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a federal ban on abortion was now, quote, possible, his words. the senior senator from south carolina is going to make good on leader mcconnell's warning by introducing a radical bill to institute a nationwide restriction on abortions. mr. president, , proposals like the one today send a clear message from maga republicans to women across the country. your body, our choice. rather than expanding women's rights, maga republicans would curtail them. rather than give individuals the freedom to make their own healthcare choices, they hand that power over the radical politicians. and let me add this. republicans are twisting themselves into pretzels trying

to explain why they want nationwide abortion bans when they said they would leave it up to the states. even senior senator from south carolina said a few months ago, quote, that if the supreme court overturns roe v. wade, it would mean that quote, every state will decide if abortion is legal and on what terms. and yet here he is introducing a bill to restrict abortions nationally. for the hard right this has never been about states' rights. this has never been about letting texas choose its own path while california takes another. no. four maga republicans this is always been about making abortions illegal everywhere. the contrast has become clear. while democrats want to protect a woman's freedom to choose, maga republicans want to take that right away with proposals to ban abortions, to punish women and doctors for carrying out abortions, and even to push bans with no exceptions for rape

or incest. we are seeing it play out across the country. it's chilling, chilling to the bone. every single american should stand in opposition against these radical maga republican views. >> this is entirely a result of larry summers predicted in march of 21, the result of dumping $2 trillion on the economy last year which he predicted at the time and confirms again today is the reason we're looking at 40 year high inflation. every democrat voted for it. every republican voted against it. the most prominent democrat economist in the country predicted it at the time, confirmed it again today.

>> they are gathering at the white house later today to crow about 8.3% year-over-year increase in inflation, like that some sort of victory. and i just would remind people that when president biden took office in january 2021 inflation was 1.4%. so they may be taking a victory lap at the white house but i can tell you one thing the american people are not because they are feeling the direct impact of this every single day. this report also showed the price of food, , groceries has gone up 13.5% year-over-year, the highest rate of increase since 1979 back when i was a senior in high school. as roy blunt has pointed out the real rate of inflation, if you go back to january 2021, 2 today, is indeed -- it is 13.2%. these numbers are staggering, and the white house seems to be

an absolute denial of what impact this is having on the american people and their budgets. and i see it in agriculture, one of the reasons obviously that food has increased at the grocery store is because it increased dramatically. in fact, this year will be the record year in terms of gross farm receipts. in other words, topline revenues in agriculture, highest ever, 14% increase over last year. and yet, i'm going to show an inflation adjusted net farm income reduction of 1%. highest cash receipts ever the story clayton, a reduction in adjusted, inflation adjusted cash income. and that's why when you look at a cost of fertilizer since 2020 it's got up. cost of fuel and oil has gone up 35%. since 2020. you look at these increases and

what it cost to produce a crop this year and you can see why all these throughout the entire food chain the impact inflation is having old and we felt by the american consumer and the american family who are paying for these much our prices at the grocery store. this is an example again i'll just -- complete split screen you see in this country between the white house, you know, celebrating taking a victory lap down there this afternoon, and the american people dealing with the reality left by the policies of this administration who still don't get it. they continued to celebrate the tax increases, the amount of spending they are doing and inflation continues to choke the american people. >> the inflation numbers came in today and they came in hot. 13.2% increase inflation from the time that joe biden came into the white house to where we are today. the american public are feeling

the heat and they are falling behind. and so we have no more votes this afternoon because all the democrats have headed to the white house to celebrate this. they want to celebrate, have party to celebrate about the past along partyline votes. but what they are celebrating is raising taxes, hiring tens of thousands of new irs agents and attacking american energy. i guarantee what we will see from this law is higher inflation. we see that today. higher debt and higher energy costs. all those things are going to be true. so it's no surprise that they american families feel that they have been forgotten, a dolt and betrayed by joe biden and all the democrats we see the prices go up for rent, housing, energy, food, groceries go all those ale things. as ranking member of the energy committee let me talk a little bit about energy because what keeps the lights on, it's what helps is cool and heat our

homes. take a a look at california we energy electricity costs have gone up 50% and the last two years. 50%. and it's going to get worse. the reason it's going to get worse is because the climate activists, the climate extremists, radicals in california have been aggressively shutting down oil, gas coal and nuclear power. yet what we have, the sector energy who was probably leading the cheers at the widest abasing last week that california is taking the lead, taking the lead, taking the lead to energy that is more expensive and less reliable. the religion today at the democratic party is a religion of climate. they worship the sun god, the when god and the god of wishful thinking. the american people what energy that is affordable, available and reliable.

the activists in the democrat party don't want any of that. they want renewable energy all day regardless of the cost and regardless of the consequences to the american families. they continue to wrap up in red tape any efforts to produce red, white and blue american energy. now we have joe manchin who is trying to hide behind the fig leaf of an agreement he made with chuck schumer about trying to cut a little bit of that red tape. well i would say to my friend joe manchin who is the chairman of the energy committee that what they are celebrating today at the white house is the damage you have already done by passing this reckless bill. you voted for. and if you're now looking for republicans to support and give you more cover band you have right now, you're not going to find it with us. >> so gasoline costs traditionally historically go up, and they go down. food costs go up and almost

never go down. 8.3% increase year over year this month, with a decrease in gasoline prices. imagine how much everything else had to go up about 8.3% to get that to happen. food went up 13.5%. since biden became president it is 17% higher than it was. cost more to feed your family, the increase in costs of feeding your family in the last month was higher than any time since 1979. costs providing electricity to your house, more than any time in the last 40 years. this is a serious problem. they celebrate today at the white house making it more serious by putting still more money into the economy than would've been there without the passage of this last bill. they are doing exactly the worst thing you could possibly do if you're trying to fight inflation

while at the federal reserve they are raising the interest rates to make it harder to buy your house, your car, or anything else. that may be the only option we have based on what democrats have already done, but the last bill they passed is an isn to the bill that everybody knows is the root of this inflation. when the economy was recovering you don't pass a $2 trillion american recovery plan and dump them on top of a recovering economy. >> so this past sunday on september 11, i did what i do every single year on september 11. i turn on the tv and watched the same event unfold that we saw 21 years ago. and my reaction is still the same. it's one of morning, one of loss. and i recognize at that point that we live in a very, very

dangerous world. i recognize that still today. unfortunately, chuck schumer does not recognize that. we had a national defense authorization act that is yet to be taken up on the senate floor. we spend these weeks going through and voting on judges, and yet we can't bring the ndaa up for a vote. we see the democrats down the hill celebrating the enormous government spending on equities for electric vehicles that only the wealthiest of americans can purchase. this is what they are celebrating today instead of spending time today on the floor of the senate making sure that our united states of america is protected against russia, iran,

china, north korea, violent extremist organizations. this should've been been done a long time ago. our nation was founded for the protection of its people. and yet the democrats and joe biden continue to ignore that very reason we have a federal government. they need to come back together and move on the ndaa. >> biden inflation, , family something about 9000 more per year just to stay even. $9000, that means you have to work more hours, take another job, cut your costs somehow just to make ends meet. if you talk to families in florida they're going to food banks that they never went to before. you talk to retirees. they are taking second or third jobs. they're going back to work delaying their retirement.

if you talk to businesses they're cutting to hours, cutting their costs. when you talk to floridians what they're telling you is just not as may foretell an -- full-time jobs out there so we struggle to get the numbers. we read all these numbers that say the biden administration is adding all these jobs. in the month of august in the last month i guess, that must be the july numbers, the country didn't add jobs, didn't have full-time jobs. they cut to under 42,000 full-time thousand full-time jobs were eliminated. what we added was part-time jobs. people were doing two and three jobs on top of that if you go look at the numbers for the last two months the number of self-employed is dropping. it's all because of biden's economy, biden's inflation. it's killing the job market out there and it's going to continue to get worse and worse and worse until we stop this reckless spending that happened up here.

>> lindsey graham has a 15 week abortion ban. if you take it up in the senate for a vote -- [inaudible] >> well, with regard to his bill you have to ask him about it. in terms of scheduling, i think most of the members of that conference prefer this be dealt with at the state level. >> with regard to the abortion issue, are republicans, g-fee like republicans are doing enough? it seems like democrats are cut controlling the issue right now with saying your grandmother had more rights than you. do you feel like republicans need to do a better job of educating america? >> well, i think every republican senator running this year in these contested races has an answer as to how they feel about the issue. it may be different in different states.

so i leave it up to our candidate who are quite capable of handling this issue to determine for them what their response is. >> do you expect democrat and white house -- to head this off? >> my understanding, complicated procedure, is that the president's board has made a recommendation as to how this should be settled. and unless he changes position the president apparently supports the position of the presidential board. that seems to me to be the perfect place to get the strike settled. the president is always brag about how much influence he has with unions and how much influence they have with him. this would be a good time to demonstrate that by insisting that the recommendation of his own board be implemented.

[inaudible question] well, as was just pointed out in an earlier question i don't control the agenda. if the majority leader decides to bring it up, we will see where the votes are. thank you.

mr. barrasso: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. barrasso: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: we're not in a quorum call. mr. barrasso: thank you, madam president. i come to the floor today to talk about the rise in cost of the american energy and this morning we found out that inflation continues to burn very hot. prices continue to go up and up and up. last month they actually went up faster than even the economists had predicted. since joe biden took office, the prices have risen now by more than 13% across america. that's what families are facing. and prices have been rising faster than wages for the last 17 months. so people are feeling the heat and falling further and further behind. today gas prices are still nearly $1 .50 a gallon higher

than they were the day joe biden took office. but democrats are patting themselves on the back because gas prices have come back from the stroutospheric $5 a gallon during the peak this summer. gas is still over $4 a gallon in lots of states including nevada and washington state. and, of course, at $5 a gallon, very few people can afford to drive. so it's no surprise that prices fell as demand plummeted. yet many of the democrats are at the white house this afternoon apparently in the thousands to celebrate the law that just got passed here. madam president, these price hikes, these increases in cost, this is nothing to celebrate. and so in 15 minutes at the white house, joe biden is going to lead a celebration, a party for a bill that passed along party lines. we have a crisis of food, a crisis of energy, a crisis of rent.

people cannot afford the cost of living. in terms of energy, after two years in power -- and i come today on the floor as a range -- ranking member of the senate energy committee, supply is down below the prepandemic peak, joe biden has leased the fewest acres of land for energy development since any president since world war ii. the biden economy is hitting record numbers -- 40-year record high inflation. food prices are up higher in terms of cost of feeding your family. the rise in price is up higher than in 40 years. and now shutting down american energy with the fewest acres of federal land for energy development since world war ii. now, joe biden had a plan. his plan was to invite dictators

to sell us oil. officials from the biden administration went hat in hand just a little over a year ago to vladimir putin in russia, to iran, to saudi arabia, to venezuela. the president went personally to saudi arabia to ask for more energy and production. he went to riyadh to beg the saudis to sell us more oil. didn't work. the saudis and the opec cartel announced last week they're going to actually slash production by 100,000 barrels a day. when president obama was in the white house, he went on an apology tour to the middle east. this summer, joe biden went on a begging tour to the middle east. both were a failure. both were a waste. both were an embarrassment to the united states.

that's delusional democrat policy diplomacy for you. gas prices are still $1.50 a gallon since the day joe biden became president. earlier this summer, people were actually driving less than they did in the summer of 2020 during the peak of the pandemic, during the lockdown. that's why prices have dropped for gas, but prices for everything else have gone up so high that people are still hurting all across the country, and we have democrat policies and democrat spending to thank for it. people can't afford to drive. they can't afford to stay home, either. that's because natural gas prices have more than doubled since joe biden took office. well, half of american homes are powered by natural gas. one expert predicted utility bills could jump 40% just this

year. already, more than 20 million americans have fallen behind on paying their electric bills, because they don't have the money. this is another record. in total, the american people owe more than $16 billion in unpaid electric bills. that's nearly double the amount they owed before the pandemic. so you have 20 million americans facing the possibility of having their power shut off. this is a moment of anxiety and anguish for families, and it's caused by the policies of the biden administration. democrats think everything is fine because they just passed what they tout as the largest climate bill in history. i would expect to see the secretary of energy up there on the stage, leading the cheers, rah, rah, look what we've just done. don't care about affordability, reliability, of energy, oh, no. they're focused on something very different.

