>> i don't know. they can opt in this, they can opt out, and i think it's also significant as i mentioned in that people who overdraft frequently actually check their balances more often. they make more use of online banking, and they kind of constantly know what's going through their accounts. and they know they're taking a chance, basically, when they write -- when they make that payment. >> thank you, professor. i think as we all know we're experiencing the highest inflation we've experienced in 40 years due to the economic policies and the wild spending that the federal government's engaged in in the last 12 months. the federal reserve reports right now that half of the country couldn't cover a $400 emergency expenditures. and, obviously, you people have the resources to turn -- >> you can watch the rest of in this hearing if you go to our web site, c-span.org. right now on c-span2 as part of our decades-long commitment to live gavel-to-gavel coverage of congress, we take you to the

floor of the u.s. senate. today lawmakers plan to start debate on president biden's nomination to the u.s. supreme court, judge ketanji brown jackson. members are currently waiting on the senate judiciary committee to vote on the nomination. live coverage now of the u.s. senate on c-span2. the president pro tempore: the senate will come to order. the chaplain, dr. barry black, will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. eternal god, our light and salvation. you have invited us in psalm 50:15 to call you in the day of trouble, and so we are here.

we thank you that prayer is a key to unlock the arsenal of your power, mercy, and grace. because of prayer, we remain confident that you are still in control of our troubled world. as we see a nightmare unfolding in ukraine, we ask you to deliver the ukrainian people from this season of despotism, desperation, destruction, and death. lord you -- lord, continue to use our senators to accomplish your purposes on earth.

we pray in your majestic name, amen. the president pro tempore: please join me in the pledge of allegiance. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the president pro tempore: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. mr. schumer: mr. president? the president pro tempore: the majority leader. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that i be recognized at

5:00 p.m. the president pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. schumer: i note the absence of a quorum. the president pro tempore: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

>> to do that this monday were joined by white house reporter bloomberg news. congressional recorder for politico. walk us through what is going to happen today and the schedule for judge ketanji brown jackson. >> the senate judiciary set to meet at 10 am this morning to vote on whether to report jackson's nomination to the senate floor and what we're expecting right now is for

the committee to tie and that basically means that senate majority leader chuck schumer has to take an additional procedural step, likely this afternoon for the senate to vote to move jackson out of committee and that process sets her up for a final confirmation vote either thursday or friday this week. >> any surprises left at this point now that we know she's a going to get at least one republican vote in her confirmation? >> patches! we're waiting on what lisa murkowski of alaska and mitt romney decide to do on jackson. jackson doesn't need their votes for confirmation. she looks like she's going to bypass the supreme court right now but we're waiting to see how much bipartisan support she gets and she and romney appear to be the two holdouts of senators who microphone for jackson. >> what are you watchingfor on the confirmation front ? >> i think they breathed a huge sigh of relief when

senator collins expressed her support and it's something they consider building in the administration bordering on indignation. they think some of the attacks senator hawley rendered were in the gutter, sort of a low blow that judge jackson wasn't getting a fair shake from republicans the white house wanted her to get some of course hanging in the air were a couple of uncertainties on the democratic i'll. if all the republicans lined up on one side and don't claim anonymity to themselves a problem so you can smell the blood pressure come down aftersenator collins came forward as marion mentioned , there's still a question mark around it but they're going to lean into this. joe biden took office with the covid economic fallout, racial injustice and climate change and getting results on all these things from black

voters in particular who biden credits with winning the nomination in the first place have been wonderingwhat gives ? where is the agenda for america broadly and black america in particular. i think judge jackson's historic nomination and confirmation will be something the administration will be leaning into. >> that judiciary in a hearing expected to begin at 10 am and you can watch it on c-span networks. we're talking about it in our last half hour and we're showing you shots of the room as they start to gather but one of the topics taking place, joe biden schedule for the week, what are we expecting ? >> trucking event today, supply chain is still important and president obama is returning tomorrow, they're going to talk about the affordable care act and president biden will address more measures on that. president biden coming back to get today from delaware

and we will see. there's holes in the schedule so we're wondering what's going to pop up or be announced later in the week but they are going to in particular today they've been trying to deflect the criticism of inflation but in particular gas prices. talking about supply chain crisis so the rate of inflation doesn't stop but cools. that's sort of the hope so we will see them talkabout that . >> the house and senate schedule this week obviously ketanji brown jackson confirmation will be watched at this end of pennsylvania avenue, what else is happening? >> the other issue is whether or not the senate can get together for the infill they're discussing. there are negotiations going on between senator romney and chuck schumer on the republican side as well as senator chris coons. there's a bipartisan group

trying to see if they can get in a package that would basically have money for therapeutics, testing, vaccines to address the possibility of anothervariant . now the level of urgency, but times depends on what which side of the isle you're talking to but we're expecting to see a real push for that bill but it's hard to say what weather that comes together. there's issues with the offsets so it's not really clear that they can pull it together by the end of the week and also the senate gets a little antsy on thursday and they been in session for six weeks already so it's hard to know what is actually going to get done besides jackson's nomination but the aid is a topic that senate democratic leaders will be talking about. >> we saw the president use a bully pulpit on this issue, expecting more of that this week and will the administration be okay with a $10 billion package down from the original ask ? >> come down a lot as you know.

when it collapsed out of the omnibus package, now there 10 with offsets. some of that will be new money. there warning the coverages they are, theirsame monoclonal antibodies , those are treatments you get if you stop and also preexposure treatments or folks where they're taking a rolling vaccine, they're going to run out of money for that . testing, that's because they shut down a lot of lines last summer. those are the warnings of the administration and the pills, those antiviral pills , the pfizer one the deliveries are going to stop so they got the ordernow to get in line for that .a lot of moving parts and then of course vaccines. as of last week 50+ can get a fourth shot for a second booster. president biden and harris got theirs this week. they're calling on people to continue to do that.

to open up for the broader adult population that you can get a booster to. so this is what this money is needed for. joe biden has seemingly opened this. there used to be emergency funding but basically we will take what we can get. >> can we open it up to the collar who joins us this morning. it's a busy week ahead in washington. to get in studio, happy to have you both. we're only here for a while. taking your calls and your questions about the week ahead. republicans 202-748-8000 one. independence 202-748-8000 two. as folks are calling in, marianne, the first hour of this program we spent talking about the reaction over the weekend to the cdc announcing they were going to be lifting point to come may and

republicans already saying they're going to be signaling their talking a lot about that this week we heard kevin mccarthy has some sortof event later today . the reaction that you've seen over the weekend and how that issue plays out or how republicans want to see that issue playing out next week. >> republicans are talking about the rising number in people crossing the border and issues throughout the biden administration. that's something we can really expect more discussion about as we get closer to the interim elections and republicans see this as an issue that's a winning issue for them in terms of their messaging to voters. i think it's interesting to see how some senate democrats have also reacted to biden's decision on title 42.you saw concern from senator mark kelly who has a tough reelection in november in arizona. so i think we're going to see

.. it will be interesting to see how some of the democrats who are up in swing states will also react to this in the coming weeks as they especially face attacks from republicans about not being tough enough on the border . i think that's a topic and a consistent thing you've seen since the start of the biden demonstration and something you're going to continue to see in the am coming in coming weeks. >> you mentioned mark kelly, ending title 42 without first lamenting a plan to secure a humane process atthe border. josh nguyengrove is there a plan to ensure a secure orderly and germane process . what is the biden administration saying ? >> the rollout last week with the cdc announcement with the announcements secretary mayorkas to try to process claims quickly, through folks

who don't meet the criteria but there's almost no way to avoid an influx of folks that have been turned away repeatedly. the policy now not to come to the door again so there's a response that the administration is trying to triage that and if you read between the lines, their racing for not only the political fallout. >> to this point if something is put in place it's an executive action are we too late in the political season now or some sort of grand immigration deals that come together? how many legislative days are left? we know it's to 17 until election day. >> it's too early for any immigration proposal which is a big reason why democrats tried to do it through the integration process along party lines but bipartisan immigration for reform has been a struggle for the

senate since 2013. i don't see a lot of appetite on the hillfor a bipartisan bill at the moment . >> if we talked about print 12, we talked about ketanji brown jackson what's left before these folks get out of here and in the campaign mode and election season ? >> i think among the issues democrats are talking about and republicans, they're trying to get this bill that was would address competition with china. that's been legislation that has moved relatively slowly through congress comparatively. just given that the senate passed the initial version of this bill about a year ago and there's been some issues between what the house wants and senate wants so we're expecting that legislation to move forward and address the semi conductor manufacturing. this is a big issue for corporations and a big priority for schumer so we can expect some secession

about the china competitive sniff still. it's gone through several different names but that's a priority for leadership and we will steal still see democrats talking about whether they can get some type of legislation that has been kind of rebranded as lowering costs. instead of the billback better bill, they're basically because of opposition from senator joe manchin there's been an effort to rebrand a partyline effort whether it's lowering the cost of insulin . we're going to see some effort toaddress inflation . whether or not that's will see it as an open question but the house leadership wants to get something like that done before the midterm elections unclear if phil succeed. >> anything else the biden administration would like to add that to do list. >> don't take anythingthey can get on that reconciliation effort . you can see them passing it in addition to the things

they laid out as deficits. it's important to senator manchin in particular. joe biden seems to be talking about the deficit going down. so i think they will would love to be able to do something. if you talk to democrats throughout the cycle and particular ones who are in for vulnerable swing districts the way they can think they can maximize chances which a lot of people are not bullish on right now. it's by being able to say we did stuff. we did ask y and z and republicans didn't want to do x, y, and z and that is the argument they want to run on so that's why joe biden almost again prettymuch whatever they can get they would be happy with . >> we can talk more about the midterm elections. first this is john out of west lafayette indiana. independent line, goodmorning . >> good morning john. it's the first time i'm gettingthrough. i have one question for you

at the question for the guest . although i think they answered some of it. my question is what is the building in the background of mister levine? >> union station right down louisiana avenue from the capital. that is josh nguyen grove sitting on that side. thatbuilding right there, is that the shot you're looking at ? >> the sun comes right over union station in the morning. it's nice this morning but now that you're actually getting a second guest shot i understand why you're asking because we haven't had too many guests . thanks for the question . >> for the guests, and i think you've addressed a little bit of this. i was wondering what's going to happen with the billback better plan . are they going to tear it to pieces and try to get small parts of it done or are they going to try and bring it back again?

