earlier in the build back better bill, the first iteration of the reconciliation effort. this new inflation reduction act does not exclude a federal fallback option for people who are eligible for medicaid in the 12 states they have it. estimates by the urban institute show such an option would increase the number of insured by 3.2 people. this is a very big disappointment for people affected in these states, not including this option, the federal fallback leaves millions of the poorest people in the country without access to affordable health insurance. host: we are talking with sara collins of the commonwealth fund. the u.s. seven is gathering ands now for the federal environmental permitting

process. a vote on that resolution is set for about 1:45 p.m. eastern today along with the vote to confirm a judge to the u.s. court of appeals for the ninth circuit. by the end of the week, and possibly into the weekend, chamber plans to consider democrats tax policy health care and climate change package. a vote to start debate on that could happen as early as today. as always, live coverage of the senate on c-span2. will lead the. the chaplain: let us pray. eternal father, our souls long for you, for we find strength and wisdom in your presence. guide our lawmakers to put their trust in you, seeking in every undertaking to know and do your will. when they go through difficulties, may they remember

that, with your help, they can accomplish the seemingly impossible. give them a faith that will trust you even when the darkness is blacker than a thousand midnights. and, lord, as we mourn the deaths of congresswoman jackie which will lore ski and her two -- walorski and her two staffers zachary and emma, comfort our hearts. we pray in your merciful name. amen. the presiding officer: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

the presiding officer: the clerk will read a communication to the senate. the clerk: washington, d.c., august 4, 2022. to the senate: under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable brian schatz, a senator from the state of hawaii, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: patrick j. leahy, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. morning business is closed. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to consideration of s.j. res. 55, which the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 468, s.j. res. 55, providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, united states code, of the rules submitted by the council on environmental quality relating to national environmental policy act implementing regulations

revisions.

the assault on reproductive rights by antichoice maga republicans, it's been . we've seen and heard the horror stories of women in states that have outlawed abortion. we've seen women and even young girls, children as young as ten who were raped and unable to get an abortion in their own states. and we've seen examples of the states looking to restrict, restrict anyone's ability to travel to other states, restricting a woman's ability to travel to other states to get the medical care, the often life-saving care they desperately need. in fact, this is an issue that republicans in this chamber objected to when democrats abroad at the bill to guarantee the fundamental right of women to travel in this country to seek care. maga republicans, wait, they want to strip women of the

freedom and want to strip women to have the ability to choose what happens to their own bodies. if maga extremist have the way in congress, they will an act a rigid, rigid nationwide abortion ban which will threaten women and their doctors with jail time. and look what's already happening. anti-choice states are working to stop women from going to pro-choice states to seek care and now even going after the doctors, after the doctors in the states that are simmered in their jobs taking care of their patients. this is utterly and completely outrageous. we cannot allow this to happen. that is why senators murray, padilla, lujan and i introduced legislation to protect doctors in states like nevada where abortion remains illegal. protect those doctors from

facing prosecution by anti-choice states. let me be clear. no doctor should ever be jailed for providing women with the reproductive and often life-saving care they need, wherever whatever those women are from. our bill will that doctors provide reproductive healthcare act would do exactly what is in the name. it would let doctors, medical professionals, provide reproductive care in states like nevada where abortion is legal without fear of prosecution or fear of jail time. our bill would empower the department of justice to protect women and their doctors and pro-choice states from anti-choice states attempt to prosecutepr them. mr. mcconnell: kentucky officials are working literally

overtime to deliver supplies to those affected by ongoing flooding. heat and humidity are rising to dangerous levels in areas that still lack power. my team is helping coordinate relief efforts in any way we can. with the senate still in session, my state director joined the kentucky national guard yesterday as they distributed food and water to displaced residents. many of the roads in eastern kentucky are still impassable, so the kentucky national guard is flying dozens of helicopter missions daily to drop water, mre's and vital supplies to kentuckians in remote areas of our state. my state director was on board as they flew over flooded roadways and homes to visit the

community centers operating as supply hubs in areas isolated by rising water. the landings are difficult. sometimes nearly impossible. but the heroes of the kentucky national guard will do whatever it takes to reach those stranded by the floods. and that's just one part of the flurry of activity. emergency responders have deployed boats and trucks across the affected region. in buckhorn, residents are even loading up horses to take supplies to areas where the roads are literally washed out. it's truly, truly heroic work. this emergency is far from over. but when their neighbors are in need, kentuckians will always help other kentuckians. i'll visit the region myself soon to survey the damage and

help with relief efforts. while here in washington, i remain in close contact with those who are out on the ground. i'm grateful to everyone for taking on the colossal task of providing for kentucky amid this disaster. now, on another sad note, yesterday congress was shaken by the news that a tragic automobile accident had killed congresswoman jackie walorski and three others, including emma thomson and zachery, members he was her staff. in circumstances that are fannie mae familiar to each of us, long days on the road with trusted aides meeting with people we represent. by all accounts congresswoman walorski had two stellar young people by her side.

at 27, zach was already a veteran of her team, having served as both campaign director and district director. emma, h -- emma, her campaign director, was already a capitol hill veteran, who one former boss described as second to none. the outportion of grief and dem on be stration -- demonstrate what a great hole jackie walorski is leaving behind among her friends in the capitol. they marveled at both her tremendous personal kindness and her fierce advocacy for the families she represented. i had the personal pleasure of breaking bread with congresswoman walorski several years ago and looked forward to every time that our paths would actually cross. according to those who knew jackie best, her infectious

passion and boundless energy for service were rooted in the faith that guided her entire life. that also led her and her beloved husband, dean, to fawned a charity and to spend years living and serving needy people in romania. today, we trust that this faith has reunited our colleague with her eternal fortunate, and we pray that he will comfort dean, all her family and friends, and those who mourn zach and emma in these terrible, terrible days. later today, the senate will

vote on a resolution to peel back a significant layer of regulatory red tape that's been causing headaches all across our country. thanks to the leadership of the junior senator from alaska, this resolution would overturn a biden administration action that aims to give the federal government even more authority to slow and stall is critical infrastructure projects. for years, our republican government made headway in rolling back some of the countless roadblocks liberal bureaucrats have put in the path of new highways, bridges, and pipelines. we took big bites out of the bloated permitting process. and just last year, republicans ensured that bipartisan infrastructure legislation included clear limits designed to speed up federal permitting reviews. but alas, earlier this year, the president fired off a far left executive action that directly

contradicted some of that bipartisan headway. catering to radical environmentalists, the new biden rule restrains sweeping -- reinstates sweeping jurisdiction for federal bureaucrats to slow down all sorts of critical infrastructure. the democratic action is taking a process already known for years-long waiting periods and multihundred page federal reports and making it worse. every single senate republican is proud to cosponsor senator sullivan's resolution, the up too of our infrastructure needs at least one democrat to see the light as well. now, on one final matter, a year and a half ago, every senate democrat cast the deciding vote for a $1.9 trillion disaster that caused the worst inflation in 40 years.

democrats have crushed working families with runaway prices, more than 80% of the country says our economy is in bad shape. president biden's approval on the economy is down to 30% and falling. by the traditional rule of thumb, our country is now in a recession and a super majority of americans are aware of it. american families are crying out for relief. the democrats have decided to spend hundreds of billions of dollars of the people's money on a bill that laughs at the people's priorities. americans say their number one concern is inflation and the cost of living. so here's what democrats' taxing-and-spending spree would accomplish on that issue -- it would make inflation worse over the next two years, and do nothing to cut inflation in the

long-term. even the democrats' favorite estimates say that their bill would take nine years, nine years to subtract the amount of inflation we've been adding every single week. say that again. even the democrats' favorite estimates say their bill would take nine years, nine, to subtract the amount of inflation we've been adding every single week. after inflation in particular, another huge group of americans say their biggest issue is the overall state of the economy in general. and here's what democrats want to accomplish on that subject -- they want to ram through giant new tax hikes in the middle of the recession. new, multi-hundred-dollar tax hikes on american jobs that especially target the manufacturing sector.

leaving americans with fewer jobs and lower wages. new tax hikes on american natural gas and crude oil. higher fees for producing energy on federal land. leaving americans with higher electric bills, higher utility bills, higher gas prices, and more dependence on foreign countries that don't like us. in a time of inflation, democrats also want to spend $80 billion to roughly double the size of the irs so they can shake more money out of the american people through harassment and audits, using taxpayer money to make taxpayers' lives worse. so what do democrats want to do with all the money they want to drain out of americans' pockets in the midst of this recession? they want to lavish hundreds of

billions of dollars on an issue that exactly 3% of the country says is our biggest problem -- far left environmental and climate spending. american families have been hemorrhaging financially for a year and a half. working people can barely tread water. and the democrats' focus is green new deal nonsense that only 3% of the country wants prioritized? big subsidies to help rich people buy luxury cars and new stoves. taxpayer funding for environmental protestors. a huge catalog of nonsense that would not put a dent in global emissions while countries like china continue to emit more and more. so, i would dare any of our democratic colleagues to walk up to a working-class american on the street and ask them what the

government ought to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on. well, first off, in a time of inflation they'd probably tell them not to spend hundreds of billions of dollars in the first place. but i doubt a single american worker or middle-class parent would say, you know what -- my top priorities are doubling the size of the irs and giving my boss a government kickback if he buys an $80,000 electric car. do you know a single normal american family that is clamoring for this nonsense? americans want lower prices. they want border security. they want more police and public safety. americans don't want tens of thousands more irs agents. they want more border patrol and ice agents. americans don't want democrats to regulate us into an even

deeper recession. they want l liberals to let pole officers bring law and order back to our streets. democrats want to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on a 3% issue while they completely neglect crime and border security and make inflation and the recession even worse. democrats are catastrophically out of touch with what american families actually do care about. their approval ratings show it, and their reckless taxing and spending proves it as well. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

i ask my colleagues to join us in unanimous consent for this measure. that motion will be made shortly, and i hope that we can join in ensuring that individuals have access to

quality healthcare, regardless of their zip code, no matter where they live. the women of america deserve this basic right, and healthcare providers who enable them to protect themselves and to save lives deserve the assurance that they are not going to be the target of a prosecutor hell-bent on making a name for himself, or a state legislature seeking to make political points at the expense of a healthcare provider. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. >> mr. president? >> the senator from california. >> thank you, mr. president. colleagues, on january 24, just five and half weeks ago, the supreme court overturned roe

