vote on whether to confirm florence pan to be a u.s. district court judge for the district of columbia. then threat the date senators are expected to vote on a handful of executive nominations. now live coverage of the u.s. senate here on c-span2. me to or. the chaplain, dr. barry black, will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. mighty god, who observes all who live on earth, we give our lives to you this day and trust you with our future. our times are in your hands for without your power, we would not see tomorrow. as our senators travel on this

journey called life, show them the right path, o lord. point out to them the road to follow. continue to lead them by your truth as they place their hope in you. lord, thank you for your compassion and unfailing love. we pray in your merciful name. amen. the president pro tempore: please join me in the pledge of allegiance. 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 president pro tempore: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. morning business is closed. and under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session and resume consideration of the following nomination which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary, florence y. pan of the district of columbia to be united states district judge for the district of columbia.

mr. schumer: the president pro tempore. the president pro tempore: the majority leader. mr. schumer: thank you, mr. president. i want to begin today talking about debt limit by returning to three very frightening statistics. the first is $15 trillion. that is the amount of household

wealth that a leading economist recently warned could be wiped out of the economy should the government default on its debt. the second is $6 million. that's the number -- is 6 million. that's the number of jobs that the same analysis said could be lost should default become a reality. the third statistic is 9%. that's the unemployment rate our country potentially faces if we don't do our jobs to raise the debt ceiling. now none of these statistics, none of these numbers need become a reality if both parties unite in the coming days to pass the continuing resolution sent to us by the house. it would keep the government open for three months. it would provide funding for disaster relief and afghan refugees, and of course, it would suspend the debt ceiling until the end of 2022. so we can pay for the debt incurred at the end of the previous administration. every single member of this chamber is going to go on record

as to whether they support keeping the government open averting a default or support shutting us down and careening our country towards a first-ever default. democrats will be united in supporting the passage of the c.r. it's the right thing to do for the american people. and it would immediately stop these unnecessary crises that are knocking at our doorstep. at the end of the day, the only thing that matters in a legislative body is how you vote. that is the most important thing we do. there are many other important things, but that is the one that matters the most. it's what our constituents sent us here to do. now, senate democrats have said repeatedly that they're all for avoiding a government shutdown. they have said repeatedly that the debt ceiling must be raised. so i want to offer a novel suggestion. if republicans want to avoid default, then they should vote yes. if the republicans want to keep

the government open, they should vote yes. but incredibly, mcconnell -- leader mcconnell spinning tale, a peb of subject fugue -- web of subterfuge and outright objection, has said he is going to vote no and he urges republicans to vote no. this is alice in wonderland logic. republicans claim to oppose a default but they're saying they're going to vote for one anyway. they say they oppose a government shutdown but they're going to vote for one anyway. they say they want disaster relief, but they say they're going to oppose it when the time comes. so they can resort to all the full face friday they want but if they -- sulfistry no, if they vote know they will be solidifying themself as the party of default and the american people unfortunately will be the ones footing the

bill, a high cost to pay for republican games, political games. by voting to default, the republicans would be telling the american people they're fine if people don't get their social security checks. they're saying they don't care if our veterans are denied benefits. they're saying they don't care if the markets come crashing down purting people's pension -- hurting people's pensions and i.r.a.'s. none of this is an exaggeration. economist mark zandi, a former adviser to the late senator mccain, wrote recently that a default would be, quote, a catastrophic blow to the economic recovery from the covid-19 pandemic. he also warned that americans would pay for this default for generations. i hope my republican colleagues heard the last part as they are thinking of indulging in the political game put forward by leader mcconnell. americans would pay for this

default for generations. of course we all know by now that the republican justifications for opposing the debt ceiling are entirely bunk. they say that he' -- they're opposed to new spending but "the wall street journal" has said raising the debt limit would -- wouldn't facilitate future spending and congress would still need to raise the debt limit this fall, even if no major spending programs are enacted. do you hear that, republicans? this is "the wall street journal." even if not a new single spending program were enacted, we'd still have to raise the debt. that was incurred by president trump and by all of your votes. how crass can you be? how heartless can you be? you voted to spend these moneys because of covid. it was a valid reason. and thousand you don't want to pay for it and you come up with some lame political sol ffistry

trying to justify it but everyone sees through that, everyone. the truth is we'll be voting to pay for the debt accrued under presidents of both parties including the $8 trillion added to the debt under president trump. both sides incurred the debt. both sides should pay it. it wasn't long ago that threatening a default on national debt was something you only heard in the fringes of the republican party. about ten years ago the republican speaker at the time called the idea, quote, insanity. but today it's literally the party line, a sad commentary on just how far down the rabbit hole the republican party has gone. if my republican colleagues disagree, they have a simple option. they can vote yes to keep the government open. they can vote yes on suspending the debt limit. it's in their hands. but if republican votes favor a

shutdown and default, the american people will see exactly who is responsible for throwing our country into crisis. on nominations, now on the activity happening on the floor today, thanks to the political stunts and a handful of obstructionist republicans, the senate is going to spend a lot of extra time today on something that's generally a routine process, confirming uncontroversial but critical nominees to the department of state and other important agencies. of all the mandates of the government, there's one that holds importance above all others, keeping the american people safe from all threats foreign and domestic. to fulfill this responsibility, the president relies on a vast army of dedicated public servants across the government. they are the expert diplomats, under secretaries, and assistant secretaries whom we rarely hear of in the news, but they play an

