tv U.S. Senate U.S. Senate CSPAN November 29, 2022 11:59am-12:55pm EST
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candidate, there is no requirement that you do it that way. in terms of making a real impact nationally, you look at the time it has taken to get ranked choice voting implemented in any state. that's not implemented yet in 2024, opponents will be more aware of it. there's a lot of interest because the country is so polarized and it would take a long time to implement what i think will be a lot about this. >> elaine favors it for primary elections. >> that's the topic today. that seems -- >> we are going to leave this program at this point to keep our 40 year commitment to live
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coverage of congress. you can watch the rest of it if you go to our website, c-span.org. today the senate is expected to continue working on her marriage equality bill that would require states to recognize same-sex marriages as legally valid even if they have taken place in another state that does not recognize those unions and repeal the defense of marriage act which was signed in 1996 which defined marriage as between one man and one woman under federal law. a final vote is expected this afternoon. live now 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.
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the chaplain: let us pray. o' god, in whom is calmness, peace, and concord, thank you for flourishing faith and growing love. keep us from dissension and bring us to the unity of your power. give us the grace to stay on the road of virtuous and godly living. bring us into an ever deeper understanding of your will. give our senators your peace and an awareness of your abiding presence. may they exercise self-control
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and be faithful in everything they do. empower them to cling tightly to their faith in you and to keep their consciences clear. lord, we trust in you and know that you will lead us by your truth. we pray in your holy name. amen. the president pro tempore: please join me in reciting 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.
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>> what's going on in china over the last few days over its covid policies. it's the chinese citizens in multiple cities hitting the streets you let president xi jinping know they're fed up with the zero covid policy of rolling lockdowns and mandatory testing resulting in the largest antigovernment demonstration square protests in 1989 and with the massacre of the student protests, this story and china is easing some of its restrictions in the face of the astonishing demonstrations across the nation by the government showed no signs of the banding its zero covid policy and use of the so-called nuance accounts that bury news about the protests online. that's the "washington post" take on it. when it comes to the white house response, yesterday the "new
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york times" picks up that story about the response saying the white house reacted cautiously on monday to the scenes of chinese citizens denouncing the country zero covid policies and revival of the widespread censorship in a statement repeated almost verbatim in the white house by john kerr becomes the spokesman for the national security council yesterday the story adding this statement was a sharp contrast to the repeated condemnations of the iranian authorities for their month-long effort to put in the protests against tehran government and particularly the enforcement of regulations that women must wear a hijab but the administration officials as the situations were not comparable and that they had doused the protest the play that in the streets of beijing and shanghai over the weekend would be sustained or calls to in the covid restrictions amounted to a fundamental call for government change. the officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive deliberation. this story adding us that the administration folks and substance of china's policies read the many police response to
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the protested when it comes to that statement from the white house yesterday it was john kirby at the white house of the national security council spokesman talking about the protest the underlying issue. is a a portion of that from yesterday. >> the presence message people in china who are protesting covid lockdowns and the topic of china's covid your policy come up in the meeting with president xi when they met in indonesia couple weeks ago? >> they did talk about covid and effective pandemic had had around the world, clue that came up inside the conversation. i don't know specifically if the zero covid policy was an issue of discussion but certainly covid was on the agenda as you might expect it would be. our message to peaceful protesters around the world is the same and consistent, people should be allowed the right to assemble and to peacefully protest policies or laws or
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dictates that the take issue with. >> does the white house support their efforts to regain personal freedoms in light of these lockdowns? >> the white house supports the right of peaceful protests. >> that is john kirby yesterday will show you more what the administration saying about these protests and you can call and, under white house response as you see it so far if you think it is too forceful, 202-748-8000. if you think it's too we, 202-748-8001 and 202-748-8002 everything to response is about right when it comes to the protest. with some context to the stressing the protests were sparked in part because an evening in china the cap of northwest shinji, ten people died after firefighters were slow to about an apartment complex blaze rather than blaming zero covid restrictions. the government denying.
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this story adding the show of defiance is one of china's most surveilled regions touched a nerve across the country bit when it comes republican response to this, the "new york times" picking up the story one of the responses the administration drew of criticism came from texas republican senator ted cruz saying quote, the biden administration's response has been worse than expected. the ccp should know that one way or another in the coming months are in the coming years the united states will hold accountable each and every ccp official responsible for the atrocities against these protesters pick that was senator ted cruz using an acronym there for the chinese communist party. let's show you more from john kirby yesterday again more about these protests in china and part of the administration's response. >> the president has drawn a contrast between autocracy and democracy here and also abroad.
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isn't this a moment obviously without getting into some sort of grand conflict to sort of assert the rights of people advocating for freedom and democracy more forcefully than perhaps we have? >> this is a moment to reassert what we believe in when it comes to free assembly and peaceful protests. and we have done that and will continue to do that, whether it's people protesting in iran or china or anywhere else around the world. nothings changed about the president's from belief in the power of democracy and democratc institutions and how important that is. but this is really a moment, put it back in your words, a moment for the chinese people and the chinese government to speak to. we have been nothing but then consistent and you will see that going forward. >> on china issue, why is the
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white house and pine. but has the right to peacefully protest and not the u.s. say to lock people up in her houses? >> we have made it clear, peter, a lockdown is not a policy that we are going to here. we have come a long way over these last three years, hard to believe three years, in terms of treating covid and preventing covid. we have said a lockdown is not a policy that we support here. obviously there are people in china that have concerns about that and they are protesting that and we believe they should be able to do that peacefully. >> host: those of the responses over the protest. if you think that too forceful, 202-748-8000. perhaps you think they are too weak, 202-748-8001, and if you think they are about right, 202-748-8002. maryland starts us off saying these responses are weak. vinson, tell us why.
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>> caller: yes, , yes, good morning pedro and "good morning america." biden clearly has made statements directly to china, directly. he cannot, he cannot because he's in the pocket of china. we are americans. we are not stupid but it was totally weak, totally weak. they should've been more forceful about these protesters who are protesting for what everyone wants, , freedom, liberty, the pursuit of happiness. and one last thing, this administration is doing everything it can, everything it can to deny us of those freedoms and constitutional rights. by the way, i hope we get baby formula on the shelves. everybody had a good day. >> host: before you go what would've been an appropriate response? >> call: and appropriate response would've been directly and immediately when it started
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from biden himself, not the administration. from biden. biden himself should have confronted them, but he can't. you know, you give a little, you give a little speech and we're going to, we support the protest, no. okay, thank you. >> host: joseph and marilyn says the response as he saw it was about right. hello, joseph. >> caller: i think it's about right. can you hear me? >> host: you were on. go ahead. >> caller: i think it's about right. this is pretty delicate because the protests and lockdown in china about to enter the issue when you're making comments you cannot directly attack governments for their internal policy.
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it was about freedom and liberty, that would've been different but when we also have to be conscious of the fact that the chinese people are protesting the lockdowns and using the lockdown as a shield to protest against come to ask you more freedom and liberty. that's exactly what it is. the americans know that. [inaudible] -- to attack, to denounce china on that point because the people themselves did not make that measure issue. they use the lockdowns and we all know that the people are asking for more freedom and liberty. >> host: that is joseph in capital heights maryland called in. the "washington post" adding that when it comes to china's covid policies saying for months zero covid worked. cases were nearly nonexistent. occasional outbreaks were quickly brought under control with mass testing, contact
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tracing going to get frustration simmered in a few places but it was overwhelmed by nationalist pride about china's seemingly beating the virus. some of you responding off our various feeds. from a viewer on twitter saying we go in with mixed feelings. on the one hand, we sympathize with the protesters in china just like we do the ones in a renter on the other hand, we allow ourselves to become to been on chinese manufacturing having dispose of much of hours. no easy solution. this is response from congressman krishnamoorthi saying twitter lacks the capacity to counter china propaganda and misinformation during the ongoing protests that have emerged in the country. this is a public lyrically dangerous opportunity for other autocratic regimes to take advantage. let's hear from greg, craig saying response was four for companies in pennsylvania, mechanicsburg. hello. >> caller: yes, number one, , i
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would like to know what the policy is for c-span as to what can be said. couple days ago somebody accused donald trump of killing one of his ex-wives because she fell down the stairs. so how about somebody saying something about what the policy is about what is too far or what is not too far? now, as did too forceful, yes, it is too forceful because the big guys, 10%, is is going to be less now. i think that's what the mainstream media cares about, that 10% for the big guy. support this person no matter what he says, why he reads on the teleprompter. support him, because c-span is part of the mainstream media. >> host: expand on that as far as -- excuse become you made a response but what you mean by all of that when it comes to the
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administration's response? >> call: can you imagine what would happen if donald, well, go back. don't imagine. go back and see what happened when donald met with putin. later he said, i believe in and i'm smarter than my generals. >> host: but exactly how does that refer to the response of yesterday on the protests in china specifically? >> call: because, the mainstream media tried to crucify donald j, even though he turned out to be right as to the generals and as to russia, russia, russia. the immediate reaction is, it's interesting because it's now nuanced, it's nuanced because this is a story they, kirby said something that can be spun to say we care about those people. but the story this morning on c-span, the topic is, was it
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enough? i see that as a positive. please keep doing what the mainstream media should do. >> host: okay. let's go to pete, pete is from new hampshire saying the response was too weak. >> caller: yeah, good morning, pedro. the response is too weak that on the other hand, backtracking on this, this story. the truth of the matter is we could go back and we could even look at the ukraine, when it comes in to as jumping in the middle of everything across the world, we need to come when you decide thinking about retracting from the united nations. we also, need to keep our noses out of other countries affairs. we also need to go back and take a good hard look at washington. we have politicians that have financial interest in china. do you think they will let them go away?
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hell, no. come on, america. >> host: if you think the response is too weak, what should've been the appropriate response do you think? >> call: no response at all. war in ukraine right now going on, pedro, and you know what? so we will have $90 billion worth of of our federal tax dollars into it and they can only, only cover it 30% of that money that we have shipped over there. so where's the other 70% going? you know, we need to get the hell away from --, that is pete in new hampshire, again several responses to this response from the white house when it comes to taking a look at the protest had been going on in china and around the world in solidarity what's going on in china. you can respond to that but his first white house response perhaps you think it was forceful response or at least too forceful, 202-748-8000 is number to call. perhaps you think it is to be, it's 202-748-8001.
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it's how you can reach us out there. if you think it is about right, 202-748-8002. some of the other responses from legislators on capitol hill when it comes to what's going on in china, and administrations response. this is senator maggie hassan sing the people general choi tremendous courage is extended to the chinese communist party. i'm proud to support them as they fight for the right to protest mr. schumer: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: now, mr. president. , for millions and millions of americans, today is a very good day, an important day, a day
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that's been a long time coming. we are voting to pass the respect for marriage act. later this afternoon, with a little more bipartisan cooperation, the senate will vote to pass the respect for marriage act, putting it on the brink of reaching the president's desk. in many ways, the story of america has been a difficult, but inexorable march, toward greater equality. sometimes we've taken steps forward, other times, unfortunately, we've taken disturbing steps backward. but today, after months of hard work, after many rounds of bipartisan talks, and after many doubts that we could even reach this point, we are taking the momentous step forward for greater justice for lgbtq americans. let me summarize how today will proceed. later this afternoon, per an agreement between both parties, the senate will hold three roll call votes on amendments presented by senators lee,
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lankford, and rubio. a vote on final passage for the respect for marriage act will be held after that. standing here today, with the passage of this legislation, it's impossible not to think of my family. today, i'm wearing the tie i wore at my daughter's wedding, one of the happiest moments of my life. but i also cannot help but recall the harrowing conversation i had with her and her wife a little more than two years ago. in september of 2020, i was in the middle of a family dinner when we received the news that justice ruth bader ginsburg had passed away. i remember that awful feeling around the dinner table, and i distinctly remember the question my daughter and her wife asked -- could our right to marry be undone? millions of americans in
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same-sex marriages go about their day with this terrible question lurking in the back of their minds. it's scary. it's a scary but necessary acknowledgement that, despite all the progress we've made, the constitutional right to same-sex marriage is not even a decade old, and exists only by the virtue of a very narrow 5-4 supreme court decision. and we all know the court has changed since that decision. as we have already seen in the past -- as we have already seen this year, what the court has decided in the past can be easily taken away in the future. so today's vote is deeply personal for many of us in this chamber. it's personal for me, of course. it's personal to many of my colleagues and their staff and their families. and while we still have a few more votes to take, today is certainly an occasion for joy and relief. but as important as today is, let's remember nothing about
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this process was certain. remember, mr. president, remember, it was our original plan to act on the respect for marriage act in september, shortly after the house voted to pass this bill over the summer, with the surprising 47 republicans voting for the act. we knew this bill was popular. we knew it was the right thing to do. but what we did not know is whether or not we had enough support, 60 votes, to pass this bill through the senate. maybe the votes would materialize if we forced a vote on the floor, but that was highly unlikely. for a great number of us, for so much of america, this bill was too important to risk failure. so back in september, when i met with the leaders of this bill in my office, senators sinema and baldwin and collins and tillis and portman, they recommended i hold off on a vote because they believed they could secure
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enough support for this bill. many questioned if it was the right thing to do. many on my side of the aisle felt put everyone on record right now, and sometimes they say that's the way to go. but at the end of the day, my number one priority is always to get legislation passed through the senate. so, i made the decision to take the risk and to wait. today we have vindication the wait was well worth it. pushing respect for marriage over the finish line required patience, persistence, and today it's paying off. i want to thank the senators who brought us this far, senators sinema and baldwin, as well as collins, tillis and portman for their outstanding and relentless work. their work has been magnificent, and i'm so thankful they stayed the course, even when success may have seemed elusive. i also want to acknowledge my republican colleagues who voted
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in favor of advancing this legislation. because of our work together, the rights of tens of millions of americans will be strengthened under federal law. that's an accomplishment we should all be proud of. and of course, i want to thank all the advocates, volunteers, and organizers, not just for supporting this bill but for everything they've done over the years to make the united states a fairer, more accepting nation for lgbtq americans. finally, let me finish where i started. two years after my daughter and her wife questioned if their marriage could be undone, they are now expecting a baby next spring. i want them to raise their child with all the love and security that every child deserves, and the bill we are passing today will ensure their rights won't be trampled upon simply because
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they're in a same-sex marriage. after this bill passes, they will be the very first people i call. so thank you to my colleagues who spearheaded this bill. thank you to my colleagues who have supported this bill. thank you to the staff and members who worked day and night to find a path forward. and maybe, above all, thank you to the american people. the vast majority of whom have understood that the inexorable march towards equality is what america is all about. now, on a different subject, the omni. earlier this morning, i joined with congressional leaders in a meeting with president biden at the white house in order to discuss the things we must accomplish before the end of the year. we covered a lot of different topics, but there's one i want to focus on right now, passing an omnibus.
