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.

it forces members of congress to make an unnecessary choice -- choose between helping ukraine people and further indebting our own constituents. it's a cynical ploy. and it's cynical because of what's in the rest of the bill -- the omnibus spending bill. at a time when the united states is over $30 trillion in debt, instead of taking a serious look at our budget, we're piling on, we're increasing nondefense discretionary spending by 7%. even though inflation this year is more than 7%. we're still -- worse still, the omnibus continues to fund president biden's vaccine mandates, even after the president himself called for a return to normal. this bill also contains anti-second amendment provisions that threaten the rights of law-abiding citizens in wyoming.

finally, after banning the practice for years, this omnibus contains around $10 billion in earmarks for pet projects around the country. here's the book of earmarks. look how thick this is. it's printed on both sides in about 4-point font. you almost have to have a looking glass to see what's in here. 4,000 earmarks. after we'd gotten away from this. i'm sympathetic about earmarks addressing problems around the country, but historically they've been abused. but votes on bad legislation and a way to fund unnecessary projects to curry favor back home. instead of having a debate about these and other concerns in the massive spending bill, ukraine funding was dropped in here in an effort to get members to vote for a bad bill so we can get

funding to ukraine. we should have a stand-alone vote on the aid for people of ukraine. this issue is entirely separate from the omnibus spending bill the congress is considering and should be recognized as such on the senate floor. anything less does a disservice to the people we're trying to help and to the american people we serve. i'm proud of senator rick scott for calling for a separate vote -- for a separate vote to help the people of ukraine. mr. president, i yield back. mr. scott: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from florida is recognized. mr. scott: i want to thank my colleague from wyoming. i want to thank my colleagues from kansas and from tennessee for their interest in making sure that we get ukraine aid to the citizens of ukraine today. mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that at a time to be determined by the majority leader, following consultation with the republican leader, the senate proceed to the consideration of s.3811, which is at the desk, there be two hours for debate equally divided

in the usual form, upon the use or yielding back of time, the bill be read a third time and the senate vote on passage of the bill, with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: is there objection? a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from montana is recognized. mr. tester: thank you, mr. president. i want to reserve the right to object. i have been listening to the arguments that are made here. let's get to the facts. the fact is, if we split this ukrainian funding out, it is not going to get there quicker. it's going to get their slower. the bottom line is, if you want to help the ukrainian people out -- and i believe the speakers want to help the ukrainian people out -- then pass the omnibus bill that's in front of us. the senator from florida is proposing just to pass one portion of this omnibus appropriations bill, and that's the $13.5 billion in aid to ukraine. i want to be very, very clear on what this move would mean. if we don't pass the rest of the omnibus, the pentagon is going to shut down at midnight on

friday. okay? now all our eyes are on ukraine, and they well should be. but don't forget for a second that china is threatening this world. we're going to shut the pentagon down on friday. i don't think that's a isn't that right move. 11 days ago, all the senators in this body had the opportunity to go to a classified briefing led by secretary of defense lloyd austin. i asked him what he needed from congress to respond to the russian aggression. you know what he said? he said, we need a full-year appropriations bill. that's what we have in front of us today. and yet the senator from florida is effectively proposing to give the military less than one percent of what the secretary of defense says he needs to respond to threats around the world. that's $6.5 billion out of $774 billion. for the folks that say this $1 .5 billion package is a boondoggle, let me tell you,

then you should stand up and say, half of this bill is a boondoggle because half of it goes into defense. to protect this country. to make the world a safer place. mr. president, i really don't understand what the president -- what the senator from florida -- maybe i was right with the first one -- what the senator from florida is trying to accomplish. but i want no part of it. congress should have passed this budget to cover the military needs and cover this country's needs over six months ago. passing a bill to cover one percent of our troops' funding needs is once again i can canning the can down the -- kicking the can down the road. it is 110% unacceptable to me. and to every american who expects their government to keep them safe at home and around the world. this is really, really, really a bad idea. and we should quit wasting time

on these kinds of ideas and get to the point of voting on this omnibus bill, getting it out so that we can deal with the ukraine situation -- and by the way, above the $13.5 billion, there's another $300 million for ukraine. so it is time to get this ball rolling. it is time to get this passed in the united states senate. quit dillydallying around. let's get it done. i object. and i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the objection is is heard. mr. scott: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from florida is recognized. mr. scott: it's hard to express my anger and frustration. what in the hell are we doing here? i asked for the senate to do a very simple thing -- vote today on aid for ukraine. senate democrats have blocked it. this is the exact text. h., the exact text that both democrats and republicans have

already agreed to. people need to know why democrats have blocked this commonsense bill. i know. it's because they are following orders from senator schumer to block passage of aid to ukraine so we can continue to hold it hostage in the omnibus. that's what we're doing here. we could send this to the senate's desk today but senate democrats are saying no because they insist it be passed with the omnibus. the omnibus is $1.5 trillion, 2,700 pages. as my colleague from wyoming said, 4,000 earmarks. senator schumer alone has 150 earmarks, $600,000 for a greenhouse in new york, $3 million for museum galleries in brooklyn. i mean, to him the omnibus is a just joke, a way to send money home.

inflation has hit another 40-year high. in contrast to what was said this morning, that's just for february. it doesn't reflect the big price spikes we've seen in march. we have no idea how the omnibus will impact inflation and we don't have anywhere near the time to actually read it. this process is broken and it reminds meze of one truth -- compromise means that both sides get everything they want and no one has to make a tough choice. put simply, when washington settles, taxpayers all across this country lose. americans should be furious with congress. ukrainians should be absolutely furious with us. while russian bombs are being dropped on their homes, cities, and hospitals, democrats in the senate are blocking the approval of american aid so they can play politics. every day that senator schumer refuses to have a vote, it is a big gift to putin. i'm disgusted by what happened here today, to see aid for

ukraine used. a fight for freedom and democracy rages in europe. senate democrats should somebody ashamed of what senator schumer has forced every one of you to do today. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from from montana is recognized. mr. tester: thank you for the recognition. the house is not in session. to say that we're going to pass in and presto chango, it goes right to the president's desk? that's not how the process works. you can say the we're blogging this aid -- -- that we're blocking this aid, no, no, no, no. the good senator from florida is blocking this bill or we'd be voting on it right now. you want to talk politics, that's what this is about. politics. you can be unhappy with the omnibus bill, but the fact of the matter it's been negotiated over the last year by democrats

and republicans, and that's where we're at today. we need to pass this bill. if if if you are concerned about ukraine, we need to pass that bill. if you're concerned about feeding hungry people in this country, we need to pass this bill. if you're concerned about child care, we need to pass this bill. if you're concerned about house, we need to pass this bill. if you're concerned about the high cost of gasoline, we need to pass this bill. and if you're concerned about the threat that china has to this country, we need to pass this bill. enough excuses. let's get the job done. i yield the floor. and i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

quorum call:

quorum call:

boldest and most significant government funding package we've seen in a long time bringing us one step closer to fully funding the government for 2022 fiscal year. as we all know, funding the government is a basic responsibility of congress rarely does this responsibility arrive at such a critical moment for our

country and the world. war has corrupted 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'm pleased to report that this bipartisan funding package represents a robust, unapologetic investments in the american people. it will give our troops to raise, provide more money for schools and hell grants. reauthorizethe violence against women act , fund the presidents moonshot and open the floodgates for funding a bipartisaninfrastructure law . this funding bill is overflowing with good things for our troops and for american jobs, for our families and for america. once this bill arrives at the senate republicans must work withdemocrats to pass the bill as soon as possible .

hopefullytonight . there's every reason in the world to believe that we can arrive at a fastforward quickly. for one, people of ukraine need our immediate help. this omnibus is the quickest and most direct way of getting them that help fast . at nearly $14 billion, congress will approve more than double what the administration originally requested in ukraine a and that is a huge compliment. we took the presidents original request for ukrainian a and 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 2 million refugees and resources for ukraine's ruined economy.it will also inject billions into military and will enable weapon

transfers like javelins and stingers. it will reassure and strengthen nato and add tea to our defenses against russia's malicious cyber warfare and to every corrupt russian oligarchs that has dined off putin's regime for years, beware. this package will increase the governance tools, hunting you down and holding you accountable. the ukrainian people are fighting for their lives fighting for the survival. congress, has a moral obligation to stand behind them as they resist the evil vladimir putin and his campaign of crimes. 2022 government funding bill is one way we are keeping that promise and for that reason alone it should pass the senate as quickly as possible. on the homefront as i already mentioned there's a lot of important things.

this package increases investments across nearly every single domestic priority. it's very much needed. i'm particularly thrilled to say that after a decade of. this package will finally reauthorize the violence against women act which i originally helped write and pass. i was a congressman backin 1994 . unfortunately, this very needed important bill to protect those who are abused has languished in limbo for far too long. walmart is one of the most report and pieces of legislation in the last hundred years and it will once again provide life-saving support for countless women who face the actual assault and domestic abuse. i think senators feinstein, durbin, ernst and murkowski for helping bring this

legislation back to life. now nobody argues this package is perfect. i am deeply disappointed that the administration's request for more covid funding failed to make it into the hospital but we will keep fighting to make sure we get that money approved as soon as possible. covid funding right now is all about being prepared. we will provide funding for vaccines and therapeutics in testing which means it will be much easier to keep schools open, to keep businesses open and keep life closer to normal that it was during downtime and omicron so we will keep working on relief. i want to thank appropriators from both sides of the aisle, bipartisan or putting this package together. i especially chairman leahy for his leadership on this council over the course of

this process and i think writing member shall be as well and my house colleagues to for working in good faith to make this film possible. it's not been 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 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 presidents desk. so we still have 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. we also sent to the presidents desk the first bill in american history to finally, long overdue declares lynching a crime

after a century of failed attempts. these are momentous and historic accomplishments and i thank my colleagues for working in good faith to get them done. i always said whenever possible: rats would be willing to work in a bipartisan way to get things done. once omnibus is done this week we will have achieved three major bipartisan accomplishments. and yesterday senate democrats also met for our dpc retreat over 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 chain disruptions and russia's war on ukraine americans need relief on everything from energy costs, prescription drug costs, groceries and meet and so

much more. democrats will be working through these issues with laser light 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. she is qualified is not questioned but her support should not be disputed because on three occasions she's already come before the supreme court and has been embraced like people on both sides of the eye. when judge jackson's confirmation hearings begin 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 the love and she belongs on the supreme court.

brilliant, beloved, it belonged. we had more work to do before this week comes to an end but for now i think my colleagues for a very productive few days. i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum >> the clerk will call the role. >> 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 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 percent in february alone. that comes out to 7.9 percent inflation year on year . the worst inflation in 40 years. and it keeps getting worse. not better. it's 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, 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 president when president biden was sworn in. you think the democrats would have been proud of this,

hostility to fossil fuels and homegrown american energy is what president biden's campaign ran on. here's what the president said on the campaign trail in 2020, direct quote. no more subsidies from the fossil fuel industry. nomore drilling on federal lands . no more drilling including offshore. no ability for the oil industry to drill, period. it adds. that was the president in 2020. here's what people and activists. look at my eyes. i guarantee we'regoing and fossil fuel . now, president biden spent two years campaigning on hostility to american energy . now he spent 14 months putting that hostility right into action . the democrats restless spending fuel across the board inflation and it's made

america's pain at the pump even worse . but in the last few days the biden administration has tried to invent him laugh out loud revisionist history. they're trying to revamp brand the entire industries gas prices on their watch, listen to this, as aneffect of putin's recent invasion 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 war on domestic energy long predates putin's war on ukraine. strongly support america's shopping, stopping our purchases of putin's oil but

democrats 14 month war on our own production will make that necessary action more painful for american families that it had to be. the biden administrationspent 14 months promoting american energy and set of attacking our production and fueling inflation . we be better positioned to push back on putting less painful costs to american families . the presidents team wants to pretend this like the problem started two weeks ago. but america families have been paying for democrat policies for a lot longer. then that. now, onto another matter yesterday the house passed a bipartisan bicameral government 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 to american security and american interests posed by major competing powers like russia and china.

