vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: on this vote, the yeas are 56, the nays are 40. the nomination is confirmed.

under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table, and the president will immediately, will be immediately notified of the senate's action. mr. schumer: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader is recognized. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all those in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to h.r. 2633. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: motion to proceed to an act to amend title 27 of the public health service act, and so forth and for other purposes. mr. schumer: i send ape cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: without objection, the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the motion to proceed to calendar 389, an act to amend title 27

of the public health service act, the internal revenue code of 1986 and employee retirement income security act of 1974 to establish requirements with respect to cost sharing for certain insulin products and for other purposes, signed by 17 senators as follows. mr. schumer: i i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the cloture motion for today be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate 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. schumer: mr. president, i have six 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. schumer: and, mr. president, before i yield, i want to join the senate in offering condolences to the families of officer william thomas of the u.s. capitol police.

officer thomas had been battling cancer and died in his home on tuesday, september 20. it breaks my heart. he was only 38 years old. my thoughts go out to his entire extended family especially because i understand this week officer thomas' father also passed away. may they find some comfort in knowing officer thomas devoted himself to serving others for nearly 14 years. he was a member of the capitol police force, a beloved presence here in the capitol complex. staff and members alike saw him every day. he dedicated his life to protecting this great institution and all of us in the senate mourn his loss today. may he rest in peace. may his father rest in peace as well. and to all members of the u.s. capitol police force struggling with this awful loss, we are with you in this difficult time. i yield the floor.

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from delaware is recognized. mr. coons: i rise to address three different topics if i might. first, this week the senate of the united states did something important, something that is genuinely a big deal. we ratified a treaty. this is something we don't do often enough, and it bears repeating what this kigali amendment to the montreal protocol is. by a vote of 69-27, a big bipartisan vote, this senate ratified a treaty that will reduce global warming by a full degree farenheit, something critical to the future of the planet. and we do it in a way that is a win for american manufacturing, a win for american exports, and a win for our planet and creation. some of you may remember a long time ago we discovered a problem, a growing hole in the ozone layer that was being caused by propellants, by

cfc's. and so the world came together to eliminate cfc's and replace them with a new generation of refrigerants known as hfc's. that was good news. the hole in the ozone layer has largely been addressed and the threat of skin cancer and being bombarded by racial that that result. this next generation of hfc's have an additional problem. they are 1,000 times worse for global warming, for climate change than carbon dioxide. so much so and they are so broadly used in every industrial setting that it's led to a rapid increase in global warming. the solution was actually invented in delaware. it's a next generation of chemicals that are much less harmful to the climate and to the environment, effective as refrigerants being manufactured now in places across the united states and that if exported to

the rest of world can grow thousands of manufacturing jobs. i just wanted to take a moment and celebrate. the projections are there will be as many as 33,000 new manufacturing jobs in the united states, some in my home state of delaware, but spread across the country. over $1 billion in new exports that will impact just this year the american economy because of this and a 25% increase in the exports of american-made refrigerators and air conditioners and so forth. this was a rare moment of bipartisan consensus where we were able to come together and address a global challenge and create more opportunity here at home. and i thought it bore some celebration as we conclude this week. mr. president, earlier this week our president, joe biden, stood before the world at the united nations general assembly and continued his forceful, clear, and strong efforts to

call on the world to enforce the u.n. charter and to push back on russia's brutal invasion of ukraine. since february, when putin's forces swept into ukraine and threatened to overrun the entire country, the west has pulled together, and allies and supporters of the ukrainian people from around the world have imposed sanctions on russia and russian oligarchs, have provided funding and support and assistance to millions of ukrainian refugees that have flooded throughout the rest of the world and critically have provided financial support for the men and women of the ukrainian armed forces who just in recent days made a dramatic breakout in northern ukraine, recapturing an area the size of delaware, more than 3,000 square miles, in a rapid advance east of kharkiv. president biden has asked this body in a bill we will take up in just a few days, to provide $11.7 billion in additional

support for ukraine. mr. president, you and i are appropriators. i am grateful that on a broad bipartisan basis we have provided tens of billions of dollars in humanitarian relief for refugees, in support for the government of ukraine, and in critically needed military support for the ukrainian armed forces. it is because the biden administration has delivered the most advanced and targeted long-range artillery systems we have called hir mars that suddenly the ukrainians are making real advances on the balts field. we -- on the battlefield. we must continue this continued support. president zelenskyy has pulled together and mobilized the ukrainian people in a remarkable show of determination, a fierce resistance despite being badly outnumbered by a much greater military force with advanced and sophisticated weaponry, the ukrainians have fought bravely

and with enormous determination. they deserve our continued support. in just recent weeks there have been some real signs of progress in opening the black seaports of ukraine so that grain can be exported to a dozen hungry countries, in making progress on prisoner of war exchanges between the russians and ukrainians, and in protests in russia in an act of desperation, president trump has called -- president putin called up reservists in a mobilization to try and push back against ukrainian forces. russia is losing this fight. they're losing on the ground in ukraine. they're losing in the court of public opinion. and they're losing strategically. my entire life we had thought it was unlikely that sweden or finland would ever join nato, the most successful multilateral security arrangement we've ever engaged in as a nation. but because of russia's aggression against ukraine now,

both sweden and finland are seeking admission to nato. this body acted quickly to ratify their admission to nato. we are down to just a few countries. and in new york, i had a chance to meet with president erdogan of turkey to convey to him both our appreciation in his help in getting grain out of the black seaports of the ukraine and getting nato to secure it against further russian aggression. it's my hope that we will move quickly as a united nato alliance and we here in this body will act quickly to provide the additional assistance to the ukrainian people, government, and armed forces that our president has sought. mr. president, earlier today we took up a vote on the disclose act. since 2010, when the supreme court of the united states issued an ill-conceived opinion in the case of citizens united, we have seen a flood of dark money steadily become more and

more pernicious in its impact on our politics and our policies. here in washington and now around the country. wealthy individuals, corporations, shadowy special interest groups have contributed hundreds of millions, now billions of dollars across several election cycles that have undermined the integrity and fairness of our elections that are at the very heart of our democracy. this bill wol do a simple -- would do a simple thing, it would require disclosure of trade associations, nonprofits engaging in elections, they would have to disclose any donors of $10,000 or more over any two-year period. it wouldn't solve all of the problems like citizens united and it would allow the american people to know who is truly are behind the dark money ads that now bombard citizens in competitive elections around our

country. tragically, it was a straight party-line vote today and we were not able to proceed and take up the disclose act, in the end one party continues to defend the practice of dark money flooding our elections while another is seeking to open up clarity for the general public and the electorate on who is giving money to whom. we should have had a vote on the disclose act because we could not get in this chamber 60 votes to move ahead. it's my hope that the american people are paying attention and realize whose side we are in this fight over transparency in our elections. with that, mr. president, i offer my thanks and yield the floor to my colleague from michigan. ms. stabenow: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from michigan is

recognized. ms. stabenow: thank you, plan. i first want to echo mr. coons' comments on the disclose and how unfortunate it was to not be able to get ten republicans to join us. i want to thank you, mr. president, for your leadership in the house and in the senate on this really important issue. as everybody in the chamber knows, i'm extremely proud to be from michigan. our state leads the world in innovation. we created and built the automobile, the automotive assembly line and the american middle class along with it. and today our workers are still putting the world on four wheels, and really amazing wheels right now. i got to show one of our nation's foremost car guys, president biden, some of michigan latest and greatest

creations during last week's detroit auto show. he was so happy behind the wheel of chevy's new corvette that i was a little worried he was going to put on his aviators and drive out of the exhibition center. it took a lot to get him out of that car he was so into it. he was inspired, and we all were. and the auto show is always inspiring, but this year it is even more because our nation is in the mid -- middle of a manufacturing renaissance. democrats in congress, along with president biden and vice president harris are helping to revitalize american manufacturing with tiny house and senate majorities and the car guy in the white house. democrats have done more to advance manufacturing in america