>> let's let you take that one i think we're going to see an effort in the coming weeks to revise the billback better plan. of course they are not going to call it billback better but there's going to be an effort. that's likely going to be centered around what the outlines senator joe manchin of west virginia has given to his colleagues . it's not clear however whether they're going to get anything over the finish line what a potential package could look like would be something that lowers the cost of prescription drugs, lowers the cost of insulin . looks at some other areas intentionally climate funding. but what i think and also as josh mentioned, some deficit reduction and sort of branding this as a bill to address inflation and reduce the deficit but i think it's really in the early stages from what we are gathering. and it does not, i think we're going to see an effort to revise the biden agenda

especially on the domestic front in this area but whether or not it succeeds is unclear. >> they don't need to read it to pieces. it's already dead in its current form or at least the last scene in public form since senator manchin announced he would pull support for it. there are little elements there but one thing i would note his senator manchin talked about the corporate tax rate, wants to bring that up. maybe not necessarily free trump tax reform levels but closer to it but senator cinema is cooler to that notion so it's important to remember senator manchin and senator sinema have been the most vocal objectors but they don't object to the same thing. in instances they object to

each other's thing. sticking the landing is tricky, a nonstarter for manchin. >> the phone numbers republicans 242-8000 one, democrats 242-8000, independence 202-748-8000 two. marianne levine of politico and josh wing grove, bloomberg news taking your questions for about the next 20, 25 minutes or so. we're talking about the midterm elections will, and in terms of where you mentioned barack obama coming back to the white house this week. and i had of the midterm elections that he was a part of. there's a lot of discussion about where you would go, where barack obama played well for democrats and where he didn't so let's havea conversation about joe biden . do you see him hitting the campaign trail much in these midterm elections? where does a joe biden

standing up to a member of congress, where did that help and where did it hurt? >> you can tell he's been holding it back. i think it really changed the calculus there the last two weeks ironically . i know it seems like a lot of folks are getting bad and it was a recovery but until recently joe biden had been restricted. he had a fence at the white house, if you was unmasked he was distanced, they've done away with that and you can tell that he's enjoying it. joe biden loves working a crowd. he just does i think he's alluded to in his public statements he thinks some of the rest of the polling has been his inability to get out in front of these things, talk about what they've done and the infrastructure bill so wewill see him do that . wheredoes he go other than delaware, certainly he loves going to delaware . >> and the philly area in eastern pennsylvania. >> i think he will go to all these different districts of

course in large part the swing districts are where joe biden democrats and of course it's a pretty important senate race in philadelphia particularly as we get later in the cycle and we see democrats know from abandoning any offense, more of a defensive thing if there's one foldout typeof race in the senate in particular . >> marianne levine, any other members of congress? >> when you ask senators, democrat senators whether they want joe biden to come, they're not clamoring but they say they would of course welcome him to their state. i think they're taking a diplomatic approach to president biden. they obviously are very much with him in their voting records. the majority of all the senate incumbents who face competitive elections this fall, their record is pretty much with biden most of the

time. so i think that when you ask them if they're open to biting campaigning for that nobody's going to say no despite the fact that biden does have lower approval ratings right now so i think democrats are hoping that this summer i can hopefully try. they're hoping they can go out there and explain as josh mentioned the infrastructure bill. explain what biden has done and i think a lot of what they see as their accomplishments are also what biden sees as his accomplishments so we're going to see some alignment there . >> pointing out those approval ratings, president biden underwater by 13 points. it's a real clear politics that has this chart where you can see the change over time and the point at which joe biden's approval ratings went underwater right aroundthe time of the pullout from afghanistan . you can see the red line, the disapproval numbers ticking up over the course of his

presidency. wade, fayetteville north carolina europe next, good morning. >> good morning c-span audience. good morning to your guests. you had a segment about the most important things about the midterm, your vote on immigration. i think attorney general garland proves that a number of the republican senators and house of representatives was involved in this to. that's the elephant in the room. and that's going todetermine the midterms . >> that's ready, north carolina. the latest onjanuary 6 . we were expected to get a report from this committee. is that going to happen before the midterms? >> i think we're expecting a

report to happen before the midterms. we're seeing the january 6 committee getting more witnesses . a had a big win in court and there's a possibility criminal charges could be brought against the former president . how that plays out is unclear . >> i think kermit is waiting on the phone. it will make sure to turn the sound down so you can finish your statement. >> are waiting to see what the committee comes up with and there's going to be a lot of pressure on attorney general garland to see what he does with the committee signing if he does decide to pursuecharges against the former president . >> on that point and calls from merrick garland to be more active in pursuing january 6cases . >> democrats wish he was more of a bulldog for lack of a better phrase but on the flipside democrats that work with biden in the campaign

fought that the independence of the department of justice was in their view sort of blown apart in the trump era. that they needed to sort of patch it back together and have a church and state separation between the white house and doj that has left them with this situation where i think you're getting these signals that democrats wish there was less of a separation cause he was more of a go get them sort of bulldog. but that's not who he has been. i'll say though that joe biden doesn't seem all that keen totalk about january 6 . if you read the tea leaves it seems they don't think this is all that much of a politically thing for them. they think the signing bill and it's time voters moved on.

>> now permit in virginia, republican, good morning. >> caller: good morning. >> what's your question or comment ? >> i was going to make a comment on the build back better and some of this junk that they're trying to do but there . they're going tokeep on , they're going to bankrupt this country. obama ran up $10 trillion to 12 or 20 and then this guy here is going to run it out. they keep this stuff up we're going to have to go on welfare to live. food and gas and everything, a lot of people can't even afford to drive to work now. they're both trying to blame it on russia, it wasn't russia's fall. >> what are gas prices in charlottesville virginia now? >> caller: over four dollars and something. >> what do you do, what's your job? >> i'm retired and if i go anywhere and move around it will cost me 15 or $20 just

to do that one day a week maybe. and two days a week i'm looking at over $40. >> that's permit in virginia. gas prices and efforts on the front. >> i think we're going to see some efforts how democrats were talking about some type of legislation that would address gas prices but what that actually looks like his pretty unclear at the moment. i think it goes to the broader push that democrats are aware of where they're going to see americans are broadly seeing higher costs due to inflation and also due to higher gas prices and i think that's something that the party knows that they need to address as the midterm elections approachbut what that actually looks like is unclear legislatively at the moment . >> it's difficult for governors i guess to reduce or eliminate level gas taxes in response to this.

some of those and some in particular moderate democrats have called for similar actions with the gas tax . and some in and around there. and the white house has specifically on the table and said last friday in their briefing the bid is on the table but they haven't gotten the discretion. the concern of course is we need legislation so you have to provide bipartisan support and suspending the gas tax, that's money that goes to economies and stuff so they're worried if they take that money away they got themselves a new problem so i don't know if there's a lot of momentum. >> that's a great point and one example of how budget issues, as the senators who did introduce the gas tax, four of them are incumbents at the 22 who have tough races so this is something that's clearly on the minds of democrats who are facing tough reelections but as you

mentioned it's not clear how quickly this is getting seen. >> it's a huge problem for incumbents. republican governors, democratic governors it's going to be a big problem for them. one of the comments of of course from a previous caller is the deficit has been stored under president trump. it soared under covid. it's not as bad as it was in that the interest rates are so low. the debt can go up with cost of servicing it, the cost is interest rates going down can sometimes be a wash so that's why economists aren't as worriedabout the us government . but joe biden would like to talk about it. the deficit went down in 2021 from 20/20 obviously. still, it did. i'm sure he loved to talk about going down in 2022.

>> your gas tax numbers are spot on, the average gas tax about $.39. chuck, farmington michigan, independent, good morning. >> thank you for taking my call.i would like to comment about taxes in this country. i just paid $60,000 in income tax and i do not make any where near $400,000. so they can stop lying about who pays taxes in this country. it's the middle class who pays taxes. thank you very much. >> what line of work are you in? >> find a mechanical contractor. i do heating and air-conditioning and refrigeration and the problem i have right now is trying to supply my trucks with fossil fuels at this price. i'm going to have to lay

people off now because of this government and the people who don't understand how businesses work. >> we talked about gas tax a little bit. i wonder biden administration focusing on supply chain issues and doing it again this week. has that affected yourability to get the parts you need ? >> not only can we get the parts but our suppliers now have been eaten up i for an intervention and the price of our goods and services has just skyrocketed. >> thanks for the call, from the wolverine state, joshwhen growth . i'll let you take chuck. >> he's right. the middle class is the tax base in this country.the line he's referring to, $400,000 i believe what you're referring to is president biden has his build

back better package which will raise taxes on people making under that threshold and in particular to the point that we pull things out of it like taxes for anything that would have one penny on that. so that is at least the presidents pledge is that people under that threshold won't see more taxes, not that they're paying no taxes already but they make a substantial rates. the fairness thing,joe biden wants to talk about that, he occasionally talks about it in a different way . companies, major multibillion-dollar companies are able to write down their tax obligations . doing this, being able to make reductions that average folks cannot so the average percentage rate is lower than what firefighter would pay. joe biden talk a lot about that.

i think republicans in some cases have talked about that from more of a populist perspective but right now it doesn't look like all of that . if you're upset too much of the burden is on the middle class i don't know that they will come to the rescue on thatfront anytime soon . >> less than 10 minutes, if you're waiting in grove city and the buckeye state, democrats, good morning . >> this is ruby, good morning. my governor was in charge of roads and bridges, he was a county engineer and the gas tax is really important. the state of ohio we have really not seen winters. if there is no gas tax there's nobody to plow the roads in the snow or to take care of the ice. so he never ever objected to paying our taxes. our taxes are to make our united states the best it can be an hour roads are very important. i know his budget to fix

roads and bridges have not increased the price of asphalt has gone up and up but his budget did not. so saying we're not going to pay the gas taxes, people will have to just pay their taxes when they drive. because otherwise the roads are not going to be built and like in the wintertime, people would be very upset if they were trying to go to work and there's six inches of snow on the roadsbecause there's nobody to plow them . so paying a gas tax is a very important thing. you cannot do away with gas tax. >> we will take the point, marianne levine. >> the concerns ruby is raising our concerns: senate democrats are raising. when the democrats put out the gas tax suspension, obviously that was one of

biden's big accomplishments and the big compliment for congress was passing the infrastructure built so i think some senate democrats said that while they could understand potentially good politics in the short term of suspending the gas tax for some of the incumbents are open 2022 in terms of telling their voters want to lower their cost i think for some especially for some of the democrats who worked on infrastructure built they made the same point ruby made where basically this would affect infrastructure funding. i think those two messages can be in contention. >> did you want to jump on that. >> you're essentially cannibalizing anything you want to talk about. when you talk about infrastructure you turn around and kneecap in existing infrastructure funds by suspending gas tax . if any move gets momentum on this it will be a move that somehow suspends the tax room with another revenue stream of some kind . in other words to find a way

that still funds a highway program. >> bishop texas,republican, good morning . >> what i want to say is biden's responsible for everything since he got to the white house and second thing, pelosi had an option to have 10,000 national guard at the capital and she refused it. that's all i'm saying. >> judy bishop texas. to her first point are there issues in which the biden administration is planning the trump administration. at what point does this become iran's economy, biden's policy, biden's america . >> any president is going to take the ups and downs that they have right now. the next level down of that is the administration will say they're still unwinding

some of the stuff president from saidadministration did , in particular on immigration would be a good good example of that. the title 42 stuff, maybe they can back away from that so they can say they're still dealing with i guess in their view some of the stuff. but it's true anypresident will bear the ups and downs . it's a political talking point issue. you can often track the president's approval rating by how people feel about the gas. politico's story yesterday about how people think the economy is doing badly which is revealing. of course there seeing high prices and their seeing they can't find workers and that means these are going great from the perspective but any economist will tell you the economy is roaring the reason inflation is so high is because the economy is overheated if anything so it's funny that voters don't first perceive that. that's all the problems we're

having stemming from that. >> i appreciate the panel that promotes other reporters good work. we got five minutes left. mark, jacksonville florida, independent. >> caller: thanks for having me. two questions forboth of the guests and i hope they can answer them correctly . the first one is both outlets that you guys work for and i don't know about you as reporters but both outlets you work for pushed the lie to the american public about parents rights in education and the don't say gave no. it's not about saying gay it's saying you can't groom kindergartners through third grade about sexuality in and sex and i'm curious what both of you think a about how your outlets lied about that bill and said it had something to do with punishing gay couples or making sure teachers who are homosexual couldn't talk about their families which

are all lies. why this is the hill that democrats are willing to die on, grooming children. that seems like such a weird, 10 years ago if you told me democrats platform would be grooming children i wouldn't have believed you. and do either of you believe the things you say about biden going out and campaigning? both americans know he's barely cognitively there. >> are you still with us? >> caller: i'm still here. >> just finish your question. >>. >> caller: he's clearly in the early stages of dementia. i'm curious if any of you believe he'sreally there were he seems to be reading the teleprompter in front of people . >> what's your point, where you want to start? >> i think i'm going to stand by my publication work. i think i'm going to stick by that. >> i know a lot of lgbt

rights groups have a lot of problems with this bill. governor desantis claimed its was aimed at high school students rather than middle school but on the other side, i don't know what to say other than public health, he's had a detailed review. i think president trump as reporters announced, it is what it is. if the question is do i think joe biden is going to go out and talk to people, yes i do. he thrives on that. i appreciate that the caller is not i'm guessing fan number one of joe biden written large . i think joe biden does like getting in front of people.

