through the 1990's as communication shifted from network investigation to cable. and dickinson president discussed legacies and what factors contribute to a successful presidential term. at 2 p.m., former assistant attorney general for the district of columbia discusses law and the limits of loyalty, discusses whether president truman established the precedents for the politicalization of the supreme court. watch american history tv saturday on c-span2. >> on this thursday morning, the u.s. senate is about to gavel in for the day, starting at 11 eastern today senators are scheduled to vote on the confirmation of the district court and u.s. justice department nominees and later for u.s. solicitor general. for live coverage of the senate here on c-span2.

the president pro tempore: the senate will come to order. the chaplain, dr. barry black, will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. eternal lord god, the source of all freedom, thank you for people who join you in bringing deliverance to captives and healing to those who are bruised. continue to bless those men and

women who are your hands, heart, voice, and feet in these challenging times. support them all the day long until the shadows lengthen and the evening comes and the busy world is hushed and the fever of life is over and their work is done. lord, when their light of hope is threatened, renew them with faith in your providence and power. make them more than conquerors because of your great love. we pray in your sacred name. amen.

the presiding officer: please join me in reciting 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 presiding officer: the clerk will read a communication to the senate. the clerk: washington, d.c., october 28, 2021. to the senate: under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable jacky rosen, a senator from the state of nevada, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: patrick j. leahy, president pro tempore.

the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. morning business is closed. 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, omar antonio williams of connecticut to be united states district judge for the district of connecticut.

mr. mcconnell: madam president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: yesterday brought reports that carjackings in my hometown of louisville were up 150% since 2019 and the city's 2021 murder total is rapidly closing in on an all-time record that we set just

last year. these aren't just local problems. they're national trends. 2020 saw the homicide rate jump more than at any point in over a century. the worst spike in murder rate in more than a hundred years. the law enforcement crises don't stop there. our southern border saw more illegal crossings last year than at any year on record. yet i.c.e. has made its fewest interior arrests in a decade. a crime epidemic and a border crisis, these are the sorts of problems you might expect the nation's top law enforcement officer to face head-on. these are the sort of issues that you keep the department of justice up all night long. but alas attorney general garland has other priorities. the a.g. made waves this month with a bizarre memo that

directed the f.b.i. along with d.o.j.'s criminal national security and civil rights divisions to focus -- now listen to this -- special attention and security on parents, parents who have opinions about their local school boards. yesterday under questioning from the judiciary committee, the attorney general seemed absolutely incapable of giving a satisfactory explanation as to why the parents of america are his a-1 priority. nor could he explain why this bizarre guidance came just days, days after a powerful interest group sent a letter demanding this action. actually -- listen to this -- the interest group has already apologized for the letter. they say they regret sending it. but the attorney general won't budge from his shocking

guidance, even after the special interests that asked for it have backed away. apparently the instant the special interest asked the biden administration to jump, the attorney general response, how high? the attorney general insisted that all his department is concerned about is, quote, violence and threats of violence. well, of course, violence and threats are always wrong. they're also already illegal and already the purview of local law enforcement. there's no evidence that america's concerned parents needed to be singled out as targets of this j. edgar hoover act from the fed. if democrats at the local, state, and federal levels want fewer parents, concerned parents showing up at school board meetings, the solution is to stop indoctrinating the kids with crazy messages on the taxpayer's dime.

not trying to use federal law enforcement to frighten families out of their first amendment rights. now, on a totally different matter nrks recent years washington democrats have shown an alarming willingness to invent crises to justify radical ideas. they've tried to vilify our independent judiciary and resume the concept -- exhume the concept of court packing from history. they tried to fell a 50-state takeover of election laws about i fearmongerring about mainstream and reasonable state decisions. and when it came to an actual crisis, a once in a s century pandemic, democrats didn't try to conceal their inr intentions. as the house majority whip put it back in march 2020. it was all, quote, a tremendous opportunity to restructure things to fit our vision. with unified control of government, they bragged this

spring about passing a most progressive legislation in american history. this first spending spree expanded federal supplements to unemployment insurance so massively that the best choice for huge numbers of skilled american workers was simply to stay home, stay home. the whole thing was an avalanche of cash that stunted our economic recovery and, of course, accelerated inflation. now washington democrats are behind closed doors again assembling an even bigger reckless and spending spree. it's meant to be a trojan horse for permanent socialism, conclusive proof that the radical left is calling the shots in today's democratic party. i've talked about the laundry list of left-wing boondoggles that our colleagues are packing into this plan. at the heart of it all is one simple and dangerous assumption, that american families ought to be more reliant on the federal

government. democrat plans would chase more americans off to private -- off of their private insurance plans they chose and on to government rolls. they would shred a decades old consensus about the importance of work and massively expand cash grants to families without any employment requirements, without any employment requirements. they want to reinvent welfare without welfare reform. there's a giveaway after giveaway that aren't even means tested. their plans have literally proposed to have taxpayers fund free school lunch for the kids of millionaires and billionaires. no means testing whatsoever, none. in addition washington democrats want to insert themselves into the middle of the most personal family decisions about child care and family structure, redistricting huge amounts of money only to households that

arrange their lives the way democrats want. in area after area democrats want to implement far-left policies that would make the economy worse for working families and then columnsly try to -- columnsly try to make it up to citizens who are disconnected from work. this is a frontal assault on the nature of employment and work itself in american life. they're ought to, as one economist put it, quote, fundamentally change the relationship it the state and its citizens. even "the new york times" last month called what democrats are hammering out a, quote, cra cradle-to-grave reweaving of the government's role. lower wages, fewer jobs, at least american workers will have cradle-to-grave socialism. it's one vision of the future,

all right. but it's not one that americans want. and it's one that senate republicans will fight every step of the way. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. moran: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from kansas. mr. moran: inquiry -- are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: yes, we are. mr. moran: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. moran: madam president, thank you. $28 trillion. $9,700 per person. madam president, it's common for members of this senate to stand on the senate floor to debate the price tags of spending bills and legislation that costs millions, billions, and even trillions of dollars. these numbers are so large that for many people, perhaps even for us, it's incomprehensible and unrelatable, too. today i'd like to take a moment

to talk about dollars and cents. in kansas the current average price for a gallon of gas is $3.09. last year the average cost for a gallon of gas in kansas was $1.93. this means filling up a 15-gallon tank will cost you an extra $17 every time you fill up your car at the pump. if you fill up your vehicle once a week, that's an additional $904 spent on gas this year as opposed just to last year. electricity prices are up 5.2% this year. the average monthly electric bill for a resident in kansas was $113.52 last year, a 5% increase is an additional $68 per family. this winter is going to be expensive for american families, particularly in the midwest, as households are expected to see their heating bills jump as much as 54% compared to last winter, making it the most expensive

winter since 2008. thanks to inflation, the price of eggs is up 9.9%. a use car is going to be about 24% more expensive. economic isn't 22% increased in cost in price. these realities are being react inned by the media across the country. "newsweek" headlined, your thanksgiving turkey could be the most expensive ever. msnbc, thanksgiving is now less than a month away, and i.t. shaping up to be the most expensive meal in the history of the holiday. cbs news on the table for thanksgiving this year, higher food prices. nbc news, this thanksgiving be prepared to fork over more dough for your feast. and "the new york times" this year's thanksgiving feast will wallop the wallet. this is horrible news for almost every kansan, for every american, and it's especially damaging to those who are already struggling to pay the

bills because their hard-earned dollars just don't go far enough now. an extra $17 at the gas pump or $68 on electric bill, an extra 50 cent here and there quickly adds up for middle-class and low-income families to be a major challenge. these dollars add up to tough decisions like will we be able to make our mortgage payment this month? do we forego a thanksgiving meal this year so we can keep the heat on? can we afford to make the drive across the country to see the grandparents for the holidays? the current trajectory for inflation doesn't look good either. treasury secretary janet yellen said on sunday that the united states hasn't experienced the recent inflation levels in a, quote, long time and expects higher inflation to continue into 2022. part of inflation, a significant portion of inflation is caused by government spending. and the democrats out-of-control

spending and policies have sped up the rate of inflation creating these higher prices for families. in particular, president biden's effort to restrain american oil and gas production. this one is not about spending but it's about policy. so president biden's efforts to restrain american oil and gas production while oddly, hypocritically, strangely appealing to opec to increase the global oil supply in the face of high gas prices at home has resulted in higher energy prices which could drive inflation even higher in the months to come. it's time for congress to turn off the spending spigot. democrats nearly $2 trillion spending package passed the beginning of this session in january did nothing to help with our labor shortage or improve the supply chain and instead accelerated inflation around the country. we've been slow to turn that spigot off and we've exacerbated it since the arrival of a democrat majority and a president biden in the white

house. democrats are awfully busy trying to fulfill their campaign promises by passing their tax-and-spending spree. they're just too busy to worry about the damage they are causing to american families. more spending will only exacerbate our current inflationary circumstances and the path that democrats have chartered involve massive amounts of spending that will lead to higher prices for everyone. as americans face higher prices at the gas station, grocery store, we must work at fixing our supply chain issues, returning to being energy independent, helping americans return to work, and reining in our spending to slow down the rate of inflation. this out-of-control spending is jeopardizing our economy and hurting americans. to my colleagues rather than assuming a mandate, to my democrat colleagues in particular, rather than assuming a mandate by the voters and pushing the tax-and-spend spree legislation with 51 votes, let's work together. let's work together to let government -- to get government

spending and borrowing in check. this will be done -- if this is done it will be done for the well-being of all americans. madam president, i yield the floor. i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. thune: madam president? the presiding officer: the republican whip. mr. thune: madam president, i understand we're in a quorum call. the presiding officer: yes, we are. mr. thune: i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: unanimous consent that i be allowed to speak for up to 15 minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: madam president, work continues on democrats' social spending spree and the senate seems on on -- to be on track to vote on their bill in the near future. well maybe. it depends on who you ask at any given time around here these days. just to highlight the high level of uncertainty surrounding this process, president biden was on capitol hill just this morning. his second visit this month to twist the arms of still undecided democrats. as they continue to see what sticks to the wall, it's good to know that priorities for government jobs -- tax credits

for justice programs at college universities and $200 million park in speaker pelosi's district may soon come up for a vote in the senate. it's just too bad that democrats have been so focused on expanding government, they haven't taken time to do the essential business of government. mr. president, fiscal year 2021 ended a month ago. we're into fiscal year 2022. so far the senate has not taken up a single appropriations bill for the 2022 fiscal year. on the other hand perhaps it's not surprising since the 2022 appropriations bills recently introduced by the committee chair are rapidly partisan productions packed with poison pills that one can only assume are designed to make these bills fail. taxpayer funding of abortion, a measure that would allow democrats to use the i.r.s. for partisan purposes. policies that would allow certain criminal illegal aliens to be released into the united states.

well, we may be better off without these bills. one bill that there's no question we should have taken up months ago, however, is the defense -- national defense authorization act, the ndaa is one of the most important bills that we consider each year. it authorizes funding for national defense priorities like critical upgrades to our defense capabilities as well as funding for our military men and women, from pay increases to protective equipment to investments to impact aid. it's not a bill we can afford to ignore. but under senate democrats the bill has taken a back seat to democrats' pet priority, and that is this massive, partisan tax-and-spending legislation. while democrats focus on expanding the size of government, critical military priorities are going unauthorized and unfunded. without the national defense authorization act and them the defense appropriations bill that follows from it, the military can't sign off on contracts for critical new equipment. shipbuilding projects, military

infrastructure projects, development of combatant systems -- combat systems they're all having to wait while democrats negotiate over their socialist spending spree. in my home state of south dakota, the air force base is preparing to be the first home of the b-21 bomber. it holds both the training unit and first operational squad dronl. the b-1 bomber will replace the air force's aging b-1 fleet and ensure we have a long-range strike asset and leg of the nuclear triad capable of meeting the threats of the 21st century wherever in the world they are found. this year's ndaa authorizes critical funding for developing the b-21 and starting to transform else worth for the mission and they're required to maintain the remaining b-1 fleet until the bombers can be replaced by the b-21. this is just one of the many critical national security investments that we cannot afford to delay. but i guess our military men and

women will just have to understand that democrats socialist spending spree takes priority. mr. president, it's not just our military men and women or appropriations bills that have had to take a back seat to democrats' burning desire to expand the size of government and its reach into americans' lines. with their single-minded focus on their tax-and-spending spree and of course on federalizing election law to give themselves a permanent advantage in future elections, real crises facing our nation seem to barely register on democrats' radar. we're in the midst of a serious, increasingly long-term inflation problem, a problem democrats helped trigger by dumbing a -- dumping a lot of unnecessary money into the economy earlier this year. yet democrats are not only ignoring this crisis, they're preparing to make things worse by dumping even more government money into our economy. well then there's the crisis at the southern border. mr. president, u.s. customs and border protection encount --

counted 192,000 individuals attempting to cross our southern border in september, a 233% increase from the previous september. 233%. customs and border protection apprehended 1.1 million people trying to cross our border in fiscal year 2021. the highest number ever. we have a security, enforcement, and humanitarian crisis at our southern border. and there is no sign that things are getting any better. you could be forgiven for wondering if democrats have even noticed. i'm pretty sure the president and his administration spent more time earlier this year fighting against the use of the word crisis to describe the situation at the border than they did actually thinking about how they might deal with the influx. the president's main response to the situation seems to be ignoring it in hopes that it will go away. he's happy to travel all over the place, whether to a campaign

rally in virginia or a climate change summit overseas, but he can't seem to find a minute to visit picture southern border. and the border crisis is not the only crisis the president is ignoring. the president's disastrous afghanistan withdrawal was a real low point for this country. 13 of our military men and women died in the terrorist attack. we abandoned thousands of individuals who had worked with us in afghanistan and whom we had promised to protect. not to mention hundreds of americans still working to find a way home. and the president was supposed to restore our standing on the world stage, left our allies wondering if our word can be relied upon. most of all, the disastrous withdrawal has left our country in a much more precarious national security position. afghanistan is right to once again become a terrorist haven. just this week, a pentagon official testified that isis-k,

the isis afghanistan affiliate, could be ready to launch terrorist attacks on our homeland in as little as six months. six months. and al qaeda which looks set to once again find a safe haven in afghanistan would be ready to launch attacks in a year. yet once again, this barely seems to register on the biden administration's radar. we still have no agreements with neighboring countries to establish or make use of bases to launch counterterrorism operations in afghanistan. the administration is apparently working on the situation. well, quite frankly, this is something the administration should have figured out before, before withdrawing our troops from afghanistan and destroying our ability to conduct counterterrorism operations within the country. unfortunately, the president was more focused on meeting his predetermined, arbitrary deadline than in dealing with the actual situation on the ground with predictably catastrophic consequences. mr. president, a lot of

priorities have had to take a back seat to democrats' taxing-and-spending spree. i only wish the bill were worth it. unfortunately, democrats' massive spending bill is likely to worsen our inflation crisis, weaken our economy, and increase government intrusion into americans' lives. meanwhile, i guess our border crisis and national security priorities will have to continue to wait until democrats find the time to address them. mr. president, i'm not holding my breath. i yield the floor. i suggest the absence of a quorum. i withhold that request. the presiding officer: all time has expired. the question is on the nomination. is there a sufficient second? it appears to be. the clerk will call the roll.

vote:

vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: the yeas are 45 -- 52, the nays are 46. the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of the olsen nomination, which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, department of justice, matthew g. olsen, of maryland, to be assistant attorney general. 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:

sess

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: the yeas are 53, the nays are 45. the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of the schroeder nomination. the clerk: department of

justice, christopher h. schroeder, of -- of north carolina, to be assistant attorney general. 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:

the presiding officer: the yeas are 56. the nays are 41. the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, and the president will be immediately notified of the senate's actions. under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of the following nomination, which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, department of justice. hampton y. dellinger of north carolina to be an assistant attorney general.

the presiding officer: the senator from utah. mr. lee: mr. president, earlier today president biden

announced his new revised, supposedly curtailed social spending plan for america. it seems that the depressing economic numbers, the soaring costs of goods, the mounting data that government spend something to blame -- spending is to blame, or perhaps some more moderate voices within the democratic conference forced him to walk this latest monstrosity back. democrats who won control with the slimmest of majorities feel that they have a mandate to change more about american society and spend more money than any group of elected officials in american history. the white house chief of staff tweeted today bragging that this deal is still twice as big as the new deal in real dollars. be it a $3.5 trillion or a little less, we've lost almost

all sense of what money means, at least when it comes to money being spent by washington. by public officials who congratulate themselves, each other and in return are congratulated by many in the media for spending other people's money, by spending money we don't have, money that ends up effectively being printed. the founding fathers entrusted congress with the power of the purse because they expected congress, which is the branch of government most accountable to the people at the most regular intervals, to be most likely to jealously guard the funds of those who sent us here, understanding that as every member of the house is required to stand for election every two years and one-third of the members of this body are required to stand for election every two years that that ought to have an effect; it ought to

have precisely the effect that we remember, that it's not our money; it's the people's money. and that when we run out of it, we can't just pretend that we have more. when it do that, it causes problems, especially for the poor and middle a class. the flakers consumed congress would be the most -- we're the branch most accountable to people. in this respect we failed. we failed in every sense. we failed dismally, miserably. americans work for months out of every single year just to pay their federal taxes and yet our nation is still barreling toward $30 trillion of national debt. we're now reaching devastating debt g.d.p. ratios we never contemplated during peacetime in

america. and americans are feeling the pain. real americans, everyday americans. inflation is at its highest rate in decades. everything from gas to groceries, from housing to health care. it's all more expensive and getting more expensive every single day. we know from a sad experience this isn't going to go away any time soon. prices once they go up tend to stick. meanwhile, president biden aparently -- apparently is not satisfied with only making things more expensive but he's also making it harder and in some cases impossible for many americans to work. his still unpublished vaccine mandate is causing millions of americans to be at risk of losing their employment or alternatively acquiescing to federal medical extortion. these are everyday americans. all too often struggling just to

get by. they're not bad people. they're not people who we should shun, no. these are mothers and fathers. some are first responders and others are military heroes. they're our neighbors, friends, and fellow citizens. they deserve the respect and autonomy to make this decision for themselves. and the constitution when properly followed protects americans from precisely this type of federal intrusion, especially this type of federal intrusion wielded by one man, one person in one office. i've heard from over 300 utahans just in the last few weeks who were at risk -- who are at risk of losing their livelihoods due to the president's mandate. these are just the ones i've heard from.

from every onive' -- one i've heard from, there are many, many others who are being affected. their stories are moving. they are as moving as they are tragic. we must do something to help. allow me to be very clear. while i am very much against the mandate, i'm for the vaccine. i've been vaccinated. my entire family has been vaccinated. i've encouraged other people to get vaccinated. these vaccines are helping to protect many, many millions of americans against the harmful effects of covid-19. that does not, however, excuse the heavy-handed approach of forcing this decision on americans, of threatening americans, coercing them, extorting them, and to doing the will of the president of the united states. this is not only an action not

backed up by law or consistent with the constitutional separation of powers, but it's immoral. it's mean. to tell a mom or a dad you're not going to be able to put food on the table for your children if you don't get a medical procedure that we want you to get but that you don't want to get for whatever reason, religious reason, a particular medical condition that you've been warned about from your doctor, or whatever else it may be. people shouldn't have to choose between the ability to make a living and the coerced receipt of an unwanted medical procedure. this is why i've come to the senate floor 11 times now to fight against the mandate and why i'm going to keep coming. today i'm offering what should be an incredibly uncontroversial

bill. my transparency and covid-19 expenditures act cosponsored and would require an audit of covid-19 relief funding t. would allow congress to determine what spending in this pandemic worked and what spending did not. it would help us return a little bit of financial oversight and sanity and responsibility and accountability to congress and to our government. this information would also allow taxpayers to see how their dollars are being spent and whether they're being spent wisely. it's that simple. i encourage my colleagues to support the bill. i'd like now to yield time to my friend and distinguished colleague, the senator from wyoming. ms. lummis: i thank the

gentleman from utah. mr. speaker, i come to the floor to talk about -- the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. ms. lummis: thank you. i wish to address the subject of the president's overreaching vaccine mandates. first, we all recognize the devastation caused by the covid-19 pandemic spread from wuhan, china throughout the world. this virus has taken too many lives, more than 4.7 million around the globe and over 686,000 here in the united states. each death is a tragedy. my heart goes out to the families who have lost loved ones and suffered from this terrible disease. many of those families in wyoming have reached out to me. i've heard from thousands of constituents concerned about the

vaccine, pro and con, but mostly about cane fusing guidance and particularly about masking, most notably in our schools. our response to this pandemic should have been unifying but instead it has sown discord and distrust across our country. and that discord is exacerbated by the federal governments extreme overreach. i want to be clear, i support individuals getting the covid vaccine. i'm vaccinated. i got vaccinated to protect myself because i have no natural immunity. i haven't had covid. i have no underlying health concerns. i was not advised by a physician not to get it.

it made sense for me making that decision for myself. scientists have been researching and working for decades to make the emergency treatments that we've all had access to in 2021 available to us. however, i do not support the government mandating, mandating matters that come between a patient and their conscience, a patient and their health care provider, a patient and their own care decisions. and the recent mandates from the biden administration do just that. i believe they are far-reaching and burdensome as do my constituents, including those who have been vaccinated. they will not achieve the

desired result. they will not convince millions of americans on the fence about the vaccine to suddenly get it. they cause people to dig in. they further politicize our health care system. they compound our unemployment problems. don't take my word for it. look at the federal government itself. even unions are opposed to a vaccine mandate with the american postal workers union, the federal law enforcement officers association, and the american federation of teachers coming out in opposition, not to the vaccine but to the mandate. the pandemic does not make the constitution irrelevant or put our rights of private citizens up for discussion. we are a nation of liberties, not mandates. we respect individuals. that's why i'm cosponsoring

several different bills that would protect our citizens from this overreach. one bill, s. 2849, clarifies that federal agencies do not have the power to mandate covid-19 vaccines. while this should be self-evident, sadly many in washington, d.c. have forgotten about america's founding principles. another bill, s. 2843, blocks federal agencies from fining anyone who violates the covid-19 mandates. further, the bill that senator lee is offering today, s. 2851, audits covid funding. so the american people know where their tax dollars went over the past year and a half so we can evaluate what has worked and what has not, as senator lee has said. the biden administration should work to bring us together, not

drive us further apart through politicized executive actions. no matter what president biden decides to do, an individual's right to be in charge of their own health care is sacrosanct. and i believe senator lee's bills are a step in the right direction. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back the balance of my time to senator lee. mr. lee: mr. president, as if in legislative session -- the presiding officer: the senator from utah. mr. lee: as if in legislative session, i ask unanimous consent that the homeland security and government affairs committee be discharged from further consideration of s. 2851 and that the senate proceed to its immediate consideration. i further ask that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid -- be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: is there objection? a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from mitch began.

mr. peters: mr. president, i reserve the right to object. i certainly welcome the senator from utah's interest in oversight of coronavirus emergency relief funds. there's no question americans deserve to know where their hard-earned tax dollars are going and how these critical relief funds are being used to help communities all across our country in the wake of this public health crisis, especially for those who need it the most. i'm also thankful that my colleague agreed with the importance of conducting thorough oversight of these programs and supported the creation of the pandemic response accountability committee when we passed the cares act. these oversight requirements based on the successful oversight model of the american recovery and reinvestment act ensure that we have strong oversight of all coronavirus relief dollars through regular detailed reports and recommendations from the gao and

inspector general. following guidance from the office of management and budget, all covid-19 relief funding from the legislation that the senator has identified is already being tracked on usaspending.gov. anyone, anyone can go to the website right now and see the figures. as of august 31, congress has provided $4.7 trillion in relief spending. the administration has committed $3.9 trillion of those funds to helping communities, and $3.4 trillion in assistance has already reached those who need help through this crisis. i would also urge the senator to consult the more than 1,300 oversight reports that the prac has already completed related to the pandemic response. in addition to the more than 100 reports that the g.a.o. has also issued on this topic.

rather than creating additional and redundant work for the g.a.o. at taxpayer expense, the senator's proposal is duplicative and unnecessary and for that reason i object. the presiding officer: objection is heard. mr. lee: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from utah. mr. lee: mr. president, i appreciate the insight of my friend and colleague, the distinguished senator from michigan. and i appreciate his willingness to look out for making sure that there isn't duplication in government. i also think it's important that at a time when we're spending an unprecedented amount of money, that we are on the side of redoubling efforts to audit, to oversee. you know, there's never been a time in american history when we brought in more money than we brought in, in the year 2020. we brought in over $3 trillion. but there's never been a time when we spent nearly as much

money. in total dollars or as far as the number of dollars relative to what we brought in. i mean, we spent $.6 trillion last year -- $6.6 trillion last year. this is an enormous amount of money. we're spending a comparable amount again this year, again trillions of dollars more than we're bringing in. we're doing it ostensibly, you know, because of the covid pandemic. and, for that reason, it's good that we make sure that we know where we're spending that money, where it's going. if it can make our efforts more efficient and effective, if this is about sustaining life, then why wouldn't we want to make sure it is being done in the

most efficient way possible. we work for the american people. they deserve know where the money is being spent. thank you, mr. president. mr. marshall: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from kansas. mr. marshall: thank you, mr. president. i come to the floor today in support of our men and women in uniform who put their lives on the line each day to defend our freedoms and our american way of life. unfortunately, thousands of our heroes are about to lose those very freedoms that they have fought so hard to defend as joe biden's vaccine mandate is threatening them with a dishonorable discharge should they choose to not get the covid vaccine. now, let me be clear. as a physician and a veteran, i'm confident that the vaccine has saved countless lives, and i

encourage every veteran, every american to consider and to discuss with their physician getting that vaccine. i believe vaccinating our service members, though, against covid-19 is such a very, very important effort. but deep down inside i'm still this real doctor from great bend, kansas, and i i believe in the sanctity of the physician-patient relationship and that every one of our physicians is unique. a soldier's medical history is unique. there's risks and benefits 6 taking this vaccine. and each of our soldiers is using common sense. i respect their decisions. this administration should, too. right now thousands of our service members are not vaccinated. when it comes to our guardsmen and women in kansas, only 58% are fully or partially vaccinated, a number i'm confident would hold true across the remainder of the country.

unfortunately, the policy out of the white house says that one size has to fit all, that there is no exception, even though we know that natural immunity to covid is the same as, if not powerful than, the vaccine. we've never asked people, especially military folks, to get a vaccine for a virus they're already immune to or a virus that doesn't affect them. it just doesn't make sense. because of joe biden's vaccine mandate, thousands of american heroes are going to be separated from the service and they're going to perhaps be gwich'in a dis-- be given a dishonoringable discharge. i want to make sure this body and the american people understand exactly what the significance of a dishonorable discharge is. soldiers will lose access to medical benefits from the v.a. they'll lose access to home loans from the v.a. they'll lose access to the g.i. bill for further education. they'll potentially lose the right to vote in some states.

they'll lose their second amendment rights and access to ammunition. they'll lose the ability to reenlist in another branch of military and they'll have an extremely difficult time finding employment. getting a dishonorable discharge may be the worst checkmark you can get in your life. truly, a scarlet letter. these sort of repercussions sound like they should be reserved for felons. but, no, this is what joe biden wants to hand down to our service members. this is insulting and we must put a stop it it. for these reasons i introduced legislation, the covid-19 vaccine dishonorable discharge prevention act, to prohibit the department of defense from dishonorably discharging american here reese who choose to not -- heroes to choose not receive a covid-19 vaccine. there's no question about it. american heroes should not be treated as felons because of their personal medical choices. this isone of a number of issues

that leader schumer and our colleagues across the aisle have to put on hold while -- thage defense authorization bill is the only bill that passes every year, 60 careers in at that row, as a matter of fact, but this now is the forth latest in history that has been initially brought up for consideration on the senate floor. considering the foreign policy disasters this white house has created, one would think delivering a paycheck to our service members and funding to increase our military's lethality would be top of mind. our troops deserve better and i am calling on leader schumer to bring the ndaa to the floor. our american heroes deserve better than this, and we need to get my amendment as soon as possible. i want to thank senators cruz, lankford, tuberville, kramer, senator rick scott, kennedy and wicker for joining me in this

legislation. i look forward to working with them once we submit it as an amendment to the ndaa. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from north carolina. mr. tillis: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, american families are hurting, and there's no relief in sight. we're facing skyrocketing inflation and families are feeling it every time they go to the grocery store. we're facing a supply chain crisis that threatens to deny families the food and the goods that they need. we're facing surging energy prices that are literally burning holes in the wallets of hardworking americans.

