act this past october but senate democrats blocked this package. it is as if they want to keep americans in the dark on why energy prices are rising. we also need to speak up the approval process for oil permitting. and americans need to know that this administration is purposely trying to make life more difficult and more expensive. we have the resources within our borders to be energy independent and for every day life to be affordable. and while we are ramping up american production, we need to completely halt u.s. sales to communist china. that's right, while gas prices remain sky high here, the biden administration is still giving a green light for american oil to be sold to our communist enemies like communist china. i was proud to join with marco rubio to introduce the china export prohibition act last month to stop these sales.

we shouldn't help our enemies or help foreign nations to increase supply. we should increase american supply within our border. we did it in the trump administration and we can do it again. joe biden can roll back the regulations that he instituted affecting our production, the white house, e.p.a. and the department of interior and the department of energy can end their campaign against american oil producers and start working to create an agenda of energy independence. congress can pass my legislation to make oil permitting faster and give greater transparency painsy -- transparency. we don't throw up our hands and do nothing and give up. joe biden and the democrats who control washington can and must take real action to start producing energy in our borders safely once again. our future is weak if we don't. madam president, i yield the floor.

a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from north dakota. a senator: thank you, madam president. i come to the floor along with my colleagues because americans are continuing to take a financial hit due to more expensive, less reliable energy resulting from the biden administration's harmful energy agenda. mr. hoeven: in the middle of the summer travel season, drivers are paying record high prices at the gas pump. gas is now $4.63 a gallon nationwide and an average of $4.57 per gallon in my home state of north dakota. sky high energy prices are fueling record inflation, driving up the cost of goods across the entire economy. the occurrence si rate came -- currency rate came out this morning, 9.1%, the highest in over 40 years and it hurts every

single american. at the gas pump, at the grocery store, everything they buy. unbelievable. and of course energy is a big part of this inflation. there's an energy component in every good and service that you get. electricity prices have risen 13.7%. natural gas and heating oil prices have ballooned by 38.4%. and 98.5% respectively over the last year. in addition to higher prices, the north american electric reliability corporation or nerc learned that homes and businesses across much of the country are facing higher risk of blackouts and brownouts this summer. president biden's energy policies are threatening the economic well-being of americans and our national security. just a few years ago our country was producing almost 13 million barrels per day of oil and

consumers benefited from historically low energy prices. production has remained down under this administration at about 11.5 million barrels of production per day. american families are paying record prices because the biden administration is continuing its regulatory onslaught on domestic energy production. president biden's energy crisis began with the administration's moratorium on new energy leases, closing off access to our abundant taxpayer-owned energy reserves on federal lands. and for leases that the energy companies have on federal lands, they're being held up either by the administration bureaucratic red tape that doesn't allow them to get drilling permits or held up by litigation in the courts. and this administration continues to hold up our ability to move more oil and gas across the country by blocking pipelines like the keystone xl pipeline.

in 2015 i led bipartisan effort in congress to approve the keystone xl pipeline. if the obama-biden administration hadn't vetoed our bill which passed both houses of congress, this pipeline would be operating today and bringing almost a million barrels of oil a day to our country from our closest ally, canada. we need to unleash more of our vast energy, our oil and gas, natural gas reserves, all the energy that this nation produces. our most critical economic and national security assets. and if we want to truly cut off the russian war machine and support our allies, we need to cut off putin's ability to sell russian energy. a good start would be by passing legislation by like my american energy independence from russia act. legislation that i introduced with my colleagues in the senate. our commonsense approach takes immediate action to encourage more u.s. energy production, including things like increasing

access to taxpayer-owned energy reserves on federal lands, authorizing the construction and operation of keystone xl pipeline, vital infrastructure to move energy safely around the country. and removing regulatory hurdles to increase liquefied natural gas facilities and exports. each additional barrel of oil we produce here at home replaces production from russia and other adversaries, countries that also have little to know environmental standards. each additional barrel of oil we produce here at home helps reduce prices and lower inflation for the american people. instead of asking saudi arabia for help and as you know, the president is on a trip to do that right now, or going to -- or asking for help from adversaries like iran or for energy from venezuela. president biden should be empowering our domestic producers to restore and grow our supply of energy here at

