last evening, the house approved a 1.5 trillion dollar spending package to fund the government through september 30th and that includes nearly $14 billion in aid to ukraine. now live coverage of the u.s. senate here on c-span2. ack, will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. almighty god, as the war in ukraine continues, we look to you. lord, you have been our help in ages past. you are our hope for the years to come. you continue to be our shelter from the storms of evil that

buffet our world. you cause the enemies of freedom to retreat. today, execute judgment from your thrown, as you use our senators for your glory. lord, rule the nations with fairness and continue to be our refuge in times of trouble. we pray in your merciful name. amen. the presiding officer: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

the presiding officer: the clerk will read a communication to the senate. the clerk: washington, d.c., march 10, 2022. to the senate: under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable jacky rosen, a senator from the state of nevada, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: patrick j. leahy, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. under the previous order, the senate will be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for permitted to speak therein for

thanks for joining us on the program today. >> great to be a. >> a little bit about your organization. what does it do as far as when booking the energy issues and use financed and funded by? >> the alliance for security and

democracy is a part program the german marshall fund of the united states. the broader organization worked on building transatlantic relations and the spirit of the marshall plan, which is a way of saying that we believe in the liberal international order and is sufficient that were set up after world war ii to ensure peace and prosperity in the transatlantic space. the alliance for securing democracy is a program started about three years ago under the auspices of the german marshall fund and we worked to counter the autocratic or a 13 influence that is trying to encroach upon our democracies in the united states come in europe but also across the broader world. we focus our job russia and china but tendencies and actors and the way they use various tools from information to economic measures to in this case energy in our societies is a very big concern.

what can we do to both track this influence that also provide strategies for countering this influence to make sure we are more resilient combat and cutting ourselves in a strategically, cutting our democracy because of the interests of these autocratic actors in our society. >> an actor like vladimir putin when you hear that of the united states stopping russian oil come to the united united stas that actor respond to that and what's the impact? >> it's important to remember vladimir putin is an autocrat who is making his country ever more authoritarian. when the united states says we're not going to be importing russian oil or gas or coal itzkowitz saying we're not going to both enrich this regime, not going to fund the war regime and that is part of making sure we are not dependent or reliant or complicit in that regimes activity. this is really important for the democratic side for america's strategic freedom as well and

something that can be mirrored all around the world as a way of breaking free of the entanglement of the limitations that these kind of energy relationships pose. this of course has a cost to citizens the. >> that cost as far as gas prices are concerned, that's what directly citizen secret what is the reaction particularly as some sources say over four dollars a gallon come close to five dollars. >> i'm with you pry don't like driving down the street and think about how much gas i have left in my tank and looking up and well, suckling to be a pretty picture. on the other hand, i don't want to fill up my gas tank and think about those dollars going to those two pay for these rockets or the armor there's going to be replenished in ukraine. that's an important point. of course the immediate hit of saying acid today we're no longer going to be using russian gas, russian oil, russian coal,

that is a destabilizing effect of course on the market and the first day when announced gas prices what way up. yesterday they fell again, the oil price went down. the market is a volatile beast and there's a lot of things they can do to make sure the energy prices don't go that high for consumers. that's releasing energy from reserves, oil from reserves consulting president biden has talked about. also how do you make more oil from other sources? they use as a major oil producer and when you think back to the pandemic days, a couple years ago people were sitting at home, they didn't need to drive around. it didn't make sense for a lot of oil and gas producers to be pumping up, to be making as much oil and gas to push down the price even more when the wasn't very much demand. we're in an entirely different situation two years on but the processes required to up production are not going to be

up today, not up to more but we're going to see an adjustment over the next weeks and months to try to account for the sudden shift. that fits in your pocket but how do you count on someone blowing up maternity hospitals and attacking women in labor? that's the reality and it's up to the oil companies up to seeking out other supply chains with other countries to make sure it doesn't hurt citizens that much because there are ways to get more gas on the market in the united states, anything quickly see an adjustment in the next few weeks or months that will make it feel much more normal. >> if you want to ask questions of kristine berzina you can call in, 202-748-8000 for democrats, 202-748-8001 for republicans and 202-748-8002 for independence. if you want to text as thoughts and questions you can do so at 202-748-8003. as far as a gas prices you just talked about, the rise, jen

psaki the press secretary point directly to the actions of president putin for doing that. here's some of her explanation and look at your thoughts after that. >> i would say since president putin begins military buildup on ukrainian voters the price of gas at the pump in america has gone up $.75 which is significant of course. there is widespread consensus the sharp run-up as energy prices since january was called, caused by the building of putin's putin strips at ukraine's border, the reality is russia is the world's third-largest oil producer and energy supply disruptions in market volatility as result of his aggression. don't take my word for that. there been a number of these assessments back in january federal chair powell warned the was a risk to our economy based on what was going on in eastern europe. in early february jpmorgan analyst predicted disruption of oil flow from russia could push prices to $120 per barrel which is what has happened. our approach is always been twofold.

we need to ensure supply meets the demand in the marketplace. there's a couple ofre ways to do that. we are engaging with big global -- passed the strongest, boldest, and most significant government funding package we've seen in a very long time. bringing us one step closer to fully funding the government for the 2022 fiscal year. now, as we all know, funding the government's a basic responsibility of congress, but rarely does this responsibility arrive at such a critical moment for our country and for the world. war has erupted in europe, and americans are looking to relief from rising costs, and this package is critical for facing these challenges. after weeks of hard work, i'm pleased to report that this bipartisan funding package represents a robust and unapologetic investment in the american people. it will give our troops a raise,

provide more money for schools and head start programs and pell grants, reauthorize the violence against women act, fund the president's cancer moon shot, and open the floodgates for funding the bipartisan infrastructure law. this funding bill is overflowing with very good things for our troops, for american jobs, for our families, and for america. once this bill arrives at the senate, republicans must work with democrats to pass the bill as soon as possible, hopefully tonight. there is every reason in the world to believe that we can arrive at a path forward quickly for one, the people of ukraine need our immediate help, and this omnibus is the quickest and most direct way of getting them the help fast. at nearly $14 billion congress will approve more than double, more than double what the administration originally requested for ukraine aid.

and that is a huge accomplishment. we took the president's original request for ukrainian aid, examined it, and added to it, and i can confidently say every last penny of this aid package will be money much needed and well spent. it will provide food, medicine, shelter, support for over two million refugees, and resources for ukraine's ruined economy. it will also inject billions into military assistance. it will enable weapon transfers, like javelins and stingers, it will reassure and strengthen nato, and add teeth to our defenses against russia's malicious cyber warfare. and to every corrupt russian oligarch that has dined off putin's regime for years, beware. this package will increase the government's tools for hunting you down and holding you accountable.

the ukrainian people are fighting for their lives, and fighting for the survival of their young democracy. congress has a moral obligation to stand behind them as they resist the evils of vladimir putin and his campaign of carnage. the 2022 government funding bill is one way we're keeping that promise, and for that reason alone it should pass the senate as quickly as possible. but on the home front, as i already mentioned, there's lots of important things. this package increases investments across nearly every single domestic priority, very much needed. i'm particularly thrilled to say that after a decade of false starts, this package will finally reauthorize the violence against women act, which i original helped write and pass when i was a congressman back in 1994. unfortunately, this very needed,

important bill to protect those who are abused has languished in limbo for far too long. vawa is one of the most important pieces of legislation in the past 30 years, and ones reauthorized it will once again provide lifesaving support for countless women who face sexual assault and domestic abuse. i thank senators feinstein, durbin, ernst, murkowski, and all the cosponsors, bipartisan for helping bring this law back to life. now, of course, nobody argues that this package is perfect. i am deeply disappointed, deeply disappointed, that the administration's request for more covid funding failed to make it into the house bill. but we're going to keep fighting to make sure we get that money approved as soon as possible. covid funding right now is all about being prepared. it will provide funding for vaccines and therapeutics and testing, which means it will be

much easier to keep schools open, to keep businesses open, and keep life closer to normal than it was during delta and omicron. so we will keep working on covid relief. it's very much needed. now, we're not over the finish line yet. but i want to thank appropriators from both sides of the aisle, bipartisan, for putting this package together -- never an easy task. i especially thank chairman leahy for his leadership and counsel over the course of this process, and i thank ranking member shelby as well and my house colleagues, too, for working this good faith to make this bill possible. it's not been easy to draft this truly robust package, but after years of chaos and uncertainty under donald trump, this year the congress has been able to work in a bipartisan basis to fund the government in a serious way. now the senate must follow through in finishing the job by

approving this bill quickly and sending it to the president's desk. so we still have some more work to do, but it's already have been a remarkable and productive week in the senate. after a decade of work, this week the senate finally passed the largest postal reform bill with huge bipartisan support, i'm happy to say. we also sent to the president's desk the first bill in american history that finally, finally, long overdue, declares lynching a federal crime after a century of failed attempts. these are both momentous and indeed historic accomplishments, and i thank my completion for working -- thank my colleagues for working in good faith to get them done. i've always said that whenever possible, democrats would be willing to work in a bipartisan way to get things done, and once the omnibus is done in this week, we will have achieved

three major bipartisan accomplishments. and yesterday senate democrats also met for our dpcc retreat over at howard university where we had a spirited and productive conversation about the biggest issues facing american families -- lowering costs. as the world continues to struggle with covid, supply changes and russia's war on ukraine. americans need relief, relief, on everything, from energy costs, prescription drug costs, groceries, the cost of groceries and meat and so much more. democrats will keep working these issues with laser-like intensity and unflinching focus. moving forward the senate will also continue the process of considering and ultimately confirming president biden's exceptional nominee to the united states supreme court, judge ketanji brown jackson.

judge jackson is qualified for the high court. that is not in question. that she merits bipartisan support should not be disputed because on three occasions she's already come before this chamber and has been embraced by people on both sides of the aisle. when judge jackson's confirmation hearings begin on march 21, the entire nation will get to see what many of us in the senate are learning for ourselves. judge jackson is brilliant, she is beloved, and she belongs on the supreme court, the three b's -- brilliant, beloved, belongs. we have more work to do before this week comes to an end, but for now, i thank my colleagues for a very, very productive few days. i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

they were driving, kids were going to school and the demand for gas was low. yet there was significant production still lower than before and lower than now. in that situation fundamentally because of what we all as a society were doing the prices were lower. as it but has woken up and said thank god i want to get out of my house, go, i want to fly,

what to try to the beach, i want to get together with my family, all of the small decisions have resulted in a much bigger demand on the oil that was available, and suddenly that oil became more valuable per-unit per gas tank in each car because everybody wanted it more. that is leading to the increase in prices. when you think about the unpredictability of the pandemic which what was going to be the safe month, which one would be the month we have delta aren't on the chrome and it's been hard for ellen gas producers to anticipate the need month by month when you're responding to something as fun middling unpredictable as a pandemic. we are in a situation where there's a need to increase production anyway, and the lag time between where we think we want to become how much we want to be traveling, how much we want to be producing or use gas,

and did the oil companies know that when they're trying to ramp up production? that is something that is creating these high prices. of course you're right you do see a timeline correspondence between the inauguration of president biden and where we are today at the link i wouldn't say it's a political link. i would say it's a link that has to do with the pandemic and much more with the wave of covid we're saying rather than with significant political decisions. that's true until you get to right now or because you see the putin dynamic changing things at the same time we're living a macron and again i want to get out and about and that means i'm driving door and so again i'm contributing the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: washington democrats are trying to pull off a political spin jobs for the ages. everyone knows that gas prices and energy costs have been

soaring sharply for many, many months. working families know all too well that gas prices and utility costs have been rising throughout president biden's tenure. just this morning we learned that inflation set yet another modern record last month. prices skyrocketed another .8% in february alone. that comes out to 7.9% inflation year on year. the worst inflation in 40 years. and it keeps getting worse, not better. this has been a painful pattern throughout president biden's tenure. we've now had nine straight months of inflation higher than 5%. and, remember, three weeks ago before the crisis in europe,

democrats were already in a political panic over gas prices and desperately talking about a gas tax holiday. three weeks ago, before the crisis in europe, the average price of a gallon of gas had already shot up more than a dollar from when president biden was sworn in. now, you'd think the democrats would have been proud of this. hostility to fossil fuels and homegrown energy is precisely what president biden campaigned on. here's what our president said on the campaign trail in 2020, a direct quote -- no more subsidies for the fossil fuel industry. no more drilling on federal lands. no more drilling, including offshore. no ability for the oil industry to continue to drill, period. it ends. that was the president in 2020.

here's what he told and activist. look at my eyes. i guarantee you we're going to end, end, fossil fuel. now, president biden spent two years campaigning on hostility to american energy. now he's spent 14 months putting that hostility right into action, and democrats' reckless spending that's fueled across-the-board inflation have made americans' pain at the pump even worse. but in the last few days, the biden administration has tried to invent some laugh-out-loud -- laugh-out-loud revisionist history. they're trying to rebrand the entire increase in gas prices on their watch -- listen to this -- as an effect of putin's recent invasion of ukraine. so they want to blame 14 months

of gas price increases on the last two weeks of turmoil. washington democrats' war on domestic energy long predates putin's war on ukraine. so let me say that again. the democrats' war on domestic energy long predates putin's war on ukraine. now, i strongly support america stopping our purchase of putin's war. but democrats' own war on our production will make that even more painful for american families than it had to be. if the biden administration spent 14 months not attacking inflation and, we'd be better able to push back on putin with less painful cost to american families. the president's team wants to depend this length when i problem only started two weeks ago, but american families have been paying for democrat bad

policies for a lot longer than that. now, on another matter, yesterday the house passed a bipartisan, bicameral government funding agreement that will allow crucial investments in our national defense. putin's war on ukraine is just one manifestation of the major long-term threats to american security and american interests posed by major competing powers like russia and china. so, absolutely, we must rapidly fund the urgent assistance that ukraine and our allies along nato's eastern flank need right now, but we must also make the investments in military modernization that will help america achieve peace for years and decades to come. our military commanders have clearly and consistently told us they cannot rebuild and modernize our military to meet the growing threats if congress

lets defense funding sleepwalk from one continuing resolution to another. the world is a dangerous place. it is growing more dangerous every day. the road to peace runs through american power. we all know it's true, so we have to pudge et -- budget accordingly. our recent negotiations put us republicans in the surreal position of having to push a commander in chief's party into giving his own commanders the funding they need. but over many democratic objections, republicans made sure this deal gets the job done for our armed forces. the compromise product provides significantly more money than the biden administration had requested for defense, and significantly less than they requested for nondefense. until 24 hours ago, this compromise was also going to

reprogram money away from democrats' wasteful spending free that neglected covid needs and reallocated to vaccines and treatments for the american people. but house democrats mutinied against speaker pelosi. the far left would rather preserve state and local bureaucrats' giant slush funds than fund vaccines and therapeutics for our citizens. so the covid component has fallen out. overall, this agreement checks the three boxes i laid out months ago. the bill maintains parity between defense and nondefense spending growth, it maintains long-standing bipartisan policies, such as protecting taxpayers against funding abortions and being politically targeted by the i.r.s., and new far-left poison pills were cut out.