than at any point in the last 70 years. we're not just bringing back the jobs lost during the pandemic, we're going far beyond that. already nearly 700,000 new manufacturing jobs have been created under the biden administration. this represents the strongest manufacturing job growth since 1950's, in our lifetime. in 2021 alone more manufacturing jobs were created just -- just last year more manufacturing jobs were created than any single year, any one year in nearly 30 years, which is extraordinary and it's exciting. and over the past year the construction of new manufacturing facilities in the united states has grown by over 100% -- 116%. meanwhile, 80% of our c.e.o.'s

in a -- ceo's in a recent survey are in the process of moving manufacturing operations from china or seriously considering doing so. so we are seeing a real shift about bringing jobs home, and we've been providing the incentives and the support to do that. so that's really great news. we know if we're going to have an economy, somebody has to make something. somebody has to make something, and, frankly, that's what we do in michigan. we make things, we innovate, and then we make things even better, and then we do it over and over again. of course we can't make much of anything if we don't have these semiconductor chips, these little microchips, the size of nail. who would have ever thought not having microchips would shut down a whole plant and that is what happened in michigan, unfortunately, during the height

of the supply chain breakdowns. a lack of chips means that auto manufactures shut down, parking lots at plants fill up with cars that can't be sold because of these missing chips, and i see many of them, not very far from my home in lansing, michigan. car lots full of different makes and models, empty, and the price of new hampshire and -- new and used cars go up because of this tiny technology no bigger than a thumbnail. that's why the legislation we passed, the chips and science act, this legislation that was signed into law is really a big deal. this law is bringing semiconductor manufacturing back to the united states where it belongs. instead of the majority of what we need being overseas, it is

now going to be coming home and creating millions of jobs in the process. and that's, frankly, great news because currentl u.s. manufacturers have only 12% of the world's semiconductor manufacturers, it was down from 27% in the 1990's, and now we're going to reverse that and bring those jobs home. we are already seeing it make a difference. intel is building new semiconductor fabricator plants. this week micron is building a new $15 billion factory in idaho. we'd love to see them come our way. it's a great beginning and we're just getting started.

the american manufacturing boon does far beyond semiconductors though. the investment we've made in research and development will ensure that the next generation of clean energy, of telecommunications, and transportation technologies will be developed and manufactured right here in america as well. president biden got a taste of what that was like at the auto show when he got behind the wheel of an all-electric cadillac and drove it across the floor and again we thought he wos going to restrain himself from driving it off the exhibition floor. democrats have been a huge boost to manufacturing through the inflation reduction act, which, unfortunately, none of our republican colleagues voted for. it created new and expanded tax

incentives for the next generation of clean energy technologies. i have constantly been talking about the importance of battery production tax credits -- production tax credits meaning you don't get the credit unless it's produced in the united states. we've done that now. that is now law. and the new solar manufacturing tax credit is going to help american manufacturers like hemlock semiconductor create new products and good jobs as well. they create one-third of all the polysilicon materials, but the production has been in other countries, primarily china, now the incentive will be to build them and make them here in america. the chips and science act also provided $11 billion to develop cutting-edge technologies, including up to three new

manufacturing usa initiatives. we're proud to have two manufacturing usa initiatives in place from the obama administration. there's the lightweight innovations for tomorrow or lift and the scaleup research facility or surf. both are located in the same facility in detroit. and lift's projects include research into better welding processes for navy ships and an antirollover system for military humvees, they are working with ford and g.m. to ensure they are part of the advanced vehicle technologies. and the chips funding doubled funding to develop technologies crucial to our national and economic security. that includes cybersecurity and

artificial intelligence, quantum computing and 6g communications. now, if we're going to be inventing all of this new stuff, we also need workers. we hear that all the time. we need whoarks are skilled to produce these things -- we need workers who are skilled to produce these things and that is something that democrats have been laser focused on, in everything we have done, there is a workforce development piece of it that is so critical. the chips and science act includes dedicated funding for the development of semiconductor workforce opportunities. the inflation reduction act includes incentives for clean energy manufacturers to create high-paying jobs and apprenticeship programs which we know are so successful and so needed. we have invested in workforce development programs in regions

all around the country. the build back better regional challenge awarded $1 billion to 123 projects across 24 states to help people get the skills they need for these great new jobs. these projects are building a sustainable workforce in alaska. training aerospace workers in kansas, ensuring that michigan has the highly skilled workers needed to build the advanced vehicles on display at the descroit auto show. one thing -- descroit auto show -- detroit auto show. one thing i am particularly proud of around manufacturing is that we have worked to ensure that our tax dollars are spent on american products made by american workers and american companies. that sounds like a no-brainer. i know, mr. president, you agree with that.

but we've had laws on the books for a long time that have not been enforced. there was not transparency about what's going on and now they are going to have to be accountable and transparent. buy america needs to be more than a slogan on a bumper sticker, and now it is. we have introduced the most significant expansion of buy america policies, including a new made in america office in the department of commerce that is working with each agency to make sure that they are exhausting all of the pockets to buy american before they are allowed to have a waiver to that provision, which is very important. decades from now, mr. president, people are going to look back at the past two years as a real turning point. i really believe that. it's the point when we really, truly stopped talking and

started acting to rebuild american manufacturing. it's the point when we created hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs, the kind of jobs that support families. and it's the point when we started to really bring jobs home. democrats are standing on the side of american manufacturing. we're standing on the side of good-paying american union jobs. we're standing on the side of the american worker and our american middle class and we are building things in america again, building things in america again. and that's really good news. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor.

mrs. fischer: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from nebraska's recognized. mrs. fischer: thank you, mr. president. mrs. fischer: officer the years many historians have studied how exactly the united states was able to rapidly mobilize during world war ii. it was truly a remarkable thing. one book, freedom's forage by arthur herman summarizes the feat well. american manufacturers produced, quote, two-thirds of all allied military equipment used in world war ii. that included 86,000 tanks, 2.5 million trucks and half a million jeeps, 286,000 warp warplanes, 8800 naval vessels, 5600 merchant ships, 434 million tons of steel, 2.6 million machine guns and 41 billion

rounds of ammunition. not to mention the greatest superbomber of the war, the b-29 and the atomic bomb. end quote. in the blink of an eye, entire manufacturing industries retooled their factories, and they began pumping out everybody from fighter planes to ships to critical munitions. there's no doubt that our immense production capacity was a critical factor behind why the allies won the war. the threat environment that we face today is much different. there are a wide range of scenarios that our nation has to be prepared for, and of course the way our economy is structured is also much different. this raises an important

question. are we prepared to respond to the changing threat environment of the 21st century? repeating that incredible moment in american history would not be easy. what we can and what we should do is identify which investments we can make to effectively meet these threats and deter any adversary. for years we have underinvested in our munitions production capacity. we can start to reverse that by expanding already hot production lines which would have an immediate positive effect on readiness. if we don't make these investments now, it will be harder for us to surge munitions production in a time of emergency or global instability,

and that is a concern we must take seriously. during a crisis, surge capacity is one lever the department of defense must be able to pull to ensure that decision-makers have a range of options at their disposal. in fact, the ability to surge production of munitions is going to be vital to respond to most types of modern conflicts. how do we know this? well let's just look at ukraine and russia and how quickly they are running through munitions. according to the royal united service institute or rusi, ukraine needs approximately 500 javelin missiles every single day. lockheed-martin only produces

around 2100 missiles a year. when the report was published in june, rusi also estimated that russia had used between 1100 and 2100 missiles during their invasion of ukraine. and that means, quote, in three months of combat, russia has burned through four times the u.s. annual missile production for those cruise missiles. these examples are important benchmarks. you can do the math and you can pretty quickly come up with future scenarios where demand starts to strain supply. another important factor is the people's republic of china which