indispensable role in keeping america safe. oftentimes they're our quiet heroes. but today an alarming number of posts essential for our national security remain vacant because a handful of republicans have decided to hijack the confirmation process and put a hold on not just a few but on many critical nominees. as a result, today we're going to have to take the long way to remove -- to move forward with seven of the nominees currently on hold. we need to get these confirmed as soon as possible. and if the irrational stonewalling of republicans -- by republicans of these noncontroversial nominees continues, we may need to take this tedious exercise again in a greater magnitude. the republicans responsible for holding up these confirmations are deliberately making the american people less safe. in a vain and futile effort to enhance their political fortunes. every single one of these nomes

was reported out of committee with bipartisan support. there's no rational basis for their delay. the fleeting gain these republicans will receive will pale in comparison to the damage they're causing to our country. it's not the issue of a few nomes here and there. these are scores of diplomats and other public servants who are unable to get to work because a few members of this body are holding everything up. it's intentional sabotage of this chamber's operation and it's going to hurt our ability to respond to crises around the world. imagine if you dial 911 but nobody has been hired to pick up the phone on the other side. that's more or less what these republicans are doing to many of our diplomats who are often the first line of defense when an international crisis breaks out. of course this chamber under this leadership is not going to tolerate a few members who want to muck up the confirmation process to make a scene. it will just take a little longer to get them done.

maybe nights, maybe weekends. we will focus today on pushing these nominees through for the sake of our national security. i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: republicans are shining a spotlight on the reckless taxing and spending spree that washington democrats are writing behind closed doors. the radical left is pushing in all their chips. they want to use this terrible but temporary pandemic as a trojan horse for permanent socialism, and president biden, who ran as a unifying moderate, is either powerless to stop them or does not wish to. an avalanche -- an after avalanche of -- an avalanche of crushing tax hikes that would

help china. trillions upon trillions more in government spending when families are already facing inflation. none of this, of course, will get a single republican vote in either chamber. democrats have not even consulted us. they haven't tried to earn our votes. from the start, they planned to use a party-line fast-track process to ram through the senate this version of their vision of america. that's why republicans will not help this unified democratic government with its basic duty to raise the debt ceiling. this could not be simpler. if they want to tax, borrow, and spend historic sums of money without our input, they'll have to raise the debt limit without our help. this is the reality. i've been saying this very clearly since july.

and i think our democratic colleagues are finally getting it because now they're fumbling for bogus excuses. thet remain confidence they can spend trillions of dollars to remake the economy in a couple of weeks but apparently they cannot clear this much smaller procedural hurdle without republican help. really? give me a break. earlier in year senate democrats specifically requested and received extra flexibility around the reconciliation process. they have every procedural tool they need to promptly advance a separate stand-alone piece of legislation addressing the debt limit without a single republican vote. my colleagues have plenty of time to get this done. it is laughable -- laughable -- to hear some democrats claiming they simply don't have enough time. last month democrats introduced

a sweeping budget resolution on august 9 and passed it before sunrise on august 11. three days. our democratic colleagues had about a month -- a month -- plenty of time to do their job as a unified government and protect the full faith and credit of the united states. the democratic chairman of the house budget committee admitted last weekend that democrats could -- could -- tackle the debt limit alone. they just don't want to. some senate democrats have said similar things. this may be inconvenient for them. but it is totally possible, and this democratic government must not manufacture an avoidable crisis for the sake of their own convenience. senate democrats know what they need to do. let me lay it out. they will need to write a short resolution amending their previous budget resolution with

new debt limit instructions. they'll take that to the budget committee, which will probably deadlock, so they'll vote to discharge it. like they've done for other bills and nominations. then a vote to proceed on the floor, a i want willed vote-a-rama, and a vote on final passage. then once the budget has been amended, the house and senate democrats would use the same fast-track process on a short and simple bill to actually raise the debt limit. this won't be a multi-week process. probably about a week of the senate's time or a little more. and they won't have to wait on their reckless taxing and spending spree even. they can move a stand-alone debt limit bill all on its own. i understand our democratic colleagues may feel inconvenienced by this. i understand this may slightly delay their partisan bill. but that's a complaint -- that's

a complaint, not an excuse. we have a unified democratic government that has decided to govern alone. they cannot put partisan ambitions ahead of basic duties the party-line authors of this reckless taxing and spending spree will be the owners of raising the debt limit. now you on a completely different matter -- now, on a completely different matter, the free world faces many threats from rising authoritarians to resurgent terrorists. these threats demand clear-eyed leadership from the world's greatest power. but earlier this week at the united nations president biden didn't offer a rallying cry for the world to confront those threats. instead, he tried to turn the page, literally. he bragged that, quote, i stand here today for the first time in 20 years with the united states not at war. we've turned the parental.

-- we've turned the page. he further claimed that, quote, we've ended 30 20 -- 20 years of conflict in afghanistan. that's news for them. for them, the conflict continues and for the terrorists as well. we may be turning the page, but they're not turning a new leaf. the taliban haqqani government is just getting started. al qaeda and isis-k are not standing down against the west. neither are iran's murdering proxy forces all across the middle east. killers will not simply disarm themselves because our president offers scripted platitudes. to the extent they care about international norms, it's because they seek to destroy them. they'll not be deterred by what our president calls relentless

diplomacy. strangely but fortunately, president biden's rhetoric does not even match the actions his own administration is taking. indeed, the day before his speech, the united states targeted an al qaeda operative in a drone strike in syria. the president pretends we aren't at war with terrorism. but neither his own team nor the terrorists believe that. laterally -- our lateral retreat did not magically usher in -- with terrorists. it left us much -- left us, actually, much less able to monitor and combat them. the consequences of president biden's slogan-driven policy is not that america's war is over. it's that america's -- america now has to fight with one hand tied behind our back. back in april the president's own c.i.a. director warned this body, us, that after retreating,

