senate service. senator leahy plans to retire at the end of next year, at the conclusion of his eighth term. senator leahy has served vermonters in the senate for longer than anyone in the state's history. of course, he's also become an all-star senate institution in his own right. i think particularly of the opportunities that i had to work with senator leahy when we were sharing leadership of the appropriations subcommittee for state and foreign operations. so it's hard to imagine the senate without pat and his lovely wife marcel, for now, i just want to salute our colleagues on the occasion of his announcement, and add my congratulations on his remarkable career thus far. >> the senate is about to come in for the day.

senators will vote on the nominations of graham steele to be assistant secretary for financial institutions and robert bonnie to be undersecretary for agriculture for form production and conservation, now, live to the senate floor 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. .lord god almighty, maker of heaven and earth, thank you for not leaving us solely to our own resources. lord, you have provided us with the witness of nature and the testimony of sacred scripture to

navigate us toward certainty. .you protect us from dangers, seen and unseen, empowering us to run without weariness, and to walk without fainting. .today, strengthen our lawmakers for their work. guide them to the road that fulfills your plans. .bless them with productivity and progress for your glory, as you help them to learn how to better serve you by serving others. .we pray in your merciful name. amen. the president pro tempore: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance

to our flag. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. morning business is closed. and under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session and resume consideration of the following nomination, which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, department of treasury, graham scott steele of california to be an assistant secretary.

mr. schumer: mr. president. --. the president pro tempore: the minority leader. mr. schumer: first, i know you will be taking the floor in a few minutes. i spoke about the bittersweet mood we all have about your departure. bitter in the sense that you've done so much for the senate, for vermont, for america over the years that we will badly miss you. sweet because you'll get to spend more time with marcelle, your children, your lovely grandchildren. you deserve it after all these great years of service. it's one of the most extraordinary records any senator has compiled in the history of this country. so thank you for your service

and your continued service through january of 2022. now on infrastructure, yesterday our country took a major step forward to prepare our economy for the challenges of the 21st century. as we all know, the american people have been told for years, for years that another infrastructure bill was coming. one infrastructure week after another. but after yesterday, we can now tell the american people that an infrastructure law is here. the president signed it yesterday. the enactment of bipartisan infrastructure legislation is so long overdue. there isn't a community in america that doesn't have some glaring need. crumbling roads, dilapidated schools, untrustworthy bridges, overburdened airports, seaports and railways. the new infrastructure law will tackle these challenges head on.

and i thank the president and my colleagues from both sides of the aisle, both sides of the aisle in making yesterday possible. the president's infrastructure bill can be summarized with a four-letter word -- j-o-b-s. jobs, jobs, jobs. more local jobs, more good-paying jobs, more union jobs. unions, as we know, have been a ladder up through the decades, and they will continue to be under this bill, as there will be more of them. and the jobs will put people to work on projects in every state and every community. in new york, my state, dependent on good transportation, major undertakings like gateway, the cross bronx express way, the second avenue subway, i-81 in syracuse. the list could go on and on and on. all of them will finally get going get, a great chance of

that happening after years of paralysis. and the federal dollars that the government is sending to the states is already having an effect in my state. yesterday our governor announced that because of the federal dollars, there won't be fare increases or cutbacks in service on the m.t.a. and the commuter rail. that is really good news. well, what's happening in new york holds true in every other state in the nation, major projects that have been long awaited have a real good possibility of getting going. so there's great news. and jobs, jobs, jobs will rain down on every state. so there's much to celebrate with yesterday's signing. and in the weeks and months and years to come, the american people will see the benefits with their own eyes. so i want to thank president biden for finally delivering on something the previous administrations have tried to do

but have been unable to complete. build back better. make no mistake, we will keep going in the weeks ahead by passing the rest of president biden's build back better agend. if we want to create jobs and help families lower costs, the best thing we can do is pass build back better. let me repeat that -- want to fight inflation? support build back better. for all of 2021, we've seen an historic and unprecedented economic recovery compared to where we were at the depths of the covid crisis, but there's no denying that as our recovery continues, we must work to address supply chain troubles that have exacerbated inflation in recent months. build back better is exactly what the doctor ordered. no fewer than 17 nobel prize-winning economists, and economists across the political

spectrum have said repeatedly that build back better and infrastructure together will reduce, reduce inflationary pressures. and just i think it was this morning's "washington post," larry summers, one of the inflation hawks in this country, recommended passing build back better as a way to reduce inflation. the child care investments alone will save parents thousands of dollars a year. right now families pay an average of $10,000 annually on child care for each kid under four. many pay more than that. that's a backbreaking expense. too many families, the majority simply cannot afford. build back better will provide the largest investment in child care ever. extending the child care tax credit will help parents save on things like diapers and groceries and gasoline. and of course build back better will finally empower medicare to directly negotiate drug prices in part b and part d, lowering

costs for millions of seniors and american families. on insulin alone, our plan would make it so that americans with diabetes won't pay more than $35 a month for insulins. mr. president, none of the things i'm talking about are luxuries. none are handouts. they are daily essentials that families need to thrive with and which over the years have grown expensive. and america is behind this. every poll you see, they're for all of these things. why will not a single republican vote for it? why will not a single republican vote to reduce insulin cost to $35, not a single republican vote to help americans with child care, not a single republican vote for the best way to reduce inflation, even though they talk about it a lot. it's profoundly disappointing to see our republican colleagues more focused on exploiting problems faced by the american people. just recently my colleague, the junior senator from florida, told americans precisely how he

feels about the rising cost, inflation caused by families. his quote -- it's a gold mine for us. it's a gold p mine, that's what the republican junior senator from florida said. how cynical, how low, how wildly out of touch is that. the same republicans who spent years under donald trump cutting taxes for the wealthy are now opposing relief for the middle class, and cheering for costs to go up. i hope the american people remember that. democrats are fighting to pass legislation to lower costs. republicans, on the other hand, think inflation is, quote, a gold p mine, unquote, for them and a rooting for prices to go up. these are the same partisan, short sighted gains that have frustrated american families who wonder who in government is looking out for them. yesterday americans got to see one shining example of what can happen when elected officials do look out for them.

build back better is another opportunity to do the same and we will not let up until we pass build back better and keep our promise to recapture that sunny american optimism that has long been the key to our success. and finally, on ndaa. mr. president, last night i took the first procedural step for the senate to begin consideration of our annual national defense bill. republicans have repeatedly said this legislation is urgent and needs to be taken up immediately. we've heard them say that. they signed letters about it. with their cooperation, the senate can start voting as early as today. we're ready to do that, and i hope republicans can join in moving this legislation forward quickly. this year it's my hope and intention to add to the ndaa the bipartisan legislation the senate passed earlier this year to boost american manufacturing, scientific research and innovation and u.s.

competitiveness. the u.s. innovation and competition act, usica, formerly known as the endless frontier act, which i passed with many, among them senator cantwell, the one of the largest investments in science, technology and manufacturing for decades. it's an urgent and necessary step that will put more americans to work in every corner of the country. it will fight inflation and relieve overburdened supply chains. talking about supply chains, pass usica. nothing will do more over the next few years to reduce supply chain problems than this bill. and especially in the semiconductor industry. the chip shortage is not some abstract issue. it is impacting daily lives of america. supply shortages means americans

are left waiting a long time for these essentials. we have legislation ready to go to fix this major chip crisis. addressing this crisis cannot wait. a generation ago we used to produce about a third of the world's chip supply. now fewer than 12% are made in america while other countries have lapped us, particularly china. this hurts american workers, american consumers, american national security. we should pass usica this year so -- and it's a bipartisan bill -- so we can strengthen domestic chip reduction and drive new investment from the industry to help address the shortage. if we can pass the defense bill about with usica language included, i'm hopeful that we'll be able to work with the speaker and our house colleagues to find a way to get this legislation enacted before the year. and once again, before i yield the floor, my kudos, accolades, fondness and love for the great senator from vermont, who will now speak.

mr. leahy: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from vermont is recognized. mr. leahy: mr. president, i thank the distinguished majority leader for his comments. he and i have been friends for decades. mr. president, i also acknowledge the distinguished secretary of the senate, who is here this morning. mr. president, eight times the voters of vermont, who are my neighbors, my friends, my family, have had the great faith to send me to the united states senate to represent them.

yesterday i told those neighbors and friends and my family that i will not run for reelection. i told the vermonters who have humbled me since my first election to the senate in 1974, that i'll leave this seat at the conclusion of my term. it's a decision i do not come to lightly, but one in which marcelle and i find great peace. in the last nearly 47 years, the senate has become a family to both my wife and me. we have found friends, some of the best of friends, and rips -- relationships that will and have lasted a lifetime, but the senate has always been where i

have come to fight for, a state that has been my home sips birth, a place i met marcelle, where we started our family, which in early 2023, we will return for good. it's time to go home. here's the thing about the senate. here's where small states like vermont have not just a seat at the table but a voice at the table. for a -- for decades, i have been privileged to fight for vermont, from the small grown in vermont ideas like the revitalization of our historic downtowns to farms to school programs to organic farming, all of which started small and have become increasingly popular across the country. and to vermont's trail blazing

approach to -- trailblazing approach to criminal justice reform and victim advocacy. we have taken vermonters' outward view that our great green state is open and welcome to anyone, including those in desperate situations in far-out places. on all these issues and so many more, it's been an honor to represent the great state, what i believe the greatest state, of vermont in the united states senate. now, i'm going to have more to say about the challenges, the rewards, and i'm afraid some disappointments over the last 46 years at a later time. now i want to celebrate the accomplishments that together with my constituents we have achieved for vermont over the last many decades. i wanted to recognize the work still to do this year in congress.

and i want to thank the unbelievably wonderful women and men of my staff and my staff throughout the years. they have steadfastly stood by me in our shared goals to deliver for vermonters and for vermont and for the country. and i want to thank my family, my children, grandchildren. my parents and marcelle's parents were here with me to start this journey in the first senate election who i know watch over the entire leahy family today. i think of how my immigrant grandparents and great grandparents, marcelle's immigrant parents, how they muse

looking down. of course, marcelle. my closest friend, my partner. the last couple of years have been challenging in ways we could never have imagined, but she is with -- she was with me for the first moment of the first campaign, and we made our decision together and decided it's time to go back home. now, we both look forward to the hard work the coming year will bring with the same conviction that brought us to washington in the first place. the brighter horizons of tomorrow hold the hope of the future. it's a privilege i feel to serve in this body and trying to guide

our wonderful country toward the future. as i said, i will speak more about this later, but, mr. president, i thank my colleague. i yield the floor.