so absolutely, we must rapidly fund urgent assistance to ukraine and our allies along nato's eastern flank. indeed right now, we must also make the investments in military modernization that well-equipped america to achieve peace throughstrength for years . in that case,. our military commanders. >>

mr. schumer: madam president, i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: madam president, it is my understanding that the senate has received a message from the house of

representatives to accompany h.r. 2471. the presiding officer: that is correct. mr. schumer: i ask the chair to lay before the senate the message to accompany h.r. 2471. the presiding officer: the chair lays before the senate a message from the house. the clerk: resolved that the house agree to the amendment of the senate to the bill h.r. 2471, entitled an act to measure the progress of post disaster recovery and efforts to address corruption, governance, rule of law, and media freedoms of haiti with an amendment. mr. schumer: i move the senate concur in the house amendment to the senate amendment to h.r. 2471. i move to concur in the house amendment to h.r. 2471 with an amendment. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from new york, mr. schumer, moves to

concur in the house amendment to h.r. 2471 with an amendment numbered 4984. mr. schumer: that is the correct number. i ask consent to dispense with the reading. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the yeas and nays are ordered. mr. schumer: i have an amendment at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from new york, mr. schumer, proposes an amendment numbered 4985 to amendment numbered 4984. mr. schumer: i ask consent to dispense with the reading. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i move to refer h.r. 2471 to the committee on appropriations with instructions to report back forthwith with an

amendment. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from new york, mr. schumer, moves to refer h.r. 2471 to the committee on appropriations with instructions to report back forthwith an amendment numbered 4986. mr. schumer: i ask consent to dispense with the reading. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the yeas and nays are ordered. mr. schumer: i have an amendment to the instructions at the desk. mr. schumer: the clerk will report. --. the clerk: mr. shiewrk proposes an amendment 4987 to the instructions of the motion to prefer. mr. schumer: i ask consent to dispense with the reading. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the yeas and nays are ordered. mr. schumer: i have a second-degree amendment at the

desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from new york, mr. schumer, proposes an amendment numbered 4988 to amendment numbered 4987. mr. schumer: ii ask consent to dispense with the reading. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: madam president, i ask unanimous consent that if senator paul makes a motion to discharge senate res., senate joint r.e.s. 35, the vote on the motion -- the vote on the motion occur at 4:15 p.m. today. further that following the votes, the senate proceed to executive session and vote on confirmation of calendar 547, the nomination of maria l. pagan as provided for under the previous order, and that following the disposition of the nomination, the senate resume legislative session. the presiding officer: without objection.

a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the president pro tempore. mr. leahy: madam president, earlier this week, after months of negotiation -- and i do want to compliment, before i even start, the staff and later i'll put all the names in the record, but the staff who worked weekends, late at night.

i remember times when i'd get off the phone with them at 11:00 at night or midnight and i could go to bed and they were still there working until 3:00 and 4:00 in the morning. but after all those months of negotiation, the committees on appropriations introduced a $1.5 trillion fiscal year 2022 omnibus appropriations bill. now, madam president, i explained this is a consolidation of 12 annual appropriations bills to fund the federal government for the remainder of the fiscal year. last night the house passed it on a bipartisan basis. it's now before us, and we need to act on it quickly. our annual appropriations bills are where we reflectively act on our national priorities. in total, this bill includes $730 billion p in nondefense

funding. that's a $46 billion increase over fiscal year 2021. the 6.7% increase is the largest in four years for nondefense programs. it allows for significant investments for the american people that are going to expand the middle class. but the bill also provides urgent fund for the people of ukraine as they battle vladimir putin's immoral, unprovoked, and brutal invasion. an invasion which actually labels vladimir putin as a war criminal. it is unquestionably in the interest of the american people the senate act quickly to pass this bill and send it to president biden. i'll tell you why it's so important. in the wake of the pandemic, children in schools across the country are falling behind in

math and reading, and children in low-income and minority communities are falling even further behind, it appears. one study found that third graders attending school in low-income communities tested 17 points lower in math than they did just in 2019. and we can't allow a global pandemic to set these children further back on the path to a bright future. and the bill includes $17.5 billion, the largest increase in more than a decade, for title 1 grants. these grants provide funding for more than half of our nation's public schools to help students, particularly in low-income communities, meet college and career-ready academic standards. now of course we invested in

these children but we're also veftion investing in their families. there's a 4.4% increase over last year. these grants will assist low-income families in getting quality child care that fits their needs and prepares their children to succeed in school. across this country the wealthiest, most powerful nation on earth, more than 38 million people, including 12 million children, are what can be called food insecure. so the bill increases support for nutrition programs. these programs are lifelong, a lifeline to these american families. it also ensures over four million low-income women and children don't see their benefits reduced at the end of

april by extending the w.i.c. cash value voucher program, a special 35-month, monthly benefit for purchasing fruits and vegetables. it houses families in homes that provides millions of dollars to build and provide public housing. we understand hundreds of thousands of americans are homeless. the bill will provide $3 billion, a 6.6% increase for homeless assistance grants. and we know it's a bipartisan priority in the congress to keep our communities safe. so the bill provides a 15% increase for department of justice grants for state and local law enforcement and communities to prevent and respond to crime. there's also a commitment to the future of scientific research and development and innovation in this country and provides the

largest increase in 12 years for the national science foundation. but i think it also importantly includes $1 billion to launch advanced research projects, as president biden's bold and promising proposal to revolutionize how we prevent, treat, and cure devastating diseases like cancer, alzheimer's, and diabetes. my wife marcelle and i had the opportunity to listen to then-vice president biden speak about this at the university of vermont medical school a few years ago and then again to hear president biden, vice president kamala harris, and dr. jill biden speak about it at the white house. i committed to make sure that would be in the omnibus bill, and i'm pleased that my request

to have it in there is there and that that request was joined by numerous other senators. the bill closes a chapter on four years of denying the existence of the climate crisis by the previous administration. billions of dollars to support climate research mitigation adaptation. we have it in there because the scientific community is in agreement. we're running out of time before the damage to our planet is irreversible. so we're taking a small but long overdue step to confront that reality. the bill also backs up our commitment to our veterans. it provides an 8.7% increase in v.a. medical care. it provides essential health services for 9.2 million veterans, those men and women who have served is our country

and that we always promised to back up, as they did us. now we are. and consistent with long traditions, the bill includes billions of dollars for food and other humanitarian aid for victims of war and national -- and natural disasters. $700 million to support global health security programs, to prevent and prepare for future pandemics, and it provides the funds to support pepfar's global hiv-aids program. but anybody who's watching the news knows what's happening and the war crimes that are being imposed on ukraine by a much larger neighbor, russia, under the unbelievable, irreresponsible -- irresponsible

leadership of vladimir putin. so we've included a $13.6 billion agreement to provide emergency assistance to ukraine and our neigh a lice. $13.16 billion. it has the necessary resources to bolster the defense force of the ukrainian military but also our regional allies and partners. but it also supports the implementation of economic sanctions and export restrictions on russia. and importantly it addresses the evolving humanitarian crisis. it's a horrible humanitarian crisis resulting from president putin's unprovoked attack on the ukrainian people, an attack i call a war crime. the escalating crisis president putin has inflicted on europe poses the greatest threat to democracy in a generation.

and this is an area where the american people overwhelmingly support the people of ukraine. this is not a democratic republican issue. -- this is not a democratic or republican issue. this is a human rights issue. this is where americans stand with the people of ukraine. i remember a few years ago when i was chairman of the senate judiciary committee, i joined my friend, mike crapo, another senator, and we reauthorized the violence against women act. we dramatically increased it, improved it. we added native americans. we added lgbtq community, and we added the sexual exploitation of children. well, the violence against women act hasn't been reauthorized.

this bill does. it reauthorizes the violence against women act. vawa continues to be one of the most consequential laws addressing the scourge of violence against women and domestic violence in our country. i remember how bad it was when i was a prosecutor, but it's become far, far worse today. we need the tool of vawa, and the bill includes the highest funding level ever through grants to support these programs. so we have $730 billion in nondefense funding. it's a 6.7% increase. we have $782 billion in defense funding. that's a 5.6% increase. -- over fiscal year 2021. it's a product of months of negotiation, sometimes weekends,

sometimes evenings, sometimes days -- over and over again. negotiations between myself and dear friends, vice chairman shelby and house chair delauro and ranking member granger. i mentioned earlier our staffs that spent countless late nights working through the details of this bill. those are not just weekday nights. those are weekends, too. giving up plans they might have had, personal plans, family plans, whatever. so i think of specifically charles keefer, shanda paterny, david atkins of vice chairman shelby's staff, and many, many more who worked those nights and days, far too many names to say right now, but i would ask

consent to be able to submit a list of the staff later in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. leahy: this is a good bill. it's a bill that reflects american priorities, invests in future prosperity, in our health and reduces everyday costs for americans, such as college, heating and cooling costs, it's a bill that invests in us -- us -- the american people. we know that a government shutdown on saturday would be senseless. look at the impression it would give the rest of the world when we're telling everybody to stand up and be strong. we know that a delay would be senseless. so i strongly urge all members to vote aye when the bill comes to the floor, and i would suggest the absence of a quorum.