both the biden administration and the trump administration identified as america's pacing threat. china has spent the last two decades dramatically building up its military. according to the d.o.d.'s 2019 missile defense review, quote, a key component of china's military modernization is its conventional ballistic missile arsenal designed to prevent the united states military access to support regional allies and partners. end quote. and since then china's arsenal has only continued to rapidly grow. again, another important reference point that our nation will have to navigate. now this should not be

interpreted as fearmongering. i want to be clear that i have every confidence in our military's ability to defend this nation and to defend our allies. our assistant secretary for acquisitions, logistics, and technology doug bush recently told reporters, for example, that he was, quote, not uncomfortable, with stockpile levels. however, as assistant secretary bush noted, the army is, quote, doggedly working with industry to boost the production of certain weapon systems to keep kyiv armed and the u.s. well stocked, end quote. in august "the wall street journal" reported that, quote, in the united states it takes 13 to 18 months from the time

orders are placed for munitions to be manufactured, and that is according to an industry official. replenishing stockpiles of more sophisticated weaponry such as missiles and drones can take much longer. the united states, our allies, and our partners need those munitions. the challenges that years of underinvestment has reduced our production capacities and speed at which we can respond to that increased demand. clearly there are significant benefits to expanding that capacity. again, we have to be able to meet the changing threat environment and the rise of our near peer competitors like china.

congress i believe needs to take a few actions to address this challenge. first, invest more in our munitions production capacity. second, pass a clean national defense authorization act without delay. i secured an amendment in this year's senate ndaa to require the secretary of defense and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff to produce an annual report on our industrial base and the potential constraints for our munitions production. this type of reporting should help to further identify gaps in our production capacity so that we can further refine future investments. overall, these actions would be an important step in the right direction.

we know that our adversaries will continue -- continue to threaten our global security. we know as shown by russia's horrific invasion of ukraine that our allies and partners will continue -- they will continue to need munitions. and we know the united states needs to be prepared for any scenario that threatens our national security. the best response to those stark and immediate realities is to expand our ability to produce the things that we need to defend ourselves. if we do that, the greater our capacity is to project strength, react to any scenario, and

better support allies and partners. thank you, madam president. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from alabama. mr. tuberville: madam president, sometimes setting records is a good thing. for 40 years being a college football coach in this country, you try to set records. but the records this current administration has been breaking aren't exactly worth celebrating. for example, we're seeing record crime and record prices increases. president biden even threw a big party last week at the white house to celebrate high record prices. the same day our record market

losses in the market. but even those stale stats in comparison to the record-shattering crisis at our southern border, another thing that they've declared victory on without attempting to solve the problem. we could solve it. democrats don't want to solve this problem. i guess they'd rather listen to james taylor on the white house lawn but the people of alabama haven't forgotten what's going on at the southern border because we're seeing the same influx in our state. so let's look at back in the two years of record breaking that we've seen since the biden border crisis began. and the solutions the democrats refuse to fix the problem. when president biden took office, he rolled back many

policies as possible of that secured our southern border. this immediate reversal and security measures was something he had promised on the campaign trail. so we expected it. migrants from around the world were prepared to take advantage of the new administration's soft on security approach at our border. since then the border crisis has set record after record. in this fiscal year alone, we have surpassed two million apprehensions of illegal immigrants at our southern border for the first time ever in the history of our country. last year that number was over 1.7 million showing the crisis at our border is accelerating, not slowing under this administration. after this is almost two years and has grown, the vice

president's work to address what they call the root causes of migration has been a disaster. some will try to twist those numbers to use as proof that enforcement is working but that is obviously a red hairing. -- red herring. the staggering encounters and arrests only highlights even more shocking the number of illegal immigrants we never see, those who get away, what we call the got-aways. for those we release in the united states we release and they never come back. the truth is we will probably never ever get a true number of those who have entered our country illegally. we're a country of immigrants. we like immigration but come here legal. but we do not know that this surge was stretched and the

resources have been thin ever since the border has been open. we cannot follow up with the illegal immigrants. we do not encounter to properly screen them and begin immigration proceedings. you can't have proceedings on people that you do not recognize and know where they have gone. almost one-third of illegal immigrants processed in the time immediately after biden took office, one-third have never returned for their check-in with officials as called by law. meaning we have no idea where these people are at and they have no intention of coming back, checking in. meanwhile, secretary mayorkas has repeatedly told congress, repeatedly, that the border is secure. while bureaucrats in d.c. may be sticking to that ridiculous

spin, our own agents at the border know the truth. the head of the border patrol has admitted advising his agents to release illegal immigrants into the country, who would typically be apprehended because they do not have the resources to handle the influx of the people coming to the country, we just turn them loose. in fact, the border patrol chief says he has never seen anything like this current situation in his 31 years of working for the agency. this position we're putting our law enforcement officials in is unacceptable, but this administration does nothing, does nothing to stop anything that's happening. instead they just tell us the border is secure. when our president has not even visited the border in his 19 months in office.

however, we know people aren't the only thing flooding across the borders and into our communities. unthinkable amounts of deadly fentanyl and other drugs are being smuggled into this country every single day. drug cartels are more emboldened than ever to send as many deadly drugs as possible to the border because they know they can take advantage of the crisis that has been unfolding here for two years. just in the past week officers have seized $211 oh, worth of -- $211,000 worth of cocaine and 187 pounds of fentanyl pills hidden in a vehicle, in one single bust in arizona. to put that in perspective, that's enough fentanyl to kill more than 42 million people,

nearly ten times the population of my state of alabama. and that's what our border patrol agents have stopped. imagine what's gone undetected through this new open border policy. more than 71,000 americans died so far this year of fentanyl overdoses. 71,000. that's 195 people a day in this country that are dying because we refuse to stop the fentanyl from coming into our country. and along with that the drug cartels are becoming more and more rich and more and more intent to do exactly what they want to do. it's yet another problem democrats refuse to discuss or address out of fear of backlash from the radical, open-boarded ideologues running this administration and its

immigration policies. somebody's got control of this. one day we'll find out. but democrats are quick to call out the problem when it ends up on their front porch. mayors in new york, chicago, and right here in d.c. have cried foul, and even declared an emergency, when the border crisis was delivered here to this city and others. they have no problem ignoring, excusing, and misrepresenting the facts of the crisis when it's hitting small towns far away in texas, arizona, and their southern neighbors. but when those illegal immigrants streaming across the border become the problems of theirs, they suddenly see an emergency. but who do they blame? obviously, it's the republicans. not the leader of their party, president biden has created this mess. they blame local and state

leaders who are drowning in a humanitarian crisis that the democrats are making every day and refusing to stop. even as news reports how his own dhs planned to ship illegal immigrants to sanctuary cities across the country, president biden condemns republican leaders for doing the same. it's hypocrisy at its highest degree. what's worse is their refusal to fix the problem, even though they're well aware of the steps that could be taken to secure the border. first and foremost, finish the wall that they have stopped building. although the wall itself will not solve everything, it could certainly help address the number of people that get away. a number averaging 1,000 per week in some locations. secondly, fully reinstate the

wildly successful migrant protection protocols which require individuals awaiting asylum proceeding to wait in mexico, not come over to the united states and wait, wait in mexico and let's go through your process. if people know they will not be allowed in the united states, they will not make the journey to our border knowing that they'll have to wait. as of last week we had accepted into this country people from 180 different countries. that's a long travel if you know that you may not get in. and lastly, democrats could do much better job of supporting law enforcement, to address human smuggling and trafficking efforts at the border. as long as the border's wide open cartels will take advantage of the situation. they're making billions of dollars a year by moving people, drugs into the united states,

and it's getting worse every day. americans are dying. cities are being overrun. criminals are getting rich. those are the consequences of president biden's border crisis. those are the problems that our democrat colleagues have to fix. while president biden and democrats celebrate at the white house with celebrities, americans are suffering because of these failures. most notably, their inability and unwillingness to keep our country safe. so, here's to the democrats' record-breaking year -- record inflation, record crime, record drugs, record-shattering illegal immigration. we can only hope they run out of things to celebrate in the very near future.

i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. cardin: thank you, mr. president. we have a 50-50 -- thank you, madam president. we have a 50-50 senate. 50 democrats, 50 republicans. vice president harris provides the democrats with the majority. the house of representatives has a very slim democratic majority, currently 221-212, with two vacancies. when the 117th congress began, i think most person were doubtful we'd be able to pass legislation to help them, their families, their communities and our nation. i'm happy to report that despite the odds, the 117th congress has been an historically productive congress. this is not a statement i make lightly, nor did i predict this

many legislative accomplishments when we began the 117th congress in january of 2021. i knew america's doubts, but i also shared their fervent hope that congress would somehow find a way to beat the odds, and we have, sending numerous major bills to president biden to be signed into law. some of our accomplishments have been genuinely bipartisan, especially the infrastructure investment and jobs act and the so-called chips and science bill. that is gratifying, because i believe that congress, especially the senate, is at its best when it works in a bipartisan fashion. some of our accomplishments have been solely democratic victories, notably the american rescue plan and the inflation reduction act. i regret that we were unable to convince our republican colleagues to join us on those bills, because they advance public policies and enjoy broad bipartisan support among the

american people. democrats will always reach across the aisle to pass legislation that enhances our national and economic security. but we are prepared to work alone if necessary. our most recent accomplishment is the inflation reduction act. the senate passed this legislation just before the august recess on a party line vote. that legislation will make it easier for american families to afford health insurance and help seniors with prescription drug costs. extending t the affordable care act enhanced subdisthrough 2025. just this one provision will save medium-income marylander families about $2200 annually. for tens of thousands of marylanders on medicare who use insulin, the inflation reduction act caps their insulin cost at $3500 a month. we tried to extend that cap to

americans with private insurance. our republican colleagues blocked this effort. but democrats will continue working to make that a reality. for the more than one million marylanders and all other americans covered by medicare, the secr secretary of health and human services finally will have the authority to negotiate lower drug prices for the medicare program. this will help ensure that medicare patients get the best deal possible on high-priced drugs, saving taxpayers approximately $100 billion. the health care provisions in the inflation reduction act are significant, but they're only part of the bill. the legislation makes an historic investment to shift our economy from fossil fuels to clean energy. it will help us cut carbon emissions by 40% by 2030. the inflation reduction act will lower electricity costs and emissions and will create up to

nine million good-paying jobs here in america and growing the clean energy sector. i authored a provision in the legislation to provide tax credits to our existing fleet of nuclear power plants. they produce 20% of the nation's electricity, and over 50% of its carbon-free electricity. a new analysis estimates this legislation will lower the average household electricity bills by approximately $170 to $220 annually over the next decade. maryland homeowners will be eligible for tax credits for residential solar, wind, geothermal fuel through 2034. they also will be eligible for a larger tax credit for energy efficiency home improvements through 2032 as well as tax credit for purchasing a new and clean used energy vehicles, that are electric vehicles. maryland farmers will see

tangible benefits from the more than $20 billion funds included for climate smart practices, through the existing farm bill conservation program, including the partnership program and natural resources conservation program technical assistance for producers. these are valuable programs for those meeting the obligations with regards to the chesapeake bay program. this act bolsters resilience programs to help maryland communities prepare for extreme storms and other changing climate conditions. we live in a coastal state, so marylanders fully understand the need to address climate change, to cut greenhouse gas pollution and protect the chesapeake bay. our state and local government will be eligible for new and expanded programs to decrease pollution, increase climate resiliency and promote environmental equity. the legislation pays for these smart investments while reducing

the deficit and without raising taxes on working families and small businesses. in fact, according to the nonpartisan analysis many working families may see lower taxes on a net basis over the in ex couple years as a result of the legislation. the legislation and its targeted investments aimed at lowering costs for american families is only one of the string of positive accomplishments that we've been able to do in this congress coordinating with president biden. other major legislation in the 117th congress includes the bipartisan chips and science act, which will make america more competitive by bringing home domestic production of semiconductors and investing in innovation and science. the bipartisan sergeant first class heath robinson honoring our promise to address comprehensive toxic act, known as the pact act, which provides

health care benefits for all generations of toxic exposed veterans for the first time in our nation's history. and it will improve access to care for all our veterans. promises made, promises kept. the bipartisan safer communities act, which is the first major gun safety legislation congress has approved in decades. the bipartisan infrastructure investment and jobs act, one of the biggest most comprehensive federal commitments to repairing and modernizing our nation's infrastructure in modern history. the keep kids fed act, which the senate passed unanimously that extended essential funding for schools, day care providers and communities to provide healthy meals for children throughout the school year and summer. and the american rescue plan act, which democrats passed in march of 2021 to provide billions of dollars in relief to help americans recover from the covid-19 pandemic. we have done all this and we are

reducing the deficit by $2 trillion. let me talk a little about the chips and science act. semiconductors are crucial to nearly every sector of our economy. they're in our cars, our trucks, medical devices, 5g telecommunications equipment. the list goes on and on. america created the semiconductor industry in in the 1960's. we ceded global leadership in had the 1970's. we regained it to an extent in the 1990's but have lost it the again. u.s. share of semiconductor manufacturing was 37%. by 2020 that share had declined to 20%. the act gets the u.s. back on track with respect to semiconductor manufacturing which is crucial for our national and economic security. this is a national security issue. it provides $54 blm in grants to domestic manufacturers and another $24 billion of tax

credits that will be helping helpful incentives to produce semiconductors for american firms. the substitute also authorizes $102 billion over the next five years for the national science foundation, the department of commerce, and the national institutes of standards and technology. a $52 billion increase over the congressional budget office baseline. these funds will be a shot in the arm for domestic manufacturing. here's a list of some officials that plan to use the funding to expand or establish manufacturing facilities right here in the united states -- intel and stmc plan to build factories in ohio and arizona. global foundries wants to expand a facility in upstate new york. sky water technology and purdue university want to collaborate on a new factory and research facility in west lafayette, indiana. state new york university in new

york at albany want to establish a research facility in albany and the list goes on and on and on. we are preparing for america to continue to lead in manufacturing, particularly high-tech manufacturing. i want also to highlight the science provisions in the bill. it authorizes $20 billion for the first of its kind nsf directorate which will accelerate domestic development of critical economic and security technologies, such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, advanced manufacturing, 6g communication, energy and material science. we're going to be the leaders in these areas. we should be. $9 billion, $5 billion over c.b.o. baseline for several national institutes of science and technology initiatives and programs including tripling of funding for the manufacturing extension program leveraging that program to create a national supply chain data bank which will assist businesses

with suppliers, scouting, and minimize sky chain disruptions. -- supply chain disruptions. and with nasa, the artemis program to return americans to the moon as a prelude to sending americans to mars, is fully authorized and funded. the science provisions also extend the international space station until 2030 and continue development of the nancy grace roman space telescope. i'm proud of all the work in my state of maryland and the images that we see from outerspace. the provision codifies the plantory defense authorization office and requires nasa to continue efforts to protect remain from asteroids and -- to protect earth from asteroids and come mets. this monday, the double asteroid redirection test will deliberately crash a probe into

a moon of the double asteroid to shift its orbit. it's amazing that we can do this. we're the leaders in science and we're making sure we're going to be the leaders in science and in space moving forward. i introduced the cleaner, quieter airplanes act in in the previous congress and again in this congress. it includes the use of experimental aircraft to advance aircraft efficiency and supersonic flight. the pact act, in addition to restoring relief to toxic americans, it bolsters the veterans workforce and invests in v.a. health care facilities nationwide to ensure that the agency meets the immediate and future needs of every veteran that serves is, including the 300,000-plus veterans that live in the state of maryland. i met tell you it provides for improvements to the community health centers in prince georges