but most urgentsly, amidst this war in europe, this delivers the urgent aid the ukrainians need right now and a down payment on our commitment to keep defending america and global peace in the years to come. now, one final matter, over the last few days, the biden administration's confusing mismanagement and mixed signals surrounding the ukraine crisis and the west response has again spilled out into open public view. so here's the pattern, time and time again, throughout this crisis and in the months preceding it, the administration's first instinct has been to resist strong and decisive steps. the president and his team initially take a pass on strong steps and they could have been put in place proactively and had a real deterrent effect. but then, after sustained public

pressure, they buckle and implement the steps anyway, often too late. this leading from behind leaveses us in a lose-lose scenario, and the pattern has played out yet again with this bizarre argument over mig airplanes that president biden's team have carried out in public with our polish allies. the mere fact that the biden administration officials are contradicting not only each other but also our nato allies in public evidences a severe lack of coordination and proactive leadership that we should be, us americans should be, providing. this isn't limited to just these polish planes. they're all manner of different systems -- tools and arms that you're eastern flank allies and patters in could be providing more readily to the brave ukrainians. this would take american

leadership and coordination and an american commitment that we will help them replace their soviet-era stocks with american and western military technology. the loan guarantees we included in the supplemental appropriations bill will give the administration a tool to do just this -- help eastern flank nato partners use their own money to modernize their defensive capabilities. this would be a win for ukraine, a win for us, and a win for nato. these kinds of steps should be no-brainers for a confident, assertive, and decisive american administration. instead, it repeatedly seems like the administration's first instinct is to flinch, to flinch. wait for international and public pressure to overwhelm them, then take action only after the most opportune moment

has literally passed us by. nobody wants wanton escalation, but if the administration keeps repeating this pattern of self-deterrence, of con convincing itself any proactive step would be irresponsible, they're just internalized putin's false premise and amplifying putin's false equivalence. so remember this -- strength, strength is not a prorveication -- a proive case. the world needs president biden and his team to be leading, taking the initiative, and shaping circumstances, calmly, soberly, but with confidence and decisiveness. they seem instead to be trapped in a cycle of passivity, indecision, self-deterrence, and then finally reaction.

the world needs the biden administration to be flying this plane. too often, it feels like the plane is flying them. mr. mcconnell:py suggest the absence of a -- i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority leader -- i mean, the majority whip, sorry. mr. durbin: ask consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: it's interesting to listen to the notion that we're going to stop our dependence on russian oil. i totally support that. the notion that i would buy gasoline in my hometown and put it in my car or truck and somehow subsidize what vladimir

putin is doing in the rape of the ukraine is just unacceptable. i believe there is not only a moral force, but a political force behind this. morley, there's no way we're going to support putin. politically, we've got to come together with other nations and make this as painful as possible on him. and stopping the import of russian oil is a move in that direction. it's interesting that was a bipartisan position which i joined over the weekend. many of us did. democrats and republicans all saying enough with the russian oil. we'll find other ways to keep america's economy and cars and trucks moving without being dependent on vladimir putin or subsidizing his war efforts. it was bipartisan, strong statements. in fact, as many statements in support of this from the other side of the aisle as this side of the aisle, and then what happened? well, dana millbank in this morning's "washington post" tells the story of what

happened. after president biden made his announcement tuesday, he said, accurately, since putin began his military buildup on ukrainian borders, just since then, that's two weeks, the price of gas at the pump in america went up 75 cents, and with this action that america would stop buying russian oil, it's going to go up further. president biden dubbed it, quote, putin's price hike. russia is responsible. so, since this was a bipartisan idea of stopping the flow of russian oil into the united states and subsidizing putin's invasion of ukraine, you would think there would be bipartisan applause. the exact opposite occurred. in a dana millbank article, which i'll ask to be part of the record, here's what was said by house republican leader kevin mccarthy -- these aren't putin

prices, they're president biden's prices. gas prices started rising the day president biden took office, when he canceled the keystone pipeline and halted new drilling on federal lands. it turns out that these assertions by not just kevin mccarthy, but other republican leaders, are just not accurate. milbank goes to the task and assignment of actually backing of some of these facts with real history and real numbers. here's what he says -- gas prices started rising on the day thatted biden took office -- that biden took office, he asks? wrong. they have been on an upward trend since april 2020 at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. this is because of booming demand during the recovery. so this notion that these are biden gas prices that just started going up magically after he was sworn in, not true.

then i love this one -- on the keystone pipeline, how many times have you heard on the floor of the senate, maybe even this morning, that canceling the keystone pipeline is the reason that gasoline prices have gone up? it turns out according to dana milbank, that pipeline was only 10% completed when biden canceled it. its owners didn't even expect to open it until next year, 2023, at the earliest. well, how about this one? you hear this over and over again from so many republicans. biden halted new drilling on federal lands, they say. according to milbank, wrong. after a temporary halt in new leases, biden outpaced trump in new drilling permits for public lands. that's been reported by "the washington post." as for biden's shutdown of american energy, listen to this, u.s. production increased under biden from 9.7 million

barrels a day to 11.6 million barrels. the number of oil rigs operating was 172 in july of 2020. now 519 are in operation. u.s. production is forecast to set a record next year. i don't doubt that stopping the russian export of oil into the united states is going to have a negative impact on gasoline prices. stands to reason. but there is an adjustment being made. the president spoke to it last night at a meeting he attended where he's working on other sources for america to make this hardship as little as possible. i want to ask unanimous consent that this milbank column be placed in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: mr. president, finally, an omnibus spending bill. for months there's been negotiations underway. the process has been drawn out. as a member of the appropriations committee, there was a lot of frustration. but soon we're going to vote on an omnibus spending package,

and we're going to do much more than keep the lights on in our government. in many ways this spending package is a testament to the progress we've made during the past year of the democratic majority. we have historic funding to reduce the cost of living for working families. we get it, american families are having a tough time making ends meet and are living paycheck to paycheck. we take action in this omnibus spending bill to start to address that challenge. and we create good jobs here in america. isn't it about time that we focus on making things in america, putting people to work with the good jobs that supply them? and we need to ensure families and children can access critical supplies like nutritious food and clean water. this bill also provides more than $13 billion to the ukrainians fighting tooth and nail to defend their freedom. the democratic senate caucus was fortunate last night to have over an hour and a half with the president where he spoke

candidly and informally about the challenge we face in ukraine. we have sent millions, maybe billions of dollars in assistance to those who are resisting vladimir putin's barbaric attack on that nation, and we know that it's the right thing to do. there are displays of courage by the ukrainians, the likes of which we haven't seen in modern times. president zelensky, particularly, has impressed not only the united states, but the world with his singular courage. these funds that we're putting in this bill will help the ukrainians on the front line to continue to hold back vladimir putin. and on the ground, in the air, through cyberspace, as well as helping our nato leas in the region -- nato allies in the region. 30 different country standing together shoulder to shoulder to stop vladimir putin's invasion. and the omnibus spending package also makes crucial investments in america at a time when we need it. funding research and technology

and innovation. innovation is an american phenomenal. other cundz do it but i think we do it better and whether we're curing a disease, creating new industry or combatting the climate crisis, america needs to continue to lead the world in innovation. this spending bill does that. in a moment of great peril and uncertainty in the world, we're coming together to defend our families, our security, our economy, and our future. but we need to move fast. we need to send this package to president biden's desk quickly. for the past two weeks russian mortars and missiles have been raining down on innocent people and children throughout ukraine. more than 400 individuals have been killed, with some estimates in the thousands of deaths, believing that the current numbers are really an undercount. and let me say one word while we're on the subject of vladimir putin and war crimes. what more evidence do you need than the bombing of a maternity hospital and the killing of

mothers and infants? this man, putin, and his attack on the ukrainian people is not following any standards or rules of decent conduct in any way whatsoever. i think it's obvious. that russian air strike that devastated the hospital complex in mariupol is an indication we will never forget. a video after the bombing showed a pregnant woman being carried away on a stretcher surrounded by blackened trees covering debris. it was a scene from a horror movie, a horror created by vladimir putin. the ukrainian needs humanitarian, military, and economic aid today. that is exactly what this omnibus bill will provide. billions of dollars in military equipment and intelligence support, and even more billions in emergency supplies, food aid, health care, migration,

and refugee assistance. this is how america stands by our fellow defenders of democracy at their darkest hour, and ukraine needs our help. here at home, the spending package includes a number of provisions that will strengthen america and the 330 million americans who live here. we're bringing vital investments back to our home states. i support the return of congressionally directed funding because senators and representatives know their states and know their districts better than any federal agency personnel in washington. i'm pleased to report that my colleague, senator tammy duckworth, and i worked to include $210 million in funding for illinois projects in this bill, and i'll be ready to stand up and defend every single one of them piece by piece, project by project, as a good investment in the future of my state and our nation. this funding is going to help build localities in illinois launch important infrastructure, access to health care, environmental

conservation, strengthening community violence prevention initiatives, supporting nonprofits doing important work throughout our state, and much more. we also do something that i've worked on personally from the last several months, and particularly proud of. we're going to reauthorize the violence against women act, known as vawa. for months i've worked on this proposal with some amazing people in the united states senate. on my side of the aisle, senator dianne feinstein, who really was one of the founders of this effort. on the republican side of the aisle, two women senators who have just been amazing -- lisa murkowski of alaska and joni ernst of iowa. we wouldn't have passed this bill, included it in this appropriation measure were it not for their good effort. i thank them very much. they have helped provide a lifeline to survivors of sexual domestic violence. with this year's spending package, congress will finallying reauthorize the violence against women act.

it includes funding for a long-standing priority of mine -- research. these investments in research are going to help keep america on the cutting edge of innovation. lifesaving medical treatment, therapies and so much more. for example, this bill provides the national institutes of health with a significant funding increase, this time $2.25 billion increase. that's more than 5%. 5%, i've kind of established, i hope, with some of my colleagues as the holy grail of increases each year in research, particularly at the n.i.h. and with the good help of republican senator, retiring senator, unfortunately, roy blunt of missouri, we've managed to keep our promise. lamar lamar alexander, rider from rider -- retired from the senate was one of the leaders on this issue. and patty murray.

basic medical research is going to be enhanced with this improvement of more than 5% increase in the budget of the national institutes of health. i'm particularly pleased this omnibus bill includes a dedicated $25 million for the implementation of the act for a.l.s. bill which became law late last year. i want to thank senator coons for his leadership on that issue. this funding will ensure that n.i.h. can quickly launch new initiatives to expand access to treatments for those suffering from a.l.s. sadly, i'm disappointed to say this package does not include covid relief. we're at a turning point in this pandemic. new cases of covid are at their lowest rates in more than seven months, praise the lord, and parents and families are just anxious as they can be to get their kids back in school and life back to normal. these are promising developments from vaccines to better treatments. we cannot predict that this pandemic is over for good, nor that it won't resurface in terms

of new variants. we need to prepare for what the coronavirus might have in store for us. we need to make sure that we have the therapeutics and strengthen our capacity to detect new variants before they become pandemic. given the dire urgency of the situation in ukraine, i understand we simply don't have time to go back to the bargaining table, but many of us still believe that a tool kit to deal with the future infections in covid are or the t pandemic is absolutely essential. i hope the senate agrees with that. two years under this pandemic we know this virus is anything but predictable. it operates like free-form jazz. when we think we've found our rhythm the tempo gets turned down with a newfound variants. this is a time to tune our instruments, keep our fingers sharp and prepare for what's next. let me close by saying besides from the omission of additional

covid relief there is much to celebrate in the spending package. in the face of russia's horrible invasion of ukraine, an invasion that's already created two million ukrainian refugees, we are standing together in defense of democracy. russia's invasion is a tragic illustration of one man's mania and of a conflict that will define the 21st century if we don't stop it in its tracks. right now putin is waging yesterday's war with yesterday's goal of reestablishing some soviet union. he's sending ill-equipped teenagers in russian army uniforms into ukraine to terrorize innocent families and bomb children and hospitals, all in some delusional effort that he is going to create the new russian empire with his being installed as the czar of that enterprise. he's not willing to face the challenges of the new world, so he's trying to revive the old

world. autocrats like putin live in fear of the future. docks -- democracies like america welcome it. because we know it is an opportunity to build a better world for everyone, that's precisely like president zelensky and every ukrainian is fighting to protect their country. they're protecting as well the freedom to shape their own future, not to have their future dictated by a man like vladimir putin. with the spending package before this senate we can begin building our own future as well, a future made in america. mr. president, i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: it's been a year since we in the senate confirmed merrick garland to be attorney general. during his confirmation hearing, i outlined what a successful department of justice looks like and what i expected

of him as our new attorney general. i gave him the answers to the test. by this rubric, he has failed. for instance, i urged him to build off the successes from the previous justice department to reduce crime, maintain the rule of law, and protect our civil liberties. but violent crime continues to rise, the rule of law is undermined, and our civil liberties are in danger. instead of condemning all violent crime, attorney general garland's justice department targets lawful gun owners and blames those gun owners on the rising murder rates,

carjackings, and attacks against law enforcement. but, the explosion of crime in blue cities is actually tied to de-policing measures, hiring progressive prosecutors, and enacting disastrous bail reform. pol -- policies. lawful gun owners are not to blame for this rise in crime. and in the midst of a crime spike, a number of biden appointees and judicial nominees strongly backed by the attorney general garland have supported radical ideas in the past, like defunding the police or at least reducing funding for police. and some have even advocated not prosecuting certain crimes.

so how do you expect to effectively fight crime with a lineup tham i just gave -- lineup that i just gave you. instead of tackling the opioid crisis, the garland justice department wants to make it easier for fentanyl traffickers to spread their poison. fentanyl analogues are responsible for most overdose deaths and are lethal in very tiny amounts as we all know. but the garland and biden administration support eliminating mandatory minimum for these fentanyl analogue dealers. really? in addition, garland has wield his power to undermine the rule of law and cave to political

pressures. the attorney general has summarily reversed a number of decisions issued by attorneys general sessions and barr that helped enhance the integrity of our asylum system. this attorney general has also issued memos, interpretations, and filings to the supreme court that contrast with previous department of justice positions. let me give you an example. his department of justice reinterpreted the law to make sure that inmates released to home confinement under covid relief stay there. his solicitor general also switched positions on a cocaine

sentencing case that was before the supreme court. now, it happens that both of these policy outcomes align with my positions. i agree with those outcomes, but his way of getting there is political. rule of law must be consistent and not political. so garland's flip-flopping also jeopardizes our nation's security. instead of protecting the american people from the chinese communist party's espionage, he disbanded the previous administration's successful china initiatives. this program prioritized investigations of national security from china which is still a very serious threat given that the f.b.i. opens a new chinese espionage case every

12 hours. so i don't know why this would be disbanded. this move is concerning and dangerous to our national security and reflective of partisan pressures trumping smart law enforcement. also political decisions are getting in the way of the application, consistent application of the rule of law. for example, attorney general garland's department of justice is politically selective about which cases to pursue and which cases to dismiss despite the 100-night siege against the portland courthouse in 2020 and

96 people being charged as violent rioters. almost half of those charged have been dismissed. compare this to the department of justice's own statement on the one-year anniversary of january 6. quote, the department of justice's resolve to hold accountable those who committed crimes on january 6, 2021, has not and will not wane. end of quote. now, we all know that those who break law should be held accountable. no question about that. and as our nation's top law enforcement officers, it's incumbent upon him to enforce the rule of law. he cannot pick and choose when

the rule of law is politically convenient or easy. under garland's leadership, the department of justice is also undermining valuable civil rights. this is something that he and i have had a lot of discussions on as he's appeared before our committee. so undermining valuable civil rights so instead of prioritizing that, attorney general garland has chilled the speech of american parents. he sent a memo to the f.b.i. and the u.s. attorneys around the country to be on the lookout for upset parents at school boards. he did this after the national school boards association

suggested that some people should be branded domestic terrorists. imagine that charge, that you go to the school board meeting you might be at the best a terrorist. what's even worse there seems to be some evidence that the secretary of education may have asked the national school board association to write that awful letter, which the association later had to apologize for. garland says his memo was just about violence and threats of violence, but sure enough whistle-blower reports show that the f.b.i.'s counterterrorism division was looking way beyond only violence and threats. parents' ability to voice their concerns, especially now, is a precious right, and the department of justice's actions

cannot chill such vital speech constitutionally protected by the first amendment. also instead of being responsive, the attorney general has been evasive. last year i sent approximately 50 letters to the department. that's one-third of all letters that they received from members of the united states senate. the attorney general wanted me to know that i sent one-third of all the letters he got to the other 99 senators. so when the attorney general told me that, i don't think he meant it as a compliment. i received some letters in response. however, when i'm told that i -- they've responded to me, simple or lots of words on a piece of

paper don't in and of themselves make a letter responsive. furthermore, the department has failed to provide responsive records with the exception of one or two small productions. by the way of example, i received a 30-page production of records from the department. it included improper foia redactions and failed to include the necessary spreadsheets. accordingly, that production is a failed production because foia does not apply to documents going to the congress of the united states so you shouldn't have that redaction. also i've repeatedly asked if nicholas mcquaid is recused

from the hunter biden criminal investigation, and that's an important thing because he seemed to work in the law firm that was representing hunter biden. it ought to be a simple question to answer but attorney general garland refuses to tell me whether mcquaid has recused from those cases. at the judiciary committee's october 27, 2021, justice department oversight hearing, i said to attorney general garland, quote, when i placed holds on your nominees for the department's failure to comply with republican oversight requests, i said either you run the department or the department runs you. right now it looks like the justice department is running

you. end of my quote of october 27 last year. so that statement still holds true. instead of protecting the american people, the attorney general is sacrificing our nation's top law enforcement agency to politics during a violent crimes spike. instead of being stewards of our nation's laws, the attorney general's leading the charge upending the rule of law. and instead of fighting for civil rights, he's chipping away at those civil rights. attorney general garland, there is still time to change. you have three years left in this administration. i urge you to change course.

i urge you to bring the justice department back to a place of leadership, leadership in reducing violent crime, leadership in maintaining the rule of law, and leadership in protecting our civil liberties. i yield the floor. mr. thune: mr. president. the presiding officer: the republican whip. mr. thune: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, the humanitarian crisis in ukraine continues to escalate. americans who walk by a newsstand on monday were met with the wrenching picture of a ukranian family killed by russian shelling. a mom and her two children struck down as they attempted to flee along a main evacuation route from o urpin to kiev, an

evacuation route that russia shelled. yesterday the world saw pictures of the devastation after a maternity hospital in mayor powell, ukraine, a maternity hospital, mr. president, fell victim to a russian air strike. president zelensky reported there are children buried under the rubble, children. one newspaper reported and i quote, the bombing took place during what was supposed to be a cease-fire in mariupol so that civilians could evacuate. it marks the fourth time a so-called humanitarian corridor out of the city has failed because russian forces opened fire. end quote. the fourth time a so-called humanitarian corridor out of the city has failed because russian forces opened fire.

opened fire on civilians, on parents trying to save their children. this is what russia is doing. mr. president, the scenes in ukraine are unreal. they are scenes that we thought had finally been left behind in the dust of european history. devastated cities, apartment buildings with their sides sheared off, the smoking ruins of homes and businesses, a school reduced to rubble, mass graves. in two short weeks vladimir putin has wrought an unimaginable amount of devastation. the damage he's done will take years if not decades to rebuild. the scars may last much longer. and for what, mr. president? for what?

for one man's vision of a russian empire. vladimir putin wants ukraine and he is apparently willing to destroy ukraine to get it. destroy ukraine and devastate his own nation, because russia is suffering too as a result of putin's war of aggression. there are no smoking ruins of apartment buildings in russia, but there is the senseless waste of so many young russian lives, soldiers and conscripts sent to die in ukraine for a war that is not their own. there is putin's brutal crackdown on protesters and journalists and there is the economic devastation his nation will suffer, is already suffering as a result of sanctions and companies' decisions to pull out of russia to protest its unprovoked attack on ukraine.

vladimir putin is laying waste to two countries. mr. president, these have been dark days for ukraine, but the devastation in ukraine has been met with determination. this is ukraine's fight, and they are not shrinking from it. "the washington post" recently reported that more than 66,000 ukrainians who are outside the country have returned to answer president zelensky's call to arms. that's 66,000 ukrainians who could have sat in safety outside ukraine, who have returned to help defend their country. outnumbered as they are, the ukrainian people are standing fast, and they are slowing down and in many places holding off the russians. soldiers and civilians alike have taken up arms to defend

their nation. it is clear that the spirit of ukraine now roused, will not be quenched. but, mr. president, no matter the resolve of the ukrainian people, ukraine cannot hold out alone. without military intelligence and humanitarian support from other free nations, ukraine may fall. we can't sit by and let that happen. congress is currently considering legislation to send additional military and humanitarian aid to ukraine. i hope that we will be able to take a vote on this, and very, very soon. as i've said before, the united states was too slow to send aid to ukraine and sanction putin in the lead up to russia's attack. we can't afford to make the same mistake again. i commend president biden for doing the right thing this week and banning american imports of russian energy. every dollar we send to russia

to purchase energy is a dollar that russia can use to prosecute its war on ukraine. now we need to focus on developing our energy resources here at home. all of them, all of them, mr. president, conventional and alternative to ensure that our nation never again has to depend on countries like russia for essential energy supplies. we should also take this oil ban a step further by enacting the bipartisan crapo-wyden bill to suspend permanent normal trade relations with russia and belarus. the bill would also direct the u.s. trade representative to seek to suspend russia from the world trade organization. a nation that flouts the rules and makes a mockery of diplomacy should not enjoy a seat at the table. mr. president, i heard directly from president zelensky in a zoom call saturday, and he made a powerful appeal for help from the west.

among other things, president zelensky requested that we help close the skies over ukraine. one solution that's been offered to help protect ukrainian airspace is for poland, bull gair i don't see, slow -- bulgaria and others to provide their mig-29 jets to ukraine. we need to do everything we can to help ukraine in this fight including helping to pave the way for ukraine to get the air resources it needs. poland has stepped up and expressed a willingness to provide the migs, but we find ourselves at a dead end as to how to facilitate the transfer to ukraine. mr. president, we need to find a solution, and i encourage the administration to find a way to safely navigate the logistics of such transfer. after all that ukraine has managed to do, it would be a tragedy to see the country lose its fight because the united states and other nato countries could not agree on how to get

the ukrainians the resources that they need. and, mr. president, while we should be cautious about what putin may choose to do as he has lost his grow and his off ramps dwindle, the united states and russia cannot allow moscow to dictate our actions. to do so would not only be to surrender ukraine, but to give the green light to despotic governments the world over from china to iran. mr. president, on saturday, president zelensky delivered an address to the ukrainian people. free people of a free country, he began. free people of a free country. that, mr. president, is what ukrainians are fighting for -- to be a free people in a free country. and i think their fight is very close to the hearts of the american people.

for after all, for what did our forefathers fight but to be a free people in a free land, to have the right to determine their own destiny and to live free of oppression. free people of a free country. long may the ukrainians remain so. mr. president, i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: thank you. let me thank senator thune for his remarks and simply add that i hope we can all keep in our hearts the prospect that the ukrainians might actually win this thing given the success they've already seen, as long as they get adequate support from us and the world community. i'm here, mr. president, for a

rather different reason. it is to call this chamber yet again to wake up to the urgent threat of climate change. i wish i was done with these time to wake up speeches. frankly, i wish i never had to deliver a single one. i wish congress had dealt with this threat. for instance, back when another senator from rhode island, republican john chafee, held hearings on the looming challenge of carbon dioxide pollution, i wish we dealt with it when the house, under speaker pelosi, halved the waxman -- passed the waxman-markey climate change bill, only for majority leader harry reid and president barack obama to kill it in a democratic

senate with a filibuster-proof majority. and i wish the citizens united decision hadn't allowed the fossil fuel industry to capture the republican party and kill the bipartisanship on climate that existed before that decision in this chamber. in my church growing up, there was a prayer about things we have left undone that we ought to have done. in that spirit, here is a graphic on carbon emissions we prepared in conjunction with the biden white house that charts out where we are on this problem. green, this line here, is carbon emissions business as usual. if we keep kowtowing to the

fossil fuel industry here and don't take serious climate action. orange -- this line -- with quite significant emission savings, is the finance committee's climate tax package. that's the effect just of that climate tax package if it comes into law. down here is a clean electricity standard. if you could put into law a national u.s. clean electricity standard, you could reduce emissions to this gray line. if you were to combine the two, combine the finance committee tax package and the clean electricity standard, you push emissions down to this yellow line. look at the blue line. this upper blue line is the

carbon savings from a modest price on carbon, one that we've discussed and negotiated with the white house. $15 per ton in 2023, rising to $70 per ton in 2032. look at how powerful the emissions effect is of that single intervention. and this lowest one that reduces emissions the most, this is the safety pathway. this dark blue emissions line is all of those policies together. that's what they add up to. that's what we could be doing. we could be creating a pathway

to safety. and as these emissions results show, a carbon price is the key policy to hit the 50% emissions reduction target we have and to get on a pathway to safety. well, that's not happening right now. so while fossil fuel-funded republicans block legislative action on climate, what could be done through executive action? regulation. it's not a substitute for ambitious legislation but it can make a big difference. the e.p.a. has more or less restored obama-era fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions standards for cars and light trucks. it has a proposal to regulate methane leakage from oil and gas facilities. it restored an obama-era rule limiting mercury and other toxic

air pollutants from coal-fired power plants. that's all good, but it's a return to the pre-trump polluter status quo. not progress, not new progress. here's what e.p.a. could still do -- start with regulations for big, easily identified sources of greenhouse gases. not just coal-fired power plants, but point sources, including in the industrial sector, which generates more than a fifth of total greenhouse gas emissions. we need a multipronged regulatory approach targeting all major classes of point sources. we need stronger rules for mercury, coal ash, soot, and other pollutants. public health demands this, and it's even more urgent in light of climate change. e.p.a. can update the cross-state air pollution rule and tighten national ambient air

quality standards. and we need greenhouse gas emissions standards for heavy-duty vehicles and for aviation. focusing just on light-duty vehicles won't cut it. over at the office of management and budget, they could finish an updated social cost of carbon and issue guidance requiring its use throughout, throughout agency decision-making. this is a big one -- the social cost of carbon calculates the long-term damage from carbon pollution, and it should figure in permitting, leasing, grant making, international investment assistance, trade agreements, procurement. a trump judge likely installed on the federal bench using

fossil fuel dark money just blocked the obama-era social cost of carbon. while that's litigated, the administration is correctly pausing leases, permits, and other action for greenhouse gas emitters. at the department of interior, stom doling out -- stop doling out lease is. pause them while the social cost the carbon is litigated and review them all to make sure that taxpayers are paid royalties that reflect the actual cost of fossil fuel production and combustion. at the department of energy, update energy efficiency standards for all the electric appliances and products we use every day. there's low-hanging fruit there. i hear all of these rules are nearly ready but held up in bureaucrat delay.

get a move on. the department of energy should also, along with e.p.a. and the department of agriculture, update the renewable fuel standards to ensure that renewable fuels actually generate considerable emissions reductions. here's another simple one. federal procurement. update federal acquisition regulations so agencies price in the cost of emissions when they're buying products. do that and maybe we wouldn't wind up purchasing postal service delivery trucks with combustible engines no more efficient than their decades old predecessors. heck, we might even wind up with clean, hyper performing electric trucks. there's more to this regulatory list but let me leave it there. with legislation and regulation, mr. president, ought to come

litigation, litigation. there are states, cities, counties across the country that have filed lawsuits against the fossil fuel industry based on local harm suffered as a result of climate change. and there's precedent for those at the federal level. in 1999 the justice department filed a civil lawsuit against big tobacco and its front groups charging that they -- and i'm quoting the complaint here -- they engaged in and executed and continue to engage in and execute a massive 50-year scheme to defraud the public. end quote. that's the language in the department of justice complaint. well, it went to trial and a few years later, u.s. district judge

gladys kessler agreed. she found the tobacco industry had -- and i'm quoting her here -- coordinated significant aspects of their public relations scientific legal and marketing activity in further rational of a shared objective to maximize industry profits by preserving and expanding the market for cigarettes through a scheme to deceive the public. that's the language in the decision. a scheme to deceive. so here's a useful exercise. pop out the word cigarettes in that decision and drop in fossil fuel. judge kessler's finding in the tobacco case describes exactly what the fossil fuel industry has perpetrated. coordinated significant aspects of their public relations,

scientific, legal and marketing activity in furtherance of a shared objective to maximize industry profits by preserving and expanding the market for fossil fuels through a scheme to deceive the public. nothing, nothing prevents the department of justice from at least investigating whether to follow its own successful blueprint. yet nothing has been done. progress will be easier on climate if we take on the fossil fuel-funded front groups that are armed to the teeth with dark money political weaponry. with proper counter measures like exposure, we can help achieve victory, victory on climate by exposing the

right-wing dark money groups fomenting and funding climate obstruction. very likely as part of a scheme to deceive the public. i'll end with an example from a book i read recently about a ship that went down. in september 1857 the s.s. central america which was known as the ship of gold set sail from california to new york city with nearly 600 passengers and crew and 30,000 pounds of gold from the california gold rush. a few hundred miles off the carolina coast a hurricane hit

the s.s. central america. in the teeth of the gales the passengers and the crew did everything they could. stewards and waiters and other staff were taken off their regular duties to fight the storm, to fight the flooding. passengers were put into service to save the stricken ship. heavy cargo was thrown overboard. in fact, divers are right now down recovering the gold that was thrown overboard to save the ship. the ship itself, its doors and panels were broken up to help block the sea out, were thrown overboard to lighten the stricken ship. at the end, at the end passengers and crew were side by

side deep in the hold, shoulder deep in water, desperately pumping to save the ship. the lesson here? the passengers and crew did everything they could but at each step they started too late. they ultimately took all the necessary measures, but each one, each one they took too late and the ship sank. i fear that's the analogy for our present predicament. indoll lens -- indolence in the

face of known danger is a particularly stupid form of c cowward dis -- cowardice. it's made worse by a fossil fuel industry that pays people, pays people to block our efforts to save the ship. for the steam ship the s.s. central america, there was another boat that stood by in the storm to help rescue passengers and out of the 600 men and women on that ship, a few dozen were saved. us? we have no other planet standing by. this is our chance for this ship of ours, and it's time to wake up. it's time to take self-rescue

seriously by every available means and fast. i yield the floor. mrs. capito: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from west virginia. mrs. capito: mr. president, thank you for recognizing me. i wanted to talk today about gas prices. the people in west virginia woke up this morning and according to aaa, the average gas price in west virginia is $4.12 per gallon.

some parts of the country are paying more. probably the part of your country, mr. president, paying more than $5 or even more than $6 per gallon of regular gas. just up the street here in washington, d.c. at the gas station close to the senate office buildings, it's $5.19 per gallon. we have surpassed the highest recorded average of gas prices ever. and that is quite alarming. unfortunately this has been all too predictable given the biden administration's domestic energy policy actions. on day one of this presidency, president biden managed to immediately kill thousands of union jobs and paralyze america's industry -- energy industry with the executive orders that killed the keystone xl pipeline. at peak capacity, this pipeline would have delivered 830,000

barrels of oil per day to american refineries. pretty similar as to what we were importing from russia. the president also put a moratorium on new oil and gas leases on federal lands moving america from the energy super power that we have been back to an increased reliance on foreign adversaries for fuel feed stocks. these are countries that have much laxer environmental rules than we have and we'll ever have. the administration has also been openly antipipeline, antifossil fuel with its rhetoric, through its actions and embodied by the people it's elevated to unaccountable leadership roles. two by name, gina mccarthy and john kerry. this administration has instituted regulatory uncertainty at a time of record inflation. the administration wants to make a new definition of wotus which

is a rule otherwise known as waters of the u.s. to regulate every pond and ditch, even on private lands all across the country. this will devastate energy production as well as hurt sectors like agriculture, home building at a time when their products are already in high demand and under immense inflationary pressures. the administration is considering new tighter methane regulations that will also raise our energy costs including for home heating and as we move to the next season for home cooling and electricity bills. it's revising the nepa process, undoing the streamlining that was done during the trump administration. nepa touches almost every single infrastructure package in our country. think about it. we just passed an enormous infrastructure package, but if you add more and more red tape on to these infrastructure

package -- infrastructure projects that we bipartisan passed through here, you're going to add more and more in costs for producers and more and more costs for everyday americans. this regulatory uncertainty is increasing energy prices for americans across the board and it's felt most acutely at the gas pump because we can see it so clearly every time we fill up and we see it posted at the stations. and you have an energy department that is slow walking the build-out of l&g export terminals which means we can't export to our allies as efficiently as we could be. endless regulatory delay and environmental lawsuits, including on permits already issued delay more than pipelines and kill more than jobs. we have one in west virginia, the mountain valley pipeline, that is working hard to complete the last 5% of the pipeline to move the product.

