democratic primaries. usually that makes her somewhat later night but in georgia we haven't had close races until recently. it didn't matter as much that we wouldn't get all the fulton or the other returns until late at night for the next morning or even daysw later. but now we're in the most -- >> we will break away here to take you live now to the u.s. senate as we keep our over 40 year commitment to bring you live coverage of congress. the senate about to gavel back in after a recess for the weekly party caucus lunches. live coverage of the u.s. senate here on c-span2.

the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: madam president, i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motions. all those in favor say aye. all those, no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motions is agreed to. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to calendar number 371, h.r. 350. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: motion to proceed to calendar number 371, h.r. 350, h.r. 350, -- homeland security and so forth. mr. schumer: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby bring to a close debate on calendar number 371, h.r. 350, an act to authorize dedicated domestic terrorism offices within the

department of homeland security and so forth. signed by 17 senators as follows. mr. schumer: i ask consent the reading of the names be raved. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i move to consider calendar number 927. the presiding officer: the question is on -- 923. the presiding officer: the question is on the motions. all those in favor say aye. all those opposed, no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motions is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, department of state, jane heartily, of new york, to be the ambassador to the united states. the presiding mr. schumer: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby bring to a close debate on the nomination of executive calendar number 923, jane hartly, of new york, to be brafd ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to great britain

and north ireland. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask that the mandatory quorums be -- cloture motion quorum calls be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i yield the floor. mr. grassley: madam president, i ask unanimous consent that i be able to fin health insurance my remarks -- finish my remarks before the vote. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. grassley: on november 30, 2021, and, again, on february 15, 2022, i spoke on this floor about the fake russia alpha bank narrative. that narrative started in 2016. it took on a new life when the clinton campaign lawyer michael sussmann met with f.b.i. general

counsel james baker. in that meeting, sussmann provided information and data files that allegedly contained evidence of a secret communication channel between trump organization and a russian bank, alpha bank. the evidence was fabricated by the clinton campaign. the allegations about trump organization being linked with a russian bank were false. of knows, sussmann also -- of note, sussmann also provided baker information g.p.s. gave them as part of their work for the clinton campaign. this was an all hands on deck strategy to destroy the trump presidency and the campaign. with the ongoing sussmann trial

now under way here in d.c., the false alpha bank narrative is more relevant now than ever before. so i want to tell you why. a mere several days after the meeting with james baker, the f.b.i. opened a full investigation on september 23, 2016. and around that time the f.b.i. agent working on cybermatters reviewed the information provided by sussmann. that agent said, and i quote, we didn't agree with the conclusion that this represented a secret communication channel, end quote. he also stated, so i quote again, whoever had written that paper had jumped to some conclusions that were not supported by the data. end of quote. and that, again to quote, the

methodology they chose was questionable to me, end quote. and here is the kicker. quote, i didn't feel that they were objective in the conclusions that they came to. the assumptions that you would have to make was so far-reaching that it just didn't make sense. end of quote. so last friday in a courtroom, robbie molk, hillary clinton's campaign manager, testified that hillary clinton was asked about the plan to share this fake information with the media. hillary clinton approved that plan. jake sullivan was involved in that decision as well. he's, of course, as we know,

president clinton's national security advisor. the clinton campaign fabricated evidence trying to connect trump to florida. they fed it to the media to start a years-long wildfire of false allegations. they fed it to the f.b.i. to trigger federal investigation into their opposing candidate. i've said it before, i'll say it again. the clinton campaign was the conspiracy, and it was a big bag of dirty tricks. this false alpha bank information eventually landed with the media outlet slate which ran an article on

january 31, 2016. after that article, sullivan, the now national security advisor, issued his now famed infamous tweet. quote, this could be the most direct link yet between donald trump and moscow. end of quote. hillary clinton also tweeted. quote, computer scientists have apparently uncovered a covert server linking the trump organization to a russian-based bank. end of hillary clinton's quote. now, they weren't the only ones pleased with this fake news. on october 13, 2020, senator johnson and i wrote a letter to the f.b.i. where we made public texts between andrew mccabe and

lisa paige. paige says to mccabe, quote, the alpha bank story is in "slate," end of quote. mccabe replied, quote, awesome. end of quote. the f.b.i.'s excitement didn't end there. this week durham's prosecutor's introduced a message between f.b.i. agents that said, quote, people on the seventh floor to include director are fired up about this server. end of quote of that message. now, they, meaning the f.b.i.'s seventh floor people, were fired up about fake information,

which is just terrible. the f.b.i.'s job -- the f.b.i.'s job is really to get fired up about fake information. it's more than that, however. it's a gut-wrenching attack on our system of government. now, there's another data point that i want to share. durham recently released notes from a march 6, 2017 meeting between the justice department and f.b.i. officials. that -- in that meeting, they discussed predication and cross fire hurricane issues. this meeting was two weeks before then-director comey publicly announced his investigation into trump. on that very day, march 6, 2017, i wrote a letter to comey asking

questions about the steel dossier. my press release for that letter is titleed, quote, -- title, quote, f.b.i. to pay ex spy for trump intel during campaign sparks questions about obama administration's use for political authorities for political gain. end of quote. that was from march 6, 2016. now, in may of 2022, that title just about sums up crossfire hurricane as best as it can be described. now in closing, i'd like to make a few notes with respect to predication. on september 23, 2016, f.b.i. electronics communication opened

a full investigation into the alpha bank allegations. but let's unpack the first few lines from that document. quote, the f.b.i. received a referral of information from the u.s. department of justice. quote, the u.s. -- the department of justice provided the f.b.i. with a white paper that was produced by an anonymous third party. end of quote. well, the information didn't come from the department of justice. it came from sussmann and the clinton campaign. hardly an anonymous third party since sussmann himself showed up at the door. by wording it this way, the

document almost blesses this so-called white paper. mind you, the white paper is the false alpha bank information. by the looks of it, the f.b.i. document contains false information. i fear these recent developments are just the tip of the iceberg. the f.b.i.'s exposure to false information and actually using that false information for an investigate -- for investigative purposes wreaks of a political vendetta. it points to to a get trump at l costs attitude. whether sussmann is convicted or not, the evidence introduced by durham shows serious government

misconduct, misconduct by the federal government of the united states of america. special counsel durham can't let government misconduct go unpunished. i yield. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the davis nomination. the clerk: the judiciary, stephanie dawkins davis of michigan to be united states circuit judge for the sixth circuit. the presiding officer: under the previous order, all postcloture time is expired. the question is on the nomination. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: on this vote the yeas are 49, the nays are 43 and the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table and the president will be immediately notified of the

senate's actions. the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of executive calendar 896, dara lindenbaum of virginia, to be a member of the federal election commission, signed by 16 senators. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived. the question is, is it the sense of the senate the debate on the nomination of dara lindenbaum of virginia to be a member of the federal election commission shall be brought to a close. the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

vote:

vote: the presiding officer: on this vote the yeas are 54, the nays are 39 and the motion is agreed to.

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from massachusetts. mr. markey: thank you, mr. president. i ask unanimous consent that at 6:00 p.m. today the senate vote on confirmation of the lindenbaum nomination, and the cloture motions on the sweeney, padin and morrison nominations, and that if cloture is invoked on any of those nominations, all postcloture sometime be considered expired and the senate vote on confirmation of the nominations at a time to be determined by the majority leader or his designee following consultation with the republican leader. the presiding officer: without objection. measuring thank you, mr. president. what is the current threat --. mr. markey: thank you,

mr. president. the doomsday clock measures how close the planet is to destruction. the answer is 100 seconds. that is tied for the closest we've ever been to planetary ruin since the clock started in 1947. recent nuclear events are likely to turn the dial even further. the size, diversity, and lethality of north korea's weapons continues to grow, as does its threat to our allies in the region. north korea's kim jong-un has fired more than a dozen missiles this year. preparations are being made for another nuclear test. iran is just weeks away from acquiring a nuclear weapon, the tragic consequence of donald trump blowing up the iran nuclear deal that president biden is now trying to stitch back together.

the same province where china has constructed a forced labor camp, more than 100 domes, likely housing missile silos dot the landscape. the pentagon says these sites are part of the evidence behind china's quest to double its nuclear forces in the next five years. belarus authoritarian leader victor lukashenko has made a deal with the devil vladimir putin to stay in power. part of the price for putin's lifeline was a demand that lukashenko amend the belarus constitution to allow for the placement of russian nuclear weapons on its territory, further taunting ukraine and all of europe with existential ruin. european leaders are r&d did iing the distribution of --

readying the distribution of iodine tablets. mr. president, it should come as no surprise in that in a recent poll 70% of americans said they fear that putin will use nuclear weapons in the war in ukraine. these global fears are well-founded. we fought over the course of decades to make nuclear weapons taboo but they are making a big comeback. in january the five nuclear weapon states of the nonproliferation treaty affirmed that, quote, a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought. but actions speak louder than words, and the actions of russia and ukraine, the hundreds of missile silos taking form in china, and the $51 billion the united states is he set to spend on nuclear weapons

this yearly alone tell us that nuclear weapons are still very much in vogue. the doomsday clock was created at the start of the nuclear age, and in the past 75 years the minute hand has fluctuated. it has inched closer to midnight with the soviet union's first nuclear weapons test, india's smiling buddha test and president trump's threats of fire and fury against kim jong-un. when the destructive fire of nuclear weapons has been curbed, the clock has receded from midnight. kennedy and khruschev answered the cuban missile crisis by banning undersea nuclear testifies. bush and gosh chaff ban -- bosch -- gorbachev banned missiles made obsolete.

mr. president, i fear that we are seeing echoes of the darkest days of the cold war, a time marked by fear and distrust of an adversary's true intentions. a time when the gold-placed defensive standard plowed ahead without any consideration of how proliferation begets proliferation. a time when the myth of the bomber and missile gap with the former soviet union spurred an arms race that brought us to the brink. thankfully president biden has taken some steps to crank the minute hand back from midnight. while trump was intent on resolving -- restarting the new start treaty, biden saved it. the treaty's value, especially in the context of russia's war

in usica cannot be -- in ukraine cannot be stated enough. we can distinguish between putin's nuclear bluster and actions that should legitimately raise the alarm. but the new start treaty is not enough. putin's provocations about nuclear escalation coupled with the brandishing of nuclear weapons, highlights the needs to have new systems into a treaty with russia. putin's invasion of ukraine threw a wrench into the strategic dialogue. we need to restart these discussions and we need to be bold. the use of nuclear weapons, as coercive tools means it is essential that we do not welcome any new members to the nuclear weapons club.

president trump failed us by creating a minefield of obstacles against cleanly reentering the iran nuclear deal, but president biden knows that the reentry will be far worse, we will so more enrichment and proxy attacks and risk of war with iran. we need to hold our partners to the same verification standard as we hold iran. saudi arabia must come clean about its missile cooperation with china, we should insist that saudi arabia adopt the additional protocol to its international atomic international agency safeguard agreements so we can be sure any future nuclear programs turns out peaceful, megawatts and not mega tons, that it's an

electricity program and not a nuclear weapons program. mr. president, kim jong-un's missile launches show that we ignore the north korean leader at our own risk. we need to break the endless cycle we have seen. a provocation by the north, and then another provocation sparking a fresh round of sanctions. this is an endless loop of nuclear ground hog's day. it is time to concede that a leader like kim jong-un who is willing to divert resources away from his starving people, to strengthen his weapons of mass destruction program cannot be coerced to disarm by piling on sanctions alone. while denuclearization of north korea is a worthy goal, we have to humble ourselves to pursue the incremental steps that

reduce the threat of war on the korean peninsula. in facing all of these challenges, we cannot continue to preach temperance from a bar stool. we can't afford to take a backseat when it comes to reducing nuclear risks. the president must use his position to send a message that responsible nuclear weapons powers don't roll out new weapon systems in military parades. they sit down in good-faith negotiations to reduce the size and uses of their nuclear deterrents and that must include china many russia's invasion of ukraine has set back the nonproliferation regime, but it also creates an opportunity for president biden to challenge china's xi to join him in rejoining a rattled world that firing nuclear reactors is off limits, that threatening

countries with existential weapons is unacceptable and to show the world the inevitability of a sputnik moment does not have to come to chance. we can embrace the organizing principle that the only way to win an arms race is not to run one. we are concerned about china's development of hypersonic weapons and its plan to expand its icbm force. but the pentagon admitted that the u.s. advances are partly the reason for the buildup. we are concerned that china may be drifting away from it's no use doctrine, but the united states -- we fear that china may use new civilian nuclear reactors to turn out massive

amounts of sprayed plutonium or bombs, but other countries in the region also have the capacity to divert physical material from a peaceful to nonpeaceful program. if we can get president xi to the table, we can possibly see the united states or china joining lethal ways to kill one another. one that instead negotiates near-term confidence building measures to reduce nuclear risks with china and that can ultimately lead to the conclusion of formal arms control agreements between our countries. the united states cannot do it alone, but we can break the cycle of nuclear escalation and secure a future where the fate

of millions no longer hangs on the whims and judgments of fallible leaders of the military industrial complex. we need, president biden, to -- we need president biden to outline that bold plan that draws inspiration from our better angels, not from nuclear weapons and overkill that stanley kubrik had in his book. i wrote in 1983 that nuclear proliferation is a problem too long ignored. now, before it is too late, the public must draw the line, the stakes are too high. the public clearly understands that the stakes for our planet have never been higher. but it's not too late. not yet. once the clock hits midnight, though, our time is up. it is time for action, not

rhetoric. this issue is one that can no longer be ignored. thank you, mr. president. and i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mrs. blackburn: thank you, mr. president. the biden administration has made a name for itself attacking the very institutions that they were sworn to protect. if you look at what's happening outside washington right now, you can see the ripple effects of this institutional sabotage. there's inflation, there are shortages, there's crime, there are drugs flooding our communities. this weekend i was chatting with one of my politically independent-minded friends back home and here's what she told me. she said, everything the democrats are doing is making my

life harder. it makes things worse. last tuesday i held a telephone town hall with a few thousand tennesseans and they told me the same thing. i spoke to a dad from chattanooga and something he said really struck me. he was telling me about how worried he is about his children's future and said the only common thread he can see tying all this together is suffing. think -- suffering. think about that. a dad -- a dad who is looking at the actions of the democrat-controlled house, senate, and white house, and to him he is perceiving the intent to inflict suffering. he asked me what the goal is of all this, referring, of course, to biden's agenda. he couldn't figure it out and i

really don't blame him. no reasonable person can look at what the biden administration has done and say that they feel like that administration has our best interest at heart or that they have a vision for the future of the country. what they do have is an agenda, a to-do list, and it seems sometimes they struggle with that. to tennesseans this government under this administration with this leadership, it is all broken. and nowhere has this been more pronounced than president biden's refusal to support law enforcement, both down on the border and in our local communities. since day one, the president has done everything in his power to sabotage the tens of thousand -f

thousands of people the department of homeland security employs to secure the homeland. he has done this knowing full well that criminal organizations, terrorists, cartels are taking advantage of his lack of action. in fact, business has never been better for the drug dealers and the human traffickers. at times they are raking in as much as $100 million a week. that's right. who is profiting? it is the cartels that are pushing drugs, pushing fentanyl, that are pushing games, that are pushing sex trafficking, the cartels that have turned themselves into global organizations bringing people, last year, from 160 different countries to our southern

border, to do what? to enter illegally, to came asylum, to ask the u.s. taxpayer to finish the journey for them to wherever they are wanting to go. this is what the people are seeing. now, mr. president, take a look at what is happening in our own backyard, if you will. 2021, almost 108,000 americans died from a drug overdose, about 4,000 of these were tennesseans, all tragic losses. law enforcement in benton county, tennessee, told me recently that about 80% of the drugs they seized contained fentanyl, which, as we all know, is deadly in very small amounts.

ask any law enforcement officer where these drugs are coming from and they will tell you that the majority of this is coming across the southern border. the cartels mules are smuggling it right across that border. our border patrol, they're overworked, they're underfunded, they're understaffed, they're working overtime. they're doing their best, but they can't get it all. they look at the surveillance cameras they see the gottaways, they know they're coming. if the biden administration abandons their title 42 authority at some point in the future, it's going to get worse. we'll have a small town of tennessee, the equivalent in population of a small town in tennessee coming right across that border. in tennessee we've got 345

towns, 90% of those are 18,000 in population or less. mr. president, when you look at connecticut, you've got 215 towns, 187 or 87% of those are -- you've got it, 18,000 or less in population. if you look at the state of maryland, 536 towns, 458 of those, 18,000 or less in population. that's 85.4%. now, think about that. that number of people crossing the border every single day. and all the traffickers, the drug traffickers, human traffickers, all the gangs, all they have to do, blend in. come on in. i'd like to say that until the biden administration wises up and secures the border, every town will be a border town and every state will be a border

state. the problems associated with drugs and criminal activity don't stay in new mexico or arizona or texas or california. they bleed into the rest of the country and into the hands of local law enforcement. they have enough to be dealing with. here's some stats for you. in 2021 homicides in u.s. cities reached a near record high. the number of law enforcement officers intentionally killed on the job was the highest since 9/11 and ambush style attacks on police increased 115%. meanwhile earlier this year, the biden administration floated the idea of using yet another executive order to limit law enforcement's access to resources and federal grant money. between the defund the police movement and this half-hearted

support from their president, it is no wonder that law enforcement officers are resigning or quitting or retiring in record numbers. i would ask the president and secretary mayorkas and my democratic colleagues to listen to what those who have sworn to protect and serve are telling them because they know what the biden administration needs to do. this administration would be well served to keep title 42 until we have a plan to replace it. embrace the remain in mexico policy. and do what law enforcement has asked for decades. build a wall. they need that barrier. give them technology. better technology and more officers and agents. that's what they need.

they continue to ask for it. give them what they need to do their job to protect this country. as it stands democrats have abandoned border patrol, aba abandoned local law enforcement, and according to my friends in tennessee, they have abandoned we the people. and the people are losing faith. they look at the white house and they have no idea who is in charge. they don't see their concern for the future reflected in the actions of the president or his staff who repeatedly corrects him. they don't see a vision for america. all they see is a to do list, an agenda, that will fail them over and over again because it leads to more government control and less freedom for we the people. i yield the floor.

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. cardin: thank you, mr. president. yesterday i was in southern maryland at the thomas johnson bridge. this bridge was built in 1970's, connects st. mary's county with culvert county. there's critical facilities that are located in this region. i say that because this is an evacuation route. we have culvert cliffs nuclear power plant, pax river. we have the l.n.g. facilities. when it was built a few thousand cars transversed the bridge on a daily basis. now over 30,000 cars transverse this bridge. it's not safe. it's a two-lane bridge and it

needs to be replaced. major accidents occur on a regular basis causing incredible congestion as well as risking people's health. so i was there at the invitation of senator van hollen. he could not physically be there but he helped arrange for a congressional earmark to help advance the replacement of this bridge. and i say that because we need to deal with traffic safety in this country and replacing unsafe bridges is just one part of that program. the national highway traffic safety administration's 2021 fatality report was just recently released. and the numbers are shocking. nearly 43,000 people lost their lives on our highways in 2021. this is the highest numbers since 2005. we're moving in the wrong

direction on traffic safety. it's the largest increase in fatalities since we've been keeping the records since 1975. pedestrian, bicyclists nearly 7500 lost their lives in 2021. and if you look at the deaths between 2010 and 2019, 53,435 people, pedestrians were killed as a result of traffic accidents. the impact is disproportionate in communities of color. in its report dangers by design, smart growth america found that older adult, people of color and people walking in low-income communities are disproportionately represented in the fatal crashes involving people walking, even after controlling for differences in population size and walking rates. the fatality rate in the lowest income neighborhoods was nearly twice that of the middle-income census tracks and almost three times that in higher income

neighborhoods. if you had a friend or family member killed or injured by a roadway collision, then the issue of safety is a personal one. the reality of the situation, however, is that this is an issue that affects all of us. all safety instances cause delays and congestion on our roads and these delays are disruptive. they make us late to pick up our kids from day care. we miss important meetings. our levels of anxiety rise if we sit in traffic frustrated as our cars burn fuel in stop and go traffic sending excess pollution into the air we breathe. all of this hurts our wallets, our health, and our sense of well-being. with new data source, analytical tools, the senator for advanced technology, the lab of the university of maryland has been able to quantitate some of the other impacts. using numbers from the cat lab analysts considered as conservative for the value of

time placed on commercial vehicles and the trafficking public, they found that there were nearly $8 billion in user delays caused due to safety instances on national highway system roadways in 2019. safety rlted -- related incidents cded for 18% of all convention and over -- 300 million vehicle hours of delay. and this, mr. president, is just on our national highway system, not our local roads. imagine if we could get back those 300 million hours of time to be with our families, to be more productive, at work, to be more creative. we'd live happier lives. imagine if we could get back the $8 billion. this is something that is obviously of concern to everyone. the worst thing that we could do at this critical moment is to be complacent. to shrug our shoulders and say this is just the price we pay to have cars and the so-called freedom that our cars provide.

for those who lost a loved one to a collision this is an unacceptable price and should be unacceptable to all of us because we can do better and we must do better. i applaud the biden administration and the department of transportation for putting forth a national roadway safety strategy earlier this year that adopts a long-term goal of zero roadway fatalities. the plan takes a comprehensive look at safety and all the pieces needed to help us tackle this challenge. from safer drivers to safer vehicles to more effective after-crash care. all these components are necessary. today, however, i just want to focus on our roads. yes, we need individual drivers to do their part. to slow down, stay focused and be alert. yes, we need new technologies for safer vehicles. this is true. but it's not enough. what we need now more urgently than ever is better infrastructure and safer roadways. therefore, fixing this problem is not about halting

construction. it's about building. we need the infrastructure with the kind of infrastructure that will provide safety. we need better sidewalks, better bike paths, and better intersections. and in many places we need to remove the vast expanses of pavement that for so long facilitated speeding and restore the network of neighborhood streets that facilitate connections and support communities and children. this is the infrastructure that will be better for businesses, too. many communities have found that small businesses aren't helped by roads that make it easier for cars to speed right by. they are helped by safe places for customers and employees to walk around and spend time. we need the infrastructure but we need the right kind of infrastructure. this year we have a historic opportunity to change course and invest in infrastructure we need for stronger communities and safer roadways through the bipartisan infrastructure law. but we have to be deliberative

and determine in sizing opportunity. i was proud to be part of the environmental of public works committee. i chaired the infrastructure subcommittee. we worked together, democrats and republicans, to produce a bipartisan surface transportation bill, a bipartisan water bill, water resources development act. they were incorporated into the bipartisan infrastructure package. i am proud of that work. the bipartisan infrastructure law provides several new policy tools and funding to help us address safety on our roads. i would like to highlight three important programs in the infrastructure law that will play a vital role in helping us to change course. first, the bipartisan infrastructure law provides $15.6 billion for highway safety improvement program which is one of our long-standing programs whose purpose is in statute is to achieve a significant reduction in traffic fatalities and serious injuries on all

public roads. these are funds that go to our states. with the enactment of the infrastructure law, the highway safety improvement program will now incorporate a consideration of a safe systems approach which aims to protect vulnerable road users from the start. from the designing of our roads. a consortium the johns hopkins center for injury and research policy convened as highlighted the importance of a safe system approach based on a wealth of evidence-based research. their report said that a safe system approach begins with a commitment to eliminate fatalities and serious injuries among all road users and use as thoughtful road and vehicle design to minimize crashes that occur when people make mistakes and reduce crash forces so that people are less likely to be injured, when crashes occur. by designing safety into the road system, deaths and serious injuries are engineered out. that's what the report pointed out. here again the message is clear.

we cannot simply wait for all drivers to be error free. we need to design and build better roadways. under the new and improved highway safety and improvement program that the bipartisan infrastructure bill will deliver, every state is required to complete a vulnerable road user safety assessment to study where and when fatalities and serious injuries are occurring, including a demographic breakdown to ensure equity considerations are incorporated. states must identify projects and strategies to reduce the risks to pedestrians and cyclists. states in which vulnerable users represent 15% or more of all roadway fatalities must spend 15% of their federal highway safety improvement program dollars on vulnerable user safety. based on 2016 to 2018 fatality rates, 28 states would have to spend at least $200 million on improvements like sidewalks, bike lanes, crosswalks, and others. this is a major step forward to

facing up to the problem and taking action to address it. the second issue in the bipartisan infrastructure package i want to talk about is a major expansion of the transportation alternative program. i'm particularly proud about this program. i authored this program. originally with senator cochran and later with senator wicker. the two of us have worked together to connect communities together through pedestrian and bicycle paths so that pedestrians don't have to be on highways in order to get around their community. transportation alternatives is such a critical program because it supports priorities local communities identify for projects to make roads safer and more accessible. this is one of the few programs where our local governments make the determinations. transportation alternatives have funded projects that have improved the quality of life in all kinds of communities across

the country and every congressional district and in big cities and rural areas. the infrastructure law increases funding for the transportation alternatives to 10% of the surface transportation block grant program which amounts to $7.2 billion over five years. the infrastructure law also specifies that projects under the safe routes to school program are an eligible use for funds under the transportation alternative program. the routes partnership is an organization that worked with us on the alternative program. it has helped governments implement safe routes to school initiatives to make it safer, more convenient, and fun for children to walk and bicycle to school. in montgomery county, maryland, crashes involving people walking or biking near schools decreased by 25% to 42% after safe routes to school efforts provided engineering improvements like better crosswalks and signs.

and provide -- by providing the opportunity to walk and bike to school, we can improve safety, promote health, and physical activity. through initiatives like safe routes to schools, the transportation alternatives program is poised to make a major contribution to delivering on local demands to become more walkable, more bike friendly, and safer for all road users. the third program i want to highlight from the infrastructure law is reconnecting communities which will deliver $1 billion to addressing an outstanding equity challenge related to our transportation infrastructure. we held a hearing about the need for this program last year in the transportation and infrastructure subcommittee. the building of our national highway system from the 1950's was in many ways a great national achievement, a major public investment in our infrastructure that transformed our country and that we continue to rely on today. but for far too many

communities, especially communities of color, ethnic communities and urban centers, the construction of our highways had traumatic impact and destructive impact. rather than connecting their communities and expanding their opportunities, highway construction brought demolition, displacement, isolation and exclusion. i consider it a major achievement that we finally have a federal program focused on addressing this harmful legacy. my own city of baltimore struggles with lasting impacts today that includes unsafe and unhealthy conditions for families trying to navigate their city. i refer to the franklin marbury corridor in downtown baltimore where you have a highway that was constructed, never completed, that divided existing communities, and that division still exists today making it more difficult for people to live in that community. so we absolutely should view the reconnecting communities program

in the bipartisan infrastructure bill, will establish a program to improve safety as it also addresses long-standing nict inequity in our infrastructure. it is a program about building the right kind of infrastructure, not just removing barriers. after we remove the old infrastructure, we need to preplace it with the kinds of infrastructure we need more of such as better sidewalks, neighborhood street grids, signs, crosswalks and parks that a neighborhood can appreciate and grow. so we see how the infrastructure law provides new opportunities and multiple programs that can complement and reinforce each other to build better infrastructure and safer infrastructure. i've just highlighted three ways in which the bipartisan infrastructure law can do this. delivering better and safer roads for americans and bringing down the unacceptable high numbers of traffic fatalities and injuries. the new highway safety improvement program,

transportation alternatives and reconnecting communities. this list is not exclusive. the infrastructure law does even more. just last week the department of transportation officials announced the availability of $5 billion over five years for a new program focused on safety established by the infrastructure law. the law also provides a mandate to update the manual on iewnchl traffic control devices to give local governments more flexibility to implement safety measures. i could go on and on. the bottom line is that we have a lot of work to do, and setting this new policy is just the beginning. we need leaders at all levels of government to take on this challenge. i talked about the transportation alternatives which will now receive a full 10% of the you surface transportation block grant funds. but 10% is just that -- 10%. we cannot have 10% of our funds working for safer roads and 90% of our funds working to make them less safe. we need safety prioritized and

integrated in all of our infrastructure investments. i talked about reconnecting communities, a new $1 billion program to remove barriers that have harmed and isolated neighborhoods from opportunity. but we cannot have $1 billion working to remove these barriers and billions and billions of more dollars spent erecting new barriers. we need to built the right kind of infrastructure that we need for our future, not continue on the same path we have been on in the past. the path has led to 43,000 deaths in 2021 alone. to accept the status quo would be the most dangerous and radical course of action. again, i applaud the department of transportation for announcing a new national roadway safety strategy in january that thinks through safety across all of the department's programs and authorities. we need this leadership on the federal level, and the biden administration is providing it, and we, as we implement the infrastructure law and begin to

make generational investments to improve our nation's infrastructure, we will need all levels of government working together. the challenge of our dangerous roads calls all of us to pay attention. with the benefits of investing to make our transportation network safer cannot be overstated. if we use the infrastructure law to its greatest potential with respect to safety, we will have a stronger, more productive economy and a healthier, more just america. with that, mr. president, i would yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from kansas. mr. moran: if there is a quorum call, i ask unanimous consent it be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. moran: mr. president, in april, more than 234,000 migrants were apprehended at the southern border. this is an alarming number, and it's the highest monthly total in 22 years. we have a humanitarian, a public health, and a national security crisis happening at that border. the department of homeland security is bracing for a bigger surge in the weeks and months to come, with the possibility, the estimates of 18,000 new people showing up every single day. the biden administration continues to be absent in this crisis. and instead of offering constructive policies, they are removing ones that are helping prevent even more people from entering our country. last week the court made the decision to require title 42 to

remain in place. the reality of ending it would create an even greater border emergency and yet the biden administration is appealing the court's decision. a recent political harvard poll found that 55% of americans oppose ending this title 42 prohibition. president biden and vice president harris have refused to take any leadership on this issue. not only have they attempted to repeal title 42, president biden's first order of business after taking office was to repeal nearly every immigration policy of the previous administration. repealing title 42 will leave border agents with an unmanageable task while trying to stop drug and human trafficking. in my conversation with the border agents they describe how hard of a task they have. the cartels have learned that flooding the border with migrants provide a distraction that affords them a better chance of successfully bringing drugs across the border.

it's no wonder that fentanyl seizures at the is southern border increased 48% from 2022 from the previous year of april of 2021. our border agents and officers are being asked to be caretakers, law enforcement officers, medical parole fetions and -- professions and so much more. they have a tireless and thankless job. i visited the border in april of last year to meet with the border patrol, the d.e.a., f.b.i. and hear firsthand how the crisis affected their operations. they shared how handling a large surge of migrants has made it extremely challenging to carry out their mission to stop and disrupt transitional criminal organizations from drug trafficking. these agents were sounding the alarm in april of 2021 when broarpd encounters -- border encountered totaled 178,000. compare that to the 270,000 crossing the border in this april of this year. we must prioritize additional

border security measure that includes investments in new technologies. we must enforce our immigration laws and work to reform our immigration system so we reward those that follow the law and disincentivize illegal crossings. while title 42 will remain for now, the biden administration continues to fight this ruling and has almost zero constructive plans to help improve the crisis at the southern border. broirm -- our border control agents are doing an incredible job and we thank them for service to our nation. mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the following remarks be shown in the record at a different place. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. moran: mr. president, today i recognize a kansas business that has served topeka, our state capital city, served topeka for more than 75 years

with hot bowls of chili, cold cut sandwiches and warm conversations. to someone from you out -- out f town bruceky groceries and meats don't seem like much. but to local who frequent it it was the best place in town to receive a delicious meal and receive a friendly welcome. opened -- it was an iconic restaurant in topeka and has fans around the country. while the grocery store portion was originally the driving force behind the business, it's best known for being a spot to meet folks for lunch. gourmet magazine summed it up as well as anyone when it started perupsky's is not just a place to eat.

it's a destination in and of itself. the sons alongside the daughters have kept this business alive and have made their homes in topeka. over the years the restaurant has developed a reputation of having some of the most delicious chili in the area. the start of chil i season is a day customers look forward to year in and year out. my personal experience with perupsky's dates back to my time in the kansas legislature. several fellow workers and i would go during legislative breaks. we had at least three full months to enjoy their hot pickles and spicey chili. with meats and cheese trays displayed it was a welcome break from our political and governmental dealings. even today as i travel across kansas i have a habit of altering my plans so i can have

a ham salad sandwich with three slices of cheese and a cold coke and enjoy the warm family hospitality. when my flights land early i have the chance to make, during that two hour drive home to make the trek across the kansas river and go to porubsky's and i will find wonderful people, great food and a sense that i'm home where all the talk is not about politics and not all the washington, d.c. insideer conversation. it just feels like you're around real people and real kansans. while porubsky's and family family-owned establishments like it lack the bell and whistles of nationwide chain, what truly matters is the collection of people it takes to make it work. the value of places like porubsky's can't be measured in economic profits or yelp reviews. what the family has been serving up for decades is more than tasty sandwiches.

it's a place where you can go to know people and to be known. and known so well, your sandwich is made before you even make it to the counter to order it. squeezing into a seat at the restaurant, it doesn't matter if you're a republican or democrat. it doesn't matter where you come from at places like porubsky's everyone is welcome. while i'm salad to see porubsky's close their doors after 75 years of service, of the family themselves and their f.a.a. must grocery -- famous grocery will not be forgotten. i knew their son and dad and know charlie and cecelia today. i thank them nor looking out for my wildlife being and that of other customers over so many years. mr. president, i yield the floor.

the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. portman: today marks exactly three months since russia began

its war on ukraine. i've come to the floor for the 13th week to talk about this unprovoked, illegal and brutal war they are waging on our democratic ally, ukraine. since i spoke last week, we had an important development. at the end of the week, the senate came together to vote for a supplemental funding bill for ukraine. the bill was 86-11. it passed the house with a similar strong bipartisan vote. congress went above what the president requested. he requested $33 billion and congress decided to provide $40 billion to ensure that ukrainians had the funding they needed through the fall. with the cooperation of about 40 different countries around the world, ukrainians have the weapons and munitions and

economic help to survive and continue their fight for the next several month. the supplemental spending bill will replace the presidential drawdown. it transfers weapons from our own surpluses to the ukrainians. it was raised capped to $11 billion, $3 billion over the president's request. the notion is this is going to be needed. the bill includes $6 billion what is called the ukraine security initiative to enhance the ukrainians ability to the fight off russian aggression. when we started that russia was in this part of ukraine and the line of contact was here in eastern ukraine. here are a couple of maps that shows the progress that has been made in pushing back as russia

invaded ukraine starting on february 24. all of this area in blue was controlled by russia at one point as was this lighter red area, the darker red area was what russia took back in 2014 as ukraine chose to look to the west for alliances and support. they came in on february 24, with the hope of taking the entire country and they did control this territory. everything you see in blue has been pushed back. it's no longer russian-held territory. it's now back in ukrainian hands. this is the map of today. there is progress made around kharkiv, a beautiful city in this part of ukraine. this is where the military has pushed back the russian forces. you see the same thing here in the more southern parts of

ukraine where more progress has been made. but there is fierce fighting all in this region. recently, you can see where the russians have made some progress in trying to cut off some of the ukrainian troops. initially they had hoped to make a bridge here to cut off troops in this area, thousands of them now, it now they are pushing through right here and making some progress. so it's a hot war and the ukrainians are desperate to have enough ammunition to fight the war and protect their homeland and have weapons to push back against russia. the end of this war has to be that russia is pushed out of ukraine. that has to be our objective. it's certainly one that the ukrainians share. the successes against russia in the battlefield is a testament to the bravery and the effectiveness of ukrainians fighting to defend their freedom, their families, their homeland. but it's also a success that is

due to effectiveness of our help and particularly the ukraine security initiative over the last seven years, especially the training element of it. it was money well spent by u.s. taxpayers to ensure, along with other nato countries who provided funding as well, to ensure a training component. you can see the results. they are outgunned, outnumbered and have been able to push russia out of this part of ukraine. the supplemental spending bill included 4 -- $4 billion in financing to get ukraine equipment. it includes $3.9 billion to support enhanced u.s. troop deployments to europe. that is critical to me because it's never more important than now to ensure that we have the troops we need along the border here to be able to ensure that russia knows that if they go

beyond ukraine, we will respond and respond forcefully as nato, all 30 countries of nato. we have reinforced our troop presence in europe, places like poland and slovakia, romania and around the region to be able to ensure that our article 5 agreement under nato, which is a mutual defense commitment will be kept. it is not just us, but all the members of nato. it the russians make a further mistake and do what president putin has talked about like going to lithuania, latvia and estonia, nato will be there. this legislation, this supplemental was not inexpensive. $40 billion is a lot of money and it has to be associated to appropriate safeguards. last week i spoke about many of the safeguards and some -- that some of us helped get into the

legislation including the critical role that congress will play in critical oversight of the funds. i expect they will keep congress informed as to how it intends to spend the money. effective oversight will require a strong diplomatic presence on the ground so we have people watching out the money is spent and report back. i'm pleased that the senate heeded the call to reopen kiev on sunday. it now has a u.s. embassy presence. the officials have the embassy were here in poland. as of this past week, we're back in kiev and we're open for business. by the way, that same day the embassy opened, we reported out the new ambassador nominee for ukraine, we haven't had an ambassador there for way too long, about a year and a half or so, and we actually then voted for her on the senate floor, maybe the fastest nomination ever through this place, but

that's important, we nominated bridget brink. she has been in ukraine before as a foreign service officer. i think she is a very good choice. our diplomatic presence there is once again going to be in a strong position and therefore telling the rest of the world that the united states is here and here to stay. now that congress has provided this $40 billion to support ukraine and to support our troops in the area, it's up to the administration to ensure that it's used effectively, particularly with regard to the military assistance. i encourage the administration to use these funds in accordance with the needs on the ground in ukraine. we've got to listen to the ukrainians who are fighting on the front lines. this would include an example of what is called the multiple launch rocket systems or

m.l.r.s., it will allow them to not be subject to the shelling from russian forces and using that to flatten the cities. we cannot delude ourselves into thinking that if we stop providing this systems like mrls that we will not provoke russia and that president putin will gracefully acknowledge that and lessen his assault on ukraine. that will not happen. russia's invasion of ukraine is the provocation, not us, not the military assistance we're providing ukraine to defend their homeland and families. president biden must provide military assistance to the ukrainians and make it clear we are in this conflict until it ends, until russian troops leave, until the bombardments

end. if president putin senses weakness on our part or the part of our allies, he will intensify his attack on ukraine. back in 2014, ukraine made the decision to ally with us, with europe, with freedom, with democracy, rather than russia and authoritarianism or tyranny. russia did not take that well. that's when they an annexed crimea here, but when they did that, the reaction of the west, frankly, was underwhelming. when president putin launched this more comprehensive war on february 24, he probably expected the same feckless response. the global community, when these two happened, really did not respond forcefully as we should have. instead, of getting the same response that he expected, president putin initiated an

abrupt reversal. previously europe had prioritized avoiding any conflict with russia by following practices that they believed would be seen by the kremlin as nonconfrontational. the u.s. approach to russia and ukraine changed after this brutal assault. as president putin weakened russia's position, the nato alliance he tried to undermine has grown stronger, finland and sweden have applied. public support for joining nato skyrocketed in finland and sweden. this is especially remarkable in sweden whose policy of neutrality dates back well before world war ii. as president putin has indiscriminately killed innocent people, the finish and swedish

people have seen the benefit of nato for them too. i'm glad they applied to nato. it is the world's most successful military alliance in history. each of these two countries has an impressive military and commitment to higher defense spending, so they have a lot of value to add to the nato alliance. their membership will further tip the power of nato in nato's favor. it is good for peace and tranquility and good for the united states and our allies. i was pleased that the president hosted those countries. i join the leader in calling for the senate to approve their membership bids to nato before the august recess. let's make the united states the first country to approve their applications for nato membership. i understand that all 30 of our nato allies have been supportive with one exception, turkey.

they've expressed concerns about finland and sweden joining the alliance for issues unrelated to nato in my view. i trust the issues can be worked out among the three countries and encourage the administration to take a lead in moving this application forward. joining nato is a serious matter of war and peace. no one should be playing politics here. ly look forward to supporting finland and sweden's nato application when they are voted on here in this chamber. the russian military has suffered substantial losses in this war already. exact estimates are impossible to come by, but it appears that in just the first three months of this war, russia lost as many soldiers as it did in the nine-year war that they waged in afghanistan. let's remember that president putin thought this would be an easy victory. he thought the ukraine's defenses would be torn apart and shattered in a matter of days and the ukrainians would lose all hope and all morale. he thought that his actions

would split nato and clearly the opposite has been the case and in russia there has been dissent as well. last week the counselor at the permanent mission for the united nations in geneva resigned his post. his letter to his colleagues is telling. i quote, this is from a senior russian official. he said, for 20 years of my diplomatic career, i have seen returns of foreign policy but never so ashamed of my country as on february 24 this year. the aggressive war unleashed by putin against ukraine, he -- ewe ukraine he said is not only a crime against the ukrainian people but also perhaps the most serious crime against the people of russia with a bold letter z crossing out all hopes an prospects for a prosperous free society in our country. end quote. he's right. there have also been reports of rank and file russian soldiers who oppose the war and refuse to

fight. one russian officer had become to disillusioned with the lies, he resigned in protest. he said we had a radio receiver and we could listen to the news. he said this to cnn, that's how i learned the shops were closing in russia and the economy collapsing, i felt guilty about this but i felt more guilty because we came to ukraine. end quote. and he should. this resignation is telling as members of the russian society are seeing the war for what it is, unprovoked that brought shame to russia as a nation. i'm confident that this is the fist of many acts of conscience by senior and junior russian officials as they seek to restore some level of honor and dignity to their nation. kremlin officials and commanders on the ground should know that the world is watching and the war crimes are being recorded.

it is not too late to say no to orders to attack and kill your innocent neighbors in ukraine. now, as i've mentioned over the last several weeks as we've talked about that, there are a number of important sanctions in place. we talked about trading sanctions, eliminating russia's tax status, banking sanctions to crush the economy in russia, desperate need right now for us to focus more on energy and boycotting energy supplies because that is the single most important sanction that has not been put in place in the way it needs to be. it's funding the putin war machine. europe is making progress on this. in fact, by august we're told we'll no longer be buying russian coal as an example. but russia is still getting from europe $8 70 million a day in energy receipts and that is funding the putin war machine. especially when russia not only continues its onslaught on

ukrainian combatants but on noncombatants. these sanctions must be tightened. and what they are doing is committing war crimes. i call on the international criminal court which has announced an investigation already to follow in ukraine's footsteps and immediately begin a war crimes tribunal now. don't wait. because it can have a deterrent effect if it's done now. we continue to hear the stories every day and the stories get worse and worse. i was glad to hear that a court in kiev began hearings against a sergeant, the first russian soldier to go on trial for alleged war crimes. he's accused of shooting and killing a 62-year-old civilian man in north eastern ukrainian in late february just a few yards from his home. he pled guilty. just yesterday, yesterday he was sentenced to a life in prison. again russian officials and commanders need to see this. these war crimes are being committed, being prosecuted and there will be consequences. sadly this one case we talked

about is just a drop in the bucket, ukraine's prosecutor general said her office is currently investigating more than 10,000 alleged war crimes by russian forces involving more than 600 suspects. it will take a vast amount of time and resources to hold all these criminals to account and the u.s. should help ukraine in this regard. the supplemental spending package we talked about includes money to do just that. to investigate and document war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by russian forces in ukraine. my hope is that holding these russians accountable will have that deterrent effect. because of these terrible action, i believe russia also agree -- deserves to be designated as a state sponsor of terrorism. i believe the senate should vote on that. in chechnya and syria, russia has committed atrocities that reflect a complete disregard for the value of human life. it has terrorized its neighbors and committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in ukraine. let me be clear.

what the russian military is doing in ukraine is not just a product of individual undisciplined units. approval for anxieties like these come from the top of the command chain. i have mentioned america's leadership state side and what everyday americans have done in light of this russian aggression and their support for ukraine. it's truly impressive. what's happening in my home state of ohio and around the country. the contributions and so many ways the medical supplies that have been sent, the personal vanity kits that have been sent, the amount of food that's been voluntarily given through the world central kitchen and others. but tonight i want to close with a few thoughts on our leadership abroad as president biden is wrapping up his first trip to aish ya. i commend the president for taking this trip and for working with our allies. as china continues to advance its interest not only through the indo-pacific but around the globe, it is so important that the united states help lead freedom-loving countries in countering their malign actions

too. i visited the region last month with some of my colleagues and my take away was our partners have a new found interest in aligning with us, particularly with what's going on with regard to china's aggressive behavior in the indo-pacific region. i also think one of the best ways to push back against what china is doing and considering doing, particularly with regard to taiwan, is for us to win in ukraine. russia being defeated in ukraine will affect what happens in the indo-pacific region. china right now is entirely aligned with russia. their joint statement earlier this year says and i quote, as the invasion was being planned, friendship between our two states has no limits. there no forbidden areas. end quote. we are now seeing china's attempt to extend their reach with a base in the islands as an example. we heard about this when we were over there. they negotiated in secret an agreement to allow beijing to

send personnel and naval vessels potentially on the islands. this would be terrible for the region, particularly for australia. their eastern border is only about 1200 miles away from the solomon islands. in ukraine we have shown strong leadership. we must not stop now when it comes to our allies across the globe. it doesn't matter if it's russia or china. we must be the beacon of strength for the free world and help bring people together. to do so we must also start thinking about what it will take to aid ukraine in the long term. i'm not talking about nation building here but i am talking about helping them in terms of this protracted conflict with russia and ensuring that we do rebuild a democratic and free ukraine. thinking ahead in this fashion may seem premature to some but i do believe it can save resources in the long run about thinking about how to plan for that now. in short we should plan for the possibility of a longer conflict than we had originally anticipated.

