appeals. now, live to the floor of the u.s. senate here on c-span2. the president pro tempore: the senate will come to order. the chaplain, dr. barry black, will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. eternal god who saves us, we praise the greatness of your power. continue to be with those who must deal with the consequences of hurricane ian. continue also to bless our senators. keep them on the path of humility so that they will seek

to serve others. keep them on the path of forgiveness so that they will give others the same kind of mercy they so frequently receive from you. keep them on the path of courage so that they will choose the challenging and narrow way that leads to life. lord, bless us all as we strive to walk with an integrity that will honor you. we pray in your loving name. amen. the president pro tempore: please join me in the pledge of allegiance. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible,

with liberty and justice for all. the president pro tempore: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. morning business is closed. under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of h.r. 6833, which the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 389, h.r. 6833, an act to amend title 27 of the public health service act and so forth and for other purposes.

mr. leahy: i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

[background sounds] [background sounds] >> thank you all for being here. first, on behalf of the entire , what say our thoughts and prayers are with everybody in florida and for those states that are seeing the hurricane continue to move through. we will do anything in our power as lawmakers to help them. reached out to governor desantis and others make sure. i'm number of floridian members are home now working in their districts. as we are in the final hours here of this legislative

session, the american people are continuing to ask, can they afford it? they watched what is happened with one party rule in washington where democrats control the white house, the senate, the house, the department of education, your supply chain. and what have they seen? a body of democrats united to spend so much, even when the democrats warned them not to do. when larry summers, former secretary of treasurer, not to spend those $2 $2 trillion, t would harm american create inflation, they would vote anyways. when steve ratner, advisor to president obama, called it the sin of inflation. when they attacked american

energy but bled opec to supply, we watched the price of gas rise. again inflate inflation. when the cries of democrats who voted to defund the police, to work hard they did to elect local prosecutors who don't hold the law, we watched crime rise. when we watched them change the policies of our border, more than three and half know you have come across. where fentanyl the number one killer of our children between the ages of 18 and 45. 300 americans will be poisoned today and die because of fentanyl. that's the equivalent of one airline crashing each and every day in america. but the administration ignores

it. so what has this one party will of democrats brought us? higher prices with inflation. my question to every single american, can you afford to give up one month wages, an entire month of your wages could you afford to give it up? most everyone would say no. but, unfortunately, under the democrats that's what they are taken from you. one month mr. schumer: now, madam president, this morning the thoughts of everyone in the senate are with the people of florida, who are in the midst of one of the worst storms ever to hit the state, as hurricane ian made landfall yesterday. ian made landfall as a category 4 hurricane with wind speeds reaching 150 miles an hour, storm surges reaching 18 feet. about two million people are now without power and communities that dot the coastline are

seeing three to four feet of flooding. thankfully, ian was downgraded to a tropical storm this morning. but the damage has already been severe and the road to recovery will be long. i will continue to monitor the situation in florida over the coming days, and the senate stands ready to help floridians with whatever they need to stay safe and rebuild their communities. i want to thank all the first responders, national guardsmen and women, local officials, volunteers, and every single person who placed themselves in harm's way to keep their community safe. now, on c.r. funding, madam president, with a little more good-faith negotiation between democrats and republicans, i am hopeful that today is the day we'll finish passing a continuing resolution to fund the government until mid-december. government funding is set to run out friday at midnight, roughly 40 hours from now, and there's

no reason at all for us to get anywhere near that deadline. over the past 24 hours, both sides have continued holding fruitful negotiations to reach a finish line. we have some more work to do, a little more, but we're close, close enough that i hope we can finish up today, but both sides need to keep working together for that to happen. i urge both sides to keep going because this c.r. is filled with many good things that both sides can support, like $12 billion in emergency aid for ukraine to help with intelligence-gathering and aid to keep the got aflowed in a keep of war. seven months since the conflict began, it is crystal clear that american assistance has gone a long way to helping the ukrainian people resist putin's evil, vicious aggression. but the fight is far from over, and we must, we must continue

helping the brave, valiant ukrainian people. the c.r. also includes items like emergency aid to help communities across the country hammered by natural disasters including flooding in states like kentucky, louisiana, and texas, as well as disasters in alaska, puerto rico, and new mexico which suffered -- new mexico suffered its worst wildfires in the state's history early this year. through the c.r., we'll also reauthorize fda use irfees for another five years which is vital if we want to avoid any slowdown in the review of lifesaving medical devices that millions and millions of people rely on. reauthorizing these user fees will also prevent thousands of hardworking fda employees from being full load, many of whom are crucial for this lifesaving review process. by passing a the c.r., we'll help millions of families afford

their heating and utility bills over the winter, by investing $1 billion in the liheap program. i want to recognize senator reed and hassan for making sure we included in funding in the c.r. because thanks to their efforts many families will catch a break this winter by lowering their utility bills. in short, there's every reason in the world for both sides to get to yes on finalizing a c.r. before the end of today. democrats will continue working with our republican colleagues in good faith to find a path to the finish line. i want to thank our terrific chair of the appropriations committee, senator leahy, as well as ranking member shelby, for all their hard work on the c.r. i hope this is the last c.r. of chairman leahy's illustrious career, because we're all hopeful that an omnibus will be the last funding bill we will do later this year. i also want to thank my colleagues on the committee,

who've worked day and night to avoid a shutdown, and their dedicated staffs. and i want to commend senator shelby who has worked with senator leahy in a very cooperative way as well. the last thing the american people need now is a pointless government shutdown. i'm optimistic we're on track to avoiding one well before the funding deadline of i thank all my colleagues for their good work and their cooperation, and encourage them to keep going so we can finish the work later today. on another matter, the senate will return to the consideration of another brilliant nominee to serve on the federal bench, arianna j. freeman, nominated to serve as circuit court judge for the third circuit. ms. freeman is not only imminently qualified, but she's historic. she'd be the first ever black woman to sit on the third circuit. joining in the proud company of many biden nominees who are helping make the bench a more

accurate reflection of our country. that's something all of us are proud of. a graduate of swarthmore and yale, ms. freeman would join the bench amp working with the federal community defender office for the eastern disk of pennsylvania. she's dedicated her career to making sure all people, regardless of wealth or status, have equal representation before the law. i'm confident her perspective will be an asset to the third district, and i look forward to her confirmation later this morning. and on our accomplishments in this congress, finally, as americans are set to go to polls in little over a month it's time to summarize the things that this democratic majority has done in the past two years and make clear the options that face the american people in this election. when democrats assume the majority in 2021, i promised the senate would address the challenges our country faces, head on, without delay.

not with timid sliewptions, but with boldness -- not with timid solutions, but with boldness and courage. 20 months later, because of democratic leadership, we have lifted our country out of a crisis, we have a lot of work to do, but let's look at some of the major accomplishments that passed through the senate under this majority. in the wake of the tragedies in uvalde, buffalo and so many other shootings, we promised the time had come to break the grip of the nra. so we passed the first gun safety bill america has seen in 30 years. in the wake of high costs, dwindling tech jobs, and an emboldened chinese communist party, we passed chips and the science act to boost high-end manufacturing here in america, to turbocharge america's semiconductor industry, and secured the largest down payment in scientific research in decades. after years of veterans waiting around for help to treat their cancers, lung diseases, and

other ailments caused by toxic exposure, often from burn fits, we passed the pact act and secured the largest expansion of veteran health benefits in ages. and finally, in the face of high energy costs and soaring health care costs, as well as the ravages of climate change, democrats passed the groundbreaking inflation reduction act, which will lower people's energy bills, make prescription drugs more affordable, cap insulin costs for seniors on medicare, and create millions of clean jobs for years to come, through the largest green investments in american history. the largest green investments in american history. it will reduce the amount of carbon that goes into the atmosphere by 40% by 2030. a huge accomplishment that will make the lives of every american, now and in the future, better. passing the inflation reduction

act, along with ratifying the kigali amendment last week, is the strongest one-two punch against climate change any congress has ever taken. i'm very proud of my caucus for sticking together with 50 votes it ain't easy. madam president, and this is only what we've gotten done since june. to save our country from the worst of covid, we passed the american rescue plan to put shots in people's arms and checks in people's pockets. we passed the first infrastructure law in years to fix our roads, bridges and highways, to expand broadband to poor and rural communities and protect our kids from the dangers of lead piping. we reformed our postal service after decades of neglect. we reinstated vawa, the violence against women act, to protect women from abuse after years of inaction. we took a stand on asian hate crimes and declared lynching a federal hate crime after a

century of delay. we also unanimously ended forced arbitration for sexual harassment in the workplace. and we confirmed the first black woman ever to sit on the supreme court of the united states when we confirmed ketanji brown jackson. now, these are just some of the accomplishments of the democratic majority. unone have been easy in longest 50-50 senate ever, but i'm confident that america will be a better nation because of all the things we've done in the last two years. and the fight, the fight, madam president, will keep going. with every fiber of our being, democrats will never back away from protecting a woman's fundamental right to choose. maga republicans, meanwhile, pushing national abortion bans, prosecution of women and doctors, bans with no exception for rape and incest show the contrast between the parties, one looking forward, one looking backward and following the maga

dictates to the far, far right. democrats will also lower costs and build ladders to help people get into the middle class and give people the means to prosper in the middle class once they get there. republicans, meanwhile, have made already clear what corner they're on, the rich -- sorry, republicans meanwhile have already made it clear whose corner they're on -- the rich. the executive class. the megacorporations. without missing a beat, republicans gladly cut taxes for billionaires and for big business while openly calling for social security and medicare to go on the chopping block year after year. and for good measure, while democrats want to keep taxes low for working and middle-class americans, some on the other side have openly called for raising taxes -- raising taxes -- on working families. so the contrast here is not hard to grasp. the choices between the parties run deep.

the consequences to our country enormous. we have many challenges left to overcome as a nation, but the choice is now between a party that will build on all the progress we've made or one that will undo everything we've worked to accomplish. between a party that will protect our freedoms and a party that will conspire to take them away. between a party that believes america's at its best when we invest in all people or to a party that will only look after the ultrarich. remember, their major accomplishment when they had the majority was tax cuts for the very wealthy. i'm confident that americans will know which party is fighting in their corner. i want to thank all my colleagues for their excellent work over the past two years, and i look forward to building on all that work we have accomplished to set america on a path to prosperity in the 21st century. i yield the floor. no, i do not yield the floor. madam president, for the

information of the senate, we expect to vote on the confirmation of the freeman nomination to be united states circuit judge for the third circuit upon reconsideration at 11:30 a.m. today. additional votes are expected this afternoon. i yield the floor. mr. mcconnell: madam president. the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: the whole countries continues our vigil for the people of florida who are hunkered down through hurricane ian. the storm's landfall yesterday brought surging seas and sustained winds over 150 miles an hour. 2.5 million florida feams and businesses are -- florida families and businesses are reportedly without power. evacuation orders have been in place for more than two million residents of the gulf coast.

the extent of the damage has barely even begun to come into focus. fortunately, the coordinated state and local response led by governor desantis and supported by federal agencies is ongoing. yesterday, our two colleagues from florida led the state's entire congressional delegation in asking president biden to issue a major disaster declaration and unlock further aid. i understand the president agreed this morning. the senate will stand ready to provide further assistance if needed. the government funding legislation before us will make sure the disaster relief fund is refilled. most immediately, floridians remain at the forefront of the nation's prayers. now, on a completely different matter, families across america have felt the brunt of this all-democratic government's failed energy policies. when gas prices were

skyrocketing, the biden administration insisted up and down they had no control over them if. when the prices started to level off, the same politicians asked for a round of applause. funny how that works. here's what working families in kentucky know, that a gallon of gas costs over a full dollar more than before president biden took office. american families and small businesses know their electricity bill skyrocketed this spring and this summer. and they know the heating costs on democrats' watch this fall and wenter may well be catastrophic -- and winter may well be catastrophic. like our overall 13.2% inflation since january 2021 directly, directly traceable to democrats' reckless spending, a lot of our energy crisis is traceable to democrats' short-sighted policies. democrats spent 20 years saying we shouldn't explore for american energy.

there are abundant fossil fuel resources that should actually stay in the ground. in the last two years, democrats overwhelmingly voted two separate items to let the biden epa ban fracking. one analysis showed the kind of fracking ban democrats want will quadruple household energy bills. democrats supported president biden's de facto ban on both offshore and onshore oil and gas leasing. they backed president biden's decision to cancel the keystone x.l. pipeline. i guess it's better to import middle eastern crude than safely transport oil from canada. they voted for reckless tax hikes, including a natural gas tax that will directly drive up families' heating costs. and this week marks the six-month anniversary of when president biden began his reckless draining of our strategic petroleum reserve in a

desperate attempt to buy up his poll numbers. president biden has already released more than 200 million barrels from the reserve into the international market, more than all other presidents in our history combined. a few days ago he promised to release an additional 10 millioy november. our country established the strategic petroleum reserve as a lifeline for national security crises. until now, presidents had only ever tapped it for armed conflicts or natural disasters. now democrats are emptying out our emergency reserves in a desperate attempt to save their political skins. reckless and cynical does not even begin to cover it. now the reserve sits at its lowest point since 1984. if our country were cut off from oil impacts tomorrow -- oil imports tomorrow we'd have less than two months' supply.

remember, madam president, two years ago in the early covid crisis when markets were temporarily crashing and oil was selling for bargain basement prices like we'd never seen, republicans tried to refill the strategic petroleum reserve to the top, when the prices were low. it would have been a win for economic stability, a win for national security, a rouge win for taxpayers. oil actually was on a clearance sale and we could have filled the reserve right up to the top. ah, but senate democrats blocked it and bragged about blocking it. leader schumer boasted in writing that he had blocked a bailout for big oil. a bailout for big oil. typical tired old liberal rhetoric. what our democratic colleagues blocked was an unbelievably good deal for the american people. now, now they're draining the reserve they wouldn't let us

refill, and when they do need to refill it you'd better believe taxpayers won't be paying march 2020 prices. i can tell you that. short-sighted, ineffective, bad economics. that's democrats' energy policies in microcosm. working americans pay the price every single day. now on another matter, runaway inflation isn't the only crisis keeping american families up at night. the last two years have seen law and order deteriorate all across our country. public safety has eroded. violent crimes like murders and carjackings are breaking records, and our southern border has turned into a turnstile. we've seen the violence and chaos firsthand in kentucky, especially in my hometown of louisville. we aren't alone. this is a nationwide phenomenon on democrats' watch. philadelphia just saw their 1,000th carjacking this year. it's not even october yet.

carjackings in filly have quadrupled since 2019. arizona saw homicides jump up more than 25% compared to 2021. one woman whose brother and cousin were both shot and killed a few weeks ago said, quote, it's like the community has actually become accustomed to it. in 2021, denver recorded more murders than they had seen in a single year since 1981. and the pace was 23% higher still in the first half of 2022. nationwide, robberies and thefts in big cities shot up 20% in the first half of the year. so it turns out that when an entire political party builds its brand around undermining the police, going easy on repeat offenders and putting criminals' interests ahead of innocent families, bad things happen.

bad things also happen when the same political party decides to stand down on border security. over two million illegal immigrants apprehended by cbp this fiscal year alone. not even counting all the people who evaded capture. an avalanche, avalanche of illegal drugs coming into our land. these are massive concerns among the american people, concerns that our senate democrat majority has intentionally spent all year doing nothing whatsoever to address. now one final matter, when the senate votes today to fund the government, we'll also approve further emergency aid for ukraine. the ukrainians have made remarkable progress in pushing back russia's unhinged aggression. but the fight is far from over.

they need more of the cutting-edge weapons that are helping them turn the tide. assisting ukraine is not some feel-good, symbolic gesture. it's literally an investment in our own national security and that of our allies. putin's defensive in ukraine will diminish his capacity on other targets throughout the world. it will also help military regimes like china. nobody is saying america should stand alone. some of our european allies especially on nato's eastern flank have been incredibly generous, digging deep into

their inventories and welcoming hundreds of thousands of refugees. but others can and must do more. the senate's consistent support for ukraine at reasonable levels plays a critical part in nudging our allies to step up. ukraine needs more tanks, more fighting vehicles, longer-range rockets, artillery, and air defense systems, more himars, more drones and preparatory training in western fighter aircraft. and they need these things as soon as possible. yesterday the biden administration announced another tranche of assistants, but the hi mars rocket system included in that announcement won't arrive in ukraine for years, years. if the administration cannot move faster, it will be an indictment of their persistent unwillingness to invest in our own military stockpiles and our

own defense industrial base. now that congress is providing more funding, the biden administration must move more swiftly, more swiftly to deliver it to ukrainian forces on the front lines soon. now is not the time for hesitating, hand-wringing or self-deterring from the administration. it is not true strength and resolve that provoked the bully. it is delay and weakness. i withhold. a senator: madam president.

the presiding officer: the senator from indiana. mr. young: madam president, i want to take a moment this morning to recognize a friend and fellow hoosier. mark sauder. he passed away earlier this week after a battle with cancer. mark represented, as so many hoosiers know, northeastern indiana in the u.s. house of representatives from 1995 to 2010. he served eight terms. before being elected to congress, he spent years working as a staffer for indiana senator dan coats. anyone, anyone who met mark was struck by his intellect, his innate grasp of policy details, and perhaps most importantly, his passion for service, for serving hoosiers in particular. you see, mark loved northeast indiana. he loved his constituents, he

loved the land, its people, its unique traditions. he was a strong advocate for hoosier veterans in particular, and our national parks during his service in congress. he was also a man of many talents and interests. baseball was one of them. in fact, he wrote about the game's history and connections to our own state. recently mark collaborated on a book about the history of television in fort wayne. more personally, i always appreciated mark's kindness and support as i began my congressional career. i know mark provided similar assistance and encouragement to others. i offer my deepest condolences to the sauder family and all of mark's friends and loved ones as they mourn his loss.

madam president, time and momentum are on our side, so said xi jinping to his colleagues in the chinese communist party last year. true, there have been some recent setbacks to china's grand plan -- corruption probes, billions of wasted government dollars -- but make no mistake, these are minor distractions. you see, the ccp is determined as ever to supplant the united states as the world's leader militarily and economically in order to win the 21st century. xi and his government will subsidize any industry, spend any amount of money, take any

means, even propping up manufacturing with slave labor, to bend the market to its ambitions and force america to its knees. the ccp is confident that america is too dysfunctional, that the american people are too divided to arrest its momentum. madam president, today i'm pleased to report that the ccp has made a serious miscalculation. allow me to explain. you see, earlier this month i was in west lafayette on the campus of purdue university. indiana's governor eric holcomb and purdue's president mitch daniels were of course there. we were joined by u.s. secretary of commerce gina raimondo and u.s. secretary of state antony blinken.

our group saw up close the amazing work that purdue is doing across its technology ecosystem. we met and spoke with many talented students and professors, and we had a productive discussion about ways to bolster our national security and economic competitiveness. not coincidentally, we did this in a hall named for neil armstrong. not coincidentally because our conversation focused on the chips and science act. this is legislation i and others in the senate worked on for years that i'm proud was finally signed into law in august. the chips and science act will unleash the same enterprising american spirit that sent neil armstrong to the moon aboard apollo 11, the same spirit beijing believes is a relic of the 20th century.

this type of bipartisan economic and national security win only comes along once in a generation enacting the chips and science act sent a strong message to the world that when it comes to meeting china's challenge, here in the u.s. there is a cross-party consensus and a seriousness of purpose. a thriving domestic chip industry is going to prevent future super supply chain stoppages and protect our military readiness. you see, right now taiwan produces 90% of all advanced semiconductor chips, and the threat of a communist china takeover of taiwan is real. meanwhile, the chinese government is heavily subsidizing its national security innovation base, and the development of

mission-critical technologies. in fact, the ccp has invested $14 trillion, $14 trillion in the technologies that will shape our modern economy and decide winners of future wars. technologies like quantum computing, robotics, and artificial intelligence. technologies like hypersonics. they have also set a strategy of dominating the global production of semiconductors. if china produces more and more of the world's supply of semiconductors, america's economy and our national security could be at the mercy of the ccp, especially in the event of another pandemic or war this is all part of beijing's bet to beat america. but the chips and science act

helps america counter that bet. you see, there's a happy coincidence here. what benefits our national security also benefits our economic security, especially across the industrial midwest, where we pride ourselves on making things, things like microchips. just weeks after the chips and science act became law, its benefits began to reverberate across the heartland economy. we've already seen numerous major economic announcements that are directly tied to this bill becoming law. in fact, a corridor of the semiconductor industry will run through the state of indiana. thanks to the chips and science act, sky water technology is

moving forward with its plans to partner with purdue to build a $1.8 billion facility in west lafayette. they'll manufacture semiconductor chips and create an estimated 750 direct jobs. and there's more to come. further, the chips and science act provides $2 billion for the department of defense to make semiconductors. naval surface war defense center in southern indiana with expertise in chip manufacturing is expected to play a significant role in this effort. in turn, creating economic opportunities across the southern part of our state. the regional tech hubs authorized by the chips and science act will launch innovative companies, help

revive american manufacturing and lay the foundation for new, good-paying jobs to jump-start our local communities. for too long our coast ago states have been the near-exclusive hotbeds for launching pads for tech start-ups. only a hand full of american cities account for nearly 90% of job growth. had when it comes to advanced sectors like biotech and tellly come -- telecom, but the chips and science act plants the seed corn to ensure that entrepreneurs and researchers spread across the industrial midwest and other areas across the country. it will broaden and deepen our start-up in tech economy. as a result, everyone will win. and our national defense will be

safeguarded. our position as a leader in the development of future technologies will be secure. our ability to win the contests ahead, economically and, god forbid, militarily, will also be secured and there will be numerous residual benefits to this law in the years to come. such as american labor providing the manpower needed to construct new fabs and facilities here in the united states. in closing, let me reiterate that the chips and science act will be a boost to our domestic economy, but it's not just about our economy. it will strengthen our national defense by allowing us to have the most sophisticated weapon systems and by ensuring their critical components are made in the usa. but it's not just about national

defense either. you see, this is about deciding which values are going to aany mate these -- animate these values in the future, the values on display for by a communist party when this cracks down on protesters in the streets of hong kong? the world's autocrats are attempting to exert their influence across the globe. they argue that the american system, with our pesky system of checks and balances, our very ideal of government of the people, by the people, for the people, they argue that can't work in the 21st century. if the signing of the chips and science act proved them wrong. when this comes to out-innovating china in a second

america century, i'm confident that in the days ahead both time appeared momentum will be on america's side. thank you, madam president. i yield the floor. i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. young: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from indiana. mr. young: i ask unanimous

consent to call off the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. young: i ask unanimous consent that should the senate receive from the house of representatives a bill the text of which is identical to h.r. 8972 as introduced in the house and which is at the desk, the senate proceed to its immediate consideration, the bill be considered read a third time and the senate vote on passage, without further intervening action or debate, and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon

the table. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. mr. young: madam president, h.r. 8982 is another important fix to the ongoing infant formula shortage. when the formula act passed in july, it left out, quote, infant formula base powder, unquote. this bill will ensure trade barriers are lifted as we continue to address this crisis. i think my colleague, senator lee, and senator braun for their efforts on this.

>> good morning. i'm here joined with kevin guthrie. first lady and my wonderful wife, general jim, and great coast guard admiral mcpherson. so, so good in terms of what's happened. so assuming that storm passed in the very we hours of the morning, first responders from the local, state, and federal level descended on southwest mr. thune: madam president? the presiding officer: the republican whip. mr. thune: madam president, is the senate in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are not. mr. thune: we're not. okay. well, thank you. madam president, yesterday i came down to the floor too talk about where we are after two years of democrat control of congress an the white house. we're in the midst of an

inflation crisis in no end in sight. our economy is weakening, our energy security has diminished, violent crime has increased and we're dealing with record waves of illegal immigration and a security situation at our southern border. that's where we are, madam president. the question is how did we get here? the answer lies with democrats' priorities. madam president, the democrat party has moved sharply leftward over the past few years. democrats have always been on the left side of the political spectrum. but over the past few years, what was once far-left ideology has become the democrat mainstream. and democrats swept into office determined to enact a far-left, big government agenda. didn't matter to them that their majorities in the house and senate were extremely narrow or that president biden had been elected largely because he was considered to be a moderate. democrats had a grip on power. however, ten uworks and they were -- however tenuous, and they were determined to use it

for their far-left fantasies. they started off with the american rescue plan act filled with unnecessary spending and payoffs to democrat interest groups. they were warned that their legislation ran the risk of overheating the medicaid and set something off inflation. -- overheating the economy and set something off inflation. the economy overheated as a result. inflation quickly began climbing and then climbing some more. now at this point it might have seemed prudent to pull back on all those spending plans. after all, if one massive spending bill had kicked off inflation, how much worse would another massive spending bill make the situation? but democrats were just getting started. the ink was largely -- or i should say was barely dry on the so-called american rescue plan before democrats were outlining plans for a new spending spree, one that would dwarf their

initial spending spree and install some of the democrats' most cherished big government priorities. and even as inflation climbed and climbed again, democrats kept pushing ahead, even as democrat economists warned that the american rescue plan had kickstarted inflation, they kept pushing afford with plans for a $5 trillion spending spree. their so-called build back better plan. $5 trillion. to put that number in perspective, the entire federal budget in 2019 was $4.4 trillion. the entire federal budget. and democrats were pushing forward with a $5 trillion spending plan on top of a $1.9 trillion spending bill earlier in the year. fortunately, to the american people, the democrats' is $5

trillion spending plan was foiled. but that didn't stop them for long. even as inflation reached 40-year highs, democrats kept pushing for more spending and they managed to jam through another tax-and-spending spree in august. we've now have six straights months -- six straight months -- with inflation above 8%. the last time inflation was this bad, i wasn't even married yet. now i have grandkids. but democrats just don't seem to care. they're committed to their tax-and-spending agenda regardless of the consequences for the american economy. their august tax-and-spending spree will hurt both wages and economic growth at a time when economic growth is weakening and americans are experiencing a de facto pay cut due to inflation. and just days after signing this tax-and-spending legislation into law, president biden announced, if you can believe

this, a massive student loan giveaway which would cost more than $1 trillion and will, to quote the committee for a responsible federal budget, meaningfully boost inflation. meaningfully boost inflation. yet again, democrats' big government, big-spending agenda troves the economic reality facing the american people. no matter how bad the economy gets, democrats are determined to enact their big government vision. and i suspect the reason the democrats and the president have spent nearly two years ignoring the raging crisis at tower southern border is similar. after all, if democrats and the president acknowledge that there is a crisis, people might think that they should actually start solving the crisis u they might in fact think that a raging security crisis deserves to be a priority, more of a priority than, say, democrats' plans for

electric postal vehicles or monitoring gaps in tree can parliamentary inquiry coverage. -- in tree canopy coverage. acknowledging there is a border crisis might offend some interest groups and that might imperil their wish to stay in power. i mentioned democrats' fierce determination to stay in power, and it is fierce. so fierce the democrats manufactured a voting crisis and almost succeeded in gutting the senate's rules in an attempt to force through federal legislation that would give their party an advantage in future elections. and it clearly doesn't matter to them that their claims of voter suppression were pretty clearly refuted by excellent election turnout mere months later.

democrats are still talking about forcing through a federal takeover of elections to address a nonexistent crisis and give their party a leg up in future elections. madam president, i guess it's not necessarily surprising that democrats' growing commitment to the biggest kind of big government has been matched by a growing determination to secure their party's grip on power, with government action if necessary. as government power grows i suppose the governing party starts to think its power should grow with it. it would explain democrats' commitment to abolishing protections for the rights of the minority party in the senate and the americans that it represents. and the commitment expressed by a number of democrats to packing the supreme court, expanding it, expanding the supreme court with democrat justices until they can be sure they will get the outcomes that they want.

leading democrats have been openly crowing about their plans to abolish the filibuster if they get enough members in the senate. then force through a variety of far-left, big-government legislation from a government takeover of child care to that voting bill they think will give them a leg up in elections, to some of the most extreme abortion legislation, literally, in the world. clearly a raging border crisis and inflation crisis, a weakening economy, and growing energy insecurity mean little to democrats. their focus, if they keep their majority, is not on solving these very real problems facing americans. it's on growing and expanding government and implementing their far-left, big-government, big-spending visions.

mr. president, democrats' big-government vision is clearly not a vision i share, and despite democrats' clear belief that their narrow majorities gave them a mandate for a far-left remake of the government, i suspect the american people are not looking for that. democrats may think months and months and months of high inflation are a small price to pay for implementing their big-government visions. i suspect the american people disagree. i also think the american people would like to see the party in power focused on solving problems like violent crime and the crisis at our southern border, not spending their time considering how to consolidate their hold on power or force through extreme or partisan policies. and despite democrats' clear belief that washington should be making decisions about most aspects of americans' lives, i suspect that most americans are not interested in having washington dictate their

choices, whether that's the choices they make about their child care or about their children's education. democrats' devotion to their big-government, big-spending agenda has left the american people worse off economically, and it's left our country in a more dangerous position from violent crime in our communities to the security crises that we see on a daily basis unfolding at our southern border. i think the american people know, with painful certainty, that we can't afford another two years like the last two. and for the sake of our country, i hope we won't have to see what two more years of democrat power would bring. mr. president. , i yield the floor, and i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

quorum call:

>> good morning i'm here join with kevin guthrie manager in a first lady emmett wonderful wife and great coast guard admiral mcpherson and they've been so so good in terms of whas happened and so as soon as the storm passed, and the very wee hours of the morning, the first

responders from the local state and federal level descended on southwest florida and the coast guard has been performing rescue missions on the islands consistently since the wee hours of the morning and we have florida guard access on the ground participating in efforts we ever use our teams who got there even when the winds were going they wanted to get in there and get on the ground and thought that would be good they are performing rescue efforts and again starting with this barrier islanders but also looking at the places that have the most inland flooding and these operations are ongoing and there's 28 large mostly blackhawks helicopters tween the national guard in the coast guard, that are already performing these active rescue missions there will be more assets not even as the day goes on and we've also been working

with hospitals overnight, and we been on generator power and when the process of evacuating to healthcare facilities doing facility north and serving more medical personnel in the area and as of 6:00 a.m. this morning, we had 2.02 million reported power outages but outside of florida we may have additional outages central and northern florida impacts we should put into an implicit and just make that nurse 1.5 million outages and seven southwest florida counties and we enjoyed are basically off the grid at this point in sarasota has a corner of a million without power in hillsboro two and 22000, camilla 150,000, managing one of 29000 charlotte delete reconnects are really likely will have to be re- building of that infrastructure and so there are linemen and are crews that

are the way down right now. that will be more than just connecting powerlines, back to a pole, the other counties likely will not require the extent of the structural rebuild but of course that will be a step is the day goes on but we do have a huge amounts of resources that are in route enter going to work to get people power on as quickly as possible and we also had interruptions in communications as a result of the storm particularly itself was florida, we have 100 portable cell towers being deployed into the area. those will be put up once it is fully safe to do so. f . is on the ground working make sure the roads and interstates are open an alligator alley and 75, crossing the collier and interleague county is open in the traffic is flowing and i 75 south, through charlotte county is open and

slowing and portions of lee county, there still looking at and as you know some of those areas cape coral, city fort myers, they got really really dated and really devastated by this storm. the hope is that all of 75 will be open most of it is open and gives us what we need to be able to continue to move supplies into the area. we have 100 engineers on site to do bridge, and they work in teams of two. as they assess the damage and they can enter safety, the bridges can be safely reopen and of course we do have reports of structural damages to the bridges such as the bridge going on the sanibel island and i'm just make it will likely be other bridges that have suffered damage. once the bridges are inspected and determined to be safe, they will be reopened as soon as possible. we know the sanibel and because when we also know pine island

bridge from those two are not passable and they will require structural rebuild. right now, if you look in central florida, you are looking at potential major flooding in orange, and seminal counties. st. johns river and all of the way up potentially into northeast florida jacksonville. the amount of water that is been rising likely to continue to rise today even as the storm is passing, basically a 500 year flood event and i know seminal county has been evacuations and i know they've opened shelters but we will see a lot of images about the destruction tenant southwest florida and obviously we have massive assets there and people's understanding of the storm is having brought impacts across the state, some of the flooding that you will see in areas, hundreds of miles from where this made landfall, are going to set records. i will obviously be things that

only to be responded to. we have a course massive amounts of food and water in the area and we will have probably best to 300 truckloads of food and water in the area today. socially, most of her school district will be able to reopen on friday or monday and lee county is in a very difficult situation, charlotte, so we will work with them and see when they can get back on their feet with the damage there has been so extensive is a very difficult situation. we've received a major disaster declaration for nine counties we do expect morning just spoke with the president this morning and he offered support and i told him, thanks for this but because the storm has moved inland and caused a lot of potential damage in the center part of our state, were going to be asking for those counties to be expanded and included there now we have approval for charlie, collier, de soto, hillsboro the humanity and

others in sarasota and that will allow individual floridians to seek individual assistance from fema. that will be something that is have people that have been displaced, due to the catastrophic impact of hurricane ian, that will be necessary. we haven't printed 100 percent federal assistance category to be upfront for 30 days to ensure that we can quickly move forward into this response and recovery situation. now fema has as i mentioned activated individuals assistance with housing needed help you qualify coming out of fema .gov or you can call (800)221-3262. actually take a picture of the water line in your home, because if you can show that, we are able to get assistance to you faster. as people have merged this morning particularly in the areas that were hard-hit, understand this is still a

hazardous situation in those folks that were in there and that we hours of the morning, were taking big risks for the first responders navigating this in your powerlines that are down, you have trees that are down, you have a lot of hazards right now we were despite a lot of the water will subsided some of the barrier islands and some of the coast but some of those inland places off the rivers and off the inlets, you are likely to have standing water there. throughout all of today and even the days ahead and so that is a hazard and just please be aware that is something that if you weathered the storm to this point, going and doing in getting involved in that, is totally not worth it and any harm or any - in the streets we've had 26 days provide support, we really appreciate that, as were to be put to use.

i don't think we've seen an effort mobilized for this many rescues this quickly. we appreciate it and we will make good use of it and we want people to be safe and those who are in need of life support right now, was on the way. what they were able to do is look to see where the areas are the hardest hit and they been focusing the assets there pretty obviously, the barrier islands but then you also have places along these different inlets in different rivers people said the water was rising. in my -- intes in my office be granted privileges until december 16, 2022. austin gatesman, e.j. monahan. heather mayonas. jonathan mccartney, nika a matthews, and spencer woodall. the presiding officer: without objection.

mr. paul: mr. president, i rise today to talk about a bill that would lift a mandate in the law dating back to the great depression. this mandate is that drugs have to be tested on animals before clinical trials in humans. this law was created back in the 19 306s but i think makes no sense today. when the only methods we had back then when animal trials or human trials. but as the cofounder of a leading bioconverter wrote, this legislation was passed 20 years before the first modern blood test, 40 years before the modern computers and 60 years before the human genome was mapped. now we have all these tools and so many more to evaluate and ensure the safety of cosmetic and drug candidates before they reach human trials. the problem is the law never caught up to the science. the law perversely requires drug developers to test on animals,

which often means killing them after the test is over, even when nonanimal methods would work better. passing this bill will put a stop to the needless suffering and death of millions of animals in labs across the country. an emeritus neurology professor david weebers wrote in the kansas city star that the differences between genetics and physiology among species can change the way drugs are metabolized in the body. the predictive value of using animals for toxicity testing is far from optimal. the intent of the 1938 requirement for animal models was to keep toxic drugs from harming patients, a noble quest. yet statistics show that these animal tests are flawed and misclassify many toxic compounds as safe. this partly explains why over 50% of drugs found to be safe in animal testing end up failing in

human clinical trials. but animal tests can be more than twice as expensive, sometimes up to 30 times more expensive as nonanimal alternatives. this is despite the fact that it takes over a decade to bring a new drug to market and costs about $1 billion. you'd think that if you're making that kind of investment you'd be getting something for your money, but not when the government gets in the way of progress. it's often said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. we have mandated animal testing for the last 84 years, and it meant slower approval for promising drugs and cures. the time has come for the law to finally catch up with the science. i'm glad the senate has acted and i hope the house of representatives will now move quickly to pass this measure into law. this law will allow the option of not doing animal testing. it's not that it will forbid and prevent any animal testing. it simply will allow the option

of bringing drugs to market without sacrificing animals if we don't need to. thank you, madam president. and at this time i would ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of s. 5002 which is at the desk. the presiding officer: is there objection? the clerk will report. the clerk: s. 5002, a bill to allow for alternatives to animal testing for purposes of drug and biological product applications. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed. mr. paul: i ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection.

>> thank you for being here, on behalf of the entire republican congress our thoughts and prayers are with everybody in florida in the state seen that hurricane continue to move through and we will do anything in her power as lawmakers to help and assist and we reached out to governor desantis and others in a number of the floridian members are working within the districts. as we are in the final hours here, of this legislative session, the american people are continuing to ask, can they afford it and watch what's happened with one party rule in washington with the democrats control the white house, and the senate, the house, the department of education, your

supply chain, and what have they seen, about eve democrats united to spend so much even when the democrats warned them not to do it when larry summers, former secretary of treasury told them not to spend those $2 trillion they would harm americans and they went forward anyway and when steve ratner, advisor to president obama out of the original sin. of inflation. when they attacked american energy and opec the supply, we have watched the price of gas rise and again, inflation. inflation. when the cries of the democrats have voted to defund the police, to work hard, they did to elect

prosecutors did not uphold the law that which we watched the crime rise and then we watched the jane in the policies of our border of more than three and half million of come across we are no and to know the number one killer of our children between the ages of 18 and 45. 300 americans will be poisoned because of fentanyl. that is the equivalent of one airline crashing each and every day in america. the administration inc. norse it. so what is this one-party rule of democrats brought us, higher prices with inflation. my question to every single american, can you afford to have up one month wages, an entire month wages could you afford to give it up. most everyone would say no but

unfortunately, under the democrats, this what they have taken from you, one month is 8.s salary pretty well that is what the inflation has done. i told you to continue to have to pay all of your bills but only have 11 months to do it in. watch the price of your gas go up and inflation rise and ordered that is unsecured kids now left behind because of the policies during the pandemic is of the reckon public is asking a simple question, could you afford it. while republican support for the last year and a half, and we have the commitment to america in the policies have created plan to put us on a new tract, a plan for an economy that is strong where you can fill up your tank and figure family and

paychecks grow, not shrink a plan for a nation that a safe, were communities are protected, the law enforcement is respected and criminals are prosecuted. it is a plan for future that is built on freedom when the children come first and are taught to dream big and plan a government that is countable for the and politicians will get special treatment and americans get answers and the truth is we simply cannot afford two more years of democrats, it is our commitment to the public, plan for new direction, to make sure the next century is the american century that i wanted to introduce steve. [applause] [applause] thank you kevin, and i want to

extend my prayers and thoughts to the people of florida and south carolina is a base the devastation of hurricane in we are here today on the backdrop of the capitol as we get ready to go back into her communities run the country and as we go around the country, you are hearing the same recurring theme, families are struggling, under the weight of a government socialism, with joe biden and nancy pelosi what they've done last two years ran through it truly is him spending on mountains of heavy regulation, and more governor and big government socialism, it is very hurting lower income american cussing people jobs, it is making it harder for them to put food in the table, people are saying enough is enough and they are losing hope. the good news is, we are providing hope and what the commitment to america represents, we are laying out to the american people, a plan a

vision for the future, conservative ideas that actually confront these problems and nancy pelosi, joe biden, and all of the other big government socialist here and get washington have done to make things harder for people we going to actually return power back to the people, to ensure the freedom and hope to communities and we will get government off people's back to do things like reduce inflation. like bring in the energy policies, promotes american energy after we have seen a year and a half of attacks on american energy joe biden and nancy policy when they go after american energy, it yields higher prices at the pump. reconsider the vote on the confirmation by which executive calendar number 33, the nomination -- 333, the nomination of arianna j. freeman to be united states judge for the third circuit was not confirmed. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion to proceed to the motion to

reconsider. all those in favor say aye. all opposed no. the ayes have it. the motion is agreed to. the motion having been geed to, the senate -- agreed to, the senate proceeds to executive session. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary, arianna j. freeman, to be united states district judge. mr. schumer: i move to reconsider the vote by which calendar number 333 was not confirmed. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion to reconsider. all those opposed say no. the ayes have it. the motion is agreed to. the question occurs on the confirmation upon reconsideration. mr. schumer: i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll.

vote:

vote: map vote: vote:

vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: on this vote, the yeas are 50, the nays are 47. upon reconsideration, the

nomination is confirmed. the majority leader. mr. schumer: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that at senate resume legislative session. , oh, mr. president, i also ask unanimous consent that for any nominations confirmed during today's session of the senate, the motion 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. schumer: and now i also ask unanimous consent that the senate resume legislative session, that it be in order for senator braun to offer amendment 5765 it that at 1:45 all amendments other than the substitute be withdrawn, no further amendments be in order to the bill, that substitute amendment 5745 be being agreed to, the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and the senate vote on the passage of the bill, as amended, with 60 affirmative votes required for

passage, without further intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: and, mr. president, for the information of the senate, there will be two roll call votes at 1:45 p.m. the first vote will be on the passage of the continuing resolution to fund the government through december 16. the second vote will be on the coverings of the gomez nomination, upon reconsideration. i yield. i yield and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

the same thing quorum call:

mr. wyden: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. wyden: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent to vacate the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. wyden: mr. president, i'm on the floor this afternoon with a request to confirm a highly l qualified nominee with bipartisan support, whose nomination was stalled for 210 days since it was approved by the finance committee. my understanding is there may be an objection to the unanimous consent that i would like to offer, and hopefully any senate republican who seeks to object will come to me. we'll be here, and i hope whatever concern they have, if in fact it is the case, that we can work it out in this very, very qualified individual can

serve as commissioner of children, youth, and families within the department of health and human services. i'm talking about rebecca e. jones gaston. my view is this agency is a hugely underappreciated part of our government. its whole mission is to help vulnerable kids and families stay safe and get ahead in life. in challenging work, that means you've got to have strong leadership in place. one of the big recent jobs for this agency has been implementation of the families first prevention services act. mr. president, our colleague, the late orrin hatch, and i worked on this for years because we wanted to transform the welfare system, and that is an undertaking now underway because chairman hatch went to members on the other side of the aisle

and reached out and we built a coalition on this hugely consequential bill. before the bill, there was essentially a set of two choices, neither perfect, for kids looking to prospect in families in a foster home. you could keep a child in a family in a situation that was not exactly ideal. you would have problems with alcohol, you would have problems with drugs. there were just problems at home. if you didn't keep the child there, you'd send them off to a foster care facility. well, there's some good foster care homes. we know that there are some that are not exactly up to par. what chairman hatch and i did with bipartisan support in the finance committee is devise a third path, and that is what ms. gaston would be working on

at this agency that does so much good for our kids. we have essentially said this third path meant that there could be support at home for the parents that were dealing with alcohol challenges or drug dependency or something of that nature. you could also have an older individual, a grandparent come in and assist. but the point was we came up with a third, far healthier path. andrea wright adelman who has spent so much time and effort said it was a monumental achievement and that's why we want rebecca gaston there to implement it. what the status quo was before that legislation was families essentially breaking apart. the bill is called families

first because it keeps families together. keep them together whenever you can come up with a strategy to make it safe for the child. it could be with mental health care for mom and dad, as i said, maybe a grandparent steps in to take care of the grandkids. lots more flexibility. as a former governor, we have talked about that and senator hatch and i talked about it. you have to work with state and local agencies, the administration, congress, everybody wants to get this right. rebecca jones gaston is an ideal nominee toed lead the effort. she's got experience in oregon and she's been a highly successful for young people as the child welfare director in

health and human services. she's had a similar post under a republican governor in the state of maryland. so this is a person who can work well with both sides. she's brings 25 years of experience in dealing with families and kids. her qualifications for this job are undeniable. i think it's fair to say people on the finance committee are looking forward to work with her. i looked to pass this with unanimous consent earlier in the summer. there was one objection. i believe that issue has been resolved. this nomination has waited long enough. you've got a very good person, bipartisan support, lots of work to do. and i would just close, mr. president, by way of saying, i heard one senator might be objecting. that senator has lifted their objection, and now i hear some kind of report that someone else

is objecting, and my hope is the senator with the objection will contact me so we can address the concern, clear the nomination before we leave, which i think we're all very hopeful will be the case. so at -- at this point, i want it understood that i'm going to ask unanimous consent later in this session, and i hope there will be no objection. with that, mr. president, i yield the floor and have additional business here in a few minutes.

one of the worst storms ever. ian made landfall yesterday. it's a category for hurricane with wind speeds reaching 150 miles an hour, storm surges reaching reported heights of 18 feet. 2 million people now without power in communities on the coastline seen three to 4 feet of flooding. thankfully ian was downgraded to tropical storm this morning but the damage has already been severe and wrote to recovery will be long. i will continue to monitor the situation in florida over the coming days and senate stands ready to help floridians with whatever they need to stay safe

and rebuild their communities. i want to thank first responders, national guardsmen and women, local officials, volunteers and every single person who placed the saves in harms way to keep the community safe. on cr funding, madam president with a little more good-faith negotiation between democrats and republicans i am hopeful today's the day will finish pulsing continuing resolution the government and told me december. government funding is set to run out friday midnight, 40 hours from now and no reason for us to get anywhere near that deadline. the past 24 hours will side continue holding fruitful negotiations to reach the finish line. we have more work to do, a little more but we are close close enough help we can finish up today both sides need to keep

working together for that to happen. i urge both sides to get going because it's filled with many things both sides can support like $12 billion in emergency aid for ukraine to help ukrainians with more weapons, intelligence gathering aid to keep the government afloat in a time of war. seven months since the war began. american assistance is gone a long way and ukrainian people resist putin's evil aggression but the fight is far from over and we must continue helping the brave valiant ukrainian people. the cr includes items like emergency aid and help communities across the country hammered by -- evans, the finance committee's chief fowns who is retiring at the --

counsel who is going to retire at the end of this week. he has had 27 years of senate service and almost nine on the finance committee staff. mr. president, it's not an atomic secret that i'm very, very much involved in basketball whether it's with my children, still dreaming how it didn't work out to play in the nba. but to just paraphrase one thought with respect to the way this place works in terms of actually getting results the way mike evans did on the ira, the hugely important bill where major pieces came from the finance committee, where we had extraordinary work done by the president of the senate. if you week in the parlance of basketball, mike evans will long be remembered as one of the all

stars, the nba all stars, so to speak, of senate service. he has, without any doubt, for millions of people in oregon and across the country caused them to have a better life because of his work in the senate. and to just tick off a few of the reasons why i feel that way, let me just give a bit of history. in early 2014 i had a brief tenure as chairman of the finance committee and through the senate's great fortune mike agreed to return to be the senate's chief counsel. his experience goes back to days when he did good work for chairman baucus. and the reality is since then, you name a big legislative

accomplishment in the areas of health care, tax policy and working for working families, mike has been right at heart of it. a few examples. not long after mike's return, the senate passed the largest set of tax cuts for working families in 20 years. there was the 2015 trade debate. there was what i called getting trade done right, more sunlight in our trade policy than ever before. many members had said, we had never approached trade in that way. and with mike's good work, there were colleagues on our side of the aisle who said this is the first trade bill we're voting for. starting in 2017, there was a shift in our work as finance committee, democrats focused on protecting vulnerable americans from the trump administration's policies that singled out the

vulnerable many we stopped the effort to repeal the affordable care act and destroy medicaid in its traction. we showed the american people that the trump tax law was not a middle-class tax cut. above all it favored billionaires an corporations, and we -- and corporations, and we saw that all through the trump years. mike was crucial in developing a strong, innovative progressive agenda for the next time the -- we came up with historic legislation to support workers and small businesses to prevent an economic collapse. more recent, with the good work, particularly ton by senator brown and senator bennet and senator casey and senator booker, the finance committee led the effort to have the

reduction of child poverty from one bill. the president of the senate knows we worked for a full decade -- a full decade to pass the largest clean energy bill in u.s. history. a major step in the fight against climate change. mr. president, it does not happen. it simply does not happen without the gentleman sitting next to me, mike evans. medicare is going to start delivering a big dose of price relief for prescription drugs and so seniors are going to benefit. in fact, mr. president, mike evans always told me, let's make sure you can get help to people soon. that means, mr. president, in literally a couple of days, on october 1, because of mike's good work, we're going to start

seeing penalties for price gouging by big pharmaceutical companies. they will have to write checks to medicare for the amount over inflation. mike evans led the fight on those issues, right at the center of our major accomplishments. in the column of ongoing priorities, we said something's not right. if nurses and firefighters in maine or mississippi or any other state pay taxes with every paycheck, billionaires can pay what they want when they want to. and we've been saying, we want everybody to be successful. my goodness, that's what america is about, but we also want everybody to pay their fair share. and i'm really pleased that the president of late has been talking about a billionaire minimum income tax. we've been coming together all in the name of fairness and mike

looks specifically on how to do that and how to address the parliamentary and legal concerns. i'd be on the floor until breakfast time tomorrow, and i see my friend from mississippi has something important for him. i just want to close with one last point. you know, i think if you walked into a coffee shop in maine or oregon or mississippi and you said, well, let me talk to you a little bit about reconciliation. people would be a little baffled with you, but maybe they'd say, i hope folks, the couples can work it out or something having followed this reconciliation too much. we know here in the senate, reconciliation is a is patch of difficult rules and procedures, to get something done, all the work you've done to come up with

a good policy goes away. you have to apply to the byrd rules, which is something that is a unique english, it means scrubbing your legislation for byrd rule violations, writing tons of legal memoranda and then you've got to go before the senate parliamentarian and makes sure that the bill stands up to scrutiny. i see the parliamentarian right there, and as she knows, we're appreciative of her professionalism. mike and i would be the first to say you don't win all the calls. that's kind of the way it works. but the parliamentarian has always been professional and somehow i think mike evans and the parliamentarian, wherever they're going to be in the years ahead, they're going to be batting around the ideas of what it takes to move legislation

forward in the senate. so this is as much a compliment of mike and the parliamentarian as to say this is for all its flaws part of what you have to do to get issues addressed and do it fairly. and nobody in this country has more experience on this floor than mike evans. if you want to think about remembering mike as i will, opposing counsels sort of weep when mike evans walks through the door because they know that with that full stack of binders and materials, he is ready. and, mr. president, if i can go back to my basketball roots, when you're dealing with mike evans, you better come to play because he is ready every single time out. now, typically these arguments

are handled by brilliant staff before the parliamentarian. on one occasion i gather a senator kind of strutted in the room and challenged mike to a debate on -- i'm not sure how it ended but mike is pretty much undefeated against colleagues on the other side who actually have election certificates. now, in all seriousness, the many hours of work he's put into this byrd rule arguments, work that i know feels like a real slug, it's part of making life better for people, and we appreciate mike doing it. last point i want to make is about mike's character. he has a great sense of humor, wonderful to be around. he's kind. he is a mentor to younger staff. he is the only person i know who can bepper shake quotes and spring lyrics into the same

dense economic policy. some people get lost around here in the jargon of what happens up here. mike is about helping real people get ahead in life, particularly somebody who doesn't have power and clout and somebody who just deserves a fair shake. he's never lost sight of that as his load star and we are he so thankful for his years of service. last announcement just to wrap up, i think mike feels and i do, too, that if you're going to step in the big shoes -- and these are nba-style shoes, mr. president. they're big -- we're really thrilled tiffany smith will be the new finance chief counsel starting next week. she's a 15-year veteran of the finance committee. been our chief counsel since 2016. she leads the best and most effective tax team there is.

she's been in the trenches with mike for years, and i think she's going to reflect very well on the finance committee and the senate. she's got a huge record of accomplishments as well. you'll see those talents in action soon. she's going to hit the ground running. and i just say, as i see my friend from mississippi here, if any colleagues on the other side of the aisle think they're going to get a break in reconciliation debates when mike retires, they've got another thing coming with tiffany smith. she is somebody who's going to be able to fill his shoes very well. mike can now get on to the season passes that apparently he wants. he can go tour with the boss, and he can catch all the red sox and settics games -- and celtics

games he wants. i've said this before. staff can leave our office, but they don't get to leave our special family. and with enduring thanks to mike evans, enduring thanks for the good work he's done that have made lives better in this country, mike, big thanks. godspeed. i yield the floor. mr. wicker: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from mississippi. mr. wicker: mr. president, i rise this afternoon to call attention to the mississippi national guard on the eve of the 60th anniversary of their largest ever deployment. we've been fortunate since before mississippi actually became a state to have a strong national guard dating back actually to 1798. the mississippi national guardsmen have served honorably in armed conflicts including the

war of 1812, both world wars, the korean war, and the global war on terror. they've also been the backbone of disaster relief responding to hurricanes, floods, and tornadoes. but what i want to talk about today is what they did to keep the peace at a time of civil unrest 60 years ago tomorrow. september 30, 1962. and many of us remember this no doubt. you remember this, mr. president. on september 30, 1962, a riot erupted at the university of mississippi, my alma mater as james meredith arrived on campus. james meredith would become the first african american student to gain admission at ole miss. and james meredith is being recognized in mississippi this week as he rightly should be.

my wife, gail, attended a very impressive event last night on the campus of the university of mississippi at our beautiful gertrude ford center with mr. meredith. present. we're glad he's still with us and he was rightly recognized. today for the first time we have an opportunity to finally recognize those young mississippians and young americans who were called up by president kennedy and maintain the peace and did their duty. the soldiers arrived in oxford on september 30. they came from small towns and rural communities across mississippi. and like mr. meredith, some of them are still with us. as we mark the 60th anniversary of that ole miss

riot, it is right that today we honor the citizen soldiers who stood in harm's way, who answered the call of their president to protect life and property. it was clear even before the violence erupted that many agitators, a vast number of them from out of state, were going to cause trouble. there was a retired general in texas named edwin walker. he issued a radio call from texas suggesting that 10,000 people from across the region descend on the ole miss campus. in response, our mississippi national guard prepared for the worst. they responded to president kennedy's call in the great tradition of our military dating back to the time of george

washington. the civilian leadership gave an order and our military saluted and did their duty. as night fell, the crowds grew increasingly violent, and the need for reinforcements became dire. at the command of mississippi brigadier general charles billingsly, the national guard dispatched two battle groups from the 155th infantry regiment and one group from the 108 lgt armored calvary regiment, a total of 3,086 men based out of laurel and tupelo, mississippi. these soldiers immediately met resistance as they arrived on campus. rioters actually assaulted general billingsly along with his deputy general john coreley and his aid captain harold lion and set their vehicle on fire.

these three soldiers managed to escape by crawling 200 yards to the lyceum building, our administration building, while under gun fire. hours later, additional troops were called in f to quail riotes would had surrounded the lyceum. by morning some 25,000 servicemembers had arrived to restore order. now, tragically there were two fatalities during this 15-hour riot but there could have been a lot more. dozens more were rounded, including 40 of the soldiers. as a precaution, the national guard troops were kept in place for several weeks and by the end of their deployment, more than 30,000 soldiers had been mobilized. these citizen soldiers did their duty. and following the orders of their commander in chief, they prevented the crisis from

becoming much worse. this riot was an ugly chapter in our history, mr. president. but it was one of the mississippi national guard's finest hours and as the decades have proceed and we've recognized the other people who were involved, this is the first time that the senate will have had an opportunity to recognize the young americans who came and restored order. so my colleague senator cindy hide smith and i have -- cindy hyde-smith and i have joined to introduce a resolution honoring the mississippi national guard for their heroic actions and designating tomorrow, september 30, 2022, as mississippi national guard recognition day. the following day in mississippi the university of mississippi has designated it as james

meredith recognition day. and so, mr. president, at this time i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of s. res. 8 of 9 -- 809 which is at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 809 designating september 30, 2022, as mississippi national guard recognition day. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection, the senate will proceed. mr. wicker: now, mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that 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. mr. wicker: thank you, mr. president. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from indiana. a senator: i ask unanimous consent that i, senator leahy, senator schumer be permitted to

complete our remarks prior to the scheduled vote. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. braun: mr. president, i call up my amendment number 5765 and ask it be reported by number. the presiding officer: the clerk will report by number. the clerk: the senator from indiana, mr. braun, proposes an amendment numbered 5765 to amendment numbered 5745. mr. braun: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from indiana. mr. braun: the state of indiana is america's heartland. i have traveled to every county, listened to businesses, schools, churches. i think that's where we need to get our cue in terms of what needs to be done. farmers as well, they're in the middle of something that they've never faced before, probably the toughest job and business out

there, never been tougher. the american people are strong and resilient, but they are represented by a government here that is not necessarily the same. sometimes gets scoffed at but they live within their household budgets. state and local governments have guard rails but naturally would do it anyway because they know you can't borrow money from future generations and spend it today. bad business plan. for this reason i think the u.s. congress is broken because we have kept shoving this issue down the road. having done a budget that we've adhered to in nearly 20 years. the last time we did it, we were most ingenious about how to unravel it roughly ten years

ago. when they look at our capitol, they see a twisted knot of lobbyists, corporate interests, a mountain of debt that just gets higher and higher. we now spend over a trillion dollars more in year than we take in, and recently that's gone up to $1.5 trillion. to normalize that just does not make sense. we are here twiddling our thumbs while our kids and grandkids' future go up in smoke. every american family is paying for our failures here. congress as a whole, and particularly this body, seem to have no interest in turning this big ship away from the rocks. in the past year, i've brought to the floor four chances to do something. i offered a complete federal

budget that would match our spending and our revenues, that are historical in nature. only 34 senators voted for it. it would have preserved social security, medicare, defense, just bringing it in line with what's sustainable. i offered an amendment that if we failed to get our budget and appropriations bills done on time by the deadline, which is like in a few days for this year, we don't get paid until we do so. 47 senators voted for it. close but still not there. i offered an amendment to cut pet projects through earmarks from our huge spending bills. it only got 35 votes, and we were doing that for almost ten years, and now we've actually backslid into that bad behavior. i've offered an amendment to

require a balanced budget, like so many states have -- they live in fiscal sanity. 47 votes. shorts again. the framers of our constitution saw this coming. they had to raise revenue, especially back then, to do whatever they wanted to do. there were also checks and balances. congress isn't just balanced by the supreme court and the president but also by the states. article 5 of our constitution gives the states the power to pick up the slack when congress refuses to act, where it doesn't exercise discipline, good behavior, what all of us expect. i believe the house and senate desperately need two things -- term limits. the founders never imagined people would come here and like that better than what they did

before. washington, jefferson hurried back to their farms and their businesses. that's not the case anymore -- any more. if we keep doing it the way we are, we're going to get increasingly, increasingly deeper in the hole. with term limits, we get a class of political entrepreneurs here that have actually done something in the real world before they think they can run the business -- the biggest business in the world and deliver such poor results. if two-thirds of the states petition to call a constitutional convention, we could take power away from the d.c. establishment and put it back in the hands of the american people. you're not going to believe how close that has come and how close it is currently. but the swamp, i think, knows that. that is why each time the right

number of petitions have been filed, congress refused to call the convention. the last time was as recently as last year. today 32 states have active applications for the convention. we need 34. it was actually at the level or above until a few states rescinded that. this plan is extremely popular because it makes sense. it puts political will and backbone into this place that we don't normally have. in a recent poll by trafalgar, it found that 65% of likely voters agree with that. if you take either term limits or balanced budgets by themselves, it gets up close to 85% or 90%. and in this poll, 81% of republicans, 63% of independents who i think elect the swing

state senators and the president, who really ought to be paying attention to them, and 50% of democrats. there's no federal government body managing this process. it's too easy for congress to ignore what the states have done. my amendment would be very, very simple. it would direct the archivist, who has all these petitions somewhere in a drawer, to publish it as they come in, so all of us can see what the people are thinking. we've conveniently just overlooked it or ignored it. it adds what we should all be for -- transparency. having people be able to see what's going on here and especially for something like this. america is the most powerful country in history because we

are founded on the rock of the constitution. so simple and direct. it can all be right in here. we need to pay more attention to it. the framers were also wise to have a tool for the people and the states when congress refuses to act on things so critical. considering how broken and dysfunctional this place is currently and the dire threats we face from our debt and inflation crisis, you would think now more than at any other time in our country's history that this would be at the forefront and we would at least give it to the states to weigh in and not hide it in a drawer somewhere. when each one of us swore in as senators, we didn't square our allegiance to our -- we didn't swear our allegiance to our political party. we did it to the constitution.

we didn't promise to support otowashington establishment. we did it to the people, to the constitution. it is in support of the american people and in defense of the constitution that i come here to the floor today. it's not going to be litigated on the floor today. but i can tell you during the time that i'm here, i'm not going to let the american public forget it. and we've got another critical date in the middle of december, two and a half months away, and i think that'll be a place where it'll even be more important, and i'm going to try to make the case in the meantime that we at least don't keep in a drawer hidden away somewhere what the american people want. mr. president, i yield the floor.

mr. leahy: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: mr. president, before i begin, i want to acknowledge this morning countless floridians woke up to a world turned upside down in the wake of hurricane ian. hundreds of thousands in puerto rico remain without power more than ten days after the storm that ravaged the island. i want them to know that vermonters will stand by your side as you rebuild your communities and your lives, and so will republicans and democrats in this chamber. i said that to a couple of dear

friends of mine in florida who are suffering from lack of power right almost in the eye of the storm. now, the continuing resolution we're about to consider contains $18.8 billion for the fema disaster relief fund. it would bring available resources to approximately $35 billion to respond to these and other disasters. we're likely not going to know the extent of the damage for several days. so every time you -- certainly every time you watch the news, you hear of more damage. but i remind my colleagues that we are the united states of america. i'm ready to work with my colleagues to respond to what is needed. i don't care whether a state is represented by democrats or republicans.

you're part of the united states of america. and as chairman of the appropriations committee, i'll work with you in the months ahead to get the funds you need. now, that said, i'm glad that we've reached an agreement to fund the federal government through december 16. and i want to thank my good friend, vice chairman shelby, for working on this. i especially want to thank leader schumer and mcconnell for their work and cooperation in reaching this point. they both understand the need to go forward. i'm glad we were able to secure $1 billion to bolster liheap ahead of the winter heating season. in my home state of vermont, they'll receive an infusion of $5.7 million from this funding. now, that's going to go a long way to help people -- families pay their bills when they're faced with rising fuel costs and

plummeting temperatures. it helps them not have to make the decision, do i eat or heat? the bill also includes $12.35 billion in emergency assistance for ukraine, $2.5 billion to support recovery efforts following the fire in new mexico, $2 billion in community development block grants to help communities recovering from major disasters in 2021 and 2022. i'm disappointed some of my republican colleagues blocked additional funding to the combat covid-19 or monkey pox. but as we see these problems in this country, i will continue to work with republicans and democrats to put that money in

the omnibus. and finally, i want to be clear. this is only a temporary measure. as the chairman of the appropriations committee, i'm committed to completing the work of the committee before the end of this congress. we're running on autopilot after december with rising inflation would be irresponsible. it would leave priorities underfunded, underresourced. it would cost us a lot more in the long run and the federal government funds programs that the american people rely on. we should do the job all of us -- all 100 of us -- the american people sent us here to do. so as i said, a i do want to thank -- so as i said, i do want to thank vice chairman shelby's surtax as i said earlier, i thank the majority leader and the republican leader for their

help and cooperation in bringing this together. charles kiefer and janet paternity, these are people who worked through recesses, weekends, long hours, long nights -- i get to go home by midevening. they stay there most of the night to get it done. i'd ask consent that all the names of our staff be included in the record at the end of my speech. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. leahy: thank you, mr. president. the continuing resolution is a strong bill. it is a bipartisan bill. i urge my colleagues to accept it. and i yield the floor. mr. schumer: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: in a few moments -- could we have some order, mr. president, please. the presiding officer: the senate will be in order. mr. schumer: thank you. in a few moments we'll vote on the continuing resolution to fund the government through

mid-december. this legislation avoids a very bad thing -- shutting down the government -- and does a lot of good things -- money for the people of ukraine, funding for communities reeling from natural disasters, aid to families with their heating bills, just to name a few. i'm very thankful to all the senators, particularly chairman leahy and ranking member shelby, who made this possible. this is common sense, bipartisan legislation. following many other bipartisan bills that we have done in this session. and i'm glad we came to a timely conclusion and didn't go right up to the brink and risk a shutdown. millions and millions of people can breathe easy knowing that we have done this in a timely way and the money to continue the government will be there. of particular importance is the mo into ukraine. these people have struggled so valiantly. makemake no mistake about it. american people weaponry and

help has helped them turn the tidest war. we cannot stop now. the heat program is so important. winter is coming upon us. the program is running out of money. while we probably will get more money in the omnibus in december, between now and christmas, there will be a lot of cold days and people are going to need that heat moneyment -- need that heat money. as a result of climate change, we have many more disasters, so we need more help, and this will go to many states in many parts of the country. so i want to thank again senator leahy. i warrant to thank senator shelby. i want to thank the members of the appropriations committee. and i want to thank all the staff, mine and others, who worked so long and hard to get this done. i yield the floor, and ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. understand the previous order, all motions and amendments, other than amendment 5745,