>> financial tax problem for bloomberg. in state of raising taxes on corporations why not close some of the loopholes? discussion on that topic especially in the wake of the president's budget . >> this is where talk of the minimum tax, the sense that the companies can't do write-downs. and bring their obligations down to zero. joe biden likes the momentum, and other countries agreeing that they would all set the sort of tax company jurisdictions as they go to the lowest tax.now of course there will always be a lower tax jurisdiction but yes, the administration and many lawmakers, they probably got ahead on this issue but there's a lotof support for closing loopholes on corporations . the big companies, big companies, some of the

biggest in america have given near to literally zero. >> i think that's a proposal that would probably get support from democrats and i think we are going to see some i think that any discussion of where that's headed would likely be a discussion around reconciliation. >> time for one more call, sean columbus ohio, democrat, good morning. >> caller: my question is based around the tax on oil and gasoline. what is gasoline taxed at a flat rate? last year when gas was to something a gallon the tax rate is now four dollars a gallon so that extra two dollars is that tax free profit for the gas companies? >> thanks for the call. >> the rate that consumers pay is less so with gas where it is now government is getting the same as if it was two dollars a gallon. the rest of that four dollars is going down the line.

refiners transport production , they announce this release from npr. i know it's like we've got four salt caverns in the bow where restore oil for emergencies and they're releasing 180million barrels, it's unprecedented . >> there literally, they stick a big murphy straw in there and get it, i don't know. i might be missing a detailer to its underground storage. it's very cool but they're going to release it to get to the fall when they expect production to the us to increase. it takes a while to attorneys on. the administration is hammering well companies who they think have not done enough to keep production. well companies are taking it on the chin and now they're saying we're finally making

money for the first time. so there's this interesting tension there. joe bidenlearned to love big oil in the last week or two . he's gone from talking about the need, he talks about that but now he's saving natural gas producers to produce more so we can ship more to europe so that these colors are paying under four dollars. >> final 60 seconds, what did we get to do this week on capitol hill ? >> one area that is going to get a little bit of coverage, maybe not as much as the supreme court or covid a is whether the senate can come to an agreement on russia away from preferred trade status. that is something that has affected the senate for a few weeks. this is a bill that passed the house overwhelmingly. a few weeks ago schumer thought he had a deal on this but senator rand paul has raised an objection related to provisions in the magnet ski act in this bill. i think that's one area that

the senate would like to move forward on for the end of the week but it's hard to say what both jackson and potentially also trying to get covid a through but that would be one last day. >> afollow-up on recording on twitter , just when growth at joshówhen growth. bloomberg news white house. thank you both. >>

now the senate judiciary committee will conclude their markup of judge jackson's nomination by voting to report her out of committee. chairman durbin has adjusted the schedule to make sure all members are able to vote, but the process is moving forward. there is no question -- no question that judge jackson deserves a strong bipartisan vote in committee, but sadly, despite the judge's

qualifications, republicans on the committee have made clear that not one of them will vote to report her out of committee. if the judiciary committee does reach a deadlock vote later today, i will move as soon as i can to have the senate hold a discharge vote to that her nomination can be considered by the full senate. it's obvious listening to republicans that their objections are entirely unserious, many who label judge jackson as radical and far left today conveniently ignore that she received bipartisan support not once, not twice, but three times in this chamber, including by voice vote. she commences strong support across the spectrum from conservative judges to police unions to a long list of former colleagues who shy is nothing -- she is nothing short of the best of the best. the republicans have ignored the

plain facts of judge jackson's record. that is deeply disappointing. judge jackson is a brilliant and historic nominee and her elevation as the first black woman to the u.s. supreme court should bring the senate together. let's be clear. despite republican opposition, justice -- judge jackson has enough votes to get confirmed to the supreme court on a bipartisan basis. the senate is going to keep working until she is confirmed. once judge jackson is out of committee, i will follow cloture on her nomination as quickly as possible and in doing so set in motion a process that will set up a final confirmation vote by the end of this week. i hope both sides can work together to advance her all but certain confirmation through the senate without delay. once again, i want to finish by commending judge jackson for conducting herself brilliantly

and unassailably during the entire confirmation process. it's not easy to be thrown suddenly and abruptly into the national spotlight. it is even harder to engage in nearly marathon sitdowns with nearly every member of the body and it is -- and having to face questioning before the judiciary committee with the eyes of the nation upon you. but six weeks after her nomination was announced, judge jackson has proven she is up to the task before her. she has shown sha she merits -- that she merits the title of justice and from this moment on the senate will not stop working until we finish the work of confirming judge jackson to the united states supreme court. on other senate business, this week the nomination of judge jackson to the supreme court is

the highest senate priority by far, but senate democrats will continue our work to lower costs for the american people. last week little noticed but quite important the senate passed the bipartisan ocean shipping former spearheaded by senators klobuchar, thune, and cantwell. this is very significant and much-needed legislation that will reduce costs for the american people by unclogging our ports from los angeles to new york to savannah and seattle. this will help exporters trying to second their products out into the world and it has skyrocketed prices coming into the country and ultimately american consumers pay that price. i commend my colleagues for getting this important bill done. this week the senate is also close to entering a conference committee with the house to finalize our jobs and competitiveness act and tomorrow

chair cantwell will turn the focus of the commerce committee to an urgent mattered for the -- matter for the american people, ensuring transparency in petroleum markets. we all know that big oil companies are dramatically commanding corporate stock buybacks and recording profits. just today -- this is so confounding, so upsetting. exxonmobil indicated its profits this quarter will be the highest in 2008 and what are they going to do with the surplus cash? she announced in the coming months they will spend $10 billion on corporate stock buybacks. according to bloomberg, oil and gas companies stock buybacks were up 2 thousand percent in the fourth quarter of last year. using that to enhance worker productivity? no. using that to do something some people might object to?

increasing exploration for oil and gas? no. lining the pockets of their shareholders and their corporate executives in stock buybacks which do nothing, absolutely nothing to advance the american economy or to deal with the oil crisis. maybe they should think instead of giving the money to the shareholders, they should give money to their customers. give it back by lowering the price. it's the latest reminder of a disturbing trend with the oil and gas companies. as the price of gas goes up and as americans are struggling more and more to keep up, the nation's largest oil companies are up to their eyeballs in massive profits and then use that money for unproductive and -- unproductive stock buybacks which if anything increase income inequality at a time when the country needs to decrease it. there is something deeply incongruous and wrong in seeing

the largest gas and oil companies in the world drench top executives and wealthy shareholders in cash while americans are struggling at the pump. and i thank chair cantwell for holding tomorrow's hearing so we can provide accountability, trains parenty and relief hope -- transparency and relief for the american people. finally on covid very briefly, over the last few days my democratic colleagues and i continue talks with senator romney and republicans working all hours of the night and into the weekend. i will have more to say on this matter shortly. i yield the floor. i have one request for a committee to meet today during today's session of the senate. it has the approval of the majority and north leaders -- and minority leaders. the presiding officer: duly noted. mr. schumer: thank you. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from vermont.

mr. sanders: thank you, mr. president. let me begin by congratulating the workers at amazon, staten island, new york who for the very first time were able to win a unionizing campaign against the giant corporation which is owned by jeff bay dose -- jeff bezos, the second well wealthiest person in america. amazon spent over $4 million in trying to defeat the union organizing drive in staten island a. the independent union, the amazon labor union, had almost no money at all for their grassroots campaign but ended up with 55% of the vote. congratulations, amazon labor union, for your extraordinary and important victory.

madam president, i also want to congratulate the workers at starbucks for their incredible union organizing efforts. starbucks has coffee shops in some 15,000 locations all across america. and until a few months ago, none of them were organized. then in december, workers in two shops in buffalo, new york, voted to join a union and that union organizing effort at starbucks is spreading like wildfire all across the country. in fact, last friday, workers in new york city successfully voted to form the first starbucks union roastry and tenth union

starbucks coffee shop in the country. and in the coming weeks and months, starbucks workers in some 170 other coffee shops in 27 states will be holding union elections. what makes these union victories so impressive is that from start to finish, they were accomplished by a grassroots movement with very little financial resources. now, why is it important that we support these union organizing efforts at starbucks and in other companies throughout the country? and the answer is pretty simple. we live in a time of massive income and wealth inequality where c.e.o.'s make 350 times

more than the average worker, where two people, two people own more wealth than the bottom 42% of americans. we live at a time where the billionaire class is becoming much, much wealthier while real weekly wages for american workers are $40 lower today than they were 49 years ago. in fact, we're seeing more income and wealth disparity now than we have seen in a hundred years. and what we are witnessing is a massive, massive transfer of wealth from working families and the middle class to the top 1%.

people on top doing phenomenally well while millions and millions of working class families are falling behind. and that has been going on for almost 50 years. madam president, according to the ran institute, since 1975, 50, 5-0, trillion dollars in wealth has been redistributed from the bottom 90% to the top 1%. i know we don't talk about it too much in corporate media. we don't talk about it too much on the floor of the senate. but that is an astounding reality. and that is a reality that we have got to adjust. not acceptable. that since 1975 $50 trillion in wealth has been redistributed from the bottom 90% to the top

1%. and listen to this which really says it all. during this terrible pandemic where we have lost almost a million american lives, when thousands of essential workers died, people going to work would have no choice about it, during that entire period some 700 billionaires in america became nearly $2 trillion richer. today multibillionaires like elon musk, jeff bezos and richard branson are off taking joy rides on rocket ships to outer space. buying $500 million super yachts and living in mansions with 25 bathrooms. that's what's going on for the people on top but for working families there is a continuous struggle to pay the rent, to

provide health care, and to make sure their kids are able to get a decent education. and let us be very clear. it is not just income and wealth inequality that we are talking about. it is economic and political power, power, power. in america today just three wall street firms, black rock, state street, and vanguard, control assets of over $21 trillion which is essentially the g.d.p. of the united states, the largest economy on earth. can you imagine that? now, i know we don't talk about it, but you've got three wall street firms that control assets equivalent to the g.d.p. of the united states, the largest economy on earth. that's power. and these firms have power over hundreds and hundreds of

corporations in every sector of our society and many millions of workers. so why do we want to see the trade union movement grow? why do we want to see more and more workers to negotiate decent contracts? and the answer is pretty obvious. and it is because unions provide better wages, benefits, and working conditions for their members. that is what unions do. not complicated. in fact, union workers make on average wages that are about 20% higher than their nonunion counterparts. they also have much better health care benefits and far better pension plans than nonunion employees. that is why it makes sense to

join a union and why it makes sense for us to do everything that we can to grow the trade union movement in this country. and i know there are some folks out there who are not union members and they're saying well, it doesn't really impact me. you're wrong. it does. because when unions gain better wages and better benefits, it means that companies in the nonunion sector have got to begin to some degree to match them. so when wages go up, the union workers, they go up for all workers in this country. further, madam president, unions give workers some degree of control over their work lives and make them more than just cogs in a machine. today millions and millions of people go to work. they have no power whatsoever about what happens to them on

the job. they could be fired arbitrarily. they can learn that they have to come to work the next day when they thought they had that day off. and they have no say in any of that. and so what unions do is end the ability of companies being able to arbitrarily fire workers for any reason and to impose any schedule that they want on their employees. in other words, unions give workers some degree, some degree of control over their work lives. similarly, when large corporations have enormous political power through the many billions of dollars they spend on lobbying, on campaign contributions to both political parties, and on advertising, unions have the capability because they have many millions and millions of people involved to fight back and create a

legislative agenda here in washington and in state capitals that work for all americans and not just the few. now, madam president, what these recent union victories tell me is that working people all over this country are sick and tired of being exploited by corporations who today are making record breaking profits. they are sick and tired of billionaires like jeff bezos and howard schultz, the founder of starbucks, becoming obscenely richer during the pandemic while they, the workers, put their lives on the line working for inadequate wages, inadequate benefits, and unfair working conditions and schedules. and let us be clear.

if you think that the union victories, recent victories at amazon and starbucks are an aberration, you would be sorely mistaken. during the last year i have been proud to work with and stand in solidarity with courageous workers all across this country who have been on strike or who are engaged in union organizing efforts. i'm talking about the united auto workers who went on strike at john deere in iowa, illinois, and kansas to protest against massive cutbacks to retirement benefits and totally inadequate pay raises. i'm talking about the united steelworkers who went on strike at special metals in west virginia, a company owned by warren buffet worth $127 billion.

and they were on strike to fight for decent wages and decent benefits. i'm talking about bakery workers in california who went on strike -- i'm sorry. i'm talking about bakery workers who went on strike at kellogg's, nabisco and the ice cream cake factory in california fighting for justice, dignity, and respect. i'm talking about the united mie workers in alabama, at a company owned at blackrock, the largest wall street investment firm in this country managing $10 trillion in assets. i am etalking about united food and commercial workers who went on strike at a grocery store chain owned by crowingers in colorado. and i'm talking about graduate students and adjunct professors at m.i.t. who are waging a

strong union-organizing effort on that campus. today i want to continue to express my support and admiration for these workers who are not only organizing for themselves and for their coworkers but, in fact, are organizing for all of us, because when you have a strong union movement in this country, you stand the possibility of having a strong middle class. madam president, while we may not hear much talk about the struggles of the working class in communities all across this country, what we should be clear is that these struggles are real and are gaining momentum. union struggles that we are witnessing have taken place against corporate greed, which

determine whether or not workers in our country have decent wages, decent benefits, and decent working conditions. and it really is is i have to say, a bitter scene to take a look at these companies owned by some of the wealthiest people in this country who are becoming much, much richer and all the while they're trying to lower wages and take back benefits. it really is absolutely disgraceful. so, madam president, as a strong defender of the trade union movement, what i understand is that when unionized workers do well in raising the bar for economic and social justice, we all do well. their success is our shared success. as i said a moment ago, make no

mistake about it, we will never have a strong middle class in this country with decent wages and decent benefits, where workers can afford to pay the rent and send their kids to college and take a few weeks off paid vacation. that is not going to happen unless and until we have a strong labor movement in this country. madam president,ness a the bottom line -- in the year 2022, the united states and in fact the rest of the world faced two very distinct political paths. on the one hand there is a growing movement toward oligarchy in which a small number of incredibly wealthy and powerful billionaires own and control a very significant part of the economy and exert enormous influence over the political life of our country.

and that is precisely what we are seeing today. the rich get richer, and with their wealth they buy and sell politicians with huge amounts -- put huge amounts of money into the political process, huge amounts of money into lobbying, huge amounts of money into tv ads and other ways to influence people. so that is the one direction that this country can continue to move. but there is another direction, and that other direction is opposition to oligarchy and corporate greed, and it is the creation of a movement of working people and young people who are today in ever-increasing numbers fighting for justice had economic justice, racial justice, social justice, environmental justice. and they are fighting for justice in a way that we have not seen in years. and it is that growing trade

union movement that makes me so very hopeful for the future of this country, and it is a movement that i hope all of us will strongly support. thank you, madam president. and with that, i yield the

i have a number of points to get through before we get to these questions. first, you heard the president use the terms atrocity committed by russian forces from townsend ukraine images we see are tragic shocking unfortunately, not surprising. we've released information even before russia's invasion showing russia would engage brutality against them included target skilling and others a threat to their accusations. that's exactly what they have done with already concluded ukraine and further for war crimes. as the president said we will

work with the world for full accountability for these crimes. we are working european allies on further sanctions to raise the pressure on putin and on russia. today i would like to take a step back and talk about where we are and where we think we are going. >> the amount or effectiveness of military assistance provided by the united states and partners and allies and ukrainian people were absolutely by the united states and filled firm in kyiv and

other cities still saturday ukrainian military is perform exceptionally well and they've joined local motion and in addition to using nonviolent means to resist and vladimir putin also believe that the west would not hold together in support of ukraine and russia was surprised that president biden the united states were vote so effective enrolling the world to prepare for and respond to the invasion after president biden reinvigorated western union in the series of summits just 11 days ago, russians are now realized that the west will not break, and this juncture, we believe the russia is revising us more games and repositioning us forces and to concentrate its authentic operations in eastern and parts of southern ukraine and rather than target most of the territory. all indications are the russia seek to surround but overwhelm

ukrainian forces in eastern ukraine and we inches with russian commanders are now executing the redeployment from ukraine come to the region around the - in eastern ukraine and russian forces are already well underway retreating from kyiv to belarus is russia likely will prepare to deploy dozens of additional battalion tactical groups and constituting of thousands of soldiers to the frontlines.

mr. schumer: pursuant to senate res. 27, the judiciary committee being tied on the question of reporting, i move to discharge the judiciary committee from further consideration of ketanji brown jackson of the district of columbia to be an associate justice of the supreme court of the united states. the presiding officer: the -- under the provisions of senate resolution 27 there will now be up to four hours of debate on the motion equally divided between the two leaders or their designees with no motions, points of order, our amendments in order. 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: thank you. i'll be speaking more on this a

little later, madam president.

when i say retracted and may not be just a few more weeks before that is said and done that first quote unquote stage of the russians put it, the next phase could be measured in months or longer. >> the consensus seemed to be the russia is unstoppable just the prices rise possible for them you thinking that maybe ukraine can actually win and what would winning book likes me next we believe it that our job is to support ukrainians was that the military objectives most of the objectives at the bargaining table i am quite certain that they are going have success going to give them every tool we can't help them achieve the success but we are not going to define the outcome of this with ukrainians and that is up for them to define for them and that's what were going to do when you have confidence in bravery the skills of the ukrainian armed forces. ran: mad,

thank you very much. i come to the floor this monday afternoon to speak about the importance of our committee, a committee that you serve on, madam president, the importance of passing toxic exposure legislation to deliver the right care and right benefits to the veterans in the most veteran-friendly way possible. to deliver the right benefits to the right veterans in the most veteran-friendly way possible. our military men and women are willing to sacrifice much for our country. we must match that level of commitment by crafting thoughtful and effective solutions to make certain we provide the best outcomes, care, and treatment and benefits for those who have served our nation. in the past two years, i've heard testimony from nearly every veteran service organization emphasizing the importance of fixing the process the v.a. uses to provide health care and benefits to toxic exposed veterans and the need to

grow our knowledge to help care for the toxic wounds of war. there have been calls for congress to act more quickly, and i respect those calls. our committee hears those calls. we are in lock step on the challenge here and the need for a solution that is veteran-centric. there is bipartisan consensus on the committee on veterans' affairs that a phased approach, delivering health care now and reforming the benefits system next, in fact as we go now, it's the most effective pathway forward. the senate has already acted on the first step, and we are actively participating and partnering with the department of veterans affairs on the second. senator tester, the chair of the senate committee on veterans' affairs, and i have been working together to craft a fair, transparent and responsive process for toxic-exposed veterans beginning with the health care for burn pit veterans act, which unanimously passed the senate and was sent to the house in february.

this bill remains the quickest way to make certain that sick veterans who are suffering from the effects of exposure to toxic substances are immediately eligible for lifesaving health care. for six weeks this bill has sat in the house of representatives rather than being sent to the president's desk to start making an impact on those sick and ailing veterans. president biden was called in march -- i think it was march 12, called for the house to pass this legislation and is committed into signing it into law. this legislation was cosponsored by every single member on the senate committee of veterans' affairs and each mf my colleagues showed their support by voting yes. this legislation was crafted by the efforts between senator tester and i and members of the senate committee on veterans fairs. v.a. secretary has stated this bill would deliver outcomes he

could not achieve without congressional action. again, the president called for this bill to be sent to his desk so he could signed it and last week at a hearing before our committee, secretary mcdonough underscored the need for action. however, the house has yet to take it up this important piece of legislation and rather sent us the pact act. while it includes care for burn veterans, signaling broad support for the house in this legislation, it includes late editions that will stretch the v.a. beyond its operational capacity making it uncertain that veterans will be able to access their benefits. the pact act needs to be amended, secretary mcdonough said as much before our committee last week. during that testimony, i heard about how it needed to be amended and the importance of

incorporating the v.a.'s ongoing pilot model designed to determine how to better address the health care needs and benefits of our veterans. if congress acts too hastily and legislates prematurely, again, it's hard to envision a congress acting too hastily. we are slow in what we need and i again understand the need for quick action. if we do legislate prematurely, we could end up with a situation similar to what veteran caregivers are now experiencing. in the veterans act, we gave veteran cares givers greater opportunities are to -- opportunities for family members. the hearing that we saw a few weeks ago is not working for those veterans and witness testimony before the committee is among the most compelling that we ever had about the

faults of the way that the legislation is being implemented by the department of veterans affairs. a caregiver stated about the comprehensive assistance for family caregivers program. quote, the program should have been a blessing, however, the program has become unpredictable, stressful and, frankly, dehumanizing. i invite those who did not view this hearing to find it and watch to see a glimpse of the future we are seeking to avoid by making serb we get this -- certain we get this right. the v.a. developed its pilot model last year to evaluate and implement presumptions for service connection resulting in the establishment of 12 presumses for respiratory ailments thus far. the secretary cited the collaboration among the best scientists to execute this model. its potential has been

demonstrated we should review it and allow for the process to conclude, which is to happen very shortly. the legislation we passed should not fail to take into account the work that's going on at the department of veterans' affairs utilizing input from veterans and the science and medical expertise of others. the v.a. concluded this pilot last week, and i look forward to examining this pilot in depth to help improve legislation while mitigating disruptions to the v.a.'s work in caring for all of our veterans. whether statutory or regulatory, reform must establish a consistent threshold of scientific evidence and a decision-making process must be transparent for all involved in the care of veterans. veterans who are sick and suffering have waited long enough and they should be able to access health care without further delay. and when the department

completes its ongoing work, congress can then meet the needs of veterans with the benefits they deserve. when our men and women suffer the consequences of military service, it is our responsibility -- it is our responsibility to see that they receive the health care and benefits they earned. it is the right thing to do and it is the cost of going to war. we have no option. madam president, i highlight this for my colleagues, ask the house to proceed in passage of the legislation we sent them with unanimous consent and i look forward to an expeditious process the department of veterans' affairs is going through to make sure we know all the facts so the legislation is right so we avoid the pitfalls we see in other sikses, -- circumstances, and with that, madam president, i yield the floor.

mr. cornyn: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: madam president, over this last weekend the world saw much clearer picture about the atrocities being committed by russian forces in ukraine. as russian troops with driew from certain -- withdrew from certain areas in the north around kiev, ukrainian forces are moving into the city for the first times in weeks. in bucha, a city north of kiev, devastating images, showed the carnage of the russian occupation. photos showed burned out apartment buildings and bodies, it appears some died execution style with hands tied behind their backs.