quote, our ability to collect and act on threats will diminish. that is simply a fact, he said. in june the secretary of defense told us that al qaeda could reestablish a safe haven and directly threaten our homeland within two years. this is back when the administration still assumed we'd have responsible partners in charge in afghanistan. even then the secretary said that al qaeda would reestablish a safe haven and threaten our homeland within two years. certainly that timeline has now moved significantly up. so the question is where do we go from here? what's next? the first step is to get some answers and create some accountability. as i've said before, the administration must answer some tough questions about both past failures and future plans. secretary austin needs to explain why he supported a

policy that by his own admission would allow al qaeda to reestablish a safe haven. and we need an updated assessment of the threat we face now that terrorists rather than our partners control afgha afghanistan. oh, but that's just the start. america must reestablish the credible relentless threat we once posed to terrorists in afghanistan and beyond. the taliban's shameful reclamation of kabul has emboldened america's enemies all around the world. we cannot let them bank a propaganda victory. we must recapture the init initiative. we can't retake the initiative with empty talk. this will take strike, visible demonstrations of our resolve. we must also repair our credibility with our allies and partners, america's resolve to lead the war on terror, fight

must be undoubted. this is a collective effort that will take support and contributions from partners all around the world. deeper intelligence sharing, joint efforts to prevent extremists from traveling to safe havens in the first place, a willingness to repatriate and prosecute their citizens when they go abroad to conduct terrorism. and we have to get past the radical left passion for cutting our defense budget down to the bone. president biden already proposed to cut defense spending after inflation. i understand some house democrats want to impose even further cuts from that number. just this week to apiece a vocal fringe on the far left, house democratic leadership left defensive assistance for our ally israel and their iron dome on the cutting room floor. a few far-left radicals get veto

power over purely defenseless -- for israel? this is madness. so are the left's efforts to cut back the authorities that our military and intelligence professionals use to protect our homeland. so is the continued talk about emptying guantanamo bay, talk about that. for goodness sake, we just saw four of the five terrorists that president obama sprung from get mota -- gitmo take up senior positions in the taliban government. formerly in gitmo now helping run the government in afghanistan. what a combined legacy. the obama-biden administration let those terrorists out of prison and the biden-harris administration let them retake an entire country. no, mr. president, global wars do not simply end because a

president's speech writer says so. wars end when america's enemies no longer threaten us. unfortunately the biden administration's decisions to date have not brought that victory any closer. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. without objection. all time on the nomination has expired. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote: vote:

vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion. we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of executive calendar number 244, sarah bianchi of virginia to be deputy united states trade representative, signed by 16 senators. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived. the question is, is it the sense of the senate that the debate on the nomination of sarah bianchi of virginia to be deputy united states trade representative with

the rank of ambassador shall be brought to a close. the yeas and nays are mandatoryr the rule. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote: vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: the yeas

are 85, the nays are 13. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, executive office of the president, sarah bianchi of virginia to be deputy united states trade representative. the presiding officer: the senator from washington is recognized. mrs. murray: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, early this week, the administration extended its border closure with canada for another month. another month that vaccinated americans can travel into canada but vaccinated canadians cannot cross our border. dealing another month-long blow to american businesses all across our northern border. now, i'm glad to see the biden administration taking the pandemic seriously and delivering much-needed relief in

a lot of different ways, but i'm not going to stay quiet about this serious, completely unnecessary harm this border crossing closure is causing to small businesses and workers in point roberts, washington. now, as i have said to everybody who will listen and some who i'm sure are tired of hearing me, point roberts must at least have an exemption as we work to safely reopen the u.s.-canadian border, and here's why. for those of you not familiar with this particular part of washington state, point roberts is right here. it is called an exclave community. people who live in point roberts, in order to get to the rest of our state, have to travel through canada and back down to washington state. if canadians cannot come across the border, point roberts is really isolated.

that's what's happening right now. now, let's paint a picture. you can take a boat right now from canada to point roberts. you can fly across the border from vancouver down to seattle. but right now, because this border is closed, a canadian family who lives within here can't go to point roberts for lunch. and they are sitting right here. this is the canadian border. and this is point roberts. now, point roberts has some small businesses and its entire economy cannot survive without that easy border cross for folks who live within this region. they can't count on people from down here to come up to their restaurants or to their businesses. their local economy depends on canadian tourists, especially since, by the way, the only ferry between point roberts and the rest of washington state is closed because of the pandemic.

so people can't get up there right now. the only people that can help that community survive have to come across this border, and they can't. because it's closed. now, this has been going on for 17 months and counting, and i have heard from so many small business owners there, including the owner of the only grocery store in town who is now on the brink of shutting down his doors for good. the only grocery store here for the people who live there and for the people close by. now, i really appreciate the administration's science-based approach to the covid-19 pandemic. we have to follow science. we need to follow the evidence. and i'm proud we have taken covid-19 extremely serious from the very start in my home state of washington, but i firmly believe the evidence supports at least a narrow and tailored exception to the canadian border closure to allow for a reopening right here for this community,

point roberts. their point of entry is for canadian travel and it needs to be open if we want those people to survive. i have yet to be presented with a compelling reason why a border exemption for this small little community has not yet been provided. i have spoken directly with d.h.s. secretary mayorkas about this. i have talked with jeff zients, the white house coordinator hand a lot of officials at the state department and white house as well. no one, not a person, can explain to knee what evidence isics -- to me what evidence is being used to support that border restriction. so i'm here on the senate floor to make sure that president biden and his administration understand me. at the very least, we just need an emergency exemption from these restrictions for this small little point roberts community right here so that they can get their economy back up and running and that people

there have the services that they need. i'm going to continue to press the administration on this and do whatever i can to help this community. but i want this on the record -- maintaining this ban on cross-border travel for point roberts is absolutely unacceptable. it should have been addressed months ago, and i will not stop until this is resolved. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. mr. durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois is recognized are. mr. durbin: i have five requests for committees to meet during today's session with the approval of the majority and minority leaders. the presiding officer: duly noted. mr. durbin: mr. president, this saturday, in two days, an important date in life for one of the bravest people i've ever known will occur. october 2, 2005, 16 years ago, army sergeant eric he had munson was on patrol near the iraq-syria border when a

roadside obama exploded beneath his armored vehicle. he survived the blast but went into cardiac arrest while awaiting transport to an american military hospital in germany. doctors worked for 30 minutes to restore his pulse. they did. but during that time, he suffered severe brain damage from lack of oxygen. doctors told his parents that eric would spend the rest of his life in a vegetative state. and the best thing they could do for him was to choose a good nursing home. but eric's family refused to accept that fate for him. they searched for the best rehabilitation hospital in america, a hospital where eric would have a chance to receive the very best medical care and have the very best chance for recovery. the hospital they chose was known as the rehab institute of chicago at that time. it's now known as the shirery ryan ability lab. i visited eric in the hospital

several times. his family was always there right by his side. i'll never forget the one day i went in and eric's dad said, eric has a present for you. i couldn't imagine what it was. then i watched as that brave soldier stood up from his wheelchair and took several halting steps. there wasn't a dry eye in the room. six months after he arrived, i literally watched eric edmundson in his army dress uniform walk out of the front door of that amazing hospital into the arms of his wife and his 2-year-old daughter. i thought of eric and his miraculous recovery when i learn earlier this month of the death of dr. joann smith, the longtime president of shirery ryan ability lab. she continued to lead the

shirery ryan lab right up to the end. loretta and i offer our condolences to her husband, their children, clean air and michael, joann's nieces and nephews and family and friends. she is a once-in-a-lifetime leader and a national treasure. with her brilliance, determination, and compassion, she literally reinvented the field of physical medicine and rehabilitation. as president and c.e.o. of shirery ryan ability lab, she imagined and then led the christ to create the world's first-ever translational research hospital for rehab medicine. she pioneered the concept of a cutting-edge research facility within a hospital with scientists, innovators, technologists, and clinicians all working to heal the patient. seeing her team work miracles with wounded veterans, injured police officers, and stroke

survivors made everyone a believer. joann smith originally planned to be a nurse but changed her major to premed after working as a hospital orderly. her chance meeting with a young girl at a free clinic in detroit changed the course of her life. the young girl had had both legislative session amputated because of spina bifida but she learned to walk using her arms as legislative session and her hands as feet. she was happy. but her mother wanted her to have a more normal appearsance. so doctors fitted her with a sort of harness. dr. smith said it disturbed her to see that once-happy girl become sad and less able as a result of a change in her appearance to fit in. she was spend the rest of her life working to find tours that made patients more able, not less.

fresh out of medical school, in 200, a few years after earning his m.b.a., she became president and c.e.o. at that point the hospital, the rehab institute of chicago, had been ranked the number-one rehab hospital in america by "u.s. news & world report" for nearly 20 years. if joann smith had done nothing as president and c.e.o. except maintain that reputation, she still would have been on top of her field. but more of the same was not in joann's smith's makeup. she resolved to create a new model for rehab hospitals. the research institute within the hospital, the reimagined hospital opened with a new fame in 2017 rand just recently was range as the best rehab hospital in the nation for the 31st year in a row, a record unmatched by any hospital.

physical and rehabilitation medicine is a relatively new field of medicine. it began after world war ii when doctors and researchers were trying to find ways to help returning veterans. today advanced rehab hospitals such as the shirley ryan ability lab work with conditions from truematic brain and spinal cord injuries to birth defects, enabling them to work as fully and independently as possible. the demand for such medical innovations is large and growing. the partnership at shirley ryan of researchers and doctors working with brave patients has you woulded in some breathtaking discoveries n2006, doctors there at that hospital outfitted a man with prosthetic arms that he could move with his thoughts, that he could move with his thoughts a. that surgery, the first of its kind in the world, has since helped revolutionize treatment for people who have lost limbs. more recently, researchers at

shirley ryan created the world's first manual standing wheelchair that allows users to move while seated or standing. shirley ryan served more than 50,000 patients a year. miraculous, but it's not alone. there are a handful of rehab innovation centers like it in america. they are the best of the best, cutting-edge research labs within world-class hospitals that prioritize training for the next generation of doctors and healers. my friend, bill cassidy of louisiana, has seen similar miracles at a world-class rehab hospital in houston, texas, where many people of his state of louisiana go for advanced treatment. the discoveries at america's best rehab innovation centers are revolutionizing medicine and reaching people far beyond their walls. but making such discoveries and

repelling the field of medicine costs money, more money than these nonprofit centers can afford on their own. that is why today senator cassidy and i are reintroducing our bipartisan proposal to recognize and support some of america's best rehab innovation centers. our bill does two things. first, it directs h.h.s. to set criteria for such rehabilitation innovation centers and share the best practices and teachings with health providers flute the nation and around the world. our bill directs h.h.s. to study whether medicare's existing payment system is adequate to support groundbreaking treatment, research, and medical education that is taking place at the hospitals. when i first introduced this bill in 2013, i had a different republican cosponsor -- illinois senator mark kirk. in 2012, senator kirk suffered a stroke that left him partly paralyzed and unable to walk. a year later, after months of grueling work at the rehab institute of chicago, mark kirk was able to walk up the 42

marble steps into that capitol building. in honor of the doctor whose brilliance and compassion helped transform the field of physical and rehab medicine to led to that astonishing feat, senator cassidy and i have agreed to rename the bill, the dr. joe ann smith memorial innovation centers act. christopher reeve was america's superman in the movies, until he was paralyzed from the shoulders down in an equestrian accident in 1995. during the last ten years of his life, he regained limited movement in his arms and legislative session. he also -- and legs. he also spent a great deal of time raising awareness and money for the kinds of cutting-edge treatments that are pioneered at institutes like shirley ryan in chicago. at his last public appearance, he said, it gets lonely sometimes urging people. come on, he said.

let's take some reasonable i.t. risks. let's take some risks and be bold at the same time. doctors should take the word impossible out of their election i -- electioncy consequence. that is what drove dr. joe ann smith. our bipartisan bill we hope will help advance that work. mr. president, i yield the floor and i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

the presiding officer: the senator from missouri. a senator: mr. president, i ask that the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. hawley: i'm here to talk today about a subject of urgency for our nation but a subject many democrats don't want to talk about. i mean afghanistan. 13 american soldiers dead, 169 civilians dead, hundreds more american civilians left behind to the enemy, billions of dollars in military equipment abandoned to the enemy, like you see in the images right over my shoulder. and yet nearly a month after this disastrous evacuation, the worst foreign policy disaster in this nation's history since vietnam, there has been no accountability. no one has been fired, no one

has resigned, no one has been relieved of command. instead what we've heard is the most incredible and, frankly, insulting parade of excuses and evasions from the president of the united states and the rest of his leadership team. they said the evacuation debacle watts an extraordinary -- was an extraordinary success. that's a quote. that's from the mouth of the president himself. let that just sink in for a second. 13 american soldiers, including from my state of missouri, lost. 13. 169 civilians dead. hundreds of americans left behind enemy lines to fend for themselves, left to the taliban, left to isis. has an american president ever, ever left behind american civilians on the field of battle? hundreds of them, and then called it an extraordinary success?

i can't think of a time in american history. it was a disgrace what the president said. twats untrue what the president said. and yet he goes on and on and on. and now president biden and his team say they didn't leave any americans behind. they said in fact americans weren't abandoned to the enemy. i mean this is simply insultingly false by their own estimates, hundreds of american civilians were left behind and are still there. americans are still trapped in afghanistan, trying to get out, trying to be rescued, left to their own devices. and yet the president of the united states insists that it never happened, it was all a success, all is well. the president said it had to be this way. those soldiers, what, had to die? what does that even mean, that the military had to abandon billions of dollars of equipment to the enemy, that civilians,

hundreds of them had to be die, all those americans had to be left behind? is he serious about that? does anyone honestly believe that? does anyone honestly believe that this was the only possible outcome, that the death of american soldiers and the loss of civilians was the only possible outcome, the only way to withdraw? it's absurd, and an honest leader would acknowledge it. in fact, an honest leader would never have said it, and yet president biden and his team continue to say it day after day. joe biden has blamed other people. he's pointed the finger at the people of afghanistan. that's remarkable. these people now suffering under the rule of the taliban, they're at fault apparently. he has blamed and his administration has blamed the intelligence agencies. they cast aspersions at commanders on the ground, and remarkably, remarkably, many democrats in congress seem to be fine to go along with all of this with these excuses and these evasions, his attempt to whitewash what has happened in

afghanistan and is happening as we speak, as americans remain behind enemy lines. the democratic leader has stood on this floor and praised joe biden's handling of this crisis, applauded it. just yesterday he said right here on the floor that my efforts to get accountability for this crisis in afghanistan were a waste of the senate's time. those were his words -- waste of the senate's time. he also said it's something that only the far right is interested in -- his words -- the far right. what an insult to the american people. i mean, all i can say to that is why don't you come to missouri. why don't you talk to the families of soldiers who are serving. why don't you talk to the families of those who have served in this 20-year war. why don't you talk to veterans. why don't you look at people in the face who are grieving and who are demoralized and who are shocked at what happened over the last few months in

afghanistan. shocked at the abandonment of american civilians. for that matter, why don't you just talk to this administration's own officials who rushed to tell reporters off the record that they were horrified that the president had left behind american civilians. horrified. to brush all of that aside, to pretend that none of that really matters, that's all a distraction, there's nothing to see here, it is insulting and it is wrong. until there is accountability, i will force the senate to actually vote on joe biden's nominees for leadership positions in the state department and the department of defense. in the face of this crisis, in the face of this debacle, the least the senate can do is vote. but the senate ought to be doing a lot more than that. while grieving families are still waiting for answers, while americans are still left behind enemy lines, we should

be getting the truth. that ought to be our focus. we should be demanding accountability, not sweeping it under the rug. and so let me just pose a few, a few of the questions that i think need answering. why was the administration so unprepared for what transpired during its evacuation? why didn't it plan for the potential fall of kabul, for the potential surge of the taliban, for the potential collapse of the afghan security forces? why weren't they prepared to withdraw while keeping americans safe? joe biden and his team didn't coordinate the drawdown so american citizens could leave the country. they ignored them. they told us the afghan security forces were 300,000 strong. they were never that large. they promised the security forces were well trained. they weren't. has no one bothered to read the reports of the inspector general

for afghanistan? i commend them to you. they're harrowing. it's harrowing reading. the inspector general has been warning for literally years that the afghan security forces were unprepared and unreliable. he has warned that our own defense department has for years concealed the true state of the afghan security forces and their inability to carry out their mission. these aren't secrets. these are reports, many of them published in the nation's leading newspapers. and yet the administration didn't factor them into their planning, didn't seem aware of the facts on the ground, didn't seem able to prepare to deal with the realities even as americans were put into harm's way. it really does make you wonder what was the biden administration actually focused on. i mean, what was it doing with its time? what was the president doing with his team for all of those months, or secretary blinken or secretary austin or the national