again, our role in ukraine is essential. but it's a role that combines us with so many other partners around the world. again over 40 countries are helping right now in terms of assistance to ukraine. we are not the world's policemen. but we are kind of like the world's sheriff and bringing together the posse of other freedom loving countries is so critical for us to do, whether in the indo-pacific region or whether it's with regard to ukraine. we've had tremendous success in terms of bringing people together to stand for freedom, to stand for democracy, and to stand for the rights of the ukrainian people. with that i yield back my time. mr. murphy: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. murphy: mr. president, 14 kids dead in an elementary school in texas right now.

what are we doing? what are we doing? just days after a shooter walked into a grocery store to gun down african american patrons, we have another sandy hook on our hands. what are we doing? there were more mass shootings than days in the year. our kids are living in fear every single time they set foot in the classroom because they think they're going to be next. what are we doing? why do you spend all this time running for the united states senate, why do you go through all the hassle of getting this job, of putting yourself in position of authority if your answer as the slaughter increases, as our kids run for

their lives we do nothing? what are we doing? why are you here? if not to solve a problem as existential as this. this isn't inevitable. these kids weren't unlucky. this only happens in this country and nowhere else, nowhere else do little kids go to school thinking that they might be shot that day. nowhere else do parents have to talk to their kids as i have had to do about why they got locked into a bathroom and told to be quiet for five minutes just in case a bad man entered that building. nowhere else does that happen except here in the united states of america. and it is a choice. it is our choice to let it

continue. what are we doing? in sandy hook elementary school, after those kids came back into those classrooms, they had to adopt a practice in which there would be a safe word that the kids would say. if they started to get thoughts in their brain about what they saw that day, if they started to get nightmares during the day reliving stepping over their classmates' bodies as they tried to flee the school. in one classroom that word was monkey. and over and over and over through the day, kids would stand up and yell monkey. and a teacher or a paraprofessional would have to go to that kid, take them out of the classroom, talk to them about what they had seen, work them through their issues. sandy hook will never ever be

the same. this community in texas will never ever be the same. why? why are we here if not to try to make sure that fewer schools and fewer communities go through what sandy hook has gone through, what uvalde is going through. our heart is breaking for these families. every ounce of love and thoughts and prayers we can send we are sending. but i'm here on this floor to beg, to literally get down on my hands and knees and beg a -- beg my colleagues. find a path forward here. work with us to find a way to pass laws that make this less likely. i understand my republican colleagues will not agree to everything that i may support, but there is a common denominator that we can find.

there is a place where we can achieve agreement that may not guarantee that america never ever again sees a mass shooting, that may not overnight cut in half the number of murders that happen in america. it will not solve the problem of american violence by itself, but by doing something, we at least stop sending this quiet message of endorsement to these killers whose brains are breaking, who see the highest lefts of government doing nothing shooting after shooting. what are we doing? why are we here? what are we doing?

i yield the floor.

since today is a primary day i thought it might be good to take a look of ' where the senate was when we are confronted with the widespread democratic big lie that in georgia it was an effort by the republican legislature and a republican governor to engage in voter suppression by passing a new voter law in the wake of the pandemic year that we all went through as a number of states adjusted their manner

of voting, picking up some of the things that were tried during the pandemic. the democrats almost broke the senate over this issue. they came within two votes of getting ready -- rid of the filibuster of this issue. early indications are we have record turnouts in georgia, record turnouts. the indications are that at least the early voting part of the new georgia law, more people are turning out that it did in the presidential primary and dramatically more turned out than in the 2018th primary which would be apples-to-apples, eight team-22. this conclusively proves so far

that there is no effort in georgia to suppress the vote. this is simply an effort to try to intimidate everybody and as long as corporate america bought into it in other people bought into it as you may have to intimidate the senate into federalizing the way we handle elections. it was a big lie and the big lie is being in the process of disproving in georgia today. >> once again today americans are paying the highest price for gasoline than ever before. we are at a new record $4.6 per gallon averaging remember the day that joe biden took office it was $2.38 a gallon.

so $4 a gallon in 50 states and over $5 a gallon in new york and over $6 a gallon in california. 92% of americans will tell you they are very concerned about the high cost of gasoline. the president was asked about it and he talked about it in japan and he called it an incredible transition. he called it an incredible transition. the incredible transition is happening today with energy. we are going from nation that was energy dominant to energy dependent. going from a nation of prosperity to a nation of poverty going from a nation of wealth to a nation of weakness. there are people herding all around this country. we are at a 40 year high in highest gas prices ever and families are running out of places where they can cut their spending. they are cutting out haircuts and cutting out movies, cutting out music lessons for the kids

and for people living on a fixed income and people living paycheck to paycheck it's no longer about how much it cost to till the tank, they can afford to fill the tank. they can just take so much money to the gas station to see how much gas they will be able to get. as a result of these high prices people are cutting out activities. some memorial day weekend and picnics and gatherings are being canceled all over the country and for grandparents who the last two years in the lock down because of covid and couldn't see their grandkids now are nearing a new lock down because they can't afford the gas to go and see their grandkids. so that is the incredible transition of joe biden who seems to be unconcerned about the high cost and his basically said take your medicine, we are going to get you off of fossil fuels one way or another. we have the energy in the ground in this country and the

president wants to get the permits passed him permission to drill and infrastructure, the energy infrastructure that is so desperately needed. joe biden is the president of high energy prices. >> let me add a little more to the georgia election laws the leader said, democrats took the senate right to the edge on this and basically were willing to federalize the national election process to take the fec and we are going to on the fec commissioner today the equally divided fec entered into a 4-2 fec. there's a reason there are three democrats and three republicans on the fec. i'm a republican and i'm voting for the democrat today because there should be three democrats on the off-ice ec just like there should be three republicans but that was part of the law they took the part of the reason was the suppression

laws that suddenly they decided route there. the georgia law expanded the number of mandatory early voting days and codified drop ox is in every county, something that didn't exist at all before the pandemic. and they aligned mail-in deadlines of the poster recommendations to make sure the ballots actually got counted that re-mail been and maintained no excuse absentee voting which neither delaware or new york has, to be critics of the law for the president and the majority leader. neither of their states have no excuse absentee voting. by friday of last week, the last day of early voting 800,000 georgians cast early ballots. four years ago, 300,000 georgians cast early ballots and in the presidential, 326,000

georgians voted in the president. substantially more than two times as many people voted under the so-called suppression law hasn't ever voted early in georgia before. remember this is a law that not only to the senate to the brink over voter suppression, it's the law that moved out of atlanta all-star game because of legislative suppression that turned out producing more early voting than any other time in the state's history. the goal was to make it easier to vote which they obviously have done and harder to cheat which they hopefully did. monta. a senator: i ask that the monta. quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: we are hot in a quorum call. the senator is recognized.

mr. daines: mr. president, today i have the distinguished honor of recognizing mike devisas for his dedication to serving his community and his courage during the denton fire this past december. mike joined the volunteer fire department shortly after moving to denton with his family back in 200 and has been loyal to the department and community ever since serving as chief for 11 years. on december 1, 2021, mike's love of his community and his resolute leadership was on full display. as the west wind fire tore through the town of denton, mike acted swiftly to activate incident command and ensure safety of the firefighters and members of the community. mike not only coordinated aid and resources, he showed care and compassion to his fellow officers of denton. the met with folks impacted by the fires and connected

personally with all the local firefighters and community members who showed up to help. serving agency the denton fire chief is just one of the ways mike gives back to his community. he's also on the elder board of the denton bible church and has served several terms on the town council. as a volunteer fire chief he has spent countless hours training and traveling and managing the department. his son joel has said that mike is held in high regard as he works to build relationships between denton and surrounding departments. while he is quick to give credit to his crew, mike deserves recognition for his leadership during the 2021 fire season, loyalty to the denton fire department and compassion for his community. mike, keep up the great work. you do make montana proud. i request the following remarks appear separate flit the record.

the presiding officer: without objection. mr. daines: mr. president, today i have the honor of recognizing a staff member who has turned into family over the years. karin failure is truly one of a kind. she has set the standard for a constituent recognition in montana and now it's my turn to recognize her as she retires after many years of service to montana. karin got his bachelor's degree and was hired to work as a military aerospace manager around contract analyst in denver, colorado. as fate would have it, she met the love of her life, gus, at a sales convention. they moved to hong kong and worked for many years. later while living in bangkok, she ran a charity division of a women's club. the organization's philanthropic

dough gave donations to orphan ages'ages. she also enjoys entertaining ambassadors. it was in hong kong that carr and her husband raised their daughter. after time in bangkok came to a close, they moved to salt lake city, utah. once gus retired from his corporate role, she decided to call bozeman, montana, their home. it was here that carr was able to pursue her passion in politics. her skills were highly sought off and soon she became a mainstay in montana political events. in fact, in 2015, she signed on with my team and lucky for us she decided to stay. carr and her sidekick winnie, her dog, have spent countless hours combing through every

detail of montana news and headlines, catching every outstanding montanan. carr has worked tirelessly making sure all man montanans are honored for their heroism, their anniversaries, their birthdays and of course she planned all of our events. one story in particular that comes to mind was when she received word a large gathering was coming to one of our in-state offices. carr wasted no time getting the details ironed out and created a welcoming experience for our visitors and had breakfast treats for everybody. it was a wonderful gathering thanks to her hard work. karen, your expertise and attention to every detail will be missed. the charisma, the positive attitude you bring to everything you do is highly regarded by all of your peers and by me. thank you for your years of service to the great state of

montana. we wish you well on your next chapter of being a full-time grandma. god bless you.

>> okay everybody. i'm joined by senators durbin duckworth and stabenow. it's donald trump lost the 2020 election and made it clear there's an epic battle happening with the republican party. unfortunately too much of the republican party has already been taken over by of republicans and how extreme they have become was on full display this week at cpac. cpac the republican benettye are amazingly had one of the leading

autocrats one of the leading anti-democratic people in europe was whittling away democracy and their lead speaker. is that incredible? to praise or ban who fights democracy at every turn? and make him their speaker? that shows you where this republican party is headed under maga republican domination. the maga republicans who claim to be defending liberty and freedom align themselves with elements that are dancing at the end of authoritarian agenda. , to see the two weeks after the shooting in buffalo republicans as prominent as donald trump and tucker carlson spoke at the same event as one of europe's most prominent nationalists and authoritarians. it's scary. it's a strange ship to or one of america's two parties and sends a chill down the spine of every

american. democrats are relentlessly and strongly highlighting the differences between our vision for a brighter future for america and the maga republican dystopian authoritarian view. maga republicans are dominating their party. republicans in the senate as well and they are moving the party away from things that have been stood for in the past. in contrast it becomes clearer and clearer every day. for instance democrats want to codify woman's freedom to make decisions about her own body into federal law. maga republicans want to take away women's right to push a national abortion ban. they want to jail women and. ers for carrying out abortions and they even pushed bans with no exception for rape and. democrats have been pushing to repeal trump tax law giveaways to the wealthiest few in the big

corporations. senator scott and maga republicans want to raise taxes on working families by an average of $1000 while cheering inflation as political goldmine. that's what they say political listen -- maga republicans and "fox news" host promote deranged conspiracy theories like replacement theories to gin up ratings and turn out voters. the maga republican agenda in short is out of step with the values of mainstream america. with the grand history of america we will not turn away from arm will march for freedom and prosperity. i know not all republicans embrace the use of maga republicans and i know many of them support women's rights and embrace diversity and certainly reject theories like replacement theory. those republicans who are not maga in the senate and in the

country should speak up. i republicans in the senate and the country to repudiate the maga wing taking over the gop. all too often you'll see at this podium their silence. what we can do that this week when the senate will have a chance to take a stand against extremism by voting to begin debate, simply begin debate and that's all the bow will be on the domestic terrorism prevention act. it's a simple question, should the senate consider a bill to crack down on domestic terrorism and extremism, yes or no? we need to take the first step and fight domestic terrorism. we will see where everyone falls. i know when confronted the contrast between what democrats stand for and maga republicans stand for the american people are squarely on our side. we will keep up the fight we will keep highlighting the contrast between the two parties and the differences could not be

clear. senator durbin. >> thanks, chuck. a mass shooting in buffalo just a few weeks ago was a tragic reminder of the ongoing and persistent threat posed by violent white supremacist and other far right extremism. i first held a hearing on the subject 10 years ago in 2012 after the massacre of a white supremacist and a sikh temple in wisconsin. in march of last year the first official hearing on the senate judiciary committee the first official hearing was that the capitol director for -- director christopher wray you testified to the judiciary committee about the january 6 attack on the capitol and the threat of domestic terrorism words of the fbi director wray was "back

metastasizing" throughout the country. the domestic terrorism prevention act in response to this thread would ensure the department of justice the fbi the department of homeland security work together to track and respond to this threat. it would establish offices to combat domestic terrorism at these departments in it would these offices to regularly assess domestic terrorism threats in the united states and to focus on the most significant threats. crucially these agencies will provide training and resources to assist state local and tribal law enforcement in in and addressing the threat of domestic terrorism or this bill would also established an interagency task force on white supremacy filtration of the uniformed services and federal state and local law enforcement ranks. in the last congress the house passed this domestic terrorism prevention act by a voice vote

however the house republican leadership chose to vote against the bill last week leading to a largely partyline votes on this issue. even the house republican co-sponsors of the bill to join me in a press conference last year to introduce the bill voted against their own bill. in order to justify the change in position some republicans were falsely claiming that domestic terrorism prevention act would lead to spying on american citizens and one even claimed it was the patriot act of american citizens. think of that for a moment. the director of the fbi tells us domestic terrorism is metastasizing like cancer across the united states. he points out white supremacist nationalists as an example of this extremism. we went and built to monitor the investigations and the prosecution of domestic terrorism and the republicans

opposed it. can you imagine this? can you imagine how they would scream if democrats were soft on terrorism and yet they are doing exactly the same things for themselves. it's hard to believe this check has mentioned, the first president of the republican party was abraham lincoln from our state of illinois. he wouldn't recognize republicans of the day and he certainly would recognize maga republicans. the people who are engage and terrorism across this country are not patriots and never should be characterized as such. the reality is this bill is the same one that passed the house in 2019 with very few changes and does not provide any new law enforcement authority and creates no new -- and in fact this act is a modest bill that simply ensures we collect data and make one last point. why are we making this distinction to collect data on

domestic terrorism? because under the trump administration they eliminated the category of the fbi. they didn't want the information coming forward because they knew the reality of people who dissented on this building on the january 6 of last year. they knew the reality of the white supremacist we are seeing manifesting hate in buffalo new york and so many other places. this bill will help keep america safe or how many more cities must face the tragedy and pain of wisconsin, pittsburgh pennsylvania california. i hope these communities for across this nation will join us in the domestic effort to stop the terrorism in the united states. because let's be honest about who the terrorists are and let's make sure -- american families. >> good afternoon. the difference between republicans and democrats is that democrats think our

death -- best days are ahead of us and republicans think they are behind us and it could be years or maybe the 100 years behind us. republicans continue to protect the providence of oil companies that have accelerating the climate crisis. democrats are leading efforts to create a new clean energy future and the jobs that go with that future. maga republicans want to take us back over 50 years in voting taking away people's freedom to vote in an effort to consolidate maga republican power. democrats understand our democracy and our country needs every american and they are eager to turn back the clock 50 years on our ability as women to make our own reproductive decisions. on wednesday we are hosting a

virtual roundtable on the future of women's reproductive freedom in the state and i hope you'll join us. we will hear from the governor of michigan, wisconsin and the attorney attorney general and state representatives from missouri and from oklahoma. they will share with us what's happening for women in their states and how their laws will kick in, whether it's 1849 in wisconsin or 1931 in michigan and there are 26 states that will have state laws kick in and 17 of those do not allow exemptions for rape and macs so they will talk about what that means to people of their states. frankly republicans are declaring war on progress and maga republicans want to take

us,, in their mind to somehow consolidate power for them and are willing to support extremism and violence and whatever it takes as maga republicans. we are not going to turn back the clock as democrats. we will make sure we keep moving forward on behalf of the american people. >> senator duckworth. >> thank you. i want to emphasize one at topics that senator stabenow has brought up. even though it's disheartening that we still have to have this debate about whether women should gain control of their own bodies i am proud to be here with my colleagues to reiterate the democrats are not going to give up when it comes to protecting reproductive rights no matter what. despite previously repeatedly

affirming a person's constitutional right to make their own decisions the supreme court appears to be on the verge of taking away american's right for the first time in history. overturning roe won't just put women's rights at stake. so many other rights at risk including the rights of families that are trying to have children. it's laws like the recently passed oklahoma bill that does not provide as far as i can tell an exemption for ivf procedures. they defined a fertilized is the beginning of life which means doctors for example who take. fertilized eggs in call one or two that is not viable to implant the single viable -- could be convicted of performing an abortion. this is wrong. because of ivf i got to experience the joys of

motherhood and with decades of work that maga republicans have done to undermine roe and take away women's autonomy over their own bodies right now a woman's right to access basic health care is on the line. i've heard from many of my republican colleagues saying the association of american society of reproductive medicine last week sent a very urgent bulletin bulletin is and i quote measures designed to restrict abortion could -- curtail family fertility treatment of which patients rely to build their families unquote and that could put these procedures at legal risk. illinois is a state where women will drive 1000 miles to come to us are reproductive choices and we welcome them. we welcome women who come as far as texas from illinois to obtain an abortion or get whatever help they need.

they have to do that because some politicians especially maga republicans are putting women, especially women of color, women on the lower end of the socioeconomic spectrum they are the ones who need access verse. shame on people who think it's banned appealed to -- is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. -- there appears to be a sufficient second. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: the yeas are 54, the nays a 38. the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, and the president will be immediately notified of the senate's action.

the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of executive calendar number 857, evelyn padin of new jersey to be united states district judge for the district of new jersey, signed by 17 senators. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived. the question is, is it the sense of the senate that debate on the nomination of evelyn padin of new jersey to be the united states district judge for the district of new jersey shall be brought to a close. the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: the yeas are 52. the nays are 39. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary, evelyn padin of new jersey to be united states district judge for the district of new jersey. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of executive calendar number 915, charlotte n. sweeney of colorado to be united states district judge for the district of colorado signed by 17 senators. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived. the question is, is it the sense of the senate that debate on the nomination of charlotte n.

sweeney of colorado to be united states district judge for the district of colorado shall be brought to a close. the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: the yeas are 48, the nays are 42, and the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary, charlotte n. sweeney of colorado to be united states district judge for the district of colorado. the presiding officer: the senate will be in order. the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture.

the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of executive calendar number 801, nina morrison, of new york, to be united states district judge for the eastern district of new york, signed by 17 senators. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent, the mandatory qowrkt has been -- qowrkt has been waived -- quorum call has been waived. the question is, is it the sense of the senate the debate on nomination of nina morrison of new york to be united states district judge for the eastern district of new york shall be brought to a close. the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: the yeas are 50, the nays are 41, and the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary, nina morrison, of new york, to be united states district judge for the eastern district of new york. mr. blumenthal: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. blumenthal: thank you, madam president. before i begin my remarks, i ask unanimous consent that the confirmation votes on the padin and sweeney nominations be at 11:00 a.m. tomorrow, may 25, further that the remaining cloture votes for the motions filed during wednesday's session of the senate occur after disposition of the sweeney nomination. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. blumenthal: i ask unanimous consent that the senate consider the following nomination,

calendar number 904, paul m. rosen to be assistant secretary of the treasury for investment security, that the senate vote on the nomination without intervening action or debate, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, that any statements related to the nomination be printed in the record, that the president be immediately notified of the senate's action and that the senate resume legislative session. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, department of the treasury, paul m. rosen, of california, to be an assistant secretary. the presiding officer: the question is on the nomination. all those in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the nomination is confirmed. mr. blumenthal: i ask unanimous consent that the senate be in a period of morning business, with senators permitted to speak

therein for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. blumenthal: i understand there are three bills at the desk, and i ask for their first reading en bloc. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the title of the bills for the first time. the clerk: h.r. 3807, an act to amend the american rescue plan act of 2021 to increase appropriations to the restaurant revitalization fund and for other purposes. h.r. 3967, an act to improve health care and benefits for veterans exposed to toxic substances and for other purposes. h.r. 6833, an act to amend title 27 of the public health service act and so forth and for other purposes. mr. blumenthal: i now ask for a second reading and i object to my own request, all en bloc.

the presiding officer: objection having been heard, the bills will receive the second reading on the next ledges lative day. mr. blumenthal: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the consideration of s. res. 647, submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. res. 647, designating the last weekend of june 2022 to commemorate the first weekend of the 1969 harlem cultural festival, and so forth. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. blumenthal: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. blumenthal: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of senate resolution 648, submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report.

the clerk: s. res. 648, designating may 2022 as national brain tumor awareness month. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. blumenthal: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. blumenthal: madam president, i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of senate resolution 649, submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. res. 649, congratulating the northwest missouri state university bearcats men's basketball team on winning the 2022 men's division ii national collegiate athletics association national championship. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. blumenthal: i ask unanimous

consent the senate proceed to the consideration of -- i ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. blumenthal: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. blumenthal: madam president, we are nearing the end of this session when we will go back to our homes for the evening, but when the families of 18 children and four great educators go home tonight their homes will never be the same again.

there are no words in a place filled with words during today and every day in this place when we're in session, there are no words today to capture the heart break, the gut-wrenching grief and pain that those families will feel, and i remember feeling almost ten years ago when we stood in the space just outside the firehouse in sandy hook, as parents learned that their 20 children would not be coming home that night. the same bottomless grief is hitting the families in texas,

in you've been ally -- in uvalde, where they have lost children. and there are no words also to capture the deep, abiding pain that will last forever, that pain will be with them. the hole in their hearts, a place at their tables, a room in their houses that never will be filled again. and hugs that they will never feel, cheeks that will never be kissed. this nation, like their families, is torn apart by violence, needless, senseless gun violence, every day in america, and the mystery is why the greatest nation on earth continues to tolerate it. it is no longer surprising or

stunning. it is no longer unfathomable or unforeseeable. it is incomprehensible. that this great nation is blocked by members of this body from taking action that can forestall and prevent it. why the outrage that we feel, the grief that pervades america on these occasions has not caused action, and this body has been complicit by its inaction. in fact, it isn't this body. it is members of this body, principally on the other side of the aisle. let's be blunt.

i will never forget hearing from that gallery, those words, shame, shame on you when we failed to adopt commonsense measures, a background check proposal, even though we had 55 votes. i can still hear those words, shame. and had we acted, who knows what tragedies could have been av averted. we don't know and we can't tell and we never will be able to fathom whether specific measures would have prevented specific tragedies.

charleston or san bernardino, pull sar, las vegas, parkland or santa fe or pittsburgh or el paso or dayton or boulder or indianapolis or oxford or buffalo or uvalde. we will never know because the false reason to object is this measure wouldn't have prevented that shooting. but that is not the way to approach gun violence reform because we know there is no panacea, there is no single measure. what we know is that stopping gun violence requires that we act with these measures and that common sense -- commonsense sensible steps can prevent the

senseless, needless violence. there is no panacea, but there are actions we can take. we are not without agency. now, we need to be very blunt and recognize that opposition to these measures have been bank rolled and enabled by the gun lobby's dark money, by its threats and intimidation, by its encouragement. and until my colleagues have the courage to stand up to that gun lobby, they will continue in its thrall and its grip, and they will continue to be complicit. and some on our side, some who have demonstrated the courage to stand up and speak out have shown that we have the power to

take action. we lack facts about the shooter and about the killing, all the circumstances in view valuedee -- in uvalde but we know enough to say that those families and that community will be torn apart. it will never be the same. they will never be whole again because they have lost something precious and there will always be that hole in their hearts. already some of our republican colleagues are saying we're politicizing the issue. but they're the ones who for decades have tied themselves to the n.r.a.'s fanatical devotion to unrestricted, unyielding firearms ownership for political purposes at the expense of real lives. tying themselves to firearms ownership is unnecessary for law

abiding citizens to own fir firearms. there are commonsense actions we can take to separate dangerous killers from firearms that are absolutely consistent with the second amendment, as judged by the supreme court, and absolutely consistent with gun ownership by law-abiding people. we know these actions won't save everyone, but there can be no doubt that each of them will save some lives. expanding background checks and closing glaring loopholes in our background check system. getting untraceable ghost guns and military style assault weapons off our streets. protecting domestic violence survivors from gun violence.

keeping guns out of the happedzs of domestic -- hands of domestic terp i.r.s.es and violent -- terrorists and violent extremists and those who are a danger to themselves and others. preventing kids from accidentally and unintentionally shooting themselves with unsecured firearms, ethan's law for safe storage. investing in community violence intervention programs. we know they work in hartford, new haven, all around the state of connecticut. reducing the number of firearm suicides. more than half of all gun deaths are suicide. red flag statutes separate firearms from people who are dangerous to themselves as well as others. we need to do all these things and more. we need to do them right now because every day that passes

without action means more of the same. not surprising, not stunning, more of the same. those measures are written. they are fully drafted, vetted for their constitutionality. my subcommittee on the constitution has had hearings on them, many of them. s. 529, the background check expansion act, s. 591, the background check completion act. s. 1558, the untraceable firearm act to stop ghost guns. s. 736, the assault weapons ban. s. 527, the protecting domestic violence and stalking victims act. s. 2169, the lori jackson,

nicolette elementary yos victims protection act. s. 2090, the disarm hate act. s. 4278, the h. 21 act. s. 190, ethan's law. s. 2982, the child suicide prevention and lethal means safety act. s. 1819, the extreme risk protection order act. the red flag statute. let us do one of them. let us vote to make one of them law. that's our job, to vote. it's how we change this gut-wrenching, heartbreaking status quo. and it's how voters know where each of us stand when push comes

to shove. so we have no words, but words will mean nothing without action. we have created a political movement. it is a movement that is growing as young people say enough is enough, as the hand wringing and the tears are translated into action at the grass roots level, action by state legislatures. almost 20 states now have red flag statutes in the wake of parkland. and as communities and states show that they will no longer

tolerate the hypocrisy of thoughts and prayers without action, all of us who have advocated for years, indeed for decades that this body must act, we cannot lose courage or heart. we cannot lose the hope, and we must match our thoughts and prayers with real action. thank you, madam president. i yield the floor. madam president, i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

quorum call: mr. blumenthal: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. blumenthal: thank you, madam president. i understand there are two additional bills at the desk -- the presiding officer: the senate? a quorum call. mr. blumenthal: i ask that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. blumenthal: thank you, in a position of authority thet reading en bloc. ,. the presiding officer: the clerk will right the titles. the clerk: h.r. 1446, a an act to amend title chapter 44 of

title 18 united states code and so forth. mr. blumenthal: i now ask for a second reading and object to my own request, all en bloc. the presiding officer: objection having been heard, the bills will receive their second reading on the next legislative day. mr. blumenthal: i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10:00 a.m. on wednesday, may 25, following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and that morning business be closed. that upon conclusion of morning business, the senate proceed to executive session to remove consideration of the thompson nomination. finally, if any nominations are confirmed during wednesday's serks the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and i president be immediately notified of the

senate's action. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. blumenthal: if there is to further business to come before the senate, i ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until senate stands adjourned until

after months of closed-door investigations, the house january 6 committee is set to go public starting june 9th, 2 and in us committee members question key witnesses about what transpired and why during the assault on the u.s. capitol. capital. watch live coverage beginning thursday june 9th on c-span. c-span now, our free video mobile app or any time online at c-span.org. c-span, your unfiltered view of government.

the world changed in an instant but media com was ready. internet traffic soared and we've never slowed down. schools and businesses meant to virtually and we powered a new reality because we are built to keep you ahead. supporting c-span as a public service along with these other television providers giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> president biden has ordered all flags at public buildings and military posts to be lowered