the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. mr. leahy: i withhold my request for an absence of a quorum, if i might. and i ask consent to put my whole statement -- that my whole statement be placed in the record as though read. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. leahy: now 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 senator from kansas. mr. moran: madam president, thank you. i know we're in a quorum call. i ask unanimous consent that it be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. moran: thank you. i also ask unanimous consent that my following remarks appear separately in it the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. moran: madam president, rise today on a solemn occasion. i rise in member reconcile of george mettles, jr., a man to lived a life of service to our community and state. affectionately referred to as, quote, the face of pittsburgh --

pittsburgh, kansas, that is -- he was a loving husband and devoted father. he was born in pittsburgh, kansas, the very southeast corner of our state where his dedication, hard work and thirst for adventure was cultivated. as a young man, george joined the u.s. army in the closing years of world war ii. upon his return home, he a. attended the university of kansas. he spent most of his career in his beloved hometown where he became the proud owner of midwest minerals, a crushed limestone, aggregate lime supplier with a four-state strong presence. in 1966, he served as the chairman of the kansas republican party and the national limestone institute. so civic and politics as well as his devotion to his profession and those that it employed. it was the preceding acto what we in washington, d.c., and across the country know as the

national stone, sand, and gravel association. i had work with the national limestone institute led to his appointment in 1970 as president and c.e.o. of mcnally manufacturing, which started as a small boiler shop and helped transform pittsburgh into southeast kansas industrial powerhouse. his leadership included serving as chairman of the national association of manufacturers and as director of kansas city power and light. in 1986, native sons and daughters of kansas honor him with the distinction of kansan of the year, a fitting tribute for his life of service to kansas and the profession. his deep involvement in civic business and philanthropic endeavors kept him busy where he served as chairman of commercial chairman of the hospital board of trustees, member of united way and member of the board of education. his devotion to pittsburgh's public schools is one he inherited from his father, who spearshedded a campaign to build

an elementary school that ultimately would be named for him. george mettles' appetite for adventure led them to 24 countries, skydiving with his grandson jack at age 84 and taking a six-someday bike tour through the hills of italy. whether around the world or at home, he never turned down a new physical challenge which led him to being named the honorary starter of a fellowship walk in pittsburgh at 87 years old. i heard the story from one of his friends -- actually, one of my staff who upon seeing george jogging, they saw him jogging in 100-degree heat just over two years ago. worrying about his age and heat, my staffer offered him a ride to which he replied, i grew up working in this heat, and it doesn't bother me one bit. george learned from his father that life is a gift and that length is not guaranteed. he took that lesson to heart making sure that while he was on earth, he bettered his hometown,

mated countless memories with family and friends, and was always ready for an adventure. southeast kansas' southeast corner have george mettle to thank foyer his add advocacy and commitment to excellence. i extend my deepest sympathy to his family and friends and all those who knew and loved him. madam president, i rise as the entire kansas city community mourns the death of roger kemp. over the years, roger and i became close friends, and i knew him to be a passionate member of the kansas city community. no where was this passion and drive more evident than his work following the death of his daughter. in 2002, roger and his wife kathy's daughter ally was murdered at the age of 19 while

she was working at a local pool as a lifeguard. living through a parent's worst nightmare, roger channeled his grief into bringing his daughter's murder to account for this heinous crime. he demanded nothing less than absolute justice for his daughter. he worked tirelessly, including through a billboard advertisement campaign to find ally's killer. this not only brought her killer to justice, but led law enforcement, locally and nationally, to adopt a similar strategy credited with helping to apprehend hundreds of other suspected killers. his work did not stop there. roger wanted to devote his life, his efforts to making certain that other women, other young girls were not caught defenseless as ali was. and no other parent will to experience the torment and lost that he and kathy endured. so roger founded the ally kemp educational foundation and take defense programs.

an honor student, ally at blue valley north high school and kansas state university, her life was just getted started. she was a be if of phi beta phi sorority and a volunteer in her church. even though tragically cut short, her death touched thousands of people and the ally kemp educational foundation continues to positively impact the lives of many and allows her legacy to live on. i don't care what it costs to do this program, roger said. i don't care what it costs to do this program if we save one life out there, it's worth it. that was roger's mantra, and he lived up to it. over the nearly 20 years since founding ally kemp educational foundation and its take defense program has trained more than 70,000 girls and women across the country, raging from 12 to 90. no doubt saving more than one life. roger was an active member and

served on the board of directors of the ad hoc commission against crime and on the committee to award grarchts to shelt -- grants to shelterers and home of victims of abuse. it wasn't those of us in kansas who recognized how special of a person he was. in 2011, i successfully nominated roger to receive the presidential citizens medal, the second highest citizens award presented which a -- by a president. he was one of 13 recipients out of 6,000 nominees. i take a quote from the foundation he created that reads, roger's faith in the american justice system, his belief that 99% of the world is good, his powerful love for his daughter, ally, and sons, tyler and drew, and deep dedication to his wife, kathy, drove him every day, fighting the good fight, to make our world a better place. roger kemp was a loving father, husband, dedicated member of his

community, and a man who created good from the devastating disaster, the murder of his daughter. our thoughts and prayers are with kathy, tyler and drew, and all who knew and loved roger in this time of sorrow. i'm honored to have considered him a friend. it comforts me to know he is reunited once more with ally. madam president, i yield the floor. mr. grassley: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: vladimir putin's brutal invasion of ukraine rests on the faults and historic claim that ukraine is not a real country but a part of russia. both ukraine and russia trace their roots to ancient civilizations centered in kiev. kiev was a major city when moscow was back water that no one had heard of.

the devastating and brutal mongol invasion in the 13th century changed everything. collaboration with the mongols allowed muscoy, the predecessor of modern russia, to become a dominant regional power. meanwhile, lithuania exerted control over much of what is now western ukraine, giving it a very western european perspective. russia since the mongol invasion has been ruled with an iron fist by contrast, ukraine has been home to the kazakhs who embody a sense of freedom and individual autonomy.

just kind of think of ukrainian kaz kazakhs as the equivalent of the american cowboys of the wild west. they hated serfdom and oppressive government and south to elect their own rulers, which they called hetma. a kazakh state, using the name ukraine, in what is now ukraine's southeast, became a major power in the mid 17th century. then, when katherine the great con cert that ukrainian -- catherine the great conquered that ukrainian state, she is quoted to have said, quote, every effort should be made to eradicate them and their age from memory. end of quote. ukrainians' strong national identity threatens the claim of russian nationalists to be the

heir to the ancient kiev civilization. when ukrainians revolted against the soviet collectivization of agriculture dictated from moscow, stalin seized the ukrainian wheat harvest and food stores, starving millions of ukrainians to death. this is remembered as hologomor, which means extermination by hunger in the ukrainian language putin rehabilitated the image of stalin and banned the human rights organization memorial which investigated stalin's crimes against humanity. putin is following, then, in a long tradition of russian nationalists and the autocrats associated with it who have

tried to stamp out ukrainian national identity. when putin talks about being threatened by nato, he does not mean he thinks the russian federation faces a military threat. until russia invaded and occupied crimea and portions of eastern ukraine, our nato allies bordering russia posted no troops from other nato countries. today there are a small number of u.s. troops in nato's eastern flank, which reinforced only as a result of the current russian invasion of ukraine. but these defensive troops are still dwarfed by the number of russian military personnel in

russia's western military district. nato does not have enough troops deployed to to repel an invasion, much less to be considered an offensive threat to russia. what putin is really threatened by is that ukraine, true to the history i just gave you, is asserted an independent path. they don't like that independent path because it separates them from russia. ironically, in fact, very ironically, his aggressive actions to date have only unified ukrainians and ukraine's determination to be free of russian influence. putin has pushed ukraine towards the european union and towards

nato. putin seems to believe his own twisted view of history. so he convinced himself that the current freely elected government in ukraine is not supported by the ukrainian people. putin thought that he could topple president zelensky's and appoint a puppet government. putin thought ukrainians would not fight. boy, has he proven to be wrong. really wrong. putin cannot achieve his goals since the ukrainians will never, never accept russian domination. so putin has taken to leveling civilian areas. cynically agreeing to humanitarian corridors to allow

families to escape, only to shoot those who have gathered. bombing maternity wards, killing many women and babies, and of course, as you see every day on television, the atrocities can only get worse. we must provide ukraine with everything it might need to stop the mass murders. that includes military aircraft, drones, antiaircraft systems, antimissile systems, almost anything they need, and we must do it now. i wanted more arms and sanctions before the invasion happened. we saw that invasion coming. any bureaucratic delays now are unacceptable. our eastern european allies

acted with lightning speed. we seem to follow them. our european allies were giving up weapons that they need for deterrence in their own defense, and then we followed. we ought to continue to follow their example, but instead of following we should be leading. and we should agree to fill any gaps caused by past or future donations of weapons to ukraine by front line allies. ukraine's success in its defense will prevent a wider war that will cost more in lives and resources. it is in our interest to do everything we can to stop the russian terror campaign now. we should be leading, not leading from behind. we should lead nato, not follow

nato. be the great united states of america that we are. because we're dealing with a sick, autocrat, probably with an ego that has to be satisfied, and it's all totally understandable, except that somebody is very sick. i yield the floor. a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. wyden: i ask unanimous consent that the following senators be allowed to speak prior to the vote, myself, 15 minutes, senator paul, up to five minutes, senator menendez up to five minutes, senator risch up to five. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. wyden: madam president, the senate will soon vote on the

nomination of maria pagan to serve as envoy to the world trade organization in jen evenna. -- in geneva. this vote has been a long time in coming, and in a moment i'm going to talk about ms. pagan's extensive qualifications and her long experience. but first, madam president, and colleagues, there is a new urgency today for the senate to confirm ms. pagan with strong bipartisan support. the russians' inhuman behavior means that they have forfeited the right to enjoy the fruits of the post-world war ii international order. the world trade organization is one of the key venues where the united states and our economic allies must hold russia accountable for its illegal and

unjustifiable war in ukraine. it means the united states and our economic allies basically have to go to the world trade organization and tell russia to go fly a kite. now, here in the congress, as chairman of the senate finance committee, i'm working with the ranking member, senator mike crapo, house ways and means chairman, richie neil, and ranking member brady on legislation that would revoke russia's permanent normal trade status with the united states. had this is part of sus pentagon russia's benefits at the world trade organization and would mean russia's exports to the united states would immediately be hit with significant tariffs. our country has led the effort to ratchet up sanctions against russia to levels nobody has seen. russia's economy is in

free-fall, and there is no question that hitting putin's tight circle of oligarchs who dominate russia's largest industries will pay off. taking away russia's trade benefits is an essential next step that will help to freeze russia out of key markets around the world. as our envoy to the world trade organization, ms. pagan would be our point person coordinating this effort. she'll be the one coordinating with like-minded countries and intervening in support of the ukraine. that's why it's so important that she be confirmed today and why it's so important that she have the strong backing from both sides of the aisle. now her nomination won bipartisan support in the senate finance committee. the finance committee approved

her nomination by a vote of 27-1. so we are talking about near unanimous support, certainly something of a rare sight in the congress these days. she got that support because she is a highly experienced public servant who knows how to get the best possible deal for our workers and our farmers and our businesses. over three decades in government, she has served at both the department of commerce and the office of ustr. she is an expert in a variety of fields, from trade and services to government procurement, she has litigated several disputes before the world trade organization. she now serves as deputy general counsel at u.s. trade representative, the person called in when issues are

particularly challenging. she was recently at the center of the u.s.-mexico-canada negotiations, and she was key to helping democrats guarantee that the final deal would be enforceable. that was a must-have for all americans. otherwise, the agreement wasn't going to pass. working through the w.t.o. to isolate russia is just going to be one part of her job. there are critical negotiations at the w.t.o. that absolutely have to move forward. these include covid vaccines and the unfair fishery subsidies that do so much damage to our environment and our fishing industry. the w.t.o. itself has big issues that have to be addressed. its rules are out of date and its procedures move too slowly to keep up with a modern economy. the chinese government, for example, takes advantage of the

world trade organization's current shortcomings to game the trade system, and they do it at the expense of american jobs, growth, and innovation. a system that's intended to produce ironclad, predictable rules is now opening up loopholes that trade rip-off artists are exploiting. ms. pagan understands these challenges, mr. president, that i've described. she is equipped to confront these issues. she is a proven negotiator, a strong advocate for american workers and farmers and businesses. she has secured significant support from democrats and republicans on the senate finance committee. there is urgent work that awaits her in geneva. i urge my colleagues to support this nomination. it is priority business for today, given our trade challenges with russia. and i yield the floor.

