the next couple of weeks this fall? >> i t think they've done a reay good job attacking behind the lines. going into cry moo ya -- my yee ya -- crimea, i think, was a completely unprepared for outcome. i think unexpected uses of weapons is also -- >> we're leaving the last few minutes of this to honor our more than 40-year commitment to live gavel-to-gavel coverage. senate's returning from their weekly party lunches. votes planned on whether to confirm u.s. judge john lee and on advancing president biden's nominee to the sixth circuit. you're watching live coverage of the senate here on c-span2.

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the presiding officer: the yeas are 50, the nays are 44. the confirmation is -- the nomination is cost. the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table is slade and the president will be pleadly notified of the senate's action. the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion:

we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of executive calendar number 736, andre b.mathis of tennessee to be united states circuit judge for the sixth circuit signed by 17 senators. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waive add. the question is, is it the sense of the senate that the senate debate on the nomination of andre b. mathis of tennessee to be united states circuit judge for the sixth circuit shall be brought at that close. the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

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the presiding officer: have all senators voted? does any senator wish to change his or her vote? if not, the yeas are 48, the nays are 45.

the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary. andre b. mathis of tennessee to be united states circuit judge for the sixth circuit.

mr. durbin: madam president? the presiding officer: the democratic whip. mr. durbin: madam president, are we in a quorum quorum call? the presiding officer: no, we are not. mr. durbin: thank you very much. october 4, 1957. many in the chamber were not alive on that date. i was, as teenager, maybe in high school, just starting, or at the end of the grade school. but it was a big day in the history of the world, october 4, 1957, because at:28 p.m. at night -- at 7:28 p.m. at night, the russians launched sputnik, a basketball-sized satellite.

we were concerned because the russians, then the soviet union, had the capacity to drop an atomic or nuclear bomb on the united states. if they could do it from space, for goodness' sakes, how would we defend ourselves? out of my panic came a pretty good idea, as far as i was concerned. they decided that for the first time in the history of the united states, we would start loaning money to college-age students so they could go to college. the notion was if we had to fight the trusions, we -- the russians, we better have people educated and prepared to do it. so someone who at those days wrote down these wonderful ideas, came up with a great one. it was called the national defense education act. the national defense education act said that those who aplayed -- applied for federal college loans could borrow money and pay

it back at 3% interest but not have to repay until ten years after college. i didn't know at the time but that turned out to be my ticket to college. there was no way that my family could afford to send me, nor could i afford to go to school at good schools for -- from any money that i would saved or earned during the summer. it was the government loans that got me through t and i wasn't alone. by the tens of thousands, students all over the united states took out those national defense education act loans. well, what happened as a result of that idea that we could educate ourselves out of this problem? it worked. it worked dramatically. in the early 1960's there was this explosive expansion of our economy, of technology, and research, and scientific endeavor that we took advantage of for decades and still do to had this day. i think about the race to the moon and all the other things

that we set our sights on. and they were all based on enough well-educated people at every level who could compete with countries around the world and do it successfully. so the concept was sound, and i think it was executed not flawlessly but very well for myself and for many others. and i ended up borrowing enough money to get through college and law school. the amount of the debt if i said it on the floor today would draw a laugh from the pages and everyone else but it was so small but it scared me to death, the equivalent of my gross pay coming out of law school in one year. but most students today would accept that in a second, 50% of their gross wages in the first year as their student loan indebtedness. the average, unfortunately, is higher. the average is over $25,000, and for some students it's almost astronomical what they end up borrowing. i can't even imagine the cost of

colleges and law schools today and medical schools and dental schools and the debt that is involved, which leads me to the second point in history. and i think it was sometime in the 1960's. somebody wrote a story about student loan borrowers who went to medical school, finished medical school, then got their licenses to practice medicine medicine -- pretty good opportunity to make some real money in life but they had one more stop. they stopped it the bankruptcy court and they discharged their loans, their student loans at a bankruptcy court and then went on to practice medicine. that sounded like a pretty bad deal for the government which trusted them to debt a degree and -- get a degree and earn enough money to pay back the loan and in the fairness of this that they wouldn't accept their responsibility. someone dreamed up the idea let's make sure that you cannot discharge your loan, your student loan in bankruptcy court

there are a handful of debts that you can incur that cannot be discharged in bankruptcy court, but just a handful. taxes that you owe the government, for example, i believe are not dischargeable. money that you owe in divorce settlements and child support are not dischargeable, and a handful of other things. but otherwise, anything you can borrow money for, you can go to bankruptcy court and say i want to walk away from all my debts and achieve that goal. for example, if you had a mortgage on your home and you wanted to be discharged from paying off that mortgage, dowkd it in bankruptcy -- you could do it in bankruptcy court. you may or may not have any home left after it was discharged in bankruptcy but that's a fact. if you borrowed money to buy a boat, you could discharge that loan in bankruptcy. buy a car, discharge it in bankruptcy. a second home, discharge it in bankruptcy. but when it came to student loans, we said because some of these students took advantage

and didn't pay back their loans, we're not going to allow you to discharge it in bankruptcy. and it ultimately meant that for those who borrowed money to go to school and college when they were 19 or 20 years old, they would have a debt that they had to pay back or carry to the grave, literally carry it to the grave. there was no way to get rid of it. and so what happened, we know a lot of people got too deeply in debt. it turned out even the promise of a college he diploma was not enough to meet their obligation. and so they were deeply in debt. now let me mention a third category of things. we started, mr. president, before you arrived with sputnik, which changed the world and national defense education act. we went to the change in the bankruptcy law that said you can't discharge a student loan in bankruptcy. now let me introduce a third phenomena, and i've done this on the floor before, but i'm going to give you two numbers and i want you to get out your pens and pencils, write them down because they're going to be

on the final, okay. two numbers. 8 and 33. 8 and 33. when you see the question on the final of what percentage of high school graduates go to for-profit colleges and university, hold up your hand. it's 8%. 8% of kids coming out of high school go to for-profit colleges and universities. those are the ones that are heavily advertised. you see them everywhere. 33. what percentage of all student loan defaults are students who went to for-profit colleges and universities? 33%. 8% of the students, 33% of the student loan defaults. what's going on here? why are those students so disproportionately defaulting on their student loan debt? several reasons. they were misled into going to these schools that are worthless. worthless. they used to run ads on washington tv that showed this

lovely young lady. she was in her bedroom, in her pajamas with a latop computer saying i'm going to college, and you think to yourself, get real. this isn't real college. this is just a way to get you to pay too much in tuition for something that's basically worthless. and students do. 8% of high school students do it. so the point i'm making is that many of these students are deceived and duped into going to these colleges. promises they make about what these degrees are worth and how easy it is to acquire an associates or bachelor's degree. they are deeply in debt and can't find a job to take care of it. put those three things together and you can understand why we need to do something about student loans in america. yes, we need student loans in america. they're good for america's economy. should they be dischargeable in bankruptcy? i think under some circumstances they should be. if you paid back ten years of your student loans and you still had a balance and you were

literally head over heels in debt, you ought to be able to discharge that in bankruptcy. you've tried your best. ten years is enough. that's one approach. but the other approach president biden has just suggested. that's why he's issued a onetime student loan relief plan to ease the college debt burt -- burden on middle and lower income families. the government will erase $10,000 if federal student loan debt with borrowers with income of less than $125,000 a year. if you're married and file taxes jointly or head of household and you qualify if your income is $250,000 or less. if you received a pell grant while you were going to college -- and those are for lower-income families -- you could qualify for an extra $10,000 in student loan cancellation. under the plan, 43 million americans will receive some amount of debt cancellation. a majority of them, about 27 million borrowers, will see up to $27,000 knocked off their