and baltimore city. the safer communities act closes loopholes that allow convicted domestic violence abusers to buy firearms legally. it boosts funding for commun violence intervention and prevention initiatives and provides hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to improve and expand mental health care african american the bipartisan infrastructure package. funding is flowing to improve maryland's transit, ports, and bridges, expand broadband ability, to fix our aging waste water system. the bill provides funding for port infrastructure and waterways. congestion at american ports is a key factor in the disruption of the global supply chain. expanding and modernizing port infrastructure will help ensure that american manufacturers and producers can move their goods to markets around the world. the bill also invests $25 billion in our airports, modernizing our airport infrastructure will help keep people and products moving

around the country and world. i'm particularly pleased the legislation includes $238 million for the chesapeake bay program. the bill also includes my bipartisan legislation to make permanent and expand the minority business development agency, which is the only federal agency dedicated to supporting minority-owned businesses. the american rescue plan provides tens of billions of dollars to support vaccinations and covid-19 testing, driving down the death rate from the virus by 90%. the bill also invested in hard-hit communities and brought concrete relief to the nation at a time of great need. i was especially proud of the investments we made to help save so many small businesses throughout maryland and the nation. from the american rescue flan to the inflation reduction act and everything in between, these accomplishments have helped address important needs across maryland an our nation. at the peak of covid-19

pandemic, over 20 million americans had lost their jobs. the unemployment rate rose to 14.7% in april of 2020. the number of employed americans now exceed the prepandemic high. the second-fastest job market recovery since 1981. the number of americans working is at an all-time high and the unemployment rate has dropped a half a century low of 3.5%. since president biden assumed office or, the economy has added nearly 700,000 new manufacturing jobs. this represents the strongest manufacturing job growth since the 1950's. manufacturing job growth in 2021 alone exceeded any other single year going back nearly 30 years. over the past year, the construction and new manufacturing facilities in the united states has grown by an estimated 116%. in recent surveys of ceo's, 80%

were either in the process of moving manufacturing operations back to the united states from china or were considering doing just that a -- that. while the unemployment continues at historically low, gas prices are declining rapidly, we're still facing challenges. food prices, rent, and other costs are still too high. the federal reserve has had to raise interest rates a, which is painful for families and businesses alike. most mainstream economists believe that we can avoid a recession and the economy will have a soft landing, despite the supply chain challenges we continue to face because of covid and russia's war in ukraine. this would be a truly historic accomplishment. president kennedy said our responsibility is one of decision, for to govern to choose. our legislative achievements over the last 20 months demonstrate that congress can be productive and the federal

government is a powerful force for good. i hope we choose to remain on that path. democrats and republicans alike, because there is still so much we can do and need to do to help the american people. madam president, i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from virginia. mr. kaine: madam president, i rise to talk about a piece of legislation that was announced last night by a very close friend of mine, senator manchin of west virginia, the energy independence and security act of 2022. senator manchin and i were governors together, and we sit next to each other on the senate floor, and we're often in agreement. and on this particular bill, it's 91 pages long, and there's 24 sections, we're in agreement on 23 of the 24 sections and 86 of the 91 pages. i want to talk about the permanent reform provisions of the bill that i support, but then i want to point out

significant concerns with section 24 of the bill that is sort simplify an anti-permanent reform bill. it would take one project project that's in my state, the mountain valley pipeline shall out of permitting processes, out of judicial review, and have congress put our thumb on the scale advancing the project immune from the normal permitting processes and judicial review. i'd like to start by saying i am a strong supporter of american energy independence, and i applaud the efforts of my colleague, senator manchin, to do the same. i voted with a number of senators a few years ago to end the ban on export of petroleum from the -- crude petroleum from the united states. and i have strongly supported liquefied natural gas exports to help nations around the world wean themselves off of energy dependence on dictators like vladimir putin. i also firmly believe in the need for permitting reform. the heart of the energy

independence and security act is a recognition that permitting for energy transmission and other projects in this country is essentially broken. it takes too long. it's too inconsistent. i filed my first permitting reform bill in 2016 as a recognition of the fact that natural gas pipelines proposed in virginia were running into very significant challenges, in particular. these pipeline programs require thures of eminent domain. so you are taking people's property to build these pipeline projects. and if the government is going to take people's property, we ought to the have a process that's fair. what i heard from my constituents in virginia is that they were being ignored. there was inadequate public hearing, the hearings were scheduled hundreds of miles apart, faraway from the landowners themselves, they'd get to the public hearings and people had pre-signed up, often

encouraged by the pipeline proponent, so that the actual landowners never got a chance to speak. and when they did get to speak, their input wasn't being taken seriously. so in 2016, i introduced my first permitting reform bill to deal exactly with some of the same kinds of issues that senator manchin has included in the energy independence and security act. so i'm here to say, i'm all for permitting reform -- dim a.m. all i'm all for permitting reform. and indeed there is a supermajority in this body that if we were to undertake this in regular order could come up with a permitting reform bill that together with the inflation reduction act that we did will help us power forward american innovation, especially in leading the world in clean energy. so that's 86 pages of the bill,

and i strongly is approve of the bill. the legislation that i introduced in 2016 isn't in it. i would like to get it added in. but even if it weren't added in, there's enough good in this bill for me to support it. what i want to talk about is my strong opposition to section 24 of the bill dealing with the mountain valley pipeline. the mountain valley pipeline is a 304-mile natural gas pipeline in west virginia and virginia, about two-thirds of it is in west virginia, one-third in virginia. the pipeline is proposed to withdraw natural gas from the marcelle us will -- marcellus shale and transfer that gas through west virginia and then virginia where it could hook up with other pipelines to be distributed throughout the country or to ports where it could be liquefied and

potentially sold overseas. the mountain valley pipeline has had a star-crassed history in recent years. it's had multiple federal authorizations vacated. it's accrued over 350 violations of water-quality related protections both in virginia and in west virginia. and it currently lacks several necessary federal authorizations to continue construction. my constituents in virginia have complained significantly about workmanship problems in the program and work on the pipeline has been stopped by state agencies because of slopshod quality. i'm not opposed to the mountain valley pipeline. i don't think congress should be in the business of approving pipelines or rejecting them. in matters, madam president, you are an attorney general, dealing

with eminent domain, we generally don't let legislative bodies decide whose proprietor is going to get taken. eminent domain matters are usually for courts and administrative agencies. as the pipeline has proceed in recent years, i've had opponents of the pipeline come and say, look, there's been water quart violations. you should stop the pipeline. i have had proponents of the pipeline come and say we need this for america's energy security. you should put your thumb on the scale and make sure it gets approved. what i have told the proponents and opponents of the mountain valley pipeline, tell me how to fix the permitting process, and i'll do that, but you should have to put your project through a fair permitting process, and if you can earn approval on the merits, you can build the pipeline, but if you do poor work and can't, you will not be

able to build the project. it is not senate's job to do -- section 24 of the energy independence and security act of 2022 would basically say after 86 pages of improving permitting in this country, we will take one project in two states and take it completely out of all permitting. we will order the biden administration to grant four permits that are currently in mid stream. the company hasn't yet demonstrated that it should get these four permits. there's' clean water act permit, a permit to cross the jefferson national forest, there's a permit to certify that this will not harm endangered species and there's a permit from ferc, federal energy regulatory commission, the company is