they also crush our economy with inflation and leave us and our allies more susceptible to bad actors like russia, venezuela, and iran. we're seeing the importance of energy independence play out in real time with the destruction, horrifying destruction in ukraine. because of the biden administration policies that i just outlined we are not able to immediately provide an energy backstop to our european allies trying to break their russian oil and gas habit. they're begging for our coal as we speak. it's the perfect storm for a global energy crisis. it almost sounds cliche to say as it's been said so often, but energy security is our national security. and specifically fossil fuel security will help keep us secure nationally. so what's the biden administration doing? well, we've seen reports that

the administration is discussing a possible trip soon to saudi arabia to convince the kingdom to produce more oil. well, he's tried this and oh, by the way, they won't even take the president's phone call. we know the administration is considering easing sanctions on venezuela so they will produce more oil. and once again president biden opened the strategic petroleum reserve even though it didn't work last time, costs the taxpayer and depletes our own stockpile which we created from the last oil crisis to be used when the united states faces another crisis. but instead of gas and oil production in our country or letting it move forward, no. according to the administration and their actions, saudi and venezuela and opec oil is good but american oil is bad. okay, got it. rather than encourage american oil production, this administration would like to line the pockets of the saudis,

nicolas maduro and, yes, vladimir putin. you cannot hinder american gas and oil production in the name of reducing emissions and then nudge countries like saudi arabia and venezuela to produce more. emissions are emissions, no matter where it comes from. emissions are emissions when it comes to global climate change. and while i know that climate czar john kerry is disappointed that war in ukraine is distracting people from climate change, as we see two million people leaving that beautiful country, i don't see our european friends trying to secure alternative sources for more solar panels. instead, they're worried about access to oil, coal, natural gas, and nuclear. that's because wind and solar aren't able to meet their energy demands. and, sadly, with the energy decisions the biden administration has made, american fuel won't be there to

meet their needs either. we just don't have the physical infrastructure in place to export. we're producing more than we ever have, even in this regulatory peppertory, but not just -- purgatory, but that just underscores how much more we could be doing if the biden administration's red tapes and policies were not in place. right now the world is begging for american leadership. ukraine is begging for american leadership. europe is begging for american leadership. and that includes energy leadership. putin is emboldened every day that the biden administration flails on this issue. according to the united nations, as i stated, more than two million people have been forced to leave their homeland. tens of thousands of ukrainians still in ukraine are without

food, water, or power. we've seen the haunting images of the bombings of schools, apartments, and hospitals, including, sadly and just horrifyingly, a maternity hospital just yesterday. civilians are being targeted. children are being orphaned. it is an absolute atrocity. we cannot leave ukrainian patriots and our european allies at the mercy of moscow. we must address the poor energy policy decisions of the biden administration in order to unleash full american energy production, support our allies in europe, and stop funding putin's war against the ukrainians. we should be acting quickly. the security of the free world depends on this. and i thank you for that. i yield back.

strongest, boldest and most significant government funding package we seen and a very long closer to fully funding the government for

the 2022 fiscal year. now, as we all of funding the government is a basic responsibility of congress but rarely does this responsibility arrive at such a critical moment for our country and for the world. war has erupted in europe, and americans are looking for relief from rising costs, this package is critical for facing these challenges. after weeks of hard work, i am pleased to report that this bipartisan funding package represents a robust and unapologetic investment in the american people. it will give our troops arrays, provide for money for schools and head start programs and pell grants, reauthorize the violence against women act, fund the president cancer moonshot and open the floodgates for funding the bipartisan infrastructure law. this funding bill is overflowing with very good things for our troops, for american jobs, for

our families, and for america. once this bill arrives at the senate, republicans must work with the democrats to pass the bill as soon as possible. hopefully tonight. there is every reason in the world to believe that we can arrive at a path forward quickly. for one, people of ukraine need our immediate help, and this omnibus is a quickest and most direct way of getting them the help fast. at nearly $14 billion, congress will approve more than double, more than doubled, with the the administration originally requested for ukraine aid. and that is a huge accomplishment. we took the president's original request from ukrainian aid, examined it and add to it. and i can confidently say, every last penny of this aid package will be money much-needed and well spent. it will provide food, medicine, shelter, support for over

2 million refugees and resources for ukraine's ruin the economy. it will also inject billions into military assistance. it will enable weapons, weapon transfers by chaplains and stingers, it will reassure and strengthen nato and at peace to our defenses against russia's militias cyber warfare. and to every corrupt russian oligarchs that has dined off putin's regime for years, beware. this package will increase the government tools for hunting you down and holding you accountable. the ukrainian people are fighting for their lies, and fighting for the survival of the young democracy. congress has a moral obligation to stand behind them as they resist the evils of vladimir putin and his campaign of carnage here . the 22 -- 2022 government funding bill is one way we're keeping that promise.

and for that reason alone it should pass the senate as quickly as possible. but on the homefront as i i already mentioned, there's lots of important things. this package increases investments across nearly every single domestic priority, very much needed. i'm particularly thrilled to say that after a decade of false starts, this package will finally reauthorize the violence against women act which i originally helped write and passed when i was a congressman back in 1994. unfortunately, this very needed important bill to protect those who are abused has languished in limbo for far too long. 1091 most important pieces of legislation of the past 30 years, and once it is reauthorize it will once again provide life-saving support -- vawa -- for countless women who face sexual assault and domestic abuse.

i think senator feinstein, durbin, ernst, murkowski, and all the cosponsors bipartisan for helping bring this law back to life. now of course nobody argues that this package is perfect. i am deeply disappointed, deeply disappointed that the administration's request for more covert funding failed to make it into the house bill. but we're going to keep fighting to make sure we get that money approved as soon as possible. covid funding right now is all about being prepared. it will provide funding for vaccines and therapeutics and testing which means it would be much easier to keep schools open, to keep businesses open, and keep life closer to normal that it was during delta and all macron. so we'll keep working on covid relief as premature wear not over the finish line yet but it want to thank appropriators from

both sides of the aisle, bipartisan, for putting this package together, never an easy task. i especially think chairman leahy for his leadership and his counsel over the course of this process and i think ranking member shelby as well and my house collects, too. they're working in good faith to make this bill possible. it's not an easy to draft this truly robust package, but after years of needless chaos and uncertainty under donald trump, this year congress has been able to work together on a bipartisan basis to fund the government in a serious way. now, the senate must follow through in finishing the job by approving this bill quickly and sending it to the president's desk. so we still have some more work to do, but it's already been a remarkably busy and productive week here in the senate. after nearly a decade of work, this week the senate finally passed the largest postal reform bill in a very long time.

with huge bipartisan support, i'm happy to say. we also sent to the president's of desk the first bill in american history that finally, finally long overdue declares lynching a federal crime, after century of failed attempts. these are both moment is and indeed historic accomplishments, and i think my colleagues are working in good faith to get them done. i have always said that whenever possible democrats would be willing to work in a bipartisan way to get things done. and once the omnibus is done this week, in this week we will achieve three major bipartisan accomplishments. and yesterday senate democrats also met for our deep ecc retreat over at howard university where we had a spirited and productive conversation about the biggest issues facing american families, lowering costs. as a world continues to struggle

with covid, supply chain disruptions and russia's war on ukraine. americans need relief, relief from, on everything, from energy costs, prescription drug costs, groceries, the cost of groceries and neat and so much more. democrats will keep working these issues with laserlike intensity and unflinching focus. moving forward the senate will also continue the process of considering and ultimately confirming president biden's exceptional nominee to the united states supreme court, judge ketanji brown jackson. judge jackson is qualified for the high court is not in question, that she merits bipartisan support should not be disputed. because on three occasions she's already come before this chamber and has been embraced by people on both sides of the aisle. when judge jackson's confirmation hearings begin on march 21, the entire nation

would get to see what many of us in the senate are learning for ourselves. judge jackson is brilliant. she is beloved, and she belongs on the supreme court, the three b's, brilliant, , beloved, belongs. we have more work to do before this we comes to an end but i for now i thank my colleagues for a very, very productive few days. i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. >> the court will call the roll. >> ms. baldwin. >> washington democrats are trying to pull off a political spin job for the ages. everyone knows that gas prices and energy costs have been soaring sharply for many, many months. working families know all too well that gas prices and utility costs have been rising throughout president biden's

tenure. just this morning we learn that inflation set yet another record last month. prices skyrocketing, another .8% in february russia's unprovoked and unjust attacks on a sovereign nation and its people. innocent men, women, and children have lost their lives, homes have been destroyed, neighborhoods and businesses obliterated, families and communities have been torn apart, some never to be reunited again. let's be clear, the blame for this chaos and devastation false directly on the shoulders of one tyrant, one tyrant, vladimir putin. and no amount of hollow justifications, false

equivocations, false flag operations, or outright propaganda will change that. putin, you are responsible. putin, you will not prevail. justice is coming, coming for you and coming for your cronies. and as appalling as the stories and videos of russia's brutality have been, we've also seen incredible acts of heroism, kindness, and patriotism from ukrainian leaders, the military, and, well, everyday citizens. the people of ukraine, they've inspired.entire world with theie world with their resilience, their courage and determination, to live in a free and depthic country this past week, i joined my

creation in a -- joined my colleagues in a call with president zelensky. will say now what we said to him then -- we are with you. and the people from nevada, we are with you too. from north to south, nevadans have come together to voice their support for the ukrainian people and their opposition to russia's aggression and brutality. nevadans agree that we can't sit idly by as putin continues to terrorize, terrorize the ukrainian people. the horrific images that the world has seen, they require action, they require action. we cannot sit idly by and do nothing. here in congress, we're working to give ukraine more security assistance and to hold putin accountable by crippling russia's economy. ened i -- and i call on every

senator in this body to vote yes on the omnibus package, which includes nearly $14 billion to aid ukrainian's fight against putin's forces and to support ukrainian people. this bipartisan legislation builds on the work that congress and the administration have been doing over the past several weeks to confront vladimir putin head-on. i applaud the biden administration for so forcefully bringing together and i international coalition of partners, a coalition that stands behind ukraine's cause, the cause for freedom. but we must do more. we must do more to support ukraine, to devastate russia's economy, and to stop putin's violent attacks. president zelensky made it clear in our call just this past

weekend that ukraine urgently needs fighter jets to defend itself. let's heed his call and work closely together with our european partners to who have these jets to provide ukraine with the aircraft they desperately need and to find ways to compensate or backfill our allies' support. we also must continue to strengthen the security of our nato allies and demonstrate that the transatlantic community remains united. and we must do more to bring putin's war to an end and make putin himself feel the full consequences of his horrible actions. that means hitting russia's economy where they will feel it most -- energy. just this week, i cosponsored bipartisan legislation that would end all russian energy imports to the united states.

i'm glad to see the biden administration responded to this call and that the united states is now ending all russian energy imports, which are funding putin's cruel, cruel, cruel and unprovoked war. i'm heartened to see the united kingdom follow suit, and i call on all of our allies to do the same. another area where we can put pressure on russia is through trade. as chair of the commerce subcommittee that oversees trade policy, i strongly support legislation to strip russia's most favored nation status at the world trade organization. and i'm committed to pursuing additional actions that would severely weaken russia's economy and drain putin's war fund. and our efforts are not only about defending ukraine and

stopping russia, though stop them we must. this is about defending democracy and the fundamental right of a nation and its people to choose their own destiny. the fundamental right of a nation and its people to choose its own destiny. america must make it clear that we will not stand idly by when an ought krattic bully -- autocratic bully decides to invade another nation without provocation and without justification. the united states and our allies must leave no stone unturned to ensure that vladimir putin pays a steep price for his aggression against the people of ukraine. we, we must continue to serve as a shield and a beacon for democracy and freedom for those in need.

on behalf of the battle-born state of nevada, i stand with ukraine and will continue fighting to make sure the united states stands proud and strong as a beacon of peace and security. thank you, mr. president. i yield back.

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. brazo: thank you, mr. president. mr. barrasso: i come to the floor today to talk about inflation. one thing is for sure, joe biden is the president of high prices. new numbers are out today. inflation remains the worst its been in 40 years. 40 years, mr. president. now, we knew that today's inflation numbers are going to be bad for americans and bad for the administration, but the numbers today are worse than people thought. prices rose nearly 8% in just the last year. that means we're now seeing more inflation in the last 13 months under president joe biden than we did in the previous four

years, and families are suffering. prices are going up, but wages are not keeping up. last week, we found out that wages in terms of an escalation had slowed down a bit, which means that people are falling further and further behind. wages cannot just keep up with the prices that continue to go up. month after month after month, the american people have found themselves falling further and further and further behind. i remember when joe biden told all of us that inflation would be transitory. we all laughed about it. he said it over and over again. and then in december he said inflation had peaked. mr. president, inflation had not peaked. not at all. joe biden once again dead wrong.

now, the american people are reminded about this every time they go to the gas station, every time they go to the grocery store, every time they go out to purchase goods. so why is this happening? what's happened to america under joe biden and this miss management of this democrat administration that has the house, the senate, and the white house? well, there are two main things. one is democrats' spending, excessive spending. the other, of course, democrat restrictions on american energy. one year ago, joe biden signed the largest spending bill in american history. democrats put $2 trillion on america's credit card. they flooded the country with government cash, and prices went up. ever since that day, prices have been going up faster than wages. there's still no end in sight. the painful truth of all of this

is energy prices, food prices all across the country are going to continue to go up. thanks to the mismanagement of joe biden and this administration. today a gallon of gas in the united states is the highest it has ever been. ever. when joe biden took office, the average price of gasoline in america was $2.38 a gallon, and today it is about $2 a gallon more than it was then. and coming from the home state of wyoming, where people drive more miles per cap at that than any -- per capita than an other state in the country, people in my state are really feeling the pain of the mismanagement by joe biden and the democrats. you think it's bad in wyoming, let's go to the liberal paradise of california. i don't know what it is, mr. president, in your home state of hawaii. i know in california, $5.60 a

gallon. summer's coming and people are expecting the prices to get even higher. so what's joe biden to this? he's blaming everything on vladimir putin. everything. it's a convenient excuse. it's just wrong. by the time that vladimir putin started to encircle ukraine and then actually invaded ukraine, inflation had been roaring here at home for over ten months. gas prices were already way up, $1.25 higher than they were the day joe biden took office. so biden's numbers just don't add up. russian oil amounts to about 3% of our energy use in the united states. gas prices haven't just gone up by 3%. no, no, they nearly doubled

during joe biden's presidency. the real reason that prices are up so much for energy is that joe biden has restricted our use of american energy. you listen to him, go back to the tapes on the debate stage when he was running for president, he says he's going to keep it in the ground. no oil and gas exploration on public lands. none. zero. the white house press secretary the other day said we're at record-high production. we're not. mistake, absolutely wrong. she should be fact checked. we are over a million barrels a day fewer u.s. barrels of oil produced a day today than we were during the height of our production before the pandemic. actually 1.4 million barrels a day, fewer barrels today than we were at the height of our production before the pandemic.