student loan balance. for 20 million borrowers, that's enough to totally wipe out their entire student loan balance. they literally can start again. they can consider going back to school, maybe even a good school that gives them the kind of training, education, and degree that really can lead to a better life. or they can try to take another course of action. there are other approaches. i've got labor unions all over my state begging for apprentices, good-paying jobs for skilled craftsmen and the like. they don't need a college degree to achieve that. some of them can consider it. everyone who qualifies for relief will get a lower monthly payment, at least. that means real help now. of course that isn't the real, complete solution to the challenge. too many colleges are charging too much money. when i ask about a nice college, what does that nice college have for tuition? i visited one just over the august break, and somebody said

it's $72,000 a year. i said for tuition? how in the world can it be? well, they give a lot of student grants and scholarships and phipps -- fellowships and this and that and the other thing partisan -- other thing. that's a big problem. we need to have affordable education and education that helps you meet your goals. i might also say that some of the people that had been involved in borrowing money had some sad stories to tell. viky vin cees is one of the thousands of illinois students deceived by one of these for-profit colleges called westwood. vicky grew up on the south side of chicago. she's the first person in her nepal to attend -- in her family to attend college. she watched too many csi episodes. she enrolled in a criminal justice program at westwood

college in 2004 in chicago. she believed the recruiters. they said a degree at westwood will open the door for you young lady in the field of law enforcement. she found the opposite was true. they laughed at her when she showed her resume from westwood college college. they said that's not a real college, not a real degree and that doesn't help you a bit. because westwood college hid the truth about the fact they were not accredited in illinois a lot of young people were duped into thinking it was a ticket to a good law enforcement job. by the time vicky figured out how badly she was into it she had $50,000 in student loan debt and she didn't have even a westwood college degree to point to. for the last 15 years what's she been doing? for the large part of it living in her parents' basement. that's what life really left for her to try to get by with, is just get by with your parents' basement. that's unfortunate. she could have done a lot more with her life were it not for

the student debt and the deception of these for-profit schools. she is working mostly for nonprofit organizations and finds it hard. she's going to get a graik with- break with the biden administration proposal. i was a little upset with one of our colleagues. he started mocking students heavily in debt. i think he referred to them as slatternly brass -- baristas, they are lazy and work at starbucks. it's their own fault. i couldn't disagree more. students don't nope what is a reasonable debt and what isn't. many of them are first-generation college students in their family. mom and dad are not much help. they want to see their kids get a college degree, the ticket to success. young people sign up for loans and sign up in schools that really can't produce a diploma

that leads to a job, and they get stuck with it. vicky, i mentioned earlier, has tried her best to pay off these loans and doesn't have much luck. she says being freed of some of this debt will lift part of the burden. she has a lot of debt to go. i don't know if she's lazy and i don't know if barista has become a negative term. i don't think it is. those folks are working and i respect the fact that they are. she said, and i quote, i'm not asking for anything for free. i just think that things should be fair. education should be affordable and we ought to be able to earn enough to pay back what we owe. these republican colleagues of mine are setting out to stop this executive order by joe biden. i guess it will be a great source of pride if they do it. they can say we stopped this relief for all of these young people in debt. we sunk them deeper in despair, and we did it because it's an election year. i think it's unfortunate. president student loan

forgiveness plan is not a giveaway to rich doctors and lawyers who racked up big debt at ivy league schools. 98% of the student loan borrowers did not attend those schools. the majority of these debts are held by families who have zero net worth. zero. what will their life be like without help? nearly 90% of the relief dollars in the president's plan go to borrowers earning less than $75,000 a year. let's reflect for a moment what's happened over the last three years in the united states of america under the previous president who will go unnamed and what we've seen because of this pandemic. remember when we came up and were able to articulate the word trillion dollars without shaking? we started talking about trillion-dollar relief packages in the pandemic. and we said to people we're going to have loans through the small business administration for people who have a job or a business and need a helping hand in terms of borrowing money to get by. and if you can prove that you spent the money on payroll and utilities and rent, it's

forgiven. so take a look at that mechanism. through no fault of their own, they were stuck with a debt because of the pandemic. they borrowed the money from federal government taxpayers' money. and if they could spend it for the right things, it was forgiven. a walk-away. i didn't hear a lot of speeches about baristas at that point in time. we've seen it happen before. we had a number of members of congress who applied for ppp loans, the same people criticizing for giving student loan debts literally personally borrowed money they didn't pay back to the federal government, and they don't think there's anything wrong with that. i could go into a long list of people who have benefited by loans that were forgiven or grants given by the federal government. rather than go through that list let me say the bottom line is this, if we can help these young student borrowers get an opportunity to reduce the debt that they owe and get their lives back on line, that is a great outcome for them and a

great one for this nation. the same of type of idealism that drove us to the national defense education act after sputnik applies as well today. we should have well-trained, well-educated american workforce ready to compete with the world. i think we can do it. joe biden's step is a reasonable, humane step in the right direction. it should have bipartisan support. i yield the floor.

the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. scott: mr. president, last month, in a completely partisan process, senate democrats pushed through their progressive and deceivingly named inflation reduction act. that bill was a disaster for the reckless tax increases and spending, but perhaps the worst part was it authorized $80 billion in new funding to the irs. $80 billion. for reference, that is about the same sass we allocated for florida's state budget when i was governor. florida is the third largest state in the nation. even though the irs does a poor job with the resources it currently has, democrats supersized the irs to fund 8 ,000 new irs agents, some will be armed and willing to use deadly force to carry out their duties.

87,000. while democrats are calling to defund the police and leaving border patrol agents without what they need, they're happy to enlarge the irs. we don't have 20,000 border control agents. a quarter of the number of knew irs agents democrats want. yet, they've now approved 87,000 additional irs agents. that's insane. that many agents under the direction of president biden should concern every american. we remember when joab was -- joe biden was the vice president, he went after tea party organizations. armed with tens of billions of dollars and tens of thousands of new agents, what stobs president biden from going after groups he doesn't like? what about pregnancy resource groups? or second amendment groups? democrats are turning the irs into -- let's not forget, last year democrats wanted the irs to

spy on nearly every american bank account and track everyday transactions. american families can see straight through biden's plans, and they're furious. we all should be furious. without a single republican vote, democrats thrawrds 87 -- democrats authorized 87,000 more irs agents to pull money away to apiece the liberal piece. biden's transferring of student loan debt from borrows to taxpayers. someone has to pay for this. now, instead of borrowers paying for their education, that is born by every taxpayer. didn't go to college? democrats don't care. you pay the debt of lawyers and doctors. your taxes are the money pot for other students. democrats will keep declaring everything to be free, biden

will need a mot more taxpayer money. that, my fellow americans, is how we get full circle back to the supersized irs. it's a vicious cycle to fund a radical socialist agenda. we have to stop it now. i'm here to do what countless fleaans have asked me to do -- floridans have asked me to do, to rein in the federal government, putting a stop to the irs army. rather repeal this, i ask all my colleagues to support it. as if in legislative session, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to senate 4798, further that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. w wyden: reserving the right to on. it's time for a reality check in the senate. the far right has had an awful lot to say about the irs these

last few days, even senators who should supposedly know better are spinning wild fantasy stories about 87,000 agents who are armed to the teeth and coming to the doors of innocent small business people. mr. president, all this talk is unscathed by the truth. here's what is true -- every year wealthy tax cheats and scscofflaw corporations skip out on pay what they owe, ripping off the american people for billions and billions of dollars. let me say that again, mr. president. wealthy tax cheats are ripping off innocent taxpayers every year of billions and billions of

dollars. they're sophisticated. they're wealthy. they want to protect the status quo. and by attacking the irs, republicans are helping high-flying tax cheats get away with breaking the law. the irs has had its resources gutted by republicans over the last decade. it's badly outmatched now by the wealthy tax cheats who have armies of lawyers and accountants, who are prying open loopholes and hiding income in the shadows. let me give the senate an example. a few weeks ago i put out the findings of a yearlong finance committee investigation into the largest alleged tax evasion scheme by one individual in american history. with the right financial

wizardry and a complicated network of offshore accounts and partnerships, this individual, robert brockman, was able to evade taxes on over $2 billion in income. to hide his money, he set up offshore entities that we called shell banks. they were offshore entities dressed up like financial institutions mr. brockman set up to hide his money from the irs, betting correctly that the irs went have the resources -- wouldn't have the resources to uncover his scheme. mr. president, there may be hundreds of thousands more of these shell banks that the irs has never examined. the finance committee is also in midst of an investigation into the tax practices of some of the biggest members of big pharma, one of the companies whose tax data we examined was abbvie. in 2020, 70% of their sales with

are in the united states, but abbvie reported only 1% of income to the irs for tax purposes. we requested financial information from merck, which makes nearly half of its sales in the united states, but reported 14% of its income here. we also requested information from bristol-myers squibb, which reportedly used a thicket of foreign subsidiaries and partnerships to take the tax rate from 24.7% to a negative 7% in a single year. the irs struggles to do anything about many of these cases, even when they get reported in the press. criminal tax evasion cases have fallen nearly by half. the number of highly trained experts who know how to break down these complex tax evasion cases has fallen about i a third. it takes hundreds and hundreds of thundershowers to review the filings of corpses and the rich, and the irs -- filings of corporations and the rich, and

the irs doesn't have the resources to go after these wealthy tax cheats and scofflaw corporations. so there's a reason why democrats believe you have to invest more resources in enforcing the laws on the books, and here's the most important point. it doesn't have anything to do with middle-class taxpayers, because their taxes, mr. president, are taken out automatically, of every single paycheck. that's real different than the way the big guys go about their activities, ripping off the little guys with complex tax evasion schemes. with so many republicans -- what so many republicans want to do is preserve the status quo so only the little guys get audited, while billionaire friends, like robert brockman, get off scot free.

the funding for the irs is also, mr. president, about providing a basic level of customer service to taxpayers in colorado and oregon and every part of the country. at one point during the filing season this year, the irs told the finance committee it was able to answer only 11% of the service phone calls it was receiving. taxpayers in america deserve better service from their government, and that means making sure the irs has the resources to provide it. the far right and the tax cheats, the wealthy tax cheats, want the irs, apparently, to continue to struggle because it makes it easier to attack and vilify. that's why we've heard so many falsehoods about thousands of new irs agents. i don't know where this number came from, but it's absolute nonsense conjured out of nothing. even worse are the falsehoods, mr. president, about irs agents and firearms.

alongside the dea, fbi and other law enforcement agencies, the irs often plays a part in going after drug cartels, money launderers and other serious, hardened criminals. and so the question is, how do my republican colleagues expect irs criminal investigation officers to defend themselves during drug busts against violent cartels. should they bring a set of sharpened number 2 pencils? we're talking about living in the real world. the irs funding democrats passed last month is about making sure that the irs can do its job, meet the expectations of the american people, and i can tell you, mr. president, as a senator who has town hall meetings in every county of my state, every year, the people of my state say, look, we are law-abiding,

we pay our taxes, there's something way out of whack when these wealthy tax cheats and scofflaw corporations can pay little or nothing. it's time for members of congress to stop going to bat for these wealthy tax cheats who break the law. the irs needs to be able to crack down on these rip-offs. the irs needs to be able to provide adequate and timely service to taxpayers who need help. that's what the irs funding does and what we have heard so much about, from my colleagues on the far right raising the specter of agents, thousands of them, armed to the teeth, coming to the doors of small businesses. this is simply unscathed by the truth, and for that reason i object, mr. president. the presiding officer: the objection is heard. mr. scott: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. scott: i agree with my colleague that if you owe your

taxes, you should pay your taxes. what's inconsistent is we had the amendment vote that would say that none of these agents could go after anybody making less than $400,000 a year. every democrat, i believe, in the senate voted against that. so the goal was absolutely, we should make sure that wealthy taxpayers pay all their -- everything they owe, but we had an amendment focused on wealthy taxpayers during the vote before we left on recess, and every democrat voted against that. for all those watching, here's what you'll see, the democrat party has created a platform to audit more americans, not just wealthy, all americans. this isn't about fairness. this is about power. democrats have wanted to spy op your bank transactions and send 87,000 more irs agents on the streets to collect the bills. joe biden is robin hood taking from the rich. this expansion is the sheriff of

nottingham stealing from the poor and working class. none of us should be surprised democrats are doubling down on the raked cale policies, but -- radical policies, but we should be mad. when republicans take control of congress in january, we'll do all to repeal this terrible policy. mr. president, i yield the floor. mr. wyden: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. wyden: i'd like to discuss the amendment that came up during the budget discussion. senate democrats made it very, very clear we were strongly against taxing those in our country with incomes under $400,000. the problem with the amendment that republicans offered is they used the word taxable income. so while we strongly oppose raising taxes on the middle-class people and others,

under $400,000, the wording of the republican amendment, which talked about taxable income, could have immunized billionaires from being subject to an audit. that's because, mr. president, as you and i have talked about, billionaires often lives by this buy, borrow, and die philosophy, and they have little or no taxable income for years on end. my colleagues probably saw some of the stories, for example, about billionaires who were claiming the child tax credit because their taxable income was actually low, under the way it is defined. so, just to make sure the record is clear, we're all in on this effort of not taxing

middle-income folks. we subscribe completely. in fact, what we had in the bill, in our enforcement section, made that clear as well. but we are not for creating new paths to tax evasion for billionaires, and regrettably that's what the language in the republican amendment would have done. i yield the floor. mr. scott: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. scott: the easiest way to solve my colleague's issue is to propose an amendment to make sure we didn't go after taxpayers and make it -- making less than $400,000 a yeemplet but not one democrat did that all they did is vote against this. and then after the fact say it was a language issue. if it was simply a language issue, we could have solved it that night. i yield the floor.

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. barrasso: thank you, mr. president. i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: it's not a quorum call. mr. barrasso: thank you, mr. president. i come to the floor today to discuss the crisis that's hitting all americans. it's a crisis caused by the democrats. it's a crisis of inflation and a crisis of the recession which we're living. now, right now it looks like democrats want to take a victory lap. i heard the president give his speeches. it seems he wants to do this because the democrats have passed one of the largest tax-and-spend bills in the history of the country. and they crammed it through congress in just a matter of days. it's partisan. it was a liberal wish list. and for some it seemed like it was a green haired liberal's

dream come true. the bill includes hundreds of billions of dollars for the radical climate agenda that so many of the democrats have been talking about. they're going to double the size of the internal revenue service. audits will be up. it's going to raise taxes on the middle class by tens and tens of billions of dollars. democrats of course passed this bill on a party-line vote. not a single republican voted for it in the house or the senate and joe biden signed it into law. ever since then liberals and the press have been sipping joe biden's praises. yet here's a recent headline i saw from nbc news. it said democrats reluctant to campaign with biden. reluctant to campaign with biden. and then the headline goes on despite the recent winning streak. winning streak? there's nothing winning about this. this is a losing strict hitting the american people. all of this democrats celebration just somehows you

how out of touch today's democrat party really is. working families aren't celebrating right now. no, they're struggling, struggling in this age of inflation, economic crisis. here's a relate. we're in a recession. just last week the government confirmed the economy has now shrunk for six months in a row. it's been the definition of a recession for decade upon decade. no matter what the white house wants to say about how they want to redefine recession. inflation remains at a 40-year high. people can't keep up. they're falling behind. just this morning a new gallop polka out. what did -- poll came out. what did it show? today's poll showed a majority of americans inflation is causing them, personally them financial hardship. that's who's struggling. that's who's hurting most.