v. wade. just weeks after republicans in this chamber blocked our push to codify the right to an abortion and to federal law. so since january 24, democrats have been fighting to assure that abortion care remains accessible. we pushed to pass a bill that would protect the fundamental rights to travel to states where abortion is still legal. republicans blocked it. we pushed to pass the commonsense bill to expand access to family planning services. republicans blocked about one, too. we pushed to codify the right to contraception. republicans blocked it. at every turn republicans have taken extreme and out of touch positions by blocking these

commonsense bills. so today democrats are standing up to protect doctors, , nurses, and other healthcare professionals who are increasingly under attack, just for doing their jobs. and providing legal abortions. colleagues, i'm proud to join senator murray and our colleagues in this effort to pass the let doctors provide reproductive healthcare act to ensure doctors can provide the reproductive healthcare that women need. abortion access, after all, is essential healthcare. now, i have seen firsthand incredible work that providers in california do to provide critical reproductive care your most recently i visited a planned parenthood clinic in los

angeles. we are already seeing a chilling effect among health care providers driven by the uncertainty of their legal liability. like the alarming lawsuit that was filed against a provider in indiana, who legally help a ten-year-old rape victim terminate her unwanted pregnancy. so we will speak clear for healthcare providers that abortion restriction cannot be allowed to reach beyond the borders of antiabortion states. the decision of whether or not to have a child is one of the most personal decisions that someone can make. for the students who choose to finish high school before starting a family, to the survivors of sexual assaults whose abortion reaffirms the

right to choose for their own bodies, for the pair to desperately wanted a child only to learn devastating news about dangerous health risks. for patients whose lives were saved by an abortion because abortion is often critical medical care. access to abortion should not be dictated by politicians and lawyers. california and many other states across the country refused to turn the clock back to an era when abortions were outlawed and dangerous. and as we saw last night in kansas, the majority of kansas voters, in fact, the majority of americans, agree that women should have access to abortion care. and so we must pass the let doctors provide reproductive healthcare act to protect the courageous women and men

delivering essential medical care to those who need it. while republicans continue to block efforts to protect reproductive rights, democrats won't back down. in the face of the enemy attacks on reproductive freedom, we will not give up the fight to protect a woman's right to safe abortion access. thank you, madam president. i yield the floor. >> madam president? the senator from washington. >> thank you, madam president. i want to start by recognizing the overwhelming victory for the right to abortion in kansas last night. since the day the supreme court struck down the right to abortion and up into the lives of women across the country, the

american people have been using their voices to speak out against republicans extreme bans. and now for the first time since the dobbs decision they've had the chance to speak with their votes. and they sent a message loud and clear. people do not want the fundamental rights stripped away. they will not forget republicans cruelty in dragging back half a century. and when abortion is at stake, they are not going to stand on the sidelines. madam president, last night the people of kansas sent a message as clear as any i've ever seen in politics. now today, we are going to see if republicans are finally getting that message, or if they are going to continue to ignore the american people. because democrats are here today with legislation to protect doctors providing legal abortion care, and make sure they can do their jobs, practice medicine,

and save lives without the threat of legal action. i really can't believe we need this bill at all. we are talking about doctors who are following the law and simply want to provide care to their patients. it's not enough for republicans that their cruel abortion bans admit appointments that a been canceled, prescriptions that have been denied, doctors forced to wait until patients got sicker, weight into women are actually at the death's door before they can provide life-saving care. nope, they're going to go further than that. now they are coming after doctors providing legal abortion care, too. i really can't emphasize that enough. these doctors are following the law and still facing legal threats and harassment. right now in indiana at doctor is being investigated after providing an abortion for a ten year old who was raped. think about that.

doctor is being investigated after doing their job, after simply providing health care, care that can be lifesaving, care that was entirely legal in their state, care that up until the republicans far right supreme court overruled roe, was legal across the country. the fact that doctor bernard is being investigated after just doing her job and helping her patient is chilling and i want to be very clear. while doctor bernards story may be headlines across the country, she is not the only doctor racing threats. and shall not be the last. at this very moment republican state lawmakers are drafting legislation that would make it a crime to provide abortion care to our resident, even in another state where it is legal. from talking with doctors back home in washington, i i can tl you they are following this closely, and they are worried. i heard from providers back in

spokane and across washington state who are worried that they can face lawsuits that threaten the practices and their livelihoods, just for doing their jobs, just providing care. patients need, care that is once again completely legal in my state. hout objection. mr. schumer: now, mr. president, today the senate will continue fulfilling its constitutional duty to confirm the president's highly qualified judicial nominees. this afternoon we'll vote to confirm the 76th federal judge since the beginning of president biden's term, roopali h. desai nominated to serve as a circuit judge for the ninth circuit. not long ago a nominee like ms. desai would have been rarely seen in the senate but under

president biden the senate is breaking away from that norm. over 5% of president biden's -- over 75% of president biden's nominees are women. over half are women of color. people say why shouldn't be the same percentage as the population. that's what we're trying to get to but we're way behind and putting women of color on the bench gets us more to the norm. moreover, ms. desai will make history as the first south asian judge to serve on the ninth circuit and only the fifth aapi woman to sit on the federal circuit court. ms. desai's resume leaves no doubt she merits confirmation. a graduate of arizona school of law, a clerk for judge mary schroeder, the first woman to ever serve as a ninth circuit chief judge. she has excelled at every step of her legal career. she's one of arizona's top election lawyers having played a crucial role in protecting her

state's elections in 2020. and has fought for everyone from children in foster care to children in public schools during the pandemic. as my arizona colleagues, senator sinema and senator kelly will attest to, ms. desai is deeply respected by all corners of arizona's legal community and will make an excellent judge when we confirm her later today. now, mr. president, senate democrats are getting things done. this has been one of the most productive stretches the senate has seen in recent times. in the past few months we've seen an amazing string of achievements pass through this chamber in extremely fast succession. the first major gun safety bill in 30 years, the largest investment in american manufacturing and science in a generation, the largest expansion of veterans benefits in decades, and just last night we strengthened nato by approval the accession of sweden and finland, sending russia a

signal that they cannot intimidate america or europe. gun safety, chips, pact, nato, getting any one of these accomplishments done is a significant feat for the senate. the fact is we've done them all since memorial day and that's quite remarkable. this doesn't include a once-in-a-generation infrastructure bill, historic rescue package to vaccinate the nation and lift america out of the pandemic, and the confirmation of ca tan -- of ketanji brown jackson as the first black woman to serve on the u.s. supreme court. i've always said when the opportunity arises, democrats would be ready to work with our republican colleagues on important legislation, and many of the accomplishments i've listed are examples of just that. but when we must, democrats have also made clear we're ready to go at it alone to deliver big things that the american people sent us here to work on like fighting inflation and lowering health care and prescription

drug costs, like holding drug companies accountable and making business play by the rules, same rules as everyone else, like passing historic investments in clean energy to create millions of good-paying jobs and make energy more affordable for american families. democrats are going to deliver on all these things and more when we pass the inflation reduction act in coming days. let me talk a little bit about the inflation reduction act. soon the senate will vote on this groundbreaking legislation. i expect we'll have some late nights and extended debates here on the floor, but in the end we're going to make good on our word to pass the inflation reduction act. for many years, for years many in washington have promised to tackle some of the biggest challenges facing our nation only to fall short, but with the inflation reduction act senate democrats will finally hold drug companies accountable and make prescription drugs cheaper. senate democrats will lower energy costs while passing the

largest investment in clean energy ever. our clean energy proposals will reduce air pollution, prevent thousands of needles -- needless deaths each year and reduce asthma attacks by 100,000 per year. we've all seen kids often in poor neighborhoods struggling with asthma because they have so much pollution put in their areas by transportation and factories and whatever. reducing that by 100,000 a year is amazing. senate democrats will close tax loopholes and reduce the deficit and will ensure that no small business or he family under 400e their taxes go up. leader mcconnell said no new tax rate increases. that's true. let me repeat again, mcconnell concedes that now -- leader mcconnell

concedes that now the inflation reduction act includes no new tax rate increases. the american people overwhelmingly support these steps. a recent poll by the well-respected navigator shows 65% of americans approve our plan to reduce drug prices, keep premiums low, and invest in clean energy. a morning consult poll found that over 70% of americans, over 70% support letting medicare negotiate prescription drug prices which our plan will do. and another group, data for progress, found the inflation reduction act has a net approval of 51 points. 51 points, wow. it's not hard to understand why americans feel this way. democrats' agenda prioritizes them. we prioritize the middle class and working families instead of those at the very top -- god bless them, they're doing fine. but when senate democrats had the majority they tried to rip health care away from millions of americans and blew a $2

trillion hole in our deficit in order to soak the ultra rich with massive tax cuts. just this week one republican called for ending the days that medicare and social security are guaranteed by turning them into discretionary spending. do you know what that means when we make things discretionary? do we want to tell our senior citizens your social security, which you paid into, is discretionary? well, that's what the junior senator from wisconsin, that's what senator johnson from wisconsin wants to do. that is so wrong, but unfortunately it represents a lot of views of lots of republicans who don't want to say it publicly because they know it's so unpopular. back in february, listen to this one, the chair of the republican senate campaign arm, the junior senator from florida, released a platform for raising taxes not on the

wealthy but on millions of low-income americans. you can't make this stuff up. they want to make your social security discretionary, but then want to raise your taxes. what kind of bull is that? just listen to this tsunami of disastrous proposals, taking away people's health care, tax cuts for the rich, putting medicare and social security on the chopping block, razeeing taxes on -- raising taxes on working americans, these are some of the things senate republicans have openly called for recently. democrats' agenda is something entirely different. the inflation reduction act will lower inflation, lower the cost of prescription drugs, close loopholes long exploited by big business who pay no or little taxes. that's what the inflation reduction act is at its core. it's what the american people want. it's what the country so desperately needs, and it's what democrats will deliver on in the coming days. i yield the floor.

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. van hollen: thank you, mr. president. i was just listening to the majority leader outline some of the disas industrious policies that -- disastrous policies that republicans have proposed to make, including putting medicare on the chopping block by making it discretionary. i want to talk a little bit about the good things that democrats have done, some on a bipartisan basis and some which it looks like we're going to have to do alone for the american people. mr. president, in just the last few weeks this united states senate has made historic progress tackling a number of very real and very urgent

challenges that our country faces. we passed the first major gun reform bill in 30 years. we passed historic legislation to boost american manufacturing of essential semiconductor chips, important to our economy and our national security. we passed the pact act so that veterans exposed to toxins will get the care they deserve. and just yesterday we voted to admit finland and sweden as new members of nato, therefore expanding and strengthening the atlantic alliance in the face of putin's brutal war in ukraine. mr. president, these are major accomplishments. but now is not the time to rest on our laurels. now is not the time to coast because we've got to do everything we can to fight back against rising prices, against inflation, which has been driven in recent months by what i call the three p's -- putin's war and

its impact on energy and food prices, the pandemic, and the supply chain disruptions it has caused, and price gouging but big oil companies that are reaping record profits. those have been big drivers of inflation. now, i've listened to my republican senate colleagues here on the floor week after week trying to exploit inflation as a campaign issue, as if it were all caused by the policies of president biden. the american people know much better. they also know that while republicans are talking up inflation and talking down the economy, we in the democratic majority have a plan to do something about rising costs, and it's called the inflation reduction act. mr. president, in coming days we're going to be voting on that, and i hope -- i hope our republican colleagues will have a change of heart, at least some

of them, because here's the bottom line. the inflation reduction act will drive down prices over time, and it will reduce the deficit, and it will do that without raising taxes on anyone making under $400,000 a year -- not by one dime. and it does all that while addressing four -- four -- major issues facing our country. the need to lower health care costs, the need to address the climate crisis, the need to fix parts of our broken tax system -- this is a start on that -- and reducing the deficit. so,mr. president, first on health care, all of us in this chamber have known that the costs of prescription drugs in the united states are way too high, out of control. our constituents is, americans, pay twice as much on prescription drugs as people in other advanced economies around

the world. and it's not just squeezing people's pocketbooks. that, of course, hurts. it's also jeopardizing their health. if you look at the 2022 study by the kaiser family foundation, they found nearly one in three adults reported that they had not taken their medications as prescribed due to cost. they were too expensive, couldn't afford them. that financial pressure is hard on everybody. it's especially so on many of our seniors. nearly nine in ten older adults take prescription medication, but millions of americans 65 and older say they struggle to afford their medicine. and here's what adds insult to injury -- american taxpayers spend over $40 billion every year to support cutting-edge medical research happening at the national institutes of health in my state of maryland.

and that is a great investment for our country. it helps discover, it helps develop, and produce many of the life-changing medications that are available to american families today and to people around the world. but it's just not right for american taxpayers to invest $40 billion a year in developing drugs that are then sold by american pharmaceutical companies here in the united states for two, three, four times as much as they're sold overseas. so people throughout the world benefit from the great research done at places like n.i.h., and they pay lower costs on the medicines developed from that research than americans who helped fund the research in the first place. that's just not right. so, mr. president, that is why the inflation reduction act finally empowers the medicare program to negotiate prices with

the pharmaceutical industry. private insurance companies negotiate volume discounts every day, all the time to try to get a better deal for their members. and why should we tie the hands of the medicare program? and i say finally, mr. president, because you and i and many others in this chamber have worked for not just one or two years, for decades to try to achieve this, and every time the pharmaceutical industry has succeeded in blocking it because, if you take away the power of medicare to negotiate drug prices, it means they get to write the bill themselves. so this is important. it's also accompanied by a cap on medicare part d out-of-pocket spending to $20,000 a year. -- $2,000 a year. and last but not least, this legislation extends the important work we achieved through the american rescue plan

to lower the cost of health insurance for people who get their chair through the exchanges. marylanders are saving an average of $80 every month on their health care premiums because of that provision from the american rescue plan which this bill will extend for three more years. we are joined in this effort by a vast coalition of americans who have been pushing for years to address the prescription drug crisis, including aarp and its 38 million members who support this bill. meanwhile, we've seen some billion-dollar pharmaceutical companies pouring their profits in negative ads to try to defeat this bill. in fact, just last night i saw two or three of them within the space of about an hour as i was flipping channels at home. but i think the country is

pretty clear on what's at stake here. on the one hand you have tens and tens of millions of americans who seek to -- who will benefit from lowering the cost of prescription drugs. and yet you've got big pharma trying to maintain this privileged position where we don't have to negotiate with them in order to boost their profits. so, mr. president, let's be clear on what we're going to do. we're going to allow medicare to negotiate drug prices and that will lower the cost for seniors. we're capping out-of-pocket spending for seniors, and we're making it more affordable to get health insurance through the affordable care act marketplaces. and yet right now, as of today, we have every one of our republicans voting no. when i go around maryland, this is not a party -- or partisan issue. all of my constituents want us to take this action. and the same is true of climate change. most americans, regardless of party, recognize the very real

harm caused by climate change. they just have to look around them or turn on the news. but apparently when you enter the senate republican cloakroom, you go into a science-free and fact-free zone. many of our colleagues still doubt the facts of human-caused climate change. but that's out of touch with the american people who see the harm every day and also see the promise of developing a clean energy industry. that's why our legislation makes this big investment in more rapidly deploying clean energy technology, and in doing so, we're projected to cut u.s. emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases by 40% by 2030. we should move even faster, but at least this gets us this the game to hitting the targets that we have to, and we will do that

while supercharge ago the development, the -- while supercharging the development of wind, solar and battery power. i want to talk about a couple provisions in this bill -- there are many -- but a couple i have worked on over the years. first, this bill includes what's called the greenhouse gas reduction fund, $27 billion. some of which could support a national climate bank, which is an initiative i've been working on since my time in the house of representatives and now in the senate with my colleague ed markey and in the house today with congresswoman debbie dingell. a national climate bank would be a magnet for private investment in new, sustainable technologies, channeling more capital into the clean energy space and lowering the risk to investors. for every one dollar of public financing through a national climate bank, we project it will

draw in $7 to $10 of private investment. to turbocharge investments and jobs in clean energy. in addition, it targets a large share of investments to low-income and disadvantaged communities that often lack access to financing for clean energy and energy efficiency projects. mr. president, this bill also includes another provision i've worked on a long time, a bill i introduced called hope for homes. i've worked on it with a bipartisan group of colleagues in both the house and the senate. in the house, that includes congressman peter welch and congressman dave mckinley. and here in the senate, senator coons and senator shaheen. the hope for homes legislation that's been incorporated in this bill will provide americans with sizable rebates and with tax credits to retrofit their homes with clean energy and energy

efficiency technology p. so it will it not only help us meet our climate goals and our pollution reduction goals, it's also going to save consumers up to $750 every year on their heating and cooling bills. so we're going to give people a rebate to make their homes more energy efficient and they will save money as a result. and it also invests in clean energy jobs training so that we have the people power to help folks in every neighborhood of the country access the help and the workers they need. it's estimated to help generate 80,000 jobs over the next couple years in this important area. mr. president, the inflation reduction act also includes major investments to develop clean energy manufacturing base, to reduce our reliance on foreign imports of clean energy

products, including $30 billion in tax credits designed to accelerate manufacturing of solar panels, wind turbines, batteries and critical minerals right here in the united states. china has made it one of its goals -- and they've been very open about it -- to dominate the clean energy technology space for years to come. we need to make sure that we manufacture critical technologies and products right here in the united states. i want to give you a great example from my state of maryland, which is at the vanguard of a budding offshore wind industry. right now we have two companies in maryland -- warstead and u.s. wind -- that are building new wind turbine fabrication centers in our state to support their offshore wind farms coming to the mid-atlantic, two major projects off maryland's atlantic coast. the deputy secretary of commerce was just in baltimore yesterday talking about apprenticeship

programs that will help support 10,000 jobs, 10,000 maryland jobs, as part of this offshore wind manufacturing. that's just in the state of maryland. and we can do that across the country in terms of offshore wind in coastal states and of course interior wind for others. so these are really important provisions that i've talked about, fighting the climate cries, lowering the cost of prescription drugs. so let's talk about how they're paid for. unlike the republican tax bill in 2017 which provided huge tax giveaways to big corporations and very wealthy individuals, this legislation actually will both pay for itself through the cuts made and recycled and through fixing parts of our

broken tax system. we got a lot to work -- we got a lot of work to do to fix our tax system, but this is a down payment in terms of the policy changes in this bill. first, mr. president, we're going to beef up irs enforcement to go after wealthy tax cheats, and this is an important issue. i chair the subcommittee that oversees the irs, and we've been pushing for years to make sure that the irs has the resources and the expertise to track down taxes that are already due and owing from very wealthy people who come up with elaborate tax dodges. right now we estimate there's anywhere from $500 billion to $1 trillion in taxes each year that are owed but not paid. think about that. up to a trillion dollars every year, taxes that are owed but not paid, and the people who are

suckered are all the people who pay when you have these very wealthy tax cheats skirting their responsibilities. so, this bill will address that issue. second, we make sure that big corporations invest in the success of everyday americans. in 2020, 55 huge american corporations paid zero, zero in taxes, despite a combined $40.5 billion in profits. $40.5 billion in profits from these 55 companies, zero taxes paid. small businesses across the country are paying their taxes while some of these big corporations are not. that's not fair. it needs to change. that's why the inflation reduction act includes the 15%

minimum tax on profits of corporations that have over $1 billion in annual profits. i want to thank the presiding officer for his leadership on this issue. third, our legislation would tighten the rules on what's known as carried interest, which allows hedge fund managers to pay a lower rate on their income than the rate their employees pay on theirs. the classic example is how a big hedge fund ceo can pay a lower tax rate than their receptionist. this is a fact under our current tax code, and i hope we'll keep this provision in this bill. if because, this loophole, the carried interest loophole, is exhibit a of some of the biggest unfairnesses in our tax code. so, mr. president, taken together, the measures to lower the cost of prescription drugs, lower the cost of energy to american households and

consumers, reduce the deficit, these measures will reduce inflationary pressures that are bearing down on working families. don't have to take my word for it. in just the last few days, economists from all over the country have spoken out in favor of this approach and supporting this legislation. 126 leading economists recently wrote to the congressional leadership, quote, this proposal addresses some of the country's biggest challenges at a significant scale, and because it is deficit reducing it does so while putting downward pressure on inflation. and that's key. unlike that republican tax giveaway in 2017 that added $2 trillion to our national debt, we're actually reducing our deficit, and by reducing the deficit you also put downward pressure on inflation.