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from kentucky. mr. paul: i ask unanimous consent that the following interns in my office be granted floor privileges until may 20, 2022. jacob custer, mia kutchner and pedro rodriguez. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. paul: i move the committee discharge from h.j. res. 35, a joint resolution providing for congressional disbe approval of proposed foreign military sale to the government of egypt of certain defense articles and services. the presiding officer: the motion is pending. mr. paul: according to tradition, king menez united the two lands of europe about 5,000 years ago. although egypt appears today as a single state on the globe, american foreign policy still treats the country as if it were two completely different lands, one a critical ally of american

aid and one a tier nal cal. a state department human rights department details how generally sise converted a country into a prison. egyptian security forces engage in extra judicial killings, torture as well as harsh crack dowps on anyone who wishes to practice the freedom of peach. as a -- freedom of speech. the biden administration blocked 130 million in annual security assistance. at first glance that might sound like a rebuke to egypt. before plotting this supposedly principle acting with the long-suffering egyptian people, keep in mind that in the same week the state department approved a military sale of aircraft used to airdrop troops and military equipment to the al-sisi regime for $2.2 billion. on the one hand they blocked

$130 million. on the other hand, they approved $2.2 billion. in what may be only described by definition as a slap on the wrist, the $130 million the state department blocked is only one-tenth of the annual $1.3 billion the u.s. has given to egypt every year since 1987. in fact, egypt is of one of the largest recipients of u.s. military aid. if the state department strictly adhered to federal leahy laws, it would insist that egypt abandon its despotic ways before egypt received any more security assistance. this law was named after our colleague, senator patrick leahy. these laws compel the u.s. to withhold security assistance to countries who have committed gross violations of human rights. the biden administration should strictly enforce the leahy laws and deny egypt the american dollars it craves until it becomes a place where human rights are honored and respected. instead, as punishment for

their crime, the ruling class of egypt will somehow, some way have to make do with only 90% of what they annually expect in largess from the american taxpayer. adjusting for inflation, the decades-long transfer of wealth from america to egypt amounts to over $41 billion. of the $41 billion, some estimate that the previous president, hosni mubarak and his family stole nearly half. the aid not stolen is used by egypt to buy american weaponry. since 2009, the u.s. has sold egypt $3.2 billion in fighter aircraft, $1.3 billion in tanks and armored vehicles, $750 million in missiles, $369 in am ammunition and $328 million in military technology. as the u.s. prepares for yet another military sale, perhaps we should review how one of our

most reliable customers treats their own people. human rights watch reports egypt's security apparatus has arbitrarily arrested and prosecuted tens of thousands of persons and that torture crimes against detainees in egypt are systemic, widespread and likely constitute crimes against humanity. one such victim is known as hamza, arrested at his home late one night for the crime of participating in a public demonstration. despite tireless attempts to track him down, his family was unable to locate him for months. later it was revealed that the officers who captured him, the officers of the government of al-sisi used electric shocks on his genitals, his head and his tongue. even that was not enough for the henchmen who later suspended hamza from his arms until they

were dislocated from the shoulder. as a physician i've treated patients who have had dislocated shoulders. it's a very painful injury. imagine being hauled up by your own government, suspended by your arms until your shoulders are dislocated and when they finally cut him down they left him on the floor without medical treatment for three winter days without any blankets. such torture would be virtually unbearable for any man, but hamza was not a man. he was a 14-year-old boy at the time of his torture and arrest. hamza is not alone. the stories of other victims appear in human rights watch 43-page report detailing egypt's systemic torture of children, including a victim as young as 12 years old. in egypt, journalism, journalism is a dangerous profession. the committee to protect journalists ranks egypt the third-worst jailer of journalists in the world, behind only china and myanmar. take just a few examples.

when a 26-year-old man died in police custody, a prominent egyptian journalist, islam al khali was arrested for covering and reporting on the detainee's death. and he is only one of many well-known journalists. photo journalist zayed was arrested in 2014 for covering a peaceful sit-in protest in cairo. he was released after five years in prison but is still not free. he is required to report to the police station at 6:00 p.m. every night where it is unknown whether the officer on duty will keep him or not, whether he will be imprisoned every night of his life. but for perhaps no activity is more dangerous than running for egypt's presidency. generally-sisi was reelected, if you can call it an election,

in 2018 with 97% of the vote whose soviet-style results were made possible after opposition candidates were effectively eliminated. two candidates were imprisoned, a third candidate to run against al-sisi was placed under house arrest. a senior staffer to one of the candidates was brutally attacked by three men, resulting in serious damage to his left eye and orbital bones. when another candidate withdrew from the race, he said it's like committing suicide to run against someone like this. president biden pledged to put human rights at the center of our foreign policy. torture of children, arbitrary arrests of dissidents and journalists, sham elections and the violent crushing of peaceful opposition, if these are not gross violations of human rights, nothing is. the united states cannot proudly claim human rights to be the center of our foreign policy

while it arms a regime that has a war against its own people. we should end military sales to egypt's criminal masters, partially taking away some military aid while offering new sales that are ten times what we withheld shows weakness in the face of oppression. our weapons are an incredibly important part of america's power and we should not willy-nilly and without judgment give them to anybody and everybody around the world. they could be used as leverage for improving human rights. instead we just give them, and there's this vicious cycle of enriching those who produce the munitions and no concern for human rights. mere slaps on the wrist cannot hide the inescapable fact that the u.s. has handsomely rewarded egypt as it degenerated into one of the most autocratic places on the globe. american should in no uncertain terms demonstrate that we will no longer strengthen a strong man. my resolution is to cancel

military sales. it offers a choice, whether the united states will side with the egyptian people or with the oppressors. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. reed: mr. president, i rise. mr. menendez: i rise in opposition. i am a little perplexed by the parliamentarian's decision that this can move forward because there is a statutory time frame that says that the resolution needs to be brought forth in in order for it to have validity. and my understanding of the parliamentarian's decision is that even though if there was passage of this resolution it would not have validity because it is past the time frame. it still can be brought.

but that seems to be a pursuit of the senate's time is in a way that is an extraordinary amount of time on unlimited numbers of discharge resolutions that potentially exist that having passed the statutory time frame can still be brought to the senate floor even though whatever the vote is has no consequence. so i fail to understand that. but since that is the ruling, let me just say that i appreciate that the senator from kentucky has concerns about human rights in egypt, and i agree that we must absolutely continue to raise concerns in a way that will meaningfully bring about positive change. i believe we should be doing more to prioritize a country's human rights record in the context of our broader relationship. in fact, last year, with several of my colleagues, i introduced s. 1473, the safeguarding human rights in

arms exports act, or what we call the safeguard act, to ensure that human rights issues full attention and arms exports decision making are considered. and i invite all of my colleagues from both sides of the aisle to support and cosponsor this important legislation. as i think everyone in this body knows, for years i have led the fight in the senate against armed sales to countries that commit significant and repeated human rights abuses such as saudi arabia. last congress the senate approved 23 resolutions of disapproval that i introduced when the trump administration sought to short circuit our right to consider these sales according to law. joint resolutions of disapproval are just one tool that we have. and we must make sensible distinctions about the types of systems we consider. in this particular debate, as i have argued before, a critical decision is -- distinction i should say is between arms that

are inherently offensive and lethal and those that are not. some are defensive. some are simply logistical. today we are considering a sale of 12 cargo aircraft which i believe squarely falls in the category of largely defensive nonlethal arms. this aircraft is used for transporting military and other cargo, including humanitarian supplies as well as personnel in country and internationally. egypt's earlier -- has -- its current age is aging and bottoming more expensive to maintain. the united states and egypt have a long and valuable relationship that goes beyond the security realm. egypt is also an important security partner for other u.s. allies in the region. this is, of course, does not mean that it is above reproach.

it is not. or that the nature of that relationship is static. it is not. indeed i supported the secretary of state's determination made last month not to release $130 million in withheld foreign military financing because egypt's government has not made in his view sufficient progress in human rights, especially with regard to the treatment of peaceful activists and the continuing targeting of independent civil society organizations. i have used my prerogative as chair of the foreign relations committee armed sales process before, and i will continue to do so in any future regarding assistance that may specifically relate to these concerns. but in the end our relationship with egypt has to be one of maintaining a balance between the foreign policy and national security concerns of the united states and our partners. we should, however, continue to

raise human rights concerns and press for meaningful reforms. we should continue encouraging the government to uphold its own commitments, but to this end because these are purely not only they are logistical at best, i urge my colleagues to reject this motion to discharge. the presiding officer: the senator from idaho. a senator: thank you, mr. president. tonight we're going to consider senate joint resolutions 35 and 36. the resolutions of disapproval regarding armed sales to egypt. mr. risch: egypt has been a key partner of the united states since the 1979 camp david accords. it continues to play a critical role in middle east peace. egypt is a valuable counterterrorism partner and is essential to u.s. success in the

region. for those who haven't had the good fortune of being there, when the piece broke out decades ago, egypt played a key role in making that peace. and ever since then, the border between egypt and israel on the sinai has been peaceful, notwithstanding the fact that they have incidents there all the time. but the egyptians and the israelis brokered by the multilateral force that is there keeps the peace and it has been a great success story in the middle east, one of the few that has had duration. and so in that regard egypt has been very valuable in helping keep the peace in the region of the the biden administration and democrat house and senate

members agreed to this sales because they are in the interest of the united states and indeed of the world and particularly of the middle east. these sales of cargo aircraft and radar support the u.s.-egypt relationship and are in keeping with egypt's legitimate defense requirements. human rights are a critical element of our foreign relations. they always have been. they always will be. and egypt has problems it needs to fix. the u.s. has withheld aid and taken other measures to highlight our concerns to the egyptian government. indeed, egypt is not a perfect partner, and we have almost no perfect partners when we're dealing with foreign countries on national security. nonetheless, these are -- each of these is transactional and they have to be weighed and viewed individually. these sales that we're talking about here to egypt present no

direct human rights concerns and should be separated from that conversation. so on substance, i oppose the resolution. in addition to that, there's a bigger issue here. the statutory 30-day congressional notification period for these sales expired last wednesday, march 2. the parliamentarian has now ruled the statutory 30-day period is effectively irrelevant and any senator can offer privilege consideration resolution for disapproval for any armed sales notified over the course of an entire congress. if this stands and continues as precedent, it would have a chilling effect on u.s. alliances and partnerships worldwide, and it could set a new procedure as far as dill taker tactics are concerned on the floor. the 1987 precedent that the parliamentarian cites is justification -- as justification is from a time when there was bipartisan agreement to extend the timeline

for simple procedural reasons. this is not the case now. and i disagree with the parliamentarian's interpretation thereof. it always amazes me around here that we can get a parliamentarian ruling that is in direct, i mean direct contradiction of a statute which is what we have here. i ask and i would urge senate leadership to work to ensure the intent of the statutory 30-day notification period is restored. perhaps we should repass the statute and say we really, really mean it. nonetheless, that's where we are and this really needs to be corrected. thank you, mr. president.

the presiding officer: the question occurs on the motion to discharge. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: the yeas are 18, the nays are 81, and the motion is not agreed to. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the following nomination which the clerk will report. cloich nomination, executive office of the president, maria l. pagan of puerto rico to be united states trade representative. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the question is on the nomination. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote: vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: on this vote, the yeas are 80, the nays are 19, and the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the senate will resume legislative session. mr. murphy: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut.

