in the coming week. i'd also like to know if the administration plans to appeal judge sullivan's ruling on the use of title 42. there's only about another week left before judge sullivan's order saying that title 42 is no longer available. kicks in. it's important that especially while the pandemic is still upon us that public health officials have this authority under title 428 because if -- title 42 because if title 42 isn't available, the border patrol tells me they fear they will lose control entirely. title 42 has been important during the pandemic and as we know, the pandemic is not over. unless judge sullivan's order is appealed and reversed, the u.s. government will not be able to use this to expel most of the

migrants. and there's no reason to believe that many people, particularly the cartels and others that benefit from illegal immigration, won't try to write off judge sullivan's most recent decision to obtain an injunction against the use of title 42. without title 42 we'll once again face overcrowded processing centers and even greater humanitarian crisis. unfortunately the migrant surge is only a piece of the crisis in del rio. those who depend on the ports of entry and the bridges at our u.s. international border are dying for lack of economic lifeline that that represents. and so the biden administration has been closing these ports of entry without regard for its

impact on these border communities. president biden can't put the open the border sign out for illegal immigration yet close the border for legitimate trade and travel. it defies common sense and it's fundamentally unfair. well, mr. president, there's so much more we can say, but the biden administration can't continue to enable these cartels or send signals to migrants encouraging them to come. this growing crisis isn't fair to law enforcement and it isn't fair to our border communities, and it's not fair to the migrants. we need a clear strategy from the administration that leads to results and stops the humanitarian crisis on our own border. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new jersey is recognized. mr. menendez: i ask unanimous consent that i be allowed to make a statement prior to the

vote that is pending, and that my full statement be allowed to be made prior to that. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. menendez: thank you, mr. president. you know, we are here at this normally thursday at night. we wouldn't be here under normal circumstances but we're here because one member of the senate has determined to impede the entire national security infrastructure as it relates to the foreign policy of the united states. what we do in the state department and that which comes to the committee on foreign relations has to do with the essential security of the united states. it is the senate foreign relations committee that has jurisdiction over global arms

sales. it is the senate foreign relations committee that has jurisdiction over the authorization of the use of force. it is the senate foreign relations committee that deals with treaties across the globe. it is the senate foreign relations committee that deals with the question of nuclear arms and proliferation. and so much more. and it is the state department that perpetuates the national interest and security of the united states in its positions across the globe, both at home in the first place but across the globe. now, i've had plenty over the course of 30 years of doing foreign policy work between the house and the senate and 16 years in the senate, plenty of moments where i had a fundamental disagreement, a very strong one with an administration about their policy. but i did not hold up the entire national security infrastructure of the state department that put

at risk the nation. i hear all these speeches about security. you're putting at risk the nation. wouldn't it be nice if we had some of the critical people -- i just heard my colleague from texas -- in position beyond the department of homeland security to deal with the hemispheric challenges that we have on immigration. in central america, in latin america. the haitians who are at the border today didn't just come from the earth quake and disasters and assassination and hurricanes that have taken place. they have been in latin america for quite some time. they've just made their way to the border. wouldn't it be nice if we had the people in place to deal, ambassadors and others, to deal in those countries to find a way forward on how we humanely deal with that challenge. wouldn't it be nice if we had

the person in charge of east asia and the pacific to deal with our challenges with china. this senate came together a few months ago and said china is the single most significant national security challenge, the most significant geo strategic challenge we have in the world. and yet we have vacancies galore to deal with that very chal challenge. i have members who come to me and say this company from my state is having a problem in xyz. well, wouldn't it be nice to be able to have an ambassador in that country to deal with the challenges of that american company. or people who come to me and talk to me about their challenges in getting a loved one, somebody from their state, to be able to come.

our consular offices, wouldn't it be nice to have somebody in the position to deal with that. wouldn't it be critical as we deal with the questions of law enforcement and drug trafficking to have the head of that, the assistant secretary in position, so that we could deal with those challenges. so whatever view our colleague from texas has about nord stream -- and i happen to believe that on the substance, he is right. but this procedure is wretchedly wrong because it puts us at risk in so, so many dimensions. and something will happen. something will happen somewhere in the world where we are not present because one senator decided to hold up that nominee that would have made a difference.