the world can be under no illusion about putin's barbarity. russian forces have targeted neighborhoods, humanitarian routes and even a bread line. the glens in bucha -- the citizens in bucha underscores the urgent need to hold putin accountable for his crime and help ukrainians defend their country. americans have united against putin's actions but that must be accompanied by further action. putin doesn't really care whether we like him or not. he has his own plans and his own aims. we need to take additional actions to pose even greater costs on russia. following russia's unprovoked invasion, the united states, and our allies imposed powerful

sanctions on russian businesses and oligarchs and cut off russian banks from the global financial system. the goal, of course, is to make it impossible for putin to fund his war machine and in the beginning the results were encouraging. in the immediate aftermath of the invasion, the ruble plummeted to a record slow but it has slowly rebounded. one of the drivers of that destabilization is the sale of oil and gas. america is not one of its customers and i hope we will never be again. our european allies depend on russia to keep the lights on and they are looking for alternative energy producers. poland has committed to ending

its input of russian energy by the end of this year and i hope more countries will follow suit. but we can't sit around and just wait for that to happen. we need to do more to raise the cost of this war -- this unprovoked invasion of ukraine. every day putin persists, more innocents die. it appears russia has found a loophole in some of our current sanctions. the russian federation is buying gold to offset the devaluation of the ruble and then selling gold on the international markets in exchange for high-valued currency. in short, russia's laundering money through the international gold markets and we need to stop it. that's why a bipartisan group of senators, including myself, have introduced the stop russian gold act that would bring an end to this circumvention of our sanctions. this legislation would apply sanctions to parties who help

russia finance their war by buying and selling this blood gold. that means anyone who buys or transports gold from russia's central bank holdings would themselves be the target of sanctions, a big deterrent for anyone considering doing business with russia. we need to take every measure possible to cut the financing of putin's war machine, and this is one important way to do so. this is not just a matter of countering russia or supporting ukraine, we must remain clear eyed in our efforts to do both. we have to do both. of course, the ultimate goal is to help ukraine vanquish russian forces entirely. the united states and our allies have already provided a large quantity of military assets to ukraine and there's no question these resources have been critical in ukrainians' success

so far, but there is no substitution for the will of the fight and the leadership being provided by president zelenskyy. that, i believe, has been the difference and certainly not what vladimir putin anticipated. but as we continue to hear from president zelenskyy and our partners in europe, we know we need to do more and we need to do it faster. i know it's easy to think, well, we'll just let the supply chains and the logistic systems work as we always have, but we're not being bombarded by russian artillery or being attacked by cruise missiles as are the ukrainians. last month i traveled to poland and germany with senator ernst and a bipartisan group of senate colleagues to hear directly from those who are most in harm's way. the primary message we heard was we need more -- we need more

humanitarian aid, we need more weapons, and we need it faster. more stingers, more javelins, more air defenses, more -- more lethal aid, including the need more aircraft. i remain confused and disappointed that the biden administration still publicly refuses to transfer mig-29 aircraft to ukraine so they can use them. i know it's easy for us to sit back and say, they don't know how to use them or need them, but the fact is ukrainian pilots are trained to fly the russian aircraft and who are we to deny president zelenskyy and the valiant ukrainians whatever they think they need in order to do the job? president biden explicitly said putin, quote, can't remain in power, close quote. but then his administration seems to blame something like a

simple transfer of aircraft as too provocative. this doesn't make any sense. we can't play into putin's hand by with holding needed or -- withholding needed or desired military ascientist to ukraine -- assets to ukraine. we in congress need to play our part as well to make sure that everything and anything we can do to help the brave ukrainians we are doing be and we can't move at the speed of normal bureaucracy. every day ukrainians are being killed, both the military and civilians alike by putin's war machine. they need help now, not after the senate's next work period, not after the biden administration succumbs to a public pressure campaign. they need help now. unfortunately congress doesn't have the authority to insist upon the transfer of the polish migs, but we can remove some of

the red tape that permits the timely transfer of what ukraine need. senator cardin and i have bipartisan legislation called the ukrainian defense lease act to ensure that ukrainian forces have the resources they need to win this fight. our bill is rooted in the same principle of the original lend-lease act in world war ii that was responsible for supplying britain and our other yiels the planes -- allies, the planes and weapons they needed in order to defeat nazi germany. president roosevelt at the time vowed to transform the united states into the arsenal of democracy and the lend-lease act was one way we did that. i think it's important for us to send another bipartisan --

strong bipartisan message that we're not just in this for the short haul, we're in this for the long haul, for however long it lasts for however long the ukrainians are going to fight. this legislation authorizes the president to enter into a lend lease agreements directly into ukraine and provide ukrainian forces the weapons they need to defend their sovereignty. part of the difficulty transferring the weapons is the supply chains and production lines for the weapons being used at a high rate. would the act would do is send a message that we're in this for the long haul and the manufacturers of these weapons can be assured that if they're willing to be part of that arsenal democracy, that they won't be left hanging or left high and dry. in short this will also allow

ukraine's call to provide more of what they need, provide them an answer and get it to them as quickly as possible. so far more than 20 senators from both sides of the aisle have cosponsored this legislation, and i hope we can pass it and pass it soon. this is an emergency. we don't have time to dither and congress has the opportunity right now to do more to provide support to ukraine. so i say let's pass this legislation and ensure ukrainians have what they need when they need it. it's absolutely critical, madam president, for the senate to pass this legislation and it doesn't matter which route they take to the president's desk. they could move as stand alone bills or part of a larger package of bills or amendments to a bipartisan piece of legislation that passed the house last month. the actual vehicle isn't

important. what matters is that we get these bills to the president's desk as soon as possible. every day that goes by without action on our part is a day wasted and another day that innocent ukrainians are being killed. to have the best shot at winning this conflict, ukraine needs two things. a strong defense and a weak opponent. this week the senate has an opportunity to pass two bipartisan bills that address both of those efforts and i hope we will do so this week. madam president, i yield the floor and i'd note 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 ohio brown thank you, madam president. i ask unanimous consent to dispense with the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: it has just come over the wire -- the news just broke in the last couple of days that corporate profits are at the highest they've been since 1950. in other words, corporations are making more money in the calendar near 2021 than any year since 1950. that's 70-plus years corporate profits are through the roof. we also know -- and that came out today. "wall street journal," very pro-business, pro-corporate america newspaper, pointed out that c.e.o. compensation has gone up stratosphereically. we know as the presiding officer

from illinois has pointed out in the past, we know that corporate profits have continued to go up, that c.e.o. pay has been stratospheric and that workers' wages essentially have been flat. we also know that corporations especially, oil companies, shipping companies, meatpacking companies, and drug companies have raised their prices dramatically higher than inflation. so what we're seeing is corporate profits are higher -- highest in seven years. c.e.o. compensation is highest ever. big raises last year. prices have gone up, especially in those four industries because they've essentially taken advantage of the pandemic. during the pandemic they -- the opportunity during the pandemic for them to raise prices. one of the biggest reasons we have inflation is not because we invested in the american people

with the recovery act, in the bipartisan infrastructure bill. one of the biggest reasons for inflation is corporate executives have seen an opportunity. oh, during the pandemic all these supply chain issues, all these problems of outsourcing jobs to china, in the meatpacking industry, the oil industry, and prescription drug industry, in industry after industry the shipping industry they're thinking, these c.e.o.'s are thinking they can raise their prices more. they've raised their prices more. their profits have gone up. executive compensation continues to go up dramatically. and then they blame inflation on the president or blame inflation on the congress or whatever. the fact is that these companies have applaused the public trust -- have abused the public trust as we know by dramatically raising prices in one of the most difntion times in -- difficult times in our history.

many brag to stockholders look how well we're doing. there's a company in ohio not too long ago, announced a big storied company, goodyear, announced that they were going to expand manufacturing in the united states. you know what happened? their stock price went down because these companies decided maybe that's not such a good thing. starbucks, these stockholders decided. starbucks, their c.e.o. has come back, the c.e.o., the founder. and he announced to his -- that his company was going to cut back or eliminate some of the executive compensation, some of the stock buybacks. his stock price went down. so investors are saying yeah, we love our country, but if it's going to help workers, maybe we're not so excited. or if it's going to help communities, mayor we're not so -- maybe we're not so excited. it's sort of capitalism upside down. we know from this president and what we're doing, our economy is

growing faster than china, first time in 20 years. we know that the president and the senate and the house are putting workers in the center of our economic policy. but we know c.e.o.'s aren't following that playbook. they're squeezing workers as hard as they k. they're paying themselves more in stock buybacks. their profits are up. their stock prices when they talk -- we know all those things yet c.e.o. behavior simply hasn't changed. our mission as members of this body is to continue to invest in workers, to continue to invest in the middle class, continue to advocate for the dignity of work, and continue to put workers at the center of our economy. madam president, i yield the floor.

mrs. blackburn: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mrs. blackburn: thank you, madam president. last week the biden administration announced they're -- their truly incomprehensible decision. to suspend the use of title 42 authority along the southern border. now, this is just the last in a long line of decisions that this white house has made that defies both reason and a mountain of evidence suggesting they're about to make a deadly mistake. even with those title 42

protections in place, this february was the worst february for illegal immigration and border crossings in almost 20 years. the past year was the worst year for illegal border crossings since at least 1960. and according to public reports, the department of homeland security predicts that it's only going to get worse. we will soon see the crossings increase. they're preparing for up to 18,000 attempted border crossings per day. that is right. 18,000 tammied crossings -- 18,000 attempted crossings per day. now, i want to put this in perspective for you. about 90% of the 345 towns in my state of tennessee have a

population smaller than 18,000 people. smaller than the number of people d.h.s. expects are going to try and enter the country illegally every single day. madam president, this is chaos. this is border chaos. think about this. that's like a small tennessee town every single day of the week, of the month, of the year. so we have to ask ourselves how long could we sustain this. and when we look at this border that is in chaos and 18,000 a day, a small town a day coming into the country, trying to

claim asylum, illegally entering the country. and we have evidence that this is going to escalate sooner rather than later, and this is the moment that the biden administration chooses to strip away one of the most important and effective border control tools that we have at our disposal. take it away. just as we know that people are coming to the border in record numbers. and how do we know this? we know that the cartels are now working in countries all across the globe. they're doing this because they're saying, hey, now you're really going to get in. pay us. make the cartels richer because, you know, this president biden, he is all force doing away -- all for doing away with the

border. he's all for opening that border up and saying, come on. come on. i think that we have to keep in mind a few things. now, when you keep that in mind -- those 18,000 people a day -- think about the new set of statistics that we have coming from border patrol this month. so far this year, c.b.p. officers? memphis have seized more than 2,500 pounds of drugs you know, i had a sheriff tell me, we used to look at drugs in grams and ounces. now it is all in pounds because of the quantities coming across this border because of joe biden's policies. during the last two weeks of march, officials in el paso

seized more than 100 pounds of drugs and arrested 37 fujitives. those fujitives weren't petty criminals. among them were a murderer, a pedophile, a fraudster, a counterfeiter, and multiple drug dealers. yes, that was two weeks, and that's what they had right there in el paso. these are the ones they could identify. and, in addition to the drugs, 37 fujitives from justice trying to enter our country and escape justice in their country! it's an open door. this is dangerous, madam president. very dangerous. on march 29, in a separate drug bust, border patrol seized more

than $400,000 worth of meth, fentanyl, and heroin. that's right. that was one day, one drug bust. and over the course of a 24-hour period ending on march 30, border patrol stopped five migrant smuggling events and arrested 140 people. now, i thought it was interesting c.b.p. chose to use the term migrant smuggling for that one, but i think we should call it what it is. it is human trafficking. five human trafficking events, one day, 140 people. you know, madam president, i just have to say, what in the world does this administration you

barrier to their

open-borders agenda. their spin isn't rooted in reality but neither is their current ambition to throw open the border in the name of optics. i want to be clear here. if the democrats do indeed abandon title 42, they might bump up their approval numbers are the liberal base. but they are also inviting humanitarian catastrophe on a massive scale. yes, indeed. as i was out in east tennessee up on the upper cumberland, the plateau, what i heard from every single law enforcement officer, every county mayor now because of the human trafficking, the gangs, drug trafficking, sex trafficking, every single town

is a border town, every state is a border state. because all these people coming across the border, they are coming to your community with their drugs, with their gangs. and if we empower the cartels and open the floodgates to drug dealers and human traffickers, we're not just putting our own communities at risk, we're endangering the thousands of women and children that these criminals are hiding behind because they are trafficking them. so much for their optics. i think it's clear by now that the biden administration is almost entirely controlled by the activists who helped him gain power. when people back home ask me to describe what it's like working in the senate these days, i tell them it feels like a food fight between liberal special interest groups. the democrats are just throwing spaghetti against the wall,

waiting to see what sticks. now they've made a real mess, but they can't seem to gain traction on anything. so why is that? well, because the reality of the situation in new york and california and illinois tells the people all they need to know about what's in store for the country if the democrats get what they want. they're working with a truly miserable track record. take a look at it. 7.9% inflation. and the prices? they're going up, whether it's the gas pump on the grocery store. zero commitment to border security. we're seeing that played out in real time. embassies in afghanistan and ukraine are left to rot. that's right. they pulled people out. pulled people out. and left a lot of our people

behind. and a nominee for the supreme court who is proudly untethered to the constitution. joe biden really has earned that 55% disapproval rating, hasn't he? unlike our friends in the mainstream media who think this is all a joke, the american people are taking this very seriously. for them, common sense isn't political. it is practical and it is necessary. they don't need an activist or a journalist or a comedian to tell them what they believe. they know every thing that joe biden and his administration, and the democrat control of the house and the senate, everything they have touched has turned to dust, is on a downward slide.