mr. murphy: mr. president, as if in executive session, i ask that the motion to reconsider with respect to the pagan nomination the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, and the president will be immediately notified on the senate's actions. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. murphy: thank you very much, mr. president. mr. president, i come to the floor this evening to offer a few remarks about claims that have been made on this floor over the course of the last few days regarding the path forward to american energy independence. the oil industry, reaping record profits in the billions of dollars, is taking advantage, quite artfully, of the crisis in ukraine, to make arguments to the united states congress and this administration that they should be given new liberties to drill on lands in the united states, to be able to reap even greater profits. and the claim that the oil

industry makes, that is often parroted by friends inside this body, is that the path to american energy independence runs through drilling for more oil in the united states of america. that is not true. that is an oil industry talking point. that is a means by which the industry can get congress and the administration to provide them with new opportunities for more profit. but the facts belie the argument that america can achieve energy independence solely through drilling for more oil and exploring for more gas in the united states. why do we know this? well, we no he this primarily because the -- we know this primarily because the oil industry doesn't drill in the united states to benefit our national security. they drill in the united states to make money. and the reality is when the price of a barrel of oil is too

low, compared to the cost of pulling it out of the ground in the united states, the oil companies don't drill. so, right now, for instance, the oil industry has thousands of leases to drill on public lands that they are not utilizing. now, as you would hear it on the floor of the senate, the failure to be energy independent is joe biden's fault, because he's not providing for any new leases on public lands. well, you don't need any new leases on public lands because there are thousands of leases that the oil industry already has to drill that they just aren't using. there's nothing in the ground. there's no oil coming up. and the reason for that is, well, the economy was in shambles, so there wasn't demand. the price of oil was down so that the companies didn't see a big enough profit. there's a general workforce shortage right now in the

industry. but none of those reasons are joe biden. those are market-based reasons why the oil industry has not been drilling on land they already own. but the second reason why there is not a path to energy independence through drilling alone is because the oil that we drill in the united states, it doesn't stay in the united states. some of it does, but much of it gets exported. in 2020, we were drilling about 18 million barrels a day in the united states. about half of that was shipped overseas. only half of that stayed in the united states.

wanted to make sure, mr. president, that wasn't something that we needed to pay a little bit closer attention to. so, mr. president, the oil that we drill in the united states doesn't stay here. it goes to the highest bidder. in fact, often the oil we drill in the united states is going to china, for as hard as my friends on the other side of the aisle say that we should be on china, the reality is during some months of the last several years america was sending record amounts of oil from u.s. oil production facilities to the chinese government. and so, it just isn't true that there's a path to american energy security simply by drilling for more oil in the united states. that oil only comes out of the ground when the price is high enough. the oil industry doesn't drill to be patriotic. they drill to make money, and

there's never a guarantee that that oil or that gas stays in the united states. much of it is sent overseas. as i mentioned, there's also no argument to be made credibly that joe biden is waging some war on american energy independence. the two biggest changes that are often cited that the president made, one, as i referenced, is this pause on new leases on public lands. that just has very little impact because, first of all, very little of the oil that the industry drills is on public lands. only 10% of the oil the industry drills is on public lands. 90% of it is on privately held lands. so a pause on 10% of the leases just doesn't have a macroeffect on oil drilling. but second, any leases that the administration would give out right now, they don't end up in drilling occurring for years. so whether or not we're pausing or not pausing leases on 10% of

the opportunities to drill in the united states, that has an impact years from now, not today. second, the argument is, well, the president stopped the keystone pipeline from going into effect. remember, same thing, keystone pipeline was years out. and second, most of the keystone pipeline oil wasn't staying in the united states. most of that oil was going to be shipped overseas. there's a reason why the keystone pipeline was ending up near the terminals in the gulf that end up sending oil to places other than the united states. once again, the keystone pipeline was not a guarantee for american energy independence. that was a guarantee that the majority of that oil was going to end up in some other country. and so, if you're serious about energy independence, then you're not serious if you're talking about getting there through drilling. just not a serious solution. because the facts tell you that the drill only happens when the oil industry makes enough money

and that the lion's share, at least half of that oil and gas, can end up going overseas, not to american consumers. you know how you make this country energy independent? investing in renewables. we don't ship wind power overseas. we don't ship solar energy overseas. when a wind turbine is running in iowa or a solar panel is generating energy in california, that energy goes straight on to the american grid. that energy stays here in the united states. it also has the tremendous benefit of being clean energy, of not contributing to the warming of the planet. that alone is a good enough reason to prioritize clean energy over fossil fuel energy, but renewable energy also has the benefit of being truly domestic energy, truly secure american-only energy as opposed to fossil fuels, which only get

turned on when the price is high enough and often end up leaving the united states to other countries. those are the facts. the oil industry delights when crises like this occur and the prices go up at the pump and friends of theirs come down and claim that the only path to energy independence is through more drilling. the problem is it just isn't true. i yield the floor. mr. murphy: mr. president, i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

the house of representatives passed -- bringing us one step closer to fully funding the government for 2022 fiscal year. now as we all know funding the

government is the basic responsibility of congress are rarely does this responsibility arrive at such a critical moment for our country and the world. war has erupted in europe and americans are looking to relief for rising cost 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. we will give our troops a raise, provide more money for schools and head start programs and pell grants. reauthorize the violence against women act funds the president's moonshot and open the floodgates for funding the bipartisan infrastructure law. this funding bill was 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 in the summit of this is the quickest and most direct way of getting them to 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 package will be money much needed and well it will provide food, medicine and shelter for over 2 million refugees and resources for ukranians -- ukraine's rand

economy and will inject billions of the military system and it will enable weapon transfers like javelins and stingers and reassurance drink the nato and add teeth to our defenses against russia's malicious cyberwarfare and to every russian oligarch that has dined off a putin's regime for years beware. this package will increase the government's tools of 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 are keeping that promise and for that reason alone it should pass the senate

as quickly as possible. on the homefront is they mentioned there's a lot 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 help to write and pass when i was a congressman in 1994. unfortunately this very needed important bill to protect those who are abused have languished in limbo for far too long. it's one of the most important pieces of legislation of the past 30 years and once it's reauthorize it will once again provide lifesaving support for countless women who face sexual assault and domestic abuse. i think senators feinstein, durbin ernst murkowski and all

the co-sponsors, bipartisan, for helping bring this law back to life. now of course some argue that this package is -- i am deeply disappointed, deeply disappointed that the administration's request from our covid funding failed to make it into the house bill. we will keep fighting to make sure we get that money approved as soon as possible. covid funding right now is all about being prepared and it would provide funding for vaccines and their punics and te much easier to keep schools open and to keep businesses open and to keep life closer to normal then it was during delta and omicron. we will keep working on covid relief as it's very much needed. we are not over the finish line yet that i want to thank appropriators from both sides of the aisle, bipartisan, for putting this package together.

i especially thank 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 colleagues to for working in good fai to make this bill possible. it has not been easy to draft this robust package that after years of needless chaos and uncertainty under donald trump this year congress has been able to work together on bipartisan basis to fund the government in a serious way. now the senate must follow through and finishing the job by approving this bill quickly and sending it to the president desk. we still have more work to do. there has been a remarkably busy and productive week here in the senate. after nearly at 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 desk at the first bill in american history that finally, finally long overdue, declares a federal crime after a century. these are both momentous and indeed historic accomplishments and i think i colleagues for working in good faith to get them done. i have always said whenever possible democrats would be willing to work in a bipartisan way to get things done and once the omnibus is done this week and this week we will have achieved three major bipartisan accomplishments. and yesterday senate democrats also pastor retreat at how word 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-chain disruptions in russia's war on ukraine, americans need relief,

relief on everything from energy costs, prescription drug costs, groceries and the cost of groceries and so much more. democrats will keep working on these issues with laser-like intensity and unflinching focus. moving forward the senate will also continue to process 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 without question and she merits bipartisan support should not be disputed because on three occasions he has come before this chamber and been embraced by people on both sides of the aisle. when judge jackson's confirmation hearings begin on the 21st the entire nation will get to see what many of those in the senator learning

for ourselves judge jackson is brilliant, she is beloved and she belongs on the supreme court. brilliant, beloved and belongs. we have more work to do before this week comes to an end. for now i think i colleagues for a very productive few days. i yield the floor and i note the absence of the koran. washington democrats are trying to pull off a political spend a job. 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 inflation set yet another record last month.

prices skyrocketed another .08% in february a loan. that comes out to 7.9% year after year. the worst inflation in 40 years. and he keeps getting worse, not better. this has been a painful pattern throughout president bidens tenure. we have now had nine straight months of inflation higher than 5% and remember three weeks ago before the crisis in europe democrats were in a political panic over gas prices and desperately talking about the 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 1 dollar from when president biden was sworn in.

now you would think the democrats would be proud of this , fossil fuel and homegrown american energy is precisely what president biden campaigned on. here's what are president said on the campaign trail in 2020 at directly quote. no subsidies for the fossil deal industry no more drilling on federal lands, no more drilling including offshore, no ability for the oil industry to continue to drill period. that was the president in 2020. here's what he told an activist, look in my eyes. i guarantee you we are going to and fossil fuel. president biden >> two years campaigning on hostility to american energy and now he's >> 14 months putting the hostilities right into action.

democrats reckless spending has fueled across-the-board inflation and this made america's pain at the pump even worse. in the last few days the biden administration has tried to invent some laugh out loud, laugh out loud provisions. they are trying to rebrand the entire industry of gas prices on their watch listen to this as an effective putin's invasion of ukraine. so they want to blame 14 months of gas price increases on the last two weeks of turmoil. washington democrats long predates putin's war on ukraine. let me say that again. democrats war on domestic energy long predates putin's war on ukraine.

i support stopping purchases of food and soil. democrats 14 month for an arm on production will make that necessary action more painful for american families than it had to be. the biden administration >> 14 months promoting american energy instead of attacking production fueling inflation we'd be in a better position to push back on putin at a less painful costs to the american families. the president's team wants to pretend this album only started two weeks ago. american families have been paying for democratic bad policies for a lot longer than that. on another matter yesterday the house passed a bicameral government 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 to american

security and american interests imposed by competing powers like russia and. so we must rapidly fund assistance to ukraine and our allies along with blank and we must also make the investments in military modernization that will equip america to achieve peace and 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 threat 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 america's power. we all know it's true so we have to budget accordingly.

a recent negotiations put up republicans in the surreal position of having to push the matter into giving his own commanders the funding they need. over many democratic objections republicans want to get the job done for armed forces. a compromise product cost more money than the biden administration requested for defense and significantly less than they requested for non-defense. until 24 hours ago this compromise was also going to reprogram money away from democrats wasteful spending spree and reallocated to vaccines and treatments for the american people.ff that house democrats mutinied against speaker pelosi did the far left -- nation's energy policy and the crisis that we find ourself in as the cost of

energy continues to go up and up and up. right now gas prices are nearly double what they were the day that joe biden became president in the united states. why is this happening? that's what people in my home state of wyoming are asking about. what has happened? how is it that it's gone up so much? sure, there's the war in ukraine. but the prices have been going up day by day by day after joe biden became president, and the reason i tell people at home is because joe biden has declared war on american energy. the policies of this administration, the policies of the democrats in this body and across the way in the house. on day number one, joe biden shut down the keystone xl pipeline. he shut down oil and gas leases on federal lands, and he shut down the exploration for energy in the arctic. my colleague, the senior senator from alaska who previously had

chaired the energy committee in the senate has said we're actually in the united states using more energy from russia, more oil from russia than we are from alaska, her home state, a state in the united states. now we see the president's appointees making it almost impossible to build gas pipelines so even if you are able to explore and discover energy oil, gas, you can't get it to market because they're blocking pipelines all across the country and the ferc, the federal energy regulatory commission just a week and a half ago, revised its guidelines to make it even tougher. they talk about oil and gas leases and once you get a lease, you pay for a lease to explore for energy. you have to come to the government for permission to drill for it. you actually have to pay money to apply for permission to drill. it's actually called an

application for a permit to drill. and the biden administration last month said we're not going to give you any more of those to anybody that wants to explore for energy on public lands and in fact there's about 4,600 of those stuck in limbo right now. in my home state of wyoming and across the country, people are asking how can a president put such a radical and self-destructive agenda which we have to live under? and what i tell them and what they understand is that the biden administration is completely controlled by the climate elitists, the climate alarmists who dictate the policies of the democrat party in this country. so just look at joe biden's climate czar. now that's kind of a nickname for the position, but the reality, the title is the u.s.

