the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. the chaplain, dr. barry black, will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. our father in heaven, we've seen of your steadfast love and proclaim your faithfulness to all generations. lord, make us one nation, truly wise with righteousness, exalting us in due season.

today inspire our lawmakers to walk in the light of your countenance, abide with them so that your wisdom will influence each decision. keep them from evil so is that they will not be brought to grief, enabling them to avoid the pitfalls that lead to ruin. empower them to glorify you in all they think, say, and do. and, lord, we thank you for our faithful senate pages. we pray in your loving name. amen. the presiding officer: please join me in reciting

the pledge of allegiance to the flag. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the presiding officer: the clerk will read a communication to the senate. the clerk: washington, d.c., august 6, 2022. to the senate: under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable tammy baldwin, a senator from the state of wisconsin, 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. and, under the previous order, the senate will proceed to

executive session and resume consideration of the motion to discharge, which the clerk will report. the clerk: motion to discharge david m. uhlmann of michigan to be an assistant administrator of the environmental protection agency from the committee on environment and public works.

mr. schumer: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: madam president, we approach the culmination of one of the most productive stretches in recent senate memory. it began almost two months ago when in the wake of unimaginable bloodshed in buffalo and uvalde the senate came together and passed the first gun safety law in nearly 30 years. a few weeks later, in the face

of damaging -- of the damaging semiconductor shortage, the senate approved the largest investment in american manufacturing and scientific research in decades. this week we finally told american veterans with cancer, lung disease, and other terrible ailments that their wait for the their benefits was over by passing the pact act. and a few days ago, as russian aggression towards ukraine continues, we swiftly approved the accession of sweden and finland to the nato alliance, greatly strengthening that alliance in the face of russian aggression. gun safety, chips, veterans, nato -- all of this we got done in under six weeks, and now we have one more groundbreaking item left, the most important of them all -- the inflation reduction act. passing any one of these bills in a summer would be

significant, yet with we are on the verge of getting all of them done before the august state work period. in a few hours, we will formally begin the process of passing the inflation reduction act of 2022 by voting on the motion to proceed. our meetings with the parliamentarian have now largely concluded, and we thank her and her staff for their hard work and diligence on such a large bill in such a short period of time. and now that our meetings with the parliamentarian have largely concluded, we have a bill before us that can win the support of all 50 democrats. i'm happy to report to my colleagues that the bill we presented to the parliamentarian remains largely intact. the bill, when passed, will meet all of our goals -- fighting climate change, lowering health care costs, closing tax loopholes abused by the wealthy, and reducing the deficit.

this is a major win for the american people and a sad commentary on the republican party, as they actively fight provisions that lower costs for the american family. as the inflation reduction act works its way through the floor, the american people are going to learn an unmistakable truth about this proposal. it was written first and foremost with the american people in mind. it reduces inflation, it lower their costs, and it fights climate change. for seniors who will face the indignity of rationing medications for skipping them altogether, the inflation reduction act will lower prescription drug costs and finally cap out-of-pocket expenses. for families that have fallen behind on the electric bill while trying to stay cool through a heat wave, this bill will lower energy costs and provide the largest investment

in clean energy ever in american history. for every child deprived of clean air in a neighborhood where they can play safely outside away from smog and exhaust fumes, this bill will help reverse air pollution and help clean up communities that have endured the shadow of a congested highway and industrial site. and, as the most significant action of climate change ever, it will help deliver our children and grandchildren the planet they deserve. the inflation reduction act was written with the american people in mind, families having you s&ling to pay the -- families struggling to pay at bills, children with sinema from pollution, seniors who can't afford lifesaving medications. this bill is senator them. for many years, many in washington promised to address of the biggest challenges facing our nation only to fall short. many have talked about the need to act on climate change, need

to hold drug companies accountable, the need to make the tax code fairer. but when previous efforts have fallen short, this is not majority is on the verge of succeeding. after years of trying, we will finally empower medicare to negotiate the price of prescription drug costs. after years of trying, we will finally cap out-of-pocket expenses and make vaccines free for our seniors. after years of trying, after years of americans calling for action, particularly our young people, congress will pass the largest clean energy package ever. we will cut emissions by 40% by 2030, helping us avert the worst consequences of a warming planet. that's a huge goal, and we're going to meet it. we'll prevent nearly 4,000 deaths and 100,000 sinema -- asthma attacks each year by

reducing air pollution. we'll save americans money on their utility bill by making it easier for them to tap into clean energy and expand incentives for utility companies to explore cleaner ways to generate power. we'll make it easier to finally usher in theater a of greater solar and wind power, battery storage and e.v.'s and bring manufacturing of this technology back to america. we'll restore coastlines, regenerate our forests, shield communities everywhere from the danger of droughts and sweltering heat waves. through it all, we will create more than nine million jobs over the next decade, good-paying union jobs, an average of nearly a million a year. so many of those jobs, as is said, will be good-paying union jobs. from the moment democrats announced the inflation reduction act, senate republicans have fruitlessly tried every approach under the

sun to lay a glove on our bill. first, they said our bill will make inflation worse. only to give up on that once everyone from larry summers to hamp paulson to seven nobel laureates said it would do the opposite. then they tried call -- tried calling it a bill on the middle class, before changing their minds, actually admitting the bill contains no tax rate increases at all for the middle class. in every turn they've resorted to the decades-old talking point of calling our bill nothing but wasteful spending, conveniently ignoring that our bill in fact lowers the deficit and is completely paid for. i will grant my republican colleagues that their task is not easy. by one measure, over 65% of americans support the policies in the inflation reduction act and other polls reflect the

same. republican haven't been able to get around the fact that americans like that we're letting medicare negotiate the price of prescription drugs. they like that we will close tax loopholes that allow billion-dollar companies to pay zero in taxes. and voices across the country, from nobel-winning economists to former treasury secretaries to even republican movie star ex-governors have all praised the inflation reduction act as an inflation-fighting, climate-saving, job-creating piece of legislation. at a time of seemingly impenetrable gridlock, the inflation reduction act will show the american people that when the moment demands it congress is still capable of taking big steps to solve big challenges. we will show the american people that, yes, we are capable of passing a historic climate package and rein in drug companies and make our tax code

fairer. we are able to make big promises and work hard at keeping them as well. we know that republicans will continue their mightiest to try and smear our work before the bill is passed. this isn't our first time going through the reconciliation process, and no one's going to be surprised when the other side comes up with wild, misleading, and wholly partisan amendments that have nothing, nothing to do with our bill. these efforts will not deter us, no matter how long it takes the senate is going to stay in session to finish this bill. in short, madam president, this is one of the most comprehensive and far-reaching pieces of legislation that has come before the congress in decades. it will help just about every citizen in this country and make america a much better place. we are not leaving until the job is done. the american people deserve

nothing less, so let us get to work today. i yield the floor. i ask unanimous consent that following the vote on the motion to discharge the uhlmann nomination, the senate execute the previous order with respect to the milstein nomination. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: and as in legislative session i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of s. 4785, which was introduced earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. 4785, a bill to extend by 19 days the authorization for the special assessment for the domestic trafficking victims fund. the presiding officer: without objection the senate will proceed. mr. schumer: i further ask that the bill be considered read three times and passed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i yield the floor.

the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. mcconnell: madam president. the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: eastern kentucky is again facing the threat of stormy weather and flash floods this weekend. emergency responders have been on the ground since the flooding began and will continue their critical role in the coming days, making sure that the federal government is stepping up as well. in addition to the governor and state lawmakers, i've been in personal contact with the president, secretary mayorkas and bessera, fema administrator criswell, going back to the

beginnings of this mc. fema has been with on the ground sips since day one providing enormous help with search-and-rescue operations. once rebuilding begins, their role will only be more important. with the president's major disaster declaration, fema is now authorized to send financial assistance directly to the flood victims. these funds will be critical to those who lost their homes in the flooding, especially since many lack flood insurance. to reach remote residents, fema representatives are going door to door and speaking directly to survivors in shelters to make sure everyone who qualifies for help actually receives it. the agency has already approved hundreds of thousands of dollars for affected kentuckians. fema is also helping pull together a wide swath of federal agencies to supplement the kentucky national guard and

state agencies. the forest service is already on the ground clearing debris from roadways. the small business administration is issuing loans to help employers rebuild. the army corps of engineers is ensuring all dams in the region remain operational. the federal response so far has been extraordinary. i've been proud to stand with the governor and kentucky's entire congressional delegation to help expand the number of counties receiving assistance and stream line the aid. kentuckians can vis the my official -- visit my official website to see the full list of services offered by federal agencies. the federal government has done an excellent job so far. the crisis is far from over. soon i'll i'll visit and take wi hear back to washington to make sure we stand by their side as we rebuild bigger and better

than before. now, on an entirely different matter, a year and a half ago democrats misread a 50u 50 senate as a -- 50-50 senate as a mandate for $1.9 trillion in party line reckless spending. the result has been the worst inflation in 40 years. with democrats in charge, working families are having to spend thousands of extra dollars each year just to tread water. grocery costs are through the roof. energy bills have skyrocketed. gas prices are more than a dollar higher than on inauguration day. american families are trapped in an inflation spiral, where many earned pay raises on paper, but even those buy them less and less every time they go to the store. because of democrats' historic failure on the economy, the american people have lost their patience. 90% say they're feeling anxious

about inflation. only 28% like what president biden is doing about it. and just 22% think we'll be in any better shape after another year of democratic leadership. but amazingly, senate democrats are misreading the american people's outrage for yet another reckless taxing-and-spending spree. democrats have already robbed american families once through inflation, and now their inflation is to rob american families yet a second time. democrats want to ram through hundreds of billions of dollars in tax hikes and hundreds of billions of dollars in reckless spending. and for what? for a so-called inflation bill that will not meaningfully reduce inflation at all and will actually make inflation even worse in the short term. for a so-called economic bill that will kill american jobs and hammer our manufacturing sector? for a so-called climate bill that will have no meaningful

impact on global temperatures whatsoever? for a so-called prescription drug bill that will result in fewer lifesaving medicines and higher prices for the new cures that are invented? every fact i've laid out has come from nonpartisan experts and academics. democrats bill will do nothing to meaningfully cut inflation. hundreds of billions of dollars in tax hikes on a struggling economy will help kill american jobs everywhere except the irs, that is, where the bill would fund the hiring of -- listen to this -- 86,000, 86,000 new tax collectors, plus new cars and new computers. jacking up americans' electricity bills and gas prices in order to subsidize rich people buying luxury cars will not make one dent in the future trajectory of global

temperatures. democrats will choke off development of new lifesaving medicines if they pretend making things cheaper by passing a law saying they ought to be cheaper. survey after survey, poll after poll has proven none of this nonsense is what the american people want democrats to focus on. the american people p don't want hundreds of billions of dollars in new green deal waste. they want less inflation, not more. many american families don't want tens of thousands more irs agents. what they'd like are more border patrol and i.c.e. agents. american families don't want democrats policing what kinds of stoves and clothes dryers they can put in their homes. what they want is for democrats to actually start policing our city streets. democrats have decided their first economic disaster justifies a second economic disaster. the working people of this

country feel very, very differently. now on a related matter, i want to drill down on democrats' plan to take a buzz saw, a buzz saw to the research and development behind new lifesaving medical treatments and cures. the american people have enough common sense to know that the government can't actually make something cost less by making it illegal to raise the price. let me say that again. the government can't actually make something cost less by making it illegal to raise its price. this is the logic of college sophomore socialism. it's not fair that certain things cost more than we'd like. so why doesn't the government simply pass a lawmaking it cheaper? well, madam president, the world would be a lot easier for everybody if things actually worked that way. it would certainly be easier to be a member of congress.

we could vote to set the price of everything in america, snap our fingers, and everybody in the country would enjoy $5 smartphones, $10 tv's and $100 pickup trucks. what a concept. why hasn't anybody thought of this genius idea before? well, of course people have thought of it before. plenty of governments have tried crude price-fixing -- cuba, venezuela, the old soviet uniong paradises, not pinnacles of prosperity or innovation. not the examples we would want to follow. everybody wants prescription drugs and complex medicines to be more affordable. everybody wants to help struggling families. that's a goal we all share. you know what will not achieve

that goal? empowering some biden administration bureaucrat to sit down at a desk and arbitrarily name the price that manufacturers can charge. democrats' policy would not bring about some paradise where we all get amazing new innovations we would have gotten anyway at a lower cost. the policy would bring about a world where many fewer new drugs and treatments get invented in the first place. as companies cut back on r&d. by one analysis, if democrats' price-fixing scheme had already been in place, 104 of 110 major new medicines released in the past decade may never have made it to the market. we would literally have fewer lifesaving cures and treatments.

more americans would die, and die younger under democrats' policy. and the new drugs that did still get invented would be more expensive when they hit the market. that's according to nonpartisan congressional budget office. so, madam president, during the obama administration, i worked with then-vice president biden on a project he was especially passionate about. i was proud to help launch his n moonshot within the 21st century cures bill. the bill president biden wants to ram through this weekend would reduce cancer spending by more than nine times as much, nine times as much as our cancer moonshot expanded it. so i'll say that one more time. according to one expert, this far

far-left takeover of america's medicine cabinets would destroy nine times as much cancer funding as we've provided with the cancer moonshot. we're talking about a tidal wave of washington meddling, wiping out future treatments and cures for americans suffering with rare diseases. what a terrible, terrible and tragic part of their reckless plans. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the motion -- the question is on the motion to discharge. mr. durbin: i ask for the sns. the presiding officer: is there a sufficientsufficien t -- is there a sufficient

second 1234 there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: have all senators voted? does any senator wish to changes his or her vote? if not, the yeas are 51, the nays are 39, and the motion is agreed to. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to the consideration of the following nomination, which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, department of state, constance j. milstein, of new york, to be ambassador to the republic of malta. the presiding officer: without objection, all time is yielded back. the question is on the nomination. is there a sufficient second? there is. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: the yeas are 56, the nays are 35, and the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table and the president will be immediately notified of the senate's actions. the senate will resume legislative session. a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from delaware. mr. coons: madam president, i ask unanimous consent there be a period of morning business for debate only until 3:00 p.m. with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each and senator schumer be recognized at 3:00 p.m. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. coons: madam president, i rise briefly to speak to a unanimous consent request i'm going make a moment. the presiding officer: the

senate will come to order. mr. coons: i'm pleased we will consider the nomination of dr. monde muyangwa to be assistant administrator of africa for aid. this is -- the strategic challenges that we see in africa need to be met by an outstanding development professional. as the ongoing russian aggression continues to have widespread food crises, the people of africa need to know that the people of the united states will support them, will work with them and be a great partner in their development. i'm about to ask unanimous consent for the confirmation of a nominee who has a long and deep experience in this area. the director of the wilson center africa program, long-time dean of the africa center for streetic studies at the national defense university, a professor, a nonprofit leader, a development professional, a road

scholar, someone who will represent us very well. with that, madam president, i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to executive session to consider the following nomination. calendar number 815, monde muyangwa to be an assistant administrator for the united states agency for international development, that the senate vote on the nomination without intervening action or debate, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, that the president be immediately notified of the senate's action, and the senate resume legislative session. the presiding officer: without objection. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, united states agency for international development, monde muyangwa of maryland to be an assistant administrator. the presiding officer: the question occurs on the

nomination. all those in favor say aye. all those no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the nomination is confirmed. mr. coons: thank you, madam president. with that i yield to my colleague from the state of illinois. mr. durbin: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: first let me say i'm joining in with the action just taken by the senate led by senator coons who has shown an extraordinary gift in understanding the importance of the african continent and the people that need to be part of its future. i wholeheartedly support the effort which he initiated on the floor this afternoon. and i believe that dr. muyangwa is going to be a valuable asset to aid and to africa, and i think him for his leadership in bringing this issue before us today. madam president, on a separate subject, madam president, the united states has done some

good, important, even historic work this week. on tuesday we passed the pact act, expanding v.a. health care to an estimated 3.5 million veterans. their service to our nation exposed them to potentially deadly toxic chemicals from agent orange in the vietnam conflict to toxic burn pits which we found to be ubiquitous in iraq and afghanistan. it took too long. 12 years. toxic-exposed veterans and family members had to stand on the steps of the capitol literally, camped out for five days and nights to remind us that the veterans suffering from toxic exposure deserve care as surely veterans injured by bullets and bombs. but in the end thank goodness we did the right thing. the vote to pass the pact act was 86-11. 86 votes in a 50-50

democratic-republican chamber, it was a republican bipartisan roll call. and then we made history this week when the senate voted to ratify the entry of finland and sweden to nato. vladimir putin gambled that russia could seize ukraine in just a few days, could use his victory to shatter nato's unity, and to deepen divides around the world. vladimir putin again was dead wrong. nato is more united, larger, and more powerful than ever while vladimir putin has become an international pariah. russia's military is bogged down in ukraine suffering heavy losses and the russian economy is staggering under the weight of global sanctions imposed by the freedom-loving nations of the world against russia. the senate voted in favor of enlarning nato -- enlarging nato

to include sweden and finland was 95-1. 95 votes in favor of it in a body that is divided equally, 50-50. two major achievements in just two days, both with huge bipartisan majorities. that's proof for the doubters that the senate can work together when the need is urgent and the solutions are just. now we are debating another historic plan that should have the support of both parties. i listened to the speeches each day on the floor of the senate, and every day our republican colleagues stand on the floor and say it's about time we did somebody about inflation. they know that's exactly the way the american families feel, and i feel as well. and then sadly when given a chance as they will be in just a few minutes, my republican friends try to stop legislation that will lower the cost and

give american families a break on their cost of living. all the speeches notwithstanding they refuse to vote for a provision which will actually lower families' living costs. they oppose cutting taxes for families. they oppose banning price gouging by oil companies. they oppose cutting health care premiums. they oppose extending the child tax credits. they oppose low low lowering prescription drug prices but we're going to give them another chance to do the right thing. they're going to have a chance to actually lower some of the big ticket costs which at the give all their speeches about and listen to this bonus, reduce the deficit at the same time. yes, the democrats have a proposal which will reduce our national debt by $300 billion. our plan is called the inflation reduction act. it does exactly what it says and even more.

the inflation reduction act will cut energy costs now and in the future by deploying american-made clean energy and by making the biggest investment to battle the climate crisis in u.s. history. you can't miss on the news the terrible things that have happened in the commonwealth of kentucky in the last week. horrible things. 37 people, at least 37 people have lost their lives with the flooding in that state. they go to these remote rural villages and you just -- it breaks your heart to look at the devastation. and the reporters go to families still i guess trying to get back to their feet, trying to imagine tomorrow and do these interviews. and many times the people are clearly in pain and distraught over their personal losses. there was one man i remember yesterday particularly. he did not appear to be the kind

of person who spends a lot of time thinking about congressional issues or even great political issues. he was a fella, a hardworking fella who just lost his home. you know what he said? he said this is climate change. what you're looking at here is climate change. i've lived in this town for 40 years and i've never seen anything like that. and i can't imagine if it comes again. for him to use the words climate change really were an eye-opener for me because it means that he is sensitized to the reality that we face in this world. extreme weather has become the norm in our country, whether it's an extreme drought, an extreme flooding situation, more tornadoes than ever at different times of the year. the list goes on and on. some people think it's just god being restless. i think there's more to it.

i think we, those of us who inhabit this planet earth bear some responsibility. and the question is when we give speeches, when we lament these extreme weather events or will we do something? that's why this bill that's coming up today, starting today, subject to amendment, is so important. we can't allow our energy and national security to be dictated by some foreign power or some foreign leader like vladimir putin or anyone else who didn't share america's national interest. the inflation reduction act which is coming before us invests in clean new american energy sources so that our future can be determined by american ingenuity, not by some foreign cartel or some kremlin crept contract. -- crept toe contract. earlier the senator from kentucky came to the floor and talked about the police check on

people whether they're buying certain products or not buying certain products. that's not what this bill is about. the incentives are there. it is a time for my family -- is it time for my family to buy a heat pump? i'll take a look and see. tax incentives, tax credits could be an incentive for me to make my decision with my family and my wife. that's all we're offering, incentives for people to choose the right things, the environmentally smart things to deal with climate change. the more energy solutions we discover, the cheaper our energy bills will be. importantly, the inflation reduction act will enable the united states -- listen to this -- to cut greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 40% by the year 2030. we have a lot of young pains who come and work here in the su summer. their energy is a sight behold.

they probably listen to this debate and wonder if these politicians, these senators and congressmen really do care about the planet they'll be living on, raising their own families, building their own futures while this bill is an indication we do care. and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions not only does the right thing for america, it sets an example for the world. despite all the excuses, there's no excuse for ignoring climate change as that poor fella in kentucky made obvious. for anyone who still says global warming is a hoax and i guess there's a handful of those folks left or admits it's real and says we just can't afford to fix it, know this. the cost of ignoring the climate crisis are now far greater than dealing with it. a recent analysis by the office of management and budget warns if left unchecked, climate change could reduce our nation's gross domestic product by 10% and cost americans $2 trillion a year by the end of the century, $2 trillion in the production of

goods and services. to put that in perspective, that's about a third of the entire u.s. budget this year. in case you're dismissing these warnings because they happen to come from a democrat or from a biden administration, maybe you should listen to deloitte, a well known accounting firm in this country. their center for sustainable management. they released a report in may that estimated left unchecked, climate change will cost the global economy $178 trillion for the next 50 years. if rising sea levels don't swamp us, rising costs of ignoring climate disasters very well may. the inflation reduction act will enable us to make reasonable changes now that will pay for themselves many times over. it will also cut families' health care costs in four important ways. first, we extend the enhanced affordable care act subsidies

for 13 million americans for three more years. madam president, i was so surprised recently that there are still eight million americans uninsured. there should be none. our goal is none. but we've made such dramatic progress cutting by a third to a half the number of people uninsured since the passage of the affordable care act. have you ever had a young child in your family who was sick and you worried because you had no health insurance as to whether they would be seen by the right doctor, the right hospital? i went through it. it happened right after our first child was born. we didn't have health insurance. i never felt more vulnerable and i never felt -- had an emptier feeling when it came to being a father caring for his child as to not have health insurance and worry about that. i don't think any family should ever have to go through that. it's an experience i will never forget. second, our plan allows medicare to finally negotiate fair prices

for prescription drugs. i listened to the republican leader on the floor this morning talking about what a terrible idea that is. well, i just want to suggest to him we've been doing that at the veterans administration for years. they've been gerkting -- negotiating pharmaceutical prices so our veterans get affordable drugs and taxpayers get a break and don't have to subsidize them. that to me is just common sense and it's humane. the notion that we're going to extend that to medicare recipients is not a radical idea. it involves something that we think is fundamental to our free market economy. competition. if these pharmaceutical companies want to sell their drugs to the medicare recipients, we say to them let's negotiate on a certain number of those drugs reasonable prices. now, some people say that's too much government. government stepping in there and trying to establish the prices that will be paid for these pharmaceuticals.

well, i would say to the same pharmaceutical companies that are raising these objections look what you're doing today in canada. you take exactly the same drug made here in the united states, sold to americans at an inflated price, and sell it at a deep discount to people living in canada. why do you do it? is it out of the kindness of your heart? no. the canadian government stood up and said is you're not going to gouge canadian families. yes, we'd like to have your pharmaceuticals, but you cannot dictate the prices to us. we're going to negotiate those prices and the pharmaceutical companies set down and did it. not just in canada, but in europe. when you say the amendment is thing in the united states when -- when you say the same thing in the united states that they treat americans the same way, you have the senator from kentucky calling it a college sophomore socialist answer. i don't think so. i think it is common sense.

these pharmaceutical companies are some of the most profitable companies in the united states, year in and year out. they make money hand over fist, and i'm glad they do in many respects because they can invest in money in the next generation of drugs. and you say to yourself, wait a minute. if you're going to give them less for their product, they'll have less for research. not necessarily. because there's something you ought to remember that i think is very important. i want to make sure i get these figures right. the big pharmaceutical companies today spend more on advertising than on research. let meet give you a couple examples. bayier, one of the bayer, one of the makers of xarelto spent $18 billion on sales and marketing. how much did they spend on research for new drugs and new products? $8 billion. more than twice as much of their research budget went to be spent

on marketing and television advertisings. interdently, the united states is only one of two nations in the world that allows direct-to-consumer drug advertising. the other one is new zealand, if you can imagine. so they put all this money on television tieing drugs like xarelto. people said wait a main. maybe that's what i needed all along. how do you spell xarelto. well, they get it right because the ads keep coming after them hour after hour. they go to the doctor and say, i need xarelto. the doctor is is not going to debate his customers. he ends up writing a script for a high-priced drug like xarelto i johnson & johnson, they spent $22 billion on sales and market marketing t how much did they spend on research?

$12 billion. see the pattern here? do you -- not all of big pharma 's bucks go into tv ads. the drug corporations spent more on stock buybacks lining pockets of their c.e.o.'s than on r&d. remember what i just said. they took their profits, turned them into stock buybacks so that the wealthiest people in america got a better balance sheet, money that could have gone into research for new drugs, they diverted into profit taking. show this notion about saying that medicare should be able to negotiate more competitive and fairly priced drugs not unreasonable and isn't going to stop research. we know that. can i add one other element to it? each of these pharmaceutical companies has a benefactor, a major benefactor. think of it. it's an agency that generates research by the billions each year and the product of that

research, which is a suggestion for new drugs, for example, is literally given to the pharmaceutical industry to use and make a profit. what is that agency? the national national institutef health. it does the basic research by the federal government, paid for by american taxpayers, billions of dollars. it makes it available to pharmaceutical companies to develop the next generations of drugs. that's how it should be. but this notion that the pharmaceutical companies are just making it on their own and their own skills go ways beyond the obvious. nih is helping very much. we want to cut health care costs to make sure as well that seniors cap their out-of-pocket prescription drug costs at $2,000 a year. $2,000 a year still is a sacrifice for many seniors, but it's a reasonable amount. we know what's happening now. many seniors have drugs that they're supposed to be taking. they can't afford to fill the prescriptions. they take half the dose when they should be taking a full

dosage. that's the reality of the prescription drug pricing in america. is it a serious problem? well, just ask blue cross blue shield in chicago -- and i have. what's the impact of these inflated prescription drug prices on health care premiums? blue cross blue shield said to me, it's the number-one driver of increased health insurance premium costs. the cost of prescription drugs. so when we start bringing down these costs, we're also going to create a situation where we have less incentive to increase premiums for health insurance. fourth, we penalize drug companies if they try to increase the price of their drug more than the rate of inflation. that was another on the list of sophomore and college socialist ideas, according to the republican leader on the floor this morning. well, i think he's wrong. we know what happens to the price of these drugs year in and year out. they just don't go up with the cost of inflation. they go up by multiples.

