computer chip manufacturing to better compete with china. at 11:30 a.m. eastern they're expected to have a confirmation vote for the u.s. ambassador to south africa. we'll take you live now to the senate floor here on c-span2. the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. the chaplain: let us pray. almighty god, we would rest in you for you alone can bring order to our world. reveal yourself to our senators, guiding them on the path of peace. may they place behind them disappointed hopes,

as they lean on you for comfort and strength. lord, replace their doubts with faith. strengthen the good in them so that nothing may hinder the outflow of your power in their lives. give might to the weak, and renew the strength of the strong. we thank you for your great power as we praise you in your mighty name. amen. the presiding officer: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to the flag. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

the presiding officer: the clerk will read a communication to the senate. the clerk: washington, d.c., july 21, 2022. to the senate: under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable jacklyn sheryl rosen, a senator from the state of nevada, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: patrick j. leahy, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: under the previous order, leadership time is reserved, morning business is closed, under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of the house message to accompany h.r. 4346. the clerk: an act making appropriations for legislative branch for the fiscal year-ending september 30, 2022, and for other purposes.

mr. schumer: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: madam president, over the last few decades, americans' views on cannabis legalization have dramatically, dramatically changed. 20 years ago, less than a third of americans believed that cannabis should be made legal. today, that is nearly 70% of the population, the highest level of

support ever. we can see the shift playing out in the states. nearly 90% of americans live in a state ha has legalized cannabis for either medical or adult recreational use. new york legalized cannabis in 2021. even voters in deep-red south dakota voted to legalize it for adult recreational use. cannabis legalization has proven immensely successful at the state level. so it is time that congress catches up with the rest of the country. last year, senators wyden, booker and i discussed a discussion draft of the cannabis administration and opportunity act. after receiving more than 1,800 public comments and working with numerous senate committees to improve the bill. today, we are introducing this historic legislation. i am proud to be the first majority leader ever to say that it is time to end the federal

prohibition on cannabis. and this bill provides the best framework for updating our cannabis laws and reversing decades of harm inflicted by the war on drugs. i've had many productive conversations with my republican and democratic colleagues about cannabis reform, and i look forward to working with members from both sides of the aisle to secure support for this bill. our bill will legalize cannabis by removing it from the controlled substances act. empowering states to create their own cannabis laws instead. it will establish a robust regulatory system to protect public health, and ensure that cannabis is as safe as possible. it includes rules to prevent impaired driving, prevent youth access, and prevent illegal diversion. we also robustly fund a variety of research programs to make up for lost time again it comes to cannabis research.

our bill will also, so important, our bill will also expunge the federal criminal records of people with convictions for nonviolent cannabis offenses. and allow those in federal prison, who are nonviolent cannabis offenses, to appeal their sentences. it's a tragedy, tragedy, that far too many americans, particularly black and hispanic americans, have permanent blots on their records, making it nearly impossible to move forward with their lives. just because they were arrested with a little marijuana in their pocket. how unfair, and what a waste of human resources. our bill will also establish an opportunity trust fund to reinvest in communities that have been devastated by the war on drugs. and it will create opportunities for entrepreneurs and small businesses to legitimately pursue new opportunities in the growing kabbah business industry. and -- cannabis industry. and of course, underlying it

all, this bill is about individual freedom and basic fairness. the fact that cannabis remains a schedule 1 controlled substance in the same bad company of other drugs like heroin, it's not just senseless, it's deeply harmful for countless americans. again, almost always people of color. and it impinges on the freedom of all of us. if this is working in all the states, ynts let people use it? -- why not let people use it? we need to change that. we need to change the lack of freedom and fairness. we need to create opportunities for entrepreneurs to legitimately pursue new opportunities and comprehensive federal cannabis legislation is critical to reaching that goal. i want to extend my deep appreciation to senators booker and wyden, as well as all of my colleagues who have worked with us on this important and long-overdue change. i want to thank senators murray and senator peters and all the

chairs of the more than ten senate committees who worked with us over the past several years to significantly improve the bill from the discussion draft we released earlier last -- we released last year. this bill would not be possible without the hard work of them and their staffs. i want to stress that this is the beginning of the legislative process, not the end. we're going to work hard to create support for our bill, and i hope we can make more progress towards cannabis reform in the future. i look forward to working with democrats and republicans to get something done this time. now, on the chips bill, last night, madam president, i filed cloture on a major piece of legislation that will help lower costs, boost scientific innovation, and take direct aim at the national chips shortage, which is hurting almost every single american. members of both sides know that america's chips crisis is sending shock waves across the

economy. it's endangering our national security. i according to an article by "bloomberg" china's top chips maker has advanced their threat by two generations, threatening u.s. competitiveness. to ignore this crisis means higher costs, squandered job opportunities, greater dependence on foreign chip producers. thankfully, the senate is close to finally taking action. in the long run, our bipartisan chips bill will ease semiconductor supply chain woes, increase domestic inventories of chips and lower costs on products that rely on chips to work. but because the vote earlier this week was so bipartisan, i amenamended the bill to includee of the largest science packages the senate has considered in a long time. i was the original auth why of many of the -- author of many of the provisions in the science section.

when i worked with senator young on the endless frontier act more than two years ago. we will devote tens of billions of dollars to cultivate the next generation of tech hubs, all across the country, especially in regions that have been overlooked. we will invest in new science jobs, and that will keep america number one. it's always been america's cutting-edge lead in innovation, in science and research that has then created millions and millions of good-paying jobs, and kept our economy prosperous. in the last decade, america seems to have forgotten that, and this bill revitalizes that goal and that dream. these scientific investments are crucial, not just for innovation and science jobs, but for critical jobs that support these industries too. i'll keep working with my colleagues to get this bill done quickly, with 64 votes in favor of moving forward earlier this week there's no reason to wait around.

the 21st century will be won or lost on the battleground of technological innovation. let me say it again. because that's a crucial sentence. the 21st century will be won or lost on the battleground of technological innovation. will american workers, american tech and american ingenuity shape the world over the next 100 years, in the same way we've shaped it in the last hundred? of course i believe america will lead the way, if this chamber is willing to do what's necessary for our economic and national security. now, on prescription drugs, later today, senate democrats and republicans will meet with the parliamentarian to start the so-called byrd bath on legislation to bring down the cost of prescription drugs, cap out-of-pocket expenses and make sure millions of americans do not see their premiums go up in the coming months. this is an important step in the larger process of bringing a

reconciliation bill to the floor that can win the support of all 50 democratic senators. ask any americans on the street, it's a guarantee that they will agree the price of prescription medications one the most us from rating and debilitating problems in our country. it's a vicious pincer grip. on the one hand, americans desperately need their medicines to stay healthy, live a normal life, stay alive in some cases. but on the other hand, that means many americans have to pay an arm and a leg at the pharmacy just to stay healthy. meanwhile, as americans pay exorbitant prices for basic medications, the nation's largest pharmaceutical companies are feating off record profits because they face little accountability for jacking up prices to consumers. this cannot continue. democrats are going to work in the weeks ahead on legislation that will empower medicare to negotiate the price of prescription drugs for the first time ever. we'll also cap out-of-pocket

expenses at $2,000 a year. these changes will save americans an incredible amount of money, and it's one of the best things we can do to lower costs for the american people. and let me say again, lowering the cost of prescription drugs and capping out-of-pocket expenses is one of the very best things we can do to fight inflation and lower costs for the american people. so those who talk about inflation, support this bill. so in the coming weeks, the question before the senate will be simple -- who will take action in this chamber to bring down the cost of prescription drugs and make sure premiums don't go up in the future? and who did defend the interests of big pharma, who spikes the prices of scores of crucial drugs? finally, on fox news, earlier this week, fox news ancor tucker carlson -- core tucker carlson

used his platform to spread the malicious, dangerous, and racist theory of replacement theory. it's far from the first time. in lights of the recent violence in buffalo inspired by replacement theory, it is shocking and dangerous for mr. carlson to keep propagating this message. i am deeply disappointed, frankly outraged, that fox news has taken no action to address the conduct of mr. carlson. it makes me sick to my stomach to think that mr. carlson has been given a free pass to amplify racist conspiracy theories to millions of americans, they'ries that are eerie -- theories eerily similar to those cited by buffalo's horrible shooter. there's only one way to describe what mr. carlson is doing -- he is stoking racial resentment among his viewers with these violent racist conspiracy theories. i urge f fox news to compel himo

stop at once. and now, madam president, i understand that there's a bill at the desk that is due for a second reading. the presiding officer: the senator is correct. the clerk will read the title of the bill for the second time. the clerk: h.r. 8404, an act to repeal the defense of marriage act and ensure respect for state regulation of marriage and for other purposes. mr. schumer: in order to place the bill on the calendar, i to object to further proceeding. the presiding officer: objection having been heard, the bill will be placed on the calendar. mr. schumer: madam president, i yield the floor. and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. mcconnell: madam president. the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: washington democrats one-party government has actually performed an amazing feat. in 18 months they've taken an economy that was ready to soar

and completely derailed it with $2 trillion in unnecessary borrowing, printing, and spending. now 9.1% inflation is pinching hardworking americans every time they visit the gas pump or the grocery store. the biden administration has tried their hardest to find a silver lining amid the economic storm clouds they helped create. they've touted the strength of consumer spending to conclude our economy is strong. that's what they said. well, of course, consumer spending has only gone up because the price of nearly everything has increased. a recent economic analysis shows the american people do spend more on gas, groceries, furniture, and clothes than we used to but listen to this,

adjusted for inflation, they're actually consuming less. paying more, getting less. parents of school age kids are some of the hardest hit. four in ten say they won't go back to school -- won't go back to school shopping before the upcoming school year. one young mother in nevada says she'll pick out one or two shirts for her daughter and that's it. inflation has made everything else too expensive. over in arizona inflation forces the average household to spend over $9600 more a year compared to when president biden took office. many families simply don't have that much wiggle room in their budgets and are resorting to desperate measures simply to stay afloat. one phoenix area food bank has seen a 78% increase in visitors

compared with just last year. 78% more families who simply can't afford to live in this democrat-run economy. a woman in line at the food bank said she never needed to visit one before, but the prices are way too high right now to support four children on her husband's salary. colorado families are facing the highest inflation costs in the nation, in the whole country. nearly 10,-- $10,900 in extra spending per year compared to the beginning of the biden administration. not surprisingly, coloradans are falling behind on paying for daily necessities. one pawnshop owner in the state has noticed a marked increase in loan seekers at his business.