american families trying to make ends meet. for low-income americans, according to this poll out today, three out of four are facing financial hardship from the inflation that has been brought on in this country by the democrats' reckless spending. for the middle class, it's two-thirds, two out of three members of the middle class. so the american people aren't celebrating now. they're having to cut back on their spending because they can't afford to keep up and they're falling further and further behind. so it's astonishing that democrats think they're on a winning streak. it's fascinating to watch joe biden and democrats pat themselves on the back because gas prices are now a dollar and a half more a gallon than they were the day joe biden took office. some places they're less than $4 a gallon but not in nevada and washington state, just to name a few. no celebrating in my opinion when gas prices are a dollar 50

a gallon more today than they were the day joe biden took office. and a day after saudi arabia announces that they're going to cut back on production of oil, even owe joe biden went hat in hand on bended knee and said please, saudi arabia, produce more oil and sell it to the united states. because even though we have it here, we're not going to let the american people get it out of the ground. democrats haven't lifted a finger to produce one more drop of american oil or american energy. supplies down from the prepandemic peak. prices are down right now a little because demand is down because people can't afford to drive at the high prices that gasoline went up to because of joe biden's policies and the democrats' commitment to keeping the oil in the ground. the american people are drieiving less in the summer of -- driving less in the summer of

2022 than they were the summer of 2020 and that was the year of the pandemic when the country was in a shutdown. that's what really high prices of energy will do in terms of demand to using oil. increasingly people not only can't leave home because of the cost of gas, they can't afford to stay home either, can't afford to heat their home or cool their home. half of american homes are powered by natural gas but biden's position is keep that gas in the ground. right now 20 million americans have fallen behind on paying their electric bills. that's a record. in total the american people owe more than $16 billion in unpaid electric bills. it's double the amount opened before the pandemic. and 20 million people may be facing what's been described as a tsunami of shutoffs. it's all because of democrats' out-off touch policies. prices are up 13% on the dollar

the last 12 months. $100 grocery bill last year would be $113. this year a woman had two bags and said does this look like $100 worth of groceries? week after week this adds up. this is the fastest increase in grocery prices in 43 years. we're talking about meat and milk and eggs and vegetables. talking about fruit. things people buy when they go to the grocery store. higher cost for gas and growries steadily eating away of the finances of the american people. total prices have gone up more than 12% since joe biden took office. last week we learned that prices have increased faster than wages, what people have to pay going up faster than what people are earning for 16 months in a row. as a result the american family today can afford a lot less than they could the day joe biden took office. wages can't keep up so people are turning to their savings and

to debt. one out of three americans is taking an average of $600 out of their savings this year just to pay the bills to keep up. just so they don't fall further behind. household debt has never been higher than it is right now and it's only going up. half of american families say they expect to add even more to their debt by the end of the year. what are democrats offering working families, people who are out there struggling trying to get by? well, the secretary of energy has this to offer. she says hey a 30% discount on solar panels. under the new spending bill, the taxpayer will pay for a 30% of the cost of those new solar panels. it's taxpayers across the country for people who want to get the 30% discount. people can't afford basic groceries like milk and eggs right now let alone solar parnls. the -- panels. does the secretary really think middle-class families are running out to buy solar panels? not a chance.

they're not. the american people are saying to the climate extremists thanks but no thanks. democrats' inflation is not going away any time soon. the effects are going to be with us for a long, long time and the american people know it. that's why they think the country is heading in the wrong direction. we may see inflation getting worse. that's because democrats have now poured jet fuel on the fire of inflation. they did it twice this past month. first they passed this incredibly expensive spending bill. then a few days later joe biden announced a very unfair $500 billion taxpayer-funded handout to people with college loans. it's a one-two punch to families who work, pay their taxes, and pay their bills. when they sign their name to a loan, expect to pay it back. it's not what we're getting with joe biden. no. what we're getting is actions that are going to cause more

inflation. according to the wharton school of business in their budget model, democrats' spending bill is going to increase inflation not just for a week, not just for a month, not just for a year but for at least two years. and that's something apparently joe biden is proud of. even the democratic economists admit the student loan giveaway is going to increase inflation. so let's name names. former obama economic adviser jason furman called this gasoline on the inflation-year fire that is already burning. this is obama's economic adviser called it reckless. former obama and clinton economic adviser larry summers said student loan debt relief increases inflation. it will also tend to raise tuition. raise tuition. is that what the democrats are for? hey, let's raise tuition. we're for that.

that's what larry summers says is going to happen as a result of these positions by the democrats in this chamber and the white house. joe biden continues to make life more expensive, more unaffordable, and more painful for american families. to bring down costs republicans propose doing the exact opposite of what the democrats are doing today. we need to produce more and spend less. we need to produce more, lots of things. energy is part of it. we need to unleash american energy. we need to lower costs all across the country by producing more american energy right here in the united states. not going hat in hand to saudi arabia. not going hat in hand as joe biden did just a year ago to russia, to vladimir putin's russia just a year ago joe biden was saying please send us more oil. oh, and he wants the same from iran and venezuela. we have it here in the united states. we need to unleash it.

for the last 20 months democrats have waged an all-out war against american energy. we need more energy, not less. what we need less of is less washington red tape. so far joe biden has issued more than $200 billion in punishing regulations in just 20 months. it makes it more expensive to create jobs here at home. finally, we immediate to stop this reckless washington spending. the biden inflation crisis started the month after democrats passed their first spending bill. the first spending bill added $2 trillion to the debt. the college loan give away, another half trillion. it's all going to make inflation worse, and people at home are furious. so despite what the liberal pundits may say, democrats have nothing to celebrate. a poll from rioters last week -- reuters last week showed joe biden still has an approval rating below 40%.

three out of four americans say this country is on the wrong track under joe biden and the democrat. according to one poll, a full majority of americans say america's best days are behind us. it's a record, record high of people thinking best days are behind us. america is in a crisis right now from our economy to our border to crime in our communities. joe biden's liberal policies have failed working families across america. so i disagree with those who say our best days are behind us. i believe the best days for america are always ahead of us. it is the control of washington that needs to be put behind us. joe biden gave a political speech the other day, flanked bid marines in philadelphia. he told the american public it was a policy speech. it was not. he intentionally misled the american people and tried to lie to the american people because if it had been a policy speech, he would have actually addressed the issues that are keeping

americans awake at night. the issues that they care about, the pain that they're suffering. he never mentioned once the word crisis, inflation, gas, the border, crime, cartel, fentanyl, or debt. never mentioned those. no, the president closed his eyes to all of those things that he's done that is causing massive pain to the american people, but he looked down the nose, his nose at tens and tens of millions of americans who are struggling fo -- to get by, and the american economy that this president and the democrats have intentionally undermined. mr. president, i yield the floor.

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mrs. blackburn: that you want. i think we all enjoyed -- thank you, mr. president. i think we all enjoyed being in our state during august, and during the time i was there i wrapped up what i do each year, which is to visit with each of our 95 counties. and this is truly a listening tour for me, being able to talk with our citizens, to talk with our elected leaders. and i would leave those meetings so encouraged and think i could

not be more impressed with the things that are being done in these communities. i would go to the next community and again would be just as impressed. tennesseans are working hard, and this year has been a difficult year for everyone. but i want to focus on our local leaders today because they are the ones who are keeping these communities afloat, and they have done it in spite of everything that washington, d.c. and the democrats are doing to them. i thought it was interesting that yesterday the majority leader opened the senate by reciting a laundry list of the democratic party's accomplishments. now he put quite a spin on this. back home in tennessee, the people that i work with every single day are seeing this laundry list for what it is and

how it affects them. there's hundreds of billions of dollars for the green new deal giveaways. there are big government power grabs. there's crippling regulatory overreach. billions more have been spent on the student loan forgiveness program. indeed, it could end up being $1 trillion. and there are attacks on our fundamental constitutional rights. yes, indeed, the way tennesseans see it is that joe biden and the democrats are putting together the pieces for what they call their transformation, their great socialist experiment. but in tennessee, local leaders are really working around the clock to keep that vision from coming to be and to keep their communities from falling apart.

and as i visited with these 95 counties, they gave to me one message that came through time and again repeatedly. they don't like what they're seeing from this socialist agenda that is being pushed forward here in d.c. indeed, they would talk about their worries and their fears. they would talk about the impact of 9% inflation and $5 a gallon gas. now that may be chuck schumer's version of success, which he really helpfully laid out yesterday as to what he thinks are successes and achievements. in a depends entirely upon his ability to spend somebody else's

money on things that the american people have repeatedly said they do not want and they do not need. that message came through every one of our 95 counties. now, in tennessee, when we talk about success, you hear about something different. you hear about growth, you hear about investments that companies are making in our state. we've earned this, the hard way, and indeed the rest of the country is noticing. tennessee is one of the most well-managed states. it has no state income tax. and you've got ford motor company and s.k. innovations have seen the potential in our state, specifically in haywood county.

and they have invested billions of dollars. when i was in west tennessee last month, i visited their blew oval city project site where in just a few years we'll have a brand-new manufacturing hub that will create thousands of jobs and grow the local economy by millions and millions of dollars. the people at lonoke farms in hardi have van county are -- in hardivan county are developing stem education programs. when i visited them, they were hard at work planning for the new 4-h and development center where students will learn how to be good stewards of tennessee's natural resources. across the state in blunt county, i was so happy to officially welcome smith & wesson to tennessee. they have moved their

headquarters and their manufacturing facility down from their old home in massachusetts massachusetts, and they are certainly pleased with the southern hospitalivity and the good business working environment that they are seeing in tennessee. the largest buckey's in the nation is coming to kodak, tennessee. also over on the east end of the state the tech star's accelerated program is thriving in knoxville. red flag set up a logistics flag in sweet water and we have a brand-new emergency clinic in upper cumberland. this is the sort of laundry list that i would hope and wish that my democratic colleagues would be proud of. from one end of the state to the other, tennessee is drawing

investment, no thanks to this white house, to president biden, and the democrats that run the house and senate. it is our local leaders that are doing the heavy lift, in spite of what washington, d.c. is throwing at them every day. but with that said, mr. president, these local leaders deserved the respect and support from the democratic party, even a bare minimum promise to not sabotage their hard work would be welcomed by them. but across all 95 counties, the message i received as i said, was pretty much the same. they are worried.

they're very worried. they're fearful. but they're not letting themselves get caught up in what the democrats are doing. yes, they know the democrats have a socialist-stiemed agenda that they are pushing. that is the democrats' vision for the future. in tennessee, our counties are not going to let the democrats destroy their hope for a better future. they know that since the day the democrats took power, joe biden and the democrats have done everything they could do to seize control and remake a vision for this country into their image, where the elite, the select few, the democrats control the power on all the

levers. and they can dictate to the states how they're going to live, what they're going to accomplish, what they are going to do. tennesseans are suffering the consequences of these policies in the form of record-breaking inflation, obscene fuel and energy costs, rising crime and drug use, and the overall sense that they have been abandoned by the federal government. that's how they see it. the overwhelming issue right now is inflation. inflation, inflation, it is the top concern in all 95 counties. it affects every county budget and it affects small business. now in fayeette county i got to

speak with joey haze of dire foods and some of the truly resilient workers at one of his local grocery stores. we should all be grateful for people like the workers at dyer foods. they didn't have it easy during the pandemic, and it hasn't gotten any easier now than it was during the pandemic because more of their paychecks are being eaten up by inflation. interesting, isn't it? inflation is outpacing any wage growth. many tennessee counties that have managed to pull themselves out of distress status lost all traction when inflation skyrocketed, and now guess what? they feel like they are back at square one because of decisions

that have been made in washington, d.c. no fault of their own, mind you. decisions that are made here. dayton city manager tommy solomon told me he saw the price of pipe go up 200%. they had to stop some of their water projects because they couldn't afford to buy the supplies. that's right, the pipe was up 200%. hamilton county mayor told me that the worker shortage has made the inflation-driven problems even worse. they raised salaries and they still can't fill critical roles, especially in public health. in this other count -- in other counties, inflation and supply chain issues are wiping out farmers. most small farms in these

counties only planted about half of their normal crop due to fuel and fertilizer prices. their businesses, these small businesses are drying up. many other businesses included large manufacturers are being stonewalled by regulators from the e.p.a. with no explanation as to why they're making the decisions they make. and you know what? unfortunately for small business manufacturers, there's no end in sight to what these regulators in this administration will do. meanwhile, while all of this is happening, the border is open by order of the white house. the drug mules are streaming in and drug use is spiking.

every single sheriff, every one of them that i spoke to in southeast tennessee told me that fentanyl is their number one issue. and i can tell you that it's an issue in other areas of the state as well. in grundy county, sheriff schrumm told me about what happened to one of his deputies who accidentally came into contact with a dangerous amount of fentanyl. he started the day trying to save a life, but by the end of that day, it was his colleagues from the sheriff department that were saving his life and giving him a dose of narcan. this is what our first responders and our local law enforcement are facing because joe biden and the democrats and this d.h.s. are refusing to

secure the southern border. two million plus and counting, about three-quarter of a million known gottaways, but they will stand up there and tell you, oh, the border is closed. law enforcement in our state does not believe that and i don't either. this is a shame. crime is on the rise, but rather than supporting police officers, joe biden and the democrats are obsessed with undermining, defunding, and disbanding police departments. in tipton county, i was truly blessed to meet deputy gene molder and his family. now, deputy molder was -- moulder was shot in the line of duty last month while he was trying to help a group of people

escape a violent hostage situation. thank goddess all right now. but people are outraged at the leftist rhetoric that is clearly designed to increase violence against law enforcement. mr. president, tennesseans aren't asking for much. they don't want a federal government to make their decisions for them. they don't want be a handout. they don't want centralized control. honestly, they wish that they could just be left alone when it comes to washington, d.c., and what they're dolling out. they want you, the federal government, to get out of the way so that they can fulfill their vision for the future, prosperous, safe, secure. now, this president's socialist

agenda won't help them do that because prosperity, freedom, independence, liberty, equal treatment under the law, equal justice for all is not what is at the top of their to-do list. it won't help hamilton county hire workers or the dayton public works department buy pipe, it won't help farmers in dade county grow the food you eat and it won't help police officers keep their communities safe and secure. these local leaders in the great state of tennessee know better than anyone here in washington what they need us to do in order to help them get things done. and that message came through

clear as a bell in 95 counties. what did they tell me? that message i heard all across 95 counties, please secure the border and support law enforcement, repair and secure our supply chains, keep taxes low, and develop a business-friendly attitude, and above all else, stop the out of control federal spending. i know this administration has made a name for itself telling people what they can and cannot do, but i will tell you this is a power struggle that you are not going to win at least where tennesseans are concerned. the democrats have an agenda but in tennessee, i have met with

some of the most wonderful people in this country. they have a vision for what they want the future to be. they want it to be focused on hope, on opportunity for all, and i want to thank every single tennessee leader, law enforcement officer, business owner, and citizen who gave me their time, who talked with me and who offered their advice this past year. their wisdom is what guides my decisions here in washington. i only wish that my democratic colleagues would take their words to heart as well. i yield the floor.

mr. whitehouse: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: mr. president, is the senate presently in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are not. mr. whitehouse: then i will proceed with my trusty, battered time to wakeup chart and -- wake up chart and my, i don't know 280-something speech. for once i can start with some good news which is democrats, at last, passed a climate-focused reconciliation bill this year. this is a huge step and

essential given the cascade of harms climate change is already inflicting, wildlife ino -- yoseite park, heat waves, dangerous heat hits u.s., emissions rising of methane, glacier tragedy, climate change is forcing massive wildlife migration. you see heat waves, rising seas, record carbon dioxide and methane concentrations in the atmosphere. it is a bombardment of hard evidence that the earth is fast becoming less hospitable for human life. the costs of our political

negligence are high and rising. my friends across the aisle like to fixate on the price of gasoline, which undeniably affects family budgets. but climate change imposes costs on american families much worse than gasoline prices. climate change causes effects that raise insurance premiums, snarls supply chains, reduce crop yields, sicken people, and damage cars, homes, and businesses. and a lot of thoughtful groups have quantified this damage, the international monetary fund estimates this climate tax on american families at over $5,000

per year based on their calculation that we subsidize fossil fuel by allowing them to get away with doing all this pollution and harm for free to the tune of $660 billion every year. that's the international monetary fund, $5,000 per family from climate change harms. and they're not alone, of course. resources for the future, which is a well-regarded, well-trusted calculation shop has just looked at what the social cost of carbon should be and they've pegged it at $185 per ton of carbon emissions. right now the nominal cost of carbon left over from the obama

administration is over a balance, resources for the future puts it at $185 in harm per ton of carbon emitted. what does this all add up to? well, you can go to corporate consulting firm deloitte, which is a corporate consulting firm. we're not talking about, you know, green new deal folks here. this is a corporate consultancy and they say that inaction on climate change could cost the world's economy $178 trillion over the next 50 years. now, the bad news is climate change harms could cost $178 trillion, the good news is if we got after this and behaved responsibly, you could gain $43 trillion in economic development in that same time period.

so if you put the two together, that is a $220 trillion swing depending on decisions that we make today. so it kind of matters to getting this right, and we are not yet getting this right. the reconciliation bill, good as it is, won't decarbonize our economy in time. without a lot of -- without a lot more action. the bill likely takes expected emissions reduction from around 25%, which we're assuming right there, that's our baked-in number, and it raises it to about 40%. so it's a 15% increase in

emissions reduction from 25% to 40%, so that is good. that is good but it still leaves much to do. because remember, net zero is the target. if you reduce by 40%, that still leaves 60% that is work to be done. so soon we're going to need another bill. and the contours of such a bill if it's going to be effective are pretty clear. there is bipartisan interest in a carbon border adjustment which would make american manufacturing more competitive and reduce carbon pollution worldwide. we export pressure against carbon pollution with a carbon border tariff. there's also bipartisan interest in commonsense permitting reform to safely and quickly build out the clean energy infrastructure

of the future. my coastal state needs it for offshore wind. the presiding officer's mountain state needs it for transmission lines to connect to the grid the capacity we have for solar and wind. and the fossil fuel industry at least pretends to be interested in a price on carbon emissions. now that's just pretense. they put their whole political operation in effect to make sure none of that happens, but it's a good sign. it's a step on the path when they have to pretend to support a price on emissions. that's a step on the way to actually supporting a price on carbon emissions. i will do everything in my power to do all of those things. but let's be clear. it would be much easier if corporate america were not a wall of opposition to serious

climate bills. and it's not just the fossil fuel industry. banking, insurance, retail, tech, pick your industrial sector, you name it. in this building? useless on climate or worse. there's a huge spread between what they tell their shareholders and their customers and the public and what they send their emissaries into congress to tell us. and until that's solved, until corporate america aligns what it's telling the public with what it's doing in congress, legislation is going to be tough to do. so that leaves the executive branch. that's what brings me to the floor today because there's a lot that the executive branch can do under existing executive authorities. and in this recent article, the

white house said they were going to get started. biden prepares more actions to cut emissions. regulations from the epa and elsewhere will help the president meet his aggressive climate goals. the president has not chosen to just look at congress. he's chosen to recognize that he has presidential authorities and responsibilities under the law to keep moving this forward. well, he sure does and there's plenty of room to do different things and new things. so what can be done by executive action? let's go through the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions since that's our target. the number one source -- by the way, these 11 sources of carbon pollution amount to almost 70% of our carbon emissions. so if we can tackle these, we're making a big dent in that remaining 60% left undone. so cars and light trucks is the

largest category. it generates almost a fifth of total u.s. carbon pollution. epa and d.o.t. restored obama-era emission standards so now go further. as california has. start with model year 2027 and begin a rampup to 100 percent zero emission vehicles by 2025. there's authority under this under the clear air act and 2007 independence and security act. by the way, when you double your car's energy efficiency, doubling your fuel economy is exactly the same thing as cutting oil prices, gasoline prices in half. so push in that direction. and by the way, getting off of fossil fuel for cars and light trucks will help us get off the big oil treadmill of cartel

prices that are set with the help of foreign despots in russia, in saudi arabia, in venezuela, outside the rule of american law, but americans have to pay because our oil industry goes along with the international cartel instead of charging market-base prices. we just saw them do that and reap record profits. so a lot to be done on cars and light trucks. coal-fired power plants is the next biggest one. coal-fired power plants bell. car -- belch carbon pollution but also a lot of other pollutants. so if you regulate for health against those other pollutantses, you get a lot of cobenefits with carbon pollution. among the worst is fine particular matter which is also known as soot or more technically pm-2.5. it's the leading cause of the estimated 100,000 to 200,000 air

pollution-related premature deaths each year. so it's causing real harm. and then you add in coal ash which is the toxic sludge left after you burn coal loaded with arsenic mercury, lead, and uranium often stored in lagoons which sometimes burst just as you see in this picture. not only slomping this farmhouse but also poisoning rivers and ground water. this should be a never event. this should be a never event. but it's not. it's all too frequent and poor communities often take the hit. epa regulations can eliminate these threats. and produce carbon reduction cobenefits. nothing in the recent west

virginia v. epa decision prevents epa from requiring that coal-fired power plants install carbon capture technology. and carbon capture technology can eliminate up to 90% of the carbon pollution. add epa's authority under the clean air act and clean water act to regulate fine particulate matter and coal ash and you can make real progress. which brings us then to gas-fired power plants. the next category. they are big carbon polluters and they are still being built. epa regulations for new and existing gas-fired plants can limit their carbon pollution the same way. carbon capture can be one option. cofiring with zero carbon hydrogen can be another option. next on the list is heavy duty vehicles, trucks and buses. now, epa has a proposed rule and

that proposed rule on trucks and buses does nothing to reduce carbon pollution. epa and d.o.t. have ample authority here and they should use it. california has its own advanced clean trucks rule requiring increased zero emission heavy duty vehicles. if epa can't do any better, then follicle cal's lead. -- then follow california's lead. next comes methane spewing from oil and gas facilities as leaks, events, or flares. epa has a proposed rule, no actual rule yet. but even the proposed rule has flaws. first it doesn't cover low-producing wells. a low-producing well can be a very high leaking well. so whether it's high or low producing should matter less than whether it's a big leaker.

second, the rule does little for venting and flaring which are major pollution sources. now, one development is its satellites can now very precisely locate methane leaks. so we can aggressively pursue and punish big methane polluters. and we should do that. set up a task force. have people go hunting for the big methane leaks. find who's responsible and get after them. if you do all that, it would cover more than half of gross carbon emissions in the u.s. so let's do it. no more complaining about not enough staff. epa has more employees than all of congress combined. if you don't have enough staff, then detail folks in from the regional offices. barrow from your state counterparts. do what it takes to get after this like you mean it.

because we need to. there's a list that i tweeted out of things that the administration could be doing within its existing executive authorities. within the white house, omb, office of management and budget, 18 months in needs to finalize its social cost of carbon, the costs and the harms from each ton of carbon pollution emitted. that's the number that i mentioned earlier that resources for the future just calculated at $185 per ton. omb needs to finalize the social cost of carbon, set the number, and require its use throughout government decision-making.

all the regulatory agencies should use it. even the quasi independence. and you can add in procurement decisions. the federal government contracts for over $600 billion in goods and services every year. we buy buildings, vehicles, planes, cement, steel, appl appliances, you name it, the government buys it. plug the social cost of carbon into procurement as many private companies do and you engage the power of government contracting against the climate threat. and when you do that, that then drives economies of scale that make those low carbon products cheaper for everyone else, not just the government buyer. the social cost of carbon should

drive department of interior fossil fuel royalty rates for oil, gas, and coal produced on federal lands and waters. those rates right now are so low that we lose money on royalties compared to the costs that those fossil fuels impose on all of us. that's just dumb and also unfair. so let's fix that flagrant imbalance by putting the social cost of carbon into the fees and royalties. i'd add that the department of justice has a role to play here. years ago under the clinton administration, the department of justice sued big tobacco for decades of misrepresentations about the harms of its product.

well, doj won that lawsuit and they won big. and they got a court order requiring big tobacco to quit lying. well, like big tobacco, big oil has spent decades misrepresenting the dangers associated with its product. the department of justice is way overdue to take a serious look at fossil fuel lies. as they look around the country, they see states and municipalities and counties bringing lawsuits against the fossil fuel industry. it is happening out there. it is incumbent on the department of justice to advise the president on what the department of justice should be doing. to turn a blind eye to all that litigation, to ignore its own victory in the tobacco case, to refuse to recommend to the president any course of action

or to take any course of action is just not an acceptable way of going forward. if the doj took an honest look, i bet they'd find the case against big oil every bit as solid as the face they won against big tobacco. and while we're at it, there's the bully pulpit. the administration should use the bully pulpit to call out the dark money, the lies, the fake science, the phony front groups, the spin doctors, the copted groups, the whole apparatus, the whole machinery the fossil fuel industry has used to corrupt congress and obstruct progress. calling out crooks is the right thing to do and the public

deserves to know that there is a villain here who has blocked progress on purpose. and what that villain is up to. there's a lot that the biden administration can and should be doing. yes, it's good to declare a climate emergency. it's better to act like it's a climate emergency and deploy your executive authorities accordingly. that means the sort of regulatory surge i've just outlined, no waffling, no excuses. a winning strategy ultimately includes regulation, litigation, legislation, acquisition, and communication. across those five fronts, the biden administration should have

a plan to move forward in each and every one. it needs the kind of leadership that eisenhower gave to the senator man did i landing -- to the senator man did i landing and the invasion -- to the normandy landing and the invasion that followed. while where you're organizing it that way, do it with gusto. this is a fight that is worth having. it's not just that the planet depends on t it's not just that our international credibility depends on it. it's not just cleaning out this place from rotten fossil fuel industry depends it on it. i.t. the right thing to do -- it's the right thing to do. the american public will stand behind a president who stand up against lies and dark money and the schemes to blockade climate safety. so i'll close by saying that whether there was ever a time for halfhearted, half-baked and

halfway measures a, it's done. we need to build on the success of the inflation reduction act. we need to take that as a launch pad, a first chapter not a last chapter. and on this fight, it is all in or lose because our adversaries are determined. they're just wrong. but they're determined. so it's all in or lose. and, by the way, it we lose this race, the laws of chemistry and physics are going to be unforgiving. i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. brown: madam president in. the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. brown: i thank the presiding officer from minnesota. the senate is -- i ask that the senate dispense with the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: this past monday we celebrated labor day. whether you punch a clock, whether you swipe a badge, whether you are in a salary, make tips, care for children or an aging parent, all work has dignity. hard work pays off forren, no matter who you are, where you live, what kind of work you do. yet we know for so many americans their work simply doesn't pay off like it should. look at what's happened in minnesota and ohio and rhode island -- and i know senator grassley is coming out -- in

iowa. look what's happened in the last 30, 40 years? c.e.o. pay is up 1,300%. corporate profits haveries reason. stock prices are up. workers more productive than ever before. but for decades, for decades wages barely budged. for most americans their purchasing power has largely been flat for some five decades, because wall street rewards corporations that raise prices without raising paychecks. wall street rewards stock buybacks. wall street rewards union busting. wall street really rewards shipping jobs overseas. wall street rewards out mating jobs. wall street rewards outsourcing full-time, in-house work to contractors. wall street analysts actually downgrade stock prices when american companies invest in american workers in american production.

if a company owns a new fanningtory in ohio, the company might downgrade its stock. the same company buys back its own stock, sending 240% of the -- 40% of the returns to foreign investors. wall street rewards it. for the first time in far too long, we have a government on the side of workers. we have a dues-paying member as labor secretary p labor being a visit carried a union card before he became secretary of labor. contrast that the with a the trump secretary of labor who worked for one of the major world leaders in union busting, who made millions of dollars a year by busting unions. we took on big oil. excuse me. we've a national labors board looking at workers. we passed the most pro-labor infrastructure bill, the

strongest buy america provisions ever in a piece of legislation. we've taken historic steps to put workers first, to invest in american workers, to make our economy work for every american, not just c.e.o.'s, not just wall street. that's what you came to the senate from minnesota for. that's what senator whitehouse came from rhode island for, to make these fights. we passed the chips act to bring our supply chains home, to bring down prices for american families to create thousands -- tens of thousands of good-paying jobs across ohio and the country. this ground breaking that president biden and i and congressman roian are going to do this friday in licking county, ohio, will mean at a minimum 5,000 good-paid union i would abouting trades jobs, carpenters, electricians, pipe fighters, libbers, ultimately mill write wrights, so many others. it will last for at least ten years. passing the chips act brace down our -- brings our supply chains

home to bring down prices for american families. we peace the inflation reduction act taking on three of the most powerful special interests in washington. we took on the big drug companies, big pharma, to bring down drug prices. we took on big oil to lower energy prices and create jobs. union jobs in the industries of the future. we took on wall street, finally taxing stock buybacks that reward c.e.o.'s and executives at the expense -- always at the expense, mr. president, of workers and jobs. that he is were big wins. together the biggest steps we've taken in decades to create an industrial policy that puts about our most valuable resource -- american workers -- first. it counters the business model for corporations hopscotch the globe in search of lower wages and lower wages and lower wages. from the infrastructure bill, the chips act, the inflation reduction act, we played down a new marker. the technology of the future from semiconductors to batteries to electric vehicles will be developed in america, made in

america by american workers. hasn't been easy. our work is far from finished. but i am optimistic. i see more momentum behind the labor movement than at any time in my career. more and moreporks are seeing that unions are the best way to have a voice, from starbucks to amazon. 70% of americans -- i don't ever remember it being that high -- 70% of americans approve of unions, for sure the highest level of support in 50 years. more people than ever want to join a union. they know that carrying a union card means better wages, better benefits, better working conditions, better control, especially for young families, more control over your schedule. we know what workers are up against when they organize. corporations unleash all their power to fight their own workers, too often illegally. that's why i'll never stop fighting to pass the pro act. this week we honor the workers

