build these critical positions across the federal government. i want to thank my m ranking member for this hearing today and i look forward to working with him and others on the committee to address this issue in the future for this remains open for 15 days until 5:00 p.m. march 18, 2022 for the submission of statements and questions for the record. thank you for your appearance there today, the hearing iss nw adjourned. >> u.s. senate is about to gather in, lawmakers will continue work on a house passed postal service bill. the senate will consider executive nominations including

ed gonzales to leave u.s. immigration and customs enforcement. the senate to pass government funding to avert a shutdown. while watching live coverage of the senate here on c-span2. the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. the chaplain, dr. barry black, will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. eternal god, mighty to save, lift high our vision that we may see clearly that you are still in charge of your world. lord, give us the courage to follow your precepts, realizing we have spiritual weapons for

our warfare. in these trying and dangerous times, keep our lawmakers strong and pure and good. remind them that we are fighting more than flesh and blood; we are engaged in combat with principalities, powers, and which couldness in the celestial realm. give us all wisdom to keep our eyes on you, comprehending that all things are possible to those who believe. we pray in your sovereign name. amen.

the president pro tempore: please join me in the pledge of allegiance. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the president pro tempore: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. morning business is closed. under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of h.r. 3076, which the clerk will report. 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. ms. hirono: mr. president? the president pro tempore: the senator from hawaii. ms. hirono: i suggest the absence of a quorum. the president pro tempore: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

joining us for this conversation, reporter, congress -- one of the discussion points a package for ukraine, can you explain the dollar figure and what is expected as far as getting it passed?

>> ukraine in the funding legislation .2 dreyfus need. as far as ukraine goes, a lot of that money is going to go towards the ten billing dollars toward paying for the movements for u.s. forces eastern european nato allies. another 5 billion ♪ ♪ to the state department and usaid for humanitarian aid for hundreds of thousands of refugees pouring over the border areas like that, that is the book. it is likely to ride on the upcoming funding education and that driving the funding and grease the wheels in congress to get that bill through ukraine eight has a lot of support and

we can see a push to include that and get done early this week. >> when it comes to members of congress and the administration on the latest hearing testimony from but, while any of that occur? >> we are going to seek additional classified briefings on ukraine, the white house is supposed to come down to congress and fill in members with additional information on what is going on the ground there. that said, members will house members, democrats are going to be leaving wednesday for their annual policy retreat. they are going to get additional information from out of government resources on ukraine for earlier this week we will see classified briefings. >> as far as the retreat, president biden is expected

friday, we know discussions that will take place? >> the sessions at the policy retreat in philadelphia will range from things like inflation to voting rights, democrats want to craft a platform that will help stem the losses they are expecting november. we are going to issues related to a lot more -- they will push a lot more bills less ambitious than the build back better act so that is what they are looking for, the senate is likely going to pass a reform bill this week about the house passed last week legislation renting benefits for veterans affected by toxic burn pits. we are going to see something about in terms of the democratic platform to emerge from this retreat. things like lowering the cost of insulin and also topics

president biden brought up in his state of the union address, doing something to address spike in crime, the things we will see emerging from the end of this week. >> you mentioned at the top corporate funding might be part of negotiations this week as well. >> appropriators and leadership have a lot of work to do on this. the house so far is continuing to plan to vote on something tuesday before they leave, maybe early wednesday. covid, the white house proposed about 22.5 million additional aid toward things like medical equipment, vaccines, especially vaccines for the under five population the government expects approved vaccines for sometime in the future but there is an issue, senate republicans

want more oversight of the money already appropriate for covid eight so there's under this agreement to work out before they can advance any additional covid eight funding in congress. what is likely going to happen is a 22.5 billing will cut provisions, creating more oversight for the money allocated. >> a lot happening this week.

restraint in u.s. foreign relations. it's been on for the last 20 years and to put diplomacy first. >> one thing you study closely as power, especially nuclear weapons within various countries. that said, was the ability of strength as far as the use of the weapons particularly by vladimir putin? >> there are so many barriers to the use of nuclear weapons from i don't want to alarm anybody, i think the use of nuclear weapons quite low but not zero and that

should worry us. we've not been on conflict with russian forces in any sustained way ever, ever. and the reason is not really natal roast or whether we can come to the aid of a country outside of nato, russia has 6000 nuclear weapons and we have almost that many nuclear weapons in any armed conflict is likely to quickly escalate to that level so that is in our hands. for years nuclear weapons as our sort and protector but we see they are a shield for vladimir putin, allowing him to conduct this brutal invasion stopping us from intervention we otherwise would have. >> one of the stories as of late when it comes to ukraine is not only the attack on the one nuclear power plant but others within the country.

can you paint that took a picture of what the expectations be? >> that's another dimension rising ukraine and this had never happened before, no country or group has ever attacked a nuclear power plant anywhere in the world, no country or group have seized a nuclear power plant and no group or country has ever forced operators of the plant to operate at gunpoint under direct cut off as high communications but that is what we see in ukraine today. one is attacking the plant and on their way to attacking the second largest nuclear facility in ukraine. attacking child, the rounds were damaged, heavy concrete structures that contain nuclear reactors, fairy powerful strong structures but no structure in the world designed to withstand

artillery assault, take assault or in the process they might cut off electricity to the plant or the backup electric supply that would damage the plumbing and prevent the flow who went into the reactors. without equipment, the fuel heat to super hot temperatures -- mr. mcconnell: the eyes of the american people and the entire world are fixed on eastern europe. vladimir putin is continuing his unjustifiable invasion of a sovereign country, and his unprovoked killing of innocent people. over the weekend, senators were honored to speak electronically with ukraine's brave leader, president zelensky. his courageous leadership has helped rally freedom-loving people the world over to the

ukrainian cause. one of his main pleas was that america and our partners continue providing ukraine with additional military assistance. to do so very quickly. long before the invasion began, i was on this floor warning the biden administration that we could not let assistance be trickled out at the speed of bureaucracy. i certainly hope that lesson has finally been learned. but even while one foreign policy nightmare plays out in eastern europe, inexplicably the biden administration is reportedly poised to announce a giant, gratuitous capitulation to our principal adversary in the middle east as well. the nature of the biden administration's approach to tehran thus far has concerned

not just republicans, but members of both parties. our democratic colleague, the chairman of the foreign relations committee, recently exhorted the administration and our partners to, quote, exert more pressure on iran to counter its nuclear program, its missile program and its dangerous behavior around the middle east, including attacks on american personnel and american assets. i would note that senator menendez also stressed the importance of building bipartisan support for any new deal which the president's team wants to cook up with iranians. this is the same message i conveyed to the president and his top advisors at the beginning of the administration. if he wants his policy or his deal to endure beyond his presidency, he must bring republicans on board. regrettably, president biden appears to have ignored this good advice. reports indicate a sequel, a

sequel to the bad 2015 iran nuclear deal may be imminent, yet the administration has laid zero bipartisan framework. rumors of this pending deal, because rumors are all that congress has, suggest it would be an enormous step in the wrong direction. it appears not to be a longer and stronger deal than the jcpoa as was promised, but a weaker and shorter deal. it appears not to safeguard and increase our leverage over tehran and its revolutionary guard but instead to breezily sort of sign our leverage away. president biden appears to want to give tehran enduring sanctions relief now in exchange for limited and short-term curbs on their nuclear program, a reminder of how bad president obama's iran deal was is the fact that these restrictions

will begin to expire as soon as next year. that will put more pressure on western negotiators, not on iran. this is extortion playing out step by step, and this administration seems prepared to sign on to it. iran gets serious sanctions relief and expanded trade with russia and china. , even fewer restrictions than the original failed iran deal and those restrictions begin to expire in just two years. this is really wildless wreck less. this is an administration chasing a deal, any deal, instead of pursuing our interests. there is some suspicion the administration is desperate for any excuse to ease sanctions on iranan oil exports to help block the impact on the european crisis on america's pocketbooks. this white house seems

determined to go hat in hand and beg every bad actor around the world to ramp up their own fossil fuel production, but still will not stop their holy war against our own energy production here at home. if press reports are accurate, the democrats and the president on capitol hill surely understand that it will not be accepted quietly. if the president seeks to remove sanctions on iran, there will be votes. democrats who now regret their recent vote to protect the nord stream 2 pipeline should think twice before voting to help president biden ease sanctions on iranian entities that engage in terrorism, missile proliferation or human rights abuses. given chairman menendez's concerns, i hope and would expect the foreign relations committee will hold major hearings. but i know this much for

certain, the next time republicans control the senate, vigorous oversight will take place over the diplomatic mess that is unfolding in the middle east. the failure to consolidate the historic gains of the abraham accords, gigantic unilateral concessions to the most active state sponsor of terrorism in the entire world, pointless capitulation to iran-backed houthi terrorists that has only yielded even more violence in yemen and increased ballistic missile and drone attacks against saudi and emirati sunnis. it's bad enough that democrats in congress spent months actively fighting against sufficient funding for our national defense and our armed forces, but these dynamics are made even more dangerous by a white house that is be actively choosing weakness in the middle east.

i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. durbin: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: are we in a quorum call?

the presiding officer: yes. mr. durbin: i ask consent the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: madam president, 260 years ago a young nobleman from poland and a military officer helped lead a rebellion against what he and many others saw as a russian puppet king in what was known as the post polish lithuanian commonwealth. he was driven into exile in france where lafayette and benjamin franklin urged him to go to america to fight in the revolutionary war. that polish noble man's name was kasmir pulaski. when he arrived in america he wrote to general washington and said to him i came here where freedom is being defended to serve it and to live or die by it. pulaski was at washington's side and is credited with saving george washington's life at the battle of brandywine. he is remembered fondly as the

father of the american cavalry. pulaski died at age 34 in the fight for freedom and independence in america. today is kasmir pulaski day where we know full well in illinois where it is a state holiday. today, however, we look at the world and realize that freedom is being defended in ukraine, and today we caecus -- kammir pulaski's spirit in a heroic president and ukrainians fighting from a would-be czar. i've been in congress for a few years.

early on saturday morning hundreds of members of congress joined a video call with ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky. i've never seen anything like it. with the russian military laying siege to his country and a russian bull's eye on his back, president zelensky spoke to us with remarkable dignity and courage. he didn't mince words about what is happening in ukraine, the brutal russian assaults literally trying to destroy his nation. he said we all share the same basic values and dreams -- to live our lives in peace, watch our kids grow up, and to kiss them. he said the ukrainian people are fighting for these basic freedoms, and they are prepared to be friends and share culture with their russian neighbors if they can. but over the last 12 days, his country, ukrainian, has faced

full-fledged war with barbaric attacks on kindergartens, nuclear power plants, apartment buildings, infrastructure, and innocent civilians. last thursday russia and ukraine agreed to create humanitarian corridors in ukraine to allow civilians in areas under the heaviest russian attacks to evacuate safely. twice over the weekend ukraine was forced to close those corridors because russia was attacking them mercilessly. this is vladimir putin's war, deliberately targeting women and children who have left everything and are trying just to reach safety. this photo shows the result of one horrific attack by russian soldiers on the people of

ukraine. many people have seen it. it was on the front page of the "new york times" this morning. it took place in the city of erpine on sunday. a russian mortar struck an evacuation point where these civilians were waiting to board bus to go to safety. erpine's mayor said the attack killed at least eight people, including a family. sadly you can see the children lying in the street. these are among the 364 ukrainians killed during the last 12 days of putin's barbaric war. mr. putin, these deaths, like the death of that little girl that i showed on the floor last week, are your doing. your reputation is a war criminal and a bloody tyrant and is now sealed in history. more than 1.5 million ukrainians have fled as refugees to

neighboring countries such as poland and moldova. the open arms of the polish people and the moldovan people to their ukrainian brothers and sisters is remarkable and a reminder to the rest of us that we do share common human bonds. some of you may have seen the moving stories last night on "60 minutes" of the families with their children desperately trying to reach poland, other countries nearby so that they can escape the bombs of vladimir putin. this tragedy is like nothing we've seen in europe since world war ii. but putin's war on ukraine is not simply an attack on one young democracy. it is an attack on democracy itself. i'm proud to represent the city of chicago, prouder still that it's the home to so many immigrants that have made a difference in that city and in america.

polish immigrants and descendants of polish immigrants, per capita there is a larger number in chicago than anyplace outside of warsaw. we're home to many immigrants who trace their heritage to the baltic states. i happen to be one who does as well. we have such a long history of ukrainian immigrants coming to our city that there's a neighborhood in chicago called ukrainian village. last friday i went over to the ukrainian national museum. it's near the orthodox church. they take great pride in it. one woman there who is a ukrainian artist had displayed many of the creations she had made on the wall, and she said to me, they're for sale, senator. and i said, well, i'm glad to know that. she says, all the proceeds are going to the ukrainian army. naturally i left with one under my arm. putin's war on ukraine and the wave of refugees pouring into

poland and other neighboring nations hits home in chicago. yet people from all back growppedz are donating money and goods wherever they can to help. meist carpathy is a chicago-area shipping company with experience in eastern europe. for seven days, the company's shipping facility on the northwest side of chicago has been an operating center for a incredible operating center to ship cret cal supplies to ukraine. people and companies are cropping off -- dropping off supplies of first aid equipment, nonperrishable food, diapers, basic essentials, warm clothes, tents, flashlights. scores of volunteers assemble the donations, first aid kids, baby kits -- whatever is needed of they pack the donations into boxes to be flown and delivered to the polish border, where more volunteers deliver them to ukrainians who need them. people are doing everything they can to support ukraine's fight for freedom and democracy.

andre harai is a banking executive from oak brooke about,il, born in kiev. his dad, cousins, friends are still in ukraine. one day last week, he raised $40,000 personally to buy bulletproof helmets and other supplies. when he learned it would take weeks for the ?ries to reach those -- the supplies to reach those who needed them, he packed them into suitcases, boarded a flight to poland to deliver them himself. as andre told a supporter, we are trying to do anything possible to help them. we in the senate must also do what we can to help ukraine in its fight for freedom and democracy. last week, i led more than 40 senators, both parties, democrats and republicans, asking president biden to extend temporary protected status to

the 75,000 ukrainians who are currently in the united states on student and work visas. on thursday, i knew he would, the president responded favorably. he's granting that protection. congress should also act without delay to aprivate $10 billion this week -- to approve $10 billion this week in emergency aid to assist ukraine and bolster our nato allies, as well as support neighboring nations like poland and moldova, who are providing safe havens to the refugees. after listening to president zelensky on sunday, i thought to myself, how can we possibly be importing russian oil and gas, giving the profits of those transactions to vladimir putin to pay for his war machine? i believe now, and i cosponsored the legislation that reaches this goal, that the united states should ban the purchase of russian oil, to further tighten economic pressure on putin. i join the legislation

introduced by senators murkowski and manchin to do that. secretary of state antony blinken is talking with our nato allies. many of them seem also willing to consider a ban on russian oil. vladimir putin is threatening not only the security of ukraine, he's threatening the security of the world. we must not even indirectly fund his war machine. while putin wages war on democracy, the world, including the united states, will likely pay more to fill our tanks at the gas stations and heat our homes. we have to be ready for that reality. but that is the price today of defending freedom and democracy. the ukrainians are paying with their lives. we may end up paying some more at the pump. amid all this utterly outrageous and unnecessary suffering and destruction, all to assuage vladimir putin's warped sense of grievance and his twisted nostalgia for the dark days of

the russian empire, president zelensky ended his talk with this on saturday morning, on a memorable note. he said, we are all one big undefeatable army for freedom and that we should all live in peace and openness. and despite the horrors inflicted on his people, we must hold on to our humanity. it was -- he was a standup comedian at one point. did he a movie which was a spoof on someone as unlikely as himself being elected president. lo and behold, the next free election he was elected president of the country. many people question whether he's up to the job. boy, his detractors are very quiet now. this man has risked his life for his country, as so many are in ukraine. it's time for us to stand behind ukraine solidly, solidly for their leadership. i hope this crisis ends soon. until then, the united states and the rest of the civilized

world must stand with ukraine for freedom and democracy. madam president, i yield the floor. suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

>> vladimir putin is continuing his invasion of a sovereign country and his unprovoked killing of innocent people. before the weekend senators were honored to speak electronically with ukraine's brave leader, president zelensky. his courage hashelped rally people the world over to the ukrainian cause .one of his main please was that america and our partners continue providing ukraine with additional militaryassistance . and to do so very quickly. long before the invasion began, we were on this floor

warning by biden and ministration we could not let assistance to be trickled out at the speedof bureaucracy . certainly i hope that lesson has finally been learned. but even while one foreign-policy nightmareplays out in eastern europe , inexplicably, the biden administration is reportedly poised to announce a giant red to it is capitulation to our principal adversary in the middle east as well. the nature of the biden administration's approach to tehran hasconcerned not just republicans but members of both parties . my democratic colleague the chairman of the foreign relations committee reported the administration and our partners to quote, exert more pressure on iran to counter its nuclear program and its

dangerous behavior around the middle east including attacks on american personnel and american assets. i would note that senator menendez stressed the importance of building bipartisan support for any new deal which the president's team wants to cook up with the irradiance. this is the same method i conveyed to the president and his top advisers at the beginning of the administration . if he wants his policy or his deal to endure beyond his presidency, you must bring republicans on board. regrettably president biden appears to have ignored this good advice. reports indicate a sequel to the bad 2015 around nuclear deal may be imminent yet the administration has laid zero bipartisan framework. rumors of this impending deal because members are all that congress has suggested it

would be an enormous step in the wrong direction. it appears not to be a longer and stronger deal and the jcp oa as was promised but a weaker and shorter deal. it appears not to safeguard and increase our leverage over tehran and its revolutionary guard but instead breezily sign our leverage away. president biden appears to want to give tehran enduring sanctions released in exchange for limited per on their nuclear program. a reminder of how bad president obama's around the was is the fact that these restrictions will begin to expire as soon as next year . that will put more pressure on western negotiators, not on iran. this is extortion playing out step-by-step. and this administration is

prepared to sign on to it. around it's serious sanctions released and expanded trade with russiaand china . their price is either fewer restrictions than the original failed deal and those restrictions began to expire in just two years. this is really wildly reckless. this administration is chasing a deal, any deal instead of pursuing our interests. there's some suspicion the administration is desperate for an excuse to ease sanctions on iranian oil exports to help blunt the impact of the european crisis . on america's pocketbooks. this white house seems determined to go hand in hand and begged every bad actor around the world to ramp up their own fossil fuel production but still not stop their holywar against our own american energy production at home . if press reports of the deal are accurate, the president

and the democrats on capitol hill surely understand it will notbe accepted widely . or quietly. the president seeks to remove sanctions on iran there will be votes. democrats who now regret the recent vote to protect the north stream to pipeline should think twice before voting to tell president biden to use sanctions on america arabian entities that engage in terrorism or human rights abuses. even chairman menendez concerns i hope and would expect the foreign relations committee will hold major hearings. but i know this much for certain. the next time republicans control the senate vigorous oversight will take place over the diplomatic mess that is unfolding in themiddle east . a failure to consolidate the historic needs of the records.

gigantic live in row concessions to the most active state sponsor of terrorism. appointments can pitch relation to around back terrorists that has only yielded even more violence in yemen and increased ballistic missile and drone attacks against saudi and an already citizens. it's bad enough that democrats in congress have spent months actively fighting against sufficient funding for our national defense and our armed forces. but these dynamics are made evenmore dangerous by a white house that is actively choosing weakness in the middle east . >>

>> and the military officer helped lead a rebellion against what he and many others saw as a russian puppet king. and what was known as the post polish lithuanian commonwealth. he was driven into exile in

france but lafayette and benjamin franklin urged him to go to america to join in the fight the revolutionary war. that young nobleman's name was casimir polasky. when he arrived in america he wrote to general george washington and said to him i came here where freedom is being defended to serve it and to live or die by it. polasky was a washington washington side and is credited with saving george washington's life at the battle of brandywine . he is remembered finally as the father of the american cavalry. polasky died at age 34. and the fight for freedom and independence . in america. today is casimir polasky day. which we know full well in illinois where it is a state holiday . today, however we look at the

world and realized that freedom is being defended in ukraine. and today we see casimir polasky's spirits and fierce commitment to freedom and human dignity and in the heroic young ukrainian president. and in ukrainian men and women. >>

lativa, lithuania, poland and so many other countries and people who have been americans for generations who were standing together to say this cannot stand. we had a prayer vigil, it was in a hiewng church but -- huge church but there was an overflow crowd. i joined rally in front of the

white house and again it included so many ukrainians, including from ohio, but so many others as well. and the rallying cry was we are all ukrainians today because we all believe in democracy and freedom and the right for a country to chart its own course and for people to be independent and free. we had rab eyes there -- rabbis there, ministers there, clergy there from four or five different common nations. -- common -- denominations, again, praying for the people of ukraine. we were all standing together hoping that through joint action we can help during these dark days for the people of ukraine. we prayed for protection for those in harm's way, of course, we prayed for the courageous

ukrainian troops, some of whom are civilian soldiers who have just joined the armed forces for the fierms, some are seasoned professional soldiers, but we prayed for their protection, all of them. we asked for god's wisdom for the duly elected government of ukraine. we prayed for resolve and strength for president zelensky and for his protection. he has been amazing. he has been resolute and courageous and he has shown the ukrainian people the way forward which is to stand up for these barbarous acts. if you care about america, you should care about ukraine. every freedom-loving country should care because in ukraine today is where the fight for freedom is being waged. it's not just about ukraine.

it's also about the rest of the countries in eastern europe, lativa, poland, romania, hungary, but it's also about the entire world, it's about canada and other governments stepping into a free, independent government and take over a territory and kill its citizens. by the way, ukraine wants nothing but to live in peace. they are not looking it to attack anybody. they just want to be able to lead a life where they can, in peace, pursue their dreams. just today during the negotiations between the ukrainian government and the russian government, the russian federation, the russians said that they would only allow humanitarian corridors to go from these cities that they are bombing, where they are killing

civilians, they would only allow civilian koord -- so innocent women and children running from the violence are told, you can leave but you will be forced to go to the land of your enemies. you're forced to go only to belarus or russia, the countries that are killing you and your family. that doesn't sound like peace talks to me. there have been numerous recorded war crimes in this assault on ukraine. one is the way they are dealing with these civilians, obviously, president putin and his generals and his officials must be held

accountable. the russian federation deliberate targeting of civilians is the most obvious example, but there are so many, the bombing of a nuclear power plant. it is now documented that yesterday -- yesterday and into this morning russians shelled ukrainian citizens who were fleejing the -- fleeing the siege of marapal while negotiating a humanitarian corridor. they were bombed by russians because russians did not keep their word to allow for an escape corridor, hundreds of thousands of people remain trapped without food or water

under regular bombardments. again, this is a tragedy on a scale difficult to comprehend. that's why it's so important to show our support with actions, not just words. a number of my colleagues and i spoke to president zelensky this weekend. it was emotional and it was inspiring. he pleaded for our assistance to help his people and he needed defensive weaponry like fighter planes and drones desperately. after the call, i wrote a bipartisan letter to president biden with my colleague from new hampshire, senator jeanne shaheen, it reported what we called for over the last several days which is to help ukraine able to get what they need, which is more air power. our eastern european allies including poland, bulgaria and

slovakia, have older aircraft such as the s-29 and su-25 that they are willing to provide to ukraine but they would like to have an agreement with the united states that they could back fill over time by purchasing advanced fighters such as f-16's. poland has f-16's, but they are mig fighters they are going to provide to ukraine. it is to help poland improve their defensive posture in the wake of what's going on in ukraine. these soviet aircraft are compatible with ukrainian air force. again we've been told they are willing to donate the aircraft if they have assurances they can purchase more aircraft over

time. let's make this happen. let's not say we have to go through a long bureaucratic process. let's be creative here. they need these planes now. they needed them yesterday. this will help to stop some of the atrocities that we talked about. think of that column, miles and miles of armored vehicles and tanks head toward kiev to kill more civilians. some air power would be very helpful right now. and their other capabilities such as communication gear, drones and ammunition. all of it should be moving quickly into ukraine. i've -- i applaud the administration for what they've done, about you we've got to do more. we've all seen these horrible images on our television sets. families torn apart. the ravages after needless war. the deliberate intentional targeting of civilians by rockets, even cluster knew missions -- cluster munitions.

by providing humanitarian assistance to ukraine, we stand for freedom and freedom-loving countries. i commend the administration for some of the steps they've taken, as i say, but we've got to do more. i appreciate that we've sanctioned russian banks, placed limits on high-tech commerce, russia's ability to do business in dollars. that's all good. the treasury department has imposed sanctions on economic measures that target the core infrastructure of russia. and more than 50% of the total banking system of russia which will have devastating economic effects over time. but let's put all the banks into that system. let's do everything we can to tighten the noose on the putin economy. some have asked me why does what is happening in ukraine matter? i was home this weekend. and a lot of positive response and people were also saying ukraine is a long way away. why does it matter so much? i would say that this is where

in our generation, in our time, the cause of freedom is being defended. this is where in our generation and our time, we must protect those who wish to chart their own course, protect their sovereign independent country, and this is where we are being tested not just the united states but our allies and all freedom-loving people around the world. when the people of ukraine chose to get rid of a corrupt russian-backed government eight years ago for a second time, by the way, they chose freedom over tyranny. they chose democracy over authoritarianism. they chose to ensure the people of ukraine would have the ability to be free and independent. that's what we freedom-loving countries in the world proclaim every day. now is the time not to shirk our responsibilities but to step forward and help any way we can shoulder to shoulder with the people of ukraine. they are defending their homeland fiercely. they have already denied president putin his early goals.

he severely underestimated the power of the freedom and power of the ukranian people. there's no question about that but in congress we can and should do more. and the international community must do more to hold russia accountable. say to the russian commanders in the field and to the officials in moscow, there is another choice. stop this atrocity. refuse the orders to kill innocent neighbors. stop this atrocity that's already taken the lives of thousands of innocent civilians, men, women, and children who want nothing other than to live in peace. i say to those commanders and these officials the world is watching. the war crimes are being recorded. you have a choice. here in congress we can do more to tighten the sanctions. we can do more to provide more military assistance to ukraine.

there's bipartisan agreement on so much of this, including the need to cut off the funding that is going to the putin economy and his war machine. one example of this but one important one is not to buy russian oil and send blood money to russia. why would he be importing russian oil? sending russia 40, $50 million a day, that makes no sense. let's use our natural resources here in north america. we have the resources here. we should not be dependent on the russian oil. we should not be sending them this blood money. by the way, there's bipartisan agreement on this. last week i joined legislation with republicans and democrats alike, equal number with senator murkowski and senator manchin to do just that. we need to stop all russian banks from their access to the international banking system, not some, all. i commend the administration's sanctioning of russian oligarchs

and wealthy citizens but we need to do more. we need to move from freezing assets to seizing assets. we can do that. other countries have done it. by the way, germany has done it. france has done it. we should be out front as americans and not just freezing but seizing. by the way, those assets we seize should go to the people of ukraine to help with the humanitarian effort that is under way. right now our friends in ukraine need our help, right now, immediately, yesterday. they can't wait. we have an emergency supplemental bill we're working on here in congress. let's get it done. let's do it outside of the omnibus or the c.r. or anything else. we know what needs to be done. let's not wait. let's not dither. the shells are flying tonight. raining upon the cities of ukraine and its people. we cannot let this call to action go unanswered.

we cannot let the ukranian people continue to be at the mercy of a tyrannical dictator. we cannot sit by and watch as innocent civilians are being killed. in the west in america, we must stand up, all of us, for freedom. the world is watching. our allies are watching. our adversaries are watching. we must show the world that america does stand for freedom, and we stand with ukraine. god bless ukraine where as the ukranian people say glory to you, ukraine, glory to the ukranians. [speaking foreign language] mr. portman: thank you. i yield the floor.

mr. tuberville: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from alabama. mr. tuberville: thank you very much. mr. president, before i start my speech today on another topic, i want to take just a moment to discuss what's on all of our hearts across the country and across the world. and that's we should be praying for the ukranian people. we have got a mess in ukraine. a lot of us have been to ukraine over the last few months. we made friends. i went over and met with the president a few months ago and a lot of his staff. what good people. but they told us then that they needed help. and for some reason this administration decided to drag its feet, tried to talk its way out of it. sometimes when you try to talk your way out of it instead of

putting facts in front of you, you have problems. well, we've had real problems. president putin who is a murderous tyrant thought this was going to be easy. he didn't realize that the people of ukraine were going to stand up and fight for their country, and they've done just that. they've lost many lives. ukranian soldiers, men and women. and also many, many citizens. but it has made nato stronger. putin never thought that would happen. so as i said earlier, i think we all should remember every day and every night our prayers go out to the ukranians and hopefully in the near future we can all come to some kind of consensus as to what works best and that president putin will come to his senses and call this off. the other thing i want to talk about real quickly is rising

prices, inflation. i was back in my home state of alabama this week, and prices are at historic highs and getting higher every day. but we were told by this administration that inflation was transitory. we heard that all last year. definition of transitory? not for long. well, they were very wrong on that. also said inflation was due to covid. well, covid has not gone, but it has died down and inflation is getting higher. we were told by this add mass -- this administration it was due to corporate greed. well, we've had the same corporations for years and years. inflation has been low but now still going higher and higher. and the last reason that this administration said inflation is going up is because of war.

there's probably something to that. obviously we've got an energy crisis in this country, and everything runs off of energy. but one thing this administration didn't tell us was they didn't blame it on the trillions of dollars that we basically have taken and thrown out of helicopters all over this country. we've got more money now, 36% more money than we had two years ago in this country, and we have less goods. that's when you have inflationary prices that creep up. but we've got to get control over our energy crisis. if we don't do that, them the economy is not going to have a chance. that's the bottom line. that's the basics of the economy. anybody's economy is your energy. our farmers are getting killed with planting as we speak. they're in the fields paying more and more every day for their fuel. small businesses are struggling

with rates that are climbing at double and triple the rates in terms of being shipped their goods, and they're having to pay the price for that. and then the price goes up and the american consumer pays that much more. so we've got a problem. and we better get control of that in the very near future or our economy is going to continue to go down. and continue to get in debt. so we've got those two problems, one at home and one on the road. it's a road game in ukraine and hopefully we can help out the ukranian people, give them what they need to continue to fight. but as we watch television each day, they continue to lose ground each day. but they're going to fight for what they believe in, and that's their freedom. my topic today, though, is -- i

think it's something that we need to listen to from the people across this country. it's not war. it's not inflation. it has something to do with basic life here in this country. to be their voice, i'm advocating on the behalf of the people of this country. let me read you a little bit about something that comes from my people in alabama. a constituent writes, quote, daylight savings time year round means the elderly, like myself, will be able to be more active in early evenings. another from mobile writes, quote, please try and do whatever is necessary to have daylight savings time permanent in the state of alabama and our country. everyone knows and everyone that i talked to, they want more

daylight in the evening. and this is from a mental health professional. quote, i am writing to let you know of the negative effects of my population of having the time change the way it does in november towards an earlier sundown, less daylight hours. it increases depression and decreases productivity and about half of my psychiatric patients -- in other words, he's having problems when the sun goes down basically because people can't get outside. these messages make more important points, and i couldn't agree more. that's why i cosponsored senator rubio's bill the sunshine protection act which would make daylight saving time permanently. that would mean an extra hour of sunlight during the dark and cold winter months. and ahead of this, we -- and

ahead of this weekend when we start daylight saving time this coming sunday, i want to take a moment to discuss the many reasons why we should do away with the outdated practice of springing forward and falling back. delight saving time should be a thing of the past because it literally is. introduced as a temporary measure during world war i, daylight saving time was originally called, quote, wartime, and it was a way to help conserve fuel and better utilize resources. following the end of world war i, the 1918 standard time act was enacted that discontinued daylight saving time nationally but individual states continued to spring forward and fall back. then during world war ii, there was a renewed federal push for

full time savings time when then was repealed in 1945. finally in 1966 congress passed legislation to set a national standard time. all just to save changes to our clocks might have made sense when it first began but it certainly doesn't now. in fact as recently as 2005 congress moved the start of the date of daylight savings time one month earlier in the spring and one month later in the fall. this change was implemented in 2007, giving us the ratio of daylight savings time that we have now. eight months to four months. the ways we consume energy has dramatically changed since the beginning of world war i. what started as an energy saver now just does not make sense for

these modern times. to turn the clocks back each year is a nuisance and not smart policy. you know, kids get out of school and the sun is starting to set, families in their kitchen are cooking dinner, and it seems more like a bedtime dinner. weekends have less sunlight hours, limiting the amount of time folks of all ages can spend enjoying the outdoors. additionally, reduced levels of sunlight are known to disrupt the body's internal clock, which regulates sleep and alertness. it is no wonder that cases of s.a.d., or seasonal disorder, are much more common in the winter months than they are in

the spring. and for our farmers, longer days mean more time to work in the fields under sunlight which translates to more profitable bottle line. -- bottom line. the time change costs the united states economy an estimated $430 million annually in accounting for lost for productivity and the change of sleep. that is why alabama along with 17 other states have passed legislation or resolutions to flip the switch on this outdated practice permanently, increasing our daylight hours. however, for the will of the states to be enacted, the federal government -- this body, this building -- has to get involved. the 1966 law must be changed and the sunshine protection act does just that.

the sunshine protection act makes sense from a health and economic perspective, and it's just common sense. it's time we passed the sunshine protection act. let's give americans something to celebrate -- longer days and more sunshine. mr. president, i notice the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. schumer: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority majority leader. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the quorumming dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: well, mr. president, let me start off with my great news. when we vote later today, all of

us will be able to say these four wonderful words -- senator lujan, welcome back. he's not on the floor right now, but ben ray, it was great to see you back here in the capitol last week. it is great to see you today. we've missed you. we're thrilled to have you back on the job. we admire your strength and your courage and your fortitude, your quiet strength. now, over the weekend, members from both house and senate met virtually with ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky, and we reemif aifiesed reemphasized congress' strong commitment to providing robust and ample assistance to his country in this time of war. i told the ukrainian president he was an inspiration to americans, and i assured him that his pleas for help will not go unanswered. in particular, preyed zelensky made a des -- president zelensky made a desperate plea for

getting planes. i called on the administration to explore all feasible options to getting these fighter aircraft to ukraine. these planes are very much needed. ukrainian forces are familiar with them, and they will very much help in countering the russians, especially as putin massacres, massacres civilians in ukraine. democrats and republicans broadly agree that this is a necessary step against russia's illegal invasion. today i reiterate my call for administration to explore how to ensure that the ukrainians have the capabilities they need. i also spoke with the administration yesterday and was told they are looking closely at imposing a ban on oil. meanwhile, there are other steps congress -- on russian oil coming here. meanwhile, there are other steps congress can take in the coming

days to support the ukrainian people. above all, we must finalize the more than $12 billion emergency aid package to be included in the upcoming omnibus spending bill. this emergency aid will provide both humanitarian and military assistance for ukraine, funding for refugees, medical supplies, emergency food supplies, as well as funding to support weapon transfers into ukraine and help our eastern flank nato allies. the clearest signal congress can send to vladimir putin this week is passing a bipartisan aid package, leaving no doubt that the democratic nations of the world stand with ukraine and against putin's deeply immoral and bloody war. and again -- let me say this again -- the quickest, the quickest way to secure an emergency aid package for ukraine is through the omnibus, and i believe both sides are

close, very close, to arriving at an agreement. now, on covid aid, at the same time, there's another important matter that congress must address in the spending bill -- additional covid relief aid, which the administration has wisely urged congress to approve. the federal government is completely exhaust -- has completely exhausted all the federal health funding last year as part of the american rescue plan. that means that to prepare for future variants, more funding, more federal funding, is needed now. across the country, thank god, we've seen signs that the u.s. is turning the corner on covid. schools are open, mass guidelines are being reversed, vaccinations have surpassed 250 million americans. we learned that more than 7 million jobs have now been created since president biden took office. this is all great news. cases are falling, unemployment is falling and the country is on the right track.

but experience has taught us that new variants can come back with a vengeance if, if we aren't ready. the administration has been clear. if we want schools to stay open, if we want to preserve as much of normal life as possible, when another variant arises -- and the odds are quite high that one will -- congress must pass additional covid funding now, not later. we have to have it ready. we have to have the therapeutics ready. we have to have the testing ready. we have to have the vaccines ready. we can't wait two, three months when after the variant hits, we debate the issue, we then allocate the money, and then production starts. that would be terrible for the country. it'll be too little too late. it's far better to prepare now than play catch-up later. we should have learned our lesson a long time ago, but now we are hopefully. i've been strongly urging my

colleagues to get a deal done on covid. failure to act is not an acceptable outcome. another issue this week -- postal reform. this week the senate is going to put the finishing -- is going to put the finishing touches on a bipartisan accomplishment weeks, months, in fact years in the making, postal reform legislation. six days a week, the u.s. postal service processes an average of 167 million pieces of first-class mail. it employs nearly half a million people. it's been a fixture of our country since the very beginning, since bengaline franklin. but over the last decade, the post office has been in serious need of reform. everyone knows the frustration of waiting weeks for a package to come in the mill. so this week the senate is finally passing legislation that will deliver for the post office the long overdue reforms it has been waiting for.

the fact that this bill has extraordinary bipartisan support is indicative of its importance, and i'm glad that both sides have negotiated in good faith thus far. i want to particularly thank chairman peters and ranking member portman for making sure that legislation that is kept moving over the past few weeks. for generations the post office has delivered for america and now congress is delivering for the post office by passing postal reform legislation. we can ensure that americans will continue to benefit from a speedy, dependable, and well-run post office just as we have for our entire history. and now on costs -- a few weeks ago, a member of the republican leadership released a platform that proposed raising taxes on tens of millions of americans, focused on fanning the flames of division and zeroed in on proposals that failed to address the biggest problems of our time.

today a new analysis found a plan like that from the junior senator of florida could raise taxes on many american families by more than $1,000 in 2022 alone. democrats don't think that we shoulding raising taxes on working americans as we recover from covid. in fact, we're working to make sure americans have more money, not less, in their pockets. so today i sent my completion a letter -- my colleagues a letter outlining how democrats will keep a laser focus over the next few months over cutting costs, building upon historic job growth and finding bipartisan ways to help everyday americans make ends meet. democrats are the party offering ideas for how to combat inflation that's being felt around the world because of covid. democrats are taking aim at capping insulin prices to $35 a month. while making prescription drugs

much, much cheaper. democrats are working to repair supply chain bottlenecks that are hurting businesses including in our seaports. and democrat are zeroing in on policies to combat price hikes at the grocery store, including meat prices, which the president noted last week. this week, our caucus will hold our annual dpcc retreat, where we will go over our proposals in greater detail. want to compliment senator stabenow for putting this retreat together, and i encourage all of my colleagues to review my letter so we can all continue our work of lowering costs for the american people. i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: mrs., russia's

brutal and unprovoked attack on ukraine intensified over this last weekend, bringing even more death and destruction to the ukrainian people, and more uncertainty to the rest of the world. it appears that russia is now targeting noncombatant evacuation routes, the latest blatant war crime in a clear escalation following targeted attacks on civilians. russian forces fired on civilians as they fled for their lives, killing a mother, her two children, and a family friend. over the last couple of weeks, hundreds of ukrainians have been killed and countless others have been wounded. more than 1.5 million people have fled the country, making it the fastest-growing refugee crisis in europe since world war ii. through the immense suffering,

russia has inflicted the bravery and resolve of the ukrainian people has shone bright. the world has been awe-struck at the courage of teachers, architects, grandmothers, ukrainians from all walks of life who've taken up arms in defense of their democracy. we've all been moved by the leadership of president zelensky, who is fighting alongside of his fellow ukrainians while pleading with the rest of the world to take action. and we've admired the strength of those who were forced to say goodbye to loved ones, abandon their homes, and search for safety beyond ukraine's borders. people around the world have rallied around ukraine, offering support in ways big and small. families across europe are welcoming refugees into their homes. people around the world have organized fundraisers and donation drives to get food,

blankets, first aid kits and other critical supplies into the hands of the ukrainians. people over the free world have cheered on and generously supported ukraine at this critical moment, but now it's time for congress to act. since ukraine is not a member of the north atlantic treaty organization, we have no legal obligation to support its fight against russia, but we to have a moral obligation to help them defend themselves. russia has waged an unmistakable war on a sovereign democracy, it's targeted civilian areas, and brought immeasurable destruction to ukraine, and it continues to threaten further death and destruction outside and beyond ukraine, even rattling its nuclear saber at the heart of europe. yes, we have a moral duty to support the ukrainian people as

they defend their sovereignty in their beloved country. so far, the united states has provided military, humanitarian, and economic assistance for ukraine. these resources have been critical in the fight so far. the united states and our allies have also imposed harsh sanctions on russia's economy, sending its currency into a downward spiral. this has, no doubt, made life harder for the russian people with whom we have no quarrel, but we should continue to use every tool at our disposal to expose costs on vladimir putin and his aggression, in the hope that his own people will eventually rise up and say enough. many businesses have suspended operations in russia, inflicting even more economic pain on the kremlin. i'm encouraged by the global response so far, but we need to do more. this is a seminal moment in

american history and in human history, reminiscentent of events most americans today only know about from their history books, and wars fought by our parents and grandparents. after this extended holiday from history, the united states must now take every possible step to stop this war by all available means. this week, i expect the senate to vote on an emergency funding bill to send even more resources to the fight in ukraine. the united states -- i should say, the white house has requested $10 billion in military and humanitarian assistance, and there's strong bipartisan understanding that we need to move that quickly, as we just heard from the majority leader. the traditionally slow pace of legislation won't cut it. this is a reminder of the importance of not only preserving, but growing our military strength.

authoritarian leaders are watching this test of the free world's resolve. our democratic leagues have consistently fought to shift funds from our national defense to domestic programs. when inflation is accounted for, president biden's first budget proposed an actual decrease in defense spending. we need to turn that around, especially in light of recent developments. the war in ukraine has proven that a well-funded and well-prepared military isn't a luxury, it's a necessity. germany's dramatic reversal on defense spending illustrates how clear this points has now becom. our colleagues in the appropriations committee are still working through the details of an omnibus appropriation bill, and i hope they're able to reach an agreement before the funding deadline this friday.

while short-term bills are better than government shutdowns, they only hamper our ability to plan for the future. our military leadership needs a predictable budget in order to prepare for the many threats we are experiencing now and those that are on the horizon. that was true before russia invaded ukraine, and it's absolutely critical now. in a recent "washington post" op-ed, former defense secretary and c.i.a. director robert gates wrote about the need for a new american strategy to safeguard our security interests. that includes predictable funding, strong alliances, new technologies, and reforms within the pentagon. bureaucracy and red tape come with a lot of overhead, and those dollars would better be spent on advanced technologies and equipment. as secretary gates said, our executive and legislative branches must understand the new

world we live in and set aside business as usual and embrace dramatic change to ensure we and our democratic allies prevail in that contest. investments and reforms to our national defense will be critical to america's security for years to come, but there are immediate steps we should take to increase the cost of this up provoked war by russia. the u.s. and our allies have imposed crippling sanctions on russian banks and olie garks, but the country's lucrative oil and gas industry remains virtually untouched. russia continues to export energy to the rest of the world. in fact, many parts of europe are completely dependent on russian energy exports. and putin is happy to use the revenue that he generates from those sales to sustain the attack on ukrainian civilians. the embarrassing truth is that the united states of one of

russia's customers. we cannot continue to supply russia with the blood money they get from their exports to the united states. that's why there's a strong bipartisan support for a ban on russian oil imports. i'm proud to be cosponsor of legislation that was introduced by our friend from kansas, senator marshall, to ban the purchase of russian oil in the united states. we have the great fortune of living in a resource-rich country, and there's no reason why we should rely on anyone else, let alone a power-hungry dictator, for our basic energy needs. putin's aggression has lit a fire under the u.s. and our allies, and we need to take concrete steps to end our reliance on foreign oil and continue our pursuit of energy independence. at the same time, making sure that our friends and allies around the world have access to more than just one choice when it comes to their energy needs.

again, we need to take that noose out of the hand of vladimir putin when it comes to dissuading these countries that are dependent on russia. we need to give them more choices in the freedom to make those choices. strangely, there are media reports today the administration is considering easing sanctions on venezuelan oil to compensate for what nations import from russia. but i have to ask, mr. president, why on earth would we trade one oil-rich dictator for another? instead, here's a novel concept perhaps the administration would consider -- why don't we boost our own production from here in the united states and sell it across the globe? it's truly shocking that this administration is so against and so opposed to american oil and gas that they'd rather make it easier to buy oil from the

maduro regime than from here at home in america. it's simply unfathomable and inexcusable. energy security is something we've taken for granted here in the united states. so has germany, so has europe. but now they're learning that there are bitter lessons to be learned from that dependency on imports from a country like the russian federation. we simply cannot ignore the fact that energy security is national security, and we can't ignore the graves risks that accompany our reliance on foreign oil for our most basic needs or those of our allies. mr. president, over the last couple of weeks people around the world have rallied to the support of the people of ukraine in ways big and small, the global community has sent an unmistakable message that russia's attack on the sovereignty of ukraine will not

be tolerated. it's time for congress to step up to the plate and provide even more support to our friends in that country. as i said, we may not have a legal obligation, but we do have a moral obligation to supply ukrainian forces and the civilians with the resources they need in order to resist russian aggression. that's the task before us this week, and i hope we can take strong bipartisan action that sends an unmistakable message to the world. i hope we'll also consider other , more harsh actions against russia. for example, i support our colleagues on the finance committee to strip russia of its permanent normal trading relations status. this will place russia in the same pariah category as north korea and cuba. "the wall street journal" made the point this last week that nothing can be the same after

the russian invasion of ukraine. there are few seminal points in our life where we remember that everything changed therefore, whether it's september 11, 2001, the assassination of a president, and now after this post-cold war holiday from history invasion of another democracy in europe. this is a watershed moment, and the united states must take every possible step to stop this war before the cost grows even higher and spreads to other countries outside of ukraine. mr. president, i yield the floor, and i would note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. grassley: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: i ask that the calling of the quorum be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. grassley: mr. president, on saturday deadly tornadoes swept on saturday the deadly tornado swept through iowa destroying homes, parks and leaving over

10000 people without power communities most affected are winterset, iowa, cheriton, iowa but other communities as well. tragically, seven people, five adults and two children died. many people have been affected because of this severe weather. it is the deadliest tornado in s our state in 15 years the one 15 years ago him close to my town in iowa the community adjoining and 13 people lost their lives that time. so with today's incident as families, businesses and communities the damage and clean up from these storms, i want iowans to know that i have talked to

department of homeland security secretary mayorkas about these tornadoes. he has been assuring that wherever the federal government has authority to help, they will step in and do that. i've also reached out to fema, the state of iowa, and affected communities. i'll do everything i can at the federal level to assist. unfortunately, iowa is no stranger to tornadoes and natural disasters. i once again am encouraged by the stories i hear from neighbors, strangers helping each other and their communities. and of course we all know that that is the iowa way -- neighbor helping neighbor. these storms take time to recover, and i know that we will continue to reach out and help our fellow iowans in need.

my thoughts and the thoughts of all iowans and their prayers go out to those who lost loved ones and those whose property was affected by these tornadoes. i also pray for those who were hurt and some hospitalized, that they have a speedy recovery. iowans are strong and resilient people, and we will recover and we will rebuild. as iowa's senator, i'll be there to help in any way needed. now, mr. president, on another matter that i've spoken on the floor of the united states senate recently and to some extent a few times last year, the issue of freedom of speech in our colleges. in recent years i tried to

highlight some of the most ridiculous impositions on freedom of speech in college, but so many of these cases get swept under the rug. it can be hard to get an idea of whether typical students feel free to speak their minds in the university environment. so last spring the iowa legislature passed a bill strengthening free speech across our state's education system. in part, this bill was meant to find out how big a problem restraint of free expression is at our state's public universities. last month that led to the results of a survey of 17,000 students in iowa's public universities.

the results raised serious concerns. now get this, less than half of the employees thought that their university allowed them to say what they believe. a third of the students thought that their institution, quote-unquote, hindered free speech. a quarter of the students didn't even think that their campus provided a, quote, environment for free and open expression of ideas, end of quote. a university that can't meet that basic bar is missing the whole purpose of a college or university. you've heard me say my definition of a university is where controversy ought to run rampant. thankfully the bill that passed

the iowa legislature takes action to solve the issue that i just described. this semester students across the state have begun taking a course to instill in them the value of free speech. the goal is to ensure that students and faculty understand the value of the first amendment, freedom of speech. the course emphasizes respect for the other's speech and its impact both in and out of the classroom. i'm hopeful that this will start to steer us in the right direction. not only my state of iowa, i hope it has some impact across the country. because letting students speak their minds is central to the idea of a liberal arts

education, but the default has increasingly become to sensor at the drop of a -- become to censor at the drop of a hat only allowing free speech if the administrator finds blowback. look here to a case here at washington, d.c. at george washington university. a student put up posters criticizing having the olympics in china given the repressive regime there. and we know about that repressive regime because we talk about it quite often, as the chinese communist deny freedom of religion and other freedoms to the uighur minority. these posters at george washington university were well

done and well within the mainstream discussion. they speak to the concerns that i had myself about what goes on in china. but the university immediately responded by tearing them down and saying the posters were racist. they only reversed themselves when it came out that the artist is the -- the artist, i better say himself or herself was chinese and the concerns were far from unique. i find it hard to believe the university's namesake would approve of this approach. examples like this are why we need iowa's new free speech

course and hopefully that that example set in my state by our own state legislators is followed elsewhere. students and administrators alike have forgotten why the first amendment matters. i'm glad to see states like iowa starting to remind everybody. i yield the floor. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

i was warning the biden administration to be tripled out a bureaucracy. i certainly hope that left but

even while one of foreign policy nightmare plays out in eastern europe, explicitly, the biden administration's reportedly poised to announce a giant - to in the middle east as well. and the nature of the biden administration's approach thus far has concerns not just the republicans, but as members of both parties and democratic colleagues with former relations committee recently in the administration and partners to exert more pressure on iran to counter his nuclear program and its missile program and the standard behavior around the middle east including the tax and american assets i would note that the senate menendez also stressed the importance of only bipartisanship support pretty new deal, but the president took

up, with the iranians and is the same as the president has talked about in the beginning of the administration. if he wants his policy or his deal to endure beyond his presidency, he must bring the republicans on board and president bided is ignoring this good advice reports indicate that a sequel, a sequel, to the bad 2015, iran nuclear deal may be evident at the ministration is laid zero bipartisan framework. and rumors of this impending deal because rumors are all the commerce has, to say it would be an enormous step in the wrong direction and it appears not to be longer and stronger deal as what obama, but a weaker and shorter deal. and appears to safeguard and

increase our leverage with iran and its guard, but instead, sort of a silencer leverage away. president biden appears to want to give iran endurance and now in exchange for the short-term curves and their nuclear programs. a reminder of how bad president obama's run deal was the fact that these restrictions will begin to expire as soon as next year. i will put more pressure on the negotiators, not on iran. this is extortion and playing out. in this administration is prepared to sign on to it, iran is serious sanctions relief and expanded trades with russia and china, the price even fewer restrictions than the original failed iran deal is restricted began to expire in just two

years pretty this is really wildly reckless, this administration is chasing a deal, any deal instead of pursuing our interests. but some suspicion the administration is desperate for any excuse from iranian oil exports to help month effect of the european crisis. on america's pocketbook us. this white house seems determined it to go back ever bad after her on the world to rev up their own fossil fuel productions, the still stop the holy war against our own american energy productions here at home. and of the press reports on the deal the presence and the democrats on capitol hill shortly to understand, that it will not be accepted quietly predict and the president seeks to remove sanctions on iran, there will be both the democrats now with the recent vote, the

normed stream to pipeline should think twice before running gel president biden it have sages under indian entities and engage in terrorism and proliferation of human rights abuses. given chairman of concerns, i hope and will expect the foreign relations committee will hold major hearings. but i know this much is certain, next time think the republicans control the senate, their oversight and our site will take place of the messes and pulling the middle east, the failure to consolidate the historic of abraham of cord, gigantic unilateral construction of the most state-sponsored of terrorism the entire world and iran backed terrorist, and only yielded even more violence than yemen and increased missile under the tax against him or bad

enough the democrats in congress has spent months actively fighting against suspicion finding it for national events in our armed forces. with these dynamics are made even more dangerous by the white house actively choosing. call. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. blackburn: like most of my colleagues, i spent the weekend monitoring the war in ukraine. i took the opportunity to join the video conference with president zelensky. i don't know how anyone could have hung up from that call confused about vladimir putin's intentions with ukraine and, indeed, i think that we saw that vladimir putin has ill intent to anyone who opposes him. what is happening in ukraine is not a special military operation, as he -- putin likes

to say. it is an all-out war. putin has caused a massive humanitarian and human rights crisis and even though the world is collapsing around him, he has given no indication of pulling back. the sanctions imposed by the free world have had a devastating impact on russia's economy. the ruble crashed to a new low, there is a ban of russian flights over our airspace and sports organizations, entertainers, private corporations are all avoiding russia like the plague. if putin's goal was to transform russia into another hermit kingdom, he's well on his way to making that dream a reality. the very idea seems insane, but,

remember, vladimir putin may be a madman, but he's a madman who is very intentional in what he is doing. he is reading the terrain and he sees that the world's foremost superpower is too busy worrying about optics to do the one thing that would send russia's economy back to the stone age. putin sent his army to invade ukraine on february 24. the ukrainian people have endured 11 days of savagery and we still have not imposed meaningful sanctions on the russian energy sector. by now the entire world knows that putin is using energy as a weapon. russia is now the u.s. third largest supplier of crude oil. the european union gets about 40% of its gas imports and more

than a quarter of its oil from russia. we're feeling the pain every time we put gas in our cars, but looking at oil prices is still a bright spot in putin's day. russia is really a great big oil depot with an army, and he knows that much of the world is depending on russian oil. he's financing his war with every single tank of u.s. gas at a time -- every time you pull up to fill up your tank, this is what is happening. and as long as joe biden refuses to tear us free from our

entanglement with russian energy, he is complicit with every single barrel of oil that he buys. energy is the most powerful economic weapon that putin has at his disposal. it is his currency. the only way to neutralize it is to cut off the revenue stream. we must sanction the russian energy sector and we must do it now. we must end the purchasing of russian oil. it's important to our partners in ukraine and to our own nation's security. last year joe biden made the unilateral decision to destroy energy independence in the united states when he canceled the keystone pipeline and banned new oil and gas leases on

federal line. that is right, colleagues, january 2021, we were energy independent. we were a net exporter of energy, but joe biden changed all that. he decided that by executive order, not by a vote of the house or senate, but by executive order he was going to end energy independence. and so where has that put us? it has placed us right into the hands of a warmonger who is hell bent on recreating the ussr, and his number one weapon, energy. he does, indeed, think he's got you over the barrel. our energy sector needs

certainty, not a series of actions based on the president's political whims. and we should give them that certainty by allowing us to move to energy independence. i implore the president to see reason and to end this dangerously foolish entanglement with moscow and russian oil. and on that note, i think it should be made clear to everybody that the answer is not to go to venezuela and negotiate to buy venezuelan oil from another madman. and the answer is not to have the russians working as an intermediary on a new iran nuclear deal, which, by the way, madam president, the people of this country do not want to be

entangled with iran. and, by the way, we hear they are expecting to buy iranian oil this is about the dumbest damn thing i have ever heard of. it is amazing. you're going to go do business with venezuela and with iran and have the russians involved in the middle of that. this is astounding, and this weekend, as i talked to tennesseans, they could not believe that this administration would be stooping to such. sanction russian energy, restart

the keystone pipeline, open up capped wells. stop flaring natural gas, put it into the supply chain. make certain that you are drilling domestically, exploring domestically. do it before it is too late. our mission as americans has not changed. we have a duty to preserve and protect freedom. the sheer availability of live footage and photographs flowing out of ukraine has highlighted the importance of that mission to protect and preserve security. this isn't the first time that putin has invaded sovereign territory, but it is the first time that his crimes have been live streamed for the entire world to see. and as far as the free world is

concerned, most of us have correctly identified the villain, but there are more than a few people out there that need persuading, and it's our job to help keep the information flowing. early on in the war, putin lawmplegged sieb -- launched cyberattacks to destabilize ukraine and prevent communications with the outside world. through my work on the armed services committee, i've supported funding for domestic programs that would help protect state and local governments here in the u.s. from these types of attacks. in the fiscal year 2022 ndaa, we created the civilian cybersecurity program to make sure our federal government can keep up with cyber threats like the ones from moscow being launched at the ukranians. but when it comes to defending

freedom, shoring up our own defenses is not enough. we have to look outward and prevents kinds of vulnerabilities niewment is trying to -- putin is trying to create. last week i entriesed the internet freedom and operations act with my colleague senator menendez. this legislation builds off of the work we did together on the open technology fund authorization act. it would authorize more than $100 million to support programs and circumvention technologies that keep the internet up and running in conflict zones. and under other repressive media environments. we've successfully used this technology to put control over information back in the hands of the people right where it belongs. dictators like putin suppress dissent for a reason. the truth is that free speech

scares them to death. they don't want it. they want cancel culture. only one point of view and it is theirs. from where i'm sitting it's clear that putin is right to be fearful of the resistance in ukraine and around the world and especially in his own country as his citizens are taking to the streets. thousands protesting. thousands being arrested so that they can push forward with freedom in their countries. i would encourage my colleagues to support the freedom fighters in ukraine and elsewhere. support them by signing off to the info act. and again i think senator menendez for his work on that. we've talked a lot lately about sanctions and stingers and ammunition, but i'd argue what has rattled putin the most is

how powerless he is to stop people from speaking. as i mentioned earlier, his war crimes are being broadcast in real time to anybody that has a screen and an internet connection. russian citizens are protesting in the streets against the russian government. his struggling military is the subject of intense ridicule on every digital platform. it is a propagandist's worse nightmare and the source of immense hope for the ukranian people and god bless them. they are in the fight. we have a duty to help keep that hope alive. and i would encourage my colleagues who haven't yet realized this to join together this week to stand up for the people in ukraine, to stand up for energy independence in this

country, and to stand up for free speech. i yield the floor. mr. portman: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. portman: i'm on the floor

today to talk about postal reform. we have another vote this afternoon. this is incredibly important to the people i represent and all of us represent. it's important because the postal service is something people depend on for so much. this legislation that we're talking about has been in the works for years. it's a bill to try to save the post office from insolvency. and if we don't act on this, i believe in the next few years we'll be back here with a big bailout for the postal service because they're having a tough time financially. the combination of this legislation we will pass and some internal reforms that the post office is making should be enough to get the post office back on track. the postal service has a postmaster general right now who's absolutely committed to that, making the post office more effective, more efficient. but he needs a little more breathing room as he says. that's what we're doing here in congress. it doesn't cost the taxpayer anything. if we don't do this in a few years trks will cost the taxpayers a lot in terms of a

bailout that i'm afraid would happen. the post office again is so important. it's definitely worth saving. our country is pretty divided right now. let's be honest. but one enduring reality about our country is we have a post office that ties us all together and everybody depends on that post office. by the way, it's been that way for a long time. in 1775, three months after the battles of lexington and concord -- so this is 1775, before the revolution was finalized in 1776, during that time the delegates to the second continental congress appointed benjamin franklin as the postmaster general. why was this so important? you know, franklin was one of the founding fathers and this is considered to be a really crucial post. because the new postal service offered a way for the colonists to talk to each other, to communicate for revolutionary leaders to strategize with each other outside the british

channels. so the post office has that rich history. and it continues to bind us today. in ohio ensures veterans get their medications that they get through the mail and believe me, that's important to them to get it on time. it allows absentee voters. in ohio we have no fault absentee. we've had it for years. it works well. but it requires the post office to do its obvious and obviously to not just deliver the absentee forms but to get the ballots in on time. it also is crucial for people to be able to get their rent check in. or to be sure she get their utility bill in time. it's for people's financial statements from their banks. but also the post office still delivers birthday cards, thank you note, personal letters that strengthen the bonds of family and friendships. so our postal service binds us together at a time when we're increasingly polarized. let's talk about what this particular legislation does. how does it save the post office?

first, very simply the bill makes sure the post office is going to be a strong footing for the future by relieving the postal service of an obligation that virtually nobody else has, nobody else in the federal government, which is to prefund retiree health benefits. if you're in a private company and you're listening to this, i'm almost sure you don't prefund your retirement health care benefits. people don't do that. the federal government we don't do that. we don't do it here in congress and yet the post office has that obligation. this would allow the post office by getting out from under that obligation to reconcile its books more accurately and to focus on immediate obligations. they should focus on those immediate obligations but not the prefunding. second this bill requires postal employees who retire in the future to enroll in medicare part b and part d. so hospitalization part a, people are already signed up for that. everybody is. but for part d and part -- part b and part d, doctors visit,

prescription drugs, about 25% of the people who work for the post office are not signed up for that. by putting that 25% into there, it helps to save a lot of money for the post office and the taxpayers. taxpayers will save about $1.5 billion based on this legislation and a lot of it is because of that change. employee health benefit plan that they would otherwise be in is a more generous plan. that's how you get those savings. third, the bill requires the post office to maintain its current standard of six-day delivery. that's important to a lot of my constituents, particularly the rural area. they like getting their mail. to do it through an enter greated delivery system of mail and packages together. that of course makes sense. you don't want separate systems going out for packages and for mail. that's what they do now. this is restating the status quo. that's very important. for some of the private sector

companies that provide delivery services, they want to know this is just the status quo. we're not talking about any changes. both sides of the aisle have talked to me about the six-day delivery. i know wherever people have a rural area in their state, this is particularly important. it ensures that people are going to receive their medications, their checks, their correspondence in a timely and predictable basis. this bill shores up the post office and does it in a way that actually saves money. the nonpartisan congressional budget office estimates, as i said, this legislation will save taxpayers $1.5 billion. so it doesn't cost taxpayers anything. it's not an appropriation of more money. but over ten years it saves that money. c.b.o., the congressional budget office which is the nonpartisan body up here that looks at the economic impact of legislation, c.b.o. has told us recently that this bill will not affect the solvency of the medicare hospital insurance trust fund.

that's the trust fund we talk about a lot here that we're concerned that it's going to become insolvent in only a short number of years and that that's going to cause problems for medicare. that trust fund is not touched by this legislation. c.b.o. has also made it clear that the bill will not increase part b or part d premiums. again part b, doctors visits. part d, prescription drugs. that's very important because a lot of people had concerns about that. so one reason it does affect you, there's only a small number of employees, 25% of them that would become part of that so i'd a drop in the bucket of the number of people on medicare. there's 61 million, 62 million people on medicare. this is between 14,000 and maybe 80,000 people who would be added to part b and part d. it does not affect the premiums. by the way, these people have been paying interest medicare their -- into medicare their

whole career so it's appropriate they go into part b and part d. this is a good bill and it's why it passed the house with a strong vote. it passed with a bipartisan vote of 3 -- it rarely happens. that's an indication of what kind of legislation this is. it's popular because it's about saving the post office and it's popular because it does so without asking the taxpayers to step up and do more. in fact, it saves some money. and it's popular because we've worked together on this one. you know, each side made concessions. is it the perfect bill i would have written? no. shame with my colleague from michigan who just arrived on the democratic side. he would have written it differently. he had to make concessions and we had to make concessions. it's important to put the post office in a position to succeed in its critical mission to provide essential services to small businesses, to our veterans, to our seniors, to our rural constituents. let's pass this bill and let's

ensure the post office is healthy for all those folks we represent back home. i yield back my time. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. mr. peters: i ask unanimous consent that i may speak for five minutes prior to the commencement of the vote. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. peters: in just a few moments this body will take an important vote to continue moving forward on the bipartisan postal service reform act. these vital reforms will help set the postal service on a more stable financial footing so that this trusted public service can continue delivering for every single community in the united states. millions, millions of americans are counting on the postal service to deliver essential mail, including medications, important financial documents, and other critical supplies.

we have all seen firsthand how veterans, seniors, small businesses, rural residents and others who rely on the postal service, face serious hardships when the postal service is focused on the one hand cutting costs by -- on on cutting costs. this bill will help address the most significant financial burdens on the postal service, by reversing an unnecessary requirement to prefund every cent of health care benefits that every postal employee will eventually use in retirement, no matter how far off that retirement may be. by eliminating this aggressive prefunding requirement -- i may add, something that no other business in business is forced to do -- along with integrating postal retirees health care in medicare, like so many other private employers, this bipartisan, commonsense

legislation will save the postal service more than $49 billion over the next ten years. the bill also requires the postal service to deliver six days a week and improve transparency and accountability for americans by requiring the postal service to publicly post weekly performance data on its website. this legislation has been 15 years in the making, and tonight we will get one step closer to making it a reality. i'm grateful to my colleagues who have shown strong bipartisan support for this legislation, including my colead, ranking member portman from ohio,and the 28 cosponsors from both sides of the aisle that have worked with us to make this a reality. our cosponsors have played an important role in helping to build additional support for this critical bill. certainly there's still more work to do to ensure even

greater long-term success for the postal service and its customers, but tonight -- tonight -- the senate will take a substantial step to continue advancing this incredibly important bill, and i urge my colleagues to join me in taking this meaningful action to protect the future of the postal service and the essential services that it provides to our communities all across our country. madam president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on 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. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived.