the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. mcconnell: are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: two weeks ago, president biden and his team flew to glasgow for a glitzy conference. world leaders traveled there to attend one another's speeches on carbon emissions and the climate. the world's largest emitter was not there. china pumps out more than a quarter of the entire world's emissions, but president xi didn't bother to attend this conference. putin didn't show up either. he and his cronies in moscow are too busy using russian natural gas to stranglehold energy -- and make energy hostages out of the european friends who rushed too naively towards renewables.

this goes to the core problems with the antienergy agenda that liberals want to thrust on our country. maximum self-inflicted pain for american families in exchange for moo no -- for no meaningful global change. they would have america tie one hand behind our back while our competitors and adversaries keep right on going. this hurts families and helps china. across the country, working families are already worrying about the big potentially historic spikes in energy costs and heating bills that are headed their way. here's "the new york times" headline from last week -- winter heating bills loom as the next inflation threat. futures contracts for home heating fuels have skyrocketed in price. natural gas futures have just about doubled from last year. for heating oil and propane, it's actually even worse.

our colleagues on the energy and natural resources committee are holding a hearing this morning on rising heating costs. in kentucky, about four in ten households are heated by natural gas. families are about to get slammed. even more kentucky families rely on straight electricity for their heat, and in our state, more than two-thirds of our electrical power comes from coal. coal literally keeps the lights on and it keeps the cold out. that's why the original obama-biden war on coal hits states like kentucky so very hard, and it's why the even more radical sequel that democrats are planning next would fail -- would actually fall on the heartland like a ton of bricks. the president's special envoy for climate issues, john kerry, says, quote, you have to phase down coal before you can end coal. one of the president's nominees to the treasury department

admitted that small producers of foreign american energy, quote, are going to probably go bankrupt in short order. american families are staring down the barrel of skyrocketing heating bills and the democrats' response is to go to war against affordable american energy. the reckless taxing and spending spree they are writing behind closed doors and want to pass in a matter of weeks would spend hundreds of billions of dollars on green new deal-type policies that would saddle families with even higher prices and make our nation even more dependent on russia and the middle east. of course, energy inflation is just one part of the huge inflation crisis that democrats have unleashed. according to reports, one new survey, 90% of americans are either somewhat concerned or very concerned about inflation and rising costs. nine out of ten households are

hurting. 67% of the country, two-thirds, say washington needs to stop printing and spending so much and driving prices even higher. energy bills and gas prices are just one corner of this inflation crisis. but democrats seem to want to ignore the people, plow ahead and spend trillions more. even liberal economists who like the democrats' reckless taxing and spending spree admit it would make inflation even worse this year. this is no part of our -- there's no part of our economy that can afford another massive dose of socialism.

but democrats are specifically targeting american energy to get hit especially hard. direct new taxes, new fees, and new regulatory mandates for energy producers. they want to make affordable, reliable energy artificially expensive to push americans towards the less affordable, less reliable forms of energy that elite liberals would rather they use. they would hurt families badly. it would help china in a big way, that's because the china administration doesn't have any strategic plan to snap their fingers and turn their country into some green eutopia overnight. they want to throw boatloads of money at things like solar panels and electric vehicles and hope it works out.

china dominates these supply chains for the batteries and solar panels for which democrats want to dump all this money. the green agenda would provide a one-way gift to our adversary, the chinese communist party. this isn't build back better, it's build back about a shing. here's just one example. there's a raw material called polysilicon that is crucial for solar panels. according to "the new york times" more than 80% of the supply comes from china. about half of the world's supply comes from the xinjiang province where china is brutalizing the uighur minority. there are other key resources

including critical minerals where china has a stranglehold. here are recent headlines, lithium shortage may stall electric car revolution. china's lithium companies are in an investment frenzy. and just like liberal policies are hostile to the american energy we produce here at home, they are also who's style to -- who's style to -- hostile to exploring minerals at home, the mining provisions would make it harder to stand up american supply chains for critical minerals. so here's the bottom line. american families don't want washington politicians waging a holy war on fossil fuels in the first place. they can't afford that nonsense. but it's even more absurd that democrats' top-down scheme would increase china's wealth and dominance all along the way.

they don't have a part master plan to invest in america's future, they've got a plan to build back beijing. raise american families' gas prices and heating bills even higher so we can massively stimulate chinese export markets. hurt families, help china, every piece of their reckless policies fit this mold. mr. mcconnell: i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. thune: mr. president. the presiding officer: the republican whip is recognized. thune ub thune is -- mr. thune: is the senate in a quorum call? the presiding officer: yes. mr. thune: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: we are coming up on a year of democrat governance in washington. what do democrats have to show for it?

nothing good. on the international front the president's most significant act was his disastrous withdrawal from afghanistan which continues to jeopardize our security. on the domestic front democrats have ignored a massive crisis along the southern border that continues to rage because they can't take on the open borders left in their own political party. you look at what's happening with the supply chain. there are 90 containers sitting at the port at long beach waiting to get into the country and the president and his team can't really do anything about it because they are unwilling to take on the teamsters. if you look at our cities, mr. president, homicides are up in all of our major cities across this country. it seems that perhaps they defund the police approach to

community safety isn't something that seems -- sends the right signal to people who want to break our laws. and then, mr. president, there's inflation. you might call it the democrats' signature domestic achievement. so how did we get here? how did they get us here? well, despite their lack of a mandate and extremely narrow majority in office, democrats came to office determined to expand government and implement a far-left, big government socialist agenda. and in their minds the coronavirus helped it. despite the fact that congress passed a $1 trillion bipartisan coronavirus bill in december, the fifth, i might add, the fifth bipartisan coronavirus bill in ten months, democrats declared we needed another piece

of ostensibly coronavirus relief legislation. and not just another piece of legislation, a massive piece of legislation. despite the fact that the december bill had met essentially all of the pressing coronavirus needs the country was facing, democrats decided we need to spend another $1.9 trillion. democrats were warned that the size of their so-called american rescue plan, which was substantially in excess of anything the economy required ran the risk of spurring inflation. obama economic advisor larry summers warned in "the washington post," and i quote, there is a chance that macro economics stoims closer to world war ii levels than normal recession levels will set off inflai nationy levels the kind we have not seen in a generation.

that, again, obama economic advisor larry summers. democrats passed their bill anyway. they flooded the economy with a lot of unnecessary government money, and the results have been predictable. inflation -- significant inflation -- inflation to borrow a phrase from larry summers of a kind we have not seen in a generation. last week we found out that inflation was 6.2% last year in a year over year analysis, the largest increase in more than 30 years. 30 years, mr. president. families are facing higher prices at the grocery store. and when i say higher, i mean a lot higher. the price of meat, poultry, fish, and eggs was up 11.9% year over year in october.

11.9%. families are also facing higher prices at the gas pump for housing, for electricity, for furniture and vehicles and pets and pet products. and the list goes on. while wages are rising, they are being outstripped by inflation, which means many families are dealing with a de facto pay cut. think about it, mr. president. 6.2% increase in inflation. that's essential a 6.2% pay cut for american families. and a big reason families are struggling with the higher cost of pretty much everything is democrats' decision to flood the economy with unnecessary government money with passing the so-called american rescue plan. you don't have to make my word for it. i quoted larry summers earlier. here's what former economic

advisor jason furman had to say when discussing our current inflation problem and i quote. the original sin was an oversized american rescue plan. it contributed to both higher output but also higher prices. end quote. mr. president, you might think that the inflation has -- that has resulted from the american rescue plan would be giving democrats pause right now, you might think they would be putting a hold, tapping the brakes a little bit on anymore big spending until inflation calms down from its 30-plus year high, but you'd be wrong. democrats are actually planning to double down on the strategy that helped cause so much inflation in the first place and pass another giant spending bill. that's right.

democrats are trying to finalize a new $1.75 trillion tax and spending spree, the so-called build back better plan on top of their $1.9 trillion spending spree from earlier this year. and i say $1.75 trillion, but democrats arrived at that number through a combination of shell games and budget gimmicks. an honest accounting of the cost of this proposal over ten years would reveal a much higher price tag. some analysis and assessments suggest as high as $4 trillion or more. and if democrats succeed in passing this latest partisan spending spree, americans should brace themselves, because this new flood of government money will undoubtedly make an already serious inflation situation much worse. mr. president, it's no

exaggeration to say that democrats' main focus this year has been growing the size of the federal government and expanding its reach into americans' lives. no sooner had they passed their massive $1.9 trillion spending bill in march, the democrats moved on to their next massive spending proposals which have coalesced into the so-called build back better bill the house is planning to take up later this week. other government business has been forced to take a back seat. democrats have ignored, as i said earlier, the massive, massive crisis at our southern border. they've ignored our inflation crisis, and they've pushed consideration of essential legislation in favor of working on their tax-and-spending plan. this week the senate will finally, and i say finally consider the fiscal year 2022 national defense authorization act a month and a half after the

2022 fiscal year has started. shipbuilding projects, military infrastructure projects, development of new combat systems, a pay increase for our troops, they have all had to wait while democrats negotiated over their big government socialist spending spree. and about that socialist spending spree, despite the fact that democrats have pushed aside most other matters in favor of focusing on their spending plan, they still haven't managed to come up with a bill that can pass the house and the senate. and the tax proposals they plan to use to, and i say partially, partially pay for the bill seem to change on a daily basis. i say partially, mr. president, because again, great independent analysts say

the money they would raise would fall between somewheres of $2 trillion and $2.5 trillion short of the spending of the bill, that would be added to the already $30 trillion national debt. let's just say, for example, mr. president, that these ideas that they have to partially pay for this bill, they seem to change on a daily basis. a corporate tax hike, no, let's change it to a corporate minimum tax. a new death tax, no, let's change it to a new tax on wealth, something we never talked about before in this country -- taxing unrealized gains. that's taxing income before people have actually seen the income, realized the income. funding for their bill seems to be a matter of throwing spaghetti at the wall on a daily basis to try to see what sticks. there isn't a day that went by in the last couple of weeks when we were in session, the week

before last, mr. president, when there wasn't another horrible idea that came from that side of how to raise revenue to finance this massive, reckless, and radical spending bill. and of course all of democrats' current funding proposals put together will not be able to pay for their legislation, especially when you remove, as i said earlier, the budget gimmicks that are disguising the true costs of their plans. mr. president, as their narrow majorities made clear, the 2020 election did not give democrats a mandate for big-government socialism. if that wasn't clear to democrats in 2020, it should certainly be clear to them now after the election of the virginia governor earlier this month which saw republicans win statewide for the first time since 2009. voters in virginia sent a clear message to democrats that they

weren't looking for far-left government or a far-left social agenda that would seek to circumvent parents' role in their children's lives in education. but just as inflation concerns have not stopped democrats, it's become clear that their rebuke in virginia won't stop them either. in fact, some democrats seem to think that their response should be to run faster and farther to the left. and so the big agenda item for democrats for the rest of the year continues to be passing their partisan build back better tax-and-spending spree, which means americans will be able to look forward to further inflation and a weaker economy, not to mention increased government control of their decision-making. mr. president, it's a poor legacy for democrats' first year in office, but it seems to be

the legacy democrats are determined to secure. mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from virginia is recognized. mr. kaine: thank you, mr. president. i am glad to follow my colleague from the dakotas because i would certainly never attempt to interpret the electorate of another state. i can tell you about the virginia elections that happened a couple weeks back, the message, i think, from our voters pretty loud and clear was we want you to get stuff done. if we in the senate and in the house had passed the infrastructure bill and passed the build back better bill before the virginia elections, i think the outcome would have been different. and what we were hearing again and again from voters is we gave you a majority. please act on it, especially at this time when americans are so challenged by now nearly 20 months of pandemic and economic

devastation. and so i stand on the floor as a proud virginian very focused on celebrating the accomplishment of yesterday. president biden's signature of the infrastructure bill. but also saying we have to pass the build back better bill in order to respond to what our constituents are asking of us at this challenging time. i want to speak today, mr. president, sort of maybe not so much as a senator but as a former city councilman and mayor. i'm sort of unique. there are 30 people in the history of the united states who have been a mayor, governor, and united states senator. only 30 in our entire history. the first time i was introduced and someone said that, i thought that clearly cannot be right. so many governors become senators, it clearly cannot be right. i asked the senate historian to research the matter because someone introduced me that way,

and it came back, that is correct. only 30 people in the history of this country have been a mayor, a governor and a senator. as i pondered the reason for that, it suddenly occurred to me. being mayor will kill you. governors can become senators, but mayors often make everyone mad, and it's hard to go from being a mayor to having a postmayoral political career because the job is so tough. and yet, when people asked me which job you like better, governor or senator? i always say i like them all. but if you made me give up every title i ever had, except one, the one i'd hold on to is mayor. i'd hold on to being mayor because when you're a mayor, it's 24/7, 365. mr. president, there's no recess for a mayor. city councils and mayors don't go into recess. you're dealing with people on the issues that are the closest to them. you can make people happier or madder. you can convince people in local government in a nation of 330

million, sometimes they think oh, what does my voice matter? no one will listen to me. in local government, you can convince people that actually they will be listened to. so i'd hold on to that mayor role. frankly, if i had not been mayor, i never would have been a lieutenant governor or a governor or a u.s. senator. so i owe anything that i am or do in politics now to the fact that i started in local government. i spoke yesterday to the virginia association of counties. the gathering of all county supervisors of all 95 counties around virginia. they gather once a year, usually in person. last year it was by zoom. they were so glad to be back together in person in norfolk yesterday, hundreds of them in a conference room. and they asked me to come and talk about what's going on in congress. i said, well, how much time do you have? but what i really focused on was three things, and i want to focus on those three things now, speaking about them from

the perspective of local officials not just in virginia, but all over this country. first, the american rescue plan which was passed in march, but it's just beginning to have an impact in virginia cities, counties, and towns. second, the bipartisan infrastructure bill that was signed at the white house yesterday. and, third, the education and workforce bill that we're working on now that i believe will reach the president's desk in december. i started off by telling these county supervisors what i truly believe about anybody in public life right now, elected or first responder or classroom teacher. when we're all finished with our times in public life, i think we'll look back on this period of time beginning march 2020 as the most important period of our public service careers. the pandemic has created such destruction, death, economic catastrophe, illness, division that we've all been tested in

our personal lives and in our work on behalf of our citizens, our constituents have needed us in unparalleled ways since march of 2020. last year on a cold saturday in march, we passed the american rescue plan. it contains significant funding in four basic pillars -- health care, relief to individuals and families, aid to businesses, and then finally aid to state and local governments, including educational institutions. the american rescue plan immediately affected millions of americans, families, health care, institutions, businesses, through measures like massive vaccine deployment, checks to individuals, business grants. these kept families afloat and helped protect themselves against covid, and they also kept the lights on for many of our local businesses. but what i want to focus on, mr. president, is the aid that we gave to state and local

governments, and again, particularly, particularly to local governments. virginia received -- virginia and its localities through the american rescue plan received $7.2 billion in the american rescue plan. $4 billion to the commonwealth of virginia, $3.2 billion to our cities, counties and towns. as soon as we passed it, i started to go around and talk to our cities, counties and towns, how are you going to spend these local moneys? and what they told me was interesting. in april of last year, they said, well, first we're going to wait and see how the state decides to spend their $4 billion, because we don't want to spend on something and have the state spend on the same thing. so we're going to let the state, the governor, governor northam, the general assembly program the $4 billion. but while the state is doing that, we're going to to go out and dialogue with our citizens. i applaud our local governments. they had recognizing this was

onetime money that wouldn't happen every year, they had intense public dialogue with local constituents about what can we do to really transform? how can we use this money? and they have done it in fascinating ways. as i've traveled around the state and talked to these local governments, i see them advancing long delayed capital projects, water and wastewater upgrades, closing the digital divide by investing in broadband, constructing community centers in parts of the community that haven't received investments in the past. many gave hazard pay to first responders. the american rescue plan helped people fund police, ambulance, fire, mental health workers, public health workers. grants to local nonprofits and churches that supported the community during covid, grants to shore up virginia's hard-hit businesses that were engaged in the tourism industry as people stopped traveling.

this is what our local governments have done with these dollars. the investments are supplemented by more than $3.5 billion additional to virginia child care providers, k-12 school systems, colleges, community colleges, with billions more for other local priorities like transit and broadband infrastructure. and so it was heartening to talk to these county officials. mr. president, there's more red counties in virginia than there are blue counties, so i was talking to county officials from all over the state and more would have been in republican counties than democratic counties. but they were thrilled that congress, the the senate by a one-vote margin, as we all remember, passed the american rescue plan to invest in these key local priorities. the bipartisan infrastructure bill, i told them i'm going to leave this floor and i'm going to race to washington and hope there aren't state troopers nearby because i need to get to washington to go to the signing

at the white house of the infrastructure bill. this is the nation's biggest commitment to infrastructure since the interstate highway system initiative in the eisenhower administration. it will employ hundreds of thousands of people and raise the platform for economic success for decades. mr. president, you were in local government, just as i was. if you are in local government, you care about infrastructure. when i was a mayor, i had a transit system, i had roads, i had bike trails, i had an airport, i had an amtrak station, i had a port on the james river which is connected to the chesapeake bay and has a lot of ocean-going and freight going out of our port. i had all of that. if you're in local government, you care about infrastructure. that's why it was exciting to see so many mayors and local officials at the white house yesterday when the bill was being signed. i was proud to cheer on my colleagues who work on that bill, and i thank all of them. i'm especially proud that a provision that i had with senator wicker of mississippi to

enable our historically black colleges and universities and other minority-serving institutions to be involved in training the workforce and creating the innovations that we'll need to make this infrastructure investment was included in the bill. i want to give special thanks to my virginia colleague, mark warner, who i think was sort of an unsung hero in the negotiations around the infrastructure bill. the impact of the bill is going to be felt in virginia for generations. billions for roads and bridges, ports and dredging, airports, rails to trails, railroad, climate resilience and broadband, energy grid modernization, waste and waste water infrastructure, the infrastructure bill contained a significant investment for chesapeake bay cleanup. that really matters to us. and a significant investment in the appalachian regional commission. that really matters to southern and western virginia, the parts of our state that are in

appalachia. allocating these dollars to states so that they can in smart ways will allow them to prioritize use of the funds in our cities, counties, and towns in a way that will ensure that each state gets to tackle the most important priorities because a virginia solution wouldn't be the california solution or the new hampshire solution. every state can use these funds to fund the projects that are the most important there. virginia's going to receive a minimum of $100 million for affordable broadband. at least $7.6 billion for roads and bridges. and at least $2.7 billion for transit among other sizable investments. as i explained this to my virginia association of counties yesterday morning, they were overjoyed because they all have -- and, mr. president, you remember this -- they all have their local capital improvements projects list with projects that had been bumping along for years where there was never enough dollars to really advance it. now the dollars will be there to

get the projects done and process them off the list. i want to now talk about the third bill. the administration calls this bill the build back better bill. and some call it the reconciliation bill because of the senate budget procedure that we're using to pass it. as a member of the budget and health, education, labor, pension committee, i call it the education and workforce bill. it's an education and workforce bill. this bill to me is fundamentally about preparing america's workers for tomorrow and making sure that our workforce has the training and the child care and the housing and the health care to outcompete any country in the world. if we want to make good on the promise of the infrastructure bill, who's going to build it? we just signed an infrastructure bill, but it didn't have the training and the education component. who's going to build this? we have to have a workforce to build this massive infrastructure improvement, once

in a generation improvement. that's what the build back better bill is about. we're not going to outcompete china just by diplomacy or tariffs or tough talk. we're not going to outcompete china by growing our military budget. the best way to outcompete china is to invest in america's workers. the success of america's economy in the next 50 years will depend on us making the same investments that allowed us to thrive in the 20th century. investing in infrastructure, investing in people, and that's the basis of build back better. this education and workforce bill also provides sizable investments in community colleges to train workers for infrastructure jobs, to train the next generation of k-12 teachers and to train workers to enable america to lead the world into a new and innovative energy economy. there will be investments in rural economic development, a pell grant increase, an extension of the child tax

credit, and additional health care and housing funds to reduce costs for american families. the bill will close the medicaid coverage gap, lower health care costs, and the costs of prescription drugs and fund better public health infrastructure. mr. president, the thing about this bill that maybe excites me the most is this -- we will be able to provide funding for states to make pre-kindergarten universally available for every 3 and 4-year-old in this country, and we'll do it through a mixed delivery model that supports high-quality public and private providers. this will help an additional 140,000 3 and 4-year-olds in virginia have pre-k and will also fund child care for the kids younger than 3 years old to bring down costs of child care for working families when you combine both the pre-k and the child care support in virginia, it will mean that 500,000 more kids just in my state will have access to quality and affordable

child care in early education. when kids get a strong start, it puts them on a brighter path for the rest of their lives and it makes it much easier for their parents to go into the workforce knowing that their child has high-quality and affordable child care options. mr. president, if we pass this bill -- and i'm confident we will -- it's going to be the most pro-family and most pro-child bill congress has ever passed. i believe this bill will do for children what social security did for seniors. in a status that we have long-lived in in this country where we accept a child poverty rate that's dramatically higher than the adult poverty rate. what does that say? what does that say about a society? this workforce and education bill, build back better, will end our acceptance of that unacceptable status quo and move us to a position where we can

cut child poverty and give our kids a much stronger start for a successful life. the american rescue plan, as i mentioned a minute ago, passed the senate by just one vote. just one vote. one vote that changed all of those benefits to my local governments and to families and to educational institutions and to hospitals and health care network and to businesses. all of those would have not occurred. none of the counties whose leadership i spoke to yesterday would receive the moneys i talked about for the transformative projects. i hope we'll pass this education and pofers bill by a wider margin than just one vote. but if it is just one vote, if it is just one vote, so be it. so be it. when there was an effort in this chamber in august of 2017 to take health insurance away from 30 million people, one of the most dramatic moments in my entire public service career, we saved 30 million people's health

care by one vote. by one vote. and when we acted on the american rescue plan in the middle of the pandemic in march to try to help our country climb out of the worst public health crisis in a century, we got it by one vote. i'd like a wider margin, but if it's just one vote, if it's just one vote, we will still be doing really important work. americans deserve a congress that will fund businesses and schools, that will train the workforce, that will build up transportation networks, that will support hospitals and health clinics, employ vaccines, create better broadband connections, provide tax relief to working families and lower child care costs. build back better is the next step to lift us out of the pandemic and rebuild the american economy. mr. president, i've got to say

i'm 63 years old. i will be 64 in february. this has been the hardest 20 months of my life. and i think most people in this country might say the same thing. if you just think about the sheer numbers of 750,000 people who passed and people who have been ill. my wife and i both had covid-19. we know a lot of people who have died of covid. but beyond, folks who didn't have covid but who had a grandchild born that they couldn't go visit or a friend who died and they couldn't go to a funeral or lost a job or had a business that they had sweated to build that had to shut its doors. it's been such a tough time. but as i looked out at the hundreds of county officials that were gathering in person yesterday in norfolk and talking to them about these bills and i saw them there in person, i detected an uplift. i'm feeling a sense of uplift. i'm feeling a sense of uplift as we see wages increasing. i'm feeling a sense of uplift as we make a commitment for the first time in a generation to be builders and invest and grow our

infrastructure. i'm feeling a sense of uplift as we approach investing in our workers and in our family the same way we are investing in infrastructure. i have a feeling over the next couple of months these -- these important investments will braid together in a way that will make people feel a sense of septuplet lift about the economy. and as vaccines continue to be distributed and now boosters distributed. mr. president, how wonderful it was to hear you talking about your children being able to be vaccinated, your school-aged children. i think that's going to contribute to a sense of uplift, too. and i just want this body to be a generator of uplift. sadly, a lot has come out of the capitol in the last few years that hasn't exactly been uplift for people. i believe we are standing on the threshold of a chapter where this body, the united states senate, will be a great generator of uplift for the american people, and i think passing build back better is a

step that will be really important in making that happen. thank you very much. i yield the floor.

mrs. capito: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from west virginia.

mrs. capito: thank you, mr. president. i wanted to address the senate on an issue that is very close to my heart. now that we are well into the month of november and our nation's observance of the national family caregiver month, i would like to recognize the family caregivers across the nation and the difficult and vitally important work that they do. my siblings, i have a brother and sister and both of my parents, passed away from 2014 and 2015 and both passed away from alzheimer's at the same time. it was very difficult for all of us. the best way to ease their pain and satisfy was a very difficult time. how we, as a family, were going to be providing for their care. this experience motivated me to join my colleague, senator michael bennet, of colorado, as a cosponsor of the bipartisan assistant caregivers today, or act caucus. the act caucus seeks to bring

much-needed attention to all of the caregivers and the issues that our caregivers face from all backgrounds. it seeks to find bipartisan ways to lessen the emotional and financial toll for those individuals caring for family members and this help is needed by so, so many. 83% of the help provided to older adults in the united states comes from family members, friends, or even unpaid caregivers. nearly half of all caregivers who provide help to older adults do so like we do for someone living with alzheimer's or with another type of dementia. in my home state of west virginia, we have about 85,000 family caregivers who are living -- who are living with someone who has alzheimer's and caring for them. an, as we know, those of us who have been down this road, there are no easy solutions here.

not only is it emotionally taxing on a family, it's -- there's no simple path and it's -- it also can be very, very expensive. so my west virginia alzheimer's advocates share with me their stories, they let me come to their support group, which i needed at the time and also the challenges that they had as caregivers. one of these challenges is navigating the current complex medical system needed to care for someone living with alzheimer's or more often than not other chronic medical conditions. this is one of the reasons i joined with my colleague, debbie stabenow of michigan and we have done a couple of things together including the comprehensive care for alzheimer's act. this bill would address the challenge by asking the centers for medicare and medicaid for innovation to be able to test dementia care management models.

it enables individuals to more seam lives and successfully -- seamlessly and successfully navigate the health care systems. the model is designed to reach as many medicare individuals as possible, especially individuals from underserved areas. it provides comprehensive caregiver service, including caregiver support and ensures that they have access to dementia care experience and to reimburse providers through payment based on performance. this is something that could have helped my brother, sister and i by helping us to coordinate the care that our parents not just received but what they deserved. it could help them by ensuring they receive the best care at all times. we must recognize the importance that our family caregivers play, not only during national family

caregivers month, but every day, and embrace those commonsense solutions like this one. so in honor of my parents, i would like to say that many of us across the country that are dealing with this have so much heartache and so much difficult and so much difficult decisions that i'm always trying to seek the best way to try to help those families who are going down that path. thank you. the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. brown: in honor of the parents and so many others of senator capito and thank her for her empathetic, passionate remarks and we've all had friends and family that have suffered and her remarks are really appropriate. so thank you for that. mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that my remarks, that the vote take place immediately after my remarks.

the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: thank you. i also ask that senator ossoff be added to s. 3736, the federal reserve act. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: i note that joining me on the floor today is ben ashman, for whom we've given consent to be on the floor, a fellow officer. i urge my colleagues to join me in supporting graham steele, the president's nominee for assistant secretary for financial institutions, the department of treasury. graham is my friend. he is a former staff member of the banking, housing and urban affairs committee and was and is a stellar public servant. i know from personal experience how ready mr. steele is for the job. he spent several years in my personal senate office and on the banking and housing committee staff when i became ranking member.

he was he worked on the staff of so many of my colleagues in both parties. that's why in a senate that's, frankly, too divided and a senate that is too rigid in its partisanship, five in the banking committee joined in voting for graham steele and that's because of his relationships an honesty. he has extensive experience, a history to make our system work for everyone. he understands the far-reaching effects, the financial system has on workers and their families. throughout his career -- throughout his career, graham has forged close relationships with civil rights groups, with consumer advocates and organizations like the bipartisan ohio bankers league who wrote in support of his nomination. he stood up for families,

communities, against wall street greed and corruption. as minority chief counsel as the staff director of the subcommittee on financial institutions and consumer protection, he crafted legislation, he worked with other offices, he worked with community banks, he fought to protect all america's -- all americans' finances. he worked on a broad set of issues with two republican chair, senator crapo of idaho, senator shelby, of alabama, worked with their staffs, worked with people on both sides of the aisle. he did vital work after the 2008 financial crisis as we worked to stabilize our financial system. he worked for our office and traveled around ohio and talked to ohioans who lost their homes and saw their communities devastated by wall street. and i underscore wall street's great recession. he -- i mean wall street didn't experience much in the

recession, wall street caused the recession. make that clear. he understands the importance of listening to workers and how the financial industry affects their lives every day. he puts results for americans above partisanship. he worked with senator johanns, a republican from ohio, on important fix to insurance regulation, he worked with senator moran, of kansas, to help families increase savings at the -- he researched important issues at the intersection of markets and business and government looking at ways to promote a more accountable economy. at treasury he would oversee an office that plays a pivotal role in financial institution policy, cybersecurity and critical infrastructure protections. he would lead an office and oversees the community financial

institution funds, cdfi, his qualifications and experience are obvious. graham, and the staff of many of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, can attest to his commitment to service and the table the to find common ground, something that will serve him well at treasury working with secretary yellen and will serve this body and our government wevment i urge my colleagues to join -- well. i urge my colleagues to join me in supporting graham steele. he will serve admirably, i can think-no person -- i can think of no person who can serve in this role at this qoangsal point -- consequential point in time. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the question is 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 53, the nays are 42. 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 on the nomination of executive calendar number 345, robert farrell bonnie of virginia to be under secretary of agriculture for farm production and conservation, signed by 17 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 the nomination of robert farrell bonnie of virginia to be under secretary of agriculture for farm production and conservation shall be brought to a close. the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: the yeas are 75, nays are 20, and the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, department of agriculture, robert farrell bonnie of virginia to be under secretary for farm production and conservation. ms. sinema: i ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding rule 22 the vote on executive

calendar the nomination of brian nelson, and the cloture vote on the motion to proceed to h.r. 4350, the national defense authorization act, occur at 10:00 tomorrow morning, wednesday, november 17. that if cloture is invoked on the nelson nomination, all postcloture time to be considered expired and the senate vote on confirmation of the nomination to occur at a time to be determined by the majority leader following consultation with the republican leader, and finally that at 5:00 p.m. today the senate execute the previous order with respect to the kanter nomination to be assistant attorney general. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. ms. sinema: in addition to the previously scheduled vote on confirmation of the bonnie nomination at 2:30 p.m. today there will be a vote on the nomination of the kanter nomination at approximately 5:15 p.m. tomorrow at 10:00 there will be two roll call votes. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the senate

stands in recess until 2:15 p.m.

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reporting on oil since the 1990s and serves as director of american soil news at s&p global plasse andmister mauer, let's begin with a question you always get when people are paying more at the pump . why? >> it's a good question john and thanks for having me on . n,the basic answer is that demand for refined products is outstripping the supply for refined products but i want to back up a bit to 2020 and just explain what happened briefly when the coronavirus first hit especially earlier in the year and a really big and sudden drop in demand. it was around 20 million barrels a day possibly more and demand and global demand. so over a very short amount of time and it's a very sudden, much more deep drop and people had expected. that was between just say january and april that year. as you c i