special presidential envoy for climate. it's john kerry. so this is a very high position in this administration. didn't come to the senate for confirmation. oh, no, they wouldn't risk putting something like that up here because john kerry would have to answer questions. but john kerry, no question about it, does speak for the administration. joe biden appointed him. john kerry and joe biden served together in the senate, this this body. i served with both of them on the floor in relations committee. john kerry was a previous secretary of state of the united states at the time that joe biden was vice president of the united states. so the position of john kerry is also the position of this administration. otherwise why would he be the special presidential envoy for climate when john kerry speaks it is joe biden who he speaks

for. well, john kerry and this administration have a delusional obsession, and their delusional obsession is with climate. john kerry and this administration are so obsessed with our climate that they believe it is more important than our energy security and than our national security. now, there are countless examples, and i just want to go through a couple of them, mr. president, that have occurred just within the last three weeks. just within the time that vladimir putin's soldiers have encircled ukraine and now have attacked ukraine continuing to kill innocent civilians. the night before vladimir putin invaded ukraine with the troops at the ready, john kerry actually told the bbc in an

interview that he was worried about the carbon emissions that would result from the war, the carbon emissions, not the death, not the destruction, not the suffering. no, the carbon emissions. he also said -- and it's astonishing. people listening say they can't be the position of the administration of the president of the united states yet it is the position of john kerry, the president's special envoy, that war would be a distraction, would distract from the climate agenda. john kerry went on to say this. he said, quote, i hope president putin will help us to stay on track with respect to what we need to do for the climate. let me repeat. john kerry, special envoy, speaking for the president of the united states, quote, i hope

president putin will help us stay on track with respect to what we need to do for the climate. john kerry believes by his statements and others that i'll get to, that what is happening with the war in europe is a distraction from the real issue of the day, the key issue, climate change. people are being murdered in the streets. vladimir putin is conducting nuclear drills. and the president's key spokesman on issues affecting energy in this country is hoping that president putin will help us stay on track. and what's happening there is a distraction. this is absurd. john kerry thinks that vladimir putin cares about the climate?

it's impossible. putin just yesterday bombed a maternity ward. putin's forces have killed dozens of children. yet john kerry is desperately waiting by the phone, clinging to the hope of a phone call from vladimir putin. i hope john kerry isn't holding his breath waiting for putin to address the issue of climate. now, in the very same interview, john cerpy was asked about -- john kerry was asked about the possibility that russia would invade ukraine. john kerry's answer is this. former secretary of state, former chairman of the foreign relations committee said i thought we lived in a world that said no to that kind of a thing. what kind of world is john kerry living in?

sounds like a nice place. it's not the real world. not the world we live in, not the world that is right now wreaking havoc on the people. ukraine. -- on the people of ukraine. the fact that john kerry, the president's spokesman on issues of climate, said this out loud in public just shows that john kerry and this administration in terms of their position on energy and energy security and national security must put them in the position of being the most naive people on the face of the earth. john kerry flying around the world in his private jet representing the administration, worrying about the carbon emissions of a war, whereas we know now thousands of innocent people already have or will lose their lives. then on monday, just three days ago, i believe john kerry made it worse.

and at that point the tanks were in the streets, russia was on the attack, people were dying, and millions of people have left the country of ukraine seeking asylum, seeking help, seeking relief, going across the border, seeking humanitarian care. john kerry -- it almost in -- in almost a heartless statement, said the two million ukrainian refugees were nothing -- john kerry -- nothing in comparison to the refugees who will flee a warmer climate someday. someday two million refugees, nothing compared to what may happen someday with climate change. this is the world's largest refugee crisis in the last 70

years, since world war ii, two million ukrainians now displaced, trying to get out of the country of ukraine, some losing their lives, they think they're going on safe corridors, being killed by putin as he bombs them, as they think they have safe passage. john kerry doesn't seem to be impressed, which to me means joe biden is not impressed, the administration is not impressed, because joe biden has allowed john kerry to continue to this day, to this very moment, continue to speak for this administration as the climate envoy. john kerry should be fired. if if he's not, he continues to speak for the president of the united states. because john kerry, which means this administration is more concerned about an event in the future than what is happening on the face of the earth right now. this is an obsession. this is delusional.

and the obsession explains a lot. it explains why this white house always puts environmental fantasies ahead of american security and american energy. that's what we're seeing. this administration puts climate ahead of jobs, it puts climate ahead of bringing prices down, it brings climate ahead of working families. the administration puts climate ahead of our allies. we have sky-high gas prices, the highest of all times. you know, we say, inflation is the highest in 40 years. we've got the new bad inflation numbers again today, which are hurting our families, we can't keep up, wages can't keep up. 40-year-high inflation. but the worst, highest inflation ever, we have the worst prices in europe in decades and decades and decades and the biden administration won't even consider -- won't even consider

-- producing more american energy. earlier today -- today -- reuters reported the white house has decided not to boost exports of liquefied natural gas to europe. they're pleading for it. they want it. we have it. we have it in abundance. now, the administration won't let us build the pipelines to move it, won't let us explore for it. but we've got plenty of it here in the united states. they are desperate and they're trying to break the ties that they've had to russia. the report from reuters says the white house was weighing the announcement of ways to boost the export of l.n.g. to europe. wait a minute, not going to happen. the interagency review has been shelved, after some in the white house argued -- some in the white house argued -- not a supply and demand issue. and i see the junior senator from maine here who talks about

a supply issue with regard to l.n.g. oh, no, those in the white house argued that it would counter the administration's efforts , letting our friends and colleagues in europe which of which we have an abundance, it would counter the administration's effort to wean the u.s. off of fossil fuels. and once again this white house with john kerry the spokesman -- and it looks like joe biden the lapdog, whatever john kerry says we're going to do -- has put climate before our national security and before our energy security. it's time for the administration to get its priorities straight and it's time to remove john kerry from this position. it's time for joe biden to wake up and to speak up. the climate elitists have done tremendous damage to our nation

and are continuing to do damage to our allies. for ourselves and for our allies, mr. president, it is time to produce more american energy. thank you, mr. president. and i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maine. mr. king: i hope the senator from wyoming will stay so we might have a discussion. why has the price of gasoline gone up? why did it start going up about the same time that joe biden became president? was it because of the cancellation of the keystone pipeline? no, most of the oil going through the keystone pipeline was scheduled to be exported. it was a pause in leases that wouldn't have been produced for three or four years? no. there are something like 8,000 leases that are currently not being drilled upon. you know what caused gas prices to go up? the extraordinary recovery that the economy went through starting in early 2021, after

joe biden became president, one of the quickest recoveries in our history from a recession. if you look back to it the recession of 2007 and 2008, you see a slow -- i call it a lazy u. you see a downward of the recession and then jobs and the economy came back very slowly, over five, six, seven years. the recession recovery from 2021, from the pandemic recession, is a v. and we recovered virtually all the jobs that were lost during the pandemic in the last 14 months. g.d.p. has grown as fast as it has in our history. we have -- the economy came back enormously rapidly and oil was down in 2019 and 2020 because of the pandemic. demand collapsed. this is economics 101. demand collapsed. the price of oil collapsed.

and then the recovery came and the demand increased, but the production didn't increase. and let's talk a bit about oil in the united states. in 2021, half of the oil produced in the united states was exported. did that do anything for our consumers? did that do anything for the people that were paying higher and higher rates far gas? the white house doesn't set gas prices. presidents are always blamed for gas prices. i've never heard one given credit when gas prices are low. but the truth is, the price of gas depends upon the price of oil and the price of oil depends upon the world market and the price of oil on the world market depends upon supply and demand. i'm old enough to remember the arab oil embargo in the 1970's. why did prices go up so much? because the opec cellulosed down the source and the supply drooped and the price went up.

that's economics. so what happened during 2021? the price went way up, the oil companies made the high profits they've made in eight years, and what did they do with that money? demand is resurging, there's a need for more oil, prices are going up. what did they do? they put $100 billion into buybacks from their stockholders, and they put that much -- the combination was $100 billion buybacks and dividends. they had a choice --. did they put the money into production, which would have reduced the price, because we'd have higher supply in no. they made -- have higher supply? no. they made a deliberate choice to give the money to their stockholders, to pump up their stock price, which i suspect may have had a positive effect on the executives' salaries, but they didn't increase production. that's why we're in this problem

that we're in now with high gas prices. and, of course, the war in ukraine has exacerbated that because we're cutting off purchases from russia, which is one of the highest producers of oil in the world. so if it the idea is, you know -- i keep hearing my friends on the other side trying to blame joe biden. you want to blame him for anything, blame him for the quickest recovery from a recession in recorded history. and it was the recovery and the increase in demand that wasn't met by an increase in production that's caused these high prices. and i read a quote this morning in the energy around natural resources -- energy and natural resources committee. there was an executive that said, we made a promise to our shareholders that we were going to be disciplined and return the money to them. and he said, i guess the choice came down to being -- keeping our promise to our shareholders or being patriotic.

well, we know what choice they made. so all this talk about the biden administration's war on oil and what's causing the -- what's going on at the pump. now, what's causing what's going on at the pump is low supply and high demand. that's what happened in 1972, and that's what's happening now. and that's what happens whenever you get supply and demand out of balance. and as far as exporting l.n.g. to europe, i'm all for trying to help our european allies. i'm all for it. but we've got to do it with open eyes. the more we export l.n.g., the higher the price is going to be here in the united states. seven or eight years ago the australians went big into exporting l.n.g. and their domestic natural gas price doubled. and that's about what's happened near in country. -- here in this country. five years ago we exported zero

l.n.g. production. now it's about 15%, but with the plants that have been aapproved, it's going to go up to 25%, 30%, or 35%. that is going to impact prices here. that's going to be great for producers, but it's going to kill the competitive advantage that low gas prices gave this country. if it's $$13 in china and it's $3 here, where do you think it's going to go? and that's what's going on here. this is nothing but economics. and we need to understand that what has happened is the oil industry made a conscious decision last year -- i don't mean -- it wasn't just -- and when i say conscious -- i mean conscious. they had a choice. do we invest in the production and increased supply or do we give money to our shareholders in the form of dividends and stock buybacks? they chose the latter and we're reaping the fruit of that. i'm tired of hearing that

somehow a pause in leases on federal land that wouldn't have produced any oil for years is somehow the cause of the high prices at the pump. that's nonsense. the cause of the high prices at the pump is a lack of supply. and last year, talk about energy independence, we exported half the oil that was produced in this country. and we had a vote here four or five years ago and we were told, exports were illegal until four or five years ago. we were told this won't really affect us because we've got an excess of supply. well, that hajj proven to be the -- well, that hasn't proven to be the case. what i'd like to see is for all of us to work together, to think about -- i'm aware of policies involving pipelines and those kinds of things, and i will that we have to make fuel available and energy available to all of our people. but let's be realistic about what's going on and not turn it into a partisan issue.

