muck. ♪ >> president biden -- [inaudible] whether to advance her nomination at 1:30 p.m. senators will consider more executive nominations later in the week including least a saw cook as a member of the fed board and a federal trade commission nominee. we also expect to hear tributes to former senator orrin hatch who died saturday in salt lake city. the utah republican served for

42 years on the u.s. senate and is the longest serving republican in senate history. as always, live coverage of the 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. 123450 the chaplain: let us pray. almighty god, whose kingdom is everlasting and power infinite, thank you for the exemplary life and legacy of former senator

orrin hatch. lord, i am personally grateful for his friendship, integrity, and faithfulness. i cherish the many conversations we had each morning before he convened the senate and invited me to pray. he blessed us by striving to do your will. lord, he consistently upheld the standards of excellence, civility, and accountability. inspired by his long and consequential life, may our lawmakers seek to faithfully and obediently honor you. and lord, we continue to intercede for ukraine. we pray in your sovereign name.

amen. the president pro tempore: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to our flag. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the president pro tempore: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. morning business is closed. and under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session, resume consideration of the following nomination which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, federal reserve system, lael brainard of the district of columbia to be vice chairman of the board of

governors. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from hawaii. ms. hirono: i note the absence of a quorum. the president pro tempore: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

>>.

[crowd noise] [speaking french] thank you dear friends. fellow citizens. here tonight in paris. and everyone everywhere in france and these territories andbrought . before anything else let me say thank you . [applause] after five years, of difficult but happy transformation and exceptional challenges , just a april 24, 2022 a majority amongst us chose to trust me

to pilot the republic for the next five years. [applause] [cheering] i want to thank all of the activists , all of the workers. all of the people along with us for the ride and all the elected

devil's brigade who said they seemed to appear out of nowhere in the dead of night like devils. that unit he served in suffered one of the highest casualty rates in the war. listen to these figures. of the 2,400 men who fought with the unit, 2,300 them were either killed or wounded, but they never lost a mission.

not one. the first special service force existed for only two years, but the spirit of that force lives on in the green berets, army rangers, navy seals, marine raiders, canadian special operations regular -- regiment and all of today's special military forces. for decades after world war ii, the very existence of that unit remained top secret and classified. the force men didn't tell anyone what they had done in the war, not even their families. like lorenzo cervantes, they quietly returned home, married, raised families, and lived ordinary lives. in 2015, some 70 years after the end of world war ii, they were finally honored for their service when congress awarded them the congressional gold medal. i had the privilege of meeting two other force men from

illinois at that gold medal ceremony. casey selsky was one of them. he fought with the devil's brigade, one of the ally's greatest surprise victories. mr. selsky died three years ago, also age 98. after the war, he had returned to illinois and married. he and his wife had 11 children. 11. in 1995, 50 years after the war ended, mr. selsky and one of his sons decided to go back to europe to take a look and see the places where the first special service force had fought and to visit the towns that the force had liberated. near the anzio beach head, they spoke to an italian man. when the man realized who they were, he dropped to his knees, broke out in tears and thanked casey selsky of illinois.

the italian man said to his son, this is one of the soldiers who saved our village. casey selsky turned to his son and said all these years, i wondered what i was doing. now i know. after world war ii, the united states and the leading free nations of europe worked together to create a new system of rules and institutions to guard the peace of world war ii and to reduce the risk in europe that we would ever again descend into the hell of war. the most important of these new institutions was called the north atlantic treaty organization, nato. among its most important new rules was the commitment that nations must never again wage wars of conquest against their neighbors. for more than 75 years, the new rules and institutions largely helped keep the peace in europe, but then came ukraine. with its barbaric attack on

ukraine, russia is waging war not only against a sovereign nation, an innocent, unprovoked nation, russia is attacking the very system of democracy and rules based ordered for which 400,000 u.s. servicemembers died in world war ii and many more have given their lives since. vladimir putin is seeking to restore some mythical russian empire. he wants to demolish nato and he wants to drag the world back into a blood-soaked past when kings and tyrants waged wars of conquest to expand their territory and fill their coffers. as russia's barbaric, blood-thirsty war against ukraine enters its third month, it is clear that vladimir putin has miscalculated disastrously. he thought his forces were so overwhelming that he would

occupy kiev, the capital of ukraine, in a matter of days, that he would remove zelenskyy from his power in ukraine and that he would install a public government that once again take orders from moscow. instead, kiev still stands. zelenskyy is still in control. and vladimir putin has been frus frustrated -- frustrated by the determination, courage, and resiliency of the ukrainian troops. he has suffered heavy losses. russia has lost the battle for ukraine to date. volodymyr zelenskyy is still ukraine's president, and russian forces are demoralized and depleted. instead of seizing kiev and all of ukraine, russia is now regrouping to try to pick one region that they can conquer, the donbas region, which they've illegally occupied since 2014,

and to seize the black sea port of mariupol. russia's economy is increasingly staggering under the weight of some of the most powerful sanctions ever levied against any nation in the history of the world. the effect of these sanctions against russia will become even more onerous in the months ahead, as russia is unable to buy parts and equipment to keep its basic industries thriving and other key sectors of its economy functioning. the sanctions also target the oligarchs, the klepto kratts, putin's frat esht -- fraternity who helped prop up his core up regime. they're losing their superintendent yachts. isn't that a hard breaker. some are losing their lives. a fate that seems to befall a strange number of people who get close to russia's k.g.b. thug who happens to be the leader in russia today. the russian government has given

up any pretense it once had after the breakup of the soviet union of ever becoming a democracy. i say that with some sadness for the people of russia, that they have been relegated to the role of pawns in putin's escapade. a new sensorship law -- censorship law has taken effect, that makes it a crime punishable up to 15 years in prison to even describe the invasion of ukraine as a war, or to jie russia's assault -- or to describe russia's assault on ukraine in honest terms. can you go to prison for that in mr. putin's russia. a few weeks ago i met in my office with a russian journalist and opposition leader, vladimir keramurza, who is fearless. he survived poisoning attempts by the kremlin twice. he told me several weeks ago, i'm going back. i said why? he said there's work to be done.

he told me about his opposition to russia's war in ukraine, the increasing opposition to the war with russia, and his hope that one day russia will be part of the community of democracies. well, mr. keramurza went back to moscow and last week was arrested. the sam day -- the same day cnn broadcast an interview in which he called putin's government a regime of murderers. mr. k eramurza faces years of imprisonment for telling the truth. senator rubio, of florida, and i will introduce a bipartisan resolution this week calling for his immediate release. i hope my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will join us. vladimir putin also badly miss calculated the unity of nato and the will of free people to defend democracy. instead of shattering nato, putin request strengthened nato. finland and sweden, longtime

neutral nations, could soon join nato. germany's pursuing the historic, dramatic overhaul of its approach to security and defense. and yesterday, french voters reelected their president, emmanuel macron, decisively choosing him over his far-right putin sympathizeer marine la pen. that marked the first time in 20 years french voters have given a president a second term. it's widely viewed as a vote of support for nato and ukraine and against putin aid his russian aggression. vladimir putin also gambled that america would be too weak and divided to oppose russia's assault on ukraine, badly mistaken again. republicans and democrats are standing together in support of ukraine, as are the american people. president biden's leadership has been critical in uniting nato and the west and enabling ukraine to defend it itself.

yesterday, secretary of state antony blinken and secretary of defense lloyd austin traveled to kiev and met with president zelenskyy permly, to show putin and the world that the united states of america stands with the ukrainian people and their heroic defense of their homeland. the u.s. is providing ukraine with the military equipment to defend itself, but it takes the courage and determination of those men and women in ukraine to make it work. in the last two months alone america has committed to ukraine an unprecedented $3.7 billion in military equipment, including howitzers, helicopters, ammunition, tactical drones, and more. ukraine's armed armed forces are using this equipment and performing brilliantly. coming weeks will be difficult. they may be decisive. in concentrating its assault on the donbas russia is moving the war from cities like kiev and k

kharkiv to a more wide-open landscape where artillery has an advantage. many reports suggest putin is des pra the for something he can call a military win by may 8, which patricia celebrates as -- which russia celebrates as victory day marking the allies' defeat over nazi germany in wurld wurl. the tragic -- world war ii. the tragic irony is russia is using many of the same tactics used if world war ii, attacking a peaceful, neighboring nation, intentionally targeting civilians, and committing had heinous war crimes. this senate voted unanimously last month to condemn vladimir putin as a war criminal. we must continue to stand with ukraine and for democracy and for the rules of civilization, which so many americans fought for and died in world war ii and since. i started this comment on the floors this afternoon remembering a world war ii vet in illinois just passed away at the age of 98, lorenzo

cervantes. i have spoken to so many vets and said what were you fighting for? they said fighting for our buddies right next to us. we were going to bring each other home safely. so we kept the fight. and we were fighting for our families. we believed our family name was at stake and the courage we showed would reflect on them. le was were writing -- we also were fighting for the united states which we were proud to fight for. most we were fighting to make sure our kids didn't have to do the same. we were willing to sacrifice, even give our lives so our kids live in a peaceful world. for almost 80 years that was a fact after world war ii and the service of lorenzoer is haven'ties and hundreds -- cervantes and hundreds of thousands of others. then came putin with his unprovoked attack on ukraine. he thought they were a pushover. he had this massive russian army mobilized over a span of months, are ed why i -- ready to attack.