everything. just look at this. look at what they have done in a very short period of time. they also know when it comes to our supreme court justice nominee, people in tennessee, they know what a woman is. they don't need a biologist to tell them. they know that reckless government spending is making their life more expensive every day, in some cases unaffordable. and they know full well, because many of them have worked, been a part of our military, volunteered to serve, people who've had come home and they're working in law enforcement, and they know and will tell you that peace comes through strength, not through surrender. and they're not going to

tolerate a government that claims ignorance of all of this, that wants to do happy-talk and say, everything is going to be just fine. don't believe your eyes. don't believe your eyes. don't believe that price at the gas pump. oh, the grocery store shelves? they're full, even though the produce aisle may be mostly empty. they know that the woke mob is knocking at their door, and they know the consequences and when it means to -- and what it means means to them. i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. durbin: madam president? the presiding officer: the senior senator from illinois. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: madam president, it was just a short time ago in the senate judiciary committee that we voted to advance the nomination of judge ketanji brown jackson to serve as the next associate justice of the supreme court. in the coming days, judge jackson's nomination will come before the full senate.

we're on track to confirm her this week. judge jackson is an outstanding nominee. she's earned support across the political and ideological spectrum. and her qualifications are second to none. most importantly, judge jackson's style on the bench is one of evenhandedness. despite this not a single republican on the committee would vote in favor of her nomination. i'm disappointed. not surprised, but disappointed. as a result, judge jackson will be the first supreme court nominee in the modern era to require a discharge from the judiciary committee. it's unfortunate in one respect, given that she's more prepared to serve on the high court than perhaps any nominee in living memory. even by the standards of our republican colleagues. during the trump administration, senate republicans laid out what they

viewed as the standards for supporting a supreme court nominee, in their own words a nominee to the high court should be confirmed if they meet three criteria. let's take a look at those criteria. first, republicans have argued that you must have a mainstream bipartisan support for a nominee. for instance, speaking out about then-judge gorsuch, the senior senator from texas said gorsuch was, quote, a mainstream nominee unanimously supported by democrats in the past. well, lucky for them, judge jackson is well within that judicial mainstream, and she has the receipts to show it. judge jackson is supported by multiple federal judges appointed by republican presidents, including judge thomas griffith, judge michael ludluck and judge bruce selya. she is supported by dozens of conservative lawyers. former secretary of state homeland security michael

chertoff, former solicitor general charles fried. she has support from former prosecutors. they say she's soft on crime. she has the endorsement of the largest police organization in america -- fraternal order of police and the international association of chiefs of police, and 87 former assistant u.s. attorneys who have presented a range of -- prosecuted a range of criminal offenses here in the district of columbia. soft on crime? the prosecutors don't think so. and like judge gorsuch, judge jackson has been unanimously supported by senate republicans, especially since she was confirmed unanimously by the senate not once, but twice, to be a member of the u.s. sentencing commission and a district court judge. in short, judge jackson has mainstream bipartisan support right here in the senate over and over again.

the second standard laid out by the republicans during the trump administration is that a supreme court nominee must have exceptional legal credentials. we went for four straight days. she faced 24 hours of questioning. 24 hours, question after question after question, written questions, oral questions, over and over. how many questioned her qualifications to be on the supreme court? none. not one. in 2018, for instance, the republican leader called then-judge kavanaugh, quote, an absolute all star, specifically mentioning he was yale undergrad, yale law, impeccable credentials. judge jackson passes that same test. she clerked at every level of the federal judiciary. i can tell you as a lawyer that to be a clerk for any judge is a great honor and distinction. to be a clerk at all three levels of the federal courts, including the supreme court, is extraordinary. it just hardly ever occurs.

it did for judge jackson. she served as a federal public defender, staff attorney and a commissioner on the sentencing commission, lawyer in private practice. her resume sl absolutely star-studded in terms of legal experience. and for almost a decade she served on the federal bench, handling some 1,100 matters, issuing 600 written opinions. do you want to know what she thinks about an issue, how she thinks about an issue? just read the written opinions. on every type of legal issue imaginable that came before her, all together judge jackson meets if not exceeds the qualifications of previous nominees and the senate republicans have enthusiastically supported them. they should support her. the third and final standard republicans have articulated for supporting a supreme court nominee is they must have a judicial record and a reputation of evenhandedness. in 2020, for instance, the

republican leader highlighted then judge amy cone ni barrett's open-minded judicial temperate. judge jackson easily passes muster. her record on the bench is one of of independence. she ruled for and against the presidents of both political parties. she ruled for prosecutors and ruled for criminal defendants. she ruled for employers and employees. in her nearly ten years on the bench jugd displayed -- judge jackson displayed no political favoritism. she takes a balanced approach. she has never allowed her personal views to influence any outcome, and she's been a model of judicial restrained. she's been guided by precedent, by fidelity to the rule of law and unyielding belief that the constitution must work for all americans. i was listening when senator mcconnell came to the floor and announced that he would not

vote for her. the number-one reason? she wouldn't take a position on packing the court. packing the court. that's a question about changing the composition of the supreme court, the number of supreme court justice? there's only been one elected official in current memory, recent memory who changed the composition of the court. senator mcconnell. you remember with the scalia vacancy. he kept it vacant for more than eight months, denied president obama the opportunity to fill it. what the opposition to the future composition of the court? is that required for someone to be supported by the senator from kentucky? obviously not. amy coney barrett wouldn't answer the question. she said that is a matter for congress to decide and it is. judge jackson easily passes the three tests the senate republicans have established for supporting a supreme court nominee, and she passed the test with flying colors. she is, simply put, one of the

nation's brightest legal minds. she has outstanding credentials, unimpeachable character, and an unwavering dedication to the rule of law. she's smart and it shows. judge jackson also has the temperament. i can't tell you how many times during the course of the 24 hours of questioning she faced last week in the senate judiciary committee that i thought that's it, i'm going to look up at that table and she's going to stand up and say, enough. my family, we're going home. we've had it. she never did. cool under attack, calm under pressure, solid as a pillar. she has the acumen, the skill, the kind of attributes we demand from the supreme court nominee, and she's devoted her life in serving her country, always working to uphold and honor the constitution. dedicated to protecting judicial independence, advancing freedom and liberty, and making the court, its work, and the decisions accessible to all americans. she told that story when she was

up for the circuit court, that her opinions are long, she said, because she wants everyone to understand her thinking, start to finish. no mystery here. and she wants the people appearing before her to understand what just happened in that courtroom. why did they win? why did they lose? what were the issues that were at stake? what did he she think about? she takes the time to explain it because she believes in the law and she wants all of us to understand and believe it as well. i'm going to proudly cast my vote to discharge judge jackson from the judiciary committee. later this week i'm going to proudly cast my vote to confirm judge jackson as the first black woman to sit on the united states supreme court. let's not hurry to leave for an easter recess, and i'm as anxious as everyone is to be with our family, overlook the obvious. this is a seminal moment in american history. we are breaking down a wall that has been standing too long. 115 supreme court justices in our history, 108 look like

me -- a white guy. the others representing women, representing latinas, and others, they are of course very important in history. this is too. judge jackson is going to be an important part of america, and she is going to inspire a lot of people, particularly young women, to aspire to greatness. she was discouraged, if you'll remember her testimony, went up to harvard, toured it during a national debate team appearance. she liked it so much, she went back to her high school counselor in florida and said i think i want to apply for harvard. the counselor said, listen, honey, don't do that. you're going to be so disappointed. let's think about some other choices for you. she did it anyway. she was accepted and went up there knees shaking wondering if she could cut it. she not only cut it, she set records in terms of of achievement, particularly for a person of her background. her dad workeds as a

schoolteacher, went to law school, convinced her law was the future for her as well. she told so many wonderful stories about her family. this is an exceptional woman. she's lived an extraordinary life. she has a beautiful family. she's written a record we can all be proud of. let's discharge this nomination from the judiciary committee and bring it to the floor this week. let's make history, the right kind of history for america. i yield the floor. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. mr. durbin: madam president i've been asked to withhold the request. i ask consent the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. s

judiciary committee come to order, we have some anomalies today of whom are eligible and will focus of the opening remarks on judge ketanji brown jackson before turning to ranking member grassley for his opening remarks will then proceed to consider nomination

followed by the nominees on the agenda and for statements on judge ketanji brown jackson i plan to alternate between the ever present the republic and speakers and ask members to be respectful of everyone's time and try to keep the remarks 210 minutes and senator grassley the same request of the members when they received the committee voted members by and large and today the committee will vote on the nomination of judge ketanji brown jackson, to service associate justice of the united states supreme court and this is the fourth time the committee has voted on judge ketanji brown jackson in some capacity and reflection of her extraordinary legal career. and it is the first time the committee as of the opportunity to advance nomination of a black woman to sit on the supreme court. this is a historic moment for the committee and for america during her hearing judge ketanji brown jackson told us about her upbringing is the daughter appearance printed racially

segregated schools and she marveled at how her youth on the heels of the civil rights movement differed so much from her own parents experience and cruises uniquely american family story, how much can be achieved in just one generation, probably compare can bear witness who in recent weeks this committee members, have gone through judge ketanji brown jackson nearly 600 judicial opinions. her detailed responses to many bipartisan questionnaires, 12000 pages of disclosures related to her time on the u.s. sentencing commission, 70000 pages of materials produced by the obama library in response to bipartisan request. i last week we held four days of hearings, and judge ketanji brown jackson was questioned for a total of 24 hours by this committee. throughout this process judge ketanji brown jackson has answered thousands of questions, posed by her by members of this committee. in the course of this review, if

you things are clear, for one she has an impeccable qualifications and we don't agree on much without one senator on this committee has questioned it she is well-qualified she has nearly a decade of experience on the bench as both at trial and clerk at every level of the federal judiciary including for supreme court justice breyer she has worked in private practice she served as a member of the bipartisan sentencing commission and judge ketanji brown jackson would be only the second trial court judge currently serving in supreme court and first public defender ever to serve the court in these critical experiences bring in this perspective to the court is truly unfortunate that some trying to use them as reasons to vote against her. in these baseless have been by the broad support of judge ketanji brown jackson nomination and across the political spectrum and law enforcement, former federal prosecutors, republican appointed duchess,

but even more vouched for her intellect, her intelligence and her ability to build consensus, enter evenhandedness on the for the day of the hearing that american bar association came before us and they with rope the boys search of her record, medicament law schools including the university of illinois went through every written word than the judge has issued and the time on the bench predict i also want to commend judge and williams on the former northern district court judge in the state of illinois, and the seventh circuit judge as well who headed up the committee and i asked her and those who were with her from the american bar association to basic question. did you talk to and they said the reached out to over 250 individuals, judges, prosecutors, defense lawyers, co- counsels, and since situations and asked them all to tell off the record confidentially, what they thought of this judge la asked

about the allegations that have been made repeatedly by a few in this committee that that she is often crime they said there was no evidence, none, when i spoke to a group of 250 individuals in the net result of it is the american bar association braided judge ketanji brown jackson, unanimously, well-qualified to some of the supreme court predict seeing the evidence of her evenhandedness ourselves in a time on the bench he is rolled for and against law enforcement and for ending his immigration it and immigration and public administrations and also for democratic administrations in florida guess they were groups and her hearing she d d-uppercase-letter took the methodology that she applies to each other she comes each case with an independent minded and frankly i found her explanation, far more insightful initiated from contemporary labels to describe printed judicial philosophy the methodology is one of the most various

independent and judicial that reflected in her decision-making and into earth judge ketanji brown jackson showed us that she is committed to equal justice and the law entering the constitution works for all americans, not just the wealthy i was also impressed her judicial temperament and on the full, my republican colleague starting with my ranking member senator grassley, treated the nominee with dignity and respect and promise not to turn this confirmation process it of course the circus must kept the promise. some however did not and instead the repeatedly interrupted and badgered judge ketanji brown jackson and accused her of things in front of her for parents and husband and her children predict and there was table having some liberal and a few of my colleagues come they repeated discredited claims about judge ketanji brown jackson record and they mutters and questioned her candor and wonderful book called her a liar and they even suggested that the

judge judge ketanji brown jackson mother to two wonderful daughters, endangers children. judge ketanji brown jackson is a better person than me, she has to calm and collective and showed dignity, grace and poise predict and is unfortunate, that some moments here came to that but if there is one positive to take away from these attacks on her, it is that the nation saw the temperament to have a good strong person ready to serve on the highest court of the land, and president biden to serve the american public that he was selecting in albany was really of her legacy and of excellence and decency bring to someone extremely well-qualified it with legal minded in the utmost care and character and integrity. and herself characterized justice breyer legacy as well, the highest and that is what we saw in this room last week. and rather than simply another justice breyer, she will be the one and only judge ketanji brown

jackson, and judge ketanji brown jackson will bring to the supreme court, the highest level of skill integrity civility and grace, throughout its history and the senate judiciary committee has been the venue for some of our nations mostly didn't get issues, debates nominees. i've often thought if you had to choose one place to static and witness the march of america, the noble and struggles of our democracy, i would seek out a chair this room today is such a moment. this committee's action today is nothing less making history pretty i'm honored to be part of it printed and i will strongly and proudly support judge ketanji brown jackson nominatiod now i turn to ranking member grassley for his opening remarks. >> we have the six judicial nominees and one executive nominee, will be supporting it jennifer reardon, and she has spent her career litigating some

of the best law firms in the country. she is familiar with the types of cases in the southern district of new york, and finally, i'll take a few minutes to discuss judge ketanji brown jackson nomination. judge ketanji brown jackson, of course was very personable and engaging that i enjoyed the opportunity to meet her and her family before the hearing. before started.