it reaches a point people can't afford to pay them. that's got to come toen a end. five years ago the republicans used this same process we're using called reconciliation to pass a nearly $2 trillion tax bill that overwhelmingly benefited big corporations and the wealthiest people in america. and they put the whole boondoggle on the credit card. it was unpaid for, a tax cut unpaid for. they claimed their tax cuts would pay for themselves. dynamic scoring, they called it. instead, they blew up the national debt. our plan is paid for, and here's the bottom line. no one in america, no one earning less than $400,000 a year will see any increase in their taxes. now, the republicans say, well, if you raise taxes on the wealthiest people, it's going to hurt the poorest people. you know, when it gets right down to it, many of these corporations are extremely

profitable and paying no taxes. what's wrong with this picture in the average american family is paying its taxes, as law requires, yet these corporations have found an escape hatch to avoid paying any taxes whatsoever. if they pay any taxes, they're going to hurt the poor families? the poor families are doing their part to pay their taxes. it's time that's wealthy individuals and corporations did the same. instead of adding to the national debt, as our republican colleagues did with their tax tax cuts for the corporations and wealthy, our proposal will rues the deficit by $3 00 billion. that's on top of the $1.7 trillion we've already cut from the deficit thisser i do not. cutting the deficit reduces inflation pressure in the long run. we're lowering the cost of energy and health care. lastly, senator mcconnell and our republican colleagues seem to developed a grit respect for the economic wisdom of former

treasury secretary larry summers. i can't tell you how many times senator mcconnell has mentioned larry summers name, as if he's the great name of all the economic thirst in america. let me tell you what he says about our plan that we're going to vote today. he said, quote, if bill is fighting inflation. he also said, this is an easy bill to get behind. i didn't hear that this morning when senator mcconnell came to the floor and talked about his view of the this bill. larry summers was his expert previously. now he's ignoring him when summers says we ought to vote for this bill to reduce inflation. to our republican -- do our republican friends really want to tame inflation or come to the floor and complain? that's the choice they havement if they want to help, we have a plan. it's fair, it lowers inflation

it's what america is waiting for and looking for. i hope that a number of republicans will join us. i yield the floor. mr. cornyn: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: madam president, it's good to be back in the senate. like a new mexico of my colleagues -- like a number of my colleagues, after dodging the virus for two years, it final lay caught up with me last weekend. i spent a week in quarantine and fortunately experienced old mild symptoms. i think that was because i was fully vaccinated and boosted and i was going to have the help of modern science on my side. there's never been time to be

away from our work here in the senate. but we all have a responsibility to keep those around us safe as well, no matter how inconvenient. unfortunately, there are reports that our friends across the aisle may be intentionally disregarding that responsibility. i'm deeply concerned by published reports that our democratic colleagues have adopted a don't test, don't tell policy to ensure full attendance today. allegedly they're more concerned about ramming through senator manchin's tax hike than following the cdc good lines to protect not only themselves but countless others who keep this institution running. these folks would have any number of other health conditions that could lead to

more severe covid experiences than, for example, i had. or they could be caregivers for young children or elderly relatives who have a high risk of illness. i sincerely hope these reports are not true. i hope our democratic colleagues are not selfish enough to put so many people at risk in order to pass this massive tax-and-spending spree. so if any of our colleagues are experiencing covid symptoms, they should do what i did. they should get tested, period. we know that as soon as this evening, the senate is expected to vote on senator manchin's and senator schumer's massive tax hike on middle-class families. you could call it the manchin-schumer tax hike of 2022. it sprung to life unbeknownst, i believe, to virtually all the democratic senators except nor senator manchin and senator

schumer. and no one has seen what we will purportedly be voting on later today, even our democratic colleagues. no one has seen the final product once the so-called byrd bath has been undertaken by the parliamentarian, this will be a substitute bill that senator schumer will lay down, but nobody has seen it. when the senior senator from west virginia announced this bill last week -- or this agreement, every republican was shocked from my view most democrats were as well. my private conversations with many of my democratic colleagues said, boy, that does not look good to be working so closely together on a bipartisan bill only to spring this on everybody by surprise. looks like they were trying to pull a fast one. after all, senator manchin had put the kibosh on the reckless

tax-and-spending spree bill last year. privately his democratic colleagues assured me this was not happening. but then the senator from west virginia has engaged in a gigantic, olympic-worthy flip-flop. senator manchin will tell you this bill is completely different from build back broke, but it's not. we should take a look at some of the elements of this legislation. build back broke was a roundup of expensive, unnecessary, damaging policies. it included job-killing tax hikes which would leave hardworking american families without a way to earn a paycheck. green new deal climate policies that would hurt our energy security and drive n.r.c. -- energy costs through the roof. taxpayer subsidies for wealthy

people buying expensive cars and s.u.v.'s. i was listening to the majority whip, the senator from illinois, talking about these businesses that are making too much money. and so they need to pay more in taxes. now, that's a -- what i've come to expect from our democratic colleagues. they're kind of a robin hood party, take from the rich, give to the poor, except here this is a reverse robin hood. they're taking from middle-class families who can't afford to buy expensive electric vehicles and giving a tax subsidy to wealthy people who can afford to buy them but are helped with a $7,500 taxpayer subsidy. so you might call that a reverse robinhood. then they want to super-sighs the internal revenue service with even more manpower and authority to track everyday

american people and perform, i presume, manyiment more audits, not just on the rich and famous but also on middle-class americans. then there are the special handouts to powerful friends of the democratic party. this isn't the type firefighter legislation that will bring our economy roaring back to life or cool inflation. in fact, that is the first place that this bill is misrepresented. to call it the inflation reduction act, when nobody believes in the near term it's going to have a single impact at all on inflation. that's what penn wharton said, for the next two years, they said it may actually make inflation worse, but it's a negligible amount, but the one thing we're sure of is it sure won't go down. so it's not an inflation reduction act. it's really an insult to the intelligence of the american people, to think that you can spend this money and you can tax

individuals and businesses during a recession, something everybody from bill clinton to barack obama to chuck schumer to joe manchin have said you don't do, which is raise taxes during a recession. but that's exactly what this bill does. higher taxes, bigger government, more inflation, and fewer jobs. this is a bill whose time has not come. no wonder, when this bill was originally proposed, this build back better, senator manchin opposed the bill. so let's see what he and senator schumer wrote in secret, behind closed doors, and then sprung on the american people.

and again, we haven't even seen the final product yet. yet, senator schumer said we're going to stay in until it passes. it will take all 50 votes of democratic senators and the vice president to do that, because not one single senator on this side of the aisle was consulted, was asked to work on a bipartisan basis to come up with a product that could be supported across the aisle. this will be a purely partisan exercise. after i think we've had a pretty good run of bipartisan corporation, and i've been proud to be part of that. but this is a complete reversal of sort of the spirit of bipartisan cooperation that we've seen frankly all summer long, which has produced some pretty good legislation. well, there are tax hikes that will leave hard-working

americans poorer. not only will inflation be roughly 9%, which it is today, meaning that for every $100 you earn you're only going to get $91 in purchasing power. in addition to that, the joint committee on taxation said the impact of this bill will mean that individuals earning as little as $10,000 a year will see an increase in their tax burden, because you can't spend this much money, you can't tax this many people without it having some trickle-down effect on taxpayers, certainly those who earn less than $400,000, which was president biden's pledge. then i heard the majority leader said that again, and i believe the majority whip too, but it's just not true. the joint committee on taxation is the entity here, nonpartisan

entity, which provides the final word on those issues. so notwithstanding the denials of the majority leader and the majority whip and others, the joint committee on taxation said that taxpayers earning as little as $10,000 will see their taxes go up. maybe not their income tax, but they'll be poorer as a result of this bill. again, part of that is because you'll be taking in addition to inflation, in addition to additional tax burden, you're going to be asking them to pay taxes to subsidize wealthy people to buy electric vehicles or to subsidize people's health insurance, even though they make well above the 400% of poverty cap that was initially part of obama cear, the --

obamacier, the fact. that has been lifted as well. we'll see what the final product looks like, but the earlier provision shows people earning up to as much as 750% of poverty would then receive taxpayer subsidies for their health insurance. well, senator manchin, senator schumer may have slapped a new name on build back better or build back broke, but all of the essential elements are still there -- tax hikes on families, the green new deal, massive electric vehicle subsidies. oh, here's another thing, a lot of the american car manufacturers said we may not be able to access these tax credits because 70% of the components that go into electric vehicles are made in other countries, like china. that's how slapdash this bill was put together.

if more time, more deliberation, more debate, more bipartisanship had occurred, maybe we could have come up with something that would make more sense. but this is what happens when you get in a big hurry. you make mistakes and do things that make zero sense, like provide this subsidy to a limited class of car manufacturers when 70% of the components of a typical electric vehicle, including the battery, come from overseas. as i said, this is a misleading labeled bill. it's not going to do a thing to ease inflation in the near term. the budget experts at penn wharton analyzed senator manchin's tax hike and bill and completely decimated the argument that this legislation will reduce inflation.

if this bill becomes law, inflation will not get any better anytime soon. in fact, i believe americans can expect it to get worse. the people at penn wharton said the manchin tax hike bill would increase inflation slightly in the short term and cause it too stick around two more years before it would have any more impact. that's what you're going to tell hard-working american families, you're being priced out of your favorite food and grocery products at the grocery store, or you can't afford to fill up your car, just wait two more years. well, if the democrats are successful in passing this bill with purely democratic votes, there will be abe accounting -- there will be an accounting, and there will be a comparison by voters in november with, okay, they told us if we pass this bill it would reduce inflation,

and let's see what inflation looks like in november of 2022. i'm not wishing for higher inflation. i hope inflation will go down. but this is exactly the opposite of what you ought to do if you want to reduce inflation, to restore people's purchasing power. well, again, several years ago, and more recently, our colleague from west virginia said he didn't think it waswise to -- it was wise to raise taxes during a recession. he and the majority leader have tried to convince anyone who will irsen, who is -- who will listen, who is gullible enough, to believe this bill will not raise taxes on anyone making less than $400,000 a year. as i said, the joint committee on taxation explodes that myth. next year, more than 60% of

taxpayers who earn between $40,000 and $50,000 a year will be hit with a higher tax bill. that's what the joint committee on taxation said. it's in the so-called distributional tables. it's a pretty complex calculation, but that's why we rely on the joint committee on taxation to provide this expert information and guidance to us. because frankly, it's beyond the capability of most of us in congress. they also said more than 90% of those earning between $75,000 and $100,000 a year will pay more in taxes, and a whopping 97% of those earning between $100,000 and $200,000 will see a tax increase. i heard our colleague, the majority whip, talk about these big, rich companies. oil and gas companies, pharmaceutical companies, making too much money. but these aren't billion-dollar corporations that they're raising taxes on.

they're are middle class families. and for what? to subsidize rich people driving around fancy electric vehicles? it's a disgrace. well, of course, working families aren't the only ones going to face a higher tax bill. the manchin tax hike also hits businesses, and it's sure to have a devastating impact -- guess where -- west virginia. i'm not making this up. higher taxes require companies to cut costs everywhere. i think sometimes our democratic colleagues have this idea if you raise taxes on businesses they will simply absorb it and they won't pass it along to their customers. that's a flight of fantasy. higher taxes will require them either to pass those costs along or to cut costs elsewhere, like

to cut off their employees, to not hire as many people as they would otherwise hire. and i was flabbergasted, frankly, when i saw that, according to the tax foundation, the industry that will be hit hardest is the coal industry. now, we know the coal industry has been the primary target of democrats' green policies, and maybe that's what they have in mind, to put even more coal miners out of a job. despite the adverse impact this legislation will have on families in communities across the country, it was written by two people -- senators manchin and schumer. they've been working hard since they announced their deal, arrived at in secret behind closed doors. they've worked hard to try to get this bill to the floor, to

see if it complies with the senate rules. and they continue to make last-minute changes going on even as i speak, which is the reason none of us have seen the final product. but we're unlikely to see those final changes before senator schumer asks us to vote on the bill. still, senator schumer said he expects every democrat to fall in line and to vote for this legislation within a matter of hours. they haven't seen the bill either. i have to imagine that democrats in both the house and senate are pretty unhappy with this process. experts have analyzed this bill and said it raises taxes on families, it will have an adverse impact on jobs and keep inflation high. certainly not cut it. but the top senate democrat expects his colleagues to ignore these warning signs and to vote for it anyway.

like i said, madam president, all of us are held accountable by the voters at election time, and i guess ultimately that's what this exercise will be about. it will be about political accountability. on average, there's been about 40 amendments to a so-called voteo ramma which -- vote-o-rama which we're familiar will and will experience presumably later tonight. our colleagues said there may be amendments i'd like to vote for, but i'm going to vote against them because i want to make sure we get this bill across the floor, no matter how ugly the process, no matter what's in it. well, democrats have tried and failed to convince the american people that the biggest problems facing our current around -- our country aren't really problems at all, or certainly their

problems. despite all the obvious warnings, the biden administration insisted inflation was transitory, training camp, won't last long. now they even want to redefine what it means to be in a recession, even though we've experienced two consecutive quarters of negative gdp, gross domestic product growth, which is the textbook definition of a recession. people in my state and across the country know better than to believe this sort of sleight of hand. despite what our colleagues are saying today, this bill will increase taxes on families earning less than $400,000 a year. will stifle medical and pharmaceutical innovation and prevent new lifesaving cures from being discovered. it will threaten our economy and our energy security at a vulnerable moment, when we're in a recession. and it won't do a darn thing to

ease the loss of purchasing power due to historically high inflation rates, the highest in 40 years, that consumers and all americans are experiencing. won't do a thing. no amount of spin or fast talking can conceal the damage this bill will inflict on the american people. senator manchin likes to say if i can't go back home and explain it, i can't vote for it. but for the life of me, i don't know how our democratic colleagues are going to explain this one in november. i yield the floor. a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: madam president, i ask unanimous consent there be a period of morning business for debate only until 4:00 p.m. with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each and that senator schumer be recognized at 4:00 p.m.

the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. murray: madam president, i go back home to washington state every week, and i talk to young people in seattle who are urgently calling for bold climate action. i talk to families in yakima county who are deeply concerned by a wildfire season that gets worse every year. parents in vancouver who are trying to figure out how they can afford their kids' medications and make ends meet. this summer has broken records in washington state and not in a good way. energy prices and temperatures have both spiked. people from seattle to spokane are feeling the stress and they're feeling the heat. and climate disasters have become an everyday reality in every community across the country. washington state has seen droughts and wildfires and floods and heat waves that literally made our roads buckle. families desperately need us to tackle rising costs and rising

temperatures because we cannot build a stronger economy if we do not build a more sustainable economy, and that's why we need the inflation reduction act. it will reduce costs for families. it will reduce emissions and it will even reduce the debt and deficit. madam president, the climate investments in this bill are, in a word, historic. they won't just bring down carbon emissions by a whopping 40%, they will help us establish a real energy independence from dirty fossil fuels and foreign adversaries. they will save lives by reducing air pollution and supporting conservation efforts happening in rural washington state right now to prevent wildfires and protect families and address the climate crisis. this legislation will make an historic first-of-its kind economy-wide investment in clean

energy that will create millions of good-paying clean energy jobs, including in washington state, and it will bring down families' energy costs. for people who are struggling to keep the a.c. on in the winter or the heat -- in the summer, or the heat on in the winter or lights on year round, it will help weatherize homes and install energy-efficient appliances and heat pumps and rooftop solar panels and more. this bill will offer huge cost savings for clean or electric vehicles new or used and give companies more reason to build these cars in america. we aren't just cutting energy costs, though. madam president, no one should have to worry about whether they can afford the health care they need. but i've heard from countless patients who worked their whole life, who saved their money but still had to work an extra job or move in with their family or even ration their prescription just to make ends meet. lifesaving medicine doesn't do

any good if people can't afford it. that is why this bill will finally give medicare power to negotiate. we're going to force drug companies to the bargaining table and patients everywhere are going to benefit. it will also cap seniors' annual drug costs and cap insulin at $35 a month and protect patients from companies who are jacking up prices on them with reckless abandon. and it extends the health care coverage relief that helped millions of people save thousands of dollars on their health care this year. this isn't just saving people money. this is going to save lives. patients who are rationing their prescriptions, afraid to see their doctors not because they are scared of getting diagnosis, but because they are scared of the price tag. if that's not the goal when we come to work every day, then i don't know what is. but, madam president, the inflation reduction act won't just bring down families' everyday costs, it will bring

down the deficit by more than $300 billion, because every cent of this bill is paid for by closing loopholes used by enormous corporations. there is no reason a company making $1 billion profit should pay a smaller tax rate than a mom and pop shop in washington state or a firefighter or a teacher in walla walla, washington. so democrats won't let it fly any longer. those big billion-dollar companies, they're going to pay no less than the same 15% in taxes that many of our small businesses already pay. those stock buyback schemes that line the pockets of corporate executives on wall street investors but do nothing for working families, they're going to be taxed so companies pay their fair share. and as for everyday americans, they won't see their taxes go up one penny. make no mistake, the inflation reduction act represents

historic progress. there is simply no reason anyone should be against these policies, and many reasons to get this done now. this is not a bill for democrats or republicans. it is legislation that will help all americans. lower prescription drug costs, making health care more accessible and more affordable than ever and pass the largest investment in climate action in our country's history all paid for. but, madam president, for everything good this bill accomplishes, we have not yet addressed a critical issue families face today -- access to high-quality child care. there is a child care crisis in this country, and the time to address it is now. there can be no more excuses. we cannot simply vote on this package and call it a day. our child-care system isn't just thin, it is broken. talk to parents, talk to

businesses, talk to anyone, and it is painfully obvious that our child-care system isn't working for families, providers, or our economy, and hasn't been for some time. right now families from seattle to spokane are stressed. they are staying up late at night, trying to figure out how on earth they're going to find a child care opening or how they can afford it if they ever get off a wait list. and when they can't find and afford child care, as is all too often the case, parents, moms in particular, have to leave their job and stay out of the workforce, all while child care workers are being paid poverty wages, struggling to make ends meet and provided for their own families. and they're leaving their jobs for better-paying work at fast-food chains and big-box stores who pay them more than their child care position. we have to do better for kids, for moms, for workers, for our

economy, for everyone or this is just going to keep getting worse. i know all of my colleagues have heard me say this before, you probably heard me say it a hundred times, but i want to be clear. the chieks is on the -- the child care system is on the brink of collapse and parents are telling us every single day this is an urgent crisis. the emergency support that we did provide in the american rescue plan was hugely helpful but it is going to run out and soon, and families already at their wit's end will feel the pressure. we need to lower the cost for families as we fight inflation. we need to expand parents' options so they can go back to work and support the child-care workers caring for and educating our kids each and every day. i've been putting forward proposal after proposal to do exactly this and i am willing to work with anyone i can to make progress here. this isn't a my way or the

highway proposal. i hope my colleagues know that's not how i operate. what i'm talking about here is delivering a lifeline to kids, to moms, to our child-care industry, not to mention the businesses and industries who desperately want to hire mire workers. i'm deeply disappointed congress has failed to meet this crucial moment for our families and our child-care providers, so let me say this. i've been fighting for child care my entire career, since before i got here to the united states senate. in fact, for a very long time i was the only person in the room fighting. so i'm not going to stop any time soon. and guess what? i am not the only one fighting today. there are parents and advocates across the country who are fighting for this, who know how critical this is for our families. there are small business owners who understand how critical this is to strengthening our economy, real people, not some army of invisible lobbyists. so i'm here right now to be a voice for them, and i'm asking

everyone here in congress to step up and speak for these families too. we've got to get this done. we must make this a priority. we must address this urgent crisis before it's too late. so i want everyone to know i'm going to stay in this fight for moms and for our kids, and you better believe one day we are going to win this. thank you. i yield the floor. mr. schumer: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: first i want to thank my dear friend and our great leader and chair of the health, education, labor, and pensions committee for her positive words on this bill and her reminder to all of us that our work is not done. and particularly for her work on one of the most urgent issues facing american families -- child care. i don't know of a single member of this senate, democrat or republican, who has done more to push the issue of child care and get it done than the senior senator from the great state of washington, and i thank her for that. i want to thank my colleagues

senator kaine and senator blumenthal whofg also been -- who have also been such strong leaders on this issue. i am here to say that what they are saying, senator murray, senator blumenthal, senator kaine, is right. we need to do something in this country though lower child-care costs and increase its availability. and i pledge to my colleagues and to the american people that i will keep working with senator murray until we get something done to increase access to high-quality child care for working families. we all know today families pay more for child care than at any point in american history. amazingly sometimes families have to pay more for child care than they would pay for a mortgage. it's out of reach. and some people forget how the world has changed. when i was a kid, my dad had this little junkie exterminating business. my mom was what was then called a housewife. i got home from school every day

at 3:00, and there was mom with milk and cookies asking me what homework i had. oh, i don't have any homework, mom. and told me what time i had to come back home from going out and playing in the schoolyard for dinner. that doesn't happen anymore. the vast majority of families in america are either single parent or two parents both working. the percentage that have two parents, only one working is minimal. so child care is now a necessity it's a necessity for families. the anguish people go through to try and find child care and then when it's not available or something happens, and what are they going to do? they're both working and scrambling. who's going to watch the kids? it's agony. it's not this kind of agony that comes, you know, god forbid, once in a lifetime when you get a serious illness. but it's real agony and anxiety. we have to do something. and there's another reason we

have to do something. our economy. you read all of the economic experts. we're short of labor. we're short of labor. you go to any business, small, medium, big, they're short of labor. probably the number one or number-two reason in the whole country we're short of labor is we don't have adequate child care. moms or dads don't want to go to work because they don't know who's going to take care of the kids. moms or dads stay home or retire or whatever. so our economy desperately needs this. when parents can't enter the workforce, particularly women, our country suffers as an economy and production, productivity is greatly diminished. of course we need other issues to deal with within this economy as well that are related. home and community-based services. people need a roof over their

heads. we need to support families through paid leave. we make sure that every child in this country has a chance to grow and reach their potential, not in poverty. all of these issues are important. child care is so important, so important. so, i want to first thank again senator murray for her words. i want to thank my colleagues, two of whom are leaders on this issue. senators kaine and blumenthal are here today. and we want to pledge to the american people we are going to keep working until we get something done in child care. and we will keep fighting for all these issues to expand opportunity for all americans. it is so, so vital to the future of our country and to the well-being of families across the nation. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from virginia. mr. kaine: madam president, i'm so pleased to be on the floor today to join with senator murray, senator schumer, senator blumenthal to talk about the critical importance of child

care. i will speak in about 40 minutes about a piece of this bill, the black lung program, which is really important to virginia. like senator murray, i share a sadness that child care is not included in this bill, because this is what i'm hearing from virginians, that even before the pandemic, there was an inadequate supply. people working in this field weren't being paid enough. it's a market failure and we have to fix it. this bill doesn't and so we'll have to continue it. there's never been anyone in the history of the united states senate that's been as passionate and an advocate for child care than senator murray. she sort of swallows a lead because she's a modest person when she said i cared about this before i got here, her colleagues and those in washington know that senator

murray was a childhood educator before she came to the united states senate. this is a passion that drove her before -- before getting here, when she says she will stay on this until it is done, she will. i'm happy to help her with this. i have three children. my middleson lin went to milton college and he works as a pre-k classroom aide in minneapolis. this is how he's chosen to make a difference in the world around him by working as a classroom aide in a prekindergarten program. i know with suggestions with my son who just turned 30, how important the work is and how poorly paid it is and how parents struggle to send children to a child care program where they don't get paid very much. i think about lin as i advocate

for this and i also had a chance this week to think about the importance of the priority, good-news story, the american unemployment rate is the lowest it's been in years, 3.5%, but we hear people saying, i can't hire people. there are millions of americans who could be in the workforce, filling up these jobs that employers are looking to fill but are not in the workforce because of a lack of affordable child care. it is important for kids, it is important for families' pocketbooks, it is important for the providers themselves, but our economy does not work in the way it should if we don't have affordable child care options. i pledge to work together with my chair on this issue until we get it done and i want to say thank you. i have a staffer, chris, who is

leaving me to work for jobs with a -- for a passion. she has worked on issues battling campus assault, teacher training, everything i've done in the education workforce space and on the committee is because i've had a fantastic staffer pointing me in the right direction. she is here in the chamber and i wanted to thank her. with that, madam president, i yield the floor. blumenthal blumenthal madam president. the pr the senator from -- the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. blumenthal: i'm here to speak about the inflation reduction act, which is historic. it will save lives, money, save taxpayers. it will lower costs for all americans in health care, particularly prescription drugs.

it is the most important action to cut medicine costs in our history, certainly in recent history. it is the most significant tax fairness measure in recent history. and it is the largest investment and most important action to fight climate change in our history. so it is a big deal and it will be measurable for all americans in what they pay to keem themselves healthy -- keep themselves healthy, to keep the planet inhabitable, to keep the highest income people from avoiding or evading taxes, and in so many ways make a difference in people's lives. but it is a compromise, like

many measures that we pass that accomplish very significant improvements in people's lives, it is an agreement where some people get some of what they want and others don't get what they want and one point where i think a number of us wanted to advance the cause of child care, we see an absence, but listening to senator schumer, especially, i am more confident than ever that we will fight and win more aid for child care. and senator murray and senator kaine have spoken so eloquently, i will simply say to what they said, i agree wholeheartedly because child care is critical to kids. it is essential to early development, education, physical

and mental well-being. it's essential to families because they need it to go back to work, particularly moms who have been out of the workforce. it is essential to our economy because employers, big, small, all need more workers and they need to train those workers and the way to find those workers and give them the skills they need to fill those jobs is to enable them to be secure in knowing their children have good child care. and it is important to the men and women who form the child care workforce. i've been all around the state of connecticut, to bristol and visited their child care fivment

they have been -- care. they have been doing great work through the pandemic, taking care of children, even as their industry was impacted by smaller amounts of children being able to go there because parents had smaller amounts of income to afford it. and the fact of the matter is in connecticut, the yearly cost of child care is about $20,000. we lost a major part of our child care workforce, and this measure is essential to those men and women who take care of kids in those child care facilities with the courage and diligence and strength that befits the enormous responsibility that they have. we are determined to make child care affordable and accessible for every american family. the proposal that no more than

7% of any family's income be required for child care is one that i still makes imminent good sense. we need to recognize that child care facilities need to be sustained and supported, and those families need that same support and resources. and so i am absolutely determined that we will move forward on child care. as frustrated as i may be that this great compromise we see in the legislation fails to include it, i am proud to support it and vote for it and to continue this fight which we can and will win. and i thank my colleagues who will be joining us for their support as well, and, madam president, i yield the floor.

and i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. thune: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from south dakota. mr. thune: madam president, i ask unanimous consent that the. quorum call: be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: madam president, we are somehow continuing to consider the democrats' grab bag of bad ideas, otherwise known i

would say misleadingly as the inflation reduction act. let's start with the bill's title. it gets you feeling somewhat hopeful, doesn't it? the inflation reduction act, sounds like a bill that's going to address the number one problem facing our nation, which is inflation, and then you actually look at the bill's contents and will discover that the bill will do nothing to reduce inflation. nothing. you don't have to make my word for it. here's what the nonpartisan penn barton view was on it, inflation reduction act was indist indistinguishably from zero. statistically indistinguishable from zero. they also found that it would do nothing to address our current

inflation crisis, so did the tax foundation. so what about the deficit reduction democrats are touting. unfortunately, there is a good chance there won't be much of that. democrats rely on shady accounting to reach the deficit number. most notably counting $120 billion in savings to appeal a rule that was never implemented and at this point is never expected to be. no matter what this rule was going to cost, its cost was effect h.i.v.ly zero. -- was effectively zero. so this bill will leave you with zero dollars to spend, not $120 billion. then there's the question of the bill's expanded by unanimous consent subsidies. democrats' bills expand the

obama subsidies by three years. as -- when you figure in the cost of extending them permanently, most of the purported cost savings in the bill which democrats claim will go toward deficit deduction dwindle away. so no inflation reduction, an extremely doubtful amount of deficit reduction. what else? well, there are the hundreds of billions of dollars in tax hikes. yes, madam president, hundreds of billions of dollars in tax hikes. our economy posted two consecutive quarters of negative growth. in fact, by any common definition, we are now in a recession, and democrats think now is a good time to hike taxes on businesses? businesses that are struggling with 40-year high inflation.