we already saw it, we already saw it as we were trying to deal with challenges in our hemisphere and those who relate it to afghanistan. ridiculous. so our colleague who is holding this all up because these nominees overwhelmingly passed the senate foreign relations committee either unanimously -- hear me -- unanimously or with strong bipartisan votes. we just saw the cloture vote. we are leaving these positions unfilled. the position is untenable to continue to be able to meet the challenges the state department has in fulfilling whose interests? the interests of the american people across the globe.

so it's time to get over that. we have only passed in this body two, two of president biden's ambassadorial appointments. this administration has been in office for nine months. if i look at the same time period for president trump, we did far better. i didn't agree with president trump on a whole host of foreign policy decisions, but i understood that having people in place was critical, even when i disagreed with him philosophical, was critical to promote the national interest and security of the united states. so it's time to get over this. these positions would normally pass by vote -- pass by voice, much less taking hours, hours of which, by the way, the debate is not even about the nominees or their positions.

it's about immigration and this and that and the other thing. the debate is not even about these critical national security positions. i don't want to hear about people coming to the floor and talking about national security when they're leaving all these positions vacant. now, let me specifically address the nominees that we are voting on. i want to express my support for the nominations of daniel critten brink to be the assistant -- critten brink to be assistant secretary of state in east asia and the pacific. oh, china. karen donfried. we're trying to have a strong transatlantic alliance. we're talking about ukraine, belarus. monica medina to be the assistant secretary of state for oceans and international environmental and scientific

affairs. scientific affairs, yeah, covid. mary catherine phee to be assistant secretary of state for african affairs. we're having a huge challenge. i've been privileged to meet two of the african presidents here in the last couple of days since they're here for u.n. week. china is all over africa. we need an assistant secretary who engaged in the continent of africa to be promoting the views of america's democracy, human rights, rule of law, investment, trade and opportunity. we're nowhere there. todd robinson to be the assistant secretary of state for international narcotics and law enforcement. you know, i hear speeches about fentanyl. i agree. wouldn't it be nice to have the assistant secretary of state to

work hemisphereically and beyond to make sure that we don't get more fentanyl into our country. and jessica lewis to be the assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs. if ever we needed someone who is engaged on the -- the conduct of political and military affairs and how that faces national security challenges, it's now. these are the people we're voting on. these are the people overwhelming will i came out of the committee on unanimous or bipartisan votes. this is a superbly qualified -- these are superbly qualified nomes. if it's not -- nominees. if it's not obvious, i have deep frustration about them languishing on the floor for weeks, weeks due to republican holds. and i have a frustration that we have not been able to more precipitous loy move -- -- precipitously move people to the floor. we have close to 100 nominations

for the state department and usaid that are pending. it's a crisis number. these nominations include positions and ambassadorships to countries throughout latin america and africa, places where competition with china and russia is real, where we need daferred r ambassadors in -- ambassadors in place to project u.s. power to assist and protect u.s. citizens and to promote our companies. we are less safe when our national security agencies are so underwhelmed. we owe it to the senate and the american people to fix this problem. i'm pleased to be supporting the nomination of ambassador daniel kritenbrink to be assistant secretary of state for east asia and pacific affairs in recent years and a bipartisan basis, the u.s. has reassessed our approach to the indo-pacific to take into account the reament of

our competitive relationship with china. so this is a region rich with pressing challenges from north korea's nuclear and missile programs to roll back of human rights and democracy across the region. ambassador kritenbrink will be able to draw from decades of experience to lead our efforts in this area. also to be supporting dr. karen donfried's nomination which is a testament to the biden administration's effort to rebuild the transatlantic relationship which was significantly damaged by the last administration. i know that dr. donfried's knowledge and experience including previously the senior director for european affairs at the national security council will serve the country well as we seek to renew that transatlantic relationship. these are issues dealing with russia, turkey, belarus, our support for ukraine. i hear all the time these

speeches about the support for these countries. wouldn't it be nice to have the person -- forget about nice. isn't it critical to have the person that can be promoting that view? monica medina to be the assistant secretary for oceans and international environmental and scientific affairs. i am convinced that she is imminently qualified, including the time she spent as principal deputy in the department of commerce and in a variety of leadership roles focused on ocean conservation and environmental policy and science. likewise, i'm pleased to support ambassador marie katherine phee to be the assistant secretary of state for african affairs, african affairs. as i said, we have an enormous challenge on the african continent. todd robinson to be the leader as the assistant secretary of state for the bureau of