the only partisan issue here is that we had a startling, an extraordinarily and frankly positive recovery of our economy, but we didn't have a recovery of the production of oil, which leases the production of gasoline, which means higher prices. so, mr. president, i'm delighted to engage in this debate, but i think we ought to really be trying to talk about the facts. and try -- talk about what's really going on here and what's really causing this problem. and i'm -- i will -- i always want to learn more, and i learn from my colleagues. i notice that my colleague that just made the speech left, and he didn't want to seem to want to engage on this, which i think is unfortunate, and i hope that perhaps here in the senate we can actually have a debate and talk about what the issues are and what the reality is and quit just casting everything in a partisan way. it's gotten to the point if joe

biden walked out of the white house and walked across the potomac river, the other side would say, the president can't swim! come on. let's just talk about reality and not make everything into what's good for the administration or bad for the administration. let's talk about what's really happening and what's really happening right now is we've got solid demand in this country, the economy has come back, but we don't have enough production to meet that demand. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. barrasso: thank you, mr. president. i did listen with great interest to every word from my colleague from maine. we spend time together on the energy committee. he has lots of have he good ideas. we discuss things constructively. when we talk about supply and demand, i find it very interesting that for something like natural gas, of which we have an abundance in wyoming,

when i was in the wyoming state senate, natural gas prices were over 16 $. but the renaissance of american natural gas industry and production was something called fracking, prices dropped dramatically, to the kind of nurms that the -- numbers that the senator from maine mentioned earlier, about $3. it went way down. that doesn't help the people in massachusetts, where the price is $18, because they can't get permission to have pipelines to deliver the affordable gas that we produce here. i mean, it's fascinating to take a look at pennsylvania, which is half the price of massachusetts. they're not too far apart. i just went out here as the senator was speaking to just fake a look at see what are the differentials in the prices. the price of natural gas is twice as high in massachusetts as pennsylvania, less than 200, 300 miles apart. and it has nothing to do with the availability of gas in the ground. it has to do with delivery to

the end user. and that's a result of political decisions being made on the ground, in states to prevent the infrastructure to deliver the material, to deliver the natural gas that those people need. there was a issue on the ballot in massachusetts, in my colleague's home state of maine, to move energy, i think, from canada down to massachusetts, and it was blocked by the voters in maine. which is their right to do. they have a right to make decisions on what they vote for or against. to transmit -- that was a transmission even of renewable energy. so politics and decisions by either an administration or a state, voters, makes those decisions. so, there's an abundance of natural gas, and there's a limitation of how you can get it to people because of political decisions. my colleague mentioned a number of leases out there. about 9,000 leases the administration continues to talk about, saying there are 9,000

leases, of which nobody is exploring, drilling hasn't been done. that's just the first step, getting a lease. it's like leases an apartment, you pay the lease. but you need a key to get into the building. you pay the rent, it's your apartment, but you can't actually get in until they give you the key. that's the same thing that happens here. you need to apply for permission to drill. we know that the administration said we're not going to give any of those, no permission, sorry. i know you paid for the lease, but we're not giving anybody a key. they did that to about 4600 recent leases. normally, some of those were made at the local level. not in the biden administration. no, some assistant secretary said every one of them comes to mened a i can get the documentation, mr. president, for you or for my colleague and friend, the senator from maine. this is a very heavy-handed administration when it comes to exploring for american energy, and they continue that way.

so when the president, with enin glasgow for the climate conference, supplied many of us, when he asked opec plus, plus being russia, to produce and sell more to the united states. over the last year, we averaged 760,000 barrels a day from russia. more than we get from alaska. and the keystone pipeline, which the president killed on the first day in office, would have brought in over 800,000 barrels a day. it's not that the president has been shy about the fact that he has done all these things. he's taken great credit. look at the presidential debates. president biden, then candidate biden, said if he got elected, there would be no goil p oil and gas explorations on public lands. no leasing, no use. that's why they shut down all these applications for the

permits to drill. that's why the administration said you're not taking it out of the ground. this is a presidential promise. as of today, we continue to produce a lot less oil in the united states than we did at the height of our economic boom prior to the pandemic. we're about 1.4 million barrels per day less united states production today than we were at during the height of the economy before the pandemic. so we have a lot of catching up to do. when the administration says you can't bring it in from canada because you're not going to have keystone, and then pound their chest in pride, that's a political statement. and when the nominee for the office of secretary of interior says leave it all in the ground, all of it, that's a political statement.

when a local community says no pipelines in here, we don't care if people in our communities have to pay twice what they're paying in our neighboring state, that's a political statement. it's all based on climate. because we have john kerry and his words to prove it, as well as those of the president of the united states. so, i continue to enjoy having discussions with my colleague from maine. we'll continue that on the energy committee, where as a very productive member, there are areas we work together on, areas we disagree. people are entitled to their opinion. these are the facts and what's happening with american energy today, and the needs of the nation as we have recovered and continue to recover from the pandemic, were still very far behind, mr. president, in the american energy needs and that's because of the political activities of this administration that have limited our ability to return to our full productive capacity. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. mr. durbin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the

majority whip. mr. durbin: i'd like to call the attention of my friend from wyoming to a column today by dana millbank in "the washington post." i think it's really worth reading in light of some of the things said on the floor. canceling the keystone xl pipeline caused gas prices to rise? that's been said. well, it's wrong. only 10% finished when biden canceled it, its owners didn't expect it to open until 2023 at the earliest. it had no measurable, maybe no impact on current oil prices of the p. the assertion that biden halted drilling on new federal lands? wrong. after a temporary halt, biden outpaced trump in new drilling permits for public lands. the "post" reported that. u.s. production has increased under biden from 9.7 million barrels a day to 11.6 million bairlts.

the -- barrels. the number of oil rigs operating was 172 in july of 2020, e.n.e. news reports. now 519 are in operation. u.s. production is forecast to set a record next year. what's holding pack oil production, according to mr. -- back oil production according to mr. millbank isn't production. there are already had 40 wells -- 440 wells approved and drilling. they aren't drilling more because of investors' greed, which the senator from maine alluded to. some of the many things said on the floor as gospel turn out to be somewhat short of factual. i would concede i listened to your statement earlier, that this is a supply-and-demand issue at its heart. i do think there is some gouging going on. whereby maybe i'm wrong. but the fact of the matter is we're coming out of a recession, or at least a downturn in the

economy from covid-19, and there's exceeding demand and not much supply, and the net result is inflationary. prices have gone up at the pump. in terms of this administration at war with the production of oil in america, i don't think that case can be made. i yield. mr. cornyn: -- mr. king: mr. president, i certainly agree with the comments of the majority whip. my friend from wyoming will be surprised that i think we have some agreement on the issue of infrastructure. within i was governor of maine, we constructed -- we, the pipeline company, but under the auspices of the environmental regulatory policies in maine -- constructed brand-new pipeline for natural gas from nova scioscia, through new brunswick, into maine and massachusetts. i believe one of the problems is a lack of gas pipeline infrastructure which causes the higher prices than they should be in new england. i think the senator and i agree

on that. but where we disagree is the extent to which any policies of this administration have affected the price. as the senator just pointed out, keystone pipeline wasn't expected to deliver for another year or two, and the express purpose of the keystone pipeline was to take oil from canada to the gulf coast for export. it wasn't designed to service production in the united states. as i say, the problem right now is the high price of gasoline is a result of the rapidity of the economic recovery, which is a good thing. what's not a good thing is that the oil companies made a choice last year to invest in their shareholders and their stock price, rather than in producing oil. and i understand that to some extent because they took such a beating during the pandemic. it dropped so fast, oil was actually trading in negative

territory for a period of time. but once it became clear that the economic recovery was on track and demand was solid and likely to remain so, that's when, i believe, those decisions about buybacks and stock dividends should have been reexamined in light of the need, the obvious need for additional resources in this country. so, i appreciate this discussion it's a rare day when actual debate breaks out on the senate floor. i'm delighted to have been able to participate in it. but i think we ought to continue to remember that the issue here is supply and demand, and its politics can affect these things on the margins, but the decisions of the producers are what really determine whether supply will match demand, and if it doesn't prices are going to go up. the question then is what do you

do with the profits, and that's the decision that was made last year. i deeply hope that the industry is reexamining that decision, particularly in light of current prices and the situation in ukraine, and will ramp up production in a way that will bring prices down and allow us to enjoy the full fruits of recovery that we've seen, not undermined by inflation, which has been led by the cost of fuel. thank you, mr. president.

the house approved spending

package to fund the government through september 30 that includes nearly $14 billion in emergency aid to ukraine. live coverage of the senate here on cspan2 hi everyone.

okay i do not want to disappoint you i have no toppers today. darlene would you like to kick us off? >> thank you. i want to fill your tweet yesterday mobbing the lookout for biological weapons to ukraine. and possibly creating false flag operations. what is the evidence to back that up beyond, is there more to it and you see a pattern with them? >> are large of biological and chemical weapons program. so it is a pattern they also have the capacity. while i'm not going to get into specific intelligence we look at all of those factors. we also know one of the -- the main issue that prompted my twitter thread yesterday was that russia has a history also of inventing outright lies like this was suggesting the united states has a chemical and biological weapons program or

ukraine does that they're operating. russia is the one, as the country with the chemical and biological weapons program. so the objective was to make clear the inaccuracy of the information the misinformation they're trying to put out. make clear to the world they not only have the capacity they have a history of using chemical and biological weapons and in this moment we should have her eyes open for that possibility. >> chemical or biological be a redline for the president for the direct threat involvement in the war? >> we are directly involved. we are providing billion dollars in security assistance. we are the largest provider of that. we are providing with the u.s. military going and engaging in ukraine and fighting the war against russia. we do not have any intention to do that. go ahead. >> one other question. the intelligence agency directly told congress today the agency

under underestimated. is that the assessment? >> we do. i think darlene, the world does. i think when we saw the preparations of president putin and the russian military on the borders of ukraine, we saw the power of the russian military. he saw the intentions of president putin and i do not think anyone anticipated the level of courage, bravery, capacity to fight back that we have seen in the country. at the same time we've also seen some miscalculations by president putin as wellin terms of that capacity and willingness. but also in terms of their own planning and logistics of their military. >> and lastly could you talk about the state of the covid money and of the bill yesterday and how confident as the white house you ultimately get that?

