vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: on this vote, the yeas are 76, the nays are 13. the nomination is confirmed. the question now occurs on the hussain nomination. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote: vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: the yeas are 85, the nays are 5. the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the motions to reconsider are considered made and laid upon the table and the president will be immediately notified of the senate's actions. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from delaware. mr. coons: as if in legislative i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of h.r. 3537 which was received from the house. the presiding officer: the clerk will report.

the clerk: h.r. 3537, an act to direct the secretary of health and human services to support research on and expanded access to investigational drugs for amitrophic lateral sclerosis and for other purposes. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding? without objection, the senate will proceed. mr. coons: i ask unanimous consent the bill be considered read a third time. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. coons: i know of no further debate on this bill. the presiding officer: if there is no further debate, the question is on the bill. all those in favor say aye. all those opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the bill is passed. mr. coons: i ask the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from washington. ms. cantwell: mr. president, i come to the floor tonight because i want to remind our colleagues and the people of the united states of america we did

pass an infrastructure bill, and it was bipartisan. but we are here tonight because the very people that it takes to implement that bill, the very people that work at the department of commerce, the very people who work at the department of transportation are being held up and not being able to be fully confirmed by this body to do the work that it takes to implement that legislation. i know this is incredibly important to people across the united states of america because we know mow popular that -- how popular that bill was. my colleagues are with me toont, two members of the commerce committee, who worked hard, contributed mightily to the surface transportation act that passed out of the commerce committee in a robust bipartisan fashion to come here to the floor, was added with other legislation from other committees. so we're here tonight, myself and my colleague from montana, who has a state as big as any state in the united states -- it probably is the largest state. all i know is it takes me at

least an hour to fly over it. so i guarantee you that's a lot of roads, a lot of bridges, a lot of railroad, that's a lot of infrastructure. and if it's not fixed, not taken care of, then the montana economy is hurt. my colleague from wisconsin is here, and she played a major role in the infrastructure bill as well, and she made sure that we focused on at-grade crossings and safety our rail system. why? because we have to move products from the midwest to reach asian markets and if they can't get there because they are stuck in congestion, we aren't getting be competitive as a nation. so it's ridiculous that we're in this position tonight, ridiculous that there are dozens of nominees for the department of transportation and the department of commerce that the majority of our colleagues support but they're being held up by one or two people who don't want to see them move through the process. and i'm talking about nominees that are part of the federal

railroad administration, the administrator. we're giving a bunch of money to the federal railroad administration so they can put grants out, authorize this new program for at-grade crossings to improve the speed of moving our product and people don't want the f.r.a., the federal railroad administration, to have an administrator. i don't know what could be wrong with that. someone doesn't want us to have the c.f.o. for the department of transportation. the c.f.o., you don't want us to have a c.f.o.? how political could the c.f.o. of the he department of transportation be? not very political. the c.f.o. is the person that will make sure we spend the money correctly, administer the new programs as they get set up and make sure the money goes out the door. hard to imagine a lot of money is going to go out the door at the department of transportation if we don't have a c.f.o. there are other people here that are part of the transportation system on analysis.

there are people, i'm pretty sure my colleague from montana will talk about the federal motor carrier safety administration. why? again because i guarantee you because there's a lot of trucks in montana. there's a lot of moving of product. and you have to have trucking safety and you have to have help with administering that. and if you have to have help with administering that, then you need to have an administrator of the federal motor carrier safety administration. these are basic positions. these are positions that are part of the infrastructure that we need for the department of transportation. and as i mentioned, the department of commerce. so these are issues that are important to us. let me just say a few words about commerce nominees. we have someone who is supposed to do the analysis of industry for the department of commerce. we have someone who is supposed to help us with trade and international matters. i'm pretty sure my colleague

from florida, who is objecting to some of these nominees, is going to say it's about the supply chain. these are the very people that we need for the supply chain. you need the analysis and the construct of the department of commerce to say these are the problems that we have with the department moving forward on various issues that we have with our major focus on our infrastructure. so the infrastructure bill provided $1.2 trillion in funding for transportation, for energy, for disparities that we have in our infrastructure. and that has to get spent and it has to get spent as soon as possible. markets in china and india are expected to be worth $26 trillion by 2030, but some people think we'll just take that money that we gave to move ahead on our infrastructure, something that's been dilapidated for a long time. that's what people don't understand. over several administrations,

our investment in transportation infrastructure fell to less than 1% of g.d.p., and we didn't correct it. and the last administration didn't correct it. but this administration came in, a democratic administration, and said we're going to correct that because economists will tell you, you're not keeping pace if your infrastructure investment is less than 1%. so, now president biden is going to get that number up over the next several years, and that's the kind of investment we need to make. but we don't need to slow down because there's a big world economy, 95% of consumers live outside the united states. but, okay, let's just take our sweet time in implementing this bill and getting u.s. products to international markets when 95% of consumers are outside the united states. let's just take our sweet time because someone wants to object to these nominees, the c.f.o., the administrator, these people who have been moved out of committee in a bipartisan fashion. so this is a once-in

a-lifetime, once-in in a generation we have to make but they have to have people over there to make the investment and they have to have people to be fully staffed, and we have to make sure that these important steps that the president is taking on supply chain are met. and that is why these issues of working on various logistics of operations, of pricing, of transparency, and overseeing shippers and making sure that some of our largest shippers are committed to moving cargo during off-peak hours. my colleagues on both sides of the aisle know how important agriculture products being delivered to market on time is, to creating. and we need to make sure that our farmers, our people who have u.s.-manufactured product like in the state of wisconsin are getting a fair deal on their shipping. and that is why we also have to have the nominee for the federal

maritime commission and get somebody on the commission who is going to hold people accountable to make sure our products get somewhere safely and securely and in a timely fashion. so these issues that we're facing on the supply chain are complex. they're not going to be fixed overnight, but they have to have people in the jobs. they have to have people who are going to answer the questions, work together and to get this done. so i would ask my colleagues who i know are going to join me in making several nominations, i ask unanimous consent to consider the following nomination, executive calendar number 315, karen jeanne hedlund to be a member of the surface transportation reauthorization bill. that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate and that any statements related to the nomination be printed in the record and the president be

immediately notified of the senate's action. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, the question occurs on the nomination. all in favor say aye. all opposed, no. the ayes appear to have it. the nomination is confirmed.

ms. cantwell mr. president, i ask that it be in order to make the same request with calendar number 550 for max beckitch. the presiding officer: is there objection? the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. scott: as my colleague is aware, i have an outstanding request from the commerce committee to hear from secretary raimondo -- armando and buttigieg about the supply change crisis. until we hear from the agency leaders either in the commerce committee or in an open meeting that i will hold all transportation and department of commerce nominee it's from moving forward in an expedited manner. we have had crisis after crisis with president biden's

appointees, look at the democrats' reckless spending that is hurting families and too many people put in the position of filling their gas tank or put food on the table. i spoke to a small business owner and he saw prices on raw materials rise 50%, even though he has seen greater demand he is not making money because of the rising prices, if he tries to pass that on to customers, he will lose business,. i've also talked to an operative of a food bank in florida. she used to see 15 families each day and now seeing upwards of 70 families each day. food prices are gone through the roof, making it more expensive for her to give food to people at the very time demand is up. i spoke to a mom in florida and

her monthly grocery budget doesn't go as much as she used to. she has to go to the food pantry once a month to feed her kids. that is something that she has never had to do before. thank goodness for food pantries and everyone else who are helping families who are struggling because the biden administration spent months doing nothing to solve the crisis. they are hurting them as inflation rises to record highs and threatens to rise even more as biden pushes his reckless taxing-and-spending agenda. i will not allow these nominees to move forward. we should take a vote so every senator can give their support or opposition to these nominees. therefore, mr. president, i object. the presiding officer: the objection is heard. ms. cantwell mr. president. the presiding officer: the

senator from washington. ms. cantwell i think my colleague knows that the president is doing something about this and that's why he used his leadership to invest in infrastructure, and that's why he got the ports to move 24 hours to get products to move more expeditiously, that's why he is focused on all of the infrastructure needs they moving our country forward and continuing to deal with choke points, whether on the highways, our ports or our rail system. my colleague knows too that the secretary of transportation and the secretary of commerce, who i'm sure he talked to, are working diligently on this, i'm sure they are willing to talk to him. there's no secret. there's an administration and a bipartisan group of people who are working together to try and solve these issues, but there are those on the other side of the aisle, probably those who didn't support the infrastructure investment, who also don't support have people spend the money and make the

investments. i'm going to yield to my colleagues who are also here to try and move some of these important nominees to make this investment work in the united states. ms. baldwin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from wisconsin. ms. baldwin: shortly i will request unanimous consent to confirm the nomination of mr. chris coast. as we discuss, we face supply-chain challenges created by several factors, increased demand for goods, a growing reliance on e-commerce and labor disruptions caused by the covid-19 pandemic. additionally we have underinvested in our infrastructure -- freight infrastructure for decades. the bipartisan infrastructure law reverses that trend. it provides an historic $567 billion for the department

of transportation. this includes $37 billion for freight infrastructure investments. the department of transportation will be responsible for implementing and managing these funds, including infra and the port infrastructure development program. the department needs leaders like mr. coe, to coordinate implementation of these programs and get the funding congress has approved out to the states and local government. mr.coe is qualified to serve as assistant secretary for transportation policy for the department of transportation having served as the assistant secretary for transportation policy. he received strong and bipartisan support in the commerce committee. in fact, there are several nominees, including mr. coe, who has been passed out of the

commerce committee with bipartisan support for key posts at the department of transportation, the department of commerce, the surface transportation board and the federal maritime who address the ongoing supply chain issues. and yet some of our republican colleagues are refusing to provide these agencies with the leadership resources necessary to help address the supply chain crisis. the issues facing our supply chain are complex and have been years in the making. they will not be fixed overnight, and that is why it is important to have confirmed, sustained leadership at the agencies responsible for helping to address these multifaceted issues over the next several years. so i ask that it be in order to make the same request with respect to executive calendar

number 549, christopher a.coes to be assistant secretary of transportation. the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. scott: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. scott: mr. president, i still can't understand if the biden administration is doing so many things, why wouldn't they want to come brag about it? why wouldn't they want to tell all americans exactly what they are doing. the reason they don't want to do it is it's not getting better. i'm hearing day in and day out from people all over my state that they are hurting because the biden administration is not doing anything to solve the supply chain crisis. therefore, i object. the presiding officer: the objection is heard. mr. tester: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from montana. mr. tester: i appreciate the recognition, mr. president. i rise today to speak in support of ms. joisi to be head -- i can

tell you montanans are. i can tell you commercial truckers are. because this is an agency that is critical to tackling our supply chain issues and lowering costs for american families. let me repeat that again because this issue has been brought up before. this agency of which ms. josi is to be head of is critical to our supply chain issues and lowering the costs for american families. in my real life, i am a farmer. i use a peterbilt truck to get my food to market and i know what a huge role that trucking

plays in our supply chain and our economy. and i'm going to tell you, the american trucker is one of the hardest-working people in this country. i know that because i tried to do it for a while. it's hard work. they've been on the front lines of this pandemic delivering goods to every corner of this country, and a strong and a stable, safe trucking workforce that offers good-paying jobs to millions of truck drivers is a critical lifeblood of our economy. our quality of life in this country is simply not possible without the hard work that truck drives put in day and night. they deserve more credit than they get. and there are a lot of challenges out there. our outdated infrastructure, the covid-19 pandemic, the historic -- the historic volume of goods moving through our economy, that has strained

capacity throughout our supply chain, including trucking. the agency is critical to ensure that products moving by truck do it safely and efficiently. now, as the chairman of the commerce committee has already pointed out, the president, last month, signed the bipartisan infrastructure package into law. it included $568 billion in transportation funding that will improve freight bottle next, -- bottlenecks, and ease choke points across the highway. if we want to grow this u.s. economy, maintain our position as an economic world leader, we must be able to grow our reach to those huge market opportunities. the bipartisan infrastructure package also includes part of my

halls act. the halls act will cut burdensome hours of service requirements so that montana's ag and livestock haulers can do their jobs and do their jobs safely, but we need a head of the federal motor carrier safety administration to be able to say that earnestly. if we are going to boost our economy in rural america and across this country, we need to confirm ms. jos hinch as soon as possible, which is why i'm here. ms. joshy passed through the commerce committee with overwhelming bipartisan support. she is packed by the trucking industry. it is unfortunate that a few of my colleagues, a minority of the minority, are blocking this confirmation.

at a time when we need transportation and commerce agencies fully staffed and empowered to carry out their work, reducing costs for families, smoothing the supply chain and growing our economy. the senate has had an opportunity to address supply chain issues and lower costs by confirming this nominee. i'll say it again. the senate has an opportunity tonight to address supply chain issues and lower costs by confirming this nominee. there is absolutely no reason to keep this critical position vacant and i urge my colleagues to support her confirmation tonight. i yield. i would also ask that in order -- i would ask that it be in order to make the same request with respect to calendar number 464, meera joshi.

mr. scott: mr. president, reserving the right to object. my father was a truck driver. he was an over-the-road truck driver and drove for consolidated freightlines. i watched my difficulty my father had performing his job and it was during a time truckers were not paid well and most truckers were laid off by thanksgiving because most of the goods were there for the christmas season. i don't remember christmas when my dad wasn't actively working. i'm glad truckers today are paid better than they were back when my father michael drove. my uncle actually died in a trucking accident. so i think it's very important that we do everything we can to support our truckers. what i still can't understand is why the commerce committee does not want to hear exactly what

the secretary of transportation or the secretary of commerce is doing to help our truckers. what are they doing to improve the supply chain? you would think they would want to come down here and say exactly what they've done to make the life of truckers better so we get more people in trucking rather than less. soy think we should -- i cannot allow these nominees to go forward without -- inen a expooh dated manner. therefore, i object. the presiding officer: the objection is heard. the senator from montana. a senator: if you want to help the trucking industry, the good senator from florida, putting the federal motor safety administration would be a great start. mr. tester: if you want to reduce the problems with our supply chain, putting ahead in to the motor carrier administration would be a great start. if you want to make our roads safer for everybody, truckers,

cars, everybody i would say putting in the head of the federal motor carrier safety administration would be a good start. i'm willing to tell you the objections of the good senator from florida ring hollow. i have heard the good senator from florida stand up in committee and stand up on this floor and talk about how the administration, this administration has failed. yet that very same person who claims that the administration has failed is standing up here and perpetuating this -- perpetuating the problems that we have because we can't get agencies staffed up. this is ridiculous. so you ask yourself why can't the department of -- why can't the department of transportation and department of commerce come before the committee? look, we're all u.s. senators here. pick up the phone. give them a call. with this kind of attitude, you talked about the fact that food was going up. why are we demanding the secretary of agriculture show up?

you said the small business problems. why aren't we demanding the small business administration show up? this could go on forever. if you really want to fix the problem, let's look for solutions. and the solutions we have here tonight, this one, is the confirmed -- is to confirm ms. meera joshi to the federal motor carrier safety administration. we can make excuses all the time about why we're going to do this, why we're going to do that. pick up the phone. give them a call. ask them to meet with you. that's all it would take. you don't need to shut down the whole administration. shut down the motor carriers by not putting the head in. this is ridiculous. mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from montana. mr. tester: mr. president, i now want to speak of my support for the nomination of annette boes

to the federal railroad administration. consisting of 145,000 miles of railroad track, the network is the largest in the world. carries 1.4 billion tons of freight every year worth $430 billion to our economy. some estimate that the global demand for freight will triple by 2050. which is why we need to improve the capacity for our system to meet the supply chain needs of today and prepare for the future. last month as the chair of the commerce committee has already pointed out, the president signed the bipartisan infrastructure package into law that included $560 billion of transportation funding, that will improve freight bottle members, ease choke points across our ports, rails, and highways. it will lower costs for families. it will grow our economy. gosh, this sound familiar? an awful lot like the last

nominee. in this legislation also includes the right track act which i support and which i sponsored. my bill addresses block rail crossings, by the way a bipartisan bill, which improves rail safety at rural train crossing, and addresses instances of blocked highway railroad crossings across the u.s. that put our families in danger and slow down our economy. i point that out because all too often we have accidents involving a train and a car. get this person confirmed, we can hold people accountable. the infrastructure package also includes $15 million to study amtrak's long distance rail travel service, including authorization of foreign working groups like the greater northwest passenger rail working group, to study and advocate for increased long distance passenger rail travel.

these freight rail programs are administered by the f.r.a. and grants must get out the door as quickly as possible if we're going to get the bang for the dollar. if the taxpayer is going to get the bang for the dollar. holding up ms. boes' nomination keeps resources reaching communities. that might make some people happy. there were a -- passed by 69 votes but there were 30 something folks that voted against it. maybe they don't want this. maybe they don't want infrastructure. maybe they want to turn the keys of the economy over to china. maybe that's what they want to do. but the fact is it -- these critical resources will end up enriching our communities, improving our freight rail service and growing our economy. additionally the f.r.a. is working closely with railroads to provide regulatory expertise and assistance to ensure significant operational changes, including setting up new rail yards that can help move goods across our country, solving the

supply chain problem is done both quickly and safely. ms. boes is a very qualified nominee having previously worked in multiple roles at f.r.a., including chief city council, senior adviser and director of governmental affairs. he, too, received a strong bipartisan support in committee and in fact advanced by a voice vote. once again it is unfortunate and maybe it won't happen on this one, some of my colleagues are blocking nominees from confirmation at a time when we can't afford to leave our agencies understaffed. and they're blocking it because the supply chain issues and because of high costs for small business. and with the blockage of these nominees, what's ending up happening is the supply chain issues will get worse which maybe that's what they want. but that's thought why i'm here. i'm here to get things down and

move this country forward. i know what china is doing right now. and it's why we had 69 people vote for the bipartisan infrastructure bill but if we leave the staffs, leave the agencies understaffed, then maybe that is going to help somebody. i don't know who it's going to help. but there is no reason to keep this critical position vacant and i would urge my colleagues to support her confirmation. therefore, i would ask that it be in order to make the same request with respect to executive calendar number 465, that amitabha bose to be director of the federal railroad administration. the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. scott: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. scott: mr. president, reserving the right to object. my colleagues keep talking about the infrastructure bill. the difference between their infrastructure bill and what we did while i was governor of florida is this. i actually spent our infrastructure money on roads,

bridges, airports and seaports. at the same time we spent $85 billion in one state doing that and cut taxes and fees a hundred times and we actually reduced our debt by a third, over $10 billion. the infrastructure bill, the so-called infrastructure bill had less than 50% of infrastructure. people said it was paid for. and it wasn't. so i'm glad people want to keep saying -- the so-called infrastructure bill. but let's remember. it wasn't paid for. they said it was. and it wasn't all for roads, bridges, airports and seaports which is what they said it was in the beginning. so therefore i object. mr. tester: mr. president? the presiding officer: the objection is heard. the senator from montana. mr. tester: facts are a nasty thing, you know that? i would ask the good senator from florida to read the damn bill.

this bill is to put money into roads and bridges. to put money into our electrical grid, to put money into our ports, to make our ports safer, to put money into water systems. the list goes on and on and on. for you to say that 50% of this bill is all that goes into infrastructure is not factual at all. and i will debate you on that until midnight tonight and longer, until christmas eve because it is not factual. but i'll tell you what is factual. the fact is is that you, got senator from florida, has stopped amitabha bose if being -- from being administrator of the federal railroad administration thereby stopping any sort of improvements in the supply chain that we have, thereby stopping any sort of lowering of costs for spall businesses and working -- small businesses and working families in this country. that is a fact.

and if you'd like to respond to that, i would be more than happy to yield. that is a fact. the truth is, it's the same people that stand up here and say this administration has got problems are creating those problems. because a minority of the minority are stopping good people from being in positions in this administration. that is a fact. mr. scott: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. scott: first off, facts are facts. less than 50% of the bill had -- had anything to do with roads, bridges, airports and seaports. we were told all along it was going to be paid for. it wasn't. the congressional budget office confirmed that. so facts are facts. on top of that the majority leader could have, if these were important nominees as my colleagues keep saying they are, they could have filed cloture and done these nominees -- think

of what we've done the last two weeks. we've been up here and very few nominees have come through. mr. tester: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from montana. mr. tester: very crafty. 50% used on roads, bridges, seaports and you make it sound like the rest isn't used on infrastructure. since when did water not become infrastructure? since when did improving our tran mission lines not become infrastructure? -- transmission lines not become infrastructure? the fact of the matter is this bill is a really good bill and that's why 69 people in the senate voted for it and did not raise taxes on a single american family. you can make excuses all you want, but the facts are this. that infrastructure bill will help set us up for a vibrant economy for generations to come and the most important thing that infrastructure bill will do will help us compete with china unless you want to give the reserve currency to them. and the fact of the matter is

unless the agencies are staffed up, we can't implement that infrastructure bill. and if that's the impetus for this, shame on the folks who have objected to this. because the last time i checked we were u.s. senators. and we're not here for ourselves. we are here for this nation, to make this nation great, to keep this nation great, to move this nation forward. our forefathers worked to do that. they didn't have these kind of silly arguments on the senate floor. the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. scott: so i think my colleague doesn't understand that when you borrow money, you eventually have to pay it back. the government doesn't produce income. it takes money from people. that means that when that -- the bill, the so-called infrastructure bill, runs deficits, somebody's taxes are going up. whether they go up today or tomorrow, they're going to go

up. and by the way, it's part of why the democrats had to raise the debt ceiling by $2.5 trillion. that's $2.5 trillion that american families are going to have to pay for. mr. tester: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from montana. mr. tester: so you're suggesting we shouldn't raise the debt and not pay our debts and default? is that the suggestion? mr. scott: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. scott: i would do what i did in florida. i walked with a $-- worked with a $34 billion -- $4 billion budgets. i cut taxes and fees, paid off a third of the state debt. i never increased my state debt. i actually cut it by $10.5 billion. that's exactly what we ought to be doing here. we can't keep wasting money because somebody is going to pay for it. mr. tester: could i ask the good senator, could you -- the good senator vote for the cares act? mr. scott: say again. mr. tester: did the good senator from florida vote for the cares act? mr. scott: absolutely. mr. tester: was it paid for?

mr. scott: part of it. last year what we did we suspended the debt ceiling. mr. tester: it wasn't paid for. it added to the debt. if the good senator would have been here when we passed the trump tax cuts that also added $2 trillion a year to the debt, and he would have justified that. if you want to talk about building our economy, there's two things to do to build our economy. number one, invest in infrastructure. the other is invest in workforce training. if we're going to get the infrastructure stuff out the door, we cannot have a minority of the minority on the other side continuing to object to people in the very agencies that will help get this infrastructure bill done. that is the truth. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. scott: so, my experience is totally different than my colleague from montana's experience. my colleague is -- my experience is you build your economy by growing jobs. you build your economy by investing in education where you

get a return. so in my eight years as governor of florida, we added 1.7 million jobs. we cut taxes and revenues grew. allowed us to make record investments in education, in transportation, in the environment. by the time i left office in florida, we had the second lowest tuition of higher education in the country, and according to the "us news & world report" were number one in education. but we did it by getting a return on all the dollars, and didn't do it by spending money without getting a return. i yield the floor. mr. tester: mr. president? i heard the senator from florida say they invested in education, workforce training and infrastructure. if he had not -- if he would have not had an administration that would be able to get the money out the door, he wouldn't have been able to succeed. all we ask is that we offer the president of the united states and this nation as a whole that same opportunity. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from washington.

ms. cantwell: my colleague from montana is making great points in this debate. i can't emphasize enough, my colleague from florida, a member of our committee, he knows how hard we all work on these, he knows how bipartisan this effort was. he knows he's not joined by a bunch of other colleagues here tonight making these objections, because they want these nominees. they voted for them. to come from a state like mine, where one in four jobs are related to trade, it is all about infrastructure. it is about our ports, our airports, our railroads, our roads. it's about getting the products from montana out to the pacific and to those destinations. it is all about making this infrastructure investment, and we finally have a president who is willing to put everything on the line to get us back to making an infrastructure investment that's more than 1% of g.d.p.

and smart enough to know that those ports and everything else aren't going to function well, that we're not going to be competitive with canada or south america or other places if we don't make this investment. well, now we made it. we made the investment. now we just need the people to execute on it. and our colleague doesn't want those individuals to be part of this process. he's not ready for them. everybody gets frustrated with the position of an administration. everybody wants to hear from a nominee. i've called nominees. you would think some of those people might call me, but no, i've had to pick up the phone, call them, say, here's what my concern is. where are you going to be on this issue? what are you going to do about this problem? i did have everything guaranteed? do i have every policy that i want to see for that nominee? no. but i picked up the phone and got the commitment that i needed to see things through and see things moving.

now, the fact that we have these nominees that continue to be held, as my colleague said, by a minority of the minority, because they don't want to see the infrastructure investments that we've already voted on, they don't want to see them in place, is just really holding up government. it's just holding it up. and i think the president deserves to have his nominees. we deserve to get to vote on them. we deserve to give the president of the united states our opinion. but we also deserve to have these nominees voted on and not held in this process so that the government, so the actual functioning of the infrastructure bill, can't be implemented, even though the majority of the senate voted that way. so mr. president, i ask that it be in order to make the same request of executive calendar number 468, motion -- if.

mr. scott: reserving right to object. let's remember why i'm here. for weeks, i've been asking the chair of the commerce committee to invite the secretaries of transportation and commerce to come tell us what they're doing to fix the supply chain crisis. we still are a hundred cargo ships off the coast of california. is it getting better? no, it's not getting better. i was on a call this week. i did not hear one thing that's been done to solve the supply chain crisis. when i was governor of florida, we had hurricanes. we had to work hard to make sure we didn't run out of fuel. to make that happen, what we would do is put everybody together. i often went to the ports to make sure that we got the fuel through, and we did. we got it done. i've not seen the secretary of transportation go out to the port of palm beach to solve any problems at all. i've not heard of anything that secretary of commerce has done

to go out to california and solve this supply chain crisis. so, these nominees could have been -- cloture could have been filed by the majority leader. for whatever reason, the majority leader decided not to do it. therefore, i i object. the presiding officer: the objection is heard. ms. cantwell: my colleague knows very well just yesterday the deputy secretaries of commerce, transportation and agriculture met with, it may have been via zoom or on the floor, met with senators to talk exactly about what's going on to help work on the supply chain. he knows very well. now, he may not have liked exactly what he heard in the outcome, but there's no harder working people than the secretary of commercened a secretary of transportation at implementing the things that need to be implemented to keep our country moving. the problem is, i think that the senator from florida may not understand is there is huge upside. we just had a hearing yesterday with all the airlines.

we acted on the payroll support program, the end result of that has been a big boone to our economy, because they were there and in place to capture the upside when the vaccines worked and the flying public returned. so we, the united states of america, have outdone europe and asia and canada, and basically the upside of having our air transportation system now back up into the 90% of capacity. we did that because we acted and we made an investment and the investment's paying off, and it kept a workforce that otherwise would have been on unemployment benefits. so this administration is working. this administration is working and needs people to help them implement the bill we just passed. the administration has been working with major ports to have night and weekend cargo operations, working with companies to improve the transparency of logistics and

pricing, working with shippers to get the cargo and containers in and out of the ports faster. he's urging some of the largest shippers, walmart, target, home depot, samsung, fedex, ups, to commit to moving cargo during offpeak hours and making those commitments. two major railroads, union pacific and bnsf, will create new incentives for cargo owners to move cargo during the weekend. one of the largest carriers has begun providing $100 discounts úar. so, -- so, help moving them off the docks. one of the problems is that empty containers have been left on the docks. this has caused congestion at the ports. the administration has worked with these carriers to help incent people who have been part of the shipping system to get that product off of the docks. we've begun to see positive results of this.

this month the c.e.o.'s of major retailers told president biden that the supply chain conditions have begun to show signs of improvement. this is from the major retailers so the issues we're focusing on here, we're talking to two people out fixing the problem, you had a chance to talk to their deputy about this. these are people that are definitely available to be talked to about this problem. and yet, they're asking us to continue to have a workforce. mr. president, i would ask that it be in order to make the same request with executive calendar number 469, victoria marie baecher was mer to be the c.e.o. of the department of transportation. objection? mr. scott: reserving the right to object. i want to thank my colleague from washington for holding the hearing with the airlines.

two things about that. i was surprised, i didn't get a very good answer from the airlines about did we get a return on the, what, $54 billion we provided the airline industry. i was extremely disappointed of united airlines that was cavalier with employ yos in my state that were basically rhett go or laid off without pay, only because they decided not to get the vaccine for religious purposes. i still, although i come back to this issue, i still am waiting for the secretary of transportation and secretary of commerce to come at a public event so all of our constituents in my state can hear exactly what they're doing to solve the supply chain problem. i can tell you, i was on the phone call, this problem is not getting better. there are still 100 cargo ships off the coast of california. i want to hear exactly what they're doing, and so do the citizens of my state. therefore, i object. the presiding officer: the object is heard.

ms. cantwell: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from washington. ms. cantwell: these nominees we're talking about are nominees that literally are just the people who are going to help get these things done within the agency. you're basically denying people the ability to have analysis, to talk about competition, to talk about the effective strategies that we need to put in place. the commerce committee has had three hearings on supply chain. in fact, we've had some fabulous testimony starting in, i think it was, february or march, about the supply chain. fabulous panel of experts about the complexity of what was happening to the supply chain, what our problems were going to be, and one thing was clear is that this isn't an issue for just covid, this isn't an issue for just this administration, this isn't an issue even for the

next few years. this is an issue about the fact that in the world economy, in 2019, prior to the pandemic, something miraculous happened: the population of the world, the majority of the population of the world reached middle class. that meant the majority of people outside the united states were going to be a huge market opportunity for our goods and our products. it's a huge economic opportunities that 95% of crushes are outside -- of consumers are outside the united states. that means we have to get things to those markets cost effectively and competitively. for us in seattle, the port of seattle has to compete with the port of vancouver. and the port of vancouver, and infrastructure of canada, has made all sorts of infrastructure investment, all across canada, with rail and port investment, so that they can have the state of the art, so it can be cheaper to ship through canada than the

united states. the same thing is happening in other parts, in south america and other parts of the world. this is about who's going to reach the asian market and how fast are they going to reach the asian market. the infrastructure investment was critical. it was critical to making sure that our railroads worked, that our ports worked, that our motor carriers had the right people and had the right safety. this was literally upgrading our infrastructure that had been ignored, basically kept on life support for so long, and now we had a president and a bipartisan group of people who were going to make the investment. and so the fact that those agencies now need people, even the next nominee that we're talking about, is just literally about making investments so that they can figure out the strategy and the strategy moving forward on these individuals. so, this isn't a -- you know, an

issue that i don't understand why so many of these nominees my colleague has to object to, because these nominees are individuals that are part of our infrastructure investment, and in this case part of where we are with the department of commerce, in understanding what is even happening in the supply chain and what we also want to do. so i ask that it be in order to make the same request with calendar number 355, grant t. harris to be assistant secretary of commerce. the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. scott: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. scott: reserving the right to object. i want to be clear, i like infrastructure. i spent $85 billion on infrastructure. over $10 billion a year. had dramatic increate in -- increase in infrastructure. also did a lot of work to make sure we increased trade in florida. we have 15 seaports.

i believe in all this. i also believe we have a supply chain crisis right now. it's not getting better. i'm shocked my colleague does not want to ask the secretary of transportation and commerce to come explain to the american people why this is not getting better. there -- therefore i object. the presiding officer: the senator from washington. ms. cantwell we are here as congress tries to get some work done as we break for the holiday season and i'm sure that my colleague knows very well where the administration is on getting its nominees. we're not even the only committee who's out here in a weekly basis complaining about the number of nominees that are not allowed to serve even though they come out of committee with bipartisan support. they are not being allowed to be taken up and acted upon. so we've had people out here from the foreign affairs

committee, we've had nominees, we've had various committees, the help committee. so now we're just here now talking about the transportation committee. so, yes, we have a minority within the minority that doesn't want the administration to have the nominees that it needs to get things done and in this case it's infrastructure. and in the -- and the importance of that is the majority of people voted for infrastructure. the majority of people have voted for if these nominees and these nominees deserve to get in their place so that individuals can do their work. if the senator from florida doesn't want to support, didn't want to support the infrastructure bill, doesn't believe that it was done just like he would do it, i would ask him to consider the -- to consider the fact that his colleagues, the majority of whom did support it, are now going to be delayed in getting those resources out the door. maybe that's what he wants.

maybe he's playing a game of the calendar, he's hoping these nominees won't ever get into these spots that it will it take forever for these programs to get implemented. our economy can't wait for that. our economy and the investments we all decided to make can't wait for this kind of gamesmanship, the business that's my colleague talked about can't wait for that. they will be in front of the commerce committee at some point in time. i'm pretty sure they will be asked these questions. i'm pretty sure they would take that call from my colleague tonight or tomorrow. i'm pretty sure they would have the input from him that he would want to give in these situations, but this is an issue about whether you're for the infrastructure investment and whether you're for making that reality by having the people that it takes to implement it. and if you don't have c.f.o.'s, if you don't have the

administrators of the agencies, if you don't have the people that are targeted to do the investment, i'm not sure how you can do it. and one of those nominees, serves on trade and international matters, he has experience in trade and working on these issues and could benefit us in the analysis of getting our products into these markets and get it into these markets quickly. i ask that it be in order to make the same request with respect to executive calendar number number 586, to be director of foreign commercial service. the presiding officer: is there objection? the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. scott: reserving the right to object. one thing that has not been

addressed, if this is so important, why didn't my colleagues go and file cloture on these nominees? when i have been asking for this for weeks, why these two secretaries won't show up and tell my citizens why they can't solve the supply chain problem. therefore, i object. the presiding officer: the objection is heard. the senator from washington. ms. cantwell: mr. president, i think we've had a good discussion of exactly what these individuals, the secretary of commerce and the secretary of transportation have been doing. they've been making their deputies available for conversation about supply chain. we've had supply chain hearings. i'm pretty sure they will take his phone call. i'm pretty sure the reason that we're out here is because when the other side of the aisle holds up so many nominees, there's only so many cloture motions that you can file. i guess we'll be here this

weekend and find out exactly how many cloture motions and how long it will take to continue to get these nominees. i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from new hampshire. ms. hassan: mr. president, i speak -- i'm here to speak about america. by law every two years people cast their votes on a tuesday. like many americans, i always treasured that day. i've gone to my polling place and cast my vote and when i left, usually from a town hall or a school, i've done so with the confidence that the votes would be counted, a winner declared in my town, my state, my country would move forward, accepting the results not because of which candidates won, but because of our confidence that the election system was run