security advisor? what were they doing while afghanistan collapsed into chaos? i think the facts suggest an answer. rather than focusing on protecting americans from the enemy, rather than focusing on getting americans safely out of afghanistan, they were focused on fighting a phony culture war that they invented and that appears to be their top priority. just consider on june 11, when secretary austin was asked if he thought that the united states military was a fundamentally racist organization -- this is a hearing in the armed services committee here in the senate -- is the u.s. military a fundamentally racist organization, he said i can't give you an answer and instead talked about the military's urgent support for equity -- his words. one week later 21 districts and 9 provinces had fallen under

control in afghanistan and security forces began to abandon posts. on june 21 secretary blinken an announced the progress flag would fly at the state department, that represents diversity and intersectionality. the very next day the taliban seized the main gateway as the enemy's advance began to pick up pace. on june 23, general milley said in his testimony to the house armed services committee, i want to understand white rage. that's his quote. and he defended the administration's recent focus on white extremism in the military. the very next day u.s. intelligence assessed that the afghan government would collapse within six months of our withdrawal. on july 1, secretary blinken was busy changing u.s. passports to create new selections for

nonbinary intersects and gender nonconforming categories. the very next day american troops withdrew from bagram air force base, what had been the hub of american power in afghanistan, leaving it for the final time. on july 14, secretary blinken invited the united nations to formally investigate, and i quote, the scourge of racism, racial discrimination, and xenophobia in the united states. he invited the united nations, that frequently corrupt body, to investigate his own country for racism, xenophobia, and racial discrimination. meanwhile at the very same time, even as blinken spoke, the taliban offensive was surging across afghanistan. on august 9, secretary austin was busy crafting a new controversial covid-19 vaccine mandate for all of our service members.

the very next day u.s. intelligence officials warned that the afghan government would collapse within 90 days or sooner. on august 17, jake sullivan -- that's the national security advisor -- he said the taliban were helping to provide safe passage for americans fleeing afghanistan. well, one week later the terrorist attack at kabul left 13 american soldiers dead, at least 169 civilians wounded, and shortly thereafter, hundreds of americans left behind as our last transport lifted off. facts are facts. these are the facts. and they tell the story. joe biden and his team were more focused on their culture war than they were on protecting americans. that's the long and the short of it. they were more interested in imposing an radical left social agenda than in getting americans out of afghanistan. they were interested in using

the military as a social experiment rather than respecting it as the war-fighting institution it was built to be. rather than making decisions that were sound in tactics and sound in strategy, joe biden and his team were aiming to please their radical woke progressive base. and the american people paid the price. now the american people deserve accountability for what has happened. they deserve accountability for the lives lost. they deserve accountability for the civilians killed, accountability for the americans left behind. and that's what this body is for. that is this body's responsibility. it may be an inconvenience to the democratic leader. it may be an unwanted responsibility for supporters of the president, but it is our job nonetheless. americans have died, americans have been abandoned. the nation deserves an

accounting, and it is not too much to ask the senate to do its job. it is not too much to ask the senate to get the truth. and it is not too much to ask the senate to force accountability for this terrible crisis that this president has disgracefully led us into. i kl say for my -- i can say for my part, i will do everything i can to get that accountability, to get that truth and to get the american people the answers they deserve. mr. president, i yield the floor..

mr. grassley: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: i ask that the --. the presiding officer: we're not in a quorum call. mr. grassley: with north korea test firing ballistic missiles week, you might ask where is the united nations. there are a series of international sanctions aimed at north korea's nuclear program. these sanctions are in accordance with the u.n. security council's resolutions passed in the wake of previous north korea nuclear tests and ballistic missile tests. there is a u.n. security council sanctions committee on north korea that is charged with monitoring these sanctions on north korea. "the wall street journal" has reported that an expert panel working on a report for this

u.n. committee has faced road blocks from chinese representatives supported by russia in some circumstances. now, china and russia supported these sanctions, but now they appear to be running interference for north korea so north korea cab continue to violate the reason these sanctions were put on. the expert panel is supposed to report the facts, and then by reporting the facts, they aren't representing national governments and shouldn't be representing national governments. it's blatantly clear that the chinese representative is doing the bidding for the chinese

communist party. the footnotes with dissenting comments are anonymous, but there is no doubt where they came from. in other words, china. in one case, as petty as insisting that a reference to a company with taiwan in its name should include an assertion that taiwan is a province of china. that's something you hear from china all the time. so everyone knows china is obsessed with making others pretend that taiwan is not an independent country. that leaves no doubt where these objections are coming from. you can draw a very straight line back to general secretary xi. the bigger problem is that other

objections seem designed to minimize and paper over violations of these sanctions by north korea. that as good as confirmed by suspicions that china has been helping north korea evade the sanctions that china supported in the first place and still claim to support. general secretary xi probably thinks that letting north korea run wild with its nuclear weapon program will cause problems for the west, and we all know that the west is very concerned about north korea's developing of nuclear weapons and the ability to deliver them. so general secretary xi is very

shortsighted when he takes that view that he wants to cause problems for the west by helping north korea, because it can't be in china's interest to have a nuclear armed and unstable regime as a next-door neighbor, which north korea is nuclear armed and an unstable regime. general secretary xi's strategy of sowing chaos is playing with fire. that's why all of this activity going on in the u.n. and china trying to cover up the violations of the sanctions, it is dangerous not just for the u.s. interest, but it's very

dangerous for china and the world. i yield the floor.