as supply goes down as a result of the mismanagement and the decisions made by this biden administration and the refusal to allow for permits to explore for energy, prices go up, and they have. when the prices of energy go up, the prices of everything else goes up as well. so what are the democrats proposing about high prices for energy? well, the answer for democrats seems to be anything except more american energy. democrats have essentially floated three proposals. one is defund our roads and bridges. the second is buy more energy from our enemies, people that chant death to america. or keep prices high. those are the options we hear from the democrats. we see some frightened democrats worried about reelection talking

about suspending the gas tax and then bringing it back right after election day. well, the gas tax is what pays for the roads and the bridges and the highways of our nation. but bring it back right after the election. well, does that mean we're going to need less energy after election day, so it's okay to raise prices after the election? of course not. even former clinton and obama economic advisor larry summers calls this proposal being introduced in this body by members of the democrat side of the aisle, he calls it shortsighted, ineffective, gimmicky and goofy. that's larry summers, from both the biden -- i'm sorry, the obama as well as the clinton administration. if we completely repeal the gas tax, gas prices would still be $1.75 more a gallon than they

were the day joe biden took office. so the other option, another option the democrats are floating is let's buy more energy from our enemies. wouldn't that be a great idea, says the president. so officials from the biden administration is gone hat in hand to venezuela last weekend as well as to iran. so venezuela is one of the closest allies to vladimir putin. i understand the current man in power in venezuela actually called to congratulate putin for what he's doing in ukraine. so is iran in terms of world's number-one sponsor of terrorism. that's who joe biden has chosen to talk to -- iran and venezuela -- rather than united states energy producers. do we want to pay our worst

enemies over $100 a barrel for each barrel of oil they will sell to us? do we want to send billions and billions of dollars of hard-earned taxpayer dollars in this country to those who hate us and burn american flags and chant death to america? or do we want to create jobs here at home, produce more american energy? the answer is obvious to most american people. it may not be obvious to the man in the white house or his administration or those around him, but joe biden would rather have an enormous transfer of wealth to our enemies than tell the climate elitists who he dances to the tune of, that we are going to produce energy at home. now finally, some democrats are just proposing let's keep energy

prices high. the secretary of transportation says just buy an electric vehicle. that will solve all our problems. he said you won't have to worry about gas prices no matter how high they go. it's okay if they go high as long as you buy an electric vehicle. talk about being out of touch, the average electric vehicle costs over $155,000. families -- costs over $55,000. families who are struggling in this biden economy they can't afford to spend $55,000. we have many americans living paycheck to paycheck, and the secretary of transportation says find $55,000, buy an electric vehicle and you can plug it in. where do you think the electricity comes from? it doesn't come from the wall. you talk about an administration being out of touch, that's what we're dealing with in this country today.

two-thirds of americans say they're living paycheck to paycheck, and this morning we had a hearing in the energy committee and said what about everybody trying to buy an electric vehicle? can we do it? and what do we hear? you'd have to buy a lot of things from china or russia just fo get the rare earth minerals that are needed to build the batteries for the electric cars. what does elon musk, mr. tesla, say? he says produce more american energy. time for the president of the united states to wake up. so it's really not an option for everybody to get an electric vehicle. even if everybody had the money, there's not enough electric vehicles to be had in anywhere in the not just near future, in the foreseeable future, and beyond that. another option is not to send billions of dollars to our enemies. after all, as a state

department official from this administration told us in the foreign relations committee as putin was building up before the invasion but building up the army around ukraine, said that putin's energy was the cash cow that was paying for his military aggression. the american people deserve better solutions, rational solutions, solutions that they understand. and they understand american energy. just yesterday joe biden said i can't do much right now to bring down prices. it's not true. last week the morning after the state of the union address, i along with every republican on the senate energy committee, every republican, signed a letter, sent it to joe biden, offered ten points that he could do and do now to make a difference for american energy production to help the american economy, to help with jobs, to

help with energy production, and to help bring down the cost of energy. we know what we need to do. to bring down p inflation, we need to stop the reckless spending here in washington, d.c. of course that's gone now. democrats, on a single party-line vote, with no republicans voting for it, did that last year to spark inflation, and then all the rules and regulations and limitations on america's use of energy has added to it and contributed to today a 40-year high of inflation. above all, we need to unleash american energy. we need to use american energy. more american energy will bring down the prices. we have it. when the secretary of interior makes a statement she wants to keep all the oil and gas in the ground, that's a statement about this administration's lack of commitment to use american energy.

we have the opportunity in america to do it right. for more than a year now the american people have been paying and paying and paying for the democrats' anti-american energy policies, and they're sick and tired of it. you turn on the be tv and you see what's happening out there on there -- in the world in ukraine, with people getting killed by vladimir putin, a maternity ward, a hospital bombed, people killed. and what did former secretary of state john kerry, the democrats' climate envoy, say with an interview with the bbc as the russian troops encircled ukraine? he said i hope it doesn't distract from our climate agenda. mr. president, that's obscene and it's absurd.

the american people realize how absolutely ridiculous the position and how untenable the position of this administration is, when you have the number-one climate spokesman for the administration, a former secretary of state, somebody who was a member of this body for years, close colleague and friend of the united states, it's time for joe biden to stand up to john kerry and to stand up to the climate elitists who say, no american energy because we are so pure. the american people know what's important to them in their lives. we all want to make energy as clean as we can as fast as we can, without raising costs on american families. the administration seems to be happy to see the prices go up on american families at a time when their wages are not keeping up with their expenses.

it's long past time, mr. president, that we produce american energy, and do it right here. we have the resources, we have the know-how, we have the workers. we're only missing one thing, and that's competent leadership in the white house and in the democrats in this body, on capitol hill. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor.

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. mr. lankford: mr. president, i was at the state of the union address, as the gentleman in the chair and most of the folks in this room. in the state of the union address, the president made a very strong statement. i was pleased to be able to hear him say he made this statement -- we'll buy american to make sure every, everything from the deck of an aircraft carrier to the steel in the highway guardrails is made in america, from beginning to end. all of it, all of it. great. what he left out is what we marked with a little asterisk here, as everything, all of it, all it, seems to be

acceptable in gas. gas is one of the those things that is essential for us. it's not just transportation. it's not just electricity. the carpet i'm standing on has petroleum products in it. the finish on this desk has petroleum products in it. the suit that the suit that people are wearing often have petroleum products in it. paint on the walls, petroleum products all over this room and is needed for all kinds of things. our economy is connected to petroleum. it doesn't mean we can't do it cleaner. that doesn't mean we can't do it better. but it's interesting to me to be able to note that when we talk about buy american and doing american, now when there's the conversation and now decision finally from the biden administration that we're going to cut off russian oil and gas coming into the united states, good. then it immediately turns to let's get it from venezuela or from iran or find some other source. and we're all saying time out.

there's this country called the united states that we also produce oil and gas. and we should be focused on what does it take to be able to do it more here so that we're mott dependent on any country, especially the country that's run by an autocratic dictator. i wish this was the only statement i would challenge on it, but i was quite shocked that president biden's envoy for climate john kerry as the russians were invading ukraine made this statement. i hope president putin will help us stay on track with respect for what we need to do for the climate. then he said that a russian war could cause massive emission consequences. wow. focus -- the focus seemed to be on emission consequences of a war rather than the people of

ukraine. the focus seemed to be on i hope president putin will stay on track with respect to climate change rather than stop. listen, i just talked to normal folks on the street in oklahoma. they're frustrated about the price of gas no matter how small their car is or how big their truck is, they're ticked at the high price of gasoline. they've been upset for a while. it's not just based on ukraine. the price of gasoline just in the past 13 months has gone up over a dollar a gallon. that wasn't because of russia and ukraine. that was directly because of policies that are in the biden administration. now it's accelerating even more. we need to find a way to be able to create greater energy security for the united states of america and that does involve actually producing more oil and gas. i would say that the biden administration and i disagree on this, but the little known fact is we don't disagree on this.

i do agree with the biden administration because if you look at the biden administration's official numbers that they actually put out from the energy information, when they put out their official numbers and they have to estimate how much oil and gas we'll use globally, their official estimate from the biden administration is between now and 2050, we will continue to need progressively more and more natural gas and petroleum products. by the way, also more coal in their estimates as well. but where i differ from the biden administration, they do acknowledge privately the facts and lay the data out and say we're going to need more oil and gas and more coal, not less to provide the basic energy needs of the world. where i disagree with them is how they're trying to be able to push the world into other energy solutions biz raising the price -- solutions by raising the price of oil and gas which directly punishes consumers.

and to be able to meet american climate goals, to say we're going to meet our american climate goals, we need to push production out to other countries and have them produce the oil and gas and send it to us so that we can show a good score for our climate while we still actually need to be able to purchase that oil from someone else. let's admit the obvious. we need all kinds of energy. and in the next 30 years, according to even the biden administration, we're going to need more gas, natural gas, more petroleum, more oil, and more coal worldwide. we're also going to need all kinds of other forms of energy. and like others i'm not opposed to every type of energy. let's also make it as clean as we possibly can. but we need to have all forms of energy out there but we also need to admit the basic facts. we need oil and gas production.

that doesn't mean we go get it from venezuela. venezuela is a ruthless human rights violator. the leadership of venezuela tortures his own people. we need to not go run to venezuela to be able to get additional oil. we certainly don't need to run to iran. no, i don't know if this administration is running to iran but there's great rumors that are flying around currently about the final negotiations of an iran nuclear deal and we're waiting to see what the actual details are. whether that's going to include putting iranian oil on the world market. i hope it does not. i hope also they deal with the iran nuclear deal, they actually deal with the weapons that iran is producing to actually deliver a nuclear warhead. as they continue to be able to test more and more miles an hour sills with more and more range with a larger and larger warhead size. that's specifically designed for a nuclear warhead. we shouldn't pay attention to nuclear material and ignore the delivery system that they're actually expecting with.

i hope we pay attention to what's happening in yemen and iran is the largest state sponsor of terrorism that they're actually delivering the products of war to yemen that's actually trying to destabilize all their neighbors around them. i hope we don't lift sanctions on hezbollah, on hamas, on those individuals that were a part of actually murdering our marines in 1983 in beirut. those individuals that took away the property of jewish citizens in iran in 1979. i hope all of those sanctions remain and those aren't up for bid and we're also not talking about bu buying iranian oil. solve -- solving our need for energy should not mean running to dictators around the world to go get it from them. what's happening now? the administration has done a release of 30 million barrels from the united states strategic petroleum reserve, which, by the

way, is a day and a half of our oil usage. it does have some effect but it's a day and a half of our oil usage. it's not the long-term solution. lolong term that is not even a bump in prices. long term we have to have stable supply to meet the demand that we have in the country. this administration is saying there's more oil production now in the united states than there was two years ago. that's f factually true. during the time of covid production of oil plummeted in the united states so there's definitely more oil being produced now than there was during the peak of the time during covid. but they've also taken on multiple different items from the very beginning of the administration to do what they could to be able to attack the production of american oil and gas. from day one with cutting off the keystone pipeline which, by the way, i have folks that catch me and say what difference would the keystone pipeline make. well, let me give you an example. the keystone pipeline would

deliver more oil to houston, texas, a day than what russia does a day to the united states. we could literally replace russian oil with what would have come through the keystone pipeline but they killed it because they had environmental goals. and why should we worry about where we bile our oil from? why should we buy it from the canadians when we can buy it from the russians was the theory. well, i think we know why. i'd much rather be buying from the canadians today than buying from putin's russia. that was done right off the bat. federal energy regulatory commission just two weeks ago, not ancient history, just two weeks ago announced a new restriction on natural gas pipelines and said they will make decisions on export facilities of natural gas and natural gas pipelines on a case-by-case basis based on their mitigation plans that they will present.

no definition of what that would mean. it's basically if you're going to sink billions of dollars into doing a pipeline, we'll make our decision when you're in process. what does that do? that discourages any company from actually doing a natural gas pipeline or certainly an export facility when right now europe is screaming to us export more natural gas, ferc literally during the war announces they're going to make it harder to do natural gas exports. on waters of the united states, destabilized a lot of investment because no one knew what was going to be the issue and what was not going to be the issue. the bide an administration is now saying they want to be able to reopen all that and create less certainty on investment. there was a pause on oil and gas lease sales. they said they were going to do a temporary moratorium. they started on january 20, 2021.

it hasn't reopened yet. their temporary moratorium. every five years there's a plan that has to be presented for offshore leases and how they're going to actually do offshore work. that plan is due in june of this year. as far as we can tell the administration has taken up nothing on it mea meaning off s, we'll have no ability to be able to continue permitting because they're apparently not going to do the plan which means you don't get access to those leases. whether it's offshore, whether it's onshore, they're cutting offutt supplies. if that's not hard enough, the administration nominated sarah raskin could be vice chair of supervision for the federal reserve who's made public statements she wants to use the federal reserve to be able to cut off capital to anyone who handles fossil fuels. it's basically if you can't get loans and you can't transport from here to there through a pipeline and you can't get additional leases offshore or

onshore on federal lands, you've severely limited the locations that you can actually get energy long term. well, bide an -- biden's own energy information group says we're going to continue to need more oil and gas, more coal in the days ahead. the facts versus the reality of what they're actually putting into place. now again electric vehicles don't offend me. for those folks that can afford an expensive electric vehicle, that's great. it's 2% of the vehicles on the road. and they're fine. i don't have a problem with it. but even when they talk about let's do what we can to double the number of electric vehicles that are on the road, great. we'll be at 4% of the vehicles on the road will be electric. the other 96% of the people in the country want to go to school, want to go to work, want to go to the grocery store, want to travel on vacation. and right now to do that, they're paying the price for it.

let's have all forms of energy, let's have some realism in our conversation. let's do what we can to be able to open up energy production. what am i doing? i have a specific piece of legislation that deals with the permitting processes. it is because of the executive actions the president has put in place to been to slow down production energy. it opens up the process so we can get back to producing more american energy. i'm also promoting some very key things that the administration can do right now. for instance, when energy companies are looking to do investment for additional drilling, they're asking the question how long is the war going to happen? when all is -- when is all of this going to fall apart? no one knows that. the administration can announce we're doing a moratorium on buying russian oil for the next 12 months. lay out a firm date on it and say 12 months from now we'll review t. what difference does that make? it tells energy companies if you're going to invest and you're planning to come online in the next year, we're not

going to cut your legs out from underneath you by the united states buying oil from russia in a few months. this administration could also today say we're not going to make any changes to any of the rules that are out there that will affect any of the process for developing american oil and gas for the next 12 months. just a pause on making any changes on that. and this administration could actually open up federal leasing which by the way is not a radical idea. it's the law. the law says that the administration has to do it every quarter and so far four quarters in a row the biden administration has ignored the law of the united states. and just not done the leases. saying they have plenty. i don't want to do more. four quarters in a row they've violated the law. so what could the biden administration do to be able to help american production?

follow the law. put a pause on new restrictions. declare how long they're going to actually hold off on russian oil and how long that will be to give certainty for people in their investment. and pause all these new restrictions on capital. if the biden administration did that today, we would see an even greater increase in oil. listen, there's no incentive that needs to be put in place. i've had folks say what incentives do we need to put in place to increase american production. oil is at $1.20 a barrel. there's no incentive that needs to be put in place. the problem is not the incentive. the problem are the restrictions on the other side. without certainty and a constantly changing environment, few people want to be able to take the risk for it. so if secretary granholm is serious when she's calling out oil companies to ramp up production, do the work behind the scenes to open the path for them so that they have that kind of certainty. with that i yield the floor.

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mrs. blackburn: thank you, mr. president. conditions are bad in ukraine and they're getting worse. vladimir putin's war is escalating in severity and scale. this past sunday, we received the first public reports that russia is now deploying proxy fighters to ukraine. putin put out the call to action in syria, south each asia and chechnya and now the mercenaries are pouring in. on tuesday, we heard further allegations that as many as 1,000 proxy fighters from the kremlin-backed vogner group will deploy to ukraine and attack kiev. in latest news about proxy developments makes it even more

obvious how willfully blind the president has been to the disaster unfolding in ukraine. if you look back at footage from the past few months, it is clear that the biden administration thought they'd be able to talk putin out of this. they thought they could send in the diplomats, offer a few concessions, pat everyone on the back, and head home. but while they were lining up their talking points, vladimir putin was lining up bodies to throw at ukrainian defenses. when we first started to debate the threat that the chinese communist party poses to the free world, it took a lot of time to convince the skeptics of china's tight hold on the global order. through the belt and road initiative, cheap telecom build-outs and control over important supply chains, beijing has created spheres of economic influence all across the globe. the kremlin has done the same thing with its proxies, but it's

important to remember that this is not new information. the existence of vogner and other russian proxy groups is not a secret, and neither is their brutal history. this won't be wagner's first time in ukraine. in fact, that's where these mercenaries actually got started. but, for the past decade, they've been wreaking havoc all across africa. again, this is no secret. we know for a fact they've caused chaos and bloodshed in syria, libya, yemen, sudan, madagascar, mozambique and the central african republic and that they've helped turn them into yet another kingdom. and what have the russians received in return? they've gotten access to

oilfields, diamond mines, silver, gold, and other extremely valuable natural resources. by using his proxies, putin gets the best of all worlds. he's able to force open doors into strategically important areas. he will then suck them dry of their natural resources and make his own name synonymous with violence in the face of resistance. furthermore, mercenaries exist outside the bounds of laws and norms, which means groups like wagner operate with impunity and give cover and plausible deniability to moscow. in their opinion, it's the perfect legal fiction. meanwhile, these proxy fighters

have been accused of abductions, torture, and rape. they murder journalists and conduct summary executions on behalf of their kremlin over-lords. they target civilian populations with the specific purpose of terrorizing innocents and eliminating dissent. and when they're done, they simply disappear, and that is what vladimir putin is preparing to unleash on the brave ukrainian people. mr. president, i sent and other members joined me -- we have insisted since february 24 that this is not a special military operation. this is a war. but by bringing proxies into the mix, putin has signaled that he's prepared to do more than

inflict violence on key strategic targets. he is preparing for a massacre. this isn't a head fake. he knows exactly what he's doing because he has done it before. he's following the syria playbook to the letter, from the booby booby trapped humanitarian corridors to his use of clusterbombs, to the presence of proxies to carry out his dirty deeds. it's no wonder that moscow has ordered their fighters to travel with mobile crematoriums. it's the only way they'll be offer to attempt to cover.

putin has shown us exactly what he intends to do to the brave ukrainian people. he has made no attempt to hide behind diplomacy. his military commits war crimes in broad daylight for the benefit of the cameras. the introduction of proxies is the natural progression of this increasingly savage attack. it's time for president biden to pull the blinders off and decide what america's response ought to be, and he has to do that right now. we've deprioritized the african theater for far too long and now it's a breeding ground for glorified terror quads. that absolutely has to change. russia is using proxies this very moment to destabilize and exploit mali. we know what they did to the

people of syria. the pictures were too graphic for the nightly news. it's time to remind the world what happened there and make it clear that unless we doing is, ukraine is next. we must -- do something, ukraine is next. we must also send a clear signal to putin, to wagner and to other thugs around the world that there will be no more hiding. collect the evidence now. document the war crimes now. prepare for prosecutions now. we must let vladimir putin know that no amount of propaganda can cover up the atrocities that he and his private army, that they plan to commit against the people of ukraine. but we have to do it before it's too late to free the world from moscow's grip. i yield the floor.

mr. peters: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. mr. peters: mr. president, on tuesday night, the senate took a significant and historic vote to strengthen one of our nation's oldest and most trusted institutions, the united states postal service. for the past 15 years, this vital service that delivers to every single community in our country no matter how remote has faced unfair, burdensome requirements that have jeopardized its financial stability and its ability to provide reliable and timely delivery to americans all across our country. with 79 votes for the postal service reform act, one of the strongest bipartisan votes this

senate has delivered during this congress, we passed significant reforms that will set the postal service on a more stable financial footing, preserve mail delivery for six days a week, and ensure greater transparency of delivery performance for the american people who are counting on the postal service to bring them critical mail. when our nation's founders enshrined the postal service in our constitution, they could have never envisioned what a vital role this institution would play in the daily lives of americans. whether it's families who are receiving critical medications or connecting with loved ones, veterans and seniors more relying on the mail for benefits and social security checks, or small businesses that are sending important financial documents and products to customers, americans are counting on the postal service to deliver. over the past few years,

especially during covid-19, we have seen just how essential the postal service is to keeping our country connected. the legislation that we passed earlier this week with overwhelming, bipartisan support will help ensure that the postal service can continue its vital mission, and i'm looking forward to seeing president biden sign it into law. i'm proud of our bipartisan efforts to protect this vital public service, and i would like to take, mr. president, just a few moments to thank the many people who made this possible. first, i want to recognize my senate colleague on this effort, senator rob portman, who is the ranking member on homeland security and government a fairs committee. -- affairs committee. i'm also grateful to congresswoman maloney who worked with me hand in hand as well as with senator portman to write and to build key support for

this legislation. senator carper, who is a former chairman of the committee, and a stalwart advocate for the postal service, was a critical voice and we worked together to advance this bill. i would also like to recognize each of our senate cosponsors -- senator tillis, sinema and burr, senator wyden, senator collins, hassan, daines, rosen, capito, padilla, sullivan, manchin, hawley, blunt, rounds, smith, kramer, reed, murkowski, chairman sanders of the budget committee, and senators hoeven, tester, moran, and king. key stakeholders like the postal service, our postal employee unions, postmaster general louis

dejoy and the members who spoke out about what timely service meant to them also played an essential role in providing technical assistance and building support in passing this legislation. but none of these vital reforms to protect this long-standing public service would have been possible without the dedicated and tireless work of congressional staff. first i'd like to recognize my staff on homeland security and government affairs committee who worked tirelessly to ensure this bill received bipartisan and bicameral support as well as stakeholder support. thank you to anacinscenario, leana chank and victoria pleasant for their efforts to craft and build support for this consensus reform. i'd also like to thank senator portman's staff who all played an important role in crafting and passing these reforms. on the house committee on oversight and reform, mark

stevenson, and ethan van ness as well as christian honer, daniel ashworth and bill womack on rank member comer's staff. senate finance committee chairman wyden's staff and rank member crapo's staff, aaron dempsey offered vital assistance to ensure the medicare integration proposal worked effectively. house ways ways and means commie staff katherine olson and others all provided critical technical assistance. leader schumer's staff provided guidance throughout the entire process and especially over the past few weeks as we prepared to pass this bill on the floor. finally, jacky bafucci from senator carper's office and eric

birch spent countless hours helping to craft robust support for the bill. these people ensured that the postal service would be able to keep delivering for the american people. it has been a rare occasion when the senate comes together to pass this kind of bipartisan consensus legislation with such overwhelming support to address a very, very real problem. i'm grateful to every person who played a role in raising awareness working on this legislation and getting it passed by both the house and the senate. once signed into law, this groundbreaking, bipartisan bill will help ensure that the postal service can continue its nearly 250-year tradition of providing delivery to every american. mr. president, i yield the floor.

mr. schatz: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from hawaii? mr. schatz: i have seven requests for imles to meet during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. the presiding officer: duly noted. spin job for the ages.

everyone knows that gas prices and energy costs have been soaring sharply for many months.

working families know all too well that gas prices, utility costs have been rising throughout president titans tenure. just this morning, we learned that inflationset yet another modern record last month . prices skyrocketed. another .8 percent infebruary alone . that comes out to 7.9 percent inflation year-over-year. the worst inflation infour years . and it keeps getting worse. not better. this has been a painful pattern throughout president biden's tenure . we've now had nine straight months of inflation higher than five percent and remember, three weeks ago before the crisis in europe:

cracks were already in a political panic over gas prices and desperately talking aboutthe gas tax holiday . three weeks ago before the crisis in europe, the average price per gallon of gas had already shot up more than a dollar from whenpresident biden was sworn in . now, you think the democrats would have been proud of this . hostility to fossil fuels and american energy is precisely what president biden campaigned on . here's what our presidentsaid on the campaign trail in 2020 . a direct quote. no more subsidies for the fossil fuel industry. no more drilling on federal lands. no more drilling including offshore . no ability for the oil industry to continue to drill period. it ends. that was the president in 2020. here's what you told this and

look at my eyes, i guarantee we're going to end fossil fuel. now, president biden spent two years campaigning on hostility to american energy. now he's spent 14 months putting that hostility right into action . democrats reckless spending that fueled across-the-board inflation has made americans paying at the pump even worse . but in the last few days the biden administration tried to invent some laugh out loud revisionist history. they're trying to refinance the entire increasing gas prices on their watch, listen to this, as an effect of putin's recentinvasion of ukraine . so they want to blame 14 months of gas prices on the last two weeks of turmoil.

washington democrats war on domestic energy long predates putin's war on ukraine. so let me say that again, democrats more on domestic energy long predates putin's war on ukraine. now, i strongly support americans stopping our purchases of putin's oil but democrats 14 month war on our own production of oil and unnecessary action that's more painful for american familiesthat it had to be. the biden administration had spent 14 months promoting american energy instead of architecting our production and fueling inflation we be better positioned to pushback on putting less painful cost to american families . the president's team wants to pretend this lengthy problem only started two weeks ago . but american families have been paying for democrats bad

policies for a lot longer than that . now on another matter yesterday the house passed a bipartisan bicameral funding agreement that will enable crucial investments in our national defense. putin's war on ukraine is just one manifestation of the major long-term threats american security and american interests posed by major competing powers like russia and china. so absolutely, we must rapidly find the urgent assistance that ukraine and our allies along nato's eastern flank need right now we must also make the investments in military modernization that will equip america to achieve peace through strength for years and decades to come. our military commanders have clearly and consistently told us they cannot rebuild and modernize our military to meet the growing threats congress lets defense funding

sleepwalk from one continuing resolution to another. the world is a dangerous place. it is growing more dangerous every day. the road to peace runs through american power. we all know it's true. so we have to budget accordingly our recent gauche asians have put us from publicans and the surreal position of having to push our commander-in-chief's party into giving his own commanders but funding they need. but over many democratic administrations republicans major this deal gets the job done for our armed forces. compromise products provide significantly more money than the biden administration has requested and significantly less then they requested for non-defense.

and until 24 hours ago this compromise was also going to reprogram money away from democrats is full spending spree to in tacoma needs andrea kelly reallocated to vaccinating treatment for the american people . but house democrats meet need against speaker pelosi. the far left would rather preserve and local bureaucrats slush funds and fund vaccines and therapeutics for our citizens . so the covid component has fallen out. this agreement checks the boxes i've laid outmonths ago . the bill maintain parity between defense and non-defense bending. it maintains long-standing bipartisan policies such as protecting taxpayers against funding abortions and being politically targeted by the irs. and too far left poison pills were cut out. but most vertically it

delivers both urgent aid to you the ukrainians need right now at a down payment on our commitments to keep defending america from global peace in the years to calm. and one final matter over the last few days the biden administration mixed signals surrounding ukraine crisis and blessed response has again spilled out into open public feud. so there's a pattern. time and time again, throughout this crisis and in the month preceding it, the administration's first instinct has been to resist strong and decisive steps. the presidents team initially took the path on strong steps that could have been put in place proactively and had a real deterrent effect. but after sustaining public pressure buckled and

implemented the steps anyway , often too late. this bleeding from behind leaves us in a loselose scenario . and the pattern that played out yet again with the bizarre argument over me airplanes that president biden's team carried out in public with our polish allies. the mere fact that biden administration was contradicting not only each other but also our nato allies in public evidence is a severe lack of coordination and proactive leadership that we should be us americans should be providing. and this isn't limited to just these money. there are all manner of different systems that are eastern flank allies and partners could be providing more readily to the brave ukrainians.

let's take american leadership and coordination and an american commitment that will help them replace their soviet era stock with american and russian military technology . loan guarantees included in the supplemental appropriation still will give the administration tool to do just this . health eastern flank nato partners use their own money to modernize their defensive capabilities. this would be a win for ukraine, a win for us and a win for nato. these kinds of steps should be no-brainer for a competent assertive and decisive american administration. instead it repeatedly seems like the administration's first instinct is to flinch. wait for international and public pressure to overwhelm them and then take action only after the most opportune moment has passed us by. nobody wants an escalation if

they keep repeating this pattern of self deterrence convincing itself in a proactive step would be irresponsible, they're just internalizing putin's false premise and amplifying putin's false equivalence. so remember this. strength is not a provocation . the world needs president biden and his team to be leading, taking the initiative and shaping circumstances calmly, soberly but with confidence and decisiveness. they seem instead to be trapped in a cycle of capacity, indecision, self deterrence and then finally

reaction. the world needs the biden administration to be flying this plane. it toooften feels like the plane is flying them . >> not a president, it's interesting to listen to the reaction of the notion that we are going to be stopping our dependence on russian oil . i totally support that. the notion that i would buy gasoline from putin and put it in my car and truck and somehow subsidize what vladimir putin is doing in the rape ofukraine is unacceptable . i believe there is not only a moral force but a political force behind this, morally there's no waywe're going to support putin . put politically we've got to come together with other nations and make this as painful as possible and stopping import of russian oil is a move in that direction. it's interesting that wasa bipartisan position which i

joined over the weekend . many of us did. democrats and republicans allstate enough with russian oil and will find other ways to keep americans economy and cars and trucksmoving without paying independent on vladimir putin or subsidizing is more effort . strong statements and making as many statements in support of the isle as the side of the aisle and then what happened? dana milbank in thismorning's washington post has the story of what happened . after president biden made his announcement tuesday he said accurately, since putin began his military buildup on ukrainian borders just since then, the price of gas went up $.75 and with the sanctions that the american would stopbuying russian oil is going to go further . president biden", putin's price hike .

rush is responsible so since this was a bipartisan idea , stopping the flow of russian oil into the united states and subsidizing putin's invasion of ukraine, you would think there would be partisan applause. the exact opposite occurred. in a dana milbank article which i'll ask to be part of the record,here's what was said by house republican leader kevin mccarthy . these aren't putin prices, their president biden's prices. gas prices started rising today president biden took office . he canceled the keep stone pipeline and halted new drilling in federal lands. turns out these assertions by not just kevin mccarthy but other republican leaders are just not accurate. milbank goes to the task and assignment of actually backing up some of the facts

with real history and real numbers. here's what he says. gas prices started rising on the day biden took office he asks wrong. they've been on an upward trend since bottoming out in april 2020, the start of the coronavirus pandemic. this is because of booming demand during the recovery. so this notion that these are biden gas prices just started going up magically after he was sworn in, not true. and i love this one. when the keystone xl pipeline how many times have you heard on the floor of the senate maybe even this morning at canceling the keystone pipeline is the reason gasoline prices have gone up . turns out according to dana milbank, that pipeline was only 10 percent completed when fighting canceled it. it's owners didn't even expect it to open until next year 2023 at the earliest.

how about this one. you hear this over and over on so many republicans. but in halted new drilling on federal lands. according to milbank, wrong. after a temporary halt biden has outpaced trump in new permits for federallands. that's been reported by the washington post and as for biden's shutdown of american energy , us production has increased from 97 million barrels to 11.6 million barrels. the number of oil rigs operating from 172 in july 2020, now 519. us production is forecast to set a record next year. i don't doubt that stopping russian exports of wealth into the united states is going to have a negative impact on gasoline prices. it stands to reason but there's an adjustment being made, the president spoke to

it last night at the meeting we attended and he's working on other sources for america to make this as little as possible. i want to ask you this consent this milbank column be placed in the record without objection. >> mister president finally in honor of the spending bill. four months there's been negotiations underway. the process has been drawn out in the appropriations committee and there's a lot of frustration but soon were going to vote on the omnibus spending package and do much more than keep it faced and in many ways the spending package is a testament to the progress we've made during the last year and the democratic majority. we have to start funding to reduce the cost of living for working families. we get it, american families are having a tough time making ends meet and are living paycheck to paycheck. we take action in this ominous spending bill tostart to address that challenge.

and we create good jobs here in america . this isn't about time wefocus on making things in america ? people to work with their jobs? can me to ensure families and children can access critical supplies like nutritious food and clean water that they need tosurvive . this bill also provides more than $2 million to the ukrainians fighting tooth and nail to defend their freedom. democratic senate was fortunate last night over an hour and a half with the president where he spoke candidly and formally about the challenges we face in ukraine. we have sent millions, maybe billions of dollars in assistance to those who are resisting vladimir putin's barbaric attack on our nation. we know it's the right thing to do. there are displays of courage by ukrainians likes of which we haven't seen in modern times.president zelinski particularly as impressed not only unitedstates but the world with his sailor . these funds that were putting

in will help ukrainians continue to hold back vladimir putin on the ground and in air through cyberspace as well ashelping our nato allies in the region. nato has never been stronger . 30 different countries standing together folder to shoulder to stop vladimir putin's objection. and in the omnibus spending package makes crucial investments inamerica at a time when we need it . from the research and technology and innovation and innovation is american phenomena. other countries do it but i think we do it that's. whether were curing a disease, creating a new industry of climate crisis america needs to continue to lead the world in innovation. this bill does that. a moment of great peril for uncertainty in the world where coming together to defend our families, our security, our economy and the future but we need to move fast.

we need to send this back to president by his desk quickly. for the past two weeks russian mortars and missiles have been raining down on innocent people and children throughout ukraine. more than 400 individuals have until by some estimates in the thousands of deaths. believing the current numbers are an accurate count. let me say one more word on the subject and war crimes. what more evidence you need them maternity hospital full of mothers and infants? this man putin and his attack on ukrainian people are not following any standards or rules of conductin any way whatsoever . i think it's obvious, russian airstrike, devastated that hospital complex is an indication we will never forget. a video release after the bombing should a woman being

carried away on a stretcher surrounded by polarized cars and flames and blackened trees. it was a scene from a horror movie with or created by ukrainian humanitarian military and economic aid today. that is exactly what this omnibus bill will provide. billions of dollars in military equipment and intelligence support and even more millions and emergency supplies, food aid, healthcare and refugee assistance. this is how america stands by our fellow defenders of democracy in their darkest hour and ukraine needs our help. here at home the spending package includes provisions that will strengthen america from 330 million americans. we will bring vital investments back to our home states. i support the return of congressionally directed funding to senators and representatives know their states and know their districts better than any

federal agency personnel in washington. i'm pleased to report my colleague amy duckworth and i worked to include $210 million in funding or projects in this bill. and i'll be ready to stand up anddefend every single one of them . despite these, project by project. it's a good investment in the future of our state and nation. this will help localities in illinois launch important infrastructure, access to healthcare , environmental conservation, strengthening violence prevention initiative, supporting worker our state and much more. we also do something worked on from the last several months we're going to reauthorize the violence against women act. for months i worked on this proposal with some amazing people in the united states senate and my side of the diane feinstein who really is one of the founders of this effort.

on the republican side, two women senators just an amazing. lisa murkowski and joni ernst of iowa. we wouldn't have passed this bill and included that in this appropriation measure were it not for their good efforts. i think i thankthem very much. they help add a lifeline to survivors of sexual domestic violence .this year spending package misalignment we authorize. additionally, this includes funding for a long-standing priority of mine. research. these investments in research are going to help keep america on the cutting edge of innovation. life-saving medical treatment therapies and so much more. for example, this bill provides the national institutes of health with a significant funding increase. this time , 2.25 billion dollar increase. that's more than five percent . five percent icon established with some of my colleagues at

the holy grail increases each year in research particularly at the nih and with the good help of republican senator, retiring senator unfortunately white ones of misery we manage to keep our promise . mark alexander now retired from senate was one of the leaders of this issue and patty murray is always there in the state of washington but we're going to keep our morning this year. basic medical research that the united states leadthe world and is going to be enhanced with this improvement of five percent increase in the budget of the national institutes of health . i'm please this omnibus bill includes a dedicated 25 million on the implementation of the act for als still became law late last year. thanks senator to for his leadership on the issue . this pending will ensure nih can launch new initiatives to expand access to treatments of those from als. on just wanted to say this

package does not include covid relief. where a turning point. new cases areat the lowest rates and more than seven months , praise the lord and parents and families are just anxious to get kids back into school and life back tonormal . these are promising elements for vaccines to better treatments. we cannot predict that the pandemic is over nor that it wants surface in terms of new variants. we need to preparefor what the coronavirus might have in store . we need to make sure we have therapeutics, strengthen our capacity to protect the tax new variants before they become pandemic. given the dire urgency of the situation of ukraine i understand we simply don't have time to go back to the bargaining table but we must still believe that a toolkit to deal with the future infections and covid for the next pandemic is absolutely

essential. i can only hope the senate agrees with that on a bipartisan basis. two years into this pandemic we know this virus is anything but predictable. it operates like free-form jazz just when we think we found the rhythm and tempo gets turned upside down with a new variants. this current low in cases is a perfect time to keep our fingers sharp and prepare for the next one . i'll close by saying the omission of additional covid relief is an example of what congress can achieve when working together. in the face of russia's horrible invasion of the ukraine, and invasion that's already created 2 million of ukrainian refugees where standing herein defense of democracy . russia's invasion is tragic illustration of one man's mania and conflict that will

define the 21st century if we can't stop it in its tracks. right now putin is waging yesterday's war with yesterday's goal of reestablishing some soviet union. he's sending "teenagers and russian army uniforms into ukraine to terrorize involve children and hospitals help in some delusional effort that he's going to create a new russian empire and he's being installed as the star of that enterprise and he's not willing to face the challenges of the new world so he tried to revive the old one. autocrats like to live in fear of the future. democracies like america welcome it. because we know the future represents an opportunity to build a better world. that's precisely why president is a lengthy and every ukrainian is fighting to protect their country . everything as well of freedom to shape their own future, not to have their future dictated by a man like vladimir putin. the spending package before the senate would give our

future as well mister president, i yield the floor . >> the humanitarian crisis in ukraine continues to escalate . americans who walk by a newsstand on monday were met with the picture of ukrainian family killed by russian shelling. mom and her two children struck down as they attempted to flee along the main evacuation routes from keith. the evacuation route that russia shell. yesterday the world saw pictures of the devastation after a maternity hospital in mariopol ukraine, a maternity hospital fell to russian airstrikes. president zelensky reported there were children buried in the rubble. children. one newspaper reported and i quote the bombing took place during what was supposed to

be a cease-fire in mariopol. so that civilians could evacuate. it marks the fourth time a so-called humanitarian corridor out of the city has failed because russian forces opened fire. the fourth time a so-called humanity border out of the city has failed because russian forces opened fire. opened fire on civilians, on parents trying to save their children. this is what russia is doing. mister president the scenes in ukraine are unreal. they are scenes that we bought and finally been left behind in the dust of european history. devastated cities, apartment buildings with their signs sheared off. the smoking ruins of homes and businesses.

schools reduced to rubble. mass mass graves. two short weeks vladimir putin has brought an unimaginable amount of devastation. the damages done will take years if not decades to fill . the stars may last much longer. and for what, mister president? for what. one man's vision of a russian empire. vladimir putin wants ukraine and he is apparently willing to destroy ukraine to get it. destroy ukraine and devastate his own nation.because russia is suffering to as a result of putin's war of aggression. there are no smoking ruins of apartment buildings in russia but there is the senseless waste of so many young russian wives soldiers and

conscripts sent to die for a war that's not their own. there is putin's brutal crackdown on protesters and journalists. and there is the economic devastation is nation will suffer. is already suffering as a result of sanctions and conscious decision to pull out of russia to protest unprovoked attack on ukraine. vladimir putin is laying waste to two countries. mister present these have been dark days for ukraine but the devastation in ukraine has been met with determination. this is ukraine's fight and they arenot shrinking from it . the washington post recently reported 66,000 ukrainians outside the country have returned to answer president zelensky's call to arms. that's 66,000 ukrainians who could have sat in safety

outside ukraine who have returned. to help defend their countries. outnumbered as they are, ukrainian people are standing fast. and they are slowing down and in many places holding off the russians. soldiers and civilians alike have taken up arms and it is clear that the spirit of ukraine now rows will not be quenched. but mister president, no matter the result of ukrainian people ukraine cannot hold out alone. without military intelligence and humanitarian support from other nations, ukraine may fall. we can't sit by and let that happen. congress is currently considering legislation to send additional military and humanitarian aid .

i hope we will be able to take a vote on this. and very very soon. as i've said before the united states was too slow to send aid to ukraine and sanctioned putin in the lead up to the russian attack. we can't afford to make the same mistake again. i commend president biden for doing the same the right thing and banning imports of russian energy. every dollar we sent to russia to purchase energy is a dollar russia can use to its war in ukraine. now we need to focus on developing energy resources at home. all of them mister president conventional and alternative to ensure our nation never again have to depend on countries like russia for essentialenergy supplies . we should also take this oil than a step further by connecting the bipartisan

crepo-wyden bill to suspend relations with russia and belarus and directs the trade representative to suspend russia from the wto . a nation that flouts the rules and makes a mockery of diplomacyshould not enjoy a seat at the table . mister president i heard directly from president zelensky on resume call yesterday and he made a powerful appeal for help . from the last . among other things president zelensky requested we help close the skies over ukraine. one solution that's been offered to help protect ukrainian airspace is for slovakia to provide may 29 jets to ukraine. we need to do everything we can to help ukraine in this fight including helping to pave the way for ukraine to get the air defense resources it needs. poland stepped up and

expressed a willingness to provide thenames but we now find ourselves at a dead end as to how to facilitate the transfer . >>

we are. last night 10:00 the house votes on almost a 3,000-page bill, and then we're expected to vote on it the next day or the next two days. this is not a way to run a railroad. but we all know that democracy is under attack in the world, and that means we need to do everything we can to provide for our defense and to support our friends and allies around the world. now, we know that there's been a tug of war between our democratic colleagues and this side of the aisle when it comes to prioritizing national security spending, and that actually was one reason why we find ourselves here at this late date voting on this

multithousand-page bill because our colleagues on the other side of the aisle wanted to prioritize domestic spending, not national security spending. thank goodness that's been now negotiated where there is virtual parity thanks to our colleagues on the appropriations committee. the bipartisan bill includes $42 billion more in defense spending. and i can't think of any time in our recent history where we need that additional resources more for our security and security of our friends and allies. so this $42 billion increase in defending spending will provide our military commanders with what they need to respond to the threats that we are facing today and to prepare for those threats we see on the horizon. it's ironic i find myself speaking to the senator from

maine who i serve with on the intelligence committee because he knows a lot of this subject matter as well, certainly well, maybe better than i do. but we all know that russia's unprovoked attack on ukraine was what we thought was a relic of the past. my dad was a b-17 pilot in the army air corps, world war ii. he was shot down on his 26th bombing mission over n nazi, germany and captured as a prisoner of war where he served the last four months of that war. we thought, europe thought, the world thought that perhaps we'd gotten beyond that sort of existential threat to our way of life and that the autocrats of the world, people like vladimir putin, president xi, the ayatollah in iran, kim jong-un in north korea, that these

individuals would be deterred from provoking a war like vladimir putin has provoked in ukraine. one thing winston churchill liked to say, if there's one thing for sure, it's that humankind is unteachable. we keep making the same mistakes over and over again. we keep thinking we can cash the peace dividend because that's in the past. and only to find ourselves, as secretary bob gates said, he said, of all the military conflicts we found ourselves involved in in the last several generations, we haven't planned for a single one of them. but we had to be ready, and we had to be able to defend our way of life and our values and our allies. so russia's unprovoked attack on ukraine is a reminder of the

threats that remain to our freedom and the freedom of our democracies around the world, and so there could not be a more appropriate time to plus up our national defense spending while at the same time providing additional resources, humanitarian and otherwise, to our friends in ukraine who are fighting for their very existence. we know that ukraine is not a member of the north atlantic treaty organization, so we have no moral -- excuse me, legal obligation to come to ukraine's defense. but i do believe we have a moral obligation to provide that assistance, both military and humanitarian. russia has waged an unmistakable war on that democracy, violated the sovereignty of the ukrainian people. it's even targeted civilians and brought immeasurable destruction to ukraine. the only question is, after

putin has miscalculated the will of the ukrainian people to defend themselves and the commitment of america and our nato allies and other freedom-loving countries around the world to support ukraine, now that they're bogged down, russia is bogged down in ukraine, the question is, well, is putin going to give up? is he going to try to come up with a face-saving device? or is he going to double down? i'm afraid, mr. president, putin is going to double down, which we're going to see more attacks on innocent civilians. we're going to see more ukrainian cities leveled to the ground, indiscriminate killing of men and women and children. this is all that putin knows, and the question is, how does this end? that's a chilling question, but the answer is even more chilling

as i said, i believe we have a moral duty to support ukraine, and this legislation provides $13 billion in humanitarian, economic, and military assistance, and we need to get this money out the door as soon as possible. while the united states and nato needs to continue to supply the javelins, other antiaircraft, antitank weapons to help the ukrainians defend themselves against this existential threat. the good news, this is a bipartisan effort. a lot of things we do around here we divide up around party lines, the shirts and the skinned, i like to call them. but the fact is, we all support ukraine, and we're all looking for ways we can help them during their time of need. another thing that this omnibus appropriation bill does is it reauthorizes the violence against women act.

this critical program has been defunked and moribund since 2019. for some reason, this was not a priority of this chamber or of this congress for the last three years. but thanks to the leadership of senators ernst and murkowski, senator feinstein was an essential part of the negotiations, we were able to reach a bipartisan agreement to strengthen and modernize this law. i'm a proud cosponsor of the legislation, and i thank our colleagues on the appropriations committee for prioritizing its inclusion in this legislation. this funding will make critical investments for our country, including critical investments in our own people. one of the good things about this omnibus appropriations bill is it does exclude poison pills

that included things like taxpayer funding of abortions. those are not included in this bill. and while it's far from perfect, there's no question that a bill drafted solely by republicans would look a little different. but the world does not operate on the basis of ideals. the perfect cannot be the enemy of the good. and so, despite its flaws, despite the crazy process by which we find ourselves here voting on this $1.5 trillion appropriation bill, notwithstanding all the reasons i could cite why maybe i should vote against it it i think there's enough good -- against it, i think there's enough good in this bill to support it. mr. president, on another matter, two weeks ago, president biden nominated judge ketanji brown jackson -- and i know i've

mispronounced her first name -- judge jackson, let me just call me -- to serve as an associate justice on the united states supreme court. during his state of the union, president biden said choosing somebody on the court -- on the supreme court is one of the most serious responsibilities a president of the united states has. likewise, i believe our responsibilities under the constitution -- evaluating the nominee, going through the advice and consent process -- is one of the most serious responsibilities we as senators have. and i don't take that responsibility lightly. members of this chamber are pretty familiar with judge jackson's qualifications, as she was confirmed to the d.c. circuit court of appeals just nine months ago, sometimes called the second most powerful court in the land, right below the supreme court of the united states. there's no question that judge jackson is an incredibly smart

person and has all of of the sot of pedigree that you would expect. graduated from the best law school, had a broad range of practice. she received both her undergraduate and law degrees from harvard. she clerked for a supreme court justice, justice breyer, and she served on the federal bench for nearly nine years. i could say, as somebody who served on the state court bench for 13 years, i appreciate the president picking somebody who's actually had real-world experience on the trial bench. too often i think our supreme court nominees are academics and people who have very little real-world experience. but you can't argue that judge jackson does not have that kind of real-world experience serving as a public defender, serving on the trial court, and serving on the court of appeals for the last nine months. we all know that a nomination

for the supreme court requires a rigorous assessment, far more than just a resume, though. our framers set forth the role of the supreme court in article 3 of our constitution. and alexander hamilton noted in federalist 78, the judiciary, he said, quote, would have no influence of either the sword or the purse and may truly be said to have neither force nor will but judgment. if i could interpret what he was really saying in modern lang, it's that judge -- in modern language, it's that judges shouldn't be politicians. they're not policymakers. that's why we appoint them. threats pointed for a -- they are appointed for a lifetime tenure. that's why they have such a critical and important role in our government, but it's not the same role as we serve as elected

representatives. we are enmeshed in politics. we are directly responsible to the people, not for the legal correctness of our arguments or our legislation or constitutional interpretation, although i think we do have some responsibility since we take an oath to uphold the constitution of the united states. but it's different, and i think most people realize that judges are different than politicians. and judges should not be politicians appointed to serve for lifetime tenure and be unaccountable to the public and yet make policy. that's why judges decide individual cases. we don't decide individual cases here. we make policy for broad swaths of the american people. but judges decide cases based on a controversy, a set of facts, and the application of the law