in recent months i've heard the republican leader, senator mcconnell, often citing former secretary of treasury larry summers about larry summers' views on the economy and inflation. well, here's what larry summers had to say recently about the bill we'll be voting on, quote, the prescription drug provisions, energy incentives, and the increased medicare benefits will all contribute over time to much-needed inflation reduction. and just yesterday, former secretary summers was joined by former secretary of the treasury hank paulson, who of course served under former president george w. bush, who with other secretaries wrote, quote, we support the inflation reduction act, which is financed by prudent tax policy that will collect more from top earners and large corporations.

and again, by using those revenues to reduce the deficit, we put downward pressure on inflation. i just, as we close here, just want to contrast that to the approach that republicans took in 2017 with their tax giveaway. as i said, that ballooned the deficit by $2 trillion. it also handed the top 1% income earners an average tax cut of $69,000 each in 2018 alone. so just in one year, about a $70,000 tax cut to the top 1%. and the congressional budget office estimated that 43% of the growth in economic output from the 2017 tax law flowed to foreign invests in that space. so, foreign investors have holdings in u.s. corporations.

that tax cut to american corporations, yes, it flowed to some very wealthy americans, but a lot of it flowed offshore to foreign investors. so, what we've seen from our colleagues across the aisle is big tax cuts to corporations and the very wealthy, not just here at home but benefiting others around the world, in contrast to this, which does ask big corporations to pay their fair share, minimum 15%, and reduces the deficit as question invest in job creation and reduce prices here at home. so, this is a win for families. it's a win for seniors. it's a win for our planet, our economy. it's a win for the country. so, mr. president, i hope, as this debate goes forward, that we will focus on the facts, listen to what it does, because this is a comprehensive piece of legislation that does help us

tackle some of the key priorities in front of our country, and we're hearing that from our constituents every day. so, i'm proud to support this legislation. let's get it done. i yield the floor.

the presiding officer: the senator from south dakota. mr. thune: mr. president, is the senate in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are not. mr. thune: okay, terrific. mr. president, last week democrats unveiled their so-called inflation reduction act, a bill that will do nothing to reduce inflation, but will double down on democrats' wasteful government spending, along with imposing hundreds of billions of dollars in tax hikes. yes, hundreds of billions of dollars in tax hikes. our economy has posted negative economic growth for the past two quarters, and democrats think it's a good idea to raise taxes on american businesses. perhaps democrats think that current prices aren't high enough, or that businesses aren't struggling enough with the inflation that democrats helped create. the worst part, of course, is that a substantial part of the burden of these tax hikes will fall on ordinary americans,

americans who are already struggling with historically high inflation, americans who are seeing their grocery bills balloon and their rent skyrocket. americans who are paying more than $4 per gallon every time they fill up their car. now democrats are going to pass tax hikes that will hit these americans hard, a tax hike on businesses that will almost undoubtedly result in lower growth, lower wages and fewer jobs. a tax hike on investment, investment that we need to grow our economy and create opportunities for american workers. and tax hikes on energy production. that's right, tax hikes on energy production to the tune of $60 billion. now, mr. president, as i mentioned, americans are still on average paying more than $4 a gallon every time they go to fill up their cars, as they have been for months. their electricity bills are up.

the price for utility gas service is up by almost 40%. and democrats think now is a good time to raise taxes on oil and gas production? i guess maybe they're hoping that they can force americans off conventional energy by continuing to keep gas and energy prices high. in case anyone was thinking democrats will be content with shutting down domestic production, with a methane tax, higher royalties, excise taxes and costly permitting delays, and would rather americans receive conventional energy from abroad, well, democrats have a tax hike for that. the democrats' bill would impose a new tax hike on u.s. refiners importing crude oil and petroleum products intended to make conventional energy prohibitively expense ivers. of course, americans will need

conventional energy, and that will be true for a while yet, no matter how much wishful thinking democrats engage in. democrats' energy tax hikes are setting other than americans up to -- ordinary americans to suffer under high energy price, to the foreseeable future. what are all these tax hikes for? what government spending is worth imposing tax hikes that run the risk of pushing our economy into a longer roo he session or, worse yet, stagflation? let me review some of the priorities democrats will spend that tax hike money on. there's $1.5 billion, billion dollars, for a grant program to plant trees. $1.9 billion for things like identifying gaps in tree canopy coverage. that's right, identifying gaps in tree canopy coverage.

there's $1 billion for electric heavy-duty vehicles, like garbage trucks. i'm not really sure why the federal government is going to be spending money on electric garbage trucks or how that's going to reduce inflation. there's $3 billion for the u.s. postal service to purchase zero emission delivery vehicles. quite a lot of money, i might add, for an agency that is supposedly self-funded. there's funding for road equity. all told, there is more than $60 billion in funding for, quote, environmental justice. $60 billion. that's more than the federal government spent on highways in 2019. there's also at least $30 billion in climate slush funds, part of which is allocated for, among other things, climate-related political activity.

yeah, political activity. so, in other words, democrats are raising taxes on americans so they can provide federal funding for green new deal activism. i haven't even talked about all the tax credits for adopting democrats' preferred green energy technologies. there are tax credits for purchasing electric vehicles and for refitting windows, skylights, and doors to meet democrats' required level of energy efficiency. that's right, democrats are raising the tax burden on working americans to pay for tax credits for wealthy americans to purchase a brand-new electric vehicle or to do some home remodeling. of course, these tax credits aren't officially limited to wealthy americans, but i'm hard-pressed to think of many working families who can afford to spend $60,000 on a new

electric vehicle while inflation is at a 40-year high. i'm a longtime supporter of green energy. i come from a state leading the was i in cleaner and more efficient energy technologies. i've worked with colleagues from both parties to advance clean energy, including through the responsible use of energy tax credit to bring clean energy technologies to the point they can compete on their own. but this bill has nothing in common with the bipartisan work i and many others have done to responsibly advance clean energy. this bill is wasteful and irresponsible and will do essentially nothing to reduce warming globally as other nations continue to skate by. it will, however, waste a lot of taxpayer dollars and create a lot of economic pain for hard-working americans. one think tank analyzed a plan similar to the one democrats are pushing and found it would result in staggering job losses,

higher energy bills and tremendous reduction in economic growth. one sensible move to advance clean energy and necessary investment in conventional energy is to address the permitting process that holds up both projects for years. that is something we should be focused on, to promote investment in the conventional energy we still need and in the renewable energy technologies of the future. instead, we're being asked to support a bill that will squander billions and billions of taxpayer dollars on green new deal activism and road equity and monitoring tree canopies. we're supposed to vote for it based on the vague promise that the senate will consider, consider mind you, not pass, permitting legislation. permitting legislation that may or may not meaningfully address the broken and burdensome

permitting process or negate spurious lawsuits from far left environmentalists. even if it did provide meaningful reform my hopes are not high that the biden administration would actually act on the legislation. canceling the keystone x.l. pipeline was already underway and was to be paired with $1.7 billion in private -- yes, private investment for renewables but doesn't install confidence that even approved products are safe from the president biden and the democrats' green new deal ideological. the rescue plan spending spree helps plunge our economy into an inflation crisis that has left americans struggling to make ends meet. and if this new partisan tax-and-spending spree passes, americans can look forward to a lot more economic pain in the

future. but at least they'll be able to console themselves with the knowledge that their tax dollars are going to fund tree canopies. mr. president, i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from west virginia. mrs. capito: thank you, mr. president. i rise today to support senator sullivan's resolution of disapproval to nullify the biden administration's roll back of reforms to the national environmental policy act, or nepa, process. we heard a lot about permitting and how everything is going to be approved. if you want to make a statement on how you want to improve

permitting this should be a yes vote for everybody. i want to thank my colleague from alaska for his leadership in bringing together half of this chamber in support of s.j. res. 55, cosponsored by 50 senators. this resolution is vital to us to take us toward a path of quicker, more predictable environmental reviews as we seek to improve our transportation -- remember we passed a big infrastructure bill, it had a lot of transportation, our water infrastructure, energy infrastructure, reclaim our energy independence, and build our domestic supply chains. instead of making the environmental review process more efficient, the biden administration has been doing everything in its power to make it much, much more difficult. environmental reviews are notorious for holding up energy and infrastructure projects, and what happens? some of them don't get done. a lot of them get a heck of a lot more expensive and it takes

longer to do. we all know it's important to make sure that we assess the impact environmental projects will have before moving forward on construction, but the biden administration is focused on making them more complicated and longer when the status quo is already unacceptable. in 2020, the white house counsel on environmental quality found it took an average of four and a half years to complete an environmental impact statement under nepa. one-quarter of the 1,276 projects analyzed took more than six years to complete an impact statement. the average time for a highway statement was more than seven years. the average time for a u.s. corps of engineers was six years. the average length for a final eis length of the bill, 661 pages. and many of these swelled to over thousands of pages, running contrary to the original

nent -- intent of nepa to provide transto -- transparency to the american people. now rather than continuing to improve environmental reviews under nepa, the biden administration has decided to make them more burdensome. earlier this year the biden administration rolled back key modernizations the previous administration made to the more than 40-year-old nepa rule through its so-called phase 1, which tells me phase 2 is coming, nepa rule. the biden administration created sweeping new obstacles to the environmental review process, including new eastles -- avenues for delays and lawsuits that will slow down or, as i said, kill projects. in particular, the phase 1 rule expanded definition of effects includes indirect and cumulative

effects of projects will greatly delay and kill energy process when we sorely need them right now. with the damaging phase 1 rule already in place, the biden administration is now working on even more onerous revisions to the nepa process. if these revisions are not stopped, they will enshrine lengthier, more burdensome, and even in some cases insurmountable hurdles for any infrastructure, whether it's mining, industrial, or energy. we keep hearing we need more energy. well, if you can't get permitted, you can't do these projects. and that's what's happening. the biden administration is hamstringing our nation's ability to source materials and build infrastructure of all kinds for all americans. whether it's roads and bridges, pipelines, electric transmission, mining or renewable energy projects, an efficient environmental review process is critical to completing projects that support job creation and economic

activity. it is also vital to building out and securing our domestic supply chains to ensure we have the fuels and mineral inputs to power critical services and to manufacture those products. we're not going to have all the solar farms and wind turbines and critical minerals and green jobs that the administration has promised to energy workers when the environmental process takes five to seven to ten years. so how do you build an economy out of a recession when you can't build at all? now is time to come together, reform the environmental review process to expand our infrastructure, invigorate our economy, increase our energy capacity and supplies, advance our domestic industries to lower prices, create those much-wanted jobs and build a brighter future for americans and certainly in my state of west virginia. it starts with doing away the road blocks the administration

is throwing up by passing this resolution and us moving on to legislate commonsense environmental review reforms. we are told that in september, senate democrats will cast aside their regulate-first philosophy and pass strong permitting reform legislation. after years of regulatory actions that decimated energy production in my state and permitting delays that have held up important infrastructures across the country, i'm skeptical that the democrats will reverse course next month. so here we have an opportunity to have a test vote as this nepa rule making reflects, the administration is hard at work creating more hurdles for our projects. if there isn't overwhelming bipartisan support for this riewks -- resolution of disapproval, that simply stops the permitting process from getting worse, then i don't know how anybody can believe that senate democrats will join to pass meaningful legislation

to make the process better. i urge my colleagues to vote for this resolution to free our country from the stagnation and endless delays the administration is pressing forward with. and with that, mr. president, i yield back. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from delaware. mr. carper: mr. president, normally at this time of the week senator capito and i are gathering in for a face-to-face meeting or maybe having a meeting by phone as she heads back to west virginia. today it looked like we weren't going to have a chance to meet, but here we are. ironically most of those conversations we have are, we're like in sync. most folks around the country probably think we never agree on anything here, but p we do, and we actually turn out to be pretty good friends.

a couple of west virginia kids here made out all right. it's always a pleasure to serve with her. the right to bipartisan infrastructure legislation. last week we were here to pass not one, not two, but three bipartisan pieces of legislation, a couple of them pretty big. recycling bills, another one dealing with the water resources development act for the army corps of engineers. we had one negative vote on the army corps of -- one. the recycling legislation, one of which was your bill, i think one was mine, and we were cosponsors all together. we had no opposition on those bills. i would say to folks who watch and say there they go again, you should have tuned in last week because we were on the same page. having said that, let me say that i rise today to speak on a joint resolution of disapproval to nullify president biden's national environmental policy act regulations oftentimes referred to as nepa, n-e-p-a.

last year as we draftedded legislation that became the bipartisan infrastructure law for our country, senator capito and i along with our colleagues on the environment and public works committee, to which my colleague from alaska is a valued member, and senator -- he's here and he's offered this, has offered this resolution today and will be back here in a minute, i'm sure. but as we drafted legislation, it became the bipartisan infrastructure law, senator capito and i along with colleagues on the epw committee considered ways to get infrastructure projects done more efficiently while maintaining environmental protections. i'll say that again. we considered a number of ways to get infrastructure projects done more efficiently while maintaining environmental protections. we included several changes that were reflective of those shared goals. in fact, we included quite a few of those changes. for example, i'll give an example of one of those, mr. president. the bipartisan infrastructure law codified something that is

called one federal decision, one federal decision preventing structure. it set a goal for completing environmental reviews of transportation projects within two years, within two years. it also authorized the federal permitting improvement steering council. but as we consider changes to the way we deliver infrastructure projects, we always try to make sure that we were not undermining important environmental safeguards. that sentiment reflects really the essence of the law that we call nepa. over 50 years ago, president richard nixon, a republican as you'll recall, signed this bedrock environmental policy into law with overwhelming bipartisan support. in the time since then, nepa has helped to ensure that federal actions protect our quality of life and avoid costly

environmental impacts. nepa is not just a means of protecting resources and conserving pristine environment. nepa also helps to improve federal decisions. how is that? by requiring agencies to take a hard look at the impacts of their agencies before they make decisions. before they make the decisions. for example, through their nepa process, just a few years ago officials in colorado -- here's a good example. officials in colorado heard robust public feedback when planning improvements on state highway number 9. that led them to take steps to minimize disturbances to communities and to the environment. the final project was ultimately delivered with lower emissions, less harm to wildfire -- wildlife and safer space for cyclists. these changes did not come at the cost of efficiency. the project was done on time and

under budget. this is only one of any number of examples that i could cite today. making smart decisions has never been more important. after all, the science is clear we must rapidly drive down greenhouse gas emissions if we hope to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. unfortunately, the trump administration made changes to the nepa rules. these changes prevented agencies from considering how their actions impact climate change. and from taking commonsense steps to minimize environmental harm. the regulatory rollback also undermined public involvement in the federal decision-making process. this rollback harmed communities of color, including tribal and native alaskan communities that rely on nepa to defend their voices. fortunately the biden administration has taken steps to fix the error of these regulatory ■provisions, an under president biden's

instruction the council on environmental quality finalized a rule in april to make a narrow, targeted change to nepa regulations. one of the most important changes was restoring the requirement for agencies to consider the cumulative and indirect impact of their actions. considering such actions -- considering such impacts, rather, can help ensure we avoid actions that worsen climate change and negatively impact communities. president biden's nepa rule would ensure that agencies conduct environmental review process in a commonsense, holistic manner, one that neither sacrifices efficiency for environmental protection nor the other way around. this action comes at a critical time for our nation. the bipartisan infrastructure law will fund more than $1 trillion of investments in projects that will last not for years, but for decades and maybe even longer.

i believe the decision here is clear. the project under, projects under review today will either help address the climate crisis and protect communities or they'll exacerbate emissions and make us more vulnerable. we can build new facilities that are less emission intensive. we can build highway and bridges to withstand the kind of extreme weather we're experiencing all over this country. in fact, all over the planet. and we can save money while we do it with infrastructure that's built to last. blocking these regulations from taking effect is the policy equivalent of burying our heads in the sand. and unfortunately with the sea-level rising around us, and it is, during the course of debate on this one proposal today, we're going to see in the state of louisiana, where they have terrible sea-level rises

going on, every minute they lose a piece of land the size of a football field, and during this debate alone they will lose a lot more football fields in the days to come. resuming -- this will not -- it will not save the lives being lost, it will not stop asphalts from melting under extreme heat which was happening in england and over at the tour de france, tens of gallons of water had to be spilled on the course they are running the bicycle race. literally tens of thousands of gallons on the course. by addressing climate change now, -- if we don't address climate change, it will cost us

not just in dollars, but in lives. i urge my colleagues to vote on this well-intentioned resolution. it is a privilege to work with my colleague from alaska and we both wore the uniform of our country for many years, marine corps, navy salutes marine corps today. while i can't be with him on this one, we'll find other things we can agree on today. with that i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from alaska. mr. sullivan: i ask to be able to complete my remarks before the vote. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. sullivan: i want to compliment my friend from delaware. i do want to make just a comment to his comments. i would say -- i wouldn't say, i know there's no group that has

suffered more at the hands of the biden administration executive orders and far-left environmental groups than alaska natives. i know that for a fact. so i would invite my colleague to come up to alaska with me and i'll take you to these communities that can't do anything, no jobs, no nothing because every far-left group in america wants to shut down opportunity. it happens all the time. i would like to bring him and others up to alaska to see that. when people talk about alaska native groups and try to speak for them, unfortunately some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle try to do that, no way. you're not going to get away with this one. so, mr. president, we have a resolution that we will be voting on in ten minutes. this is the congressional review act resolution. i spoke a number of times about this. what we call a c.r.a. is simple. it would rescind the new biden

administration nepa rule, that's the nepa rule promulgated in april that will clearly have the impact of slowing down literally every infrastructure project in america. the construction of roads, bridges, solar, hydro, even chip manufacturing facilities, pretty much everything will be slowed down by this. pretty straightforward. our resolution just says we want to rescind the resolution, the regulation from april. but, mr. president, the vote on this is much more significant than just one senate resolution. it is a test for all senators on two key issues. first, are you really serious

about permitting reform so that america can build the infrastructure that everybody knows our country desperately needs, and, second, who do you stand with? the working men and women of our great nation who build things or the far-left elite special interest groups who want to shut this country down. so let's take these two issues in order, mr. president. first, permitting reform. my colleagues know this is a passion of mine. actually it's a passion of a number of senators. it sound wonky, it sounds boring, it sounds technical, permitting reform, but in reality it is so important for our nation, for every community in america, for the dignity of work, for good jobs in this country, and here's why. we used to build big things in

america, engineering marvels on time, on budget, the source of pride for literally all americans, the envy of the world. we did that all the time. think about it. empire state building, 410 days to build, pentagon, biggest building in the world, 16 months, a little closer to home for me, the 1,700-mile ala alaska-canada highway through some of the ruggest terrain, 12 months, the alaska pipeline system, feeding a hungry nation, 800 miles, 70,000 sections of 48-inch pipe joined and welded together, three mountain ranges,

800 river beds from the arctic ocean to the pacific, three years. incredible. and why did we do this? why can we still do this in america? because we're the best workers, most productive workforce in the world. but unfortunately those days of building great things in america in an efficient, timely fashion are gone. we all know it. every mayor knows it, every city council member knows it, every governor knows it and, yes, every u.s. senator knows it. we see it every day. we don't see the great building of things, we see the other things. eight to nine years to permit a bridge, yes, in america, to permit a bridge. nine to 19 years to permit and build a highway. the gross water reservoir in

colorado for clean water took 20 years to permit. the kensington mine, a gold mine in alaska that is now employing hundreds of people, average wage $110,000, took 30 years to permit. mr. president, this is killing our country, our economy, and good jobs, and we all know it and we all know the reason for it. every single senator knows the reason, a broken federal permitting system that has turned into a labyrinth of red tape that invites and incentivizes delay and litigation by groups whose goal is to shut down the building of our country. everybody knows it. it is a fact.

now, how can i be so sure? because everybody in this body likes to talk about the need for permitting reform. so we can get back to building this country and putting americans who do these hard jobs to work. last year i worked hard with a number of my colleagues on the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which i voted on in the epw committee, my friend from delaware still here, we got permanent permitting forms, not enough in my view, but it was a good start. and today as we consider senator schumer reconciliation bill, which i oppose, we can be assured that senator schumer, speaker pelosi, and the president are committed to an

additional robust permitting resolution once their reconciliation bill passes. everybody's talking about permitting. we all know we need it. here's what happened, mr. president, in the meantime between the important but not as ambitious as i would have liked permitting farms in the infrastructure bill -- forms in the infrastructure bill last fall, but something happened. what happened? the biden administration promulgated a new nepa rule supported by far-left environmental groups that will clearly have the effect of slowing down permitting of infrastructure, inviting endless litigation and putting people out of work. and, mr. president, now one who has seriously looked at this broad, nebulous, and destructive biden rule disputes this. i read it.