so, in about 15 minutes democrats are throwing themselves a party at the white house to celebrate. celebrate a bill that's not going to bring down inflation. no, no, it's going to raise it. it's not going to bring down temperature either. according to one estimate, it will only reduce global warming by, i want to make sure i have this right, 0.0009 degrees. the most expensive climate bill in history, taking our nation from energy dominant to energy dependent, for 0.0009 degrees. and the centerpiece of this law is, of course, the $300 billion slush fund. people say what's it for? well, it's going to give taxpayers to well-connected silicon valley elites, that's what it's going to do, it's going to give them so-called

clean energy start-up companies can do things with it. supposedly, they're going to spend it on new forms of energy. we'll see. it sounds familiar, it's because democrats tried this the last time joe biden was in the white house as vice president. the obama administration spent $90 billion on a similar program. so this one is over three times as large. who is in charge of running that failed program at the white house back in the obama administration? well, it's the guy in the white house today, joe biden was in charge of running it. and what was the end result? it was a national embarrassment. it was a disaster. 90% of the jobs that joe biden promised america back then never materialized, not at all. according to bloomberg, democrats spent over $725,000

for each job that ultimately materialized. again, it wasn't democrats' money they were spending, it was taxpayer money. most famously, democrats gave half a billion dollars to a company called cilindra. became a laughingstock. the news and late-night comedy. they were supposed to make solar panels. two years later, they went bankrupt. taxpayer money was gone, all a waste, and now the democrats railroad saying let's go back to that same playbook and let's just reload with cash, load up the money cannon and fire away. much bigger scale this time. instead of $90 billion last time, $300 billion this time. democrats have also just gone on an extended giveaway for people buying electric vehicles. many are high earners. no question about it. at a time of record inflation,

democrats are robbing the middle class to give the money to the rich. three out of four electric vehicle owners make over $100,000 a year. it's not just unfair, it's unsustainable. because electric vehicle prices are soaring right now. the average price is now $66,000 for each electrical vehicle. ly tell you, it's funny, madam president -- i will tell you, it's funny, madam president, the price of electric vehicles rose by $8,000 per vehicle just recently, just a couple of weeks ago, just as soon as the democrats crammed through their new giveaway. what was the giveaway? what, $7500 and the price of electric vehicles went up by $8,000? do you think that's a coincidence, i ask the body. is that a coincidence, the price goes up by $8,000 the day

government passes a bill to give a $7500 subsidy? of course, to make matters worse, there's a shortage of batteries that are needed to kind of produce the electric vehicles, to receive the subsidy. there aren't enough charging stations. electric vehicle technology is not ready for prime time. the only reason electric vehicles are on the road today is because of massive government giveaways. otherwise, they wouldn't be able to compete. madam president, sometimes it's said a picture is worth a thousand words. here is a picture of west virginia coal miners, west virginia coal miners right here. what are they doing? they're pushing an electric vehicle that's run out of power. they've run out of electricity, and they're trying to push an electric vehicle, these coal miners, with coal under attack by this administration, pushing

the electric vehicle to a place the vehicle can plug in. well, you know, the people of west virginia, you say how'd they get there? well, you might see this is a washington, d.c. license plate. the vehicle being pushed by the coal miners were tourists from washington, d.c., and they ran out of power on the road in west virginia. fortunately, there were still some west virginia coal miners nearby who were willing to lend a helping hand. this electric vehicle was pushed by coal miners, and then recharged by electricity generated by west virginia coal. coal, public enemy number one according to the democrats. where do democrats believe the electricity comes from to power electric vehicles? electric vehicles are charged on the power grid.

nearly two-thirds of that energy is still fossil fuels, it's still traditional energy. the extreme climate policies that democrats are pushing are delusional. yet democrats are imposing these dilutions on tens of millions of people. last month, the state of california announced a couple of things. it announced it's going to require all new cars sold in the state to be electric by 2035. secretary of energy, secretary granholm, gave it a big stamp of approval. she said it's the model for the rest of the country. days later, california began experiencing blackouts. this is what secretary granholm says is the model for the rest of the nation. this is the path to the future, she says. joe biden's giving a speech tomorrow on electric vehicles. i'm sure he's going to endorse what t they did in california.

no matter what joe biden says, the painful truth is this, california's mandating electric vehicles when their electric grid already can't keep up today. in california, gas costs more than $5 a gallon. meanwhile, you're not even allowed to charge your electric vehicle for much of the day. not allowed to charge it. got to buy one, can't charge it. what a solution. oh, and you can't turn your thermostat below 78 degrees in a heat wave. the m mandates are coming out fr people who live in this mandate society, where california is leading the way and the democrat secretary of energy says is the future we should look forward to. democrats remain in charge, i believe this is an ugly glimpse at america's energy future. maybe governor newsom thinks he can run a modern economy this

way in california. but it takes energy to run a modern economy. takes affordable energy, reliable energy, available energy. that means traditional forms of energy. now, wasn't buffet is -- warren buffet is known as one of the best investors in history. what is he investing in today? well, he's buying an american oil company. why? because in contrast to the left wing fantasies, oil isn't going away anytime soon. renewable energy cannot yet meet demand. only traditional energy can. simply a fact. whether the environmental extremists partying at the white house today like it or not, these are the facts of life. there's still an enormous difference between renewable energy and reliable energy. there simply is no renewable energy that, all in, is cost competitive with oil, gas, or coal. but democrats are doubling down

on expensive energy and waging war on affordable energy at a time when inflation continues to soar, record high inflation, 40 year highs, and the impact on the american families have been punishing and painful. in colorado, the local utility company actually took control over people's therm stats -- thermostats. you wouldn't think they can do that? the capacity is there to do it today. why? because of what they described as an energy emergency. it was an unprecedented intrusion into the homes of 22,000 people. if democrats remain in charge, this is another glimpse of our energy future and our freedom and independence. more blackouts, more restrictions on energy production, more restrictions on energy use, more price hikes. all in service of their climate

religion. as one of the headlines in "the new york times" said last week, california muddles through another day. joe biden needs to reverse course. we're a country that doesn't want to muddle through anything. the democrat party needs to reverse course, unless we're looking at that kind of a future. this energy crisis is a crisis of joe biden's choosing. we have plenty of american energy. we have it in the ground. the democrats won't let us get it out. all we need is for democrats to get out of the way and let us use american energy. america's energy future must be powered by american producers. if we want available, affordable, reliable, secure energy, we need more american energy. thank you, madam president, and i yield the floor. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. the senate is in a quorum call. a senator: i would ask the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. sanders: madam president, i understand that there is a lot that's going on in the world today. we are worried about climate change and what that is doing to our planet. we're worried about the terrible war in ukraine and all of the destruction taking place there. we're worried about inflation and the fact that wages are not keeping up with the prices that people are paying. we're worried about the massive level of income and wealth inequality that exist in our country and the increased concentration of ownership that we see in the united states among many, many other things that are on people's minds.

but to my mind, madam president, the american people remain and always are deeply concerned about an issue that by definition touches each and every one of us, and that is our collapsing and dysfunctional health care system. while it is not discussed much in the corporate media or here in the halls of congress, we have today in the united states the most inefficient, bureaucratic, and expensive health care system in the world. and that's not just what i believe. that is what the american people know to be true because of their lived experience with the health care system. madam president, i would hope that all members of congress

take a hard look at a poll that was published yesterday by the associated press north center for public affairs research. and this is some of what the poll disclosed. at a time when i hear many of my colleagues tell us that we have the best health care system in the world, it turns out that according to this poll, just 12% of the american people believe that health care in general is handled very well or extremely well in the united states. 12%. at a time when we pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, only 6% of the american people believe that prescription drug costs in the united states are being handled well or extremely well.

6%. at a time when covid has exacerbated the crisis, only 5% of the american people believe that the mental health care system in the united states is being handled well or extremely well, 5%. and when so many older americans have died unnecessarily in nursing homes and when so many cannot even find the nursing home bed that they need, just 6% of americans believe that the quality of care at nursing homes in the united states is very good or exceptional, 6%. madam president, the american people increasingly understand as i do that health care is a human right, not a privilege.

and that we must end the international embarrassment of the united states of america being the only major country on earth that does not guarantee health care to all of its citizens. and again that is not just bernie sanders talking. that is what the overwhelming majority of the american people believe. according to yesterday's a.p. poll, 66% of the american people believe it is the federal government's responsibility to make sure that all americans have health insurance coverage, 66%. over 86% of the american people believe that it is absurd that millions of senior citizens lack dental care, hearing aids, and vision care, and they believe

that medicare should be expanded to cover these basic health care needs. it happens to be an issue i've been working on for several is years. 86% of the american people believe that medicare should cover dental care, hearing aids, and vision care, 86%. madam president, at a time when our long-term health care system is? sham -- is in shambles, 81% of the american people believe that medicare should cover the outrageous cost of long-term health care for senior citizens and people with disabilities, 81%. and madam president, i ask unanimous consent that this a.p. poll be placed in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. sanders: thank you. madam president, it is hard for me to imagine how anyone could defend a health care system in

which over 70 million people today are either uninsured or underinsured. as we speak this moment, there are millions of americans who would like to go to a doctor, who need to go to a doctor but cannot afford to go to a doctor because of the outrageous cost of medical care in this country. frankly, i am tired of talking to physicians who tell me about the patients who died, who died because they were uninsured or underinsured and who walked into the doctor's office when it was too late. time and time again i hear from doctors who tell me about a patient who walked in and they said to the patient, why didn't you come in when you first

noticed your symptoms? and the patient responded, i don't have the money. i can't afford the copayment. or i have no insurance at all. madam president, we are talking about -- i know we don't talk about it much but maybe we should -- we're talking about some 68,000 americans who die every single year because they are uninsured or underinsured and don't get the medical care that they need. this is the united states, the wealthiest country in the history of the world. 68,000 americans should not die every year unnecessarily. madam president, i am tired of seeing working class families and small businesses pay far more for health care than they can afford which results with

more than 500,000 americans every year declaring bankruptcy because of medically-related expenses. half a million americans declare bankruptcy because of outrageous health care bills they simply cannot afford to pay. families in america should not be driven into financial ruin because someone in that family became seriously ill. sickness should not be a cause of financial ruin. madam president, i am tired of hearing from americans who lost loved ones because they could not afford the unbelievably high cost of prescription drugs, and i'm tired of hearing from

constituents who are forced to cut their pills in half due to the cost. today unbelievably, almost one out of four patients cannot afford the prescription drugs that doctors prescribe. when you want to talk about an irrational and dysfunctional health care system, think about a system in which people go to a doctor, they get diagnosed as to their health care problem, they get a prescription drug prescribed to them, but they can't afford to buy the drug the doctor prescribes. so what ends up happening? they end up getting sicker. maybe they end up in the emergency room at an outrageous cost. maybe because they couldn't afford the prescription drugs in the first place, they end up in a hospital at a very high cost.

maybe they die. that is an irrational and absurd health care system. madam president, i am tired of talking to people and families of people who are struggling with mental illness but cannot afford the mental health counseling they desperately need. last year, as you know, a record breaking 100,000 americans died of drug overdoses, and i will tell you that in my office and i'm sure that in every other senate office, we get desperate calls if family members looking for affordable mental health counseling and far too often that care simply is not there in the community. people are struggling with husbands, wives, kids who are on the verge of doing something

terrible to themselves, to others, and yet in this country despite spending far more for health care than any other country, we don't have the capability of helping those people. madam president, it's not there, the mental health counseling, the help people need is not there because in this system geared toward the profits of the insurance companies rather than the needs of the american people, we don't have enough psychologists, counselors, or social workers. unbelievably, despite spending far more per capita on health care than any other nation, we don't even have enough doctors. we're facing a major doctor shortage in america. now, which will only get worse in years to come if we don't address it. we don't have enough nurses. we don't have enough dentists. we don't have enough medical

providers in general. we have, however, more than enough people who bill us and more than enough debt collectors who hound us to pay for a bill we cannot afford, but we just don't have enough people to provide the health care that we desperately need. and byes way, that crisis -- and by the way, that crisis of lack of health care providers is only going to get worse as our society continues to age. madam president, at a time of declining life expectancy in the wealthiest country on earth, your health and your longevity should not be dependent on the amount of money you have. it is an absolute outrage and grossly un-american that the

number of years we live in this country is dependent upon our income. studies have shown that the top 1% of americans live 15 years-longer than the poorest people in our society. its' not only the very top as opposed to the bottom. it's wealthy people in general versus working class people. if you've got the money, you're going to live longer in this country than if you do not have the money. in my view, health care is a human right that all americans regardless of income are entitled to. and all americans deserve the best quality health care that our country can provide. further, as chairman of the senate budget committee, it is

not acceptable to me that we end up spending over twice as much as virtually any other major country on earth per capita, twice as much per capita while our life expectancy and other health care outcomes lag behind most other countries. this is really quite an amazing thing. we spend more and yet our results are worse than other countries. unbelievably, according to the center for medicare and medicaid services, we are now spending $12,535 per co-pay at that on -- capita on health care. over $12,000 for every man, woman, and child in this country. this is frankly an outrageous and unsustainable sum of money. in comparison, the united kingdom spends just $5,300.

france spends $5,400. canada, $5,900. germany, $7,300. we spend over $12,000 per year. the question that everyone should be asking is how does it happen that we spend so much money for health care but we get so little in return? madam president, let's be clear. the current debate over health care in the united states really has nothing to do with health care. frankly, it is hard to defend this dysfunctional system. the health care debate has everything to do with the unquestionable -- unquenchable greed of the health care industry and their desire to maintain a system which fails the average american but which

makes the industry huge profits every single year. while ordinary americans struggle to pay for health care during this pandemic, the six largest health insurance companies in our country made over $60 billion in profits last year, led by united health group, which made $24 billion in 2021. madam president, while millions of americans cannot afford soaring health care costs, the top executives in the insurance industry receive huge amounts of compensation. in 2020 -- remember, 70 million uninsured and underinsured, 68,000 dying every year because they don't get to a doctor on time. but in 2020, the ceo's of 178 major health care companies collectively made $3.2 billion

in total compensation, up 31% from the previous year. all in the midst of the pandemic. people dying every single day, costs of health care soaring, and yet the ceo's saw a 31% increase in their compensation. madam president, according to axios, in 2020, the ceo of cigna, david cordani, took home $79 million in compensation. the ceo of sentine, made $59 million. the ceo of nighted health group received $42 million in total compensation. but it is not just the health insurance companies that are ripping off the american people. it's the drug companies as well. in terms of the pharmaceutical

industry, last year pfizer, johnson & johnson and navdi increased their profits by over 90% to $54 billion. how's that? in the midst of a pandemic where we have lost now over a million people, when millions and millions of people have become sick, the profits of the major drug companies went up by over 90%. the ceo of moderna got a $926 million gold enparachute after his company received -- we all appreciate the vaccines which is saving lives every day. but really does the ceo of the company that received $2.5 billion of taxpayer money

deserve a $926 million golden parachute? that is an indication, a manifestation of a sick and broken health care system. and while over 330,000 americans died during the pandemic, because they could not afford to go to a doctor on time, the ceo of a pharmaceutical company made over $450 million in total compensation. madam president, the current system is failing the american people, and the american people want change, real change. in march, months ago, i was pleased to introduce medicare for all legislation with 15 senate cosponsors. companion legislation in the house now has 122 cosponsors.

this legislation would improve and expand medicare to cover over a four-year period health care to every man, woman, and child in this country. in other words, what this legislation finally does is make sure that the united states joins every other major country and that we guarantee health care to all of our people. this legislation is comprehensive, and it would end out-of-pocket expenses and, unlike the current system, it would provide full freedom of choice regarding health care providers. in other words, on the medicare for all -- under medicare for all, there would no longer be insurance premiums, deductibles, or co-payments; no more networks which deny you your choice of doctors. and when i talk about medicare for all being comprehensive, it would cover dental care, vision,

hearing aids, prescription drugs, and home and community-based care; in other words, madam president, it would do precisely what the american people want us to do. would a medicare for all system be expensive? yes. but while providing comprehensive care for all, it would be significantly less expensive than our current dysfunctional system because it would eliminate an enormous amount of the bureaucracy, profiteering, administrative costs and misplaced priorities inherent in our current for-profit system. remember, we currently pay twice as much for health care as do the people of virtually any other country, and all of those countries manage to provide universal health care.

so, yes, we can provide quality of care -- quality care for all at a much, much lower cost per person. under medicare for all, there would no longer be armies of people billing us, telling us what is covered and what is not covered, and hounding us to pay our hospital bills. this not only saves substantial sums of money but will make life a lot easier for the american people who would never again have to fight their way through the nightmare of insurance company bureaucracy. in fact, the congressional budget office, the c.b.o., estimated that medicare for all would save americans $650 billion a year. now, trust me, i do know the 30-second ads from the insurance and drug companies that have told us that if medicare for all

becomes law, your taxes will go up. but what they forgot to tell you is that under medicare for all, you'll no longer be paying premiums, deductibles, co-payments, and out-of-pocket expenses to private health insurance companies. and what they certainly won't tell you is that medicare for all will save, save the average american family thousands of dollars a year. in fact, a study by rand found that moving to a medicare for all system would save a family with income of less than $185,000 about $3,000 a year on average. now, one might ask, fair enough, if medicare for all is so good, if it has so many advantages, if it's what the american people want, why hasn't it been enacted by now?

why hasn't the united states joined every other major country in guaranteeing health care for all? and that, madam president, takes us to our corrupt political system and the outrageous way we fund campaigns. so i would suggest, if you want to know why we are stuck with a dysfunctional health care system that fails the american people but makes the drug companies and the insurance companies wildly profitable, follow the money. follow the money. since 1998, in our corrupt political system, the private health care sector has spent more than $10 billion on lobbying. got that? $10 billion on lobbying since 1998, and over the last 30 years

it has spent more than $1.7 billion on campaign contributions to maintain the status quo. and in terms of their lobbying efforts, let's be clear. they are very, very bipartisan. there are former democratic party leaders, former republican party leaders working together to represent the insurance companies and the drug companies. and, by the way, of course, in terms of the campaign contributions, madam president, the insurance companies and the drug companies are also very bipartisan. in fact, their contributions go to many members of both the democratic and republican parties. doesn't really matter, if you're a democrat or a republican. what matters is you protect the interests of the drug companies and the insurance companies. but, you know, madam president,

what i believe is that maybe, just maybe, now is the time for congress to do what the american people want, not what the lobbyists want, not what the drug companies want, not what the insurance companies want. and maybe, just maybe, we should have the courage to take on powerful special interests who dominate health care in the united states. and maybe, just maybe, now is the time to provide health care to every man, woman, and child. it is a human right -- as a human right by passing a medicare for all single-payer program. and with that, madam president, i yield the floor. mrs. fischer: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from nebraska.

mrs. fischer: thank you, madam president. agriculture is a critical part of nebraska's economy. it accounts for roughly $25.7 billion of nebraska's gross state product. that's a little less than a quarter of our state's overall gdp. nearly one in four jobs in the state are tied to agriculture. that economic output is important because, thanks to states like nebraska, hardworking family farmers and ranchers produce a wide variety of products that keep our grocery stores stocked and help feed the world. but our nation's agricultural bounty doesn't do anyone much good if it can't get to market. and that's where our complex transportation and infrastructure system comes into play.

the railroad industry, in particular, has a big role in bringing agricultural products to locations across the united states. that includes ports, where they can then be shipped to locations around the world. whether it's grain or soybeans, railroads provide the means to affordably move thousands of tons of goods to where this need to go. -- to where they need to go. it's estimated that rail delivers 1.6 million carloads of agricultural products a year. that's why i am deeply concerned about the potential for a rail shutdown later this week. i think it's very important that people understand what kind of economic impact such a shutdown would have and how it would upend our nation's agricultural sector. the consequences would be devastating.

when agricultural products can't be transported, there will be price hikes and there will be shortages. our international exports of commodities like corn, soy, wheat, of which a large share move by rail, will fall dramatically. fertilizer prices, an already expensive input, due to inflation, will further skyrocket. the mere prospect of a shutdown on friday means products, such as hazardous materials, have been removed from the networks. biofuel plants could be forced to scale down operations or completely shut down. i would also point out that we have harvest coming up in nebraska. family farmers in my state, many

of whom are grappling with rapidly rising input costs, they need a good harvest season. if rail service isn't feasible, that possibility, it could go out the window. grain elevators, for example, could run out of storage and be able to ac additional dmodties. the -- commodities. the bottom line is, if rail shuts down, our entire agricultural system shuts down. it's that simple. all of this economic chaos would come on top of extreme inflation. today's numbers put grocery prices up 13.5% over last year. think about the toll this out of control inflation is taking on our working-class families.

then there's the international turmoil. russia's horrific invasion of ukraine has dramatic liqueur tailed the flow of grain -- dramatically curtailed the flow of grain. and the war further strained the fertilizer supply chain. all of this is to say the stake of these railroad negotiations couldn't be higher. nine associations have been able to utilize the emergency board recommendations to come to an agreement. i note that the board is composed of neutral individuals appointed by president biden. their recommendations are widely seen as benefiting all parties. it's critical that the remaining labor unions and the rail

industry use those recommendations to reach an agreement as soon as possible. our entire agricultural system is at stake here. the economic welfare of the american people is at stake here. and the global food security is also at stake here. thank you, madam president. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: madam president, there's a lot of important things that we do here in the united states senate.

hopefully every day, certainly every week, month, and over the year, but there are a couple of pieces of legislation which are literally must-pass pieces of legislation. they deserve an even higher priority than our day-to-day work here. these must-pass pieces of legislation are critical to the function of our government. first, for example, government funding is critical so we can keep the lights on and keep the government working on behalf of the american people. if congress fails to pass an appropriations bill, the government will literally shut down and millions of government workers will be left without a paycheck, and the american people will be left without the services that those government employees would otherwise provide. the good news is at this moment

there appears to be little appetite for a funding f fiascot the end of this month. in the coming weeks, i expect we will vote on a gap-stop funding fee. continuing resolutions like this, leading up to the end of the year omnibus appropriations bill is never my choice. my hope would be that we would take up and pass each of the individual appropriations bills on a timely basis and bring them across the floor of the united states senate, pass them and get them to the president for his signature. unfortunately that hasn't happened under the current management. there are other bills that receive the must-pass label and these could be anything from farm bills to disaster relief. each of those are important, but

in my view the ultimate must-pass piece of legislation is the national defense authorization act. each year this is how we make our our men and women in uniform have the support and tools and training they need and the pay to compensate them for their service as well as the support that their families deserve, which is particularly important in an all-volunteer military. this is how we maintain our military bases, modernize our systems -- weapons systems, and invest in the next generation of weapons. it's how we take stock of the global threat landscape, which it is always it seems like getting more and more ominous. and we make sure our country's prepared to encounter even our most aaggressive adversaries,

that's why congress has passed the bill for 61 years. for 61 years in a row, we passed a national defense authorization bill. but apparently the majority leader, senator schumer, is contemplating not doing that this year. a strong and ontime national defense authorization act has always been crucial, but this particular moment in history demands even greater attention. as we know on february 24, nearly seven months ago, russia launched an unprovoked war against ukraine. thankfully the civilized world has rallied around ukraine, supplying it with the tools and weapons they need not only to fight but to win this war. at the same time we know thousands of miles away the

chinese communist party and the people's republic of china has become increasingly hostile to the west and desperate to project its military power. it continues at the same time to commit genocide against the uighurs and other ethnic minorities, and it's likely preparing for an invasion of taiwan. north korea has declared itself to be a nuclear weapons state. iran is pursuing its own nuclear ambitions, and a breakout for those nuclear weapons, which is the point when they actually acquire one. and it's getting closer every day. we know after the disastrous withdrawal from afghanistan, that the taliban, which once gave nurture to al qaeda and

obama bin laden that attacked the twin towers and the pentagon on september 11, 2001. and, of course, the political instability from the disastrous method by which we withdrew from afghanistan, literally turning over billions of dollars to the taliban and weapons that they never would otherwise be able to acquire has created tremendous amount of instability in the region where already pakistan and india wearily aye aye -- eye each other and are both nuclear powers. looking around the globe and these multitudes of threats, you would think passing the national defense authorization act would be the highest priority for the

united states congress, and particularly the senate. if you think about it, all of the freedoms and the standard of living, the quality of life we enjoy in this country, our prosperity are all directly related to keep our country safe and keep the american people safe. that should be our number one priority. but the truth is we can't match these stakes. we can't rise to this demand and this deed with continuing resolutions and past-due authorizations. our men and women in uniform need to prepare and train every day, 365 days a year. and if we don't pass a national defense authorization act now, we'll be stealing time that we already don't have. general macarthur, who became

famous in the korean war, said the history of failure in war can be summed up in two words. too late. too late. now, our colleagues on the senate armed services committee on a bipartisan basis, under the leadership of senator reed, a democrat, senator inhofe, a republican, they compiled a strong bill that will modernize and strengthen our national defense, but the armed services committee completed its work on july 18. here we are, september 13, senator schumer has yet to bring the bill to the floor. and of all the must-pass bills that i hear discussed among the media and our colleagues rarely

are people talking about the defense authorization bill. now, the presiding officer succeeded john mccain in the united states senate. john mccain was not only a war hero, he was a proud patriot. he was a bear of a man to deal with. i dare say if john mccain were alive today, we would be on a defense authorization bill before we break for the midterm elections. because he would not let anyone rest if we broke or threatened to break that 61-year consistent thread of meeting that number one priority obligation. i was hoping that the senate would consider the defense authorization bill this month and give our planners at the pentagon and our commanders the predict ability they -- predictability they need as well as our military families the

support they need, not to mention the men and women on the front lines protecting our country, the tools and training they need in order to do their job. i was optimistic given the clear and present danger of the situation we're living through now, the threat landscape and the desire to show our bipartisan support for our military, that we would naturally make this the 62nd year consecutively to pass a defense authorization bill. the only other must-pass item on the senate's to-do list this month is to keep the government funded, and the democratic majority has already committed to the short-term extension until the middle of december. so there's just no excuse for putting off the annual defense bill, but for some reason, to this point, senator schumer, the

senate majority leader, who sets the agenda in the senate, does not seem to agree that this is an urgent must-pass piece of legislation. i know there's bipartisan support to encourage him to bring this bill up, but so far he hasn't been swayed. the defense authorization bill seems to be at the bottom of his priority list, below judicial nominations and a bill to codify a right to marry that is not even in jeopardy. given everything that's going on in the world, there's simply no reason to delay consideration of the defense authorization bill. in fact, there's every reason to do it on time and for the 62nd consecutive year. we all know that america's strength and leadership are vital to global security and

protecting our homeland. the senate simply should not ignore its responsibility when it comes to our readiness. now, one of the things that concerns me the most is because he's not talking about this being a priority, is that he will try to stick this defense authorization bill on an aappropriation bill at the end of the year, sort of as a cleanup. but if he does that he will effectively deny senators floor time to offer debate and to actually have votes on the bill and how to improve it. one amendment i intend to offer, if given the opportunity, is a bill i introduced with senator shaheen, from new hampshire, which would help replenty your our -- replenish our defense stockpiles. as we all know by now, the united states has provided

ukraine unprecedented defense aid -- stingers, javelins, grenade launchers, small arms, ammunition, and so much more. this assistance is not a handout. this is not a charity project. as much as we want to see ukraine prevail, our materiel support for ukraine is not entirely altruistic. the united states isn't just investing in a ukrainian victory. we're also putting our resources toward a russian defeat. we're trying to help snuff out the fire before it spreads even further west. we know what mr. putin's aspirations are, to restore the great russian empire that existed when the soviet union existed. we know that there's a delicate balance to strike here. our support for ukraine cannot come, should not come, at the cost of our own military

readiness, and we have requirements way beyond just ukraine, as i mentioned earlier. the people's republic of china, north korea, iran. the united states is a global power, and we've got to be ready whenever and wherever the threat arises. and we've got to be able to replenish our weapon stockpiles quickly, so we're ready whatever may come our way. unfortunately, there are a lot of bureaucratic hurdles in the way. i was shocked when i saw that the pentagon is not in a position to replace the javelins and stinger missiles that we provided ukraine because they don't have an operating production line. and they said it may take a couple of years. i know that our friends and allies in europe that are

providing weapons to the ukrainians have every expectation that the united states will replenish those stockpile of weapons so that they can defend their country and meet their nato obligations. so, the level of unreadiness at the pentagon, to meet the currents need, is shocking. the defense department can't place an order for more javelins, then have them show up at the pentagon five to seven business days later. it simply doesn't work like that. the process of purchasing, manufacturing, and deploying this lethal aid takes a lot of time, which, to be frank, we do not have. senator shaheen and i recently introduced a bipartisan bill called the security american arms act to remove some of the hurdles in the bureaucratic delay in replenishing those

stockpiles. that will give the department of defense the able to fast track the procurement process. that includes times like these, when the u.s. is providing defense articles to an ally or partner that's under armed attack by a u.s. adversary. our bill would also give the defense department the ability to expedite the delivery of defense articles to our allies and partners in need. this will allow us to continue to provide critical support to ukraine, but not just limited to ukraine. all without compromising our national defense or our ability to meet other obligations around the world. i appreciate senator shaheen working with me on this bill, which now has more than a dozen bipartisan cosponsors. when the senate finally begins consideration of the defense authorization act, i hope this will be a part of it.

at the same time, as a member of the senate select committee on intebs i'm hopeful we can also -- committee on intelligence i'm hopeful we can reauthorize the u.s. intelligence community which usually takes a ride on the defense authorization act. the hard-working men and women of the intelligence community carry out missions day in and day out that inform key policy decisions and the work of the u.s. military. of course, being intelligence operators, their work is not acknowledged necessarily like a member of our uniformed services, but their service is vital to our missions and our interests around the world. one great example of the role the intelligence community played in the runup to russia's invasion of ukraine was that we were able to provide our intelligence community skeptical allies with irrefutable proof of

russia's intentions, and showed exactly what russia was planning, before february 24. i have no doubt that this intelligence contributed to the unified response in the days and weeks following, and we engaged in enhanced information and intelligence sharing on a realtime basis, that i think have helped facilitate ukraine's strong national defense and now counteroffensive that they're currently engaged in, trying to recapture some of their territory that russia has previously occupied. i want to particularly recognize the chairman and the ranking member of the senate intelligence committee, senator warner, a democrat from separate, senator rubio, a republican from florida, for their leadership in helping us pass the intelligence authorization act unanimously in july.

like other authorization bill this outlines funding levels for the intelligence community, but it also contains legislative oversight of america's intelligence apparatus. strong oversight is crucial to ensuring accountability while enabling our intelligence professionals to accomplish complex and difficult missions the american people demand of them. with the ongoing war in ukraine and threats from china, continuing to grow, we need intelligence at the speed of relevance. this is how we help ensure everyone, from our policymakers to our war fighters, that we will have the tools to maintain america's preeminent global position and ensure the defense of our homeland. i appreciate the hard work of senator rubio and senator warner to advance this reauthorization, and again, i hope when we take up the defense authorization act

at some point that it will be included. so, madam president, let me just conclude again where i started. the national defense authorization act is a must-pass piece of legislation. we passed it for 61 years in a row, and yet when i hear senator schumer, the majority leader, talk about things we need to do before the midterm elections, i don't hear a peep out of him over his intention to move that defense authorization act. providing for the common defense is one of congress' most basic responsibilities. if we can't keep the american people and our democracy safe, we will have failed in our first and most urgent duty. there's far too much at stake to let the ndaa linger on the

senate calendar for more months. so my hope is that the majority leader will bring this bill to the floor this month, provide senators who are not on the armed services committee an opportunity to participate in the process by debating and offering amendments, like the one i described earlier, so we can strengthen our national defense at this critical moment in our nation's history. madam president, i yield the floor. mr. tuberville: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from alabama. mr. tuberville: thank you, madam president. what a great time of the year. county fairs, state fairs, weather is changing, people are getting outside morks it's not quite as hot in -- outside more, it's not quite as hot in most places. parents have smiles on their faces because their kids are

going back to school. college is starting up. that's what i want to talk about today, our college campuses are ramping up, there's a lot of good things going on with that. a lot of young people are, for the first time, going to college, going out for the first time in their life, making their own decisions, away from home for the first time, putting their budgets together, having to go by their own time, nobody to wake them up, having to wash their own clothes, having to do things they've never had to do before, for the first time in their life, they're responsible for themselves. 24 hours a day. i did that for 40 years of coaching college football, coaching high school football. it's amazing how many young men and women that i work with never saw the sun come up in their life. they played for me, they got to see the sun come up. we got up early and stayed late.

so, it's an important time for all of our young adults in college. k through 12, very important, for high school, elementary, junior high school kids. you know, that was for many, many years it's been an important part of all of our lives in the united states and it's been one point that made us better than everybody across the world in terms of education. we educated our young people from k through 12. everybody has an opportunity to go to college for an extended education. it's a great opportunity. it's fun to wooch. i had the -- it's fun to watch. i had the chance to watch a lot of young people, make a lot of things out of themselves. i told my players when i coached that you live in the greatest country on the face of the earth. if you're born in this country, you hit the lottery. a lot of people don't understand that. you go to some of these other countries, you'll figure it out

real quick. but the united states of america and this country really owes you nothing other than one thing -- it owes you an opportunity, an opportunity to do what the heck you want to do or who you want to be. if you work hard, you might have a chance. a lot of times you're going to get knocked down. you know what this country does? it gives you the chance to get back on your feet and go again. it doesn't owe you one thing other than that. if you take advantage of it, you can achieve it. for many years, institutions of higher education were great examples of the great american experiment. there are places where free speech was not only allowed, but encouraged. and innovation and problem solving was required for success. and success created some of

america's favorite pastimes. college sports, which becomes a piece of our national identity, started a couple of weeks ago, they have immense benefits for young men and women that get involved in sports. but higher education became the envy of the world, as i said earlier. our colleges and universities produced new research, technologies, and medicines and molded the talent and the talented minds to use these new developments that make our country a better place and make our country number one. but this trend, i hate to say, is changing. activists have fundamentally shifted higher education to become a vehicle to further their political agenda, and now they're setting on forcing american taxpayers to pay for

overpriced indoctrination and taking athletic opportunities away from those who have worked so very hard to train and compete. so, let's start with the price tag associated with higher education. the cost of attending college has skyrocketed. but these institutions have done little, very little, to ensure their value has increased along with the increase in price, increase in tuitions, and bloated school administrations continually drive budgets and tuitions up, to the point where a lot of people can't afford to go to school anymore. president biden recently decided to throw gasoline on this fire by attempting to use executive authority to, as he calls it, forgive student loan debt for millions of americans. his plan will forgive up to

$20,000 in student loan debt for pell grant recipients who make $125,000 a year or less and $10,000 in student loan debt for all those under the same salary cap. think about that. a college-educated person making a six-figure salary would essentially get a $10,000 handout from hardworking americans, a majority of whom did not go to college themselves and are struggling to provide for their families, thanks to soaring inflation driven by our comrades on the left, the democrats' wreckless spending in the last two years. despite the administration's attempt to convince the country that they are focused on fighting inflation, this debt transfer scheme will do exactly the opposite. it is going to make prices higher. in fact, the penn wharton budget

model projects the total cost of president biden's loan forgive this is plan and changes to it the other loan programs could cost the american people more than $1 trillion. folks on both sides of the aisle have rightly criticized this plan because it's clear and indefensible costs and i share those concerns with everybody that's against this. i'm also concerned about two additional long-term effects of this decision. one, it does nothing to fix the prone system that led to soaring costs of college in the first place. it will, in fact, make college even more expensive. if we're going to doing is, let's fix the problem. we're not fixing the problem. we're just adding to the problem. and, two, it allows students and graduates to avoid the

consequences of their own actions, further hindering young people from beginning to -- becoming independent, free-thinking, and responsible. the thing about education is learning responsibility, and this does exactly the opposite of teaching responsibility at a level where they need to learn that. all americans, including those who like me chose to take often debt attending college, must be responsible for their own actions. hardworking taxpayers did not go to college should not have to assume the debt of others because this administration decided to fulfill a campaign promise right before a midterm election. further, this degradation of the value of college is just the latest in decades' long effort by those on left to fundamentally change higher

education and force their agenda on campuses across our country. and it comes right after this administration announced this plan a tack another key part of the -- attack another key part of the american system -- athletic system and the level playing field created by title 9. i began my career in coaching high school a long time ago, but before that title 9 was created in supporting women athletics. i started coaching a few years after title 9 was started, and i've seen from the very beginning what title 9 has done for women across this country, girls and athletes and how it has made leaders of young girls and young women who would have nevada been afforded the

opportunity had title 9 not passed. title 9 to me is one of the best things that federal government has ever done, bar none. it's given the opportunity of a level playing field for young girls to have that opportunity they would never have had. what it did, it said, boys and girls had to have the same facilities, coaches, and same athletics budgets. also, the same scholarships, if they went to a university. men could not have more than women. and we have seen the explosion of women's sports, bar none. when i was coaching years ago, 3% to 6% of the high school girls, 3% to 6%, played high school athletics. today we have close to 60%. why? because of title 9. because of more sports that title 9 afforded. bigger budgets for women's athletics. it did a tremendous service to women and girls across this country.

i'm proud of the progress this country has made and the immense talent that it has brought out because of what title 9 was done. but this anniversary, which was the 50th anniversary in june of title 9 -- think about that the 50th anniversary, how time flies. i'm not that old, but 50th anniversary of title 9 was in june. this anniversary comes at a challenging time now for young girls and women in sports. the ability to train and compete fairly is under attack from activists and this current white house. since 2003 at least 28 biological males have won titles in various women events around the world. think about that. now we're allowing biological boys and biological men to

compete against girls and women in sports, and they've won 28 titles. how fair is that? if the current administration and the activists pushing this policy have their way, biological males winning women's sports championships would become the norm. it would be an everyday occurrence much that is not fair. it's not fair for a young girl or a young woman that's trained all their life in a sport to at the end of the a day to have to compete for a championship against a young boy or male who thinks he is a he woman. what's right about that? in july the department of education published and proposed a rule to change how title 9 implemented in order to better align with the administration's progressive agenda. these proposed changes would require schools to allow -- this

is in title 9 now -- will allow biological males to compete in women's sports. last week i submitted a public comment to secretary cardona that clearly and strongly condemns this new proposed rule. expanding the definition of sex to include gender identity, to identify whoever you want to identify, will cause lasting damage to the level playing field title 9 originally was created for, which was for women. the change to title 9 would be a monumental setback for the generations of women who have benefited from the law over the last 50 years. so what are we going to do now? we're going to go back to square one because somebody wants to change it. the department should be -- should not move forward with this proposal and not change the

rule but instead work with congress on legislative action meant to strengthen protections afforded women in the original state. as i first know firsthand experience participating in college athletics is more about winning and losing. there's a lot more to it. student athletes learn many important lessons by participating. it sets our country apart from other countries all over the world. like the value of hard work, discipline, commitment, responsibility, athletes learn thousand to work together -- how to wok together, be loyal to each other, play for a cause, take responsibility for their own actions, learn how to win but, more importantly, learn how to lose. perhaps most importantly they teach student athletes that free and fair competition allows the best team to win.

that's why i am so strongly opposed to this administration's plans to devalue education and unlevel the playing field in it the name of left-wing progress and indoctrination. these attacks on higher education and women's sports must stop. to best prepare america's young people to be the next generation of leaders our country needs, i am fighting back against these policies by demanding title 9 and haphazardly forgiving student debt. that encourages young adults to break the rules and ignore their responsibilities. instead of making our colleges more expensive and less fair, congress should be focused on reforms that get to the root of the cause. universities should be encouraged to cut budgets, lower tuition rates, students

graduating high school should be steered toward career and financial decisions that make sense for them and that they can afford. everybody doesn't need to go to college. lastly, we must reject these ideologies and mobs on the left who don't believe in free speech in the classroom. and on our college campuses. our country cannot thrive without allowing young adults to freely and fairly learn, grow had develop, and -- grow, develop, and create on and off the field. we must protect that fair playing field while encouraging college students to take responsibility for their own actions and financial decisions. something all of us here in congress should learn to do as

well. mr. president, i notice the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

we are getting there. once the generation law roads and bridges deliver clean water internet, eliminate every leadpipe in every home and school. i signed the first gun safety law and nearly 30 years. [applause] you did it, i signed it but guess what, i'm not stopping here. we are going to ban assault weapons. there's no reason for them. the past one of the most significant healthcare packages in a decade, pack act veterans and families who live exposed in afghanistan, iraq exposed to

burn pit, eight, 10 feet deep, size of football field. sometimes human bodies in the pile breathing this day in and day out in so many coming home with cancer. so many not coming home. we made a commitment, i made one and you all did, too. however we sent into harm's way we do take care of them and their families when they come home and we are going to do that. [applause] we just passed the act to ensure technologies of the future are made in america. 10000 jobs, good paying job by the way, decent jobs. used to be, i know my colleagues are tired of hearing me but we

used to invest him with 2% of gdp 30 years ago in research and development in america. we let the world now seven tenths of 1%. we used to be number one. china is to be number eight and now number two. now the inflation reduction act, the progress declared failure. we didn't give up. we kept at it, a vision and plan and stuck to it. getting the job done for the american people and we are just getting started. [applause] together we will champion investments that lift all american working families, provide for the future of our kids. it's been a hard few years in this country. the challenge we've faced in history but i have to tell you

as i stand here today and a lot of you know me well, i more optimistic than i've ever been in my entire life about america's future. we just can't remember who we are. we are the united states of america. there's nothing we set our minds to with not been able to accomplish. nothing beyond our capacity. remember who we are, we stand together, nothing beyond our capacity. may god bless you all and may god protect our troops. thank you, thank you, thank you. [applause] ♪♪ .

the presiding officer: without objection. mr. moran: mr. president, i come here this afternoon with a genuine concern about the possibility to resolve a railroad labor management dispute. i express my support for the resolution. i represent the people of kansas, a top leader in agricultural markets of many different crops. i can tell you a labor strike could prove catastrophic to our global food supply at a time in which hunger is rampant around the world, again, one of the last things we need is more difficulty getting agricultural commodities and food to people around the globe who are looking for a meal tonight. in my state, corn, soybeans, grain sorgum, we need to ship

that around the world where it will help feed the hungry world. feed yards, places that we feed cattle, grain is shipped in from other areas of the country to feed their livestock. rail service is critical to ensure that they can keep their livestock fed. rails move agriculture across the nation and a shutdown would create devastating consequences. the association of american railroads found that a nationwide rail shutdown could idle more than 7,000 trains and lose more than $2 billion a year -- $2 billion a day in missed economic output. we are seeing an impact of contingency planning, showing that a total shutdown would be totally unacceptable. with the trucking industry and

other transportation systems at maximum capacity, there is nol alternative plan that could mitigate the losses in case of a rail transportation strike and that rail service coming to be an end. i have been in regular contact with our rail leaders, including kansas pacific. our constituents deserve certainty that will come from reaching that agreement. in the event of -- that a conclusion is not reached, i will utilize my opportunities as a member of the senate, as a member of congress for cockell intervention and work to shield the impact of a rail shutdown across the nation. mr. president, i yield the floor and notice the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: will the senator withhold his request? mr. moran: yes. mrs. blackburn: mr. president.

the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mrs. blackburn: i ask unanimous consent that claire goody and gnashly martin -- natalie martin be granted floor privileges. the presiding officer: without objection. blmrs. blackburn: president bush spoke about the universal threat of terrorism two weeks after the 9/11 attack. i want to share a few lines of that speech. i quote, the suffering of september 11 was inflicted on many people in many nations, all of the victims, including muslims were killed with equal indifference and equal satisfaction by the terrorist leaders. time is passing, yet for the united states of america, there will be no forgetting september 11. we will remember every rescuer

who died and honor and we will remember every family that lives in grief, we will remember the fire and ash, the last phone calls, the funerals of the children, and the people of my country will remember those who have plotted against us. we are learning their names. we are coming to know their faces. there is no corner of the earth distant or dark enough to protect them. however long it takes, their hour of justice will come. every nation has a stake in this cause. as we meet, the terrorists are planning more murder. perhaps in my country or perhaps in yours. they kill because they aspire to dominate. end quote. now, 21 years later, i fear that president biden and many of my democratic colleagues have forgotten the lessons they learned from that day and in the

years that have followed. what i recalled most about the weeks and months following the attacks is that everyone i talked with, no matter their politics, believed that we were facing a battle of good versus evil. there was a real clarity of conviction that demanded we all choose a side. would we stand with freedom or with the enemies of freedom? you can dither and daly all you -- dally all you want on national security policy, but there was not much dithering to be done on that point. at least not in 2001. but now in the mainstream media and at the highest levels of the democratic party, we see that clarity of conviction ceding grown to moral relativism.

it infected this weekend's remembrance, it infected the debates surrounding joe biden's disastrous withdrawal from afghanistan and it has all but derailed any serious discussion about emerging threats, not just from terrorist organizations but from hostile regimes that the biden administration seems determined to appease. during this past august work period, i had the opportunity to visit two of the hotspots. working our counterparts in taiwan and israel was eliminateing for many reasons -- eliminating for every reason, i wish every single one of my colleagues would get off their computers, get on a plane, and talk to them about what it's like to spend every day on the front lines in this battle against the new axis of evil.

here in the united states we're blessed by the benefit by physical distance from the hotspots. it's no guarantee of protection, and i believe it has lulled many of my colleagues into a false sense of security concerning the threats we face. our friends in taipei and jerusalem don't share this benefit. they spend their days watching missiles fly closer to their homes and listening to authoritarian propaganda from beijing and iran that threaten innocent families with extinction for the crime of simply existing. in israel they are gravely concerned about the biden administration's desire to enter into a new nuclear deal with tehran. they worry that this will move

iran closer to a nuclear warhead. they are concerned about what would happen with the billions of dollars that would flow into iran's coffers. what would happen with sanctions relief? how will they use this money? overall, their fears are dominated by the knowledge that, yes, indeed, iran is the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism. how will they use the money to finance the work of their proxies? they are particularly concerned how this will instigate growth and expansion of terrorism in palestine. in taiwan, they're concerned about the growing intensity of chinese communist party aggression. i have also heard grave concerns from other island nations that

if china overrubs taiwan -- overruns taiwan, that they could be the next to fall .but above all -- fall. but above all they conveyed a strong desire to continue working with the u.s. yes, we are their preferred partner. they need our foreign military sales. they want to be able to defend themselves. it means they have to increase their defense capabilities. taiwan and israel aren't the only hotspots that should concern us, but they both represent the first line of defense against the growing influence against the axis of evil. the one thing i heard over and over again while i was overseas, if we allow these nations to become overrun, it will start a domino effect in the

indo-pacific and the middle east that will be difficult, if not impossible to stop. as we have seen before, when we give nations like china and iran an inch, what do they do, mr. president? they take a mile. so it is incomprehensible to me that joe biden and the democrats are not doing everything -- everything in their power to stop this from happening. over the past few years i've watched the president and his allies treat the threat posed by the new axis of evil like an academic problem rather than what it is, a true threat to our freedoms. there is no excuse for this. they all have access to television and the internet. they know exactly who is in charge in tie iran and beijing

and -- tehran and beijing and what they're willing to do to expand their power. so why have we made so little progress repatriating our supply chains and protecting our economy from the chinese communist party? why is joe biden trying to force the american people into another failed nuclear deal with iran? why are they not listening to our closest allies and partners in these regions? why is this administration having russia negotiate a new iran nuclear deal? if this country continues to treat china and iran like difficult neighbors instead of a threat to our freedoms, eventually the balance of power will shift in their favor. nations like taiwan and israel will fall. the u.s. could suffer another devastating attack.

joe biden and the departments have wasted time rejecting -- and the democrats have wasted time rejecting reality in favor of appeasement. they believe they can negotiate the upper hand and settle things diplomatically. but this isn't diplomacy. this is a hostage situation. if it weren't, images of missiles flying towards civilians would have reignited the same clarity of conviction we all felt after the towers fell. and the people in charge of our government would be shouting warnings from the rooftops rather than negotiating away our security behind closed doors. i would remind my democratic colleagues that u.n. human rights reports and strongly worded statements and all the other trappings of your current

brand of diplomacy mean nothing if you're not willing to put lives and livelihoods on the line to defend them. so, it's time to decide. will you stand with freedom or with the enemies of freedom? i want to reiterate president bush's assessment of the terrorist whose attacked our country 21 years ago this week, because it is an apt comparison to be made -- they kill because they aspire to dominate. think about that one. they kill because they aspire to dominate. what the regimes in terrain and beijing -- in tehran and beijing are doing right now to our friends in israel looks different than what al qaeda did to us on 9/11, but their goals are the same. they seek global domination, and

they are growing impatient. we can either wait to see what they will do next or we can stand with our allies and partners and demonstrate our resolve to ensure that the new axis of evil fails. i yield the floor, i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

we are going to have to move quickly because we have to get to the white house, i'm supposed to be there at 2:00. okay. i want to thank the senators. after this we are going to the white house to celebrate president biden with president biden enactment of the ira. when a little over a month ago i expressed confidence legislation with a turning.in our country's fight to the cost to meet our nations climate challenges and usher in a new era of affordable, cheaper, cleaner energy. a month later the good news already pouring in, companies announced billions and billions of dollars in new investments here in america to start manufacturing batteries for electric and hybrid vehicles. it drives home the believe good

policies good politics and past good legislation, you get good results. a long time since the american people has felt washington has done things. we are promoting the bills we passed, it's clear bills passed by the senate will drive america forward, new jobs, good paying jobs, jobs with the future, not a job after five years it will be eliminated. it's a new sunshine and not on america and americans from every walk of life nursing contrast. what are democrats doing? document cheaper cost. what are maga republicans doing? the abortion ban. thus the contrast between the two parties plain and simple.

republicans are twisting themselves in a pretzel trying to explain their position on abortion. let me be clear what senator graham is introducing meta- republican nationwide. it is a nation wide abortion ban so that's the contrast, the split screen is unmistakable for all americans to see for themselves. we are focused on job creating, inflation fighting, they are focused on extreme agenda that hurts women. i'll turn it over to patty. >> today republic is introduced a national abortion ban sending a clear message to people in my home state of washington and across the country. republicans want to take away your rights. republican's want to ban abortion every state and community. republicans want to force you to stay pregnant regardless of what

you want, regardless of your circumstances, regardless of your medical needs, regardless what state you are in. read, blue state it doesn't matter. if you vote against abortion ban, could you just sign petition for referendum vote to protect abortion like hundreds of thousands of people did in michigan? you live in a state like washington which has strong protections for the right to abortion? doesn't matter. this bill would rip away your rights. empty rhetoric from republicans about returning this issue to the states even as they blocked the most basic skills we've tried to pass making sure people could travel to other states and making sure doctors and states where abortion is legal can't be punished for doing the job but now after fostering, here we

have it, the true republican position in black and white for everyone to see. they want to ban abortion for everyone and every single state. to anyone who thought they were safe, here is painful reality. republicans are coming after the right. we seen the devastation, healthcare crisis these extreme abortion bands have crossed. patients unable to get prescription pills, doctors and share if they can do their job, forced to wait until patients occur, their lives are in danger before they can take action. that's what we are seeing in republic and states right now and it's a nightmare they want to impose on every corner of our country instead of seeing how disastrous and dangerous and deadly these can be instead of

acknowledging how widely unpopular they are to some kansas republicans are in intent on looking away the rights of people in my state and every state with a national abortion ban. it is chilling. the publicans there more about their extremism in your healthcare or rights or your life. republicans not know a thing about your circumstance, they may not know what your health is like, they may not know your family plan, they may not know your hope, fears or plans for the future but they sure seem to think they know better when it comes to your body. it is horrifying. i've been fighting against extreme abortion policies the first got into politics, i will not stop now or ever as long as republicans are going after my constituents rights, as long as they go after women's bodies and

our future, they will hear from me and my colleagues will hear from women, men across the country, they are going to be held accountable. >> thank you. let me turn again to this issue of resolve. it took a decade of work to transform the tax cut and we are seeing results in clean energy in a matter of weeks. let me walk you through. toyota battery in north carolina, a honda and a pollution battery fauci, lithium metal processing fauci in tennessee, another solar fauci and sparks battery plant in west virginia, that's on the job

site. let's talk about the consumer. families in position lower their utility bill increasing efficiency for the home for less energy empowering them homes with cleaner renewable energy. the tax cut and a number of you have been asking, they kick in in january. in a matter of a few weeks you will see homeowners as well as benefits businesses. the bottom line is what we set out to do years ago and that is to show converting the climate catastrophe while creating good paying jobs and lowering costs to consumers, they are not mutually exclusive. we can do both and that's the democratic record of producing results.

>> thank you, mr. leader. instagram is yet another example of how out of touch republican's are with issues that matter to the american people so focusing on inflation reduction act and lowering of prescription drug costs, they are close to 300,000 seniors in hawaii who rely on medicare and lowering prescription drug costs and medicare and enabling us to negotiate these costs is something so many of us in the affordable care act was enacted, something we have been pushing for for over ten years, it's that law to enact his right to negotiate, something the va, the largest healthcare system in our country has been doing for decades. out-of-pocket costs for seniors and $2000 will 1 million seniors

in our country to have those. one thing that will make a difference is the seniors under medicare will get vaccinations free especially shingles vaccine, one of three older americans will be affected by shingles and a lot of them don't get the vaccine because they have to pay for it, no longer fully because of her bill i'm pushing for a lot of years. this goes to show as we have been saying we democrats have been saying, we are a party investing and doing the actions that enable lowering of drug costs, fighting climate change not a single republican bill. it's a huge difference between what we care about and with a focus on.

[inaudible] >> the bottom line we are urging both sides to come together and come to an agreement. [inaudible] [inaudible] >> the bottom line is simple and the permitting agreement as part of the ira agreement. i'm going to add it and it will pass. >> senators baldwin and sinema are working with republican senators to get the ten votes we need. would like to bring it up and vote on it.

they are working with republicans, he will have to ask republican senators where they are at but our plan, our hope is to bring it up and voted on very soon. we are still negotiating where it will start. it's very simple, you want to protect the right to choose and protect a woman's right to healthcare, vote for mark democratic senators. if you want to keep, have a nationwide abortion ban, vote for maga republican, plain and simple meggie has done a great job in number wins primary, she will win the election in november.

sorry we have to hurry. >> good afternoon. i can't recall starting a stake out with larry summers and secretary of the treasury but he really summed it up. larry summers -- excuse me, this is larry summers today, today's

report confirms the u.s. has a serious inflation problem. for inflation is higher this month than for the quarter. this quarter than last order. higher last year end the previous, that's larry summers today on the state of our economy. everything is costing dramatically more. everybody understands what the word inflation means. this is entirely the result of what larry summers predicted in march 21. $2 trillion on the economy which

he predicted at the time and again today is the reason we looking at 40 year highs inflation. every democrat voted for it, every republican voted against it, the most prominent democrat economists in the country predicted at the time, confirmed it again today. >> they are gathering at the white house today, 8.3% year over year increase inflation like it's a predictor. i remind people when president biden took office january 2021, inflation rate was 1.4%. they may a victory lap of the white house but the american people are not because they feel direct impact of this every single day.

it also showed the price of food. groceries have grown up 13 and a half% of year-over-year, the highest rate of increase since 1979 when i was a senior in high school. the real rate of inflation go back to january 20212 today, 8.3%, 13.2%. he's numbers are staggering and white house seems to be denial of what impact it has on the american people and their budget. i see it in agriculture, one reason food has increased at the grocery store is because important for american agriculture increased dramatically. this year will be the record here in terms of gross arm receipt, topline revenues in agriculture, highest ever 14% increase over last year yet will

show inflation adjusted income reduction of 1%. highest received ever historically yet a reduction inflation adjusted cash. when you look at cost of fertilizers in 2020, 84% and the cost of fuel has gone up 35% since 2020, he look at these increases what cost to reduce prophecy and you can see why dropped the chain the impact inflation has felt by the american consumer, american families paying higher prices at the grocery store. this is an example of the complete split screen you see in this country between the white house celebrating taking the victory lap down there this afternoon and the american people feeling the reality left by the policies of this

administration who still don't get it and continue to celebrate tax increases, the amount of spending they are doing and inflation continues to choke the american people. >> inflation numbers came in today and they came in high. chain .2% increase inflation from the time joe biden came into the white house where we are today the america public feel the heat and they are falling behind. we have no more votes this afternoon because the democrats have headed to the white house to celebrate this, they want to celebrate, have a party to celebrate about that passed along party lines votes. what they are celebrating is raising taxes, hiring tens of thousands of irs agents in attacking american energy. i guarantee that we will see from this law, higher inflation, we see that today.

higher debt and higher energy costs, all of those things will be true it is no surprise the american families feel they've been forgotten, ignored and betrayed by joe biden and the democrats who seen prices go up for rent, housing, energy, food, groceries, all the. the energy committee, when you talk about energy because it's what keeps the lights on empowers our vehicles and helps us cool and he our homes. look at california for energy electricity costs have gone up 50% in the last two years, 50%. inmates going to get worse. the reason is because climate activists, climate extremists, radicals in california have been aggressively shutting down oil and gas, coal and nuclear power. we have the secretary of energy is probably leading the cheers

of the white house today thing last week california taking the lead, they are taking the lead to energy more expensive and less reliable. the revision today of the democrat party is climate. they worship the sun god, when god and the god of wishful thinking. the american people want energy that's affordable, available and reliable. activists don't want any of that. they want renewable energy regardless of the cost and consequences of the american families and they continue to wrap up red tape any efforts to produce red, white and blue american energy and we have joe manchin trying to hide behind a big leap of an agreement he made with chuck schumer trying to cut a little bit of the red tape. i would say to joe manchin who the chairman of the energy

committee and what they are celebrating today at the white house is the damage you've already been passing this reckless bill and if you are not looking for republicans to support and give you more cover than you have right now, you won't find it with us. >> gasoline costs go up and down. food cost go up and almost never go down. 8.3% increase year-over-year this month, that's with a decrease in gasoline prices, imagine how much everything else will go up above 8.3% for that to happen. thirteen and a half% since biden became president, 17% higher than it was. the cost more to feed your family and the cost of feeding your family in the last month was higher than any time since

1979. the cost providing electricity to your house more than any time in the last 40 years. it's a serious problem, they celebrate today at the white house making it more serious by putting still more money into the economy and would have been there without the passage of this last bill. ... the root of this inflation and gloomy out to be recovering you don't pass a 2 trillion-dollar american recovery plan and dumped out on top.

>> this past sunday on september 11, i did what i do every single year on september 11. i turned on the tv and watched the same events unfold do we saw 21 years ago. my reaction is still the same. it's one of morning and one of loss. and i recognize at that point that we live in a very, very dangerous world. i recognize that still today. going through and voting on it and yet we can't bring it ndaa up for a vote. we see the democrats down the hill celebrating enormous

government spending on pre-equity and subsidies for electric vehicles that only the wealthiest of americans can purchase. this is what they are celebrating today instead of spending time today on the floor of the senate making sure that our united states of america is protected against russia, iran, china, north korea, violent extremist organizations. this should have been done a long time ago. our nation was founded for the protection of its people and get the democrats and joe biden continue to ignore the very reason we have a federal government. they need to come back together and move on the ndaa.

>> families are paying $9000 more per year, $9000 that means you have to work more hours, take another job, your costs somehow just to make ends meet. just talk to families in florida that are going to tanks that they never went to before. if you talk to retirees they are taking a second or third job in going back to work delaying their retirement in its talk to businesses they are cutting their hours and cutting their costs. we added a part-time jobs.

people doing two and three jobs and on top of that if you look at the numbers the last two months the numbers are dropping all because of biden's economy, biden's inflation. killing the job market out there so it continues to get and until we stop this reckless spending. [inaudible] >> with that with regard to his bill you'll have to ask him about it. most of the members of my conference paper that this be dealt with at the state level. >> with that regards the abortion issue are republicans

doing enough and it seems like democrats are holding the issue right now with saying things like your grandmother had more were rights than you. do the republicans do better at educating? >> i think the answer as to how they feel about the issue. it may be different in a different state so i would leave it up to our candidates or people handling this issue to determine for them what their responsibility is. [inaudible] >> my understanding of this it's a really complicated procedure. the president's board that made the recommendation as to how it should be settled and unless he

changes position the president apparently supports the position of the presidential board. that seems to me to be the perfect place to get it settled for the present i writing about how much influence he has with the union and how much the influence they have with him. this would be a good time to demonstrate that by insisting the recommendation of its own board be implemented. [inaudible] >> while as we just pointed out i don't control the agenda. if the majority leader decides to bring it up we will see where the votes are.

[inaudible conversations] >> ladies and gentlemen please welcome the speaker of the house, nancy pelosi and senate majority leader chuck schumer. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [applause] >> look at this crowd. so, this is a great and celebratory day. thank you mr. president for

inviting us to the white house. thank you to vice president harris, speaker pelosi and all of my great colleagues. i want to thank all of you for being here. is new york in the house? [applause] all right. it is such a pleasure to be here. we are here to talk about things that matter to families. lowering costs, creating jobs and helping them make ends meet. one of -- what are the moderate republicans doing at the capitol today? introducing national bans on abortion. just unbelievable. now the day -- the day president biden took office in democrats assume the majority in the senate i promised we would work with him to tackle the biggest challenges facing our country.

today we are here to affirm that the promises democrats made are now promises democrats have gotten. [applause] and we are going to keep going. the inflation reduction act passed by congress a month ago will go down as one of the most important legislative seats in decades thanks to this bill. americans will see their energy costs come down. they will see drug costs go down especially seniors on medicare who struggle to afford insulin. we will create millions of good-paying jobs for years the come and we will cut emissions by 40% by the end of the decade with the boldest green energy package in american history. [cheers and applause]

to the tens of millions of young americans who have years marching rallying demanding that congress act on climate change, we have heard you loud and clear. to all of our friends in the environmental movement who never gave up, thank you, thank you, thank you. [applause] just one month into the enactment of the bill companies like toyota honda and lg energy and first solar and so many others have already announced billions, that's billions with a b to build new factories, develop new technologies and hire new workers right here in this country. these investments are not just going to put more people to work, they will help america stay number one in the industries of the future. when we hire more workers to build solar panels, to develop

batteries or build ev's those jobs will stick around for decades to come. [applause] it will make a world, a world of difference for our economy compared to just a few decades ago when too many jobs had a limited life here in america before being shipped overseas. but not these jobs, no. these new jobs are going to stick around for a long, long time and keep america number one in these industries which are so crucial to the future of our globe. and i think folks, to think with the challenges we face not a single republican joined us in making these new investments in new jobs possible, not one. that's the difference between the two parties in a nutshell.

while maga republicans are fixated on their extremist agenda like the national abortion ban, democrats are focused on creating jobs, lowering costs and bringing the country together. [applause] you know it's been a long time frankly since the american people have felt washington capable of doing big things to me big challenges. under former president trump and maga republicans it was hard to blame them for feeling that way, but the story is different under democratic leadership. for years the nation said we could never take on the big drug companies and lower prescription drug costs, but we did and we won. they said we could never get tough on crime -- climate change but we got it done and they said we would never close loopholes for the wealthy and make the rich pay their fair share but we got all these things done in a

single bill. [applause] all of this is the result of democrats working together. we have a lot of work to do to help america reach its full potential but the past few months show when we unite anything is possible. from the bottom of my heart i want to thank every one of my senate democratic colleagues who made the inflation reduction act happen. down to the 50th member they are incredible. let's have a round of applause for our great caucus. [applause] in normal times getting even one bill through the senate is difficult but to pass the inflation reduction act with only 50 democratic votes in the

senate over the entrenched event republican minority shows how dedicated and persistent our caucus is. i applaud you all. and i applaud our great staff who labored day and night to see this great work through. thank you staff, thank you staff, thank you staff. you made it possible. [applause] and of course i want to thank speaker pelosi and every one of my house colleagues who worked to pass this bill. it's been a long process but the house democratic caucus stayed the course, worked incredibly hard and made this moment possible. thank you all. and finally, i want to thank president biden. we would never, never have gotten the inflation reduction act done without his steady hand. for over a year and a half he

dared us to dream big, pushed us to aim high and urged us to never let go of our promise to the american people, especially on climate. like the rest of us, he persisted and persisted, pushed this bill over the finish line. he did it with dignity respect them a sense of action. so thank you president biden for your incredible leadership. americans are seeing what it looks like to have the president and the congress that is focused on delivering results to make their lives better. thank you for being here. thanks for your tremendous work. on onto future victories everybody. [applause] >> mr. president, madam vice

president, leadership murder, colleagues, staff again let's hear it for the staff because the staff has made such a difference in so many friends what a thrill it is to be here to celebrate this life changing legislation, making installation reduction act. the inflation reduction acts of you to fully name for all but it does it as the name suggests this landmark law is cutting inflation and driving down costs of kitchen table items for america's working families. mr. president thank you for unifying and in aspiring vision of a stronger, fairer, safer future for all and for our children. your extraordinary leadership has made this glorious day

possible. [applause] and let us salute leader schumer, his colleagues in the senate for their extraordinary leadership and the success in bringing this bill forward. [applause] i join him in saluting his colleagues and i salute mine. i associate myself with most of his remarks except are there any californians in the house? [cheers and applause] are there any house members in the house? [cheers and applause] >> i want to salute all of my colleagues especially our chairs for making this day possible. this achievement is a testament to our unity, our optimism, our persistence along with the tireless effort again of that devoted staff.

you can do it again. [applause] and i want to join these are schumer and thinking are passionate advocates out there who's outside mobilization made a decisive difference. whether it's our friends in the environmental movement. [applause] whether it's our friends in labor. [applause] whether it's the young people who are insistent on this climate legislation, thank you. [applause] and today we are here for vips. ip ew, this law will make a substantial difference in the lives of countless families. you will hear from her shortly. when president biden signed the inflation reduction act he not only made history, he made progress. when congress passed this

legislation, frankly we jumped for joy. this is so exciting. because of the transformed it different this law would make for americans working families. lower health care costs, the authority of the hhs secretary to negotiate for lower prescription drug costs. [applause] long-sought for, finally achieved and for our senior on medicare we have a 2000-dollar on prescription drug costs. this is remarkable. 2000-dollar. [applause] and the extension of the aca subsidies, all right. for three more years health care costs are up to $2400 for a family of four, for a year. this is lowering costs and now

we will talk about bigger paychecks. we start to combat the climate crisis, to save the planet that is so remarkable and this climate action the most consequential in human history. no country, not dust ever any other country have made such important progress on health, clean air, clean water, environmental justice for our children. job creation. of the great magnitude, 9 million new good-paying jobs for our workers. and again to keep us preeminent as the later -- the leader said number one in the world in new and green technology. national security from energy independence to lessening conflict over resources and habitats because of natural disasters. and if you believe as i do that

this job creation and we have a moral responsibility to be good stewards of the and even if you don't we all agree that we have a responsibility to our children to pass on this planet in a responsible way. thank you all for making this possible. [applause] and important ally reduces inflation and it reduces the deficit and is the leader said it's fully paid for it by making the biggest companies in the wealthiest pay their fair share. [applause] under the president's leadership and with a stroke of president biden's pen we have achieved a monumental victory for america's working families. indeed this law fits comfortably among other landmark laws signed by the president. the rescue package put shots in

arms, money and pockets and children at school and people back to work safely. the bipartisan infrastructure bill was a commitment to environmental and economic and social justice. [applause] the chips and science act which supports diversity and inclusion and new people being involved and again keeping america number one. and the pact act to honor the service of our men and women in uniform, which is a big environmental bill. [applause] of course this public safety legislation which we have celebrated here is very much a part of it. quite a package. unprecedented. biden biden inspired. as president he put forth in a dent of fairness, justice,

inclusion and diversity always for the children. we made history, we made progress and together we have put people over politics. [applause] thank you mr. president. i thank all of you. god bless america from sea to shining sea. thank you. [cheers and applause] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ >> ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states accompanied by the vice president of the united states and ibew member and electrician from boston local 103 ludwig jacobs. [applause] ♪♪ ♪♪

♪♪ >> good afternoon everyone. good afternoon. please have a seat. what a beautiful day. [applause] it's good to be with so many extraordinary american leaders and friends and i thank you all. president joe biden members of our cabinet members of congress and my fellow americans, when the president and i took office we made a promise. in the face of profound crises and after years of gridlock, we promised the american people action. we vowed to build an america in which every person rom minnesota.

ms. klobuchar: i ask that theta. quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. klobuchar: mr. president, i rise today with my colleague from the great state of ohio, senator portman to share with the senate and the country some of the things that we learned from our recent trip to ukraine. i want to thank senator portman. he comes to the floor every week. never gives up when things are good or bad to talk what's happening in ukraine. and president zelenskyy was incredibly grateful. that was the first thing he wanted us to report back to the senate and to the country. incredibly grateful for all america has done to stand with ukraine. we know that this is a country that has given its all. sometimes we wonder in our own country what with would we --

what would we put on the line for democracy? are we going to vote or things like that? the people in this country put their lives on the line every day, ballerinas going to the front line, exhausted workers at a nuclear plant trying to protect not just ukraine but all of europe in whatthe biggest -- what is the biggest nuclear plant. the bombed out town screen, that reminds people no what vladimir putin did to the country, the culture and love is there in ukraine and it is not going away. senator portman and i visited the mass grave in bucha and we saw many apartment buildings

completely blown apart from the bombs. we saw first hand the strength of the ukrainian people and their leaders. as vladimir putin has shown his true closer with the bombing and the shelling near a nuclear power plant, the people of ukraine have shown their closer in a brill pant yellow -- brilliant yellow and blue. their bravery and humanity consistently shines through. we had together traveled to ukraine and the last group of senators that visited before the war started and we witnessed the incredible result of the people back then and it has only grown stronger. in our meeting with president zelenskyy and with the defense minister and the president's chief of staff, we heard time and time again the helpfulness of the himars. in fact, the embassy staff told

us that them went to that takeout place in ukraine and the people who worked in the restaurant didn't even know they were with our embassy but they knew they were american and gave them a bag of food and on the bag was written the words thanks for the himars. that's how the people in ukraine are focused day in and day out. we talked about the counteroffensive and senator portman will talk in detail about what is happening. russia retaliated by striking infrastructure just in the last few days and ukraine is still on the move. but, ifing anything, this is certainly -- if anything, this is certainly a sign that our humanitarian aid and our economic aid and military aid has been very helpful. the situation, of course, remains dangerous, especially in the glap -- in the region where

the nuclear power plant is located. we have a situation where the russians have been bombing around that plant where ukrainians have lost power for the plant. all of it is dangerous. we called for the iaea, they visited the next day to be able to inspect that plant. they were able to do have 14 inspectors with two staying on indefinitely. and we'll called for a demilitarized zone as have our government. we also got to meet with the 101st airborne in poland and they again underscored our commitment to our nato allies, the work they've been doing, including helping the ukrainians remotely to make repairs on various missiles and various weapons and the like. it is an incredible story. last week our administration

reported that moscow is in the process of purchasing rockets and artillery shells from north korea. it shows how much trouble they are in. this senate voted nearly unanimously to allow finland and sweden to join nato. that must happen as quickly as possible because we want to see a united front. as senator portman pointed out many times on our trip, there are over 40 nations it that are aiding in this effort. it is not america alone. i always think of that viral video that president zelenskyy did. he not only knew the importance of staying in his country and not abandoning his point if the russians invaded, if you think back to that day if he left to a safer location, we would never be where we are today standing up for democracy. what he said that night was simply this, we are here. he said, we are here. from that moment on, he and his

people inspired the world. so now it is our time to ensure the ukrainians, as we move forward with our next continuing resolution and supplemental with the budget that we are here for them. that we know what they are up against and it is evil and we stand with their democracy. again, i p want to thank senator -- i want to thank senator portman for his incredible leadership in working with our leadership, our military but also the ukrainian leadership. they know him well. mr. portman: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. portman: mr. president, thank you and i thank my colleague from minnesota who just talked about our recent visit to ukraine when we were able to meet with president zelenskyy and his top officials and see first hand what you can see on tv, but frankly, the emotion and just the incredible courage of the ukrainian people when you see it in person, it is

much more powerful. including going to an airport right outside of kiev where a bunch of inexperienced national guard troops were able to fight off a larger and very seasoned group of russian and chechen special operators who landed at that airport. this was back on february 24. you may remember seeing this on television. i remember watching cnn and seeing these russian troops landing, 25 helicopters came in and they were going to use that as a staging area as you said to not just take kiev but take the entire country and topple the government. this small band of national guard troops fighting for their family, fighting for their homeland and freedom, as they told us, were able to instead defeat this group of highly

trained chechen and russian special operators and turn the tide. and within three days they had routed them and thanks to their bravery and courage, they were not able to use that staging area to go into the city of kiev which is only about 30 minutes away and be able to topple that government. i remember we asked the commander who we saw there who was the commander that night when these helicopters arrived, how did you do it? like, how could this have been possible? that you could fight off these more experienced troops and the world's third biggest army? and his response was, because i was fighting for my family. remember that? it's what we saw constantly. and senator klobuchar was always good about ensuring that the people of ukraine knew that we were standing with them and that we understood the challenge that

they face and the fact that this is not just a fight for freedom in ukraine but a fight for freedom that affects all of us are around the world. they are the shield, really, of freedom for europe and so much of the rest of the world. so i appreciate your going again with me on the trip. we took the last national delegation before the invasion and the first authorized one i guess after. there is so much that we were able to learn we were there because it was a time when the u.n. inspectors were coming in to the biggest power plant in europe that senator klobuchar just talked about. they were able to get to the plant, inspect the plan and make changes from keeping the plant from leaking radioactive material and to make a declarative statement that you must demilitarize that zone,

which the russians still have not done. they have done just the opposite. they used that plant as effectively a military base using the plant as a shield to fire on ukrainian positions. they also destroyed infrastructure going into ukraine from that plant which is very dangerous but used explosives to do so to cut off electricity going into ukraine because they would like to take the electricity and direct it to russia and crimea. these are dangerous games. we've seen them play politics with food, destroying bins of grain all along the southern coast of ukraine, stopping ships from going out from turkey and some ships are going out. they use food and energy as a weapon. they cut off nord stream one pipeline, ensuring that they

give up their sanctions. now they are using a nuclear power plant as a weapon of war. not just incredibly irresponsible but dangerously reckless and risking a catastrophe. so, again, i appreciate senator klobuchar coming with me and her leadership on this issue. we tried to keep this issue nonpartisan, not just bipartisan. and the members of the ukraine caucus, including senator klobuchar and myself continue to meet regularly and get updates as to what's going on in ukraine and ensure we are doing our part here as a leader of freedom-loving countries all over the world. as she said there are many other countries participating. there were 50 countries at the conference providing military assistance to ukraine. 42 countries provided serious weapons like these longer-range artillery weapons so essential to ukraine's success and so this

is not just america alone, but america has a unique leadership role to play here and that's what we have seen so far. and as we've come upon another vote here in the united states senate and the house over the next couple of weeks, we've got to ensure we continue to take that leadership role. i have come to the floor every week for the past 21 weeks, this is the 22nd week while we've been in session since the invasion began and the focus has been often about kind of grim news about russia is doing, the murders, the rapes, the fact that they are constantly bombing civilian targets, hospitals and schools, it's a grim story and it's a sobering experience as we have seen to see the ditch russians dug to dump the bodies

that have been tortured and murdered. today i'm fortunately able to talk about some much more positive news, which is that at a time of all of these tragic circumstances the ukrainians are now making great progress in pushing back in russian assault. so we were here in the kiev area. this is where we saw some of the results of what the russian troops had done, the atrocities and the war crimes they committed and bucha, this is the airport we talked about. at one point russians all were in this area. they were pushed out and went down to this area called the donbask and they made progress in southern ukraine. this is one of the key and first cities that russia took. here is odesa and here are the

ports. that's where we were until a couple of weeks ago. but a few weeks have made a big difference and just three days before we arrived in kiev, there was a counterrens offensive that began -- counteroffensive that began. and that was here in the south. so going here toward -- here and trying to liberate some of these areas that the russians had invaded. this is what they invaded in 2014 and this is what they invaded more recently. this russian war has been going on for eight and half years. this counteroffensive has been making progress and that progress has been not just here in the south but also here up in the northeast. in many respects, i think what happened is russia moved some of its troops down to the south knowing this counteroffensive

was beginning and in that surprise move that is really astonishing, the ukrainian troops have made progress here in the northeastern part of ukraine. this map will show you a little more detail about what's happening up north. i show you this in part to show progress but specifically to show and demonstrate to my colleagues what we provided in military assistance to ukraine is working. and particularly they have been asking for some time for these weapons called himars which allow for longer range and more accurate use of artillery. prior to that the russians were sitting back and firing on ukrainian positions, destroying towns and a lot of civilian targets and doing so with impunity because the artillery from ukraine could not reach them. we now know from public sources

there are 16 of these batteries in the area and also in germany and the u.k. and they have made a difference. that is in public reporting and we heard it about r- -- about it from the defense secretary and their team. this is what we have today. all of this was red on the larger map. after a few weeks and just a couple of weeks after this offensive, you see the great progress that has been made. a number of this these cities that have been taken back are areas that is tremendous advantage to the ukrainians. this is a rail hub used to supply the russian troops that are in this part of the donbask. look at that amount of blue. that's where the ukrainians made progress. they pushed the russians back to the belarus border or russian

border. so this is very positive news and again the reason for it -- the reason that this region is now free is because of the work of 42 countries around the world who have supplied them the necessary equipment, the necessary ammo to be able to proceed and because of the courage and bravery most importantly of the ukrainian fighters. think about the commander at the small airport in kiev who said we are fighting for our homeland, our families and our freedom. that gives them a distinct advantage in my view. let there be no doubt what happened here in this northeastern part of -- ukraine was demoralized russian forces leaving behind armored vehicles. you have seen some of that perhaps on the news coverage and on the other side where

ukrainians showed determination. they not only outsmarted the russians to liberate thousands, if not millions from russian dominate. people -- domination. people came out of their homes to embrace and thank the russian soldiers, people who had been hiding in their homes and living under these terrible conditions and suffering from the these terrible atrocities from the russian troops. there was a great photo i wanted to show you which is of a bus stop at the bus stop. this is a bus stop that had been defaced by the russian soldiers. and here are some ukrainians repainting this bus stop with, of course, the closer of ukraine, yellow and blue, yellow standing for the sunflower fields that were at one time all

over the country of ukraine and because of the war, that will be down 50%. i have seen those throughout ukraine and the blue for the beautiful blue sky. this is it a photograph of people celebrating. i think there's another one there too. and people celebrating not just the fact that they can reclaim their homes but celebrating the fact that their country is being liberated that they can once again call themselves proud riewrks and stand -- ukrainians and stand tall. this is what is happening. sometimes the events of the day make it difficult to follow what is going on in ukraine. remember, it was on the front pages and top of the news for weeks and then more recently we have gotten distracted with other issues, but it's time for us to refocus on ukraine and ensure that we are helping them to continue to make progress.

ukraine has the will, bravery and military competence to win. we've now seen that. what they need are the weapons to be able to defend themselves and the equipment that we and other nations of the world can provide for them. the economic aid package that passed here in the senate back in may included this funding they needed, including funding for the himars, it took longer than we wanted to provide those weapons and again -- recently the administration is making a supplemental request for additional funding, it is $13.7 billion, $7.2 billion of military assistance and $4.5 billion in budget support. their economy has been reduced to a shambles thanks to the russian invasion. their economy is down 40% to

50%. until we have more peace and people can come back, they need budget and military support and pay salaries for first responders and teachers. i was pleased that secretary of state blinken made a surprise visit to kiev right after our visit to let ukraine know that the biden administration and this country stands with them. he told the leaders, the administration we'll continue to provide long-term support to ukraine and 18 other countries who are at risk of an invasion in the eastern european area. that funding he promised was from existing appropriations, the new money, the $13.5 million is a new package. it is important and it is important to strongly support ukraine and it is critically important for the country's future. it is a fight not just about ukraine but about global freedom. if ukraine were to lose this fight and russia toc take

ukraine, the -- to take ukraine, the cost we would all pay would be far, far more. we've got to learn the lessons of the past. we marked one year of the withdrawal from afghanistan where the biden administration was criticized for abandoning our allies. it shook the trust of many allies around the world. if we were to abandon ukraine, especially after they demonstrated such spectacular military success, we would be make manage that mistake all over again. many wondered if america could be trusted to watch their backs. ukraine looks to us as a role model. in 2014, they made a deliberate decision which was to get rid of a russian-backed corrupt government and instead turn to the u.s., to the west, to adopt our free market approaches also

our democratic approaches of free speech, free and fair election, ensuring they had transparency and fighting corruption. that's the country that we want to hold up as a role model and certainly continue to support them. in 1994, we made a commitment after the cold war ended, along with the u.k. and russia, that an -- in exchange for them getting rid of their nuclear weapons in ukraine, that we would stand with them and protect their territorial integrity. russia is not making good on that pledge, but the united states of america, another reason for us to stand with our alliese chosen to stand with us. to understand score, every time senator klobuchar and i were in a meeting, we heard the same thing, whether it was president zelenskyy, whether it was with people who were in these small towns like bucha which was thank you, thank you. a deep appreciation for what we're doing and thankfulness to

the american people. i will remind everyone that ukraine has never asked for us to put american boots on the ground. this is not iraq. this is not afghanistan. what they have offered for us is an opportunity to protect freedom by providing them with the ability to protect themselves. we can't let vladimir putin begin to think the west is beginning to falter in this mission, especially as his counter offensive makes more and more progress as the war crosses the 200-day mark. it is important to note we're not the only ones again providing it. nations around the world have banded together and that's important. they know that if aggression can succeed in ukraine, it can spread elsewhere, including further russian encroachments in europe that russia has openly talked about. reclaiming the russian empire as they say. increased chinese aggression throughout asia, including in the pacific ocean and the

solomon islands is an example of that today. increased chinese aggression with regard to tie wang, aggressive moves by iran exporting terrorism and instability across the middle east. so this is about ukraine but it's really about a broader issue. and all countries are watching. our allies and our adversaries. i know there are some out there who say we can't provide indefinite funding to ukraine with no end in sight. well, i totally agree. that's not what anybody wants to do or no one expects to do. everyone agrees that our aid to ukraine will end at the right point as ukraine reclaims its rightful territory. the question is just when. we cannot let an arbitrate timeline to determine that. we tried that in afghanistan. it doesn't work. we have to be guided by the reality on the ground. it's clear ending our support now would be premature, ill-advised. we've got to step up and this is money well spent in defense of

freedom. a russian victory would be disastrous for u.s. national security, the stability and volatility of the world. the security of our nato allies and certainly the security of eastern europe. we know that russia would not stop there. vladimir putin has said, i quote, the bortders have never ended. he talked about recreating the russian empire. i would say the borders of russia end where freedom begins. meanwhile china would see the west surrender. it would further embolden them. a ukrainian victory would have the opposite effect. it would not only cripple russia's war machine that president putin has used to invade georgia, ukraine in 2014, transnistria, syria, parts of africa where they continue to meddle. it would also make russian military aggression less likely for a long period of time. with president putin expected to meet with president xi this

week, they stand together against rogue aggression, against sovereign countries. that's very important as a message to send. of course with our assistance, we're going to be voting on ones again here in this body, there have to be safeguards in place. there have to be guard rails. we have to ensure that military assistance is subject to careful accountability. when senator klobuchar and i were there, we talked to the 101st airborne in poland who are handling a lot of the equipment coming in from around the world, from all these dozens of other countries and the united states. they talked to us a lot about what's called end use monitoring, knowing where these weapons are going precisely to ensure they go to the right hands and ensure there is not an issue with regard to how these weapons are being used. it's been more difficult to do that in ukraine given the security concerns but during our trip, we heard about real progress being made to increase that u.s. and global oversight of our military aid to ukraine.

with real end use monitoring. and as our embassy in kyiv begins to bring people back, we have more american eyes on the ground to ensure that oversight. ukraine itself, by the way, wants this transparency and strongly support it. the price that we paid to stop russia now is small compared to what we would pay if they succeed and the deeper price, of course, is being paid by ukraine. as nato general secretary stoltenberg said recently and i quote, the price we pay is measured in currency. the price they pay in ukraine is measured in lives lost every day. end quote. we are on the side of freedom. ukrainians want their freedom back. they fought for it in 2014. they fought for it several times in their history. the united states and dozens of our allies have stepped up to help them achieve this goal and win this brutal war and they have this big advantage. they're fighting with heart. they're fighting for their freedom, their homeland, their families. the russians are fighting against an enemy that never

truly existed in the first place. they're fighting against a neighbor that never wanted anything but peace with all their neighbors, including russia. but now has to take up arms to protect itself. recent polling from the international republicannic institute shows 98% of ukrainians believe ukraine will win this war. their morale is strong. their spirit is amazing. it was certainly the feeling i got from president zelenskyy, his team and everyone we met with on our trip. they are united together for victory. we met with parliamentarians from four different parties in their rada, the equivalent of their u.s. congress, their parliament. they were all together, all working together toward common cause. and a common enemy. this morale isn't just in ukraine. i see the spirit every time i go back to ohio where tens of thousands of ukrainians call ohio their home. these ukrainian americans and others from the eastern european area, others of the community of

nations that have been affected by soviet union and russia over the years, they're sticking together and their morale is high, too. on sunday president zelenskyy brought this spirit to his people in a powerful address to the ukrainian people. this was a 200th day speech, marked 200 days of brave troops fighting. he said he was certain ukrainians will get through this difficult path to victory. this was an inspirational speech at a time when the ukrainian people are making progress toward victory on the battlefield and therefore peace by getting vladimir putin to the bargaining table. this must be the result. and with our help and the help of all freedom-loving country, victory can be achieved. that is what is so important right now as we look at this new appropriations bill, this legislation that the

administration has sent us to help ukraine continue its battle for freedom. my hope is that this week and next as we take up this legislation that congress passes it showing the same spirit and the commitment to victory as we saw in ukraine. i yield back my time. the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: mr. president, before i start my planned remark, let me thank senator portman for his remarks on this subject and for all his effort. there is considerable bipartisan consensus about the need for support of ukraine's efforts, the man tell of freedom in the world right now is carried by ukraine against russian oppression. i'm delighted to have been present for his remarks. very early on there were a few of us here in the senate who on a bipartisan basis decided that the united states policy ought to at a minute much contemplate

the possibility of ukrainian victory, that writing it off was simply a bad mistake. and at the time it looked like it was a very small prospect but the courage of the ukrainian military, they have pushed their counteroffensive and the abundant supply of military hardware that they've received from the west has made what seemed a fantastic, hopeful notion, something that actually could be real and could be real úsoa for his remarks. i'm here on a different subject, and i will now turn to that subject. this is the 18th time that i've come to the floor to expose the dark money scheme that has captured and controlled our supreme court. over the last two years i've

over and over exposed how dark money operatives working from the shadows have installed supreme court justices, handpicked, handpicked by the minions of far-right donors. i've exposed the key front groups through which this court-packing operation is driven, and the tactics that the schemer have used to hide the dark money donors who pull its strings. and when you take a close look at the scheme, the little spider that you find at the center of the dark money web behind it is a character named leonard leo. from his perch at the dark money-funded federalist society, leo crafted a reputation as the

court capture schemes' puppet master. the key to his craft is an armada of phony front groups that shuffle dark money back and forth amongst each other to deploy as spin, as propaganda, as political ads, or as hidden campaign funding. during donald trump's time in office, leonard leo brokered the scheme to have the federalist society -- or more accurately the big secret donors behind the federalist society -- handpick trump's supreme court nominees. remember that list we all heard about? leo coordinated the dark money propaganda machine that kept the heat on senate republicans to

confirm those nominees, and he supported is the big donors' doctrine factories where donor-approved fringe legal doctrines are concocted for the anointed judges to weaponize from the bench. look no further than the recent west virginia v. epa decision weaponizing the doctrine factory concocted major questions doctrine. and this was no small scheme. the latest estimate from earlier this year is that these big donors put $580 million, more than half a billion dollars, into leo's network of court-capture front groups. well, little did we know that was just the beginning. last month propublica and "the

new york times" broke the news that a reclusive far-right billionaire is remain charged leo's dark money operation with a $1 .6 billion donation to a leo front group. you heard that right. $1.6 billion into this dark money operation. the man behind this new slush fund is the billionaire named barry side. and even the way the donation was made was creepy and clandestine. side and leo devised a plan to transfer all the shares in an electronics company to leo's front group on the way to selling that company. so when that company sold for

$1.6 billion, it all went straight to leo's group. and, by the way with helped side avoid what would have been roughly $4 until in taxes. -- $4 million in taxes. side has a long history of funding far-right front groups. here's how propublica characterized what side calls his attack philanthropy. i quote them here. side has funded climate denialism, as well as a national network of state-level think tanks that promote business deregulation and fight medicare expansion and he's also supported efforts to remake the higher education system in a conservative mold. including to turn one of the nation's most politically influential law schools into a training ground for future generations of right-wing judges and justices. end quote. so let's unpack all that

starting with the climate denialism. the climate denialism that they're referencing came from a group that he funded called the heartland institute. i've talked about the heartland institute on the floor before in my web of denial speeches. heartland is a dark money disinformation mouthpiece for fossil fuel interests. in 2012, heartland compared climate scientists to the unibomber. so you can see it's a classy bunch. according to one of side's advisors, he was heartland's major patron and he even convinced his business' chief financial officer to join heartland's board of directors. if that isn't creepy enough for you, we move on to the national network of state-level think

tanks that promote business deregulation and fight medicaid expansion. that's a reference to the state policy network, a web of dark money front groups that pump into state legislatures the propaganda and legislation designed by fossil fuel and other corporate interests. the state policy network has also received millions from donors' trust, which has been called the dark money atm of the right, a central node of the right-wing koch dark money network. the service that donors' trust provides is to scrub the identities of actual donors. it creates dark money. anonymity is key for these donors, many of whom have

financial interests behind their political schemes that they really don't want disclosed. if a fossil fuel billionaire, say, wants to run ads against me in rhode island, folks will get the joke. so the real donor's identity gets laundered through groups like donors trust and comes out under other groups with names like -- and i'm making this one up, but they sound this way -- rhode rhode islanders for peace and puppies and prosperity. all of that, of course, leaves citizens in the dark about both the actors and the plot and the politics in which they're supposed to be active participants. and that brings us to side's project to and i quote, turn one of the nation's most politically influential law schools into a training ground for justices and

judges. that is a reference to anone anyone scalia law school at george mason university, a central cog in the right-wing doctrine factory. the cog was not always named antonin scalia law school. in 2016 george mason received $10 million from the charles koch foundation, plus another $20 million from an anonymous donor. orchestrated by that same leonard leo. and one of the strings attached was the george mason -- was that george mason rename its law school after scalia. when folks at george mason university, a public university, pushed for answers about all of this, the university after a legal battle had to disclose that renaming the law school

wasn't the only string attached to that $20 million doughation. -- donation. leo and his donor wanted input over faculty hiring and that legal battle also unearthed the name of the anonymous donor. barry side. and all of that brings us back to side's $1 .6 billion to the leonard leo dark money apparatus. remember that with $0.6 billion, leo was able to orchestrate a dark money takeover our supreme court, stacking it with far-right justices that have already delivered massive victories for their dons. -- for their donors. overturning roe v. wade, undermining the government's power to combat climate change,

throwing out commonsense gun regulations. if he can do that with $.6 billion, imagine what kind of damage he'll be able to do with $1.6 billion to squirt out as dark money through his armada of phony front groups. leo has also dispensed $153 million to rule of law trust, which appears to exist solely to funnel money to other dark money groups. and another $16.5 million to his own concord fund. if you've been watching these scheme speeches, you'll remember that the last time i addressed the scheme in this chamber, i laid out how the concord fund and its corporate twin, the 85 fund, are the central nodes in a

collection of phony front groups that deploy fictitious names, fictitious names to mask their connections. the coordinated and collocated front groups, concord fund and 85 fund, operate through the fictitious names judicial crisis network and honest elections project, among other fictitious names. so, yes, you got this right; in this dark money netherworld, the front groups have front groups. with this new billion-dollar slush fund, leo can take those efforts to entirely new levels. more voter suppression, which is the job of honest elections project; more abortion bans, which was the accomplishment of

dobbs; more climate denial, which was powered by west virginia v. epa and the earlier epa decision by the supreme court about the clean power plan; more power for corporations, which is of course the constant goal of this dark money operation; more disinformation and more dirty dark money in politics. slewed around inside this covert operation until it gets squirted out through even more phony front groups. this dark money slime will ooze everywhere, with piefortsal elections coming up this fall, this slime will ooze out through your television sets, through your mailboxes, through your telephone, all of it designed to smear and lie to benefit far-right donor interests. the phony front groups squirting

out the slime will have innocuous-sounding names, but make no mistake, hiding behind many of them will be leo and his secretive billionaire backers. while this tactic isn't new, it has been perfected by the right wing. it began with the koch brothers who spent the last decade pumping dark money into our politics, producing a decade of successful climate obstruction until finally we got the inflation reduction act passed with the first real climate measures congress has ever passed. but because of the koch brothers' pressure, we had to rely entirely on democrats to get that bill passed. we didn't get one republican vote in the senate. we did not get one republican vote in the house. constant assaults on workers'

rights, endless attacks on the affordable care act, and, of course, the right-wing billionaires' own big payoff -- big tax cuts for billionaires. it's probable that for all of the mo enthat -- money that got thrown into this apparatus, some of them probably made more money than they got back from the tax cuts that were delivered for them under the trump administration. this is an it pays to play dark money operation. and the result is that all this dark money that is reduced the once ground ol' party to the political operation of a handful of extremist megadonors much the dark money assault son you are a democracy is not over. right now leonard rheo, his

right-wing donors and their dark money apparatus are devising the next phases of the scheme. they've already captured the highest court in the land. but they will not stop until they have enacted their entire radical agenda. they will turn their sights on state courts, on city councils, on local school boards, anywhere they can find a way to subvert democracy with dark money. so now is the time to fight back, and the first step is to pass the disclose act. it is way long past time that we shine a light on the dark money schemers. you may recall that in the citizens united decision by a vote of 8-1, even that court said that dark money is

corrupting. that is an established principle of the citizens united decision. well, if it's corrupting, we ought to get rid of it. because the american people deserve to know who captured their supreme court and who keeps flooding our politics with dark money. when you spend that kind of money, there's a motivation, and voters, citizens, deserve to know. to be continued, mr. president. i yield the floor.

mr. whitehouse: mr. president. we revert now to the closing script, and i will i ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding rule 22, the senate consider the following nominations en bloc -- calendar numbers 921, 1101, 1102, 1040 and 1042, that the senate vote on the nominations en bloc without intervening action or debate, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, that the president be immediately notified of the senate's action. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. the question occurs on the nominations en bloc. all all those in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it.

the nominations are confirmed en bloc. mr. whitehouse: 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. whitehouse: i have four requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. the presiding officer: duly noted. mr. whitehouse: i ask unanimous consent that the appointment at the desk appear separately in the record as if made by the chair. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. whitehouse: i ask unanimous consent that the senate now proceed to the en bloc consideration of the following senate resolutions introduced earlier today, senate resolution 759, 760, and 761. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measures en bloc? without objection, the senate will proceed. mr. whitehouse: i ask unanimous consent that the resolutions be agreed to, the preambles be agreed, to and that the motions

to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, all en bloc. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. whitehouse: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of senate resolution 762, which was submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. res. 762, honoring the life and accomplishments of queen elizabeth ii and expressing condolences to per family and the united kingdom on her passing. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding? without objection, the senate will proceed. mr. whitehouse: i further ask that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to and the motions to reconsider e considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. whitehouse: now, i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today it adjourn until 10:00 a.m. on wednesday, september 14, and that following the prayer and pledge the morning hour be deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, time for the two leaders be

reserved for their use later in the day and morning business be closed. that upon the conclusion of morning business the senate proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the montecalvo nomination postcloture. further, that all postcloture time on the montecalvo nosm nation be considered expired at 11:30 a.m., finally, if any nominations are confirmed during wednesday's session the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the president be immediately notified of the senate's action. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. whitehouse: for the information of the senate, there will be two roll call votes starting at 11:30 a.m. with additional votes possible later in the day. if there is no further business to come before the senate i ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until 10:00 a.m. tomorrow."washington

continues. tomorrow."washington host: