not choose war and it's our job, the transatlantic alliance, those of us here in congress, to hold putin accountable if he makes the wrong choice, to make sure that they-- we put in place crippling sanctionings, that we provide the assistance that ukraine needs in fighting russia and that we make it clear to the world that the world order that we have defended for the last 70 years we are going to continue to defend. >> well said. i yield back my time. >> and we take you live now to the u.s. capitol where the senate is about to gavel in on this tuesday morning. at noon eastern today senate lawmakers will be holding confirmation vote for dr. robert califf to be fda commissioner. yesterday the senate voted 49-45 to advance his nomination. also this week, lawmakers will be voting to extend government

funding through march 11th to avoid a shutdown on friday. live coverage. u.s. senate now here on c-span2. the president pro tempore: the senate will come to order. the chaplain, dr. barry black, will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. eternal lord god, who rules the raging of the sea, give to the members of this body a special measure of wisdom and strength for the living of these days. lord, help them to see what a practical resource they have in you as you empower them to complete their daily business

with civility, cooperation, and competence. bless the senate leadership, the leaders of both parties and their assistants and aides. bless those who chair committees and subcommittees, who manage bills. lord, fill capitol hill with the unmistakable sense of your presence as you enable our lawmakers to accomplish those things that without you would be impossible. we pray in your precious name. amen. the president pro tempore: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands,

one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the president pro tempore: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. mr. warnock: mr. president.

the president pro tempore: the senator from georgia. mr. warnock: i suggest the absence of a quorum. the president pro tempore: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

yet again to leave the food and drug administration. my opposition is nothing new. in fact, it was exactly five years ago next week i came to the senate floor to urge my oppose this nomination to serve and then president obama in the same role. in the five years since he was confirmed, more than 400,000 americans, and 5000 w. virginians, have died died from drug related overdose. and 2020 was the deadliest year on record for drug-related overdoses. 1386 west virginians and nearly

95,000 americans died from a drug related overdose. that number is just increasing come with over 100,000 americans having died from overdose between april 2020-april 2021. let's not beat around the bush. dr. califf there's a great deal of responsibility for these deaths. we have it a luxury with this nomination that we're not use really granted because dr. califf has already served as the fda commissioner. and second how he will lead the agency. dr. califf's previous tenure drug-related overdoses went up. five years later they are up again and this time at record numbers. in fact, despite his pitch to overall the fda's policy, during his tenure and immediately following it, the fda approved five new opiates for market. in the same time the removed only one.

the wise maya angelou famously said when someone shows you who they are, the leave them. well, dr. califf is shown us who he is and he has shown a complete lack of interest in actually making the difficult decisions that would be the leader of the fda to make. nothing that dr. califf has said or done has led me to believe he will operate the fda any differently than he did during his previous tenure. as if this is not enough, reports that circulated that dr. califf intends to keep dr. janet woodcock on board as the senior advisor at the fda, if confirmed. dr. woodcock bears more responsibility for the opioid epidemic in our country than any other person at the fda, because of her oversight role and the approval of every single one of the opiates that went on to ravage communities like those in

west virginia. she was in charge in 1995 when the fda approved oxycontin. what we know now to be the tip of the spear of the opioid epidemic. in 2014, she ignored the advice of the fda advisory committee that voted overwhelmingly by a vote of 11-two against approving so hydro. she decided to approve so hydro anyway at a time when the less opiates, not more. so it is a pure hydrocodone drug with a strong risk of overdose and death. expert estimated that just two pure pills can kill an individual. the pharmaceutical industry has greatly benefited from the status quo that people like dr. califf and dr. woodcock have established at the fda. in fact, dr. califf himself joined the board of directors for a pharmaceutical company immediately following his tenure

as the fda. he prospering financially in that position as thousands more died over overdoses. due to the continued negligence of the fda, more than 400,000 americans have died since dr. califf first served. among those americans was lauren cole from morgantown. her father michael graciously allowed me to share her story with all of you. lauren was the definition of the girl next door. a person who is approachable, dependable, and anyone saw her as their best friend. she was also a fierce competitor with the strong will to be the best. the little girl became a competitive athlete was swimming at two, tumbling at three, and she was skiing at age four. in college she represent west virginia university at the national cheerleaders association collegiate chair

nationals two years in a row. everything lauren did look effortless. after completing her bachelors degree in social work she worked with foster care while pursuing her masters degree in social work. she had a true helpers heart. this life story sounds like a girl who had it all, girl that was happy and content. she was beautiful, smart, funny, athletic, well liked by her friends, and loved deeply by her family. she appeared to not have a care in the world. the lauren had been facing an epic battle since she was 16. when eating she experimented with prescription opiates with her boyfriend and a few friends. she did not plan to be an addict. lauren said once that she thought it was recreational like marijuana. she was embarrassed and fought this disease alone for two years while maintaining good grades,

excelling in sports and taking college courses while in high school. she kept the secret from her family, her teachers, her coaches and her friends. towards the end of her first semester of college she had to swallow her pride and ask her parents for help. they immediately send her to a prestigious rehab facility, and committed to helping her recovery. they were willing to try every option available to them. lauren was in it for the long haul. she had a lot to live for. she was constantly making good choices about what she wanted her life to be. after all, she was working on her masters degree in social work and knew that she could make a difference in the world. on july 5, 2020, after a ten year battle with substance use disorder, she learned her gym workout partner had tested positive for covid-19. this meant lauren had to sell 14 until she could be tested. she could not work, she could

not go to the gym. she could not volunteer, and she could not even visit her family and friends. she contacted her dad and asked him to find a covid test as soon as possible. unfortunately, there were none to be found until that thursday july 9. her dad, michael, texted and called lauren all morning and midafternoon that david could not reach her. he left work to go to apartment to tell her that he had located covid tests. when he pulled into the parking lot he saw her slumped over in her car. he immediately called 911. he rushed over and pulled her out of the car. he tried to resuscitate her, but it was too late. lauren had a slip up the took away her chance to live up to her full potential. it was a sunny afternoon on juld of a fentanyl poisoning at the age of 26.

fentanyl which is another approved opiates under the fda. she was alone in her car hiding from the stigma of addiction. her ability to recover was stolen from her. approximately three weeks before lauren relapse she came home to talk to her dad. she said, dad, you are so many people suffering from addiction that need and want help but to just don't have the resources or family like mine to get it. do you think that when you retire we can do something to help that? her parents took that wish to heart and had created laurens wish, an organization working to establish long-term women's residential substance use disorder treatment facility in west virginia. lauren may no longer be with us but her story will continue to inspire action and change in west virginia and across our nation. dr. califf's nomination as an insult to laurens memory and to the millions of families who

have lost a loved one at the hands of this epidemic. and i cannot for the life of me understand why this administration first, mr. president, i understand there's a bill at the desk that is due for a second reading. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the title of the bill for a second type. the chaplain: h. r. 3766, an act to provide stability to and enhance the services of the united states postal service and for other purposes. mr. schumer: in order to place the bill on the calendar under provisions of rule 14, i would object to further proceeding. the presiding officer: objection having been heard, the bill will be placed on the calendar. mr. schumer: thank you, mr. president. now, mr. president, last night, and this is relevant to what we just did, putting the new bill on the calendar for a second reading, last night, we had a chance to continue progress on a bipartisan, long overdue postal reform bill when i moved to expeditiously fix a few