it is a delay bomb for infrastructure. so here's the first test. it was noted in a very good recent "wall street journal" editorial this week. it's this, if all of my colleagues, but especially my democrat colleagues really support permitting reform so we can get back to building america, let's get rid of this destructive, overbroad, vague litigation-inviting rule. vote yes on my resolution. right now 50 republican senators are cosponsors of this resolution. to my democrat colleagues, join us, do the right thing for america. we'll all know that's the right thing for america. so here's the second test. i ask that you join us in doing the right thing for america and do it for doing the right thing for the workers who heroically

built this country and continue to do so today. now, mr. president, i love this photo, it's iconic. it says so much. i've had it on the floor a number of times. but these are the kind of men, women who built this great nation, hardworking americans doing incredible stuff. that's a lunch break, by the way, in the building of the empire state building. this shouldn't be hard to support the men and women who build this country and it shouldn't be hard for my democratic colleagues, who often claim to support the working men and women of america. and in the past, i certainly will acknowledge that has been true, but today, and i've learned this lesson the hard way back home in alaska, today whenever national democrats have to choose between the interest

of the far-left elite environmental groups and these men and women who produce things and build things in america, they sell out the working class every time. every time. i see this every day in my state. now, i mentioned this in a commerce committee hearing a few months ago. one of my democratic colleagues is a friend and almost everybody on the other side of the aisle is a good friend of mine, he got upset with me. he said, hey, that's not true. you shouldn't have said that. here's what i say. all right. prove it it today's vote is a chance to prove me wrong or prove me right. and here's why. and this is really important, mr. president. let's look at the lineup of the groups who support my resolution today and knows who oppose it. -- and those who oppose it.

now, this is just some of the 50 groups in america that are supporting my resolution that we're going to vote on here in a couple of minutes. and i'm very proud of in incredible broad and diverse group of americans who are saying vote yes on the sullivan resolution and they all have one thing in common, mr. president. they produce things and they build things for this great nation. take a look at this chart. it's kind of hard to decipher who's on it. let me give you a couple. american far bureau, cattlemen, farmers and ranchers, ag retailers, national grandstone gravel association, these are guys who build infrastructure, same with the u.s. chamber, same with the national association of manufactures, same with the

american fining association. of course the entire energy sector is supporting this. groups from alaska and resourced development sectors, groups from west virginia, groups from ohio. this is a huge, broad-based group of supporters. but, mr. president, i will tell you this. i am most proud of the strong robust support for my resolution from organizations that represent the men and women who build stuff and keep our country's economy humming. take look at some of them. the north american building trades union. that's all the unions that build things. the labors enter -- labors international, liuna, the largest construction trade union in the country. operating engineers. these guys do everything. another trade union. the alaska teamsters, the alaska

afl-cio. these are the great men and women who built this country and built the middle class of america. i have the utmost respect for them and indeed my family is part of this labor union heritage. my great-grandfather was one of the cofounders of the international brotherhood of electrical workers. that's a source of pride in my family. but here's a question. why are they all strongly supporting my resolution to rescind the biden nepa regulations? and it's simple answer, mr. president. because they know that these are job-killing regs. they know that these are the type of regs in america that delay or indefinitely stop the building of infrastructure in our country. and their members are the ones who suffer the most. and the dignity of the work, the dignity of work that we all say we care about also suffers.

don't take my word for it, mr. president. here's what some of the leaders of these organizations have said and they're great americans. let me begin with terry o'sullivan, the head of the labors international. this was his letter to the biden white house when they were contemplating this rule in april. just take a look. he said the rollback of updates to nepa reinstate burdensome requirements that will cause excessive permit delays and allow project adversaries, far-left environmental groups, to use frivolous lawsuits which they always do to disrupt or upend long overdue construction. once again communities in need of vital infrastructure and the hardworking men and women who

build america will be waiting as project details are subjected to onerous reviews. that was terry o'sullivan saying don't issue the rule. they ignored him. they ignored him because they chose the interest of the far-left environmentalists. here's james callahan writing in support of today's resolution. he's the head of the operating engineers. you want to talk about great unions, liuna operating engineers, these are the men and women who build things. this is an incredible statement and he nails it. and this guy really knows what he's talking about. since its modest beginnings, nepa has evolved into a massive edifice capable of destroying project after project, job after job and virtually -- in virtually every sector of the economy. dilatory strategies employed by the project opponents, far-left environmental groups, frequently

exploit provisions in nepa and raising costs to the point that many applicants, whether public or private simply walk away. and, mr. president, when they walk away, kills jobs. so that's from james callahan's letter, one of the 50 groups that's supporting this resolution. so, mr. president, the men and women who build our nation support my resolution like so many groups. so who is opposed? well, it's pretty simple. it's pretty obvious. it's the usual groups, far-left coastal elite, environmental groups who i see every day in alaska trying to crush jobs and stop infrastructure and put people out of work. others give a few, the usual suspect, center for biological diversity. code pink, not sure why they jumped in on this but friends of the earth. by the way, if you're watching the speech, go take a look at

some of the websites and see what they stand for. so that's who is opposed, mr. president. mr. president, one more point that i think is important to raise. to be honest there's something else going on here. not only is there always opposition by those groups to building anything in america, including my resolution regardless of how many pink slips result from the actions of these groups to shut down things, there is sometimes a subtle and not so subtle conden condenscion looking down on the americans who build things. workers can feel it. workers can sense it. no one epitomizes this condescending elitist attitude toward american workers than this guy. you might remember last year around this time, he was asked if the biden administration's

green new deal policies would put american coal and natural gas workers out of work and end their livelihoods. john kerry responded, quote, what president biden wants to do is make sure that those folks, men and women who build stuff, coal miners, natural gas workers, have better choices, better choices, that they can be the people who go to work to make solar panels. sure. better choices from a guy who flies in a jet, owns a 70-foot yacht, several mansions and has the carbon footprint of a small nation. yet he tells american energy workers to go make solar panels when the biden administration's regulations are killing their jobs. so i'll end with this, mr. president. back to the workers. when you're voting today, keep the heritage of these men and women in mind.

the biden nepa rule that we're trying to rescind today will kill jobs. i'm sure it's already killed jobs. that's why we need to rescind it. this should be an easy vote for all my senate colleagues today. if you really care about permitting reform so we can get back to building things in america, you should vote yes. if you really put the interest of working men and women like these incredible americans over those of elite, far-left environmental groups, you should vote yes. and if you truly support the men and women who build this country, feed this country, and grow this country, you should vote yes. i yield the floor and ask for the yeas and nays on this resolution. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from dwir. mr. carper: before we do that, i ask to be recognized for three minutes. the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. sullivan: mr. president, i'd like a vote. mr. carper: i ask for three

minutes, please. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. carper: thank you. i thank my colleague for not objecting. let's just stop for a moment before we vote. national environmental policy act was not signed into law by fdr, not signed into law by lyndon johnson, john kennedy. not signed into law by barack obama. signed into law by richard nixon with bipartisan support, strong bipartisan support. some 50 years ago. the reason for the law, they wanted president nixon and those who served in the congress at the time wanted to make sure that as we were proposing to build large infrastructure projects around the country with federal support, we wanted to make sure that the voices of the people whose lives would be affected by that would actually be heard. that was the idea behind doing this. we -- i've been in the senate 22

years. served on the environmental public works committee with others and privileged to chair the committee now. about every year or two, we pass major infrastructure legislation. a year ago the largest infrastructure bill in the history of the country, roads, highways, bridges, water, drinking water, waste water, you name it. just last week we passed with one dissenting vote water resources development legislation for the armies -- army corps of engineers to do projects all over america. i live in wilmington, delaware. i-95 goes right through wilmington, delaware. cuts my city in half. i-95 is being rebuilt for about a five-mile space from route 202 which goes up into pa on down to route 141. five miles right through the middle of our major city. it's going to be done in i think less than two years. imagine that, four lanes, six lanes, all the exits.

done in two years. talk about not being able to get a big project done. we're doing big projects in a little state all the time. the last thing i would say is our colleagues joe manchin and lisa murkowski co-hosted bipartisan meetings a month or two ago, six or seven or eight of them in the afternoon to talk about a path forward on reconciliation. but also talk about an infrastructure -- but also to talk about permitting, permitting reform. every time we do a major infrastructure bill, we do permitting reform. we do streamlining. we have done it. we did it last year and going to do it again with the water legislation, too. later after sometime this fall, september, october, we will do permitting reform debate and legislation again. we can't do it in the context of reconciliation because the parliamentarian won't let us do that. it has to be a stand alone

legislation. we'll have the opportunity to do that. people can offer their ideas, we'll debate them, vote them up or vote them down. i just wanted to add that for the record, mr. president. with that i guess we ought to ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: under the previous order, all time is expired. the clerk will read the title of the joint resolution for the third time. the clerk: calendar number 468, s.j. res. 55 providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, united states code of the rules submitted by the council on environmental quality related to national environmental policy act, implementing regulations revisions. the presiding officer: the question is on passage of the joint resolution. the nays and yeas have been previously requested. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: the yeas are 50, the nays 47. the joint resolution is passed. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session to consider the following not, which the clerk

will report. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary, roopali h.desai of arizonaphobe a united states circuit judge for the ninth circuit. the presiding officer: without objection, all time is yielded back. the question is on the nomination. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: the yeas are 67, the nays are 29, and the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered and laid upon the table and the president will be immediately notified of the senate's actions and the senate will resume legislative session. the presiding officer: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: madam president, for the information of senators, the senate will next convene on saturday at noon. the next vote will be at 12:30 p.m. on saturday on a motion to discharge a nomination. we expect to vote on the motion to proceed to the reconciliation legislation on saturday

afternoon. i yield the floor. i don't yet. now, madam president, i move to proceed to executive session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all those in favor say aye. all opposed, no. the ayes toop have it. -- app to have -- appear to have it the motion is agreed to. mr. schumer: pursuant to senate res, i move to discharge the epw for the nomination of david own for the environment protection agency. the presiding officer: there will now be up to four hours of debate on the motion equally divided between the two leaders or designees with no motions, points of order. mr. schumer: i ask that the nomination on the own nomination

occur on saturday at 6. i yield the floor. mr. sullivan: is the senate in a quorum call? the presiding officer: it is not. mr. sullivan: thank you, madam president. i just want to thank my colleagues for the vote that just occurred here on the floor of the united states senate, a bipartisan victory, 50-47, on the congressional review act that i had put forward with all of my republican colleagues to rescind the onerous, job-killing biden administration rule that came out in april that would make it harder to build things in america. it would make it harder to employ people, especially our incredibly productive american workers. so that just passed.