international narcotics and law enforcement affairs. we want to deal with the coyotes that my colleague was talking about, let's put somebody in the position to go after them. inl's work is critical to deal with narcotics, fentanyl, trafficking routes that extend through mexico and all the way back to china. then in jessica lewis. finally, it is with a mixture of deep pride and some sorrow that this body will consider the nomination of ms. lewis to be the next assistant secretary of state for the bureau of military affairs. almost 20 years ago i hired jessica for her first job on capitol hill as my foreigner policy advisor and staff director of the house foreign affairs committee's western hemisphere subcommittee of which i was the ranking member. after moving to the senate and working for senator harry reid for nearly a decade, she took up the staff director position at the foreign relations committee. throughout her tenure in all of

these positions, members, senators, and staff on both sides of the aisle benefited from her deep knowledge of foreign policy, her leadership, and indeed her love of the congress itself and all its nuanced rules and procedures. jessica is recognized across party lines as one of the most effective and trusted leaders on capitol hill. she is a trailblazer for women in national security. when approved by the senate -- and i have no doubt she will be -- she will be the first woman confirmed to hold this position. it would be impossible to catalog all of her accomplishments, getting countless bills passed through the committee and the into law, supporting efforts to conduct serious oversight of the executive branch, regardless of which party is in power, to striving to build a truly diverse staff of the foreign reels committee. i have no doubt she'll bring that commitment to mentorship, integrity, to the state department as well. so we expect to see her after

she gets confirmed back here, answering questions and being part of this incredibly important job that she will be doing and bringing political military affairs together. i hope that we do not have to go through these 100 nominees, three two-hour sessions of each nominee, in order to get them to start working for the united states and its national security. that's what's at stake here. with that, mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from from tennessee is recognized. mrs. blackburn: thank you, mr. president. as i come to the floor, i want to acknowledge that we have had an active shooter situation in tennessee right outside of memphis. and we've spoken with authorities. we have local, state, and federal authorities. we are aware that there are 13 individuals that have been shot.

the shooter is dead. but we're very grateful for law enforcement that have stepped up in this situation and prayerful for those that have been adversely impacted and have been victims of this shooting situation. mr. president, i ask that i have permission to complete my remarks before the scheduled vote. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. blackburn: thank you, mr. president. this week we've heard from many of my democratic colleagues about the various ways that republicans have supposedly dragged this country to the brink of collapse. but what they've ignored in their manufactured hysteria and disgust in some parts is the fact that it is indeed democrats who have control of the entire united states government at this point. and it was the democrats who chose to govern alone, starting

on day one of the biden administration. over the past eight months, joe biden and his democratic friends have indulged their worst instincts and taken unprecedented steps to bring every single aspect of american life under the control of the federal government. they are the ones who are now threatening the american people with shutdowns and default rather than using the tools at their disposal to raise the debt ceiling and fund the government. they are the ones who chose to squander the trust of the american people on a spending spree that would waste trillions of dollars on liberal pet projects and a rapidly expanding welfare state. the democrats have repeatedly claimed that these programs will make us happier, healthier, wealthier, freer, but in reality, their agenda has done nothing but make things worse.

historic spending has given rise to historic inflation that is on track to stay with us until the end of joe biden's presidency. in tennessee, it's one of the things that i hear about most. groceries are more expensive than ever. gas prices are at a seven-year high. rent has skyrocketed along with natural gas prices, which are set to break a decade-old record just in time for colder weather to set in. it's bad for hardworking taxpayers. they're tired of it. according to the "wall street journal," not even a we will--- well of earned hourly wage will be enough to pull these workers out of the hole. inflation is so bad, it has negated the budget padding these people should be enjoying from bigger paychecks. pay adjusted for inflation actually fell, mr. president.

it fell half a percent in august. these aren't luxuries. the policies advocated by the democrats have made life itself too expensive to afford. from the second they wake up in the morning till the moment that they are head hits the pillow at night, the american people are bleeding cash, paying higher taxes, and some are beginning to lose hope. and still the democrats insist that if we surrender even more control, all will be well. well, that talking point might work when you're talking to the camera, but it's not going to work on the people -- it's not working on tennesseans -- because they understand that ceding control means surrendering freedom. and freedom is about all that we have left. when i talk to tennesseans, they're not holding back how