>> absolutely. we need this money. so without additional resources from congress results are dire. just to give you some specifics in march testing capacity will decline this month in april pretesting for tens of millions of americans without health insurance will end in may america supply of monoclonal antibiotics will run out. so failing to take action now will have severe consequences for the american people by that is why we requested $22.5 billion to avoid severe disruptions to our covid response the reason we have made the progress we have at this point is because we have been ahead of where the pandemic is in terms of having the preparations for the most part of vaccines and supplies needed we want this to continue to stay ahead of that if we can these are conversations as you all know it has been reported out that are happening with members. but we will need that funding

and order to continue to fight the pandemic go ahead. >> are you detecting any sign of chemical weapons use over there? >> i'm not going to get into any intelligence. we continue to assess the declassification of that as you know we have done throughout the course of the last several weeks. but we endeavor to do it when they put out that information yesterday is to remind the world of the large biological and chemical weapons program russia has the effect they used it in the past against dissidents on their soil and nato soil and they were taking a step to put out misinformation about our own programs capacity as well. >> president spoke this morning with the president of turkey did they discuss access to the black sea do you know? >> we just put out a readout that you should all have it. they had a constructive lengthy

call i believe it was almost an hour if not an hour in the present is very grateful that turkey is playing and has played even earlier today and hosting diplomatic negotiations at this moment in times but in terms of additional specifics is not marking it into here, go ahead caitlyn. >> i want to be totally clear are you saying if russia does chemical weapons attack in ukraine there will not be a military response from the united states? >> i'm not going to get into hypotheticals. we are saying is they have it capacity and capability and also not going to get into intelligence. the presence intention of setting u.s. military to fight in ukraine against russia has not changed. >> that sounds like even if there is a chemical weapons attack that calculus will not change pretty want to be clear on what the u.s. response would be. >> again there's not been a chemical weapons attack we are conveying to all of you with the capacity and the capabilities of russia are. what steps they have taken in the past. let's hope we are not having a discussion about that. but the president and our nato

partners have not changed their assessment about their plan to send u.s. troops in. >> abide let a chemicals weapon attack in ukraine go unanswered by the united states? >> we have not let anything go i answered that president putin has done to date. we have not let anything go unanswered to date, any steps that president putin has taken two dates. with that would look like i cannot give you an assessment of that from here. reroute what other question. the u.s. said their assessment is ukraine has complained that they can use they don't think it would be affected to send more aircraft ukraine right now. you katy and president zelenskyy has pleaded for more aircraft saying they desperately need it. so i guess the question is how do you square the u.s. assessment with what president zelenskyy who is on the ground in ukraine says that he needs for his airport? >> i would say first the u.s. military's on the best militaries in the world. what we are basing our assessment on are both intelligence assessment on the

assessment of our military experts who have been of course in touch with their counterparts in ukraine and our nato allies and partners. what they assess adding aircraft to the inventory is not likely to significantly change relative to russian capabilities pretty creating air force has several squadrons of the russian eric capabilities are significant their effectiveness has been limited to strategic operational ground-based air defense system surface-to-air missiles. how are we going to continue to provide assistance that is helpful to them and most effective and most useful to them in this moment? and the assessment of our military has been that continuing to provide in the form was most useful and effective at this point in time. go ahead.

next is to follow use of the conversations are going on. if this bill has the dire consequences you just described where else can you go to get money for treatment? is there money in other parts of the government? is there is not going to be a stand-alone bill, what are you going to do? >> you need additional supplemental assistance. >> we think the chances are that are? >> essentially get that assistance otherwise will not be able too. as i just outlined and i appreciate you asking the question for further clarification, we'll have to stop another of components of our program. that are central to the american people bear. >> there's no way to get money -- make you can money around? >> again, i think we need this additional funding to meet the needs of the american public private also note a lot of these

programs are widely popular across the board regardless of your political affiliation. providing antivirals, writing tests providing free vaccines as are all problems were talking about continuing her. >> homework question madame secretary. the ministration has been criticized for sanctions on one dictator in the going cap in hand to other dictators like venezuela how do you explain that? i think our engagement with maduro who we do not recognize as you knows the leader of venezuela but is detaining american citizens was to bring american citizens home for those of first priority in those engagements. as you are and all assessing. there are a range of topics we discussed largely the conversation was about certainly venezuela as you all know is the largest producer of oil in the

world. you are one of them in the world, thank you ed gave me a funny look i appreciate that. one of them in the world. part of our conversation is focused on a range of issues including encouraging them of course to be engaging in steps towards peace as you may have seen they've announced her intention to be a part of the talk to the opposition and mexico. but as you are assessing how to send your energies a lot of news in the world i would not focus a lot of them on conversations about the future of the united states at this time from venezuela per. >> question on the economy the inflation numbers that we received today loosing almost a% more than a year ago. these were before russia's invasion of ukraine. how much higher dizzy administration expect prices to climb? >> as you know a large driver of these inflationary numbers with these monthly numbers were from energy prices.

we have seen the increase happen as a result of russia's invasion of ukraine. we are looking year over year in the year over your numbers came out about a month ago as well there are still predictions and projections from the federal reserve and outside economists about inflation moderating towards the end of the year. they make this assessment on the basis. we do anticipate gas prices and energy prices will go up that something the president has conveyed very clearly to the american public. we also believe it will be temporary and not long-lasting. but her focus is on now is doing everything we can to mitigate and reduces prices. and ensure there is not a longer-term impact. i cannot make move new projections from here yes it is accurate the invasion by president putin into ukraine has impacted global inflation, inflation in the united states, because of the impact we have on

energy prices and that is a significant contributor to inflation inflationary numbers we saw come today per. >> say their temporary notice before inflation's going to wainer's expected joint by the end of the year. is that so your belief? >> that continues to be the projection of the federal reserve. outside economists we rely on them for their projections. there's also no question that inflation may be higher for the next few months than it would have been without president putin and russia's further invasion into ukraine but particularly due to higher prices it. obviously they will watch that and we are watching them. that is deafly having an impact spray. >> and one other topic the president said earlier this week that american companies urge them not to price gouge up or are you aware of any price gouging with gasoline is going on right now? rex that's what we've asked to look at the appropriate body third independent body. i pointed to them for any assessment of that. that is something we have to continue to monitor, right?

we have been monitoring we've asked them to monitor it but at this point in time it's one of the areas of need to watch closely, go ahead. >> asked mandate to think it's based on the cdc recommendation to you in the position to explain the rationale, the science the logic in places where the community level is low? >> i would really point to the cdc to provide further detail. i would note, as you know you when you get on the airplane to travel to different places it's not static whether it's green zone, yellow zone, red zone. they also announces tsa -- the cdc will work with government agencies for the framework for under what circumstances masks should be required in the public transportation because it is unique. we are in washington d.c. number in that green or yellow zone you can make it clear assessment per if you're moving from one zone

to nothing you're picking people up from one zone to another it's a little bit different and that requires consultation with what they're going to endeavor to do between now and april 18 request complete separate topic. brent said today the window on the iran deal is closing. this u.s. share that view? is that a fear? >> our view is that we are -- we have been close for sometime now. we also for the last several weeks we've been talking about. we also all know from having been to these negotiations before that the end of negotiations is always with a difficult and challenging parts of the conversation typically take place. so i would not make that assessment or echo that from here. we are continuing to have these diplomatic talks are. it is in all of our interest to stay at the negotiating table that is what our plan is to do here. >> you said earlier one of my colleagues not shut nothing russia has done in terms of our has been gone on answered as you were talk about bio and chemical weapons but obviously nothing that we have done to answer

russia's steered them from continuing this invasion. so why not consider some alternate strategy to communicate to rush of the consequence if they are to do a bio or chemical weapons strike inside ukraine? >> like what? >> i'm asking you. why not communicate you won't say it's a red line is it's not our intention right now. is there any redline for russia that the u.s. would have some involvement with the military entering into ukraine? >> i'm not going to get into redline some here. what i would tell you is when i said we have not let anything go on answered, what i mean is that we have amped up a range of military assistance, a historic amount to ukraine including a range of the sense of weapons we expedited the delivery and even in the last ten days we have delivered about $240 million of that. i've also provided humanitarian assistance and we have basically crushed the russian economy which is where the stock market is not even open. it is an accurate to suggest

it's gone on answered we taken the steps and rallied the world by. >> i didn't say on answered you we witnessed in form of sanctions i'm saying given the potential of indicated russia could use the bio or chemical weapons strike in there, why wouldn't the u.s. communicate to them something that is not an answer but is preemptive to communicate the consequence as they are to take will be horrific development? >> the presence first and most important objectives a national security and interests of the united states. but being clear and direct with the american people. he has been clear and direct with the american people. he's not intending to send u.s. troops to fight in ukraine against russia. to start another war of the escalatory step that would not be the national security interests and not in the interest of nato. what we have conveyed is russia's capabilities there pattern of using chemical and biological weapons by. >> that is the message of the american people the response of

them is before any other, what is the state of vladimir putin those at the head of the russian government are considering that? would you say to them watching right now? >> we've been very clear in our actions have been evidence of this there will be significant consequences for every escalatory step that's taken by president putin the russian government. >> quickly he closed the door on supply and combat aircraft ukraine right now the transfer of the biggest. leach heard from the pentagon it was high risk, mitt romney said today loose sediment were fearful about what putin might do what he might consider escalation. it's time for him to be fearful of what we might do. why is that not a risk a high risk? >> to wait to what? >> too not act in providing to the ukrainian countries they said that the high-risk why is that a higher risk than not providing it? bro watching citizens die as we speak too. >> but our assessment is based

on is how to prevent a world war here, peter, which is a significant weight that the intelligence community, the defense department and the president of the united states always at every moment in time. and they would wait, and i would note there was also i thought a very interesting comment that was made it's important for people to understand how we look at this which is that there is an escalation ladder. there's a difference between antitank weapon a shoulder fire missile and aircraft and a fighter jet thick across the border actually conduct operations on russian soil. so how we assess things as what kind of assistance can we provide that will be the most impactful in the protecting, defending, providing assistance to the ukrainian people as they are fighting courageously and boldly. we are also trying to prevent ourselves from taking steps that will be further escalatory. don't think we have held back in

any capacity in providing assistance, have the backs of the ukrainians but we are not going to do things we think are not in the interest of the united states or our nato allies. that is where the bar is for us. >> thank you jen. we just heard you say again you think inflation is going to be temporary. we have heard you say it's going to be temporary since last spring. so how long do you guys think temporary is? >> again, peter, we do is we rely on the assessments of the federal reserve. an outside economic analyst to give an assessment of how long it will last. the expectations and their assessment at this point continues to be it will moderate by the end of the year for there's also no question that when a foreign dictator invades a foreign country i would not foreign dictator is the head of a country that is the third largest supplier of oil in the world, that is going to have an impact. and it isn't. >> inflation goes up today, the present statement blames the putin price hike pretty guys would you start blaming putin

for everything? until the midterms? >> loosing the price of gas go up at least 75 cents president putin lined up troops on the border of ukraine. reporter: and last month the statement did not mention the putin price hike it much inflation because of the pandemic why is that? >> well peter the last two years there was a global pandemic. everyone who's global economists have all agreed that has been the biggest contributor to date of inflation because of the impact on the supply chain. obviously global events impact the economy, the global economy as well as global inflation. the price hikes of the results have escalated in the course of time of president putin further invasion of the impact on the global markets are of course having an impact. >> president biden that electric vehicles stakeholders here at the white house, would he host

oil and gas producers to people who are the most affected by the putin price hike? >> the oil and gas i have nothing to preview or predict for you in terms of him hosting oil company executive. >> would you be open to that? >> i do not plan on the schedule for that front. outside the president has been clear he believes they have the tools they need, 9000 unused permits. they have the capacity they need to go get more oil here in the united states but he would encourage them to do that go ahead. >> u.s. are pushing electric vehicles today this is the president always talks about the power of our example. does he own in electric vehicle? >> presidents of the united states do not do a lot of driving for. >> you seen the videos of him rubbing the and proxies also driven them as president for. >> as he own one? was i think the president record is clear current and when they

are no longer typically are not doing a lot of driving go-ahead. >> if i could express support war crimes investigation into russia, why isn't caserta comfortable the bombing of the maternity hospitals? >> first let me say the bombing of a maternity hospital is horrific, it is barbaric i don't think anyone who saw that could not have been emotionally deeply impacted. there is a legal review process the united states undergoes to make considerations of labeling as something as a war crime. that is the ongoing process we are pursuing at this point in time it is ongoing. obviously for russia is targeting civilians that would be a war crime. we need to go through the legal assessment and review in order to make a formal conclusion. >> the journal is reporting on the decline the president must conduct a