after inflation at a time when russia is trying to redraw maps. when president biden took office one year ago he inherited major tailwinds and brimming optimism. brilliant scientist and operation warp speed and develop vaccines in record time and we're 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 us to work terrorist act and another target bipartisan stimulus that a just past weeks earlier, our economic foundations have weathered the pandemic lockdowns and we are primed -- >> we're goinger to break away from this event to take you live to the u.s. senate. part of our over for your commitment to bringing you live coverage of congress.

the senate is about to gavel back in following a recess for weekly party caucus lunches. this is live coverage here on c-span2. the presiding officer: the senate will come to order.

mr. moran: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from can cap. mr. moran: madam president, thank you very much. as the senate processes with the postal reform act, i want to rise today to highlight the daily impact the united states postal service on folks back home, particularly in rural kansas. many americans rely upon the postal service when a special occasion arises. they'll send a card, a card to a loved one. while receiving a card, a gift in the mail instead of a text message or e-mail these days brings lots of people lots of joy and a academics to people,

the -- and a connection to people, the united states postal service plays a role to so many americans living in rural america. it's services are ingrained in the lifestyles of our communities. men and women gather at the post office. they see their friends and neighbors when they go to get their mail at the mailbox at the post office, everything from celebrating birthdays and weddings to even providing lifesaving assistance during a global pandemic revolve around the post office. ron hallub reminded me of a super-cell tornado that hit kansas in 2018. there was no electronic communications available, and the only reliable way to communicate was the post office. one of the first people allowed into the affected area was rod, the postal carrier. kansans living in manhattan at the time have told me how rod

assured every family that they'd still be able to connect to their mail service since electronic communications were down and it would be a while before they could be restored. insurance claim information and other documents would be vital to rebuilding their lives and rod ensured safe, secure, and timely delivery of those documents. similar situations occurred when other natural disasters cut off access to the local post office. when natural disaster wreck havoc, the priorities is to ensure that postal services go on. mail service provides a method of communication to lee build from the destruction. it is over a neglected fact that the united states postal service, letter carriers are the protective eyes and ears of the neighborhood, often going the extra mile to aid a customer in

need of assistance. one such story occurred when a kansas letter carrier discovered a customer confined to a wheel care in the heat of -- while chair in the heat of summer, without air conditioning, a fan, or a ramp to get in or out of their home. the kansas letter carrier took it upon her selves to rally the neighbors who all provided the customer with a fan and had a ramp built. dozens of post offices across the state have closed and multiple rural processing facilities in dodge city, colby, salina, topeka were shuttered. now your mail is processed someplace far away -- north plat, nebraska, amarillo, texas. there are only two processing

facilities that remain in our state. the impact of these closures and the consolidations disproportionately affect rural kansans in service reductions and lost jobs. postal reform legislation will allow the united states postal service to continue serving rural america without fear of imminent service reductions that will further isolate rural communities. the solution to the post office's financial circumstances can't be eliminating, reducing service. to ensure that the united states postal service maintains its vital services, i urge my colleagues to support, to vote for the postal service reform act. madam president, i yield the floor.

a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from idaho. mr. risch: thank you. madam president, i rise today to discuss russia's invasion of the ukraine, and in a moment i'm going to ask unanimous consent to pass some legislation which has been kicking around here for awhile and is way overdue. what we've witnessed over the past five days is a flagrant act of unprovoked aggression penetrated by russia against ukraine. the world we are living in today is different from the one we lived in last week. for months i, along with my senate colleagues on both sides of the aisle, have watched the conflict edge closer and closer.

the intelligence community provided accurate and clear information on the sway, and for this -- on the situation, and for this i commend them. i also commend them for releasing the vast majority, if not all of the information they had in an attempt to deter putin. that didn't work. however, there is no question we should have taken action sooner rather than later, and it's time to do so now in a much more aggressive fashion. in preparation for this invasion, many of my senate colleagues and i drafted hard-hitting sanctions and called repeatedly for more lethal assistance for months. we used all leverage at our disposal to pressure the administration to take sufficient action, but despite our actions, our efforts, it didn't happen. certainly some military assistance was provided, but it is hard not to think that if we had expedited javelin and

stinger deliveries last year and let our allies move more equipment sooner, the ukrainians would be making the russians pay a much higher price. right now ukraine desperately needs the support of the international community. it needs us to sanction russia, to punish its government for this unjustified attack. these ukrainian heroes need more weapons, armor, and supplies to fight back the russian invaders and preserve the lives of its population. the biden administration was well intentioned in pursuit of a diplomatic resolution for russia's aggression, but the administration was wrong to oppose our congressional efforts to impose even tougher sanctions that were essential to make our deterrence credible. president biden made it clear that maximum economic sanctions would only come after putin invaded. the administration's promise

that the threat of sanctions would be enough to deter putin was a mistake. look where we are now. diplomacy has failed. the invasion has happened. while sanctions have now been levied on russia, there is still room for more robust sanctions in order to get putin to pull back. i have always said i am all in on all of the above. when it comes to ukraine and russia. i'm happy to support legislation proposed by my democrat colleagues, but the senate must take the lead and mandate the massive economic sanctions that president biden and his officials committed to. the nyet act which i introduced two weeks ago contains the tough sanctions that will bring the hammer down on putin and his regime and provide the assistance that ukraine needs now. it's based on the bipartisan negotiations that took place

over the last two months and includes many measures that have been endorsed by members on both sides of the aisle. to be clear, i understand that my friends on the other side are going to op to this. nonetheless, a good number of things they suggested are in this bill. the act places sanctions on russia's lucrative mining, mineral, and oil and gas sectors, actions that the administration thus far has refused to take. this needs to be done, and we haven't received an explanation as to why they haven't done it. it punishes russian and belarusian government and military officials for their horrific actions and will expose the full extent of putin's and his cronies on the left. the bill sanctions 12 of the largest russian banks and critically also imposes secondary sanctions on them, something the administration has yet to do. secondary sanctions are critical to hurting the russian economy. they force the world's financial institutions to make a choice

between russia and western markets. they will choose the west, indeed for their own good they must choose the west. russia will be isolated. when it comes to sanctions, i want to thank senator toomey for helping on that part of this bill, and he's going to talk about them in a minute, in just a minute for just a period of time. nyet also increases the funding for military assistance to ukraine as well as other eastern european nations to radio-free europe, to radio liberty, the global engagement center, and refills the president's drawdown account. it also establishes a new ukrainian resistance fund to help ukraine continue to resist attempts to occupy or subjugate any new territory russia seizes while sending a clear message to putin that his military will pay a price for advances into sovereign ukrainian territory.

their resistance has been nothing short of all inspiring. that is the ukrainian people themselves. we need to help them, and this bill, nyet act, will do exactly that. i hope my colleagues across the aisle witness put aside partisanship and join us today by passing this bill which will impose crippling sanctions on russia's most powerful people and which will support the people of ukraine. all of us are moved by the ukrainean people and their fight for freedom and my democratic colleagues have supported nearly all of these concepts at one time or another. i ask them to join me today. this is the most deliberative body in the world we always say. we've overdeliberated and it's time to being the a. i want to yield the floor to senator toomey. mr. toomey: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from pennsylvania. mr. toomey: thank you, madam president. i want to thank the ranking

member of the senate foreign relations committee for the work that he's done on this for years. i just want to make pa couple of points here. one is it's a very hard point to make, but i think we ought to be candid, and that is there is a very real danger that the russian military will eventually prevail. let's be honest. they're much larger, they have far more resources. the ukrainians are putting up an absolutely historic and heroic fight, but it's not clear that they can hold on indefinitely. so what should we be doing in light of that fact and the circumstances we have? i completely agree with senator risch. we have an obligation in my mind to provide the resources that we can. we're doing that. this legislation would go further. there's one other thing that we can do that i think is extremely important as well, and that is establish as a goal that as soon

as possible vladimir putin come to regret this decision. it's extremely important in my mind that putin and all the other authoritarians and bullies and dictators around the world see this invasion of ukraine as a terrible strategic mistake for russia to have made. because if they don't conclude that this was a mistake, that it doesn't end with ukraine. how do we ensure that this is universally recognized, including by putin and those who would like to emulate him? how do we make sure that they see it as the mistake that we believe it is? there's one way to do this. we bring the russian economy to its knees, and we have the ability to do that. but we have chosen not to do so thus far. i'm pleased to see the administration moving in the

direction of sanctioning. i am pleased that many of our european allies have taken steps to go in this direction. but, madam president, until we shut down the main source of revenue for putin and his war machine, we will not have accomplished what we need to accomplish. this legislation does that. among other things, it directly imposes the sanctions on oil and gas industry, the industry that is 60% of all russian exports, 40% of government revenue, more than 20% of the entire economy. it goes after this source of cash to fund the war-fighting machine directly with sanctions, but it also does it in an indirect fashion that's very important, and i want to touch on this. that is this legislation imposes what we call secondary sanctions on the russian banking sector. why is that important?

we've all heard that some russian banks are going to be excluded from the swift system. that is true, and that is constructive. however, it is not dispositive by any means. the swift system is just a communication system. there's no money actually transfer on swift. payments aren't made. and if we deny russian banks access to swift, we don't deny them the ability to conduct business, the ability to move money on behalf of oligarchs and oil and gas industry, we don't cut off the flow of revenue to putin not just by kicking them off swift. we make it inconvenient for them, but there are work-arounds that you can use to get around the obstacles. what we need to do and what we do in this legislation is we make a very simple proposition to the entire world. banks all around the world will understand if this legislation becomes law, they have a choice to make. they can do business with russian banks or they can do business with the united states

of america. but they can't do both. madam president, that is not a tough decision for the world's banks. the overwhelming majority and all of the significant ones will choose to do business with the united states, and that shuts down the russian banking industry. that shuts down the revenue stream for vladimir putin. that shuts down the money that is funding this appalling, atrocious military campaign. are there any consequences to us? it's possible that for some period of time there would be somewhat higher energy prices. we don't import very much russian energy products. we shouldn't be importing any at this point. we don't import much. but the fact is we can make up for a disruption in supply by enhancing our own production and encouraging the increase on the part of swing producers who are much more closely aligned with us than with the russians. madam president, the ukrainian people and the ukrainian

people's elected leaders have been absolutely heroic. they are fighting for their very lives. and as i say, if putin does not conclude that this was all a very big mistake, then it doesn't end with ukraine. i join my colleagues in urging the adoption of this legislation, and i yield the floor. a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. scott: madam president, i thank my colleagues senator risch and toomey for their leadership on these efforts. americans are watching russia's invasion into ukraine, and they're looking to us for leadership. as an evil tyrant wages war, they're asking how our government will respond, so here we are. congress is in session, and senator schumer has placed the world's most prefg issue on the back burner. what could be more important than supporting a fellow democracy under attack against a thug whose goal is to control as much of europe as he can? postal reform bill and a radical abortion bill.

their freedom, wealth and resources of europe are under attack. senator schumer wants to use our time to ensure more unborn babies can be killed and pass a postal reform bill that doesn't provide any long-term reform for america's postal workers. and for what? so that president biden has progressive talking points he can use during his speech? this is wrong. even switzerland took decisive action and president to the assets of putin and his thugs. the ukrainian people are being pushed out of their country and losing their lives. there are ukrainian grandfathers taking up arms to defend their families. why can't the senate -- he's threatening nato members. he wants to put senate's focus elsewhere. while the postal service is not in dire straits, it will continue to deliver the mail. but the same cannot be said

about ukraine. our peace and stability in europe as putin threatens to expand this war. that's why senator risch and i sent a letter to senator schumer to prioritize our support for ukraine. congress must act swiftly and severely. placing any other legislation, especially a bill that does not address any urgent issue is a dereliction of our duty as the american people and to stand for freedom and support for the world democracy. at a time like this, we need to be clear about our priorities. first, the united states must continue to work with our allies and partners to destroy the economy and sanctions against the oligarchies and the u.s. must supply ukraine with every weapon needed and continue to work with our allies and partners to deliver resources to

the ukrainian military. and increase our own military spending as we face communist china and putin's aggression. now is not the time for weakness or any imri miez of -- compromise of america's defense capabilities. we must ban russian aircraft from using american airspace. biden must take action to boost energy production and independence. they should restart the keystone xl pipeline. all lobbyists working with the russian government should cancel their contracts. the same is those who refuse to condemn russia's invasion. it is inexcusable for anybody to lobby on behalf of putin's regime. all governments should end their relationship with russian

governments and russian-owned businesses. a number of states have taken this step. finally, every american should not purchase russian-made products. buying products made in russia will only fuel putin's war. one of the best tools america has at its disposal is to inflict maximum pain on putin and his thugs. now's a time to come together to defend freedom and democracy and the senate must lead by imam many. it's why i'm proud to work with my colleague from idaho with the nyet act to defend ukraine. while -- this -- the senate should act immediately on this bill. american leadership is needed now more than ever. and taking these steps is how we stand up against evil many until this conflict is over, supporting ukraine and making the horrific war as painful as

possible must be our top focus. i yield back to senator risch. mr. risch: in closing, let me say, ukrainians are dying. they are dying in a heroic fight in a classic david versus goliath fight. we can and should do something. we talked and talked and debated. i ask unanimous consent that the foreign relations committee from discharge of further consideration of senate bill 3652 and the senate proceed to its immediate consideration, and that the bill be read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: is there objection? a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. murphy: reserving the right to object. first of all, let me agree with my republican colleagues. we stand in awe today of the ukrainian people, of president zelensky, of the ukrainian military. they have given the russians

more than they thought was coming. they have stood up a defense and a resistance that the world has watched with admiration. and the jury is, frankly, still out as to whether the russians can make good on their plans given how fierce the ukrainians have fought and i've been proud to stand with my colleagues on this floor as we have delivered additional aid to ukraine, as we made sure that they have the javelins and stingers necessary to protect themselves. i've been proud to visit ukraine with many of my colleagues here today and we are going to continue to stand with the ukrainian people. but i want to make two points today with respect to the effort that has been undertaken by my good friend, the ranking member of the foreign relations committee. first, let me make a specific point on the merits of the bill that is being proposed here today. passing this bill with no committee process, no

amendments, no debate would be a terrible idea. what this bill does, essentially, is to shatter american unity with europe, with japan, with south korea, with all of the allies that have stood with us over the course of this past week. president biden spent the last two months methodically building a never before seen coalition of nations to impose the most significant sanctions ever seen and this bill would undo that. why? because this would mandate that the united states impose new sanctions over europe's objection. it calls for the united states to abandon our policy of focusing on multilateral sanctions and start over with unilateral sanctions. why is that a terrible idea? well, first, because unilateral sanctions just aren't as effective as multilateral sanctions are. when you talk about energy policy, you want the europeans with you because that's where the russian energy ends up.

without europe, going at it alone, it makes the united states look weak and the sanctions just aren't as effective. but, second, this bill is a bad idea because breaking with europe and our nato partners right now, that's exactly what vladimir putin wants. yes. he wants to control ukraine, but what he wants more is to smash the transatlantic alliance to pieces. he sees the invasion of ukraine as a wedge that will cause america to squabble and break with our allies. putin is setting a trap for us and this bill would have us walk right into that trap. third, let's be clear, with a couple of small exceptions, president biden has already done everything that this bill calls for and more. this bill calls for sanctions on those responsible for the buildup of forces around ukraine. the administration imposed sanctions on vladimir putin, the foreign minister, 13 other members of russia's security.

they call for sanctions on nord stream 2. it's done. the german government put an end to nord stream 2 and we put an end to that. this puts being sanctions on oligarchs. we did that. president biden launched a task force that will identify, freeze, and take from russian oligarchs, their assets. this bill calls for sanctions on financial institutions, the administration has already targeted all ten of russian's largest financial institutions which holds more than three-quarters of the russian section assets. it calls for -- president biden did that on the first day of the war. this bill calls for sanctioning transactions involving russian sovereign debt. president biden did that. this calls for sanctions on belarus. he has placed sanctions on

belarus' banks and 13 of the country's industries. president biden has put together a sanctions package that is breaking the back of the russian economy. so why are we down here on the floor engaged in this back and forth? and that brings me to my second point. a broader one. it used to be that the all-consuming politics of this town sometimes would take a break when the crisis was big enough. sometimes they would stop at the water's edge. this is the case in 2001 when this country was attacked. republicans were in charge of the white house and both houses of congress and democrats had the choice to blame the attack on president bush, democrats could have offered partisan bills, democrats in the senate could have used their minority

prerogatives to block president bush's nominees. but that's not what happened in 2001. democrats and republicans came together because at that moment patriotism, the love of your country, the defense of your country was more important than politics or party. now, today the shoe's on the other foot and the democrats control the house and the senate and the white house. this is the most per lus situation we have perilous since we faced in dwun. this could be the most perilous since the cuban missile crisis. this is has diluted a lot of folks into believing that unity is weakness, putting your country over party is an acronym. i believe sometimes the stakes are so high, you have to put aside your politics at least temporarily, put aside your disagreements and get behind your government.

let's be honest. as this crisis has grown in seriousness over and over again, republicans have had the chance to do what democrats did in 2001, elevate loyalty to country. but all through 2021, even as senators were made aware of russia's plans to invade ukraine, senators cruz and hawley and a few others continued to put politics first by blocking every single national security nominee who came before this body, including those nominees who would have been working to try to help ukraine and stop the russian invasion. last month republicans and democrats were working on a bipartisan bill to support ukraine in its time of need. those negotiations were difficult, but instead of staying at the table, republicans walked away and with virtually no notice to democrats introduced this bill with only plunges supporting it -- republicans supporting it. and now instead of rallying behind a president who has shocked the world by uniting

friends and foes behind an unprecedented set of crippling sanctions against russia, republicans are down here on the floor, not more than week since the russian invasion began, to highlight their grievances with the president's policies. we returned to washington last night. and instead of deciding to sit down with republicans today, and work on agreeing of a package of support for ukraine, like the one that president biden has requested, republicans have instead chose eb to spend today, -- chosen to spend today, our first day back in the senate since the invasion, playing politics. trying to force a bill that they wrote, that not a single democrat supports that everybody knows will not pass. it has no chance of passing. we can do -- could do the same thing. democrats could put a bill on the floor that we only negotiated with ourselves and force republicans to vote on it,

we could choose to use this week to highlight the differences between republicans and democrats but we're not going to do that because our priority is to try to work together with our republican colleagues, to find unity -- unity at this moment. to not use the first day we are back in session since the invasion began to highlight the differences between our two parties. and, frankly, when i look at what republicans have been calling on president biden to do, i don't see a lot of daylight. i don't see a lot of reason for complaint. i don't see the imperative to come down here and highlight the differences. nord stream 2 is gone. it's not happening, swift sanctions, previously opposed by europe are happening, assets of russian oligarchs are being sanctioned, embargoes are put on key technologies, the set of sanctions that president biden announced, it goes further than

what most all observers and pundits predicted. it's stunning how successful president biden's diplomacy has been. and it just strains all credibility for republicans to suddenly claim that this dploams is irrelevant and -- diplomacy is irrelevant and that all-these countries would impose sanctions even if president biden did nothing. i wish my colleagues could see the seriousness of this moment and the need for us to focus our energies on coming together instead of playing into our enemy's hands and showing our differences at this moment. our president has rallied the world to this fight. vladimir putin is reeling, but we're forced to spend time today debating a partisan bill introduced by only one party that has no chance of passage.

because today on this floor, scoring political points seems more important than finding a way to come together, come together with the president, with both parties around our support for ukraine. and for those reasons i object. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the observes is heard. senator from eid hoe. a senator: in rebuttal to my good friend's comments, let me say that a number of the things i do take exception with, for instance, his statement that if we pass this, we're going to somehow shatter the unanimity with which the word has come together to oppose this. mr. risch: nothing could be further from the truth. certainly the sanctions that we have put on have been in conjunction with a lot of our allies and a lot of our partners. simply putting on secondary sanctions again in conjunction with our allies and our partners will not in any way shatter that at all.

my good friend says why are we here on the floor today? senator, i would say the reason we're on here -- on the floor today is it's not enough. now, you said i came down here to criticize the president. i did not criticize the president in anything i said. i applaud the action he's taken. i want him to take more. we have a convoy that's 40 miles long that's headed for kiev. that convoy started out after all of the sanctions that the president put in place, had taken effect. the banks, as you know, shut down, at least temporarily in russia. they've closed their stock market. they've done a number of things, but it's not enough. we need to toughen up. and as you know, i have talked and talked and talked with the administration to try to get them to embrace secondary sanctions because it's the secondary sanctions that are truly going to shut the thing down lock, stock, and barrel and

putin is going to have to answer to his people if we do get shut down. this is not partisan. i'm not here to try to drive a wedge in the party. and as you know, your party had substantial input into the nyet act that we have here. the chairman of the committee i think negotiated in good faith as we put this together. i've told them that personally. i've said that publicly. the fact is we came very close to the bill. the nyet bill is very close to what we agreed to, but we couldn't come together on the last few things. and that is a permanent shutdown of nord stream 2, not just the sanctions that are in place on a temporary basis. but a permanent shutdown. and on secondary sanctions which we believe will be the final nail in the coffin for the economy in russia. so again i answer the question

you asked, why are we here. we're here because it's not enough. the convoys are continuing. there's tens of thousands more soldiers, russian soldiers that are entering the ukraine. they're having a tough, tough time of it. and i agree with senator toomey. you sit here and you see what's going on. the question you have to ask is how long can the ukranians hold out. we want them to hold out. there are provisions in this act, as you know, that provides additional help for the ukranians themselves, but most importantly what it will do is it will shut down the economy in russia. in addition to that, you and i have discussed, i think, the fact that we can never use sanctions in a manner where we or our allies get hurt worse than the enemy does or for that matter to any great extent. that's why there are waivers in here. and sanctions always have waiver provisions in them so that it can take the edge off on anything that causes us or our

allies any difficulties. so in that regard, i think that you're wrong on that. back to the basic bill. i said i'm an all-of-the-above person. if the democrats want to bring their bill down, which will probably look very much like this, but it won't have secondary sanctions in it, it won't have a permanent closing of nord stream 1 and 2. i will stand up here and say we can do better but i'm still going to vote for your bill. and i wish you would do that -- i wish would you do that on mine. i would respectfully request that you back away from this complaint that this is a partisan exercise. it is not a partisan exercise. there isn't a person in this body that doesn't want for do all we can possibly do to preserve the lives of the ukranians that are perishing every day. women, children, civilians. and we need to do all we can. and putin is not going to be

deterred until we do all that we can. and that comes to permanently shutting down the -- excuse me -- to completely shutting down the economy in russia. this bill does that. and again i apologize if you think that there's anything political about this. it's not. it's trying to do the right thing as you and i have talked about. we have an obligation to do this as americans, as the strongest country in the world. we can't stand by and watch this slaughter that is happening and when that convoy gets there, is going to be even worse. this is something we can actually do to do more than what the president has done. and i'll say it -- i said it before and i'll say it again. i commend the president for what he's done. but we also as the first branch of government have a responsibility. we believe this bill exercises that responsibility. thank you, madam president.

mr. barrasso: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. barrasso: thank you, madam president. madam president, russia continues to engage in ruthless and unprovoked attacks against a democrat and independent nation of ukraine. i strongly condemn russia's dangerous aggression against the people of ukraine. putin is responsible for the death and destruction in his wake, and he must be held accountable. the one sledgehammer we can use against putin is american energy resources. reducing the amount of russian energy going to europe would hurt russia's economy. the oil and gas revenues made up about 36% of russia's national budget last year. 2021 russia sold $100 billion

worth of oil and natural gas to europe. russia is europe's main supplier of energy. the european union received over 40% of its gas imports from russia. russia also has significant ownership in europe's energy infrastructure, including pipelines, distribution centers, and storage facilities. with natural gas prices increasing and oil surpassing $100 a barrel, more of our allies' money will be lining the pockets of vladimir putin. due to high energy costs, russian oil and gas revenues exceed initial plans by 5% this past year totaling $119 billion. in 2021 rev revenues from russin oil and gas were almost $500 million each and every day. a windfall for vladimir putin. as a result the amount of russian energy going to europe is a major problem.

we must help our allies escape russia's energy trap. american energy resources can allow europeans to meet their energy needs and deprive russia of the revenue it uses to fund its military aggression. due to technological advances and abundance of natural gas, the united states can be a strategic energy supplier to europe. our nation is more than enough gas -- has more than enough gas to meet america's needs and to export to other countries. we must speed up the process of again american liquefied natural gas to our allies. that's why, madam president, i introduced s. 819, the energy security cooperation with allied partners in europe act commonly known as the escape act. currently it has 23 sponsors. the bill as amended does three things. it deems it in the public interest to export u.s. liquefied natural gas to nato

countries and defense allies. it creates a transatlantic energy security strategy focused on increasing american energy exports directly to europe. and it directs our nato representative to help our allies and partners improve that energy security. so, madam president, i ask unanimous consent that the foreign relations committee be discharged from further consideration of s. 819 and the senate proceed to its immediate consideration. further ask that the barrasso amendment at the desk be considered and agreed to, the bill as amended be wered read a third time and passed, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid on the table. the presiding officer: is there objection? a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from from connecticut. mr. murphy: madam president, reserving the right to object. first very quickly, let me make a few final points about senator risch's comments. senator risch says this isn't a partisan exercise. it is. the bill that senator risch is

talking about was introduced by only republicans. it was introduced with no notice to democrats. there was a big showy press conference in which only republicans were there. in fact, the introduction of this bill was a messaging point for republicans to announce that they were no longer negotiating with democrats. and so i appreciate that senator risch often is working very industriously with democrats but in this case it's a republican bill, only republicans support it. offering it today is not helpful to the process because it had no chance of passage. instead today we should be working on getting additional funding to the ukranians. president biden has requested our help, has requested congress to step up and provide humanitarian assistance and more lethal assistance to ukraine. right now, the time we are spending arguing over a bill

that is supported only by republicans that is never going to pass this body, we could be using that time to come together around a bill that can pass, that will pass. so that's why there's anger on our side about this exercise. there are these moments in american history nrks world history, where our -- in world history wrrks our focus should be on unity, should be on coming together and finding what we can do together. instead the legislation that was just offered was a bill that was specifically introduced to highlight the republican position in contrast to the biden administration. as for senator barrasso's bill, it suffers from the same pro problem, which is it separates us from europe. it separates us from our allies. there's a lot of wisdom on the republican side of the aisle,

but it mystifies me why so many of my friends who know so much about russia don't understand that putin's primary objective is to break nato into pieces, is to smash the european union, is to create tensions and fissures within the transatlantic alliance. putin sees the greatest catastrophe of the last 100 years as the breakup of the soviet union. he blames the united states and the west for that breakup. and so while the invasion of ukraine is part of his process of remedying that grievance, the real crown, the real cherry on top for vladimir putin is the splintering apart of nato and the u.s. from europe. now, we almost got there during the trump administration. relations were never worse.

threats of pulling out of nato or refusing to honor our article 5 obligations. i would argue that this invasion is happening in part because the biden administration made clear that there wasn't going to be a natural disintegration of the transatlantic alliance. and so vladimir putin is using this invasion of ukraine first and foremost to get control of a territory he wants but also to try to split us from each other. and our fear is that bills like this essentially step into the trap that vladimir putin has laid for us because secondary sanctions on european entities against the wishes of european governments splits us from each other. and had joe biden gone this

route, would you never have had the europeans working with us on swift sanctions. you never would have had the europeans working with us on the seizure of russian assets. but because joe biden made the wise decision to do these sanctions in concert with europe, we got more than we could have ever imagined. and this bill would walk us backwards, undo that unity with our colleagues. it may be that there will be a moment in time where we can convince our european colleagues to move with us on sanctions against certain elements of russia's energy economy. but we must do that together. we have to do that together because you need to understand what putin's larger game is. it's the breakup of the transatlantic alliance. and so i wish my colleagues were on the floor today celebrating,

celebrating what president biden has done. nobody thought that he could keep the alliance, he could keep us together with europe, that he could get europe to agree to what they've already agreed to. i wis -- i wish we were rallying behind our president right now. i get it, there are always differences between republicans be and a democratic president. but boy, this would be a great moment for us to be on the floor supporting the breakthrough that president biden has achieved on crippling sanctions against russia and spending this day working together to try to deliver billions of dollars in additional aid to ukraine. instead, we are engaged in a partisan squabble over bills that have no chance of passing. that are literally just as valuable as the piece of paper that the press releases from republicans will be written on. i hope that we can get beyond today and we can get down to work on serious business,

serious business of coming together, republicans and democrats, providing ukraine the assistance they need in a bipartisan way, through a package of support that can be supported by both parties and signed by this president. for that reason, i object. the presiding officer: objection is heard. mr. barrasso: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. barrasso: members are entitled to their opinions, but not to their own facts. the facts are this bill i have at the desk now includes no sanctions, none whatsoever. none, zero. this bill that we have at the desk is something that our european allies have asked for. not to divide them or us. they've asked for this to help them divide away from putin. they need the energy. they need the liquefied natural gas. some of the countries have built, or are building, gasifiers to take the gas from a

low temperature and turn it into gas they can use for energy, so they don't have to buy it and be held hostage by vladimir putin. this is a bill that has previously gotten bipartisan support. in this very body. with members of both sides of the aisle supporting efforts to help our european allies, our nato friends break the dependence from russian energy. that's the facts of the matter. people are entitled to their opinions. these are the facts. russia's actions against ukraine emphasize just how important it is for nations, and specifically for america, to be energy independent. under the previous administration, america was energy dominant. we became the world's largest producer of oil and gas. it's the first time we were energy independent for nearly 70

years. but this administration has reversed course. it's made it hard, for us to use american energy and that emboldened putin niew. we moved from -- vladimir putin. we moved from energy dominance to energy dependence. we have american energy in the ground that this administration won't let us get out of the ground. we have energy resources that would help lower the cost and help lower the pain at the pump that the american public is living with, and it would help break the dependence of our european alliance and the people of ukraine from vladimir putin. look, we're much better off as a nation selling energy to our friends than having to buy it from our enemies. we need to expand our energy production to bring down prices for working families in this country whose paychecks can't keep up with the inflation. we need to sell it to our allies

so they can remove themselves from the clutches of vladimir putin. freeing europe from russian energy dependence is going to strengthen both our alliance and our nato alliances. we must provide energy assistance to those countries as quickly as possible. they're asking for it. they want it. they need it. it strengthps our national -- strengthens our national security and takes money directly out of vladimir putin's pockets. it's this administration's energy policies which have driven up the cost of energy, drif undon the production of -- driven down the production of american energy, which is what has provided a jackpot for vladimir putin to fund his war machine. energy security is a critical part of our shared defense. there's a national security problem for the united states

when our allies are more and more dependent on russian gas. the world knows vladimir putin uses energy as a weapon. energy is called the master resource for a reason. it powers our country, our economy, our military, it powers the world. and vladimir putin uses his energy as a weapon to intimidate, to influence, and to coerce other nations. energy funds vladimir putin's aggression, and it has been the cash cow for his invasion of ukraine. we have abundant natural gas supplies. high my -- my home state of wyoming, amazing energy resources. we just need to be allowed to produce it. europe's reliance on russian gas

undermines our national security. our national security is increased by reducing the leverage that russia holds over our allies. it's time, madam president, for congress to provide our nato allies and defense treaty partners a better energy option than they've had under this administration, and the senate should start by passing s. 819. thank you, madam president. i yield the floor. mr. barrasso: madam president. madam president, i come to the floor to highlight the 150th anniversary of yellowstone national park. when it was established on this date 150 years ago, yellowstone was the first national park in

the world. today, it is still one of the most popular parks on earth. 150 years ago, it was a new idea, to set aside public land for public enjoyment. with the establishment of yellowstone congress set the gold standard. based on yellowstone's success, over the past century and a half hundreds of additional national parks have been created for americans to enjoy. many other countries have followed our lead and established their own national parks. yellowstone spans over two million acres throughout wyoming as well as parts of moants and idaho -- parts of montana and idaho. now, that's more land than the entire state of rhode island and delaware combined. yellowstone's vast and varied landscapes provide some of the most spectacular views in the world, and this is just one of them.

cascading waterfalls, steaming geysers, gaping canyons often leave visitors speechless. many generations of americans have enjoyed these same views. that's what congress intended 150 years ago when it established the park, as they said, for the benefit and enjoyment of the people. millions of people come from across the world to experience the park's beauty, from hiking and biking to boating and wildlife viewing, yellowstone offers some of the best outdoor recreation opportunities all around the world. it also has iconic natural wonders. old faithful, the grand canyon at yellowstone, and yellowstone lake. it has 25 square miles of geysers, over half of the total known geysers in the world. the greater yellowstone ecosystem on which the park is a part is one of the largest and most intact natural ecosystems

in the world. yellowstone also has the greatest concentration of mammals among national parks in the lower 48 states. the bison in yellowstone are part of america's largeest and oldest free-range herd. today we carry on a tradition at yellowstone going back not just over 150 years, but over 11,000 years. for thousands of years, native americans have hunted, fished and used the thermal waters for medicinal purposes. the people of wyoming are rightly proud of the culture as well as its history. today, the park supports thousands of jobs in wyoming and montana and idaho. it contributes greatly to the local economies. cam shally, the superintendent of yellowstone, is doing an incredible job. a third-generation park service employee, cam goes above and beyond the call of duty to ensure the park delivers a

world-class experience to everyone who visits. under his leadership, the park has hosted record numbers of visitors. during the height fft covid pandemic when the only place to go was outside, yellowstone set the standard on how parks should operate. health, safety, security, and public access were always the priority. i'm very grateful for the dedicated leaders and staff at yellowstone who made it possible for people to visit and enjoy this international landmark. recently, the senate passed my bipartisan resolution to honor yellowstone on this historic day. this resolution celebrates the park's 150 years of unique cultural heritage and natural beauty. it also encourages people across america and around the world to visit yellowstone to experience its extraordinary treasures. i'm proud to celebrate yellowstone with my colleagues in the senate, along with senator lummis, my colleague from wyoming, as well celebrate

with the people of wyoming and with all americans on this historic day. congratulations to all of the people of wyoming who work to keep yellowstone one of our nation's greatest treasures. thank you, madam president. i yield the floor. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. reed: thank you, madam president. i rise in support of the swift consideration of president biden's five nominees to the board of governors at the federal reserve system. over the last year, our economy has improved tremendously thanks to president biden's american rescue plan and the bipartisan infrastructure law. and we've been guided along the way by steady leadership at the fed. we're seeing positive results. last year, g.d.p. grew by 5.7%, and we gained over 6.6 million

jobs. and each month during the second half last year, the family tax credit and the american rescue plan pulled approximately 3.5 million children out of poverty. unemployment claims are at a 50-year low. the unemployment rate is at 4%. nominal wages are rising at the fastest pace in decades. and we've begun investing $1. 2 trillion from the bipartisan infrastructure law that will help businesses and the economy in the decades ahead, and provide extraordinary number of jobs. but we are not yet out of the woods from the pandemic, and there are critical economic challenges we need to address, including inflation, the lack of affordable housing, the high cost of prescription drugs, the need for affordable child care, and others. the fed plays a pivotal role in making sure our economy grows on an even keel so that we can meet

these challenges and remain the world's leader, and i might add also, too, this is a very, very difficult time for the world economy, as we respond to the illegal attack by putin on ukraine, and the world, under the leadership of president biden of the united states, has imposed unprecedented sanctions. it's in this volatile moment that the fed also will play a critical role. unfortunately, republican partisan brinksmanship is now preventing us from having a fully staffed and functioning fed, just as republicans have stymied nominations of qualified individuals to serve at key posts at the defense department, the state department, and several other agencies. i would note that at times, we're being forced to break filibusters on nominations that eventually pass with 70, 80 or

90 yes, sir votes. perhaps my colleagues think these are somehow politically beneficial, but the fact is these diminish and degrade the ability of the federal government to serve the american people. so we come to the federal reserve. the seven-member board is technically operating with four of its seven members today. two of those are in confirmation limbo. jerome powell, who has been nominated for a second term as chair, is serving on an acting basis. lael brainard is a governor, but is also the pending nominee for vice chair. there is no vice chair for supervision. and two ordinary governor seats are vacant. the president has nominated a slate of five qualified, bipartisan candidates to fill these positions, including mr. powell. mr. powell was first appointed fed chair by donald trump, and has served admirably for the

last four years. lael brainard was confirmed to her current position on the board with strong bipartisan support. sarah bloom raskin has been nominated as vice chair for supervision. the senate confirmed ms. raskin to the federal reserve board a decade ago by voice vote and as deputy treasury secretary on a bipartisan vote. and lisa cook and phil jefferson are mainstream academic economists who have been nominated as governors. earlier in year, the banking committee held hearings on these nominees. they demonstrated their qualifications and responded to hundreds of questions. they have met with senators on the committee individually as well. but on february 15, my republican colleagues blocked the banking committee from voting on these nominations. they didn't show up and vote no on the nominees whom they

opposed. they just didn't show up. they decided skip the meeting precisely to keep the committee from moving these nominees to the full senate. they have taken this step during a pandemic, a bout of inflation, and a growing violent conflict in europe. at a time when the federal reserve's job has never been more important, my republican colleagues have chosen to stall the confirmations of qualified nominees to help lead our economy. the federal reserve's monetary policy decisions are made by the federal open market committee, also known as the fomc. the fomc has 12 voting members, including all seven governors on the board in washington. the others are presidents of the regional reserve banks. due to the republican boycott, the fomc is now operating with only nine members -- four governors and five reserve bank presidents. the fomc's primary job is to

establish interest rates and authorize open-market operations to achieve those targeted interest rates. this function makes it the most important economic policy-making body in the world. the fomc now faces enormous challenges to bring prices under control without harming the strong economic recovery. supply chain disruptions and the pandemic have pushed inflation up. russia's invasion of ukraine, which many economists expect to make supply shortages much worse and cause energy prices to rise, creates huge risks for the global economy. these economic challenges collectively demand a fully staffed fomc. indeed, one of the fomc's biggest strengths is its ability to inspire confidence in the united states and in the world. it is able to do this because it

typically works by consensus, consensus that reflects the view of its 12 expert members. but when the fomc doesn't have its full complement of members and when members are serving in an acting capacity, it doesn't speak with the same authority. at a moment when there is so much turmoil in the domestic and global economies, it is reckless to deny the fomc its full membership. my republican colleagues have spent plenty of time talking about inflation without offering solutions. now when presented with a chance to empower the fomc to combat higher prices, my republican colleagues have instead chosen to handcuff it. by weakening the fomc, senate republicans are increasing the odds of a mistake. that makes it more likely for higher prices to persist. this outcome is unacceptable when millions of americans are struggling to handle increased

costs for everyday expenses. the american people should not need to bear any further economic hardships, however slight, that could result from republicans continuing to block these nominees. madam president, blocking these nominees also robs congress and the public of an important mechanism to hold the fomc accountable for its decisions. my republican colleagues say they are committed to accountability, but their blockade is ensuring that the five reserve bank presidents who answer to the nation's commercial banks and are not confirmed by the senate are a majority on the fomc. that means these five non-senate-confirmed officials predominate when it comes to interest rate decisions. congress promised the american people an fomc led by members who exclusively serve their interests. i urge my republican colleagues to deliver on that promise.

madam president, if the federal reserve fails to deliver maximum employment and stable prices, the american people will question why. reasonable minds can differ about whether the fomc ultimately raises interest rates too much, too little, or just enough. economists are sure to debate that question in the years to come, but one obvious conclusion will be that the fomc lacked a full implement of members to support the difficult decisions that we'll make it year. that conclusion will spread doubts about the integrity of the federal reserve and it's policies. if that takes root, it will be harder to support the economy. in these rather uncertain economic times, the american people need more certainty, not less, and they need an fomc that is accountable to them. i urge my republican colleagues to allow the senate to vote on

these highly qualified nominees. thank you, madam president. with that, i would yield the hand opec to help fuel the

energy demand that we have in this country.

completely, completely unnecessary and uncalled for and every dollar, every energy dollar the west pays helps fund putin's war. so we need to get away from this dependence on foreign sources of energy, russian, opec, wherever. assert america's independence, becoming energy exporter again and allow these countries around the world that are dependent upon russia for their energy needs to turn to the united states. that can happen. all it takes is a change in policies from those this administration has deployed so far that have hurt america'samerica's energy independence and forced us to depend on other places around the world including russia .

all americans are inspired by the stubborn courage and heroic patriotism of the people of ukraine. and i expect the president to mention that in his state of the union. what he won't mention however is how hispolicies from day one have enabled , emboldened vladimir putin to do what he has done. vladimir putin's economy and the war machine is funded by russian energy. and for a full year joe biden has done everything he can possibly do to undermine american energy security and the use of american energy. that's what we've seen from this administration. this has only strengthened putin as he has tightened the grip on the world's supply of energy as joe biden continues to be a creature of the climate elitists. this is as if vladimir putin were joe biden's secretary of energy when you take a look at what sort of things joe biden has done with energy. kill the xl pipeline. put a moratorium on

exploration in public lands. go after alaskan energy and what did he do for putin? he approved the nordstream 2 pipeline and asked putin to produce more energy and sell it to america. as of last night on the white house website is still there where the white house is asking opec plus and the plus is putin to supply more energy to america . we're now using more energy from russia and we are from alaska in the united states. this has been a jackpot for putin and the american people have paid the price and we're paying a dollar more . >>

man's young daughter, she had shelled by russia. why did he do this? it's because his warped know

standinga for -- nostalgia for russia is taking hold. ukraine must be attackedded at any cost. there is another reason he's trying to end ukraine. he cannot bear to have a free and independent nation on his border because it shows to the people living in russia the stark contrast of democracy versus despotic rule. this morning, the human rights council in geneva met. when russia's foreign minister began his speech, 100 diplomats all rose and walked out in protest of russia's war on ukraine. all of nato and nearly the entire world is united in outrage at russia's aggression. mr. putin should think about the infamy of his legacy. for years he has poisoned and

suppressed his own people and now he is trying to destroy an entire nation, killing this little girl, and who knows how many other innocent people. mr. putin will not win this war, and every day, every hour that russia continues its assault on ukraine, he is harming his own people and ensuring that he leaves a legacy of shame. what is also remarkable about the meeting yesterday with ambassador markarova was the courage she and her fellow ukrainians were showing against putin. she explained that ukrainians are peaceful people, but they'll fight. they'll participate in negotiations, but they won't surrender and they'll fight until the russians leave. quite simply, the ukrainians might be outmatched by the russian military, but they will not be defeated by it.

here's one of the many acts of courage and defiance in recent days. in odessa's historic synagogue, performers sang the ancient jewish hymn. and now a prayer for the end of the invasion. and the world is on ukraine's side. rallies of support in all corners of the globe, japan, sweden, finland, chicago, even in cities across russia, countries like ours are providing urgently needed weapons to help ukraine defend itself against russian aggression. poland and other ukranian neighbors are helping with hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing in panic and disbelief. think of it. while we have political factions in the united states who are determined not to let any refugees into our country,

poland and other countries, moldova, romania, for example, are opening their doors and accepting the ukranian refugees to give them some safety and security. we must continue and increase all of the help that we can send, military and humanitarian. let us be crystal clear, putin will not win this. in the end the ukranian people will prevail. and putin's legacy and history will be written in the blood of the children and innocence his envision of ukraine has spilled. i ask the following remarks be placed in a separate part of the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: mr. president, yesterday i spoke briefly about president biden's announcement on friday of his nomination to the supreme court of judge ketanji brown jackson. today i'd like to offer some additional thoughts on this

nominee. for those who are less than familiar with judge jackson, let me tell you a bit about her. born in washington, d.c. her mom and dad were public school teachers. when she was 3 years old, judge jackson and her family moved to miami, florida so her father could attend law school. judge jackson's father later served as the top attorney for the dade county school board and her mother spent 14 years as a high school principal in miami. and judge jackson's family, education and service were honored. two of judge jackson's uncles were police officers. one became police chief in miami. her younger brother also became a police officer and a detective in baltimore, maryland, before going on to serve in the united states army where he was deployed to iraq. from a young age judge jackson has been recognized as brilliant and thoughtful. in high school she was the class president and the star of the

debate team. it was during national high school debate championship at harvard that she fell in love with the university. she would go on to graduate from harvard college and harvard law school. she then embarked on an amazing and storied career. she practiced law, civil and criminal, at several leading law firms and clerked at all three levels of the federal judiciary, including and with some irony for justice stephen breyer, the justice she hopes to replace. she's also worked as a federal public defender, served on the united states sentencing commission, spent eight years as a judge on the u.s. district court for the district of columbia. she currently serves on the u.s. court of appeals for the d.c. circuit which is often considered to be the second most prestigious court in our nation. she was confirmed to that position just last year through our senate judiciary committee on a bipartisan basis. as i noted yesterday, senate judiciary committee has examined

her record three times for three different positions, and confirmed her on a bipartisan basis for all three positions. she's performed each of these public service roles with distinction. in the coming weeks the senate judiciary committee will undertake another comprehensive review of her record, her qualifications, and her approach to judicial decision making. as chair of the committee on -- i'm determined to see that this review is careful, fair, and professional. i've -- i have great respect for her record and i'll have to say i'll be saying more in the coming days and weeks. for today i want to focus on three important points. the president's selection process, the historic significance of this nomination, and how judge jackson will build upon the honorable legacy of justice breyer. president joe biden is a leader who respects this senate. when justice breyer announced a month ago that he intended to retire, president biden pledged, and i quote, to fulfill my duty

to select a justice not only with the senate's consent but with its advice. the president kept that promise, and for that he should be commended. the process for nominating justice breyer's successor has been rigorous and bipartisan. it's included the senate every step of the way. just days after justice breyer's announcement, the president hosted senator grassley, the ranking republican on this committee, and myself in the oval office to discuss the nomination. repeatedly he said to senator grassley and to me, if you have someone you think i should consider, please let me know. and he was sincere. over the next several weeks president biden sought the advice of many senators, not just the two of us, including all the members, democratic members of the senate judiciary committee. then he made his decision to nominate judge jackson. every supreme court nomination is critically important. this one has special historic significance.

in the united states history, our supreme court has had 115 justices, 1078 of -- 108 of those justices have had one thing in common. they were all white men. five of those who served on the court as justice were women. only three have been people of color out of 115. with judge jackson's nomination, we've already seen history in the making. if confirmed, she'll be the first black woman ever to serve on the united states supreme court. with this nomination, judge jackson and we have the opportunity to bend the arc of history toward justice. in accepting president biden's nomination last week, she said one of her heroes, another brilliant trailblazing black woman was named constance baker mottley. judge mottley was a champion of women's and civil rights. a key attorney on the thurgood

marshal side when the education fund argued brown v. the board of education and other cases which finally ended legal segregation in america. judge mottley was the first black woman to ever argue before the supreme court. she went on to be the first black woman appointed to the federal judiciary serving as a u.s. district judge for the southern district of new york. judge mottley didn't know it but on her 48th birthday, a little baby girl was born in. she would grow up to be one of the finest legal minds of her generation, and she would be the first black woman to be nominated to serve on the supreme court. upon accepting that nomination last week, judge jackson said, and i quote, today i proudly stand on judge mottley's shoulders sharing not only her birthday but also her steadfast and courageous commitment to equal justice under the law. then she added, if i'm fortunate enough to be confirmed as the next associate justice of the supreme court, i can only hope that my life and career, my love

of this country, and the constitution and my commitment to upholding the rule of law and the sacred principles upon which this great nation was founded will inspire future generations. i want to conclude my remarks by acknowledging the extraordinary legacy of justice stephen breyer. it is a legacy upon which i believe justice jackson will build if she's confirmed. in his time on the court justice breyer has been defined by his intellect, his approach to decision making, his collegiality and consensus building, and his devotion to the core principles on which america is founded, freedom, liberty, and equality. by all of these measures and more, judge jackson is a natural successor to the justice she once clerked for. she's proven her intellectual meddle from the debate team in high school and miami to harvard law where she served as supervising editor on the

harvard law review, to clerkships on the first circuit and the supreme court, and to an extraordinary record of excellence on the federal bench. it goes without saying that if you're going to be the first of anything in america, you've got to be the best. you've got to bring remarkable cheasms to our -- achievements to your aspiration to make history. judge jackson does that. she's a jurist who understands the importance of pragmatism and real world experience. she will draw on her broad range of experience on the united states sentencing commission, as a federal public defender, as a litigator in civil lawsuits and private practice. judge jackson has also demonstrated the premium she places on collegiality and consensus building, especially with those who may not share her views. that may be unusual, but it's sure important in these days. judge griffith, a jurist appointed to the d.c. circuit by president george bush, george w. bush wrote in support of judge

jackson's nomination and has written again in support of her nomination to the supreme court. judge griffith wrote judge jackson and i occasionally differed on the outcome of a given case but i've always respected her careful approach, extraordinary judicial understanding, and collegial manner, three indistensable trait -- indispensable traits on the supreme court. he added judge jackson has a demonstrated record of excellence and i believe based on her work as a trial judge when i served on the court of appeals, she'll adjudicate based on the facts and the law and not as a partisan. finally, like justice breyer, judge jackson has shown her dedication to the nation's founding principles on and off the bench. she has a deep faith in the power and promise of our constitution, and an unwavering belief we must protect and preserve, those ideals that set our nation apart from so many others. last friday when president biden nominated judge jackson on the senate judiciary committee, we

sent the traditional questionnaire that's sent to nominees and candidates. it was returned to us last night promptly. it is lengthy and comprehensive. we've seen much of it before, earlier last year when judge jackson was aspiring to be on the d.c. circuit. and it is a great starting point for any senator or any member of the staff who wants to understand judge jackson. she has published over 500, in fact 573 written opinions. her background and thoughts on important issues will be no mystery or surprise for those who want to take the time to look at those cases. it's been less than a year since she was approved here on the floor of the united states senate, but we are starting this process anew with her visitations with senator mcconnell, senator schumer tomorrow, as well as myself and senator grassley. senators who wish to meet with her personally and talk about her positions on any issues or

other relevant topics are welcome to do so. senator grassley this morning, the judiciary committee encouraged his colleagues on the republican side of the aisle to take advantage of the opportunity if they wish. we want to make sure that this is an orderly, respectful, collegial, and professional process. my dearest hope is that at the end of the day, she will receive bipartisan support for this nomination. it would be a great day for the senate as well as for the supreme court if that happened. but she needs to earn it. and to do it she'll be making the rounds in the senate with individual members making her case and then appearing before our committee at a later date which we'll announce this week. i want to thank my colleagues for taking this as seriously as they should. it is rare in our senate career that we are allowed to bring up the issue of advise and consent to the highest court of the land, a lifetime appointment, a critically important appointment for the history of the united states, and the history of that great court. i want to make sure that on the

senate judiciary committee we are respectful and bipartisan in every aspect of that effort. i yield the floor. mr. sullivan: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from alaska. mr. sullivan: mr. president, i want to come down to the floor for talk about the issue that's certainly the focus of america and the world right now, and that's ukraine. and that's the president's state of the union address which will be a very important one tonight. and i know that americans all across our great nation are glued to their televisions, soarnl -- social media streams and what we're seeing in europe is quite remarkable, quite unsettling, another major war on the european continent. we are seeing children in bomb shelters singing the ukranian national anthem. we are seeing brave young men and women on the front lines taking up arms to defend their country. we are seeing grandmother's take

to the streets grandmothers take to the streets foisting on russian conscripts the seeds of their country's flower, one of the most effective acts of resistance i have ever witnessed. mr. president, you and many of us were over in europe just about a week ago at the munich security conference where we had the opportunity to meet with many of these brave ukranians, ministers, the mayor of kiev, parliamentarians, young parliamentarians, and our message, my message certainly was a hard one at the time the war had not started but we are seeing increasing intelligence that it would any day. and the message was if war comes, it will be important for the ukranian people, the leaders to fight.

and we are seeing that all across the country. the people in ukraine are fighting and willing to die for freedom, for their country. and i want to say, i think i speak for the whole senate, watching these acts of courage and heroism has been truly inspiring, and we all applaud the courage and heroism that we're seeing in ukraine, and we stand with the people of ukraine. given the circumstances in ukraine and across the globe and in our country, we're working -- where working families are struggling under increasing energy costs, inflation, i want to talk a little bit about the president's state of the union tonight and what i certainly hope he is going to tell the american people. mr. president, i and several of

my colleagues here, republican colleagues in the senate, will be sending a letter to the president very soon urging him to announce specific actions that relate to an entirely new world with this invasion of ukraine by russia. and start to announce a course correction on issues under which the biden administration has been going the wrong way, on two key, key areas. so mr. president, i'd first like to submit this letter for the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. sullivan: let me begin by one of the areas of course correction that we are urging the president to undertake, and that is in the area of national defense. there are many lessons that we're going to learn from this ukrainian invasion, but one of

them is certainly that we have entered a new era of authoritarian aggression, led by the dictators in russia, that's putin, and the dictator in china, that's xi jinping. and when they sense weakness, particularly military weakness, they're acting. as i mentioned, this new era of authoritarian aggression is something we need to be ready for. it is led by the dictators of russia and chinese, who are increasingly isolated and dangerous. they're driven by historical grievances, they're paranoid about their democratic neighbors, and they are more than willing to use military force and other aggressive actions to crush the citizens of such countries on their periphery. in these dangerous dictators, putin and xi jinping, are increasingly working together to

achieve their aggressive goals. mr. president, we must wake up to the fact, and that is what we're calling the president to do, hopefully he does in his speech tonight, that this new era of authoritarian aggression is likely to be with us for decades. so, what are the areas in which we should focus on, in which we are respectfully requesting the president to focus on and announce tonight? well, first, as mentioned, mr. president, our nation's national defense. now, unfortunately, this has not been a priority of democratic presidents. that is a fact. this has not been a priority often of my democratic colleagues -- some, not all, but some. let me just give you some of the numbers. second term of the obama administration, the pentagon's budget was slashed by 25%.

25%. our military readiness plummeted when i got elected to the senate, in many ways i ran because of these issues in 2014, when i was elected in 2015 i was on the readiness subcommittee on the armed services committee. the numbers at the time were classified because they were so horrendous in terms of our military's readiness. three out of 58 bringing aide combat teams in the us army were at the tier one level of readiness needed for deployment. three out of 58. the air force was the smallest and oldest in terms of aircraft, age -- aircraft age ever, and less than half of the us navy and marine corps' aviation fleet could fly. that was the u.s. military during the end of the second term of the obama administration. when you gut defense spending,

you gut readiness, you gut lethality. during the trump administration, when the republicans had control of the senate, we worked to reverse this dangerous hollowing out of our military by dramatically increasing funding in many of the areas in which i talked about involving readiness and lethality returned back to the levels that the american people expect of their military. mr. president, unfortunately when the president, president biden, was elected he reverted back to what democratic presidents always do. he submitted a budgets that cut defense spending, real terms, inflation adjusted, about 3% to 4% cuts. what was remarkable, mr. president, if you looked at the biden budget, everywhere else it was double-digit

increases. you name the agency, it got a double-digit increase, with the exception of two -- department defense and homeland security. and budgets are an indication of priorities, and this president was not prioritizeing his own armed services. so, mr. president, what we are doing with regard to the letter today is asking the president of the united states, you can't do that anymore, mr. president. we're in a new era. we had a hearing in the armed services committee today. i asked both the witnesses what they thought xi jinping and putin thought when the president of the united states put forward a budget to cut his own armed services committee -- i'm sorry, his own armed services, his own military. the witnesses answered today in

this hearing, undoubtedly it helped embolden putin and xi jinping. so the first thing we're asking the president to make clear in his speech tonight is that he needs to put forward a robust, real increase in defense spending to make sure we have current and future readiness and lethality of our military forces. obviously, if you turn on the tv and see what's going on around the world, this needs to happen. the president also needs to continue, as every president has done before him, to call out our nato allies, who we are acting closely with right now, to meet their obligations that they have committed to for years, which is

to spend at least 2% of their g.d.p. on defense spending. the good news, mr. president, is germany just announced it was going to do this. that it was going to double its budget. that's remarkable. that's great news. but we can't have germany leading on the calls for increasing defense spending and lethality. the president of the united states needs to do it, and he needs to do it tonight. second issue that we've raised in our letter, mr. president, on the critical need for a strategic course correction with this administration, is with regard to energy. and mr. president, everybody knows it. everybody feels it. everybody understands it. and yet, for some reason, i think driven by the far left of the democratic party, this administration won't get real on energy. let me talk about that for a

minute, because it's a topic i care deeply about. and by the way, have been pressing the biden administration since day one on that this is bad for our economy, bad for working families, and bad for national security. what am i talking about, mr. president? well, first it's important to understand what president biden inherited. over the fours years of the trump administration with republicans in control of the senate, we were able to achieve a bipartisan goal of american foreign policy and energy security that we collectively as a nation had been seeking for decades. american energy independence. if before the pandemic hit, the united states was the largest producer of oil in the world. bigger than saudi arabia, the largest producer of natural gas in the world, bigger than russia. and a leader in producing renewables. all of the above --

all-of-the-above energy. at the same time, and i really want my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to listen to this, we led the world in terms of major economies on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. since 2005, we've reduced these by almost 15%. no other industrialized nation in the world has a record like that, including our high standards on producing energy. in china, the emissions are going through the roof. in the united states, they're coming down. dramatically. because of the american energy revolution. millions of jobs were created because of this revolution in energy, in u.s. manufacturing, in energy sectors, in our energy independence significantly enhanced our nation's national security. mr. president, i often recount this story in a et ming -- in a

meeting about four years ago i had with senator john mccain, a close friend of mine and mentor in the senate, and a very senior-level russian dissident. the end of the meeting, i asked this brave russian dissident, what more can the united states do to undermine the putin regime and to undercut vladimir putin's malign influence in europe and around the world? without hesitation, this russian dissident said, it's easy, senator -- america needs to produce more american energy. and mr. president, that's exactly what we did. and our country and our allies benefited enormously. so what has been the policy of this administration? from day one, and i mean day

one, one hour into his administration, president biden has intentionally done the opposite. we're not going to produce more american energy, as that russian dissident told me and senator mccain to do to undermine putin. to the contrary. the biden administration made the conscious decision we are going to undercut the production of american energy. since taking office, this administration has shut down energy production, has made it hard to produce on federal lands, has killed energy infrastructure, like pipelines, has strong-armed american financial institutions in not investing in energy here, and in particular in places like my state, the great state of alaska. all of this, mr. president, restricting, delaying, killing the production of american energy, driven by a far left

agenda that makes no sense, has had the very predictable result of what? catastrophically driving up energy prices for american working families. we're seeing that every day. my colleagues know that. increasing pink slips for american energy workers. keystone x.l. laid off 10,000 workers. good liua -- liuna laborers. good day on the job. that's the president's call. here's what matters now, mr. president, this war on marine energy has significantly -- on american energy has significantly empowered our adversaries, particularly vladimir putin, who has used energy as a weapon for decades. again, i see this every day. think about this statistic. if you're an alaskan citizen. this administration comes up to alaska and tries to delay and

shut down the production of american energy. guess what -- the same time, year one in the biden administration, we are now importing 700,000 barrels a day of oil from russia. almost a 40% increase in year one from the biden administration. does any american or any u.s. senator think that makes sense? killing american energy production in our great nation and importing hundreds of thousands of barrels more for vladimir putin. because if you do, -- well, actually, i don't think anyone makes -- thinks that makes sense, but that's happening right now, mr. president. in effect, the united states, in many ways, along with countries in europe, is funding the very war that putin has launched.

the united states still is the worldst largest producer of natural gas, but, again, due to the irrationality and hostility towards pipelines, we can't get enough natural gas to the northeast. so you see places like boston importing l.n.g. -- from where? -- russia. this is insane. this is insane. this is a colossal strategic mistake. it's clearly harming american working families. i'm sure every senator hears about it when they go home. but, mr. president, it is also national security suicide. it is being done supposedly to lower carbon emissions, but i want to be clear about that, too. because it isn't. in fact, oil producing in the

united states -- oil produced in the united states is lower in emissions than most other countries. l.n.g. shipped to the united states has a lower carbon emission footprint than gas piped in from russia. and we also have some of the most rigorous environmental standards anywhere on the planet in terms of production. so, again, the biden administration's energy policies are strengthening putin, increasing costs, and hurting americans and are actually doing zero to address global emissions. the only conclusion i can come up with, mr. president, is the far left has undertaken some kind of holy war against the production of american energy, and it makes no sense. so here's what we're asking the president -- he gave a speech to the american people the other night where he said he is using all available

tools to address these energy challenges. mr. president, with all due respect to the president of the united states, that is not true. the president knows it, his team knows it, every senator here knows it, and the american people know it. so in our letter today that we're sending to the president, we are saying, president biden, if you want to keep your word to the american people on what you just told them -- all available tools -- here's what you can actually announce tonight at the state of the union that will have very significant real impacts on lowering energy costs in america and increasing our national security relative to putin. some of the actions we've requested the president to take in the letter we're sending him before the state of the union --

simple, rescind your decision to cancel the keystone x.l. pipeline and fast-track other energy infrastructure projects around the country. work to rescind the recent decision by the biden administration's federal energy regulatory commission, ferc, that makes it much more difficult to actual a approve natural gas pipelines. my understanding is my good friend from west virginia, senator manchin, is holding a hearing on this very issue on thursday. because he knows that this is national security suicide. commit to fast-tracking and producing american energy on american lands particularly where the congress has told you to do so, like anwr in alaska, like the national petroleum reserve in alaska. congress has said, produce

there. that's the law. like the gulf of mexico. we have decades in our great nation of abundant proven reserves of oil and gas, so why are we importing so much from putin right now? which brings me to another request -- and this is a request that many senators, and i believe democrat senators also -- we should be banning the importation of russian oil into the united states. canada just announced it was doing it yesterday. why would we be importing 700,000 barrels a day of russian oil when we have millions and millions of barrels in alaska? can somebody answer that question? i hope the president of the united states looks at our letter and recognizes these are

commonsense approaches that are going to be needed to address this new era of authoritarian aggression, not just with regard to putin but xi jinping as well. when you look at what the chinese communist party fears more than anything, it's american energy dominance. and yet this administration has come in and year one unilaterally disarmed on one of our most important strategic advantages in the world. mr. president, one other thing we mention in the letter, which makes so much sense, is to issue all pending export licenses and announce an initiative to help surge american liquefied natural gas to our allies in europe and partners in europe who right now are being blackmailed and trapped by vladimir putin's use of energy.

again, you would think that would be a no-brainer, and we hope the president looks at the american people tonight and goes through this list of good energy ideas that we have given him and says he's going to do it. says he's going to do it. mr. president, the world is reeling right now. our country certainly is hurting in terms of inflation and other -- many other challenges, many of which are self-inflicted, like the energy challenges. we can take steps to strengthen our country, and a strong united states, of course, strengthens the world. we've seen this time and time again throughout history. our country is the beacon of freedom and hope, and the light of that buy concan only shine -- and the light of that beacon can

only shine brightly and cast light when we are strong. and it shines most brightly when we have strong communities, strong families, bolstered by good-paying jobs that provide dignity. our light of freedom shines most brightly when our country is on a common mission, and i think the president can call us towards a common mission tonight by listening to some of the things that we as republicans have implored him to talk about and focus on in his speech. and as i mentioned, mr. president, as a country, it's important that we wake up to the fact this new era of authoritarian aggression will likely be with us for decades. we need to face it with confidence and strategic resolve. our country has extraordinary advantages relative to the dictatorships of russia and

china if we are wise up to utilize and strengthen them. our global network of allies, our lethal military, our world-class natural resources and energy resources, our dynamic economy, and, most important, mr. president, our democratic values and commitment to liberty. xi jinping and putin's biggest weakness and vulnerability is that they fear their own people. we should remember and exploit this vulnerability in the months and years ahead. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. cardin: thank you, mr. president. yesterday many of us in the senate had the opportunity to meet with the ukrainian ambassador to the united states. it was an opportunity for many

of us to express our admiration for the commitment of the ukrainian people to the sovereignty of their country. they're motivated by the love of their country and a passion for freedom. their president, president zelensky, has shown courageous leadership. he's been inspirational as we've watched how he's put his own life at risk in order to serve his country. he's put country before personal safety. ukraine versus russia, good versus evil. this unprovoked attack on a peaceful sovereign country orchestrated by mr. putin. we were not surprised. it was widely publicized the use of his playbook. we knew what he was doing hour by hour in planning the invasion on ukraine.

it doesn't diminish the tragedy of mr. putin's actions. this is mr. putin's war, and he must be held fully accountable for what he has caused. i want to thank president biden for his extraordinary global leadership on this issue. we've seen unity among our alliance, and we've seen global unity in condemning mr. putin's actions, which is so important in order to put the right focus on who is responsible and who can end this tragic war. we've imposed the strongest set of multilateral sanctions ever on russia's leaders and institutions. we've cut off many of its banks from the swift system of banking. we have put personal sanctions

on mr. putin and his enablers. we've frozen assets around the world. we've isolated russia from international organizations and events. we have restricted airspace to russian aircraft. all that's been done not just by the united states but in conjunction with our allies around the world. and it's having a major impact on russia. we've seen unity in nato. i think mr. putin thought that his campaign in ukraine would weaken the nato alliance. it's done just the opposite. it has strengthened the nato alliance. we have sent nato troops to the countries that border russia that are members of nato to make it clear that we understand our

collective obligation under article 5 of the nato treaty -- an attack on one is an attack on all and we'll come to each other's mutual defense. and we've seen many countries that have been reluctant to get involved in war-type activities change their position because they realize how clear it is what russia is doing violates every international commitment and jeopardizes not just the integrity of ukraine, the integrity of europe, the integrity of sovereign states around the world. so let me just point out one of our nato partners -- germany. germany canceled, put on hold nord stream 2. we know that mr. putin has used energy as a weapon. he's weaponized the source of energy he has in his country. he's done that several times.

nord stream 2 would give him additional wealth in energy. stopped by germany. germ has gone further than that. for the first time now they are going to be supplying lethal weapons to ukraine, recognizing that all of us have a responsibility to help ukraine in its hour of need. and, yes, germany has now made a commitment that we've asked all nato nations to do -- devote 2% of their economy to our mutual defense. and germany is now stepping up. -- stepping up to meet that 2% commitment. that's what we're seeing from nato partners. turkey is going to block the use of warships from being able to use its waters in order to get engaged in the conflict. that is, russian warships.

we've seen non-nato countries step up to the plate. we're very pleased with the global response, finland's response, switzerland's response. mr. president, this is unprecedented that we have this type of global unity saying to mr. putin, stop this invasion, an unprovoked attack on a peaceful nation. stop it. now, the consequences of our action have had major impact on the russian economy. their interest rates have gone up dramatically. the value of their currency, the ruble, has fallen dramatically. their economy is suffering dramatically. and when the russian people want to know who to blame as a result of their economy going into the tank, one person -- the person who caused this war, mr. putin. the ukrainians are defending

their country and have disrupted putin's military expectations. these are really people motivated by the right reason to defend their country, and they've been able to do amazing things in stopping the russian advancements. that's because of their will, determination, and bravery of the ukrainian people. but, mr. president, they need our help. they need the help of our allies in supplying the necessary military equipment in order to defend themselves. we know how many russian tanks are out there. we know how many russian aircraft are out there. they need antitank, antiaircraft weapons. they need ammunitions. they need a lot in order to defend themselves, and we and our allies need to step up to make sure they have what they need. they also, by the way, need

humanitarian aid. we know that there's already over several hundred thousand refugees that have escaped the violence in ukraine into neighboring countries. it's estimated that number could grow into the millions. we need to work with the international community in regards to the humanitarian needs of the refugees. but we also have to realize that ukraine's supply chain has been totally disrupted. we need to provide humanitarian aid within ukraine and get it to the border and work with the ukrainian officials so it can get inside the country. that's our responsibility in order to help in this hour of need. but we need to do even more than that. there's additional steps that we can take. we need to continue to ratchet up the sanctions that are being imposed against mr. putin and

russia. as i said earlier, these sanctions are severe today, and tbheed to consider doing -- we need to consider doing more. the administration is already setting up a process where we can trace laundered assets so that when we say we're going to freeze your assets of those that are being sanctioned that we'll find those assets wherever you tried to hide them. and we'll work with our allies around the world in order to make it clear there is no safe haven for you to hide your wealth. we need to continue to build on individual sanctions. we know that. individual sanctions mean a great deal. there's others that need to be sanctioned. yes, i think we need to consider the oil and gas industry as to how we can make it clear that we're not going to let mr. putin benefit from his assets. trading policies need to be

bereevaluated. a a country that invades another country without any provocation whatsoever should not be entitled to normal trade relations with the united states, and we should be looking at how we can enforce those types of changes. and, yes, there needs to be personal accountability. it has now become quite obvious that mr. putin has had no regard whatsoever for civilian casualties. in fact there have been reports that he may have targeted civilians in his effort to gain control of ukraine. we need to make it clear that we will pursue, if the facts are there, potential war crimes. no one should escape accountability. we should hold those who are responsible for these tragedies accountable for it. now, mr. president, make it clear, as mr. zelensky has said, the president of ukraine, we will always look

for a diplomatic way to end this war. we want this war never to have started, and we want it to end as soon as possible. and we'll look for any way we can for a diplomatic end to this war, preserving the sovereignty of ukraine. as we recognize that mr. putin's war has brought to our attention other issues that we need to really pay attention to, one is the energy policy of europe and the united states. i've heard my colleagues talk about this, but the right answer is energy independence, investment in renewable energies and sources so that we cannot only protect our national security, but we can also protect our environment. we need to make those investments moving forward so none of our allies ever have to rely upon an autocratic government's supply of oil or gas. i want to underscore the

importance that was brought to our attention yesterday. there was a parliamentarian from ukraine that was there and said thank you so much for the magnitsky sanctions that you have imposed on individuals, because that really hurts. well, we're proud because it was this body that initiated the magnitsky sanctions. but let me remind our colleagues that our law expires at the end of this year. now is the time to expand and extend the global magnitsky law. we need to protect our supply chains. we saw that during the coronavirus, but we also recognize with supplies in autocratic countries, we need to shore up our own supplies and make it in america. we have legislation that's passed the house and senate. let's get that bill to the finish line. that would be so important for our national security. our immediate priority, let us

all stand with the people of ukraine in their struggle for freedom. they have not only our admiration, they have our support. we want to do what we can, and we stand with the people of ukraine. i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from alabama. mr. tuberville: thank you, mr. president. last week president putin of russia ordered 100,000 to 200,000 russians across ukraine's border. air raid sirens rang out, bombs rained down, russia declared war on ukraine, the first war in europe since 1945. putin's terror is hard to watch.

we've all seen it on television in real time, but it's important we not look away. amid it all, we are seeing examples of heroism, hearing stories of strength. early in the fight russian warships called for ukrainians to lay down their weapons on the small snake island. ukrainian fighters answered with a bold response that has reverberated like sort of a drumbeat of defiance across the country. since then we've seen ukrainians embody determination in the face of desperation all in the name of freedom and love for their country. a ukrainian marine sacrificed himself to blow up a bridge near kiev so that russian tanks could not cross. and all the while president zelensky of ukraine has stayed.

he has not abandoned his country even though he knows putin's goal is to topple the ukrainian government. all this knowing president putin of russia has sent over assassins to eliminate him. he planted his feet, squared his shoulders for the fight, rallying his fellow country men to do the same. and ukrainian citizens are following suit, showing true bravery in the face of madness. as the ukrainian government began to hand out weapons, thousands and thousands lined up to receive them, men and women. volunteers, ordinary citizens are adding to the resistance. men and women, young and old, coming from all backgrounds and walks of life, all to defend freedom and democracy in their country.

it's clear mr. putin underestimated the ukrainians' will to fight. while ukrainians are handling russia's tough fight, we know that there will be hard days ahead. mr. putin's rationale for invading was, quote, demilitarization and denazi denazification of ukraine. that is paranoia. that is delusion. that doesn't sound like a strong leader. it sounds like a weak leader. putin was betting that nato would fold and countries would turn against one another. but if anything, mr. putin's bullying has strengthened nato. last week germany halted the nord stream 2 pipeline, and now

in a somewhat surprising about-face, germany is agreeing to send weapons to ukraine. this is not -- this not only frees up other countries to follow suit, but also reverses their historic policy of never sending weapons to a conflict zone. over the weekend the u.s. joined with the european commission and canada, france, united kingdom, italy, and germany to ban select russian banks from swift, by limiting access to this international payment system we move closer to a goal of further isolating russia. additionally the group leveled sanctions on the russian central bank, paralyzing assets and freezing transactions. at least 26 nato countries have either independently issued sanctions or joined the e.u.

sanctions. since the invasion, the united states has not only imposed economic and financial sanctions, but we also authorized $350 million in new military aid to ukraine, including antitank, air defense capabilities, and the state department has sent millions of humanitarian aid. and we're now seeing an inflection point for other countries. a time for choosing countries like sweden, finland, kosovo, are all voicing a desire to join nato. they're choosing to align with the west. so in a moment of apparent frustration over the past few days, putin ordered his russian nuclear deterrent forces to be put on high alert in response to what he calls aggressive statements from nato leaders and

the west financial sanctions. but i ask this question -- why? why were all these sanctions not presented six months ago to possibly deter this aggression and save tens of thousands of lives? we were late. as it currently stands, this is not a fight for the american troops, but if a nato country is threatened we will and do need to act. facts can change. therefore, policies have to change, which is why we need to continue to impose harsh financial sanctions and project strength during this very ugly situation. another step we must take is to regain energy independence. we import nearly 600,000 barrels of oil a day from russia. the keystone pipeline would have provided us 800,000 barrels per

day. ahead of the invasion, president biden admitted, quote, defending freedom will have costs for us at home here as well. but the irany is americans -- the irony is americans aren't just now feeling economic strain as we begin to, quote, defend freedom through sanctions on russia. gas prices began to soar long before mr. putin waged war in ukraine. starting with the president's first day in office when he blocked the keystone pipeline and yut -- undercut our nation's energy independence. russia ramped up aggression against ukraine at the same time the president was canceling 80 million acres of oil and gas leases. green policies here at home have pushed us to seek energy abroad abroad, and our country is paying a huge and hefty price. president biden has again

admitted that we might need to dip into our oil reserves. but why not dig into the oil reserves? dig our own oil. this is no time to be a purist and think others can bail us out. the united states of america is an energy-rich nation, but we must have smart policies in place to use it. this is an economic and a national security issue. you cannot have a strong economy without low energy costs. and rigged ourselves of a reliance on russian energy is a matter of national security. what happens in ukraine matters matters, but so too do our actions here at home. so as our country prepares to hear from president biden tonight on the state of our

union, i urge the president to project a strong path forward to double down on investments in our military, and to put forth policies to ensure we regain our energy independence. if the state of our union here at home is strong, it will only serve to strengthen our standing abroad. mr. president, i yield the floor. mr. cornyn: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: mr. president, russia is waging war, the likes we have not seen since world war

ii. they're waging war on freedom and democracy. over recent days the world has watched in horror as russian troops have invaded and brutally attacked ukraine and ukranians. so far the estimates are that 350 ukranians have been killed. we really don't know what the number is, but we do know that countless civilians have been injured, and more than half a million ukranians, including women and children, are now refugees. this invasion was not weeks or even months in the making. this has been moscow's plan for years. putin has made no secret of his desire to redraw the maps of europe and to restore the russian empire. that's why in 2008 russia

invaded georgia, the nation of georgia. in 2014 it invaded ukraine. for the first time since the end of the cold war taking the crimea region. so the current invasion of ukraine is really the second invasion we've seen from vladimir putin's russian federation since 2014. putin's appetite has not been satisfied. if anything, these invasions have made him hungrier for power. the people of ukraine have lived under the shadow of russian aggression for years, and it has always been a question of when, not if russia would finally act. for months russia has amassed hundreds of thousands of troops on ukraine's border with numbers growing from a few thousand to more than 150,000. defenders of freedom and

democracy everywhere look to the united states for leadership, but sadly they were let down. that's because when it comes to projecting strength to authority yans like -- authoritarians like vladimir putin and president xi, to the ayatollahs in iran and kim jong-un in north korea, the biden administration repeatedly projects not strength but weakness. first of all when it comes to europe and ukraine and russia, president biden should not have waived sanctions on nord stream 2 pipeline last year. he should have never suggested that certain russian attacks would be disregarded by the united states, a minor incursion he said might be overlooked.

and he should have taken swift action and imposed paralyzing sanctions on russia before, before an invasion to give them a taste of what might come in an effort to deter putin from invading in the first place. and we should have earlier sent greater defensive weapons to the ukranians. strong action was called for before the war started, but unfortunately we've been playing catchup since it did start. but now we have a critical task ahead of us. between this crisis and the disastrous with descrawl from after been stan -- withdrawal from afghanistan stranding thousands of americans without consultation or communication with any of our nato allies that

were discouraged and shocked to find out that we would leave them hanging, president biden has repeatedly given our nato allies reason to doubt our commitment and our credibility. and i'm sure vladimir putin has taken notice. i'm sure president xi and the people's republic of china has as well. in fact, chicago jinping has already expressed approval of the russian invasion of ukraine. putin has put russia's nuclear forces on high alert thr threatg to escalate to the unthinkable, something that hasn't happened since 1945, the discharge of a nuclear device. he's also ordered his soldiers to fire on residential

neighborhoods, a clearcut example of a war crime. there is need of decisive action to counter russian aggression. with the eyes of the world looking to the united states for leadership, it's time for us to step up in defense of this democracy. president biden needs to follow through on his promise to make putin a pariah on the world stage. the biden administration has put harsh sanctions on russia, but its most valuable asset remains virtually untouched, and that's russia's oil and gas sector. even as russia wages a brutal war against the people of ukraine, it's exporting energy to the rest of the world using the profits $100 oil and higher to fund the war against innocent

ukranian citizens. sanctions against banks and oligarchs are crucial, but we should not ignore russia's single largest economic asset. the united states must identify ways to offset the global demand for russian energy, both here at home and with our oil-producing allies abroad, so we can cut off putin's biggest stream of revenue. that would be the biggest and best sanction of all. our friend john mccain used to joke that russia was a gas station masquerading as a country. to make the point that their oil and gas sector is the single most important part of their economy. and yet so far the united states government has left it relatively untouched and unscathed.

in addition to economic penalties, we must provide additional material support for ukranian forces to sustain their heroic and inspirational fight against russian aggression. a few weeks ago i began working with a bipartisan group of colleagues on a far-reaching bill to counter this aggression. this package included legislation that i introduced called the ukraine democracy defense lend-lease act, reminiscent of what the united states did when britain was hanging by a thread under nazi aggression in world war ii. just as we did in world war tr for our allies in britain -- war ii for our allies in britain, this bill would ensure that ukranian forces and the ukranian citizen riyadh the defensive weapons, the air power, the ships, whatever they needed in order to defend their

sovereignty. it also included security assistance as well as sanctions on russia, and even though we agreed on a bipartisan basis on the vast majority of what was being discussed, the administration's opposition prevented us from reaching a final agreement. i'm disappointed that we were unable to act and send a strong and united and bipartisan message as congress to vladimir putin, but the fact we were unsuccessful then doesn't eliminate the need for us to take further action now. thanks to the leadership of the ranking member of the senate foreign relations committee, senator risch, from idaho, i was proud to join my republican colleagues in introducing legislation that will kneecap russia's efforts. the never yielding europe's territory act doesn't just

support ukraine or impose economic consequences on russia or counter russian aggression. it does all of the above. this legislation includes a range of measures to strengthen ukraine's ability to defend itself, including my lend lease bill. it imposes harsh economic consequences on the russian economy through far-reaching sanctions. as we all know, senator menendez, the chairman of the foreign relations committee, and senator risch, the ranking member, negotiated for days and indeed weeks upon weeks but were unable to come up with a bipartisan package. i'm especially disappointed that today when senator risch offered to take up and pass this bill by unanimous consent that it was blocked by one of our democratic colleagues. i wonder what kind of message that sends to vladimir putin.

not a good one. america stands with ukraine, and we must do everything in our power to help ukranian forces defend their freedom and their democracy. through the devastation that we've seen over the last couple of days, we've all been inspired by the strength and courage of the ukranian people. they're on the front lines of the war against our values, against their sovereignty, against democracy, and they deserve our unequivocal support. as the conflict, indeed as the war in ukraine wages on, strong american leadership is desperately needed on a bipartisan monolithic basis. this evening president biden will have a chance to provide his state of the union message, and i hope that he sends a clear message to the world that

russia's beligerance and hostility will not be tolerated. the american people, our friends and allies, and our adversaries will be paying close attention. and president biden should not pull any punches. he should not mince words. he should say that america stands with ukraine, and we will not tolerate a civilized nation as democracy's, a blatant attack on a fellow democracy. the american people are facing the failures of president biden's domestic policies here at home. families are being battered by the worst inflation in 40 years, up 7.5% so far this year alone. it's more expensive in texas to heat your home, to stock your

pantry, or fill your gas tank. i spoke to cotton producers in abilene, texas, just last week. they told me their single biggest problem is the cost of inputs, of fuel, fertilizer, and other things they need in order to grow their product, their commodity. anyone who has a need to make a big purchase, things like a car or home appliances has likely experienced extreme sticker shock. business owners, too, have been hit with a double whammy as supply chain issues make it more difficult and more costly to produce, sell, and ship their products. wages have increased some, which would normally be good news, but wage growth is still being outpaced by inflation, meaning that for the average american

family, their purchasing power is shrinking, not growing because of inflation. that means our workers have essentially gotten a pay cut because of the flawed policies of the biden administration. economists said that if our democratic colleagues had proceed with their nearly $2 trillion partisan spending spree at the beginning of last year, that it would cause inflation. i still remember larry summers, a democratic-leaning economist who served in bill clinton's cabinet, warning that all of this money that congress is spending, not the money we were spending for public health purposes or to mitigate the economic consequences of covid-19, but the money spent on other items in our democratic colleagues' outbox. he said that we are risking the

return of inflation like we haven't seen in the last few decades. instead of the warning from people like larry summers and others, our democratic colleagues forged ahead, and now america's working families are paying the price. i hope president biden has a plan he will announce tonight on how to attack inflation, but that plan cannot -- cannot -- involve his ill-conceived build-back-broke agenda. this is another $5 trillion spending bill that, thanks to bipartisan opposition, did not go anywhere but which threatens huge tax increases and huge inflationary spending. this is not time to pile on and make the american people's pain worse. we need to do everything we can

to reduce inflation, to increase their buying power. well, i'd like to also hear the president's strategy to address another crisis, and that's the crisis at our southern border. my state has 1,200 miles of border with mexico. and last year alone we've seen 2 million people show up at the border, either to be returned to their country of origin or, more likely, to be welcomed into the united states and be give an slip of paper and say, show up for your immigration court hearing in a year or two years. well, we know that the human smugglers that are getting rich smuggling people into the united states, they understand our system. they know how to exploit the flaws in our system, and they're getting rich doing so. and, by flooding the border with so many people, including

unaccompanied children at one time, it takes border patrol off the front lines while the drug smugglers move their illicit cargo into the united states. and it is those drugs that have contributed to the loss of more than 100,000 american lives due to drug overdoses last year alone. i want to hear president biden's answer. why haven't you done anything about it? why haven't you welcomed or asked for the help of bipartisan members of congress to try to address this crisis at the border? instead, the biden administration made it worse. they revoked many of the policies of the previous administration that deterred an influx of migration, and they failed to anticipate the obvious consequences. when you lay out the welcome mat on the u.s. border, people will come, and they come not just from mexico and central america;

they come from around the world. i remember early on during this -- during the biden administration talking to the chief of the border patrol in the del rio sector. he said, in the last few weeks, we've detained people from 150-plus countries. the reason for that is obvious. illegal immigration is the way that international criminal networks get rich and do business, and if you've got enough money, they will get you across the southern border exploiting the laws that we know need to be change add, but we cannot -- need to be changed, but we cannot seem to muster the support from president biden or our democratic friends to fix. well, local governments and my constituents in the rio grande

valley and along the border who are largely hispanic themselves, they understand the difference between legal and illegal immigration, and they're being inundated with illegal immigration and the burdens that are associated with that. and they're looking to washington to do something about it, but those calls are not being answered. and so the burden falls on state government, governor abbott and the texas legislature, to try to step up. but this is the federal government's responsibility, not the state government's responsibility. leaders in texas have begged the biden administration to step up and do its duty. they've asked for more staff, better resources and policies that put an end to these pull factors, but the administration has done nothing, and the only

conclusion i can draw after all this time is they just don't care. as we head into the spring, which is typically the busiest time at the border, the biden administration needs to take action. the president cannot continue to ignore this humanitarian crisis. we need a concrete plan to address this chaos and ensure that migrants are treated fairly and humanely in accordance with u.s. law. sadly, the border crisis isn't the only problem the administration has shown complete and utter disregard for. communities across the country are worried about alarming increases in violent crime. this morning alone we had a hearing in the judiciary committee on carjacking, the violent theft of an automobile using a gun or other weapon to

steal it from a person who may be driving their kids to school or to work or to church, only to have their car stolen and their life threatened or taken. in 2020, murders rose nearly 30% from the year before. 30%. the single-largest increase on record. we're still waiting for the rest of the data from 2021, but so far the picture is no brighter. the number of major cities experienced their deadliest years on record. of course, this was in the wake of this boneheaded idea called defund the police, which destroyed support for the police at the local level, demoralized the men and women who are doing their duty in an honorable and necessary way each and every day. this is the price that you pay for such misguided efforts as

defunding the police. the american people are paying attention, as you would expect. a poll in november found that more than half of those surveyed believe that local crime had gotten worse, a 13-point jump from the previous year. concerns at the national level are even higher. nearly three-quarters of americans believe that crime is up nationally. they believe that because it is. this is bad news for families, for communities, for businesses and our dedicated law enforcement professionals. and the administration needs to take action. so, mr. president, american families are facing a host of crises at home, and democracy is taking a beating abroad. tonight i hope president biden

will outline a clear plan to address these many challenges and come up with answers that we can work on together in a bipartisan way. trying to do things in a 50-50 senate or at the four-vote majority in the house of representatives is destined to fail, as we've seen time and time again. the only way to get things done in a 50-50 senate is to work to build consensus and get bipartisan support. so i hope we'll see a mid-course correction from the administration on these many challenges that i've mentioned today. i hope the president will finally acknowledge and commitment to helping address the humanitarian crisis at the border which he's ignored for more than a year now. and i hope and i trust he will send a strong message to the world that america condemns

russian action and stands with solidarity with ukraine. the american people deserve to hear their president explain his plan to address each of these looming challenges, and i hope he doesn't let them down. mr. president, i yield the floor. mr. president, i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

failing securing the country of quixtar expression forces are evidently starting to engage in siege tech takes. 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 stay once again without equivocation that the united states stands behind the ukrainian people and behind all people and all nations who opposed the aggressions. 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 democratic republic to defend their nation and our democracy. today as democracy faces the 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 in uniting our nation and our allies against putin. this was not an easy job. the president had to show patience for some who would him to do things that would have torn the relationship apart in european-american relationships. not because the president strong leadership the russian president finds himself more isolated in a greater pariah than any moment in his time of power. with the full weight of international sanctions take effect the consequences will be catastrophic for putin and the

russian economy. on the flip side mr. president on the flipside, divisions within the united states or amongst 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 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 the american people in solidarity with ukraine to america's unity with our european allies. our republican colleagues in the chamber will work with us in the frustration to stay unified with the strong aid package. we don't know how this crisis will evolve. one thing that will not change is the need to maintain a united

front so long as vladimir putin continues down this path of violence. for that reason the senate will continue working in the weeks to come on the strong aid package that will erase any doubt where our allegiance lies. now on another subject, tonight president biden will come to the s. capital and delivered the first state of the union of his presidency. 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 year ago and that indeed deserve revealing measure of any president's leadership and 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 worst of the pandemic and unemployment was over 6%. forecasters said it would take

years and perhaps more to make significant progress in our republic and of course as the trump presidency came to a bitter and our country was still in shell shock from the violent assaults waged upon this capitol and democracy itself. today the as we continue to face serious challenges just look at how far we have come. the economy has grown at the fastest rate in a single year since the jobs have always been the number one issue to working families and on that measure his first

year has been a very very large success. and after years of president trump favoring despotism autocrats we all remember what he said about latimer. over and over again, the world can now rest assured that the united states is going to be a reliable ally in the defense of democracy and nato and of course covid cases are significantly dropping. communities are reopening mask mandates or reversing an opportune 15 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 destruction of the pandemic. the two greatest things to the american people are keeping a recovery from coveting getting

back to normal infighting 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 in the biden administration continue to work on them like a laser. again full recovery from covid, and increasing costs are the root biggest remaining issues on

our calendar and we are focused on them. even so we cannot ignore that we have come far and let me say this. the state of the union is also an important moment for the american people to see what the party in office actually stands for. it's under democratic leadership that will continue to work and lower costs fight inflation in give working-class -- republicans can't say that. by trump's cult of personality is republican agenda would trap americans in vortex of deep cynicism issues that were not solved in today's dilemma while they pass legislation that overwhelmingly would benefit a few wealthy people. if anyone doubts whether republican party party stands today all they have to do is

read and 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 and ineffective order wall after donald trump. imagine. we are talking about getting back to normal and recovering from covid and reducing costs and they are 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 households would pay an average of nearly $1000 more in taxes next year under a plan by senator scott 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 when they had the majority and now increase taxes on poor people and working-class people. that seems to be where the republicans are apt. this is just wrong especially at a time when american families are looking at lowering costs. so tonight the president will make clear that while we have a lot left to do we have gotten a lot of work done already. the democratic senate will continue to focus working on legislation that completes a recovery from covid and do everything we can to make sure it doesn't come back to lower costs, to strengthen our buoyant economy and preserve america's place as the nation of immense opportunity deep into the 21st century. i yield the floor.

last week president biden announced his choice to succeed justice stephen breyer in the supreme court judge ketanji brown jackson. judge jackson was confirmed less than a year ago in the d.c. circuit court of appeals. every senator must carefully evaluate judge jackson's record legal views and judicial plots. the nominee of the senate all deserve a process that is free of embarrassing antics that it become the democratic party's routine whenever republican president nominates a new justice. the baseless smears and the shameless distortions to the country deserves a process that is painstakingly rigorous and befitting the seriousness of the lifetime appointment in our

highest court. what her friends wrote in her high school yearbook american families are facing major crises that bear directly on federal courts and their legal system. and surging violent crime systematically prosecutors and open borders and campaigns to shrink religious freedom and the rights of -- once more one of our two major sites attacking the legitimacy and the structure of the supreme court itself. the country needs a serious and sober examination of all of its. 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 and since then i understand she

has offered only two opinions, both in the last several weeks. i'm troubled by the combination of the slim appellate record in the intensity of judge jackson's far left dark money fan club. throughout the jockeying that preceded president biden's announcement and indeed dating back to her prior confirmation last year judge jackson has attracted loyal and intense support for some of the very same dark money far left activists who declared war on the institution of the court itself. one has to wonder where these left-wing organizations work so very hard and choose judge jackson for this potential -- i'm looking forward to meeting judge jackson for conversation for morning and a vigorous senate process that lies ahead. now on another matter tonight president biden will deliver his first date of the union address

one year into his term. american people have a lot of questions they'd like answered. why democrats plunged ahead with reckless spending to cause the worst inflation in 40 years. why violent crime and illegal immigration are setting all-time records. wide the administration haphazardly withdrew from afghanistan and proposed to cut defense spending after inflation at a time when russia is trying to redraw our maps. when president biden two is one year ago a he inherited major tailwinds and if brimming optimism. scientists and operation warp speed developed vaccines in record time we were already putting doses than 1 million arms every day. scientific data had already proven that afteror a devastatig year for children and families schools were safe to reopen in

person. thanks to the historic cares act and another targeted bipartisan bill they had passed will weeks earlier our economic foundations have ended pandemic lock-downs and we are primed for a roaring recovery back to normalcy and prosperity. before the pandemic republican policies said americas and exporter of oil for the first time since world war ii. the same voters who gave president biden the presidency gave him a razor thin margin in both chambers. his only mandate was to govern from the middle. in his a knock or lit fest president biden promised to do just that, to unite and to heal. for the past year he and his administration have often behaved like they are trying to fail their own test. remember the president made

stifling american energy independence and a one-party. miles of pipeline to create new jobs and export with the stroke of the pen. then the spending bill has called the most progressive domestic legislation in a generation and top of a rogue economist warned would set off inflationary pressures we have not seen in a generation. inflation has surge so steeply most americans have seen their real wages actually cut. then came the decision to cut and run from the international coalition in afghanistan. president biden's top military advisers and 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 to a disastrous withdrawal. our biggest ever series one of them is testing the limits of the western resolve to oppose this murderous conquest. then there are the alarming trends the administration is placed on the back burner for which communities across america are placing every day. after spending the presidential campaign talking about intentional amnesties the biden administration no time making our southern border more porous. the cbp has reported its highest single year total for borders on record with no sign of a coherent administration response insights. meanwhile democrats response to the historic surge in crime have been to double down on the hostility toward the release and

prosecution that has encouraged it. across america radical local prosecutors had been declining to charge whole categories of crime. instead of condemning this extremism. biden administration's endorsed it and the justice department with some of the most outspoken critics of law and order. meanwhile this justice department this justice department goes out of its way to keep tabs on parents who dare to question teachers unions over established medical science or to exhibit skepticism toward woke up again in public schools. so mr. president that's a heck of a rap sheet that i'm afraid that most damaging legacy of president biden's first year is

vigorous policies. democrats have not -- pushing bad ideas their institutions even under the presidency of the self-styled institutional list. the far left has tried to our institutions altogether. tonight we'll hear from a president who is assigned the commission to pack the supreme court because the party didn't like its current ideological makeup. we 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. anyone who oppose these efforts were called racist and continues to stoke racial animus about a revival of segregation. we'll hear from a demonstration is filled with some test in which candidly has 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. on most issues but the american people deserve tonight is a commitment to drastically change course. if this administration does not they'd surely correct its course the american people make 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 solutions for the great people of iowa. she fought covid without declaring war and freedom or common sense. she stayed tough on crime and kept our economy open.

i look forward to hearing her reaction to the president's remarks and your thoughts on how washington could better serve middle america.