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from kansas. mr. moran: mr. president, thank you. mr. president, i spent that time, those several weeks that we were away from washington, d.c., around labor day in kansas. unfortunately it's clearly evident that inflation has returned. gas prices are up. prices at the grocery store are up. and further price hikes are on the horizon. unfortunately price increases at the grocery store and at the gas pump and really every place else, they put the greatest burden on low- and middle-income families who are already feeling the strains caused by covid-19

in their pocketbook. it is apparent, i think, that our spending here in the nation's capital over a long period of time is part of the cause for that inflation, in fact, a significant part of the cause for that inflation, but it doesn't seem to me that my democratic colleagues are aware of the consequences of pouring a massive amount of more money, more government spending on already this inflationary circumstance that our citizens are now encountering. the democratic tax-and-spend spree will exacerbate our inflationary circumstances, meaning that the prices will continue to rise as we borrow more money to pay for these things, it means that interest rates will rise. and at some point in time those who will lend us money will no

longer be willing to do so. and while i'm sure that many of my democratic colleagues will tell me that the good things that happen from the spending that is included in this bill, we cannot discount the people that they indicate they are trying to help would be the ones who suffer the greatest burden from increasing costs of everything that they buy. given the historic levels of spending that has occurred over the last year and a half, now, now is not the time to spend even greater amounts of taxpayer dollars. my view is that we were too slow in turning the spigot in regard to spending that preceded the election of president biden and a democratic majority in the united states senate and house, and that then resulted in the, even though we had already spent so much money, an additional nearly $2 trillion being spent back in january, and now a $3.5 trillion, which i think ultimately ends up costing a lot more than $3.5 trillion.

and in order for the $3.5 trillion package to be paid for, if it ultimately is paid for, the democratic majority is pursuing tax hikes that will have significant consequence on small businesses and farm families, both of which are so essential to the economic well-being of kansas and many other states across the country, especially in middle america. tax increases on working americans should be, if at all, a last resort, not a funding opportunity for sweeping, sweeping, massive government expansion. this government expansion includes funding of a radical climate agenda like the green new deal, installing new entitlement programs and increasing government intrusion into the lives of americans to levels, levels we've never seen before. while businesses are struggling to recoup lost revenue from covid-19 pandemic, the consequences of that pandemic, the democrats' plan would slap more taxes on businesses and

drive up the costs for everyone. we should not jeopardize our nation's economic well-being so that democrats can make good on their campaign promises. voters certainly did not have that in mind when they elected such a slim majority here in the senate, 50 democrats, 50 republicans. that wasn't a mandate for the kind of spending and taxing that is now being considered here on the senate floor. this proposed massive influx of government spending is irresponsible. americans generally know how to live within their means, and it's time that government show some fiscal restraint as well. for a long time, as i did the town hall meetings across kansas, it was often a topic of conversation, one of the first things that kansans would raise with me is all this spending, all this deficit spending. and for awhile that conversation kind of went away. today it is back. it's the topic of conversation

at every town hall meeting i had during those several weeks i was in kansas. it's what i heard at rotary and kiwanas and lions clubs, americans in particular asking us to show some responsibility here and this legislation now pending shows no spent. -- no responsibility. as democrats have tested the limits of their power to pursue the tax and spend spree, they shirked their duties of government funding. the government funding and appropriations process are clearly the province of the party in party. i'm actionusly wait -- anxiously awaiting the appropriations committee's work which is supposed to be done by septembe. and while the air is being --

the oxygen is being sucked out of the senate for purposes of a reconciliation bill and a $3.5 trillion plus spending bill, we need to be focused on the basics, making sure that government doesn't shut down and that we do our work in appropriating the necessary amounts for government to function. we've known that the suspension of the debt limit would expire this summer. that's never been in question, but democrats with control of the white house in both bodies of congress have neglected to address either the debt limit or the regular appropriations process, the funding. they are now combining the issue of debt limit with the annual funding for government operations. this is what we call a c.r., a continuing resolution in which we fund the government at the current level into the future because we haven't gotten our work done. now the c.r. and debt limit increase is tied together. this is another example of not

owning their governing obligation, not working as honest brokers and not seeking bipartisanship. they only seek bipartisanship when it suits their political interests. what you won't hear from the majority leader and my democratic colleagues is that there is a clean, short-term continuing resolution that's been proposed by vice chairman shelby of the appropriations committee and the minority leader, leader mcconnell, in addition to avoiding unnecessary lapse in funding, the c.r. includes funding for ally israel and relief for hurricane-stricken states and support for afghan refugees. this is an act of good faith and it deserves bipartisan support. mr. president, i yield the floor. and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

quorum call: the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. van hollen: i ask that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. van hollen: thank you, mr. president. you know, the united states of america has always paid its bills on time. always. it's an unbroken record that dates back to our founding, a 232-year streak and that unbroken record has helped the united states become the anchor of the global financial system and the many benefits that brings to every american in our country. but now as we've heard on this floor over the last two days and more, senate republicans are threatening to end that unbroken record. senate republican leader mcconnell has not only said that he and senate republicans

will vote against increasing the debt ceiling to allow us to pay bills that are already due and owing, but they will block a vote on that measure all together. and that would destroy our economy, it would throw our country into a recession, it would cause the loss of millions of jobs all over the nation and trillions of dollars of wealth would collapse. and what makes this threat by senate republicans so especially outrageous is they know exactly what devastation will be caused by their actions. in fact, in 2019 senator mcconnell himself stressed himself the necessity of raising