teaming to get these permits but they haven't been able to demonstrate they can do it. but what section 24 would do is say forget all of that, the biden administration must give these four mer miss to the mountain -- permits to the mountain valley pipeline owners right now. and, further, no one can seek any judicial review of these permits. highly unusual. these administrative permits are issued by administrative agencies with a capacity of judicial review. but in this case we would be forced to issue the permit and then we would also immunize the permit from any person, landowner, affected party, environmental group to be able to challenge it in judicial review. it is highly inappropriate and unprecedented. but to make matters worse

section 24 of the bill also does something that i believe is unprecedented and that would create a very, very dangerous precedent in this body. it would strip jurisdiction of any litigation in the future in this project from the united states court of appeals from the fourth circuit headquartered in richmond, my hometown. why? why? the owners of the mountain valley pipeline have lost a case or two in the fourth circuit. i used to try cases, as did the president. i lost some cases appeared i lost cases in the fourth circuit. if i represented a civil rights litigant and we lost a case in the fourth circuit, i had remedies. the first remedy was to get an end bank court to possibly reconsider the ruling of the panel. difficult to do, but that's a remedy you have. the second remedy you have is an

appeal to the united states supreme court. i tried that too. once i got a case that i lost in the fourth circuit taken by the united states supreme court and i was able to be successful there in getting it reversed. if you're a party that's unhappy, that's your remedy, to appeal, whether you're rich or poor, whether it's a corporation or individual, a civil or criminal case, if you don't like the ruling of a district court, you appeal to an appellate court and if you don't like the appellate court decision, you try to go to the supreme court. that is a rule that should apply to all litigants. in this case what the mountain pipeline is asking is, in my view, an egregious and dramatic overreach. they don't like the rulings of the fourth circuit. they haven't been able to get the fourth circuit to take the

case, they haven't been able to convince the supreme court that the fourth circuit is wrong, what the mountain valley pipeline owners are asking the senate to do and what this bill proposes is that we would take jurisdiction away from the fourth circuit and mandate that any future case not go to the fourth circuit, but instead come to the d.c. court of appeals. what ground would there be for such an historic rebuke of my hometown federal circuit court to say that just because they ruled against a powerful energy corporation, we will in an unprecedented way strip jurisdiction away from them in a pending case that's midextreme and now allow them to hear it. the fourth circuit is my hometown circuit court. i tried cases in the district court there, i had appeals in that court, i won some, lost some, i was unhappy with some of

the rulings, but never would i have believed if a ruling went against me, that the resolution was to punish the court by stripping jurisdiction away from them, and yet that is what the energy, independence, and security act of 2022 would do, force the issuance of permits not yet justified, deny the possibility of judicial review of those permits, and in particular in an unprecedented way, strip jurisdiction away from one circuit court in the middle of a case by taking it away from them. why? because the big energy company that wants these permits is unhappy that they lost a case there. as i conclude, i just want to point out, if we go down this path, in my view, it could open the door to serious abuse and even corruption. imagine if the senate of the united states starts stripping

jurisdiction away from courts, because, wait, we don't like your ruling, so mid stream we'll take it away, a corporation that is unhappy that they're getting sued in shareholder derivative suits in the second circuit, for example, someone says, let's take jurisdiction away from the second circuit dealing with this particular company. somebody in a complicated criminal case that doesn't like the rulings of a circuit court on procedural matters trying to get this body, the senate of the united states to strip jurisdiction away from the court. i am proud of the fourth circuit, the u.s. court of appeals for the fourth circuit. i've been involved with my colleague, senator warner, in recommending to presidents and advocating for people to be nominated and eventually confirmed in this court. the fourth circuit is no more perfect than any court is. as somebody who has practiced in

this court for my entire professional career, they do not deserve to be rebuked in an historic way and have jurisdiction stripped away from them in a case like this just because they have had the temerity to rule against an energy company on a pipeline project. we can do a permitting reform bill that will advance the goals of the first 86 pages of the energy independence and siewrt act. we -- security act. we can do a bill that will include 23 of the 34 sections of the act, and be sure that the mountain valley pipeline and anyone else wanting to do a project can go through and if they demonstrate on the merits that they can build a pipeline or electricity transmission, then build it. by all means. but don't embrace the need for

permitting reform and then choose one project in the entire united states affecting my state and pull it out of permitting reform, insulating it from the normal process cease of dmin -- processes and insulating it from judicial review. thank you, madam president. with that, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from kansas. mr. marshall: madam president, last week we might have received the worst economic news i have ever seen in my lifetime. in joe biden's america it costs more to feed your family. in joe biden's america, your commute to work is more expensive and in joe biden's

america, it's a struggle to pay the bills that heat your home. farmers and ranchers are facing such high input costs that they're struggling to feed the people in this nation and those around the globe. in joe biden's america, just as kids head back to school, the price of school supplies increased by over 9%. this president continues to preside over the worst economy most kansans have seen in their lifetime. this is thanks to the democrats' massive, hyper partisan tax and spending bills and their business crushing federal regulations. as you can see on this chart, inflation was just 1% in january, 2021. 1.4%. today, well it's over a staggering 8%, almost six times higher than when joe biden took the reins.

energy, groceries and shelter account for two-thirds of inflation and they always lead inflation. inflation is not going away unless this administration does an about face on its policies and we know that's not going to happen. let's look at what joe biden's done. energy. energy's up 23%. groceries, up 13%. shelter, up 6%. you might ask why. why has shelter gone up 6%? mortgage rates on 30-year loans have quadrupleled under this president, energy, groceries and shelter is up. and, finally, have you looked at your retirement accounts lately? down, if your lucky, maybe some 17% off its peak values. kansans are hurting, main street merchants are hurting, americans are hurting. instead of helping, this

administration continues to pour gas on the fire with another spending bill and they had the gal to sell -- gall to celebrate at the white house after after seeing the highest inflation rate in nearly 40 years. what's more, sunday night on 60 minutes, the president said that inflation was up, quote, just an inch, hardly at all. and i end that quote. are you kidding me. i can't imagine an administration more out of touch and more apathetic to the pain of the people who elected him than this one and 8.8% increase in inflation over last year is not an inch. this kind of minimization infuriates everyone. i heard it from anyone at my 100 town hall meetings, since joe biden took his oath, inflation has increased over 13%.

mr. president, when you live paycheck to paycheck, 13% is not just an inch. americans are much smarter than you think. inflation is going to be joe biden's legacy to the american people in our history books, the text my grandchildren, two of whom are sitting in the gallery today will study and see a graphic like the one behind me. if anyone hoped that the federal reserve would be able to slow down interest hikes, think again. this month's number made it clear to the fed that their job is far from done. forcing them to raise interest rates by another 75 basis points. interest will only increase unless they reverse their policies. life will continue to get more expensive under joe biden. why? because this president will not reverse his woke inflationary policies. even now president biden and the democrats want to continue to tax and spend us further into

recession. now, make no mistake about it. after almost a year and a half of financial anxiety and paychecks that aren't going as far, americans have had enough of the failing economic agenda of joe biden and this district majority in congress. november can't come soon enough. come january the t tax and spend agenda will come to an immediate end. we will not allow this administration to further damage this country with their failed economic agenda. before covid, we had the greatest economy in generations, we accomplished this by slashing taxes and getting out of the way of industry. this is what the american people people want, this is what the american people deserve. this is what will lead america back to prosperity. thank you, madam president. and i yield back. a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senior senator from minnesota. ms. klobuchar: madam president, i rise today in the support of

the nomination of robin hutchison to be administrator of the federal motor carrier safety administration. as the presiding officer knows, her experience as deputy administrator and currently as acting administrator will serve her well. i'm proud to say she used to call minnesota home where she served as director of public works. for the city of minneapolis for many years. ms. hutcheson brings much experience with her to this job. she has served in three roles, at the u.s. department of transportation. deputy assistant secretary for safety policy, fmcs deputy administrator and currently as acting administrator. she has a strong track record on safety. as the deputy assistant secretary for safety policy for usdot where she was instrumental in developing the national

roadway safety strategy and the new safe streets and roads program. she also has local experience managing transportation systems in three states across the country. minnesota as we discussed, utah, and montana. in her role as director of public works for the city of minneapolis, she oversaw an 1100-person team across nine divisions including all transportation functions. during a time when our supply chains are being tested to their limits, i believe that her public and private experience as well as her experience at both the local and federal level will bring a unique perspective to the role and improve the safety of our transportation networks. i'll address her unanimous consent proposal in a minute. i'm now going to turn to the next item on my agenda before we

all adjourn, and that is a speech in support of the disclose act and the need to take action to get secret money out of our elections. i want to thank senator whitehouse for his leadership on this legislation and testimony at the rules committee hearing i held on it this summer. senator whitehouse has championed this bill since 2012, and i have been proud to support it alongside him in every congress. i also want to thank leader schumer for holding a vote to advance this bill today. while the vote was ultimately unsuccessful, it is important that the people of this country understand that senate democrats and only senate democrats, it appears, remain committed to addressing secret money in our election. this vote could not have come at a more important time as we are

seeing an unprecedented flood of money into our elections. over $14 billion was spent during the 2020 election, the most expensive in our country's history. as we approach the general election in november with 48 days left, this is already -- and we still have 48 days left -- the most expensive m midterm election ever. one estimate expects nearly $10 billion will be spent just on political advertising this election cycle, more than double the $4 billion in the 2018 mid-term elections. as spending on elections increases, the sources of the spending are less accountable than ever before. one investigation found that more than $1 billion was spent on the 2020 election by groups that do not disclose their donors at all. i want people to think about this. $1 billion was spent on the 2020

election, $1 billion. not million. $1 billion by groups that do not disclose their donors at all. no one likes that. i don't care if you're a democrat, republican, or independent. you at least want to go -- want to know what money is being spent and who is paying for these negative ads that you see all over tv. as spending on election increases, the sources of that spending are less accountable than ever before. americans know there is way too much money in our elections and for our democracy to work, we need to know where the money is coming from. it is that simple. but since the supreme court's decision in citizens united opened up the flood of outside money, overturned so much of the bipartisan work that had been done by our former colleague senator mccain who we miss dearly as well as senator fine r feingold, our neighbor in wisconsin, but since that time

and the overturning of those requirements of the mccain-feingold campaign restrictions, there have been no significant improvements made to disclosure laws or regulations. unlimited, anonymous spending in our elections doesn't encourage free speech. it drowns out the voices of you. it drowns out the voices of the american people who want to participate and be treated like everyone else. they have one vote just like a billionaire has a vote. yet what do we see? the billionaire gets to have undue influence and we don't even know who he is because it is shrouded in secrecy because there is no requirement that the name be disclosed. this unrelenting secret spending will continue unless we take action to address it. that's why we need to pass the disclose act. the disclose act would address this title wave of secret money by -- tidal wave of secret money

that requiring outside groups that spend in our elections to disclose their donors, those that contribute more than $10,000. how could anyone be opposed to this? we're not talking about a lot of paperwork. we're talking about people who give more than $10,000. looking around the gallery, looking at the pages, i just find it hard to believe there's people right here that are going to give over $10,000 and then hide behind some kind of curtain of nondisclosure. that's what's happening. we just want to know who they are. importantly, the bill also makes it harder for wealthy special interests to hide their contributions to cloak the identity of donors and it cracks down on the use of shell companies to conceal the donations of foreign nationals. let me repeat that. who could be against trying to figure out whether shell companies are hiding the donations of foreign nationals, of people who don't even live in america who are trying to

influence our elections? i held a hearing on the bill in the rules committee on the disclose act this summer where we heard about the effects that secret money is having on our democracy and why we need to pass the legislation. senator whitehouse testified at the hearing and he spoke powerfully about the impact that secret money is having on our government affecting all aspects of our lives from the makeup of our courts to people's health care decisions to addressing climate change. we also heard from montana's commissioner of political practices jeff who told us how his state's version of the disclose act passed in 2015 with bipartisan support. let me repeat that. in montana, red and blue worked together and got this passed. i couldn't agree more that transparency in our democracy should not be a partisan issue. and regardless of political party, we should know who is spending on our elections.

the american people know what's at stake so it is no surprise that campaign finance disclosure laws have overwhelming support. one recent poll found that in swing states, 91% of likely voters, republicans and democrats, those are states that go red or blue may be considered purple, 91% of likely voters, republicans and democrats, support full transparency of campaign contributions and spending in our elections. another poll from 2019 found that across america, 83% of likely voters support public disclosures of contributions. that is people regardless of their political stripes. there is also a long history of bipartisan support for reducing the influence of money in our democracy. in fact, the very first limits on corporate campaign contributions came in 1907, the tilman act. the landmark federal election campaign act then passed in

1972. and as i noted the bipartisan campaign reform act in 2002 was also bipartisan supported by senator john mccain and russ feingold. they joined together to champion, to pass this really important bill. guess what? all three of those bills i just mentioned, the one in 1907, the one in 1972, the one in 2002, they were all signed into law by republican presidents. this has always been a bipartisan issue in our country. former supreme court justice antonin scalia, never one to hide his opinions, was also a staunch supporter of campaign finance disclosure. in a 2010 case d.o.e. v. reed, he wrote, from my part, i do not look forward to a society which thanks to the supreme court, campaigns anonymously hidden from public scrutiny and protected from the accountability of criticism.

this is his words. this does not resemble the home of the brave. you can't get much more conservative than former justice scalia. this is a bipartisan issue. we asked our colleagues to change their minds. ensuring the transparency of our elections has been and should continue to be a bipartisan value. these issues are at the very heart of our democracy, and this commonsense bill would protect the right of voters to make informed choices and no one has been -- and know who is trying to influence our elections. as we move forward, i urge my colleagues to join me in supporting these measures in the future as well as the measures in the freedom to vote act which the disclose act was part of, that i led in the senate, that would give us baseline -- baseline rules of the road for the voters of this country to be able to make sure they can cast their votes regardless of whether they live in minnesota or texas. with that, madam president, i would like to turn to a few

other matters that will help to close the senate. but i will -- i have one. i'll get started. here we go. this is very exciting, happening in real time for all those watching. see, we're all prepared. with this. first of all, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations en bloc. that's calendar number 1041 and 1150, 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, and the senate resume legislative session. the presiding officer: without objection. the question occurs on the nominations en bloc. all those in favor say aye.

all opposed no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the nominations are confirmed en bloc. ms. klobuchar: very g. i will turn to the next one. i will note the two senators from minnesota is now controlling the chamber, but we have also during our time in the chamber alone have confirmed someone that used to live in our state. that would be robin meredith cohn hutcheson to be administrator of the federal motor carrier safety administration in addition to the u.s. attorney for the state of tennessee. with that i turn to the next matters. i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of h.r. 7846 which was received from the house. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: h.r. 7846, an act to increase effective as of december 1, 2022, the rates of compensation for veterans for

service-connected disabilities and rates of dependency and indemnity compensation for survival -- certain disabled veterans and for other purposes. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed. ms. klobuchar: i ask that the bill be considered read a third time. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. klobuchar: i know of no further debate on the bill. the presiding officer: if there's no further debate, the question is on passage of the bill. all those in favor say aye. all those opposed no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the bill is passed. ms. klobuchar: i ask unanimous consent that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. klobuchar: the next matter before the senate is a bill that senator grassley and i have long led, the reauthorization. so i ask unanimous consent that the judiciary committee be

discharged from further consideration of s. 4885 and the senate proceed to its immediate consideration. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. 4885, a bill to amend the violent crime control and law enforcement act of 1994 to reauthorize the missing americans alert program. the presiding officer: without objection, the committee is discharged and the senate will proceed. ms. klobuchar: i ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. klobuchar: now resolutions en bloc. i ask unanimous consent that the senate now proceed to the en bloc consideration of the following senate resolutions introduced earlier today. senate resolution 793, senate

resolution 794, and senate reduction 795. the presiding officer: woangs, -- without objection, the senate will proceed en bloc. ms. klobuchar: 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 pr the presiding officer: without objection. ms. klobuchar: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of s. resolution 796 submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 796, honoring the life and legacy of the late senator robert bob charles kruger. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed. ms. klobuchar: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate.

the presiding officer: without objection. ms. klobuchar: i now ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it adjourn under the provisions of s. resolution 796 until 11:00 a.m. on friday, september 23, to convene for a pro forma session with no business conducted. further, that when the senate adjourns on friday, it stands adjourned until 3:00 p.m. on tuesday, september 27, and that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the 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 resume consideration of the motion to proceed to calendar number 389 and h.r. 6833.

further, that the senate vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed at 5:30 p.m. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. klobuchar: if there is to further business to come before the senate, i ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order, following the remarks of senator sullivan of alaska. thank you, madam president. the presiding officer: without objection.

mr. sullivan: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from alaska. mr. sullivan: madam president, is the senate in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are not. mr. sullivan: thank you it madam president. madam president, i want to talk about one of the strongest storms in many, many years to hit my state. it was called typhoon marbach and it hit western alaska late last week and into the weekend. it brought gale-force winds, massive flooding, loss of power, water, communications. it has wreaked havoc. madam president, i have some -- just a few photos here. you see a house literally floating away into the ocean, whole communities completely flooded, giant wave systems -- again, communities completely flooded in western alaska. this is an area of our state dotted with dozens of small

villages. nearly all of them, a majority alaska native communities. with a coastline of roughly 1,300 miles. that's just one small part of my state. but that's just about as many miles of all the florida coastline combined. just here in western alaska. got hammered. very, very few roads. alaska has over 200 communities that are not connected by any roads at all, so it presents many challenges in terms of relief. and, unfortunately, the very small number of roads that we have, many were washed away in these communities. the storm knocked out lines of communication, prompted evacuations, wrenched homes from their foundations, as i

mentioned, floating in the water. the prelaciesment, madam president, shows -- the preliminary assessment, madam president, shows significant damage to roads, water treatment facts, break water walls, if you don't have a road, every one of these communities also a small, tiny airport. this was a devastating storm, but i'm proud to say my fellow alaskans pulled together. the native communities in particular, as they do so often, to make sure that all residents and particularly the most vulnerable, the elderly in particular, were out of harm's way when this storm came pounding ashore in western alaska. our state and local government emergency management teams, the alaska national guard, the coast

guard, our first responders have also been working day and night to ensure that communities are safe, that utility services and major infrastructure are becoming operational as soon as possible, but it's still a real challenge. i will say, from the federal government's perspective, fema has done a good job thus far, a really good job. they immediately got teams on the ground and are working to evaluate the damage. the head of fema, who i spoke to shortly after the storm hit, is on her way to alaska. the secretary of homeland security was -- just called me today on their focus on this, the region 10 fema director, which covers alaska, is also on the ground there. thankfully -- thank god -- there have been no reports of death or

serious injury, and it's in part because of the resilience of the people in alaska and the preparation. further, donations of food, water, clothes, essentials -- and other essentials from businesses and nonprofits and just generous individuals throughout alaska have been pouring into this community. so we are so grateful for all the help that has come, even though most americans are very unaware of this. this was a devastating storm. let me talk a little bit about some of these wonderful communities that were hit by the storm. all of these communities have spent a lot of time in western alaska. amazing people, incredible generosity of spirit, thriving alaska native cultures. but, madam president, these are some of the poorest communities in america, the poorest communities in america.

like i said, almost none of them have roads. several of them do not have any water or sewer, running water or flushed toilets. american citizens. you know, i get a little frustrated in this body whenever there is a lower 48 community that has a problem with drinking water -- the latest is jackson, mississippi, detroit, michigan -- there's all this known go, hey, let's fix that aging infrastructure. that's important. i get it. but what way say is why don't we fix communities like mine who have no infrastructure, no water and sewer, no flushed toilet oz, no access to the internet, housing where multiple generations are often crammed together. and here's the thing, madam president, these are some of the most amazing people on the planet. and as americans, they are some of the most patriotic people in

the whole country. i always like to brag about alaska -- more veterans per capita than any state in the country. but the alaska native people serve as higher rates in the u.s. military than any other ethnic group in america. what i call special patriotism. you go to these small communities, everyone there is is a veteran. it really warms your heart. -- it really warms your heart as an american. so we need to help these communities and we're going to do that. the senate is going to do that. the federal government is going to do that. the state of alaska is going to do that. i do want to make one mention to one issue that's important to me, madam president, and it's an issue just of fairness. and i'm just kind of putting down a marker to make sure we have fairness as it relates to my constituents. in this very significant storm that we need help -- and this

very significant storm that we need help with. the majority leader was here on the floor recently talking about the impact that hurricane fiona was having on puerto rico, and we're all thinking about puerto rico as well. we want to make sure they're all safe. and that's something we need to be focused on in the federal government, in the u.s. senate. now, normally, the federal government pays for 75% of the cost of emergency medical care, disaster response, food distribution, when those requests are made. our governor just recently declared a federal disaster for this part of the alaska. the alaska delegation sent a letter to the president urging him to immediately approve this federal disaster declaration for alaska. and when this happens, as i

mentioned, the federal government usually pays 75%. others are responsible back home for 25%. sometimes it's even 90% and 10%. as i mentioned, the majority leader recently requested in a floor speech on the senate floor -- and i am a fine with the -- and i'm fine with the speech -- that the fema federal government pay 100% of the costs in puerto rico. okay, if fema wants to do that, if that's going to happen at the request of the majority leader, here's what else has to happen -- then fema must pay 100% of the costs in western alaska. okay? that's a no-brainer. 100% of the cost from fema in puerto rico, then the great people in western alaska are going to get 100% of the cost paid for as well. as a matter of fact, madam

president, i'd like to submit a letter to the record -- for the record that i led with senator murkowski and congressman paltola to administrator chris we will -- chriswell, the administrator of fema, just making neat if you're going to do 100% for puerto rico, you need to make sure you're doing 100% for western alaska. i'd like to submit that for the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. sullivan: whenever there is a bill dealing with disaster relief regardless of what part of the country it is, i always vote for it. the reason i do that is because i come from a state that has earthquakes, that has wildfires, that has typhoons, that has a lot of cold weather, so we're tough in alaska, but every now and then we're going to need federal help as well. and now is the time we do. so we're all going to work

together here in the senate, whether it is puerto rico or kentucky or western alaska where there's been a lot of recent natural disasters, and work together and i just want to make sure my constituents know we got your back here in d.c. we thank you for your resiliency, toughness, and everybody coming together, and we'll make sure that whatever the results are in any of these other natural disasters, that alaska is is going to get the same result as well. i yield the floor.

the presiding officer: under the previous order, and surstudent to senate resolution 796, the senate stands adjourned until 11:00 a.m. on friday, september 23, and does so as a further mark of respect to the late robert bob charles late robert bob charles

when the senate returns, watch live coverage on c-span2. ceos of some of the largest things including jp morgan my citigroup and make america testify before the senate banking committee and how they handle consumer social issues. watch on our free mobile for drop c-span now or online at bestand.org. >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government funded by television companies and more including buckeye broadband. ♪♪

buckeye broadband supports c-span as a public service along with these other television providers giving a front row seat to marcy. >> democrat from new york member of the appropriations committee and education and labor committee, good morning. >> good morning, thank you for having me democrat to have you back. i want to start with the former president comments from shannon hannity program fox news with lot of. declassified documents by even thinking about it. your reaction? >> it's incredibly he feels the