for most of them they just need 30 bucks, 40 bucks to pay small bills, get gas, put groceries on the table. this is all happening in my home state of kentucky as well. people are taking out loans, cutting back spending, and relying on charity just to cope with ever increasing prices. but that hasn't stopped washington democrats from proposing new ways to wreck our economy. as we speak, they are batting around a new suite of tax hikes aimed squarely at the middle class. if democrat-driven inflation hasn't pushed struggling families off the edge quite yet, a democrat-driven recession certainly will finish the job. so what's on the menu? new taxes on small businesses already struggling with inflation? new fees and regulations on american energy producers that will send prices even higher at

the pump? new socialist price control schemes to stifle health care innovation. apparently, record inflation isn't enough to make democrats realize their reckless economic agenda is a failure, an abject failure. maybe tax hike-induced stagnation will set them straight. now on another matter, i had the honor along with others of greeting the first lady of ukraine, olena zelenska who visited us here in the capitol. like my colleagues in the room, i was moved by her blunt remarks to congress. as her country endures the fifth month of a brutal russian siege, ms. zelenska was candid about the pain and suffering russia's unprovoked war of aggression was causing her homeland.

she said russia is destroying our people. the first lady conveyed the incredible determination of the ukrainian people and echoed their simple request for the tools to fight their own fight. weapons, she said, to protect one's home and the right to wake up alive in that home. i hope the first lady's visit helps steel our colleagues' resolve as friends of ukraine. russia's invasion has already reminded the west that revisionist regressors cannot be appeased and ukraine's brave resistance equipped with the arsenal of the free world is a further reminder that this is a fight they intend to win. the senate should be proud of our work over the past several months to get more lethal capabilities into ukrainian hands.

but at every step of the way, the biden administration has been a bit slow to green light the game-changing weapons ukraine's front line defenders actually need. i urge the president for more than a year to take specific action to deter russian aggression against ukraine actually before it escalated. last june i urged him to deliver lethal capabilities to ukraine and other states in vladimir putin's crosshairs. instead the administration slow walked security assistance for months. in december i called for u.s. military reinforcements along nato's eastern flank but the president waited until february to deploy forces, too late to deter putin's aggression. and even after russia has launched its unlawful invasion, the president has repeatedly deterred himself from providing ukraine the capabilities it needs. with nearly every weapon system

requested by ukraine, the cycle in washington plays out like this. first, hesitation and concern. then excuses that ukraine couldn't effectively use the proposed weapons or objections that providing them would escalate the conflict. then, then grudging willingness to transfer the weapons. and finally, with weapons in ukrainian hands, self-congratulations from the biden administration that they've -- that they're having a positive impact on the battlefield. so it is exhausting to watch this decision-making cycle repeat itself from kentucky. it must be exasperating to watch it from kiev. so, madam president, the need for advanced longer-range weapons to turn back russia's aggression is painfully obvious. air defense capabilities to

combat russia's continuing long-range strikes against civilian populations across ukraine. antiship weapons to combat the russia black sea blockade and the humanitarian food crisis it's causing worldwide. and more capable of longer-range artillery to pound russian positions in occupied ukraine. this will help to offset any advancement russia has achieved by pumping in more combat power into its invasion force. so here it is. putin cannot be allowed to believe he can just wait for the west to become complacent. it would do a moral disservice for the brave ukrainians fighting every single day for their country. this is not just about ukraine's security. if russia achieves its

objectives in ukraine, it will imperil our own security. and if we waver -- if we waver on ukraine, it would send an unmistakable singal, a weakness -- signal, a weakness to other countries. for their part so are our friends and allies in china's backyard. as japan's prime minister put it back in may, ukraine might be east asia tomorrow. so, madam president, russia's brutal war has cost the people of ukraine their homes, their safety, and their lives. but it has also reawakened the west to the reality of long-term deterrence and competition. it's led modern partners like sweden and finland to cast their lot of the greatest military

alliance in the history of the world. and it's prompted current treaty allies to shake off years of neglect for their own defense capabilities. all of this will result in greater burden sharing, inner operate ability and collective security for the nato alliance. the united states cannot afford to neglect this lesson ourselves, as the leader of the free world and the number one target of revisionist adversaries, china and russia, we have to take seriously our obligation to maintain america's military superiority.

we need to act quickly and have a defense bill that secures our readiness, repositions along the eastern flank and modernize and equipping our military for real competition with china. i hope the democratic leader will let the senate take action on this critical legislation without further delay. mr. durbin: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. durbin: madam president, we have a great number of holidays each year in america. but is there a more perfect holiday than the 4th of july.

we celebrate the birth of our nation, we gather with families for picnics and trips to the beach, backyard barbecues and take in a baseball game and go to a parade. it's just the ultimate american celebration. we relax, pull out our american flags, gather our kids and thank god that we were born in this great nation and can call it home. but this last 4th of july became a different scene in one part of my home state of illinois. it was the first time in years that the people of highland park were able to gather together publicly, so there was a special celebration as they gathered at 10:00 a.m. for the 4th of july of parade. in addition to the usual

suspects at the parade, political candidates, there were people there for just pure celebration, high school bands, veterans, all sorts of groups in a wonderful, wonderful suburban town in the chicago area of highland park. yesterday we held a hearing in the senate judiciary committee about the day of the july 4th parade in highland park. i wish we didn't have to hold that hearing. i would rather it had been some other subject, some other place. but it was the tenth hearing during this congress -- the tenth time that we held a hearing in the judiciary committee on gun violence. gun violence, the number one cause of death among children in america. let me repeat that. gun violence, the one cause of death among children in america.

yesterday we focused on highland park and the 4th of july parade and we focused on the obvious mass shooting incident that took place and we focused on military-style assault weapons. the 4th of july shooting in highland park ill -- highland park, illinois, was the 309th mass shooting this year. what is a mass shooting? when four or more people are killed. 309 times it happened before the 4th of july. before the hearing, 16 days after the 4th of july, that number of 309 had grown by 47 mass shootings since the 4th of july in america. 16 days, 47 more mass shootings.

where else on earth is this taking place? nowhere. right here in the united states of america is the only place on earth where mass shootings are happening on such a frequent basis. in many of the deadliest shootings, the attack used an assault weapon, a combat weapon, a gun specifically designed to kill t maximum number of peoplen a few seconds. the same we saw in uvalde, texas, where kids were killed, the same weapon used in a grocery store in buffalo, new york, and sadly the same weapon that was used in highland park. during the 4th of july parade in highland park, a deranged gunman perched himself on a

rooftop using a smith & wesson assault rifle, killing seven people and wounding dozens more. he shot 83 rounds in less than a minute. let me say that again. 83 rounds in less than a minute. this is aiden mccarthy. aiden's 2 years old. his mom and dad, kevin and irna mccarthy, took him to the 4th of july parade in highland park. i heard first about it just an hour or two after this terrible incident. i called my friend, who is the mayor of highland park, and asked her, tell me, what can i do? she said, i don't know. things are happening so fast.

we actually found a 2-year-old toddler who was wandering on the street by himself. we don't know who he belongs to. his picture is being circulated in the community. the conclusion was fairly obvious of whoever brought him to that parade was not able to look for him and care for him, and the story eventually unfolded. kevin and irna mccarthy brought aiden to the parade, his first parade, and then when the shooting started, they shielded him with their bodies. in a matter of minutes, aiden lost both of his parents. fortunately a grandparent was located and aiden is in safe hands today. but because of this assault weapon being fired on the crowd, he lost his mom and dad. that's the reality when a parent

has to shield a child like this from a mass shooting. nancy rotterring -- rotering, is the mayor of highland park and she told the committee when the shooting started, she thought it was a drum cadence from a local marching band. when she realized there was an active shooter, she began to evacuate the crowd. she said the adults she confronted stared back at her. they didn't understand what she was saying. the children, the teenagers, they understood. this was a shooter. this wasn't a drill. mr. president, did you hear that? the children and the teens at the highland park parade instinctively knew what was happening because they had been trained in their schools to deal with mass shooting.

that's how common these mass shootings have become. i grew up in a different era, a cold war era where it was duck and cover under your desk for fear of a nuclear attack, an attack by the soviet union. these kids, our kids, our grandkids are being schooled not just in the abc's, but they're being schooled in survival so if a shooter shows up in the classroom, they know what to do to try to survive. mayor rotering told our committee hearing the children are frightened to go back to school, they're frightened to play outside. many never want to go to parades again. for the rest of their lives, they will look over their shoulders ready for another active shooter thanks to the drills our society has normalized in our classrooms.

she continued, playing outside is normal, back to school is normal, fear of a shooter is not normal, but now in highland park, illinois, and so many other communities, it is the new normal. mr. president, it can't be said enough that mass shootings with assault weapons are a unique american phenomenon. they are devastating. so devastating. i want to show you another picture. this is cooper roberts, 8 years old. cooper and his twin brother luke went to the parade with their mom and dad and in the course of the shooting, he was shot, taken to the hospital immediately. he's gone through at least seven or eight surgeries now, touch and go for many days as to whether he would live. and, sadly, in addition to

damage that was done to his body, his spinal cord was severed by this same bullet. you see, when you fire an assault weapon at a human body, it hits that body at three times the ordinary velocity of any other firearm. it is so powerful that it was originally designed by the united states army to achieve a single goal described to us in the committee yesterday. that goal was to be able to shoot one of these ar-15's and pierce a metal helmet 500 yards away, five football fields, the ar-15, it's not another firearm, it's a killing weapon. unfortunately cooper roberts was in the line of fire.

we pray he recovers. his mom and dad has kept me posted, all of us posted about his progress of but if you -- progress. but if you can imagine what an ar-15 can do to the human body, imagine what it did to this little boy. other gun companies have marketed their assault weapons like they're fashion accessories. let me show you a few of their advertisements. this is from mossburg. engineered to the specs and independence, stand and salute the tactical rifle. we are the oldest manufacturing of firearms, american built,

american strong, arm yourself with a mossberg. that is the type of weapon that shot cooper roberts, that killed the parents of aidan mccarthy. how is it being marketed? a symbol of independence and freedom. some of these other ads, want proof of your manhood? consider your man card reissued, says bushmaster, with their ar-15. want to make sure, as i said in the hearing yesterday, that these weapons are properly characterized? i'll tell you how i characterize them. the manufacturers of these weapons should be ashamed of what's happening across america. to suggest that this typifies the values of this countries is

just plain wrong. and offensive. it's time for us to name and shame these companies. it's time to hold them accountable for the devastation that they make possible. how many ar-15's are there in america? we don't really know. the best estimate? 20 million. 20 million. i wanted to spell the common walk -- to dispel the common talking point from the other side of the alualu. we heard it yesterday. they claim our communities don't need new safety laws, all they need are good guys with guns. i wish it were that simple. it's not. in one survey of 433 active shooter attempts? how many were stopped by a good guy with a gun? 22 out of 433. about 5%. half of those 22 were security guards and trained law enforcement who were there present on the scene and

off-duty. sad reality is when the police come on a scene that somebody is holding a gun, they don't know if it's a perpetrator, a danger, or somebody on their side, and in many instances they shoot the wrong person, making a split-second decision in seeing a person holding a gun. so this notion that we're going to come to the rescue of one another and stop mass shootings is not a reality. 5% of active shooter attacks stopped by a good guy with a gun. 5%. imagine buying a car and being told there's only 5% chance that the airbag will go off if you need it in a crash. you wouldn't take that car out of the dealership, and for good reason. question heard testimony yesterday from rand corporation firearms expert dr. kyla hunter, who told us that assault weapons make mass shootings significantly more lethal.

the evidence is clear. it's time for us to have a national conversation about america and mass shooting. let me say, the manufacturers shouldn't get off the hook. they are just selling another product. let me show you one that i think is particularly outwraijous. sadly, this is in my home state of illinois. it's a j.r. 15. it's designed to look like the ar-15, the combat rifle. it's lighter, so it can be carried by a kid. here are the symbols, incidentally, of this gun, jr-15. they're skulls. they're skulls of children, and each one of them has a pacifier in the mouth. it isn't just on this poster, this ad. it's emblaze beyond on the gun itself -- emblazoned on the gun itself. this is a kids assault weapon.

think about that, where we've reached the point that is even thought of, in light of the killing that's taken place. the hearing yesterday showed an outpouring of people from highland park in numbers i never expected. i believe there were 100 people there, who on their own dime came out to washington to make sure all of us in congress knew what happened in highland park, how that village and their lives were changed on the 4th of july. what are we going to do about it, mr. president? shrug our shoulders and wait for tomorrow's mass shooting? and sadly, we can expect one to come. i listened to the defenses, and frankly, i can't understand people trying to defend the right to own an assault rifle in america. one senator argued, well, it's just an inanimate object, you know of don't blame the object for the results. i wonder if he feels the same way about a grenade launcher.

should people have the right to own grenade launchers? i hope we can all agree that is an incredible thought. why doesn't this weapon fall into a similar category? a combat army assault weapon that is being used by individuals to kill so many innocent people in this country, to kill them in a concert in las vegas, at schools in connecticut, at schools in texas, at 4th of july parades in my home state. last month, we did come together, and i want to salute senator murphy, who is on the floor, to pass a bill that was the most important gun safety law that we considered in three decades. i voted for it. it didn't address this issue at all, except in the background checks of those under 21, and i'm glad it did, but it didn't address the issue of whether these guns should even be in america at this point, legal in

america. that i think is the critical threshold issue. incidentally, this shooter, who seemed to have a pretty ill-fated life from the start, managed to buy high-capacity magazines so that he could clip in quickly 30 would you understand here, 30 -- 30 rounds here, 30 rounds there, and fire off 80 at a time. why does anyone need a high-capacity clip magazine? i don't understand it. it doesn't have any practical value for sport or hunting. we need to address the widespread, serious problem of civilian access to military assault weapons, even for shooters as young as 18. i thank the people from highland park for coming yesterday, and all the brave law enforcement and first responders who i saw gathered that evening when i arrived at highland park. we owe them a lot.

they're doing an amazing job, and we should pay tribute to them and what they did. but even they, being present and armed, could not stop this from happening. they were up against a mighty weapon, a weapon we trust for the military, we trust for the police. a weapon which has no place in the hands of people like the shooter in highland park on the 4th of july. so are we going to continue this american tradition of mass shootings? sadly, we will, unless this body, this senate decides that it's worth the fight, worth the political debate. after highland park, count me in. i want to be on the record of saying it's time to put an end to these assault rifles, these weapons of war, which have sadly taken so many innocent lives, like the poor aiden mccarthy's parents and five others who died in highland park. i hope for our children's sake that we don't run away from this problem. the people in highland park had

to run away from their 4th of july parade, and now they're counting on us to stabbed up and face it -- to stand up and face it squarely. mr. president, i yield the floor. mrs. blackburn: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mrs. blackburn: thank you, mr. president. i ask unanimous consent that the following interns from my office be granted floor privileges for the remainder of the congress -- isabella andrews zachary, and eliza roddy. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. blackburn: thank you, mr. president. america is facing a perfect storm of inflation, unsustainable energy costs, and supply chain chaos. russia and iran are circling the wagons. and joe biden is still finding new ways to put the american people last. in fact, when it comes to getting gas prices under

control, he has chosen to unleash a china-first policy rather than unleashing the power of american energy. i've spent the past 18 months laying out in great detail how joe biden and the democrats have damaged our credibility and enriched our adversaries. they undermine our economic recovery. they abandoned the border. they destroyed american energy independence. the list goes on and on, unfortunately. it appears that everything they have done makes life worse, for we the people. and unfortunately, mr. president, it is emboldening the axis of evil -- russia, china, iran, north korea.

now, under normal circumstances, vladimir putin's trip to iran this week would be a cause for concern. but with the biden administration in charge, it appears it could be just the tip of the iceberg. because, although russia and iran are competitors, especially in the energy sector, they are absolutely united in their hatred of the united states, and in their desire to undermine western interests. when you look at the u.s. they see a country whose president got a head start undermining those interests on day one of his administration, and you better believe they are ready to take advantage of this. they're ready for it.

this week, look at what they've done. you had gazprom, which is the russian energy giant, and the national iranian oil company coming together and announcing a $40 billion agreement to work together on oil and gas development and pipeline construction. they're reading the writing on the wall, and what they see is hesitation from the u.s. president to move us back to energy independence, where we were on day one of his administration. so, they're making plans as to how they will work together and dominate the energy sector.

now, meanwhile, joe biden has also sold about a million barrels of oil from our strategic petroleum reserve to the chinese communist party. when i've spoken with tennesseans about this, they are furious. they cannot understand why he would make a choice to do this. the left has done their best to provide cover for the president, claiming that a million barrels is really nothing to worry about. but you know, mr. president, it is something to worry about. our spr has about 750 million barrels in it. we're drawing it down at about a million barrels a day, plus the president is now selling to oured aer is vary. selling it -- to our adversary.

selling it. we did a little research into what china can get out of a barrel of oil, and here's what we found. that gives you 20 gallons of gasoline, 12.5 gallons of distilate, which is what we use for feesle fuel, and about 3.5 gallons of jet fuel. to tennesseans this makes a big difference. i really agree with my fellow tennesseans about this. when they look at this picture, and they think about the president's big sale to hunter biden's friends in beijing, they don't see a gallon of gas here and there. what they see is 20 million full tanks of gas. they see diesel fuel that our farmers need, right now. with the price of diesel

doubling, we have farmers in tennessee that cannot get crops planted. they chose not to plant crops because of the cost of diesel, fertilizer, chemicals, pesticides. they see sabotage of their hopes and their dreams, and their plans. their plans for their family, for their business, for their farm. and as i've been out and about around the state and talked to tennesseans, they have a message for this president, this administration, my democratic colleagues. this is more than just a political disagreement. in their minds, and i agree, this is a national security risk. a national security risk. we're making ourselves

vulnerable. giving any aid or advantage to our adversaries is wrong, and this has got to end. joe biden and the democrats must abandon this china first energy policy and return to an america first policy. restart the keystone pipeline. approve more energy infrastructure. hold more lease sales. approve drilling permits that are waiting for approval. mr. president, let's get the regulators out of the way. stall some of these 42 regulations that the president has put on the oil and energy sector this year. let's do this. let's advantage ourselves with american energy before it is too late. i yield the floor.

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. murphy: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the following senators be permitted to speak prior to the scheduled vote. senator murphy for up to 15 minutes, senator cornyn for up to 15 minutes, and senator coons for up to 3 minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. murphy: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i come to the floor today to talk about a piece of legislation that was introduced yesterday by 16 bipartisan senators, the electoral count reform and presidential transition act -- transition improvement act. i'm proud of the effort between republicans and democrats to put aside our differences on other issues and to be able to put before this body a proposal that will assure that the votes that

are cast all across this country for president in 2024 result in the winner of that election sitting in the oval office. and i come to the floor today to underscore for my colleagues why this piece of legislation is so vitally necessary. all across the country we are seeing an epidemic of candidates being nominated for governor, for secretary of state, for congress that don't believe joe biden won the 2020 election. they instead believe these wild conspiracy theories about voting machines that magically switched votes from one candidate to another, sharpies that voted for joe biden illegally. all of it has been debunked but the conspiracy theories and the support for this notion that

donald trump actually won the election according to the rules of the electoral college in 2020 continue to spread. the republican nominee for governor in pennsylvania who appoints the state's chief election official was right here at the capitol, guards away from this chamber on january 6 as individuals were storming the building, trying to do harm to us. he took part in high-level meetings after the 2020 election, intended to overturn biden's win in pennsylvania. he is perhaps mere months away from being the next governor and chief elections officer of that state. across the country former president trump is organizing what he calls an america first secretary of the state coal coalition. he's pretty unapologetic about what the design is. it's to install election officers all across the country whose chief loyalty is to donald

trump, not the vote. his endorsed candidate in arizona, for instance, called for biden's win in arizona to be thrown out and for the republican-led state legislature to appoint its own electors instead. in nevada the endorsed republican candidate for secretary of state, another trump loyalist, says that if he was in office in 2020, he would not have certified joe biden's win leading to an immediate constitutional crisis. what is happening all across the country right now is a complete, total rejection of democracy by trump supporters and his endorsed candidates. now, they aren't representative of the entire republican party, but unfortunately they are winning primaries all across the country, and they are winning elections all across the country. and these trump loyalists, they are not interested in the winner of an election becoming

president if that winner isn't donald trump. they effectively want donald trump installed as a monarch and they're willing to just throw out democracy if that's what is necessary to keep their leader in power. and as i mentioned, this isn't some fringe phenomenon any longer. i think we have a lot of republicans in the senate and the house who see this danger coming and want to take steps to prevent it. that's why we're introducing this legislation. but there are over 100 winners of republican primaries for congress and statewide office this year who believe, who have stated this belief publicly that the 2020 election was stolen and that donald trump should still be president. there is just a very well developed and well organized movement where trump supporters are learning from his inability to overturn the election in 2020

and they are galvanizing themselves to leave nothing to chance in 2024. the operation to install trump in the white house in 2025 if he runs will be more sophisticated and better organized than 2020. the threat that 2024 will be the last year of american democracy is real. i know that sounds like hyperbole but we came really close to losing our democracy in 2020. if a president is installed in the white house who did not actually win the election, then i don't know how you claim that this experiment for 250 years is still ongoing. so we need to act as a body across the aisle. those of us who believe that our loyalty to country is more important to our loyalty to party need to act to make it as hard as possible for a group of traders to install as president the loser of the 2024

presidential election. towards that end we have introduced a piece of legislation that will seek to reform the way in which electors are sent to congress and the way in which we count those electors, to put up as many barriers as we can to these efforts to install the loser of the 2024 election as president of the united states. so i'm grateful to senator collins, senator manchin for leading this process, grateful to be a part of it along with senators portman, sinema, romney, shaheen, murkowski, warner, tillis, capito, cardin, young, coons, sasse, and graham. so let me tell you just in a few minutes what the most important elements -- the presiding officer: will the senator yield. would the senator suspend, forgive me. keep our conversations to a low tone or move them off the floor. thank you. mr. murphy: thank you, mr. president. let me just tell you about some of the key elements of the electoral count reform act.

it engages to make the selection and counting of fraudulent electors harder by both addressing efforts by congress to overturn valid state results but also to make it harder for states to submit to congress invalid state results. now, on january 6 of last year, we saw a handful of our colleagues attempt to throw out the valid elector from states like arizona and pennsylvania. luckily those efforts only got a handful of votes here in the senate. but the majority of republicans voted to throw out those slates in the house of representatives. it just tells you how mainstream these views have become. and so in two important ways we make that attempt by congress to throw out valid results from a

state a little bit but substantially harder. under our current law, it only takes one single senator in order to throw this entire senate into a debate over whether or not we should count or throw out certain electors. in the end there were 12 republican senators who suggested we should throw out ballots but really all that was needed was one. so what we do is increase that threshold from one senator to 20% of senators, from one house member to 20% of house members to begin that debate. ultimately you still need a majority of the house and the senate to throw out an elector slate but you can't even begin that debate now without having 20% of each body. that's a substantial and important change. second, we clarify the role of the vice president. now, some would argue that this isn't necessary, that the vice president's role in this process is ceremonial but that's not what donald trump thought.

donald trump and his cadres of fringe lawyers believed that by reading the statute in a particular way, take mike pence had the ability by himself to refuse to count certain slaifts of lek -- slates of electors. now, that's not how the act reads but to be absolutely clear, our reform act clarifies the law to make 100% clear that the vice president's role is just ceremonial. and then as i said, we also take steps to make it harder for states to send fraudulent results to congress because that is the primary threat in 2024. i still think that there are the votes in the senate no matter what the elections look like in 2024 for the senate, to make sure that we don't throw out valid results that are sent to the congress. the bigger threat is that one candidate wins in a state like arizona or depending on what happens in the goorve torl election in -- gubernatorial

election in pennsylvania and instead that state decides to send electors of the losing candidate to congress making some vague, broad claims of fraud that they can't substantiate. so we make that exercise in fraud less likely through a number of means. first there's really ambiguous provision in the 1887 law which president trump argued in the courts allowed for state legislatures to appoint their own electors if they judged that the election was incomplete. now, what that was initially intended to mean was if an election didn't happen because of a natural disaster but trump's lawyers thought that that meant that these claims of fraud could satisfy that incomplete criteria. we removed that ambiguity in this underlying piece of legislation. no longer will anybody be able to claim that state legislatures can just step in after the fact

and appoint different electors. second, we have a clear prohibition that state legislatures can't change the rules of how electors are chosen after the election itself. it is up to state legislatures as to how they appoint electors. every state right now appoints them based upon who won the popular vote in their state. but the constitution does give that power to the state legislature. it does not give them the power to change that process after the voters have cast their vote. we make that clear in this piece of legislation. and then most importantly, we clarify the process by which campaigns and candidates can contest a fraudulent certification or a fraudulent appointment of electors. as we saw in the 2,000 election -- 2000 election, there's overlapping jurisdictions between states and the federal court system. it often takes a very long time

for those processes to play out and unwind. we set up in this bill a new expedited process of review by a three-judge panel. we limit the cases that can be brought to that panel by the campaigns themselves. just to make sure we aren't incentivizing spurious litigation. but that new process allows the candidate and the campaigns if they believe that the laws of a state have not been upheld in allowing the majority winner of that state to dictate would electors get sent to washington that make that claim before a three-judge panel in an expedited fashion, to have that case go up to the supreme court in an expedited manner as well. clarifying the way in which we solve for these contests if they arise over a valid slate of electors an invalid slate of electors, an important reform in

this bill. listen, what we have built over the last 250 years in the united states of america, it really is a miracle. we should never forget how much of an anomaly american democracy is when you look at the broad scope of the governments under which people have lived. this idea that citizens, not dictators or kings or plutocrats get to decide who leads a nation, 250 years later it's still a revolutionary idea. i remind my constituents all the time that democracy is really unnatural, right. not a lot of other things that are important to us in our lives that we run through democratic vote. our workplaces are really important places but we don't run our workplaces through democratic votes. the boss, the ceo makes the decisions there. we love our sports teams, right. we follow them. we live and die for them. but the decisions on those teams, they're not made by democratic vote.

there's a coach, a general manager who makes the decisions. i love my kids but they don't get an equal vote in the decisions of my household with my wife and i. lots of things that are important to us in our lives don't run by democratic vote. we're very comfortable in fact with higher -- higher arkal decisions with a handful of people making decisions for us. but we reserve this idea of democracy for the decisions that are made that govern our community, our town, oral our state or our nation. and we need to remember that over the course of history, almost no one has lived in a democratic civilization. why? because it is natural for human beings to want their chosen leader to be in charm, their preferred leader to be in charge, no matter what everybody else in the community believes. and it is also natural for leaders, once they've tasted power, to want to cling to that power and not want to give up, no matter the wishes of their citizenry. so we need to be vigilant to

protect this experiment, and in the grand sweep of world history, that's what it is -- a revolutionary experiment. and we need to recognize the moments when the threats to that experiment are new and novel and more grave than normal. and be nimble enough to respond. so i would argue that this is one of those moments, and i'm so grateful to the group of bipartisan senators who have worked so hard to introduce this legislation. i yield the floor. mr. cornyn: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: mr. president, the business before the senate is a critical undertaking to shore up our vulnerability to imported microcircuits, otherwise known as semiconductors. you might wonder why this is so important if you haven't been

following the debate over the last couple of years, but while this legislation has taken many names, it began as the chips for america act in june of 2020, which established a new program to incentivize manufacturers of these tiny microcircuits known as semiconductors to set up shop here in the united states. we tried to fund the program at different times through the endless frontier act, the u.s. innovation and competition act, sometimes called usica, the america competes act, the make it in america act. but no matter what the title is or whatever you call it the purpose is to eliminate this unacceptable risk that somehow, through the pandemic -- due to the pandemic, due to military conflict -- our access to the

most advanced semiconductors on the planet would be cut off with devastating consequences to the united states economy and our national security. i know some people wonder why should the federal taxpayer provide financial incentives to semiconductor manufacturing? and that's a perfectly good question. the reason is, we're in a competition with countries all around the world who are providing incentives to build these necessary and essential facilities in their country, and if we don't participate in this competition, we will end up maintaining our dependency entirely on semiconductors imported into the united states. we saw big investments being made in other countries -- china, the e.u., germany, france, a number of different

countries want this manufacturing capability in their country because they understand its importance to their economy and security. now, you might wonder why is it necessary? well, there's a reason, an economic reason why these semiconductor manufacturers are almost all based in asia. the overwhelming majority are made in taiwan, and that is because it costs 30% less to build these facilities in asia than it does here in the united states. but covid-19 exposed a lot of vulnerabilities of supply chains, whether it's ppe, personal protective equipment, or semiconductors. and this idea that just because somebody could build something cheaper somewhere else, that checks all the boxes. it does not check all the boxes. and there are some things we must have access to and one is a secure source of these

microcircuits that run everything from your cell phone to the f-35 joint strike fighter. we know that semiconductors will get more and more important as the world competes to come up with smaller and more powerful semiconductor chips to operate everything from computers to our weapon systems. when the pandemic hit, the supply chain vulnerability was demonstrated by empty car lots, backordered electronics, higher prices contributing to inflation. consumers who never needed to know what a semiconductor was found themselves impacted by this disruption. my state is home to companies across a full range of industries that have been impacted, from consumer electronics to defense companies. last spring an executive from toyota told me that when he

first started with the company, he could count the number of chips in a given vehicle on two hands. that certainly is not the case now, with almost autonomous vehicles and certainly with all the censors that have made driving a lot safer and a lot more convenient added to new cars. but think about the high-tech features in our cars -- navigation systems, bluetooth, automatic braking, backup cameras and parking sensors. that's on top of air conditioning and power steering and window wipers. today some cars use as many as 1,000 semiconductor chips. so the pandemic of covid-19 demonstrated our vulnerability to our supply chains that made getting so many semiconductors impossible, and this wasn't just a problem for automakers.

virtually every industry was impacted. in many ways the global chip shortage served as a wake-up call -- certainly to me, and i believe other members of the congress and the senate who voted consistently to eliminate this vulnerability in our supply chains. it forced us to recognize the vulnerability of that supply chain and then to do something about it, which we're in the process of doing. as bad as chip-related shortages have been in the last two years, they pale in comparison to what could be coming if we don't act. as i said, the vast majority of the world's chips are made in asia with the bulk coming from taiwan. 63% of the advanced semiconductors in the world are made in taiwan. even more concerning is 92% of the world's most advanced semiconductors come from that country. so 62% -- 63% of semiconductors

come from taiwan, but 92% of the most advanced, the most powerful, the smallest semiconductors come from that same place. none -- zero, zip, nada -- are made in america. none. taiwanese semiconductor firms make the chips used in our military's joint strike fighter, the f-35, and that runs artificial intelligence and other military-grade devices. now, if you've been paying attention to what president xi and the people's republic of china have been saying about taiwan, they are saying they're going to unify the prc with taiwan either peacefully or by military action. again, i believe that the risk of pandemic, natural disaster or

military intervention make this risk simply unacceptable. last fall i led a congressional delegation to visit indochina, the indopacom area of operations, to learn more about the threat of chinese aggression when it comes to taiwan. one of the leaders we met with was the commander of the indo-pacific command located in hawaii, who described the current power dynamic rather succinctly. he said it's not a question of if china invades taiwan but when. we even have a rough idea of when that could happen. president xi has made no secret of his desire to unify taiwan with the mainland, saying he wants to be ready to do that by 2027. just five years from now. but as we've learned from putin's invasion of ukraine,

when one person makes a decision, you can't depend on any particular timeline because it could happen in the blink of an eye. it is tough to overestimate the impact this lack of access to these advanced semiconductors would have on the united states and our allies. to be sure, our cars, televisions, refrigerators, our washing machines would be impacted, but that's only the beginning. those would be mere inconveniences. how would we manufacture javelin missiles that are used in ukraine? well, we couldn't because they all run on semiconductors. the stinger that's being used so effectively by the ukrainians to go after russian tanks invading ukraine, the joint strike fighter, the f-35, our most advanced fifth-generation

stealth aircraft, is chockful of semiconductors that would be unavailable if our access was cut off or -- for some reason. think about cell towers, think about the energy grid. where would we get the chips that are needed for modern farming equipment, just as cars have become more and more automated, so are tractors and other farming equipment. what would we do for the chips that we need to treat water to make sure it's clean and easily available? so these aren't problems just for consumers. it's a major national security vulnerability. back in 1980 president jimmy carter gave a state of the union address in which he spoke about the instability of the persian gulf and soviet threats to the movement of oil through the

strait of hormuz. that was back in the days when we depended almost entirely on imported oil into the united states. but jimmy carter said in 1980, any attempt to gain control of the strait of hormuz and to block access to that essential energy source, he said, would be an assault on the vital interests of the united states of america. that would be a declaration of war. i think the same argument applies to semiconductors today. in fact, some people have called semiconductors the new oil because it's so essential to our way of life, to our economy, and our security. just as the soviets could have blocked the strait of hormuz and choked off the global oil supply back in 1980, the people's republic of china could seize taiwan's supply of chips and starve the rest of the world.

will they go into the ventilators and the other lifesaving medical equipment or provide homes with clean drinking water? these are important questions that many of us have been asking and looking to try to find ways to mitigate, if not to eliminate, our dependency on imported semiconductors. so funding this program in this bill currently before the senate will shore up domestic chip manufacturing to make sure that we meet the needs of our most critical industries. it would deliver economic benefits to our communities through new investments in jobs. it will strengthen our national security by providing chips that can make their way into markets around the world, and it will ensure that we have a reliable supply of chips so we can out-innovate and outcompete any and every adversary. and that's a point worth stressing, mr. president. we know we're in competition with the people's republic of china, but the way we will beat them is to outcompete them, and

the only way we will do that is with access to the most advanced electronics, including semiconductors that are made anywhere on the planet, and we need to make them here in america so they can be trusted supply chains and readily available. so i appreciate all of our colleagues who have supported this legislation for long and winding journey that has brought us here today, and i hope this bill will pass the senate and the house next week and finally make its way to the president's desk. mr. president, i yield the floor. mr. coons: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from delaware. mr. coons: mr. president, you and i have had the blessing of traveling to south africa together, so i know you know, as i do, that it is a critical destination. multiethnic democracy working to achieve the incredible promise enshrined in its constitution,

working to achieve the liberation struggle but it is also a country critical to regional security and to the path of the globe and to the security and stability of democracy in this century. this is why i stand to speak briefly on behalf of my friend, reuben e. brigety iii, whose confirmation we will take up in a few moments. reuben is someone i admire deeply. he was deputy assistant secretary of state both for african affairs and population rev jeep and migration. i met him as ambassador to the african union, knew him well as dean of the elliott school at g.w. he took on the challenge of service at the university of the south better than known as suwanee and our president nominated him to represent us in south africa. as we've seen in votes at the united nations and discussions

and debates around the world, african countries in this moment during this war in ukraine, in the face of russia's aggression, are turning away from us. they are not believing the reality that it is russian aggression that is causing food scarcity and fertilizer prices to speak, and they are more than not taking russia's side in this. we cannot take these relationships for granted. the united states for decades has been a close development and public health partner of south africa. we have to send our best, and ambassador brigety is the right person at the right time to advance the critical relationship goals that we have between the united states and south africa. one of the blessings, mr. president, of serving here in the senate is getting to know natives of new jersey, like yourself and like my foreign policy advisor ali davis. i will do my best to get through these next few minutes of remarks without being unduly

emotional, but she deserves a catch in the throat and a tear in the eye because ali is someone who from the moment she came to join my team six years ago has been a remarkable person, a person of great spirit and character, someone who also spent time in south africa as a young person, after graduating from the university of delaware, her tour as a fulbright in south africa prepared her to join my team as a policy fellow. she knew far less about governance and politics than i imagined. she carries herself with remarkable grace and competence. she has steadily risen to be a legislative aide, a legislative assistant, and now my foreign policy advisor. and i don't have the time, but i wish i did, to detail l all the pieces of significant and important legislation she has helped shepherd through to success. she's critically supported my leadership on the state and foreign operations

appropriations team. she's been critical as we've worked to address this moment of global hunger. she's helped get the global fragility act from concept to enactment. she's helped make the development finance corporation a powerful tool for development. she helped shape and craft the middle east partnership for peace act. and she nearly single handedly at a time i was confident this could not be done, got the sudan claims resolution act through this congress and fundamentally changed the arc of the search for democracy in sudan. we had the chance to travel together on a l presidential mission to ethiopia during which she had truly memorable encounters with its head of state and an opportunity to see and participate in and help drive diplomacy firsthand. we've traveled together to so many other countries from the uae to france, to georgia, to italy and perhaps most memorably

sudan where i was honored to receive one of their leading national awards which really was an award in recognition of her work on behalf of the sadatees people. -- sudanese people. she goes to serve the house foreign chairman committee, who i said you are causing great harm to me and i resent you are trusting this most trusted member to leave the senate and go to the house but she joins as a member of their professional staff, a great team, and i know we will continue to work hard and to work closely together in the years and decades ahead. a great friend, a great colleague, and someone to whom i wish great success in the many years ahead. with that, mr. president, i urge my colleagues to vote in support of the nomination of ruben brigety to be ambassador and i offer my great thanks to ali davis for her talented and skillful service on behalf of the people of delaware.

with that, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session to consider the following nomination, which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, department of state, reuben e. brigety iii of florida to be ambassador to the republic of south africa. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the question is on the nomination. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

department of state, reuben e. brigety ii of florida to be ambassador to the republic of south africa.

vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: on this vote the yeas are 55, the nays are 40 and the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the president will be immediately notified of the senate's actions and the senate will resume legislative session. mr. blumenthal: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senior senator from connecticut. mr. blumenthal: thank you. i'm here with my colleagues to

talk about the family expanding act. we're here to talk about this in the post roe world. that is a phrase i thought i would never utter anywhere, not to mention on the floor of the united states senate. but we are living in the post-roe world where reproductive rights are under assault as never before and critical reproductive health care services are more necessary and are also more at risk than ever before. that is why a consistent, strong source of funding for title 10 family planning programs are absolutely critical and urgent. that's the purpose of the expanding access to family planning act. what it means for the state of connecticut is in the past

$2.5 million in title 10 funding, allowing patients, mostly women, 45,000 of them, critical access to comprehensive family planning and preventive health care services. what we're talking about here is not only family planning, but also testing and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases, lifesaving cancer screenings, other essential health services, and they are all now at risk. what they need is the strong and consistent source of funding that this measure would provide, doubling, literally almost doubling the number of dollars but also guaranteeing over a

ten-year period that clinics will receive this funding. in the state of connecticut, most of this funding in the past has gone to planned parenthood of southern new england, the cornell scott hill health center has received some. they have done absolutely extraordinary work in delivering health services, particularly to women who are uninsured, women who are of lower incomes, and women who are under, under 30, and that is the primary patient pool that needs these services. let me be very blunt. if my republican colleagues truly care about supporting families, they can show it by supporting this measure and funding title 10.

in the past, since its inception 50 years ago, it has been bipartisan because people agree that families ought to be a priority, that decisions about when and whether to have children are the most important that we make, that caring for families and particularly prenatal care, screening for sexually transmitted diseases, cancer screening, these health services are vital to all of us, whether we have the patience or not and that they save funding in the long run. preventive health care is po pound-wise and it will save money. we know the supreme court decision in dobbs strips women of a vitally important freedom and puts it in the hands of

government bureaucrats, the decision about when and whether to have children. the least we can do now is to fund the reproductive health care services that will save lives and save future. dobbs has put women at risk. it has put reproductive health care in grave jeopardy. this measure is necessary to mitigate the effects of dobbs. more necessary now than ever before. we'll never stop fighting for a woman's right to choose when and whether to be -- to have children. we will never stop fighting to protect a woman's right to access health care that is vital to her own and her children's health. in the face of mounting attacks

on women's health, now is the time to strengthen title 10, and that is why we need this legislation, passing the access to family planning act will strengthen our entire health care system. it is simply critical for this $500 million, providing birth control, cancer screening, other kinds of testing and treatment to be passed and if my republican colleagues are serious about supporting families, they ought to be eager to join us, and i'm proud to be supporting this measure and i'm eager to see it signed into law. i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from hawaii. ms. hirono: mr. president, i rise today in support of the expanding access to family planning act, which will help

ensure millions of americans can continue receiving family planning services through the title 10 program. for more than 40 years title 10 has helped insure hundreds of thousands of women, regardless of income, background, insurance status to have access to active reproductive health care, as well as wellness exams, cancer screenings, birth control and sexually transmitted diseases. while this program was created with bipartisan support has been around for decades, we've seen what happens when maga republicans are in control. president trump slashed funding for title 10 and imposed a dangerous domestic gag rule that banned doctors from telling people how they could access abortion services. the gag rule wreaked raffic

across -- havoc across the country. it forced providers to decide whether they wanted to receive title 10 funding, knowing that health care providers wouldn't be able to provide women with accurate and compre comprehensie critical information or support them through clinics like planned parenthood or or nonprofits. in my home state of hawaii, we said no to this dangerous rule and rejected the funding, forcing our state to foot the bill. on the other hand, the state of hawaii, the clinics in hawaii, because they rejected this funding, could provide the full range of care for their clients. but ultimately the gag rule resulted in a loss of services to thousands of women. across the country, trump's rule

slashed title 10's patient capacity in half, jeopardizing family planning an contraceptive care for 1.6 million patients nationwide. while president biden reversed this rule, we can't take anything for granted. as a right-wing supreme court and maga republicans work to eliminate reproductive freedom, it's critical we protect and strengthen title 10. that's exactly what the expanding access to family planning act will do. this bill will nearly double funding for family access planning services by providing $500 million in mandatory funding for title 10 for each of the next ten years. it will also ban title 10 providers from discriminating against patients and require pregnancy counsel services title 10 pundz to provide --

funds to provide patients with all of their reproductive care options, including abortion. republicans have made it clear they will do anything to get rid of our reproductive freedoms, so we need to make sure this program will not -- while republicans continue to attack our fundamental rights, democrats are doing everything we can to protect them. that's why in addition to this important bill, earlier this week, i introduced legislation to codify the right to contraception. all of this is about who gets to make decisions about our bodies, women or a bunch of right-wing politicians, i believe, and the american public overwhelmingly agree that women, not politicians should be making

these decisions. our right to the contraception act and expanding family planning act will help ensure they can. mr. president, i yield back. mr. wyden: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from oarg. mr. wyden: i wants to -- from oregon. mr. wyden: i want to thank my colleague from hawaii for her remarks. senator hirono, let me also, senator hirono, while our on the floor, tell you how much i appreciate your leadership on the my body, my data act. i'm thrilled to be, i believe, one of your sponsors here in the senate. it is hugely consequential, because we have known from even the draft alito opinion that women were going to have their personal data weaponized against them. so, i know you have a busy schedule, but i just wanted the

body to know how extraordinarily important this is, because when we look at technology, and particularly what technology can do today, what your legislation does with our colleague from the house, congresswoman jacobs, gives us a chance to get back to the fundamental issue of privacy rights. we're going to start looking more at the contractual relationships between women and various companies, because a lots of those privacy policies aren't world the paper they're written on. i want you to know, i'm so honored to be your cosponsor on a very related piece of legislation. your legislation has made a big different. ms. hirono: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from hawaii. ms. hirono: briefly, senator wyden, i'm really glad to be able to sponsor the my body, my data bill with you, because as we know, anytime any of us presses the button to use the

internet somebody is collecting data, all of this data. can you imagine, there are all these clinics that purportedly provide information relating to contraception and whatever else relating to reproductive care, these entities ares are collecting all kind of information. they are not there to make sure that women, mainly women, but individuals who access their services, they do not know that these are not institutions that will give them all the information they need. but instead, they are collecting a lot of information that can be weaponized. thank you very much. this is yet another whole area of concern in this environment, in this climate, where individuals do not have control over our own bodies. thank you. mr. wyden: i'll just say to my colleague, sometimes it's a little difficult to figure out where a piece of legislation is going. that's not the case with your

bill. my body, my data sums it up, and again, thank you so much for your leadership. ms. hirono: thank you. mr. wyden: mr. president, i also want to briefly touch on the important legislation that senator smith, my pacific northwest colleague senator murray, and senator warner have recently introduced. they have an posh proposal, -- important proposal, the expanding access to family planning act. i'm proud to cosponsor this legislation. this is another area where chair murray and i work very closely together, because a lot of these issues can often involve medicaid, for example. i so appreciate my colleague bringing up her important bill with respect to family planning. the proposition behind it is pretty straightforward. the supreme court overturned roe against the will of the american people. states are criminalizing abortion. many women and girls are now

being forced to carry pregnancies to term and give birth. if you're going to stand by this forced birth agenda, then you better guarantee basic health for women and families. that is really senator murray's challenge to senate republicans. you can't be pro-life and pro-family if you're against health care that saves lives and protects families. the murray legislation, senator smith and senator warren are pleased to be for it today, is centered on a significant increase in what is known as title 10 funding, which goes to basic essential services like hiv tests, contraception, treatment for infections and pregnancy counseling. one of those services is really so vitally important. i just want to mention it, that is cancer screenings. cancer screenings are particularly important issue now that the supreme court has overturned roe, because over the last few weeks there have been a wave of these horrendous stories, as senator murray knows

better than anyone, about the chaos this radical supreme court ruling has unleashed on women's health care. drawn-out miscarriages, potentially fatal complications left untreated, physicians unsure what treatments they're legally allowed to pesm. and we -- to perform. we know one of the absolute nightmares for women, living in forced-birth states is getting pregnant and having cancer at exactly the same time. the question is, in a world where a miscarriage could lead to criminal charges, how do you treat a pregnant woman with cancer? we ought to think about that, and could getting chemo be a crime in a forced-birth state, senator murray? how many americans are going to die because they waited too long to begin treatment for breast cancer or cervical ceash, or because -- cervical cancer, or maybe didn't get treated at all.

it is appalling americans are facing this kind of awful, i think unthinkable, situation all because six republicans on the supreme court threw 50 years of settled law on abortion rights into the dustbin. in the parlance of the senate, senator murray, i yield to you. uh-oh, i got to reverse some parlance of the senate and yield to senator klobuchar, who also has been with a champion of this issue. i just want the senate to know, because we're in the pacific northwest, we talk about these issues, people ought to make no mistake about it. senator murray has put years and years into the cause of women's health, and i really enjoyed being junior partner in the whole effort, and look forward to her leadership. i yield to senator klobuchar. the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota. ms. klobuchar: mr. president, thank you so much. i join my colleagues. thank you, senator wyden, for your on-point remarks. of course, senator murray, for

her incredible leadership. not only the committee, but on taking this issue on and making clear to the state of washington, yes, but also to the country that this should be a woman's decision, a woman and her doctor, family's decision, and not a decision made by politicians. and part of this is making sure there's access to family planning. since this decision has come out, i could not believe the number of women that have come up to me, at home or in airports, flight attendants, saying things like is this really happening? you mean i'm going to have to go to another state just to get reproductive health care? how about contraception? there's people talking about contraception. people all over the country have realized how extreme this

decision is. and one of the people that have been leading this fight, in fact, has been leading this proposal on expanding access to family planning, is my colleague, tina smith. she is here in spirit today. she has a mild case of covid. i know she's watching right now. because she has been fighting for the rights of women to make their own decisions about the health care her entire life. she's the only senator in the history of the u.s. senate that actually worked at planned parenthood and has a firm understanding and has shown so much leadership in this area. we thank her. i am speaking for my constituents, of course, to thank tina smith for her work and her leadership. as i noted, 26 days ago the supreme court issued this rule shredding nearly five decades of precedent protecting a woman's right to make her own health care decisions. now women are at the mercy of a

patchwork of state laws governing their ability to access reproductive care, leaving them with fewer rights than their moms and their grand mass. last week -- grandmas. last week, senator murray and i joined several democratic colleagues, including senator cortez masto who led this push for women to be able to travel for reproductive care. republicans blocked us, so we're back today. if the supreme court won't protect a woman's right to make her own health care decisions, if congress can agree to put the protections of roe v. wade into law, then everyone in this chamber has to decide whether they will protect women's health care or not. and that includes making sure women have a right to abortion services, but it includes having reliable access to family planning services. let's start by passing the expanding access to family

planning act to protect and expand funding for title 10 clinics, which support maternal health, cancer screening, contraception, and other essential health care. in 2020 alone, get this number, 1.5 million americans received services through title 10. but currently, federal funding is not enough to serve the number of people who need care, and in the wake of the supreme court's ruling attacking the freedom and autonomy of women, it's likely that there will be even more demand in the years ahead. that's why expanding access to family planning act gives title 10 the funding needed to serve women and families for the next ten years. this legislation is far from radical. the title 10 program was actually created under a republican administration. and the original bill passed with broad bipartisan support. this is about making sure women have a way to take care of

themselves, especially when they're pregnant. right now i'm thinking about all the women in this country facing an unacceptably uncertain future. we should all be able to agree that at the very least we should make sure that they have access to the basic health services that title 10 provides, a provision that passed during a republican administration. created under a republican administration, that understood that women should be able to have access to health care. there is a better path forward. we pass this bill, fund family planning and save women's lives. i call on my colleagues to join me in supporting this necessary and completely pragmatic and sensible legislation for the women of this country. thank you. i yield the floor.

mrs. murray: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: thank you, mr. president. i want to thank my colleagues senator klobuchar, wyden, hirono and others who have been speaking on behalf of women and their ability to make their own health care decisions after the disastrous decision from the supreme court. and it has been now almost a month since the supreme court overturned roe v. wade, ended the right to abortion, and really upended health care for women across this country. and every single day women and providers and patients have been shouting from the rooftops about how damaging this is, how women's lives are now at risk. every single day we are seeing the horrors caused by republicans' oppression. women forced to stay pregnant and give birth when they don't want to. patients denied prescriptions

that they need. a 10-year-old forced to travel across state lines to get an abortion after being raped. a woman experiencing a miscarriage, left bleeding for ten days, as providers were not clear if they could treat her due to republicans' extreme bans. and all the while, republicans have been trying to ignore the devastation they have caused. even more cruelly, they've been trying to distract us, telling us what we're seeing isn't really happening. they're tried to say it won't undermine birth control access, even as patients have been denied plan b. they have tried to say we don't need to protect the right to travel for abortion care, even as some republicans are already writing and introducing bills to take that right away. they have even tried to say their extreme bans won't undermine care for ep tonightic

pregnancies -- eptoptic pregnancies, even as provider have been forced to change the standard of care because republicans' dangerous abortion bans making them perform riskier invasive surgeries than would otherwise be necessary, or even sit on their hands until patients' vital signs drop before they can do what they know is needed to save lives. it really is unconscionable. and despite what we have heard from republicans, it is happening, right now, in this country. and i know i'm not the only one who's entirely unconvinced by republican words about wanting to support women and families. i'm skeptical when one republican senator said, and i quote, we have to start thinking in terms of some of these things, to be more supportive of families and mothers. i'm skeptical when another one said, quote, it's not just a matter of saying we are pro-life. it's a matter of promoting and

allowing these people who are making very difficult decisions with their lives to make sure we can help. i was frankly surprised when just last week, at a hearing that i chaired on how this dobbs decision threatens women's health, the junior senator from kansas claimed he believes, quote, family planning opportunities need to be expanded. and he even promised to continue supporting robust funding. here's the chance to match that rhetoric with action. because senator smith and senator warren and i have a bill right here that would do exactly that. in fact, it is even called the expanding access to family planning act. i know senator smith cares a lot about this and while she can't be here right now due to covid, i want to thank her for her leadership on this and explain what this bill does for her. mr. president, this bill is pretty simple.

it almost couldn't be simpler. it takes our nation's long-standing family planning program title 10 and provides the strong mandatory funding title 10 needs now to support patients across the country. that's it. it's very easy, very straightforward. now, if republicans really mean what they're saying, if they are really serious about expanding access to family planning, there's no reason why we cannot get this done right now. after all, we're talking about a program that has a long history of bipartisan support. we're talking about a program that was signed into law by a republican president nixon way back in 1970. we're talking about a program that helps patients get the birth control they need, the sti testing, treatment they count on, cervical and breast cancer screenings that could save their life and the support they need to plan a family on their own

terms. this isn't just the popular thing to do, though helping patients get birth control they need is overwhelmingly popular thing to do. this is the right thing to do. so let's get this done. it should not be controversial. it simply expands our nation's long-standing family planning program, a program i should note that we included in our bipartisan funding bill earlier this year. now, just a few months ago, some republicans were adamantly against any increases for this program, but now as we hear, they are changing their tune and claiming they do want to support families. they do want to expand family planning services. they want to do exactly what this bill does unless, of course, they don't mean it. it's empty rhetoric or just another republican distraction from the reality that's been ushered in. so right now, mr. president, the republicans will have a chance to go on the record on whether they actually support family

planning, whether they actually want to help people get birth control, and believe me, the same republicans have been trying to ignore the same people who are having their health care undermined, their lives upended, control over their own bodies taken away are going to be watching this closely and they're not going to forget how much or how little republicans' promises are worth. so mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the committee on health, education, labor, and pensions be discharged from further consideration of s. 4550 and the senate proceed to its immediate consideration and that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: is there objection? a senator: reserving the right to object, mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator for iowa. ms. ernst: mr. president, this bill is a wolf in sheep's clothing. while the language touts supporting access to family

planning, in reality it's likely a $5 billion gift for planned parenthood and other abor abortion-related providers. prior to the trump administration's protect life rule, planned parenthood received nearly $60 million per year in title 10 funds. the biden administration reversed this rule and has aggressively deployed title 10 funds to abortion providers like planned parenthood. under this bill planned parenthood and other abortion providers would be allowed to use the funds to build clinics and abortion counseling referrals would be mandatory. the bill would also force religious providers to violate their beliefs. congress should not green-light

family planning dollars at the expense of family destruction. for those reasons i object. the presiding officer: the objection is heard. the senator from washington. mrs. murray: the real republican position on expanding family planning summed up in two simple words, i object. as much as republicans are talking about now about supporting women's health, as hard as they might try to pretend that -- that they do support family planning services, when they have been given a chance today to do exactly that, to expand a program with a long track record of helping women get the care they need, a long history, i remind all of us, bipartisan support, they stood in the way. and let's be clear. the bill that be republicans blocked today does not fund abortion. the truth is title 10 only provides services like birth

control, st1 testing, cancer screenings, services republicans claim to support. we're not proposing anything radical or groundbreaking. we are simply saying we should spandz the national family planning program that already exists, the one that president nixon signed into law decades ago, the one we have already funded before in a bipartisan way many times. title 10 is a program that is already providing patients family planning services and contraception, sti testing and treatment, screenings for breast cancer and cervical cancer and more. and i know that because i have met with title 10 providers and patients in my home state of washington many times. and i would strongly urge my colleagues who blocked this bill to do the same. listen to those patients. listen to the doctors. listen to the nurses in their states.

this is a program we already know helps so many people and it can help more. i can't say i'm surprised by republican objections today. i can't say this is the first time republicans have said one thing about women's health and done the opposite. and i think we all know full well it won't be the last. so my message to the american people who are witnessing this, pay attention. pay attention. the republican agenda is no to family planning, no to your right to travel for the health care you need, and no to your right to constitutional right to abortion. senate democrats and i will not stop holding them accountable for empty promises or for the devastating harm that their extreme abortion bans are now inflicting on so many patients and families. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator for utah.

mr. lee: mr. president, for months now american babies have endured an unprecedented and prolonged formula shortage. some doctors have called this the worst crisis of their careers. it's become so widespread that nearly everyone knows someone who has been personally affected. desperate parents have scoured online marketplaces. they've reached out to family and friends for help. they've paid exorbitant markups just to feed their babies. and some worst-case scenarios, some have even resorted to dangerous homemade formulas. mr. president, in the united states of america, no parent should be left to wonder how they're going to feed their newborn baby. after months of work and bipartisan collaboration with my colleagues in the house and the senate, i rise to pass needed reforms that will finally provide relief to hungry babies. today we can take action to

alleviate a crisis largely of the federal government's own creation. poor governance has crippled our domestic formula market. tariffs and regulations have prevented safe foreign formulas from entering the united states, even while we're experiencing this acute shortage at home. currently the government imposes a 17.5% minimum tariff on formula imports. this tariff has typeled -- stifled competition but it doesn't have to be that way. we can lift these substantial tariffs on the importation of baby formulas and reduce the costs borne by retailers to provide access to safe, affordable formula. doing so will expand the severely limited formula options for american consumers. this modified version of the formula act does just that by waiving these tariffs through the end of this year. while passing my bill will provide immediate relief, our

work is far from complete. i'm committed to doing everything i cannot only to provide this relief now but also to make the necessary permanent reforms to our system to ensure that a crisis like this never arises again. we still have work to do and we must further our efforts by allowing w.i.c. recipients to buy whatever brand of formula might be available. we must make meaningful reforms to how the f.d.a. regulates the formula industry. passing this bill today is the first step. in the meantime i'm actively working on expanding the list of products to receive temporary relief from tariffs. while this is an important first step, it's certainly not the last. this crisis is such that american babies cannot wait any longer than they already have. and we have a moral obligation to these infants to say that we

did everything we possibly could to fight for them. mr. president, passing the formula act will be an incredible win for families and hungry babies everywhere. it will make meaningful headway that's so desperately needed today. by suspending the tariff on formula imports, we're providing cheaper access to individual consumers and to retailers alike. this relief has been long overdue and long overdue especially for utahans who have the largest families, the most children per capita and the highest birth rate. i'm grateful for the countless hours behind the scenes work and successful negotiations with my colleagues, democrats and republicans alike, in the house and in the senate which have resulted in a win for our most vulnerable americans, babies. i look forward to continuing this important work with them

passing my formula act today is a victory for families and for babies everywhere. and so to that end, mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of h.r. 8351. the presiding officer: is there objection? hearing none, the clerk will report. the clerk: h.r. 8351, an act to amend the harmonized tariff schedule of the united states to suspend temporarily rates of duty on imports of certain infant formula products and for other purposes. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? hearing none, the senate will proceed. mr. lee: i ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time. the presiding officer: is there objection? hearing none, without objection. mr. lee: i know of no further debate on the bill. the presiding officer: is there further debate? if not, all in favor say aye.

opposed no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the bill is passed. mr. lee: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection.

mr. braun: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from indiana. mr. braun: mr. president, i rise today to fix a troubling loophole in our earmark rules. earmarks are something i strongly oppose. i believe they breed corruption, overspending, waste, and abuse. there's been bipartisan concern about the earmarking process for decades. in 2007, the process got so out

of control, it even -- even earmarkings biggest supporters deed decided we needed guardrails. the senate passed the honest leadership and open government act. the bill created senate standing rule 44, which requires the authors of any bill considered by the chamber to do this -- identify each earmark contained in the bill and ensure that the text is publicly available, at least 48 hours prior to proceeding to the bill. these two protections help shine light on the earmarking process. there was significant bipartisan support for the protections in rule 44. 2007 on the senate floor, senator hillary clinton said that rule 44 would help curb wasteful spending by creating

greater transparency in the earmark process. it was nearly unanimous, including the two senators from new hampshire. i want to read a portion of her comments. i believe we can improve accountability by mandating publication of the earmark for a minimum period of time prior to any vote on the underlying measure, ensuring that both other elected officials and the general public have the opportunity to scrutinize the sponsored outlay. taking these commonsense steps would ensure that legislators are made to answer for the spending they cosponsor. quote, hillary clinton. i couldn't agree more in this case. but the drafters of senate rule 44 left something out. the rule does not apply to legislation brought to the floor

as an amendment from the house. this means that a determined majority can ignore the protections offered under the rule simply by using a common procedural mechanism. the bill i seek to pass today closes that loophole. senator durbin commented about how important it was back then as well. congress should abide by the rules it created for itself. we recently saw the consequences of this loophole. the omnibus appropriations bill considered in march contained nearly 5,000 earmarks. totaling nearly $10 billion. the senate passed the bill less than 48 hours after receiving the text in violation of the spirit of rule 44. as dr. tom coburn used to say in this chamber, earmarks are a gateway drug.

we must close this unintended loophole before the situation gets worse. in fiscal year 2010, the last year of earmarking before the congressional ban, congress passed 11,000 earmarks at a sum of $32 billion. we cannot go back there. earmarks give congress a personal incentive to vote for the huge spending bills that are dragging america into bankruptcy. i talked about it last night when i introduced my own budget to try to go the other direction. the return of earmarks will mean the return of earmark scandals, earmark corruption, much soon than you think. let's do the minimum to prevent this. mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the committee on rules and administration be discharged from further consideration and the senate now proceed to senate resolution

687. further, that the resolution be agreed to and that the the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: is there objection? mrs. shaheen: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new hampshire. mrs. shaheen: reserving the right to object, one of congress' most basic jobs is the power of the purse. americans rely on this body to provide federal funds that support national defense, border defenses, conservation of purr lands, food assistance for the poor, and so much more. and as a long-standing helping of the appropriations committee, i am proud of the would, that the appropriations committee has done to meet the needs of this nation. as the senior senator from new hampshire, when i talk to small business owners, educators, health care professionals, commun leaders across my state, it is unfortunate that not all

of the needs of our state are being met. and for years new hampshire, like most small states in this country, has received among the lowest apportionments in the country from formula grant programs that are administered by our federal agencies. congress has long used earmarks or congressionally directed spending to address funding gaps in inequities between the states. and, in fact, senator judd gregg, who i served -- had had the pleasure of serving with both when he was governor and i was in the state senate and then when he was in the senate and i got elected, was a big supporter of congressionally directed spending because he believed, like i do, that i know better how money should be spent in new hampshire than a bureaucrat here

who is making decisions about how to spend federal dollars. congressionally directed spending levels the playing field for states like new hampshire and even for indiana to ensure that our communities can get their fair share to address our local needs. unfortunately, back in 2011 when congress instituted a ban on congressionally directed spending, we ceded the power of the purse to unelected officials in the executive branch. and while i know that many of these individuals are dedicated bureaucrats, they are public servants, they don't necessarily understand the needs of new hampshire in the same way that i do, as somebody who has represented that state for decades. so that's why i was very pleased that under the leadership of chamber leahy and ranking member shelby congress once again passed a bipartisan bill to include congressionally directed

spending. in -- in our budget process. and when we did that, the appropriations committee instituted some major reforms to improve accountability and transparency in the process of congressionally directed spending. i'm going to talk about some of these reforms because while i appreciate the perspective of my colleague from indiana, i think he is not -- he has not pointed out the reforms that exist in the process of congressionally directed spending. first of all, members are required to certify that neither we nor any member of our immediate family would financially benefit from the requests that are made. secondly, those congressionally directed spending requests have to be made in writing and posted online by the member and the appropriations committee, so that the public has every opportunity to view the name and location of the project, the intended recipient, and the purposes of that request.

for example, the request for fiscal year 2023 are available online right now before they would be available if this government, this administration were determining how to spend is that money. so the senator from indiana doesn't have to wait until those senate bills are posted to inspect congressionally directed spending projects. the reforms also include a 1% cap on discretionary spending for items and a ban on congressionally directed spending items to for-profit entities. finally, the appropriations committee requires the government accountability office to audit a sample of exactlied congressionally directed spending items to ensure that congress is being held accountable for these projects. mr. president, the chair and ranking member instituted these reforms to restore the trust of the american people in the appropriations process. and i believe it's working.

and i can tell you, as i travel around new hampshire, it's one of the things that i hear from people in our communities that they're interested in. they want to know about the appropriations process and they want to know what other opportunities are there to support initiatives that may not fit within some grant program that they may not be able to raise money in the private sector for but that are very important for our communities. the resolution sponsored by the senator from indiana would require the chair of the senate appropriations committee to certify that not just senate earmarks have been disclosed but that all house earmarks have been disclosed. i think that bill is a solution in search of a problem. the house already has its own rule that governs congressionally directed spending items, and it's required to identify these items.

it knows what its members have requested, and it's responsible for disclosing them. requiring the senate to confirm that the house has done its job before we can consider a message from the house is unnecessary and it could stop consideration of appropriations bills before they ever get here. the resolution sponsored by my colleague from indiana would change senate rule 44 in ways that could have unintended consequences and could delay critical funding for projects that are important in my home state of new hampshire and in so many states across this country. so, given all of those concerns, i object. the presiding officer: objection is heard. mr. braun: mr. president. the presiding officer: senator from indiana. mr. braun: with all due respect to the senator from new hampshire, senator shaheen, back in 2007, both new hampshire

senators, gregg and sununu, as well as all 98 senators that voted back then i think intended not only for the letter of the law, they wanted the spirit of the law to be aligned with it. we now have a new way, something that can come over here that violates a standing rule of the senate, and i'm guessing it'll probably be used again down the road. where we have to getting is, we have no time to look at it, and i think the spirit of the law would say that the we need the 48 hours and the ability to know who's on it, who isn't. and then in the bigger picture, i'd ask this question, and the american public ought to listen, ask it themselves -- is is this place getting more responsible or are we giving better value to you, do we budget, do we use

regular order, and most importantly are we creating more and more deficit and more and more debt? we know what the answer is. i talked about it for 15 minutes yesterday evening. we are doing everything we can to avoid the rules, pay attention to the spirit of the law, and in what we're delivering is a product, i think you that shows less and less responsibility out of a body that should not be making rules that make it easier to run deficits and go into debt. it ought to be the opposite. and if we don't, i think future generations will hold us accountable for the things that we seem to do best, which are the gimmicks to get around budgeting, avoiding the rules on a technicality. the american public deserves better. i yield the floor.

mrs. shaheen: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new hampshire. mrs. shaheen: i ask that at 1:45 the senate proceed to executive session and the senate immediately vote on confirmation of executive calendar 902, the nomination of shereef elnahal. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mrs. shaheen: mr. president, i ask that the senate be in a quorum call. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator for montana. mr. tester: mr. president, i ask the quorum call be eviscerated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. tester: thank you, mr. president. now more than ever the department of veterans affairs needs a steady hand to guide the veterans health administration. this is the nation's largest integrated health care system, and it's job is to deliver quality and timely care to our veterans. i rise today because in about 15 minutes we're going to vote on

the confirmation of dr.dr. sherf m. elnahal to run the veterans health administration. he has an impressive record of leading health care systems and health agencies. most recently dr. elnahal served as president and ceo of the university hospital in newark, new jersey. previous to that, new jersey's 21st health commissioner. but more importantly than that, dr. elnahal is committed to caring for more than nine million veterans in v.a.'s care, a commitment he carried out as assistant deputy under secretary for health and quality safety and value at the department. it is no secret that vha and health care health care systems providers are going through a challenging time. the v.a. continues to battle the impacts of the covid-19 pandemic

with veterans' cases and hospitalizations and deaths on the rise again. and v.a. staff are dealing with burnout and increased turnover. in the past, this body has been able to rise above politics to install qualified individuals at the v.a. responsible for getting vets the health care and benefits they need today. this is also very, very important because the v.a. is in the process of putting in an electric health records. it's going to be transformational not only for the v.a., but once it's done it's going to be transformational for the country but we've got to get it done in the v.a. first. there have been some challenges. we need somebody with a steady hand helping meet those challenges. dr. elnahal is that person. today in about 12 1/2 minutes we

need to act to confirm dr. elnahal as the v.a.'s next under secretary of health, and i would encourage everybody in this body to vote for him, get him in, hold him accountable, and make sure that we're living up to the promises we made our veterans for the health care that they have earned. mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. tester: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from montana. mr. tester: i ask the quorum call be eviscerated once again. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. tester: i would ask all time be yielded back and we start the vote immediately on dr. elnahal. the presiding officer: without objection. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session to consider the following nomination, which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, department of veterans affairs, shereef m. elnahal of new jersey to be under secretary for health. the presiding officer: do i have a -- is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. there is. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote: