debt, or

the inevitability of future crises. the fractures in the reckless tax and spending spree aren't just deepening in the senate. house democrats are beginning to wring their hands trying to figure out if they can justify such extreme spending and taxing, and i must say it certainly will require some creative thinking. trillions more in borrowing when american families are already being pummeled by inflation, a sweeping amnesty with no effort to control the growing immigration crisis at the southern border, tax hikes on american families and small businesses, our democratic colleagues are proposing the most extreme policy proposals that one might imagine in this one massive bill. so getting their members on board is half the battle, but

we are now seeing the internal debates and discussions among democrats, wondering if this is the wisest course of conduct. because there's no doubt about it, this is a massive amount of money, and democrats are going to have to raise the debt ceiling by themselves if they want to write a check that big. this is where things get a little kooky. even though this is a partisan spending spree, our friends across the aisle expect republicans to join them in raising the debt ceiling, claiming that this should be a bipartisan effort. but it's clear, democrats don't require republican support. they can attach this credit increase to the tax and spending spree bill and pass it with only democratic support. the only problem is they don't

really want to own it. they want political cover. they want to help us -- they want us to help them pull the pin out of the economic grenade that they're about to toss in the laps of the american people. when this reckless tax and spending spree inevitably blows up, they want to be able to blame someone else. they want plausible deniability. but it's not going to work that way. senator mcconnell, the republican leader, and folks on our side of the aisle have made it crystal clear on that point for months. if they want to spend alone, they're going to have to address the debt ceiling alone. our democratic colleagues can't cut republicans out of the process when it's convenient and then beg for cooperation when they need someone else to blame.

i have no doubt that our colleagues across the aisle will come up with a host of gimmicks to try and get republicans on board. some have suggested threatening to shut down the government or withholding critical disaster relief. to be absolutely clear, folks on our side of the aisle do not want a government shutdown. the american people and our economy are already experiencing enough pain. in my state of texas, we've suffered enough natural disasters for me to understand how critical it is to get disaster relief out the door as quickly as possible. communities impacted by hurricanes and wildfires do not deserve to be treated as political pawns on a chess board. if democrats want to charge $5.5 trillion to the taxpayers' credit card, they'll have to

increase the credit limit themselves, and they can do it by themselves with the $

the presiding officer: will the senator with hold his request? mr. cornyn: i'll with hold the request -- i did not see my friend from iowa behind me. so excuse me. mr. grassley: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: border security is one of the government's most important responsibilities, a sovereign successful nation's self-determination and safety depend upon it and we're no

exception. our border security risk schiews -- excusively with the federal government and holeland security, a cabinet created in 2002, i believe, in the aftermath of the september 11 attack is entrusted with this paramount duty of protecting our border.ith security for its name wasn't an accident. that wordage cast the department's purpose to protect the country from external threats, both from people and from products. and americans pay for that

department handsomely and for its responsibilities about $52 billion a year. however, a grave, unprecedented crisis exists at our southern border. our television reminds us of that fact daily. foreign nationals are illegally crossing into our country from mexico by the thousands every day. i heard recently that last month was the biggest number coming in for over 20 years. but illegal immigration isn't the only crime cascading over our borders. mexican cartels are importing deadly drugs and trafficking

humans. these horrific, unabated events make very clear that the cartels effectively control our southern border. they actually manage who and what enters our country from mexico. but the danger is preventable. the trouble exists because the current administration deliberately refuses to secure the border. homeland security's border -- is inexcusable and it happens to be life-threatening injuries, not only from drugs but from criminals and for national security because terrorists have been arrested. communities across all states

then are plagued by the crime and the drugs killing americans by the tens of thousands every year. the figure from 2020 is over 93,000 americans dying from drug overdoses, a 31% increase from just the previous year, that ex seeds the rose -- exceeds the rose bowl capacity. one drug is very significant. mexico fentanyl coming through mexico from china. fentanyl is a synthetic opioid. it is 50 times more potent than

heroin, an amount even as small as a grain of salt can cause death. the cartels are producing the deadly drug and smuggling it into the united states at record highs. they are also drugs for increasd potency and, of course, increased profits, often without the user of that drug even knowing that sometimes they evet that fentanyl-laced drug into heroin. unsurprisingly then deaths result. from january 2019 to june of

2019 almost 62% of the overdose deaths involved a fentanyl-related substance. the authority scheduling fentanyl analogs expires next month. congress must punish the cartels and the drug dealers who spread this poison across our communities. we're a nation of compassion, but we're also a nation of laws. we're not obligated under any charade of compassion to ignore border crime, particularly the surge of deadly drugs killing tens of thousands here the govee see, sits idly by as cartel drug

poison -- poisons america and unleash a drug-related violence upon our communities. border security is essential in keeping our public safety threats and a cartel-controlled border presents our greatest criminal threat. the federal government must be a staunch ally to the states in stopping the crime. the cartels benefit immensely from a nonsecured border and they are not exactly screaming for threats to our national security and public safety. we've reached a critical juncture and must choose who actually controls the southern border, and consequently our self-determination and our safety. violent drug cartels or home

security, which is it? the choice directs our future. on another matter. today i speak to my fellow colleagues on the extraordinary courage, bravery, and patriotism that the men and women in armed forces showed to the entire world yet again in the last several months in afghanistan. now we see plenty of evidence that they were placed in an impossible situation because of the bad judgment and leadership failures of president biden. despite president biden's bad

judgment, our men and women in uniform again exceeded expectations. in the process of doing their job for people that they don't even know, we lost 13 of our best who gave the ultimate sacrifice for their country and 18 more suffered serious injuries. i pray, and i assume all americans pray, for their families, for the loss that those families have suffered. those 13 young men and women will never and should never be forgotten. they are heros. this disastrous exit was entirely avoidable, which makes the loss of life even more gut

wrenching. intelligent and honest people can disagree on whether the americans should have left afghanistan but it's unthinkable that anyone could justify the manner in which this administration carried out this disaster. the biden administration left americans behind. this is the united states of america. we never leave our people behind. i've heard from many iowans who are outraged by this mortal failure. when he took office, president biden arrogantly announced that america is back. now the world is seeing america in retreat. the russians and red china are

crowing over this comedy. i and others have compared the imagery and the perception to the fall of saigon. but remember in that case we had pulled our military out before we broke our promises to the south vietnamese military. in this case it appears that crucial support for the afghan military was withdrawn while we were relying on that same military to hold off the taliban long enough to complete our withdrawal. i've been at many briefings related to president biden's afghan exit. i've tasked by oversight and policy staff to do the same. some have been classified

briefings, others were not classified. what i can say and what i believe the american people ought to know is that this administration couldn't track the state of a play on the ground in the way that they should have had the capability to do. every briefing gave a more dire and desperate picture than the one briefing we've -- we received before. it was obvious that this administration was losing control. yet, it was clear to me and my colleagues that the administration never sufficiently changed its posture in the region as the facts on the ground changed -- changed from bad to worse.

when the administration officials were questioned about this strategy, they often publicly responded that what they were doing was based on presidential-level decisions. joe biden owns this disastrous exit, plain and simple, but also secretary austin, secretary blinken and general milley are not without blame. the exit has realized the worst fears of every afghan who over 20 years learned to dream of peace and every naysayer who said, wait and they will leave. our enemies were right and now we have left.

the biden administration certainly left the women of afghanistan behind. they are once again being beaten, killed in the streets for supposed crimes, such as daring to speak, wanting an education, not covering their faces, and in some cases simply walking in public. the biden administration, in its hasty exit, effectively armed the taliban with advanced american military weaponry that is now being used to oppress the afghan people. the taliban is now patrolling our streets in kabul in american vehicles, wearing american uniforms, and carrying american-made weapons.

some of the violent terrorists released by the obama administration are now in the political leadership roles in this taliban regime. other members of the taliban leadership have remained on the f.b.i.'s most wanted list, and they have been on that list for many years. including one with a $10 million bounty. now, if this were a movie script, nobody would believe it. in addition to the equipment and the funds, it's crucial that we remember the human cost in afghanistan. we lost 2,461 service members, 18 of which came from my state of iowa. we also lost 3,846 contractors,

66,000 american military and police, 1,144 allied service members, 444 aid workers, and 72 journalists. these numbers hit home. they hit deep. and we should never forget them. these numbers also don't account for the stain on our national reputation for blatantly disregarding the welfare of the afghan people that fought alongside us to help us accomplish our mission there. leaving behind allies will have consequences that will affect our ability to build coalitions in the future. it will negatively impact our ability to defeat future

enemies. looking through the negatives, the heartache and the pain that our country has suffered from this terribly executed exit, i remain hopeful. where the biden administration has failed, we have seen veterans and current members of our armed services filling the leadership gap. where our government didn't keep its promise by working together, these veterans and current members of our armed services and the groups associated with them quickly built ad hoc networks to ensure their afghan brothers in arms and their families were able to leave their crumbling country safely. americans have been inspired by

reports of operation pineapple express, organized by special operations veterans who, without even being asked or without even asking for permission helped hundreds of afghan allies and their families to safety. one of the more inspiring stories from this disastrous exit involved an afghan family being guided by his former u.s. marine brother to abby gate at the kabul airport. the afghan family was instructed by the u.s. marine veterans to carry signs with them that invoked marine corps phrases that our marines at abby gate would understand but the taliban would not understand. after several attempts, the

marines on the wall saw the signs and were able to retrieve the family and escort them through abby gate only moments before the suicide attack that took the lives of 11 marines, a navy corpsman, a u.s. soldier, and scores and scores of afghan civilians. when the marine corps veteran network was eventually able to make contact with the interpreter, he was asked if he and his family were all right. his reply was of course i'm good. i'm with marines. that's just one story, but this isn't the only amazing story regarding our veterans and our service members. pictures that were taken during

this time show the desperation of the afghan people. mothers dressed desperately, throwing their children to american troops in hope that even if the parents couldn't reach safety, their children could. these pictures also show the core hearts of these american warriors that we honor. during this 20-year conflict of our service men and women, they have never wavered in their duty to god and country, consistently showing their ability to annihilate the enemy. they defeated the taliban, liberated the people of afghanistan, and protected our country from further terrorist attacks for 20 years. and during their final hours in

kabul, our young warriors did something unimaginable for almost any other country's military. they injected humanity into the dark fringes of a war-torn conflict during a mass evacuation. we've seen the pictures of marines in full battle attire holding crying infants. we have seen our service members giving the shirts off their backs to keep children warm. this stands in contrast to the actions of political leaders úwh. despite the taliban's most recent acts of barbarism, the biden administration has begun discussing potential recognition

of the taliban as a government. the possibility of taxpayers' funded foreign aid has been tangled as a carrot to incentivize their good behavior. this is pure naivety on the part of anybody in this administration thinking about that. the biden administration's string of foreign policy blunders has created a domino effect that americans will feel for years to come. afghanistan could once again become the epicenter for terrorist activities that will launch future attacks on our nation. hopefully not another 9/11. i pray that my concerns will not become reality, but somehow i have to have fear that it will

be reality. at the very least, america's credibility on the world stage with our allies, even with our enemies, has taken a huge hit. it's unfortunate -- this unfortunate event is our worst fears come to life. my solace is in the knowledge that our service men and women continue to have the strength to overcome the failures of our own political leaders. so to my fellow americans, let us never forget the sacrifices of our men and women in the armed services and the sacrifices that that means for protecting our freedom and security. their service and sacrifice have been of immeasurable value. all americans owe a debt to them that can never fully be repaid.

i suggest the absence of a quorum. what? yeah. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the senate stands adjourned until stands adjourned until class we are funded by these television companies and more including broadband .

but i broadband supports c-span along with these television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy . >> a roundtable discussion on the issue of vaccine mandates and joining us for this discussion doctor goldenberg, fellow at the senior enterprise institute . founding director of the division of ethics at nyu grossman school of medicine and i want to begin a fairly simple question. what's the difference between individual rights and public health. >> it's a tough area because we value liberty, choice in america that our core values for us.