technical errors to the legislation sense to us by the house. sadly, my request was blocked by the junior senator from florida. without much in the way of clear explanation. for instance, he says he wants to stand up for postal workers, but all the organizations representing postal workers strongly support this bill. they are eager for it. he says he wants to protect and strengthen medicare. but postal already pays into medicare, and the c.b.o. says that this proposal, this bill will save the government money. so, i hope, for the sake of our postal workers, our postal service, and for the millions, tens of millions, even hundreds of plls of americans who depend on postal service, that this is not obstruction for obstruction sake. this is a textbook example, mr. president, of why americans often get frustrated with the senate and with washington. postal reform somewhere highly bipartisan. it got a majority of votes in

the house from both parties. it's desperately needed. we all here from -- hear from our constituents about snail mail and the price they pay for it. it's backed by both parties in both houses, including the chairman and ranking member of the relevant committees, the democratic and republican leading members of both committees. and it has broad support from the postal workers, who tend to be democratic, and postmaster dejoy, who is a friend of president trump's and was appointed by him. nevertheless, it was blocked. i am sure that republicans don't want to be the party that was responsible for blocking popular and bipartisan postal reform. the delay is regrettable, but the good news is that we will get bipartisan postal reform done. it's been negotiated for months, and debated for a decade. it has enough bipartisan

support, more than enough, ample support to become law, and i'm hopeful we'll move it through this chamber as quickly as we can, and that's what the procedural motion i did before was about. and i certainly want to thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for working on this bill, particularly my friend chairman gary peters, who spoke passionately last night in defense of the bill and rebutted all of the senator from florida's arguments handily. and i look forward to getting postal reform passed through this chamber very soon. now, next, on the c.r., before the end of the week the senate must come to an agreement to pass a short-term extension of government funding. in order to give appropriators more time to complete a yearlong omnibus. it's the most responsible thing we can do to support our appropriators as they continue their bipartisan work to finish and i omnibus. no one -- an omnibus. no one, and certainly not my republican colleagues, want a

republican government shutdown. so i'm hopeful that they will cooperate with us to pass this necessary c.r., which every single democrat wants to happen and will cooperate to make sure that it happens. once again, i thank chairman leahy and ranking member shelby for their leadership and for working in good faith to arrive at a yearlong spending agreement. i also commend my colleagues in the house, chairman did he loreo and ranking member granger, democrat and republican, for their work. a yearlong omnibus is a thousand times better than relying on c.r.'s, continuing resolutions, to lurch from one short-term extension to the next. i remain optimistic that both sides will keep working together on drafting legislation to fund the government so it can fully serve the american people while keeping us safe here at home. and in the meantime, both sides should come to an agreement to make sure the c.r., the continuing resolution, the short-term funding of the government, is passed by this

chamber and avoid any even hint of a government shutdown. now, mr. president, last night, i filed cloture on additional defense nominees, including celeste ann wallander, nominated to serve as assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs. if this were any other time, mr. president, miss wallander's nomination would almost certainly have sailed through the senate with unanimous consent, without the need for a roll call vote. at the committee level her nomination was approved with strong support from both parties, and frankly, she should have been approved unanimously the moment she was reported out of the armed services committee. many on both sides of the aisle recognize we need her at the pentagon now. as one of our nation's top experts on russian affairs, her leadership is vital right now. sadly, sadly, one republican, just one, has objected to miss

wallander's confirm awtion, without -- confirmation without any concrete justification. we'll take up floor time to advance her nomination the long way, as we've done for many nominees who face unprecedented obstruction by a small group of republicans. this is not the majority of the republican party or majority of republican senators. but a small group using the senate rules, many of which are arcane and outdated, stands in the way. and slows the whole process down. endangering our security. let's be clear -- to intentionally delay the confirmation of a critical pentagon position, an expert on russia at a time when we need her in the position most, just to score political points, is the definition of cynical, and it is actively making the american people less safe. sadly, miss wallander is far from the only nominee being held

up by these obstructionists on the right. the junior senator from arkansas also placed blanket hold on a number of u.s. attorneys and u.s. marshals. men and women whose job is literally to protects the public and prosecute criminals. if my republican colleagues are so concerned about public safety, why are they standing in the way of confirming some of the most important law enforcement officers in the federal government? it's alice in wonderland logic. it's delay and for delay's sake, especially when new reasons keep coming up to justify these tactics. one reason is rebutted, then another comes up. it seems like some of these colleagues just want to obstruct to obstruct, oppose to oppose. bad for america. bad for democrats, bad for republicans. hijacking the rules of the senate to place blanket holds on nominees has no legitimate justification. when it comes to nominees,

tasked with advancing our national defense, our diplomacy, and our public safety, it only makes the american people less safe. as long as these delay tactics continue, we will continue to hold votes on these nominees as necessary. if that means more late nights with a large number of votes in one sitting, like we had to do over the last two weeks, then that's what we'll do. now, on lowering costs. in president biden's first year, the economy added an amazing 6.6 million new jobs, the most ever, ever for a president's first year. this figure surpassed just about every forecast from a year ago. it's a reflection of how far our economy has come since the start of covid, and that the right leadership in office makes all the difference. but we all know americans still need more help, especially when it comes to lowering the cost of living. democrats know what the american people know -- the pandemic

decimated our supply chains, our labor supply, and much more, causing prices to increase for everyday items. we've never had a pandemic to this extent in a hundred years, and obviously it interrupted the economy. and its supply chains and labor supply. for the past year, democrats have been the party focused on finding solutions to lower costs, to lowering the cost of living for everyday americans. as early as last summer, democrats pushed to have the senate approve legislation to relieve u.s. supply chains and increase domestic manufacturing, which thankfully was bipartisan, and which the house passed recently as will. soon the conference process for that bill will begin. but this is just one example out of many. for the past few years, i've heard from my colleagues about a number of proposals -- for the past few weeks, i've heard from my colleagues about a number of proposals they've been working on, aimed squarely at helping

americans better afford the basics, from medications, to the cost of food to the cost of cars, to more. later today, democrats will use our weekly caucus lunch to talk more about some of the ideas my colleagues are working on. mr. president, lowering costs must -- must be a bipartisan effort. americans in states, both blue and red, and in between, need relief as soon as possible. while many on the on the other side of the aisle have spent a lot of time giving floor speeches and presenting charts about rising costs, where are their actual proposals? we don't hear what they want to do to solve the problem. attacking the problem doesn't make it better, proposing solutions does. republicans should step up and say what their plan is to fight inflation, not just point fingers. that solves no problem. democrats will continue to propose legislation on cost cutting, and we're going to continue to focus on helping

every day americans find relief. some of my democratic colleagues have already released their proposals publicly and i'm sure many of them would welcome republican cooperation. instead of sitting on the sidelines, republicans should join democrats in our efforts to help americans reap the full benefits of our historic recovery. our goal, to have the wages that have increased stay up but lower the costs down so the average american has more money in her or his pocket. we democrats are committed to working in good faith to get things done in this chamber. i hope our republican colleagues will constructively join us instead of just pointing fingers. i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

to confirm dr. robert califf to service commission of the fda. he was confirmed previously with strong bipartisan support. i hope to see that again this evening. at this critical moment we need a trusted hand to lead the fda, and dr. califf's previous service in this role come his

career as one of the nation's leading research scientists, given the experience to take on this challenge. families across the country count on e dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: at this time last year washington democrats were beginning their quest to dump trillions of dollars in left-wing spending on a recovering economy that already had the preconditions for some inflation. everybody warned democrats to pump the brakes. just weeks earlier, republicans had already supported a smaller targeted bipartisan stimulus that had barely started to take effect. even top liberallest economists warned that it could spark massive inflation. the consequences for working families have been particularly harsh. essential goods have played an outsized role in driving up

prices overall. it's hard to put dinner on the table when eggs, fish, and meat is 12% more expensive. it's hard to fill up cars with gas that is 40% more expensive and heat a home with natural gas that's gone up 30% or fuel oil that went up 27%. this is the reality for millions of americans. they are living it every single day. yet the biden administration seems less interested in trying to solve this problem than trying to persuade families that the pain is actually in their heads. one recent story said that the biden administration were seeming hadly mystified about why the american people were not celebrating. if they spent five minutes talking to a middle-class family, i'm confident they would

ceasor misfied. they have seen their income fall a percentage point. any american who hasn't secured an 8% pay raise in the past year has actually received a real pay cut, thanks to democrats' inflation. the american people are reporting their lowest consumer sentiment in over a decade, 75% say our economy is doing badly. almost 80% expect inflation to get worse. six in ten say their family's income isn't keeping pace with their cost of living. these are not statistics the white house can wave away. we are actually talking about human pain. a working mother in michigan said, quote, i cannot buy the food that i would normally buy for my family. in washington state, a single mom of four, who also cares for her elderly parents says she's

had to take favorite family food like frozen pizza and wings and make them, quote, more of a treat than just a regular meal. this is where democrats' policies have left working families. now, on a related matter. this democrat-caused inflation has forced the federal reserve and its board of governors into a very tricky position. while the -- the senate happens to be considering several of president biden's nominees to that very same board. later today i'll meet with chairman powell, whom president biden wisely renominated to serve another term atop the fed. chairman powell has proven to be a straight shooter within the mainstream of monetary policy. his creative leadership helped stabilize our entire economy through the uncertain early days of the covid recession. i look forward to discussing

inflation and the state of our economy with chairman powell this afternoon. unfortunately, several of president biden's other fed nominees appear to have been significantly less wise selections. one nominee, professor cook from michigan state university, has previously promoted partisan conspiracy theories. in 2020 thee called for a fellow academic to be fired because he opposed defunding the police. the white house cites among professor cook's qualifications that she sits on the board of directors of the regional fed in chicago. she was appointed to that position just a few days before president biden nominated her for this one. more troubling still is president biden's nominee to be to the extremely powerful position of vice chair for supervision. this slot comes with major unilateral power.

but the president's nominee, sarah bloom raskin has pressured the fed to stop being a regulator and become a left-wing activist body. ms. raskin argued openly that unelected fed should call war on fossil fuel fuels and affordable american energy. ms. raskin wants our banking system to start picking winners and losers in ways that would stick american families with higher gas prices, higher electric bills and more dependence on china. and she wants to implement this agenda from inside one of the least directly accountable institutions in our government so that voters simply have no recourse. the far-left is already boasts that this backdoor green new

deal would be a first step and that they would get the federal reserve into the racial redistribution business and inject that into the financial system. these unpopular ideas would upend an institution that americans need to remain nonpolitical, nonpartisan and not ideological. fed governors are supposed to be neutral regulators, not policy dictators whom voters can't get rid of. if this weren't qualifying enough, significant ethical questions have swirled around misraskin's -- ms. raskin. she was affiliated with a firm in chicago, somehow, mysteriously, this became the only nonbank financial tech company to receive a special

master account that allowed them to directly access a core federal reserve system. this is an obviously worrisome topic, but i understand that senators have not even been able to get ms. raskin to staff their basic request for information. so i would urge president biden to find a better, more mainstream, more bipartisan candidate to serve this crucial institution. the presiding officer: morning business is closed. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session and resume consideration of the following nomination, which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, department of defense, celeste ann wallender, of maryland, to be an assistant secretary. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. durbin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. durbin: i ask that the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: mr. president, i wanted to say a special word of thanks to a former member mf my staff who -- of my staff who has meant a lot and performed a great service to my office. cory talez was part legislator

and part legislative magician, she was also my chief of staff. she was the first person i would reach out to. she seemed to always find a way to translate big ideas into legislation and then legislation into law. cory is driven by solid values. she has a special talent for management and organization. every senator should be so lucky to have a cory talez on their staff. cory joined my staff nearly 11 years ago as my economic policy advisor. her first assignment was to a bill called the market fairness act. here was the goal, give main street businesses across

america, mom and pop shops, a level playing field to compete against the giant online retailers by giving states the option to require out-of-state businesses to collect sales tax on online sales. the same way local businesses did. the big online retailers resisted. cory would not back down. she worked with the staff from the offices of our main cosponsors, mike enzi, heidi heitkamp and lamar alexander and they came up with a solution that won support on both sides of the aisle and even won the support of some of the giant retailers. in 2019, the market place mareness -- fairness act passed on the floor. she was working on getting the bill signed into law when to our surprise in 2018, the supreme court negated the need for it by giving the states the same

option our bill created. corey had made her mark and became a critical part of ouring legislative team. six years ago i moved her up to be my legislative director and then deputy chief of staff. at the end of last year, to my disappointment, she announced she was moving on from the senate for a new toarnt. i complete -- opportunity. she is going to work in the department of the treasury in the congressional relations office. she is returning to the field she loves with a special emphasis on international policy. i have no doubt she will be successful just as she was in the senate. corey first came to the hill 14 years working in the hispanic congressional caucus as an intern to henry cuellar of texas. she had a law degree from the

university of illinois. she worked on the house side as a legislative assistant for representative caroline mccarthy of new york and as deputy chief of staff for debbie halvesan of illinois. i think corey has put as much effort into advancing the career of others as she has her own. my own staff is filled with talented men and women. she encouraged them and gave them a chance to grow professionally. there is a danger when you work with policy and dry legislative text for a long time that you might forget the people whose hopes and dream ride on the laws we enact. that never happened to corey. while growing up, c rorch ey's mom was a single mother -- corey's mom was a single working mom. she views every bill through the

eyes of a proud, hardworking american just like her mom. basically she has basic questions when it comes to these issues. are they true to the constitution? do they treat working families with fairness and dignity? that was her litmus test for any legislative undertaking. i can't think of a better one. since joining my staff, she became a mother too. she and her husband are parents to a elliott. thank you, corey for all you have given our office and the state of illinois. wishing you the very best luck in your new position. mr. president, i ask that my statement i'm about to make be placed in a separate part of the record. mr. durbin: the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: mr. president, what would a great corporation do, one that is so identified with

america that new patients trust their products and the work they did with the health of themselves and that brand-new baby? when you think back for many of us when we became fathers, there was hardly a time when we didn't have holding in our hands johnson and johnson baby powder. we knew it was the right thing because other generations had used the same product. what's a company like johnson and johnson to do then when it turns out there was an ingredient in that talcum powder that was dangerous? asbestos. they knew about it. they knew there was asbestos in the johnson and johnson baby power. what does is corporation worth $450 billion do when they

discovered that the product they'd been selling for generations to trusting american families was actually a danger and was now being connected to cancers and messo threel -- messo threel onlia. i wanted to mention to you, there was a great folk singer in america known as woody growth ri. -- woody guthrie. he said there are two ways to get robbed, some will rob you with a gun and some with a fountain system. there are two systems in america and johnson and johnson bear that's out. there is a justice system for rich powerful peel and -- people and corporations and then a justice system for everyone else and it seems to be getting more divided. there is something called the texas two step.

it used to be a dance step, but in recent years it's taking on a new meaning and it relates directly to johnson and johnson's challenge. it is given to a highly form of legal strategy that corporations are using it to shield their assets from accountability. it allows wealthy corporations whose product caused harm to avoid paying damages to the victim. not just that, the texas two step denies victims the right to make their case in court and take their issue to a jury or a judge. and it can stretch the process of seeking justice out for years and years and years while victims get sicker and die. does that sound like justice? it doesn't sound like american justice. it sounds like somebody getting robbed with a fountain pen. a big law firm that's credit card with dreaming credited with

the texas two step, charges over $1,000 an hour. it advises large corporations on how to perform this maneuver. we received a lesson on the texas two step in our committee. the committee held the first-ever senate hearing on the texas two step. we heard from experts on just how it works. we also heard from one of its victims is kimberly nurjanjo, who has been given a fatal diagnosis from the lung disease mesothelioma. the name of the corporation she believes caused her illness --

johnson & johnson. here's what we heard about how the texas two step works now. in a nutshell, here's a big corporation like johnson & johnson being sued because they sold a dangerous product or its likely to be sued for causing harm to victims. well they take their corporation and reincorporate in the state of texas and exercise what's called a divisive measure. they cut their corporation not in half but legally in half. in a traditional merger two companies become one. with a divisive merger, it's just the opposite. one company becomes two. the original company keeps all the wealth, all the assets, all the operations. the new company created in this texas procedure is really just a shell. it receives the original company's debts and liabilities and a small trust fund. the new company then reincorporates and turns around

and files for bankruptcy in a jurisdiction where it's hard to get a bankruptcy filing dismissed for bad faith. this bankruptcy filing prompts a stay of litigation by people like ms. nurjanjo. the state of litigation applies to both the original company and the other company. victims are forced to try to recover from this newly created shell company that was made up in a bankruptcy court. how long does that take? years. and, sadly, for many of these victims they don't have years. as the victims wait for some measure of justice in bankruptcy court, the original company goes about its business. it has shielded all its assets, passed them off in divisive bankruptcy to a shell corporation and the good

corporation, so to speak, or the rich corporation, ends up with no liability, admitting no wrongdoing. under the laws of most states, companies cannot move assets around like this, but you can do it in texas. hence the nick name the texas two step bankruptcy. so step one, create a shell company and transfer your legal liability. step two, have the new company immediately declare bankruptcy. so far four major corporations have used the texas two step and bankruptcy to try to avoid legal accountability for their own wrongdoing. the case that the subcommittee examined last week involved health care and pharmaceutical giant johnson & johnson, the maker of johnson's baby powder. as i mentioned earlier, how many of us -- how many of us changed babies' diapers in a cloud of johnson & johnson's baby powder? for years johnson & johnson

denied claims that its products contained asbestos. then it claimed that any amount of asbestos was just too small to cause any harm. but internal company documents at johnson & johnson obtained through discovery told a different story. they showed that johnson & johnson knew about the asbestos in their products. while they were actively advertising the use of this product by adults and to use it on our babies, they knew there was asbestos in their product. in 2018, a court ruled in a favor of 22 women who attributed their ovarian cancer to johnson & johnson baby powder. the women won an award of $2 billion. remember that number. today there are an estimated

38,000 people with ovarian cancer or mesothelioma who've sued johnson & johnson alleging that the company's talcum products caused their illness. but johnson & johnson's use of this texas two step divisive bankruptcy means that these 38,000 cancer victims are no longer able to bring their claim against the company. they've lost their right to have their case heard in court because johnson & johnson, this giant company, has created a bankruptcy in a shell corporation that has absorbed all of the legal liabilities of the original johnson & johnson. so anybody that wants to sue them now has to get in line in bankruptcy court with all the creditors and alleged victims and wait and hope there will be a day when some fraction of the trust fund that johnson & johnson gave to its shell company when it spun it off and loaded it down with legal liabilities may provide some

relief. the chances? next to none. stick with me and do the math. we end up with two companies. once it was just johnson & johnson, and then two companies emerged out of the bankruptcy court in texas. the one company with the liabilities, the one you can actually sue if you can get into court, they created a trust fund for that company of $2 billion. they have 38,000 outstanding claims. 22 women in recovery recovered $2 billion from them already. so you know that 38,000 people are not going to go very far with $2 billion total. what's left in the other fat corporation, profitable corporation, big corporation in that bankruptcy division? $430 billion. johnson & johnson stuck all of its assets into the healthy corporation that can't be sued and left $2 billion for all these victims of its dangerous

product. what a sin icle move for a company -- what a cynicle move for a company. this witness is forced to wait in line in bankruptcy court. she testified at last week's hearing. her story is not unusual. ms. nurjanjo grew up surrounded by addiction and abuse, she moved from one foster family to another. she had her first baby when she was 19 years old. she used johnson's baby powder on all seven of her children. it was, she said, that white plastic bottle that i aassociated with motherly love. that was the same message johnson & johnson used in its ads. they used to say that their product, quote, feels like love.

ms. nurjanjo started her dream job but a week later felt a pain in her side. she was told she had 12-16 months to live. she knows she can't beat mesothelioma. nobody does. all she wants is a chance to make her case in court before she dies so she can leave something to her kids. so she came to washington to testify before us in that judiciary committee last week. her voice representing thousands of cancer victims who went through exactly what she did, exposing themselves to johnson & johnson's dangerous product. i commend her and thank her for her courage. she's fighting for her kids and all the other victims incidentally whose voices would be silenced by this texas two step bankruptcy. as she said, and i quote her, i don't have much time left, but i

will not quit. over the past few months, i decided to write to johnson & johnson. this is a company that used to take such pride in their products. i remember all through my life the advertising that associated their products with wholesome, safe help for families. i wrote to the former c.e.o. and the current c.e.o. and i urged them to change course, back away from this texas two step, abandon the cynicle scheme. i urged them to live up to their representation of being a company that families can trust. they ignored me. this week a bankruptcy court is considering a motion by talc claimants to dismiss the bankruptcy that johnson & johnson spun off to unload its legal liabilities. it is a key test of this texas two step and whether wealthy

corporations can continue to abuse chapter 11 bankruptcy to dodge their legal obligations to victims like ms. nurjanjo. it is not just lawmakers who believe -- like me who believe the texas two step can deprive victims like her in court. listen to what the author of the texas divisive merger statute, steel wollens said earlier in week about the law that brought the texas two step to life. i quote him, had we known in 1989 that the provisions could be dubiously interpreted for entities to avoid known liability, such as those causing severe and permanent injuries and death, the law would never have passed with the texas two step provision. never, never, never. ms. wollens also said, quote, shame on johnson & johnson for trying to evade its responsibilities that it sold with its golden stamp of approval for safety. mr. president, when a legislator

like mr. wollens publicly states that the major company is intentionally misusing the law he wrote, i don't think there's any room for uncertainty or equivocation. this is a shameful, indefensible strategy on the part of johnson & johnson. i hope the courts reject johnson & johnson's abuse of federal bankruptcy laws, but i also believe that congress needs to do something. we need to close this loophole for good. in july last week i joined two of my colleagues -- elizabeth warren and richard blumenthal -- in cosponsoring legislation that would rein in various bankruptcy loopholes like the texas two step. i am committed to working towards this goal. i hope democrats and republicans are work together on a bipartisan basis to stop this bankruptcy abuse. bankruptcy is supposed to be a good faith way to accept responsibility, pay one's debts as best you can, and then receive a second chance, not a texas two step,

get-out-of-jail-free card for some of the wealthiest corporations on earth like johnson & johnson. mr. president, i yield the floor. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. thune: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican whip. mr. thune: is the senate? a quorum call? the presiding officer: yes, it is. mr. thune: i ask that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: the a.p. headline from last thursday said it all -- u.s. inflation highest in 30 years with no letup in sight, end quote. with no let-up in sight. that's life in the democrats' america. but in january, inflation was te highest since february of 1982. inflation has now been above 5% for the past eight months.

there are family raising families today who have never experienced this kind of up nation in their entire lifetimes. american families are utter hadding, mr. president. -- american families are hurting, mr. president, hurting badly. the average american household spent an average $3,500 more last year as a result of inflation. 3 $3,-- $3,500. that's a lot of money for an ordinary family, a lot. everywhere they turn, families are facing higher prices. whether it's ground beef for the chili, bunk beds for the kids' room, or a new car to accommodate a new addition to the family, higher prices are the order of the day. the price of chicken is up 10%. pork is is up 14%. beef roasts are up 19%. eggs are up 13%.

citrus fruits are up 10%. whole milk up 8%. and the list goes on ... furniture and bedding were up 17%. major appliances are up almost 10%. tires are up 14%. used cars and trucks are up 40%. and then, then, mr. president, there's energy prices. fuel oil is up 46%. gas prices are up 40%. natural gas is up nearly 24%. and on and on and on. and predictably, mr. president, inflation is having its biggest impact on those least able to afford it. a recent penn wharton budget model study found that lower-income households on average faced a greater spending increase in 2021 when compared

to higher-income households of inflation. 69% of americans disapprove of the president's handling of inflation. democrats have talked about wage growth. here's the story on wages. despite wage growth, americans received a de facto pay cut in 2021 thanks to inflation. between january 2021 and january 2022, real average hourly earnings declined by 1.7%. a pay cut. so how did we get here, mr. president? obviously the reopening of economies and supply chain issues have created inflationary pressures for the united states and countries around the world. but a big part of the reason things are so bad in the united states today is because democrats decided to pass a massive so-called covid relief

bill last march that exceeded anything the economy needed. when democrats took office last january, inflation, inflation was 1.4%, well within the fed's target inflation rate of 2%. it might have stayed there had democrats not decided that they needed to pass a massive and partisan $1.9 trillion spending spree under the guise of covid relief mere weeks after congress had already passed a major covid bill, one of five covid bills, i might add, that passed in 2020, all bipartisan. mr. president, the definition of inflation is too many dollars chasing too few goods and services. and that's exactly the situation democrats helped create with their so-called american rescue plan. they said too many dollars into the economy and the economy overheated as a result. and you don't have to take my word for it. let me just quote a recent "new

york times" article. i'm quoting here, mr. president. the united states hassed much more inflation than almost any other advanced economy in the world, said jason furman, an economist at harvard university and former obama administration economic advisor. he used comparable methodologies to look across areas and concluded that u.s. price increases have been consistently faster. the difference, he said -- this is jason furman, former obama administration economic advisor. the difference, he said, comes because the united states stimulus is in a category of its own, end quote. mr. president, despite all of this, despite the fact that it was democrats' massive march spending spree that helped l plunged our economy into this inflation crisis, there are still democrats out there who want to double down, double

down on the strategy that helped get us into this mess in the first place and pass yet another massive spending spree that would undoubtedly make this inflation disaster even worse. u.s. inflation highest in 40 years with no letup in sight. with no letup in sight. that was the headline, mr. president. that's where democrat policies have gotten us. i was actually pleased to hear this morning the democratic leader come down here and talk about inflation. it seems to be at least, maybe because of polling or whatever, starting to be realized by my colleagues on the other side of the aisle that this is an issue that's having a massive and very adverse impact on the pocketbooks of the american people, particularly low-income americans. because, you see, mr. president, inflation is a tax that hits every american.

but it affects and impacts lower-income and middle-income americans the most. the democratic leader said that republicans should quit complaining about inflation and start doing something about it. well, we obviously don't have the majority. the democrat solution to this, as i pointed out, is another $5 trillion spending billing. oh yeah, that will solve the problem. let's flood the zone with another $5 trillion on top of the $2 trillion already out there. have even more dollars chasing fewer goods, driving inflation even higher. mr. president, one thing we can do, what republicans advocated, and that is let's end wasteful spending. let's don't do crazy stuff. let's don't massively expand the size of government and flood the economy with more dollars at a time when inflation is already

raging. that's a really simple solution. another solution is not to raise taxes, which is, again, something democrats have proposed. raising taxes by $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion to partially, and i say partially because the cost of $5 trillion obviously doesn't get compensated by a $1.5 trillion tax increase. but still tax increases nonetheless, all which of course get passed on to consumers, raising inflationary pressures even more. so they want to raise taxes, massively grow the government, and spend money, and add about $3 trillion to the debt which is already $30 trillion. so those are the solutions, mr. president, of our colleagues on the other side. so i would say end, stop in its tracks cold the wasteful spending. two, don't raise taxes. provide some certainty.

maybe even make permanent the tax relief that was put in place in the 2017 tax law. three, three -- how about this? how about this idea? how about we become energy independent in america, which is where we were. we were actually exporting energy in the previous administration, first time in american history, at least in my lifetime where we actually had energy policies that were producing american energy on a level that was keeping energy costs low for americans and enabling us to actually export energy to other places around the world. that cairm to an -- came to an abrupt end. president biden came to office. democrats got control of both houses of congress and what happened? first thing, day one, day one in office, first day, first thing he did, president biden canceled the keystone x.l. pipeline which would have allowed us to get energy, fuel

oil from where? our friend, our neighbor -- canada, the canadians, and move it through a pipeline to places across the united states, helping fill the demand with additional supply that americans need to power their everyday lives. first thing in office -- first day in office. it hasn't stopped there. the administration decided that energy evidently is evil, at least if it comes from the ground, and decided to cancel a bunch of projects. there are all kinds of areas now that are off limits to energy exploration, energy production in this country. lots of regulations and permitting things that are slowing down energy projects, making it more difficult, more expensive to produce american energy, leading us, leading americans to a place we didn't want to be, a place we were a few years ago where we're going hat in hand to saudi arabia, to

opec countries saying please, please produce more energy. we need more energy in this country. what's happened, mr. president, is predictable. and what's happened is this -- the demand for energy in this country is great. we're coming out of a pandemic. people are going back to work. they need during the winter months to heat their homes. they need fuel to get where they need to go. transportation, to work, to travel. the demand for energy is up. supply is going down. so what's happening? boom, simple, really pretty simple. it's economics. the price is going up. so the price of oil in this country is now pushing $100 a barrel. gasoline prices, as i mentioned, are up 40%, 40% over a year ago. it is simple math, it is simple economics, mr. president, and there are some democrat senators

now who are suggesting let's just waive the gas tax temporarily. the gas tax, which pays for all the infrastructure that we travel on in this country, and which would leave a huge hole obviously in the highway trust fund which is critically important to every state in the union that depends upon the federal government and the highway trust fund and the fuel tax to fund the infrastructure that enablings our economy to move and keep us competitive in the global marketplace. that's their solution. it's short term, short term, obviously to benefit, to try and gain some political advantage at a time when people all of a sudden now on the other side are starting to worry. efforts being led by four democrats who are up for reelection this year. no surprise there because they've understood now what we know, and that is the american people are fed up and frustrated, fed up and frustrated with policies that are driving up the cost of everything that they have to buy, from the groceries in the

