joined together. a bipartisan infrastructure bill that is the exception to the rule, actually like the defense authorization bill that actually enjoyed broad bipartisan support. but the hangup was the other part of that proposition, which was the democrats' multitrillion-dollar partisan spending bill. of course not one single one of these deadlines was met, again, because it's hard to do things in a 50-50 senate when you try to do it unilaterally without doing the hard work of building consensus, which is the way the founders wanted this institution to work. so our colleague from new york keeps setting deadlines and blowing right past them, and it looks like he's about to add another one to the list. senator schumer's latest deadline for the build back bankrupt bill is december 25.

that's christmas. and while he has yet to make an official announcement, news reports are starting to confirm what we've known all along, that the senate will not vote on this bill by christmas because it's just not ready for prime time. before our colleagues can bend the rules of the senate to pass their partisan multitrillion spending bill they've got a lot of roadblocks to overcome. the most obvious is they need a bill to vote on. this bill is not even in final form yet. as a matter of fact, the senate finance committee on which i have the pleasure of serving, released about 1,100 pages of new text on saturday, and there's at least 20 different issues that have been raised with the parliamentarian which need to be litigated in a deliberative process. but the version of the legislation that passed the

house started getting picked apart even before reaching this side of the capitol. the committee chairmen here were still deciding which provisions to keep, alter and which to throw away. it is hard to know how things are progressing because all of these things happen not here on the senate floor with open debate but behind closed doors completely out of view of the american people. that's dangerous because this bill will touch virtually every aspect of americans' daily lives and stick them with a massive invoice, without any visibility into the process. we're told that the build back better bill is immensely popular. well, that may be true until you start looking at the details, at the fine print. but right now we have to rely on

vague statements from our democratic colleagues to understand where things stand, and i'll tell you, right now it doesn't sound too promising. following severe blowback from the american people after the details of this bill began to become public, finance committee democrats began making changes to one extremely controversial part of the bill. "the washington post" headline says it all. the second-biggest program in democrats' spending plan gives billions of dollars to the rich. no wonder they went back to the drawingboard. after all, there's a sharp contrast from how our colleagues have tried to sell this bill, really in an effort of false advertising. they've harped or in some sections of the democratic caucus on the need to stick it to the rich, to tax the rich. but when i have goin' the

opportunity -- but when given the opportunity, they hand out massive tax breaks for the rich. it's unclear how long it will take our colleagues to finalize changes to the millionaires' tax break and countless other provisions that are being retooled. but once they lay down their pens, the work is not done. as i suggested, they have the substantial and difficult process of vetting a number of the provisions with the senate parliamentarian to determine whether these provisions can pass the byrd rule. the byrd rule is simply the name given to the process to see whether it complies with the 1974 budget act, which provides for an expedited process and 51 votes for passage because it is limited strictly to budgetary matters. what our colleagues try -- when our colleagues try to stick into the bill other substantive law

changes which require a 60-vote requirement, that's where the byrd rule comes in and that's where these provisions get kicked out. according to the chairman of the finance committee, the finance committee proposal alone has more than 20 different issues to resolve with the parliamentarian in the so-called byrd bath. and that's just one committee. our colleagues on various other completes -- committees are presenting arguments on provisions of all size. we're here that they're trying to make massive changes in the immigration law with a party-line vote at 51 votes, 50 votes plus the vice president. well, that has not succeeded on two previous occasions for good reason and now we're awaiting a the verdict of the parliamentarian on these immigration proposals on the third try. but we know that this massive

legislation, once its written, presumably, will go from everything from technical changes to major issues like whether the budget rule can be used to legalize millions of undocumented immigrants. again, these conversations are happening not out here in the senate with an opportunity for full debate and amendment. they're happening behind closed doors. so we really don't have a good sense, nor does the american people, good sense of what's been decided or how long it will take to resolve pending disputes. and if our democratic colleagues receive adverse guidance from the parliamentarian, it's still unclear whether they will accept the outcome or light the rule book on fire, as some have suggested, and try to overrule her. it's tough to imagine a world in which our democratic colleagues would put this frankenstein's monster on the senate floor before christmas.

christmas is in fact ten days away. even if our colleagues were able to iron out every issue with the parliamentarian, were able to present finalized text and receive a score on the final legislation at that time, senator schumer doesn't have the votes to pass it. again, we're an evenly divided senate with the vice president casting the tie-breaking vote. but colleagues on the other side of the aisle are not on board entirely with this proposed massive spending and tax bill. unlike the majority of our colleagues who have blindly fallen in line or aired their concerns in private, we know that the senator from west virginia, senator manchin, has consistently expressed his reservations about the bill. in september, for example, he wrote an op-ed entitled "why i won't support spending another

$3.5 trillion." he's hardly been quiet or hidden his concerns. he shared his concerns in that op-ed about the scale and scope of this legislation, and he encouraged his colleagues in his own political party to take a strategic pause. some of the reasons he cited included the growing threat of inflation, which has only increased since september. inflation in fact has now reached a 40-year high just last month. he warned about the possibility that the virus might mutate and take a new turn, and we ought to really save our powder in case we had to address either public health or economic consequences flowing from a have you variant. -- from a new variant. well, today, all of our eyes are on the omicron variant, and we

have yet to know how that will play out. he asked how we could respond to another financial crisis like we experienced in 2008 during the great recession or, heaven forbid, a terrorist attack or major international conflict. if we spend trillions of dollars on unnecessary programs today, we'll hardly have those reserves available to us should we need them. i think the questions and issues raised by the senator from west virginia were valid then and they're even more pressing now. over the last several months, the winds haven't shifted in favor of this massive tax-and-spending bill. in fact we have now have more reasons to believe this legislation would add to, not solve, the problems that the american people are facing. the senator from west virginia told one of our republican colleagues that the score

proposed by his own political party, $1.75 trillion, he said that score is full of gimmicks and even acknowledged that that price tag is a form of deceptive advertising. we now have an honest score, one that acknowledges that programs, massive programs cannot be started and stopped on a dime, and if you're really going to be honest about the cost of the bill, you need to look at a score that spans the full ten-year budget window. we now have that score, one that avoids the gimmicks that are meant to disguise the true cost of the bill, and we can now quantify how disingenuous this so-called $1.75 trillion price tag really is. and it's about as disingenuous has the president's claim that the bill costs zero. nobody believes that.

it really undermines the president's credibility when he says something like that. the congressional budget office now says this legislation, if in place for a full ten years, would cost $4.9 trillion. that's on top of the almost $2 trillion our colleagues spent unilaterally earlier in this year. well, that's certainly higher than the $3.5 trillion red line that senator manchin drew earlier this year. and it's a whole lot more than the $1.75 trillion price tag that our democratic colleagues are claiming. and it makes the repeated claim that this bill costs zero seem even more bizarre and out of touch. under this bill, as it's shaping up, we know deficits would increase by a staggering $3 trillion over the next decade.

now, last year when we passed covid-19 relief bills with huge bipartisan majorities, we did so because it was a public health emergency and an economic emergency, and we did it together. but on top of all that necessary spending, our colleagues are insisting on spending another $4.9 trillion, adding another $3 trillion to the debt over the next decade. our children and grandchildren would never have a chance to dig out of the hole that our democratic colleagues are now drilling. this legislation doesn't just fall short of solving problems, it actually makes them worse. this bill would fuel the red-hot inflation that's already burning up the paychecks of the american people. people who are on fixed income are finding their purchasing power shrinking by the day because of the threat of

inflation. we know this bill would also hurt our energy security. it would give massive tax breaks to the wealthy while increasing taxes on the middle class. it would literally cut funding for safety net hospitals and drive the national debt to unimaginable heights. and finally, and maybe most importantly, it would hand to the federal government decisions that should be made by families. i hope our colleague from west virginia will continue to hold strong against the dangers of this bill. at minimum, we need to tap the brakes and take what he called a strategic pause. and so it seems that the democratic leader is on track to miss yet another deadline. for the country's sake, i hope this bill does not arrive after christmas. i hope it never comes at all. mr. president, i yield the floor.

the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. brown: i ask consent that the will sse -- will sheehann be granted floor privileges for the remainder of the 117th congress. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: when my colleague comes to the floor after -- deserved credit for the trump 2017-2018 tax cut for the rich, 70% of the benefits withent to otoone percent. he did take credit for his work in the finance committee. he should take credit for that. that's what drove this hole in the deficit where the rich got richer. you remember -- i mean, you were not here at the time, mr. president, but you can still see it here. you can look out window and see senator mcconnell's office there and the lobbyists lined up. you should have seen them back when senator cornyn was talking about this tax cut, this tax cut

for the rich. they made these promises, if you give tax cuts to really rich people and corporations, it'll trickle down and we'll all do better. we'll hire more people and raise wages. we know what they did. they just announced another round of it. a whole bunch of stock buybacks for executives. over those years profits went up for corporations. the stock market soared. executive compensation exploded through the roof. and wages for most people in mansfield, georgia and marietta, georgia stayed flat. we know that. that's why build back better makes sense. it begins to put money in people's pockets. what my friend from texas and we sit across from each other in the finance committee and work together on some issues. i appreciate what he's done in cfius and some other bills. what he didn't explain is why every one of them opposes the child tax credit. we know a number of things.

i've been working on this since 2013. started with not a lot of support. built huge support by this year, early this year, sitting at this desk on march 6. i voted, as did the presiding officer from georgia in the first really big vote he cast in the senate as a member of the majority, voted for the child tax credit. two different times every single democrat -- starting in july, when we got if set up, that 90% of the families of georgia, 90% of the families in ohio who have children under the age of 18 got at least a $3,000 a year tax cut. think about that. families that struggle with paying rent. 25% of renters in this country before the pandemic paid more than half their income in rent. think of the pressure those families are under if at the atd

of every month they have to cobble that together. they got a tax cut. the family struggling to pay for diapers or child care. the cost of child care has exploded. whether it's in small town millageville or small town ohio, families struggle with child care. this makes a huge difference in those families. one father said i can for the first time, i have money now to buy my daughter fast-pitch softball equipment. a mother said for the fist time i can send my son to summer camp for a week and diapers and other expenses for infants. it makes all the difference in the world. there are a few things -- i expect the presiding officer, i hope will have a long career in this body, i don't know if he will get the opportunity to vote on anything as big as what we

did in march with the recovery act and what we're about to do with build back better. for me they are the highlights of my career. i hope the presiding officer has a lot of years in front of him, but this is the most conventional thing this congress has done, not just to fight poverty, help struggling families bringing up children, but to make life easier, 90% of the families, as i said, 90% of the families who have children under 18 in georgia, ohio, and every state in between are going to get a $3,000 a year tax cut. that alone is so important and i wish my colleague from texas would address why they all vote no. they've had two chances. sounds like they are going to take their third chance and vote no again. i don't understand it. is it the lobbyists that line up at mcconnell's office or do

they not care about kids? i don't know their logic. i know what our logic is and it will make our country better. i ask to place the following remarks at a different place in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: thank you, mr. president. i would like to honor a member of my staff who has been a valuable member of our office, alyssa brockington. she has done such important work on health care, on economic justice. she's moving on to a new opportunity, again, to fight for a lot of the people we fight for in our office and she is moving on at the end of the year. she is working to expand access for health care for ohioans, for people around the country to bring down drug prices and health care prices. one of the big parts of build back better. she worked to make sure that not only can family afford to see a doctor, but the care they get actually makes them healthier and serves their needs. we know that isn't the case for

some people, especially the most vulnerable. last year ms. brockington led efforts in the senate with me for legislation to declare -- this is an effort, what i love about this effort, in the first place it really kind of happened, it started at the community level, hamilton county, ohio, other cities began to declare racism a public health crisis. she worked with organizations like the national urban league, the ywca, other senate offices, it acknowledges the systemic barriers that people of color, especially black americans continue to face in our health care system. the first step to solving this problem is recognizing its existence and understanding it. some of us in this chamber have read the 1619 project. it's just came out. it came out of a "new york times" very lengthy, very

detailed sear erisa of articles. this is had what -- series of articles. this is is what ms. brockington is helping us to face. she pushed our office to face the issues. ms. brockington led efforts in our office to work on bills like the healthy moms act and the supporting best practice for healthy moms act. moms, especially young mothers of color, are dying at an alarming rate in this country. it's pretty unbelievable that -- that so many women still die in childbirth in the richest country in the world. we have the best health care to be sure, but it doesn't, let's say, trickle down to everybody in this country despite having the best hospitals, the best doctors in the world, deaths are going up, not down. the legislation that alyssa africanons would -- champion would help mothers have healthy

pregneans and -- pregnancies and healthy babies, we included a provision that would help post-part yum women with 12 months of health care coverage. they would have 12 months of medicaid coverage. not having to worry as your baby at several weeks old is keeping you awake at night an suffering and you're thinking also in your mind, how am i going to pay if i take her to the doctor? how am i going to pay? another major contribution alyssa made is guiding our economic justice task force. economic justice is central to everything we do for the people of ohio. i know i'm not allowed to wear this on the floor, so i will hold it up if it doesn't violate the rules. i met briefly with one of the

workers that makes food in this building and they just joined and formed local 23 of unite here. what that's going to mean for her life, what that's going to mean for workers if they have somebody now representing them, bargaining better wages, better benefits. we know the cafeteria workers here, the people who work to serve us were making as little as $1 or $12 -- $11 or $12, this will mean our office will do better to champion issues that are central to ohio communities and to the workers here and all over the country. communities that don't often have much of a voice here in government. she's been the driving force behind this task force for two full years, organizing meetings, facilitating discussions, encouraging colleagues to speak up. she coordinates with other staff, plans quarterly events. one colleague said all around she's so inclusive and

empathetic. and you want as -- you work in this job and work in these jobs, having staff that's kind and inclusive and empathetic is sort of everything because they will create -- they will treat the citizens of georgia, alaska, ohio. she's been that kind of asset to our office and to our work for the people of ohio. we'll miss her dearly. i know she'll continue to do wonderful thing to ensure that more americans get the compassionate and affordable health care they need. we hate to lose her but she like her next challenge and we're chietd to see how far she will go. thank you, alyssa for your service to our country and to ohio. we will miss you. i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from alaska. mr. sullivan: mr. president, i want to come down to the senate floor and commend a number of senators, but i want to particularly commend the chairman of the armed services

committee, senator reed and the ranking member, senator inhofe, and their staff and all the staff on the armed services committee for the exceptional work they have done over the last several months to produce the strong national defense authorization act that just passed in a very strong bipartisan vote here on the floor of the united states senate. that vote, mr. president, was 88-11, and i think it's a prime example of something that i mention a lot back home is that there's a lot more bipartisan work that gets done near the senate that isn't often recognized and there is nothing more important than having senators from both sides of the aisle come together with regard to national defense and supporting our troops and their families. we've been doing that over 60 years in a row where we have

passed the national defense authorization act, one of the most important bills that comes to tt floor of the -- comes to the floor of the senate and the house and the congress, and once again, we passed it and i think chairman reed and senator inhofe, ranking member inhofe, deserve a lot of the credit. so, mr. president, i just want to touch on a couple of the key provisions here, a lot of what's in it and then mention a few things, a lot of times it's important to loig actually -- to recognize actually what's not in a bill because that can be as important as what's in it. i would start with the number one issue here and it's the top line budget increase for the department of defense. i have been outspoken on the disappointment and damage that president biden's budget that he proposed with regard to the

pentagon, supported unfortunately by many here, the majority leader, the budget chairman, that that was unacceptable -- unacceptable. why was it unacceptable? because our nation's facing many threats right now. just read the paper every day, china, russia, iran, and yet that budget was actually provided by the white house was a cut, a pretty dramatic cut if you look at it as adjusted for inflation. mr. president, the armed services committee, and in the senate and in the house, thoroughly rejected the biden budget to cut defense spending. we have in this bill a 3% real chief. that's a little over $25 billion, and in the committee, when this amendment, which i cosponsored with senator

inhofe and others, to increase our defense spending, when it came to a vote in the committee, every senator on the armed services committee voted for it with the exception of one. that's about as bipartisan as it gets. so many important things in this bill in terms of the significant increase to the topline budget. but readiness in my view of the military is one of the most important things we do here as u.s. senators and now is certainly not the time to cut defense spending and i think today's vote was a strong bipartisan showing that this body does not agree with the biden budget and that was one really important aspect of today's ndaa. second, mr. president, i want to talk a little bit about the great state of alaska and its role in our military and some of the provisions in this bill that

relate to arctic security. i'd like to say that alaska constitutes three pillars of america's military might. we are the cornerstone of missile defense, almost all the radar systems and all the ground base interceptors protecting the country are located in alaska. we are the hub combat pour for the asian pacific. by this year we will have over 105th fighters, f-35's, f-22's stationed in alaska. over 100. there's no place on the planet earth that has supersonic, stealth, can get anywhere quickly, russia, china, taiwan and that's another area of alaska's pillars of military might and finally we are a

platform for ex pe dish ri forces, -- ex by dish ordinary forces, the first stryker brigade, many others that can get to places all over the world because of our strategic location very quickly and also because of our strategic airlift in alaska. but, mr. president, this ndaa is going to add another element of alaska's military might to our nation and that is the center of gravity for america's arctic security operations. last year in the ndaa we were able to get the first and only and much-needed department of defense center for arctic security, the department of defense named it the ted stevens, after the great, late center, center for arctic security is going to be anchorage, alaska, and now in

this year's ndaa, we have what is called the arctic security initiative. i was honored to cosponsor that with my good friend senator king from maine. and this gets the pentagon to focus on a five-year strengthening of our national security in the arctic region. as you know, mr. president, that's becoming an area of great power competition and america has a very strong strategic national security, economic security interests in the arctic. and this ndaa will cement not just the arctic as an important national security imperative of our country but alaska is the focal point for arctic security endeavors for the united states and our allies. mr. president, the other element here in the ndaa which is so important, of course, is taking care of our troops and their

families. it authorizes this bill a pay raise of almost 3% for both military members and department of defense civilians. it has numerous initiatives related to military health and housing and leave policies. and one that i was proud to get into this bill is an important provision that allows the department of defense and the veterans administration to do facility sharing. what does that mean? it enables both the pentagon and the v.a. to work on agreements to plan, design, construct facilities to operate as v.a. and d.o.d.-shared medical facilities. that's going to help with readiness. that's going to help train our young active duty medical forces. it's going to help with taking care of our veterans. and it's going to save money. these are the kind of provisions

that we need. they're win-win-win between the v.a. and our veterans. and the active duty and reserve forces that also need health care. and we're looking forward to taking advantage of that in alaska and other places in the country. you know, mr. president, as i said at the outset, oftentimes what's not in a bill is as important as what's in it a -- what's in a bill. some of our members, some of the far-left members of the house tried to plug in to the ndaa and they did so over in the house a number of bills that really didn't have a lot to do with the military, but they were trying to move forward on a far-left agenda that they tried to attach in the ndaa. ironically many of these members really have no intention of ever voting for a strong ndaa, but they tried to plug things in, in the house bill. they did that in the house bill but we were able to get rid of

pretty much all of those. again, things like red flag laws that would confiscate firearms without due process. another provision that i'm really glad was not in there, there's been this narrative on the far left that somehow the men and women of our military, that our military institutions are filled with a bunch of extremists. there's news reports that say this. none of it is based on data. none of it is based on data. and i'm been pressing officials saying give me data. you make these charges which i dislike, happen to know many, many members of the military. they're some of the finest people in the country. so we are able to get rid of some of the provisions in the house bill that when it was going to set up an office in the pentagon on essentially trying, in my view, do witch hunts on

so-called extremists, it's an issue that the pentagon needs to come out with data on and not make these false charges. so overall, mr. president, this is a good day for our troops, for their families, for the senate. a very bipartisan bill. people coming together, democrats and republicans on, in my view, one of the most important issues if not the most important issue we deal with in the congress, the national security of our nation keeping a strong, lethal military. and when we do that, like we did take, that also sends a message to our adversaries. the united states, despite some challenges still has the best, most lethal military force in the world, the most professional military force in the world. and this bill is going to help enhance that, and our adversaries need to take notice. i yield the floor.

the presiding officer: the senator from new hampshire. mrs. shaheen: mr. president, i'm really pleased to be on the floor this afternoon with my friend and colleague, senator rob portman, to talk about an issue that we have been working on literally for a decade. and it's been a bipartisan effort to focus on energy efficiency as a response to the energy needs in this country. in 2011 senator portman and i introduced s. 1000, which was the first version of the energy savings and industrial competitiveness act. over the years it's been known as shaheen-portman. when we were in the majority on the democratic side or portman whennen shaheen when the republicans were in the majority. but it doesn't matter what you call it. our bill has proposed substantial investments in energy efficiency in this country. and what we did in the bill was

to focus on the most energy intensive sectors in our economy so buildings, residential and commercial, which is about a third of our energy use. the industrial sector and the federal government. and in the united states the biggest user of energy is the federal government. in a congress that's divided along partisan lines on so many issues, energy efficiency is one priority that can bring us together on a bipartisan, bicameral basis to get things done. i always like to say that energy efficiency is one of those energy sources that you can support whether you're from new england or ohio or wyoming, whether you support oil and gas or wind and solar, energy efficiency is the fastest, cheapest way to meet our energy needs. our legislation has always focused on low-cost tools and adoption of off-the-shelf technologies to save money for consumers and businesses to make

america more energy independent and to reduce emissions. and over the years, over the last decade, we've had some big wins. in 2015 president obama signed a targeted version of shaheen portman. the energy efficiency improvement act into law. that bill helped align the interests of commercial building owners and their tenants to reduce energy consumption and it allowed certain water heaters to help with demand response programs in rural areas. now we've also made great strides through annual appropriations and administrative actions on things like energy efficiency standards for appliances. of course we've also had some real defeats. but though frustrating those defeats were, our resolve on this bill has never wavered. when we reintroduced portman-shaheen last congress, we worked again to incorporate feedback from stakeholders. for seven months our staffs held back-to-back meetings with constituents, stakeholders and

committee staff to ensure the bill addressed the energy needs in new hampshire, ohio, and the rest of the country. improving the efficiency of residential and commercial buildings through energy saving building codes remains central to our bill as did industrial energy efficiency provisions and improvements to federal energy efficiency programs. we also again included energy efficiency bills from our colleagues. so in that piece of legislation we included senators murkowski and manchin's federal energy and water management performance act. we included senators hoeven and manchin's all of the above federal energy conservation act and we included senator collins and warner's legislation legislation coordinating energy retrofitting for schools. finally as part of that, we included senator bennet and senator isakson's sensible accounting to value energy act or the save act. so there were a lot of reasons why a number of members of this

body were interested in that legislation. but it was also a real savings because according to the american council for an energy efficient economy, the policies from that bill would save consumers over $51 billion on their energy bills. it would reduce carbon emissions by 1.3 billion metric tons which is the equivalent of taking 280 million cars off the road for a year. and it would save 32 quadrillion b.t.u.'s of energy which is nearly the total energy use of all u.s. industries for one year. now, a previous study from a.c. triple e also estimated the legislation would add more than a hundred thousand jobs to the economy. that bill passed the energy committee by a vote of 14-6. and it was the fifth time, fifth time the bill passed in committee on a bipartisan basis.

now, i'm proud to say that the energy policy act of 2020 that was signed into law by president trump at the end of last year had several provisions from that shaheen-portman legislation that would streamline efficiency for schools, increase energy efficiency for federal data centers, and provide rebates for energy efficient electric motors and transformers and support federal energy efficiency programs. but of course the piece of that bill that was left on the cutting room floor were the voluntary building codes where so much of the savings was really incorporated. but despite the success and the defeat in the last congress, we came into this year as determined as ever. and as part of the original gang of ten, senator portman and i teamed up to ensure that energy efficiency was a big part of the bipartisan infrastructure framework. we worked with senator manchin

and our bipartisan colleagues to incorporate much of shaheen-portman with funding in the infrastructure and investment jobs act. i'm going to turn it over to senator portman for a few minutes so my voice can recover and then i will pick it up when he finishes. senator portman. mr. portman: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. portman: first of all, it's always great to be on the floor with my friend jeanne shaheen and talk about something positive. we've been at this over a deck cade which is to encourage more energy efficiency. this is the ability of us to save energy by not using it. it's therefore sort of energy found. it's also an ability to improve the economy because it creates more jobs and makes us more competitive globally by having lower energy costs. think about the businesses in your state. the competitive nature of business today is that you really are competing with the europeans and the japanese and the chinese and so on.

if you have higher energy costs and you're not energy efficient, you're not going to be competitive. but if you're competitive, it adds jobs, makes the economy stronger. so the way i look at it, if you're interested in lower emissions and a better environment and at the same time you're interested in a better economy and creating jobs, then energy efficiency is the low-hanging fruit. that's the thing we can all agree with. and i applaud senator shaheen because she's been patient. we've both been patient as our staff has been over the years in getting pieces of our legislation in various bills that have passed this united states senate and the house of representatives and signed into law by president obama, president trump, and now president biden. the most recent one was the infrastructure bill. and it's exciting we were able to get in there in terms of encouraging a better, more sus sphainable -- sustainable use of our resources in both the public sector and the private sector. importantly energy efficiency is also an important part of a more reliable and resilient grade

which was part of our legislation, improving the electrical grid. we've had some pretty severe weather events over the past year. as you know i was just in kentucky over the weekend, my neighboring state, helping in the cleanup there. boy, electricity was out everywhere. by improving energy efficiency, we can reduce dehand, taking pressure -- demand, taking pressure off our power grids and help create more stability. these are some of the reasons why since 2011 we worked together tore promote this energy efficiency bill. senator shaheen called it portman-shaheen. i call it shaheen-portman because she's in charge now. the senate is in the democrats' majority, not ours. but we worked together seamlessly. it's been nonpartisan. our goal has been three different areas. one, residential and commercial buildings. that's where we use a lot of energy. about 40% of the energy used in this country is used there. also to ensure that the federal government does a better job. you know, the federal government uses more energy than any other

entity in the entire economy. by the way, it uses more energy than anybody in the world. and they don't do it very efficiently. in fact, there's a lot of energy inefficiency in our federal government. so practice what you preach, right? so you have the government telling everybody else they've got to be green but the government itself is not green. so our legislation requires that the federal government take steps to make it more energy efficient as well. and finally, the manufacturing sector. here's where there's a great opportunity and manufacturers are really excited about it because we can provide some incentives, some best practices, and so on to make them more competitive globally by improving their energy efficiency. we've created a big tent through this process joining forces with our colleagues over the years for the purposes of supporting these kind of commonsense energy efficiency measures. a number of senators have had important parts of our legislation, that includes senator wicker, senator bennet, senator collins, senator manchin, senator hoeven and others, senator murkowski. our legislation has been voted on by this body before. in 2016 it passed the united

states senate. it also passed out of the energy and natural resources committee five separate times with bipartisan support. by the way, in 2016 the vote was 85-12. now, as part of a larger energy package but that was a pretty strong sign of bipartisan support for this. and it improved energy efficiency. in that case it improved office space and energy savings from water heaters as an example. however, beef long recognized that we need to do more in order to save energy and save money. according to the energy information administration, it accounted for 40% of total energy consumption. reports from the u.s. department of energy have found the federal government again as the single largest energy consumer in the country. those studies have shown that our legislation as a whole would save consumers $51 billion on energy bills, reduce carbon emissions by 1.3 billion tons because it would add more than

100,000 jobs to the economy. over the years the legislation has gained the support of industry such as the national association of manufacturers, american chemistry council, u.s. chamber of commerce. we have the support of commercial and real estate developers like boma and the real estate roundtable as well as from the environmental community like thate lines to save energy called aceee. there's not a lot in washington, d.c., that has such a broad group of stakeholders supporting it. it reduces emissions by reducing energy consumption and creates new jobs and lowers -- at a time of record inflation and rising energy costs, improving energy efficient efficiency is a smart way to support families around ohio and the country. with the bipartisan

infrastructure bill signed into law, we are much better able to see the bill back reality. the bill included a $20.5 billion for various energy efficiency projects. included are a number of our provisions from shaheen-portman. for example, we were able to include and fund programs to help incentivize contractors and homebuilders and others to adapt and implement updated building cods. we were also able to help train a workforce able to develop and install important new energy efficiency technologies. that's been one of our challenges. for example, we include funding to enhance the industrial assessment centers program at the department of energy. this program allows students to conduct energy assessments in small and medium-sized manufacturers to improve their competitiveness, save energy h by the way it is these kinds of changes and upgrades that can result in big emissions and cost savings for businesses all around the country. so i'm truly proud of what we've

accomplished, including in the infrastructure bill most recently. and again i want to the thank my colleague, senator shaheen, for her work to get this legislation across the finish line. again, energy efficiency, the low-hanging fruit. i look forward to continuing our partnership on these important issues. mrs. shaheen: madam president? the presiding officer: shopper new hampshire. mrs. shaheen: i thank my change and partner in this effort, senator portman. on november 15, president biden became the third president to sign energy efficiency provisions from our bill into law. we still have a lot of work to do. but i just want to recognize current and former shaheen-portman staff who have helped us shepherd this bill through. from my staff i want to thank trent bowserman and jan elled.delucia. i with aens to thank pat worth, sarah perry and lydia dennis and

i would like to ask unanimous consent to enter the names of these current and former staff into the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. shaheen: want to thank the chairs of the energy and natural resource committee who played such a pivotal role, senators manchin, murkowski, whitehouse and their staffs. senator portman talked about all the various groups who have been involved in helping to move this legislation. so i won't go back over those. but i will say again, energy efficiency is a win-win-win. it creates jobs, reduces costs to consumers and lowers emissions and as our economy recovers and grows, the investments in energy efficiency from our bipartisan infrastructure package are going to make sure that we use energy smarter. and i'm going to continue to partner with senator portman and others so we can unlock the full potential of energy efficiency for our growing economy. thank you. i yield the floor.

mr. inhofe: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. mr. inhofe: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent to speak as if in morning business for such as i shall consume. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. inhofe: thank you very much. i think it was christmas -- i think with christmas right around the corner, i can't think of a more appropriate time to deliver a short message here. i've spoken several times about the situation in ethiopia. it is a nation close to my heart. if you're trying to understand the politics behind what's happening on the ground, it's very complicated. but what is not complicated is that human suffering happens and is heartbreaking. we're talking about women, children, the elderly, and they're dying every day. and it's totally unnecessary.

i pray the violence stops very quickly and call on those who feel to join me if they agree with this. one of my big criticisms of our state department is that they tend to go around the world telling other countries what they need to do instead of focusing on building lasting friendships and alliances. this pushes countries away from us instead of bringing them toward us. and we can't afford to do that anymore with the rising problems that we're having right now. we've been talking on the floor with both china and russia, and those countries are all too eager to pick up the pieces that we leave behind. and this is happening right now. we have -- we're faced with the situation where we have countries that are out there that have actually better resources than we do in many areas. and unfortunately this is exactly what the biden administration is doing in

ethiopia because ethiopia has been unable to resolve its internal challenges quick enough for the administration. they're punishing ethiopia. they're really punishing their own people history. most recently this has been in the form of announcing that they plan to remove ethiopia from the african growth and opportunity act. the african growth and opportunity act is known as agoa, and it's something that's very significant. it's one that all of those in africa and other countries are -- they're trying to get behind them. and i think it's particularly significant right now that christmas is upon us. it means that ethiopia would no longer have preferential trade capabilities with the united states for both import and export. now, this is devastating to a nation that's been such a great partner over the years.

ethiopia has always -- ever since we came back and we kicked communists out with the help of their administration, it's been our friend ever since then. ethiopia has long been one of our last trading partners in africa, in part because it's airline has a majority of boeing fleet. because of that, many planes across the continent are maintaining -- being maintained in ethiopia. this action makes our other partners doubt our commitment, and pulls the rug out from many american businesses that have decided to make investments in ethiopia instead of other countries in places around the world like southeast asia. if we're willing to arbitrarily kick countries out of the agreement, other countries and american companies might not see

participation in agoa as worth the the hassle you have to go through to get that. every time we do something like this, we leave a vacuum that china is only too eager to fulfill. just after the biden administration announced their plan to punish ethiopia, the chinese government announced their own plan to purchase $300 billion worth of goods from africa over the next three years. and to invest nearly $10 billion. now, these -- the chinese foreign minister promptly visited the principals in ethiopia to support prime minister abbey. he has been a prime minister in ethiopia for a long period of time. i can remember standing many years ago on this floor and lauding the virtues of them and what he has done for this country. and fact that he has -- could be

arguably the best educated prime minister in that country at any time. he didn't mention a word about the international challenges that he faces. they were there to support him democratically. we're talking about the chinese now. democratically elected leader in ethiopia. that's exactly what we should be doing. but we and the. china is. -- but we aren't. china s we know that china and russia are encroaching through africa. they want nothing more than to create a division between the united states and ethiopia and in countries across the continent. and the good news, if you can call it that, there is time before the biden administration cancels agoa benefits -- and that would be for ethiopia -- on january 1. but the door is closing, and january 1 is on us now. so the biden administration should take real steps to undoing the sanctions against

the democratically elected government of ethiopia and roll back the termination of agoa benefits. that would make a much happier christmas for us and for ethiopia. and with that, i yield the floor. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

shl madam president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without

objection. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the measure. all in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 528. the presiding officer: the question is on the measure. all those in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, united states agency for international development, atul atmaran gawande. of massachusetts, to be an steaptd administrator. mr. schumer: i send the cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: we the undersigned senators in accordance with

provisions of rule 22 do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of executives calendar number 528, atul atmaran gawande, of massachusetts, to be an assistant administrator of the united states agency for international development, signedpy 17 senators. mr. schumer: i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all those in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar 577. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all those in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, judiciary, linda lopez of california, to be united states district judge for the southern district of california.

mr. schumer: i accepted i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: we the undersigned senators do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of executive calendar number 577, linda lopez of california to be united states district judge for the southern district of california, signed by 19 senators as follows. mr. schumer: i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all those in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 579. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all those in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: judiciary, jinsook ohta of california to be united states district judge for the

southern district of california. mr. schumer: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: we the undersigned senators in accordance with the provisions of rule 22, do hereby move to bring to close clernd number 579, jinsook ohta of california to be united states district judge for the southern district of california. mr. schumer: i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all those in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 580. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion to proceed. all those in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk cl report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary, david herera urias of

new mexico to be united states district judge for the district of new mexico. the presiding officer: the cler- mr. schumer: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 move to bring to close debate on the nomination of executive calendar 580, david herera urias of new mexico to be united states district judge for the district of new mexico. mr. schumer: i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all those in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 574. mr. schumer: the question is on the motion. all those in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the

nomination of. the clerk: nomination, judiciary, maame ewusi-mensah frimpong of california, to be united states district judge for the central district of california. mr. schumer: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: we the undersigned senators in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, move to bring to close the debate on the nomination of executive calendar number 574, maame ewusi-mensah frimpong to be ups district judge for the central district of california, signed by 17 senators as follows. mr. schumer: i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion to proceed. all those in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 487. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion to proceed. all those in favor say aye.

all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, judiciary, jane m. beckering of michigan to be united states district judge for the western district of michigan. mr. schumer: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: we the undersigned senators in accordance with provisions of rule 22, move to bring to close debate on the nomination of executive calendar number 487 jane m. beckering of michigan to be united states district judge for the person cirkt of michigan signed by 16 senators. mr. schumer: i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the mo eggs to proceed. all those in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 488. the presiding officer: the question is on the mo eggs to

proceed. all those in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, judiciary, shalina d. kumar of michigan to be united states district judge for the eastern district of michigan. mr. schumer: i send the cloture motion to the district. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: we the undersigned senators do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of executive calendar number 488, shalina d. kumar of michigan to be united states district judge for the eastern district of michigan, signed by 16 senators. mr. schumer: i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion to proceed. if all those in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. schumer: i move to proceed

to executive session to consider calendar number 575. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion to proceed. all those in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, judiciary, jennifer l. furtherton of california to be united states district judge for the eastern district of california. mr. schumer: i i send a cloture motion to the desk. the clerk: we the undersigned senator in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 do move to bring to close debate on the nomination of 575, jennifer l. thurston of california to be united states district judge for the eastern district of california, signed by 19 senators as follows. mr. schumer: i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion to proceed. all those in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. schumer: i move to proceed

to executive session to consider calendar number 578 of. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion to proceed. all those in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, judiciary, katherine marie menendez of minnesota to be united states district judge for the district of minnesota. mr. schumer: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion to invoact cloture. the clerk: we the undersigned senators in accordance with provisions of rule 22 do move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of executive calendar number 578 katherine marie menendez of minnesota to be united states district judge for the district of minnesota, signed by 19 senators. mr. schumer: i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: question is on the motion to proad. all those in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to.

mr. schumer: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 573. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion to proceed. all those in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, judiciary, mary katherine dimke of washington to be united states district judge for the eastern district of washington. mr. schumer: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion to vowrkt. the clerk: cloture motion, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules, do bring to to close debate on calendar 573, mary katherine dimke of washington to be united states district judge for the eastern district of washington, signed by 17 senator as follows. mr. schumer: i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion to proceed. all in favor say aye.

all opposed, say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to consider calendar number 519. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion to proceed. all in favor say aye. all opposed, say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, department of state, julissa reynoso pantaleon, of new york, to be ambassador of the united states of america to the kingdom of spain and to serve -- serve concurrent to the pains palty of an dora. 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 bring to a close debate on executive calendar number 519, julissa reynoso pantaleon, of new york, to be ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the united states of america to the kingdom of spain and to serve

concurrently and without additional compensation as ambassador ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassador. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion to proceed. all those in favor say aye. all opposed, say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 526. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion to proceed. all in favor aye. all opposed, say no. the ayes appear to have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, department of state, rahm ee emanuel of illinois to be ambassador to japan. mr. schumer: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. 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 bring to a close debate on of calendar number rahm emanuel of illinois to be ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the united states of america to japan. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on motion to proceed. all in favor say aye. all opposed, no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it the motion is agreed to. mr. schumer: i move to consider calendar number 446. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion to proceed. all in favor say aye. all opposed, say no. the ayes appear to have no. the ayes appear to have it, the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report. the clerk: department of state, jack a. markell. mr. schumer: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report.

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 bring to a close debate on the nomination of executive calendar number 4466, jack a. markell, of delaware, to be representative of the united states of america to the organization for economic cooperation and development with the rank of ambassador signed by 17 senators as follows. mr. schumer: i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion to proceed. all in favor say aye. all opposed, no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 442. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion to proceed. all in favor say aye. all opposed, say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, department of state, bathsheba crocker, of the district of columbia to be representative of the united states of america to the office of the united nations

and other international organizations in geneva. mr. schumer: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk -- the clerk will report the cloture motion. 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 bring to a close debate on the nomination of calendar number 442, bathsheba crocker, to be representative of the united states of america to the office of the united nations and other international organizations in geneva signed by 17 senators as follows. schumer i ask unanimous consent that the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion to proceed. all those in favor say aye. all opposed, say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. schumer: move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 454. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion to proceed. all in favor say aye. all opposed, say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it it. the motion is agreed to.

the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, department of state, marc git -- 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 bring to a close debate on the nomination of executive calendar number 545, mark gitenstein, of washington, to be representative of the united states of america to the european union with the rank and status of ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion to proceed. all those in favor say aye. all opposed, no. mr. schumer: i moved to proceed to calendar number 447.

the presiding officer: question on the motion to proceed. all in favor say aye. all opposed, no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, department of state, denise campbell bauer, to be ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the prince pality of monaco. mr. schumer: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby bring to a close debate on the nomination of executive calendar number 447, denise campbell bauer, of california, to be ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the united states of america to the french republic and to serve concurrently and without additional compensation as ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the united states of america to the

principality of monaco. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question on the motion to proceed. all n.s.c. favor say aye. all opposed, say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. schumer: move toed proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 525. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion to proceed. all in favor say aye. all opposed, no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, department of state, r. nicholas burns of the united states. mr. schumer: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. 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 bring to a close debate on calendar number 525, r. nicholas burns of

massachusetts, to be ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the people's republic of china, signed by 17 senators as follows. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion to proceed. all those in favor say aye. all opposed, no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it it the motion is agreed to. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to legislative session to consider calendar number 440. the presiding officer: all in favor say aye. all opposed, no. the ayes appear to have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, department of state, claire d. cronin, of massachusetts, to be ambassador of the united states of america to ireland. mr. schumer: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. 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 bring

to a close debate on of executive calendar number 440, claire d. cronin, of massachusetts, to be ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the united states to ireland. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: all those in favor say aye. all those opposed, say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have have it. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar 323. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion to proceed. all those in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, united states agency for international development, marcela escobari of massachusetts to be an assistant administrator. mr. schumer: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators in

accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of executive calendar number 323, marcela escobari of massachusetts to be an assistant administrator of the united states agency for international development signed by 18 senators as follows. mr. schumer: i ask consent reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion to proceed. all those in favor say aye. all opposed. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar 317. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion to proceed. all those in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, department of state, mark evans knapper of california to be ambassador of the united states of america to the socialist republic of vietnam. mr. schumer: i send a cloture motion to the desk.

the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of executive calendar number 317, marc evans knapper of california to be ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the united states of america to the socialist republic of vietnam signed by 17 senators as follows. mr. schumer: i ask cones the -- consent the vaims. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion to proceed. all those in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar 320. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion to proceed. all those in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, department of state, rufus

gifford of massachusetts to be chief of protocol. mr. schumer: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate do hereby debate on the nomination of rufus gifford of massachusetts to be chief of protocol and to have the rank of ambassador during his tenure of service signed by 17 senators as follows. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: and finally, number 22, i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion to proceed. all those in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar 572. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion to proceed. all those in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it.

the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary, gabriel p. sanchez of california to be united states circuit judge for the ninth circuit. mr. schumer: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of executive calendar number 572, gabriel p. sanchez of california to be united states circuit judge for the ninth circuit signed by 17 senators as follows. mr. schumer: i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum calls for the cloture motions filed today, december 15, be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the following nominations enclock, 539, 540, that the senate vote on the nominations en bloc without intervening action or debate, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate, that any statements related to the nominations be printed in the record, that the president

be immediately notified of the senate's action. the presiding officer: without objection. m the presiding officer: the question occurs on the nominations en bloc. all in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the nominations are confirmed en bloc. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to legislative session and be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of h. con. res. 64 which was received from the house. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: h. con. res. 64 directing the secretary of the senate to make a correction in the enrollment of the bill s. 1605. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the concurrent resolution be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to immediate consideration of h. r. 5545 which was received from the house and is at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: h. r.5545 an act to extend certain expiring provisions of law relating to benefits provided under department of veterans affairs educational assistance programs during covid-19 pandemic and for other purposes. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the bill be considered read a third time. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i know of no further debate on the bill. the presiding officer: if there's no further debate, the question is on passage of the bill. all in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the bill was passed. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection.

mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the senate banking housing and urban affairs committee be discharged from further consideration and the senate now proceed to s. 1404. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. 1404, a bill to award a congressional gold medal to the 23rd headquartered exesh troops in the 33rd stig natural service company in recognition of their unique service as a ghost army, deception operations in europe during world war ii. the presiding officer: without objection, the committee is discharged and will proceed to the measure. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the markey substitute amendment at the desk be considered and agreed to, that the bill as amended be considered read a third time and passed, the markey amendment to the title be consider and agreed to and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding o the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: finally, ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10:00 a.m., thursday, december 16. following the prayer and the

pledge, the morning hours be deemed expired, the judge of proceedings approved to date, the time for the two leaders resolved for their use later in the day and morning business be closed. that upon the conclusion of morning business, the senate proceed to executive session, resume consideration of the gawandi nomination. further, the senate recess from 1:00 p.m. until 2:00 p.m.. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: for the information of senators, we expect to move to discharge the thomas nomination for the ninth circuit thursday, if there's no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until senate stands adjourned until

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