the democrats' book minimum tax proposed last week would be a $313 billion tax hike with roughly half of the increase falling on american manufacturers. madam president, i don't think i need to tell anyone what happens when you raise taxes on businesses, particularly when the economy is shrinking. you get less growth, lower wages, and fewer jobs. according to an analysis from the national association of manufacturers in 2023 alone, the version of the bill democrats introduced last week would reduce real gross domestic product by more than $68 billion and result in more than 218,000 fewer workers in the overall economy. the tax foundation also found that the bill would unsurprisingly reduce economic growth, reduce wages, and reduce

jobs. in short, a big part of the burden of the democrats' tax hike on businesses would fall on american families and american workers. and, madam president, the book minimum tax on american businesses isn't the only tax hike democrats are proposing in this bill. they also just reportedly replaced a $14 billion tax hike on investment with a new $74 billion stock buyback tax designed to punish investors who choose do keep their own money invested in a business. a tax hike that will likely discourage new investment and have a negative impact on americans' retirement savings. of course they included a number of taxes and fees on oil and gas production. i guess democrats would like our current sky-high energy prices to continue long term. because i'm at a loss for any other reason democrats would choose to hike taxes on oil and

gas production at a time when americans are already struggling with high gas prices and high utility bills. madam president, democrats didn't always think raising taxes during a recession was a good idea. in fact, president obama once said, and i quote, the last thing that you want to do is to raise taxes in the middle of a recession. end quote. that from president obama. or as the current democrat leader once said, and i quote, you don't want to take money out of the economy when the economy is shrinking. end quote. well, unfortunately now that that their green new deal fantasies are on the line, democrats have changed their tune. that's right, madam president. democrats are hiking taxes during a recession not to address our border crisis or inflation or rising crime but so that they can implement their

green new deal agenda. their so-called inflation reduction act is chock full of green new deal spending. things like $1.5 billion, billion dollars for a grant program to plant trees. $1 billion for electric heavy duty vehicles like garbage trucks, something that communities used to normally provide for. $3 billion for the u.s. postal service to purchase zero-emission delivery vehicles. and $1.9 billion for things like road equity and identifying gaps in tree canopy coverage. yes, madam president, democrats are apparently willing to send us into a longer term recession

or stagflation in order to provide billions of dollars for things like road equity and identifying gaps in tree canopy coverage. all told, democrats provide more than $60 billion in this bill for, quote, environmental justice. $60 billion. to put that number in perspective, that's more than the government -- the federal government spent on highways in 2019. the bill also contains at least $30 billion in climate slush funds, part of which is allocated for, among other things, climate-related political activity. yes, madam president, climate-related political activity. because for sure there's nothing more that families struggling with ballooning grocery bills and the high price of gas are

eager to see their tax dollars going toward than green new deal activism. apparently, madam president, it's a very high priority for democrats, i would say in all likelihood not for the american people and american families. i haven't even talked about the tax credits and rebates the democrats' bill would provide for wealthy americans to purchase new electric vehicles or remodel their kitchens with democrat-approved green appliances. madam president, i could go on for a while here. it's difficult really, honestly to squeeze all the bad ideas in the democrats' bill into just one floor speech. and i haven't mentioned the socialist style price controls that democrats' bill would impose on prescription drugs, price controls that would result in fewer new drugs and

treatments. or the additional $80 billion -- yes, madam president -- $80 billion the democrats' bill would give to the irs, the majority of it to boost irs audits. now, that $80 billion, $45 billion of it would go to irs enforcement, $45 billion or 57%. want to know how much of that dwdz 80 -- $08 billion would go to -- $80 billion would go to taxpayer services? 4%. 4%. that for an agency that only succeeded in answering about one out of every 50 taxpayer phone calls during the 2021 tax season. madam president, $80 billion to the irs for an additional 87,000

employees. 87,000 new employees at an agency that i'm told only has about 53% of its workforce actually going back to the office. 87,000 employees. you're going to have tax agents moving in with families around this country. democrats aren't focused on improving taxpayer services, but on boosting the number of irs audits. madam president, no one should be deceived into thinking these increased audits will fall solely on millionaires and billionaires. no matter what democrats and some officials at the irs conveniently claim, the fact of the matter is that it's exceedingly unlikely the democrats will be able to collect the revenue they want to collect from increased irs

enforcement without auditing small businesses and ordinary taxpayers. in fact, based on data from the joint committee on taxation, somewhere between 78% to 90% of the revenue that's projected to be raised from injured reported income -- from underreported income would likely come from those making under $200,000 a year. so 87,000 new irs agents set out with a purpose of collecting more revenue allegedly, according to democrats, from high-income taxpayers and businesses who are escaping taxation and yet the joint committee on taxation finds that 78% to 90% of the revenue projected to be raised from underreported income would likely come from those making under $200,000 a year. well, madam president, almost 18 months ago now, democrats passed a massive partisan $1.9 trillion

spending spree which fueled inflation, record inflation, that americans are still struggling with in this country. by the way, that $1.9 trillion spending spree was all on the debt, all on the debt. they didn't attempt to pay for it. just put it on the debt. so now to talk about possibly reducing the deficit by what i think when it's all said and done in this bill will be under a hundred billion dollars and that assumes all kinds of things like actually they're going to raise revenue from these 87,000 new agents that they're going to hire at the irs to audit american taxpayers. it also assumes things like the obamacare premium subsidies are only going to be limited to three-year extension rather than the full ten years which we all

know ultimately is going to happen. in the end i believe there will be zero deficit reduction. but the fact of the matter is, that piece of legislation in addition to fueling inflation, adding to the debt, and having learned from that experience, i would hope, you would think that the democrats here would not double down with yet another terrible economic idea which is another tax-and-spending spree. like the so-called american rescue plan before it, it will leave our economy and the american people worse off. for their sake, madam president, i hope democrats will think better of this bill before it's too late. we're going to have an opportunity to debate it here probably in a few hours. and an opportunity to vote on lots of amendments. and we'll see what that process yields. but i can tell you one thing,

the american people are tired of 40-year high inflation. they're tired of higher energy prices. they're tired of higher food prices. they're concerned about an economy that is in recession. and they're looking at a democrat leadership in washington, d.c. that has as its number one goal of all the things you could do to attack inflation, attack high energy costs, deal with a broken border, crime in our cities, deal with a wobbly economy, their prescription as always is the same thing it is no matter what the problem is, and that is raise taxes, increase spending, and grow government, all at the expense of the american people. madam president, i yield the floor.

mr. carper: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from delaware. mr. carper: are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are not. mr. carper: madam president, good afternoon. i rise this afternoon to speak in support of this legislation

that we are considering today, inflation reduction act of 2022. a little over a week ago when i heard the news that there was an agreement reached to move forward on this legislation, i could not help but feel an overwhelming sense of relief and of joy, and i am not alone in feeling that way. i felt relief in knowing that after months of negotiations and years of hard work from volunteers, from activist, from policy experts, from leaders at all levels of government and industry and so many others we finally had broken the logjam on major climate and clean energy legislation. i felt joy in knowing that we were one step closer to delivering a major victory for the american people, one that will help reduce inflation and create good-paying jobs at the same time.

my belief is that this legislation is an answer to our prayers for a brighter future, for our nation, and for our planet, and i might say a lot of these young people sitting up here, we have a bunch of our pages that are from all over the country, they are for the most part rising juniors and seniors, and they represent -- they remind me a lot of our grandchildren in my family. and for folks, a lot of their children. and this is for you. this is for your generation. this is about kids, our grandchildren, our nieces, our nephews. this is for you. after enduring a deadly global pandemic for the last two years and resulting the political and

economic turbulence flowing from it, the truth is that far too many americans are struggling. they are hurting from the high cost of health care. they are hurting from rising living expenses and energy bills. and they are hurting from extreme weather that's costing us in terms of dollars and of lives. i know this because that's what i hear when i travel home to delaware almost every night. i don't live here. i live in delaware. go back and forth on the train. a lot like a guy named biden used to do when he was a senator. and now along with senator chris coons and -- whether it's a senior on a fixed income who is struggling with the cost of lifesaving prescription drugs or the young person living in the community that's prone to flooding from rising sea levels, many delawareans of allages are

anxious about their future. they are pleading with -- of all ages are anxious about their future and are pleading with us to do something about it. scientists are pleading with us too before it's too late. for years they warned us time is running out to switch to fossil fuels to avoid a future of unrelenting extreme weather. now scientists are telling us it's coad red for humanity and for our planet. we're already experiencing a climate crisis for americans in communities large and small, feeling its impact. most notably in the form of extreme heat, wildfires, and floods. as i speak here today, nearly 100 million americans from texas to maine are under heat advisories, a hundred million. there are also more than 50 wildfires raining across the west burning tens of thousands of acres in states like california and montana and idaho

and alaska. just last week catastrophic flash floods in eastern kentucky, not far from where my mop spent the last years of her life -- mom spent the last years of her life. those floods have tragically claimed 37 lives. we know that these deadly extreme weather events will only get worse in the years ahead without coordinated action, without coordinated action. and we know that the most vulnerable among us, including communities of color, will sufficient the most if we fail to act. the best science available tells us that to avoid the worst impacts of global warming, we must achieve something that's referred to as net zero carbon emissions no later than the year 2050. achieving this will not be easy. but it is achievable. and i am by nature, as some of my colleagues will tell you, i am by nature an optimist. i always have been.

and out of great adversity comes great opportunity. those are the words of albert einstein. huge adversity here. also great opportunity. and i am proud to say that we're on the precipice of passing great legislation that will channel american ingenuity to address that crisis, lower costs for families, and fight inflation. now, how will it do all that? the inflation reduction act includes nearly $370 billion in funding for climate and clean energy provisions. in other words, it will be the most ambitious climate legislation to ever emerge from this body. and it does so by not raising taxes on people whose income is under $400,000, families under $400,000. and it does so in a way that is not inflationary and that is fully paid for and offset. what will the impact be of this transformational climate

legislation? well, according to analysis from energy inner vision, some of the smartest people who work on issues like this, according to their analysis, parts of this legislation will reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by a little bit over 40% by 2030. and as president biden might say, that's a very big deal. he might say it differently, but something along those lines. this legislation along with action from executive agencies and state and local actors will put us within reach of our -- meeting our national target of cutting emissions in half by the end of this decade. in addition to slashing emissions from -- across our economy, this legislation will also unleash the potential of american clean energy industry and create good-paying jobs throughout our country. in fact, it will create a ton of

jobs. analysis from the political economy research institute at the university of massachusetts amherst projects that this legislation that we're debating will help create nine million jobs over the next decade, nine million over the next deducted. -- over the next decade. the benefits aren't just limited to emissions reduction and job creation. as the name of suggests, this legislation will fight inflation, lower costs for many americans. again, ask how? for starters, the inflation reduction act will help homeowners stave up to $220 on electricity costs. according to an analysis by the resorrieses for the future -- resources for the future. this legislation also includes huge health care savings for families across our country. for example, on average median-income families will save upwards of $1,000 annually. that's $1,000 back in their

pockets. this bill will also ensure that our seniors don't face financial ruin paying for lifesaving prescription drugs t does so by capping patients' out-of-pocket capitols in the medicare part d program at $2,000 per year. the inflation reduction act will help strengthen our tax system to best ensure that everyone pays their fair share. and also to ensure that we got decent constituent services for our constituents. i don't care whether it is minnesota, delaware, system other place, the irs just hasn't had the resources, people, the technology to actually provide good constituent service. we're still waiting for people to get their returns from last year and their refunds from last year. that's just total lit unacceptable. over the last 40 years we've

reduced by a quarter the amount of resources to serve people through the irs. at the end of the day, the programs in this bill will help create jobs, lower costs for many american families and fight inflation, all while addressing the eminent threat of climate change and doing so in a way that leaves no community behind. it's proof that we can do we will and do good at the same time. as chairman of the environment appeared public works committee, i'm especially proud 0 our $41 billion title prioritizes disadvantaged communities. this ensures that all communities, especially those most susceptible to the negative impacts of climate change, benefit from our funding to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reduce air pollution where they live, where they live. as part of that commitment, we provide $27 billion from the

environmental protection agency to create a greenhouse gas reduction fund and it will help leverage private investments in projects that combat climate change. with over 40% of these upvestments going to underserved communities. the climate impact of this program will be huge. removing the equivalent of some 15 million gasoline-powered vehicles from our roads over the next decade. we also provide $3 billion in competitive grants to states, tribes, and municipalities and to community-based nonprofit organizations for financial and technical assistance to address clean air andempt pollution in environmental justice communities. our e.p.w. title also provides some $3 billion to hope reduce carbon emissions flowing from our nation's ports. doing so not only cleans up the

air in nearby communities. we provide money to replace pollution-emitting vehicles with zero -- save on their energy costs. i wish i could discuss this afternoon every program in our title of the environment and public works committee, let me share words on one program. our first ever methane reduction program to rein in excess methane prostitution from the oil and gas industry. why did we create a program to reduce methane emissions? why was this important? methane is more than 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas. i'll say that again. methane is more than 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide

as a greenhouse gas. there's guy who used to be a bank robber back in the great depression. my friend from iowa probably remembers willie sutton. not personally. but he robbed a lot of banks back in those days. he finally got cut. standing before the judge, junk said, mr. sutton, why do you rob banks? he responded famously, that's where money is july. well, there's huge remissions. they ought to be captured, they can be captured and the funding we offer here will help that to happen. we design this commonsense program to provide $110 i 5 billion to help businesses invest in existing technology to reh. reduce potent methane emissions. it ramps up you a fee over time

for emitters that fail to take advantage of this assistance. all told we expect to raise about $6.5 billion -- that's billions with a b, to offset the cost of other climate environmental justice in the title of it our committee's bill. years from now, years from now folks are going to gather here on this chamber and they'll look back at what we had before us, what we were confronted with and whether or not we made a difference. i hope they will judge us favorably. let me just say in closing, madam president, two weeks ago in -- england, reported a temperature of 105 degrees. they don't even have air conditioning in most places in england. the temperature there, 105 degrees. and the same week that the

temperatures are 105 degrees, folks are trying to run -- what is it? -- a bicycle event, the french bicycle event that's so famous. and they could not run parts of it because the pavement was melting and they had to put tons of thousands of gallons of water on the road so they could run the french bicycle race. down in louisiana, i'll close with this. in louisiana, they have problems, they have challenges from sea level rise. how serious are they? well, every six -- or every 100 minutes in louisiana, they lose a piece of land to the ocean from sea level rise. every 100 minutes, they lose a piece of land the size of a football field. this week we're seeing incredible heat, incredible drought from the west coast to

the east coast, people suffering, suffering in some cases injury and death, and we got to do something about it. and we're going to do that with this legislation. and also make sure that a lot of folks who need jobs in the years to come will have a good-paying job. that's not a bad day's work. with that, i'm pleased to take this piece of paper and read it to my colleagues, including the senator from iowa, who is waiting patient lit for me to stop talking. madam madam president, i ask unanimous consent that there be a period of morning business for debate only until 4:15 p.m. with senators to speak therein for up to ten minutes each and senator schumer be recognized at 4:15 p.m. the presiding officer: without objection u. mr. grassley: mr. president? mr. carper: i thank the senator from iowa for his patience today. thank you very much. the presiding officer: the senator from iowa.

mr. grassley: this body has a long record of coming together to improve health care for americans. in 2003 when i was chairman of the senate finance committee, we worked in a bipartisan manner to establish the medicare part d benefit. more recently i've worked with my colleagues on the finance committee on oversight investigations to hold epipen manufacturers accountable who are misusing taxpayer dollars and insulin manufacturers and pbm's accountable who were unfairly increasing the list price of insulin. we can work together and meaningfully improve health care. this congress, i've worked with my democratic colleagues to pass five of my bills out of committee on a bipartisan way.

these bills will lower drug prices, create more competition, while holding big pharma and pbm's accountable. unfortunately, the leader hasn't brought any of these bills up for a vote, even though they would easily pass the united states senate. but this hasn't stopped me from trying to find other ways to help bring down the cost of medications. in 2019, as finance committee chairman, i began a bipartisan committee process with ranking member from oregon to lower the cost of prescription drugs. that bill is entitled prescription drug pricing reduction act. we held three committee hearings to learn from policymakers and advocates while also holding big pharma and pbm's accountable. we held a committee markup where the bill passed 19-9on a

bipartisan basis. we continued to hold additional negotiations to make improvements in the bill, even after it got out of committee. it contains stuff that i liked. it also contained stuff i didn't like. but that's the way we do bipartisan legislating. today it's still the only comprehensive prescription drug bill that can garner more than 60 votes on the senate floor. i recently outlined on the floor the bill's details in case the majority party has forgotten. i won't restate every part of my july 20 speech, but here are some of the key bill's highlights. one, it lowers costs for seniors by $he 72 billion and saves the taxpayers $95 billion. it establishes out-of-pocket cap, eliminates the doughnut

hole, and redesigns medicare part d. three, it ends taxpayer subsidies to big pharma by capping price increases of medicare part b and d drugs at inflation. fourth, it establishes accountability and transparency in the pharmaceutical industry. and five, most important in this body, the bill is bipartisan. now, believe it or not, a bipartisan bill limiting pharmaceutical increases is possible. compare this to what the majority -- the presiding officer: order. mr. grassley: compare this to what the majority has offered us. their partisan bill includes more reckless spending and tax increases. their partisan bill reduces the number of new cures and treatments. their bipartisan bill fails to enact any bipartisan accountability for