the question is, is it the sense of the senate that debate on h.r. 3076, an act to provide stability to and enhance services the united states postal service and for other purposes shall be brought to a close. the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: on this

vote, the yeas are 74, the nays are 17. three-fifths of the senators duly chosen and sworn having voted in the affirmative, the motion is agreed to. mr. brown: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. brown: thank you, mr. president. last month, the world lost one of its great champions for public health, dr. paul familiar -- dr. paul farmer. few people did as much to save lives around the world as paul. he was a giant. he changed how the world thinks about international health, about international aid, and about public health. millions of people, from haiti to peru to russia to rwanda, are living longer, health healthier, more fulfilling lives because of paul farmer and the movement he launched. paul moved to haiti immediately after college. he had a special relationship with that country for the rest of his life. is where he met his life, didi,

a school principal's daughter. he would fly back and forth to haiti, setting up his own clinic in an expanding network of community health facilities. in 1987, he and my friend, jim yong kim and two colleagues, ophelia doll and todd mccormick founded partners in health. they founded partners in health with the radical why idea that all human beings, regardless who they are, where they live, all human beings deserve equal dignity in healthcare. in 2003, tracy kidder wrote a book about paul and his life "mountains beyond mountains." after paul's death, tracy wrote a tribute entitled "he wanted to make the whole world his patient," and he really did. i met paul op a trip to -- on a twrip to haiti, with my friend

joan carter, executive director of results, dedicated to ending poverty around the world. it was april, 2003, if partners in health was working in haiti, and the hospital and clinic paul started in khang had grown to a broad network around the country. paul and his colleagues were working to treat drug-resistant tuberculosis and to scale up aids treatment in the most impoverished place by far in the western hemisphere, in a time where there was almost no antiviral treatment available in poor countries. people claim that treating patients and getting antivirals out in countries like haiti was just impossible. paul proved them wrong. partners in health invited several hundred u.s. policymakers, judgments, and members of -- journalists and members of congress to haiti to see firsthand how they expand access, were expanding access to lifesaving treatment. at the time thrrk was still

popular, even among health workers, we couldn't get the antiviral treatments out, but any kind of large-scale in low-income countries. it was a transformational moment. paul opened the world's eyes to what was possible. we would and had to treat patients everywhere. we could, and we had to treat patients everywhere. it wasn't that it couldn't be done, but no one had made it a priority. no one in rich countries like our, or even middle-income countries, wanted really too try to make this a priority. i remember we met a young man in a wheelchair in a hospital unit. i was with paul. he was caring for this young man if. he had tuberculosis of the spine, it's called pot disease. it's when tuberculosis bacteria, when it migrates into the spinal column and causes paralysis. he was getting treatment that no one would have thought possible

before paul. we met h.i.v./aids patients, saw how anti-trierl veements were trans-- even tie viral treatments were reviving them, bringing them back from the brink. late at night, we sat around together at paul's little house in khanj talking about what would come next, what we needed to do to rouse the world to action. it was an exciting time. the global fund had just been created. paul's ideas were gaining traction. paul farmer brought such a moral clarity to these conversations, whether talking to policymakers, public health leaders, or to his impoverished patients he began the conversation with the same principle, everyone has the right to quality healthcare. rather than a technical conversation, he'd look at the leaders and say unfortunately, there are not enough resources to treat everyone, so we have to make choices.

as paul said, we're always talking about somebody else's children. he didn't say it in any accusatory way. he wasn't judgmental. he didn't look down on anybody. it it was simply how he thought about it and wanted everyone to think with it. the other thing so astonishing about paul, he cared so much about each individual person. he had an uncommon, maybe even unparalleled empathy. he had absolute commitment to his patients' care. he was a big thinker in change policy, but he was a practitioner up close that took care of fellow human beings. he had an absolute commitment to his patients' care, literally right up to his death. he was talking about patients he was treating in rwanda, giving advice to the day he tried. tracy kidder reported that paul had been up late the night before seeing patients. mr. kidder said in his experience with paul, that was the equivalent, being up late, seeing patients, was the equivalent of a night on the

town. over the past few weeks since we lost paul, remembrance of that empathy has poured out from people around the world -- former students, colleagues, patients, luminaries. everyone has a story about paul's dedication to humankind and his patients individually. they agree paul changed the world. his legacy will certainly inspire many of us in this body. more importantly, it will inspire people around the world. when i think of paul farmer, i think of one of my favorite passages in the gospel, matthew 25. we're all familiar with christians, certainly, but nonbelievers, jews, hind yiews, bude -- hindus, buddhists, muslims know this passage. jesus said when i was hungry, you fed me. when i was thirsty, you gave me drink. when any probable, you visited -- when in prison, you visited me. what you did to the least of these, you did to me. that doesn't sound right, because i cannot believe

muhammed, buddah, jesus or moses thought that mark kelly is worth more or less than another human being, that all of us in god's eyes are equal. i came across a friend who lives down the strees, a pastor, she -- down the street, a pastor, she gave to me a bible, "the faith in justice and poverty bible." if says -- matthew 25, when i was hungry, you fed me, when thirsty, you gave me drink, when imprisoned, you visited me. what you did for those who seem less important. that was how paul farmer lived his life. he understood no human being was worth less than anyone else. everyone is dive soing of compassion -- is deserving of compassion and healthcare. everyone is deserving, as rumey said in "generosity and helping others" be like a river and

compassion and grace be like the sun. that's the way paul looked at the world. our thoughts are with his family, his patients around the world. we recommit ourselves to following the example of dr. paul farmer. thank you, mr. president.

mr. schumer: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of h.r. 55, which was received from the house and is at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: h.r. 55, an act to amend section 34-9d to have lynching as a hate crime act. the presiding officer: mr. schumer: i ask that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening

action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection, it is so ordered. mr. schumer: now, mr. president, i want to go over what just happened. after more than 200 failed attempts to outlaw lynching, congress is finally succeeding in taking a long overdue action by passing the emmett till anti-lynching act. hallelujah, it is long overdue. the first anti-lynching legislation was introduced over a century ago and after so long, the senate has addressed lynching and making it a federal crime. that it took so long is a stain, a bitter stain on america. while this will not erase the horrific injustices that tens of millions of african americans have been exposed to.

it is pan important step forward as we continue the work of confronting our nation's past in the pursuit of a brighter and more just future. i want to applaud the work of the legislation's sponsor. senator booker has been relentless getting this done as does his colleague on the republican side of the aisle, senator scott and representative bobby rush who worked so hard to pass this bill as well. and we look forward now to president biden quickly signing this long delayed bill into law. now, mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar number 288, s. 2089. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 288, s. 2089, a bill to amend title 38, united states code and so forth and for other purposes.

the presiding officer: without objection, the senate willed proceed to the measure. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the committee-reported substitute amendment be agreed to, the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the senate veterans' affairs committee be discharged the senate now proceed to the immediate consideration of h.r. 2545. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: h.r. 2545, an act to amend title 38, united states code to clarify the rule of doctors of podiatry medicine and for the department of veterans' affairs and for other purposes. the presiding officer: without objection, the committee is discharged and the the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the bill be considered read a third time and passed and

the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the consideration of senate res. 537 smith earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report of. the clerk: s. res. 537, designating march 2022, as national women's history month. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: mr. president, i have one request for a committee to meet during today's session of the senate. it has the approval of the majority and minority leaders. the presiding officer: duly noted. mr. schumer: mr. president, i understand that there is a bill at the desk that is due for a

second reading. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the title of the bill for the second time. the clerk: s. 3757, a bill to prohibit the importation of crude oil, petroleum, petroleum products, liquefied natural gas and coal from the russian federation. mr. schumer: in order to place the bill on the calendar under the provisions of rule 14, i would object to further proceeding. the presiding officer: objection having been heard, the bill will be placed on the calendar.

mr. schumer: i notice the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. schumer: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it recesses

until 10:30 a.m. on tuesday, march 8 and following the prayer and pledge, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day. the senate recess from 12:30 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. to allow for the weekly caucus meetings. during all the time, leader remarks be counted postcloture on h.r. 3076. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: for the information of senators, we will continue to process the postal service reform bill and hope to complete its action during tuesday's session. if there's no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it stand in recess under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate stands in recess until the sentence gaveled out for the day, and later this week, senate will consider several executive nominations including gonzales to lead u.s. and customs

enforcement and they also need to pass government funding before friday's midnight deadline to avert a shutdown watch live coverage of the senate, when they return tomorrow, here in cspan2 intelligence community leaders released their annual report on security threats facing the u.s. and our allies in house committee on intelligence is a chance to ask questions on tuesday climate 10:00 a.m. three online@cspan.org are much full coverage under free video out, cspan now sees manager unfiltered view of government, provided that these television companies and marked including charter communications. >> friend amanda, but for some empowerment and that's why charters invested billions, building infrastructure, upgrading technology and empowering opportunities, and communities big and small,

charter, connecting us. >> charter communications support cspan as a public service along with these other television providers, you get a front row seat did democracy. >> twenty is now, former health and human services committee chief of staff for policy with the trump administration at inside of the operations and the critics in the august and thank you forming on the show with a. >> it is my pleasure and thank you for having me. >> in the tunnel that you had during a time when they came into operation warp speed and get you excited the audience what you did specifically with that; titles went by the wayside, in 2020 when we learned from bob redfield that we had a problem in china and so basically all hands on deck in my roll was to on behalf of overseeing the operation warp speed, the initiative which brought hundreds of millions in

the am american people in the record of time and so it was around the effortpl and really think quite fulfilling in terms of the impact. >> and you wrote what it would take to the administration of the current one, the approach and you say this, when one examined by the victory details, the fatalities of impact on the instruction of the primary and secondary education for generations of her youth and skyrocketing drug overdose deaths in the rate of behavioral health issues and inflation is because it is hard to distinguish from defeat and that's according divided team response, identifiable positive outcomes and that admiration what may be in order but it does not and delivers bargaining up to the actual development of the axes and would he mean by that and what are you trying to say. >> what i mean is that an on a

per day basis under the biden administration where 100 percent more cases than 20 percent or fatalities that under the time during the trump ministration was managing the pandemic and this would've been tragic under any administration but i think that the response is very different and the response biden administration took created i thinkst a number of collateral damage items that were unnecessary this one a talk about in the office and the learning loss is now at 10 percent or so in terms of standardized test scores and so forth. and you had larry summers, you know the former obama treasury secretary saying that the american rescue act in march of 2021, was the least responsible for economic policy of 40 years he predicted it would lead to inflation and it did and that i think the third thing that i talked about his drug overdoses. a spike over the last 24 months but in particular the last 12

months and that he was a social when you pop them up in their homes they don't quit working, they don't but the restaurants, they have real behavioral health challenges so what is really trying to express that process was public health is more than just covid-19, it's a whole bunch of other issues, and you can destroy those others by trying to eradicate a virus that you cannot eradicate. i think that's the difference between the two in ministration we try to get this kids back in school and keep the economy open and the biden administration tried to eradicate the virus at any cost of those costs were enormous and by the way, they did not eradicate the virus. >> you talked about this specific case is a fatalities, what do you attribute those numbers to then during the biden administration. >> well one is that we were pursuing an aggressive policy

towards that the vaccinations and so it was really a very singular approach to the virus where we thought that the other medical countermeasures in particular the therapeutics would matter and you know, they pick that up in the fall of 2021, want to give you an example pfizer issued an emergency use authorization for a bill called - in december. we still domb not have the products and the whole purpose of operation warp speed was to manufacture and parallel with the development of the drug or the vaccine but on day one, when the fda ran the authorization, we each of millions of doses of the vaccines in this case hopefully millions of pills and they failed to do that so really not going to get these therapeutics into the market until later the summer and my guess is there won't be many covid-19 cases at that time was a little bit too little too

late. >> if i understand correctly, your administration and yourself, those you work with had issues with biden from the get-go as well. >> oh yes we did, and now i think overall that they have to say that they were in critical part of operations warp speed and they delivered great vaccines to the american people avoid with a difficult to work with they just were not as transparent and not as cooperative as many more other private sector partners we got over it but it didn't make it easier. >> when you say not cooperative can you elaborate. >> will one of the things that we did, but a senior manufacturing has part of her team, stephani and he created this program called persons in class and sounds kind of strange but what we did was we deployed multidisciplinary teams that to these vaccine manufacturing plants to identify any problems and immediately responded with all of the resources of the

federal government so you could get the manufactured amount to the market people will pfizer precluded us from putting a team in kalamazoo which is one thing they want a camper them to deliver these number of vaccine doses that they promised in november and december of 2020, they delivered less than 50 percent of what they promised pretty so it is one thing not to operate and then deliver the goods, it's another thing not to cooperate and then you do not deliver the goods and so that is just one example to echo gases with us, until 10:00 o'clock and you want to ask questions, (202)748-8000 and 8001 for republicans and independence are 8002 in texas at the 20 and mr. mango, during the state of the union class we, where the president talked about the administration of an effort on covid-19 and play a little bit ofof this and get your responseo it. biden: and we we know how

incredibly vaccinations how they are with the protections you'll never give up on the vaccinating of more americans and another parents are eager to see the vaccines authorized for their children the scientists are working hard tor get that done will be ready with plenty vaccines if and when they do. we are already, we are also ready for they antiviral treatments that he get covid-19, and the pfizer pill reduces your chances of it ending up in the hospital by 90 percent and i've ordered more pills than anyone in the world has pretty pfizer's working overtime to get us a million pills this month and more than double that next month. and now we are t launching a the test to treat initiative and so people can get tested in a pharmacy if they prove positive, receive antiviral pills on the spot and no cost. >> that administration taking on its own efforts and what you think.

>> is a couplee of issues with what the president articulated, what is the most protected persons in the country and not those who are vaccinated and boosted, but those who have recovered from covid-19 are vaccinated science required immunity of people call natural immunity plus a vaccine is what all of the research suggest is the most protected in terms of the antibodies pretty he was incorrect in there and i think the same point was as i mentioned, yes the pfizer pills are coming but under president trump separation the warp speed, this post would've been here already in the third thing on the test, is already been a lot of controversy for the policy because there's no money goes to cbs in the intestine they walked over to the pharmacy counter to get that you are cutting an individual's position and of the equation and is very dangerous because the fda has stated there could be serious drug

interactions associated with this bill of year for instance on cholesterol-lowering drugs, take this bill, get out. verse that affects so that is not a policy that it is going to support nor should the patient's go directly to the pharmacist nasser this without his room position weighing in one of this could be dangerous or not. >> let's start with matthew, in new york, democrats on, your own with our guest home and go, go ahead and you are on. >> good morning guys, mr. bango, i don't know even know where to begin, you would like to rewrite history, and the american people believe that the previous administration is not responsible for over 600,000 deaths in the previousin administration and you might've come up with operation warp speed it but unfortunately, he did nothing to push the

vaccination of and to get the people to use them. you had the protocol set up an injection of bleach perhaps or hydroxy core clinic or whatever homespun remedy you thought was cool or fun of the time. but you the previous administration, are responsible for so many deaths coming to other be ashamed of yourselves. >> okay, has matthew new york. >> thank you matthew, actually have the facts, fatalities in the day we left office january 20 them 2021, there were 405,000 a fatality yes that is a tragedy for sure, under the biden administration, the fatalities were funny percent higher on a per day basis, just so you know the facts in terms of vaccines, putting the vaccines, i can tell you that when we were developing the vaccine in the fall of 2020,

two, the really struck us was unusual and disappointing and, it came fromt then, candidate je biden and then vice president candidate, harris and evan said, they don't trustar any vaccine development under the trump administration then they wonder why in theti spring of 2021, not as many folks want to dance and i canan tell you what we did do, which was the reset of all of the distributions and logistics to administer hundreds of millions of vaccines under the army and general and we enrolled 70000 vaccination sites and information technology systems we shipped 20 million doses of vaccines before the end of december that missing a beat pretty the biden administration and distribution planning, executed it to the letter and that is why it was successful so i don't claim that we did everything perfectly, but that's just come back to some of the

facts and again more fatalities per day and the biden administration and those who were bad think the vaccines in creating hesitancy were candidate joe biden a candidate kamala harris pretty and so, i just one return to the listeners understand. >> so the vaccine is some of the presidents administration of the vaccine thatth the president at the time said. >> i'm sorry kate understanding is to month vaccine themselves of the residence frustration over developing the vaccines they had criticisms because some would say that it was the administration of the development of the vaccines was more than vaccine itself. >> you know i think that that they should not trust it under donald trump. >> so the numbers that you talk about the deaths under the administration, one folks take organisms of the things that came up on the comparison

between 2021, and effects of choices made before bided takeover such as not really encouraging of people to get vaccinated, lingered into biden's early presidency the beast wave of coronavirus in the country come in fact people at the exact time, the president biden was inaugurated on generate 20 and showing 3000 deaths per day and it recipe for inviting numbers and outside of trump's control what you think about that when it comes to numbers outside of trump's controller bided. >> basin outside of trump's control. >> okay will only know the looked at the numbers over the last six - eight weeks in the number of fatalities per day in many cases 3000 so yes, it was a terrible kind of research in january of 2021, but it was so much better in 2022 so, and

people can say will this newte variant and that is the omicron variant in or whatever but my point i just want to go back to the main point which is this was very difficult fire is to inhibit the spread, there is no question about that in the real issue is the policies and the response creating additional c collateral damage that was unnecessary and that is the main point and you think the drug overdoses in the inflation but the care and a lot of folks who have not gone in for care for a few years, now experiencing acute events that fittingly the biden administration did not pay enough attention to those because their focus was on eradicating the virus any cost and i was a fool thing to do. >> independent line, high. >> jack from florida. >> yes. >> go-ahead. >> i just wanted to say to

mr. bango, you have seriously ignored the fact that you blew the testing conceptpt early on that you recall your administration said there was going to be a test for anyone and everyone and wanted it hand you never did anything and you could not get testing and as far as economic growth, the growth collapsed under the trump administration. because you did nothing about testing and nothing to protect people. and yet under biden, the growth is back. an employment his way up in unemployment his way down any of unemployment grew dramatically under your administration and finally, the education was unfortunate that we fell behind but the policy to do remote

learning is to protect the teachers, the teachers and in many cases had health issues but the idea was to protect the teachers staff from dying while the kids, admittedly, then the difficulties morning but i think that you should consider all of these before you do the absolute that the biden administration of lewis and that you did it perfect. >> that is jack in florida. >> yeah jack and thank you for those comments and if i implied that we did things perfectly, i misspoke because we didn't in diagnostics as you mentioned the testing was one of our biggest shortcomings because in january and february of 2020, the centers for disease control had a real problem with contaminated test kits we lost three or four or five weeks that was critical time in terms of testing and that was a big shortcoming pretty in the admiral became the

- after that in by the late summer of 2020, we had built the capacity to conduct millions off tests per day so did come back so it was a shortcoming early in the pandemic but as far as getting kids back to school, of course we have to protect those teachers are potentially compromised but i tell you a few things that most states did, one prior ties the teachers to get vaccinated first and to be issued 130 - two the schools for additional mass and testing an additional ventilations and so forth. i wish the biden administration have been learning more courageous and confronted the teachers union is what they do know what the teachers back in school after all of this had been given and all of the safety have been taken, is just really i think, the generation of her children will be behind because of some of those actions and there is a

real disappointment statement from georgia, david hello. >> hello and how are you doing paul and can just a one thing first, is such a wonderful thing that if we can, the tv and we can look in - every morning, where else can you see that in all you you had the pleasure of working hard and appreciate all your hard work and you have come to a very difficult thing but the facts sort of got muddled and my republican friends paid the price for it. and i can remember in december hearing this monster had cut loose over there in china but we sort of got muddled up and balled you know how politics is, the cabinets overnight. simple, you are chief of staff of policy, and i was a policy coming from your office or handed down to you and you had

to administrate it and kitted out to the american public, that is my question. thank you very much for your work. >> thank you, was a real privilege and an honor to serve the nation during that time and my roll as the deputy chief of staff are policy was to coordinate the policies coming out of health and human services but during the pandemic, there was a body called the whiteth house coronavirus task force led by vice president mike pence, and that had eight number of different representatives on it, obviously dhs, department of labor and transportation end of state and all of the policy associated was with covid-19 and the covid-19 response under our administration it came out of the white house coronavirus task force because it is multi agency he was not just hhs and for

instance from china, prevalence involved the department of transportation and of safety is so forth. and so we had significantte influence in all of this policies and i participated in most of the white house coronavirus task force meetings every afternoon with vice. vice president pence this work policy was made is related to the responsive not over hhs sue met mr. bango, several - that pfizer that yous were talking matter earlier, causing hundred million dollars particular only vaccine but what you think about because of that the financial replications because that. >> okay you know i talk about this in my book, and i'm just so inspired by american industry in his response to this pandemic and how is mobilized the dexterity and his talent resources and innovative spirit predict so would never criticize any company for earning a profit

off of serving the american people pretty many companies do that but i think that we should stay focused on the unbelievable achievements of bringing hundredshe of millions of the effective vaccines to the country, more than any other country in the world and faster so these companies are making a profit god bless them, they need to retain the talent and capabilities for the next pandemic so final criticize that all. >> when pa the arguments from the coronation was the idea of intellectual property behind them in the development of vaccines and if they were least level country to get access to the vaccines critically the more for wasn't what he said to the arguments. >> i think that is the muddled message in their pedro because i have statistics from all the manufacturers, they were doing

during our time in office and that established scores of contracts from the manufacturing of the vaccines outside of the country. men like hundreds of millions or doses of the vaccine so they were issuing those licenses to different countries to manufacture them when in have the capacity here in the united states to manufacture all those vaccines elise for the licenses around and ensure they earn a small royalty off of them and they did but i can tell you that most of them were selling it the vaccines are cost and the thirdd country so for instance pfizer developed a publicly selling to the third world for $7 a dose where we were paying $17.50 a dozen not understand the arguments sure they wantedan kep track of the intellectual property they were not preventing other countries fort manufacturing a vaccine it at cost. >> from georgia, democrat line, good morning. >> good morning, this is comical

summit, you have the former trump officials coming on here trying to rehabilitate the reputation and mr. bango let me ask you this, where wish your boss stood in front of the american people and told them to drink chlorine take a fluorescent lighting hundred of the rectum that would eradicate the virus, will you please explain to me where was your boss then. >> what was your voice. >> i had my head down developing vaccines for the american people and again, not to say he did everything perfectly in the communications was 100 percent accurate, i think we made mistakes but i am focusing right now onn the terrific a work at that a small group of individuals debt on behalf of the market people under president trump's leadership which was operation warp speed

so no disputing whether or not there were some communication errors early on at all. >> washington state, republican line. >> is iced to make you pretty i am calling because i'm horribly concerned about the way in which the democratic party has better this and blame this on to our previous president who actually in reality but his ability to get things done and what i don't like is the fact that our vice president harris, they went to the fda and the cdc and told them that if they were to give hospitals medicine for covid-19, they had to discriminate against white males and elderly people

and i know that for a fact. >> were did you get the fact from. >> it is in the law if you read it in the laws, it says, the only service certain people that are what you call it. >> which lobby you mean. .. front of me right now. but go look at it. this marxist garbage that's coming into our country. equity. host: continue on with your question for our guest then. caller: ok. my question is this. the question is this. you know, i think i lasted i'm so upset about what this whole turn of hatred for eight marxist ideology into our country.