they feel about this so-called transformative agenda. for them, this isn't just a battle of ideas. they're fighting a war against the onslaught of radical socialism. they're afraid of joe biden's runaway white house because they've seen how destructive the administration's unilateral decisions can be. they've watched thousands of jobs evaporate rand the southern border turned -- and the southern border turned into a lawless war zone because the president wanted it this way. so here's what tennesseans want to know, mr. president. if they can't trust the democrats to do the bare minimum, why should they trust that even more spending and more centralized control and more big government will work out in their favor? they've had eight months' worth of proof that the exact opposite

is true. this country might be hanging on by a thread. for my part, a i'll listen to my fellow tennesseans and will play no role in facilitating the erosion of freedom and the dignity of american life. i implore my colleagues in the majority, listen to the people. they have the right to live their lives on their own terms, not with lockdowns and mandates -- on their terms. they don't want to have to depend on a government check to feed themselves or get their children back to school. there is a reason that our constitution is one of the innumerated federal powers. it is not the place of congress or the executive to flip this concept on its head and force the american people to justify their right to live free from this destructive cycle of debt

and dependency. our rights come from god, and i assure you, no government body could ever improve upon them. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the question occurs on the nomination. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote:

vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: the yeas

are 72, the nays are 14. the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table, and the president will be immediately notified of the senate's action. the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion. we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate do hereby move to bring to a close debate the debate on the nomination of executive calendar number 333, karen erika donfried of the district of columbia to be an assistant secretary of state, signed by 18 senators. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived. the question is, is it the sense of the senate that debate on nomination of karen erika donfried of the district of columbia to be an assistant secretary of state shall be brought to a close. the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. the clerk will call the roll.

vote:

1 vote: vote:

vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: the yeas are 65, the nays are 21. the motion is agreed to. the senator is recognized. >> the united states suffered a grave humiliation in afghanistan. president biden has brought shame to a nation that has fought, pled, and sacrificed for two long decades after septembe. mr. cotton: defeat can be imposed by an enemy but humiliation is self-inflicted. in this case, it was inflicted on america by the president of the united states. to the thousands of americans who fought bravely in afghanistan, i share your dismay, and i want to tell you this was not your fault. this failure was not caused by our exceptional troops who fought with courage and skill

against a determined and ruthless enemy. our warriors lost no battles and surrendered to no enemy. they fought on the highest summits of american armed conflict and descended to the darkest pits of evil. our men and women in uniform made us proud and filled us with awe. this loss is not their loss. the debacle in afghanistan also was not the fault of our people. the american people contributed hundreds of billions of dollars to a just cause and endured a prolonged conflict for almost a generation. no, our people and our warriors did not fail. our leaders did. and none failed more conspicuously than a believe who could not command events. joe biden has been paving the path to ruin for over a decade. many have been wrong about the war in afghanistan, but few have been more wrong more consistently than this

president. during the obama administration, joe biden wrongly argued that america could not -- could strike terrorists from over the horizon. wrongly set a public timeline for withdrawing our troops and wrongly opposed the secret mission to kill barack obama. yet he stood by when president obama released several high-value taliban officials from guantanamo bay in exchange for an american trader, bow bergdahl. as president joe biden has extended his perfect record of terrible judgment. he was wrong about evacuating bagram air base, wrong about the likelihood that the taliban would take over afghanistan, and wrong that the taliban cared about its international reputation. he also believed, wrongly, incredibly, that we could trust the taliban to secure the kabul airport and help us evacuate our people. the president's inexhaustible

ineptitude has created this fiasco. according to official estimates, over 100 americans and thousands of green card holders are currently stranded in a country run by terrorists. a much-flaunted airlift that the president pretends was an extraordinary success in his words evacuated fewer than half of approved special immigrant visa holders. that includes thousands of afghans who fought loyally alongside our troops and have now been abandoned to torture and excuse at the hands of the taliban. the allies of kabul rule and the taliban has military equipment and those guantanamo detainees released under the obama administration now serve the highest levels of the afghan government. my office has received many firsthand reports of taliban insurgents going house to house

hunting for american allies. former afghan pilots are especially high-risk targets being tracked down and brutally murdered. and of course we've all seen the disturb videos of desperate afghans clinging to an american transport plane and plummeting to their death on the tarmac below. i will admit i had low expectation for joe biden's presidency, yet he still failed to meet them. when i served in afghanistan, i saw the taliban's grim handiwork up close. i witnessed the sacrifices of brave americans and afghans to prevent them from regaining power, so when this disaster unfolded i determined to do whatever i could to get our people to safety. soon after the fall of kabul my office established an e-mail hotline for evacuation requests, created a war room to help those in need and establish contact with assets on the ground. members of my team did everything from providing required forums and up-to-date information to help orchestrate

daring midnight evacuations. we facilitated the escape of high-ranking members of the afghan government and military along with pregnant women several of whom were being hunted by taliban death squads. we helped dozens of students from a christian military school reach safety. my staff worked around the clock volunteering their time, energy and on several occasions their own resources to help those in need. one aide repeatedly drove to dulles airport to deliver clothes to needy afghans. another sent school supplies to a recentently returned second grader. all of us heard harrowing stories from the ground. a member of my team was on the phone with an american citizen as taliban thugs attacked her on

the way to the airport. this same woman was outside when taliban forces started shooting in the air causing a tam -- stampede. luckily she was able to be pulled to safety before being crushed by the stampeding mob. i would remind the senate that joe biden and tony blinken empowered the men that beat and almost killed an american citizen while a member of my office was literally on the phone with her. the extraordinary efforts of my staff in washington and arkansas produced exceptional results from the beginning of the crisis to today we contacted more than 2,500 individuals seeking assistance, helped more than 300 american citizens and legal permanent residents to safely evacuate along with 200 other vulnerable afghans, many of whom were immediate family of those americans and permanent residents. i want to thank my staff for their incredible and selfless work. i sincerely believe these

actions have redeemed in some measure the honor and trust that president biden squandered this past month. and i also want to acknowledge the many other aides, democrat and republican, house and senate who also pitched in to help our fellow citizens. but for every tale of sacrifice that ended in a plane ride to safety there were tales of tragedy, heartbreak and failure. unfortunately many of the wounds we suffered during the afghan withdrawal were once again self-inflicted. those of us involved in the rescue effort had a front row seat to the biden administration's ineptitude. i think it's worth recounting some of those stories as well. on one notable occasion my office was contacted by a group of three american women who had traveled to a site that was reportedly being used to shuttle people to the airport for evacuation. when they arrived a group of taliban fighters pointed guns in their faces and refused to let them pass.

the woman called a member of my staff for help who promptly called the state department for guidance. the state department's initial response to americans held at gunpoint was to ask whether they had filled out an unlined form to request evacuation. when my aide pressed the matter further, the state department told them our best advice is not to give advice. this casual indifference to the plight of american citizens was regrettably not an isolated incident. on a separate occasion my staff learned that the state department employee told an american citizen who refused to leave afghanistan without her family that she was being really annoying right now. i suppose she was just one more inconvenient american spoiling joe biden's extraordinary success. on another occasion i received a phone call from the ambassador of a country in the region. his government wanted to know what to do about dozens of

american trained afghan soldiers and their families who had fled his country in order to escape the taliban. the only problem was the ambassador's government couldn't get any senior official from the white house or the state department to return their calls. not so much as a thank you, please hold what you got, we'll be back to help you soon. it was radio silence from america while the taliban continued to demand the return of those troops. thankfully i was able to work with senator coons to get the message to the administration. after much confusion and delay, a state department official finally returned the ambassador's call. i want to thank senator coons for his assistance. the episode is a reminder that this body still works and bipartisanship is possible even when the stakes are high. even some members of the executive branch have acknowledged that the administration's policy has been a catastrophe. on more than one occasion my staff received calls from officials in the government

asking for our help to evacuate people from afghanistan. in other words, members of the executive branch of the most powerful nation on earth were going to a lone free-lancing senate office for help instead of their own state department or their own white house. president biden has refused to lead and refused to protect those he took an oath to protect, so it fell to the rest of us to shoulder the load and get these americans to safety. thankfully americans remain a generous and courageous people. we stepped up to meet this moment. over the past few weeks countless normal citizens volunteered to help people they had never met. veterans reunited for one last mission to help old battle buddies get to safety, and of course thousands of american troops risked their lives to help others in a distant land far from home. 13 of them made the ultimate

sacrifice on the noble mission to rescue their countrymen who will never forget their sacrifice, and nor will we. they performed bravely a job that they never should have had to perform. joe biden's afghanistan crisis will live in infamy as one of the worst strategic blunders in our nation's history but the response of so many americans to save their fellow citizens and their allies showed the very best of our country. i'm proud that my office was able to play some small part in that redemocrat alternative story -- in that redemption story. poor leadership comes and goes but our national character endures. americans have shown that we are still capable of noble and heroic deeds even and maybe he especially when politician in washington fail in their duty. our nation is still exceptional even if the president is a

