legislation, which is in part meant to help u.s. and helping with the negotiations, we could see a number of votes today. live coverage of the u.s. senate here on c-span2. the chaplain: let us pray. o god, the strength of all who put their trust in you, remind our lawmakers that we can accomplish little without your mercy and grace. give them the wisdom to trust your power and might in their every endeavor, as you inspire them to live worthy of your faithfulness. lord, we all borrow

our daily heartbeats from you, so give us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, the courage to change the things we can, and the wisdom to know the difference. and lord, continue to strengthen the ukrainian people. we pray in your merciful name. amen. the presiding officer: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to the flag. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

the presiding officer: the clerk will read a communication to the senate. the clerk: washington, d.c., may 4, 2022. to the senate: under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable ben ray lujan, a senator from the state of new mexico to perform the duties of the chair. the presiding officer: under the previous order, morning business -- the senate will proceed to executive session.

my older brother typical ohio not one sporting event growing up

where we are playing each other that didn't end in a fight. he says he won the mall. i said i want them all. he won them all but he has been my defender, my friend, my confidant, my role model in all aspects of my life. he ran my first two political campaigns. i wouldn't be on the stage if it wasn't for my brother. [applause] and my mom is watching all this hopefully if such as crying earlier. she says you have 74%. 74%. what's the matter with you? [laughing] someone asked wilbur wright in 1911 what was the secret of your success? and his answer as accounted in the book about the wright brothers, choose good parents

and be born in ohio. and i think all of us understand that sentiment. good parents, born in ohio, opportunity to do just about anything. and we are lucky because we have a great family here like so many of you do. and that's part of the opportunity here. our niece ashley and her future husband jake are here, family support each other. that's what we do. that's what our communities were built on. and to me that the backbone of ohio, our families. and i think a lot about my grandfather. i think about my grandfather, his life and the trajectory of him, and that generation of people. and my grandfather was a steelworker for 40 years.

and he had a good living, made a good living. and he made a good living and he didn't have to work 50 or 60 or 70 hours a week. he didn't need two jobs. he did everything right. and you know what he did because he didn't have to work 60, 70, 80 hours a week? he was the usher at 10:45 mass. he was the head of the beer tent at the summer festival. there's some allegations out there that he snuck me and brother out a few peers along the way. allegedly. but he could get back. he had a garden that we would eat out. and my grandmother would cook fresh, healthy food out of. and my favorite picture of my grandfather was in the our lady of -- the historical book, and i was looking through it one day years ago and i saw this picture

of him. they were italian and use much younger man and i remembered him and he had that hat on, you you know that height of the immigrants used to wear? he had this happen on and he was standing in front of a half built brick wall. said john rizzi, volunteer. he was building the elementary school that we went to, my brother and. literally building our future. literally building our future. that's what this campaign is about. i'm just doing a little bit different version of that. we are trying to build a future for our kids, and it doesn't

come from as hating each other. it doesn't come from us looking at each other and seeing a democrat or seeing a republican. it comes by as looking at each other and seeing americans, fellow americans, that are charged with the responsibility and charged with shepherding this democracy, generation to generation to generation. that's our job as citizens. like my grandfather participated in the fabric. that's why the great american middle class is the source, it's the source of american power. having people that can go out and create and build, that's what we do. you know, i think about ohio a lot especially travel. we've been to all 88 counties, right? all 88 counties. 97% of our donations are under $100. this is about the people.

this campaign is about the people. and when i travel around ohio i think about ohio. and i think about every time that the president of the united states at one point in our country's history challenged us, when president lincoln challenge us to all the union together, who stepped up? generals from ohio who became presidents. when fdr said we have to build the arsenal of democracy, we need our young men to go out and serve, and we need our women and our mom's to come into the factories. who stepped up? it was ohio. ohio wins. we did. president kennedy said we have to go to the moon in this decade, a challenge that was outrageous, it was outrageous. who stepped up? ohioans.

who were the astronauts? ohioans. who built the rockets and the component parts? ohio, we did. we did. and right now we're coming out of the pandemic, come out of the great economic collapse. there's a war. the issues of freedom are all across the globe. here at home just today we saw an issue of freedom, right, average people working their rear ends off trying to make ends meet, fighting, fighting, scratching, pinching, right? it's about economic freedom for them. climb to the top comment of money to pay the bills, enough money, that's economic freedom. that's what this campaign is about and i tell people look, i'm not here to get an a fight. i'm not quite a win on election day and try to punish 50% of people that are living in the state or in this country.

we are here to heal. we are here to become americans. we're here to come together, and i want ohio to be the economic powerhouse of not just the united states, but of the world. i want us to be the builder again. [applause] i what as to be builders again. i want us to dominate the electric car industry. i want is to dominate the battery industry. i want us to dominate the electric truck industry. one is to dominate the chip industry, glass industry, energy in southeast ohio, aerospace and southwest ohio. i want us to be the manufacturing powerhouse of the world. i want us to help this country leapfrog china, leapfrog these other countries and all these industries. we can do it. by coming together. by coming together.

i am certain, i am absolutely in my bones certain that we can do this, if we come together. and it's not about finding our differences. it's not about hate. i'm 6'4", an old football player. i'm telling you we have to care about each other. we have to love each other. we have to care about each other. we have to see the best in each other. we have to forgive each other. we have to show some grace that we have to put workers front and center in the economy in the united states of america, not the hedge funds, not the banks. [applause] as john klin said in his retirement speech, he said -- glynn. we are more fulfilled when we are involved with something bigger than ourselves. pope francis at the same thing, i'll never forget hearing him in

washington, d.c. he said if you want happiness, give your life away. give your life away. that's this campaign. we're going to build a home for ohioans, whether the democrats, whether they're republicans, whether they are independents. everyone is welcomed in this campaign, and you tell your friends and you tell your family, come here, tim. he's not talking about it. he's talking about getting stuff done. i almost said -- [laughing] he hasn't heard that before in a strategically placed a curse d at the ryan household. but that's what this is about, and i'm asking you all to join us. tim for ohio.com. i want you to be part. what you did bring republicans to our event. what you to bring independence

to our events because this is a special movement happening here in ohio. we hear it all over uncle to tell you one quick story. we were down in marietta, two-time trump voter, steve my guy here who is -- with steve? steve is a firefighter. give steve a round of applause. [applause] steve picked me up one day fixed tea picked me up one day and i was 15 minutes late and i said to steve, he said, i said to them, i sit 15 minutes late that's not bad for a congressman. he said that's really bad for a firefighter. [laughing] and they go down to marietta and would meet a guy who voted for trump twice, lifelong republican. i talked about beating china. talked about manufacturing. i talked about building thanks. i talked about infrastructure in marietta. he got done and he said, this is the most refreshing political

conversation i heard in five years. i'm voting for tim ryan. [cheers and applause] so let me just say the work is just beginning. the fight is just beginning. we're going to heal the country, he'll ohio, and in turn heal the united states of america. and i'll tell all of you bobby kinard uses at the end of all his campaigns during his brief tenure running for president. i do not promise you ease. i do not promise you comfort. but i will promise you these. i will promise you weariness. i will promise you hardship, and i will promise you sacrifice. and with these i will promise you victory. let's go. let's make this happen. let's put workers first.

let's put the papers to bed and put the measure back in place. [applause] thank you so much. [applause] >> thank you.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the next united states senator from ohio, j. d. vance. [applause]

♪ ♪ ♪ >> all right. thank you everybody. thank you so much. wow. i've got to say i thought this would feel good. it feels better than i thought it would. thank you so much. so if you know anything about me i never write down my remarks but i have to say some thank yous. and first and foremost at the very top of the list is my beautiful wife michelle. thank you, honey. thank you so much.

i, you know, i have had so much fun the last year. the one thing, the one thing is that it does require some sacrifices from family. you and the boys, i love you so much, thank you so much for letting me do this. we have had an incredible and i me an incredible top-notch come by for from every consultant and every journalist and every person that we have the best campaign team in the country, ladies and gentlemen. thank you. to jordan wiggins, the best campaign manager that anybody has had. i am sure that he is excited. the one thing jordan is it's another six months of me complain too so you don't give enough time for lunch. that's what we're having.

i got to say thank you to our guy who has been loyal to me and has been a good friend in political times and nonpolitical times, jason. thank you so much for being here. i guy i met as part of this campaign was sometimes i felt like use either the angel or devil on my shoulder. andrew, the great andrew thank you for everything. i want to say thank you to know what, my honor to sit down with a number of law enforcement officials in my hometown of louisville. but i wish we could have met under happier circumstances. our city is con tending with a tragic and record-setting jump in crime. last year, louisville saw 188

homicides, the most in any year on record. in the last two years, carjackings have tripled. and deadly drugs are becoming so prevalent on our streets, jefferson county saw 500 overdose deaths in 2021. unfortunately, the historic wave of crime that has swept my hometown is challenging communities all across america. the murder rates of at least a dozen other major cities set all-time records last year. chicago saw its most carjackings in 20 years. and in the first quarter of 2022, new york's crime rate is already up, listen to this, 44%.

needless to say, this is a time for strong law enforcement, steady -- studies show less active polices make crime worse and leaves the most vulnerable communities particularly worse off. but our nation's police officers aren't just facing higher volumes of crime. they're facing more direct personal risks to confront it. last year, as overall homicides counts continued to climb past 2020's record total, killings of police officers saw a staggering 59% spike of their own. 73 men and women sworn to protect and serve that you are communities were killed in 2021 while trying to do exactly that.

and already 2022 has seen more than 100 more officers shot in the line of duty. the surge in added police violence that boiled over in the summer of 2020 has taken its toll on the men and women of law enforcement. an exhaustive report compiled by the city of louisville last year found that morale, morale among our officers is alarmingly low. a full 75% would leave for another police department. not surprisingly, this has led to a severe staffing shortage on the force. our police chief even took out billboard ads in atlanta, in atlanta, to try to recruit officers from other cities. now more than ever, we need to fund law enforcement, support police officers, and back the blue. but too many democrats are

apparently bent on doing just the opposite. the far left's call to defund the police has taken root at every level of government. elected officials, sworn to preserve, protect, and defend the constitution, have chosen instead to amplify distrust of the men and women who work every day to enforce our laws. so let's just consider who the biden administration has prioritized for confirmation to top jobs in the justice department. there's the new u.s. attorney with a reputation for pushing to cancel entire categories of the criminal code, and the assistant attorneys general who have advocated for efforts to, quote, decrease police budgets, end quote, and invest less in police. there's the newly minted supreme court justice who advocated in her last job that the covid pandemic was an appropriate

reason to let inmates out of jail right here in washington. and just last week, our colleagues on the judiciary committee considered a nominee to the circuit court with an unapologetic record of hostility toward law enforcement. without any basis in fact, this person suggested that police murdering unarmed black men, quote, happens every day -- happens every day? when our colleague, the junior senator from louisiana, called her out on it understanding -- called her out on it, she claimed she only made the statement as an act of rhetoric al advocacy, rhetorical advocacy on behalf of a client. unsurprisingly, that answer hasn't done much to ease the concerns of america's law enforcement community. major organizations representing

officers, from the sergeants benevolent association to the national sheriffs association to the fraternal order of police, have voiced strong, strong opposition, and called on president biden to, quote, fake a stand against this -- take a stand against this dangerous and absurdly, absurdly divisive rhetoric. well, need levels to say, the president and his administration need to do a lot more than that to prove to the men and women of law enforcement that they have their backs. now, on another matter, last week, president biden offered a particularly candid look at his view of education in america. speaking at an awards ceremony for public schoolteachers, he remarked that, quote, they're not somebody else's children, they're like yours when they're in the classroom. unfortunately, this wasn't a

mistake. it was actually a rather accurate summary of the increasingly radical way he and his party think of children in america. when it comes to the respective roles of parents and teachers, democrats have used the past two years of the pandemic disruptions to show their true colors. they shovel money into woke training, like the north carolina program to help preschool teachers deconstruct whiteness, deconstruct whiteness. they've torn up time-tested procedures as in one california district moved to institute an equity lottery for admissions. and last of all, the former chair of the democratic national committee ran a gubernatorial campaign saying, quote, i don't think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.

well, suffice it to say, parents in virginia saw things differently. across america, parents have rejected the radical, liberal campaign to make education a one size fits all, government knows best proposition. from coast to coast, even in deep-blue bastions like san francisco, they've sent rogue local administrators parking and asserted their rights and responsibilities as the first and most important teachers of their children. yesterday senate republicans made clear once again that we stand with the parents, the parents of america. a bipartisan majority adopted senator thune's resolution of disapproval on one of the biden administration's most egregious violations of parents' rights and kids' well-being. masking children as young as 2

in head start programs across the country, including outside on the playground, including outside on the playground flies in the face of what even the world health organization considers settled science, and it seriously damaged parents' confidence in the systems in which they entrust their children for hours every day. so i was proud to join a majority of my colleagues last night to express the senate's opposition to this unconscionable policy. ah, but make no mistake. this is not the last we'll hear about the far-left's efforts to grab more control over how america raises its kids. as we speak senate democrats are trying to resurrect portions of the failed reckless taxing and spending spree. they spent most of last year trying to ram through on party lines. that proposal includes the toddler takeover that would

stick american families with dramatically higher costs and dramatically less choice in the market for child care. more red tape, special subsidies for pure rock creas preferred one-size-fits-all systems, outright hostility toward the faith-based options that are preferred by a majority of families who use outside the home child care and nothing, nothing at all for families would choose to have a full-time parent or another family member look after their kids. just the latest example of a massive overreach the american people never ask for. the biden administration is having a hard enough time with basic governing responsibilities like national security, energy independence, and controlling inflation.

american families on especially children will be a whole lot better off the sooner the democrats stop looking for even more ways to fail them. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the next united states senator from ohio, j. d. vance. [applause] ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ >> all right. thank you everybody. thank you so much, wow. i've got to say, i thought this would feel good. it feels even better than i i thought it would. thank you all so much. if you know anything about me i never write down my remarks but i first have to say some thank yous. and first and foremost at the very top of the list is my beautiful wife michelle. thank you honey. thank you so much.

i had so much fun the last year. the one thing, the one thing is that it does require some sacrifice from family. do you and the boys i love you so much, thank you so much for letting me do this. we have had an incredible, and i mean an incredible top-notch, i parted from every consultant and every journalist and every person that we have the best campaign team in the country, ladies and gentlemen. thank you. to jordan wiggins, the best campaign manager that anybody has had. i am sure that he's excited. the one thing, jordan, it's another six months of me complain to mr. cardin: mr. president, i have taken this time to talk

about national small business week, but the events of the last 48 hours i need to comment on the justice alito draft opinion that if it were adopted by the supreme court would overturn roe v. wade. i find this draft opinion to be outrageous. it puts the health, well-being, and constitutional rights of women across the nation in great jeopardy. particularly those low-income women. 36 million women of reproductive age would be at risk if the alito opinion became the ruling of the supreme court. we look to our courts to protect and expand our constitutional protections, not to contract and weaken the constitutional protections. reversing nearly 50 years of legal precedent of roe v. wade.

what we need to do is to make sure that this body does everything we can to protect women's rights and to protect their health care right to make their own decision. i am pleased that 16 states including the district of columbia have taken action to protect women's rights, including my own state of maryland, but we need to do more. we need to pass the women's health protection act. i'm a cosponsor of that. proud to be a cosponsor of it which would codify roe v. wade, protect reproductive rights for women. i hope we'll have the opportunity to do that. and i need -- i think we all recognize that we have a responsibility to act before the supreme court makes its ruling that could jeopardize the constitutional rights. now, mr. president, i do want to speak about national small

business week which is this week, may 1 through the 7th. i have the honor of chairing the small business and entrepreneurship committee here in the united states senate. and i had the opportunity as chair to talk about small businesses 52 weeks a year and to brag about what small businesses are doing. this week gives us the opportunity to highlight for every american the incredible contributions small businesses make to our economy. national small business week is an annual reminder of how important small businesses are to the success of america. small businesses are the lifeblood of our national economy and our local communities. there are more than 32 million small businesses across the nation, and they support more than 61 million jobs. as congress works to address the challenges facing our country from climate change to foreign conflicts, the issues facing small business owners can be --

can't be drowned out. that's why i asked to be a member of the spall business committee when i first entered the united states senate in 2007. the committee is one of the smaller committees in terms of resources and staff, but i know that it was going to be a place where i could support entrepreneurs, those in my home state of maryland and nationwide, who are focused on creating the companies' products, services, and technologies of the future. that's where job growth will take place in this country. more jobs are created through small business than through larger companies. that's where innovation takes place in this country, where we find ways to deal with challenges as we saw during covid-19. but it's also where small businesses do not have the same resiliency to deal with downturns in our economy. and that's why it's so important for us to act in regards to the covid-19 pandemic. two years ago as our nation faced the threat of a

once-in-a-century global pandemic, supporting our small business owners was one of my top priorities. i'll always be proud of the swift bipartisan action that this body took to ensure that our vibrant small business sector would not be the casualty of the covid-19 pandemic. since the beginning of the pandemic, congress has created several new programs to support small businesses, including the paycheck protection program. that was there to protect the workforce in small business, the idle advanced grant program -- eidl advanced grant program which provided capital for small businesses during the pandemic and provided through its own program -- its loan program capital needed during this period of time. the operators grant program that dealt with businesses that were basically ordered to close during the pandemic because of the public health risks, the restaurant revitalization fund that was aimed at an industry that was so badly devastated as

a result of covid-19 when people would not go out to restaurants, and several other initiatives that we passed during that period of time. we have appropriated more than $1 trillion through the small business administration to fund these initiatives and others, and we have been critical -- it's been critical to the survival of small businesses and now to our own economic recovery. several independent studies have confirmed that the s. bmplets ampleghts' implementation of these programs was largely successful and improved over time, especially in terms of equity, reaching the underserved communities. the improvement is the result of thoughtful policies congress has implemented as well as the biden administration's efforts to invest in underserved entrepreneurs. americans registered a record setting 5.4 million new small businesses this last year which was one million increase over the prior record of 4.4 million.

so we are responding. the small business community is vibrant. even better this increases -- this increase is occurring in some of our most underserved communities with minorities, specifically minority women driving entrepreneurial surge. this theme for national small business week, building a better america through entrepreneurship could not be more fitting and it should serve as a clarion call for every member of congress. we simply cannot let this opportunity pass us by. instead we in congress must tap into and bolster the entrepreneurial spirit that is sweeping our nation to build a fair and more just economy for all. the good news, we already know how we can do this because that's what we did during the pandemic. several independent studies have confirmed that small business relief programs we created over the past two years improved over time. the improvement was the result of policies many of which were

bipartisan that directly addressed the are structural barriers that make it more difficult for women, minorities and other underserved entrepreneurs to start and grow successful businesses. in the years ahead, congress must leverage the end roads that the s.b.a. has made to these previously underserved communities so businesses and business loan projects can better reach entrepreneurs who need them the most. the most immediate action we can take is to replenish the restaurant revitalization fund. there are 770,000 applications that are outstanding that qualified for the relief but because there was no enough funds in the program appropriated by congress and because of the original

confusion on application priorities, they were not table to get the funds even though they were eligible and they needed the funds. in some states as many as six in ten request for grants remains unmet. congress cannot mistake a recovery for a sign that restaurants and bars are back to where they were prior to the pandemic. they are not. many bars and restaurants are months behind in rent and other bills, and they have to deal with increased supply chain issue. the need is still there and we must act. i the want to thank senator wicker in working with me to provide support to this and other hard-hit industries. there are three policies that congress should enact to better serve the interest of entrepreneurship and make our economy more diverse and

resilient in the future. first, congress should create a direct lending program at the s.b.a. that will allow another avenue for financing. a reimagined direct lending program would allow small businesses to apply for federal loans. many entrepreneurs are discouraged from applying for a business loan because of the high rates of rejection. banks tend to deal with their existing companies or they tend to want the bigger loans than the start-ups. a direct lending program from the s.b.a. should help. we should codify capitol to -- capital to help those

communities that have been left out in the past. i'm grateful to the biden administration's recent announcement they will extend the program and implement changes to help make the program more helpful to underserved small businesses. there -- it will expand the number of lenders in the program to provide loans to underserved entrepreneurs. third, congress should give s.b.a. the tools an resources to nurture the next generation of entrepreneurs by creating accelerators on the nation's historically black colleges and universities and community colleges. in maryland, our state hbcu are resource partners for the s.b.a. they host business incubators and excel braitor and they --

accelerators, we need to do the same on a national scale and support our resource partners many they are commonsense policies that will help entrepreneurs and help us to recover from the covid-19 pandemic in a stronger, fairer way. as we celebrate national small business week, let's double down on the investments we've made in the entrepreneurs over the pass two years, let's put partisanship aside and address the direct causes that entrepreneurs face on a daily basis. let us rededicate ourselves to help american small businesses help fairness and opportunity in this country and help our economy grow even stronger. with that, mr. president, i would suggest the be absence ofa quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

our first guest becky pringle the president of the national education association. thanks for being with us. >> it's good to be with you again, pedro. >> remind our viewers about the scope of the people who represent how widespread that is? >> guest: we are the largest labor union in this country. we represent 3 million teachers and support staff, , nurses, counselors, higher education, faculty. we represent retirement members and we represent those college

students who are aspiring. >> host: because if i understand it correctly its national teacher appreciation week and you engage with teachers on a regular basis. what's your sense from them about to the degree they are appreciated these days? >> guest: so let me begin with hashtag thank a teacher. we of course set aside and have for a long time set aside this week his first week in may to show our appreciation to teachers but i will tell you these last few years have been incredibly challenging and stressful in this pandemic that has fueled so much loss in stress and uncertainty. and this year more than ever we have to think deeply about what showing appreciation to teachers actually means. you know that i can't find for over 30 years, and i know

there's never been another year where we have to really be thinking deeply about how we show that appreciation. we did something different, pedro. we asked our teachers, set up a hotline and ask them to call an intel is what appreciation looks like. we got thousands and thousands of teachers flooding those lines to share with us and everyone what appreciation looks like so that they have the support and encouragement they need to continue to stay in this noble profession. >> host: some of the things you found in a survey recently of yours when it comes to what teachers our experience, 91% of the saint pandemic related stress was a serious problem for educators. page 5% say they plan to leave the realm of education sooner because of the pandemic. 86% of members say they are seeing more educators leaving. if that's the case then what is being done to perhaps retain them? what is being done to replace

those who would leave the profession? >> guest: pedro, , we were actually quite shot at the high numbers that we got when we did the survey, the number of educators who were planning to leave earlier than they thought they would. as we ducked into that and asked them the why of that, they identified a wealth of information but the fact was educator salaries. and they also talked about the mental health of their students. that's falling on their shoulders. so when a student of new york a social and emotional needs and true mental health crises here. have enough mental health expert in schools or the resources to meet those needs. the last thing, the top three, the third one was they need more of them. they need more educators, more support staff, more counselors and nurses. they can't do this job alone and

that additional stress of stepping in and filling e gaps, not having enough substitutes, covering over the lunchtime so they're not eating just really made this crisis a five alarm fire. it's not that it's not been read because it has. we've been in crisis for a while but then did a only worsened it. >> host: we saw money come from the administration the federal government to bolster educators during the pandemic. has that money are reached the states and what is being done with mr. thune: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: mr. president, monday's leak of a draft opinion in the dobbs supreme court case was an unprecedented and deeply disturbing breach of the confidentiality of supreme court

deliberations. it is difficult to think this is anything other than -- from court-packing threats to the threats from the democrat leader himself that were directed to specific justices attempting to intimidate the supreme court has become par for the course for liberals. but monday's leak represents a new low. almost as disturbing of the leak has been the reaction from my democratic colleagues. their historical comments have been focused on the prospect of them getting an outcome they don't want in the dobbs case. i've seen almost no concern about how the leak will affect the integrity of the supreme court as an institution. and their activist base has gone out of its way to praise the leaker. more than one democrat has actually called for undermining the integrity of the supreme

court by packing the court with additional justices. yes, that's the result of what happened yesterday among democrats. more than one democratic senator believes the proper response to a supreme court decision you don't like is to add additional justices to the court until you can be confident that you will get the outcomes you want. other democratic senators have proposed undermining the integrity of the u.s. senate by abolishing the senate filibuster rule, again, in order to be sure they can get the legislative outcome they want in response to this possible decision in the dobbs case. mr. president, regardless of what side you're on in this debate, you should be willing to stand up for the rule of law and the integrity of our institutions. that shouldn't be a partisan issue. our system of government depends

upon the rule of law which is based upon an independent judiciary free of political pressure or partisan influence. the democrats really want a future in which supreme court decisions are made on political pressure rather than on the justices' impartial application and the law of the case before them. maybe they do. but if they continue to push in that direction, they will end up sacrificing our system of government in the process. mr. president, i have strong beliefs in any number of issues, including abortion. but above all, i believe in our system of government and in the rule of law. while i will fight passionately in support of the courses -- causes i believe in, i will not sacrifice the integrity of our institutions for what would ultimately be nothing but temporary political gain.

it's starting to seem like most of my democratic colleagues disagree with that position. that may possibly be a recipe for a political success but it's also a recipe for destroying free government. mr. president, i'm glad that chief justice roberts is taking steps to investigate this unprecedented breach of trust at the court. and i hope that he will receive the full support of the department of justice should this turn out to be a criminal matter. it's difficult to overstate how much this breach could erode trust among justices and supreme court staff, and i hope that the damage is minimized by a quick identification of the party responsible. and i hope every one of the justices will continue to feel free to do their jobs and follow the facts, the law and the constitution. mr. president, at least one democrat has suggested

the republicans are spending more time commenting on the leak than the contents of justice alito's draft because we're somehow scared to talk about --e position -- pro-life position. we're not. i'm proud to defend the right to life, and i know my colleagues are as well. i think most of us have refrained from commenting because away dent -- because we don't yet truly know the outcome. but i will say this, i hope justice alito's opinion ends up being the majority opinion, because i have long believed roe v. wade was a terrible decision by an activist court that reached far beyond the constitution and the court's interpretive role to impose a new abortion regime on the entire country. and i hope the supreme court overturns roe and returns the question of abortion to the american people and their elected representatives where it

belongs. mr. president, fight to defend life is in keeping with our highest ideals. our passion for justice, our dedication to human rights, and our compassion for the innocent and the vulnerable. i am grateful for all the americans who have fought to make sure the right to life of vulnerable human beings is protected, and who have spent their time and their resources helping moms in need. i look forward to a day, which i hope is soon approaching, when innocent, unborn americans will enjoy the full protection of the law. mr. president, i yield the floor, and i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

>> will labor this country representing three support staff, nurses, higher education faculty. we represent those college students who are aspiring. >> if i understand it correctly its national teacher appreciation week and

you engage with teachers on a regular basis . what's your sense from them about to the degree that appreciated these days? >> let me begin with #thankateacher. we show our appreciation for teachers but the last 50 years it's been incredibly challenging, stressful in a pandemic that has fueled so much loss and stress and uncertainty. this year more than ever we have to think deeply about what showing appreciation to teachers actually means. you know i taught for 30 years and i know there's never been a year where we have to be thinking about how we show that appreciation so we didsomething different . we actually asked our teachers to call in and tell

us what appreciation looks like and we got thousands and thousands of teachers flooding those lines to share with us and everyone what appreciation looks like . so that they have the support and encouragement they need to continue to stay in this noble profession. >> some of the things you found in a survey recently when it comes to what teachers are experiencing, 91 percent of those saying pandemic related stress was a serious problem for educators, 55 percent saying they plan to leave the realm of education sooner becauseof the pandemic and 86 percent of members saying they're seeing more educators leaving their . if that's the case then what's being done to perhaps retain? was also being done to replace those who would leave the profession ? >> we were actually quite shocked at the high numbers that we got in the survey. the number of educators who were planning to leave

earlier than they thought they would.so as we dug into that andasked them why , they identified a host of issues but the top three were educators salaries which we did some moreresearch on as you know . and they also talked about mental health of their students. that falling on the shoulders of so many of their students coming back with social emotional needs and true mental health crises. they don't have enough mental health experts in schools or the resources to meet those needs. the last thing i mentioned, the top three thatthird one was that they need more of them. they need more educators, more support staff. more counselors and nurses . they can't do this job alone and that additional stress of stepping in and filling those gaps, not having enough substitutes covering over their lunchtime just really made this crisis of five

alarm fire. it's not that it hasn't been around, we've been in crisis for a while but the pandemic only worsened it. >> we saw money come. from the administration to bolster educators during the pandemic . as that money all reached the states and was being done to help these issues thatyou're addressing ? >> it's still in the process of reaching but we have so many incredible examples pedro of how that money has been used to address the issues i just talked about. hiring more mental health professionals so students have the resources they need. reaching support staff so they stay in the profession and don't have to have two jobs and not have the time to connect with families, with parents and they also are just hiring more nurses in columbus ohio. they used their american

rescue plan money to do just that but we still have some things bottleneck in that money so we are working, the nda has invested millions of dollars to establish what we call an arp network so we have people in every single state assisting our educators and making sure they are at the table helping make the decisions. that they know exactly what that money can be allocated for and they are part of the plan to ensure that money gets to the students in our schools and educators. >> as far as the bottlenecks can you elaborateon what's keeping that money from getting to its intended destination ? >> early on there were states who refused to accept the money and then as always when we are talking about federal dollars, by the time it is reaching the localities at local school districts sometimes it takes a while for that allocation of funds to reach to the place where

it's closest to our students. so i've been working directly with the secretary of education to address those things and find out that there are people either deliberately blocking or just from confusion and that kind of thing. people work those types of things to makes sure we solve those issues so our students have those resources. >> and what has miguel cardona's said about these issues ? >> he has been absolutely transparent about the reality that sometimes it does take intervention to ensure that we get the money where it needs to go. for those who deliberately blocked at the outset but as the department of education is addressing the issues and concerns that either the state or localities have, they are freeing up that money and getting it to our students.

>> that bethany frankel joining us until 8:30. we've divided the lines differently. if you are a student who wants to give your perspective 202-748-8000. if you're an educator 202-748-8000. >>

in wyoming this past weekend were paying $4 a gal loon for gasoline -- a gallon for gasoline. doesn't make a federal investigation, doesn't take a federal investigation to figure out what's wrong here with energy in america. we know why prices are up -- supply and demand. very simple. demand for energy is up, and supply is not. supply is actually down. yet, after a year of high prices, estimates still refuse to admit it, ignoring inflation, not facing the facts that we have the american energy in the ground here and they won't let us get it out. but now the democrats are coming

up with election-year conspiracy theories. they say high prices aren't happening because of the law of economics, they're saying it's happening because of secret backroom deals. democrats claim it's an international conspiracy, rigged by a global oil market. instead of producing american energy, democrats want to produce excuses, one after another. the democrat press conference, the majority leader said the american people didn't send us here to point fingers and blame each other. they ought to point fingers at themselves. which is exactly what the democrat leader and president have done for the last 15 months. since the day joe biden took office. they blamed inflation op coronavirus. then they blamed it on economic growth. then they blamed it on corporations. they blamed it on ports and shipping companies. they blamed it on vladimir putin.

everyone except themselves. they are the cause of the problem. they will blame anyone, as long as they don't have to change their radical and reckless policies. but they won't deal with the problem. right now democrats basically point to the fact that they're determined to give the american people more of the same, and it's the same things that have brought joe biden's approval numbers to an all-time low on the inflation, on economy, on the cost of energy, all-time historic lows for a president who should know better but is following the lead of the liberal radical left. so people are going to be facing more inflation, more high energy costs, and it's now cost so much to fill up a tank of gasoline. it's over a hundred dollars and i see that repeatedly across

wyoming last weekend. this is the same level of anxiety for hard-working families at the end of every month when the paychecks don't keep up. on sunday, this past sunday the cost of diesel hit an all-time high. not just a 40-year high like we have for inflation. an all-time high for diesel fuel. diesel prices have doubled since joe biden took office. higher diesel prices means it will cost more to transport goods to market. food prices are up. everything that one buys at the market is up. no matter how bad it gets, democrats refuse to change course. joe biden continues to attack american energy and american energy workers. right now joe biden's administration are blocking oil and gas leases at 80% of the available federal lands. there are thousands of drilling requests that are in limbo which is where joe biden has put them.

he's done everything possible, you would think, to undermine investment in american energy. told the banks don't lend. told businesses don't invest. an attack on direct, on jobs, and affordable energy. democrats are really serious about lowering energy prices, they would stop their war on american energy. we need to unleash american energy, not keep it in the ground. but democrats remain the party of higher costs, the party of expensive regulations, the party of high taxes, and the party of greater reliance on foreign countries. working families cannot afford the democrat agenda. people feel stuck. they're stressed. they're squeezed by inflation. they're squeezed by high energy

prices. they have to make decisions about how they drive and how they eat and what they eat and how they live. the democrat policies have brought us all of this. we need to replace the democrat policies and come november we're going to replace the democrats in the house and? the senate. -- and in the senate. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from pennsylvania. mr. casey: mr. president, i would ask consent to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without

objection. mr. casey: thank you, mr. president. i rise this morning to express concern for the people of ukraine and the hundreds of millions who are going to bed hungry across the globe. every day since that terrible day february 24, we watched in horror as vladimir putin and his army, his forces kill ynt ukrainians -- innocent ukrainians over and over again like nothing, nothing we've seen since world war ii. russian forces continue to besiege and shell ukrainian cities like mariupol where over the last two months civilians have lived in bunkers under perpetual fire. these are civilians in those bunkers. only yesterday 130 civilians managed to escape the battered

steel plant. describing the last several months one evacuee said, quote, you can't imagine how scary it is when you sit in the shelter in a wet and damp basement which is bouncing, shaking. we are praying to god that missiles fly over our shelter because if it hit the shelter, all of us would be done, unquote. sadly 200 more ukrainian civilians have been unable to evacuate, even as russian forces began storming the steel mill just yesterday. so our prayers are with them and the remaining brave ukrainian fighters continuing to hold on to this plant. but atrocities continue across all of ukraine. yesterday three civilians were killed on the way to collecting water, collecting water for

their families. the united states of course must continue to help ukraine fight against mr. putin and his forces. mr. putin is the incoronation of evil. it's as clear as any debate could be. the good news is countries all over the world are unified against him but we have a long way to go. now i and so many others across the house and the senate strongly supported the appropriation that congress made back in march, $13.6 billion in emergency appropriations to support ukraine, and i stand by president biden's recent $33 billion request to help ukraine defend itself over the long term. unfortunately in that first number, the $13.6 billion, the

good news is we had support for that in both parties. but i have to say for the record not enough support on the republican side. here in the senate 31 republicans voted against the $13.6 billion. and when you add up the senate republicans voting against the $13.6 billion in the spending bill and add it to the house republicans which is obviously a much bigger number, it's more than 200 members of the republican party in the united states congress voted against every single penny of the $13.6 billion for ukraine. so i hope, i hope when it comes to the $33 billion that will i hope we'll be able to pass, but i'm sure it will be a number at least comparable to that, but whatever the number is for the people of ukraine, i hope that we will get unanimous support in the united states congress.

i hope we won't see more than 200 members of republicans in the congress voting against the people of ukraine. this is not a difficult choice. you're either on one side or the other. i said mr. putin's incarnation of evil, he is. the good news is we have another choice. the other choice is mr. zelenskyy, the people of ukraine, and those brave fighters in ukraine. they are the personification of all that we claim to stand for when we talk about democracy. this isn't a moment to theorize or to talk about democracy in globing terms -- in glowing terms without taking actions. they're doing the fighting on the battle field. the least we can do is vote the right way. that's the power you have as a member of congress. you have the power to vote. and i hope that we'll have unanimous support for the $33

billion that the president has asked for. now, what will that funding entail? i won't go through all of it, but this funding will include $20.4 billion in additional security and military assistance for ukraine. it's important to put that into context. so it's basically 20 of the 33 will be for security and military assistance. that is on top of what has already been appropriated just since the battle -- the war in ukraine started when russia invaded. with president biden's leadership and with a lot of support in the congress, we've been able to provide billions of dollars just on the military and security assistance not to mention the humanitarian support, the sanctions, and the unified approach that so many countries around the world have taken. but we have a lot more to do,

and in my judgment the $33 billion won't be enough. we're going to be back at it probably in a few months providing more. but at a minimum we've got to get this done for the people of ukraine. part of that appropriation will be the replenishing of donated nato weapons and equipment. this help in total, all of the security assistance and other humanitarian support will be critical to ukraine's ability to prevail, to prevail over russian forces through the summer and the fall. we must continue to provide all of the artillery, the antitank, antiair weapons and air defense systems and other capabilities that ukraine can use to block russian authoritarianism and support the ukrainian people. however, regardless of how much support the united states, nato,

and our other allies and partners provide, we must remember that nothing we do, nothing we do is comparable to the awesome sacrifice for freedom and democracy that ukrainians are now making every day, when they give their lives, they give their lives in this war and have their own families shattered in the process. they are upholding the people of ukraine, those brave fighters on the battlefield every day, every week, every month now, those ukranians are upholding democracy not just for themselves, not just for our country but for the entire free world. there are of course other consequences to this war. the war has already driven over 13 million ukrainians from their homes. these ukrainians who are either

refugees going to another country or internally displaced within ukraine but are outside of their homes. that number is equal to the entire population, roughly equivalent, 13 million to the entire population of my home state of pennsylvania. just imagine that, 13 million people being displaced. and unfortunately it doesn't seem like that will be the end. so i want to commend the european union and ukrainian neighbors in the region for their warm welcome to such an unprecedented refugee flow from ukraine. now, recently just two weeks ago traveling through italy, georgia, and france, i saw everyday italians, georgians, frenchmen and french women hoping their hearts and their homes to ukrainian refugees, not to mention the people of poland would have done so much and so many others. just one example in italy,

faith-based nonprofits like son ajidia have led support to those in need. i commend the administration's work to support these refugees across europe and those remaining in ukraine. much of that work funded by part of the $13.6 billion that congress appropriated in march. let me move to another topic, but it's directly related to what we just talked about. food security. our work on the overall strategy as it relates to the people of ukraine and protecting democracy is far from complete. as the world has not yet felt the full effect, the full brunt of the global effects of mr. putin's unprovoked, unlawful, and certainly unjustified war. while millions of ukrainians have already become refugees or

internally displaced people, there are food shortages in more than one-third of the country. by the end of the year, tens of millions across the globe also will face immediate danger from hunger. so this is a crisis for the people of ukraine on a whole host of fronts obviously. but it's also a food security crisis for the world at the same time. the reason for that immediate danger that people face right now, being unable to find the food that they need to survive, is because of this invasion as well as obviously the terrible impact the pandemic has had. as a breadbasket of the world, before the war ukraine fed over 400 million people across the globe. and the greater black sea area exported more than 12% of the

food calories that are traded worldwide. the war has cut off, cut off these supplies while also raising food -- also raising fuel and transportation costs. there is less food to go around and it costs more to get food to those who need it the most. this comes on top of the covid-19 pandemic, as i mentioned, which increased hunger and complicated supply chains and climate change effects like severe drought and floods. it also costs more to grow food, as russia previously dominated the world's fertilizer markets. today both food and fertilizer prices have skyrocketed to higher than ever before. the world food programme estimates that 878 million people across 92 countries of the world do not have adequate food on their table. 878 million people.

over 276 million people now face acute food insecurity, meaning that they are in immediate danger from not being able to find their next meal. so they are the ones in the most trouble right now all across the world. 276 million. it's not all the folks that are hungry and have a food security crisis, but those are in immediate danger. due to putin's horrific war, by the end of 2022, another 47 million people will likely face those same dangers. 47 million people. that will mean that around the world, almost as many people live -- as live in the entire united states will face immediate danger from hunger. most of these people live outside of ukraine, in the middle east, africa, latin america where any further price shock may put entire communities at risk.

i see the distinguished majority leader, if he wanted to -- want me to suspend? i yield. mr. schumer: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: i thank the always gracious, always thoughtful, always perspecacious senator from pennsylvania for yielding. now, mr. president, there's only one way, only one way, to describe the supreme court's reported decision to overturn roe v. wade -- an abomination. such a decision, if it comes to pass, would be an utter abomination. women across america would suffer irreparable harm to their rights, their health, and their dignity. it will go down as one of the worst and most damaging opinions that the court has handed down in modern history, and the court would suffer a mortal blow to its reputation that i fear will

last forever. yesterday i pledged that senate democrats will act on legislation to codify roe into law. it is vital that we act quickly because this is no longer an abstract exercise. this is as real as itest goes, america -- this is as real as itest goes, america -- this is as real as it gets, america, as real as it gets. every single american is going to see where every single senator stands on protecting a woman's right to choose. and, rest assured, americans will be watching. now, we must be be clear, this week's draft opinion didn't materialize in a vacuum. the blame for the end of roe lies primarily right across the aisle here with senate republicans. the supreme court's decision to overturn roe would never have been possible without leader mcconnell and senate republicans spending years packing our courts with

hard-right judges, judges who came from a list under the trump years that the federalist society approved and the federalist society's purpose when it was put into action from what i've read is to repeal roe. and the republicans on this side of the aisle, right there, were willing accomplices in that deed. let me say it again. the supreme court's decision to overturn roe would have never been possible without leader mcconnell and senate republicans spending years packing our courts with hard-right judges. now republicans are twisting themselves into pretzels trying to distract from this truth. yesterday leader mcconnell said that the real story was somehow the leaks and not the end of roe. can you believe that? the leaks are more important than the rights of 100 million american women? give knee a break. -- give me a break. and when leader mcconnell was

asked at his press conference if he was glad roe would be repealed, he wouldn't even answer it. they know where history is going. they know where the american people are. they know they're on the wrong side of both. so they're trying to, quote, go low key. republicans have spent decades trying to achieve the end of roe and now that they're about to succeed, they're flailing around talking about a leak instead of owning up to their own actions. we won't let them. we know, all of us, why republicans are spending all their focus on the leak. it's because they don't want to focus on roe, where again they're on the wrong side of history and wrong side of the american people. their hypocrisy and refusal to own this decision is utterly shameful. the end of a constitutional right to choose is not some

small or inconsequential subject. it's huge. it touches on one of the most personal, most private, most important decisions a woman can make regarding her body. so it's worth saying again, without senate republicans working years to pack our courts, without them changing rules of the senate to confirm three ideological justices, roe would not, would not, be on the brink of being overturned. and don't take my word for it. leader mcconnell himself expected and hoped for this outcome. when asked in 2019 what confirming president trump's justices meant for the antiabortion movement, he said, quote, there are a number of states who have enacted new legislation that would be winding its way up through the courts and it gives us an opportunity to begin to pick away at roe v. wade. quote, pick away at roe v. wade. so what the court did was not an aberration. it was a plan, a plan by senate

republicans, a plan by leader mcconnell. senate republicans spent years rubber-stamping one radical trump judge after another onto the federal bench in order to, quote, pick away at roe. many of these judges were wildly unqualified. many of them were out of step, far out of step from the american mainstream. what's more, every single republican also changed senate rules to confirm not one, not two, but three trump justices to the u.s. supreme court, assuring a 6-3 conservative majority. some of these justices lied to the senate by misrepresenting their views on respecting precedent about it came to decisions -- when 2 came -- when it came to decisions like roe. and of course after the death of justice scalia, leader mcconnell took the step of preventing the senate from considering the nomination of merrick garland.

so nobody here should be fooled. nobody in america should be fooled. the republican leader might not say it, but the end of roe is a culmination of actions taken by the republican leader and the republican party writ large to skew our courts with hard-right, antichoice judges. now that they're close to succeeding, they can't even bring themselves to own up to their own actions because they know -- they know -- just how strongly the american people oppose restricting the right to choose. but, mr. president, this is not the end of the story. republicans cannot hide from the american people and cannot hide their role in bringing roe to an end. they will have to answer to the people this month, this year, and especially this november when american voters go to the polls. and we are going to vote here in the senate to make clear where every single member stands on

the right to choose. few issues, few issues are as personal, as private, and as important to americans as whether or not to have an abortion. the nation will be watching to see who in this chamber will defend this precious right to choose and who will stand with the roberts' court to destroy this right in one fell swoop. now, on another subject, a very different subject, tonight the senate -- or this afternoon the senate will begin holding votes on as many as 28 motions to instruct before the conference committee begins the work of finalizing our jobs and competition bill. 20 of those motions to instruct come from republicans, a sign of the immense good faith the democrats have shown republicans inest going this bill over the -- in getting this bill over the finish line. for the information of all members, we're going to be voting late into the night to get through as many of the motions to instruct as we can.

i ask members to vote quickly, to stay near the floor so we can keep the process moving as quickly as we can on the floor of the senate. i yield the floor and once again thank my colleague from pennsylvania for yielding. mr. casey: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from pennsylvania. mr. casey: i thank the majority leader. i resume my comments about food security. as i mentioned earlier, across the world we not only have 276 million people who now face acute food insecurity, as i said meaning that they're in immediate danger from not being able to find their next meal, but what's ahead is an exacerbation of that problem. another 47 million people will likely face these same dangers by the end of this year. so a food security problem which was a substantial problem before the pandemic, made ever worse by

the pandemic, has gotten much worse because of the war in ukraine, all caused by an tac on a sovereign country -- an attack on a sovereign country by a brutal dictator, mr. putin. so this is one of the reasons why the war in ukraine -- or why all of us, i should say, across the free world have a stake in what happens in ukraine. i wanted to also highlight what the united states is doing in the midst of this terrible food insecurity crisis. we can't afford to forget, and should not forget, about the tens of millions who are struggling to survive as a result of this invasion. to feed all those in know, the world -- to feed all those in need, the world food programme estimates it'll take more than $18 billion. the united states must not share this burden alone. but if we don't lead the way, no

one will. that's true in so many instances. it's true with regard to the president's leadership against mr. putin by helping the people of ukraine. it's also true in terms of american leadership on food security. president biden has -- his $33 billion request for all aspects of the challenge in ukraine doesn't include enough, in my judgment -- it includes $1.6 billion for food security and humanitarian assistance. now, that sounds like a lot of money, but it's not enough to meet the moment. despite my consistent urging, congress has appropriated flat-funding for the united states' food security program, feed the future, over the last ten years. adjusting for inflation, the program has been cut by almost a third of its total programming, from almost $1.5 billion in today's dollars to just over $1

billion. so today we face the same global food crisis which the feed the future program was originally created to address after the 2008 recession. so after a recession we had a global food security challenge, and now half a pandemic, and exacerbated by the war in ukraine, we have potentially an even greater challenge. so we must again rise to the challenge. when which say we, i mean the united states government, the congress, the branch of our government that appropriates money has to rise to the challenge by providing the resources that are necessary to feed those who face famine, not just missing a meal here or there, famine itself. we've got to support these small-holder farmers who are the backbone of the world food supply and sustainably

strengthen food systems to protect against the next war, the next pandemic, the next drought, or the next flood. so that's why i'm leading a letter to appropriators urging robust funding of all, all, global food security accounts in the fiscal year 2023 budget, specifically calling for an almost $200 million increase just for the feed the future program, not to mention those other global food security programs and accounts. this funding will only put a dent in the growing food security crisis, but it will inspire our allies and our partners to follow us. america leads the world in so many ways. fortunately, most of the time on food security we have led the world as well. we need to do that again. would end to lay the groundwork for a more secure food future

and save tens and tens of thousands of lives, potentially a lot more than that in the immediate future. i'll move to one final topic before i conclude, and this is a topic that we're hearing more about because of the pandemic and because of legislation we're working on right now. today and tomorrow, as the majority leader made reference to, we're going to be voting here in the senate on measures ahead of a conference, kind of a coming together of the house and senate to work out differences on landmark legislation aimed at addressing u.s. economic competition with the chinese communist party and investing in american workers. as the house and senate proceed to this conference on the senate-passed u.s. innovation and competition act and the house version which is called the competes act, i urge bipartisan leadership in both house and senate to negotiate in

good faith and ensure substantive provisions that support the interest of american workers, supply chains, and security. key among these provisions in the trade title of the house competes act, and within it the bipartisan, bicameral national critical capabilities defense act, which both senator cornyn and i wrote and have led the effort on to pass this legislation. in the house of representatives, pascrel and delauro worked on this as well. the pandemic exacerbated a problem that's been decades in the making. here it is -- the united states has ceded manufacturing powers to other countries, especially countries like china that don't play by the rules. from the p.p.e. shortages that we all know so much about at the beginning of the pandemic, we couldn't even provide enough masks, gloves, and gowns for

our own people. that was an american failure that was long in the making. we cannot, cannot allow that to happen. but of course p.p.e. doesn't end the story. we've ceded our manufacturing power to other parts of the world in so many other ways. for too long corporations have prioritized their profits over anythings. they've -- anything else. they've prioritized over offshoring, manufacturing in countries with low labor standards, that undercut american workers, and lowering the cost of -- thereby i should say lowering the cost of design and production across the board. offshoring manufacturing, our manufacturing capability, the best in the world, i would argue -- why would we offshore it like we have over a generation -- and offshoring our supply chains has gotten so bad that it's now putting our economic security at risk.

but it's also putting our national security at risk. this issue is that -- the issue is, i should say, is we don't even know how bad the problem is. at its core, this bill, the national critical capabilities defense act, is a transparency effort. we need to know how much we're relying on foreign adversaries for both the design and manufacturing of goods that are critical to our economic and national security interest. once we know that, we can start investing in domestic manufacturing strategically, which will lower costs for families, provide good-paying jobs to american workers and ensure that we're no longer relying on adversaries for the basic functions of our economy. this is a commonsense policy, and that's why this bill has bipartisan support in the house and senate.

members of the senate are coming together on this who often don't agree on much but agree we've got to protect our manufacturing base. we cannot be at the mercy of other countries in a pandemic or more generally when it comes to our economic interest, but also our security interest. that's why the biden administration officials from the national security advisor to the secretary of commerce have acknowledged a need to review outbound investment. even former national security advisor h.r. mcmaster proposed some form of a government outbound investment review mechanism. mr. president, i recognize that this is not an easy problem to solve, not an easy mechanism to create within the bureaucracy of the federal government, but this critical moment calls for having to do the hard work to ensure we're meeting the economic and national security challenges of the day. this is a moment to do the work, to set our government and

the american people up for success in a world where the chinese communist party will continue to incentivize american investment into that country and away from the united states, thereby, eroding the foundation of american power which is leveraging our economic might to uphold liberal democratic norms, the same norms that are being challenged every day in places like ukraine. so this is why i urge my colleagues and leadership to work with me and to work with others in a bipartisan, bicameral effort to ensure the inclusion of this critical legislation in a final competitiveness package. there is no reason why, if a company is outsourcing technology, outsourcing a

product that compromises or has the potential to omicrons our national -- has the potential to compromise our national security, we not only should know about that, but we should have the opportunity as a government whose first duty is to protect our national security. that same government, the united states government, should be able to review those transactions and make a determination about whether or not that outsourcing will put us at a disadvantage. that is a reasonable request for people in both parties, both houses, and the administration. and it's about time we did this. it is long overdue. so this isn't simply we could not make enough masks and had to rely on other countries in a pandemic. that's bad enough. that is embarrassing enough. this is a lot more than p.p.e. this is about our economic security and our national security. and there's no reason why those

kinds of investments that companies make every day, sometimes without any thought about what it will do to our security, there's no reason why that shouldn't be the subject of an appropriate review to protect our national security. mr. president, with that i would yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. inhofe: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. mr. inhofe: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call in progress be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. inhofe: thank you. mr. president, much has already been said on this floor as we express our love and admiration for our friend and former colleague, senator orrin hatch of utah. he was not like any other senator. orrin was the best of all of us us, and our household was very sad to hear of his passing. i'll never forget the time he took to answer the calls from obscure state senator from oklahoma. and if you haven't figured out, that was me. and he had his way about him with everyone he met --

unwavering kindness and gentle nature that kay and i will miss deeply. and you don't see a lot of that in the united states senate. we were close long before it was even in the house. orrin was the one who i would go to for wisdom, and we had the same love for jesus and everything that we hold dear. i will always remember his humor, but he also gave his best advice. he was not just a friend, but a confidante. whether he was talking about scripture or history, he had a way of saying things that brought people together. you don't see that today. you don't see people -- you see people fighting each other, and that's what people always say. when i go back to oklahoma, people are talking about why don't you guys get along.

we do. it just doesn't come across that way, but it did with him. i think back fondly on everything we've done while orrin was in office, despite strong opposition at the time, myself and senators hatch, chambliss, and thune were able to pass an amendment permitting the air force to enter into a multiyear procurement for a total of 60 f-22's during the 2007 ndaa. the ndaa, something we pass every year, the national defense authorization act, and that's what happened that year. that turned out to be one-third of our total force in one effort, one ndaa effort. the argument against the amendment at the time was that we didn't need such an air-dominant fighter, but we knew that we were making an investment in the future of our defense.

orrin had that foresight. he was always looking to the future. in his advancing years, people would joke around about it because he was looking at the next generation. he showed the foresight always when others didn't. not only that, but together we worked very closely to ensure the future of our air force depots. i remember the codel. a codel is a group, when members go someplace to examine things. i led a group of codels along with senator hatch and senator chambliss, which each one of our depots as part of the initiative to restore their funding. this is something that we had to do at that time because our administration had not done an adequate job. orrin -- you know, you think

of him as always a serious person. he wasn't. most of the time he's poking fun at himself. i remember laughing often when he was around. together we supported funding for these air force depots that continue to be vital to our home states of oklahoma, utah, and georgia. but we had fun while doing it. that was orrin's way of doing. he always had fun. and for those of you who are not familiar with our nation's depots, they are state-of-the-art maintains repair facilities for air force's aircraft. we do this ourselves to, because you can't trust anyone else to get them done. simply put, our nation would not be able to rule the skies without the critical maintenance and repair work performed on our incredibly complex aircraft. to ensure our nation will always

have our nation's depots, there are laws commonly called core or 50-50 laws which preserve the depots' maintenance. a lot of people are not familiar even with the term depot, but it's critically important for our survival. throughout my tenure on the senate armed services committee, i greatly appreciated the legal analysis that senator hatch provided my staff and me. when the executive branch would send over suggested changes to these critical laws. there are many times when after reading those proposals, senator hatch would raise the alarm in my colleagues on the senate armed services committee, and i would then turn to battle, and sometimes we had to do what was necessary, but we did it

together. after the obama administration canceled the nasa project, the constellation which was supposed to replace the space shuttle, there was a real question if the civilian solid rocket motor industry, which employs thousands of people in utah, was going to survive. obviously it did survive, and it was due to orrin hatch using his considerable legislative skills, senator hatch was able to insert language in the fiscal year 2010 nasa authorization act that directed the new heavy-lift space launch system that he -- be built to lift from inception 130 tons, an objective at the time could only be accomplished

by using solid-rock motors. and he did it. he looked out into the future. this is back when he was actually in advanced years himself. and as a result, a few weeks ago nasa just rolled the s.l.s. out of the launch pad for testing before it carries the astronauts to the moon we're projecting to be in 2025. i was also very impressed by now senator hatch and his prominence to promote the use of hill air force base, whenever there was an air force official within hearing distance, senator hatch would espouse the strength, capabilities of the elgin air complex. he did so very persuasively. i honestly believe that one of

the reasons why hill was chosen to receive the first three squadrons of f-35's is because orrin hatch was always advocating for hill with the air force senior leadership. now, one of the things that i loved about orrin hatch was his placement of observed words into many of his speeches. he would say things that were so obscure, no one would know what he was talking about. so no one in the senate wants to believe that they don't understand what he's talking about, but they didn't. and he -- you know, he would use words that not -- that no one really had any idea what they meant. these are reasonable doubt -- these are words that he wrote. bovarism, defined by him as an exaggerated, especially glamourized estimate of one's self. i think we know what we're

talking about there. coccalorum, a small man with a big opinion of himself. or ferfi, a false report or rumor. when asked why he insisted on using that kind of a vocabulary, senator hatch would glean his boyish glynn and respond, i like confusing democrats. well, he had a very peculiar way of trying to get to know volunteers. he gets people -- he would get people that had no status in life. he would have people who were driving cars. many of these are young people escorting him different places just to make speeches or something. but he'd start off talking about -- he had a peculiar way of trying to get to know volunteers, people that no one

else paid any attention to. he would drive them, if they were driving him to events, without fail, he would always compliment the volunteer of his car -- it could be an old junker car, but he would talk about it. but he was proud of it. the volunteer could have been driving a 50-year-old yugo with the floor rusted through, but i can assure you that senator hatch would find something nice to say about the volunteer's car. now, it is my personal opinion that one of the best ways to know someone is to listen to them pray. when we address our creator, we reveal who we really are. and many of us waited around and listened and waited for orrin to

do one of his prayers, and he had that kind of a love that everyone enjoyed. for those who listened to this or read this record, i want to present a genuine orrin hatch to you, a person that we all came to know and love. in 2010, senator hatch was chosen to say the main prayer at the 57th national prayer breakfast here in washington. now, it's been going on now for 60 years. we've had our 60th now. and this is something that -- it lasts forever. and so at this one -- and in fact i would ask unanimous consent right now that the full text of senator hatch's prayer for peace and tranquility in front of that crowd of 4,000

people on that february morning 12 years ago be included in the record as part of my remarks, at the conclusion of my remarks. and without objection, i thank you. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. inhofe: today i believe orrin hatch fully enjoys the peace and tranquility that he prayed for, and all that to say that orrin hatch will be missed dearly by me and by my friend -- and by many friends of orrin hatch's. kay and i are praying for elaine and their family and loved ones as they go through this difficult time. so today is goodbye to my friend and god bless you, orrin hatch.

i yield the floor.

mr. sasse: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from nebraska. mr. sasse: are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are not. mr. sasse: thank you, mr. president. ukraine's struggle against russia's invasion has reminded americans that sometimes the world divides into good and evil, into heroes and villians. not always. there are many fights that are not like that and we just stupidly talk like it. and debates about marginal tax policy are not good versus evil. but sometimes fights are good versus evil. there are people who believe in freedom more broadly. heroes are people who believe

that we're created in the image of god and everyone has an inalienable rights, the rights to life, liberty, speech, religion, assembly, protest. these are pre-governmental rights. governments don't give us these rights. we're endowed by these rights by nature and nature's creator, and heroes recognize this not only about themselves and their own countrymen and women, but about everybody, zelenskyy is such a hero. the villians are tyrants, they're people who want to oppress others, who want to hold them down, they want to take freedom from their countrymen but also from their neighbors. they're people who seek power at the expense of the weak. putin is such a villain. but there's anotherville lawn in this -- villain in this drama, a villain that is not getting nearly enough attention, and that's chairman xi in china. he's done all sorts of oppressive things against the

men and women in his country. but she is doing more than just oppressing people at home. 100 years from now when the history of the ukraine is written, i'm confident that the public will have a much clearer understanding of the way that xi and putin have worked together and worked together close closement. -- closely. i'm confident that the when the history is written, the american people and the people of the world will see xi and putin has having worked hand in hand, side by side. americans should understand this today. chairman xi is not indifferent about ukraine. he is on putin's side, and he has supported putin's unprovoked war. the situation in yukio minds us of a pretty good real rule. the chinese communist party is

almost always on the wrong side of freedom and human dignity. the c.c.p. and the united states are in the middle of a global conflict of divisions. it is important for us to in chamber not to say the united states and china, as if we mean 330 million americans and 1.4 billion chinese are locked in a battle. but the united states' virginia, the american idea is in conflict of conflict with the chinese. the c.c.p. and the u.s. are locked in a global conflict of visions and that's true whether d.c. politicians want to admit it every day or not. and sometimes it seems convenient for folks not to admit it. but it is the free peoples of the world -- neigh a lice, ukrainians, and other freedom lovers -- who are fighting against a handful of totalitarian regimes; chiefly putin's russia and xi's

communist party. these are the folks who are terrorizing not just their own people but their neighbors. this is a contest between liberty and tyranny. you damn well better believe that the tyrants are working together strategically and intentionally to undermine freedom. so let's back up to february 4. the winter olympics have just begun and vladimir putin is in china to visit chairman xi. they release what had they called a joint statement announcing a new partnership with no limits, close quote. the statement said there would be no i want wills in their partnership against the united states. they promised that they would work together to promote each other's economic and national security interests, even as putin was amassing forces on the border of ukraine and preparing for his invasion. xi was not unaware of what putin was planning when he released and signed the no-limits statement. here is why this is strange.

historically russia and china have not been friends. for centuries these two countries have clashed with one another. during the cold war not even shared communist ideology could unite them for very long. the c.c.p. studied the collapse of the soviet union to learn how to keep a communist regime afloat and they've been very adept at using new technologies not to enhance human freedom but to squash human freedom. now, though, the historic rivals have found something they were in common. both putin and xi hate the united states and hate most fundamentally our ideas. dignity of every individual created in the image of god. let's do a little geography. russia and china share nearly 3,000 miles of common border. russia is giant. it has 11 time zones. think about that. if you look at the globe of the world, you got 24 time zones. russia spans 11 of them. russia is about 11% of the area of land on earth.

there are five countries that have about 6%. so russia is 11%. five countries are 6%. no other country has about 2% of the land mass of earn. the russian-chinese border has historically been complicated because they haven't gotten along. but as as he planned to launch his invasion of ukraine, putin needed to move his troops. he couldn't do that, he couldn't leave this joined border unguarded unless chairman xi sawed we don't have any problems right now. that's what happened. xi agreed he would be on the same side with putin as putin took all of his troops and materiel back to use against the people of ukraine. chairman xi has been in lockstep with putin. "the new york times" had some

impressive reporting. one of the biggest ways china has supported russia through all of this is by amplifying russian lies and propaganda about the war. the chinese communist party propaganda have done everything from blaming the united states for the war to playing up russia's unrealistic security demands to echoing lies about biolabs. they have always been there to amplify putin's falsehoods. some of the things that putin is saying at home is laughably absurd, even to the hosts of state tv that are paid to read these scripts and yet xi has been willing to take all of this, translate it into mandarin and pump it into china to make sure the people of china don't have an accurate understanding of what's happening between russia and the ukraine. the c.c.p. state immediate why have been trying to tell the world repeated untrue stories about russia and now cover up

the atrocities and horrors that have been committed by russian troops against ukrainian civilians. the prop began dyeing is despicable but the support the c.c.p. is providing russia is even more dangerous. we saw how china tried to manipulate international organizations like the w.h. o'to promote their own narrative about the pandemic and to bully other countries. during the invasion of ukraine they did the same thing on behalf of putin. the chinese foreign ministry participated in the spreading of lies about the war to and through other international organizations. at the u.n., chinese diplomats have worked tirelessly to provide cover for russian crimes and to enable putin's invasion. they've spurned the pleas of ukraine and other european countries to try to help restore the peace. just a couple of weeks ago china's vice minister met with the russian ambassador to announce the regimes will, quote, continue to strengthen strategic coordination with russia, close quote.

statements like these have become characteristic of the twisted friendship that has developed between these two aggressor nations and what they call their no limits friendship. china has also attempted to bail out russia and to save their economy from the crippling sanctions that we and our allies imposed since the beginning of this invasion. as soon as the sanctions were imposed, chinese banks were looking for work-arounds so they could keep doing business with russia marlt for their own business but largely to help stabilize russia. russian banks issued chinese union pay cards after visa and master card pulled out of the country and ordered chinese currency savings accounts. china was already in the currency manipulation business but since february they have been using their talents not to prop up their own currency but to keep the ruble from flaming out. while other free countries have begun shunning russia's energy sector, china has continued to conduct what they call normal

trade and cooperation with russia looking for ways to expand and eat up more of the russian supply. china hasn't only been supporting putin indirectly. chairman xi has aided putin's invasion of ukraine directly. the times of london reported that china l launched a massive cyberattack on kiev near days before putin invaded. the chinese government was involved in a cyberattack against free ukraine to help russia. as the russian army struggled, putin asked xi for direct military assistance and xi is reportedly deliberating about how he can do more hoping the international community won't notice. we should notice. we should amplify what xi is doing. he is aiding and abetting russia's war crimes against civilians. here is the fact -- putin and xi are tied at the hip. china regularly claims that it stands for the principles of state sovereignty, territorial

inintegrity and yet china supported and provided diplomatic cover for the unprovoked war against ukraine every step of the way and now there's the chance that team zelenskyy could win and so what has xi done in response? he has decided to convene meetings to figure out how to am p up sport for putin. we should be asking ourselves why is chairman xi supportive ftion -- of this invasion? party of the reason is there is a planned offense. xi wants to learn everything he can about how democracies and free peoples will respond and how democracies defend themselves so that he can try to develop strategies to beat us and to beat our allies. xi also wants putin to win because he thinks this will demoralize taiwan and the rest of the free world. he wants to be able to tell a story where the age of america, where the age of freedom is

over. xi wants to plunge the globe into a new dark age, an age of surveillance state totalitarianism. we shouldn't deceive ourselves. what we're seeing in ukraine is a contest between freedom and tyranny. it is not in our national interest to see the tyrants triumph. we need to show the world that the forces arrayed by putin and xi cannot defeat the bravery of men and women who want to live free and who believe in freedom. zelenskyy and ukraine's heroes have a chance to smash the new russia-china axis but they need our support. standing up to putin and helping ukraine is important for its own sake, but it's also important because this is the opening skirmish in a larger confrontation between tyranny and liberty, between chinese communists and the american idea. the u.s. -- will the u.s. continue to lead the world toward peace and freedom or will

tyrant xi and his c.c.p. have the chance to impose totalitarianism on weaker countries around the pacific? today in ukraine it's easy to see the line between good and evil, and that's why it's time for us to step up, to help ukraine, but also to tell the world who chairman xi is, what he believes, what he's done on putin's aid -- on putin's behalf and why he is on putin's side. thank you, mr. president.

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from utah. mr. lee: mr. president, justice alito's draft opinion in dobbs v. jackson women's health is a masterpiece of jurisprudence, and it's a long overdue victory for the preborn. it's also a vindication of nearly 50 years of tireless efforts by the pro-life movement, the conservative legal movement, by textualists and originalists and by

president trump's recent judicial appointments. i'm proud to say that this decision vindicates the efforts of people like my late father, who wrote an amicus brief in the city of akron in akron center for reproductive health. incidentally, it was in that context when i first had an encounter with individuals on the opposite side of this issue. i was 11 years old when my father submitted that amicus brief while serving as president reagan's solicitor general. one morning a bus load of pro-abortion rights protesters showed up outside of our home. my parents and my siblings were out running errands going about

various activities. i found myself alone that morning. i went outside to talk to the people who had shown up in our quiet suburban neighborhood in a greyhound size bus carrying signs and shouting slogans of one sort or another. i introduced myself to the woman who appeared to be in charge. her first words star teld me. she said hello, little boy. we're not here to hurt you. that's a little alarming when that's the first thing someone says to you. i asked her what she was doing. she told me they were there because they disagreed with some things that my father had submitted to the supreme court of the united states in that amicus brief to which i referred. i then asked the question, why do you have to do it on my lawn? she responded in a way that i

found curious. she said, well, we're trying very hard not to step on your lawn. we're actually staying on the sidewalk. i didn't yet understand the difference between an easement and a walk way and whether they entered into the ledge of our home, a home where a public official lived and slept, raised his children. when i think about the tireless efforts of people like my late father to stand up for the rights of unborn human beings and for the injustice brought about by roe v. wade, a 1973 decision by the supreme court that stripped power away from the american people, stripped their opportunity to make decisions regarding abortion at the appropriate level of

government, to have those decisions made by their own elected lawmakers rather than by unelected, unaccountable judges who had arrogated to themselves the almost exclusive prerogative to decide how, when, whether, to what extent abortions may be regulated. what lies before the supreme court is the test of weathering the storm of political opinion. the line has been drawn, and roe v. wade appears to be on the verge of being overturned. should this draft opinion become the official holding of the court? americans will once again have the opportunity to debate and discuss these issues. with the american people deciding within their respective

state what terms and conditions ought to apply, what restrictions ought to be imposed to protect human life. this should give us all hope that america is not doomed to decline. all it takes is persistence, even in the face of daunting odds and decades of setbacks by those who love god and love our country. for once, good men and women did not do nothing and this evil will triumph no more. i was thinking recently about a monument that was placed on the mall, up on the hill where the washington monument stands. a few months ago people placed

white flags, each memorializing those who had died with covid-19. i believe at the time there were 600,000 or 700,000 people in america who had died with this illness, and so there were 600,000 or 700,000 little white flags each standing only a few inches tall on that hill where the washington monument stands. from a distance, it looked like a snowstorm had hit washington, d.c. it hadn't. it was actually quite beautiful. i started thinking, i started wondering what if a similar memorial were placed, if only temporarily, like that one was was, honoring, memorializing those 63 million babies who have

been aborted since roe v. wade was decided in 1973. taking away from the american people the ability to make their own laws in their own states pursuant to authority that belongs to the american people in our constitutional system of government. 63 million babies. a portion of this came out of my generation. there are an estimated of one-fourth of generation x who were never born because they were aborted. 63 million. what if we had small red flags, each representing one of those babies? it's occurred to me it wouldn't be -- there wouldn't be room enough on that hill to

accommodate all of those. i seriously wonder whether there would be room enough on the entire mall between the capitol building to the east and the lincoln memorial to the west to accommodate all those red flags. and what would that look like. the covid memorial looked like a snowstorm. the sea of red flags would look like something else. now this moment is not without some sense of loss. when i saw a draft supreme court opinion that had been leaked to the news media, i experienced a wave of emotions. as pleased as i was and as encouraged as i am by what appears to be something that will soon become the opinion of the court, i was also deeply

upset that an employee of the supreme court of the united states could betray the trust of the justices. i recall from my own time that i spent at the supreme court, the time i spent as a law clerk working for justice alito, the great lengths to which the court went to protect the internal deliberations of the justices. we drafted opinions on separate computers, separate computers meaning we had a computer system that allowed us to handle internal correspondence between the chambers, to transfers draft opinions between the various chambers. that computer system was completely walled off from the outside world. it was connected only by a local area network, one that was inpenetrable from the outside world. if we wanted to do any research,

any outside correspondence, anything that would require internet access, we had to go to a separate computer. we couldn't use that one. it was walled off completely with good reason. you see, the court operates in such a way that its work product, its ultimate work product in a case will consist of a ruling. and in fairness to the justices, you've got to make sure that everything is in order, that the justices, each have decided exactly how they're going to vote, which opinion they're going to join, what that opinion is going to say before they release their opinions. those go out too early, then they're not ready. that does a grave injustice to litigants and to the american people generally. that's why the court goes to great lengths. it's not that they're being secretive about it. the court is actually quite open and transparent. it's a matter of public record, what documents they review in each case, the oral arguments

presented to the court are likewise matters of public record. and the documents that they produce that have legal operation are also public documents. it's actually a very open and transparent process. but during the time period between when argument is heard and an opinion is rendered, the court needs to be able to deliberate and consider its options confidentially. so that's what this security system does. it's there to make sure that opinions as they're being drafted and sent back and forth don't leak out. in many circumstances the editing of opinions took place on that same computer system with drafts going back and forth, with redlined proposed

edits it them. in those moments when you didn't need -- you did need to print them out, you needed a hard copy, you could do so. but there were conditions attached to them. there was an understanding they shouldn't leave the building. you can't take them home with you. they shouldn't go outside the court. they probably shouldn't even go outside of your particular office. and when you're finished with them, you don't just throw it in the waste basket. you put them in a burn bag. each law clerk has next to his or her desk a tall, brown paper bag with stripes on it and at the end of the day someone comes around and collects the contents of those burn bags and they shed them. my understanding is they shred them a couple of times so documents are reduced not just to long, thin ribbons of paper that have been cut apart but that have been cut multiple times so it's a fine mist of confetti. it's also my understanding and

was at the time that before any of that left the building, they would take it to an incinerator, that confetti, and they'd burn it. and they'd grind it up into an ashy pulp, perhaps with some water in there creating a slurry so that no one could look at what was previously a draft opinion and discern what was going to happen. you see, lives are at stake, power is at stake, sometimes an enormous amount of money is at stake. all these things matter and the court wants to make sure that the opinions go out only when they're ready. every day was filled with a sense of seriousness and of duty, a seriousness felt by everyone, even and especially when there was disagreement. the ability to deliberate and discuss these complicated legal principles through the process

of writing, editing, and sharing of opinions with their colleagues is how the justices are able to disstill legal principles and arrive at proper conclusions and to do so that's respectful of the litigants and of each member of the court. that is why their work is guarded from public scrutiny at this stage. and why a breach of confidentiality such as what we've witnessed this week is so damaging. to be clear, this is unprecedented. i can't think of another instance of this happening over the court's entire history, certainly in modern history. i can't think of another instance in all of history in which something like this has happened. the court and its personnel have had a long history and proud

tradition of taking great care in these matters. yet while i'm convinced that this leak may have been an attempt to intimidate the justices and the majority, perhaps an effort to try to get them to change their position, i'm also confident that this attempt will not succeed and it must not succeed. chief justice roberts said this very thing in his official statement, and he announced that an investigation into the leak will take place. i trust him and the other justices and the office of the marshal at the supreme court to steer the court through this storm and oversee this investigation. the overwhelming feelings that i have today really are of joy, joy in the probable outcome of

this case and pride in being a former law clerk to justice alito for whom i clerked twice, once when he was serving on the u.s. court of appeals for the third circuit and again while he was on the supreme court. the draft opinion overturns roe v. wade and planned parenthood v. casey stating that the, quote, must be overruled and the authority to regulate abortion must be returned to the people and their elected representatives, close quote. noting correctly that the constitution neither explicitly nor implicitly protects a right to abortion. every human life born and unborn has immeasurable dignity and worth, each unrepeatable and infantly -- infinitely valuable.

the lives of an unborn baby and her mother and her father matter. and the court overturning prior precedence such as roe and casey is not unprecedented. not at all. in fact, some of the court's most consequential and lauded decisions overturned prior rulings. justice alito compared the damage rocked by roe and the separate document created in plusy v. ferguson. thankfully the supreme court of the united states in brown v. education overturned plusy turning an end to racially segregated schools just as it appears now poised to overturn the erroneous decisions in roe and in casey. the opinion is exceptionally well reasoned, thorough, and grounded in the constitution. it also means that in states across our country, including in

my home state of utah, hundreds of thousands of unborn children, children who could not be protected by state law due to restrictions placed on them by an invented nonexistent constitutional doctrine created out of whole cloth in roe and in casey now have some chance at being protected depending, of course, on which decision-makers in which states make which decisions regarding the protection of human life. as americans we must not and we can never forget what's at stake. if this majority decision stands, those who recognize the sanctity of human life like myself and like a majority of utahans will have much to celebrate, but we must also

recognize that this is not the end of this chapter in american history. the efforts of the last half century have not been done just simply to overturn roe. you see, getting to this point, a point that the court has apparently reached, means that this discussion can finally begin. it's a discussion that's been closed out, debatable matters have been rendered beyond de debate. this of course is the vision of a post-roe america. this is why overturning roe matters. what happens next with regard to abortion will be determined by the people of the 50 states through their elected leaders as our constitutional command of federalism demands.

some states like utah already have laws in place to protect the most vulnerable among us the moment that roe and casey are overturned. i hope and pray that many innocent lives will be saved not just in my state but all throughout our country. and i pray for all nine justices' safety and for our country. we all know and we have to remember that the laws adopted in one state will be different than the laws adopted in another. part of living in a pluralistic society, part of living in our constitutional republic requires us to accept the idea that people have different opinions. they have different views. regional differences appear from

one state to another. i predict that the laws of utah with regard to the protection of preborn human life may differ considerably from those of vermont, that the laws of massachusetts may differ in meaningful ways from those in mississippi. overturning roe v. wade and casey v. planned parenthood does not do almost any of the things that are recited on the parade of horribles, that those who are condemning this decision already have recited. among the more frequent and perplexing arguments is that the overturning of roe v. wade and casey v. planned parenthood somehow signals or will result in the demise of democracy,

nothing could be further from the truth. in fact, it's difficult to understand how anyone could even make this argument with a straight face. i don't mean here -- i'm not referring to their underlying position. i'm referring to the specific argument that this somehow represents a threat to democracy. quite the opposite is true, mr. president, by overturning roe v. wade and casey v. planned parenthood, the very thing it will be allowing is for the democratic process to unfold, for people to make laws as they deem fit in their respective states. you see, all powers not granted by the constitution to the federal government and not prohibited by the constitution to the states remain to be made

with the states or with the people themselves. that's what this does. so if we want to talk a democratic -- talk about democratic principles, this will further democratic principles. it will advance republican democracy, not undermine it. another argument that's been made that i find equally perplexing is the suggestion that this somehow amounts to zealots on the supreme court of the united states dictating to women across america. decisions regarding abortion. that is also not true. there's nothing about overturning roe v. wade and casey v. planned parenthood that requires that anyone do anything

beyond the fact that it's -- it's lifting previously recognized but nonexistent impediment to state governments to protect unborn human life. so to those who have raised these concerns, those who disagree with -- with my views on the sanctity of unborn human life -- and i recognize that there are those who do, many of them in fact -- i would direct them to their state-elected officials, specifically their state legislatures, that is where the decision should be made. it is not made by the supreme court of the united states, they didn't criminalize anything. they are deciding who gets to decide what. different states are going to decide this differently, but that's part of the entire

constitutional design. what justice alito wrote in this draft opinion is something that i hope will stand. it's absolutely right. it is unassailable from a constitutional standpoint and it's absolutely essential to restore the american people to that which is rightfully theirs. i remain deeply troubled by those who appear, whether by leaking this opinion, characterizing it in ways that are unfair, threatening to pack the supreme court of the united states, passing legislation -- talking about passing legislation that would increase the number of seats on the supreme court, these are all efforts designed to degrade, to

denigrate and delegitimize the supreme court of the united states. to those who have any inclination to do such a thing, i would say this -- roe v. wade has stood in place nearly my entire life, and since i was old enough to understand it throughout my entire life, i regarded it as a really bad decision, a very wrong decision. not withstanding that, i have always regarded, and still regard the supreme court of the united states, despite its flaws, flaws that it is run by fallible human beings, despite its flaws, it is the greatest try biewn dwral in -- tribunal in the world. there is no better court of last resort anywhere in the world even with its flaws.

we must not risk what would come if we continue to delegitimize the court. in the meantime, i'm grateful that the court appears to finally be on the verge of correcting this grave injustice. i look forward to the debates and discussions that will occur once and for all by the people's elected representatives. these decisions will now be able to be made by people's elected lawmakers and not by unaccountable jurists who lack that authority to make those decisions on behalf of all americans. i continue to pray for the court and for our country. heaven knows our republic needs it. thank you, mr. president. mr. durbin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from illinois.

mr. durbin: i have 12 requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate with the approval of the majority leader and minority leader. the presiding officer: duly noted. mr. durbin: my staff found a picture of a trip i made in 1991. there is a message on the wall that reads freedom for baltic countries. i remember that trip. it had special memories for me. eight decades earlier, she and her family fled one of those nations lithuania to escape the tyranny of the czar. and here i was, her son, returning to the baltics in a remarkable moment in history. in august 1989, two million people -- i want to show you a

photo of this because it's historic. two million people in lithuania, latvia, and estonia came together to hold hands and sent a he message that the baltic nations wanted to reclaim their freedom from the brutal occupation by czarist russia and nazi germany and then the soviet union. the baltic chain of freedom forecast the end of the soviet union. but who were these countries to defy the soviet union? countries with barrel three million -- barely three million population in lithuania and two million in latvia and a maland

a -- and a million and a half in -- the people of lithuania had chosen a new parliament. they voted to restore their independence and made lithuania the first soviet republic to declare independence. they were followed by their neighbors in latvia and estonia. you could feel at that moment from the parliament of lithuania the hope and history in the air but there was also a feeling of trepidation and uncertainty. would these small new democracy be able to preserve their freedom? soviet tanks rolled into the capital city, they attacked protesters, killing 13 innocent protesters and injuring hundreds

more. soviet troops and tanks attacked protesters in latvia. i remember visiting riga and seeing the flowers and candles on one of the squawks in the -- sidewalks in the downtown. but they could not break the determination of the baltic people. in february and march of 1921, the people voted in restoring independence. the u.s. recognized the democracy later that same year. today these three countries are prosperous democracy, proud members of the european union and nato. and supporters of their ukrainian neighbors who are facing putin's rath. when i visited a month before gorbachev attacked with his

tanks. i stood with those who filled the square outside the parliament. they showed me their arsenal of weapons. it consisted of 20 old hunting rifles. they were going to take on the soviets. the situation seemed desperate and even doomed and yet baltic freedom prevailed. i think of these days often now when russia launched its unprovoked unconscionable war, we were told kiev and the ukrainian government would fall within weeks or days. our military experts gave us their opinion and that's what they said. two months later, thank god, kiev is still free volodymyr zelensky is still ukraine's president. russia has been forced to retreat. its forces are in disarray and

russia's economy is faltering due to sanctions. just in the baltics three decades ago, russian strong men failed to understand the desire of people, even when they're outnumbered, if they are choosing to be free, they will not stop. the russians have failed to understand the determination of the community of democracies to stand behind them and defeat the brutality and aggression of vladimir putin. putin may be able to deceive the people living in russia for now, but he cannot lie to the world. we know that the russian military has caused horrible devastation. we see it on the news and they have committed horrific war crimes against innocent ukrainian people. one need only look to the barbaric executions and brutality russia afflicted on

the kiev area of bucha. bucha's mayor described the immediate scene and i quote him. corpses of executed people still line the street in bucha. their hands are tied behind their backs with white civilian rags. they were shot in the back of the head. putin had the sickening audacity to honor the military unit responsible for these crimes saying this unit distinguished itself in the protection of the fatherland. and russian war crimes have not been limited to this situation. throughout ukraine, investigators are reporting russian soldiers using rape as a weapon of war and deliberately shelling schools, hospitals, apartment buildings and other civilian targets. there are reports of summary

executions of individuals and murders of children. i agree with president zelenskyy, in his words, he said it is time to make everything possible to make the war crimes the last manifestation of such evil on earth. the world can't tolerate this barbarity and the united states must never provide a safe haven for anyone who commits war crimes of this nature or crimes against humanity in ukraine or anywhere in the world. for that reason, i'm introducing legislation that gives our government the authority to prosecute non-u.s. citizens who commit such atrocities in other nations and then seek haven, refuge, or seclusion in our country. my bill is called the war crimes accountability act. it closes a loophole in our current law that prevents our government from prosecuting war crimes unless they're actually committed in the united states or by or against u.s. citizens or members of our armed forces.

my bill would also make crimes against humanity a crime under u.s. law so that such perpetrators cannot find ever safe haven in this country. what would this mean in practice? if a russian soldier committed war crimes such as those we see here or crimes against humanity in ukraine or a person commits such atrocities in anywhere in the world such as myanmar or china, they will face consequences. it builds on previous laws i sponsored to hold people accountable under u.s. law. those bills passed the senate unanimously and signed into law by president george w. bush. despite the heroic efforts of the ukrainian people, russian forces are bombing civilians, forcing an even greater humanitarian nightmare.

last week u.n. secretary general traveled to kiev. he witnessed the destruction by russia and he said when i see those destroyed buildings, i must say what i feel, i imagine my family in one of those houses now destroyed. i me my granddaughters running away in panic, part of the family eventually killed. he went on to say the war is an absurdity in the 21st century. the war is evil. so when president biden announced a substantial new aid package for ukraine, i said immediately count me in. the other day at the senate appropriations committee on defense, i asked defense secretary austin and general milley, the chairman of the joint chiefs, about ukraine's defense capabilities and the president's new request for aid. both military leaders emphasized that continued substantial support from the united states and allies will be critical not only for ukraine's future, but

also to reassure allies in the region, in the baltics, moldova, poland the $33 billion that biden has asked for aid in ukraine will help them withstand the next brutal phase of war and prevent putin from spreading this mel exactlient war into other nations. let me conclude with a story about another brave soldier in the ranks of civilians, standing up to putin's menace. her name is svetlana tikanavaskaya, a leader in belarus, another former soviet republic, bordering the baltics in poland. last week, she was in washington to meet with the leaders of our government. senator shaheen hosted a meeting with her. had putin's puppets in belarus not rigged the last election, she might have been elected president, almost certainly would have been.

this photo shows wella russians pro -- belarussana protesting that rigged election. for thousands, many thousands protested, many were sentenced to long sentences. i'd been there before. that last dictator in continental europe is a man named lukashenko. he has phony elections from time to time. anyone with the audacity to run against him is sure to lose by lukashenko's count, almost certain to be imprisoned immediately. he did this to this lady's husband, who is no you in jail, in minsk. this photo shows belarussans with the courage to protest that rigged election. for months, thousands protested, many have been arrested since. today, vladimir putin is using

belarus as a staging ground for russia's assault on ukraine, but the people have not given up their determination for fleedom. hundreds, maybe more, are fighting in ukraine today. we thank them for that courage. others have helped to blunt putin's assault by sabotageing train lines and crippling russian supply lines. the supplemental aid package that president biden requested for weapons to repel the war of conquest and give the people of belarus, baltimoreition, moldova, poland, the security to realize the treatment of freedom, dignity and independence is the statement of the valuation of america. i urge my colleagues to come together, waste no time, pass it quickly, send to the ukrainians what they need to win this war. i yield the floor. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

quorum call: mr. schumer: mr. president. i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection.

mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that at 2:30 today, the senate resume legislative session and resume the house message to accompany h.r. 4521. further that the previous order be modified to allow senator murkowski to offer the mo eggs to instruct that is -- the motion to instruct that is in the previous order, that senator bennet or disegg knee be -- designee be allowed to make the motion. with all other provisions in the previous order in effect, and that all votes after the first be ten-minute votes. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection.

>> a false. hey, folks. good afternoon. before i begin i will not answer questions on a lot of things but let me put that out there. they keep me too long they'll rush the place. all kidding aside this week biden administration released

new information that contains we are on track to cut the deficit by another $1.5 trillion by the end of this fiscal year. the biggest decline in a single year ever in american history. the biggest decline and on top of us having a $350 billion drop in the deficit last year, my first year as president. we learned for the first time since 2016 the treasury department is planning to pay down the national debt issued to the public this quarter and for all the top republicans make about deficits, it didn't happen a single quarter under my predecessor . not once . the bottom line is the deficit went up every year with my predecessor before the pandemic and during the pandemic and it's called down both years i've been here. those are the facts. why is it important? bringing down the deficit is

one way to ease inflation pressures as a consequence of a war and gas prices and oil. it's just a different world right this moment because of ukraine and russia. we reduce federal borrowing combat solution. this process is good news but it didn'thappen by itself . the previous administration increased the deficit every year it was an office in part because of its reckless $2 trillion tax cut. you're tired of hearing me saying that but the $2 trillion tax cut that was not paid for. and a tax cut that largely benefited the biggest corporations. 55 of which are $40 billion in profits and pay not a single penny of income tax in 2020 and the wealthiest americans like the billionaires who pay present in federal taxes.

the previous administration not only ruined the deficit underminethe watchdogs, the inspector general's whose job it was to keep the pandemic review funds from being wasted . remember at the time i kept saying they're going to fire these inspector generals. well, they fired the inspector general's and with ministration those watchdogs are back. the justice department has a watchdog was going to go after the criminals who stole billions in relief money meant for small businesses and american families but never got them. they got in the pockets of criminals. when i came into office we took a differentapproach . with the american rescue plan and other actions we started to grow the economy from the bottom up and middle out. rescue checks and tax cuts for working families to give them a little bit of breathing room to put food on the table and a roof over their heads . remember the first year all those long lines of automobiles lined up going through the parking lot just

to get a box of food in the trunk ? all that for vaccination shots in arms and helped us go from 2 million americans to 220 million americans fully vaccinated. we made it easier for americans to sign up for coverage on the affordable care act saving them $2400 a year. as a result of these and other economic recovery plans we recovered faster than predicted. 6.7 million jobs created last year, the most in the first year of any president in american historyand the fastest growth in any year in four decades . and looking ahead i have a plan to reduce the deficit even more which will help reduce inflationary pressures and reduce costsfor families . it's a plan that lets medicare negotiate price as they do with the department of veterans affairs. we can the price of insulin at $35 instead of 100 dollars

a month for some families. my plan provides tax benefits to utility companiesto generate clean energy and those companies are required to pass the savings on to families . i remember about a dozen of those utilities in the white house they confirmed this planet would lower energy bills for families immediately. my plan includes tax credits for consumers to purchase electric or fuel-cellvehicles . new reviews which will save the typical driver about $80 a month nothaving to pay for gas . tax credits for folks to buy solar panels . more efficient windows and boards for their homes . an estimated savings $500 a year on average. we can do these things by making sure that no one earning less than$400,000 a year will pay a single penny more in federal taxes . all we're asking is that the

wealthiest americans and largest corporations pay their fair share at leastpart of their fair share. you've heard me say before i'm a capitalist . youshould be able to make as much money as you legally can just pay your fair share . there's no reason why a billionaire should be paying a lower tax rate and a teacher or a firefighter . that's a sharp contrast to what today's republican party is offering . and if they hadn't put this in print you think i was making it up. senator rick scott of florida united states senator leading a senatorial campaign commission released what he calls the ultra mega agenda. it's a maggot agenda all right. let me tell you about this agenda. it's extreme. it will raise taxes on 75 million american families, over 95 percent of whommake less than $100,000 a year . among the hardest hit working families, kids and folks. imagine a family of four and you don't make enough money

in federal taxes. because you don't make enough moneyto pay . you pay on your taxes this year you don't make enough. and under this new plan this tax plan, while big corporations and billionaires are going to pay nothing more but working-class full will pay a hell of a lot more. and it goes further. this extreme republican agenda calls for congress . i'm not making this up. it requires a vote if it were to pass every five years that congress would have to vote to reinstate or eliminate social security, medicare and medicaid. social security something seniors paid in for their whole life . and it has to be reauthorized . has to be reauthorized every five years? look, again, it's hard to

make this up but again it's a mega agenda.i know meanwhile millionaires and billionairesand corporations stay by. imagine that . just imaginethat. i think it's truly outrageous . i've offered a different plan. a plan rooted in american values of fairness anddecency . wealthy folks and corporations will pay a little more. and again most importantly no one making less than $400,000 will pay a penny more in federal taxes. we're going to protect and strengthen social security and medicare not putit on the clock every fiveyears . i'll remind you again , i reduced the federal deficit all the talk about the deficit i love it. i reduced it 350 alien dollars in my first year in office. and we are on track to reduce it by the end of september by another 1 trillion $500 billion . the largest dropever .

i don't want to hear republicans talk about deficits and their ultra maga agenda. i want to hear about fairness. i want to hear about decency. for decades trickle-down economics has failed. as income inequity group to staggering levels under republicans . the maga republicans, don't want to mispronounce it. it's time to grow the economy but from the bottom up and middle out because here's the deal. when the middle class grows the wealthy always do very well. they do very well. that's what this is about. this what this is about. everybody's doing better. and so i want you to understand again first year $350 billion reduction in deficit. this year 1,000,000,000,005. thank you. out take a few questions. >> can i ask a question about

sanctions. sanctions or about further sanctions in europe. the union today announced sanctions against well, what's the next round for us and also on a separate issue what's the next on abortion once this case get settled? >> you want to ask about deficits. i want to make sure everything is covered. i'm going to ask you those two questions. with regard to additional sanctions we're always open to additional sanctions and i've been in consultation speaking with the members of the g7 this week about what we're going to do or not do. number two, what was it? [inaudible] as i said when this hit as i was getting on the plane to go down to alabama , this is about a lot more than abortion. i had read the wholeopinion .

but this reminds me of the debate with robert bork. bork believed the only reason we had any inherent right to that the federal then gave them to you. go back and look at the comments between bork and biden when i was questioning as chairman. i said i believe i have the rights i have not because the government gave them to me which you believe but because i'm just a child of god. i exist. i delegated by joining this union here to delegate some obligate some rights i have to the government so the idea that somehow there is an inherent right, that there is no right of privacy, there is no right. remember the debate about griswold versus connecticut. there's been a loss in a married couple could not purchase control in the privacy of their own bedroom and use it read that struck down.

griswold thought to be a bad decision. my guess is the guy is on the supreme court now. what happens if you have a state change the law saying that children who are lgbt you can't be in classes with other children? is that legit under the way the decision is written? what are the next things that are going to be attacked because this maga crowd is the mostextreme political organization that existed in american history . in recentamerican history . >>. >> how can you combat it? >>

political and other outside interference and influence. that's why justices are not elected. they are nominated and confirmed to serve life terms. that's why they don't have term limits. that's why you can't reduce their salary while they're in office, to make sure that politics and outside opinions have nothing to do with the way they do their job because, of course, their job is a limited but important job of saying what the law is, not making it up, not being a policymaker, but saying what the law is. it's absolutely critical to our form of government and our

separated powers and our three branches of government that at supreme court be protect -- that the supreme court be protected from pressure campaigns from anyone -- politicians, political activists, anyone. but that's exactly what's happening right nowment and many of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle are fanning the flames, and they know that this is not a final opinion, but they see a political opportunity to fan the flames of hysteria and mislead the american people about exactliing what this all about -- exactly what this all means and what the consequences are. for example, in the wake of this news, the democratic leader of the senate and the speaker of the house released a statement, an unconscionable statement, in my view. they called it an abomination, one of the worst and most damaging decisions in modern history and one that defiled the supreme court's reputation. that's what they said about a

nondecision, a nonjudgment about a leaked three-month-old draft. we have no idea how the court will ultimately decide the case, but this was a political opportunity that the speaker and the majority leader could not resist. frankly, i think it's because they'd like to change the subject. the american people's concerns, if you ask them, as public opinion polesters have, what they're concerned about, they say they're concerned about inflation, they're concerned about crime, they're concerned abouted border, they're concerned about the war, the russian invasion of ukraine. but this is a grand opportunity to change the subject and to mislead the american people. for some reason the senate majority leader, senator schumer, and speaker pelosi did

not criticize the person who actually leaked the opinion, the person who committed a frontal assault on the independence of our judiciary, the supreme court , one of the most powerful institutions in our country experiences an unprecedented breach of confidentiality, and what do our democratic colleagues, the speaker and the majority leader, do? they attack the justices, they attack the court. they don't attack the leaker, the person who committed this egregious breach of confidentiality. nowhere in their joint statement did they even mention the leak or leaker. or reaffirm the importance of an

independent judiciary. no, they took the opportunity to slam the justices, who have not yet decided the case. unfortunately, this is nomination new. -- this is nothing new. in 2014, the democratic leader went to the supreme court steps and threatened two supreme court justices by name if they did not rule in a certain way. he said -- and these are direct quotes -- you have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price, and you won't know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions. that's our colleague, the senior senator from new york, the majority leader of the senate. he threatened two sitting justices with retribution should they rule in a way he disagreed

with. the top senate democrat lobbing threats at a supreme court justice is a dangerous, dangerous model for the american people. this is the branch of government that is supposed to be kept free from those pressures and those sort of threats, that kind of intimidation or at least attempt at intimidation. but here again the senator from new york and the speaker of the house they know that, but they did it anyway. it doesn't matter what case is before the supreme court or what ruling is ultimately handed down o leaders of congress, some of the highest elected officials in the u.s. government, should be a better example and defend the important principle of judicial independence. justice scalia in one of his

speeches threated few years back talked about the independence of the judiciary, the crown jewels r he said, you read the constitution of the old soviet union or any one of a number of other countries. they may have a fine written document that pledges allegiance to certain high-minded values and many of which are contained in our constitution, but they're just words on a paper. he said, what is different in the united states family farm america is the -- in the united states of america is the independence of the judiciary, who will call balls and strikes and who will ultimately decide some of the most contentious and disputed issues in our country, based on the constitution and laws of the united states.

not because they took a public opinion poll to see what was more popular or they were threatened with retribution by some politician. unfortunately, our democratic colleagues and in particular their leaders have taken a dangerous approach, and they're not just taking aim at individual justices. they want to undermine the entire institution of the independent judiciary, particularly the supreme court. a few years ago five of our colleagues on the democratic side, including the current chairman of the senate judiciary, filed an amicus brief, a friend of the court brief, in a case involving gun rights. these senators made a not-so-subtle threat that unless the court ruled in a particular way, the entire institution

would be, in their words, and i quote, restructured. that's nothing more, nothing less than a simple effort to coerce the judges into deciding a case in a particular way, to threaten them that unless you go our way, the court will be restructured. well, we know that those weren't just idle words, given some of the threats to pack the courts by adding additional justices to the court. we've heard that threat of court-packing many times. that was one of the agenda items, should our democratic colleagues eliminate the filibuster, requirement of 60 votes before you close off debate in the senate. they said they were going to

pack the court. many of the presidential hopefuls embraced that idea in 2020 and the latest news has it that a number of democrats are bringing this idea back to center stage. disagree with what you think the court might ultimately decide, and we're going to restructure it. we're going to pack it until we get the result that we want. kiss an independent judiciary goodbye, the crown jewels of our system of government. earlier this week the junior senator from massachusetts called the supreme court's current majority, quote, stolen, illegitimate, and far right. these were justices who were confirmed by the united states senate.

it's dangerous and dishonest to suggest that any of their positions are anything less than consistent with the law and the constitution. our colleague went on to say the supreme court should be expanded. that's another way of saying they should pack the court with like-minded policymakers. well, whether you talk about expanding the court or packing the court, the result's the same. it's just another effort to try to politicize this independent branch of government, this independent judiciary, which as i said and i'll say again, are the crown jewels of our stix of government. an independent judiciary. well, even joe biden knows that that is a bonehead idea.

the reason i know that and we know that is because that's what he said in 1983. he called court packing a bone-headed idea. justice ginsburg was asked about it. she said nine seems to be a good number. that was her gentle way of saying that if you start adding justice to the court or restructuring or packing the court, basically you're in pursuit of a political outcome, and you undermine the independence of the judiciary, and they are transformed into something far different than what our founding fathers believed it would be, which is an institution that would decide legal disputes, whether they be constitutional or otherwise, and would be depended on by the american people to present fair opportunities for all sides to be heard, and then an outcome

that was not tainted by bias or politics or policy making. as justice breyer has said, the very authority that the court has depends on, quote, a trust that the court is guided by legal principles, not politics politics, and that these types of changes -- packing, restructuring -- whatever you want to call it would erode that trust, undermine the public's confidence and trust in the supreme court. but as we've seen in the last few days since this draft opinion was leaked in an egregious breach of confidentiality, our friends across the aisle don't want impartial judges. they don't want an independent judiciary. they want judges who will deliver a particular outcome in

a case. they want the court to be an extension of their politics here in the senate. politics has its place, but its place is right here and in the white house where the voters get to vote for us or vote against us every two years or six years, as the case may be, or four years in the case of the president. i understand that our colleagues want a specific ruling on abortion rights. tomorrow it could be second amendment rights. the next day it might involve the means by which we run our elections. this entire episode highlights just how far the radicals in the other party are willing to go to try to get their way. they don't care about the long-term best interest of the

country. they don't care about an independent judiciary. they're looking for an opportunity to score political points and distract the american people from what they are really concerned about, which is their ability to put food on the table and support their families. the reason why our founders designed a federal government with three separate but equal branches is because they thought the checks and balances that the three branches would impose would be protective of their liberty. and when one branch goes too far, another branch can be a check and a balance on that, and ultimately the supreme court can be the final arbiter on the constitutionality or the legality of what the other

branches are trying to do. but our colleagues across the aisle by their irresponsible rhetoric undermining public confidence in the court, jeopardizing the independence of the judiciary, are blurring the lines between the political process and the judicial branch's responsibility. and why? for partisan political gains. an independent judiciary is essential to our democracy. the parties whose cases are being decided by the court should never have to worry about outside influencers or whether politics plays into the decision-making process. how would you feel if you had a case before the united states supreme court and you knew that your opposing party was trying to pressure or coerce or

persuade the judge to arrive at a certain outcome, regardless of the law or facts? well, that would be the opposite of an impartial tribunal and an independent judiciary. but that's exactly what our democratic colleagues are trying to do with the united states supreme court in this instance. americans have a constitutional right to due process of law, and that precludes any attempt to influence or obstruct an independent judiciary from making a decision in an individual case. i would like to see more of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle fight to protect the integrity and independence of the judiciary. but if they won't, then we will. one thing is for certain. as chief justice roberts said,

the court needs to get to the bottom of how this draft opinion got into the hands of the press in an unprecedented, egregious breach of confidence. the supreme court chief justice roberts has directed the marshal of the court to investigate the source of this leak, and once that happens the person responsible will be held accountable. it's a very tight knit group of people who have access to these draft opinions. i have every confidence the marshal of the court will find the person who leaked this opinion to the press, and they will be held accountable. and what will undoubtedly be a life-changing consequence, particularly if it's a law clerk or someone who is working for the court. it will be a career-ending mistake. but this is, first and foremost, a matter of

protecting the integrity and independence of the judiciary from any force, external or internal that seeks to chip away at the court's independence. mr. president, i yield the floor. i'd note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: >> ladies and gentlemen.

please welcome the next united states senator from ohio, j.d. vance. [cheering] [music] all right. thank you. everybody, thank you somuch . wow. i've got to say i thought this would feel good but it

feels even better than i thought itwould . iq so much. if you know anything about me i never write down my remarks . i first have to say some things. first and foremost at the top of the list is my beautiful wife lucia, thank you so much . i have so much done the last year and the one thing is that it does require sacrifices from family. thank you so much for letting me do this. we've had an incredible and i mean an incredible top notch, i've heard it from every journalist and every person that we have the best campaign team in the country, ladies and gentlemen. thank you.

to jordan wiggins, the best campaign manager that anybody has had. i am sure that he's excited. the one thing jordan is it's another six months of me complaining to you and you don't give me enough time for lunch. that's what we're having. i've got to say thank you to a guy who has been loyal to me and has been a good friend in political times and nonpolitical times, jason prius, thank you for being here. i got ms as part of this campaign which sometimes i felt like he was either the angel or the devil on my shoulder depending on how radical i wanted to send. the great andy sarabian, thank you for everything.

i want to say thank you to know, matthew and will. thank you so much for everything you did . you guys were dedicated. the best one person press shop in america. taylor, where is taylor? chris applegate and angie strader, thank you both for everything you did. all my lord. we seriously campaigns require resources. we couldn't have done it without all your hard work and i've got to say finally to brian, the first higher we made on the campaign. thank you for everything. it's a little bit mama and papa raised me and we call ourselves hill abilities and its the hillbilly and me that

says the disgusting part of politics is there's no loyalty this team has been loyal to me through good times and bad. when things were rough, when things were good. we didn't have leaks in this campaign, we didn't have people stabbing each other in the back. we were a team and we will be a team always in november . i have absolutely got the fact the 45th, president of the united states donald j trump. [applause] one forgiveness example of what could be in this country is and gentlemen, remember2019 when wages were going up and not down ? number one workers were doing well in this country not struggling terribly? thanks to the president for endorsing me and i've got to say a lot of the news media out there and there are some good ones in the back there. there's the bad ones to let the honest.

but i wanted to write a story that this campaign would be the death of donald trump's america first agenda. ladies and gentlemen it's not thedeath of the america first agenda . it wasn't just the president of course. we had a lot of endorsements especially some of our early endorsements. i want to make sure i get shout outs to penny nance, great advocate for life and people across the country . donald trump junior the president's son who came and campaigned with us this week . some of the great leaders of the last administration andrew wheeler and bob like kaiser, one of the great trade pictures of the last years of american history tucker carlson, a lot of people who done great things . [applause] senator josh hawley.

congressman marjorie taylor green. great advocates for me all the way through. i just you know, the thing about politics is you realize it can be an ugly business sometimes but when people step up and step up early you remember it and every single person inthis room i remember you . ilove you . iq for making this possible and god bless you. [applause] this campaign i really think was a referendum on what kind of republican party we want and what kind of a country we want. we went to battle ladies and gentlemen in this primary. we went to battle against one of the grossest organizations in professional establishment washington called the club for growth and i call them the club or chinese growth. the question presented in this primary was do we want to have a border that

protects our citizens. do we want to ship our jobs to china or keep them right here in america for american workers and the american people. do we want to republican party that stands for the donors who write checks to the club for growth or do we want to republican party for the people in ohio? ladies and gentlemen wejust answer the question . [applause] i love you too. i really do. it's easy tosay that right now but i really do . we've got over the next six months another question that this campaign is going to answer. which is if we just did battle with the establishment that shipped american jobs overseas and flooded america's orders with illegal aliens and fentanyl, we're going to do battle against an establishment left that thinks that people's jobs,

that think that people's values, that think people's basic livelihoods and sense of dignity in their own country

nal debt hitting $30 trillion for the first time, the taliban retaking control of afghanistan, and the world being brought to the brink of nuclear war. are these events purely the result of chance or are they direct consequences of the choices being made in the white house? you don't need to be a detective to solve this who done it. let's go ahead and examine the case. all right. over the past year the cost of

nearly everything has increased at the fastest pace in over four decades. a gallon of milks -- of milk is up nearly 50 cents and two pounds of ground beef costs $1.50 more than it did a year ago. add in rising rents and home prices and these numbers really add up quickly. while iowans and the rest of america are struggling to adjust their family budgets to ever-increasing costs of living, the biden administration has repeatedly dismissed concerns about the price problem. last summer the president said, and i quote, it's highly unlikely that it's going to be long-inflation that's going to

get out of hand. end quote. now that the problem can no longer be ignored, he's actually blaming corporate greed. get a clue. the federal reserve says the reason prices in the u.s. have been outpacing inflation in other countries since 2021 when biden became president is a direct result of washington's unprecedented spending spree. turns out you can't just print trillions of dollars and hand it out for free. republicans in congress and even some democrats warned that this would happen when the president began pushing $1 trillion spending bill after another. now hardworking americans are

stuck paying for the biden binge spending twice. first with higher taxes and then again with higher bills. when added all up, bidenomics is costing every family $500 more a month today than a year ago to buy the same exact items. so despite the president's finger-pointing, this problem isn't being caused by corporate greed. by profits and it isn't on wall street. the white house is using a similar setup to hide the true cause of higher prices at the

pump. president biden wants us to believe that the skyrocketing cost to fill up your tank is all vladimir putin's fault. but gas was on the rise for more than a year before the russian invasion of ukraine. in fact, gas prices have steadily increased since the president's first day in office when he signed an executive order to shut down the keystone xl pipeline. on that day, january 20, 2021, a gallon of gas cost less than $2.50. the president then signed an executive order turning off all new oil and gas leases on public lands. and while the president was shutting down u.s. energy, he was helping to make the world more dependent on putin for power. in may of last year, the biden administration waived the

sanctions on russia's nord stream 2 gas pipeline. by then, gas here in the united states had reached $3 a gallon. when putin invaded ukraine in february, the price was already more than $3.50 per gallon. so don't be fooled, folks. it is really biden's war on american energy that has been fueling the soaring costs. while the russian dictator is guilty of many horrible things, the higher gas prices we have been paying for over the past year and a half did not begin as a result of putin in ukraine because of the war. it's impossible to miss the irony of president biden

pointing the finger at putin since the russian dictator's aggression against ukraine may have been emboldened by biden's abrupt abandonment in afghanistan. the poorly planned evacuation also turned over billions of dollars of equipment to the taliban and other terrorists and left countless americans behind while costing the lives of 13 of our brave service members. the president blamed our own military for not warning him of the catastrophe that would occur if he withdraw all u.s. forces. but those claims are contradicted -- were contradicted under oath before the senate armed services committee by his own visors -- advisors who said the president was told afghanistan would

collapse. try as he might to blame it elsewhere, the president made the call to withdraw from afghanistan which will go down as one of the worst foreign policy decisions in u.s. history and now biden's blunders is threatening to turn the crisis at our southern border into total chaos. the number of illegal crossings last year exceeded 1.7 million, the most ever recorded. to make matters worse, the administration has announced those attempting to enter our country illegally will soon no longer be turned away under the authority provided by title 42. as a consequence, homeland security officials are expecting a record number of border crossings that could reach as much as 18,000 people a day. just like his other abrupt

poorly made decisions, he has -- he has no plans to do anything about these decisions. when it comes, the president will be confused and will look for someone else to blame. the same set of fingerprints is on all of the evidence of these problems. but, president biden, if you still haven't figured it out, i will give you a clue. spoiler alert, the culprit is you. whether signing executive orders to turn off american-made energy or signing budget-busting bills that are fanning the flames of inflation, the source of these problems can all be traced back to president biden

with the pen in the oval office. right there, folks. case closed. that's how all of these crises were created over the past year. now, imagine how some of the other policies being proposed by democrats, like defunding the police, abolishing i.c.e., or enacting the green new deal could turn out if president biden is given the chance to sign them into law. taxpayers can rest assured that republicans in congress will keep doing our part to make sure those bills never make it to the president's desk. and if the president tries to bypass congress and enact his radical agenda by