who built this country. we recommit ourselves to the fight ahead. when work has dignity, every american is paid the living wage they've earned. all workers can afford child care and housing. when workers have dignity, american workers have retirement security and paid leave and power over their schedule and life. when you love this country, you fight every day for the people who make it work. that's what the labor movement has dons for a century. it's what i'll continue to do. madam president, i ask that the following remarks be placed in a different part of the railroaded. the presiding officer: without objection. -- in a different part of the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: i ask my colleagues to join ohioan david kiska, a decorated war hero. mr. kiska served our country by enlisting in the army and fighting in korea. he fought bravery in the battle of outpost harry. that battle one of the most devastating of the war. after eight days he and his fellow soldiers prevailed,

securing a strategic military route despite being significantly is outnumbered. the battle of outpost harry is is remembered an an outstanding military feat of the korean war. when he returned hem to ohio, he worked at the true shovel company in lorrani. est became a director of the loran county services. ohio is blessed in each of our 88 counties has a veterans service officer. cuyahoga servicer has dozens of people serving in small counties like benton. they're always there to serve veterans. david wanted to make sure in this that job that every veteran received his or her full benefits regardless of when and where they served their country. he helped with paper work, supported veterans through career transitions. for david, the job never ended. he took veterans out to lunch,

paying out of his own pocket often. he visited sick and injured vets to keep them company, a friendly face to help through hard times. every memorial day he volunteered to put american flags on the graves of veterans. it's how david lived his life. he fought with bravery, gave back selflessly. our thoughts are with his family, we recommit ourselves as we did with the heath robinson pact act. thank you, madam president. madam president, i know that senator grassley will speak in a moment. i just -- these are the wrap-ups, if i could. i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to legislative session and be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection.

mr. brown: i ask unanimous consent the senate judiciary committee be discharged from further consideration and the senate proceed to s. res. 737. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 737, designating august 10, 2022, as toxic exposure awareness day. the presiding officer: without objection, the committee is discharged. the senate will proceed. mr. brown: madam president, i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: mammograms, i ask unanimous consent when the senate completes its business, it adjourn until 10:00 a.m. thursday, september 8. following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, morning business be closed. upon the conclusion of morning business, the senate proceed to executive session to ressume consideration of the mathis nomination postcloture and that

all postcloture time on the nomination be considered expired at 11:30 a.m. further, following the vote on the mathis nomination, the senate resume consideration of the mendoza nomination, the cloture motions filed during yesterday's session ripen at 1:45 p.m. and that at 1:45 p.m. the senate vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the mendoza nomination. finally, if any nominations are confirmed during thursday's session, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, and the president be notified immediately of the senate's action. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: if there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order following the remarks of my colleague from iowa, senator grassley. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: senator grassley. mr. grassley: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: last week while i was meeting with constituents in iowa, news broke here in

washington, d.c., about assistant special agent in charge tim tebow's retirement. since may 31 of this year, i've highlighted tim tebow's partisan bias and how it infected major fbi investigations. that included a july 18 letter of this year that highlighted his role in opening a criminal investigation into trump's campaign and advisors. that investigation is the electoral investigation that's been in the news. for example, on july 26 of this year, "the washington post" reported on that very same trump investigation. now, however, the "post"

failed to note that tebow was a prime mover in opening it. now get this, the post failed to note that tim tebow predicated the investigation in a substantial part on liberal news articles as well as information derived from a liberal nonprofit. then-attorney general garland and director wray approved a full investigation anyway, which, as we all know, was contrary to standard procedure for moving ahead on an investigation. that "washington post" article occurred one day after i made

the trump investigation letter public and one day after i made the july 25 hunter biden investigation letter public. since tim tebow's exit from the fbi, i've noticed more news articles and reporting that hasn't been accurate with respect to the allegations that i've made public. let me take this opportunity then to correct the record. with respect to that inaccurate reporting. some reports have noted that the hunter biden criminal probe is ongoing. therefore, how can the allegations of thibault shutting down investigation activity relating to hunter biden be a

credible? well, this is the difference. the whistleblower disclosures, to me, relate to investigative activity and avenues of information that originated entirely separate from the ongoing hunter biden criminal probe. that's why the allegations that i made, that i brought forward are so very, very important. because we're dealing with a separate category of potentially criminal information relating to hunter biden that the fbi has within its possession. and the information received by the fbi was either verified or verifiable.

even so, based on allegations, the investigative activity was shut down by special agent thibault and of course by others based on the false assertion that it was disinformation. how many times do we have this this disinformation coming up as an excuse all the time with grassley's investigations? now to be precise, fbi officials wanted to take action with respect to this separate investigative information that the fbi had in its possession related to hunter biden. however, thibault blocked the

fbi from doing what would normally be done. accordingly, the investigative activity and information cannot be advanced as it should have been, which means the fbi could have gathered more evidence with respect to hunter biden, but cut bait instead. and the fbi and thibault cut bait right before the 2020 presidential election. since the information and activity was shut down, it wouldn't have been initially shared with any ongoing criminal code. that calls into question then what u.s. attorney wise is

actually investigating. it also calls into question what the fbi's baltimore field office is reviewing and whether it's the full scope of evidence. now i've asked director wray about that whole issue. i asked him, quote, how can verified and verifiable information relating to hunter biden's potential criminality be shared with u.s. attorney weiss if it is shut down, end of my quote. we have no answer from director wray. at the judiciary committee's august 4 oversight hearing, director wray said that it's his expectation that such information would be shared with

relevant offices. so, director wray, i have this question -- what have you done to ensure that your expectation has been met? because director wray's failure to answer, congress is unaware of whether or not the fbi has finally shared full and complete information and investigative activity with any ongoing criminal probe. therefore, without additional transparency from the government, there's a very real chance the hunter biden criminal probe doesn't include the full evidentiary picture. now, how can the american people trust the results? some have also questioned how an assistant special agent in charge like thibault can have so

much power, power to open and close investigate -- investigative activities. well, that's exactly what he did, and that power is often abused within the fbi. for example, on march 28 of this year, chairman durbin and i wrote a letter to the fbi about an audit. that audit showed widespread violation of internal policies designed to ensure proper handling of the fbi's most sensitive investigations. to read from my letter with chairman durbin, quote, the fbi reviewed 353 sensitive investigative matters. just under half of all such

matters that were pending during this 18-month review period, and identified 747 violations, end of quote. in 45 investigations, the fbi didn't conduct or document a legal review prior to opening it. in 40 investigations, the fbi officials who opened a sensitive investigative matter didn't obtain approval from the relevant special agent in charge or even the assistant special agent in charge. now, with those statistics, i fear that's just the tip of the iceberg. in conclusion, let's look at thibault's recent statement and the allegation's he didn't

address. i think we have five or six. first, he didn't address his role in opening a trump investigation based on liberal news articles and information derived from a liberal nonprofit. secondly, he didn't address his collaboration with richard pilger with respect to that investigation. third, he didn't address efforts to water down the trump investigation memo sent to attorney general garland and director wray which they ultimately approved. fourth, he didn't address the shutting down of the investigate activity and information relating to hunter biden.

fifth, he didn't address the alleged criminality within the information provided to the fbi about hunter biden. sixth, he didn't address the august 2020 assessment opened by brian oten that was used to falsely label hunter biden's information as disinformation. seventh, he didn't address his actions to try and improperly mark investigative closings so that they couldn't be opened in the future. lastly, thibault said that he, quote, welcomes any investigation, end quote, into allegations against him. well, mr. thibault, come on in. sit for a transcribed interview

with me and my colleagues. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the senate stands adjourned until 10:00 a.m. tomorrow.