that was a reputation of the biden white house in a bipartisan vote on the senate floor. and here's the thing, madam president, even my senate colleagues -- because i was working the vote pretty hard down there in the well -- even my senate colleagues who voted against it, several of them came up to me and said, you know what, you're right. we've really got to fix nepa. it's killing the country. it's killing our ability to do anything. so that was an important vote but a good conversation is starting here. we have the best workers in the world. if we let them build, we can do great things again in terms of building this country and not let red tape, far-left environmental groups, regulations, endless litigation stop us. so i also want to thank, madam president, all the groups that

supported this resolution. i had a bigger -- i had a bigger sign down on the senate floor when i was giving an earlier speech, but this group, the groups that were supporting this legislation, ■verydiverse,over 50 groups, men and women who produce things, build things, grow the country. i want to thank them for great support of this congressional review act that just passed. i want to do a shoutout to the laborers, the operation engineers, the trade engineers, they want it to work, they know that this regulation is killing their workers' ability to do good jobs. we have a broken system of permitting and the endless litigation by environmentalists

who want to stop everything. but today was an important start and important vote on the floor of the senate showing america that a bipartisan group of senators will stand it up to these far-left groups and say, hey, you know what, we've got to build. we need to build. and that was the message here. we're going to try to move it in the house and get it on president biden's desk. he said he's blue-collar joe. let's see if he's blue-collar joe when this comes on his desk and if he will veto or not veto a bill that all the trade organizations in america support. i yield the floor. a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: senator from texas. mr. cruz: madam president, i

rise today to discuss the acute dangers to american national security that have formed and are deepening across the western hemisphere. these dangers have he could he'll he'sed -- coal he'sed because of the catastrophic policies by president biden and his administration. already nine governments across south america, central america and the caribbean are controlled by socialists. all of these governments, with only one exception, are also overtly and ideologically anti-american the they are committed to undermining american security and to endangering merntion -- americans. this weekend, on sunday, colombia will become the tenth government in the region controlled by the hard left when the country's new president will take office.

i am deeply worried that once he does, colombia will join the ranks of anti-american forces in latin america. pedro is the first openly marxist to be elected president to colombia. he was brought to power by clomma's -- colombia's leftist fringe. colombians have resisted marxism and rejected the hard left. the first reason for this is that marxists have long been violent guerrillas who wreaked havoc in colombia. the second reason is that colombians are well aware of what has happened in other latin american companies that have seen leftists seize power, cuba and venezuela, for example, have

endured socialist and communist regimes that have tortured, killed, silenced, dissidents have denied freedom, have driven countless people into exile, forcing many to flee or be murdered. people are rightly asking, what happened? the answer, unfortunately, is as straightforward as it is worrying. joe biden and his policies happened. the biden administration seems ideologically committed to systematically alienating our allies and empowering our enemies. in this goal, and perhaps only this goal, they have been wildly successful. since joe biden's been in office, we've seen forces for evil in iran, in afghanistan, in russia, in china, in venezuela,

in cuba gain strength while our friends and allies in israel, ukraine, hong kong and taiwan have felt abandoned and alone. and this pattern has been repeated in the western hemisphere. in mexico, we're seeing deepening civil unrest and the erosion of civil society. the breakdown of the rule of law across the southern border, a crisis directly caused by joe biden's policies and political decisions poses acute national security challenges and dangers to the united states. mexican president seems intent on making had these trends worse, and when i questioned the biden state department official on the mexican president's targeting of american companies and the nationalization of energy in mexico, he wouldn't

admit those were bad things. and if he's not willing to admit to the senate foreign relations committee that the leftist president of mexico targeting of american companies and the nationalization of energy in mexico are bad things, then we can be certain the biden administration is also unwilling to convey that to mexico. when we saw cubaians flood the street last summer yelling librate and waving americans flags, the biden administration couldn't even bring itself to come out with a strong support and statement for the people marching in the streets of cuba. in statement after statement, as protesters swept into the street, administration officials failed to uneequivocally support the protesters and failed to condemn the brutal thugs that the communist regime was sending

to assault, brutalize and silence the speech of cuban citizens seeking freedom. and when it came to colombia, the biden administration went out of its way to undermine and alienate the pro-american government of colombian president. president biden denied him a call for the first five months of administration, providing morale for his enemies. biden finally called him in june after his helicopter came under attack by antigovernment terrorists. and what was the reward biden had for the terrorists? just a few months later, biden removed the facr, the revolutionary armed forces of colombia from the list of terrorist organizations.

he also dismantled terrorism sanctions on individual farc members. it is an organization of marxist narco-terrorists would for decades have killed, kidnapped, and extorted colombians and seized and murdered american citizens. fark continues to pose an acute threat to american interests in the region, but the biden administration has treated it like other terrorist groups with weakness and appeasement and worse. just last week house republicans announced that the administration may well be distributing assistance to former fark terrorists. so the inevitable occurred. the colombian far left gained momentum and petro was elected. madam president, this is what happens. this is what always happens when

america abandons our friends. colombia has been an indispensable ally to the united states. our relationship stems back 200 years. we have deep economic and security ties. we provide colombia with almost a half billion dollars in aid every single year, a testament to the breadth and depth of our ties. petro says he will work hand in hand with nicolas maduro's oppressive regime in venezuela. he is looking to work with the national liberation army, a terrorist organization in colombia. he will embrace the farc. he says he wants to stop oil production and to roll back cooperation with the united states on stopping drug trafficking. in fact, petro seems deeply

committed to weakening and undermining the u.s. colombian relationship. i hope and pray that he doesn't weaken it. i hope and pray that his rhetoric and language in the past is not carried forward in policies what his -- when his administration begins. i want to see colombia remain a close u.s. ally. i don't want to see colombia follow the example of other socialist governments in the western hemisphere. we know where that leads. both cuban and venezuela -- cuba and venezuela used to be prosperous countries until leftists came to power. venezuela in 1950 was the fourth wealthiest country on the face of the earth. the united states was first. switzerland was second. new zealand was third and venezuela was number four. then socialist dictators came to power, including hugo chavez and

nicolas maduro and they destroyed much of that mighty nation. the quality of life deteriorated so much in venezuela that people are literally eating out of trash cans, in alleyways as they flee the country by the millions. in cuba, when batista staged a coup and became a brutal dictator in the 1950's, my father was a teenager in cuba and he fought against batista's cruel regime. my father was imprisoned and tortured. he was beaten in a cuban jail. he had his nose broken. he had his teeth broken out of his mouth. my father fled cuba in 1957 and came to america, came to texas seeking freedom. he had $100 in his underwear. he didn't speak english. he washed dishes making 50 cents an hour. in 1959 castro and the communist

revolution succeeded there. chart r shortly thereafter my father returned to cuba only to be horrified at the evil and oppression that castro had brought, at the murder, at the torture, at the suffering, at the poverty. my aunt, his kid sister was still in cuba. she fought in the counterrevolution against castro and she was imprisoned and tortured by castro's thugs. this is the future that may well be awaiting latin-american countries that embrace socialism. this is the pattern we've seen over and over and over again. petro was elected, but if he follows the pattern of other leftist dictators it may prove to be the last free election in colombia. so how is the biden administration handled petro's rise to power which their own weakness and their own appeasement facilitated with yet more weakness and apeasment.

both joe biden and secretary of state blinken efusively congratulated petro. how great, an anti-american marxist and a close ally of ours in latin america and they said they looked forward to working with him on shared interests. i hope those shared interests don't include undermining the united states of america. madam president, there is value and clarity. there is value in telling the truth about what socialism does to a country from bully pulpit of the united states. if the biden administration won't support american allies, if they will actively undermine american allies as they did the pro-american government of president duque and if the president won't check our adversaries, stand up to our enemies, then congress must. last month i introduced legislation that would reimpose terrorism sanctions on the farc

and on farc-related terrorists. those sanctions should never have been removed. and doing so highlighted the lack of respect and support for our friends and allies in colombia. joe biden delisting the farc contributed to the election of an anti-american marxist. my bill is a commonsense step. the foreign relations committee voted on my bill and sadly every senate democrat voted no. however, muscle of the damage -- much of the damage has already been done and this weekend petro will take office. american policy, i believe, must be recalibrated to acknowledge that reality. again i hope and pray that petro does not lead his country into the camp of anti-american socialists who have become aseen dants during the biden

administration but we would be reckless and maybe even delusional not to take him at his word because that is what he has said he intends to do. and so, madam president, i will shortly be introducing another bill, the caution act. colombia assistance used transparently by institutionalizing oversight now. this bill will comprehensively condition all of our aid to colombia based on what path pet free will choose. if he cuts back defense coordination with the united states, my bill will ensure that it gets no more money for security coordination. if he cuts back cooperation on drug trafficking, my bill will ensure he gets no more money for counternarcotics. and if he refuses to help dampen illegal immigration, my bill will ensure he gets no more money for development assistance. i'm not interested in giving

anti-american leftists american tax dollars as aid. i believe our foreign policy should use carrots and sticks in order to incentivize other countries to behave in a way that benefits american interests and strengthens our friendships and a way that discourages countries from seeking to harm and undermine the united states of america. this is an inflection point. and america must be clear. we don't support marxists in latin america and any leftist leader who chooses socialism will be held accountable by the united states and at a minimum will no longer be funded by the u.s. taxpayers to undermine our great nation. i hope this bill earns bipartisan support because standing up for the interests of

america and standing up to save the u.s.-colombian friendship and alliance is a national interest that transcends partisan lines. if president biden won't stand up for america, then i hope and pray that the congress will. i yield the floor. a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from arkansas. mr. boozman: as cochair of the senate recycling caucus, i'm -- i'm offering the efforts to reuse material in a manner that gives it a second life. unless we were talking about recycling bad ideas. the reckless tax-and-spend plan the white house and the majority are threatening to bring forth once again is a terrible idea to revive. the senate wasted almost all of

