the first time and certainly make that, as long overdue and we appreciate that. how can dhs and fcc better coordinate to improve the security of these networks and create increase resiliency and in particular. >> that's a great question and i can't say that i've thought a lot this joint work dhs. i do think that maybe perhaps what could happen in what we have with the fcc in the chair in the administrator, they are required to me twice a year maybe we could have something later. >> were going to u.s. senate live and bring you live coverage of, and to congress continuing defense authorization act in a

bill that puts the policies for the fiscal year 2022 and lawmakers expected to consider amendments and a final vote is possible later today you're watching live coverage, on "c-span2".

wonders of your grace. help us to see the majesty of your inclusive love to people everywhere. inspiring us to do your work on earth. today accept the gratitude of our lawmakers for your generous blessings. lord, keep them so dedicated to you that your peace will abide in their hearts.

may faith replace fear, truth conquer falsehood, and love prevail over hate. we pray in your strong name. amen. the president pro tempore: 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 president pro tempore: senator smith. ms. smith: i notice the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. cornyn: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: madam president, i'd ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. morning business is closed. under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of h.r. 4350 which the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 144, h.r. 4350, an act to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2022 for military activities of

the department of defense and so forth and for other purposes. mr. cornyn: madam president, back in september, the small little texas border town del rio, texas, was thrown into the national spotlight. this is a small town on the u.s.-mexico border of 35,000 people, and over the course of several days, they had 15 to -- 15,000 to 20,000 hey yen -- haitian migrants camping out underneath a bridge. migrants huddled under the bridge to escape triple-digit temperatures. it's still hot in september in texas. and they had minimal access to sanitation, to food, and clean water. the images of this crisis looked like they were taken from a third world country, not from the united states of america. this massive surge should not have caught the biden

administration offguard. as a matter of fact, they should know that their policies have incentivized and encouraged this sort of influx of humanity across our border. border patrol had been asking their leadership for more resources as far back as june, but come september those resources weren't available and despite the warnings, the biden administration was completely unprepared. so what is the border patrol supposed to do when you see this mass influx of humanity come across the border for which the administration is completely unprepared? in a town that lacks the infrastructure to deal with this influx? the border patrol did what they needed to do. they were pulled off the front lines to provide humanitarian relief. but what that means is it leaves

huge stretches of the border unprotected against illegal immigration or perhaps even more dangerous, illegal drug smuggling coming across the border. and the criminal organizations that operate these smuggling operations, whether they're migrants or they're drugs, they unsdz this -- they understand this. this is part of their game plan. but it's like they're playing three dimensional chess while the united states government is playing checkers. it just is not a fair fight and fair matchup. but so far that has not apparently sunk in to the biden administration. fortunately we did have some organizations like the valvedy border humanitarian coalition, step up to feed, house, and arrange transportation for these migrants. you can imagine what the challenge was just to feed 15,000 to 20,000 people.

there wasn't a porta-potty to be had for 300 miles after they consolidated to deal with the sanitation issues alone. if not for the dedicated border patrol agents, customs and border protection, and the incredible community organizations in del rio, this crisis could have been much, much worse. as a matter of fact, the secretary chief of the del rio sector told me the fact they did not have a loss of life was a miracle. i want to publicly express my gratitude to those in countless ways went above the call of duty to mitigate this crisis the best they did. they didn't receive the gratitude they deserve, but they need more than our gratitude, they need our help. after the makeshift camp under the bridge was cleared, the national news died down, the reporters and cameras went away,

but the problem did not. it's not a question of if there will be a repetition of what we saw in del rio in september, it's a question of when because none of the reasons why those 15,000 to 20,000 haitian migrants showed up has been fixed. ill met with leaders in the community of del rio and they told me about the challenges they are facing. the new chief of the border patrol told me while there were 15,000 to 20,000 migrants in september, they are still averaging 1,000 migrant encounters a day. so in about two weeks time they have the equivalent of what we saw last september in terms of the 15,000 to 20,000 migrants because they are still getting a thousand people a day yet it

doesn't command the attention of the news media and the nation like this incident did in september. so things are not getting any better. agents are still being diverted from their normal duties, including taking care of unaccompanied children, leaving vast swaths of the border unprotected through which drugs are run, drugs that last year alone took the lives of more than 100,000 citizens because of amount of fentanyl, meth an get mean, cocaine and heroin and other -- drugs come across the border. they know if you overwhelm the capacity of the border patrol to deal with it, you are going to leave unprotected areas, and that is the plan of the transnational criminal organizations. i spoke with a group of about 30

border patrol agents at muster, that's when they show up from one shift to the next where they need -- where they find out information they need for the day. when asked about what they would need, not a single hand was raised. it was because they were going to push paper and processing migrants instead of out on the front lines protecting our country against illegal immigration and the influx of illegal drugs. again, the cartels understand this. this is part of their game plan. but apparently the biden administration and the powers that be here in washington, d.c., are completely oblivious to what the push and pull factors are for illegal immigration and illegal drugs across our border. these men and women of the border patrol are brave

professionals and they normally would be out on the front lines stopping dangerous people and substances from sneaking across the border, but now they are primarily processing paperwork, watching children and trying to clean up the mess created by a failed border security policy by the biden administration. this is a dangerous situation that puts our endire country at risk -- entire country at risk. while these highly trained and dedicated agents are pushing paper, who knows what's coming across the border. there's a clear and urgent need for congress to take action to address this crisis in a meaningful and responsible way and everybody from secretary mayorkas on down says that this is what is required under current policies so my humble suggestion is those policies

need to change, and that means only congress can pass new laws to change those policies, but so far our democratic colleagues, especially the leadership, have shown zero interest in engaging at all on how to solve this problem. they've spent the bulk of this year trying to figure out how you can break the rules of the senate to reform our entire immigration system using the budget. this process wasn't is designed to fast-track partisan legislation or to sirk couple vent policy making, it's not a loom hole to -- loophole to allow the majority party to do whatever they want. the senate parliamentarian has said that democrats cannot use this reconciliation process to grant immigration, the people who would benefit from these

policies don't seem to hold our democratic colleagues accountable for showing up empty handed, notwithstanding their promises of help to people who are here in undocumented status. our democratic colleagues continue arguing among themselves about how much of the population should receive some form of legal status without putting one ounce of thought or ounce of effort into how the population got so big in the first place. they are certainly not considering what we need to do to prevent a number of people living in the shadows from continuing to increase. there is a clear and urgent crisis on our southern border and president biden and his administration have proven to be unwilling or incapable of addressing it. the numbers tell the tale. last year border crossings hit a record high, more than

1.7 million border crossings in a single year. that's a 30-year high. the backlog of immigration court cases has grown to nearly 1.5 million -- that's 1.5 million pending court cases before immigration judges and the average wait time for a single case to be decided is more than two and a half years. congress has a duty to take action to create change to this broken system and it can only be done in a bipartisan way. it's not too late for our friends on the other side of the aisle to work with us to abandon this team to do an amnesty bipartisan vote on a budget act. it's not too late for them to work with us to address the crisis at hand. and i have a suggestion about a good place to start. earlier this year i introduced a

bipartisan, bicameral bill with a fellow border state senator, senator sinema, called the bipartisan borders solution act. we've been proud to work with two of our house colleagues, congressman henry cuellar, from loredo, texas, and tony gonzalez who represents the 23rd congressional district, the largest con con tijus district to the mexican border. it would improve the way that we process and care for these migrants. one would establish four regional processing centers in high trafficking areas along the border. these would, in effect, be a one-stop shop for government agencies involved in processing the migrants. migrants can receive identity

screening and go through a criminal history check in one place. they could begin the legal process of seeking asylum. they will go through legal orientation and receive the documents and information they need for their future court date. right now, in the absence of regional processing centers, that all takes place wherever the bodies come across at a given looks along the border, that's what takes the border patrol off the lines opening up gaps allowing illegal drugs to come across. so the very modest step of creating legal processing centers will at least help with that. second, our bill addresses staffing shortages that has made this even more challenging, and that's the goal of criminal organizations that move millions of migrants across our border, but it will require the hiring

of hundreds of border and protection officers and border patrol processing agents so agents like i spoke of in del rio can get back on the front lines. this legislation calls for 150 new immigration judges, given the size of the backlog of the immigration docket, we need more help. we need i.c.e. litigation time and other personnel to adjudicate asylum cases and work through the backlog. make no doubt about it, mr. president. these criminal organizations are smart. they are well organized and they understand the gaps that -- and know how to exploit them and it's because they've become expert at exploiting the gaps in the absence of any action by congress. what we've seen in the last year is going to continue into the foreseeable future. what we saw in del rio last

september will be repeated at some point unless we change the way we handle these migrants. these are commonsense reforms, like i said, that have received bicameral and bipartisan support, which for months has completely bewildered the biden administration. it's not a solution to every problem we're facing today, but it's a place to start. i would yield to anybody who has a better idea or anybody who has any ideas at all, but so far all we hear from the biden administration is crickets, pretending like the problem doesn't exist and will hopefully go away. meanwhile the president's poll numbers when it comes to the border and illegal immigration continue to plummet. you would think self-interest alone in the political future in the democratic party and of this

administration would cause them to wake up and decide, hey, what we're doing now isn't working so let's try something different. well, i hope that the senate democrats who have the majority in the senate and who set the agenda both here on the floor and in committees will consider the bipartisan, bicameral bill that senator sinema and congressman cuellar and congressman gonzalez have proposed. only the head of the senate judiciary committee can set a hearing on the bill and schedule a markup. we can offer amendments and shape the bill according to the will of the members of the senate. so far senator tillis from north carolina and i have written a letter to senator

durbin, head of the judiciary committee, to hold such a markup. we're not suggesting we can -- dictate such an outcome, but we're asking him to get off a dime, get out of neutral and actually do something to help improve the broken situation at the border. senate committees used to be the usual place for debates on critical issues and legislation, but now it seems like the democratic chairman have creeded all of their -- ceded all of their power to the authors of the reckless tax-and-spending spree bill that has passed the house. they have not stopped to consider the fact that they could move the same policies through the normal committee process. after the parliamentarian confirmed that democrats cannot grant legal status for

citizenship through the budget process, the chairman of the judiciary committee professed to be deeply disappointed. but he wasn't surprised. he knows the rules as well as anybody else. and it seems disingenuous to me to say he was deeply disappointed in not being able to move immigration law changes through a partisan budget reconciliation process when he, himself, has the authority to schedule a markup and hearing of a bill that would actually make things better. there's nothing that prevents chairman durbin from holding a hearing on these proposals in the judiciary committee this week. make no mistake, republicans want the judiciary committee to start working on legislation to address the failures of our immigration system and not just the border crisis. as i suggested a moment ago this

summer senator tillis from north carolina and i asked the chairman of the committee to take up a targeted daca bill, deferred action for childhood arrivals, that only addresses the act -- active daca population. they find themselves in an unstable future because of the legislation still pending. we didn't ask anything for that. we asked that the senate judiciary committee do its job by taking up a bill and voting on a piece of legislation and making it available for floor action. many of our democratic colleagues have been promising the dreamers sometimes known as the daca population -- same difference. these are people who came across the border illegally as children. but in america we don't hold children responsible for the mistakes their parents make. and there are many of us on our

side of the aisle that would be happy to engage in a discussion and debate and vote on relief and a more stable future for these young people who, as i said, did nothing wrong but now find themselves in a legal conundrum. these are the young men and women whose fate hangs in the balance of every court ruling for the last ten years. and the chairman of the judiciary committee is advocating giving them legal status. now he has two republican senators asking to bring up a bill that achieves that goal, but he refuses. even went so far to say he was disappointed when we asked him to do his job. instead he insists on tying the fate of these young people to the democrats' impos impossible-to-massachusetts legalization proposal. our democratic colleagues seem

to think this massive partisan bill is the only way they can prove to voters that they know how to govern, but they've got it backwards. in reality democrats' burning focus on this one reckless bill has kept them from achieving anything else, including immigration reform. our colleagues have done nothing to address the border crisis. so far have done nothing to fund the government. have done nothing to lift the dead creolele -- dead creole -- debt ceiling. done nothing to support our military and done nothing to meet the senate's most basic responsibilities. it's true by virtue of the 50-50 senate and a democrat vice president that our democratic colleagues control the majority in this body and they control

the majority in the house of representatives and they have the white house. but one thing is for sure. this is a far cry from living up to our responsibilities to govern wisely and appropriately for the american people. mr. president, i yield the floor and i'd note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: we in a quorum? i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: so, mr. president, there's a lot of work to get done in this chamber today and for the rest of the week, and democrats are committed to working with the other side in good faith to get them done. first, we need to fund the government before the december 3 deadline. on that front negotiations continue on a bipartisan, bicameral basis and we're making good progress towards passing a funding america. when a c.r. reaches the senate democrats are going to support it and work to pass it as quickly as possible. our republican colleagues, meanwhile can either work with us to move the process quickly through the chamber or they can engage in obstructive tactics that will make a government shutdown almost a certainty. sadly, this second option seems to be the path that a few on the other side are choosing. and i hope they see the light quickly and not cause a needless

republican government shutdown. if every member of this chamber used the threat of a shutdown to secure concessions on their own interests, that would lead to chaos for the millions and millions of americans who rely on a functioning government. so i urge those republicans who are thinking of poisoning this entire process for their own items to take a step back. there are other arenas and opportunities to have a debate. in the meantime, we have a responsibility, a responsibility to fund the government so it can fulfill its basic duties to serve the american people. and, mr. president, we have a responsibility to support our troops, support their families, and keep americans safe by passing our annual defense bill. on that front we also need bipartisan cooperation. last night both parties ran a hot line in order to reach consent on holding floor votes on 21 amendments to the ndaa. this is even more amendments than chairman reed and ranking

member inhofe offered a few weeks ago. to put this proposal in historical context, in the first year under president trump, the senate held votes on 22 amendments on all legislation. not only that, our latest vote includes votes on the items senator mcconnell said just yesterday were, quote, the only reason that republicans pushed the pause button on this bill. well, it's time for republicans to hit the play button. democrats have been exceedingly with ample input from the other side of the aisle. let me repeat. we have more amendments on the floor that we've offered on this ndaa bill than the total amount of amendments for four years under leader mcconnell on the ndaa bill, more here now. people say we're moving too quickly. you know what we did on those bills? we sat on the floor for days without doing anything. we sat on the floor the last few weeks getting nominations through, even as some others are

making it. so to sit on the floor and do nothing, makes no sense. here we have 21 amendments that we're willing to do to, again, i repeat, to do more bills than in 230-- 2016 or, 2017, 02018, 2019. let the republicans hit the play button. democrats have been exceedingly reasonable by offering robust process with ample input from are the other side. -- from the other side. i know many on the other side want to get this done as well. that's good and we'll keep working until we have a deal to move forward. now on dale ho. earlier today i had the honor to come before the senate judiciary committee to introduce a remarkable candidate to sit on the federal bench. dale ho, who/proudly recommended to president biden as a nominee to the district court of the

southern district of new york. mr. ho is a graduate of princeton, yale law school, clerked for two judges. but it's his experience at the legal defense fund and the aclu where he currently serves as director of voting rights where he has set himself apart as one of the best election and voting rights lawyers in america. he has argued two cases before the u.s. supreme court. in one he challenged the exclusion of undocumented immigrants from the population count used. in the other which made the front pages of most newspapers, he successfully challenged the citizenship question on the 2020 census. he also led successful challenge of the kansas law requiring people to show a birth certificate or passport when registering to vote. as voting rights come under assault across the country, it is only fitting that we elevate

one of the country's top voting rights experts to sit on the bench to safeguard our democracy and preserve our most fundamental right as u.s. citizens. voting rights is in jeopardy. there could be no finer person on the bench than dale ho, one of the great experts in america at both understanding and litigating votes rights for the people. if confirmed, i have no doubt he will make an excellent federal judge and i am proud to support his nomination. now, on a different matter, this evening it will be my honor to join the president, vice president, first lady, and especially our second gentleman for the annual white house menorah lighting ceremony. this year hanukkah comes at a poignant moment. i will be proud to participate at the white house as the first jewish majority leader in history. i will join bearing in mind the passing of my wonderful father.

and after a year and a half marked by loss an then renewal. the season is a reminder that in the face of awful adversity, we cannot lose faith in god's providence. in the face of darkness, hanukkah teaches that rather than curse the darkness, we must light a candle. in the story of hasn't characters the macabees triumphed after facing adversity. this year we take heart from the lesson of that story. we, too, shall triumphs over the challenges our country facings today. so as we observe the fourth night of hanukkah, i want to wish my colleagues and the american people a happy hanukkah, and i look forward to joining the white house for tonight's candlelighting event. i yield the floor. i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

quorum call:

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent that further proceedings your honor the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: conflationist hammering -- inflation is hammering working families from coast to coast. but democrats want to print, borrow, and spend billions more. our economy is already sputtering on their watch, but democrats want to wallop the country with massive tax hikes that would kill american jobs and discourage industry from locating here in our country.

everybody with a lick of common sense knows the massive reckless taxing-and-spending spree that democrats are writing behind closed doors is crazy. a supermajority of americans -- 67% -- say that inflation and rising costs are harming everyone in the country and government should cut back on spending and printing money as a result. 67% of the american people. two in three americans want washington democrats to step back, step back from the precipice. an overwhelming consensus. but a fao loud voices -- but a few loud voices on the far left are ignoring the people. the sheer financial cost of what democrats want to do to our country is literally jaw-dropping. even when the congressional

budget office had to swallow all the democrats' budget gimmicks and fuzzy math at face value, here's what they still found, that this reckless taxing-and-spending spree would add, listen to this, $800 billion to the deficit in the next five years. even with swallowing all the gimmicks. another $800 billion in deficit spending during a time of inflation. but even that almost certainly undershoots the impact. the democrats' legislation pretends that liberals will let all of these huge new entitlements simply expire after a few years. we all know that's a total accounting fiction. they're marketing these new

welfare programs as moral imperatives. democrats don't want them to expire, but they draft bills like these fake expiration dates to make it appear -- appear -- like it costs less. outside experts have tried to estimate the real cost of the bill. so listen to this -- if all these new welfare entitlements did not magically fall away after a few years, they say the bill would actually cost double -- double -- what democrats say and leave us with $2.8 trillion -- trillion -- in new debt. nonpartisan experts who look past the democrats' fictional accounting and fake assumptions find the bill would add $2.8 billion to the deficit. that's how he risk turning a couple years of inflation into a

full-on lost decade. a full-on lost decade. but the problem with their taxing-and-spending spree is not just the price tag. it is not the case that democrats have cooked up a great list of investments that would strengthen america. we just can't afford it at this particular moment. no, our colleagues want to ram through a far-left wish list that will hurt american families and help china. so, look, there's no grand national project waiting on the other side of all these trillions, no 21st century

version of the hoover dam or the interstate highway system or the space race, nothing to really make us proud. just a mediocre assortment of new welfare programs, new transfers, and new bureaucratic power grabs. and somehow it all seems tailor-made to take existing problems in our country and actually make them worse. take, for example, the nationwide labor shortage facing our economy right now. one of the most vocal of the house's self-styled democratic socialists said last year that even after -- even after -- workplaces were once again safe, people should simply refuse to go back to work, refuse to go

back to work. forget science, forget economic recovery. just say no. well, this spring the far left got their wish -- a massive, unnecessary spending package that stunted our comeback and literally paid people too stay on the sidelines. by summertime, unfilled positions were setting new all-time highs. and yet washington democrats now want to double down about a plan that would shatter a decades-old link between welfare and work. they want to massively expand access to welfare, including to people in this country -- listen to this -- who are in this country illegally. by hijacking -- hijacking the

child care tax credit that was designed for working families with actual tax liabilities. that's what the child tax credit was for, to help working families who had actual tax liabilities. or look at the ongoing object association with the green new deal -- obsession with the green new deal policies. president biden's cave to the far-left climate agenda started on day one. canceling american jobs, keystone pipeline, and freezing exploration of new sources of domestic energy. last year the united states was a net energy exporter. now on democrats' watch we've doubled our imports of russian oil, and american households are staring down and historic spike in home heating costs.

was it time to pump the brakes on green radicalism? not if you ask washington democrats. their reckless taxing-and-spending spree would mean a fresh batch of fees and mandates on producers of the mott affordable domestic energy while showering incentives is on the unreliable alternatives blue state liberals prefer. pouring government subsidies into electric cars or solar panels would mean handing a massive windfall to chinese producers that dominate the market for a slew of the rare earth materials these markets require. so it would hurt our families and help china. look at education. the same democrats who let their big labor benefactors rob kids of in-person schooling are now letting the justice department

of the biden administration scrutinize parents who dare to question woke propaganda. their reckless taxing-and-spending spree would go even further to take power and control away from parents. democrats want to bring even more of kids' learning down to pre-k under the thumb of woke bureaucrats and big labor. and even prior to pre-k, democrats have cooked up a crazy new labyrinth of regulations and subsidies and mandates for day care. president biden and speaker pelosi want to tell the american people how to raise their kids and how to structure their private family arrangements. these liberals want to take families' most personal life decisions and have washington pick winners and losers. so listen to this, the cost of child care would actually be driven up. families who have made different sets of sacrifices to have a

parent or grandparent raise their young kids would get absolutely nothing. oh, and listen to this. many americans' faith-based providers would be intentionally shut out from important funding, and the culture warrior, secretary becerra, would be calling the shots. so it's like i said, mr. president, the actual substance of their bill is as al as the price tag. democrats' plan wouldn't just waste trillions and exacerbate inflation, it would also make american families' lives considerably worse.

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

quorum call:

mr. johnson: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from wisconsin. mr. johnson: mr. president, on sunday, november 21 -- the presiding officer: we're in a quorum call. mr. johnson: i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. johnson: mr. president, on sunday, november 21, 2021, a christmas parade in -- in wisconsin was to usher in goodwill toward men turned into a nightmare. one 8-year-old child and five adults were murdered. 62 others were injured. some of the injured, including

three children, remain in critical condition. their lives forever altered. families with their children who came to see santa claus, high school bands, and the dancing grannies, instead witnessed a horror that will leave life-long psychological scars. first responders and law enforcement who rushed in to administer first aid and compassionately deal with the tragedy will be burdened by their terrible memories for the rest of their lives. but, as is so often the case, in the midst of an awful event caused by the worst in humanity, the absolute best of humanity is fully revealed. this is what we were witnessing.

the healing process has already begun. it began immediately as members of the community came together to help the victims an survivors. the very next evening hundreds of people gathered at an interfaith prayer vigil to pray for healing and strength. i had the privilege of attending that vigil and speaking to members of the community, first responders, and those who knew the victims. it was a moving experience that i will never forget. sorrowful and yet hopeful. from that experience i have no doubt that the citizens of wakashaw will recover from this tragedy but it will take time and effort. it will also be the responsibility of civil society to administer justice for this heinous act of evil because the

victims and the community deserve justice. unfortunately there is nothing we can do to bring back the six innocent lives who perished. virginia sorrenson, leannea owen, tamra did yourand, jane coolidge, william hopel, and jackson sparks, who was only 8 years old. we can pray for healing, for those broken in both body and spirit and also pray for those who helped them heal. we can also show our support by offering a moment of silence here on the floor of the united states senate to ask for -- following the remarks of my colleague from wisconsin, who i now yield to.

ms. baldwin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from wisconsin. ms. baldwin: on sunday, novembed celebration of waukesha's annual christmas parade was silenced taking the lives of individuals and scores of others -- injuring scores of others. police and firefighters leapt into action as did other first responders and so did parade goers, providing aid and comfort to the injured and their families and those who witnessed such horrendous violence. they escorted some to safety.

many used personal vehicles to bring victims to area hospitals. these were acts of extraordinary heroism at a moment of immense tragedy. i too joined in the interfaith vigil the following evening where i joined hundreds upon hundreds in waukesha and the surrounding area. this is a first step of an infinite number of steps in both the grieving and healing process. and, while the entire vigil was moving in so many ways, i just remember the end where neighbor

turned to neighbor to light their candles. and the light was passed on and on and in that night, after dusk had passed, the area lit up, a symbol of both hope and unity as well as grief and remembrance. i want to be very clear where i stand as i stand together with the waukesha community. i think it's simply wrong and disrespectful to the innocent lives that were taken away for anyone to play politics with this horrific tragedy. we know this is not a political issue asking for division. it is a community standing together in unity asking for support to heal and asking for our love and support as we move forward together.

and so we remember wilhelm bill hospel, virginia jenny sorenson, leanna lee owen, tamara durand, jane kulich, and 8-year-old jackson sparks. i yield back to my colleague to ask for a moment of silence in their memory. mr. johnson: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from wisconsin. mr. johnson: i invite the senate to observe a moment of silence in memory of and to recognize those killed, injured, and forever impacked by the attack on the walk shah christmas parade on november 21, 2021.

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

mr. barrasso: mr. president? brfer the senator from wyoming.

mr. barrasso: thank you, mr. president. i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. barrasso: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, as i was home last week for thanksgiving traveling the state of wyoming talking to many folks, i heard a lot, got an earful from people about the democrats' reckless tax-and-spending bill that's being proposed and that senator schumer said he wants to get passed before christmas. if that's the case, it's going to be a long december. the people of wyoming do not like this bill because they're finding out more and more about what's in it and how it's going to impact their lives. and so, mr. president, i come to the floor today to talk about a couple of things that the american people have heard and the people of wyoming have been tuned into dramatically. and that is wanting to know what's it cost. just before thanksgiving the nonpartisan congressional budget office released its report about the cost of the bill.

and the report confirmed what republicans who have read through it have expected. it's jam-packed with phony accounting gimmicks and it seems like the democrats have used just about every trick in the book to deal with the true cost of the massive amounts of money the democrats are trying to spend in this bill with one giveaway after another and additionally, entitlements, new entitle mfntses he -- new entitlements that the country cannot afford. even with all the gimmicks used, the spending is still hundreds of billions of dollars added to the debt. not just hundreds of billions of dollars of spending. hundreds of billions of dollars added to the expense. this is a violation of the speech that joe biden has given

repeatedly, that his press people have said repeatedly, that the speaker of the house has said repeatedly because they continue to say and the president has said and the secretary of treasury just yesterday said the cost of the bill would be zero. i can remember seeing president biden on television saying the cost is zero, zero, zero. the budget office even says it's hundreds of billions of dollars added to the debt. but watching this unfold as the president and the democrats have tried to force this bill on to the american public, there have been three big lies coming out of the president's mouth repeatedly on this. one is he said it would cost zero. the second he said it wouldn't raise taxes on anybody making less than $400,000 a year. and the third thing he said it wouldn't add to inflation. well, the president has been wrong on all of those.

hundreds of billions of dollars on to the debt. hundreds of billions of dollars. it does raise taxes on the middle class, the budget analysts and the tax analysts who looked at this say at least one in three americans in middle-income areas will be paying more in taxes. and it will certainly increase inflation. and, mr. president, i would point out that people at home are feeling the biting impacts of inflation. it is hitting their lives. it is hitting their pocketbooks. they noticed it over thanksgiving holidays. people in wyoming going to the gas station to fill up your truck, it's $100. $100 every time you fill up. people drive great distances to work in wyoming. i think we're the state that has the most miles driven average for any state over the course of a year, more miles driven in wyoming by the wyoming residents. we know what happens when gas prices go up a dollar and a quarter. prices are up at the store as

well. up $1.25 at the grocery store. i don't know if you noted the dollar tree stores have changed it to $1.25 for what they're charging for things. that's what we're getting under this administration with its reckless positions and policies. yesterday treasury secretary and the banking committee said that this would not add to the debt. you know, the american people don't believe it. poll after poll say the president is not being honest with them in their opinion. that's what they're seeing. and the budget report confirms it. the american people do not want more debt, more taxes, and more spending which results in higher costs for them. when the president said it wouldn't actually raise taxes on people making up to $400,000 a year, there are the direct taxes

which the budget analysts point out to us but there are also the taxes that are going to be raised by the i.r.s. by put -- i.r.s. putting the american people understand the microscope because in this bill that the democrats are proposing, it supersizes the internal revenue service to go after american taxpayers, to try to squeeze more money out of honest people so they can spend it on things like five new entitlements for illegal immigrants. the bill would nearly double the size of the i.r.s. and the money was going to enforcement. also some of the tax breaks that are in this. who is going to benefit the most with tax cuts that are actually in the bill because the president says there are tax cuts in it. well, there are. nancy pelosi's california, the millionaires, they'll benefit a lot. people of new york benefit a lot. people in new jersey benefit a

lot. the millionaires in those three states will see significant cuts in their taxes as middle-income people pay more. which gets us to the third big concern about what the president is continuing to say to the american people, which is where he says that it will not add to inflation. people can see through this. they see what they're paying. they see inflation is coming. i would note that yesterday the chairman of the federal reserve said that this idea about temporary inflation, it's wrong. oh no. here to stay. people get it. and they don't like it. they don't like it when they're thinking about what's going to happen if they're trying to shop for christmas. can they get what they want to buy and what's it going to cost? well, the president has said that 17 noble laureates said the bill wouldn't add to inflation.

but then his comments were fact-checked as so many things that we say are fact-checked. and what those economists, nobel economists actually said was it wouldn't add to inflation if the bill were fully paid for and it is not because the budget officials have pointed out that the bill is going to add hundreds of billions of dollars to the debt. as i started this, mr. president, i talked about the fact that i was home for thanksgiving. well, this thanksgiving has been most -- the most expensive ever for the american people. and people are now really worried about what's going to happen come christmas. the price of gas is at a seven-year high. natural gas is at a seven-year high and it's getting colder. winter is here. what's going to happen with heating costs? hard to believe that in just ten months as president, joe biden has taken us of inflation to a

30-year high. according to one estimate families are paying about $175 more each month because of inflation since president biden took office. that's about a $2,000 bite out of the paychecks for every working american over a year. now, it's interesting when you kind of dig into the meat of what's in this bill. they want to make the -- the democrats want to make energy even more expensive than it is now. so if we're at a seven-year high for the cost of gasoline and a seven-year high for the cost of natural gas, what's going to happen when the new taxes and regulations on american energo into effect -- energo into effect at a -- energy go into effect at a time when president biden is begging vladimir putin and saudi arabia to produce more oil to sell it to us. it's a jackpot for putin. that's what we have, joe biden's

jackpot payday for vladimir putin at the expense of the american people. so there are families that are going to have to decide this winter whether they're going to be able to afford to eat or to heat their homes. and the democrats' tax-and-spending bill is going to raise taxes across the board and a lot of it is aimed at small businesses. mom and pop operations. what are they going to do with the taxes that come at them? well, of course they're going to pass them on to the customers. what's that going to do to the cost when the customers come in? the cost is going to go up and therefore you have inflation. another part of what the democrats are proposing which will make inflation worse is they're going to increase government spending. more spending, more debt, more printing of money by the federal reserve. more dollars facing fewer goods,

prices will go up. one of the things that i'm starting to hear about as people learn more about it is the increased cost of child care under the president's proposal by about $13,000 per family. look, this is already a huge expense for working families. well, the bill could nearly double it. that's because it includes a federal takeover of child care in america. in total the bill would create more than 150 new government programs. it uses the words tax, fee, penalty 637 times. when the president says build back better, i looked at this as a bill that's going to break the back of american families 637 times, tax, fee, penalty.

from top to bottom, this bill is a laundry list of more tax, more debt, more government control over our lives, the people of wyoming do not like it and do not want it. this is not what the american people are asking for. they don't like its content. they don't like its cost. and the more they learn about it, the less they like it. it's interesting because the day after the budget office came out with a report that the gcts -- democrats rushed the bill through the house, we got to get this through here before people see what's in it, every republican is united against it. every republican voted against it in the house. and actually there was a democrat who voted against it as well. so the opposition is bipartisan. now the bill comes to the senate. here we are. i promise you, it will hit a buzz saw of resistance from republicans in this body.

so democrats in the senate have to make a decision. as people in our states struggle to pay for christmas, the democrats who are pushing this reckless proposal have to decide whether or not they want to ignore the suffering that has been created by this administration with increased prices by causing prices to go up even higher as well as taxes to go up as well. the american people know that president biden has not been truthful with them about the bill, about what he has said about the cost, about what he has said about taxes, about what a has said about inflation -- about what he has said about inflation. poll after poll says they don't believe him because the bill is going to add hundreds of billions of dollars to the debt. they know it's going to raise taxes on the middle class and they know it's going to make the pang of inflation even worse. -- the pain of inflation even

worse. if democrats pass this bill, everyone in this country will end up paying for it one way or another. the last thing the american people need for christmas is higher taxes, more debt, and higher prices. the last thing the american people are asking for is this reckless tax-and-spending bill. thank you, madam president. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from mississippi. mr. wicker: madam president, i rise this afternoon in support of the freedom-loving people of ukraine, our friends and our allies in europe. and in warning to my fellow americans, to my colleagues, about a threat coming from vladimir putin's russian regime ment, i rise -- regime. i rise in support of this

american ally whose right to democracy is being threatened, whose right to self-determination is being threatened, and i rise at this moment when there are negotiations going on in this building between republicans and democrats as to how to urge the president of the united states to respond to a buildup of 90,000 to 100,000 russian troops on the border of this sovereign country who is our ally. the world has watched in recent weeks, not understanding, not knowing what vladimir putin has in mind, but there's no question about it. there is the amassing of troops. they're moving in place all the supplies and troops they would need if they decide to launch an invasion of this member of the

united nations, this sovereign nation who wants self-determination. our ukrainian friends are sounding the alarm. they have warned us that russia could be ready to invade their country by land, air, or sea as early as next month or february of 2022. i heard their concerns along with a bipartisan delegation of senators who attended the hall i fax international security conference just a couple of weeks ago in nova scotia. these were concerned that were voiced today at a bureau meeting of the parliamentary assembly of the organization for security and cooperation in europe. the threats are serious. the troops are there on the border of ukraine, and we have a right to be worried and mindful

about mr. putin's latest move in his long campaign to undermine ukraine's freedom and sovereignty. we should never forget what happened in 2014 when troops that he disavowed but were clearly under his direction invaded the territory, the ukrainian territory of crimea. since then, russia has provoked a shooting war in eastern ukraine, which has cost the lives of more than 13,000 people, more than 13,000 human beings have died because of the war vladimir putin has caused russia to make against the people of ukraine. moscow tries to deny and obfuscate the truth, but the world knows the truth.

the osye parliamentary assembly overwhelmingly spoke in a resolution that russia had violated every precept of the organization. now is the at the same time and i know -- now is the time, and i know many of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle agree with this. now is the time for the president of the united states to send a strong signal to vladimir putin and his oligarchs, his ruling inner circle that there will be serious consequences, not so much for the russian people; there will be serious consequences for mr. putin and his henchmen on day one if he goes ahead with this invasion, on day one, madam president. and it troubles me to hear that

our friends on the democratic side of the aisle and my colleagues on the republican side of the aisle would like to pass an amendment on the ndaa that makes this clear and sends a clear message that on day one sanctions will be imposed by our chief executive, by the commander in chief of our armed forces. and yet we're stuck on language that might have unintended consequences. the purpose of my statement this afternoon, madam president, is to urge the leaders of the armed services committee, of the foreign reels -- foreign relations committee on both sides of the aisle to get together and get the language right so we make it clear what our consequences will be on nord stream 2. i think nord stream 2 should be disallowed on day one when

vladimir putin invades ukraine. and i think we can stop this. i don't want a war with ukraine, madam president, and neither do my colleagues, and neither does the president of the united states. the clearest way to prevent an invasion of our friends in ukraine is for the united states to stand strong, to be resolute, to send a signal to the world that vladimir putin's invasion of ukraine will not be tolerated and that intolerable consequences will be meted out upon the putin regime if this takes place. we're not where we need to be on the language. there are negotiations, and i'm hopeful the ndaa will be on the floor for amendments. but the way it is positioned right now, madam president, is that a democratic amendment will be offered and it will not pass,

because we think there are holes in it. a republican amendment will be offered on ukraine on sanctions. it will not pass because, for some reason, the white house believes it's improper or inadequate. this doesn't have to happen when a clear majority of this body wants to send a strong signal to mr. putin. i hope that happens, and i urge that on the leadership of this senate and on the leaders of these two very important committees. and i yield the floor. mrs. blackburn: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mrs. blackburn: thank you, madam president. yesterday during a hearing before the senate banking committee, the federal reserve chairman, jerome powell, finally confirmed what we've all known for a very long time -- that the threat of persistently higher inflation has grown and that the risk of more persistent

inflation has risen. he acknowledged to the committee that use of the word transitory in the media has caused confusion and that it's probably a good time to retire that word and try to explain more clearly what's actually happening with the economy. now, that is bad news for the spin doctors over in the biden administration who have spent months trying to convince tennesseans and the american people that we'll be out of the woods any day now, that this is all coming to a fast end. it's back to the drawing board for the white house coms shop. they cannot split harris over very cab -- they cannot splat hairs over vocabulary words pertaining to inflation. the inflation we're seeing is real. it is felt. and the consequences of ignoring

this are very real. of course, tennesseans could have told washington, d.c., this long ago. out in the real world, they've been dealing with the cost of inflation, contrary to what the white house would have you believe, inflation isn't just a problem for the rich, and it certainly won't fade into the background after the holidays. i have spoken at length about how inflation has affected tennessee families and their budgets. just a few weeks ago, i used the price hike on your average thanksgiving dinner as an example of how a that -- how a dollar here and a dollar there can add up to a massive grocery bill that we wouldn't have thought possible even a year ago. but when i tell you that tennesseans are worried about inflation, i don't want you to think they're only worried about

the little extras. it's a helpful visionization -- visualization, but it's a serious issue. this isn't about the price of turkey. this is about an out-of-control administration pursuing an agenda that has forced families to choose between food and fuel. this is beyond out of touch. it is intentional, reckless activism that started the very moment that president biden walked into the oval office, sat down at the desk, pulled out a pen, and started to sign executive orders, beginning with killing the keystone pipeline. if we forgot everything we know about the modern democratic party, it would be easy to write off the administration's pursuit of big spending packages as politics as usual. but we know and have known for a

long time, actually, that the democrats in power view the next few years as an opportunity to tear down what we have and rebuild this country in their own socialist image. that's right. radically transforming the country. that's been their goal for more than a decade. now, this is not just bad economic policy. it's a full-blown power grab. how else could you possibly explain the administration's commitment to the idea that we can spend our way out of this current crisis in spite of the mountains of evidence there to the contrary? how else can you explain their decision to respond to collapsing supply chains with a vaccine mandate that we knew was going to make these bottlenecks

worse? it only makes sense if you abandon the assumption of good faith, and that, madam president, is truly a disheartening revelation. the american people are vulnerable, and they are angrier than i have ever seen them become. they're angry because this administration's motivation for pursuing these reckless policies is coming into focus. as a tennessean told me yesterday, i supported president biden, i thought he was going to be a moderate, and i feel like he became something else immediately. the people know with absolute certainty that their president and his allies in congress are taking advantage to force us down a path that the people have

consistently rejected. this is not what they want. they feel like they've lost control of the country, and they have no faith that the leaders of the democratic party here in washington, d.c., have their best interests at heart. the american people deserve better than this. this is not what they voted for. this is not what they wanted to see. the white house and congressional democrats must abandon this disastrous build back broke agenda before the possibility of true recovery slips away from us and before the american people lose all faith in those who asked for and then squandered the privilege of leading this country. i yield the floor.

the presiding officer: the senator from utah. mr. lee: madam president, i was going to give a speech. first, i'm not going to invert the order. i'll do my unanimous consent request first in deference to my friend and colleague, the senator from rhode island. madam president, i ask unanimous consent that the armed services committee be discharged from further consideration of s. 2842 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 upon the table. the presiding officer: is there objection? a senator: madam president, reserving the right to object, i object. mr. reed: i also want to thank the senator from utah for his consideration. the presiding officer: the objection is heard.

mr. lee: madam president. our armed forces have been asked to work miracles over the last 18 months. during a global pandemic, in the face of natural disasters and facing dangerous missions, our men and women in uniform have risen to the challenge, just as they have so many times throughout our history. many of our servicemembers have contracted and then recovered from covid. now these heroes, the same heroes are being placed in a corner by this administration. president biden's covid vaccine requirement for the armed forces does not grant our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines the respect that they deserve. as the senate debates our annual national defense authorization act, it would be a huge mistake not to consider the mandate's impact on our retention and

recruitment of servicemembers, and, thus, our military's readiness to secure our national security. this mandate tied with president biden's more sweeping general vaccine mandate is something that in combination has put millions of americans in so many difficult, untenable, unfair positions. in most cases these are hardworking, everyday americans. they're mothers and fathers, husbands and wives, just trying to put food on the table during difficult economic times. these mandates are forcing millions of our fellow citizens into second-class unememployable status, placing countless of our neighbors on the economic and social fringes of our society. even more than what they're already experiencing with rampant inflation caused by

excessive government spending to the tune of trillions of dollars. i've heard from hundreds of utahans in recent days. they were concerned about losing their jobs, losing their jobs not just in general, not just in the abstract, but specifically due to these mandates. some of these individuals are heroic members of our military. these servicemembers were rightly praised for serving during a pandemic and serving in dangerous conditions, on dangerous missions. but now they're being forced out, often with limited or no retirement benefits because of the president's mandate. let me share with you just a few of their stories. one soldier told me his story. he's been in the army now for 18 years, nearly two decades.

he never received a single reprimand, whether written or otherwise. he honorably and proudly served his nation. all along he was planning on retiring upon reaching two decades of service. he's almost there at 18 years. just 18 months shy in fact of reaching that really important milestone in his career. but now, because of the vaccine mandate, he's at risk of losing his benefits and not even receiving an honorable discharge. regarding his situation, he said, quote, this will cause a substantial loss in pay and quality of life for myself and a large number of others i know, close quote. another soldier who reached out to my office has served for ten years in the military. he's been informed, despite his many years of successful, faithful, active duty service, that he will not receive an

honorable discharge if he declines to comply with the vaccine requirement. accordingly, he asked to resign from the military. his commanders made clear that he'd be barred from resignation. he sought a personal religious exemption e. he was summarily told his exemption request would be denied. of his situation, he said, quote, to be backed into a corner with two very bad options is both disheartening and sad, especially with what i've sacrificed and what my family hats sacrificed on behalf of the military, close quote. another soldier reached out to my office in a similar situation. this soldier has children who experience complications with receiving the vaccine.

this soldier also has a child with significant learning disabilities, who is worried about providing for. he said, quote, this really could be a life-changing event for my family, for my family, and i feel strongly enough about it that i will risk all my benefits not to take it. i just wish i had a choice, close quote. these stories are just barely scratching the surface of the countless thousands of servicemembers in similar positions. the department of defense has begun prohibiting unvaccinated members of the national guard from receiving federal pay or benefits. these guardsmen risk being marked absent from training drills if they're not vaccinated. this move has the effect of pushing the unvaccinated out of the national guard.

approximately 10,000 marines remain unvaccinated. that's around 6% of the corps. losing these capable servicemembers and showing unvaccinated americans they should not join our armed forces makes our military less capable. it threatens its ability to do what only the military can do. in total, there are reports of approximately 60,000 unvaccinated servicemembers who risk discharge under less than honorable conditions due to this mandate. 60,000. the department of defense for its part refuses to provide the number of servicemembers who have applied for vaccine exemptions, but there are reports that even some of the few americans in military uniform who have received

exemptions are seeing those exemptions revoked. that's chilling, to say the least. relatively few of them are getting them granted. some of those who have had them granted are seeing them revoked. now these servicemembers, like millions of other americans, whose employment has also been put at risk, they all deserve a better option. that's why today i'm asking the senate pass my respecting our servicemembers act. that's why i came to the senate floor and why a few moments ago i asked unanimous consent that we pass it. i know not everyone is going to agree on every issue here, and that we're not going to agree perhaps on every issue pertaining to the mandate. but i think we at least ought to be able to agree on this one. we ought not be mistreating

those upon whom our safety depends. this bill that i brought forward to try to pass today would prohibit the secretary of defense from requiring covid vaccine for our military. i'm grateful to my colleagues, senators braun and tuberville, for joining me. this is now the 18th time i've document senate floor asking that the -- i've come to the senate floor asking that the federal government take a tempered, reasoned approach, an approach that is noticeably absent from that which the president has chosen to pursue. and as i've said every time i've done this, i'm not antivaccine. i believe the development of the covid vaccines is something of a medical miracle. i'm vaccinated, my family is vaccinated. i've encouraged everyone around me to get the vaccine, but i've also acknowledged it's not my decision and it's certainly not a decision that should be forced on them by the federal

government, and certainly not by a single person acting within the federal government who shouldn't be exercising that authority unilaterally. whether or not vaccines should be mandated by the federal government is of course an entirely different free-standing question. our military servicemembers deserve the right to make this medical decision for themselves without the threat of losing the ability to care for themselves and provide for their families. they currently face being forced out of the military, out of military service, but also out of the benefits that they've earned. and to add insult to injury, they also are threatened with the risk of a less than

honorable discharge, all for the supposed grave sin of deviating, daring to deviate from presidential medical orthodoxy. we're better than this. this is not something that we should be doing. everyone knows it. deep down, we know it's wrong. you know, according to to a recent axios poll, only 14% of the american people agree with president biden's apparent assumption that someone should be fired as a consequence of declining to get the vaccine. that's wrong. it's why i came here today. it's why i'll be back as many times, as long as it takes to end these mandates. madam president, it's unfortunate that this legislation which should be easy to pass, it's unfortunate that

it wasn't able to pass today. it's unfortunate that it drew an objection. the american people don't want this, and our national security is undermined by it. i find that most unfortunate and i'll continue to fight it. thank you, madam president. i yield the floor. i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from nevada. ms. cortez masto: madam president, i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. cortez masto: madam president, i have nine requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate and they have the approval of the majority and minority

leaders. the presiding officer: duly noted. ms. cortez masto: thank you. madam president, this morning the supreme court heard arguments about whether it is constitutional for mississippi to ban abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. this is, by far, the biggest threat to roe v. wade in almost three decades. i'm here today to sound the alarm and call on my colleagues to stand with me to protect the health of america's women. there is every reason to think that extreme justice -- supreme court justices are going to overturn roe or undermine it. if the supreme court gets rid of roe, which has been the law of the land for five decades, each individual state will get to decide whether women control their own bodies and their own lives. without roe, abortion will be

immediately illegal in about 12 states and more than a dozen others will likely put severe abortion restrictions in place. it's even possible that a future republican congress would try to restrict abortion nationally. now, you know reproductive rights have been protected for so long in the united states that it's been easy to us to forget what happens when we don't safeguard them. when women cannot control what reproductive health they can receive, their health suffers. we can see that right now in texas where a new law creates incentives for vigilantes to pry into their neighbors' lives for anyone who gets an abortion. texas doctors have reported that they are afraid to give

essential medical advice to women at risk of life-threatening complications in their pregnancies. one woman was refused care for her ee topic pregnancy and cannot be carried to term and must be terminated to save the woman's life. there are many reasons for abortion. and americans understand this. they get it. three out of every four of us, including the vast majority of nevadans agree that the people who should be making decisions about pregnancies are women and their doctors. it's unthinkable to me then that the court son the verge of taking that decision away from women and medical professionals and giving it to politicians instead. if roe v. wade is overturned, nearly half of women nationwide will see the nearest clinic

close. the average distance to the nearest reproductive health care clinic will go up by more than ten times from 25 miles to 279 miles. now, if you've ever worked for minimum wage, you know that taking days to travel across state lines for health care is a luxury that many americans cannot afford. that's reality for many low-income women, including women of color. we have to stop treating women's health care as optional. in nevada, madam president, you know this better than anyone in the senate, we have worked hard to protect reproductive health. in the 1990's we ambassador a ballot initiative to enshrine choice into law and recently in nevada we've done away with restrictions on abortion that are popping up in state after state. make no mistake, as long as there are active efforts to

eliminate the right to choose whether in the congress or in congress, the reproductive freedom of women everywhere is in jeopardy. we must do everything we can to protect a woman he a right to choose. that's why -- a woman's trite to choose. that's why it is so important to pass this act. this bill would outlaw unnecessary restrictions on abortion across the country it would mean states could impose medically unnecessary ultrasounds -- koontz impose milliony unnecessary ultrasounds, excessive waiting periods and other extreme periods on providers intended to limit abortion access. it would guarantee women control over their reproductive decisions in consultation with medical professionals. now, that's what three-quarters of us think is right. i will do everything i can in the senate to protect women in nevada and across this country, and i would hope, madam

president, that our colleagues would join us. thank you. i yield the floor, and i notice the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the ?earnlg from new jersey. mr. booker: there's a qowrnl call, i understand. the presiding officer: there is. mr. booker: may i vitiate the quorum? the presiding officer: without objection. mr. booker: thank you very much. today should not be a normal day. today should be a day of national grief and pain and horror at what happened yesterday. yesterday in oxford, michigan, there was yet another school shooting. within the span of just five minutes, four children were shot dead by a fellow student. seven more people, six students and one teacher, were wounded.

reports are that more than 100 911 calls were made in the span of minutes. imagine the horror, imagine the fear, imagine the terror, imagine the pleas for help on those 911 calls as students listened to gunshot after gunshot ring out, killing their fellow students. the students huddled in corners as their teachers desperately tried to lock doors, barricading them with desks, fearful of what was happening outside, some escaping through windows and sprinting and running for safety and what should outrage every single american is that this is not unusual in our country. this was not a one-time

occurrence. we know the names. it should be hallowed names of pride of our children. but no, they're names that speak to horror. we think about parkland and what happened there. when we think about newtown, what happened there. and so many other communities that have been ripped apart by that nightmare that happened yesterday. we live in a distraught present in america. more people have died in my lifetime from gun violence than have died in all of our american wars combined, from the revolutionary war to the civil war to world war i and ii and vietnam and the 20-year war on terror. more have died in gun violence in just the last 50 years.

our gun murder rate is 25 times higher than the next closer country. not double, not trim, not quadruple, 25 times more high than the next closest country. and 90 americans are dying every day from gun violence. not to mention the many more like the seven from oxford, michigan, that have had their health shattered by gunshot wounds tearing through their bodies. and our kids, our american children. according to every town for gun safety, firearms are the leading cause of death for american children and teens, the number one cause of death.

we know that teens are dying at alarming rates due to gun violence and suicide rates, which are rising faster and faster than in any other group. nearing an all-time high. and so the question that i must ask today, the urgent question that we must ask, is what will be our response. we cnts keep -- we cannot keep telling our children that we will protect you, and then the only thing we are doing throughout our schools is teaching them how to hide. these drills that are now as common as fire drills, that are teaching our children that we won't stop the gun violence, but we're going to teach you how to

barricade yourself in, how to hide under desks, how to shelter for cover as someone comes through your school. it should -- that should never have had a gun in the first place. i'm tired of hearing the simple utterance of thoughts and prayers, but there being no action. i'm a person of faith, and i know as it teaches that faith without works is dead. and we have seen enough death. but now, after what happened in oxford, what will be our response? my republican ■colleagues in th senate seem content with the status quo. there doesn't seem to be an urgency to save lives, to end the nightmare, to stop the fear and terror, the continued work to block compromised gun safety

laws that the majority of americans, including most republican voters, including most gun owners, including most n.r.a. members, blocking compromise laws that are supported by the majority of us americans that would keep more guns out of the hands of people that would do our children harm. what is our response? we can pass uniform background -- universal background checks are supported by 84% of voters. we can provide resources and support to help cities across america implement evidence-based gun violence intervention, proven programs to keep our children safe. we can start to heal the communities that have been shattered by gun violence, by not just expressing our thoughts and prayers, but investing in their healing and their help

health. it is no longer acceptable to have a culture of fear of gun violence in our country. it is no longer acceptable to teach our children just the -- just to hide while we do nothing. it is not acceptable that we are normalizing gun violence in our country at rates that have never before been seen in humanity. this is not normal. it demands a response, and what will be our response? now is the time not is surrender to fear. now is the time not to accept this as normal. now is not the time just for thoughts and prayers. it is the time to act. it's time to lift our voices, to take more collective responsibility, to stand up to the corporate gun lobby. it's time to work tirelessly to show our children that love is a demanding, active verb. love is sacrifice. and if we are willing to truly

love our children, we won't just teach them fear, we will show them our strength. are we going to wait? this is a cancer and it's spreading. it's being seen in cities and churches and synagogues and nightclubs, concerts. are we going to wait? is there such a poverty of empathy that gun violence has to visit upon us, our communities, our schools, our places of worship, our families before we think this is an issue enough for us to stand up and fight for change? will we wait? what will be our response?

how many more times will members of this body have to come to this floor? and speak to the unspeakable? talk about children murdered, the greatest nation on the planet earth, to know that our children's greatest threat to their lives, their top cause of death is gun violence. i pray, i do have thoughts and prayers, not just for the victims, but for this body. and i hope more will join together, not in a do-nothing caucus, but join together to pass laws that reflect the will and the majority of the american people and end this national nightmare once and for all. this is a moment that demands a response, not business as usual.

this is a moment that demands the best of who we are. not to cower in fear, but stand for change. i yield the floor. and i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call: we are maritime safety and regulatory agency. men and women i represent today

truly make up the finest coast guard in the world. our dedicated coast guard members on their front lines every day carrying out operations globally and protecting our moments. maritime domain from causally evolving threats. your support ensures they can focus each day on those difficult missions with full knowledge their housing, health and family are well taken care of i am extremely proud of the entire coast guard workforce and their ability to persevere through the covid-19 pandemic and myriad of challenges we face as a nation. as i travel around the country and speak with troops, our morale is high. dedicated workforce understands the importance of their service to their nation and challenges we must overcome. the client challenge i am most concerned about is our ability to recruit and retain workforce needs to operate cutter's and aircraft. as we replace our assets, you cutter's helicopters and planes being built require us to grow our workforce now so we are prepared to operate and maintain

these technological advanced resources when they arrive. today we enjoy highest retention rate of the military services will need to retain future workforce at an even higher rate to meet increasing demand domestically and abroad.

the policy change alone is not enough to retain best and brightest. we developed --

the presiding officer: the senior senator from iowa. mr. grassley: i ask that the calling of the quorum be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. grassley: madam president, it's typical for commentators to

talk about how china is no longer really a communist nation. of course only the most ardent china apologists would question that china is still a one-party authoritarian state. it's just that the economic policies pursued since the early 1980's that is hard to square with marxism leninism. i want to say to everybody not so fast. the six plenary session of the central committee of the chinese communist party contained a brand new historical resolution. this is only the third such paper since the founding of the

chinese communist party. the first historians will remember was when mousy dunn put out one in 1945, and the second one was dunn ping in 1981. now readvising of -- revising the historical narrative has been used in the past to set a stage for a whole new era in china and a whole new era for the rhetoric of the democrat party -- i mean of the communist party. most china watchers see this paper as a consolidation of power by the general secretary of the chinese communist party xi jinping. but to what end does he pursue?

his rhetoric sounds more like mou than the chinese leader, any chinese leader since dunn xi ping. general xi's historical resolution reads as a break from china's economic policies, what we thought was moving towards a free market system since the 1980's. and until the last few years i would say it was moving towards a free market system. but it's too late to turn back now, right? well, don't be so sure. the soviet union pursued its new economic policy as a short-term effort to strengthen the state before returning to a more purer

marxism. in a similar vain -- vain, xi has been crocking down on nonstate owned businesses giving seemingly no care to the cost of the chinese economy. general secretary xi's recent policies reportedly wiped out up to $1 trillion of stock value. he's doing thi -- he is doing this under the banner of so-called prosperity. to put him in a position of forever the rest of his life governing china. american businesses need to pay attention to all this.

even if they don't care about the slave labor camp full of uighurs, even if they don't care about the suppression of democracy in hong kong, if our business leaders don't care about china's increasingly aggressive military posture, even willing to look the other way to china stealing intellectual property and trade secrets. considering all that for american business over there, i would urge extreme caution to any business that still sees the chinese market as a cash cow. many people thought china would become a democratic -- very democratic once it had sufficient capitalists. maybe general secretary xi is worried about just that.

being too capitalistic, being too many people successful without the help of the government. so if anyone thinks that general secretary xi would not dare sacrifice economic growth in the pursuit of power, think again. emerging market funds, with a lot of exposure in china, ought to think about rebalancing. pension funds that are overexposed to the chinese market are risking wiping out the retirement savings of american workers, just like we've seen so far $1 trillion less value in chinese stocks because of his, general secretary xi's policies. my advice then to american business is that coal mine is is

not a safe bet. surely not the safe bet that many american businessmen thought it was. so a little bit of advice -- anyone investing in china ought to go in with open eyes and a big tolerance for risk as long as general secretary xi goes down this line of accumulating political power and not caring about destroying what private sector is left there. i yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call::

a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the junior senator from florida. the presiding officer: yes. a senator: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. scott: i ask unanimous consent that the committee on the judiciary be discharged from s. 36823. i ask that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. padilla: madam president, reserving the right to object. madam president, this bill is yet another attempt by our

republican colleagues to stoke fear about the migration we're seeing at the southern border rather than work collaboratively with us to address the issue and their stated concern. for a decade now we have seen increasing arrivals at the southern border of families and unaccompanied children, many who are fleeing horrific conditions in their home country such as gang violence, drug trafficking, corruption, a global health pandemic and the devastating effects of climate change if not a multitude of these dangers. it is unsafe for many of them to remain in their countries and so they make the arduous journey to the united states to seek asylum. and heaven