home. the solution is simple. the biden administration needs to take the handcuffs off domestic energy production because more supply is needed to bring down prices. that's just common sense. and the american people know it. and the american people need that relief now. thank you, madam president. with that i yield the floor. a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. barrasso: thank you, madam president. first i'd like to associate myself with the remarks of the distinguished senior senator from north dakota who spoke so well about the issues that are facing the american people, both in terms of inflation and in terms of energy. sol i join my colleagues today

on the floor to talk about this crisis that we're facing under the presidency of joe biden and the democrats in this body. we found out this morning that inflation hit another record high, a 40-year high, and we are now entering a summer of suffering by the american people, suffering brought on by the democrats and their reckless spending and policies. the inflation numbers themselves are shocking, but the impact on families is so, so disturbing. in my home state of wyoming, people that normally volunteer to drive meals to shut-ins, meals on wheels who run some of the rural routes and drive around and drop off meals, these are volunteers, time on their hand, senior citizens who do the driving. they're no longer able to do it because they cannot afford the

gas under joe biden and the democrat policies. the day joe biden came in office, gas was $2.38 per gallon. plenty of volunteers paying their own gas. today the price is almost double what it was when joe biden came into office. that's what the american people are seeing, pain at the pump and pain at the grocery store, and the numbers are disturbing. and people are falling further and further behind. inflation is up 9%. wages are only up 5%. so that gap is growing and people are hurting. it doesn't seem the president even understands it or can conceive of it. but that's who we have representing the people in the white house today. over the last four months, working families have paid the highest gas prices in american history. the price of natural gas has also tripled since the day joe biden took office. in total the average american

family paid an additional $1,000 last year just for energy compared to the year before, and this year it's going to be a lot worse. now it's the summer. most americans are facing the real possibility of blackouts. two-thirds of americans are likely to face energy blackouts. that's not me saying it. it's the energy specialists who analyze where the energy is coming from, how much is needed, and where it's going. during the summer heat wave, blackouts threaten people's lives. to the climate purists and elitists and extremists who are running the administration, they don't seem to care. so why is it happening? america still has plenty of energy, best energy anywhere in the word, and the most. we have some of the largest energy reserves anywhere. states like wyoming where i'm

from, sitting on a gold mine of energy. the biden energy crisis is a direct result of the administration's energy policies. from the day joe biden took office, he has waged an all-out war on american energy. killed the keystone xl pipeline, actually bragged about the fact that he did that on his first day in office. he stopped exploration of oil in alaska. bragged about it. not something he tried to hide. oh, he bragged about the fact that he was going to go to war with america. american energy was in his targets. joe biden has raised the cost to produce energy on federal land by 50%. this is the largest increase in what they call the royalty rate in a hundred years, a hundred years. does joe biden understand that? does he know that? does he care? as people are suffering all around the country? it's no wonder we're still

producing 1.1 million barrels of oil fewer today than we were at the beginning of the pandemic. joe biden refuses to do the things that would work. he refuses to produce more american energy. what did the administration say about it? what do the economists say? this is the cost of liberal world order. this is the price we have to pay for the liberal world order. what's the white house's statement. i don't even know people who talk that way anymore but that's what we have coming out of this white house and this president who at this very moment is heading to saudi arabia to beg for oil when we have it right here. it's more than disturbing.

it's disgraceful. that's what we have from the president of the united states today. so now what's happening? joe biden throwing another hail mary pass hoping something happens. his hail mary passes are uncatchable. since november joe biden has released more oil from our strategic reserve than any president in measure history -- than any president in american history, the strategic petroleum reserve. it's designed to be there for emergencies. he's releasing it because he's trying to bring down the cost of oil and the cost of gas, and he caused the problem. there's not an emergency. this is a joe biden-caused problem. the previous presidents only used the strategic reserve during wartime or after natural disasters. but joe biden is spending down our savings to pay for his anti-american energy policies. he seems to be proud of it. well, gas prices are still near

record highs. let's recap. the day joe biden came into the white house, $2.38 a gallon. today in many places over $5 a gallon, on average $4.66 a gallon. and the peak summer driving season isn't here yet. today the strategic reserve is at the lowest level since 1986. so what if there's a real emergency? then what do we do? last week we found out that some of this energy, the oil he's reserved, a million barrels of oil went to an energy company owned by the chinese government. thank you, mr. president. surrender to china. give it to them. joe biden is sending our oil to china in the middle of an energy crisis that he created. so on monday joe biden's national security adviser