he expected the people of ukraine to fold, quit, and leave, but they didn't. they fought and they've been an inspiration ever since. putin wants to write a new world order. he wants to say to the living veterans of world war ii and their families you waist -- you wasted your time. i can do this if i wish, i have the power. but he's run into a force he didn't anticipate. the ukrainians have done an incredible, inspiring job to the world. i want to say a word of praise to their president. mr. zelenskyy started in life as a standup comedian. somehow or another, he's become the world's leading standup president, standings up to a tyrant like vladimir putin, inspiring people all around the world to join in this effort to save his nation. i'm glad that the united states is on board and we will continue to help him until putin is finally gone. the genocide he's inflicting on

the ukrainian people is an embarrassment in the 21st century. to think this could happen in so-called civilized western world is virtually unthinkable. we've got to make a stand. i'm glad we have. i support president biden and the nato alliance for standing behind the people of ukraine. madam president, i yield the floor, suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: >> playing into their

domestic message. they're trying to weaken the russian military and essentially spread regions and at home. >> i'd say it's consistent with our view and the president. secretary austen's view that we will do everything we can to push back on president clinton's aspirations to take overtheir territorial integrity and aspirations he had as of two months ago on that . >>. [inaudible] can i get a dollar figure for how much he needs and how much that money

would last? >> not quit yet. i expect he'll have consultations withmilitary leadership and of course leadership from the state department over the course of the coming days . i suspect it will be something later in the week and be a longer-term package . >> a quick one in the break in twitter agreeing to elon musk's purchase, do you have a response and does the white house have a concern this new agreement might put trauma back on the platform? >> i'm not going to comment on this visit specific transaction. no matter who runs twitter the president has long been concerned about the power of large social media platforms. the power they have over our everyday lives and argued tech platforms must be accountable for the harms they chop cause. he's been a supporter of fundamental reforms including reforms tosection 230 and acting antitrust reforms or acquiring more transparency and he's encouraged that there's bipartisan interest in congress .

users of what policies might happen, i'm not going to that . >> on the situation at the border title 42, they began that secretary mayorkas expressed frustration about how the administration is handling title 42. he's saying the wards are already overwhelmed so has the administration raised these concerns with president bidenand are these concerns the white house shares ? >> it's important to remember title 42 is not an immigration policy, it's a health authority so it's coordinated with the secretary of homeland security and interagency process and there's been planning in the works for months for this possibility that the cdc could take this action. secretary mayorkas will be testifying later this week and i'm sure he will answer that question and multiple other questions and i'll let him speak for himself but we're continuing to prepare

for may 23 of the implementation and there's a multipart strategy that secretary mayorkas has been leading and overseeingthe past couple of months . >> i'm not going to get into private conversations but this is the cdc decision on authority about when we had to help conditions to lift title 42. it wasn't an indication of an immigrationpolicy . >> do you believe they're not will not be a third as a result of title 42? >> the department projected there could be an increase in people coming to the border and that's why they had a multipart plan and proposal and implementing four months to prepare for that . >> is the reason that congressional caucus meetings. if you may remember the president has been meeting with a number of the caucuses from progress from the congressional caucus.

he met with k pack and he's been meeting with all the caucuses as he did last year. this has been a meeting has been works for some time. immigration we expect to be a part of it but we expected to be an expensive meeting and he has a stated view of the policy on title 42. >> catherine cortez master said it's leaving the administration unprepared for research, this is a subject unlikely to, what is the message to these western and border states who are concernedabout the impact on immigration as a policy matter but also local policy . >> i argue in the president's view is that we have a broken immigrationsystem . that's been long overdue. he agrees with that and is certainly happy to discuss that during this meeting or any other meeting he has with members of congress . but this is not an immigration policy. this title 42 is a health authority that's determined by the cdc and we need to have a conversation about immigration reform,that's vital. maybe this is a reminder .

>> the president introduced a bill the first week in office but there's not much more than that . is this for the ministration to move something forward this year with you believe that campaign policy precludes. >> we welcome that opportunity but we are supportive of efforts to include some points in immigration reform and the reconciliation packages and we've been looking for avenues to move it forward and is supportive of efforts bydemocratic senators to do exactly that . >> what are the position of congress related to title 42. what is the position congress should be taking? >> that is a discussion with members of congress. we are prepared to implement a listing of title 42, it's a decision made by the cdc. there are a range of views on title 42. there are some vocal about how they like to see it

extended and some who are vocal on how they would like not like to see thathappen that's an important discussion happening over the coming days and weeks . >> i i wonder if the white house has commented on the death of the national guard specialist who drowned. >> thank you for that jackie and the news of the confirmation that his body had been found was confirmed couple of hours ago. i would note that of course our hearts go out to his family and his loved ones. i would say to confirm all the specific details he went missing on friday following a self less effort to rescue to migrants and who are trying to cross a river in mexico that once the united states. we know that national guard personnel including him risk their lives every day to protect others and begin our hearts go out to the family. i don't have any indication at this moment in terms of

the president outreach but if that is something i can tell you with i'll let you know. >> does the white house see any possibility for his death given that there's reporting that he lost his life allegedly trying to save to migrants who were smuggling drugs. this as the restriction had been facing for some time. >> is does the white house feel at all responsible and what more can you offer people who are in border communities areexperiencing loss . >> of course we are mourning the loss of his life and we are grateful for the work of every national guardsmen. i know the national guard works for the state so he is an employee of the texas national guard. and his efforts and operation were directed by,not by the federal government . >>

in 1811. humor aside, the reality was impressive enough. orrin's dogged service for utah and our nation was a constant in this chamber for 42 years. he was an accomplished, influential chairman of three major committees, help, judiciary, and finance. he was an essential legislator behind a long list of landmark laws from the hatch-waxman law on generic drugs in the 1980's, to the american american with disabilities act, the freedom restoration acted and the state children's health insurance program in the 1990's to the historic tax reform that orrin

helped to create. that help families in modern history. there were achievements in the great state of utah that orrin loved so much. amid the heavy lifting, orrin was a pivotal player considering the personal part. he participated in the con fir rations of -- confirmations of half of all the american judges that served in american history. orrin came into the senate, his first campaign public office was the 1976 that landed him here. he left the senate as a widely admired and universally liked elder statesman. his legacy is peppered with both

big principled victories, bipartisan collaborations and a roster of fans that sometimes transcended politics. but there was never any confusing what orrin viewed as his proudest accomplishment, that would be his remarkable marriage to elaine. nobody served better nan when orrin was assigned the chair next to hanston, elaine. decades later, orrin said i can't remember a doggone thing from that astronomy class. but the two of them had an inspiring marriage and a brood of kids and grandkids all out of

the bargain. today the senate stands with elaine, the hatch families, and a huge number of former staffers and admirers that orrin leaves behind across utah and across our country. we mourn this great loss and honor his great life. now, madam president, on an entirely different matter. the senate reconvenes today after passover and east ter to begin a new work period. unfortunately the biggest problem facing the american people is still the same as it has been all yearlong. rising inflation is continuing to inflict painful consequences on working families across our country. this painful problem isn't getting better. it's still getting worse. last month consumer prices clocked an 8.5% year on year

increase. inflation is now rising at its fastest pace in more than four decades. the sucialg is being led in large part -- surge is being led in large part by a 26% jump in air fairs, a 23.5% increase in truck and car prices and a 28% spike in the cost of gasoline. these are exactly the sort of products that consumers lean on most heavily in the warmer months. while march's numbers are a cruel twist, the american people

have felt the biden administration war on domestic energy for the better part of a year. before most folks even begin to consider summer travel and long before putin launched his invasion of ukraine, working families were already facing soaring prices at the gas pump. even as wage growth accelerated for a fifth straight month, workers' paychecks failed to keep pace with rising prices. raises and bonuses are being swallowed by inflation. real wages are down 2.7% year on year. democrats' runaway spending had brought us runaway inflation. prices in the u.s. have risen

higher and faster than in other developed economies. even "the new york times" now admits, quote, risks are mounting that america's ambitious spending will end up with a checkered legacy. let me say that again. even "the new york times" now admits risks are mounting that america's ambitious spending will end up with a checkered legacy. but even in the face of this painful reality, even as every measurable indicator spells out the clear consequences of runaway spending, washington democrats are showing no sign of changing course. president biden's response to this shaky economy he created is to propose the biggest tax hike in american history and double-digit domestic growth and discretionary spending. democratic policies have working families deep in a financial hole and our colleagues on the

other side of the aisle just want to keep digging. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: reminds people and members of

his policy team in meetings what the impacts of rising food costs or gasoline costs or other issues are. the requests and receives regular updates from his economic team and often when he returns from weekends at

home in delaware he comes back with conversations he had with people as he came out of church or people he's known for a long time in his community and they often tell him how the rising costs impact his life so i would say he stays abreast of these changes these costs and impacts througheconomic data and briefings but also his own conversations whenever he can have them . >> a question here about the recent palestinian terror attacks and the previous week of attacks that have killed manyisraelis and wounded more . is the biden administration considering in support of the palestinian authorities tuesday solution to divide israel or stopping welfare payments . who use the money for their employee reward system and have a follow-up? >> i would note i spoke to this last week on wednesday where i noted the united states is deeply concerned by the recent violence in jerusalem and its mountains across the west bank and we condemn the recent rocket attack on israel. you may or may not have seen

the president's executive call with prime minister bennett. he accepted an invitation to visit israel in the coming months, yet took note of the ongoing efforts between israeli and palestinian officials to lower tensions and ensure a peaceful conclusion to the holy season of ramadan and affirmed our own court and its defense teams and welcomed the historic $1 billion legislation to replenish the iron dome system . >> if you are condemning palestinian violence is the biden administration willing to stop payments to the anti-semitic un agency and support restoring the jewish building and lithuanian add to its former glory. >> i think i don't have any changes to announce toour policy. i spoke to our condemnation of the violence just now and last week as well noted are called to the prime minister

. >> the aidthat the us is already allocating to ukraine ? >> the president says he has almost exhausted his drawdown so how much after that announcement of 800 million on thursday does the us have left to provide ukraine? >> i'm sure i can get you the exact number. it was 3.5 billion total of drawdown authority i believe. i'll double check that number but what he was referring to is because of how quickly with and moving the military assistance to the ukrainians on the ground we anticipated being almost at a near and of that drawdown authority so that's why he's going to put forward a new package this week. >> yesterday senator elizabeth warren said that the white house has essentially already canceled student debt by waving interest on that student debt and could use that same exact authority to cancel student debt permanently does the white house agree with that. this is about the authority

not whether they will but you can derive the authority. >> i don't have anything to preview in terms of how it would work. what i would tell you is that not a single person in this country has paid a dime on student federal student loans since the president took office and what we have said is youwould make a decision about any cancellation of studentdebt before the conclusion of that paul's on student loans but i don't have anything to preview for you at this point . >> she said it was anissue of racial equity , does the white house consider this a racial equity issue ? >> i think the presidents used loan relief as something that impacts yes, it is a racialequity issue but his is an issue that impacts many individuals , young people, middle-aged people of all races . it is something he has played, has been a vital priority for the president which again is why not a single person has paid a penny , a dime or a penny in student loans since he took office. though ahead.

>> on supplemental administration decided to definitely combine the funding with the a4 ukraine. >> we don't have a mechanism yet. these are conversations we will have with congress. obviously prior to the recess there was a proposal that did combine but don't have a sense yet . >> is the white house considering expanding the title 42 immigration as part of the deal? >> this would be congress having the discussion. we're continuing to prepare for a may 23 implementation. there will be a range of conversations about this over the coming days . >> so richmond is leaving . and just this week these said he wouldn't leave unless something changed . >> let me first say that cedric richmond had been continued to be a vital

essential advisor to the president was on the campaign, continue to be in the white house. i've been in many meetings with cedric richmond where the president looks to him for his political sense, his assessment of congress . he trust him implicitly. i have nothing to announce at this point but i can assure you when we have nothing to announce it will involve anew important role to four cedric richmond . it's something the president is excited about and asking to do . >> did the president see any larger meaning in the french election in terms of the support of the allied effort? >> i don't have any assessment and i'll leave that to others to do analysis of the president was pleased to see with the outcome. as you know we spoke with president micron this morning and he'slooking forward to continuing to work with him and standing up against russian aggression and

standing with the ukrainian people . >> an interesting observation that president macron secured a double-digit victory at a time when his approval rating was 13percent . >> i don't have any further analysis. >> reports in finland and sweden say the two countries are prepared to join nato as early as next month . is the white house supported laughter? >> those are decisions for the nato alliance to make so willleave it to those entities . >> we learned more about friday's shooter today. who say he had hundreds of rounds of ammo inside his apartment and today the mayor announced a new police initiative to target violent crime . does the president believe he's done all he can do to provide violent crime, done issues around the country without the intervention of

congress? >> he will continue to look for every authority he has to address gun violence across the country. the last time we had data was in 2020 i believe that that time 77 percent of homicides were done with a firearm and you saw two weeks ago, two weeks ago he's going to continue to take to address those guns which we have seen how the rising role in gun deaths and gun targeting over the past several months. i would also note that then when he was doing that event he highlighted to la sheriff's deputies who been using wounded using a ghost on. that's an example of how these are being used to target police as well which is also a problem. i would say of course there are significant steps that congress can take that would make these laws permanent.

that is the president's first preference whether it's background checks, banning assault weapons. he led the effort to pass throughout his career. he will continue to look for any steps you can take using his own authority that he has done several times since taking office. i think he's done more than any other president using executive authority. >> president biden made his first endorsement for the midterm election cycle endorsing congressman kurt schrader. how do you side decide to wait on this race first and what would you say to progressives who are frustrated he ignores endorsed schrader? >> i understand your question. i don't make the rules but the rules are speak a lot about politics fromhere so i would point to the dnc and point to congressman schrader's office . >> there's been a fair bit of speculation about vladimir putin's health based on these videos. how's the white house made an assessment on this matter and have concerns and raised internally at all? >> i don't have any assessment to offer here or

any particular comment on the mental health of president clinton. >> back to title 42, i'm understanding what you're saying are you talking about all that, are you saying title 42, i know you're prepared to deliver current policy in may 23 are you saying that will happen unless congress acts or the white house might use something else? >> congress would have to take action forthe date not to be may 23 . >> on hunter blighted the new york post recording looking at making visits to the white house while the president and vice president , while supervisors business partners. can you help usunderstand why that business partner had access and what those meetings were about ? >> i don't have any information, i'm happy to check if there's any more comments . >> was he hoping to be a senator again by seeing the election in 2020 was stolen. we know that most courts

ruled it was fair. there's no evidence of fraud but i wonder what you make of those comments and what has the white house done enough to push back and makeit clear . >> i think that speaks to the former presidents bold actions and the republican party not facts. >> two questions. first last friday president biden said the conference should be praying for an end result. so what exactly is he trying to do? is he trying to work with others negotiating. is he ready to provide financial support for his deal and how much of that. >> the presidency the science is only become more clear the world needs to go strengthen and accelerate emissions reduction and part of that goal is to include conserving global force ecosystems that

removes from the atmosphere and store more carbon in a year serving as carbon sinks. president biden recognized the necessity of running from the world governments and private sector and their plans to conserve local forests. the carbon sink launch and to mobilize finance from the public and private sector with a strong focus on leveraging rabbit finance market mechanisms so that's what he wasspeaking to and efforts continue to support . >> they say the review on it, i wonder if we should be thinking to the war in ukraine and perhaps the united states or thinking how we could resume food and energy security? >> i would point to the state department and we're working with a range of countries assessing where bc food shortages around the world. then obviously ukraine is front and center on the minds of most. >> what if president biden has declined, involving more than once.

>> i don't have any update. the president has the schedule and he spoken to a range of global leaders and the state department is in brazil for a visit so i would note we have an ongoing dialogue a high-level . >> either one, okay. >> kind of matching today. >> more people are starting to talk about the tax and bank of america moving to it. because of inflation. the steps that have been taken so far haven't been able to get inflation to come back down. what initial steps are you looking at the curb inflation as well as the feeling the economy is headed in and all directions. >> i would say first there are number of strong economic indicators that we wouldpoint to . we created more jobs last year than any yearin american history . unemployment is at 3.6percent . we know that costs are too

high. inflation is the federal reserve has purview over still projects that it will moderate by the end of the year. there are a number of steps they had and they indicated they have in state plans to recalibrate . we support that effort. we have a lot of power here in terms of taking steps to address inflation. we'renot , president is not waiting for that to happen and he's taking steps to address where bc cost increasing in different areas that impact the american people's pocketbooks whether it's gas prices obviously he made an announcement to the strategic petroleum reserve, led the globalrelief effort to release from the globally to bring down gas prices . we've also taken steps to fix issues with our supply chain ensure goods are moving as quickly as possible and there's a lot of interest continues to be in progress to date that the lower cost on prescription drugs, health care, elder care, child care. those are all steps based on the president's proposal . >> the san francisco fed reserve released a report.

>> not actually spending proposals, their proposals to lower-cost that are fully paid for. >> the federal reserve releasedreports in government spending accounted for three percent of inflation . so is spending more the way to go? >> if you look back where we were a year and half ago we're at the point where there was a significant economic downturn. where people were suffering, struggling to put food on the table. so people were out of work and what we've done, what we did at that time expects to help stem the economic downturn and that was a decision made by the president continues to believe is in the interest of the american people . >> looking at more lockdowns and how beijing may be involved in that is there anything the administration is looking atdoing supply chains . >> we are following this very closely and as you know there are a couple of different issues at play here. there's obviously shin jan which has reopened and moved

around where the goods were being produced andmoved around which ports they were going through. shanghai and there are a couple of interest-rate being impacted . we haven't seen a decreasein ships coming to our ports in california from asia . we are continuing to monitor that and beijing has increased their testing which could be a precursor to a lockdown but we don't know at this point. what were doing is monitoring the state department, our economics department but we haven't seen aslowdown in ships coming to our ports in california . if there's an increase as lockdowns decrease in some parts of china we will be prepared for that because we've been able to take steps to reduce the number of cargo ships there . >> the thing about the explosion that takes place in russia over the last couple of weeks is recently in the oil field that blew up, that

is there speculation of the ukraine is somehow doing it. i wonder what your position on ukraine happening inside russian territory, is it something us is encouraging them to do and try to help them through? or is this something maybe you can provide ukraine and not go there. >> we don't have any confirmation of that. ukraine is defending their own country. >> obviously there's kind of an obvious point. that's the russians inside their own country. the russians are inside their country so is there a us position on whether ukraine should have the right or maybe encouraged to take that fight beyond their border? >> that is a hypothetical. ukraine's country is being invaded russia is invading their country. that's what we'resupporting them for and there's been no

confirmation of what you're detailing . >> we know the congressional with the congress and i wonder if immigration is also now how much we can reveal about that. >> i don't have a readout of the meeting at this point.i would note that this is part of that series of meetings as i noted earlier the president is doing with a range of caucuses in congress. the congressional black caucus, and he did the last year as well so we expect immigration to be a topic of discussion but i would note that chd has a stated position on title 42 as a caucus which is that they oppose any change to the decisions that have been made . so anything can be discussed but i wouldn't anticipate thatbeing a topic , a major topic.

i've seen the reports, i don't have any consummation of specifics or the details. >> the first, the biden administration to do more executive action and philosophically, does he believe he is exhausted most of what he can do through executive power through the legislative part, are there things he feels he can still do through executive action? >> i think his view is that taking steps to pass comprehensive immigration reform that has security that does put in place enough processing is

the best step that will have a lasting impact. we are obviously continued to assess executive actions we can take but i think continues to discuss legislative actions as well. >> you mentioned the toxic exposures and the president wants comprehensive legislation to be passed. the house passed a version related, the senate version is criticized by advocates not going far enough. does the president have a stand on which piece of legislation used in addressing these comprehensive, other other legislation that hasn't been passed in the senate at all? >> the next step is for both bodies of congress to work together and figure out a path forward. we issued the path act so i don't think i have anything more to update you on.

>> i have a question on title 42, the cdc expands title 42 why is it up to congress. >> congress sees cdc authority to determine when conditions would be met to lift title 42 which is never been in immigration authority, it's always a health authority so when they determined we no longer had conditions where we had to take action to report people who came put the country, they made that decision based on data and science and the cdc decision making. congress would need to make any decision about a change to the authority they gave to cdc. >> the authority to just make the change -- >> the health and data changed, they can make a different

decision, sure but they make decisions based on health and data not based on politics were where members of congress it. >> a follow-up on that, something ask earlier, is the president willing to sign something if it's part of the legislative package that would change the rules for how title 42 is administered? if it is, if it's up to congress, he would ultimately have to be the one to veto it. >> there's a lot of steps between now and then so that's very premature. there are many members who strongly would like to see title 42 extended. there are many who have another if you so we are not anywhere near that. >> the surgeon general has said the public health crisis, i'm wondering regardless of

ownership, or the white house be interested in working with twitter in the past to combat this is information or are we in a different process? >> i think we engage regularly with social media platforms about steps that can be taken, that's continued and i'm sure it will continue but there are also reforms we think congress could take and we would support taking including reforming sections 230 and antitrust reforms or transparency the president is encouraged by the bipartisan support or engagement. >> clearly the security package, you have initiatives on the

embassy, a hospital bed or that sort of thing, why wouldn't the u.s. commit to far more significant securities military initiatives like that? and work from other countries, australia has not been repaired. >> that's a great group of questions i have not talked about this since he return, i'm not sure if the president has, i can see if there is more to update you on that. >> the time you started speaking, how many more children have died, children have died every two minutes. does the president plan to increase -- [inaudible] >> it's obviously something the president cares deeply about i

don't have anything for you in terms of predictions of additional funding. i can see if there's anything more from them. >> [inaudible question] >> asked me a similar question before, it's an effort or process led by the department of homeland security to make the determination about conditions on the ground and inner agency process, i don't have anything to protect. obviously they are continuing to assess. >> i know you're supposed to open the portal today, can you talk about how you are preparing resources, a big influx when this opens? >> the department of homeland security will do a briefing this afternoon with more details to provide an obviously they will oversee the process and we

certainly anticipate interest on both sides. >> someone in the white house i know you are working on operation, will there be someone over here working on it? >> obviously russia and ukraine in implementing pogroms is top priority for the national security team, i will see if there's one individual who will be responsible. >> [inaudible question] can you speak about anything president biden to determine the source of the virus in china?

in one of the few people who has shared three nature committees. when i chaired labor and human resource committee, hundreds of bills and everything from healthcare to government, you name it. i felt like i was doing the lords work and everything i possibly could. in the process help bridge the gap between democrats and republicans, the most notable was ted kennedy who came to work with me when we became the majority party. of course kennedy hatch relationship had all kinds of important legislation but i've

worked with so many other democrats to do good work. to get it done, they have to come across and do it the right way. >> why do you call it the lords work? >> i don't believe i'd be here if it wasn't for his help. i believe this is the most important government in the world, the most important country in the world. i believe this nation was brought about by our father in heaven and we have the obligation to keep it going. i have no doubt, i don't see how anybody could have any doubt when you look at the original pilgrims, the people during the revolution and they were able to develop this country and year after year with all of the problems, civil war and etc. and the world wars we've had, with not only been able to survive but also become world leader.

that couldn't just happen higher help. >> why retire now? >> of been here 42 years in them 84 years old, i still work very, very hard but, i might not have retired if i had somebody would be good in this position so i did check with mitt romney and he will make an excellent senator and i believe he'll be the next senator from utah. can he do what i do? probably not because of been here long enough and chaired three major committees and the most powerful committee in the whole congress right now and it takes time and seniority to get there plus an awful lot of hard work. he'll still be effective because of who he is and his reputation

and how hard you work. not given but i think it's got a good chance of becoming a great senator from utah. >> in your 1976 campaign, your first one, your campaign slogan was what you call a senator who's been washington 18 years, you call him home. who came up with that? >> i think i did, it could have been some of our advisors but senator was a nice man but a total liberal. he wasn't acting in the best interest of utah or really the country in my opinion. that's why i felt he needed to be called home. >> here you are 42 years later. at the time when you came up with that how long did you think you might serve? >> i didn't know how long i'd be here but i didn't think i'd be here this long. if you're doing the work in helping the country, you're

making a difference, it's another thing. at that time i was very upset because he not only wasn't doing the work, he wasn't doing the right way. >> with the first few days like, you member in 1977 he refused few days of being a senator? >> it was very interesting to me, i was a tough lawyer both in pennsylvania but also in utah. the highest for an attorney to have. nobody doubted i knew what i'm doing when it comes to the law. i have to say it felt like utah was not well represented. i don't think there's any question most you tones now know

i will represented them but i worked my butt off 42 years. we'd continue if it wasn't for the fact that of this. >> never served in public office before, what was it like? >> i don't think it's something that should keep you from public office. it wasn't really that difficult for me. i held the highest rating, only about five or 6% of attorneys in this country have legal ethics and ability. it wasn't tremendously hard for me to get going and be effective off the bat. as you can see the first big issue was law reform which the democrats, 62 democrats and 38 republicans thought they could roll over us and i became the voice against it and we

defeated. it was not easy, it went on for years. had we not defeated the, the unions would have taken over the whole country. i was raised, i earned a union card, a skilled tradesman and worked ten years in the trade union so i was not against unions but i was against them controlling and this would have given them abject control of the country. the democrats were completely controlled by the unions and supplied most of the money. >> did you ever think over the years about doing something else? >> sure but i have to say i felt is the thing i have to do and i continued until recent years, i didn't want to be a 90-year-old although i don't think i ever will be but talking to mitt romney and about running helped

me to make this decision earlier easier. i don't want just anyone to replace me, i want somebody who although they don't have seniority will not have the chairman schiff i've had, have the ability to represent utah in a good way but not just utah, our country as a whole. the senate seats are really important, there are only 100 of them. if it comes down to it, that's eight or ten people who dominate the senate in many ways and i think people thought every one of them. >> what else did you think about doing over the years? >> i always liked sports and stuff, i wished i could have gotten into professional sports a lot more. >> which one? >> basketball for sure but i liked all of them and still do, i followed him very much. last night i was doing about my friend was a great all-american

who every professional team wanted the celtics and los angeles lakers in particular, he became one of my best friends but wanted to go back to croatia and play for them in the olympics in one did and one of them became their coach. one of the greatest people i've ever met in my life. not a religious man when he some how became an almost left to become all-american and? if i recall it correctly, the boston celtics and los angeles lakers, but he went back to croatia and lead their team and won the world championship one time because it wasn't participating in that particular olympics and became really solid

friends, deputy ambassador from croatia and he come and walk holes with me, what a great character he was but he died a terrible death and i'm going to go back to croatia again and i love that country and part of it is because of the. >> i imagine you look met a lot of people over the years and have made wonderful friendships. who would you say of the senators you've served with today and in the past, who have been your good friends, republicans and democrats? >> i have great friends on both sides and frankly i think most senators wanted to work with me because they knew that i won't quit until i get it done. i have to say i came here to

fight kennedy because i felt like he was off the wall liberal and detrimental to the country. gradually we became friends. when i took over as chairman of the committee when publicans for the first time in 40 years took the control of the senate, we became dear friends. even though i disagreed with him on a lot of things, his sister talked to me and she loved him and the reason is she knew i had a good influence on ted. >> in what way? >> ted was a rollicking playboy in a lot of ways but you couldn't help but like him. he was a lot of fun to be around and a leading liberal and as congress as a whole but also deep down he wanted to be a

great senator. i think i played a role in how to be great senator and he played a great role in helping me to be a great senator. we fought each other really and knockdown drag out bottles. i have to say i won most of the bottles. he respected that. >> favorite story about ted kennedy. >> there are so many, it's hard to say. i'm trying to recall. i was with him right before he died and i know he changed a lot, i think i helped him with the and he knew it, he knew i was like a brother to him. even though we vastly disagreed on politics, he come along with me on a lot of things.

he'd have to get some of his way but he come along. he was the greatest democrat senator that i knew but there were others who were great, to. i had good relationships on both sides. i think i had good relations because they knew i worked my tail off all the time and they knew i was honest and believed what i was doing. it's hard to get mad at somebody who really believes what they are doing and works there tail off to get it done. wound up with a lot of friends on both sides. >> what have you heard from your colleagues when you decided you would retire? >> i think they are happy i might have a few years outside of here and hopefully happy years but i've had a lot of them

say they wish i didn't retire and say they wish i stayed with it. a number of them have come to say they love me and appreciate me and those things are endearing and that came from both sides. >> president trump tried to talk you out of. >> he did and let's face it, i was the only senator in support of the president in the early going and he knows that, he knows i've been loyal to him and believe in some of the things he can do. he's also done a lot of things because of his relationship with me that have turned out to be very good for him and i think he's a much better president than people are willing to give

him credit for, a much better president than anyone thought he would be. i can tell you why, is a go-getter, he hustles, he's strong, a lot of fun to be around and can take on the powers around here and hold his own. i really think he's been a great asset to the united states of america and even the democrats no, they don't want to admit it but they know it and i think they've appreciated the fact that he's open to both sides but he's a tough guy and frankly if we hadn't had him, we would have gone great to socialism, no question about that. >> you ran for president in 2000. >> i don't know that i would call it a run for president. i knew i didn't have a chance. i wanted to get my ideas across and i did because those iran against were listening and some

of the debates got some important points across that i knew i didn't have a chance. >> what were you hoping to accomplish? >> to get people to change and become more dedicated to doing what's right and the government. we got a lot of love done, george w. bush paid a lot of attention and took my arguments, not that he didn't have the ability, he did, i like him to this day, he is a great president. i think i played a role in that. >> had his know he was listening to your ideas? did he talk to you? >> yes. we've had a lot of conversations

together but made it clear he appreciated what i was doing and some of the things i convinced him were important for his administration and i was so impressed with him because he had the guts to do some of the things a lot of republicans didn't. i thought he was a great president. even though the democrats made fun of him but even they are coming around now, they did a good job under trying and difficult circumstances. >> growing up in pittsburgh, did you think one day would be a senator and possibly run for president? >> no but i knew i was special. i grew up in poverty, we didn't have anything. i raised chickens and sold the eggs, delivered the eggs. it didn't look like it could even go to college. i learned a laughing trade and

i'm good at it and they've made pretty good morning at it, to. but turn it around for me as my mother knew i was and she was encouraged me to go to college and i got a scholarship that just came in the mail for $25. i was so impressed somebody thought i was worth something so i decided to go and i went and i had to work my way through both during the summer at my special trade but also as a janitor. kennedy found out i worked as a janitor and he said he should have stuck with it. [laughter] i won't tell you what i told him. [laughter] >> you should tell us. >> i did tell him, i'm just not going to tell you. >> after you were in utah or in

college, then what sparked your interest in the law and law school? >> i graduated from byu in my first two years before i went on my two year mission for the church, the mormon church, i would have a b average and i didn't take it seriously, i enjoyed it but didn't take it seriously. when i came back, i thought i better bring it up so i did. i was working at my trade in the summertime after i graduated and i decided i would go to my byu friends but i did know how to do that. i knew i wasn't going to be able to do that so one saturday i took l.a. as t without a course,

i didn't know there was a grand course. [laughter] i passed it. not having taken another class and he was the university of pittsburgh. i thought while i was there i better go to the law school, the 14th and 15th floor at the time and apply here. my friends were applying at georgetown and places like that. they could afford it, i couldn't. i went up there and the door was locked for the registrar's office i had to work every day and i turned around and a roly-poly law professor around the corner and they said can i help you? i wish you could, i said i'd

like to apply to law school. i said brings him university. i said are you a mormon? i said yes, sir. he said i think i was there in the state of get arizona and he said they've got mormons, they were the toughest competition the whole time i was in school. why don't you apply for a scholarship here? i said my first two years before i went on my mission. he said he went on a mission for two years? i said it was the greatest time of my life and said i didn't do it while the first two years because i had a lot of fun. he said what's your gpa? i said three, 34. he said i'm on the scholarship committee. [laughter] why don't your. apply? quorum be

dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: now, before i begin the substance of remarks today, i want to note how the senate mourns the loss of one of its fine public servants, senator orrin hatch, the longest serving republican in the history of the senate, the sixth longest senator to serve passed away at 88. in our 20 years serving together, our disagreements were frequent, they often ran deep. i know he was a person of good faith who put the needs of his state above all else of while nobody ever mistook mr. hatch as anything other than a principled conservative, but he was never afraid to work with democratic members to get things done. i will always admire him for that. the people of utah lost a titan,

one that will not likely come through this chamber in a long time. my prayer and condolences go to senator hatch's wife elaine and his family. may he forever rest in peace and we thank him for his lifetime of public service. today, madam president, the senate gavels in for the start of a five-week work period, and there's much, much that the american people people want us and need us to work on in order to lower costs and improve their daily lives. that will be one of our primary focuses. the senate will continue to confirm president biden's administrative and judicial nominees. we will vote on lael brainard. ms. brainard received bipartisan backing in the committee. as soon as tomorrow, the senate will proceed on the nomination

of lisa cook to sit on the federal reserve board of governors. coming from humble beginnings in rural georgia where her family fought segregation, she will be the first black woman ever to sit on the federal reserve board of governors. his qualifications are irrefutable. she is a professor at michigan state, a member of the chicago advisory board and served in president biden's council of economic advisors. in short, ms. cook belongs on the fed and i look forward to confirming her. this week the senate will confirm alvaro bedoya on the federal trade commissioner. mr. bedoya's confirmation is significant. if we want to lower costs, if we want to understand why the

things like the price of gasoline have surged, it is important to break the deadlock at the f.t.c. every time americans go to the pump, they just know something truly rotten is going on with america's energy sector. last year the top 25 oil and gas companies record $205 billion in profits. earlier this month, exxonmobil alone reported its highest quarterly profit since 2008, but has any of this translated into lower prices for americans? has any of this gone to help resolve our energy challenges? has any of it gone to increasing worker productivity? no, no, and no. instead of soaring energy profits -- instead soaring energy profits have fueled soaring stock buybacks. in the fourth-quarter of last

year, oil and gas companies stock buybacks rose by 2,000% -- 2,000%. they are making record profits and what do the c.e.o.'s do? they artificially increase the value of their stock simply by buying some of it back. that's not why stocks should go up. could they do something to reduce prices? wouldn't that help america more? could they do something to make their oil companies, their workers there better? no. there is something deeply wrong -- deeply wrong about seeing the largest oil and gas companies in the world drench top executives and top shareholders with cash while americans are struggling at the pump. that's why we need a fully functions f.t.c. as soon as possible so it can look under the hood of america's energy sector and determine if rising prices are in part due to shady

conduct? and i believe in part they are. for that reason we must confirm mr. bedoya at the end of the week. and i say to my republican, if you are complaining about oil and gas prices, one of the best thiks to do is to have the f.t.c. take a look, propose action and act. on this very same, democrats are discussing and will consider other potential action to beef up the f.t.c.'s ability to look at potential price manipulation. we'll have more to say on this as the week progresses. madam president, also in the coming weeks, the senate must make progress on several pressing legislative priorities. we must help the people of ukraine in their fight against russian aggression. president biden announced the emergency funding ahe'd proved in march is close to -- funding

approved march is close to running out. two months into the war, putin's hopes for a quick takeover have all but extinguished thanks to the bravery of the ukrainian people and to the aide the u.s. has -- the aid the u.s. has given them. we muss make sure the ukrainian people continue to have the help they need for as long as they need it. approving additional aid for ukraine is a must and i expect swift bipartisan cooperation to get it done. this morning the president also announced he will nominate brigitte brink to serve as the next ambassador to ukraine. this is at a critical moment and the senate will prioritize her confirmation when she comes before the senate and move her nomination as quickly as possible.

the united states has not had an ambassador in ukraine since 2019 and ms. brink is an excellent choice to lead our diplomatic mission as we stand with the ukrainian people. she's a long-time veteran of eastern european affairs and has been confirmed unanimously by the senate to serve as ambassador to slow sloaska. i will continue to work with my colleagues to pass another bipartisan covid funding package. at the end of the last work period, democrats and republicans reached an agreement on a package only to have every republican vote against it, every single one. this funding is desperately needed. the best way to keep life as close to normal in case a new covid variant arises is to quickly approve more money for

testing, more money for lifesaving therapeutics and other urgent tools to fight the pandemic. the longer that republican senators refuse to work with us, the higher the cost will be for the country down the line. as we know, it doesn't take much for a new variant to undo the progress we made. both parties must come to the table and reach an agreement on covid funding. it will be vital for keeping schools, businesses and churches open if and when if a future more potent variant rears its ugly head. this week the senate will begin a formal conference committee with the house. if there's anything that republicans and democrats should be able to agree on and move speedily on, it should be a bipartisan bill that increases jobs, boosts innovation and gets tough on the chinese communist

party while shoring up the chips manufacturing here at home. this legislation has been well in the works for well over a year and i know members from both sides want to see us enter a conference as soon as we can. as the week progresses, republicans must come to the table and show they're willing to work with us to finalize a vote. both parties in both chambers have already announce hd their choices as to who should serve as conferees, so the time has come to finish this, so we can send competitiveness legislation to the president's desk for his signature. our economy and american consumers will be -- be far, far better off for it. i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. cornyn: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: madam president, are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: yes we are. mr. cornyn: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cornyn: madam president, the senate is now, of course, back in session following a two-week

homework period as we refer to it. that's when we get to go back home and see our friends and constituents and travel around our states and in my case, representing 29 million texans, that entails a fair amount of travel, but it's always good to get reconnected with your friends, neighbors, and constituents. i know we're eager to hit the ground running here this week and certainly we have a lot to do. for example, the conference committee process for the china competitiveness bill will begin soon and i'm eager to work with the fellow members of the conference committee to reach a strong bipartisan bill. the long list of unrelated partisan provisions in the house bill, though, have no place, in my opinion, in if the final agreement. but i'm ready to get the ball running so we can pass a bill that serves the american people, our economy and most importantly

our national security. in the next couple of weeks, as we know, we could well see another pandemic relief bill come to the floor for a vote. i hope this package includes a piece of legislation that senator padilla, the senator from california and i authored that would give state and local governments more flexibility to spend their excess covid dollars, in this case on infrastructure or disaster relief. this bill passed the senate unanimously and addresses a problem communities across our nation are facing. and there's no reason for it to be secluded from the larger package, so i'm optimistic. in the coming days, i hope the senate will also take action to reserve the use of title 42, the public health title addressing covid-19 following the president's reckless decision to

eliminate it with no alternative plan in place, which would invite even more chaos at our southern border. months ago, during the height of covid, the border patrol told me that title 42 was helpful in repelling migrants who were not claiming asylum and avoiding having to process them on this side of the border. but that was one of the few things given the huge number of asylum claims that were being made that permitted them to control the flow of people across the border at least in some manner. i'm proud to cosponsor a bipartisan bill introduced by senators lankford and senator sinema which would delay the end of title 42 until there is a reasonable, workable alternative in place. there's bipartisan support for this legislation, and i hope it will receive a vote here on the

senate floor very soon. these are just a few of the items on the senate's lengthy to-do list, but of course the single biggest item looming in the news and on our minds and hearts is the war in ukraine. over the last two months ukraine has endured unimaginable suffering and its brave people and soldiers continue to fight to save their country. as americans we cannot lose sight of our role in the conflict. our sons and daughters are not on the front lines nor are we obligated by a treaty like the north atlantic treaty to come to the aid of ukraine. but i believe we have a moral responsibility to aid a fellow democracy against this kind of unprovoked and outrageous aggression. we can't just send money and weapons halfway around the world and then pat ourselves on the back and say job well done. as i said, we have a moral

responsibility to help ukraine not only fight but also to win this war. we can't just prop up its forces to continue to take more hits without providing them a plan for them to sustain their efforts in the long run. over the last couple of months, folks across the political spectrum have united in support of ukraine. as a matter of fact, this has been one of the truly bipartisan responses that we've seen here in congress. bipartisan support of ukraine. i have to say amid so much pain and suffering, it's been encouraging to see people around the world not just here in america but around the world stand shoulder to shoulder in support of ukraine. as we know since the war began, the united states has provided billions of dollars in military assistance as well as humanitarian relief. this has come in the form of everything from body armor to

helmets to ammunition to javelin antitank missiles. but as we know more is needed. that was the message president zelenskyy delivered to members of congress. it was a message i heard from our partners in europe when i traveled to poland and jeerm any last month -- germany last month. and it's the same message we're hearing today. send us the weapons we need to defend ourselves against this unprovoked and barbarous invasion by the russian federation. daily ukrainian soldiers and civilians are being bludgeoned. we need to get them the resources they need to hold the line. and we need to continue to act with dispatch. just before the state work period, the senate passed legislation that would help make that more likely. it was called the bipartisan ukraine lend-lease act which i introduced with senator cardin that has broad bipartisan

support in the senate and it passed unanimousously -- unanimously here early last month. it's rooted in the same principle as the original lend listen lease act which occurred during world war ii whereby the united states became what franklin delano roosevelt called the arsenal of democracy. and we provided at the time up to $30 billion worth of materials, airplanes, ships, ammunition, all manner of weaponry which allowed great britain to hang on against nazi aggression. now, if you translate the amount of assistance that the united states gave our allies in world war ii under the lend listen lease -- lend-lease act signed into law by franklin roosevelt it would translate into $400 billion today. i think it's important to send a

strong bipartisan message that the united states congress supports ukraine, not just for today, not just for tomorrow, but for the long run. now that the senate has unanimously passed this bipartisan legislation, it's up to the house. as i said, this legislation is important, one, because it cuts the red tape and expedites the shipment and delivery of weapons. as it stands today, there are a lot of time consuming steps between the u.s. deciding to send more resources and the -- to the forces on the ground and between the time the decision is made and the time that weapons are actually received. as we can see by the devastating videos of this war, there is no time for delay or red tape. our assistance cannot move at the speed of the bureaucracy. and equally important is point number two. this bill ensures that we can

send ukraine -- send ukraine the resources it actually needs, not just what current authorities allow. president zelenskyy himself said ukraine can't shoot down russian missiles with shotguns and machine guns. we need to listen to what ukraine needs and send those items with dispatch. that's what this legislation provides for, nothing more and nothing less. it doesn't just help speed up the process of getting this equipment to ukraine. it will ensure that we are actually sending them the items they actually need and can actually use. now, i know i don't have to convince any senate colleagues that this is a good piece of legislation. we passed it unanimously two weeks ago. so we all understand what's at stake, and we're eager to remove the hurdles that prevent the united states from arming ukrainian forces with what they need to win this war as soon as we can get it in their hands. i hope our senate colleagues and

the american people will contact our colleagues in the house and encourage them to pass the ukraine democracy lend-lease act this week. every day we're learning more about the horrors unfolding in ukraine. we've seen russian war crimes in bucha and their well founded fears that the same carnage is unfolding in mariupol. these developments should light a fire under our colleagues in the house to pass this legislation as soon as possible. chris alexander is a former canadian diplomat who spent time posted at the canadian embassy in russia. he recently said lend-lease is a potential game changer in the war in ukraine. a potential game changer. there's no better way to describe this legislation or underscore its urgency. last week the ukrainian prime minister himself said that our lend-lease program is what

ukraine needs to win the war. over the last two months ukrainian forces have demonstrated unbelievable strength and bravery. so it's time once again for the united states to serve as that arsenal of democracy as franklin roosevelt called it and ensure that ukraine has the full range of resources it needs, not just for today, not just for tomorrow, but for the future as well. after this bill passed the senate, ukraine's minister for foreign affairs expressed his gratitude to all 100 senators who voted to pass the bill. and he said he looks forward to its swift passage in the house. so i would respectfully encourage speaker pelosi to bring this legislation to the floor for a vote this week so we can answer ukraine's call to provide more weapons, more quickly for the indefinite future. 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:

he said where did you go to school? is it bring him university. i said yes, sir. he said gosh, an arizona something and he said they got morgan mormons, for the toughest competition in school. he said why don't you apply for scholarship here? said my first two years, he went on a mission for the church? yes, two years. i said it was the greatest time of my life. i said i didn't do that well the first two years because i had a lot of fun. he said what's your gpa? i said three, 334. he said i'm of the scholarship committee. [laughter] what are you apply? so i went home and handwrote the

application, it had to be this lobbyist hand written think they ever saw. probably the reason i got an honor scholarship plus the fellow for all three years. when i got there, was gone, he moved on to another law school. i thought that was above and beyond a blessing to me. >> what did your parents say about that choice at that time? what influence did they have on your? >> it went beyond eighth grade, my father was the top-of-the-line in trade. he was a strong one and taught me his trade. i wasn't as good as he, i was better than he and a lot of the basic things when it came to the consequential things, he was the best in the country really,

really very humble, strong and good man. my mother only way to eighth grade. she kept encouraging me and she was a remarkable woman, everybody left her. was not a mormon, she was a methodist but she knew enough she wanted her to go to church so they were the pillars raised in pittsburgh at the time and we went every sunday for the few people on the way grandma, who would have gotten in trouble today because we have the kids in one car those two as well. my dad's mother were so good to

everybody. they were good to all the mormon missionaries came through. my dad had not been active for my mother who was toughest gradually joined the church and make sure he was active the rest of his life he became one of the leaders in pittsburgh at the time. and she knew that i was going when nobody thought that i was going when, i mean, i just moved six years before and utah is a rap stayed a lot of ways at the time and that she knew that i was going to win and she believed in me and she's very proud of me and so was my

dad and he wouldn't say it was and you know, they were really a humble home and in utah and very humble and everybody loved them reason i did is that they were really good people not very well educated but worked to their education up themselves and just very very good people. >> when you think back on your time here , what you think your legacy will be. >> we know, i think greater bills and nobody has ever done that before and i'm to bringing about it, i'm just think about off every day that i have been here pretty but i think my

legacy is that i was able to bridge the gap between the democrats and the republicans. in the praying and bring people like ted kennedy across just ted kennedy fit a lot of others as well believes ted kennedy because i know some of you knows how literally was and how partisan he was as well get him to come across and the partisan i know that he cared. and i cared for him, really dead. we would get into off of would yell and scream at each other and really, certainly fighting with each other and he did not want to do that with me but you know, i was with him when he got the stroke here in the senate are with him and you know, and -

>> while you had fun. >> oh yes along the way and vicki was the greatest catch of his life, and he backed a lot of things but he was a leading liberal democrat in the united states senate. and he was fun-loving and interesting but sometimes, very partisan main guy and get a kick out of this ride face all kinds of obstacles. it was hard for me and gradually, we cared for each other and i think that he knew it, he knew that i cared for him. >> given that experience, what is your advice to your successor. >> i think it's important that you be open to the ideas that the other side but don't give in to bad ideas and work your butt

off and if you work really hard, we've got a have not a lot of intelligence to be around here and we have great people here and there early brave people who i think had the intelligence as a matter of do they have the will, do they have the desire and do they have the bipartisan ship desire. some of them do with very few can do but ted kennedy and i would do. >> during these years, you've also kept up your copy of music come your love for music if we wrote a song about ted kennedy and his legacy new risen a lot of songs. what is your interesting music come from. >> will when i was a candidate sixers old, my mother had to take piano for six months and i guess of that i could play basic music like music on the piano

that then when i started the seventh grade, my mother had an old violin and she made sure that i played the violin. she went out of her way to see that i had lessons by some of the people that she thought could teach the violin and i became the concertmaster for the high school orchestra in my left eye school i didn't played anymore much to my chagrin, to document up but i did love the violin and one thing that my parents and especially my mother is they would drape together they were pork bisquick together $18.75, every year for me to get season passes to pittsburgh symphony orchestra which was at the time, one of the three greatest orchestras in the world and i would go every friday

night during season and sit in t heaven and that was where the music was the greatest much the greatest artists worldwide, almost every week during their season and i watch the greatest artist in the world. rubenstein and some of the greatest artist that ever played the piano and violin and i could go on and on but i am just saying that i had a real influence on me and my mother encouraged me and i would go and i would sit in and in heaven that i would just revel in it. >> you know senator, when you - we pursue your music career full-time. >> you never know. [laughter] that happened when wonderful musicians in utah, who like me

politically was had entrance and how about writing some music with me and it was after a funeral that we both and i did not know her and she saw me standing there came out of the chapel and she said, you write music and as i do and she said what she had a real reputation as a very very good artist and she said will how about writing songs with me okay i will. don't that we can wrote ten songs. the lyrics 210 songs in the became the first album as well and we wrote like separate albums after that and i had my favorite, the music went pretty far to and is really beautiful and she was very good, so much

better than i but i did come up with the lyrics. >> have a lot of interest that i'm interested in, i would like to write more. not just this rated music as well and i don't know that i will be able to do that. i would like to teach, i think the university may give me opportunities to teach. >> with every library in your name i think engineering matters has michael they say that when i think they would like to - because i am a good teacher and i am an interesting teacher of the experience to kind of inspire people and if they were

listening. there are a lot of other things i would like to do and never will support supporter of athletics and i played bass well throughout high school and i did not play in college i was in high school baseball team and i've always loved sports football, basketball and etc. and now i watched on tv most of the time. >> thank you for the conversation. >> what hope is been interesting

hatch on the longest serving republican in the history of the senate, and six longest serving member ever, passed away on saturday, at the age of 88 and senator hatch was a friend whomi respected colleague and legislator of rare skill, and 20 are serving together, our disagreements were frequent and they often went deep but i always knew him to be a person of good faith, with the needs of the state, above all else. nobody ever mistook senator hatch were any other than its principal that she was never afraid to work with his democratic colleagues when necessary, he would get things done and he would make compromises is in the room many times when i have it and i will always admire him for that and the people of utah loved this

weekend, when not likely that will come to the chamber again for a long time in my prayers and condolences go to senator hatch's family and friends, especially's wife elaine and her six children and many many grandchildren may he forever rest in peace and we thank him for his lifetime of public service pretty. >> within her hatchery retired three years ago, it also longest serving republican in its present the pro tem and also one of the kindest and best humor colleagues any of us have ever served with and for that matter, since only former band manager about mormon folk music group, he led an incredibly full and interesting and accomplished life and by the end of his tenure, very funny colleague like to poke fun at his own

longevity and i remember when ordering a former judiciary and judiciary chairman would pretend to recall his work on the justice confirmation back in 1811. humor aside the reality was impressive enough and orrin hatch's service for utah and our nation was a constant this chamber for 42 years and he was accomplished coming influence of chairman and three major committees, health judiciary and finance many businesses will legislator behind a long list landmark laws pretty from the hatch lot on generic drugs, the 1980s, the american disabilities act, and religious freedom restoration act, and state children's health insurance program all back in te

1990s and all of the way through to historic 2017, tax reforms. and orrin hatch served as finance chairman and engineer the best economic moment for american workers and families, in modern history. i also achievements for the great state of utah, that orrin hatch love you so much in the middle of that legislative heavy lifting, orrin hatch was also pivotal player concerning the senate source and other things and amazingly in the time of his retirement, he had personally dissipated in the confirmations for more than half of all of the article three judges who have ever served in american history. orrin hatch came as a young conservative in his first campaign for any public office of any kind was in the '90s of

disease, campaign and landing him here. and he loved the senate any wildly and marty universally liked the statesman and his legacy was with both big principal victories bipartisan collaboration and roster friends and family and spans the entire political spectrum and sometimes transcendent politics altogether. but there was never anything confusing what he did as he accomplished and accomplished his biggest all his remarkable marriage to elaine, loving family predict alphabetical order was perhaps never served any endeavor that when orrin hatch was assigned the chair next to hansen, elaine, and young university classroom, decades later and said that i cannot remember that astronomy class. [laughter] but the two of them got 65

inspiring years of marriage and a big happy brood of kids and grandkids, all out of the bargain. today the entire senate stands with elaine, and hatch family, and that huge huge network of friends, former staffers and admirers that pretty leaves behind across utah, and across our country. these great laws, and we honor his great life.

joined about people by congress joining us now legally covers congress and also joining us, mcmorris on the white house correspondent for the american urban radio network to both of you think you for giving us your time and mr. morris srv, we saw that present traveling talking about a college misleading up to november back in the white house, ukraine said to be a big topic and tells what we can expect in the white house on that. >> well it's going to be a huge thing first let me tell you that bit about that because of the weekend we saw defense secretary austin and they were traveling

into kyiv and zelensky and in the travel, what we know is coming out of that is with the president is going to do is that number one there going to have the diplomats back to the area and were little bit behind not only that were also going to see more money into the fighting that's going to be going on there and also now and ambassadors going to be assigned to the area and to reestablish diplomatic presence and so were going to see bling come one of the white house, you see the present go before congress he's going to ask for more money in the budget one thing that i want us to look to see as if that's going to be connected to covid-19 relief money that's going to be and what we talk about with the white house is going to do because we saw what happened with covid-19 relief and immigration policies. it did not go through because of that issue as others minute

press fourth out and there also things that people been asking for congressman portland and he has dark about whether or not - the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all those in favor say aye. opposed no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar 800. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all those in favor say aye. those opposed no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary. cheryl garnet of california to be united states district judge for the district of california.

mr. schumer: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate do hereby move to bring to a close the debate on the nomination of executive calendar number 800, sherilyn garnet of california to be united states district judge for the central district of california signed by 17 senators as follows. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all those in favor say aye. opposed no. the motion is agreed to. mr. schumer: i move to executive calendar to consider 865. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. the ayes have it. the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, department of housing and urban development. jewel are a ruth gordon -- jewel are a ruth gordon of maryland. we, the undersigned senators,

in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of executive calendar number 865, julia ruth gordon of maryland to be assistant secretary of housing and urban development signed by 16 senators as follows. mr. schumer: i ask consent the reading of the names be wavered. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all those in favor say aye. opposed no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to executive session, calendar 670. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all those in favor say aye. opposed no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report. c. the clerk: nomination, department of labor. lisa m. gomez of new jersey to be assistant secretary. mr. schumer: i send a cloture motion to the desk. mr. schumer: we, the undersigned senators, noarns --.

the clerk: we hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of lisa m. gomez of new jersey to be an assistant secretary of labor, signed by 17 senators as follows. mr. schumer: i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: finally, i ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum calls for the cloture motions filed today, april 25, be waived. the presiding officer: without objection.

the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby bring to a close debate on the nomination of executive calendar 878, lael brainard, of the district of columbia, to be vice chairman of the bored of

governors of the federal reserve system? the presiding officer: the question is, is it the sense of the senate that the nomination of lael brainard, of the district of columbia, to be vice chairman of the board of governors of the federal reserve system? vote:

vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: on this vote, the yeas are 54, the nays are 40, and the motion is agreed to.

mr. portman: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. portman: i'm coming on the floor again this evening to talk about the tragedy that's unfolding in ukraine. this is the ninth week in a row during sessions that i have come to the floor to talk about the brutal and unprovoked russian invasion of ukraine. ukraine, an ally of ours, a democratic country, and a sovereign country. it's now been more than two months since russia's assault began, and ukrainians continue to fight, with heart, toughness and conviction. the russians have been defeated in kiev, the capital of ukraine. and the russian black sea flagship, the maskva was sunk by ukrainian neptune missiles. there have been some successes. while ukraine has impressed the

world, the senseless killing of civilians by russia continues. in this new stage of the war, russia's began an intensified offensive in the donbas region in the eastern part of ukraine. a few days ago, a comondzer affirmed their goal is to gain full control of dnask, all of the donbas in eastern ukraine, rather than than the roughly 50% they took in twifl -- in 2015. cutting ukraine off from the black sea ports, leaving one of the most important exporters land locked. the commander threatened the territorial integrity of the small country of moldova by saying this will connect russia to the breakaway prorve ins where troops were -- province where troops were already stationed. today with we heard reports of bombs hitting the state building when no one was there, by the way. some say this could be a false

flag attack, giving russia excuse to invead all of -- invade all of moldova. all of the countries are nervous, worried for a good reason. they could be next. i can see why they're concerned. we've all seen with our own eyes what's going on, on television, online, videos we've seen, but let's not forget, russia continues to commit war crimes and display underrer dis-- utter disregard for human lives. they continue to prevent evacuation from civilians from mariupol. they've executed noncombatants. now there are reports of systemic rape and torture by russian soldiers. this is on top of previous confirmed reports of use of cluster munitions on civilians. as of february 28, the international criminal court announced allegations would be investigated. that's good. that must happen.

but if they wait and have the proceedings once the war is over, in my view, that is too late. the perpetrators must be brought to justice. these horrific russian assaults on innocent ukrainian families in bucha, mariupol and elsewhere, the bombing of civilian targets, rapes, tortures, all are crimes against humanity and russia must be held accountable for war crimes, not later, but now. if there's not accountability, more senseless killings in ukraine will occur and these atrocities are likely to be repeated by others in the future. many of my colleagues and i run a video -- weren a video call good with the ukrainian prime min ter. he ex preachessed his -- prime minister. he expressed appreciation for the support in the senate, house, and administration. he stressed the need for heavy weapons to push russia back in the donbas region.

he detailed how the country's economy has been severely damaged and what they need to stay afloat. regarding military assistance, i'm pleased this past week the white house heeded calls from a bipartisan group of us to appoint a ukrainian security assistance coordinator to cut through the red tape and get the right military assistance to ukraine more quickly. it is important with so many agencies and individuals involved that one person be solely focused on this and held accountable. that person, the white house has appointed is three-star general terry wolf, who has extensive experience as the former deputy special presidential envoy for the global coalition to counter issil and commanded every level from platoon to armored division. from the start of this, i said we need to do more and more quickly. we cannot do that if our assistance gets bogged down by the bureaucracy. every delay in lethal aid costs ukrainian lives. i'm pleased we have a coordinator, and i hope this

will streamline the process. i'm encouraged the administration recently announced further assistance of $800 million in artillery, ammunition, armored vehicles and new loitering munitions, the phoenix ghost. this is a suicidal drone that is now in the hands of the ukrainians. that's promising. i understand that the $ 3.4 billion in security assistance congress passed in march will soon be exhausted and that there will be a need for additional supplemental funding for ukraine. i encourage the administration to go ahead and look at that package, send it to us, get us thinking about it. when it comes here for a vote, i think we need to act quickly on it, review what the administration has sent, and be sure we do it on standalone basis rather than bogged down in unrelated legislative matters. i'm also pleased that some state national guards are sending armored vehicles to assistance ukraine.

from ohio, we'll provide m-113 armored personnel carriers as a drawdown of d.o.d. inventories to support ukraine. this sends a strong message of support to our allies from the buckeye state. i appreciate the number of police departments from ohio, including cleveland, providing over 200 protective vests to ukrainians. thank you. last week i had the chance to visit an incredibly effective nonprofit in ohio that collects donated medical supplies from hospitals antdz provides -- and provides these to countries in need. sometimes because of a natural disaster. in this case, because of war. today, their major focus is on ukraine. where they have delivered over seven tons of badly needed medical supplies, and this effort continues. again, i thank them for what they're doing. i thank all the hospitals and all the private practices that have donated equipment to be

able to be sent to ukraine to save lives. as we all know, this war continues to produce a staggering number of refugees. last week the white house announced the program uniting for ukraine to streamline the process for bringing 100,000 refugees with strong ties to the united states into our country. uniting for ukraine will allow meshes and organizations here -- americans and organizations here to sponsor ukrainians forced to leave their country. american sponsor will be required to show financial support for applicants and must meet applications and biographic and biometric screening, vetting, and security checks. that's all good. these individuals will be allowed to work and remain in the u.s. legally up to two years. i have heard personally from so many generous ohioan whose want to open their homes to these refugees, want to be right field line. more than -- want to be helpful. more than 500,000 people have called and a numbers of

businesses expressed jobs to these refugees. i urge the administration to staff up this program to bring some of these desperate refugees to the united states as planned. unfortunately, i'm finding out that there is no online portal yet, no way for people to be able to know how they can participate in this process. so my hope is that we launch this online portal with applications soon so folks who want to sponsor ukrainians fleeing the war are able to do so. i wish this was done sooner, about you this is a step in the right direction. our partners in europe are doing more than their fair share here. hor more than -- more than 5 million ukrainians have crossed into neighboring countries in europe. in poland last month, meeting with refugees, poland has taken in almost three million refugees alone. i think poland is to be commended with the way they have responded to this ukrainian

crisis in so many respects, including taking these refugees. we saw cars lined up at the processing center at the border of everyday poles there to pick up refugees and take them into their home. hungary and slovakia have taken in hundreds of thousands too. surely, the united states can get our act together with regard to the hundred thousand. i'm pleased that secretaries blinken and austin met with president zelenskyy yesterday in kiev. this is the first time since the war began two months ago that we've had american diplomats in. i think it's important that we are there. the europeans are there. other countries are there. we need to be there, too. i'm glad to hear that he were finally reestablishing our diplomatic presence in kiev. i'm also pleased that the administration is finally nominating an ambassador to ukraine. we've had no ambassador to ukraine during this administration. they have indicated they're going to nominate bridget brink who is a career foreign service officer and current u.s. ambassador to slovakia so she

has critical experience in the area. while boast of these moves were overdue, i commend the administration for acting. sending a signal to our allies that the united states is serious about standing with ukraine. let's get our diplomats back to the capital, back to kiev and let get an ambassador in place as soon as possible. on the sanctions front, i believe we should be seizing, not just freezing, assets of kremlin supporters and provide the funds from the sale of these assets to meet the needs of ukraine. to do this i introduced with senator bennet of clferred the repurpose -- colorado the repurposing of emergency funds relief act for ukraine. to require that the department of justice to direct any funds resulting from the disposal of seized russian assets to support ukrainian refugees and support reconstruction. so like other countries have done, including france and germany, let's seize these assets like yachts owned by the kremlin supporters or by president vladimir putin