just this week i drove up from charlotte, and i was amazed at how much more it took me to refuel my truck about halfway from charlotte to d.c. this has gotten so bad that some families are really beginning to rethink their travel plans as a pproach the holidays. we're facing a labor shortage crisis with small businesses and farms across the country having you s&ling to fill jobs -- struggling to fill jobs. even as they raise the potential salaries, the people are simply not coming. president biden and his allies in congress have chosen some interesting ways to respond to these crises. in some cases they've just ignored them. they've been making excuses for others, and they've been making a case that everything will be fine if we just have more government, more spending, and more taxes. that's why for months president biden and congressional democrats have put all their time and energy into crafting a completely partisan $3.5

trillion tax-and-spending spree. they're spending on left-wing priorities that will result in more debt, more inflation, more dependency on government, and more government intrusion into the lives of all americans. equally concerning is how the democrats want to pay for some of their out-of-control spending. they plan to take $400 billion from taxpayers by monitoring and auditing their bank accounts. democrats want to turn your bank or your credit union, that small bank around the corner in some rural community across america, into a branch of the i.r.s., making them monitor and report your financial activity and directly report it to the i.r.s. to make matters worse, the democrats want to hire 80,000 new i.r.s. agents so they can go through your personal financial

information. what you spend your money on, what income you take in. and using that information, the i.r.s. will then try to squeeze out any additional money that they can from you. the democrats originally proposed making the threshold of the i.r.s. reporting at a $600 transaction. americans who heard about the scheme were outraged. most americans aren't too fond of the i.r.s. i dare say, if you were to do a poll of the ten most favorite government agencies, the i.r.s. wouldn't make the list. and they certainly don't trust the i.r.s. with having more power and more of your personal financial information. my office alone has received over 15,000 e-mails opposing this overreach, and i imagine many of my democratic colleagues have heard from their constituents as well. so it's not surprising they went

back to the drawing board. since the $600 transaction wouldn't sell -- wasn't selling, they came up with a new proposal. it was a total of $10,000 in transactions that would trigger an i.r.s. reporting requirement. but you can't be fooled by the sleight of hand. it'll subject nearly every american with a job to the same i.r.s. scheme. consider the average american makes a little bit more than $60,000 in annual expenditures. yet democrats have the audacity to claim that this plan is really just targeted to the wealthy. i don't know many hairdressers and plumbers and painters or uber drivers who are billionaires. you this i do know -- but i do know that they make over $10,000 a year. and they will be subject to the same scheme because of the way they make their income. these hardworking americans who've done nothing wrong could have their personal income sent directly to the i.r.s.

and let be clear -- this additional information won't even provide the i.r.s. with direct evidence of tax noncompliance. instead, it would give the i.r.s. -- and, keep in mind, 80,000 more i.r.s. employees, roughly twice, a doubling of the number of people, woulding in the i.r.s. -- to go on a taxpayer-funded fishing expedition designed to rummage through americans' finances in the hopes of finding noncompliance. we don't let police enter someone's house wrought a warrant in the hopes they can make something illegal and we certainly should not provide this kind of power to it the i.r.s. and what will happen when a hardworking hairdresser or plumber or a carpenter who's already struggling to make ends meet get a letter from the i.r.s. alleging that they owe more taxes? they don't have an army of tax lawyers and accountants like billionaires do. they'll have to try and take on

the i.r.s. themselves. and that's a losing proposition. the i.r.s. reporting plan is not about catching tax cheats and making sure billionaires are paying their taxes. it's about shaking down middle-class americans to pay for the democrats' tax-and-spending spree, plain and simple. burning them with more bureaucracy and giving them yet another thing they have to worry about. in addition to rising insomeplace, energy prices, and -- inflation, energy prices. i was talking with one of my staff this week about my own personal situation and what i think happens every day in this country. you have somebody struggling to pay their bills. i had a family member many years ago came to me and said if i would give them a loan so that they could make ends meet. they worked in construction, had a project coming due.

so i made them a loan. like so many do for their friends and family members. depending upon the size of that gesture, it could suddenly report -- be a reportable transaction to the i.r.s. what a isn't i.r.s. compliance agent going to do had? they'll call you up and say, you didn't report that as income. the person will say, well, it was a loan. then the i.r.s. agent will say, well, where was the document? it was with a brother or sister or an unclebling we shook hands and i promised to pay them back. those are the kinds of things that are going to happen if this goes into place. that's why i recently joined with senator tim scott and dozens of my republican colleagues to introduce legislation that will prevent the administration and the i.r.s. from implementing their surveillance plan. it's wrong, it's an overreach, and it's not going to work. but the easiest solution is for

my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to simply drop this misguided i.r.s. reporting scheme. tax-and-spend policies have already made it harder for americans. americans are having you violencing from the impact of covid, inflation, energy shortages and so many uncertainties that we've experienced over the past couple of years. the last thing they need is to have the i.r.s., with an army of tens of thousands of i.r.s. agents, prying into their bank accounts and causing more confusion, more frustration, and more heartache at the worst possible time. thank you, mr. president..

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from washington.

ms. cantwell: mr. president, i ask the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: the senate is not in a quorum call. ms. cantwell: mr. president, i come to the floor this afternoon to talk about the affordable housing crisis in the united states of america. and before i get going, i would like to add into the record a letter from 44 different mayors representing 20 different states in the district of columbia talking about those housing priorities that we need to see in legislation that we'll be voting on, including number one, strengthening and expanding the low-income housing tax credit. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. cantwell: thank you, mr. president. i come to the floor, many of my colleagues, 29 have joined a bill that myself and senator young sponsored. i think 132 members in the house of representatives joined, all about saying we need to -- more affordable housing. why do we need to incent more affordable housing? if i don't incent it with a tax credit, people won't build it, particularly in a place like

seattle where you can build a lot of other things but you need more money. with you need a workforce in seattle. we don't need them to be four county, away and drive in every day and clog our roads with added traffic that didn't need to be there. we need to build people close to their homes and we need the flexibility of the affordable housing tax credit which has been, in my mind, very helpful and being very specific in every community. you can build affordable housing just for returning veterans. you can build affordable housing for workforce needs. you can build affordable housing just to house previously homeless people. you can build affordable housing to take students who are still going to school and don't have a place to live, male them have a-- making them have affordable opportunities. so the affordable housing tax credit is the primary tool at which we build housing -- let me say 90% of the affordable housing that gets built in the united states of america gets

built with a tax credit. that's right, 90% of the affordable housing that gets built in the united states with the tax credit is built with -- 90% of affordable housing gets built with the tax credit. so that means even if we have other programs in the legislation that we've been talking about between the house and senate, like the home grant program or vouchers or things of that nature, if you don't use this aspect of the program, you're not going to be able to build those housing. so it's been incredible -- incredibly popular. that's why we have to increase the amount of capital that we're going to put towards the tax incentive. the reason we have to do that is the united states has a supply shortage. you can ask why did we get to this supply shortage. but if you ask me, it's really accentuated in the downturn of 2008 when so many more individuals fell out of the job market creating more demand for

affordable housing at that price point. we also at that point had a lot of returning veterans, and we had really some very big changes in the diversification of our economy. we had a lot of mental health that had been deinstitutionalized and pushed in a different direction, and we had changes in policy as we saw the challenges of an aging population really living a lot longer than people anticipated. and they're also needing housing. so we had all of these issues combined to this dramatic effect of 6.8 million affordable housing shortage in the united states of america. that's the amount of units that we actually have to build. and i wish i could say that these problems go away if, you know, you just don't -- if you say, well, don't build the

housing, it will just take care of itself. no, it doesn't take care of itself. with these people ending up being homeless, it costs 30% more to deal with them in our hospitals, in jails, in various places if people are truly homeless and living on the streets and extra costs. we actually had hospitals support building affordable housing just so people wouldn't be in their emergency room every day. that's how much it was worth to the hospitals to have affordable housing. so the crisis as we know in america is that there are now 10.5 million americans who pay more than 50% of their income in rent. that means they are rent burdened. and this number has just continued to go up in the charts for years and growth and basically continued to exacerbate the problem. why? because people will tell you you can't spend 50% of your income in rent. so these dynamics is what is

plaguing us in the united states. and it is a problem that until we increase the affordable housing tax credit, you're not going to get the relief you think that you can get out of this situation. so our legislation, myself and senator young's legislation would have increased the tax credit by 50% over a ten-year period of time. that would have helped us build a million more units of affordable housing and try to address this problem in the near term. but i hope our colleagues will as we work through both the proposals that have been part of our infrastructure bill and the reconciliation act, look and see that we need to include the low-income housing tax credit as part of that proposal. if we don't have the affordable housing tax credit a part of that proposal, we're not going to have the robust solutions that we need. and while i understand there's

very geographic differences across the united states, the east coast may have some particular aspects that will be very benefited. the west coast has other aspects that would benefit. we all can benefit from the low-income housing tax credit program. and that's what's so unique about it. every state has used it with great flexibility. every state has used it to solve their problems. and the incentives have helped us stimulate the economy. it's literally worth billions of dollars of economic activity and that is why we also should be making this investment. many times when our country has faced a downturn, in the 1960's or 1970's or 1980's, would you hear a shoutout for housing. people would say let's build housing. you haven't heard that shoutout in the last decade or so. you literally haven't for a bunch of different reasons. no one has been trumpeting we need more housing.

i tell you, mr. president, we need more affordable housing. for those individuals -- and i've met so many in my state -- who -- whose lives have been changed, literally changed, a woman who got out of an abusive situation and moved in with her father but knew it wasn't sustainable -- she lived in bellingham -- basically the housing program in walla walla got she and her son, starnlted school, got a -- started school, got a job and changed her life. i've seen it recently in spokane. take a couple who basically had become homeless, separated, had children that couldn't all live together, bring them back together under one roof and in this particular housing project, the promise was made by the partners that everybody in that particular housing would get access not only to help them get a high school education but a

college education as well. that's what you can do with these projects. you can tailor made them with community partners to address the needs of your specific community. so this tax credit is bipartisan. it's -- it's worked successfully. i would say it's one of the most successful programs we've had in the united states for getting affordable housing. let's not leave it off the table. let's put it in this legislation and makes sure it gets to the goal line of the president's desk and is signed into law. i thank the president and i yield the floor.