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leader mcconnell and i have agreed to try to work together to make sure we get a year-long funding bill done. we hope it can be done this year and we know each side is going to have to give in order to send an omnibus to the president's desk as of course it needs 60 votes. government funding is scheduled to run out on december 16 at midnight. if we don't take action, the results will be a pointless and painful government shutdown. the bptn by far is for both parties to come to the table and work on a year-long funding bill, not a continuing resolution. lurching from one short term -- one short-term continuing resolution to the next is a terrible and chaotic way to keep the government open. and ultimately it's average americans who get a raw deal if the government is forced to function with one hand tied behind its back. and maybe worst of all, a c.r. is terrible news for our troops
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in uniform. it will throw their families into great uncertainty and prevent our security force from conducting crucial operations that will keep us safe, particularly in the indo-pacific. so unless we want adversaries like the chinese communist party to outmaneuver us militarily, we must pass an omnibus for the sake of our troops and the sake of our national security. i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:
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>> host: highlights what's been going on in china over the last few days over its covid policies. the washington time saying it's the chinese citizens in multiple cities hitting the street to the president xi jinping know they're fed up with the zero covid policy of rolling lockdowns and mandatory testing resulting in the largest antigovernment demonstration since the tiananmen square protests in 1989 and with the massacre of student protests this story adds china is easing some of its coronavirus restrictions in the face of the astonishing illustrations across the nation but the government showed no sign of abandoning its zero covid policy and use of the so-called nuanced account to
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bury news about the protests online. that's the "washington post" take on it. when it comes to the white house response yesterday, the "new york times" picks up that story about the response saying the white house reacted cautiously on monday to the scenes of chinese citizens denouncing the country zero covid policies and revival of that widespread censorship bigger statement reviewed almost verbatim in the white house by john kirby the spokesman for the national security council yesterday the story adding the statement was a sharp contrast to the repeated condemnation of the iranian authorities for their monthlong effort to put down the protests against tehran
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mr. mcconnell: mr. president. the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: the world's eyes are trained this week on the people of china who appear to be engaged in the largest and most widespread protests against the country's repressive communist party government since 1989 and the events of tiananmen square. while most of the rest of the word as learned how to adapt to the coronavirus, mitigate its worst effects and get on with living our lives, the people of
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china where the whole crisis began are still trapped in a groundhog day of permanent pandemic measures. chairmanxi's so-called zero covid policy is managing to both horribly oppressive and totally ineffective at the very same time, horribly repressive and totally ineffective at the very same time. they've had unending cycles of punishing lockdowns, repressive quarantines, and mass testing. reports and social media posts are flying around the country like allegations that the government let people burn up and apartment building -- building fire rather than break quarantine and that a four-month-old baby girl died because the covid rules did not
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allow her to get proper medical treatment. of course sadly, none of this is new or an aberration. this is actually perfectly in line with the ccp's long and brutal history. as in the past the ccp is failing their citizens and lying about it when the rest of the world turns -- tunes in to world cup matches, they see cheering crowds, but in china it's broadcast censor views of the stance to prevent their citizens from seeing unmasked foreigners enjoying actually a normal life. people of china have put up with this dystopian state of affairs for nearly three years now. and now their patience has ended. across china's major cities, residents are taking to the streets and speaking out.