2021 chasing this apparition. now here we are over a year later, and our economic situation is much more dire. inflation is over 9%. the highest in more than four decades. many economists predict we were headed for a recession by next year. there are indications we're already there. americans feel this daily as the prices at the pump and the grocery store eat away at disposable income and home price affordability becomes a thing of the past. according to a cnn poll last month, 64% of americans feel the economy is currently in recession. but president biden and allies of his think that raising taxes, eliminating jobs, and spending billions more will somehow help. their wild claim that all this

will reduce spending was almost debunked by a model which enacted the bill will have mo measurable impact on inflation. americans are struggling with high prices at every turn. yet the majority wants them to pay billions for green new deal programs that could exacerbate energy security and food security concerns while using fuzzy math to sell as fighting inflation. their message to americans is we are sorry you're paying so much for every necessity you need, but we really have to plant some trees in brooklyn. that's right, tree equity, a green new deal program resurrected for this bill is the majority's secret weapon to fight inflation. as lead republican on the senate ag committee, i can attest to how our section of the bill is chock full of misplaced priorities like this.

but worse than that, when it comes to agriculture policy, this bill sets a particularly bad precedent for farm bill programs. if they go down this road, we very well might be looking at reconciliation as the only way that future farm bills are actually written. whoever holds the pan has the fate for vital programs that farmers and ranchers depend on, not to mention nutrition programs that help low-income families and policies that allow conservationists to achieve our shared goals. we haven't had a single hearing on this bill. yet its agricultural title spends $40 billion, a huge amount allocated with no input from stakeholders, republicans, and quite frankly most democrats. the majority is extending conservation programs until 2031, well beyond the life of the next two farm bills.

deliberately taking away congress' ability to change the focus of these programs or how they operate. the bill unilaterally creates a multibillion dollar slush fund for farm bill priorities shared by the president and his allies. that's a terrible idea for any legislation much less a bill that is historically written in a very bipartisan fashion. the current farm bill passioned this chamber with a record number of yes votes on the floor. my goal as current ranking member is to top that, to say this reckless bill jeopardizes the chances of that would be an understatement. we have never written a farm bill in this manner. it is antithetical to how the senate and the ag committee in particular should operate. we have a storied history of working together at the agriculture committee. our stakeholders value the fact that we approach the issues they face together rather than as republicans and democrats.

they appreciate that their voices are heard. unfortunately with this decision, the majority has changed that dynamic. in their zeal to pass their reckless tax-and-spend agenda, they have undermined one of the last successful bipartisan processes remaining in the senate. with that i yield the f -- with that, i yield the floor. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from nebraska. mrs. fischer: madam president, while we haven't yet seen any bill text for this reckless tax-and-spending bill, we have seen an outline of it, heard some chatter about it, snippets about it it about what is in this reconciliation bill. so, madam president, let me

state the obvious. billions of dollars in reckless spending and major tax hikes, they will not solve the economic crisis our nation finds itself in. yet somehow this concoction of truly terrible economic policies, it is exactly what my colleagues on the democratic side are pursuing. let's start with the tax hikes. in the schumer-manchin bill, they have proposed imposing a corporate minimum tax on those big, bad corporations. well, 50% of this change would be borne by the manufacturing industry, an industry that both republicans and democrats have been trying to grow. we've been trying to grow that, not harm it with bad policies. manufacturers recent already struggling to navigate inflation

and supply chain crisis. but this bill will punish manufacturers, and there is no question that this would hurt the middle class by raising prices and lowering wages. at a time of historic inflation, manufacturers will have no choice but to pass on higher prices to the consumer. that's just one part of it. democrats say the rich should pay their fair share. okay, let's look at that. a nonpartisan analysis of the entire bill found that it would cause a $16.7 billion tax increase for american taxpayers earning less than $200,000 in 2023. president biden is going back on his promise and raising taxes for those earning less than

$400,000. and he's doing this during a recession. what about the claim that this proposal will address inflation? the penn wharton budget model, which senator manchin frequently i think coulds for producing the best economic analysis, found the proposal produces no meaningful reduction in the deficit or with inflation. any suggestion otherwise is insulting to the intelligence of the american people. okay, now let's look at the spending. why during a time of significant economic hardship should the american people be on the hook to fund $369 billion in incentives to the green new deal businesses to promote those energy policies?

can anyone in this chamber argue with a straight face that subsidizing tesla purchases will help to ease inflation? i can tell you, it certainly will not help working families. then there's the $80 billion for the irs, which is six times the agency's current annual budget. our folks on the other side of the aisle once again are trying to hire a new armada of irs agents, 87,000 to be exact. and this would unleash a wave of new audits. now you half of those new audits would hit americans making $75,000 or less. you know,we've been here before. the public does not want this deal. the bottom line?

it's clear this economy is not working for the american people. the biden administration's policies have saddled this country with two consecutive months of negative economic growth, which is the definition of a recession. 9.19% inflation, a negative inflation adjusted pay for workers. and more americans than ever before are now holding two full-time jobs. in the face of all this hardship, we need real solutions, not more of the same backwards spending policies. the cute name that senator schumer and manchin have come up with for their proposal should not hide these facts. and the facts are, massive tax

hikes and billions of dollars in reckless government spending. that is the last thing our country needs right now. so why are we even debating such a terrible bill? a short history lesson may offer some answers. people may recall something called the cornhusker kickback, an agreement in 2009 between my predecessor and senator harry reid. in exchange for a special carve-out, only for nebraska, to reduce the cost of enacting obamacare in our state, my predecessor agreed to vote for obamacare. well, the kickback, once public, it angered and it embarrassed

nebraskans. history often repeats itself, and from what i am hearing, it seems as though we have a new kickback -- the mountaineer kickback, a deal only for west virginia. tax hikes and reckless spending that all of us will have to bear in exchange for a pipeline. i'll close by saying again, this is not an inflation reduction bill. like a bad hollywood franchise that just won't die, this is simply the third installment in the build back broke trillology. i hope it does as poorly in the box office as the first two. i yield the floor.

the presiding officer: the senator from north dakota. mr. hoeven: thank you, madam president. i'm pleased to join my colleagues in talking about the tax-and-spend bill that's being put forward by our colleagues on the other side of the aisle. i rise today to discuss the harmful economic consequences that this tax-and-spend bill will have on american families. americans are facing soaring inflation that we haven't seen in generations. in june the consumer price index was up.1% from a year -- was up 9 pitted 1% from the -- 9.19% from the year before. the news last week that our gdp shrank for a second consecutive quarter is only further evidence of this administration's failed economic policies.

now my colleagues across the aisle are doubling down on their failed approach proposing to increase taxes on nearly every single hardworking american by $750 billion, and spending $370 billion on a green new deal policy. and again don't just take my word for it. analysis by the joint committee on taxation shows this bill will increase taxes on millions of americans across every income bracket with more than half of the tax increase impacting americans making less than $400,000 a year. next year alone the bill will increase taxes by $16.7 billion on american taxpayers earning less than $200,000, a clear violation of president biden's promise to not increase taxes on americans he were less than $4 00,000 a year. further, the joint tax analysis

also shows that the corporate tax increases in this bill would overwhelmingly hurt u.s. manufacturers, u.s. manufacturers, with nearly 50% of the corporate tax increase hitting the manufacturing industry. manufacturers are already struggling with inflation, supply chain disruptions and an intending recession. this tax increase would undermine u.s. manufacturing investment in critical research and development and in emerging technologies, and it will also result in higher costs for american families. think about that young couple start something out, l. theythey have to buy a couch, a refrigerator, all these things. they are real estate going to pay higher prices. i mean, that tax is going to impact them on the manufactured goods they need, regardless of their income or their ability to pay. that's increasing inflation in this country, and inflation is the cruelest tax because it hits lower-income people the hardest.

not only that but the bill, as i say you will actually increase inflation. an analysis by economists at the university of pennsylvania and the federal reserve, moody's analytics, the c.b.o. all show that it will not reduce inflation. when you look at things like the tax on not just manufacturing but other companies that produce oil and gas, here we are fighting with the highest prices we've seen at the pump in years that people pay every time they pull up to fill up their car. and not only will it increase taxes, that will exacerbate the cost of fuel at the pump. it's going to impact the price of groceries at the grocery store. at a time when we're not only fighting inflation, we're fighting economic stagnation. stagflation, something we haven't had this in country since the late 1970's and the

early 1980's. economists at the nonprofit tax foundation have projected this bill will reduce long-term economic output, reduce average wages, and eliminate 30,000 full-time jobs. let me repeat that. economists at the nonprofit tax foundation have projected that this legislation will reduce long-run economic output, reduce average wages, and eliminate 30,000 full-time jobs in this country. rather than tightening our fiscal belt and reducing spending, democrats are continuing down the same old path that that is led to record-high inflation on the verge of recession, increasing taxes and more federal spending will not reduce inflation. it will not create jobs. it will not lower gas prices, which are still about 60% higher than they were just a year ago. instead, we should be empowering our domestic energy producers, restoring or energy

independence, reducing our reliance on foreign oil imports and creating more jobs here at home, not eliminating 30,000 jobs, creating more jobs. less spending, less taxation, less regulation gets this economy growing. this bill does just the opposite. democrats are proposing new energy taxes and a green new deal-style subsidy that will only worsen our current energy crisis and weaken our nation's economic and our energy security. and energy security is national security. as part of the $370 billion in spending on the green new deal subsidies, this bill includes $51 billion to extend and modify the production tax credit to subsidize already profitable wind, solar and geothermal industries; $27 billion to establish the greenhouse gas reduction fund to deploy

low-carbon in disadvantaged communities, $300 billion for a safety and affordable transportation program, $3 billion for environmental and climate justice block grants. further, the bill includes new taxes on natural gas and increased fees and royalty rates for oil and gas produced on federal land which will only result in higher costs for american families at the pump, at the gas station a or their utility bills and higher prices for goods across the board because all of those goods have to be transported to the grocery story. you don't just see it at the pump, you see it at the grocery store. you'll see it on manufactured goods as well. low-income people are going to be paying those higher prices. more inflation. that means the tax hits them. gas prices are already