impartially by people who believe in our democracy and believe that democracy is about free, fair, and impartially administered elections. this great democracy of ours depends on the existence of a free and fair casting and tallying of votes and the public's acceptance of that result. that's the prerequisite of a functioning democracy and every other piece of our society, from our economy to our national security, depends on it. without free, fair, and impartially administered elections, the united states of america, as we know it, would not exist. yet, right now our beloved democracy is under attack. in states around the country, partisan lawmakers are proposing to ignore properly cast votes, essentially trying to throw out the votes and silence the voices

of those with whom they disagree. these partisans are more concerned about losing power than protecting the rights of citizens and preserving the foundation of our country. and here in washington, a set of arcane senate rules are being used as an excuse not to act. this cannot stand. we must change the rules to allow a simple majority of this body, as our founders intended, to pass laws that will protect the right to vote and protect american democracy. in states across the country, partisan politicians are calling into question the sacred american right to free, fair, and impartially administered elections. these politicians are trying to reject the will of the people, trying to interfere with elections, and, yes, overturn results. this is not an idle threat. it's happening right now.

as the president well knows, earlier this year in georgia a new law enabled the legislature to seize control of the state election board allowing elected legislators to install a partisan majority with the ability to suspend and replace local election officials. and in arizona, legislators have proposed a bill that would enable the state legislature to override an election certification with a simple majority vote. this threatens the integrity of our election system, that in turn threatens our peace, stability and certainty, the very rule of law that makes individual liberty, a vibrant economy, and, yes, the peaceful transfer of power possible. there is no single aspect of american life that isn't related to free, fair, and impartially

administered elections. we have public schools, safe neighborhoods, access to health care, support for small businesses and access to the great outdoors all because ordinary americans can make their voices heard and hold their government, a government of, by, and for the people accountable. in america, as imperfect as we are, everybody has the opportunity to succeed because everyone has the opportunity to vote. but that all changes when our election system is corrupted by politicians who are more interested in clinging to power than being responsive to the people who they were elected to respect. when those in power work to create a partisan electoral system, where the focus is not on ensuring every vote is counted but is instead on assuring a predetermined outcome, those in power become less and less responsive to the

will of the people. and as citizens become disenfranchised and angry, those in power increasingly rely on authoritarian methods to stay in power. that is the road that we risk going down if this systematic system continues. authoritarian regime also like russia, china, iran, and north korea would like nothing more than see this system fail, see this congress stand by, when americans lose trust in our democracy, when the integrity of our elections is thrown into doubt, neither republicans nor democrats win, our enemies do. but we in the senate can stop this threat to tower democracy -- to our democracy by

acting to protect the fundamental right to vote. the constitution gives congress the power to oversee federal elections. that means that congress has the authority to protect democracy and the right to vote. and we have a constitutional and moral obligation to do so. that was part of the oath i swore to support and defend the constitution and bear true faith and allegiance to the same. congress has a responsibility to act now, to ensure that the right of every american to vote is never taken away. we must pass legislation to prevent partisan politicians from rejecting the will of the people and overturning election results. and because that effort here in congress is being blocked by a minority, which is abusing its power, i believe the time has come to change the senate rules

to allow a straight up or down majority vote on this fundamental issue of democracy. our founders understood that our democracy was a fragile thing, that we would always have to fight to protect. across every generation americans have signed up to serve not just to protect our physical security but to protect our freedom. american soldiers like my father fought in world war ii, they saved the world from hitler, preserving freedom around the globe. my dad fought in the battle of the bulge, and when i was growing up and we were having breakfast, dad would sometimes look up at my brother and my sister and me, and he'd say, so what are you going to do for freedom today? sounds like kind of a big question to ask a kid. but he was serious.

because every single american has a responsibility to help protect our democracy, including and perhaps especially united states senators. we must change the senate rules to protect right to vote because if we don't, we face a very different kind of election day than the one we have now. if the partisans who are attacking our democracy have their way, our tuesday election day in early november will be different. we'll wake up, cast our vote, drop our kids at school, go to work. we'll tune back in at the end of the day to see the election results only to learn that the vote tally is being ignored. that our votes don't matter much. we'll learn that our legislatures are going to throw

out the results and pick their own winner. we'll see an election day that is a charade just like in countries where democracy doesn't exist. our democracy is too important to allow a minority of this body to let it slip away. we must pass legislation to protect american democracy. our country depends on it. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor.

mr. schumer: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the following nominations en bloc. 622, 629, 630, 595, 596, 607, and 608 and all the nominations on the secretary's desk in the army, foreign service and space force, 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, and that the president be immediately notified of the senate's action. the presiding officer: without

objection. the question is 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 be confirmed en bloc. mr. schumer: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that 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: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the appointments at the desk appear separately in the record as if made by the chair. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: mr. president, i have three requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have been approved by the majority and minority leaders. the presiding officer: duly noted. mr. schumer: finally, mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 9:30 a.m. friday, december 17, that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved 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 and resume consideration of the gawande nomination. further, that the cloture motions filed during yesterday's session of the senate ripen at 10:00 a.m. and that if any of the nominations are confirmed during friday's session, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the president be immediately notified of the senate's action. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: for the information of senators, the first vote of the day is expected at 10:00 a.m. we expect additional roll call votes throughout the day. if there's no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order following the remarks of senator sullivan. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: thank you, mr. president.

mr. sullivan: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from alaska. mr. sullivan: mr. president, it's thursday. the senate is still busy here. we have a lot of work to do as we're all trying to get home for the holidays. i thought it was still the appropriate time to come down and talk about somebody's making our state such a great state, somebody who is contributing to community, somebody who i refer to us as our alaskan of the week. we've been doing this for, gosh, going on almost six years. maybe five years. but it's always one of my favorite times of the year, even when the speech is late. so i appreciate the majority leader and the presiding officer letting us stay open here for one more speech.

and i know the pages -- i mean, they love the alaskan of the week. so this is a little bit of a treat. but i always start this speech with a little bit of an update, what's going on in alaska. so right now the -- barrow, point barrow, the northern most place, northern most community in north america, they haven't seen the sun in nearly a month. the sun went down and it's not rising again until january 23. they get a lot of darkness. 66 days of darkness. great people up there. wonderful people up there. i love it up there. we had some pretty significant cold spells already that for now doesn't seep to be lifting. it was 40 below zero in fairbanks yesterday and

anchorage the high was 4 degrees above zero. so fairbanks can get really cold. 40 plea, that's chilly. tough people throughout the state. 4 degrees above is pretty cold for anchorage. but everybody is excited because christmas is right around the corner. and it's of course a great time to be in alaska. we do have a place -- i was just talking to the presiding officer, the majority leader. we have a great community in the interior alaska called north pole, alaska. santa actually lives there. we have a city council member, north pole named santa claus. the reindeer there. and of course i'm like everybody else here looking forward to getting home, going to midnight mass, eating my special alaska seafood newburgh, having friends over, family of course, and i think we all know we're very fort fat. i certainly believe -- very

fortunate. i certainly believe i'm a very blessed man and we're blessed in alaska because of people like sherry doherty who is our alaskan of the week. and so, mr. president, i want to talk a little bit about sherry because what she's done is literally the definition of the christmas spirit. for the last month as she has done for the last 30 years, she has been working pretty much around the clock volunteering her time for the nonprofit share the spirit. share the spirit. that's the nonprofit that sherry helped found in 1992, 30 years. share the spirit's mission is to make sure that hundreds of less fortunate families in homer, alaska, her hometown, get all of the ingredients for a proper

christmas dinner and presents for the kids. did share the spirit. sounds pretty simple, but as you can imagine, this is no easy task, and sherry would tell you that it involves so many others in homer to make sure that the children in the community who might not otherwise have anything under the tree can experience the magic of christmas that every child deserves. so, who is sherry? this great volunteer who's been doing incredible work in homer. originally from chico, california, sherry and her parents moved to homer when she was in the tenth grade. her father was a fisherman, and for those of you who have been to homer or want to come to homer,ly tell you it is one of the most stunningly beautiful places in all of america, really in all of the world. it's known as the halibut fishing capital of the world,

but anyone who goes there falls in love with homer. it is surrounded by the glistening waters of katchimak bay, glaciers, snow-capped volcanod and a great, tightknit comiewrnts. after college at the university of alaska in fairbanks, sherry moved around a little, but in 1991 she came back home with her daughter. she did so because she had family there in homer, and even if she didn't, as she put it, had a whole town full of family in homer. now, volunteering was in her blood. she said her mom stressed the importance of giving back to the community, since she was a young girl. so she almost immediately joined the emblem club. that's the unofficial auxiliary of the elks. during one of their first meetings, it was announced that a christian minister's group,

that every year provided food and presents for people in the community, was actually going to disband. a meeting was called. the talking lasted for a very long time at such volunteer meetings that can happen, of course, until sherry finally cut in and said, hey, you guys, we're really burning daylight here. here's what needs to happen. we need to form a committee, form a plan, form a nonprofit and get busy. get busy. and as such things go, she and another woman, norma faust, were put in charge, and boy, did they make a difference. that year, with christmas only weeks away, a nonprofit to form, a fundraiser to organize with the help of a strong community, they put together 57 baskets of food, turkey, stuffing, potatoes, sugar, salt, eggs,

celery, pie crusts, cards with recipes on them, all the fixings for a nice christmas dinner, and then there were the presents for more than 100 children. 220 gifts that first year, 30 years ago. and the program has grown ever since. hundreds of families each year are referred to sherry's program by social service agencies, including food banks and anywhere people go for help. the information is passed passeo sherry and the whole share the spirit team. each family is identified by their needs. a family of three, say, with the 4-year-old girl who needs boots, would like a princess costume, they're then assigned a number that goes onto a christmas decoration, and put on one of the numerous trees hosted by local businesses in homer.

homer residents pick up a decoration and buy the presents. pretty well organized. and sherry and the volunteers then get busy organizing a huge spaghetti feed to raise the funds, and then they go shopping for the food. a few days before christmas, the group stages the location, normally at the high school, presents presents and the food baskets are then dispercented. mr. prp, as i mentioned -- mr. president, as i mentioned, sherry has done this 30 years, 30 years. throughout the years, many stories and people stand out. this is alaska, so of course, there was the year of the huge blizzard. nobody could drive. they enlisted a club of snow machine riders to deliver the presents, and food throughout the area. there's the woman who now lives in pennsylvania who lived in homer for a while with a young

child. that child, because of the group , was able to experience christmas. and now, like clockwork, this woman sends a quarterly donation to share the spirit. you see how the spirit is literally being shared all over the country -- alaska, homer, pennsylvania. there are the many people now adults, some with children of their own, who got help, who got presents because of share the spirit and are now regular volunteers. sherry knows of many people who got presents as children because of her group's efforts and decided to stay in homer, have families of their own, and now help out at share the spirit. quote, they decided that this is where they were going to live. this is the town they're going to live in and contribute to because this is the place that

took care of them when they were young and needed it. sherry is retiring this year, from both the program and from her job as a medical biller at south peninsula hospital. she'll be leaving share the spirit in good hands, though. kelly glidden, who began volunteering as a sixth grader in 1993, john adams, who started when he was 8 years old volunteering, and amy olsen olsen-dryer, who has been involved in share the spirit since she was 3, and who is also sherry's daughter. they will take on the mantle of this great volunteer focused on the christmas spirit that sherry started. there are those that have been there since the beginning -- dee dee shuttle and fran vanesont. then there's the great community of homer, a community that takes

care of its own. so thank you, sherry, for all you've done throughout the years. three decades to keep the christmas spirit alive. thank you for making our state a much better place, a more generous place, a caring place for all, and touching the lives of so many, and especially for making sure the children in homer and across alaska and really across america experience the joy and the magic of christmas. congratulations, sherry, on being our alaskan of the week, and merry christmas. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the the presiding officer: the you sent gavin out for the day confirm several president biden's nominees include nicholas burns of the u.s.

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