♪♪ >> the government funded by these television companies and more including cox. ♪♪ ♪♪ >> u.s. senate is dabbling into session for the day and we will work on more president biden's executive nominations. coming up 5:30 p.m. eastern tonight, lawmakers are expected to vote limited debate on joshua, serve as assistant secretary financial market. later this week, instructions

senate negotiators on science and technology funding bill that would help u.s. semiconductor makers be more competitive with china. live now to the floor of the u.s. senate here on c-span2. the the president pro tempore: the senate will come to order. the chaplain, dr. barry black, will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. almighty and everlasting god, by whose spirit we are governed and sanctified, thank you for continuing to hear and answer our prayers. lord, we have repeatedly prayed for ukraine;

you have filled us with your peace and patience as we have watched the unfolding of your prevailing providence in that ravaged land. continue to use our lawmakers to accomplish your purposes on earth. lord, fill our senators with faith, hope, and courage, as they strive to live for your honor. with your wisdom, mercy and power, keep them steadfast in your matchless love. we pray in your sovereign name. amen. the president pro tempore: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america,

and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the postal -- the president pro tempore: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved.

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

>> :income. we're not at the point where there's disposal oranything along those lines . >> following up as well on information this morning. two examples were you

mentioned that information from cartels and also information from extremist groups. just in terms of clarifying, can you help me assess how this would look for the person right now that sees disinformation online or cartels hearing a segment on the radio. how exactly with this affect that? would the backcheck and guidance or what would it contextually bewhen it comes to the work ? >> continuing the work that was done by system this would continue that work and help coordinate internal activities from the department related to do disinformation that poses a threat to the homeland. we gave some examples of terrorist threats of course but also which different, the smugglers that they do pushing disinformation.

the mandate is not to adjudicate or to revolve online or otherwise. it will operate in a local manner. it is meant to coordinate a lot of the unwilling work that is happening and their focus is on disinformation threats to the homeland as i noted things like that would inciteviolent extremism . human traffickers and the transnational criminal organizations. any efforts to malign foreign influence, anything that would endanger individuals duringemergencies a lot of this work is about work that people may not see every day that's ongoing by the department . >> would therebe something that would or would all this happened close to work . >> they certainly would consider putting out projects that represent the departments review on disinformation related matters but that's their overarching objective . they don't have a determination about what that would be. >> what would dhs be relying on when determining what

would be information on extremist groups. were they lying on the fbi or second post violence or is there some other kind of platform that dhs is relying on ? >> i'm not sure there's much detail i can get into from here. this is ongoing work that's been happening back to 20/20 and i would point you to any more details on any sources. >> is being run through system? >> it continuing that work at the department of homeland security. >> one more on student debt forgiveness. republicans have already been putting out to criticize any action that the president takes and moved to help the wealthy. if there are income caps that you just deducted there would it be done in a way that would prevent this program from being a program for college going wealthy.

that would be equitable in terms of helping kids or students who need it more. >> that's the goal is to make sure it targets people who need help the most. >> then the post reported that the white house was in talks of having employees of starbucks and amazon help their respective union drive there. perhaps visit the white house, can you confirm that? is that that the president wants to host those union workers ? >> we are in regular talks with union workers and union leaders and in large part because the president has been long been an advocate of collaborative bargaining rights and of the right of anyone to join a union. but i don'thave anything to preview . >> following up on the question of speaker policy, at that time it was just democrats who went with her. no republicans is the

president disappointed at all or is that a missed opportunity or show of support? not only americans but ukrainians? >> i believe her office spoke to this already and did offer to include republicans on their trip. as would be standard for security reasons if they didn't get into details about the fact they would be going to ukraine. they conveyed it as a whole and and any republican they reachout to . >> one of our agency washington post poll found eight in 10 americans are expressing worries about a wider war with the possible use of nuclear weapons by russia. given russia made it clear nato has engaged in a false war what is the white house's message to americans right now? >> it's an important step to take in the responsibility of veterans to declare this is not a proxy war . i know this is a russian

talking points on this but it is not a proxy war. this is a war between russia and ukraine. nato is not involved. the united states is not fighting this war so it's vital for all of us to not repeat the kremlin's talking points on this front and i would say that the russians themselves over time including as recently as last year made clear that no nuclear war could not be one . we agree with that. that is important for every country to restate and every elected official to restate around the country here as well. so i would note the president's view and position continues to be we are not putting us troopson the ground to fight this war and that's something we will continue to reiterate for americans . >> the united states was putting support in place for this moment whether you can be more specific when talking about the gesture of coordinated potential with the us the concrete announcement ofmilitary aid

for ukraine . >> not yet. >> maybe as we get closer to the end of the week. >> to questions about the biden's upcoming visit to east asia. we know some of the very first east asia or asia countries that president biden will visit. mainly for 60 years no us president has visited south korea for his term. >> many us presidents have visited . >> but the first significant. so is this a signal of a change of how the beta would work ineast asia . >> in whatcapacity ? >> the us would focus more on for example the issue of north korea and also maybe have invited south korea to join.

>> there are many ways we engage with south korea. it's incredibly important partnership, relationship but the quad will remain the quad. we will engage with south korea through a range of mechanisms and continue to work on the strength of our relationship. in terms of the order of the trip i would not over read into that. obviously we have strong relationships with japan and south korea and north korea will of course beon the agenda. the agenda will have to be previewed . >> us safety is reviewing south korea joining the quad. in writing when we do limitations on the united states to invite south korea to join. >> i don't see any predicament at this point that i would note we have an

incredibly important vital relationship with south korea. we work on a range ofissues in the region and that is the reason why the president is going to be visiting . >> the competitiveness bill are three big tax ahead of us . that's a pretty tall legislative order. what is the president doing specifically to get those legislative prioritiesacross the finish line ? >>is going to alabama tomorrow . as i previewed up everything to make the case in his remarks about how vital it is to move the nation forward and he and his team we been engaged already for the last several days and calls and outreach and engagement conveying how important it is to move these pieces of legislation forward and certainly there are priorities . i know that tomorrow is not just talking about the supplemental package but talking about the bipartisan innovation act and how important it is . how we can continue to

support not only the defense industry but other issues . >> mainly referring to the time period to get all three of those things done whether or not the white house things that is likely . >> i don't want to set a timeline but the president has conveyed the urgency of moving these pieces of legislation forward. you've seen comments from a number of senators about that as well. about the urgency of moving the supplemental package forward. hopefully next week we will see more activity on house. >> how did the white house get from making a decision on bringing down student debt by the end of august to making a decision in the next couple of weeks ? >> by the end of august and the next couple of weeks is the same thing . >> does the president feel a timeline for making a decision due to political pressure ? >> what we convey is that is

a timeline through which the applause on student debt goes through. it was before that time unless it was, unless the president decided to extend it a decision would be made. i don't have a preview of when there would be any announcement and there's not a final decision about student debt but in advance of that is what we said. >> two questions, one on the president's agenda, senator joe manchin is saying he wants a package that includes deficit reduction. that is something president biden supported. what does the president think now? >> the president is a huge advocate for deficit reduction. he reduced the deficit last year by 300 billion on his watch, something people forget and certainly is advocacy for how they have been making attacks system so fair would help do that as well.

i haven't had this conversation with him about a budget amendment. i'm not aware of that moving through and i'd behappy to see if we can update . >> one more on kind of midterm payment. some of the republican senators are retiring and i wonder your thoughts about what you're hearing from the republican party in places like ohio and a chance for working across party lines in the future. >> i'm not going to get ahead of the election but what we're seeing across the board is even with the former president not on the campaign trail we are seeing quite a few republicans out there are tackling his sentiment. so i think that speaks more to where the party is that it does to anything else. >> you said the memo was being done by the education

department whether or not the president can sign off on the $2000 forstudent debt . is it done, is the president waiting on that piece? >> that's the policy for sf. that's ongoing and there's always legal considerations as it relates to executive orders which is in conjunction with the department of education but we have of course consultwith the department of justice . >> have those memos been done? >> i don't have status on an internal memo but the president said continuing to consider and take a very hard look at close look at providing debt relief and something that relief and hopefully wewill have more on . >>

have to. the owner of a long-standing butcher shop nearby said, quote, we're all holding our breath. that goes for small business owners and shoppers alike. one new poll found that 94% of americans are upset or concerned

about inflation, and they're overwhelmingly not happy, not happy with what the biden administration is doing about it, just 28% of the country approved of president biden's handling of inflation. the worst part is that this pain was certainly not inevitable. american families could have been spared all of this. last spring democrats had inherited an economy that was ready for a historic comeback. even top liberal economists, such as larry summers and jason furman, both senior advisers to the obama white house, warned, warned that democrats' $2 trillion spending binge was completely out of proportion to the remaining output gap. the country didn't need anything like it. summers warned of inflationary pressures of a kind we've not

seen in a generation. furman said it's definitely too big for the moment. but democratic politicians didn't listen. here's the senate, a democrat leader said, quote, i do not think the dangers of inflation, at least in the near term, are very real. that was leader schumer last march. so they spent all that money anyway. and sadly for the american people the rest is now history. democrats spent $2 trillion of the american people's money and purchased the worst inflation in more than 40 years. well, actually, that's not all it purchased. sure, the democrats' $2 trillion didn't buy our country anything lasting like a hoover dam or an interstate highway system. nothing like that. but the money had to go someplace, and boy, did it ever.

democrats and lots of the media spent most of 20 and 2021 shouting that republicans were risking calamity because we didn't want to dump endless sums into slush funds for state and local government. turns out we were right and they were wrong. state and local governments are now so awash in democrat bailout money they can't even figure out where to put it. one recent news report found this bonanza is, quote, pro -- has, quote, provided a boone for localities seeking to build or upgrade their pickle ball amenities. yeah, you heard that right. dozens of municipalities are adding pickle ball courts to their park and recreation offerings. and many are using a slice of their coronavirus aid package to underwrite the construction

boom. if the hoover dam and lincoln tunnel are enduring monuments to the new deal's infrastructure spending, well, perhaps pickle ball courts will become a lasting legacy of the $ 1.9 trillion american rescue plan. in new york one county set aside $12 million in so-called relief funds to renovate a minor league baseball stadium. in iowa county officials put aside $2 million -- listen to this -- to buy a private ski area. in colorado two golf courses are getting their irrigation systems replaced, thank goodness. in wisconsin a skate park is getting a million dollar makeover. the american rescue plan didn't rescue working people from anything. it only rescued bureaucrats from any semblance, any semblance of fiscal sanity. remember democrats openly

admitted they viewed the pandemic relief as an ideological trojan horse. they called this terrible, deadly virus, quote, a tremendous opportunity to restructure things to fit our vision. and so right on cue, their so-called rescue plan has funded environmental justice grants to address something called ineccable -- inequitable free can any coverage in massachusetts. some in the grip of big labor are using their windfalls to advance bizarre indoctrination in things like critical race theory. the rescue plan dollars have funded staff trainings to make sure the educators paid to look after young kids are up on all the latest woke buzzwords and causes. the american people wouldn't

want this junk if it were free. they definitely don't want it for the price tag of $2 -- $2 trillion of their money and the worst inflation in a generation. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: ÷p >> joining us at the start of

a very busy month when it comes to midterm primaries. jacob remastering, 12 states holding primaries over the next 30 days or so. is that calendar like it seems like everything else this election cycle. has that been impacted by the decennial redistricting process? are we seeing more primaries this month than normal? >> every state determines its own scheduling over the course of the election season when they hold their primaries . when the filing dates are and in certain instances the dates states that have this earliest primaries are a state like north carolina

coming up in a few weeks was originally supposed to hold their primary about two months earlier but because of ongoing litigation about the redistricting process which itself had been delayed because of the reapportionment process they got pushed back so it's a more concentrated schedule then perhaps we're used to because of the whole cascading set of issues over the past year. >> andit begins tomorrow in hoosier state in the buckeye state . let's start in ohio. who at this point one day out is the expected candidate who's going to be trying to hold that senate seat that republican senate seat that rob portman is getting. >> is looking like a two-man race for the top spot potentially a three-man race . jd vance the venture capitalist and memoirist obviously securing the trump endorsement was a big boostto his campaign . he has been pulling first for the first time throughout the entire campaign but josh

mandel the former state treasurer whose run forsenate before is a well-known figure . continues to be one of the top pulling candidates in that race and perhaps most interesting development over the last week or so is matt dolan was a current state senator. part owner of the cleveland guardians baseball team who is the only candidate running as a perhaps post-trump candidate rather than a pro trump candidate who has spent many millions of his own dollars on campaign ads. he has started to see a bump inthe polls as well as we close out this race . >> the wall street journal today with the same idea we had talking about the month of trying primaries made primary tests trumps sway in the gop is the headline and there you see jd vance the first candidate there in that list of pictures and interesting development in that race as well. when it comes to donald trump and these republican candidates. was a trump for growth act that came out that seemed to doing donald trump . >>

victims with bullet wounds. when i met with those c.e.o.'s in 2018, we talked about how you not only treat this kind of violence but how you prevent it. we launched something called the chicago heal initiative. it stands for hospital, engagement, action, leadership. despite being competitors, these ten hospital c.e.o.'s sat down and on their own without my input, without my urging or any federal mandates wrote 16 things they thought they could achieve over a span of three years. i looked at the list and said this sounds good to me. we knew we couldn't solve every aspect of the complex problem facing us with gun violence, but it was a good start. they said to me the first time we've ever gotten together and we were able to come up with an agreement. well, last week the three years were up and we announced what

happened at these hospitals over the last three years. the gunshot patient in the emergency room, hospitals are not longer just stitching up their wounds. they're also addressing the emotional scars to prevent retaliation. last year 3,000 gunshot victims were paired with counselors and case workers. without these interventions, we know that nearly half, half of the gunshot victims would be back in the hospital within five years. that's a fact. but the hospitals are also looking further upstream to try to put an end to violence in the city of chicago. people say the best way to stop a bullet is with a job. well, these ten hospitals took that to heart. over the last three years, these ten hospitals increased new hires from the neighborhoods of the highest gun violence which face more poverty than other neighborhoods, obviously, by a

whopping 21%. here's what they do. they go into the high schools and middle schools around the hospitals where they do business and sit down and talk to the kids and say how would you like to shadow one of our nurses or one of our doctors, see what it's like in the hospital here and maybe even have a summer internship. all of a sudden young people are taking an interest in that hospital that they walk by every day and never ever related to. the hospitals also decided they have economic clout. think of the money that is spent on goods and supplies at every hospital in america. well, they decided to reach out to their suppliers and say to them we're going to give you special consideration if you will locate part of your business in the neighborhood around our hospital so that people in the neighborhoods can be working to provide the goods and materials that we need. they increased goods and services from local suppliers by nearly 30%. $120 million last year.

just the beginning, seed money to get these businesses in the neighborhood supplying the hospital. importantly, these ten hospitals are going in the chicago middle and high schools offering apprenticeship programs and it's working. last year 5,000 students went through these apprenticeship and intern programs. this is especially important two years into the pandemic. our hospitals have been hit with shortages of nurses, doctors, critical support staff not just in the city of chicago, i might add, but the entire state. i spoke to the southern illinois health clinic c.e.o. and he's talked to me about the same thing they're running into in chicago. they just don't have enough medical professionals. i met last week with members of the illinois hospital association. they told me the shortages and burnouts in our health workforces are top concern. they're working with local schools to recruit students. madam president, a few years ago i kept hearing this nursing shortage, nursing shortage, and i decided i had to learn what was behind this.

and it's a very simple fact of economics. and here's what it comes down to. if you are a registered nurse in my state of illinois, it is not uncommon for you to have an opportunity to make a six-figure salary, not uncommon at all. and particularly if you're in a big city, you're going to make that much money. that's a good salary, and i believe these nurses deserve it. but then you say well, we need more nurses. we need to have more nurse training. well, what do you need for nurse training? a teacher, a professor. how do you take a registered nurse and turn that registered nurse into a professor? two years for a master's degree in nursing. obvious question, what is that nurse going to do for two years while she's going to school or he's going to school to become a professor? they're not going to get the six-figure salary they were earning as r.n.'s so there's an obvious economic disincentive for them to go into teaching

even if they want to do it. let's assume they get through the two years and the matzer's degree -- master's degree and now they're professors. the amount they're being paid at the community college or the nursing school is not comparable to the salary of an r.n. so the economics of the situation come in as a great obstacle. so what happens -- you know this, i'm sure, very well, senator -- what happens to the hospital that doesn't have enough nurses? they have to go out for what they call contract nurses. i'm not holding anything against these people. they make a living and pretty smart at it. they make themselves available. some of them move all over the country to be in different hospitals. and they get paid dramatically more than the r.n.'s on the regular staff. one hospital told me they pay three times the rate for a contract nurse as a regular nurse. another said five times the rate. if you can think what that means, the budgets of these hospitals and clinics are going through the roof with these

additional costs for nursing shortage. so we've got to find a way to create the economics of more nursing professors from the r.n. pool that is overtaxed, working hard, getting paid six figures and move them into teaching ranks. the obvious beneficiaries are all of us in america but directly it's hospitals and clinics so they have to find -- join with us in a joint effort to try to solve this problem. we also know that trauma is the root of much of the pain and conflict in our neighborhoods. you've heard the phrase hurt people, hurt people. almost 30 years ago the c.d.c. did a study on adverse childhood experiences called aces. they found witnessing violence or growing up without a stable home can really have an impact on the human mind, the mind of a child. without the right help that trauma can rewierp a child's brain -- rewire a child's brain and change the way they see the

world. it's not hard to see how this fuels the cycle of violence. under heal these ten chicago hospitals are bringing their medical expertise into the community to help children cope with traumatic experiences. i've seen if in a classroom. one of the classrooms called calm classrooms, a project which teaches meditation in school. i was in a classroom of third graders and the teacher said to the kids at their deck, now we're going to be quiet for five minutes. so everybody just think about what we're going to do today. there was one kid who just couldn't do t he was fidgeting. he wanted to talk. she was telling him, no, no, be quiet for a while. i said, that little boy is going through some problems at home. she said, what are you going to do about it? i said, senator, i'm a teacher. i'm note a psychologist -- i'm not a psychologist. he needs somebody to sit down to talk with him right now.

for a lot of kids, there's an adjustment. they need a helping hand. so what we're trying to teach is what's going on with mental health issues, wellness issues, trauma issues all relate to the outcomes we're looking for. kids who are successful in school and kids who avoid the gangs and violence on the street. two weeks ago i visited drake elementary school, the drake dragons. where i toured one of the school clinics and the mobile health van. listen to this, senator, you're going to like this. they have a clinic in the school itself. they treat the kids with counseling and physical health, whatever needs they have. they of course are there for the staff. but they also make it open to the families of the kids. no questions asked, come on down to our clinic. when you drop your kid off at school, come on into the clinic if you need a helping hand. and they've expanded it out to the neighborhood as well. it is a great idea and it's based in the school. that's what i like it. it's been years and years since i was in the grade school.

we had an occasional school nurse. but that was about it. what would you think about a real clinic in the school? and over half of the people that have come in need mental health counseling. it is an important part of life, and they're responding to it. we were joined on our meeting just a week or so ago by dr. well -- dr. walinsky. in the fiscal year 2032 budget, the president called for a $250 million investment in community violence intervention to support programs like the heal initiative. believe me, i'm going to knock on his door. in march in his state of the union address, the president urged lawmakers to consequently a bipartisan -- to come on a bipartisan basis to address mental health. debbie stabenow has been one of the strongest proponents of mental health. she was talking about this t the president hears the message and

he is delivering. i partnered also with senator capito, republican of west virginia, on the rise from trauma act, which will help more kids heal from trauma. our bill would increase the resources for trauma and form a workforce. projects like heal and this legislation with senator capito with really change lives for the better. let me say a word about gun violence because in the chicago of chicago, which i am honored to represent, it breaks my heart what's happening in that chicago. not last weekend but the weekend before, 37 shootings in the course of a weekend. seven people died. this weekend, nine people were killed, 26 others wounded by gunfire. this is the beginning of the summer months. i am afraid that it tells us we still have a massive challenge ahead of us. we have to do more, at every single level. let's start with what heal initiative is doing. bring some hope to the lives of folks.

give them an opportunity for a decent-paying job. let them have a place affordable to live that is safe from gunshots and other threats to a family. we've got to work on this together, to deal with the criminal justice system. we learned the hard way that simply putting tougher sentences down for something like crack cocaine is not necessarily the answer. in fact, it can backfire, as it did we learn over the last 20 years. we've got to have sensible criminal sentencing guidelines. keep dangerous people off the street, of course. but give people a chance to rebuild their lives. many of them will be able to do it. let me also say that we have to have effective prosecution. we lost one of our best chicago policewomen just last week. her name was ella french. ella french, a lovely young, respected police officer sitting in her car with her partner, a fellow came up with a gun, shot

her in the back of the head and unfortunately killed he had and then shot her partner in the head, too, and blinded had i am in one eye. his name is officer yanez. i met him at a parade. well, the tribute to ella french is something like i've never seen before in chicago. they went to a high school in the southern part of the city and took the chapel and set it aside for visitors to come and pay their respects. senator, you wouldn't believe the lines that went on for blocks, men and women in uniform and everybody else, myself, my wife, the to exin the city to pay -- somebody went into a federal gun dealer and said, i want to buy a gun. they looked and checked and that person had no criminal record. the p earn bought the gun -- the

person bought the gun and handed it to a convicted felon. that is a straw purchase. for too long we have treated that has a misdemeanor, something serious. it is serious. straw purchases are a way to avoid the prohibition under the law of a person with a criminal record buying a gun. we ought to treat it as a serious matter. i appeal to all in my state. take straw purchasing seriously. this is not a bookkeeping error. this is a deadly crime that can heal innocent, good people like ella french, and maple the officer who was with -- and maim the officer who was with her. this weekend, the one i just referred to 37 shootings, one of them was on sunday night. they went to the scene afterward and found 68 cartridges, 68. the people in the neighborhood

said, it you understand -- it sounded like a war zone. two of the cartridges were from an ak-47, which has no place anywhere, except maybe in the military, but in this case was being used in a shootout between two people in cars. they understanded up finding -- they ended up finding one of the people. he had a gun. he had the gun illegally. he doesn't have a firearm identification card required under illinois law. and after taking a look at the facts of the situation, they plan on charging him with a misdemeanor. what's going on here? a misdemeanor for a shootout on the streets of chicago with 68 cartridges on the ground afterwards? whether it is a straw purchase or a shootout with an ak-47, we've got to send out the message that this is unacceptable across this country. if you want to legally own a

gun, use it properly, i'm all for it. i think that's what the second amendment is all about. but what's going on on the streets of chicago and so many other cities is a shootout with a massive amount of guns that are finding their way out on the streets. we've got to take that seriously. let me close by saying last week the senate did a great job filling another critical law enforcement vacancy in chicago. we confirmed oak park police chief ladon reynolds. that seat to be vacant for almost four years. it's a critical position for reduce being crime and he can prosecuting our -- for reducing our crime and protecting our judges. breaking the cycle of violence in chicago and across america requires the best. all of us need to pull together -- families, schools, community organizations, law enforcement, the public health community,

faith leaders, the business community and more. i'm glad that the heal initiative is a start in that direction. we've got more work to do and we cannot allow any petty washington politics to get in the way. i yield the floor. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

jacob, 12 states helping primaries of the next 30 days or so. is that calendar like it seems like everything else this election cycle, is that impacted by the redistricting process? are we seeing more primaries than usual for me? >> every state determining its own scheduling when the filing dates are in certain instances, the state that are scheduled to the earliest primaries, north carolina for instance coming up in a few weeks was originally supposed to hold their primary about two months earlier but because of ongoing litigation about redistricting process which was also delayed because of their real portion process, they were pushed back so the more concentrated schedule then we are used to because of a cascading set of issues over the

last year. >> tomorrow in the hoosier state in the buckeye state, let's start in ohio, who is the expected candidate trying to hold the senate republican senate seat that rob is giving up? >> at least a two man race for the top spot potentially a three-man race. jd fans, the capitalist memoir, obviously the endorsement was a big boost to his campaign. he has been pulling first for the first time throughout the entire campaign but josh mandel, the former state treasurer is a well-known figure in the state, continues to be one of the top pulling candidates in the race and it's the most interesting development does last week or so, matt dolan, current state senator part owner of the cleveland guardians baseball team, the only candidate running as opposed trump candidate rather than probe trump candidate who's spent millions

of his own dollars on campaign as, he's stealing a bump in the polls as we close out the race. >> "wall street journal", the idea we've talked about a month of primaries, may primary test trump weight in the gop and you see jd fans, the first candidate in the list of pictures, an interesting development in that when it comes to donald trump, a gross add that came out that seemed to think donald trump for support of jd. i want to play that for our viewers. >> the elites were right busine. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session and resume consideration of the following nomination, which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, department of the treasury, joshua frost of new york to be an assistant secretary.

mr. grassley: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: there's been a lot of noise about canceling student debt. that's been going on for quite a few months, but it seems to have taken on a new life here within the last week or ten days. that whole talk is worse than closing the barn door after the horse has escaped. it's like buying a new horse but leaving the barn door open. if all student debt was gone tomorrow, we would be right back where we started when this whole new crop of students graduate. last month the administration unilaterally extended all the pause on paying back student loans for all borrowers until the end of august, regardless of need.

it doesn't matter that all americans are back to work now, if they want to be back to work. it doesn't matter if the borrower is making six figures and can afford to pay off their loans. the latest extension will bring the cost of this student loan payment pause up to about $150 billion. now just put that $150 billion in context, the entire department of education budget for this year is about half of that amount, at $80 billion. higher education advocates have been calling for the doubling of the pell grant. that's the program that targets aid to those with the most financial need. it's a noble goal to double the

pell grant, but of course congress needs to find the money somewhere to do just that. now instead the biden administration is spending billions of dollars to allow high earners with graduate degrees to not pay their loans with no say from the congress of the united states. and you know the president of the united states has been debating for months, maybe starting at the beginning of his term. did he really have the authority to do it? he has expressed the opinion, at least on the $50,000 figure, that he didn't figure he had the authority to do it. i question whether he has that authority at all. if you want to help those who owe more in student loans than they can afford to pay, we need

to fix the student loan program on the front end. in other words, we need to to change incentives and give colleges a reason to bring down tuition. right now a student is often looking in the dark about what they will end up paying to attend college and to get that degree. it's no wonder that prices rise when students don't know even what those prices are, and students are encouraged, of course, to borrow the maximum, even if they don't need that maximum, because that's what the federal law requires. so in response to this problem, about a federal policy, encouraging students to go into more debt than they need to to

get their degree, and also about the rising tuition costs because colleges think they can raise their tuition at will because the federal government is going to come in and help the student. so i've introduced three bipartisan bills to give students the information they need to make the choice that works best for them. my bills would make it easier for students to see how much each college would cost, what aid they're going to be getting, and what their average salary versus student loan payments would be. the answer isn't to cancel student debt only after students have gotten in well over their heads. it's to stop them from getting

into that situation in the very first place. and it certainly wouldn't be done unilaterally from the white house with no say from this congress on the $150 billion program. now even worse, the benefits of just canceling or pausing student debt are mainly going to those at the top of the income range. graduates with the most debt also tend to be those with the longest degrees, and they're now doctors or lawyers. these people, doctors and lawyers, might have plenty of debt now, but people with graduate degrees are also much more likely to have a higher salary and a much higher lifetime earnings. the two-thirds of the americans without college degrees somehow

less deserving of a free $10,000 or$50,000 in canceled debt than doctors or lawyers? what about those people that have already paid off their loans? are they going to bear the cost of people that borrowed too much when this is forgiven at $10,000 or $50,000 level? i'm sure many iowans would be happy to have their car loans or mortgages paid off. is there any thought about what this lead to? it's pretty clear, canceling debt is not a solution. instead i've been glad to see many of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle join my bills to prevent excess student debt in the very first place. we need to help students by giving them the information they

need to find the best college for their needs at a cost they can afford. otherwise, forgiving student debt is a slippery slope to a lot of other interests wanting debt forgiveness. i yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

whoever wins the democratic primary which is looking like lieutenant governor john, it will be one of the most competitive general phrases. >> that provoke and senate by mary, one of the ad from doctor oz, trump endorsed candidate in the primary, this is doctor oz. >> you seen as lying about me. i worked where it taught me how to fight the wolf media. pharma and facebook and fauci to

protect the fuel. you know who else the two greatest presidents in modern history. like me, conservative outsiders who fought the establishment. this scares people from the wall street washington, people don't share our values. i am doctor all and i approve this message. >> residents seeing that ad and you mentioned it looks like dave mccormick my here's a recent ad. >> i'm dave mccormick and i approve this message. >> the real all. >> one of the smartest people i've met. >> they are disciplined leader, a wonderful one. >> i love working in china challenging your beliefs, male or female. >> out of the wrong person's hands. the greatest national security threat we have is obesity. >> we haven't had any interaction at all. >> a complete and total fraud.

>> jacob on, the amount of ads in this space as well. >> this has been, if ohio didn't exist, i think this would be the most expensive in history. it's one of the most expensive, what we are seeing here is tension between again, more conservative policy wing of the republican party which is very much in the drivers seat to get equals and they are simply not. but we are seeing from doctor oz, he's had to counter perceptions, he's a liberal, a hollywood guy, not from pennsylvania and a lot of positions he's taken over his two decade-long plus career on tv when he's been on tv every day talking about the issues

that are not traditional conservative or moderate conservative senses on all of those issues we saw, transgender rights things of that nature so he has been trying hard to combat those perceptions using trump endorsement as a shield to deflect criticisms where's mccormick has in trying to inform voters he's not just a friendly guy you see seen on your tvs all these years but he is a liberal out-of-state or trying to come in and buy a senate seat. >> the pennsylvania race, $40 million, this is just the primary and that republican primary, he mentioned ohio taking the top spot when it comes to total, republican primary, $60 million compiled by the "wall street journal". what races did you want to talk

about, to us -- republican 20,274,081. we will head to ohio. anna on the line for democrats. >> good morning. i would ask your guest to speak about redistricting issue -- objection. mr. schumer: now, madam president, i want to begin by responding to a particularly disgusting comment made over the weekend by a russian foreign minister, as the russian military slatters civilians -- slaughters civilians, he did what others have done before him, resort to anti-semitism to defend his nation's actions. as the highest-ranking -- asked

on italian television yesterday to defend his nation's invasion of ukraine, mr. -- asked on television to defend his nation's country, he had the deranged conspiracy that ukraine is dominated by knee qloa nazis -- know -- nazis, he said that i believe he also has -- that the biggest anti-semites are the jews themselves. i have only one word for this. sickening. it is sickening. mr. lavrov's comments are sickening and deserver condemned by all who oppose the dangers of anti-semitism. they tap into the old and

poisonous notion that the jewish people were the artic techs of the worst humanatrocity. mr. foreign minister, you're fooling no one. the crimes of russia are as plain as day for the world to see. and to justify this is sickening, it is dangerous. it's dangerous to see russia's top diplomat. he should not be called a diplomat after saying thavment it's chilling to see russia's top foreign policy person casually spread disinformation about the history of the holocaust in order to advance mr. putin's political and military agenda. i condemn mr. lavrov's words in the strongest terms. now, madam president, over the weekend, speaker pelosi led a

delegation of house members to ukraine and met with president zelenskyy to pledge our country's support for the ukrainian people. we have the obligation to demonstrate that support by approving another round of ukrainian emergency funding. now that president biden has made a formal request for $33 billion, our appropriators are hard at work turning the request into legislation. it is my hope that a bipartisan agreement can be reached very soon and that the senate can begin processing this aid package as early as next week. quickly approving this emergency funding for ukraine is essential to help the people of ukraine in their fight against russia. again, i expect both sides to work quickly, decisively and with bipartisan cooperation to get this aid out the door and on to the president's desk just as we did for the first round of aid back in march. i will also work to include a

provision that arms the federal government with the tools needed to liquidate assets the u.s. seized from russia oligarchs such as yachts, mansions, art collections, and the like. the senate should expand existing forfeiture laws that will turn up the heat on corrupt criminals who have gotten gains from the vicious vladimir putin. we need to go after these crooked oligarchs, they have gotten rich off of putin's regime. they should not have safe refuge in the united states and it would be great if the proceeds from these assets would be used to support the ukrainian people. i will see that the senate acts in this space. two months from the war, it's clear that support from the united states and our allies has been essential in helping

ukraine resist russia's invasion. the bloodshed is hardly over. according to the u.n., at least 3,000 civilians have been killed since the start of the war and the true numbers, unfortunately, sadly, far higher than that in all likelihood. the united states has a moral obligation to give the ukrainian people more money, for javelins, switch blades,and much more. the senate will move quickly to get an emergency funding package passed and sent to the president's desk. on covid, now in addition to providing emergency funding to ukrainian -- ukraine, the united states must five covid and keep families safe. republican obstruction will not serve the american people. instead of threatening political games, i urge senate republicans

to work with us to get moving on covid funding asap. over the past few months, the united states has made unmistakable progress in getting life closer to normal than at any other point since the spring of 2020. but as we all know all it takes is another nasty variant to close our schools, our churches, our communities. meanwhile, every day we don't act to pass new covid funding is another day that other nations place orders on the remaining supply of vaccines, of testing and of therapeutics, in particular therapeutics. god forbid another variant spreads across the country and we don't have the tools, the medicine, the vaccines and testing in place to respond simply because our republican friends have blocked our ability to fund now the ability to buy those materials, those vaccines, those therapeutics, and keep

them on the ready if and when a new variant hits. if republicans continue to obstruct more funding, then in a few months from now, we could be in a terrible situation of not having enough vaccines to save lives, enough testing to monitor disease and enough therapeutics to reduce the severity of covid cases when they come. let me say it again. if republicans continue to obstruct funding now, we could be a terrible situation not to have testing to monitor the disease and therapeutics to treat the disease. i don't have to read that back in someone's face later, i would rather have the funding now. please stop obstructing. we don't need to go down that path as i said. by now we have tools and know-how to prevent closures, of schools and of stores and of

everything else in case another variant makes its unwelcome arrival. now what we need is the funding to actually purchase the tools. they've been developed by american ingenuity, american companies, but other countries are buying them because we ridiculous lou, -- ridiculously, stupidly, are not funding them because of obstruction across the aisle. political objectives getting in the way of health, vitality, and return to normal of the american people. so we need to fund these, we need to actually purchase these tools now so that we're ready. republicans should work with democrats to pass another covid funding bill asap. it's not really much harder than that. i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

finding the extra clothes trump needed to win and that has earned brian kemp enduring empathy a former president

trump. that said, former senator david purdue has not been able to establish any sort of position in that race and the latest polling would indicate they might avoid a runoff against purdue and win the race outright and set himself up for a rematch in the fall. david purdue has been disappointed, not been able to run the race i think a lot of people were expecting and hoping. >> 50% plus one vote? is available on the website, c-span.org -- presiding officer:e are. mr. cornyn: thank you, madam president. i'd ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cornyn: thank you.

madam president, when it comes to addressing the many challenges facing america today, the biden administration's preferred strategy is to blame someone else. president biden has tried to blame the previous administration for the supply chain challenges, and he's also tried to blame the administration for his deadly and dangerous withdrawal from afghanistan in a precipitous fashion which our friends and allies simply were left to read about it or hear about it in the newspaper and hustle to get their own people out of afghanistan as we were as well. and now we're seeing the blame game being played out again on the border. last week secretary mayorkas, secretary of homeland security, claimed the administration

inherited, in his words, a broken and dismantled system, a defense we've heard before. now, there's no question that our immigration system is in need of reform. as a matter of fact, we've been working on that the entire time i've been in the united states senate, but as i've said before, we never fail to fail when it comes to fixing our broken immigration system. but the fact of the matter is the biden administration is playing on the same field as previous administrations. presidential authorities haven't changed. congress hasn't passed sweeping reforms that make it difficult to enforce our laws at the border. yet here we are experiencing record levels of illegal immigration into the united states. just to provide some historical context for how bad that president biden's first year in office stacks up against previous administrations, consider this. during the first year of the

obama administration, an average of 44,000 migrants were apprehended each month. that's each month, along the southwestern border. during the first year of the trump administration, that number was cut in half because the trump administration had different policies with regard to removing people who were illegally coming across the border or if they were claiming asylum making them wait until their claims were ruled on by an immigration judge in mexico rather than being welcomed into the united states and never to be heard from again. so 44,000 a month for the obama administration. 20,000 a month for the trump administration. but during the first year of the biden administration, numbers took off like a rocket. on an average of 176,000 migrants were apprehended at the southern border each month.

one more time. 44,000 for president obama, 20,000 for president trump, 176,000 for president biden. that's nearly nine times as many migrants as we were seeing just four years ago. again congress hasn't passed any major laws that have caused this dramatic increase. president biden has the same authorities as the previous administrations. he's been in office for more than a year and has had plenty of opportunity to use the authorities congress has given him to address this humanitarian and national security and public safety crisis. he's even had plenty of time to work with congress to pass bipartisan bills, like my bipartisan border solutions act which i introduced with senator sinema and we now have a number of bipartisan cosponsors and it was filed in the house with

bipartisan support as well. henry cuellar and tony gonzalez from the largest contiguous border district in texas and in the country, a republican. so we introduced this bill. we laid it out for the administration thinking that maybe, just maybe if their poll numbers got bad enough, they would be looking for a lifeline. they'd be looking for a way out. but the biden administration has shown zero interest. the president has even threatened in the use of title 42 which is a public health law that gave the border patrol some tools to repel illegal immigration by a single adult -- by single adult males. the border patrol told me a long time ago, even toward the end of the trump administration during the middle of the pandemic that if they lost use of title 42 as a means to control immigration,

admittedly not something it was designed for but something they were able to use it for, they would lose control of the border completely. so far we've heard no suggestions by president biden, what he intends to do. we know title 42 won't be there forever. covid won't be a pandemic forever. but what we'd like to know and i think what we -- the american people deserve to know is what they are going to do in terms of enforcing the law of the land once title 42 goes away. well, last week secretary mayorkas released what he called the department of homeland security plan for southwest border security and prep preparedness. well, this plan is largely a recycled and repackaged version of the same vague promises that we've heard all along.

bolstering resources, increasing efficiency, and administering consequences for unlawful entry. even the portion of this proposal that includes specifics, such as increasing the use of expedited removal are completely unrealistic. in order to use expedited removal, and that is the means by which the border patrol encounters someone and says you can't come into the united states and will be removed, you have to have enough manpower to process migrants and enough space to keep them in custody until that can happen. without detention space, the promise of using expedited removal is a hollow one. given the current pace of migration and the amount of beds that customs and border protection has to detain people who are subject to expedited removal, given the current pace, the number of beds is a

mathematical impossibility. secretary mayorkas said the department of homeland security has increased the number of beds and customs -- in customs and border protection facilities and can now hold approximately 18,000 people. again, under the biden administration we've seen 176,000 people a month coming across the border. secretary mayorkas is bragging about 18,000 detention beds. obviously those beds would fill up quickly and be overwhelmed. an average -- in march an average of 7,000 migrants crossed the border every day. the administration's predicted if title 42 is lifted which it has attempted to do and still intends to do so, that number could reach 12,000 to 18,000 migrants every day. 12,000 to 18,000 every day.

and obviously all of those 18,000 beds for detention facilities would fill up in a single day. that's why i believe that this plan is not worth the paper it's written on unless the administration actually follows up to execute it and clearly we're not ■seeingactionan clearly the arithmetic doesn't work for secretary mayorkas' plan. they're going to have to engage in the same sort of catch and release game which the human smugglers and the drug cartels have been playing on for the foreseeable past. and particularly now, they know that they can continue to overwhelm the resources at the border and then the drug cartels run drugs into the country and those will then be distributed by criminal gangs in every major city in america.

so this plan is not worth the paper it's written on. it clearly won't solve the problem. administration officials can blame someone else as long as they want, but it's clear the american people aren't falling for that. we saw in the last couple of days president biden's own pollster said one of the reasons his poll numbers are so bad is because of the chaos and dangers associated with the border. what we are seeing and what the american people plainly see is a complete and intentional policy breakdown that is the sole responsibility of the biden administration. and these failures come with serious consequences for the american people. when thousands of migrants are coming across the border every day, border patrol doesn't have the time to deter illegal immigration and dangerous gang

members and other criminals from coming across the border. here's why. several months when i visited del rio's border patrol sector and spoke with a group of about 30 border patrol agents at the muster, when they were asked to raise their hand if they would be working out on the field, that is, on the border, not a single hand went up. these men and women who would normally be out on the front lines stopping dangerous criminals and dangerous drugs from sneaking across the border are going to be tied up in paperwork with bogus asylum claims and administering these programs, like this new program that director mayorkas is brag about -- is bragging about. because of this huge surge in migrants, we are going to continue to see the border patrol wrapped up in

administrative duties like paperwork, watching unaccompanied children and transporting migrants, and they will not be on the front line in this war that we are seeing play out, particularly the drug war playing out on our border. but the border patrol are taking care of -- if the border patrol are taking care of an unaccompanied child, they can't be on the front lines. they can't stop dangerous drugs come coming across the border. flood the border with so many people that the border patrol can't manage it. divert them from their law enforcement function and turn them into baby sitters for unaccompanied children, and then the drug cartels will move their poison across, as if they've established a four-lane highway. this is a dangerous situation that's putting our entire

country at risk. criminal gangs that are located in every major city in the united states, including chicago and cities in texas, these are the distribution network for the drugs that come across by the drug -- brought across by the drug cartels. they see the gaps created by fewer officers on the front line, understand that iaea take -- and they're taking advantage. so we not only see foreign gang members, we also see a network of domestic gang members that are engaged in violence, gun crimes, robberies, and other crimes that threaten the safety of people in our cities across the country. but we also see dangerous criminals coming across the border itself. last week i spoke about a string of arrests that the border patrol in the rio grande sector

accomplished. border patrol arrests half a dozen gang members in less than a week's time. some of these individuals were members of the notorious ms-13, a brutal criminal organization whose motto translates into roughly kill, rape, control. these are the type of individuals that are making their way across the border when the border patrol is becausecy filling out paperwork or taking conveyor -- care of unaccompanied children and unable to fulfill their law enforcement functions. ms-13 is one of the most dangerous gangs on the planet. they've been known to kill their victims using knives, machetes and baseball bats. and one murder in california, the victim's heart was cut out. five years ago an ms-13 member had a dispute with a high school student. a group of gang members

kidnapped the youngs man, cut off his hand and then killed him. stopping members of ms-13 and other international criminal gangs from reaching the united states should be a public safety imperative. american families are already deeply concerned about violent crime in our country. with the boneheaded idea of defunding the police and the blame game when it comes to law enforcement making it harder for police to be hired and retained by law enforcement agencies across the country, criminals are having a hayday. crime has spiked in vitter lit every major city across the city. i believe it is a combination of both the drugs that are trafficked by those criminal gangs as well as the impression that we don't respect and honor the public safety function performed by our local police departments. but to my point here, we can't

allow the southern border to act as a corridor for more violent criminals to reach our communities. while overall border encounters skyrocketed in 2021, the number of gang members apprehended by border patrol actually decreed. you think -- decreased. you think, maybe that's a good thing, but you would be wrong, because last year alone, border patrol estimates that there were as many as 300,000 what they call getaways. in other words, the border patrol is tied up with paperwork or baby sitting or transporting migrants and no longer on the border. they don't know who is coming across the border. but they've guesstimate $it was as many as 300,000 -- but they've guesstimated it was as many as 300,000 getaways last fiscal year alone. so the fact that we haven't been able to count more gang members this year is hardly an encouraging picture, given the status quo.

the border patrol has told us explicitly that gang members exploit migration surges in order to evade arrest. in other words, record levels of migration provide excellent cover for gang members and other criminals. they can either try to blend in with a larger group or they can identify and exploit the security gaps created by the border patrol's processing or caring for other migrants. sadly, both practices with common these days. when we look at all these data, there's really one really important point we need to remember -- these are just the ones we know about. they don't include the getaways. thet don't include the other dangerous criminals that have successfully snuck into our country or how many were caught and then release because their gang affiliation was not yet known by law enforcement.

we would much rather stop these criminals at the border than wait for them to reach our communities and endanger our families. in addition to the great work already being done by law enforcement generally, there are initiatives like project safe neighborhood at the department of justice. this is one way that law enforcement is trying to wage war against these criminal gangs who use guns to commit acts of violence. it's a partnership between federal, state, and local law enforcement. they use data-drivin', evidence-based practices to reduce violent crime. but in order for them to be successful, with he have to stem the flow -- we have to stem the flow of people coming across the border. programs like project safe neighborhood are exemplars of what law enforcement can do if we just give them a chance. if we just give them a level playing field to compete on rather than being overwhelmed by

a tsunami of gang members, criminals, and illegal drugs. madam president, we have a responsibility to close the security gaps at the border to prevent even more dangerous individuals and drugs from reaching our communities. but, again, based on the lack of interest expressed or actions taken, the biden administration doesn't seem to care. the border patrol has made no secret of the fact that it lacks the personnel, resources, and polls that only -- and policies that only congress can provide to carry out their mission. agents do not feel like the biden administration has their back. and it's for good reason. since president biden took office, we've seen no meaningful action to address the humanitarian and security crises at the southern border.

the biden administration has ignored the needs of federal law enforcement officers in order to appease, apparently, part of its political base, who doesn't believe that there should be any border controls, who believes our borders should be open and are oblivious to the danger that that poses. but make no mistake about it, this is both a humanitarian and a security crisis, and the biden administration's refusal to act has only made things worse. we know the american people see crime as a big problem, and there are a lot of reasons for that, but the biden administration needs to address the security breakdown at the border because what is happening there has made our communities even more dangerous. madam president, i yield the floor. and i would note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

quorum call:

quorum call:

run a wide and as senate chair has no serious opposition during the primary in oregon or in november. but there are three house races organ is a small statement of course we think important. skinner is a progressive candidate endorsed by elizabeth

warner. the title of the blue dog democrats and in important race. doyle canning environmental lawyer endorsed by jane fonda's running for the open seat that peter defazio left a long time occupant of that race. and the other one is an interesting, organic gained a seat we have more population. andrea is a democrat who is house majority leader, she is running at seven or eight other people including canada people don't really know who has wall-to-wall tv ads apparently supported by $7 million in bit coin money. so, it may be your guest may not be following organ because it is a small state. he thought if you had any comments about those three house raises thank you. speech at what is going on in oregon is super fascinating. especially in the new congressional district the sixth district of the reapportionment project he gained a seat.

i larger population we have great scene in the pacific northwest. it was already a crowded primary than all the sudden a new candidate showed up, he was the latest candidate to join the field. he had never run for office before. he is being supported, as the caller said, several million dollars put into a super pack that hasn't been running more tv ads for him then pretty much the rest of the field combined. he is also receiving support and this is the real sticking point here, from the house majority pack which is the democratic leadership aligned super pack based out of washington d.c. that is charged with defending the house majority. very, very, very rarely involve themselves in democratic primaries particularly open seat primaries where there is no incumbent. but they have come in and begun

advertising. now where's the money coming from? a large part but we have seen coming from a guy name sam freed a 30-year-old billionaire called ftx which when the largest crypto currency exchanges, he hasn't really established himself as a major donor on the democratic seen in this race and in races all across the country. he certainly ruffling some feathers as he does so in races like this one and elsewhere. where he is putting in millions and millions of dollars in races like oregon put the other when i do want to touch on is of course skinner and schrader race this is another example of just how difficult it is to unseat an incumbent in a congressional primary. jamie is an accomplished candidate. she ran for organs house of districts in 2018.

performed very well relative to the partisanship. i inch of a couple months ago. i've been a compelling case to make when the votes he's taken washington d.c. however she is up against the weight of the democratic establishment in d.c. which is supporting schrader what she is also dealing with this were the primary arguments perhaps against kurt schrader his position in the so-called mod squatter of the moderate nine are unbreakable nine that was a thorn in democratic leadership side last year about the "build back better" in the infrastructure bill, his decision some of the prescription drug bills. those are no longer in the news anymore. while those were the dominant story in the fall, back when jamie launched her campaign, there are some other things on voters minds now and so she is having to work really hard to reintroduce those issues as the most salient ones in the primary parade so we will see it's always an uphill battle to oust an incumbent in congress.

>> we went to testa jacobs knowledge about a congressional race in a country near an which redistricting has made a lot of changes. i going to try and when he doesn't know much about democrats (202)748-8000. republicans 8001. independent 8002. he's with us for the next 15 or 20 minutes ago had to keep calling n. elliott next city democrat good morning. >> caller: good morning for this is a terrific segment your guest is full of knowledge. i have to ask a follow-up on oregon created a big money, for in has spent almost none of the money almost all of the money what are the chances of winning an eight candidate field?

it serious if have an opinion on that. ask the pennsylvania question will take both i can answer both what's a pennsylvania question? >> pennsylvania also as we said big money big money on both sides. the primary both republican and democrat ank you, madam president. are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: yes we are. mrs. blackburn: i ask that we dispense with the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. blackburn: thank you, madam president. i think from the president's comments at the correspondents dinner the other night, it may have taken a year but finally the president and the white house are starting to realize that they have lost the american people when it comes to their agenda. i think it's because you can only betray someone so many times before they stop giving you a second chance, a third chance, or even a 15th chance

at doing something. after 16 months of alternating between anger, confusion, and fear, all tennesseans can do is just have a laugh at what the prowess is -- what the whitehouse is saying and how they're trying to spin what is actually happening and how they're trying to tell you that what you're seeing is really not what you are seeing, because they know, the american people know, tennesseans know that much of what you hear coming out of this administration is coupled with the threat, it's coupled with a falsehood. sometimes it's even coupled with a mandate. joe biden has lost what little control he had, but rather than reexamining his priorities, he's decided to cause as much

pain as he can before the democrats lose power. this is a pattern. the biden administration doesn't lead. they mandate. they don'tdom congress and say -- they don't come to congress and say let's do this or that. they throw out an executive order. and when those mandates and orders that they're tossing out like they're candy, when they backfire, they come about this trying to inflict as much pain as they can. when business owners pushed back on pandemic mandates that made their survival impossible, this administration didn't relent. they doubled down. they just accused everybody who disagreed with them of being a danger to their communities. we all heard the stories.

oh, they're putting profit over people. oh, they don't care about their community. they just want to keep the doors open. but, no. what they wanted to do is serve their communities. when parents ask questions about what their kids were learning in school, the justice department threatened to throw them in jail if they protested curriculum influenced by critical race theory and other radical ideologies. when the administration saw their climate panic message wasn't resonating anymore, they came out with a plan to double down again and take away the few transportation and energy options people can still afford. and their response to historic levels of inflation is to tax and spend the american people into submission. see, this is the way they do

it. if you're a parent, you show up to ask questions about what you're seeing your child study. then they want to report you and say you are the one that is causing a problem. isn't it amazing how this administration has allowed cancel culture to infiltrate everything that they do. it is their way or the highway, as we would say in tennessee. because they plan to run over you. they plan to cause pain. this is not governing, madam president. it is punishment. punishment for your beliefs. punishment for your actions. punishment for standing up for the constitution, for democracy, for freedom of speech. they're going to punish you. now, i thought that the

administration had hit rock bottom with their response to the record-breaking inflation they created, but their plan to address joe biden's border crisis has been what has taken the cake. it is foolish and it is dangerous. the situation along our southern border is bad and it's getting worse. just this weekend i spent some time out in west tennessee. i was over in benton county, the northwest corner of the state, talked with sheriff kenny christopher. he told me that his officers are finding fentanyl in about 80% of the drugs they seize. everything is laced with fentanyl -- marijuana, heroin, gummie bears. everything. fentanyl is on the loose, running wild. between 2020 and 2021, 64,000

people in this country died from fentanyl overdoses. 2,014 of them were tennesseans. and where is this coming from? it is coming right across that southern border. it's so important to note, madam president, this is a problem that escalated after joe biden became president. the cartels knew that the border patrol that donald trump had their back. but now with joe biden, it's running wide open. every town is a border town. every state, a border state. we're losing control over the flow of drugs. the cartels are in control of that southern border. you don't come across without them. nothing comes across without them. they're so emboldened, every

law enforcement officer i meet with can tell you what cartel hub -- that's right, cartel hub, here in this country, on u.s. soil, where they're setting up their drug trafficking, human trafficking, sex traffic operations. control is lost at that border. in march, c.b.p. recorded more than 220,000 encounters with people trying to illegally enter the country. fortunately, they were able to use title 42 and expel about 100,000 of those 220,000 individuals. title 42 has been a lifesaver for the border patrol. if you don't believe me, go ask them. they will tell you. that is a lifesaver. they used it more than one million times to deny entry and

ease the strain on their limited resources. they need it. they need title 42, and they will tell you they need title 42. so, of course, the biden administration is getting ready to take title 42 away. let's just open that border up. it's endangering our sovereignty, endangering our people. every town is a border town, every state a border state, but let's throw caution to the wind. we had 160 different countries come across that border last year. let's see if we can break that record this year. that's what this white house is saying, total disregard for the american people. because if you take away title 42, you're going to see not 6,000 illegal entries a day, you're going to see 18,000 illegal entries a day. they know that this is what will

happen. and do they have a plan? no, they don't have a plan. they are expecting that 18,000 people a day. that works out to over a half million a month -- a half million a month. now, you know, secretary mayorkas admitted last week in his hearing that he just didn't seem to have a plan but he was expecting this to happen. now, in tennessee, madam president, we have 345 cities, towns, and villages. 345. out of those 345 cities and towns, we have 90% of those towns are at a population of 20,000 or less. so it's the equivalent of the

population of a typical tennessee town coming across the southern border every day. how long can we sustain that? now, your state of illinois, madam president, you all have about 1,200 towns and cities that are incorporated. you've got 102 counties. now out of those 1,299 incorporated towns and cities, 90% of those, likewise, are 20,000 or less in population. or if you hit a half million a month, that is equal to a paper inierville, aurora and rockville together. how long could illinois sustain that? see, this policy not only

affects the border with the u.s. and mexico and those towns and communities and counties, it is every county in this country. now, when mayorkas was speaking last week over in the house, what he didn't do was confirm that the administration has a plan to reduce illegal immigration or, indeed, if they care at all about securing the border, imagine that. a secretary of the department of homeland security who does not believe in a secure border. you cannot make this stuff up. you can't make it up. for weeks now a bipartisan group of senators has pressed the department of homeland security for their plan to secure the border, to secure this country and for weeks they have ignored our concerns. as of to date, chairman durbin

has no plan to summon secretary mayorkas for a hearing so we can ask him directly. last week, however, things escalated during the house appropriations committee when the secretary confirmed that the administration is considering pulling staff and resources out of the v.a.-run facilities and sending them to the border. madam president, this is crazy. it is not part of the department of veterans' affairs mission to help the biden administration save face. but even if it was, the v.a. is already struggling to serve veterans. we're on veterans' affairs committee. our case back -- back load for benefits and care is over 2,000

cases. you are going to take personnel and do what with them? send them to the border. getting basic care through the v.a. has become almost impossible. you hear it, i hear it, we all hear it from our veterans. and they know that these facilities are understaffed. this is why they're wanting to go to community care, and the agency is experiencing a 15-year high in turnover for nurses. and what does this administration do? they say, we're going to take the people left working in v.a. health care and administration, we're going to shift them down to the border because the border patrol needs some help. and meanwhile the people that have put on the uniform and have fought for this nation can't get health care, and this

administration acts like they don't give a ripping flip about of it. the veterans, our nation's sovereignty, securing the border, protecting our citizens, eliminating the impact of drugs that are flooding our streets. i -- that is one that to make our veterans suffer, that is unconscionable. the administration knows that border encounters have consistently increased since the day they took power. they know this. they've watched it, and it appears that they have intentionally and purposefully allowed it. they know that as long as the border is open that people from all around the globe are going to come. as i said, 160 different

countries last year. on that, 42 known terrorist watch list individuals, 42 of them. but rather than keeping title 42 in place or embracing mexico or building a war or giving the border patrol the resources they have asked for years to -- for years to defend this border, this administration has decided the way to go about this is to let the veterans suffer. if they've waited three months, six months, a year, they can wait a little longer. that's their thought. take the resources out of v.a. and send it to the border. there is nothing compassionate about this narrative. there's nothing caring, there's nothing right about this

narrative. you know, it's the reason that, as the president said, he knows his approval rating is low. he knows there's a reason for it. he's not doing anything about it. he's choosing not to do anything about it. he's choosing not to shift his priorities. i -- i will tell you, i've spent a lot of my adult life and the great -- in the greatest creative community on the face of the earth. we're surrounded by song writers and story tellers and i would say for some of the great authors and story tellers in my neighborhood, they couldn't mash together a plot line as convoluted at this one because people would say that would never happen in the united states. you would never see us purposefully running up

inflation by running up the cost of energy or opening our southern border and allowing drug dealers, and sex traffickers and human traffickers and gangs to run in, you would never knowingly allow cartels to set up shop on u.s. soil. you wouldn't do that. but this administration has. and they did it because they know pain is the point, suffering is the point. we're going to do this to you. it goes back to what i said many weeks. we, as conservatives, have a vision for better days, for hope, for opportunity of all, for preserving the freedom of this great nation, for preserving our rights, for protecting faith and freedom and families and hope and opportunity, and i fear that my democratic colleagues, they've got an agenda, the agenda is

what we're going to do to you in order to push a marxist socialist agenda. i yield the floor. i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call::

quorum call:

a senator: i ask the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of executive calendar number 546, joshua frost of new york to be an assistant secretary of the treasury signed by 17 senators. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived. the question is, is it the sense of the senate that debate on the nomination of joshua frost of new york to be an assistant secretary of the treasury shall be brought to a close. the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. the clerk will call the roll. vote: d

vote:

vote: pphdd

vote:

vote:

vote: vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: the yeas are 54. the nays a 36. the motion is agreed to.

the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. brown: thank you, mr. president. for generations, manufacturing was the lifeblood of communities across ohio and throughout the country. it was heavily unionized. the jobs paid well. it's not a coincidence that those two things go together. we know carrying a union card means better wages, better health and retirement benefits, and more control over the workers' schedules. these jobs allowed generation us of americans to build a middle-class life. but beginning in the 1970's and 1980's, we stopped making things in this country. look at places like my hometown of mansfield, ohio. i went to johnnie apple seed high school. i walked the halls with sons and daughters of autoworkers from g.m. and machinists and electrical workers from westinghouse, and hundreds and hundreds of the sons and daughters of people in the

building trades, laborers and pipe fitters and carpenters and mill wrights and painters and one trade after another. companies like westinghouse and tappen stove. go to any town in ohio and throughout the industrial midwest, pooh emwith name a similar list. we know what happened. corporations in ohio shut down production in mansfield, or lorainest, or cincinnati or toll lee dorks in search of right-to -- or toledo, in search of right-to-work states. then that wouldn't quite good enough. then those same corporations lobbied congress for trade agreements and tax treatments. so they then moved on to mexico, and that labor wasn't quite cheap enough. then they moved on to china. ohio has paid the price for

years in the form of lost jobs and opportunity. now, mr. president, and i know what you've seen in the state of maine, you understand this, the whole country pays the price. higher prices, supply chain delays it losing highs-tech industries to our competitors like china. look where we've ended up. in ohio, thomas edison invented the light bulb. today 99% of the light bulbs are made in china. look what happened during the pandemic, companies across ohio and the rest of the country shut down production lines not because there wasn't demand. they laid off workers because they couldn't get enough semiconductors. whether you're navistar in springfield, you need these chips. it's why the senate must fund the bipartisan chips act. we agreed to authorize this

program. now it's time to move and to fund it. the end of the january, senator portman and i flew to columbus to join intel to announce the largest-ever domestic investment in semiconductor manufacturing, to create 10,000 good-paying jobs, union trades people, 5,000 union trades people for ten years will build this facility. think of the magnitude of that. as we were flying in on the plane i remember sitting with the secretary of commerce and senator portman and my friend from cleveland, number-two guy in commerce. i said today in ohio we're finally burying the term rustbelt. it's possible because we're on the verge of passing this historic investment. the e.u., china and korea are providing incentives to make these chips domestically. none of them require stock warrants as this motion would have us do. that's why i oppose this motion. other countries are mimicking

what we're doing. already the e.u. figures if congress doesn't move quickly on the chips act, they're ready to begin to work to attract -- they're ready to try to attract that business there. in the history of the united states the only time we've ever required equity warrants from private companies is during times of war and moments of financial crisis. it's not a bailout, it's an incentive. this motion to instruct conferees is well intentioned but won't work. it will make the u.s. less competitive. it is likely to cause these companies to make chips overseas where they can get the incentives without strings. i understand senator sanders' goal. it's a goal i share. i just spoke with the presiding officer who neither of us have a particularly favorable attitude towards what of we've seen with stock buybacks and the damage that it's done to our economy and what it's meant to undermine companies' investment in their workers and new product lines. i have spent -- i have had, i

don't know, six, eight, ten, 12 calls with the chair of the federal reserve, jay powell pleading with him about restricting some of the buybacks at some of the largest banks. i understand senator sanders' goal, to make sure that jobs that are created are good-paying ones where workers can build careers. that's why in the chips act we require the funding goes to the constructing and modernization of u.s. facilities. we require chips projects be sustainable without additional p federal funding. these are initial federal investments that generate long-term well-paying jobs. in both the senate and house competition bills we require recipients to pay the prevailing wage to employers or contracts. that's why the united auto workers support this.

it's why the building trades support chips funding. i can tell you from experience if we drive these semiconductor jobs away the alternative is not a replacement with other similarly high-quality jobs. ohio has had that promise too often. drive around ohio and you'll see the alternative to low-wage anti-union big-box stores where workers have little control over their schedules and little power to build a better little life. it's also important to remember this investment isn't just for semiconductors. it will affect smaller supply companies and their supply chains. it will affect all the downstream industries that rely on these chips for all kinds of production -- appliances, auto, energy deployment. our clean energy independent future is going to rely on american-made semiconductor chips. mr. president, i want to talk on one other motion that will be made in the next 48 hours on this floor to the chips act. we need to make more in this country. we shouldn't be taking other actions either that discourage

domestic production. i urge my colleagues to oppose a motion to instruct, that supports a broad exclusion process for 301 tariffs for goods from china. those tariffs are in place because china unfair trade practices is targeting our industrial base and ohio jobs. the aflcio office opposes it. the alliance for h american manufacturing opposes it. they know any removal of these tariffs needs to be part of a broader strategic approach to trade policy with china. we can't let china undermine the investments that american manufacturers make and workers and communities here in the united states. we do this bill right, it will mean we finally make more in america. it will begin bringing back the supply chains back to our country. it will help us bury the term rustbelt once and for all. when you love this country, you fight for the people who make it work. that's what the chips act is about. it's about workers, it's about good-paying jobs, it's about

increasing the unionization of workers in this country. it will lift all boats. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. brown: i ask unanimous consent that we be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business it adjourn until tuesday, may 3, following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to

date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for use later in the day. morning business be closed, that upon the conclusion of morning business the senate proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the frost nomination postcloture. further that all postcloture time on the frost nomination be considered expired at 11:45 a.m., that the senate recess following the cloture vote on the barring have a nomination -- the bargahava nomination at 2:15. if nominations are confirmed during thursday's session, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the president be immediately notified of the senate's action. the presiding officer: the senator said thursday's session. did you mean tuesday's session, senator? mr. brown: during tuesday's session. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: thank you. if there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask that we stand adjourned under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until

the senate today advance the nomination of joshua frost to serve as assistant truck treasury secretary for financial expected to vote on instructions to senate negotiators with a house on a science and technology funding built that would help u.s. semiconductor manufacturers be more competitive with china. watch live coverage of the senate returns tomorrow, here on cspan2. >> epa administrator michael regan and the agency's chief financial officer testified on president biden's 2023 budget request. watch the house subcommittee hearing tonight at nine eastern on cspan2, online at c-span.org or full coverage on her free video app c-span now.

♪ see spanish unfiltered view of government funded by these television companies and more including charter communications. >> broadbent is a force for empowerment for that is why charter has invested billions, building infrastructure, upgrading technology, empowering opportunity in communities big and small. charter is connecting us. >> charter communications c-span as a public service along with these other television providers giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> senate majority leader chuck schumer from the floor of the senate condemned russian foreign minister recent remarks where he claimed not to leader adolf hitler quote headed jewish blood while speaking about ukrainian president zelensky who is jewish. he said the russian foreign minister anti-semitic remarks

were sickening, poisonous and dangerous. but york democratic senator also spoke about the status of additional aid for ukraine and culver 19 pandemic relief. senate minority leader mitch mcconnell also spoke on the senate floor. he criticized the biden administration and congressional democratic leaders for the recent rise in inflation and the misuse of covid-19 relief funding by state and local governments for building a pickle ball courts. >> now madam president i want to begin by responding to a particularly disgusting comments made over the weekend by russian foreign minister. as the russian army continues slaughtering civilians,mi forein minister did what many others who now reside in the dustbin of history have done before him. resort to anti- semitism to defend his nation's actions. as the highest ranking jewish official in the united state