>> president biden address a joint session of congress and the nation the state again addressed live tonight at 8 p.m. eastern on c-span, c-span.org or on the c-span now video app. >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government. we are funded by these television companies and more including cox. >> cox is committed to providing eligible families access to affordable internet through the connect to compete program, bridging the digital divide one connected and engage student at a time. cox, bringing us closer. >> cox supports c-span as a public service along with these other television providers giving you a front-row seat to democracy. >> we will take you live to the u.s. capitol where the senate is about to gavel in. today, lawmakers will continue

work on the house passed legislation to reform the u.s. postal service. the bill advanced yesterday by a vote of 74-20. -20. this is live coverage of the senate here on c-span2. the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. the chaplain dr. barry black will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. merciful god, guide our lawmakers and empower them to meet today's challenges. lord, our world seems under

attack, but we continue to place our trust in you. when we feel fear, remind us that all power belongs to you. we thank you that mere human beings cannot prevail against your might and majesty. lord, keep a record of tears of those who cry out to you from around the world. rescue them from their anguish and keep them from defeat. we pray in your matchless name. amen. the presiding officer: please join me in reciting the pledge

of allegiance to the flag. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the presiding officer: the clerk will read a communication to the senate. the clerk: washington d.c., march 1, 2022. to the senate: under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable , sheldon whitehouse, a senator from the state of rhode island, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: patrick j. leahy, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. morning business is closed. under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to h.r. 3076 which the clerk will now

report. the clerk: motion to proceed to calendar number 273, h.r. 3076, an act to provide stability to and enhance the services of the united states postal service and for other purposes.

i would like to associate myself with comments of the center from ohio, senator portman. always about the pressing issue not only the defense budget issues but a heroism of the ukrainian people and the implications so thank you, senator portman. madam president, it's a little after 4 a.m. in kyiv, the capital of ukraine, and president zelensky is still fighting. ukrainians are still fighting. americans need to know their stories. ukrainians need us to tell their

stories. this story starts of course with an unprovoked invasion. the people of ukraine posed no threat. they provoked no violence. they lived freely on russia southwest border with the iconic wheatfields, many afsa been to, in ukraine. we made friends it would also have ukrainian american friends back in our states. living freely on the southwest border of russia was enough to provoke a small man, a tyrant of russia, to hatred which is bizarre. they lived in freedom and so putin decided he was threatened. vladimir putin, russia's desperate nebuchadnezzar, thought he could crush ukraine. he thought he could break their spirit. he thought he could put his boot on their neck. he actually thinks that freedom makes peoplesoft so we thought this would be easy. he was wrong.

over the last week ukrainians have shown their fighting spirit, , show the world their fighting spirit. they are standing firm against onslaught after onslaught including the relentless targeting now civilian populations. outmanned and outgunned, the ukrainian army is making putin pay pints of blood for every inch his army advances. the truth is, putin didn't expect to encounter much resistance. he looked back on his experience in the donbass where he took big swath of territory with a few dozen bullets, and he was convinced that the ukrainian people would fold in the face of his giant army. he's been caught off guard and his plans had been set back. he didn't anticipate the bravery picky did anticipate the passion turkey didn't anticipate the heroism. he didn't anticipate the ukrainian people. he didn't anticipate the way ordinary villagers would stand and rise up against their

occupiers, like the one small woman who approached a group of russian soldiers and begin handing them handfuls of sunflower seeds. she told them it was so that flowers could grow. she spoke for all ukrainians. she spoke for the kyiv grandmas arming up with ak-47s. she spoke for the grandpas were having to reenlist in their late years. she spoke for the student still learning how to make molotov cocktails. she spoke for fathers who had to kiss their children goodbye as they head back to the front lines of battle, and she's speaking prophetically and event for the mothers who are going to bury many of those sons. the truth is that putin has been embarrassed over the last five or six days i've ukrainians. modern tyrants have developed a few strategies to fight truth telling. the chinese communist party's version is to try to suppress

all information. make sure no one ever says anything that is true. others like in russia decide to blast 1 billion lives through state run media hoping they can just blot out the truth, so, so much confusion and nonsense that people can't find the needle in a haystack that is the truth. but in the middle of this crisis these strategies are failing because people are hungry for stories. people need stories. we need stories. and the best and the most powerful stories are almost always the true stories. and right now ukraine is retelling an age-old story of good and evil, and the reason their story is so powerful is because you are telling the true story. if we were to stand here tonight, senator portman and i many others, i've been in the skiff today for many, many hours, i've been there for five times and most of us have been there the last hour and half or two hours, and if we were to tell every story of ukraine in bravery, the senate would have time to get anything else done

this week but there's one story that stands out over the course of this last week since putin began his unjust invasion. and it is given rise for the courageous ukrainian resistance to find for themselves and new motto. this is a story of the snake island. there is this an island in the black sea near the mouth at the bottom of the danube delta. it's called snake island, and digitally small but is both strategically and symbolically important because it marks the boundary of ukraine's territorial waters. ukraine is always stationed a small number of border guards on this island to keep watch. into a managing the current president zelensky went to this tiny little piece of rock and he declared this island like the rest of our territory is ukrainian land and we will defend it with all our might. nobody in 2019 new he was speaking prophecy. but right now over the course of

the last week the world has seen underworld has heard the story, the world has heard the recording of what those 13 ukrainian heroes did last thursday as they sought to defend that little piece of rock. because it was symbolically important as all of ukraine was that it's not russia. shortly after putin ordered his troops to attack ukraine, two russian naval vessels approached snake island and their intent was to seize it. the russian commander ordered the ukrainian border guards that they must surrender. he thought he could intimidate them. like the ultimate commander-in-chief, the dictator, the the liar putin, he was wrong. he couldn't intimidate these men and so we announced that they needed to surrender or they would be fired upon. the snake island guards, they refused to give an inch. one ukrainian, after conversing with some of his colleagues although a bit on a recording that many of you may have no work, decided to turn up the volume and he announced, russian

warship, -- russian society open fire on the island, pounding it with heavy ordnance, and eventually troops would storm the beach and capture the garrison. but that one sentence, russian warship -- that is now the rallying cry of ukrainian resistance. it was heard this morning when georgian gas station on the sea decided it wouldn't refuel the russian ship and when the russian ships of what you talk about? they said no, you are the bad guys in the russians and why can we put politics aside and let us buy some gas? these georgians decided to repeat the new ukrainian motto back to the gas station and t the hell out of here, and a gas station pulled away and said russian warship, you guys look

brutality and sheer evil of vladimir putin's aggression against the ukrainian people becomes more apparent. failing at securing the country with quick strikes, russian forces are evidently starting to engage in siege tactics. over the past 12 hours, the city of kharkiv has endured especially heavy fire. civilian casualties tragically are mounting. today, every single member of the senate must say, once again, without equivocation, that the united states stands behind the ukrainian people and behind all people in all nations who oppose the aggressions of despotism. in the weeks to come, the senate must work on a bipartisan basis and in lockstep with the biden administration to pass a strong aid package providing both humanitarian aid and security assistance to ukraine. the strongest signal we can send to vladimir putin right now is

that the united states stands together, together with the people of ukraine 20 years ago, when our own democracy was attacked, right here on our own soil, americans banded together, democrat and republican, to defend our nation and our democracy. today, as democracy faces its greatest crisis in europe since the end of the cold war, we must likewise band together in support of our friends in ukraine. so far, the president has done an excellent job uniting our nation and our allies against putin. this was not an easy job. the president had to show patience from some who had urged him to do things that would have torn the relationship apart, the european-american relationship. now, because of the president's strong leadership, the russian president finds himself more isolated and a greater pariah

than at any other moment in his time of power, when the full weight of international sanctions takes effect, the consequences will be catastrophic for putin and the russian economy. on the flip side, mr. president, on the flip side, divisions within the united states, or among our allies, will only strengthen vladimir putin and strengthen his resolve that he can win this war. and we must resist him and his deeply cynical efforts however necessary. we must be united in this moment. and so far, our unity has precisely been our greatest asset in resisting putin's aggression. from unity amongst american people in solidarity with ukraine, to america's unity with our european allies. so i hope our republican colleagues in this chamber will work with us and the administration to stay unified, with a strong aid package.

we don't know how this crisis will evolve, but one thing that will not change is the need to maintain a united front, so long as vladimir putin continues down his path of violence. for that reason, the senate will continue working in the weeks to come on a strong aid package that will erase any doubt where our allegiance lies. now, on another subject, tonight president biden will come to the u.s. capitol and deliver the first state of the union of his presidency. whenever the nation takes stock of the state of our union, it's important to note where we are today compared to where we were a single year ago. that indeed is a revealing measure of a president, any president's, leadership. and despite the immense challenges we still have, what a difference between last year and this year. at the beginning of last year,

we were facing the very worst of the pandemic, unemployment was over 6%, most forecasts said it would take years, perhaps more, to make significant progress in our recovery. and of course, as the trump presidency came to a bitter and ignoble end, our country was still in shell shock from the violent assault waged upon this capitol and upon democracy itself. today, as we continue to face the serious challenges of our time, just look at how far we've come. the economy has now grown at the fastest rate in a single year since the 1980's. we have added back the most jobs in a single year than in any president's term, ever. six million jobs. congress passed, and the president signed, the biggest comprehensive standalone infrastructure law in generations, which is now fixing our roads and bridges, supply

chains, and putting people to work across the country with good-paying jobs. jobs have always been the number one issue to working families, and on that measure this first year has been a very, very large success. and, after years of president trump currying favor with despots and autocrats, we all remember what he said about vladimir putin, over and over again, the world can now rest assured that the united states is once again a reliable ally in the defense of democracy and our alliance like nato. and of course, covid cases are significantly dropping, communities are reopening, mask mandates are reversing, and over 215 million americans -- 215 million -- have now been fully vaccinated. the road has not been easy, and certainly the work is not yet done. the pain of inflation is being felt around this country and around the world. thanks, largely, to the

disruptions of the pandemic. the two greatest things vexing the american people are completing our recovery from covid and getting life back to normal and fighting increasing costs. and democrats in the senate will keep our laser focus on precisely those issues -- bringing down costs for the american people so we can reap the full benefits of our historic growth. from relieving shipping bottlenecks to making insulin more affordable to lowering the cost of food, these are some of the things americans want, and these are the issues that democrats right now are working to help solve. these problems must be handled, and democrats and the biden administration continue to work on them like a laser.

again, full recovery from covid and increasing costs are the two biggest remaining issues on our domestic calendar, aen we are focused on them. but even so, we cannot ignore that we have come far. let me say this, the state of the union is also an important and rare moment for the american people to see what the party in office actually stands for. it's under democratic leadership that we'll continue to work to lower costs, to fight inflation, give working families ladders of opportunity to get to the middle class, and thrive there once they are in the middle class. republicans can't say that. crippled by trump's cult of personality, beholding to corporate interests and the ultrarich, the republican agenda would trap americans in a vortex of deep cynicism, issues that would not solve today's dlementas, while they -- dilemmas, while they pass

legislation that overwhelmingly would benefit the very few wealthy people. if anyone doubts where the republican party stands today, all they have to do is read the bizarre, truly stunning plan released by the junior senator from florida last week, the head of the republican campaign committee, which proposed everything from raising taxes on low-income americans to naming a useless and ineffective border wall after donald trump. imagine. we're talking about getting back to normal and recovering from covid and reducing costs and they're talking about naming a border wall after donald trump. which party is going to solve america's problems? indeed, an analysis released yesterday by the tax policy center found that low-income household would pay an average of nearly $1,000 more in taxes next year under a plan like senator scott's.

and that nearly all of the new taxes under a plan like his would be paid by those making less than $100,000 a year. cut the taxes on the wealthy, as they did when trump was president and think had the majority, and now increase taxes on poor people and working-class people. that seems to be where the republicans are at. this is just wrong, especially at a time when american families are looking for our help in lowering costs. so, tonight the president will make clear that while we have a lot of work left to do, we've gotten a lot of work done already. and the democratic senate will continue, likewise, to focus, working on legislation that completes our recovery from covid and does everything we can to make sure it doesn't come back, to lower costs, to strengthen our boy ant economy, and -- buoyant economy and

preserve america's place as a nation of immense opportunity deep into the 21st century. i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. mcconnell: mr. president. the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: last week, president biden announced his cho is to succeed justice stephen breyer on the supreme court. judge can a tan jay brown jackson, judge jackson was confirmed less than a year ago to the d.c. circuit court of appeals. every senator must carefully evaluate judge jackson's record, legal views, and judicial philosophy. the nominee, the senate, the court, and the american people all deserves a process that is free of embarrassing antics that have become the democratic

party's routine whenever a republican president nominates a new justice. the baseless smears, the shameless distortions -- the country deserves a process that is painstakingly rigorous and befitting the seriousness of a lifetime appointment to our highest court. i for one don't care what judge jackson's friends wrote in her high school yearbook. i care that american families are facing major crises that bear directly on federal courts and our legal system, from surge something violent crime and systematically weak prosecutors to open borders to campaigns to shrink religious freedom and the rights of conscience. what's more, one of our two major sides increasingly makes noise about attacking the very legitimacy and structure of the supreme court itself. the country needs a serious and

sober examination of all of it. i look forward to discussing these issues and many others with judge jackson when i meet with her tomorrow morning. it's been less than one year since judge jackson was confirmed to the d.c. circuit. since then, i understand she's authored only two opinions, both in the last several weeks. i'm troubled by the combination of the slim appellate record and the intensity of judge jackson's far-left dark money fan club. throughout the jockeying that preceded her confirmation last year, judge jackson has attracted loyal and intense support for some of the very same dark money, far-left activists who have declared war on the institution of the court itself. one has to wonder why these left-wing organizations worked so very hard to boost judge jackson for this potential promotion.

i'm sincerely looking forward to meeting judge jackson, to our thorough conversation tomorrow morning and to a rigorous confirmation process ahead. tonight president biden will deliver his first state of the union address one year into his term. the american people have a lot of questions they'd like answered. why democrats plunged ahead with reckless spending that cause add the worst inflation in 40 years? why violent crime and illegal immigration is setting all-time records? why the administration haphazard ly withdrew from afghanistan and proposed to cut defense spending after inflation at a time when russia is trying to redraw maps and human blood. when president biden took office one year ago he inherited major taili understand withs and a brimming optimism. brilliant scientists and

operation warp speed developed vaccines in record time, and we were already putting doses in more than a million arms every day. scientific data had already proven that after a devastating year for children and families, schools were safe to reopen in person. thanks to the historic cares act and another targeted bipartisan stimulus that had just passed weeks earlier, our economic foundations had weathered the pandemic lockdowns and were primed for a roaring recovery back to normally and process sparety. -- prosperity. the same voters who gave president biden the presidencicy gave him a razor-thin margin in both chambers. his only mandate was to govern from the middle. in his inaugural address,

president biden promised d.o.d. just that, to u-- promised to do just that, to unite and to heal. but for the past year he and his administration have often behaved like they're trying to fail their own test. remember, the president made stifling american energy independence a day-one priority, killing miles of pipeline and freezing new jobs and new exploration with the stroke of a pen. then came the spending bill his administration called the most progressive domestic legislation in a generation, and top liberal economists warned it would set off inflationary pressures we've not seen in a generation. inflation has surged so steeply, most americans have seen their real wages actually cut. then came the decision to cut and run from the international coalition we led in afghanistan.

president biden's top military advisors warned that retreat would embolden terrorists, endanger loyal partners and leave our intelligence capabilities in the region badly handicapped. but the biden administration failed to heed these warnings and presided over a disastrous withdrawal. our biggest adversaries took notes and now one of them is testing the limits of the west's resolve to oppose his murderous conquests. and then there are the alarming trends this administration has placed on the back burner but which communities across america are facing every day. after spending the presidential campaign talking about potential am necessary cities, the -- amnesties, the biden administration wasted no time making our southern border more porous. customs and border protection has reported its highest

single-year total for encountered on record with no sign of no sign of a coherent administration response in sight. meanwhile, democrats' response to an historic surge in historic crime has been to double down on the hostility towards police and prosecution that has encouraged it. across america, radical local prosecutors are simply declining to charge whole categories of crime. but instead of condemning this extremism, the biden administration has endorsed it, staffing their justice department with some of the most outspoken critics of law and order. meanwhile, this justice department goes out of its way to keep tabs on parents who dare

to question teachers' unions' veto power over established medical science or exhibit skepticism towards woke propaganda in public schools. so, mr. president, that's a heck of a rap sheet, but i'm afraid the most damaging legacy of president biden's first year is bigger than just his unwise policies. democrats have not just tried pushing bad ideas through our institutions. even under the presidency of a self-styled institutionalist, the far left that is tried to wreck -- wreck -- our institutions altogether. tonight we'll hear from a president who has assigned a commission studying packing the supreme court because his party didn't like its current ideological makeup. we'll hear from a president who urged his former colleagues to tear up senate rules in order to rewrite the rules of american elections, likening anyone who

opposed to infamous racists and continues to stoke racial animus with wild nonsense of a revival of segregation. we'll hear from an administration that has failed its own tests and which candidly has the public approval figures to match. on foreign affairs in particular, i'm sincerely rooting for president biden's success. we need steady, serious, and smart leadership to help guide the west through this perilous time. but on most issues, what the american people deserve tonight is a commitment to drastically change course. if this administration does not majorly correct its course, the american people may correct course for them this coming november. i'm glad the american people will also hear from governor kim reynolds this evening. she's a strong and successful

leader who delivers real slugs for the -- solutions for the great people of iowa. she fought covid without declaring war on freedom or common sense. she backed the blue, stayed tough on crime, and kept iowa's economy open. i look forward to hearing her reaction to the president's remarks and her thoughts an how washington could better serve middle america. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

the story of his passing in today's los angeles times includes an anecdote that i think captures is kind and generous spirit. and all the conversations he had over the years he would include his friends in the himalayas. no one had convinced him of the likelihood of reincarnation. maybe that's why he worked so hard to achieve so much good in this one lifetime.

he did more to these human suffering than others might have done in several lifetimes. senator feinstein, their beloved daughters and grandchildrenand all who knew and loved him offer our condolences . dick blount's friendship was a gift and his memory will be a passing blessing. on another note, there was a historic announcement last friday from president joe biden announced that judge ketanji brown jackson was his choice to serve on the supreme court. i'm going to speak about her nomination tomorrow but a few words now.she is an extraordinary person. she became the first african-american woman to serve on the supreme court you have to be the best and she's proven throughout her life that she is. she was a was a clerk to retiring job just stephen breyer and worked in the

practice of law in so many different aspects and on three different occasions came before this united states senate for approval, advise and consent. on all three occasions she emerged with bipartisan support and we certainly hope to seethat revisited again. she's offered some 500 different opinions so there will be no mystery about her jurisprudence or judicial philosophy . she's also been a person who has come before us as soon as last year. as recently as last year when she was approved by the committee in june to serve on the dc circuit court. i think she's an exceptional choice and i want to make sure the hearing given to her isrespectful, fair and professional . i reached out to senator grassley and my friends and ranking member on the committee to work towards that goal and i hope all members of the committee will

join us . on a different topic, i returned from the munich security conference to our nato allies in poland.on the latter part of our trip i was joined by senator chris koons. many in this chamber have heard me talk about my connection with my mother's birth in lithuania and the fact i've cared about that country in a special way ever since i served in congress. life was bleak and oppressive for the lithuanian people and all others in eastern europe living under the bootheel of a russian czar. countries such as poland which saw such devastation during world war ii found themselves suffering decades of communist dictatorship so it was no surprise when the soviet union finally collapsed, these nations were determined to join the community of democracy and nato. the baltic snake states of lithuania, latvia and estonia have helped leadthis historic path to freedom . i remember so many aspects.

the shivering cold winter of 1990 1 millions of people join hands to form a human chain connecting all three nations in the baltic area. theycall for change . then on january 19, the soviets sent their tanks into lithuania andlatvia . >>

united in sanctions against putin.ctions it's our job to do all we can to make sure putin's invasion does not hurt hardworking americans. let's be clear. this body, this administration, this fed will do all it can to combat inflation. and when it comes to spikes in energy prices because of putin's warmongering, our resolve is strong. our commitment to democracy is certain. this is not the moment, mr. president, for political stunts. as we deal with the first land war in europe since world war ii, as we confront inflation, as we work to continue our economic

growth, in fact in the past year for the first time in two decades, america's economic growth is stronger than china's economic growth. our rate of growth exceeds china's. as we emerge from this global pandemic, everyone understands we need a full federal reserve board. the first one in nearly a decade. it's been since 2013 before we've had all seven members of the federal reserve. the federal reserve is in some sense the supreme court of our economy as one nobel prize-winning economist joe stiglet said. americans don't want more political theatrics. they want solutions to take on putin to protect our national security and bring down costs. there's no more reason for delay. these nominees have met with every senator, five nominees. these nominees have met with every senator who asked for a meeting. these nominees met with staffs of senators who asked. they offered to meet with many of my colleagues who refused to meet with them. in a couple of cases met with

them and were pretty combative. but that's okay. but my colleagues, these nominees did everything we asked of them. and then my colleagues boycotted the vote, something i have never seen happen, not just since i've been chair of the banks and housing, i've never seen it since i've been? the senate where one party boycotted a vote and stopped that vote from actually happening as a result. these nominees answered every question posed to them at the hearing and answered every question posed for the record. in with unnominee's case, she answered almost 200 questions in a 48-hour period before the deadline. then more questions came in after the deadline. she still answered them. one nominee -- all of these nominees have cooperated with both parties in making sure that we can move forward. if we're going to continue to grow our economy, we need all seven fed governors in place. we need these professionals

working, debating, making decision, about monetary policy and interest rates and jobs and tackling inflation. we need these professionals to do the fed's critical work of something we hadn't really thought much about before, helping prevent cyberattacks on our financial system. mr. president, let me single out one of these five nominees. because she has great expertise in an issue the american public is more and more concerned about. we know and we've heard discussions in the media of putin's potential -- of putin having potentially having interest in cy cyberattacks agat our country, against europe, against us. sarah bloom raskin, this is the moment for her in her record and expertise. she helped lead efforts in both government and the private sector. she was cochair before she was nominated for the federal reserve to be vice chair of supervision, a key position to weigh risk, risk of cyber attacks, risk of climate change,

risk brought about by many, many banks not having the capital that they've held that they should. she served as cochair of the g7 cyber export group. she was a former fed -- she's a former fed governor. she was number two at treasury. she ran the banking -- she was a banking commissioner in maryland. she's elevated this issue of cyberattacks and cyberattack risk on corporate boards. she's played a pivotal role in helping craft the obama administration's efforts to combat cyber threats in the financial industry. she's the leader we need at this critical moment on all of these issues, especially cyber. let's get her on the job. let's get all these nominees on the job. dr. lisa cook, dr. philip jefferson, they understand workers and communities that make our economy work. dr. cook born in a small town in georgia, graduated from

spellman, went to oxford to study as a trumann scholar, ph.d. from berkley. dr. philip jefferson, grew up in the shadow of rfk stadium, grew up with not a lot of material assets, worked as a young man at the federal reserve before he went back to school and got his ph.d. he's now seen of a prestigious school in the carolinas. they understand as i said, they understand workers. they understand communities. chair powell and governor brainard, the two nominees who have already been serving on the fed, they led the fed's extraordinary effort to support our economy throughout the pandemic. we need a full federal reserve board. we need a united front to comaik our economy stronger, to take on inflation, to take on putin. i implore my republican colleagues just show up. vote no if you want to vote against these five nominees. that's certainly your right. but we don't come to the senate where they hand us a paper and say check a box yes, no, or i

don't thinkiveli' show up and do -- think i'll show up and do my job. you vote yes or vote no. i implore my colleagues on the banking, housing and urban affairs committee to show up, to cast their votes and we will then move forward. we need them to make our economy stronger to take on inflation. the world is looking at us a now. we're still leader of the free world. to play these political games while in the midst of this awful attack, this potentially growing land war in europe, to play games on the committee and withhold your votes and not show up to work, that's -- let's show the world what a functioning democratic government looks like. let's get this done for the people whom we serve. mr. president, i yield the floor.

mr. thune: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican whip. mr. thune: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, over the past week the world has watched in horror as imperialist russia sets its sights on a sovereign nation in eastern europe. putin's unjustified and unjustifiable war of aggression has already left hundreds dead and created a massive refugee crisis. his non-- as noncombatants flee russian attacks. russia continues to press forward with attacks on several fronts with a focus on the capital city of kiev. but courageous ukranian resistance both from its former military and increasing number of civilians is slowing russia. kiev and other major cities remain under significant pressure and could fall within days but ukraine is demonstrating a fierce resolve and continuing to blunt russian advances.

russia has also been a victim of its own deficiencies such as broken supply lines and limited ability to fight at night. and surprisingly, russia's not yet established full air superiority with some ukrainian jets flying and some surface-to-air systems still available. this means, ukraine can still fly combat sorties and fight back against russia. similarly, ukrainian command, control, and communications appear to be intact. how long these conditions can last, however, is an open question, which underscores the urgent need to continue to provide ukraine with the weapons it needs to stay in this fight and to bring the free nations of the world together to sanction and isolate russia for its unjustifiable aggression. this is ukraine's fight, but the u.s. and allies can provide weapons and humanitarian assistance while imposing swift and severe sanctions against russia. we must also shore up nato to

send a signal to putin that the united states will make good on our defense commitments. this is essential. not only to help prevent this war from spreading further into eastern europe, but to send a message to china that similar acts of aggression will not be tolerated. we know taiwan remains in the crosshairs of president xi. and just as putin is flexing his power in europe, communist china is looking for any opening to pounce. mr. president, many pundits speculated about putin's mindset and ultimate goal with his attack, and how far he is willing to go despite mounting losses. i think it's clear. he's willing to take it to the next level. we should be concerned that as russia continues to meet heavy resistance, putin will order his generals to increase pressure, no matter the cost. this means no matter the cost to his own troops, many young soldiers and conscripts and no

matter the cost to the ukrainian people. putin's failures in ukraine and mounting international pressure may also spur putin to escalate beyond ukraine and lash out against the west. he's already ordered his nuclear forces on high alert. yet another unprovoked escalation has drawn immediate condemnation. the u.s. and other free nations must match the resolve of the ukrainian people and respond to a swift and severe consequences for putin and his chronnies -- croapies. the -- cronies. the people of ukraine have shown fierce determination to fight, drawing inspiration from emerging stories of heroism. a reported ghost of kiev fighter pilot has allegedly scored -- allegedly, i should say -- scored six kills against russian jets. it may only be an urban legend, but it captured ukraine's

underdrawing grit. ukrainian border guards in the black sea refuse to surrender to the russian navy in a defiept radio transmission. a ukrainian soldier sacrificed himself on friday by detonating charges to collapse a bridge when there was not enough time to detonate them remotely before a russian column closed in. a ukrainian woman defiantly addressed russian occupiers, offering them sunflower seeds and telling them to put the seeds in their pockets so sunflowers would grow when they die in ukraine. ukraine has handed out over 18,000 weapons to reserve ifses around kiev -- reservists around kiev, with social media showing men and women lining up to volunteer. ukrainian parliament members kyra ruddock is taking up arms, hoping to inspire other women to join the resistance. ukrainian media is broadcasting instructions on how to make molotov cocktails to attack

russian vehicles. and then there is president zelensky, who has led the ukrainians with extraordinary resolution and courage. president zelensky is believed to be putin's top target, and there are reports of russian forces being sent into ukraine for the express purpose of assassinating ukraine's president. yet according to press reports, when offered the chance to evacuate, zelensky said, and i quote, the fight is here. i need ammunition, not a ride. end quote. former ukrainian president porashenko has also been visible in kiev, saying ukraine will resist forever, when asked how long the nation can hold out. ukraine's resolve has been on display for the world to see. as have vladimir putin's true colors. putin was given every chance to choose diplomacy and peace.

instead, he chose war. putin was offered wild justifications for his attacks, suggesting that ukraine somehow posed a nuclear threat to russia and is governed by neo-nazis and drug addicts. he's also called for ukrainian soldiers to defect and to take power into their own hands. it may be that russia's laying the groundwork for a narrative that there is an organic pro-russian contingent within ukraine, possibly within the ukrainian military to be stood up as an authentic coup to carry out regime change. putin also claimed that the ukrainian military is moving equipment into residential neighborhoods, which would be consistent with the resistance or urgency posture, but also gives russia pretext to increase civilian targeting. mr. president, vladimir putin is apparently on a delirious quest

to restore the soviet union to once again ukraine under russia's thumb. unfortunately for him, he apparently reckoned without the people of ukraine. and each missile that strikes a village, every rocket that strikes an apartment building, every tank that rattles by a once quiet town will only further stoke ukrainians' resentment of the kremlin. judging by the way ukrainians are fighting, i don't think they will ever accept russian rule. as the growing number of russians boldly protesting in the streets from moscow to st. petersburg to siberia and online are making clear, putin is also losing the trust of everyday russians. particularly of the younger generations whom he's likely leaning on for conscripts and who will inherit a decimated

economy. even the daughter of putin's own spokesman posted on instagram no to war, which went viral before it was deleted. russian protests have spread to more than 50 cities, and in keeping with the k.g.b. past putin's response has been to detain protestors and restrict access to facebook and twitter. unfortunately for him, however, it's become clear that he will not be able to fully hide the truth from the russian people. russians are clearly coming to know putin as a murderous warmonger who will isolate them from the free world. mr. president, it's unfortunately that the world did not make a -- take a more aggressive stance against vladimir putin before, before he invaded the sovereign nation of ukraine. i supported sanctions against nord stream 2 and the other punitive measures of the nyet

act before russia made its attack. it's too bad it took putin actually going to war for the world to get serious about checking russian aggression. however, i am pleased that the united states and our partners are finally moving forward with unprecedented sanctions against russia's economy. the u.s. is sanctioning russia's ?erlt bank and -- center bank and freezing its assets in the united states. a growing number of nations are uniting to block russia from the swift financial transaction messaging system. if blocked from this system, russia will have to conduct run-of-the-mill banking transactions directly between banks, adding costly delays that should discourage any business with their banks. putin has also joined the select list of despots, like kim jong un, individually sanctioned by the united states. while i'm glad we've taken these steps, there's more we can and should do, including directly

targeting the lifeblood of the russian economy, and that's russia's energy sector. every dollar the world denies putin by not buying his oil and gas is one less dollar he has to spend in the war of aggression in u.k. a. the do be there ict in ukraine is also a -- the conflict in ukraine is also a timely reminder that energy independence is not only energy security, but national security, and here in the united states we need to do everything we can to get our energy producers off the bench and into the game so that we don't have to rely on foreign regimes for energy supplies. the situation is also a reminder how important it is to make a robust investment in our own merlt to restore our nation's readiness. the putin 23450u79's of the world -- the vladimir putins of the world will only respond to strength. we need to ensure our nation's military is prepared to meet threats from traditional state actors as well as terrorist organizations.

when it comes to dictators like putin, the best way to secure peace is through robust deterrence. as congress reviews the administration's supplemental request for foreign security and humanitarian assistance, we cannot offset this funding by degrading our own defense. this is a military emergency. just ask the people of u.k. a. -- the people of ukraine. we should treat it as such. i hope congress will come to a sensible solution in the days and weeks ahead. mr. president, my thoughts and prayers today are with the people the ukraine. i hope they know that their curve courage and determination have inspired millions. and i pray that the united states and freedom-loving countries the world over will continue to do our part by providing a lethal aid ukrainians need to stay in this fight and by implementing biting

sanctions that will leave putin and his cronies out in the cold. mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. barrasso: thank you, mr. president. i'm going to join a number of my republican colleagues on the floor today to talk about the state of the union. tonight, president biden will come to congress to give his annual state of the union address. he's going to try to do his very best to paint a rosy picture of the status quo. no matter how hard the president of the united states tries tonight, joe biden cannot hide the fact that his policies have

put america in crisis. there's a war in europe. we have the worst inflation in 40 years, the worst violent crime in 25 years, the highest price at the pump for gasoline in seven years, and the most illegal crossings into the united states ever. so no matter what joe biden says tonight, he's the one who has created these crises. we are less secure at home and abroad than the day joe biden took office. over the last ten months, the american people have said loud and clear that inflation is a top concern. and joe biden has only poured fuel on the fire. he told us that the fire would burn itself out quickly. yet inflation has only burned hotter.

yesterday, the associated press put it this way, the associated press said, quote, on cusp of biden's speech a state of disunity, funk, and peril. the article goes on to say, today's national psyche is one of fatigue and frustration. they go on to say it is the mal malaise of our time. in march of 2021, joe biden signed the single largest spending bill in american history. he put $2 trillion on america's credit card, flooded the country with cash, government cash. since then, prices have gone up faster and fafser -- and faster than wages. joe biden repeatedly said inflation would be transitory. he said it month after month after month, as people felt

their paychecks being eaten away. in december, joe biden said inflation had peaked. joe biden has been dead wrong again and again and again. the american people are reminded of this every time they go to the gas station, every time they go to the grocery store, and every time they pay their heating bill. it's no wonder joe biden's approval rating on handling inflation, which is the number one concern of the american people, is just 31%. that means republicans don't approve, independents don't approve, and a lot of democrats don't approve of how the president has handled their number one concern. so, tonight, i expect president biden will once again ask

congress to pass another reckless tax-and-spending spree. he'll call it build back better or, more accurately, break your back bill. i'm not sure what he's going to call it. it's going to be build back better part two. no matter what the president says tonight, the american people are going to continue to say no thank you to all this additional government spending. the american people do not trust this president or the democrats to tackle the issues that they care about. inflation is eating away their paychecks and has been doing so now month after month after month. millions of people are entering this country illegally. shelves are going empty. no whitewashing by this president can cover up this painful reality for the american people. so tonight i'll listen carefully to what the president has to

say. the american people don't want to listen to a fairy tale tonight. they're not looking for a bedtime story from the president of the united states. the american people are looking for real answers. joe biden can brag if he wants. the american people know the truth. america is in crisis. the american people understand that. and the american people know that the person to blame for all of this is squarely right there, the man behind the podium, the president of the united states. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

lawmakers continue work on legislation to reform the u.s. postal service. the bill advanced yesterday by a vote of 74 to 20. coming up tonight president biden will deliver the state of the unionaddress to a joint session of congress . we will have live coverage starting at 8 pm eastern on c-span. this is live coverage of the senate here on c-span2.

>> now, with each new day war in ukraine the brutality and sheer evil of vladimir putin's aggression against the ukrainian people becomes more apparent . failing in securing the country, russian forces are engaging in siege tactics. over the past 12 hours the city of kharkiv has endured heavy fire. every member of the senate must say without equivocation that the united states stands behind the ukrainian people and behind all people in all nations who oppose the aggressions of despotism. in the weeks to come the senate must work on a bipartisan basis and in

lockstep with the biden administration to pass a strong aid package providing both humanitarian aid and security assistance to ukraine. the strongest signal we can send to vladimir putin isthat the united states stands together with the people of ukraine . 20 years ago, when our own democracy was attacked right here on our own soil americans banded together, democrats and republicans to defend our nation and our democracy. today as democracy faced its greatest crisis in europe since the end of the cold war we must likewise and together in support of our friends in ukraine . so far the president has done an excellent job uniting our nation and our allies against putin. it is not an easy job and the president had to show patients from some who would urge him to do things that would have torn the

relationship apart , the european american relationship. now because of the president's strong leadership, the russian president finds himself more isolated and a greater pariah than at any other moment in his time in power when the full weight of international sanctions takes effect the consequences will be catastrophic for putin and the russian economy . on the flipside mister president, divisions within the united states or amongst our allies will only strengthen vladimir putin and strengthened his resolve that he can win this war. we must resist him and his deeply cynicalefforts however necessary . we must be united in this moment and so far our unity has precisely been our greatest asset in resisting putin's aggression. from unity amongst american people in solidarity with ukraine to america's unity with our union allies.

i hope our republican colleagues in this chamber will work with us and the administration to stay unified with the strong aid package. we don't know how this crisis will evolve but one thing that will not change is the need to maintain a united front so long as vladimir putin continues down his path of violence. for that reason, the senate will continue working in the weeks to come on a strong aid package that will erase any doubt where our allegiance lies. now on another subject. tonight president biden will come to the us capital and deliver the first state of the union of hispresidency . whenever the nation takes stock of the state of our union it's important to know where we are today compared to where we were a single year ago. that indeed is a revealing measure of a president, any president's leadership.

and despite the immense challenges we still have, what the difference between last year and this year. at the beginning of last year we were facing the worst of the pandemic. unemployment was over six percent. most forecasters said it would take years, perhaps more to make significant progress in our recovery and of course as the trump presidency came to a bitter and ignoble and ourcountry was still in shellshocked from the violent assault waged upon this capital and upon democracy itself . today as we continue to face the serious challenges of our time, just look at how far we've come. the economy has grown at the fastest rate in a single year since the 1980s. we've added back the most jobs in a single year than any president'sterm ever . 6 million jobs. congress passed and the

president signed the biggest comprehensive standalone infrastructure law in generations which is fixing our roads and bridges, supply chains and putting people to work with the gang jobs. jobs have always been the number one issue to working families and on that measure, this first year has been a very very large success. and after years of president trump three in favor with despots and autocrats we all remember what he said about vladimir putin over and over again. the world can rest assure the united states is once again a reliable ally in the defense of democracy and ouralliance with nato and of course , covid cases are dropping, communities are reopening. mask mandates are reversing and 250 million americans, 215 million have now been fully vaccinated.

the road has not been easy. certainly the work is not yet done. the pain of inflation is being felt around this country andaround the world thanks largely to the disruptions of the pandemic . the two greatest things vexing the american people are completing our recovery from covid and giving life to back to normal and fighting increasing costs . and democrats in the senate will keep our laser focus on precisely those issues. bringing down costs for the american people so we can reap the full benefits of our historic growth. from relieving shipping bottlenecks to making insulin more affordable to lowering the cost of food, these are some of the things americans want and these are the issues democrats right now are working to help solve.

these problems must be handled and democrats in the biden administration continue to work. again, for recovery from covid and increasing costsare the two biggest remaining issues on our domestic calendar that we are focused on . but even so, we cannot ignore that we have come far and let me say this. the state of the union is also an important and rare moment for the american people to see what the party in office stands for . it's under democratic leadership that we continue to work to lower costs to fight inflation, give working families opportunities to get to the middle class and thrive there once they are in the middle-class. republicans can't say that. crippled by trump's cult of personality, the holding to

corporate interests of the rich, the republican agenda would trap americans in the vertex ofthe cynicism . issues that would not solve today's dilemmas while they pass legislation that overwhelmingly would benefit the few wealthypeople . if anyone doubts where the republican party stands today all they have to do is read the bizarre, truly stunning plan released the junior senator from florida last week. the head of the republican campaign committee which proposed everything from raising taxes on low income americans to naming a useless and ineffective border wall after donald trump. imagine . we're talking about getting back to normal and recovering from covid and reducing costs and they're talking about naming a border wall after donald trump. which party is going to solve america's problems?

indeed, an analysis released yesterday by the taxpolicy center found low income households would pay an average of $1000 more in taxes next year under a plan like senator scott's . and that nearly all of the new taxes under a plan like his would be paid by those making less than $100,000 a year. cut the taxes on the wealthy as they did when trump was president and they have the majority and now increase taxes on poor people and working-class skpeople. >>

they had fun along the way. together they were even stronger. diane has dedicated herself to working for the people of california, and she had no better confidant and supporter than her husband, dick. many americans think that senators of opposing political parties don't get along, and that's not the case. we all hundred of us know that

here. it's too bad that journalists always make controversy the center of everything, so people at least in iowa have an extraordinary view that we never speak to each other, and that's not the case. and i've just pointed out how senator feinstein and i have worked together. barbara and i express our deepest sympathy to diane and her family on dick's passing as they grieve the loss of life well lived. now to another point that i've come to talk to my colleagues, in biden's year inaugural address a year ago, he called

repeatedly for unity. he said -- and i've got a short quote -- we can treat each other with dignity and respect. we can join forces, stop the shouting, and lower the temperature. for without unity, there is no peace. only bitterness and fury. no progress. only exhausting outrage. end of quote. i was glad to hear him say all of those good intentions. i took it really as an invitation for bipartisanship. it sounded like the joe biden that i knew as a senator for the 28 years that he and i worked together. so i reached out early on to

offer to work with him on lowering the cost of prescription drugs, but right out of the gate he rejected good good-faith offers from all of us to work together on another covid relief package, as republicans and democrats had on five others throughout the year of 2020. even with the narrowest of margins -- and you can't get much more narrower than a 50-50 senate -- president biden let his party's agenda be dictated by the most radical, progressive wing of his party. the extreme radicals refuse to compromise on a wish list having nothing to do with covid. president biden should instead

have listened to professor larry summers. he was president clinton's treasury secretary and president obama's chief economic advisor. professor summers warned that all the spending the progressives were insisting on would fuel the fires of inflation, and now we know how right professor summers was. but that $2 trillion spending binge, just when the appetite appetite -- just whet the appetite of the very young radicals in the democratic party who don't remember 1970 stagflation. and if they had memories of stagflation, they willingly ignored history.

instead of offering to find common ground on issues like prescription drug pricing, the democrats wasted much of the year trying to spend another $4 trillion on a slew of brand-new entitlement programs. his one significant bipartisan achievement -- passing a bipartisan infrastructure bill -- was an all but gift wrapped and handed to him by a bipartisan group of senators. even then liberal democrats nearly derailed it by insisting its fate be tied to the passage of their unrelated liberal spending spree that's referred to as build back better. opponents called it build back

worse. thankfully moderate democrats in the house successfully delinked the two bills as we did in the senate and send the infrastructure -- and sent the infrastructure bill to the president's desk, so that was a bipartisan victory for the president and it was a victory for bipartisanship in this senate. now even more importantly, thanks to the leadership of senator manchin along with the principle stand of senator sinema, democrats' multibillion-dollar liberal spending spree floundered. build back better floundered. as a result, we avoided piling even more gasoline into the inflation fire. but as larry summers warned and senator manchin feared, the fire of inflation is already

burning brightly. it is picking the pockets of hardworking middle-class americans which are paying more for gas and groceries and, for that matter, everything else. president biden's reluctance to stand up to the radical voices in his own party or listen to moderate criticism has led to failure after failure. there is president biden's decision day to shut down the keystone pipeline, day one of his administration. and more recently to not shut down russia's nord stream 2 pipeline.

but now thanks to germany and the ukraine situation, that is shut down, but no thanks to president biden. he pulled the few remaining troops out of afghanistan in a chaotic hurry, leaving americans stranded. he has even accused friends across the aisle, people of my political party, that he has long worked with of being jim crow racists. this isn't the uniting president that he promised that he would be on january 20 of last year. the good news is that it is not too late to change course. so hopefully he will get a big voice from both political parties about its not too late to change course and work in a bipartisan way.

there's reason to believe that he's trying to be franklin delano roosevelt, but trying to be f.d.r. without f.d.r.'s popularity and f.d.r.'s supermajority in the congress, that approach has failed. i invite president biden to face reality. ignore the radicals in his political party, whether in congress or on his staff, and work across the aisle in a way i know he can. i saw that regularly for 28 years. being the president you promised to be at your inauguration, in other words. the american people want action on issues that they're facing this very day -- inflation, spike in violent crimes,

prescription prescription drug costs, open borders. and you could have a myriad of other things. i could name three l things that i'm part of a bipartisan effort to get things done. one, take on big tech, klobuchar and grassley. take on the big meatpackers, grassley and tester and fischer and wyden. and take on prescription drugs, as wyden and i worked on that prior to last year when democrats took over and they forgot all about it. let's get some of these things done. i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from iowa.

are. ms. ernst: mr. president. ms. ernst: mr. president, i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from north dakota. a senator: i rise to discuss the need to increase our domestic energy production to counter russia's invasion of ukraine. mr. hoeven: for an energy-rich nation such as ours, it's unacceptable that our country has been increasingly reliant on russia for oil. in recent months we've imported nearly 600,000 barrels per day

of russian oil. at the same time the biden administration has worked systematically to shut down domestic u.s. oil and gas production. american oil and gas producers, including those in north dakota, have proven that they have the capacity to produce more oil here at home. we had gotten to 1.5 million barrels of oil a day production. now 1.1 million barrels a day. we can do more. other states can do more. we need to do it not only for our consumers here at home, but to help our allies in europe. our economy, quality of life and security depend on access to low-cost, dependable energy from all sources, traditional and renewable. biden's hostile energy policies treats american's oil, gas and reserves differently and we're seeing the liability. we're seeing the direct consequence of that approach

allowing investments and dollars to flow to producers like russia and other countries that leverage their own energy against our interest with little or no regard for environmental stewardship, whereas our environmental stewardship is the best in the world. it's time we harnessed or vast strategic energy reserves and maintain our status as a global energy powerhouse. president biden will soon deliver his state of the union address, and it's time he works with us to support our domestic energy producers and abandon his failed approach to energy policy. each additional barrel of oil we can produce here at home strengthens our economic and national security and helps our allies. each additional u.s. barrel offsets production from russia and other adversaries. each additional barrel of oil helps reduce prices for american consumers, and because energy is built into virtually everything we consume, lowering energy costs helps bring down inflation. that means empowering and

encouraging our domestic producers and reversing the biden administration's policies that curtail production. to start, the interior department needs to immediately end the leasing moratorium and hold previously postponed lease-sales offshore and onshore. we need to expand our energy infrastructure to ensure efficient delivery to consumers. that includes approving the keystone x.l. pipeline which is legislation that i approved, or that i led and we passed during the obama administration. it was vetoed by president obama. it was my bill, we approved it in this chamber, approved it in the house, got it to the president and the president vetoed it. if he hadn't, we'd have keystone pipeline today, bringing millions of more barrels of energy to our country and to our allies, working with our closestest friend and ally -- canada. we need to strengthen our energy trade with canada, as i said, obviously one of our most important allies.

it also includes building new natural gas pipelines to connect areas like new england to domestic gas reserves to pennsylvania and west virginia. we need to expand liquefied natural gas to provide cleaner, more efficient gas. the gas we send from our l.n.g. facilities to europe on a life cycle basis has 41% less emissions than russian gas. i'll soon be introducing the american energy independence from russia act, bicameral legislation with representative cathy mcmorris rogers which requires the president to provide congress with an energy security plan that evaluates u.s. imports and exports. second, ation sess our energy security risks. and third encourages u.s. domestic oil production to offset russian imports. this is all about a return to the regulatory certainty to protect our capacity to produce energy, and that means helping producers attract capital investment.

it's time we unleash the full potential of u.s. energy producers to strengthen our energy independence and weaken authoritarian adversaries like russia and others. in addition to strengthened national security, robust domestic energy production will help provide lower energy costs and relief from inflation for hardworking american families. we need to unleash our energy resources for the sake of our own consumers and our allies. with that, mr. president, i yield the floor. ms. ernst: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. ms. ernst: madam president, thank you. tonight the president will deliver the annual state of the union address and i have to admit as a result of president biden's policies over the past

year, nearly everything is up. consumer prices, up. violent crime, up. the national debt, illegal border crossings, drug overdoses, the deficit, it is up. but what isn't up is the view of the president and his policies. in poll after poll, the majority of americans disapprove of the job that president biden is doing. on nearly every key issue facing the country, americans by and large do not think president biden is up to the job. and more than two-thirds of americans lack confidence that president biden can bring the country closer together. something he promised the american people he would do. folks, this is really no surprises since it is, after

all, the president's unpopular partisan policies that are driving americans further apart. president biden might try to mask himself as a moderate, but no one is being fooled. behind the mask, the real biden agenda is more mandates from washington, higher prices for all americans and less security at home and abroad. at -- as a direct result of mandates by this administration, for example, thousands of health care workers have lost their jobs at a time when we need them more than ever. and because of the massive amount of money being printed in washington, inflation is soaring at its highest point in 40 years. the cost of food, gas, housing, and just about everything else is significantly more expensive

today than it was before president biden was sworn into office. the president chose left-wing climate fantasies over national security. his doctrine of appeasement has resulted in america becoming more energy dependent on foreign adversaries like russia for the energy that's necessary to heat our homes and keep our country on the move. and with the russian military on the march in europe and terrorists in control of afghanistan, once again, the national and economic security of our nation has been set back decades. it's really quite stunning and gravely concerning what an incredible mess president biden has created in such a short period of time. yet, the white house is attempting to convince the

american people that everything is fine. the president called his hastily ordered exit from afghanistan and, quote, extraordinary -- an extraordinary success, end quote, despite leaving thousands of americans and allies behind. and the biden administration has repeatedly denied that rising prices and empty shelves are even a problem. while fanning the flames of inflation and out-of-control spending. if simply printed r printing -- simply printing money would solve the problem, we would be living in a eutopia right now since washington spent nearly $7 trillion last year alone. instead every american is feeling the pinch of biden omics, you would think the threat from other adversaries,

our commander in chief would be focused on strengthening and modernizing our defenses. instead, funding for the department of defense is being held hostage by the president and democrats in congress until the widely popular 50-year-old ban on taxpayer funding for abortions is repealed. folks, is this really the time to play abortion politics with our nation's national security? having spent the last half century in washington, president biden is totally out of touch with the every day needs of iowa families and the world around us has become much more dangerous under his watch. just remember as you listen to his address, every time the president proposes increasing washington spending, that translates into higher prices and taxes for you. every new government expansion

the government proposes means more washington mandates and control over you. and no matter who he blames for the security crises we're in now, it is the president's poor decisions and lack of leadership that continue to make our nation less safe at home and abroad. to get our nation moving in the right direction, we need a forward-looking freedom-first agenda to ensure our families have and can afford the food and essentials they need, the supply chain must be fixed. to prepare our children for the future, we need schools to be a place of learning, not woke indoctrination. to protect our nation from foreign threats, we need to ensure u.s. energy independence and the strength of our military remains unmatched. and to form a more perfect

union, washington needs to stop micromanaging how we live our lives and start abiding by the most important mandates in america, the ones that are listed in our constitution's bill of rights which protect us from government intrusion. these goals don't represent a partisan platform, but rather an inclusive agenda for all americans that puts each one of us back in charge of the direction of our own lives. it's a vision based on freedom, on liberty, on opportunity. folks, i know this vision works because this is -- that is exactly what is happening in my home state of iowa under the leadership of our governor and my friend kim reynolds. she has led with iowa common sense and compassion since day one. right now governor renteds is

expand -- reynolds is expanding and helping everyone and standing up for our freedoms, putting our kids first and ensuring parents have their voices heard. under her leadership iowa was the first state to reopen our schools during the pandemic. governor reynolds is pushing back on the massive washington overreach from president biden and standing up for our way of life. and she's fighting to keep the left's woke agenda out of iowa. folks, governor kim reynolds is the perfect choice for the republican response for tonight's state of the union address and her view is the opposite of joe biden's america. things are not fine, folks. you and i know that and we feel that every day.

but governor reynold's, her leadership and vision for a better future leaves me very optimistic about what lies ahead for america. madam president, i yield the floor. mr. cruz: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cruz: madam president, tonight, on the other side of the capitol, president presidenn will tell the american people what a great job he's done. he will read a speech and seated behind him will be nancy pelosi and vice president harris. no one could believe the last 12

months has been a success. he campaigned as a reasonable and centrist moderate and he abandoned every one of those promises the moment he put his hand on the bible. he has listened to the extreme voices on the far left and result for the country has been disastrous. in 14 months, we have seen trillions in new spending and debt, the highest debt in the history of our nation. wee seen a war on domestic energy production. in his first week in office, joe biden shut down the keystone pipeline and the predictable result of launching an assault on domestic production is that energy prices skyrocketed. but for that matter, everything has skyrocketed. food, electricity, rent, home, lumber, -- gasoline, heat, every

basic expense, working families are suffering and especially seniors, especially those on fixed income. then we have the southern border, the chaos and crisis on the southern border, over two million people illegally crossing in our country, the worst rate of illegal immigrants in 60 years. it's worth noting biden inherited the year before the lowest rate of illegal immigration, so he turned success into failure because he implemented the radical left-wing ideas of open borders from the extreme left. the crime and chaos and disease coming from two million illegal immigrants is compounded domestically by the extreme left's war on the police. we've seen the far left advocating, abolishing the police, advocating defunding the

police, we've seen george soris, and carjacking and crime is up. and the biden administration has embraced that radical agenda, nominating not one of but two advocates of abolishing the police to the department of defense. unfortunately every single democrat voted to confirm those advocates for abolishing the police. we've seen joe biden implement unconstitutional vaccine mandates and standing up and firing soldiers, airmen and marines, advocating that nurses be fired, police officers be fired, that airline captains and flight attendants be fired. an assault on our liberties. and as disastrous as the foreign

policy has been, as disastrous as the domestic policy has been, the foreign policy is ellsworth we saw the surrender of the taliban, leaving americans behind. unfortunately when that happened, every enemy of america, they looked to the oval office and took the measure of the man in the oval office and concluded the president was weak and feckless. the chances of russia invading ukraine have increased tenfold. as i said at the time the chance of china invading taiwan increased tenfold. when the president is weak and ineffective, our enemies advance. everyone is worse for america. russia has launched the largest war in europe since world war

ii. china is more aggressive, is running concentration camps with a million uighurs, is murdering and torturing innocent people in china and mind you, madam president, when i brought a vote to the senate floor thatted said the united states -- that the united states government should not purchase goods using slave labor in concentration camps, every democrat but one voted no. these are extreme positions. this is not the mainstream. this is not the center. nancy pelosi will not portray it on her face, but she knows in january she will no longer be speaker of the house and i will say joe biden's becoming president was the best thing that ever happened to vladimir putin. biden began his presidency by surrendering to putin, waving the sanction -- waiving the bipartisan sanctions on norms

that had -- nord stream 2 and biden decided surrendering to our adversary was a better policy. as mr. chamberlain demonstrated, appeasement doesn't work. the state of america is strong, but the state of the union and the state of the federal government and the state of washington is disastrous. but the one bit of bright light on the horizon that i'm confident president biden will not point to is that the american people will vote in november, and i believe they will change the path we're on. we've seen the disaster of the extreme radical left. if biden could remember the joe biden of old, the joe biden that swore me into office, the joe biden that swore many of my colleagues into office, the joe biden that we served with, if he could remember that joe biden , it would be a very different administration. but sadly, this white house has

decided the radical extreme socialist left sets the agenda. and the results of that agenda are playing out for families all across the country. i yield the floor. a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from virginia. mr. kaine: madam president, first, i have six requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. the presiding officer: duly noted. mr. kaine: madam president, i ask unanimous consent that myself, along with senators hagerty, peters, and portman, be recognized to speak for up to five minutes each before the scheduled recess. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. kaine: madam president, i was not intending to speak, as you know. i was presiding, and you were kind. as i was hearing colleagues talk on the floor about the state of our country, what i was hearing from my republican colleagues were words like malaise, funk,

disaster. i was seeing visuals of a house on fire. and so i was compelled to stand and just offer a few extemporaneous remarks. i don't think america is a disaster. i don't think america is on fire. i don't think america is in a deep, unyielding malaise. i've heard colleagues talk about the situation in the world and use the appeasement word. i've heard language both in committee hearings this morning and here on the floor that i would characterize as kind of a blame america first attitude, if something is going on, if a dictator like vladimir putin acts in a horrific way, it's got to be america's fault. it's got to be joe biden's fault. i don't think our instinct should be to blame america first

when dictators in the world undertake despicable actions. and what i've noticed in these comments today, trashing our president and trashing the country, as sort of a cherry-picking of evidence, my colleagues have brought up some things that really are very legitimate concerns -- inflation, a very, very legitimate concern that has to be addressed. but i've listened to these speeches, and not one has talked about record job growth. not one has talked about strong g.d.p. growth. not one has talked about a dramatic increase in the wages and salaries of low- and moderate-income people. is that because my colleagues are unaware of those things? no. they know these things. they're just choosing not to discuss them because what they

want to do is to paint a picture of an american malaise, an american funk, an american disaster. that's not who this country is, and yet my colleagues are very willing to paint a false picture by omitting key evidence. i listened to the speeches this morning. not one mentioned that covid deaths and hospitalizations are coming down dramatically and that the c.d.c. now has said during most of my commonwealth, most of the country, you need not wear masks indoors. i would think they might have mentioned that because part of the reason for this recent progress is the vaccination, the vaccines that were developed during the previous administration. they could take a little credit for it. but, no, they didn't mention it at all. covid is coming down. strong economic growth, strong job growth, strong wage and salary growth.

and around the world, a nato that the previous president trashed when he was cozying up to the dictator vladimir putin, is demonstrating to the entire world that when it is resolved to unify, the power of american-led alliances is a huge force for good in this world. and so i'm just trying to grapple with the one-sided presentation of american disaster, american malaise, american funk, and let me tell you here's the way i understand it. the last two years have been brutal. the death toll to covid is now nearly 950,000. it will eclipse a million. it's been -- i'm 64 years old as of a couple of days ago -- it's been the hardest two years in my life, for our country. the death, the illness, the economic devastation, the job

loss. it's been brutal here and it's been brutal all around the world. and we're not completely with it in the rearview mirror yet. i suspect what you're going to hear president biden say tonighy intuition, i don't have knowledge -- he's going to acknowledge the incredible pain that we've been living under in this country and around the world for last two years, nearly unprecedented in a century. and he's going to point out that there are still significant challenges. there's still too high a percentage of americans that haven't taken advantage of these vaccines. and, yes, inflation is a problem. there are problems that we have to deal with. but when you look at strong job growth and strong wage growth and strong g.d.p. growth, when you look at declining case numbers, i'll tell you what i see. i see the beginnings of something that we often see in american life -- an american

comeback. we are comeback people. we are comeback people. a friend of mine once said tough times don't last, tough people do. we are tough, tough people. and as i travel around virginia, i was traveling around virginia last week, i don't fundamentally see funk or malaise or poor, poor, pitiful me, or blaming america for the woes of the world or blaming joe biden for the reality of a tough situation we've been living through. i see people with their chin up and their head held high, who will acknowledge that we have challenges and that we've got problems to solve, but who believe that we are on our way to a better chapter after a very difficult last couple of years. that's the can-do spirit i see around virginia. that's the can-do spirit i believe is always characterized

americans. not a we're on fire, it's a malaise time, it's a funk time. no, i see a can-do spirit and the beginnings of an american comeback underway after what has been the most painful two years during my 64 here on the planet. and i don't know whether if i'm right that's good news or bad news for my colleagues who are here on the floor painting the negative picture. i would think it would be good news. if it's good news, why wouldn't i have heard cment about covid case -- acknowledgment about covid cases coming down? we do need to work together, madam president. you inspired all of us with your work on the bipartisan infrastructure bill. which as i was traveling around virginia last week -- and i'm sure most of us were doing this in their state -- my mayors and my state officials and my local

economic development officials were talking with excitement about what this would mean in terms of the rebuilding of american communities where we have not invested in infrastructure for a very long time. i don't think this is a moment where the leadership class of this country should be amplifying pessimism about this country. i think it's a moment where the leadership class of this country should be amplifying an optimistic can-do message that i think is in accord with the values of virginians and values of americans. and i suspect that kind of a message, the acknowledgment of the difficult reality, but the foundation being laid for the beginning of an american comeback after two tough years, i suspect that's the message we're going to hear from president biden tonight. with that, madam president, i yield the floor.

the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. a senator: thank you, thank you, madam president. mr. hagerty: i rose in this chamber two weeks ago to urge the senate to reopen the u.s. capitol, reopen the senate office buildings. at that time democrats objected to my resolution in support of reopening. two weeks later it's become even more clear that the american public is tired of government mandates, of covid shutdowns. democrats have exploited the pandemic to execute a power grab over american life, a power grab that allows democrats to dictate whether children can attend schools, whether americans can keep their jobs and operate their businesses, and how elections are conducted. these big government lockdowns and mandates have caused irreparable damage that will be felt for generations to come. as we move ahead, we must not

lose sight of this lesson. on the bright side, even the biden administration is seeing the poll numbers, and they're adjusting the science accordingly. on friday the c.d.c. changed its guidance once again. now indoor masks are not recommended for most americans. masks are no longer required on either side of the capitol building. why even washington, d.c. has opened up and lifted its mask mandate. amazingly all of this happened just in time for the state of the union. the only science that's being followed here is the political science. but thankfully america is returning to normal. americans everywhere are safely living their lives, going to work and school, visiting stores, attending events, and gathering with their family and their friends. they shouldn't have to know somebody in order to visit their

representative, to take a tour of the capitol, to get into this building. it's time for the lockdown on democracy to come to an end. today i'm once again asking my colleagues to rejoin reality and to reopen the capitol to those whom it belongs -- the american people. so, madam president, i ask unanimous consent that the committee on rules and administration be discharged from further consideration and the senate now proceed to senate resolution 512. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 512, supporting reopening the united states capitol building and senate office buildings to the american people. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding? without objection. mr. hagerty: i ask unanimous consent --. the presiding officer: -- the committee is discharged and the senate will proceed. mr. hagerty: thank you, madam president. i ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, that

the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. hagerty: thank you, madam president. madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mr. hagerty: madam president, i'm glad that the senate has agreed to my resolution to reopen the capitol, and i urge the house of representatives to pass the very similar resolution that was introduced in that body so that all parts of the capitol complex are open to the american people. i also stand ready to work with my colleagues and with the capitol police to implement this resolution so that we can welcome the american people back into their capitol as soon as possible. i yield the floor.

a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. peter. mr. peters: madam president, last night the senate came together for the american people and overwhelmingly voted to move forward on historic bipartisan, bicameral and long overdue reforms that will help ensure the stability and long-term success of the united states postal service. the postal service is one of our nation's oldest and most trusted institutions. it serves as a critical lifeline for millions of americans, including seniors, and veterans and rural communities who expect the postal service to deliver vital mail including supplies and medications. however, for more than 15 years, this public service and its dedicated workers have been hindered by burdensome financial

requirements. the need to quickly pass these balanced reforms, which are broadly supported by the american people, has become increasingly urgent. one persistent burden that has been a requirement to prefund every single cent of health care benefits that every single postal worker employee will use and eventually retire no matter how far off that may be. this is something that no business in america is required to do, and for good reason. it makes no practical sense and it has imposed an enormous cost on the postal service that has threatened their ability to provide reliable and timely delivery. in recent years we've seen first hand how burdensome policies have are driven the postal service to result to harsh measures to cut costs and as a result compromise delivery

service. we must act now to set this critical institution on a sustainable financial footing by passing the postal service reform act, this bipartisan, commonsensing legislation will save the postal service $39 billion in the next ten years by eliminating the aggressive refunding requirement for retiree benefits. these changes will help ensure the postal service, which is self-sustaining and does not receive taxpayer funding can continue to serve the american people and avoid making severe cuts down the line that would impact millions of americans. these reforms will also require the postal service to deliver six days a week so it can continue serving as a critical lifeline for countless communities who need timely delivery of their essential needs. this legislation will also make

the postal service more transparent and accountable to the american people by weekly local performance data publicly available online, enabling every single community to see exactly how the postal service is performing in their area. i introduced this legislation in the senate last year and it -- and i worked hand in hand with ranking member rob portman from ohio as well as chaiwoman palomy. last month the house passed this legislation with overwhelming bipartisan support and last night we saw this body advance it with significant bipartisan support once again. now the senate has an historic opportunity to move this legislation forward. and i'm proud to have helped secure significant bipartisan support with our senate

companion bill will a total of 14 democratic and 14 republican cosponsors backing the legislation. together we can finely, after -- finally, after more than 15 years, pass this commonsense, bipartisan legislation to set the postal service on a stable financial foot and bring it into the future. we can support our dedicated and hardworking postal employees as well as the customers that they serve. we can set the postal service up for success so that families and small businesses, veterans, seniors, and all americans can continue to rely on this critical public service as they have for generations. we can show the american people this body can set aside partisanship and work hand in hand to improve americans' lives. every single day we delay will hurt the postal service. we must pass these urgently needed reforms and i urge all of

my colleagues to support this legislation and pass it swiftly so we can determine that this institution can still play a role in the lives of every single american. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. portman: i rise today in support of the legislation that my colleague from michigan just talked about. this is h.r. 3076, the postal service reform act. what it really is though is ensuring that the post office works and that is it works for the constituents i represent and all of the country. unfortunately right now the post office is in trouble and it's in dire need of reform, and if we don't do it, we're going to have big problems. the post office had its 15th annual net loss in 2021 and they

projected they will be insolvent in the next few years if we don't make these reforms and other reforms as well that can be made by the post office as well. they projected a ten-year loss of $360 billion if we continue with the status quo. the postal service is delivering less and less first-class mail. we're all online. yet, there are more and more addresses that they deliver to, because people do want to get the mail they do deliver, the packages and direct mail and so on. it's a recipe for ruin if we don't adjust to the reality and make new changes. last we're senator peters and i passed this legislation, we had 16 republicans and democrats supporting, we kept it nonpartisan. what could be more nonpartisan than trying to save the post office. everybody cares about the post

office and be sure it's working well and working efficiently. it's not a partisan issue, it is important to all americans, young, old, rural, everybody. i heard from my constituents. a constituent from butler county, ohio said my father, a veteran of the war, received his lifesaving medication through the mail. my father can't breathe without his daily inhaler. we've got to be sure the post office works for him. a constituent from montgomery county wrote, as a disabled veteran, i need to vote by mail. we have the ability to vote by mail in ohio. it's no-fault absentee, but it requires the post office to work, right? it doesn't work well if the ballot is late and does not count. another constituent wrote the post office is essential to millions of americans, including seniors and veterans to depend on it for medication, small

business owners who are struggling, everybody. everybody. putting the postal service on sound footing cannot be accomplished through congress alone. this is not just about passing a law here. we're going to do that. we had a good vote last night and we'll get more people supporting it i hope during the week, but it's also about the reforms that the post office will make itself and the current postmaster general looks to transform the post office by transforming capabilities to meet the needs of the american people. he's taking on a ten-year plan to make changes and make the post office more efficient. but he's made it clear that he needs financial space to do that and head room by making changes in congress that we have a role to play too. this is what we do. we eliminate a burdensome and

unique requirement for funding retirement. it was passed in 2006 that has crippled the post office. prefunding retirement funding is not something that anyone else has to do. the federal government does not do that. the private sector does not do that. in fact, very few private sector entities rely on that, they rely on medicare. the federal government doesn't do it, the private sector doesn't do it, why is the post office doing it? that's the question. we're trying to bring the post office into line with what everybody else is doing with regard to retiree health beflts. it requires -- benefits, it requires post office employees to actually enroll in medicare part b and part d. everybody's in part a, but 25% of the postal employees are not in part d and part b.

they rely on the benefit plan which is far more expensive. this includes the ability to get into medicare advantage. that is very important. just like happens under current opportunities to enroll in medicare advantage under the postal employees' benefit program, they can use the wrap around program that gives you more opportunities for more options and benefits. it's more like a private sector plan and a lot of my constituents in ohio like it and use it. 25% of postal employees don't enroll in medicare even though they earned it. this means the postal service ask pay -- is paying higher premiums than other private sector employees. so this is a big savings for them. third, it requires the postal service to maintain its current standard of a six-day a week

delivery through an integrated disilvestro ri of mail and packages. this is important to many of my colleagues, that you keep the six-day a week delivery. it's important to the guy from butler county who gets his copd comaition through the -- medication through the mail. it requires the post office to do that. this -- in terms of the integrated delivery network of mail and packages together, it underscores through a rule of construction, this has no impact on existing rules on how the post office attributes costs between package and mail. we provide for an integrated delivery system for mail and package. that makes sense. but what we say this has no impact on existing rules governing how the postal service

delivers costs. this makes sure that the private sector will not be subject to unfair competition. in addition to doing all of these things, the congressional budget office estimates that the bill will result in a little more than $1 billion in savings and outlies and another billion dollars in savings. congressional budget office, the nonpartisan group here in washington, said this will be a $1.5 billion savings to the taxpayer because of this legislation. $1.5 billion savings to the taxpayer. because it makes sense, this legislation received strong bipartisan support when it was taken up in the house of representatives. in fact, it was passed by a vote of 342-92. not much gets passed with those big bipartisan number these days, republicans and democrats alike looked at this and said, you know, the post office is in trouble, we have to do something. some say this may not be perfect. well, it's not perfect. nothing is around here, but it's a whole lot better than the

alternative and it does get the post office back on track, again, along with the reforms being undertaken at the post office, this gives them the financial breathing room they need to be able to save the post office. i encourage my colleagues to join me in supporting this bill. let's put the post office in a position to succeed and put help those small businesses and rural constituents and veterans rely on. i thank senator peters to find a way to make consensus. we ended up with a good bill. let's pass the bill and ensure the post office is healthy for the time going forward. i yield back my time. i yield back my time. >> the senate is in recess until 2:15 p.m. eastern today today for weekly party caucus lunches. when lawmakers return they will continue work on the house

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>> tonight president biden willl deliver the state of union address address to a joint session of congress. up next, , a discussion previewg his speech and resume former presidents addressing the nation with an assistant professor of rhetoric, politics and culture at the university of wisconsin-madison. this is about 15 minutes. >> host: we want to introduce you to professor allison prasch, she teaches writer, politics and culture of the university of wisconsin in madison. professor prasch, as president biden get 24th first date of the union address, what kind of rhetoric you expect from him in this time of international crises and domestic problems? >> guest: well, hello and thanks so much for having me. i think it's important at the beginning remember the