store to the rent that they pay to the gas that they put in their automobiles. everything is going up. and energy factors into almost everything we do. a pound of hamburger that you buy at the grocery store probably had to get there from somewhere unless you live in the middle of the country where some of us do. but if you live on one of the coasts, you had to have transportation to get it to the destination. so it's factored in. it's baked into the cost of everything. when fuel prices go up, when natural gas prices go up, when the cost of energy generally goes up, efertion -- everything else goes up with it. it's economics, mr. president. the solution, the solution isn't a short-term political ruse to try and provide political cover to people who are running for reelection. it's to put policies in place that encourage american energy independence, that invest in

american energy. and, mr. president, that can be done in ways now with the technologies that we have that are environmentally friendly. but we have to be energy independent. we can't depend upon other countries around the world that are unreliable to fuel and fund and run our economy. that investment should be here in the united states of america. and if we saw more of that, we would see less inflation, lower fuel prices. if we ended the crazy spending ideas and taxing ideas that are coming out of the other side, mr. president, we could restore some sanity to this country when it comes to these out-of-control prices, which is a tax literally on every american and hits particularly hard those who are struggling to make ends meet. mr. president, i yield the floor.

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from massachusetts. mr. markey: mr. president, i rise today to speak in opposition to the nomination of dr. robert califf to lead the food and drug administration. for more than two decades now the united states has suffered a devastating epidemic of opioid use disorder, overdoses and deaths. since 1999 almost one million americans have died of drug offenders with a vast majority of those deaths attributable to opioids. as our country continues to deal with the covid-19 pandemic, we must remember and prioritize this other deadly public health emergency. in 2020 overall drug overdoses deaths reached an overtime high with approximately 93,000 americans losing their lives, with more than 60% of those deaths from synthetic opioids like fentanyl. that's a staggering 69,000 americans dead from an

opioid-related overdose, more than gun violence, more than car accidents, more overdose deaths than ever before in our history. we cannot let the tragedy of covid-19 overwhelm the daily suffering of the opioid epidemic. sadly for the scourge of opioid misuse and overdose in our country, there is no vaccine. my home state has been hit especially hard. in massachusetts, more than 2100 residents died from an opioid overdose in 2020, a 5% increase from the previous year, and many more struggled with opioid use disorder. early data from 2021 shows this unfortunate trend continued through the first nine months of last year, 1613 people died in massachusetts from opioid overdoses. we cite these numbers with outrage and disbelief, but for impacted families and loved ones, it is an ever present

mourning for lost opportunities, futures gone too soon and unanswered questions. all the while for each and every community, there is the growing challenge still to be addressed. in congress, my colleagues and i have worked to respond to this crisis passing several bipartisan packages, the comprehensive addiction and recovery act, cara, and the support act to help bring relief to our communities. i am proud several pieces of legislation i authored to fund and expand opioid use disorder, prevention, and treatment programs became law in those packages. those investments are important, and we must continue to build on them, but we cannot forget how we reached this epidemic in the first place. or we are doomed to repeat it for their families. those failures started at big pharma and were aided and abetted by the food and drug

administration. the f.d.a. is supposed to be our nation's pharmaceutical gatekeeper, but over many years it repeatedly rubber-stamped new pain prescription -- prescription painkillers. as evidence of the deadly harm those opioids caused became clear, the f.d.a. did almost nothing. it acted too slowly to remove them from the market, to limit access to those supercharged opioids. what started as an oxycontin prescription prosecutor back pain -- for back pain became full-fledged dependence on heroin. even well into the crisis, the f.d.a. approved opioids without convening an advisory committee at all. the f.d.a. became the country's biggest pill pusher and big pharma made billions in profits. the nation's pharmaceutical watchdog became the nation's

pharmaceutical. i consistently raised concerns about the f.d.a.'s egregious mishandling of proposals when dr. califf was first nominated to be commissioner in 2015. at that time i opposed dr. califf's nomination until the agency took steps to rescind approval for pediatric oxycontin. yes, oxycontin for kids. i demanded the f.d.a. commit to impaneled advisory committees and consider public factors in decisions. in particular the impact of new opioids on opioid misuse and dependence. when the f.d.a. did attempt to address its failures in regulating opioids after strong criticism from me and many of my colleagues, dr. califf and dr. janet woodcock requested a national academy of sciences study of f.d.a.'s policies for

evaluating opioids, not a major step but at least an effort to recognize its participation in the epidemic. that study emphasized many of the efforts which i urged dr. califf anded f.d.a. to undertake, in particular the need to include public health factors at every level of f.d.a. regulation of opioid drugs. to date, the f.d.a. still has not implemented many of those recommendations and where it has taken steps to do so it has not gone far enough to address its past failures. there was no real commitment to reforming the f.d.a. or to learning from the mistakes that enabled this public health crisis. at this point, the opioid epidemic has evolved from being driven by prescription drugs to being fueled by the illicit sympathetic opioids like fentanyl. but that does not dismiss the f.d.a. from accountability. when i met with dr. califf last year, i asked him to commit, if

confirmed as f.d.a. commissioner, to finally change f.d.a.'s processes to ensure it does not make the opioid overdose epidemic worse than it already has. during our meeting, dr. califf did not commit to the decisive and comprehensive action which we need. after years of agency failures and in the midst of a worsening opioid epidemic, we need f.d.a. leadership that is fully committed to using all of the agency's oversight authority to protect public health. i cannot support dr. califf's nomination in light of the that crit icle mandate, which we need. we need a leader at the f.d.a. who will center public health and implement reforms to its review of opioids. specifically, we need the f.d.a. to conduct a full, comprehensive review of approved opioids, as the national academy of sciences' study recommends. we need to finalize strong rules for opioid approvals that require analysis of the impact

of new drugs on opioid dependency and misuse and f.d.a. needs to be aggressive in mitigating the risk of approved opioids by requiring robust prescriber education on opioids and performing regular formal review of approved opioids. these are not all the steps that must be taken, but with these, we can at least be sure that we're on the road to opioid use disorder reform, that there won't be another f.d.a. green light in front of it. here in the senate, we must also commit to doing more to address the opioid overdose epidemic. prescription opioid medications still lack a clear, concise, and consistent warning label informing patients of the risk of the drug for dependence and misuse. some physicians still lack the education and tools necessary to identify and help patients with substance use disorders and critically, treatment remains

inaccessible and stigmatist for many people in need, especially those ensnared in the criminal justice system. we have to pass legislation to address these concerns. and i stand ready to work with my colleagues. i recently introduced legislation with senator rand paul that would modernize the outdated and burdensome federal regulations on methadone, one of the most effective forms of treatment for opioid use disorder. we can do a lot and working with senator cotton, i worked to promulgate and now we need to implement the recommendations of the commission. we need to do that this year. we need leaders in all branches of the federal government to bring this aggressive, intentional intent to their work if we have any hope of ending the epidemic of opioid overdose

deaths. during the califf is simply not that -- dr. califf is simply not that person for the f.d.a. and i will vote no on his nomination. thank you, mr. president.