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local, civil protests are not uncommon in china, but these protests appear to have a different character, more widespread, more bold and brave, more fed up. unsurprisingly demonstrators have received harsh treatment from the authorities who have reportedly beaten protesters and detained a foreign journalist covering the events. the state media keeps parroting propaganda but video evidence of the protests and the heavy-handed response is getting through the ccp's great firewall and thus far the people have not backed down. now, you hear some people suggesting that if a clumsy authoritarian nation is facing such troubles at home, it must pose less of an international threat than we thought.
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this is precisely wrong. vladimir putin's previous aggressions against georgia and ukraine, its operations in chechnya and syria and this latest war shows how clumsy and dysfunctional regimes can inflict a terrible toll on free nations and free people. iran, north korea, and syria have spent decades proving the very same thing. of course, china isn't declining. it's continuing to expand and modernize its military power and xi and his ccp constantly show us their view of denying people's freedom at home and in the indo-pacific are two goals that go hand in hand. for thugs and dictators, oppression at home and
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aggression abroad are two sides of the same coin. so when we see the mismanagement and dysfunction from regimes from putin and xi's, the answer is not -- not for america and our allies to relax our vigilance, pull inward or pay less attention to our global interest. the answer is to increase our vigilance, redouble our strength and keep our friends and partners even closer. the biden biden administration's -- the biden administration's information were too tepid. what we need is not stronger words but action. the -- to an innocent people who deserve help fighting off the invaders, it is also bringing major benefits to the u.s. and our partners in the most
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practical terms. in the course of fighting for their homes and families, the brave people of ukraine are seriously degrading the abilities of one of the three world greatest self-appointed adversaries to deal out violence. putin and other want to be tyrants the world over are learning the cost benefit calculus to bullying and bloodshed doesn't look like what they thought it would. the importance of this deterrence goes beyond just europe. china has spent decades investing steadily in military technologies that increase threats to u.s. forces and our allies in the region. the ccp has steadily built military installations in the south china sea like a bully standing on a street corner trying to grab control over international waters an shipping lanes. china has spent years methodically building up the
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capabilities it would need to seize taiwan by force if its people refuse to bend the knee, as we have already seen them do in hong kong. so, clearly, we need to invest in our own strength and our own alliances and our own military modernization and defense industrial base. the united states needs a strong, well-equipped military capable of the strategic advantage and protecting power anywhere in the world. we need allies and partners willing to invest in their own capabilities. we need our private sector and
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our partners to understand that free people ought to be doing more trading among themselves, but be a lot more careful locating their capital and employees in an oppressive country that disregards basic freedoms and steals intellectual property on an industrial scale and we need a military industrial base to keep our country safe. it is a win-win for our security and economy. among other things, that means rebuilding miew -- munition stockpiles, it means not waiting to arm our partners until a bad actor has started a war. it means not wasting american strength and credibility as this administration has done with sweetheart deals with iran.
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and abandoning afghanistan with no strategy. fighting for the common defense is one of our basic duties. the majority leader should have prioritized the national defense authorization act months ago. i'm glad we will turn to this essential bill shortly. strong funding and authorization for our our national security should never have to be a partisan issue. i know our democratic friends have disagreements about what level of funding our armed forces deserve. but republicans can guarantee this much, our side will stand strong for american security and american strength.
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with congressional leaders about the 117th congress. he mentioned a few of the priorities such as government funding, the covid-19 pandemic, the russia-ukraine war as well as resolving a potential railroad strike. >> look, i hope everyone had a nice thanksgiving. come in and talk about what were going to -- [inaudible] there's a lot to do to resolving the train strike, what were doing now and congress as a guest to act. the economy is at risk. were going to work together to find what i hope work togetheo fund the government, and the war on ukraine. >> were going to find other areas of common ground i hope because the american people want us to work together. and something to stop there and
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get started and will go quickly. all kidding aside, we are here to get work done and thank you for taking interest in the time. [shouting] [inaudible question] [inaudible] >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government. we are funded by these television companies and more including charter communications. >> broadband is a force for
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empowerment. that's why charter has invested billions building infrastructure, upgrading technology, empowering portunity in in communities big and small. charter is connecting us. >> charter communications supports cpan as a public service along with these other television providers giving you a front-row seat to democracy. >> missouri senator roy blunt and plans to retire soon talked about efforts to reform the certification of electoral votes by congress as well as election integrity in states. the conversation was hosted by punchbowl news. >> good morning. i'm ceo and what of the founders of punchbowl news. thank you so much for joining us for a conversation with senator roy blunt republican from missouri, is leaving congress at the end of the year after serving in the senate since 2011
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