to the facts which is, again, the antithesis of politics. if you don't win the election, if you don't elect your like-minded representative, you're not supposed to just go to the supreme court and say, okay, now you give me what i want. because i couldn't get it through the political branches. the supreme court is not supposed to be a failsafe to be utilized to deliver results that can't be secured through the legislative process. our democracy -- equal justice under the law; that's what it says right above the door of the supreme court of the united states. equal justice under the law. that can only be accomplished when the same law applies to all of us and cases are, therefore,

decided based on their unique facts, not on politics, not on personal presences, not evendon personal preferences, not hurricane katrina on strongly held personal -- not even on strongly held personal beliefs. this is essential to our system of checks and balances. i look forward to meeting judge jackson in person. i've seen her across the hearing room when she was before the committee just about a year ago. but i want to ask her a little more about her judicial philosophy and how she views her role on the supreme court. now, some have suggested since she's been confirmed to the circuit court, this ought to be a rubber stamp. well, i don't view it that way. circuit nominees and district court nominees have to apply supreme court precedent. but when you're a member of the supreme court, there's no higher court that dictates the decision or the precedent that you need

to apply. now, ideally, you're applying the statutes and laws passed by congress and the constitution itself, but there's admittedly more flexibility for the nominee, which means her philosophy is even more important to know now. i tried to flush out judge jackson's judicial philosophy during her confirmation hearing for the d.c. circuit court. a number of us submitted questions for the record asking her to clarify her judicial philosophy and the way she interprets the constitution. we've heard a lot of testimony over the years about originalists and textualists and different ways people approach their duties as a judge. i don't think judge jackson was particularly forthcoming with her answers when we asked about her philosophy, and i ultimately voted against her confirmation for the circuit court. now, that vote is not going to

determine how i view her nomination to the supreme court. but i think the question applies with even greater strength because she will not be bound by supreme court precedent. i know she'll have plenty of time to -- and plenty of opportunity to clarify her views during the confirmation process, and i hope to see an unvarnished look beginning with our conversation tomorrow, on thursday. i'm also eager to learn more about her views of the supreme court as an institution, which has increasingly come under attack by partisans, again, who don't particularly like the decisions of the supreme court. but that's not supposed to be the test. the test is whether they apply the constitution and laws of the united states to the facts found by the finder of fact. there's actually been a number of calls here on the senate and

in our political system in general to change the makeup of the supreme court, to actually add additional justices to the court, something that used to be called courtpacking back in the days of franklin delano roosevelt. but justice breyer, to his credit, whose seat judge jackson has been nominated to fill, has been a steadfast defender of the supreme court as an institution, and i hope justice jackson -- soon-to-be justice jackson -- takes her cues from her mentor. justice breyer echoed the comments of the late-ruth bader ginsburg and warned of a dangerous politicalization of the supreme court and the consequential loss of public confidence in its judgments. well, i'd like to know whether judge jackson agrees with judge breyer and whether she shares justice ginsburg's assessment

that nine seems to be a good number. -- when it comes to the supreme court. so in the coming days and weeks, the senate will thoroughly review judge jackson's qualifications, just as this body has done for every other nominee to the federal bench. this is a familiar process to most of us. judge jackson is the fourth supreme court nominee we will have considered in the last five years. but i hope there's something we do differently this time that has been done in the recent past, particularly in the case of justice kavanaugh. frankly, the confirmation process for justice kavanaugh was an embarrassment, and i believe a black mark on this senate. conversely, i think we have an opportunity to show the american people how to do it the right way and treat judge jackson with civility and dignity, even when we disagree. we know that outside groups

launched a full-on character attack against judge kavanaugh, even just barrett more recently was attacked based on her religious beliefs. i can assure you that will not happen this time around. we will meticulously review judge jackson's record. we'll ask detailed questions to understand her judicial philosophy. we will read her opinions and carefully evaluate her ability to serve. through it all, there's no question she will be treated with dignity and respect. i think the confirmation process must be thorough and it must be civil. the american people and, frankly, the nominee deserves nothing less. so i'm prepared to fulfill my advice and consent duties as a member of this body and member of the judiciary committee. as we know, there's no particular timeline for this process, and in some cases it's

moved quickly, in others it's taken significantly more time. chairman durbin announced his judiciary committee will begin its confirmation hearing the week of march 21, which doesn't allow much more time for our colleagues to meet with judge jackson before evaluating her record. and i know she's prioritized meeting with members of the judiciary committee, but i hope she'll have adequate time to meet with other members who are not on the judiciary committee as well. i know our colleagues are anxious to expedite this process, but we all know that justice breyer will stay on the court until the end of this term, which will be the first week or so of july. justices do not have term limits. they are not held accountable on elections. but they wield tremendous power under our constitution. so we have a duty, not necessarily to get it done fast but to get it done right and

thoroughly evaluate judge jackson's qualifications and ensure that, if confirmed, she will serve as a fair and impartial member of the supreme court. mr. president, i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from hawaii is recognized. ms. hirono: i was listening very closely to my friend, my

colleague from texas and his comments regarding the process by which we give our advice and consent to all of our judicial nominees, but particularly our responsibility with regard to supreme court nominees, and there seemed to be some concern we were rushing the nomination process for judge jackson. nothing could be further from the truth, because everybody remembers the speed with which nominee amy coney barrett was put on the court, from the time of her nomination to the hearing to her being sworn in. so, there will be enough time for all of our members of this body to consider judge jackson's nomination. not to mention, we had already confirmed her twice, once to the district and another time to the circuit court. it's not as though she is unfamiliar to us. also, any connotation that

somehow president trump's nominees were ill treated, again, nothing could be further from the truth, because the whole process, especially with regard to justice kavanaugh, was with the utmost desire on the part particularly of the democrats on the judiciary committee to get to the bottom of certain allegations against justice kavanaugh that were highly serious. so, to cast any kind of doubt or aspi -- aspersions on members of the committee, especially the democrats on the committee, with regard to president trump's nominees are not well taken. let me move on to why i am here this morning -- or this afternoon. it is not an exaggeration to say we are at a crisis point. republican legislatures all across the country continue to

pass bills that control our bodies. and at the same time, trump supreme court nominees are closer than ever to overturn roe v. wade. there are 26 states across the country that are likely, if not certain, to ban abortion if the supreme court overturns roe v. wade. there is no question that these restrictions that have been enacted by states all across the country have an incredibly discriminatory impact and will disproportionately harm those who are already facing far more obstacles when it comes to accessing healthcare, including women of color, women with low incomes, people with disabilities, lgbtq plus individuals, rural women, and many more. for over 50 years roe v. wade enabled women to make the decision about whether or not they want to start a family.

but today, because of new abortion care restrictions, 90% of counties in the u.s. do not have an abortion provider. women are faced with impossible decisions, and as a result will be forced to have babies they can't afford, didn't plan for, or are unable to care for. or faced to have babies under life-threatening conditions. and tragically, women may also die because they lack the access or resources to safely end pregnancy. abortion bans are a matter of life and death. women across the country are under attack, and so too are the healthcare professionals who provide safe and legal abortions. today is abortion provider appreciation day. this day was established to

honor dr. david gunn, who was killed march 10, 1993, outside his abortion clinic in pensacola, florida, by a white supremacist, antiabortion extremist. abortion providers are compassionate, credentialed, and highly trained professionals who allow women to actually make choices about their own bodies, their futures, and whether or not they want to start a family. and they do so without judgment and in the face of violence. tragically, dr. gunn's murder was just the first known instance of a murder of an abortion provider. across the country abortion providers experience intimidation, harassment, threats, and violence from antiabortion extremists. according to naro, between 1977 and 2015, there were over 7,200

acts of violence carried out against abortion providers by antichoice extremists. these included 42 bombings, 185 arson attacks, and thousands of death threats, bioterrorism threats, and assaults. every single day, even right here in d.c., antichoice extremists station outside of abortion clinics and harass staff and patients. 14 states and the district of columbia have needed to enact laws to protect abortion providers and patients, including laws that prohibit blocking the entrance to a clinic, threatening or intimidating staff, damaging property, and more. and three states have even had to go so far as to establish a bubble zone to protect people

within a certain distance of a clinic. these doctors, nurses, and staff fear for their lives, just to provide access to reproductive care. being an abortion provider is a dangerous profession in this country. what other medical profession deals with this level of harassment and violence, just to provide medical services, medical care? for what other medical profession do we have to create a bubble zone of protection? on tuesday i joined senator peters and my colleagues in the house to introduce a resolution to honor all healthcare providers who keep patients safe and healthy and do their part to help provide access to reproductive care, including abortions. and today, on abortion provider

appreciations day, i stand on the senate floor to affirm my commitment to ensuring the personal safety of all abortion providers and clinic staff. and i thank these fearless individuals for maintaining abortion access to communities across our country. a big aloha and mahalo to these courageous people. mr. president, i yield the floor.

mr. scott: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from florida is recognized. mr. scott: mr. president, a few days ago the senate heard directly from president zelensky. the bravery and leadership we have seen from president zelensky and the ukranian people is incredible. and during this call he was very clear about what the ukranian people need to defend themselves against russia's unjustified invasion. what sun believable is that even after seeing horrifying images on the news and hearing from the ukranian president himself, the senate has done nothing to get the aid they so desperately need approved and on its way. why? because senator chuck schumer is holding it hostage. he is keeping this body from voting on and passing the crannyian aid package because he's holding hostage to include in the omnibus. people are dying. yesterday while the senate was closed at senator schumer's direction, russia bombed a children's hospital. mr. president, what in the world

are we doing here? it's heartless. it is shameful. it is a stain on the integrity of the senate and the united states that aid for crannyian is being used as a political tool. we could have voted on the weekend, on monday, or tuesday, or yesterday. but senator schumer closed the floor and made it impossible to vote. ukranians are dying. it's time to end these games. these are stupid games. that's why, mr. president, i'm asking that we immediately take a vote to pass the aid to ukraine. and i'm thankful that many of my colleagues have joined me to make this request. senators marsha blackburn, john boozman, tom cotton, steve daines, joni ernst, chuck grassley, cynthia lummis and roger marshall have all cosponsored my proposal. i'm asking to pass the exact text, the exact text that both democrats and republicans have already agreed to this. we can send this to the him's desk today.

by holding this hostage in the omnibus, senator schumer is forcing even further delays. the omnibus won't go to president biden's desk until next week. the people of ukraine are in the fight for their lives. and their freedom. every day the senate waits to send american aid, weapons and resources to help them is another day that they're fighting against this russian invasion is even made more difficult. there is no reason we can't vote on this aid package now and pass it today. waiting even one more day puts more lives at risk. let's act now to protect global freedom from putin's tyranny. i will turn it over to senator roger marshall. mr. marshall: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from kansas is recognized. mr. marshall: thank you, senator scott, for leading this issue.

mr. president, every moment of every day is precious, but none more so than when war has engulfed your home. it was just three weeks ago today what now feels like an eternity that russian forces first incap and traded ukraine's sovereign border and launched an unprovoked attack on the people of ukraine. since that day the world has watched in horror as hundreds, perhaps thousands of innocent civilians, including children have perished from gunfire and explosive weapons. more than two million people have now fled their homes. among the russian targets have been a bread factory, a maternity ward, and a nursery. despite enduring the suffering and being greatly outnumbered by russian force strength and military might, the ukranian people have bravely defended their homeland. an inspiration for the entire world. here at home, though, president biden has been doing his best to fool the american people into thinking he's a wartime president but his track record

tells a different story. to say the president is leading from behind is an understatement. the president's hailing of ukraine invasion has been littered with missteps and tardiness nearly every step of the way. his words and actions seldom lining up. in december the administration slow walked a shipment of military arms that would have war don -- harden ukraine's defenses. it took a month for the armaments to arrive in ukraine. senate republicans moved to slap sanctions on the nord stream 2 pipeline. president biden dispatched his allies this this chamber to filibuster the bill and allow the project to be slowed down. a month later the president finally came around and moved to impose sanctions on the project. last week i introduced with ten of my republican colleagues to ban russian oil imports. democrats in the senate joined in calling for an announcement of such an action during his state of the union speech but none was made. always afraid to lead, it would

be a full week later when president biden would finally impose the import prohibition. this president has repeatedly been late to act. his failure to show strength and take proactive maneuvers empowered a war criminal to move to claim one of the most prized former soviet republics, a land rich with wheat, corn, and sunflowers. i was on a phone call last week with president sell len i ask. my friends across the aisle were so motivated, wanting to move quickly to place ammunitions and mig jets in the hands of the brave ukranians but no, cowardice is contagious. democrats have taken a page out of our president's playbook by settling on a process that would deliver the most recent round of military aid to the ukranians more than a week after president zelensky laid out his country's need to members of congress. amid -- the mig fighter jets that are so desperately needed by the ukranians, they remain

grounded at the hands of the besieged. we're attaching this to the short-term c.r. keeping the government open while the massive 3,000-page is -- remaining part of the omnibus in order to sweeten a sour bunch of grapes. once again delaying lifesaving aid by many days. at a time when our national debts, over $30 trillion and our government spent almost $2 trillion extra on government programs this year already, the bill increases discretionary spending and more than $45 billion. indeed we won't let a crisis go to waste. it also funds the administration's tragically misguided attempts to electrify our electric fleet and implement the green new deal all the while we're witnessing a self-imposed biden energy crisis because they've killed our domestic oil and gas industry by declaring war on american energy.

today i would ask the democrats party in philadelphia with drag queens and sampling pennsylvania beers that they should jump on the next amtrak train and come back and help us pass this ukranian aid immediately. let's not force it into an omnibus that makes the ukranian people wait five more days for it -- before it would be officially signed into law. i support the much needed ukranian aid. we would pass it as a stand alone piece of legislation today. thank you, mr. president. and i yield back. the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee is recognized. mrs. blackburn: thank you, mr. president. i do want to thank my colleague from florida for doing the right thing for our partners in ukraine by bringing up this supplemental appropriation for its own vote, its own vote. but this isn't something that he should have had to do. it is something that should have been demanded by every member of this chamber.

vladimir putin is waging a war, an all-out war on ukraine. he has reduced maternity hospitals, orphanages, schools, and private homes to piles of rubble. he has bobby trapped humanitarian corridors. he is using weapons so horrific that to possess them constitutes a war crime. and he's preparing to terrorize civilians with the same proxy fighters that have brutalized innocence. in mali, in syria. here we stand as our democratic colleagues try to use an aid bill for ukraine to link on to its back a $1.5 trillion spending spree. at last count there are more than 4,000 earmarks in this omnibus spending bill. mr. president, you and i have

been through the issue of earmarks when we each were members in the house. earmarks, 4,000 of them. this bill is divisive, controversial, and requires actual deliberation and debate. it should not be used as a vehicle to hold this emergency funding for ukraine hostage. the fact that we even have to have this discussion is just disrespectful of the process. and it does not help the ukranian people. it slows down the aid to them. it's time to stop this manipulation in its tracks. we need to give the people of ukraine air power. we need to give them humanitarian aid. and it needs to be done now. we need to give them the funding and the support that they need to survive. and it should be done now.

and we need to separate the supplemental from this $1.5 trillion spending spree and it ought to be done now. i yield. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming is recognized. ms. lummis: mr. president, i also rise to protest the manner in which funding for the people of ukraine has been strapped to this omnibus spending bill thereby delaying aid to ukraine and strapping it to a bill that is going to need days to get to the president's desk so it is in good shape. i have been following just as you have the unfolding humanitarian crisis in ukraine, and i am incredibly concerned for the people there. the women and children who have been murdered in the streets by vladimir putin's bombs, the housing complexes that have been destroyed, the maternity hospital that was bombed just yesterday all from unprovoked

russian aggression. we want to help these people, the people of wyoming who i represent want to help these people. because of this i was part particularly appalled at the decision by congressional democrats to include ukraine aid funding in the massive government funding omnibus bill that we're starting to consider. we could get this ukraine money on its way today. we could get it to the president's desk today. most of us agree. i think it would be unanimous to send the money to ukraine. as a former house member and a longtime legislator, i know that any big piece of legislation has good pieces and bad -- or as former u.s. senator simpson used to say, some spinach. but this is a cynical approach to legislating