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from virginia. mr. warner: mr. president, i rise today in response to russia's alarming and impending threat toward its neighbor, the independent nation of ukraine. as we speak, vladimir putin continues to ready more than 100,000 soldiers, tanks, artillery had aircraft, and missiles along ukraine's border. ukraine's north in belarus, russia has positioned tens of thousands more troops nominally as part of a military exercise. to ukraine's south, russian ships are amassing in the blanc -- in the black sea. propaganda and disinformation on the internet and on russian tv channels as part of a russian

playbook we now know very well. the kremlin's intent is to manufacture a pretext for its aggression and sow divisions in the west. russian troops already occupy vast tracts of ukraine in crimea and continue a, quote-unquote, low-grade war in eastern ukraine, a war initiated by mr. putin that has cost already over 14,000 lives. ukrainian soldiers have been bravely fighting and dying to protect their country from what has been naked aggression from russia. we hear even from ukrainian leadership that their forces would face an unequal fight in a full-scale russian invasion. and, unfortunately, probably couldn't help but be outnumbered and overwhelmed.

and while moscow has amassed the largest concentration of military forces seen in europe since the end of the cold war, it continues to make shrill accusations is that it is not ukraine but somehow russia that is under threat. all the while making demands that ukraine never join nato or control its own destiny. even as he threatens war with ukraine, mr. putin demands to be treated as head of a normal government. he thrills at being given one-on-one meetings with other world leaders or being invited to diplomatic flora. he rails that russia has been unfairly singled out for sanctions. he demands respect even as he lays how the a thesis denying that ukraine is -- lays out a thesis denying that ukraine is or ever was a country with its

own sovereignty. what mr. putin really fears is that if ukraine succeeds in building a nation where ukrainian speakers and russian speakers have genuine freedoms, can vote in free elections, and control their own destiny, if that happens, then maybe russians may start to wonder why they have to live in a country where putin has practically made himself president for life, eligible to stay in office until 2036, where questioning the endemic corruption of the russian state, trying to run a business without paying off officials, or even expressing an opinion can lead to detention, trumped-up charges, or, as we have too often seen, even death from a military-grade nerve agent. mr. putin fears that ukraine

could prove for a model of what russia could become without its c.e.p. towocratic regime. -- kleptoocratic regime. mr. putin says he feels threatened by nato. he wants to go back to the old ol' days when the ussr held ukraine in its grip. so he's decided to seize chunks of ukrainian territory and unilaterally change europe's borders. now, this isn't a new position for putin. it reflects a long-held view. in 2005, he called the fall of the soviet union the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century. in 2008, he invaded georgia. when russian troops seized control of crimea, he sent? his little green men and adopted his doctrine of hybrid warfare.

he felt unconstrained to send agents of the russian state to assassinate those he sees as is enemies, whether this kiev, london, berlin, sophia, or vienna. and he's built up his arsenal and threatened his neighbors. putin, as we know and have read about, has crushed even the slightest hint of political opposition at home in russia. all of this while wanting to be seen as a victim and as the leader of a normal participant in the community of nations. these actions are not and cannot ever be accepted or acceptable by the civilized world. so what can the use and the west do? president biden and other western leaders have undertaken the right approach, offering putin multiple diplomatic off ramps, as recently, again, as

the visit by the german chance letter this week. and -- chancellor this week. and a dialogue about russia's exaggerated fears regarding european security. nobody wants a military conflict between two superpowers. so the president has stated that u.s. troops are not being sent to ukraine to fight russia. at the same time, president biden has made it extremely clear that if russia rejects this diplomatic path and conducts further aggression against ukraine, there will be a heavy price to pay. russia will face the immediate imposition of strong, robust, and effective sanctions, including sectoral sanctions against its banking and financial system. as well as stringent export controls that will damage russia's economy. and at the same time while we do not want to endure -- do not want to ensure that there are

any miscalculations or unintended escalation, the united states and european nations have increased their supply of defensive weapons to ukraine to ensure that putin knows that any invasion will impose costs on the russian military. mr. putin may f -- mr. putin may find if he invades he may not find the going so easy. ukrainians do not want to be part of russia, especially at the point of a gun. as someone who has argued that russia and ukraine -- as someone who has argued that russia and ukraine are one fraternal people, it will be difficult for putin to explain why russian soldiers are dying while trying to kill their ukrainian brothers. and as a major part of this policy, president biden has endeavored to keep nato together and unified. since one of putin's major goals is to undermine that unity.

the administration's approach is, frankly, significantly different than the previous president in this country who undermined the trans-atlantic alliance, questioned the very needs for its existence, and took every opportunity to weaken the shared bonds that have kept peace in europe since world war ii. president biden, though, has put thousands of u.s. forces on stand-by and has deployed u.s. forces to nato's eastern flank, additional troops from the 82nd heading toafer poland even as we speak. again, these movements are not to inflame the situation, but to ensure that there is no mistake about our commitment to nato's collective defense, our willingness to defer aggression, and to make sure that we continue to bolster this

critical alliance. the truth is it's not just americans. other nato members have agreed and are sending military forces to its eastern border to ensure that putin knows that the alliance stands united. let us be very clear who the aggressor is in these provocations. the eyes of the world have been on vladimir putin and russia as he has initiated a steady and deliberate build-up of russian forces and military assets, as i mentioned earlier, to the north, east, and south of ukraine. and he has rebuffed multiple diplomatic overtures to deescalate the situation. and through media reporting, satellite imagery and intelligence shared by our government and by the british government, much of putin's incitement has been out in the open for all to see. it is as clear today as it will be through the lens of history that this march of aggression has been led by one man, and

that's vladimir putin. but it's important for putin to know it is not too late to back down from this foolish and destructive course of action, even at the 11th hour diplomatic avenues remain very much open. putin can still choose against leading further aggression and invasion that would have the opposite effect than what he imagines. and while there have been some reports in the media that he may be miewive, we've seen -- he may be moving, we've seen no clear evidence. this is clearly a case that we will believe what the russians do, not what some other leaders say. because if putin does invade, he will have unleashed a tragedy not just for ukraine, but for the russian people. putin will rightly have earned the enmity of all free nations and people everywhere, and russia's economy and citizens

will suffer. i want to be clear, in the event of an unwarranted, unjustified, and illegitimate attack on ukraine, the united states will stand with the people of ukraine. russia will become a pariah nation, a rogue state. the legitimacy of putin's regime will be significantly undermined, and the nato alliance that putin worries so much about, it will be reinvigorated to fulfill a mission it was created for, as a defensive alliance against soviet or now in the 21st century, russian aggression. i urge president putin to choose the right path. deescalate tensions. don't just talk about de-escalations but actually deescalate. engage in a real and honest diplomatic process. and end any plans leading towards a violent confrontation in ukraine. by doing this, he would ultimately spare russia the

crippling economic consequences that would be necessitated by his aggression. mr. president, i was very proud yesterday when the administration briefed the bipartisan leadership of all the committees that are dealing with this potential invasion, and to see the broad and bipartisan support behind standing with the people of ukraine and the message that should putin take these actions, the level of sanctions that we will impose upon him and his economy will be unprecedented. thank you, mr. president. with that, i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from montana. mr. daines: i ask unanimous consent that senator burr and i be permitted to speak for up to five minutes each prior to the vote. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. daines: mr. president, i rise in opposition to the biden administration's nomination of

robert califf to be the f.d.a. commissioner. as f.d.a. commissioner during the obama administration, mr. califf showed blatant disregard for the unborn and for the health and safety of women and girls when he weakened safety and reporting requirements for a dangerous chemical abortion drug. in fact, this past december the biden administration went further and announced it would eliminate entirely the in-person dispensing requirement for the abortion drug. this very reckless decision promotes mail order, do-it-yourself abortion on demand and disregards the growing threat to women's health posed by chemical abortion drugs. for example, without physician in-person screening, women are

denied the opportunity to be screened for dangerous conditions like ectopic pregnancies which can cause life-threatening complications. mr. califf has refused to distance himself from the f.d.a.'s decision to abandon vulnerable pregnant women to the reckless and predatory actions of the abortion industry. mr. califf has a track record of putting an extreme abortion agenda above the science. mr. president, the nomination of robert califf to be f.d.a. commissioner endangers the well-being of unborn babies, of women, and girls, and i urge my colleagues to join me in opposing his nomination. mr. president, i yield the floor. mr. burr: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from north carolina.

mr. burr: mr. president, i actually rise today to support bob califf and to say to my colleagues, there has been a lot of criticism as to what he's done. i've never seen an f.d.a. commissioner in nine months of service -- and that was the length of his time at the f.d.ad anything, much less as many negatives that have been raised. as the ranking member of the help committee and as a fellow north carolina lynnan, i'd like to share with my colleagues that dr. califf is a supremely qualified nominee with bipartisan support. he has the robust agency and private-sector experience needed to help build on the success of the f.d.a. in helping americans get back to normal life with the approval of tests, vaccines, and therapeutics that are bringing the pandemic to an end. he's the leader we need today, but also for the future.

now let me take a few moments to explain why. it's been 391 days since the f.d.a. has had a senate-confirmed commissioner. 391 days. no matter how effective and successful an acting commissioner can be -- and we've been blessed with janet woodcook's leadership -- the full backing of a presidential nomination and confirmation by the united states senate carry a weight that allows a confirmed commissioner to push forward necessary, meaningful change and leadership within a federal agency. there's never been a more critical time for the f.d.a. to have effective leadership. while the f.d.a. has long played a leading role in the lives of the american people, regulating 20 cents of every dollar of the u.s. economy, the covid pandemic brought the actions of the f.d.a. during the response to the dinner table conversation

of every family in this country. in the 391 days since our last confirmed commissioner stepped down, there have been two new serious variants of covid virus, case counts that topped one million per day, shortages of vital therapeutics and diagnostic tests and, tragically, the loss of hundreds of thousands of american lives. the f.d.a. has and will continue to play a leading role in our response to a once-in-a-century pandemic. the agency's unprecedented work helped innovators bring forward counter measures, tests, treatments and vaccines that have helped us withstand and fight against the virus and instill hope in americans in some of the darkest moments of the pandemic. the f.d.a. has made significant progress to advance medical product development as new cases continue to slow and spring

approaches, we're at what i am hopeful is an inflection point. mask mandates are lifting, children are back in school, and the f.d.a. is ready to move into the next phase of the response that will hopefully bring us back to normal. the f.d.a. needs a leader that will not lose sight of the progress it's made. the silver lining of covid has habits ability to show the -- habits ability to show the value of american innovation and ingenuity. no one understands that better than dr. califf. his expertise translational science means that he understands what it takes to transform an idea from a research bench to a real solution for patients. covid catalyzed the f.d.a. and private sector to compress the timeline of the transformation without, without sacrificing our world-renowned gold standard for safe and effective medical products.

platform technologies have developed through programs like operation warp speed and rad-x, has put us leaps and bounds ahead. these types of technology are force multipliers allowing us to bring new options to patients with cancer, infectious disease and life-threatening conditions by adopting the same underlying technology. we need a commissioner that understands and will advance these breakthroughs. i urge my colleagues, support dr. califf's nomination because he will provide the leadership needed to promote today's biomedical advancements and help to pave the way for tomorrow's innovation. as many know, i've been one of the f.d.a.'s toughest critics over the years. however, i'm critical because i believe the agency's mission, and i know the american patients pay the price if f.d.a. falls behind. the f.d.a. has an opportunity to be forever changed for the better, but it needs effective

leadership to get there. dr. califf knows the agency well, understands the value of innovation underway in academia and knows firsthand how the private sector is advancing cutting-edge science that can benefit all americans. i urge my colleagues this morning to support the nomination of robert califf. i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from west virginia. mr. manchin: mr. president, i rise in opposition to dr. califf, and i've spoken before on this and i just want to say just for a minute or two here. i respect everyone's position on this and their decision, but i have never had anything that's affected my state and constituents of my state more than the opioid addiction. this opioid addiction started because of the f.d.a.'s additioa product to market in 1995 that destroyed many families, many communities, many businesses, people's lives forever.

and there's story after story, and there's not a senator in this body that doesn't have someone in their family, immediate family or extended family or a constituent that hasn't been affected. with that, you need to change the dynamics of the leadership over there. dr. califf was there five years ago. he's coming back. nothing's changed. 400,000 people have died since he was there, and we're going down the same path. unless we change that dynamic, that leadership position on trying to protect the people of america without putting more and more horrible drugs on the market. there was one drug back in, i think it was 2014, 2013, 2014 called zohydro. it was the advisory committee recommended 11-2 do not bring this drug to market. they did it anyway. 11-2, don't do it. these are experts. said two pills can kill a human being. they brought it continuously. they continue to bring more opioids on the market. we don't need this product on the market to kill more

americans. this administration under robert califf will take the same old same old as they did before. nothing will change. i urge all my colleagues please consider what you're doing, consider your family and your constituents, and please vote against robert califf. mrs. murray: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent to speak for one minute before the vote. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. murray: thank you, mr. president. i urge all of my colleagues to give families across the country the peace of mind and the hardworking staff at the f.d.a. the senate confirmed leadership it needs by joining me in confirming dr. califf today and working with him and f.d.a. to continue protecting families across the country, upholding the gold standard of safety and effectiveness and putting science first. we approved of dr. califf in a bipartisan way and we advanced his nomination out of the help committee with bipartisan support. i hope today once again this

qualified nomination passes with the bipartisan support it deserves. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of the following nomination, which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, department of health and human services, robert mckinnon califf, of north carolina, to be commissioner of food and drug administration. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

vote:

vote:

vote:

on this vote the yays are blank

vote:

a senator: madam president, on this vote i have a pair with the junior senator from new mexico, mr. lujan. if he were present an voting, he would vote aye. if i were permitted to vote, i would vote nay. i therefore withdraw my vote.

the presiding officer: on this vote the yays are 50, the nays are 46, one senator responded present and the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table and the president will be immediately notified of the senate's action. under the previous order, the senate stands at recess

>> stables room resume consideration of president biden's nomination and lawmakers will vote to extend government funding to avoid a shutdown. as always follow live coverage of the senate when they resumed here on c-span2. >> c-span now is a free mobileapp featuring your view of what's happening in washington live and on-demand . see today's biggest events with live streams of floor proceedings of hearings from the congress , white house events, the courts and campaigns and more from the world of politics, all at your fingertips. you can also stay current on the latest episodes of washington journal and live scheduling information for members and c-span radio. plus a variety of podcast c-span now is available on the apple store or google play . download it for free now. your free gateway to washington free, anywhere.

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row seat to democracy . >> maine governor janet mills delivered the 2022 state of the state address from the statehouse . she talked about the state's handling of the covid-19 pandemic and called for investments in childcare and healthcare. [applause] >> thank you. thank you. [applause] thank you all. thank you so much. thank you.