mediocrity. mr. president, i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. cardin: thank you, mr. president. we've been in session now about 11 hours, and we've taken up a handful of noncontroversial nominees. the reason? the abuse by the republicans of the rules of the senate. filibuster after filibuster that requires cloture votes. so we spend several hours on each of these nominations. even worse, the republicans have abused the rules of the senate to deny us in the senate the ability to consider critical legislation that we should be

taking up and acting on. there are many, many examples. i'll just cite a few. justice in policing -- we're all committed to reform our criminal justice system and our police system in order to deal with the values of our nation. i know that senator booker has worked tirelessly on this issue. we should be able to debate that bill on the floor of the united states senate, but, no, republicans will require a cloture vote and will not give us the votes even to consider that legislation. or consider gun safety, which we've been debating in the public for now decades, and the republicans are continuing to use the rules of the senate to deny the senate the opportunity to take up issues and debate issues and see whether we can come together. or take immigration reform, where we see the tragedies that are occurring where we need to take action as a senate, but, no, the republicans won't give

us the votes so we can get on a bill and debate issues, take up amendments, and see whether we can't get something done on immigration. and now they are threatening to use the filibuster on the legislation that would extend the debt ceiling so that we don't default on our debt in regards to moneys that have been spent with the initiation and support of our republican colleagues, and they're threatening to deny us the opportunity to take up that bill and vote on it by the use of the filibuster, even though they were the ones that created the spending and debt. or the continuation of our government. but top on my list, top on my list is safeguarding our election system, the bedrock of our democracy. on two occasions senate democrats voted unanimously to simply begin debate on

protecting the right to vote in our democracy which has come under sustained assault in the aftermath of the 2020 elections. both times all senate republicans blocked even beginning the debate on this critical legislation. senate republicans put gridlock and partisanship before the rights of voters. the senate is being blocked from having the chance to consider options and amendments and do what the founding fathers intended us to do -- legislate. so my senate republican colleagues will have another chance to do the right thing thanks to leader schumer and senator klobuchar. over the august recess they worked diligently to come up with compromise legislation that still preserves the essential elements of s. 1, the for the people act, and it's already passed the house of representatives. president biden is absolutely correct that we need to enact voting right legislation to

repair the damage done by the supreme court to the voting rights act. president biden rightly called efforts to limit ballot access across the country as the 21st century jim crow assault. he warned americans that the republicans' effort to restrict voting rights as a result of their selfish challenge of the 2020 results were the most significant test of our democracy since the civil war. indeed my colleagues witnessed firsthand the violent insurrection at the capitol when the mob attacked, injured and killed our brave capitol police officers who put their lives on the line to preserve our very democracy and union. in many states, legislatures and governors have responded to the falsehoods of the 2020 election by restricting voting accessibility. the big lie repeated by president trump has directly led to disenfranchisement and suppression of the right to vote

to millions of americans. i urge my colleagues and my fellow american citizens to reflect on the state of our democracy and the rights we hold dear, a blatant intent to falsify an election and persist in effort to deny the american people access to the ballot box has undermined the freedom and liberty that so many americans have fought to defend and advance. voting rights is a fundamental issue of importance to a democratic country. after elections are over and we win, we celebrate. we celebrate the fact that we've gotten the support of the majority of voters, and that was, is what democracies is all about. and if we don't win, i think many of us have been involved in campaigns where our candidates were not successful. we go to work to try to attract more voters in the next election so we can celebrate a victory. that's what participation in a free society is all about. that's what decks -- democracies

are about. and repressive, autocratic regimes, they never accept the will of the people. so you look at ways in which they can undermine the voting record. what the voters want to do and the voters' will. in the 2020 elections, we should all celebrate the record number of people who cast their ballots. it was a record and the most-ever americans casting their votes for the presidency of the united states. there were repeated reviews done by both democrats and republicans at the federal, state, and local level. it all verified the simple fact that there was no widespread corruption or election fraud. the will of the people prevailed. and joe biden and kamala harris were duly elected. congress and vice president pence counted the electoral votes for president and vice president and did their duty under the constitution on january 6, notwithstanding the armed insurrection in the capitol. but that did not stop former president trump in promoting the big lie