acted sooner and more boldly. we know of the horrors committed by russian forces in bucha because the ukrainian military reclaimed the town after pushing back the russians. these latest revelations must only strengthen and intensify our resolve to get the ukrainians what they need on the time frame they need to liberate

more towns currently under russian control. to prevent russia from committing new atrocities, to fight and to actually win this war. this also further reinforces what i wish more of our european friends realized -- this is a time for choosing. this is not a time for business as usual, and there can be no return to business as usual whenever and however the dust settles. europe must move more he conventually to decouple from -- -- europe must move more conventually to decouple from. their short-sighted poms have left their countries entirely too dependent but there are times when geopolitical reallots and moral imperatives must outweigh short term financial costs. our partners should recognize that such a time is staring them

right in the face. so should our own american private sector. internationally i'm sure there will be much virtue signaling rhetoric over the atrocities committed on ukraine's soil by russia. let us be honest that referrals to the international criminal court or invocations of the u.n. human rights council may make people's consciences feel better but will not curtail the atrocities or stop the violence. only victory in ukraine can do that. finally, the outpouring of outrage at these atrocities should prompt a second look at other terrible actions that the world has come to simply shrug and accept. the biden administration is right to ask the u.n. to expel russia from the human rights council, but they shouldn't stop there. the world that rightly recoils

in horror at the photographs from ukraine should not look the other way past xi's concentration camps or the uighur people, the modern totalitarianism of the people's republic of china is no less abhorrent because it's sanified and it's -- because it's sanitized. now on another matter, our southern border is already in crisis on democrats' watch and on friday the biden administration announced they're going to throw open the floodgates even wider. in december 2020, right before president biden took office, he said it would be, quote, the last thing we need if we were to end up with two million people on our border. but in 2021, on his watch, under his policies, that's exactly

what america got. last year saw a record-shattering two million arrests on our southern border, two million people, more than the population of 13 whole states from at least 160 different countries, and those are just the people, madam president, who actually got caught. 2022 is already on a track to be even worse. as we speak, border officials are encountering roughly 7,000 persons each day, and the department of homeland security predicts this pace could more than double. the biden administration's own officials say they -- they are contingency planning for 18,000 encounters every single day. for perspective, that pace would be equivalent to 6.million -- 6.6 million, 6.6 million per

year, a population larger than all but 17 of our states. now, thus far the biden administration has kept using illegal -- a legal tool called title 42 which they inherited from the prior administration because of the covid pandemic. title 42 provides a shortcut for swift border enforcement. it's giften the administration a fast-track to turn people around as they arrive. in february, more than 91,000 people were immediately turned around under title 42. another 73,000 were allowed to stay and navigate our system.

so, without title 42, instead of adding 73,000 illegal immigrants to our system alone, we would have added more than double that, 160,000 in july one -- in just one month. on friday, the biden administration announced an unbelievably bad decision. they're going to further cave to the far left that wants open borders. they're going to cancel title 42 this spring with no real border security plan to replace it. this is such an absurd decision, such an unforced gaffe, that even some of our democratic colleagues have come out swinging. our colleague from west virginia correctly described this as a frightening decision to abandon an essential tool when we're already facing an unprecedented increase in immigrants. another senate democrat said, quote, this is the wrong decision. a third said it shows a lack of understanding about the crisis

at the border. a fourth said the move will likely lead to a migrant surge that the administration does not appear to be ready for. the problem is that these same senate democrats have backed this far far-left administration over and over again on immigration. every single democratic senator backed secretaries mayorkas and becerra. every voted against sanctuary cities, voted against the amendment that would have forced the full amendment of immigration laws. later this week we expect every democratic senator to vote and approve a supreme court nominee who is an activity on this very -- is an activist on this very issue. in one case she ignored the

plain text of the law to reach a more liberal outcome. she even tried to force a nationwide injunction on the entire country. judge jackson went so far beyond the law to remake immigration policy that even the liberal d.c. circuit had to overturn her mistaken ruling. an obama appointee who wrote the decision had overturned judge jackson. so i'm glad to see our democratic colleagues belatedly waking up to the border crisis and beginning to pressure the administration. 14 months late is better than never. but votes speak louder than press releases, the measure of a senator's position isn't our rhetoric. it's actually our votes. if our colleagues who stood in lock step with president biden's border crisis thus far are serious about turning over a new leaf, they can start with the supreme court vote later this week.

mr. schumer: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: mr. president, in a few moments the senate will begin to make history this week by voting to discharge the nomination of judge ketanji brown jackson out of the judiciary committee so we can confirm her as the next associate justice of the supreme court. this procedural step should be entirely unnecessary. there is no question, no question that judge jackson deserves a strong bipartisan vote in committee, but sadly, despite the judge's qualifications, not a single republican on the committee voted to report her out of

committee. so we shouldn't have to be taking this step, but we are moving forward all the same without delay. despite republicans opposing her in committee and despite this procedural vote tonight, the end result will remain unchanged. judge jackson ultimately has enough support to get confirmed on a bipartisan basis, and the senate is going to keep working until this nomination is complete. in closing, i want to emphasize something i said earlier today. this is a joyous and history-making moment for the senate, an historic one. 115 individuals have come before this chamber for consideration to the highest court in the land, but none -- none -- were like judge jackson. like many before her, judge jackson is brilliant.

she's esteemed. she is highly accomplished. but never, never has the supreme court had a black woman bear the title of justice. imagine the impact this will have on our democracy. imagine what it will mean for young people across the country to look at our courts and see them better reflect our nation's makeup. judge jackson's brilliant record will surely light a fire of inspiration for others to follow in her footsteps and our country will be all the better for it. so let us move forward with this brilliant, this resoundingly qualified, this historic nominee to the highest court in the land, and let us work together to finish the job of confirming the judge by the end of this week. i ask for the yeas and nays. i ask unanimous consent all time remaining be yielded back and ask for the yeas and nays.

the presiding officer: without objection. all time having been yielded back, the question occurs on the motion to discharge. the yeas and nays were previously ordered. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

vote:

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the presiding officer: the yeas are 53, the nays are 47. pursuant to senate resolutions 27 and the motion to discharge having been agreed to, the nomination will be placed on the executive calendar. mr. schumer: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: pursuant to the senate res. 27, the banking committee being tied on the question of reporting, i move to discharge the banking committee from further consideration of julia ruth gordon of maryland to be an assistant secretary of

housing and urban development. the presiding officer: pursuant to senate resolution 27, there will now be up to four hours of debate on the motion, equally divided between the two leaders or designees, with no motions, points of order or amendments in order. 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: madam president, i ask unanimous consent that are at a time to be determined by the majority leader in consultation with the republican leader, the senate proceed to executive session to consider calendar 783, james c. o'brien of nebraska to be head of the office of sanctions coordination with the rank of ambassador, that there be 30 minutes for debate equally divided in the usual form on the nomination, that upon the use or yielding back of the time the senate vote without intervening action or debate on the nomination. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to legislative session and be in

a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: and finally, madam president, i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today it adjourn until 10:00 a.m. on tuesday, april 5, following the prayer and pledge the morning power be deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be researched their use later in the day and morning business closed. that upon the conclusion of morning business, the senate resume consideration of the nomination to discharge the gordon nomination, that at 10:3n the motion to discharge, and that following the vote the senate resume legislative session. further, that the senate recess from 12:30:00 p.m. until 2:15:0e weekly caucus meetings, if any nominations are confirmed tuesday the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon

the table and the president be immediately notified of the senate's action. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: if there's no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order fomg the remarks of -- following the remarks of senate portman. the presiding officer: without objection.

mr. portman: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. portman: are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are not. mr. portman: i come to the senate floor again today to stand in solidarity with the people of ukraine. this is the eighth week in a row i have come to the floor about the illegal, totally unprovoked and brutal russian invasion of a sovereign country, their neighbor ukraine who only wants to live in peace.

over the weekend all of us saw the brutality of what russia is doing. we saw it up close through shocking videos and photographs. more than 100 civilians, not soldiers, but civilians lying in mass graves in bucha, a suburb of kiev. there was a report released with specific atrocities, including rapes and executions. president zelenskyy painted a vivid heartbreaking picture when he spoke of civilians left on the streets with their hands tied behind their backs killed execution style. end quote. here is one photograph of the shocking scenes we saw over the weekend of civilians left in the streets as the russians pulled out of bucha.

but it's happening all over ukraine, these kinds of human rights abuses and war crimes. the administration called for an investigation into war crimes on sunday. that's good. of course these are war crimes. the united states must press other countries and must be persistent to ensure that a tribunal is established that these war crimes are prosecuted and people are held accountable. last week senator dick durbin and i, as cochairs of the senate ukraine caucus, organizationizessed a need -- organized a ma meeting with -- a meeting with rada and we were joined by the ambassador of the united states. these women told us of the human told, which is a fight between good and evil, between tyranny and democracy.

they talked about the fact that ukraine could be a symbol of victory of the west if we support them more and if we help them win of one of the members of parliament described for us the scenes from maripol. one parliamentarian told us after being separated from her husband who is in harm's way with the ukrainian military shvment she's telling us these stories to encourage us to do more. one said that there are 30 russian soldiers living in her grandmother's house. they forced her out into the bitter cold. they all told us with anguish and urgency what needs to happen, more sanctions, more military assistance more quickly. one of them said and i thought this was well put. freedom has to be armed.

freedom has to be armed. i agree. i believe ukraine can be victorious if the united states and our allies, especially the europeans help them to be victorious, than means helping them more. they're fighting with heart and though badly outnumbered making progress, we saw this in kiev where they're pushing russians out. this is where we need to double our efforts to ensure victory. it has been 38 days since russia's assault began. russia is also now trying to redefine their objectives saying it was never their intention to seize kiev and the other major urban centers. we know that's a lie. they weren't successful because the ukrainians fought back valiantly.