the debt limit so we could avoid an unnecessary economic meltdown. here's what he said then. we need to address the debt limit. it secures our nation's full faith and credit and ensures that congress will not throw this kind of unnecessary wrench into the gears of our job growth and thriving economy. he knew, plain and simple, that refusing to increase our debt limit would throw a wrench into the gears of our job growth. in fact, after voting to raise the debt limit that year, he said, and i quote, we raised the debt ceiling because america cannot default. that would be a disaster. that would be a disaster. that is what the senate republican said about what happens if you don't raise the debt ceiling, the exact thing he and senate republicans are

threatening to do right now. and the republican leader, senator mcconnell, was not alone in expressing those sentiments. when president trump was in charge, senate republicans voted to raise the debt limit three times. and democrats joined them in doing that when president trump was in office because we too understand the consequences of failing to pay our bills on time. and let's not kid ourselves. there are lots of things that president trump and senate republicans did over those four years that we disagreed with, policies that we thought were irresponsible, not good for the country, including the 2017 trump tax plan that provided huge tax breaks to the biggest corporations in the country, tax

breaks to the wealthiest americans, over $2 trillion added to our national debt. they didn't pay for a dime. not a penny of that was paid for. it was all on the credit card but when it came time to pay the bills that were due and owing for our country, democrats joined republicans in lifting the debt ceiling because we knew the devastating consequences of the alternative. and let's also be very clear that the moneys that we currently owe that are currently due and owing are largely made up of the debt incurred when president trump was in office. the national debt increased by a total of $7.8 trillion during that four-year period. in fact, over one-quarter of our entire national debt comes from

those four years of the trump administration. and our republican senate colleagues spent those four years voting here in the united states senate for policies that they now say they don't want to pay for. they voted to put expenses on the credit card and now when it's time to pay the bill on that credit card, they are like, sorry, we're out of here. the country's on your own. so this is obviously rank hypocrisy, plain and simple. if that were all it would be, unsurprising, in fact sadly expected, but while the hypocrisy is shameful, what is down right dangerous is the consequences of that hypocrisy.

there was a moody's analyst who said this could cost the economy up to six million jobs, wipe out as much as $15 trillion in household wealth and send the unemployment rate surging to a roughly 9% just as we're working to again stabilize our economy and pull out of the downturn that we've been in. now those predictions are frightening, but they shouldn't be surprising to anybody. you know, our constituents, none of us can just decide one morning to get up and say, you know what, we're not going to make a mortgage payment. we're not going to make a rental payment. we're not going to make a payment for our cars without expecting to suffer some financial consequences

ourselves. so imagine one morning that the senators here, in this case republican senators, get up and say, the united states of americanot going to pay its bills -- america is not going to pay its bills today. that sends shock waves throughout the entire country and system and that is why you get the cat cataclysmic resultst mark zandi is predicting. that is why we're hearing from every responsible adult that we can't allow this to happen. six former secretaries of the treasury serving under presidents of both parties have urged the congressional leadership to make sure we raise the debt ceiling and pay the bills currently due and owing. they made clear, quote, postponing raising the debt

limit too close to the deadline underestimates confidence at home and abroad. in other words, they are saying, if you go over the waterfall, you are in deep trouble but even if you get close to it, you can begin to hear the rumbling waters of the waterfall, so can the rest of the world and that in itself ends up causing economic damage. as secretary yellen said, it would be, quote, unthinkable for the united states to do what senate republicans are proposing to do and the chief policy officer at the united states chamber of commerce said, quote, the united states of america defaulting on its obligations is not an option. they are all right. we should be listening to them and to the american people because if republicans continue on the path they are, it's going to cause job loss and that loss

and household wealth as well will be hitting families throughout this country. so if the necessity of raising the debt ceiling is so clear, why are we here? why -- i've been listening to my republican colleagues over the last couple of days and they say, well, they don't want to pay the debt -- raises debt ceiling because they -- raise the debt ceiling because they don't like the democratic plans to beat covid-19 and they don't like the build back better agenda. they are too -- there are two fundamental yes, -- fundamental ms. understanding with this argument. this is due and owing, republicans voted for these policies and i've seen thim back in their -- them back in their states how they helped deliver relief for small businesses, how they helped expand broadband, well, that's part of the bill

that's coming due right now that we have to lift the debt ceiling to pay for. but they also fundamentally misunderstand what president biden is talking about in his build back better agenda. i know these days it's an alien idea to many of our republican colleagues, but president biden and democrats are planning to pay for the build back better agenda and we're putting out proposals to do that to reform our tax code -- reform our tax code in a way that we should do anyway regardless of the important investments that we need to make, reform our tax code so that major multinational corporations cannot continue to park millions and billions of dollars of profits in overseas tax havens like the cayman islands and other places and cheat their obligations to this

country and the american people. we should shut down those loop hopes. some of those loopholes also encourage companies to move their plant and workers overseas. we should shut down those loopholes. we should make sure that the i.r.s. has the capability to enforce the current law and tax that's are already due and owing under current law. the current i.r.s. commissioner appointed by the former president has said that we lose hundreds of billions of dollars to people who are cheating on their taxes and that hurts all the rest of us in this country and most of those people are higher income people. and we need to make sure that the very wealthiest people in the country, the billionaires pay some taxes. we've seen some years where they paid zero in taxes, some of them. so i keep hearing from our

republican colleagues, they don't want to vote for this because of some future plan, even though what we're talking about now is to pay for other things that were previously incurred which senate republicans voted for and they are criticizing a plan which we intend to pay for. and, yes, we had planned to make some important investments with that revenue. we intend to extend the tax cuts for middle- and lower-income families with kids. they're going to expire at the end of this year -- december 31, the $300 a month, up to $300 a month tax cut for families, for each child. that goes away if we don't enact the build back better agenda. we intend to reduce the cost of prescription drugs, something that's hitting every american really hard in their pocketbook.