and their extraordinary presence that seems to me that clearly accomplished more unity in eastern europe than any previous

administration of either party has been able to achieve. is that what's happened over the weekend. germany doubled its defense budget for the year and is going to commit to meeting its pledge of 2% of gdp on defense. both parties have been trying to get the germans to do something like this for a very long time. switzerland which i believe actually sat out world war ii seems to be putting aside its intent to his day out of every conflict and get end this on the right side. sweden and semblance to countries that have never belonged to nato are thinking about joining and i think let's assign them up tomorrow, if they are ready to join.

we are working on an omnibus appropriation bill here and we have hit a snag that you should ask the other side about when they come out. they are willing to ask for a supplemental for non-defense diplomacy and that sort of thing. only the defense part of a supplemental they want to take that out of the top line. we have party agreed to it on defense which includes parity between the defense and the non-defense. we are going to do that. this is an emergency. it's eligible for a supplemental and defense ought to be treated just like non-defense in the supplemental. >> obviously we will all get a chance to hear from the president. over the past year democrats in congress and the -- have a

reckless and partisan agenda and the american people obviously are seeing the effects of that in paying the price for it. we have inflation that is a result of the rampant spending by democrats, the worst inflation for years hitting the pocket looks of every single american. you've got the worst border crisis literally in history, more attempted illegal crossings than any time we have seen in history and neither the president nor the vice presidents have found time to go visit our southern border. i'll be withdrew from afghanistan which we all knew was a disaster we have rampant crime and a lot of the cities across the country largely as a result of this so-called defund the police movement that has captured the democratic agenda across the country and here in washington and i would hope that in the state of the union speech

tonight but the president does his pivot towards an agenda away from this partisan agenda and toward doing things that we can work together on for the good of the american people. these are serious times in a leader about what's happening in ukraine right now. we need to do everything we can to support the ukrainian people and supplemental spending bill in the works and of course with the important point that senator mcconnell just made about the democrats wanting to rob the top line for defense spending for ukraine and treat the humanitarian assistance is an emergency supplemental. i don't understand that at all but one thing i can tell you is one area where we can really, really help the effort in ukraine, help americans and their pocketbooks and help europe and other countries around the world is to get america's energy production off

the bench and back in the game. we have ample energy resources in this country which this administration has placed off-limits and as a consequence of that we have gas prices hitting new records here in the united states and the united states going hand-in-hand to opec and other countries around the world to help fuel the energy demand that we have in this country, completely completely unnecessary and uncalled for and every dollar, every energy dollar that the west pays helps fund putin's war so we need to get away from this dependence upon foreign sources of energy russian opec wherever, a certain america's energy independence become an energy exporter again and allow these companies around the world that are dependent upon russia for their energy needs to turn to the united states. that can happen. all it takes is a change in the

policies that the role has played in this administration so far is hurt america's independence in forced us to depend upon other places around the world including russia. >> all americans are inspired by the courage in her wrote patriotism of the people of ukraine and i expect the president to mention that tonight in his state of the union. what he won't mention however is how his policies from day one have enabled, emboldened vladimir putin to do what he has done. vladimir putin's economy and were machine is funded by russian energy and for a full year joe biden has done everything he can possibly do to undermine american energy security and the use of american energy. that is what we have seen from this administration.

this has only strengthened putin as he is tightened the grip on the world supply of energy is joe biden continues to be -- creature of the climate elitists. when you take a look at what sort of things biden is done with energy kill the keystone x. line pipeline replaced oil and gas of what -- in public lands went after alaskan energy and at the same time what did he do for putin he approved the nord stream ii pipeline and he went hat in hand to ask putin to produce more energy and sell it to america. as of last night on the white house web site it is still there. the white house is asking opa-locka -- opec plus and the pluses putin to supply more energy to america. we are now using more energy from russia than we are from alaska in united states. this has been a jack out for

putin and the american people who have paid the price and are paying a dollar more a gallon for gasoline than when he became president. oil and gas is putin's bread-and-butter and what the president of the united states is done over the full year is emboldened and enriched putin and hurt the united states and to show you just how bizarre this whole thing is as russian troops encircled the ukraine john kerry the former secretary of state and the climate envoy said he was hoping what was happening in ukraine will not aide distraction he said from their climate agenda. this is delusional to think of that as a distraction from this climate agenda. so here we are. just last week biden's people at ferc killed pipelines that we

need to provide liquefied natural gas. people are are paying a lot of the pomp and people in ukraine are paying with their lives for these policies. i'm going to the floor after this with unanimous consent agreement so we can expedite the movement of liquefied natural gas to export it to our friends and our allies overseas. tomorrow every republican on the energy committee will be sending a letter to the president of the united states outlining 10 specific things he could do to help lower prices for energy and the united states, help undermine vladimir putin and to help the people of ukraine. we have the energy in the ground in the united states. the biden administration will not let us get it out. we are much better and stronger as a nation if we are selling energy to our friends than if we are forced to buy it from our

enemies and it's a lesson the president biden still has failed to learn. >> madam president tonight in the state of the union comes to talk about the state of the union really after his first year of service as president and as he does that these are the kind kinds of headlines that have been out there for the last several days now, soaring prices strain family budgets with approval plummeting biden tries to dodge blame. gas prices at $4. gallon would be an old headline by now. experts pandemic closures taking a toll on students and in that article a significant group of students lost 12 months of educational advancement in the last 12 months and every group of students lost some growth and educational advancement in the last 12 months but some students

lost 12 months in the last 12 months and that's only a suggestion of the kinds of things the president has to deal with as he thinks about the state of the union. the state of the union is not good. the president's approval numbers began to plunge after the disaster in afghanistan. we have been working to reassemble friends and allies since then as others have said today nobody has done a better job of calling attention to the fact that the world is a dangerous place and particularly a dangerous place without the leadership of the united states if bad things begin to happen. >> i was a young woman when i attended an agricultural exchange in ukraine and that was 1989. ukraine was still part of the soviet union.

and it was very evident in 1989 that ukrainians wanted to be a free people. that is still true today. ukranians want to be a free people. we have all watched the terror unfold on our television sets with ukrainian seeing indiscriminately being killed by russian soldiers as they are standing in the path of their tanks and their vehicles. we see the bombing that's going on in ukrainian settings. we are in horror here in the united states and the american people want to do more to support ukrainians. you would think that we would be working on numerous bills in the united states senate to help support the people of ukraine and yet what does chuck schumer focus on this week? and abortion on demand bill, a

postal reform bill. not bills that will address the needs of the american energy sector nor the needs of our ukrainian friends and partners. so they are things that we can do right now today working on bills that will put further sanctions on vladimir putin and the russians especially on the energy sector. we can provide additional legal aid to the ukrainian forces and their militias fighting to defend their homeland. we should be unleashing american energy independence. these are all things that we can do right now today. instead we are working on abortion on demand and postal reform. we have got to step up and do

better and that democrats need to clear the way and allowed us to regain leadership around the world and support our ukrainian friends. >> our hearts go out to the people of ukraine. we are inspired by presidents zelensky and the heroism of the ukrainian military and the ukrainian people. we have never seen this happen in our country. we need a president's going to show up and do everything we can to hold putin and the economy of russia accountable. we have got to do every sanction we can do and we have got to do everything to their economy. every dime that goes to russia helps putin so all of us can do our part. there should be a lobbyist in this country that does any work to help the russian government of or any russian business. we can stop buying their products. they can stop selling their products in congress can go and

make sure ukraine has all the resources they can to defend themselves. i hope all of us do our part to do everything we can to hold putin accountable and make sure the ukrainian citizens keep their independence. >> leader mcconnell cannot ask about an agenda that includes tax increases that is very controversial and what are your thoughtsre on that? >> senator scott is behind me and he can address it. leader. mr. schumer: mr. president, i. know of no further debate on the motion to proceed to h.r. 3076. the presiding officer: if there's no further debate, the question is on the motion to proceed. all in favor say aye. all opposed no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the bill. the clerk: 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. mr. schumer: mr. president, i have an amendment at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the amendment. the clerk: the senator from new york, mr. schumer, for mr. peters, proposes an amendment number 4955. on page 61, line 18, strike 240 days and insert eight months. mr. schumer: i ask to dispense with further reading of the amendment. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that at 12:00 p.m. on wednesday, march 2, the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar 291, senate j. res. 32, further, i ask that the time until 2:30 be equally divided between the leaders or their designees on the joint resolution, and that following the use or yielding back of that time, the joint resolution be read a third time and the senate

vote on the resolution. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the senate be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the appointment at the desk appear separately in the record as if made by the chair. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: now, mr. president, i understand there are three bills at the desk and i ask for their first reading en bloc. the presiding officer: we will report the titles of the bills for the first time en bloc. the clerk: s. 3717 a bill to withdraw normal trade relations treatment from, and apply certain provisions of title 4 of the trade act of 1974 to products of the russian federation and for other purposes. s. 3723, a bill to impose sanctions with respect to the russian federation in response to the invasion of ukraine and so forth and for other purposes. s. 3724, a bill to provide emergency supplemental appropriations in response to the crisis in ukraine and for

other purposes. mr. schumer: i now ask for a second reading and object to my own request all en bloc. the presiding officer: objection is heard. the bills will now receive their second hearing on the next legislative day. mr. schumer: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that at senate proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations en bloc -- calendar 639, 409, 411, 693, 694. that the senate vote on the nominations en bloc, with no intervening action or debate, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, that any statements related to the nominations be printed in the record, that the president be immediately notified of the senate's action, and the senate resume legislative session. the presiding officer: without objection. the question is on the nominations en bloc. all those in favor, say aye.

opposed, no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the nominations are confirmed, en bloc. mr. schumer: now, mr. president, on something that is very important to this country, and that is we are about to -- senator peters in a minute will move to pass the strengthening american cybersecurity act. as we all know, protecting america, our government, our businesses, our utilities, so many of our entities from cyberattack has been very, very important over the last decade. it becomes even more important now as the war in ukraine goes on and putin mounts his illegal, immoral attack. espn can a lating -- he is escalating cyberattacks around the world.

so the need to protect this country from cyberattack always very, very, very important has assumed even greater importance now with putin fighting in ukraine and threatening cyberattacks throughout the world. and today the senate is taking an urgently needed step to protect the american people, american critical infrastructure, and american government institutions from the dangerous threat of cyberattacks. the most important part of this provision, mr. president, will require our companies, our individual businesses to report cyberattacks when they occur. these will -- there has been a reluctance on the part of many in the business community to want to do this because it may expose them to other kinds of harm and maybe the public will not want to be involved in these businesses. t-but the importance of the

report something vital. when our authorities in the government know of the attacks, they can prepare against future attacks. they will know who is attacking, where they're attack, how they're attacking, and that will allow them to strengthen our defenses against future cyberattacks. so this knowledge of cyberattacks caused by foreign entities or domestic entities is vital as america seeks to protect itself. for too long -- this legislation has been around for a while. for too long business interests, certain business interests, opposed it, but now they have come to see the light and, in fact, we have a bipartisan agreement -- unanimous in this chamber -- that this bill move forward. that is very important for america's security, more important than it ever has been. cyber warfare is truly one of

the dark arts specialized by putin and his authoritarian regime, and this bill will help protect us from putin's attempted cyberattacks. -- against our country. last year i asked chairman peters and other relevant committee chairs to draft legislation to counter the increased threat, and senator peters has done an outstanding job, and i want to commend him and senator portman and so many others -- senator warner among them -- for being heavily involved in this issue. and now we will have tonight -- we will pass it by unanimous consent legislation. when it legislation passed and is signed into law, america will be a safer place from one of the greatest scourges we worry about -- cyberattack. so i'm glad we're doing this. i'm glad both sides have agreed, and i yield to senator peters, who is is, as i said, as chair of -- his committee has done a

terrific job shepherding this through the senate. the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. mr. peters: i ask that the senate proceed to the consideration of calendar 265, s. 3600. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 265, s. 3600, a bill to improve the cybersecurity of the federal government and for other purposes. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. peters: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the wicker and peters amendments, which are at the desk, be considered and agreed to, the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed, and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. peters: mr. president, s. 3600 is commonsense bipartisan legislation that will help protect critical infrastructure from the absolute

relentless cyberattacks that we see that threaten both our economy as well as our national security. i appreciate senator portman working with me to get this legislation across the finish line, and i think this is especially important right now as we face increased risk of cyberattacks from russia and the cybercriminals that they harbor in retaliation for our support for ukraine. i appreciate the senate for coming together here tonight to get this important landmark bill done. mr. president, i yield the floor. mr. schumer: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: just one more point. as we've always said, we in the democratic majority want to work with our republican colleagues on bipartisan legislation whenever we can, and this is an example of that. obviously there are times when we can't, and we will move forward. but the more we can get done and accomplished in a bipartisan way on important legislation like

this, the better. so once again let me salute the bipartisan coalition led by garry peters and rob portman and so many others on both side of the aisle who contributorred to this -- contributed to this very important legislation. now, mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate recess until 8:30 p.m. today and proceed as a body to the hall of the house of representatives for the joint session of congress provided under the provisions of h. con. res. 69 and that upon dissolution of the joint session, the senate adjourn until 11:00 a.m. on wednesday, march 2, 20 22, following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed. that upon conclusion of morning business, the senate resume consideration of calendar 273, h.r. 3076, the postal service reform act. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: mr. president,

we'll gather in the senate chamber at 8:20 this evening to proceed as a body to the house for the state of the union. if there's no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it recess under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate stands in recess until senate stands in recess until iq reporter: the nation america is on the move again. a life tonight the state of the

union president biden addresses the joint session of congress and the nation reflecting on his first year in office and in laying out his agenda for the year ahead. live coverage begins at 8:00 p.m..

's madam president i rise todayo discuss russia's invasion of ukraine and the in a moment i'm