practically admitted that joe biden is going to beg the saudis to sell us more oil. he left for saudi arabia last night and he is going as a weakened president. wrote an editorial in "the washington post" about why he's going. i'll tell you how he's going. he's going as a weakened president, weaken at home and in the eyes of the world. rather than send money to china and saudis, -- the oil in the ground right here, we have the energy workers that know how to do it. what is he thinking? at the is a imtime astonishingly, joe biden decided to spend time around the 4th of july tweeting threats to gas stations. mom and pop-run little gas stations in our communities and our neighborhoods. this is basic economic

illiteracy. prices apparatus set by the local gas stations. prices are set by supply and demand. if you want low prices, you need more supply, more american energy. prices may have tick back a little bit now because people cannot afford to drive. they can't afford to fill their tapings. they cannot afford to fill their tanks. a gas station the other day in casper, wyoming. he talked to a couple. he said, i have a hundred dollars. that's all i got. can't afford to fill my taping. see how far you will you a get. and joe biden brags about killing the keystone pipeline. and he killed it day one in office and bragged about t -- it. democrats are now proposing to make the biden energy crisis even worse. senate democrats -- this very body, this very room -- are

talking about raising taxes on energy production. this is going to raise energy prices for half of the households in america. it'll raise prices for thousands and thousands of businesses. prices will get passed on to customers. democrats pass another reckless tax-and-spending bill. inflation is going to get -- inflation is going to get much worse and working families will be paying more. if i was one of those democratic senators and on the ballot this november, i would be shaking in my boots knowing that the people of my state are mad at me for adopting policies that are hurting them directly in their wallet. that's what they're talking about, $300 billion for more of the old green new deal. it's going to give more power to the climate alarmists, the climate elitists, the climate extremists who are run the

democrat party and are running it into the ground. the climate being a visits will never be satisfied, madam president. the activists will never stop. you can never go far enough for them. they weren't satisfied a year ago when they started this inflation crisis, and with the liberal world order, they will never be satisfied. the professional activists want energy prices to remain high. they're happy with $5 gas. they want to punish us for using fossil fuels. joe biden and his advisors keep telling us about this incredible transition, called it an incredible transition. well, ask people around the country in your home state to transition to a crisis, transition to higher prices, transition to a lower quality of life.

families feel stuck and squeezed. democrats don't change their energy policies, oh, there's going to be an incredible transition, a transition of power rightary in washington this november. thank you, madam president. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from colorado. mr. bennet: thank you, madam president. i appreciate being recognized. you know, a few years ago a police officer in pueblo, colorado, was kind enough to let me join hum in a squad car for a few hours to get a sense of what his daily beat was like. it was in the middle of the night. and it didn't take very long to appreciate that our country asks law enforcement to do a lot more than simply enforce the law,

because washington has underinvested in had the american people year after year after year in areas like housing, education, and mental health. it's left law enforcement to pick up the pieces. it's put them in a position where they not only -- they're not only having to serve as law enforcement officers, madam president, but also as social workers, as mental health professionals, and responders for issues like homelessness or drug addiction, even though nobody has trained them for it necessarily. and that result has been really tough for officers on the ground in colorado and across the country. it strains their resources, adds to the workload, and accelerates burnout. but it's also been hard for communities, madam president. it diverts law enforcement from violent crime, and it means we're forcing officers to address mental health issues and

problems instead of dealing with the underlying issues that produce many 911 calls in the first place. and i'm sad to say that all of these underlying issues that everybody is familiar with have gotten worse during the pandemic. it's one reason there's been a spike in crime that started in 2020 before the current administration, and that's continued ever since. in 2020, murders rose nearly 30%. aggravated assault was up 12%. motor vehicle theft was up 12%. and, again, this was in 2020 before the current administration but, sadly, many of these trends have continued. in a survey of small businesses, 54% of american small businesses reported an increase in shoplifting last year. and to deal with this rise in crime, you know, we need to increase funding for the cops

programs, which i strongly support, so we can hire more officers and strengthen community police. and i think we should pass a bill i introduced today called the smart community policing act. the bill is based on 28 highly successful programs from colorado in places like denver and grand junction, and as i mentioned, you know, a lot of 911 calls involve lower-risk situations that don't always require a police officer. but some combination of an e.m.t., a mental health specialist or a social worker can get the job done, allowing the law enforcement to focus on violent crime. but in most of the country, law enforcement has to answer every one of those 911 calls. the smart community policing act creates resources for law enforcement to partner with local organizations and service providers so they send the right

responder depending on what the problem actually is. and that lets law enforcement focus on violent crime and lets other responders with the right training deal with lower-risk situations shrike when someone is experiencing a mental health crisis or a severe drug withdrawal. these trained professionals can de-escalate the situation. they can connect people with the right resources and do the comprehensive follow-up to keep them from requiring emergency services again and again and again. grand junction's co-responder unit as answered over 3,200 calls since the program began in 2018. denver's star program has responded to almost 4,600 calls since 2020. and i had a chance to hear about the star program from denver's police chief, paul pezon, two years ago. he told me about a mom who had called 911 because she was

having a lot of trouble with her child. you don't need a police officer for that. so they sent responders from star who de-escalated the situation and saved law enforcement precious time. if you add it all up, that's thousands of hours that officers in grand junction and across colorado could focus on violent crime instead of on issues that other people might have greater expertise to deal with, people with the right training. nonviolent situations. and it allows us to reduce the strain on the system. and none of this is speculation, madam president. when stanford university studied denver's program, that found that neighborhoods patrolled by star, crime dropped by more than a third. and the program saved a lot of money, a ton of motion to proceed. it cost about $150 when star

responded to an offense compared to about $650 when the denver p.d. responded on their own. i can appreciate what these savings would mean for a local police department. my colleagues may remember that before i was in the senate, one of my jobs was serving as chief of staff to john hickenlooper, who was then the mayor of denver. i don't know what became of him, madam president. but he was a very good mayor for the city and county of denver. in that job, i heard all the time from community leaders how they wished there were resources is beyond law enforcement for situations that were better suited for a social worker or a mental health expert. i would have loved to have had the star program when i was working for the city and county of denver, and i would have loved it when i was the superintendent of the denver public schools, where a lot of my job was working with the denver police department to keep our schools safe and to reduce the ticketing of kids so they

weren't cycling through the criminal justice system prematurely. all this experience, madam president, led me to write this bill, and i view this as one more area where colorado offerings a model for the country to take on the rise in crime in a smart and thoughtful way. americans have a reasonable expectation, a reasonable expectation, that washington cares as much about their safety as they do. and they expect the people they send to washington will actually come up with useful solutions, and i think this bill meets that test. it responds to the needs of law enforcement and the needs of communities. i don't know how anybody here could object to it. if you want to reduce violent crime, you should support this bill. if you want trained experts responding to nonviolent 9 is he calls instead of -- 911 calls instead of police officers, you had support this benefit and if you want to save taxpayer money, madam president, you should

support this bill. so i hope my completion on both sides of the aisle will take a look at this proposal and i gladly welcome their supporter support. thank you, madam president. i yield the floor. mrs. murray: -- ms. baldwin: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from wisconsin. ms. baldwin: i ask unanimous consent that if cloture is invoked on the heroin start nomination, the vote on confirmation occur at 5:30 p.m. and that the senate recess from 4:00 until 5:30. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so moved. ms. baldwin: senators can expect two votes at 5:30 p.m.

those votes would be on confirmation of the heroin start nomination and -- of the herrnstadt nomination and cloture on the heinzelman nomination to be general counsel of the c.i.a. the presiding officer: under the previous order, all postcloture time is expired. the question is on the nomination. ms. baldwin: i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: have all senators voted? disl any senator wish to -- does any senator wish to change his or her vote? if not the yeas are 66. the nays are 28. 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 number 676, owen edward herrnstadt of maryland to be a member of the board of directors of the export import bank of the united states signed by 17 senators. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived. and the question is, is it the sense of the senate that debate on the nomination of owen edward herrnstadt of maryland to be a member of the board of directors of the export-import bank of the unction 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: the yeas are 51, the nays are 44, and the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, export-import bank of the united

states, owen edward herrnstadt, of maryland, to be a member of the board of directors. the presiding officer: the senate stands in recess until

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