we need to watch ■the russians actions, not their words, and their actions in the south and the eastern part of the country are they continue to bomb, bomb, and bomb civilians targets. the most important reason ukraine is winning these battles is because of the fighting spirit of the ukrainians and taking the fight to the battlefield. they are well trained and we in the west are part of that. for the last four years, this body has helped funding to train ukrainians, and it's been very helpful. but they're also motivated to defend freedom, to defend thiermland, to protect -- their homeland, to protect their families. and there's no substitute for that kind of fighting spirit and that's what the russians are finding. we can also see the complete disregard for the rules of war by the russian forces, including

most recently in their actions in maripol, the name of children was on a building, it was large enough to see from the sky, you saw on the outside these huge words saying children in russian, yet the russians bombed this theater. we now learned, sadly, that there were more than 300 people killed, mostly women and children trapped in that rubble, and killed when the theater was hit by a russian bomb. they continue to violate the mandatory corridor allowing ukrainians to flee maripol as people attempt to fleef. for the fourth straight day, russia tons block the red cross from reaching maripol to get

humanitarian aid to the city. we know people are starving. as russia escalates, civilian targets are being hit in various cities with cluster bombs, with vacuum bombs, and even with the first use of a supersonic weapons. thousands of civilians needlessly died in this senseless war. more than ten million people have been displaced from their homes, nearly four million people have fled the country they love while the men stayed behind to fight the invaders. meeting with refugees a few weeks ago as they crossed the polish-ukrainian border was heartbreaking. they told stories of their trauma through their tears, although it was heartbreaking for us to hear it, they didn't

want our sympathy, they wanted our protection. they wanted us to help stop the bombing. the u.s. must stand with our allies against these atrocities. the president's recent peach in poland -- speech in popland underscored what it would mean it russia wins. it will mean that north death -- it will mean more death and destruction will follow. this is a war in ukraine but this goes beyond the border of ukraine. last week i talked a lot about our top priority in the sanctions front needing to cut off russia's number one source of revenue that fuels the war machine and that's the revenue that comes from russian energy sales. energy is by far russia's biggest export. it accounts for almost half of russia's entire federal budget.

the revenues of oil account for 40% to 50% of russia's budget. over the past year the average oil revenues going back to russia from their exports to the united states alone, just to the u.s., and we import it relatively little to other countries in europe, for instabs, but it was -- instance, but it was $15 million a day we were sending to russia. under pressure from congress, the administration reversed course and supported blocking oil and natural gas imports into the united states. thank goodness. it made no sense to be fund the war effort when we have our own resources that are cleaner resources that we need to provide access to. i welcome the president's announcement in poland last week of the creation of a joint u.s.-european union task force to reduce europe's dependency on russian energy and strengthen russia's -- strengthen europe's energy security.

that agreement is a good step forward. i'm glad that we agreed to do that and got the europeans to sign up to this agreement. but to make it work, to make it actually happen, we've got to support domestic energy producers here as a means of supporting our national security, especially with this russian invasion. the importance of the united states having an all-of-the-above robust approach to power our nation which includes fossil fuels, carbon capture technologies, hydrogen, renewables, and nuclear power cannot be overstated. as a practical matter, if we want to stop the revenues going from europe, the billions of dollars to russia to fund this war machine, we are going to have to change our policies here in america to provide more american liquefied natural gas to go to europe. that's what the agreement calls for. but we are going to have to

change policies to make that happen so that american energy can substitute for russian energy. unfortunately, we aren't off to a really good start of late. the president just sent his f.y.2023 budget request to congress and among the proposals are the elimination of important tax provisions used by our domestic producers, including oil and gas, like the deduction for intangible drilling costs which allows natural gas and oil producers to deduct costs that are necessary for the drilling and preparation of wells. taxpayers deduct their costs of doing business. i. d.c.'s are just one cost for energy companies. shortsighted proposals like these will serve to discourage domestic energy production at a time when we need to encourage it to help in this war effort. unfortunately, the administration has consistently sent a message to american energy producers that one of

their goals is to phase out the use of fossil fuels and make it more difficult even now by stifling production. this rhetoric combined with actions like canceling the keystone xl pipeline, billion, of dollars had been invested in it, suspending new leases on federal lands and waters, and redefining things like the waters of the u.s. or wotus to make energy permitting harder. these things have led to uncertainty and less investment in the oil and gas industry. we need to reverse take. again, along -- reverse that. again, along with renewables. there's room for all. an important initiative to build our domestic energy infrastructure is also part of the answer. we need more pipelines and we need more l.n.g. export facilities. and that requires streamlining the federal permitting process. historically it can take a decade or more for the government -- federal government to issue permits to build pipelines. we have a law called fast 41 which improves the permitting

process for big projects by requiring agencies and the federal government to work together to set out a plan and a timeline for permitting projects. it also creates what's called the federal permitting improvement steering council which can give a green light on a project much more quickly, whether it's oil and gas or renewables or solar or wind. let's use that process to provide this alternative to russian energy. this doesn't mean not following the environmental rules. you follow them. but you get the permit far more quickly and with much less expense. we've got to step forward and lead our european allies in doing all they can to provide substitutes to russia's energy sector. yesterday the country of lithuania became the first effort u. country to completely cut itself off from russian natural gas. i applaud them for taking this strong action. i hope other countries will quickly follow suit.

lithuania gets it. they know that it is a country that is part of the baltics in the region, that they could be next. if we don't do this, we're not going to be able to tighten the sanctions on russia because we'll continue to send again billions of dollars to support the war machine. the ruble has recovered its value in part because russia is bringing in revenue from its sale of energy. shares on russian stock market are trading again and russia's bank remains open for business in europe where it's gathered billions of euros in deposits mainly from german savers. our sanctions have left russia's biggest economic lifeline largely untouched and that is energy sales to europe. i know it's harder for them. they're much more dependent. that's why we need to help more. since russia's invasion of ukraine, it's estimated that

billions has gone back to the kremlin in energy resources and revenues from europe. in addition to cutting off the natural gas and the revenue that fuels the russian war machine we need to tighten up bank sanctions as they relate to energy. sanctions for energy transactions don't go into effect against russia's biggest banks including tdb bank until june 24. that's simply too late. president biden must lead the alliance to do what it takes to help ukraine win and the administration needs to make clear their objective is for ukraine to win. things like a june 24 date for energy transactions is not acceptable. we need to close the loopholes in the sanctions and of course provide more lethal aid to ukraine. we need blocking sanctions on all of russia's finance and defense industry. we should expand full blocking sanctions on all the banks. i continue to call for revoking international tax and trade agreements that give russia privileges not appropriate for a

pariah country. let's pass the end of pntr, most favored nation treatment for russia here on the floor of the senate this week. let's get it done. most russian banks still have access to swift when it comes to international energy transactions. that's not acceptable. this is a massive loophole that's sending blood money to kill innocent ukrainians. this week i will introduce legislation with senator ron wyden. we have bipartisan agreement on policies to ensure american taxpayers are not subsidizing the russian war machine. and we should seize not just freeze assets of kremlin supporters. last week i introduced with senator bennet of colorado the repurposes of elite luxuries, relief for ukraine act to

require the department of justice to direct any funds resulting from the disposal of seized russian assets to support ukrainian refugees and reconstruction. so let's seize these assets like the yachts owned by the kremlin supporters or by president putin himself and then take those funds and use them immediately to help with the humanitarian effort. regarding military assistance, the ukrainians have made it clear they desperately need more equipment, more knew mission -- more munitions and they need it now. the members of parliament from ukraine detailed what they need from us and their list is not new. they said they need fighter jets. they need these migs and appreciate the stinger missiles that have been effective for lower altitude, planes and helicopters but don't understand why the u.s. and nato are blocking other soviet-era military equipment to be able to help them.

they want these surface-to-air missiles to be able to strike long range russian artillery and high altitude rackets that are raining down on their cities and killing civilians with impunity. this is not too much to ask. we've got to find ways to send them these long-range air defense systems. our eastern european neighbors have s-300's and other systems the ukrainians know how to operate. we may have some ourselves. let's reposition our patriot missiles in those countries and eastern europe so that they can then send their old soviet style systems to ukraine that the ukrainians know how to operate. it is now been weeks since our secretary of defense stood with our nato ally slovakia and the slovakian defense minister said slovakia was ready to transfer s-300 missile defense systems which the ukrainians can operate, quote, immediately, end quote. let's do it. compare to what the ukrainian forces have now, more s-300's

could cover more ground and intercept incoming aircraft and missiles. the bureaucratic red tape delaying the s-300 transfer is causing innocent lives every day. we must also find ways to quickly provide ukraine with more armed drones such as the turkish t b-2 and one-use loitering munitions which the ukrainians know how to use and have been effective on this battlefield. three weeks ago it was announced we were sending 100 so-called switchblade loitering munitions. these are so-called suicide drones. one-use drones. they can be used to destroy vehicle or other target. 100 will go very quickly. we should send more and send bigger drones which we have in our inventory. they can be effective against tanks, effective against ships. they've been asking for help across the board that is not yet delivered. they've been asking for tanks,

more antiship systems to fend off missiles from the black sea, more equipment to clear russian mines. they know how to operate the tanks in the inventory of many eastern european countries. let's facilitate those transfers. we can do more and we should do more. not weeks from now but now. they're not asking for us to fight for them. but they are asking for us to provide them the tools to be able to defend themselves. there should be no gap in our weapon transfers and we should continue to lead. we need to not just organize our nato allies which we've done a good job at in my view but now help to lead our nato allies in providing more support and coordinating the support from those countries. i also believe that both ukraine and georgia should be given what is called a membership action plan which is the next step toward nato membership.

it doesn't make them parts of nato, but based on the actions of the russians and the fighting spirit of the ukrainians, i believe more strongly than ever that it would put russia on notice that these countries are on the road to faster membership because of what russia has done. some may ask why a senator from ohio would care about what's going on in ukraine. well, we should all care. this is about the fight for freedom. this is where it's being engaged in our generation and our time. i also happen to have tens of thousands of ukrainians who call ohio their home. these ukrainian americans are friends of mine. they're constituents of mine. they have been keeping me informed over the years. they've helped me to get more engaged in this issue. i've been to ukraine six or seven times since 2014 when ukraine made a decision to turn to us, to turn to democracy and

freedom and free enterprise. but even if i had no constituents who are of ukrainian descent, i would be standing here because this is the fight for freedom. this is our test. are we going to stand against tyranny and for freedom at a time when these terrible atrocities are being committed? when i was on the polish-ukrainian border, i talked to a lot of these refugees, as i said. through their tears they talked about what was going on. they talked about their homes being destroyed, their amounts being destroyed -- apartments being destroyed, their family members being hurt, some killed. the pain being separated if their husbands and fathers not knowing their fate back home. by the way, they all want to go home. they all want to go home desperately. they pleaded for us to do more

to stop the missiles and they all said please protect the skies. they told us of this atrocity up close. in the midst of this atrocity, there are so many heroes in ukraine who are stepping forward, the soldier, professionals and civilians who have taken up arms. the doctors and the nurses, the firefighters, the volunteers who are providing food and water and blankets just to keep people alive. we pray for all of them. we pray for their families. godspeed to them and they're very -- in their very simple quest, a battle for a free and independent country. they just want to live in peace. i will close with this thought. the ukrainians can't be victorious but only if -- can be victorious but only if we help organize other freedom loving

countries all around the world to support them. we must lead. one of the members of parliament said it best i think when she said she hears all the time we are all ukrainians. we are all ukrainians. i think that's a good sentiment. but she said, if that is so, then we must be like ukrainians, meaning we must be brave, creative, and fast. her point was we need help. we need it now. be creative. figure out a way to get those tanks there. to get those more powerful drones there. to get the planes there that they need, to get the humanitarian assistance that they need desperately in ukraine into these cities. be brave, be creative, be fast. so i urge my colleagues and the administration and the world, let's help ukraine actually win this war. that's now possible. it's the time for us to redouble

our efforts and to be brave, creative, and fast. i yield back my time. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the senate stands adjourned until 10:00 stands adjourned until 10:00 one of the vote of 53 -- 47 et cetera susan cohen, met romney were the only republicans of our favorite majority leader chuck schumer was forced to discharge the nomination to the senate floor after the judiciary committee was deadlocked on the nomination by a partyline vote. a final confirmation vote on judge jackson could come by the end of the week. watch live coverage of the

senate when they return here on cspan2. >> he spent as your unfiltered view of government. for funded by these television company similar including charter communications. >> broadbent is a force for a power that's why charter has invested billions of building upgrading technology, empowering opportunity in communities big and small. charter support c-span as a public service along with these other television provider giving a front row seat to democracy. >> senate majority whip dick durbin said it was unfortunate the senate had to vote to discharge the supreme court nominee of judge taji brown jackson from the judiciary committee. after members were deadlocked on her nomination by partyline vote. he went on to outline her qu