comcast supports c-span as a public service, along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> senate lawmakers working on judicial nominations today, votes will be held later this afternoon on two nominees, one for the district of puerto rico and the other for the northern district of new york. now live to the floor of the u.s. senate here on c-span2. the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. the chaplain, dr. barry black, will lead the senate in prayer.

the chaplain: let us pray. lord most holy, who sustains us each day. thank you for the opportunity to serve you and country. empower our lawmakers to serve you strength and courage. refusing to deviate from the path of integrity. lord, remind them of the importance of seeking your wisdom as you give them an awareness of your abiding presence. supply their needs according to your celestial riches. use them to transform dark

yesterdays into bright tomorrows. lord, make each of us instruments of your peace. use us to carve tunnels of hope through mountains of despair. we pray in your mighty name. amen. the presiding officer: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to the flag. 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 presiding officer: the clerk will read a communication to the senate. the clerk: washington, d.c., november 30, 2022. to the senate: under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the

honorable ben ray lujan, a senator from the state of new mexico, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: patrick j. leahy, president pro tempore. proo under the previous order, the is leadership time is reserved. the senate will resume consideration of the following nomination which the clerk will report. the clerk: camille velez-rive, of puerto rico, to be the united states district judge for the district of puerto rico.

>> in addition senator portman and i introduced the investing in kids middle health act now which would provide guidance to states on expanding pediatric mental health care capacity and the medicaid payment increase for pediatric behavior health the continuum of care for many children. while we have made strides this congress to address the mental health crisis, among our

youngest americans, it is clear more work needs to be done. when pediatric emergency departments across the country are overwhelmed with the children in need of mental health care, it is a cry for help. young people expensing mental health challenges need somewhere to go and get the care they really need and a supportive environment where they can thrive. i look forward to hearing from today's witnesses about how we can expand mental health support in preparation for and in the transition to college. i will now turn to ranking member cassidy for his opening statement. >> somewhere there's a teenager who will one day be sitting in that chair in this chamber and be speaking of ranking members and chairs and be sitting on the dais and she or he is our future leader. our obligation to that person is how do we best equipped she or he in order to be the person

sitting there or sitting here? of course i hope they are all republicans the maybe you can only help her so much. and so, so have to take that within the context of what we are currently addressing. the context in which we're were currently addressing is that three years of covid have just had their toll upon the mental health of that of lessons and college students. the isolation the formerly was kind of never there because you are always with others under covid he became so pronounced that those that issues could not convey them to others but rather kept in within themselves ane see if you will despair. now, the statistics bear out the intuition. suicide, third leading cause of death among those 15-24 in 2021. mental health emergency room visits increased 25% in children, 30% in teenagers in 2020. and 30% in teenagers in 2020. and i go back. this is more than a statistic.

it is our future. so the question is how do we care for those teenagers who are our future? now, several people on the dicier we work together. we need to reauthorize the mental health reform reauthorization act of 2022. which senator murphy and ani worked back on the 202016, and we need to reauthorize. it expired in september. there is an urgency here that we need to accomplish. now i will point out since this is all pass, 56 the wrap around coordinated specialty care for teens with early psychosis. previewing my question for doctor wiese will be why has the reach been so limited? when we put this in way which to have those wraparound services so that when young person has his first psychotic episode at 16, it is his last psychotic episode because everything he needs to return him to wholeness is wrapped around and it becomes

a distant memory but not a life defining event. we need to ensure that that will occur. we also asked my cosponsor of the legislation, senator casey, spoke out, need to help with that transition to college from high school. and in the mental health reform reauthorization act of 2022 can help achieve this. now, we have had success on aside from bill i i just talkd about recent success addressing mental health issues. in response to the evolving shooting -- traneleven shooting the resources that are put in that response bill which are for troubled youth -- uvalde shooting. risk of addiction, of harming others and other mental health issues that will be in high schools. with increased access to mental health and crisis intervention services, telemental health and in school mental health services. i would just echo what senator casey and i just said.

two bills we put forward. health care capacity for pediatric mental health act access, to increase mental health access outside of hospitals so children can stay at home and don't miss school. the rise act, a child would get an iep in high school say for example, for dyslexia and the guy will get redone when they go to college. the underlying problem leading to the iep has not changed. so why are we putting this as a transition from high school to college, you've got to go through it again? that the condition is not probably, that can be indicated but usually with dyslexia the condition is permanent. and so widely put obstacles for people to receive the interventions they need as they are on the pathway to be filling his halls to be our future leaders? now, it is so wonderful, you see young people stepping forward. ms. williams, thank you for your example that we will hear of of how you use grief in your life in order to lead people your age

to mental health wholeness. an example for allstate, attempted suicide but after coming out of that has user experience in the kind of the process of events that led her to that terrible state to help others, to help her peers avoid it. and that's the way our democracy works. in which it's not just the folks on this dais helping those younger people who are our future leaders but the joke people providing leadership among themselves so they help prepare themselves to be our future leaders. with that i yield. >> thank you, ranking member cassidy. now we will turn to our witness introductions. i will provide several and ranking member cassidy will provide some as well. our first witness is dr. chireau hoover. doctor hoover is a licensed clinical psychologist and professor university of maryland school of medicine, division of

child and adult psychiatry. dr. hoover is also the codirector of the national center for school mental health and the director of the national child traumatic stress networks center for safe supported schools. and we want to thank dr. hoover for being here. maybe didn't have to travel as long as the others. were grateful she could be with us to bring her expertise. for a second and third witnesses i will turn to ranking member cassidy. >> i get introduced to elect people to become two folks from the louisiana. i'll begin with doctor curtis wright. dr. bright is a vice president for student affairs as savior university in new orleans. he oversees numerous programs dedicated to improving student life including education, wellness, campus safety and athletics. before joining zager he served as dean of campus life at wachter college in new york city and oversaw multicultural

affairs at new york university and in the resident education at the university of arkansas at little rock. dr. wright earned his ba in sociology a masters of education and adult education from the university of arkansas and a doctorate in higher education management from the university of pennsylvania. doctor wright's expense will allow him to speak with a wealth of knowledge and experience to us. thank you. >> doctor ashley wiese is an associate professor of psychology and the director of medical student education and psychiatry at tulane university school of medicine. she received her bachelors of science at loyola university new orleans and a master of public health at tulane. attended medical school at lake erie college of osteopathic medicine in florida, , return to new orleans to residency in psychiatry and subspecialty fellowship in child and adolescent psychiatry at tulane. after developing expertise and caring for the young persons mental health during her medical training, dr. weiss built the first comprehensive first

episode psychosis care program in new orleans, called epic nola. she also launched call which is a committee education campaign to increase people in louisiana's awareness about emerging psychosis symptoms and available treatment. in my medical practice i worked in the same study as dr. weiss how taking care of the uninsured and the chronically mentally ill. they would have, i tell you, benefited from expertise, dr. weiss pics am grateful that you are here and we look forward to hearing out your experience and your education can approve the support for our youth. mr. casey? >> thank you, ranking member cassidy. our final witness is ms. brooklyn williams. brooklyn is a high school senior at baldwin high school in pittsburgh, pennsylvania, where she has founded the churchill club, an offshoot of the allegheny health networks chill

project. the chill club is an open door mindfulness club and at supporting students coping with the stresses and anxieties of high school. brooklyn, where very pleased to welcome you here today. some have turned to eye witnesses for the opening statement or we will begin with dr. hoover. >> good morning, thank you. want to express my thanks to you, chairman casey, ranking member cassidy and to all the members of the subcommittee for inviting her to speak with you about these important issues and for your commitment to the mental health and well-being of our young people. again, my name is sharon hoover and i will be speaking today from my perspective as a professor child adolescent psychology also the drip codirector of the national center for school mental health and the national center for safe supported schools both funded by the u.s. department of health and human services. i will also speak to you through my veins as a parent of three young people, a ninth grader, an

11th grader and a freshman in college. so these issues are near and dear to my own heart. we are all concerned about the growing mental health needs of our young people. the good news is that there are many strategies and effective programs to support and promote youth mental health, and to also support their effective transition from high school to college. and hope we can get into some of those programs today. i'm going to share three important ideas with you this morning. number one, invest early in nurturing environment for families and schools. we have incontrovertible evidence that the vast majority of challenges impacting our adolescence adolescents and young adults could be prevented by diminishing or diminish rather,, by creating nurturing environments starting early and continuing into middle school and high school and beyond. in the book the nurture of fact, it was detailed decades of

scientific research into actionable steps to reduce youth problems and to produce caring come to reduce abuse problems rather than to produce carrying a productive young people. just as we were able to reduce the prevalence of smoking decades ago with the national public health movement, at this point in time we need a relentless public health movement to increase the prevalence of nurturing environments that minimize toxic conditions and promote prosocial behavior in our young people. in the earliest years of children's development, effective family interventions include things like incredible years, family partnerships, the triple p parenting program which exist in many of the states across our nation but are not really at full scale as they should be. in elementary years and beyond, interventions like family checkups are helpful to support parents as they handle some of

the common problems of their children as a youth reinforcement to promote prosocial behavior as a monitor their children's behavior and help set limits as they improve family communication and problem-solving. students who received the family checkup program in six grade a much less likely to be depressed, to use substances and actually graduate from high school, and cannot be arrested by the time they are 18. schoolwide system to minimize punitive interactions and to teach and promote and richly reinforce prosocial behaviors, these include programs like the good behavior game like positive behavior interventions in support war with decades of have demonstrated long-term positive impacts on adolescent risk behavior and engagement in college and career. so first, to optimize the success of her high school and college students we must invest in nurturing environments at every level of their development.

number two, establish comprehensive school mental health systems in all schools took this include supporting the mental health of all students in the classroom through teaching social and emotional skills and mental health literacy schoolwide, and providing mental health interventions where they are in partnership with families in schools. comprehensive school mental health systems not only improve mental health outcomes for ouse l make a momentous and potentially historic decision, selecting the next generation of leaders that will propel house democrats forward in the 118th congress. every time the caucus comes together to choose its leaders, it's a big deal, but today's gathering is unlike any we have seen before. for one, it signals the end of a magnificent era, as my dear friend, speaker nancy pelosi, has chosen to step down from leadership. we'll never see someone like speaker pelosi ever again in our

lifetime. but her potential successor will be history making in its own rite. after today's vote, it's largely expected the new house democratic leader will be my friend and fellow brooklynite, hakeem jeffries. hakeem jeffries' elevation as house democratic leader is as turning a point in -- is a turning point in the history of the united states -- let me say that again. hakeem jeffries' elevation as house democratic leader is a turning point in the history of the united states congress. never before has an african american leader, or any leader of color, held a top position for either party in either chamber. with yesterday's vote on respect for marriage, and today's vote for house democratic leader, our representative democracy continues to march forward towards its promise of equality and full representation for all

americans. now, i've known hakeem jeffries for a long time, since before the days he he was first elected to the new york state assembly in 2006. when i first met him, i thought the same thing i met when i first met speaker pelosi -- here's someone who has it all. we've taken similar roads in our lifetimes. we wrote grew up in brooks lynn. i was the son of an exterminator, he the son of a social worker. we both went to new york city schools and both served in the state assembly before congress. it's not surprising that house democrats turn to someone from brooklyn to lead the way next year, because when you're from brooklyn you learn quickly traits like persistence and serious meddle. it's a crowded place and diverse place. you learn to work with all kinds of different people. you learn how to stand your ground. you learn to not take things permy. hakeem jeffries -- not take things personally.

hakeem jeffries is someone who i know will both hold the line on our democratic values, while being ready to listen and keep an open mind. i know he can work with the other side whenever it'se necessary. most importantly, he is dedicated to making our country a better, more prosperous place for all people from all walks of life. so today's a very good day for the house, for the house of representatives, for our party, and our country. i congratulate my friend hakeem on his historic election as house democratic leader, and i can't wait to talk to my neighbor from brooklyn four or six times a day, like i did with speaker pelosi. now, on respect for marriage act, yesterday our work of making america a more perfect place took a momentous step forward as the senate passed the

bipartisan respect for marriage act. when the vote closed, the feeling on the floor was jubilation and relief. not just for ourselves and our families, but for the millions of americans across the country whose rights will be better protected under this bill. the respect for marriage act now goes to the house of representatives, for what i hope is a quick vote, and then it's on to the president's desk. let's remember, joe biden was one of the early proponents of marriage equality, even when it got some others not so happy with him. passing the respect for marriage act would have not happened without the leadership in this senate of so many of my colleagues, senators baldwin, sinema and feinstein, who originally authored this landmark bill. and my republican colleagues, collins, portman, tillis. i thank them all. the entire process was also a vindication of a central premise senate democrats and i have embraced this congress.

i've always said i have a hierarchy. first, try to get things done in a bipartisan way whenever possible. it's far better to find a way to pass legislation that will help americans than to hold show votes that have no hope of becoming law, and that proved true on marriage equality. my number one priority in the end is to find ways to get bills passed in the senate. so i hope that yesterday's vote is a signal that both parties can keep working together on difficult issues in the next congress. if our republican colleagues can shake off the maga wing of their party that is holding republicans down, we can get a lot done, and it's obvious to everyone there are many republican senators who don't embrace maga, and we say to them, we want to keep working with you. it's necessary in order to keep tackling the big problems that face our country. and if republicans don't follow the maga path in the next congress, it will go a long way to restoring people's faith that

congress can work together and even disagree without being disagreeable. and we don't need to wait for the new year to continue working together. in about 16 days or so, government funding is going to run out, unless congress acts to prevent a shutdown. yesterday, i sat down with the president, with speaker pelosi, with leader mcconnell, with leader mccarthy, to discuss how we can ensure that a shutdown is avoided and that government is properly funded. for the most part, i was heartened and encouraged by the conversation. speaking with leader mcconnell, we both believe that we must do everything possible to pass a yearlong funding package, and we both prefer an omnibus, though we have different views of what should be in it. and we do need to come together on those. but both leader mcconnell and i have said that an omnibus is the best way for supporting our troops, supporting our allies in ukraine, and keeping americans safe at home and abroad.

a c.r., meanwhile, is horrible news for our troops in uniform, because it will throw their families into great uncertainty and severely hinder their ability to keep america safe. it will also allow some of the countries that are not our allies, but adversaries in many ways, to gain the leg up, and so many different new technologies. do we really want to give the chinese communist party the chance to outcompete and outmaneuver us in the indo-pacific? do we want our troops to protect us with one hand tied behind their back, while our adversaries are operating at full capacity? of course not. but that's the danger we pass if we don't pass an omnibus. everyone is going to have to give something in we want to -- if we want to successfully fund the government for a full year. while i'm encurngd by the good year so far, we have a lot of difficult work to do before both parties reach a final agreement. so, just as both parties

cooperated to pass the respect for marriage act yesterday here in the senate, and just as we've cooperated on chips, gun safety, veterans benefits, and so much more over the last six nonetheless, let's finish this session by passing an omnibus on a bipartisan basis. finally, mr. president, on judges. later today, the senate will vote to confirm two highly qualified and talented public servants as to serve as lifetime appointments to the federal bench. camille e. velez-rive, to serve as district judge for puerto rico, and anne m. nardacci to serve as district judge for the northern district of new york. an albany native and one of the first women who would sit on the bench and nardacci represents update new york perfectly. she's the kind of bread and wutter -- butter candidate new yorkers like and she's built a career on taking on special interests. so people in the northern district of new york will not have to worry that she won't represent them when others come before the court who are special

and powerful but don't have the right arguments. for the last two years one of my top priorities have been making sure we store a sense of balance, impartiality and experience to the federal bench. now that democrats will keep our majority in the next congress, that will continue unabated. we've made historic progress so far in the last two years. we've confirmed 85 judges to the federal bench, the best pace since the clinton administration. and those 85 judge, comprise perhaps the most diverse collection of new jurists we have ever seen. 75% of these new judges are women. i'm so proud of that. two-thirds are people of color. i'm so proud of that. and many of them come from professional backgrounds we rarely see in judicial nominees. i'm proud of that as well. but we're not yet done. we're going to hit the ground running when the new year begins and our democracy will unquestionably be better off for it. i yield the floor.

i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

and will is about 26 houses which means almost 800 will experience and will not receive appropriate care for over a year. over 4500 friends and family are impacted, nearly 80 will attempt or complete suicide. so there is a sense of urgency because time is not on our side. the impact of the brain can be deteriorating. the last three decades of research show that specialize intervention as early as possible after a psychosis onset improves outcomes across the board. there is no time to wait. the same philosophy is already accepted in stroke intervention

and should be accepted in psychosis intervention as well. in 2015, i started the early psychosis intervention clinic in new orleans. we've traded nearly 100 -- nearly 1000 people since we opened our doors. our multidisciplinary team provides courtney to specialty care, including medication management from psychiatrists, individual family and group therapy and wellness coaching all treatment is deeply individualized with the goal of getting young people back on track and that often means back to school. or graduating or to their first job. what we do in a clinic is not enough. because of the need for early treatment in psychosis we are forced to about early detection here we have a robust early detection campaign called calm which is mentioned, and this aims to educate the community about psychosis, debunk myths, reduce stigma so hopefully people will feel comfortable and safe coming forward for treatment.

our goal is that an individual comes forth on their own and it'll have to wait for someone else to bring them in, and they don't have to wait for the police to pick them up having an acute psychosis and taken to the emergency room. there are significant challenges and barriers that must be considered. for most people recovery can take many, many months that time continues to pass for everyone else in their lives. the friends have often moved on, graduate, moved away to college or started their first job. he often feel misunderstood, ashamed, quickly leading to the loss of confidence, and increased isolation. there is a conspicuous gap in school-based recognition in these need for these individuals and keeping them engaged or even welcoming them back after their e tragic human stories are still quite shocking. in st. louis 25-year-old damion

baker was killed in july in an attempted carjacking while escorting a woman to her car downtown. damion cannot just be some random number of homicide his mother told reporters. it's got to look different. in new orleans this past march 20, this past march 20-year-old shane brown didn't come home from work one day. his body was found five days later in a canal and his family still doesn't know why he was killed. in birmingham, 13-year-old jaylon palmor was on his front porch when he was gunned down in a drive-by shooting. the target was somebody else. his parents have decided to sell their home and move somewhere else. the national media may just be

coming around, but the american people have known for a long time that the erosion of law and order is a terrible and pressing problem. after the nationwide murder rate clocked its largest single-year increase in more than a century in 2020 it climbed even higher last year, a record high majority of americans report that crime in their communities is getting worse. this is an area where our two political parties, the for sides of the aisle -- two sides of the aisle have totally opposite instincts about the right way forward. republicans are focused on making american communities safer. and we know that accomplishing that takes compassion for innocent people, not weak justice, not weak justice for violent criminals who hurt them. meanwhile, democrats are focused on making it even harder to secure real justice. they spent two years doubling down on antilaw enforcement

rhetoric and putting radical local prosecutors at the center of their plans to make america softer on crime. far-left special interests support massive amounts of money into political campaigns on radical soft-on-crime prosecutors in major cities from new york to philadelphia to los angeles. one in five americans now live in the jurisdiction of prosecutors, a democrat mega donor has handpicked for their willingness, their willingness to ignore entire categories of criminal law. this soft-on-crime campaign has gone to such absurd lengths, communities are taking it upon themselves to push back. earlier this year voters in san francisco showed their radical left district attorney the door for using their neighborhoods as a proving ground for soft-on-crime experiments. and just earlier this month, the pennsylvania house of representatives impeached philadelphia's liberal district attorney for misbehavior in

office after violent crime in the city soared. here in washington things are no different. our colleague, the junior senator from connecticut made this clear when he kicked off a fresh wave of democratic calls to defund the police. senator murphy says because in his estimation 60% of the counties in this country are friendlier to citizens' second amendment rights than senator murphy would like, those communities should be punished by defunding their police forces. fewer resources for police officers, less safety for local communities unless every county in america kowtows to senate democrats' particular view of the second amendment? democrats spent all this past year insisting they don't support defunding the police, but here they go yet again

proposing to do just that. one wonders how the american people, the people of georgia, for example, feel about this renewed push to respond to violent crime by defunding local police. after all, the per capita homicide and assault rate in the city of atlanta is now even higher than it is in chicago. working american families deserve safety in their communities. grieving families deserve the small measure of peace that comes from actual justice. and the people of georgia deserve a check and balance against washington democrats' reckless and radical defund the police proposals, not a rubber stamp.

the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

>> lastly, professionals working with teenagers should be more open and equipped to talk about mental health struggles by being provided with the correct necessities to help teens work through their problems. as a high school student i have grown to see that the process of moving from adolescence to adulthood is tricky enough with college essays taking a major and knowing that i will eat my childhood behind. so providing teens with an accessible professionals to speak will only benefit our communities. everyone needs to be aware of their mental health because it's

not selective or to be stigmatized or to be put aside because it's too hard to understand. working through these issues will not only give opportunities for teens to grow and flourish into adults, but also to allow our communities to be stronger as we improve the way of life one kid at a time. thank you. >> well, ms. williams, thanks very much for your testimony, and want to thank the testimony of all of our witnesses and especially to you for demonstrating uncommon courage at any age but we have really her testimony like the testimony you presented today, so we're thankful that you are here with us. i'll start a round of questions. i'll just do one question to expedite our schedule a little bit. i'll start with dr. wright. in your testimony you described how a large number of students at your university are struggling with mental health given that about half of mental health conditions again by age 14 it's likely that many of the

challenges that you are saying of course started long before college. in addition to school staff, parents can be a child's strongest advocate to help with getting the needed support that they require. but these families, these parents, need to know what to watch out for in their children. how should we begin engaging families so that they are aware of the signs that their child may have a mental health developmental or learning disability? >> thank you, senator. that's an absolutely amazingly found question. and when you think about the intersection of our students and families, where they're coming from, right, so many of questions come with these undiagnosed challenges. so when they first had their first moment, we don't know what to do and neither do they. and so i really believe that the work that you all are advancing

in your bill, the pediatric access act, will help with that. because providing more touch points, training folks from the very beginning, having mental health first aid in her high schools and her elementary schools but also in our communities and in our churches, right? faith communities, right? i think so many of our families have been told that mental health is a secret, right, and they won't allow their students, their kids to get help. so we've got to create some level of understanding that mental health is tantamount to having diabetes, right, it's an as a heart attack we don't keep them hidden away. we rushed into the hospital. and when someone is having the symptoms we need to do it. so removing the stigma of mental health is one of the first things but in educating the parents on how to connect them with folks in the community. in rural spaces that might be harder, so working with them in

their schools, with their counselors, working with them in some places in the housing authority places, where there are counselors there but i think being able to expand their reach of qualified mental health professionals in these spaces allow those parents to see those warning signs. because many of our students are parents may not of been trained to what to look for but providing schools, community organizations, resources to help them i think would be essential. >> great. doctor, thank you very much. i will turn to ranking member cassidy. i will reclaim some of my time later. >> i will defer to senator tuberville and allow colleague to go. >> thank you very much. thank you for being here today. this is, this is important. i don't think people really know how important it is. i coached for four years. i coached in eight states. i would high schools all over this country, and '80s and '90s we had a mental health

problem, but after 2000, after the internet and this thing right to came out, it's devastated our kids. i saw it every day. so this is a huge problem. it's going to get worse before it gets better. dr. wright, i'm like you, faith-based, family. i mean, that's how we're going to overcome a lot of this. it's going to have to come through that but we have to be prepared and we have to recognize the problem. dr. hoover, i four years i saw kids, play for me and a lot of them came in early in my career with very little problems. the last 20 years they came in and they had adhd. they said they did. and we were giving them drugs right and left. we weren't. the doctors were prescribing them. do we have medication problem in this country when it comes to mental health? >> it's a good question. first of all, senator tuberville, i want to thank you

for your coaching years because we know that all of the adults as i said earlier i cherry casey, all of the adults have responsibly to take care of the mental health of our young people including our coaches. i was on a plane yesterday next to a school bus driver and was telling her she is one of the most important jobs when it comes actually supporting the everyday expense of our young people and the mental health. in terms of medication and the diagnoses that seem to be increasing, part of it i would argue is really that we are just becoming more aware of the mental health needs of our young people. i would say that our medications are far from perfect your contact many would argue that they are in perfect solutions to the mental health challenges of our young people but there is also strong evidence that some of the medications for our children and adolescents including for adhd as you mentioned and other mental health challenges have been effective but their most effective when combined with other interventions. and that includes mental health

interventions, provided by licensed counselors, social workers and psychologists but also the everyday support, whether it's from the faith community, from families or from schools. so it's not a one size fits all approach and it is not a one intervention approach. in fact, most of the data would agree that medication combined with other interventions is probably the most effective. >> thank you. dr. weiss we locked these kids to have for several years. alabama we didn't do it much and we have a study coming out not too long ago. we went from nine to 39th in some areas of our scores -- from 49th -- we went from 40th in the country the first in the country in graduation rate because we stayed in school. my question is, we have already spent so much money on a lot of these problems. in your opinion, how do we best

direct these funds in the future to help with mental health? >> i have two, , full disclosur, i from alabama and i grew up with auburn football. >> you did good. i should've asked you the first question. >> i -- you know, the work that i do is addressing severe mental illnesses that have long been underfunded. we don't have a good track record historically taking care of those with the most severe mental illnesses and they really were not given opportunities to complete school, to go to higher education. so now we have them actually getting well after the first episode with a severe illness, just like you could get well with diabetes diagnosis or become just like you could get well with other major medical problems. and so the cost needs to be reflective and encompass what it

takes the scaffold them into these opportunities that they really haven't had before. and that by being more costly than to support a kid with adhd from high school to college. however, we are just really learning now in the last ten years what that's going to look like for this country. because early intervention in severe mental illness is such a new concept, literally we're talking about the last ten years of clinics, last 20 years of research. >> dr. hoover, i know we're talking about going from high school to college. half the kids in this country don't go to college. they get a job, they go to the military. how do we help them? how do we evaluate them? most kids who go to college get some kind of valuation to the process of higher education. how to help those kids that don't go to college? >> is a great question. when i saw the subject of

today's 30 i was hoping that it would go beyond just college because we know so many young people don't go on to college. and i would wish that we had better supports in place for them. i do think it really speaks to the first issue that was brought up that when you to start earlier. the supports that we're talking about from high school to college are critical but what's more critical is that we put systems in place from pre-k the k-12 to actually identify and provide scaffolding and structured support for their mental health. and that doesn't just mean, i mean, i our young panelist as usual said it best witches we can't wait until there's a crisis. we we can't wait until things get really bad to provide services. we need to be doing mental health literacy in the classroom. we need to be putting systems of identification into their hands, whether it's in schools come on college campuses or in their communities. i think the efforts to support integration into primary care are critical. so for those who do go onto

career, maybe not college, they can get some of the same support into primary care setting. or in other natural settings, whether that's at the faith community, whether that's the family. there are many interventions that can support families to better equip them to support their young people. including as a transition to adulthood. so when you cannot just put the services in schools or primary care but we need to put them in the hands of families. >> dr. wright, you have a comment on how about don't go to college? you probably see a lot of those. >> just in community in general editing as she was describing, being able to put those come have them access resources in other spaces, right? this dignity and honor and all work but sometimes we privilege the transition, the way, my profession, but being able to make sure that they have access to affordable health care so they can afford to take advantage of that, whether it's through state-sponsored medicaid or private insurance but buo

think being able to recognize that we all live within the context of our lives and learn within the context of our lives, that there's support e: i ask uns consent that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: mr. president, ask any group of americans how they feel about the irs, and you're unlikely to come up with a lot of positive reviews, and with good reason. repeated mishandling of taxpayer data is unlikely to gain any agency many fans. at this point the irs has a disturbing record of mishandling taxpayer information. in the past two years alone, the irs has inadvertently posted confidential information from 120,000 taxpayers on its website. destroyed 30 million unprocessed tax documents, and had troves of private taxpayer information end

up in the hands of the left-leaning news site propublica. and the agency's service record might be worse. the agency answered 20% of the 882 million calls it received. 11%, that means 150 million taxpayer -- 250 million taxpayer calls went unanswered. during the 2022 filing season, 90% of taxpayer calls -- 90% went unanswered. any business with a customer service record like that wouldn't be in business for very long. mr. president, given the agency's record, i think many would say that the irs is ripe for reform.

however, democrats felt the irs was ripe for more funding, a lot more funding. in august the democrats passed their so-called inflation reduction act. it does not reduce inflation, but it does flood the irs with an staggering $80 billion over the next ten years, a sum equal to six times the agency's 2022 budget. that's enough money to double -- double the size of the irs. the bill thrives for the hiring of as many as 87,000 new irs employees, an estimate that came from president biden's treasury department that would make the irs larger than the customs and border protection and the u.s. coast guard combined. mr. president, suddenly and dramatically increasing the size of any government agency is cause for concern. are there plans in place to make sure the money is used

efficiently? can the agency in question handle such a swift expansion and the increased responsibility that comes with it? these are serious questions no matter what agency we are talking about. but these questions are particularly relevant when the agency in question is already doing a poor job of handling its basic responsibilities. despite the irs record, despite the repeated breaches of taxpayer confidentiality, and the nearly nonexistent taxpayer service, democrats passed legislation to double the size of the agency without including any meaningful accountability measures to ensure that this new funding is used responsibly. i guess it's not terribly surprising given the democrats made it clear that their main interest in supersizing the irs is was increasing government revenue, but it is deeply troubling.

we should not be doubling the size of an agency that is already notable for its failure to adequately qairy out -- carry out its basic mission. but since democrats are flooding the irs with a lot of additional money, americans deserve to know that that money is being spent wisely and efficiently and it isn't going to make taxpayers' experiences with the irs even worse. and that's why i and my fellow republicans have been focused on doing everything we can to provide rigorous oversight and accountability for this money. i introduced multiple bills to help protect taxpayers. my increase reliable services now act, which i introduced with senator collins, would prevent the irs from hiring new enforcement agents until customer service at the irs has reached a more acceptable standard. i also worked with senator mike crapo to protect taxpayers earning less than $400,000 a

year from increased audits. the democrats' main reason to boost irs funding was to -- to squeeze out revenue for their agreeable agenda. there is substantial reason to be concerned that despite democrats' protest to the contrary, that will be used to increase audits of middle-income taxpayers. it's hard to explain why else every single democrat posed an amendment to prevent the irs from using its new funding to increase audits of these americans. the bill i introduced with senator crap crapo would protect middle americans from seeing increased audits. a few day days before thanksgiving, we introduced the irs funding accountability act.

our legislation would require the irs to provide congress with an annual plan with how the agency intends to use the new funding, a plan that could be rejected by congress with a joint resolution of disapproval. the irs would be required to provide congress with quarter arely updates on implementation of its spending plans. this would enable consistent antdz transparent -- and transparent oversight and guard against violations of taxpayer rights. and there would be real consequences for failing to submit plans or reports on time, including the rescission of funds, until the irs complies with reporting requirements. mr. president, the mission statement of the irs is to, and i quote, provide america's taxpayers top-quality service by helping them understand and meet their tax responsibilities and

enforce the law with integrity and fairness to all, end quote. unfortunately, recent years, the irs has fallen far short of this standard. and flooding the agency with $80 billion over and above its current budget, the majority of it for increased enforcement -- let's just be honest -- with no accountability, no oversight measures, is unlikely to do much to ensure taxpayers receive top-quality service. i hope at least some of my democratic colleagues will decide to join republicans to enact measures that will provide real accountability to the irs, at the irs, which is needed now more than ever. american taxpayers deserve nothing less. 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:

i'm aware businesses need to be

financed but the amount of administered report to get these things done. >> the you have anything to add? >> the only thing i would add, some authorization in place for the most vulnerable youth who may experience, young people in the foster care system who may be on multiple medications , they have been prescribed responsibly but the wait times getting into mental health care is mindnumbing, astronomical and for families can be really impossible to navigate. >> my experience is after spending days in the back-and-forth, not emails or online but factses, i talked to

a person. maybe it was a neurologist trying to explain to me why we shouldn't be using that. you ever have something like that? i should tell you the drugs you should be using. >> typically because of this, qualify for inpatient psychiatric hospitalization because they are not actively trying to kill themselves. what about hearing the demon coming to get you or eat food, you don't qualify for education services. >> we have legislation we could get across the finish line and go after chip and medicaid and some of those others. i want to go to doctor wright and miss williams as well.

one of the tragedies in this country, this is an editorial written by a mom from kansas who lost her son, cooper davis, a 16-year-old who ordered a tablet via snapchat unknowingly laced with fentanyl, and the child died. are you seeing any problems? they are trying to find xanax or uppers, down ors, are you seeing any of this? >> no, we don't see, that's not the drug of choice but in staten island, we saw a huge problem with drugs that were laced with prescriptions going out and finding the ways so that is a

huge problem we are dealing with, they can't medicate it and they are trying to find it anyway they can but it is a growing problem for students who are trying to do that. >> i want to get too personal, i tell my patients, do you see, are students able to find those things online? any concerns? specifically, laced with fentanyl, people trying to find xanax and it is laced with fentanyl. >> never have i heard of anyone doing that. >> thank you. you want to do that? >> one thing you bring up is important, every community is

different in terms of what very emergent substance abuse problems going on in new orleans, major problem with synthetics, people smoking mojo and becoming psychotic. just fake marijuana, you can buy it in a grocery store and it can ruin the kidneys. have to be attentive to what is happening for sure. >> we next turned to senator kane. >> thanks for pulling together, what a great panel. we want to talk about transition to college. i spent thanksgiving with family and friends, one that i spent time with his an administrator, in the florida school system which include saint augustine and this includes other guidance counselors and she told me we

don't have enough and they are doing college guidance and helping people, trying to be counselors, there are laws making it harder because they can't talk about anything but setting that aside, the point she was making, there's not enough people here. you go to baldwin high school, how big is baldwin high school? how many kids? >> 1400. but also the middle school and high school. >> that is all together. when you decided i need to seek help for the issues i'm dealing with, where did you go and was it easy to get help or hard? >> i went to my sentinel first. i was having -- trying to get to

school, so i went to the principal first, i was closer to him because i didn't have the same guidance counselor. >> you were getting assigned to different ones. >> i had 5 in the past four years. >> there is some turnover and people coming in. >> supposed to have the same one and people taking maternity leave, didn't have the same. >> doctor hoover, do you think families utilize the iep process sufficiently to help children deal with emotional and mental health issues, i'm familiar with

its, for a speech therapy, or narrowly defined learning disability families can use the iep process for getting accommodations for students who deal with emotional or mental health issues. do we do that enough in the k-12 space? >> thank you for the support of mental health in the school. the simple answer is yes, families can use the process and they don't use it publicly as often or as well as they should have because they are not aware of how to do it. they don't have family peer support to navigate the process. >> any statement about mental health issues would be additional. >> decreased stigma about special education, with behavioral issues with supports but go outside or beyond special

education system, a lot of young people could get mental health support in school that would not require iep. >> i want to go to the college side. are you thinking of going to college next year? when you go to college with the experience you have and you found support systems that helped you, you show up on a campus, hundreds of thousands, what are you going to do when you go to college, i ask you this because a lot of people like you senate is. mr. cornyn: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cornyn: mr. president, the global threat landscape today is more complex and dangerous than at any other time in recent

memory. from russia's invasion of ukraine to the chinese communist party's growing hostility to the west, to north korea and iran's nuclear aspirations, to a taliban-controlled afghanistan, the threats we face today are as diverse as they are significant. the fact is we're now facing the reality of a power contest in two theaters, both in europe and the pacific. this is a reality we haven't confronted sips world war ii -- since wurl wurld. our military has been engaged in a 20-year asymmetric war against terrorism, meaning that our weapons, our materiel, our training, our doctrine, and our overall mindset has been focused on insurgent and terrorist threats, like the taliban, like

al qaeda, and isis. the result is the department of defense and our national security apparatus has larnlingsly given up the post-cold war -- has largely given up the post-cold war numbers in size in favor of a smaller, more nimble and agile fighting force. unfortunately, we now face conventional military threats we haven't faced for a long, long time. we're not only the size in number -- where not only the size and number matter, but also the right type of weapons, be it shipped, long-range assault vehicles or modern aircraft like the f-35 and the v-22. in short, we're now in a position where we can't choose between a large force and an advanced one. we need both. when we talk about modernization, that is the goal.

so to state the obvious, this shift can't happen overnight. it won't be the result of a single funding or authorization bill. a bigger, stronger, and more advanced military will require an ongoing commitment, from congress and the administration. it seems self-evident that we need to supply our commanders, our professional military leaders with the funding and the predictability that they need in order to prepare for the diverse threats just on the horizon. in order to do that, we need to work with them to understand what it is they need, when they need it, and how we can help them get it and plan for the future. earlier this week, that answer arrived in the form of a letter from defense secretary lloyd austin. in that letter he urged

congressional leaders to complete a full-year funding bill. he wrote, failure to do so will result in significant harm to our people and our programs and would cause harm to our national security and our compe competitiveness. there's not much nuance or subtlety here. it's clear. an urgent warning from our nation's top defense official. his letter didn't arrive completely out of the blue. it came following a widespread rumor that congress would skip the regular appropriations process this year entirely and potentially maintain current funding levels through the next year, something we call a c.r. or continuing resolution. a number of our members have floated that idea and reports indicate that the white house has begun preparing for that

possibility. in his letter secretary austin outlined the long list of problems that a continuing resolution would create. another short-term funding bill would hamstring the procurement of those needed weapons and other military assets. it would lead to delays in all three legs of the nuclear triad. stall our research and development efforts, delay critical investments in barracks, child care centers, and other infrastructure projects. it would disrupt the training schedule for our brave servicemembers. it would cause unnecessary disruptions of family -- military families who already are sacrificing a lot. and it would hamper our recruitment efforts in an all-volunteer military. we're already dealing with

record inflation and supply chain issues making the process of granting and fulfilling defense contracts even more challenging. given the threats that i've outlined around the world, america's defense department cannot afford for congress to create even more obstacles for them to achieve their mission. we all need to understand that a continuing resolution is not a consequence-free way to keep the doors of government open or the lights on. continuing resolutions prevent the leaders of every department and agency in the u.s. government, including the department of defense, from operating with the certainty and the predictability that they need. stopgap funding bills should only be used as a last resort. they are not a responsible way for congress to operate or for

the u.s. government to govern. now, our democratic colleagues have had a majority in both the senate and the house and despite having ample time, they failed to advance any appropriations bills so far this year. in september they punted to december 16 which is when the current continuing resolution expires. that's for weeks from friday -- that's two weeks from friday. it doesn't look like we're much closer to a funding deal now than we were then. again, secretary austin says we can't outcompete china with our hands tied behind our back for three, four, five, or six months of every fiscal year. on-time appropriations bills are absolutely critical to our national defense, and we can't expect our military leadership

to operate in this sort of chaotic environment. and it's a chaotic environment of the congressional leadership's own making. our democratic colleagues have the chairs of their relevant committees. senator schumer is the majority leader. he's the one who schedules votes on legislation on the floor. but so far this year, we haven't gone through a regular appropriations process at all. it's all pushed back against the deadline of the end of the year. frankly which diminishes the significance of individual rank and file members of the senate and the house, and we are left only with the option of voting up or down on a bill that could well approach $1.6 trillion in an omnibus appropriation bill.

a c.r. would be slightly less than that because it would continue current appropriation levels. this is a miserable way and frankly an embarrassing way for congress to do business, and it is potentially dangerous, too, as i said. well, it isn't because of lack of effort, particularly when it comes to our national security. speaking now about the national defense authorization bill, the senate has so far this year failed to bring that bill to the floor for a vote and again, senator schumer is the majority leader, and he's the only one who can schedule that vote. but it's not for lack of preparation. this is by design by the majority leader. our colleagues on the senate armed services committee led by senators reed, a democrat,

senator inhofe, a republican, completed their work on the national defense authorization bill last summer. this year's national defense authorization bill was filed on july 18, four and a half months ago. i was hopeful that the senate would advance this bill in september and work with our colleagues across the capitol to send it to the president before the end of the year, but that obviously didn't happen. again, not an accident but by design. now we're at the end of november and the national defense authorization bill hasn't even hit the senate floor. so not only are we talking about not appropriating the money so that our national security leaders can plan and implement the sort of needed investments that are critical in a great

power competition, we don't even have the authorization bill on the floor. i hope that will change in the next couple of days, but we've already wasted most of the year, and we can't get any of that time back. so my point is, mr. president, that in order to plan for and prepare for the future, a dangerous future, our military commanders need predictability. they need to be able to plan. that's why congress has passed a defense authorization bill for each of the last 61 years. we can't skip this important responsibility or delay it any longer. congress needs to pass the annual defense authorization bill without further delay. now, members of both parties on both sides of the aisle, myself

included, have been incredibly frustrated by this process. again, not by accident but by design. and we're eager to take up and pass a strong defense authorization bill and then to pass the appropriations required for our department of defense and our national security leadership to do the job we expect them to do. but it's not our frustration that is important. it's the jeopardy to our national security that has rutted from this chaotic environment and the slight -- i don't know how you can interpret it in any other way -- to our men and women in uniform that what they do is not our highest priority, it's just not that important. that is not the message we should be sending to them. there's no question that we have to get this done before the end of the year. we can't wait until next year or any longer. we need to pass a defense

authorization bill now without further delay. the bottom line is we can't match the high stakes global threat lanes in continuing resolutions and past due authorization bills. the defense department needs to plan every single day to equip and train and hopefully deter military conflicts anywhere around the world. our adversaries are watching us, and when they see us inflicting self-inflicted damage to our credibility and our commitment to national security, they don't -- they don't fail to notice. by failing to pass the national defense authorization bill and the appropriations bill, we will be stealing time that the defense department does not

have. general douglas macarthur said the history of failure in war can be summed up in two words. too late. too late. for the sake of our country, i hope our democratic colleagues will quit dragging their feet and allow this chamber to advance bills to both strengthen our national defense and to fully fund it. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from arizona saturday i ask unanimous consent for the clerk to vitiate the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. kelly: i ask for unanimous consent for the vote scheduled

to begin immediately. the presiding officer: without objection. the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of executive calendar number 1133, camille l. velez-rive of puerto rico to be united states district judge for the district of puerto rico signed by 17 senators. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived. the question is, is it the sense of the senate that debate on the nomination of camille l. velez-rive of puerto rico to be united states district judge for the district of puerto rico shall be brought to a close. the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: the yeas are 54, the nays a 43. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the

nomination of executive calendar number 1147, anne m. nardacci of new york to be united states district judge for the northern district of new york signed by 17 senators. the presiding officer: by nawctd, the mandatory -- by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived. the question is, is it the sense of the senate that debate on the nomination of anne m. nardacci, of new york, to be the united states district judge for the northern district of new york, shall be brought to a close. the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

vote: the presiding officer: the yeas are 52. the nays are 45. the motion is agreed to.

the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary, anne m. nardacci of new york to be united states district judge for the northern district of new york.

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. sanders: thank you, mr. president. i want to take this opportunity to say a few words not only about the negotiations between railroad workers and the railroad management but also toll put that crisis into a broader economic context. mr. president, it seems clear to me and i think the polls indicate it that the american people are becoming increasingly disgusted by the corporate greed they are seeing and experiencing every single day. they look out around them and

see three people owning more wealth than the bottom half of american society. they see corporate profits soaring while the prices they pay for the products they need continue to go up. they see ceo's of major corporations now making 400 times more than the average worker at that corps. they have seen during this terrible pandemic when tens of thousands of workers die because they had to go to work. billionaire class make $2 trillion more in their wealth. further, they look around them and while the very wealthiest people in america become much richer, they walk down the street and they see people

sleeping out on the sidewalks. we had almost 600,000 americans who are homeless. people can't afford their health care costs. we've got 85 million americans who are uninsured or underinsured. in other words, the economy is doing really, really, really well for ceo's and billionaires, but for the average american worker, he or she is falling further and further behind. now, within that broad context of what's happening in the overall economy, let's take a look at what is going on in the rail industry today and why congress is being asked to implement a union contract with rail workers to avoid a strike that could take place as early as december 9.

and it turns out that when we talk about the extraordinary level of corporate greed in america, there is no better example of that than what is taking place in the rail industry today. they are the purest example of why the american people are so angry at what's taking place in our economy. so if you look at the rail industry today, what you will understand is that this industry has seen huge record-breaking profits in recent years. huge profits. in fact, in the first three-quarters, not a whole year, three-quarters of this year, the rail industry made a record-breaking $21 billion in profit. further, they have so much

money, profits are so high, that the industry spent over $25 billion this year not to improve rail safety, not to address the supply chain crisis, but to buy back its own stock and hand out huge dividends to its wealthy stockholders. in fact, since 2010, and i hope every member of congress hears this, the rail industry has spent over $183 billion on stock buybacks and dividends. and on top of all of that, the ceo's of many of these railroad companies are enjoying huge compensation packages. so while workers struggle, last

year the ceo of csx made over $20 million in total compensation. the ceo of union pacific and norfolk southern made over $14 million each in total compensation. in other words, within the rail industry, corporate profits are soaring and ceo's are making incredibly large compensation packages. but in the midst of all of that, it is fair to ask what is going on for workers, profits recordbreaking, ceo's, tens of millions of dollars in compensation, what's going on for the workers in the rail industry? and the reality is that the key issue in the rail dispute that we are dealing with right now,

votes taking place as we speak in the house, it's not about salary. it's not about how much money workers there are earning. the key issue is the working conditions in the rail industry which are absolutely unacceptable and literally beyond belief. right now frks you work in the freight rail industry, and this is a job in the rail industry, this is really hard work, dangerous work, it's work that takes place when it's 20 below zero, if you are a worker in the rail freight industry, you are entitled to a grand total of zero sick days. let me repeat that. you are entitled to a grand total of zero sick days. now, as a nation, industry after

industry, government after government, here in congress our people get sick, they have the right to take time off. it's humane. nobody, not the most conservative member of this institution would say to a worker, oh, you got covid. you're fired. it's unthinkable. and yet what this means, the policy in the rail industry means is if you get sick, if your child gets sick, if your spouse gets sick and you need to take time off of work, not only will you not get paid, you actually will get reprimanded and could get fired. and that absurd, inhumane situation is precisely what is taking place today in the rail industry. mr. president, let me remind you and all of our colleagues that hundreds of americans are still

dying every day from covid, and tens of thousands are being hospitalized as a result of this terrible virus. what the freight rail industry is saying to its workers is this. it doesn't matter if you have covid. it doesn't matter if you are lying in a hospital bed because of a medical emergency. it doesn't matter if your wife has just given birth. it just doesn't matter. if you do not come into work no matter what the reason, we have the right to punish you. we have the right to fire you. frankly, it is hard to believe that these conditions still exist in the united states of america in the year 2022. let me give you just a few examples that i am familiar with hearing from workers. one rail worker was penalized by

the railroads for spending the day in the hospital with his son who was having breathing issues. another worker couldn't take his pregnant wife to the doctor because it could have rutted -- have resulted in disciplinary action for him. tragically we witnessed the death of a loash motive evening -- locomotive engineer who was forced to skip his doctor's appointment after experiencing unusual symptoms only to suffer a heart attack and die in an engine room weeks later. and here is what one rail worker recently said, and i quote. i am tired of being tired all day every day and having every one of my coworkers being physically sick from sleep deprivation. most of my coworkers can't stay awake anymore during a 12-hour trip. end of quote. that's one rail worker. mr. president, there is absolutely no reason why these

workers should have to deal with these conditions in the richest country in the history of the world and i wonder, mr. president, if the ceo's, the ceo's in the railroad industry or other top executives in this industry, i wonder if they get fired when they don't get into the office because of sickness or when they have a medical emergency in their families. so i think in effect the head of the teamsters recently, sean o'brien, you know, what's good for the ceo's in terms of paid sick leave is good for employees as well, and i think he is absolutely right. further, i should add as everybody knows that quite sensibly the federal government guarantees 12 weeks of paid

family and medical leave to its workers. so if you are an employee, for example, at the department of transportation in the united states america sitting behind a desk, you are appropriately, appropriately guaranteed 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave. but if you are an engineer running a train with tons of freight behind you, you get zero sick time. now, that may make sense to somebody but it does not make sense to me. as a result of this incredibly reactionary policy of denying workers sick time, rail conductors, engineers, and other rail employees are coming into work sick and exhausted, which is a danger not only to themselves but to their coworkers and everyone else who is around them. the work they do is dangerous

work. mr. president, the united states sadly is the only major country on earth that does not guarantee paid sick days, something that we hope to remedy. we tried to remedy and we got to continue going forward so that we do remedy it. it is a bit of an embarrassment that of all the major countries on earth, we're the only one not to guarantee paid sick days. in germany, workers -- there are as many as 84 weeks of paid sick leave at 70% of the their salary depending upon how serious the illness is and countries all over the world in one way or another have generous policies that recognize that in a modern, civilized society if you get sick, if your kids get sick, if your wife or husband gets sick, you are entitled as a worker to have paid sick leave. but while government workers here in the united states and in

many, many industries, many companies guarantee their workers paid sick leave, rail workers in the united states of america today in the year 2022 are guaranteed zero paid sick days, zero. now, the rail industry has told us that they can't afford to provide paid sick days through their employees. instead of sitting down and negotiating with their unions to bring about a reasonable compromise, for the past three years the rail industry has refused to agree to a single day of guaranteed paid sick leave to its workers. they say it would cost too much money to provide their workers any paid sick days. well, let's see. they made over $21 billion in profits so far this year.

they provide their ceo's with huge compensation packages. they spent $25.5 billion to buy back their own stock and hand out huge dividends to their wealthy stockholders. but they're just too broke, too financially hard-pressed, to guarantee paid sick days to their employees. so here is where we are, mr. president. interestingly enough, it turns out that guaranteeing seven paid sick days to rail workers would cost the industry a grand total of $321 million a year, a tiny fraction of the $21 billion in profits that they have already made. if the major rail carriers can afford to spend $25.5 billion a year on stock buybacks and

dividends, do not tell me that they cannot afford to guarantee paid sick days to their workers and allow these workers to have a reasonable quality of life. mr. president, the outrage over the lack of paid sick leave is not the only issue that rail workers in america have been fighting for. the rail workers of this country are sick and tired of unreliable scheduling, which is having a negative impact on their personal and family lives. in america today, rail workers are on call for up to 14 consecutive days, 12 hours a day. in fact, it is not uncommon for many rail workers to be on call nearly 24 hours a day with a requirement to report to work within 90 minutes for shifts

that can last nearly 80 hours. now, mr. president, as you know, last september president biden and labor secretary walsh worked with the rail industry and union leaders to come up with a tentative agreement that was better than what the rail industry had been offering. but this agreement still did not require the industry to provide a single day of paid sick leave to rail workers. i thank president biden and secretary walsh for their efforts, but congress can and must do better. and that is why i will be introducing legislation to guarantee paid sick days to every rail worker in america, and i will insist on a roll call vote in the senate on this legislation as part of any

public sector required to vote d. as part of any unanimous consent required to vote. i think we may have bipartisan support for this modest legislation, and i would hope -- and i have talked to republicans who indicate that they are prepared to support the workers. but i would say to every member of this body, democrat, republican, that think long and hard about how you go home to your constituents and say, i voted against allowing rail workers in this country seven paid sick days. go home and think about how you're going to explain that vote. and, mr. president, let's be clear. it's not just the rail unions and bernie sanders who believe that working conditions on the

railroads with no guaranteed sick leave is wrong and inhumane. it turns out that view is shared by some of the railroads' major business customers who are seeing a decline in the service that they are receiving and that they need. let me quote from a recent op-ed by eric buyer, the president and ceo of the national association of chemical distributors, who wrote an op-ed entitled "railroads should give workers the benefits they seek." and here is what mr. buyer wrote. and, again, this is a business organization that wants to make sure that their product is delivered on the railroads in a reasonable period of time and on

schedule. and, mr. buyer writes, quote, to say the paid sick leave policy for workers is woefully inadequate would be an understatement. the negotiated agreement does not include any significant measures to improve quality of life issues. rail workers today have zero time allotted to them by their freight rail employers for sick leave. according to the bureau of labor statistics, private-sector workers receive seven to eight days of sick leave per year, a fragile and volatile supply chain requires a strong rail network. now is not the time to deny reasonable benefits for a labor community that has been decimated by losses in recent years. it's time for the freight industry to right this wrong and get rail back on track -- end of quote. that's from the chemical distribute terse, an important

-- the -- that's from the chemical distributors, an important customer of the railroads. and i want you to hear what the chairman of the transportation board, martin oberman had to say at a conference with rail executives earlier this month. here is what mr. oberman said. quote, when railroads try to excuse their failures by pointing to labor shortages at other businesses, those are the businesses did not enter the pandemic having stripped themselves of nearly 20% of their workforce in this recent years. today the railroads tell us they are still having a hard time recruiting and retaining workers and try to blame this on the great resignation. the fact is, the railroads' personnel practices made these jobs much less desirable, end of

quote. according to mr. oberman, the railroad industry has slashed its workforce by 10% since the pandemic started, slashing some 13,000 jobs. and he continued -- again, this is mr. oberman saying, quote, class i railroad companies over the past two and a half years saved roughly $4.8 billion in payroll during the same two and a half years, the class i rail companies have returned nearly $60 billion to stockholders in stock buyback and dividends, nearly 12 times what they saved in payroll. might the shareholders have been satisfied with only $55 billion in buybacks and dividends? apparently not. $4.8 billion in saved payroll would have been a drop in the bucket, but the operating ratio had to be met. end of quote. so what are you saying -- what i think many of us are understand is that the railroads are making

huge profits. they have seen their profit margins nearly triple over the past 20 years. and during the last six years, they have reduced their workforce by 30%. you want to make more money? that's the way do you it, you cut become on yourworkforce and now they are in a situation where they're telling workers, if you get covid, you're going to get fired. so clearly we need to rethink the entire business model of the rail industry. but right now the issue before us is not complicated. and that is that in an industry which is enjoying record-breaking profits, an industry which laid off 30% of its workforce in the last six years, an industry which gives its ceo's huge compensation packages, now is the time for that industry to respect its workers and treat them with the

dignity that all working people are entitled to. so, mr. president, we are at an important moment, not just for the rail industry, not only for rail workers. the issue is whether or not this united states senate will join the house -- and i understand that the house just passed paid sick leave, seven days. they did the right thing, and i want to applaud the members of the house for doing the right thing. now it's going to come here to the senate. do we stand with workers in the rail industry and say, yes, you are right; working conditions are horrendous. we cannot continue a process by which you have zero paid sick leave. do we stand with workers or do we stand with an industry that is making huge profits, pays its

ceo's exorbitant salaries and treats its working -- workers with contempt? that's the choice that this senate will soon be having to make, and i hope very much that in a bipartisan way we can do the right thing and tell the rail workers and tell every worker in america that the united states congress is prepared to stand with them and not just the people on top who are doing extraordinarily well. and with that, mr. president, i would yield the floor. mr. grassley: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: thank you you mr. president. on november 25 this year, the justice department and the fbi reported to respond to six of my oversight letters, but the

really strange thing about it, they're responding to six oversight letters with just a single letter. whenever i see one letter that aims to answer six, i know the government's letter will most likely be hogwash, at best. the fbi's november 25 letter doesn't even meet the definition of hogwash. my may 31, 2022, letter was about then-assistant special attorney in charge thibault's political bias. the fbi's letter failed to provide any requested records. my july 18, 2022, letter was about thibault and then election

crime chief pilger being involved in an open criminal investigation into former president trump. that letter was failed on whistleblower allegations about defective opening of the investigation. that fbi letter failed to address the concerns that i raised in my letter. then my july 25, 2022, letter was about thibault and others at the fbi shutting down investigative avenues into hunter biden's separate from the ongoing u.s. attorney weiss's investigation. that letter also noted that the

investigative avenues were based on verified and verifiable information. that, too, was based upon whistleblower allegations. the fbi failed to provide any requested records. the august 17, 2022, letter built off of the july 25 letter and requested an organizational chart from the fbi's washington field office. it seems like a very easy request to answer to. it also posed a series of questions about hunter biden's investigation, including how can hunter biden's criminal investigation be fully and complete if the fbi improperly

shut down verifiable information and sourcing relating to potential criminal activities? no answer on that point from the fbi. the fbi did produce to me an organizational document for their washington field office. however, it failed production because it wasn't what i asked for. for example, out of the entire washington field office, the fbi included only six names in the document. and obviously there's more people involved in that organization. there's dozens of subunits and squads within the washington field office, and they only provided six names, and even

redacted some information. congress and the american people have every right to know how taxpayers' dollars are used to support the washington field office of the fbi. then going to my september 26, 2022, letter that related to the fbi's retaliation against whistleblower steven friend. mr. friend raised concerns to his superiors about breaches of fbi policy and procedure in domestic terrorism assessments and in those same terrorism investigations. as part of their retaliation to this whistleblower, the fbi placed mr. friend on what is called absent without leave status. they also took away mr. friend's

badge, gun, and suspended his clearance. the fbi's letter didn't even mention mr. friend by name, yet purported to respond to my and senator johnson's letter about mr. friend. the october 13, 2022, letter -- and this is the sixth letter that i've been referring to -- related to hunter biden's criminal investigation. my letter noted that allegations from whistleblowers indicated that the information provided by tony, bob ulinsky to the fbi about hunter biden formed a sufficient basis to open full field investigation on a pay to playgrounds. however, it's unclear if the

fbi took the appropriate action. the letter also noted that records within the fbi's possession and reviewed by my investigative staff indicate that joe biden was aware of hunter biden's business arrangements and may have involved, been involved in some. the fbi failed to produce any requested records, and the fbi is zero for answering my six letters. now there are a couple of elements to the fbi's response letter that i'd like to highlight. and i call it the fbi's response because the justice department proper failed to send their own answers to my letters. the letter said in part, quote,

when an employee or employee -- employee or employees miss the mark and make a mistake, it's critically important that we learn from their, those instances. this means not only holding people accountable, but also taking a close look at the larger organization so that we can make necessary changes to policy and training to ensure mistakes aren't repeated, end of quote. i provided six letters to the justice department and fbi relating to their mistakes. the letters provided concrete facts. the letters provided evidence. the letters had highly credible

whistleblower allegations. there was not a single admission of wrongdoing or some mistake about that was even mentioned in the fbi letter. how can the fbi learn from its mistakes if it refuses to even admit or acknowledge them? just as important, with respect to all whistleblower allegations that i made public, it happens that neither the justice department nor the fbi had disputed any inaccuracies, or disputed any accuracy about my accusations that i'm trying to get information on. that ought to tell all of us something. to the whistleblowers who

approached my office, they are true patriots. now there's one more part of the fbi's letter that i'd like to highlight. on the third page of this nonresponsive letter, the fbi says that this, says this about whistleblowers, and i quote, employees should feel they can raise their concerns about wrongdoing. and if those concerns aren't addressed within their chain of command, take them to an appropriate place without retaliation, end of quote. the fbi failed to mention congress in this process of whistle-blowing, and the fbi failed to make clear that employees can immediately go to congress to disclose wrongdoing.

that legal right to blow the whistle should have been explicitly clear in their letter it happens in several meetings that i've had with director wray. he personally assured me that whistleblowers approaching my office with allegations won't face retaliation. simply put, the justice department and the fbi need to get over themselves. show some respect to congress as well as the american people represented here. answer the questions, admit to the mistakes, show us corrective action, and let's move on together to fix our institutions for future generations of americans. the letters i wrote provide a road map for the fbi to root out

political infection within their ranks and field offices. the letters highlight existential problems deep within the fbi. based on the response letter that i've been referring to, the fbi has done nothing to root out the political infection. the justice department and the fbi's continued failure to do so will lead them on a long, slow, and painful walk to losing more credibility and more trust with the american people. and that's a result that's entirely avoidable if they want to avoid it. i yield the floor.

mr. durbin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that following the confirmation of calendar number 1147, the senate resume consideration of calendar number 1148 and that

the cloture motions with respect to calendar numbers 1148 and 1129 ripen at 11:30 a.m. on thursday, december 1. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that at 4:45 p.m. today the senate proceed to consideration of calendar number 843, robert phillip storch to be inspector general of the department of defense, that there be two minutes divided, that upon the use or yielding back of time the senate will vote without intervening action or debate on the nomination. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: mr. president, while the members of the senate were enjoying thanksgiving, thousands of hardworking americans were navigating the wreckage of a financial shipwreck. i'm referring to the collapse of the crypto currency exchange known as ftx.

while i'm sure that many have heard about ftx's implosion and the resignation of its ceo, sam bankman freed, there one of's ot of you may have stepped. the moment after it cole latopsed -- collapsed one of the first steps the company took was to friewz -- freeze accounts. that means they were denied access to accounts remaining. as a result their investments may have gone down with the ship. think about it like this. you show up at the bank, the same bank that accepted your money week after week but this time the doors were locked and the lights were off. all the tellers have gone home, the security guard is turning you away at the door. and as for your money, well, it just disappeared. but when you ask to see the books of this depositor to

figure out what happened, you came to learn that they didn't have any books. that's exactly what happened to ftx crypto users like nick howard, who shared his story with america on national public radio. when nick first opened his account with ftx, he says he had no intention of making any speculative or risky investment. in fact, he was using the platform to store his paychecks from his employer which had chosen to pay him through cryptocurrency, known as tether. tether is one of the so-called stable coins. it was designed to offer greater security and stability than other cryptocurrencies like bitcoin by being pegged to the value of a dollar. well, as nick learned the hard way, there is no such thing as stability when it cops -- comes to cryptocurrency. when nick first signed up for

ftx his employer assured him the platform was, quote, really good, really stable. so he took his employer's word for it as well as the word of public figures and advisors, well-respected names like larry david, tom brady, who appeared on television on ads for ftx. nick had $16,000 worth of paychecks deposited in his ftx account. by the time the platform imploded. nick's a young fellow. he said he doesn't have a lot of savings, but that $16,000 represented half of all that he had accumulated in his life. so when nick found out that he had little or no hope of retrieving his money, he told national public radio, i feel like i'm in the middle of a trauma response. who can blame him? in the past few years platforms like ftx have spent billions of dollars to try to create a veneer of credibility for an industry fueled by greed and

many times deception. these slick ad campaigns have been designed to distract american people from the fact that cryptocurrency is extremely volatile and barely regulated. sadly, these ad campaigns worked their will on one in five americans who say they either traded or invested crypto. all are at risk. it was a few months ago that i stood on the same senate floor and expressed my concern about the dangers of cryptocurrency and platforms like ftx. in the three weeks since i last spoke on the floor, billions of dollars have disappeared in a black hole of financial collapse. hardworking americans who are already being squeezed by inflation are paying an even higher price, and today sam bankman fried is exhibit a in the crypto crash. his personal plunge from billionaire to bankrupt has been

well documented. in some ways this is not a new story. the alleged fraud by mr. bankman fried is nothing more than a 21st century ponzi is scheme. as ceo of ftx mr. bankman fried secretly sigh monday $10 billion from the platform, $10 billion that belonged to investors like nick howard. what about mr. bankman do with the $10 billion? he transformed it into assets of his own personal hedge fund called alameda. let me say that another way. sam bankman fried transformed $10 billion from users in order to fund his own risky bets. in the days that ftx imploded, he had the nerve to tweet out, ftx is fine, assets are fine.

he even said, we don't invest client assets. all lies. that was a brazen attempt from what the ceo claimed to be the most reliable crypto in the world. it was the same tactics that we saw from bernie madoff. scam artists pride themselves on being disruptors, they claim they are sticking it to the old finance banks, giving the little guy the power of financial freedom. i know the presiding officer is a music fan and he remembers the lyrics of the old song, freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose. ftx has taught investors like nick howard they have everything to lose. that's the truth. the myth of crypto is a rouse.

one designed to dupe hardworking americans like nick howard into forking over their lifesavings to companies like ftx. bankman-fried tried to put himself out there as noble person. he even plastered an imagine of himself on the walls of union station, less than a mile away from where we're meeting on capitol hill. it was a big ad and photo, according to "the washington post," and it said i'm in on crypto to make global impact for good. my, my, my. it's hard to see anything good about defrauding hardworking investors, there is nothing good about leading an industry that produces three times as much pollution as all of america's largest coal plants did in the year 2021. so this is my advice to the

american people when it comes to the crypto world. don't be fooled. crypto speculators like sam bankman-fried who became one of the youngest billionaires in the world and lives in a guarded compound in the bahamas really don't have your best interest at heart. they're trying to catfish you into their grift. and the moment you take the bait, they'll take your money and run. it's time for wiser minds, more careful thinking in the financial world to cash out of the crypto casino. let's start with fidelity. what do i mean by that? well, over the summer fidelity, one of the largest and most respected names in investment houses, one of the largest 401(k) providers in the word announced it would allow

exposure to bit coin. the value has dropped like a rock in under a year. i know the stock market has suffered too. but listen to this. the cost of one bit coin fell to nearly $16,000. more than 70% loss in one year. imagine the value of your 401(k) was dependent on the health of bit coin. the value of that is in free fall. there are more than 32 million americans that invest with fidelity and many are relying on the 401(k)'s to retire in dignity. they deserve better than having their financial security jeopardized by a digital asset that can lose thousands of dollars in the course of a day. last july, as a customer of

fidelity, i sent a letter to the ceo, who i don't know personally and raised concerns about the potential risks associated with investing in digital assets. last week i turned around and sent a second letter. it seems he missed the first one, urging fidelity to reconsider the decision. my hope is that the company will do what is best for those saving for retirement an change course immediately. at a moment when retirement security is already at risk for working families, there is no excuse for exposing to them to this kind of volatility, particularly in long-term retirement accounts. let's learn from the retail investors like nick howard, the american people desperately need better. i will say, i have been a crypto skeptic from the start and sadly the evidence presented to me suggests that my concerns were not misplaced. we have an obligation to protect

the american public. at in stage, the best i can do ask come to the senate floor, send out press releases and warn people. we should regulate this industry in a way to protect the american public. we have done it over and over again throughout our history, many times after americans and investors have been burned badly. ftx shows that we need to do it again. i can tell americans across the board, think twice before you sign up for the i kepto craze. -- crypto craze. mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from alabama. mr. tuberville: thank you,

mr. president. last week many of us reflected on the blessing it is to live in the greatest country on the face of the earth. our country that provides safety and security for millions and millions of people. freedom and free enterprise lift more people out of poverty than any other system or country in the history of the world. but our country cannot exist without a robust economy. it is impossible. and you can't run an economy without fossil fuels. that's also impossible. however, there is an alarming and growing trend to put unproven theories and radical ideologies over common sense. and it's catching up with us as we speak. years of attacks on reliable american energy sources in the name of green policies has taken us backward in our progress to

produce affordable, accessible clean energy. global supply chain issues accelerated the consequences of these policies leaving many americans unable to afford things like gas and utilities. as we inch closer to the coldest part of the year, we face the real threat of the energy crisis. at a time when all americans should feel the warmth of the holiday, many of them could be and will be left out in the cold. the united states already loses more people in the winter months than in the warmer months, and skyrocketing utility bills could make millions of americans vulnerable as temperatures drop. we must change course. it is time to end the blind allegiance to unsustainable

energy policies. it's time to end the relentless pursuit of eliminating fossil fuels. these policies are suffocating the american energy sector and the economy as a whole. all the while the biden administration's war on fossil fuel is increasing, increasing our reliance on foreign crooks and criminals for energy and oil. just last week the biden white house announced it will allow chevron to resume the production and export of oil in venezuela, a country led by a brutal communist regime. this dirty deal with a dictator will almost do nothing to ease the pain at the pump for americans. it will do nothing. and venezuela's oil fields are among the worst, and i mean the

worst, for environmental causes in the world. why does our president prefer dirtier oil from a foreign adversary over cleaner energy from texas and north dakota? it makes zero sense. per usual, this administration is focused on distractions to make the american people think they're doing something to bring down energy costs, which they're not doing one thing. it's time to cut out the tricks and the climate rhetoric designed to scare americans into accepting the consequences of backward energy policies. we must turn on the spigot of american energy before it's too late. we're running out of time. the simple fact is we need fossil fuels to run our economy. they're integral to almost every part of our lives, from their

obvious use in transportation to their behind-the-scenes role in products we use every day like clothes, pharmaceuticals, cleaning products, and phones and from my old job, helmets. petroleum products are integral to a modern economy. we are nowhere near a world in which we can live without fossil fuels. we're not even close. anyone who says otherwise or promotes ideas that we can significantly curb our use in the next decade is not living in reality. we have to listen to them, and we have the supply right here at home. the basins spanning texas and new mexico is estimated to have 66 billion, now that's that with

a -- now that's with a b, 66 billion barrels of oil waiting for use. that region alone could provide america tens of thousands of time and aggression of making our energy process more profitable and using our energy here at home. our country has ample supply and the cleanest, and i want to repeat that, cleanest generating methods in the world. not dirty oil like venezuela, but the cleanest of anywhere in the world. we should be producing energy in america with american workers. however, for nearly two years, the biden administration has promoted the ideals of climate change activists and undermining our energy industry. within hours of taking office,

president biden signed several executive orders designed to reverse policies that promoted energy production. instead, he instructed various arms of the government to put unnecessary burdens on fossil fuels. here are a few key examples of the actions president biden took on day one that have led to our biggest energy crisis in years. number one, he canceled the keystone pipeline. most people know about that. it would have delivered, if we would have finished this pipeline, 800,000 barrels a day to our country. not 40,000, of which we're getting ready to try to get venezuela to supply. the pipeline's cancellation did not have an immediate impact on our country's energy supply, but

it did send an immediate and clear sigal to oil producers -- signal to oil producers and investors that this administration was going to work with american energy, the fight was on. and it showed that they were not afraid to unilaterally destroy american jobs in the process. as long as green energy activists were satisfied, that's what they were going to do. number two, the president halted new oil and gas leases on federal property, including tribal land in new mexico, despite the objections of native american leaders in the region. number three, president biden joined the paris climate agreement without any consent of this body right here, without any. the american people should always be allowed to weigh in through their representatives in this building when our country plans to join a binding

international agreement, but president biden knew he didn't have to have the votes or didn't have the votes so he went without us. he did it on his own. and number four, he overturned crucial reforms to policies that had led to historic energy production under the previous administration, creating huge amounts of red tape for producers and american workers. in the short term, he made it almost impossible to drill oil. in the common months president biden continued his crusade by creating multiple new positions and groups with broad authority to oversee and regulate energy. the biden administration's epa l rolled out restrictions on the production of oil and gas. the securities and exchange commission was given power to require companies to provide detailed reporting on their climate-related activities like emissions and plans to cut

emissions. progressive government regulators at agencies like the sec and federal reserve are attempting to force banks and other financial firms to consider the effects of climate change when lending money in investing decisions, an absurd overreach into private sector by activists posing as public servants. just as companies are laying off employees and freezing hiring in preparation for the looming recession that's coming, here comes the government to lay down more regulations that will cost a fortune, an absolute fortune to comply with. but it won't just cost the companies. it will cost the american taxpayers billions to administer all these new regulations. so how many climate scientists do you think the sec has on

their staff to put in all these regulations? i'll give you that answer -- zero, none. but they plan to spend enormous amounts of money to be the new climate police. then there is the massive $1.2 billion infrastructure law passed last year. huge amounts of your taxpayer dollars are being spent on green energy programs, including billions to advance what the white house calls environmental justice. government agencies like the epa and the department of justice expanded their, quote, equity and justice offices to selectively funnel money to certain communities of their choosing. this buildup of bureaucrats to harass businesses, farmers and energy producers is all in the name of climate justice.

is it just to encourage americans who can't afford gas to go out and buy an electric vehicle? the average cost which is $65,000. is that what they're trying to do? no. in fact it's insulting. this list of the anti-american energy actions is nowhere near comprehensive, but it does make this administration's priorities perfectly clear. more red tape, less affordable energy. for nearly two years more and more power has been given to government elites while affordable energy production has been crippled. and to make matters worse, the biden administration elites push their climate agenda on average americans all the time. and what are they? they're nothing but hypocrites. take for example, president biden's hand-picked climate envoy john kerry.

mr. kerry spends his time warning americans they will suffer unless they believe his extreme climate theories and change their behavior. he insists on it. meanwhile he flies around on his private plane, staying at one of his multiple homes and sailing on his yacht. what concessions has he made to make our lives better? it seems to me he's living pretty comfortably, but he's not cutting back. he's asking you to cut back. when he led our country's delegation to the united nations climate change conference just a few weeks ago, he flew in one of the 400 private jets from around the world that took leaders to egypt to talk about this climate change. when i talk about mr. kerry, i

don't even want to get into a discussion about our multimillionaire buddy, al gore, who has made millions on climate change, that everything he's predicted has not come true. not one thing, but he's made millions of taxpayer dollars over the years. these are the same people telling farmers, same people telling farmers to find new jobs and average people to ride a bike to work when they're out there making money off climate change and being hypocritical and telling you to change it is absolutely hypocritical, and i'm hoping the american people see right through it. time and time again americans are told to ignore the obvious

consequences of president biden's policies and be thankful for the meaningless actions he has taken. after gas prices hit historic highs over the summer, president biden took to draining our country's strategic petroleum reserve to bring prices down just before the election. how convenient. but americans are still feeling the at the pump, hasn't affected it, and paying record high prices for almost everything because fossil fuels power, they power our entire economy. it's a simple fact that is clear to the american people, but lost on the left-wing activists running this administration. they're being figured out. they are too busy warning us of a climate crisis to address the energy shortage that they have created, which is nowhere at

its peak. it's still coming. this winter things are going to get a lot worse, a lot worse for the american people. almost half of all american households use gas for heat. this year the average family relies, that relies on natural gas will pay 28% more to stay warm than they did last year. 28% and rising. that number could even go higher on energy shortage when they worsen, which they will. this kind of price increase can devastate working families. but again, instead of promoting american energy production to bring down prices, this administration has demonized and discouraged fossil fuels at every corner, at every opportunity. just a few weeks ago while responding to climate activists, president biden promised there would be, quote,

no more drilling. we're done. this promise ironically came days after his administration blamed oil and gas producers for not drilling enough. his incoherent energy agenda has created uncertainty and distrust among the energy producers we rely on to survive. and his administration's obsession with energy sources that are inefficient and unaffordable, like wind and solar, do nothing, i mean do nothing for families who won't be able to heat their homes in the next few months. americans should never have to choose being fed or being warm. never. but that is where these progressive energy policies are taking us and have left us. all this has been in the name of fighting back against so-called

climate crisis that has yet to materialize. it has not materialized. they can scare you with it. we're all environmentalists. we love this country, we love this world that we live in. we're all concerned about it, but we should not put the people in this world in harm's way. but the energy crisis is here. we will see it every day. americans will feel it every day if we do not act. the federal government should reverse policies across all agencies. we should restrict -- agencies that restrict energy production, that place undue burdens on businesses or and put foreign agreements above domestic priorities. we cannot restore our economy until we revive our energy sector. it's not possible, it's not going to happen. the safety, security, and the

well-being of the american people depend on the leaders in congress having the courage to stand up to these green activists and stand with the american families who need to fuel their cars and need to heat their homes. i yield the floor. a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from delaware. mr. carper: i ask unanimous consent to complete my remarks before we start voting. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. carper: thanks very much. madam president, i want to take a minute. i'm not a green zealot or environmentalist. i care about this planet, but i want to say while my colleague is still on this floor. i'm a recovering governor from delaware. the eight years i was privileged to be governor of our state more jobs was created in our state than any years in the history of delaware. i didn't create one of them where we didn't work hard to create a nurturing environment. going forward we're going to need fossil fuels probably as far as the eye can see.

we're going to need natural gas and petroleum, for our homes, for our businesses. let me tell you something else. the state of delaware is sinking. my state is sinking. the seas around us are rising. my state is sinking. down in the gulf of mexico, the state of louisiana during the next 100 minutes, they're going to lose a piece of land to the ocean the size of a football field. a month objector two ago when -- a month or two ago when they had the big french celebration they have every year, they had to literally stop the race in parts of the tour, tour defrance because the road was melting. we're seeing sea level rise. not imaginary, it's actually happening. when these pages down here are my age, it's going to be one heck of a problem. the question is are we going to do anything about it in ways that create jobs and economic opportunity. we can walk and chew gum at the same time. we can address climate change.

we can address global warming, and we can create jobs and economic opportunities. plenty of ways to do that. we've shown that in the inflation reduction act and the bipartisan infrastructure bill. we need to do more of the same. that's not why i came here, madam president. i came here to talk about three separate but important topics. let me start by turning to the tragedy that took place a week and a half ago. on the morning of november 20, a community of colorado springs, colorado woke up to the devastating news that five people were killed, another 25 were injured at the hands of a shooter. while we're still learning the details about this horrific is incident, this much is clear. the shooter to target an lgbtq-friendly establishment. hate has no place in this nation. never has and hopefully never will. it is up to each of us as individuals to root out hate when we see it and enact change

in order to fix it. it's not every day the senate comes together to pass bipartisan legislation, although we do it more than most people would expect. but yesterday we did just that with the majority vote of 61-36 to reaffirm to our nation's lgbtq community that we believe that every adult deserves the right to marry who they love no matter the race, gender or sexual orientation. i was honored to lend my support for the deposit respect for marriage act to protect that sacred and fundamental right to marry for all americans throughout our country. this is an historic moment for our country and a testament to what can happen when policymakers embrace the golden rule. treat other people the way you want to be treated. the golden rule is in every sacred scripture in every major religion in the world. i don't care if you're a jew, a protestant, catholic,

buddhist, muslim. they all have the golden rule in there, treat other people the way you want to be treated. i think that is the thread that underlies the legislation that we enacted yesterday with bipartisan support. madam president, as many of us in this chamber know, for the past several years marriage equality has been the law of the land. it's been the law of the land. it's nothing new. it's been the law of the land for the past seven years. and thanks to a supreme court decision, something called obergefell v. hodges, that is the, seven years ago, the basis of this is the law of the land. justice kennedy wrote in his majority opinion, no union is more profound than marriage for it embodies the highest ideals of love, sacrifice and family. his words. i could not have said it better.

americans deserve the constitutional right to enter into that profound union of marriage with the person they love. however, earlier -- and the person who loves them as well. however, earlier this summer the supreme court overturned nearly 50 years of precedent protecting a woman's right to make her own health care decisions. and tucked away in that radical decision, justice thomas, justice thomas cashed out on whether the constitution protects marriage equality. let me be clear, yesterday's bipartisan vote to protect same-sex marriage says that we are not going back. lgbtq americans can now rest assured that they are afforded equal protection under the law. i look forward to this bill being signed into law by president biden soon to make it official. madam president, let me move along to my second topic which i hope can yield similar levels of bipartisan agreement, and that is support for our nation's rail

workers. let me first state my strong support for freight rail transportation and the hardworking men and women who keep our nation's trains -- both passenger trains and freight trains rolling and running on time. this issue is personal to me. not only as someone who commutes on an amtrak train most days to work here in our nation's capital, but as the grandson of a railroad -- my grandfather was a fireman on the b&o railroad in virginia for many years. my sister and i loved to listen to our grandfather tell great stories about rail reading in those days -- rail reading in -- railreading in those days. freight rail keeps our economy moving. i didn't know it then but it did and does now. we often discuss what freight rail does in a way that is better for our planet. better for our planet. let me tell you would i'm talking about. moving freight by rail is some four times more fuel efficient

than moving freight on the highway. i'll say that engood. moving freight by rail is some four times more fuel efficient than moving freight on the highway. in fact, freight trains can move one -- one ton of freight from washington, d.c. to boston, massachusetts, one ton with one gallon of diesel fuel. one gallon. and we move -- this morning we rode on an amtrak train with hundreds of people on board. the train was sold out. we did it with using no diesel fuel, no -- we used electricity. a lot of it was generated by nuclear, offshore wind and so forth. but at a time when scientists tell us that we must dramatically reduce carbon dioxide emissions, and we must, in order to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, we can't afford to shut down the most fuel efficient way of moving freight over land in this country. madam president, freight rail isn't just important for reducing emissions. it's also critical to keep our economy humming.

our nation's most trusted economists all agree that a rail shutdown would be devastating for our economy, devastating. hundreds of thousands of americans, many of them union workers, could be put out of work in just the first two weeks of a shutdown. a shutdown could also lead many -- leave many communities without the necessary chemicals for maintaining clean drinking water. that is why president biden is calling on us in congress to pass legislation immediately, not next week, not next month, immediately to adopt a tentative agreement made in september. he did not come to this conclusion lightly and neither do i. president biden is -- by almost any estimation the most pro labor president we've had in my lifetime. secretary walsh is the first leader to lead the department of labor in more than half a century. people think he's the former mayor of boston. oh, no. he wasle the president of a major labor union in

massachusetts. both of them are saying congress should intervene in supporting the agreement that eight off the 12 rail labor unions are supporting. the contract agreement that the biden administration helped negotiate recognizes the importance and dignity of our nation's rail workers. the deal provides a historic 24% pay raise for rail workers and improved health care benefits. eight off the 123 -- eight out of the 12 unions involved in the negotiations think it's a pretty good deal and voted to approve the deal. railroad companies won't budge on granting rail workers any paid sick days. that's wrong and it's something we should work to address but not at the risk of devastating -- of a devastating rail shutdown. congress intervening in a labor dispute, we don't normally do but in this case there's a lot at stake. our house colleagues passed legislation, i'm told to avert a rail strike.

i think the vote was overwhelming. it 90-137. i'm hopeful we'll do the same in the senate well before the december 9 deadline. last but not least, i would like to take a moment to recognize to terrific members of our staff on the environment public works committee which i'm privileged to lead along with shelley capito. two of our finest are going to be leaving us this week. our committee operations manager departs our office today which coincidentally is her birthday. they'd retiring after 29 years of senate service. kelly came to the environment of public works 21 years ago and has faithfully served not one but three epw chairs including senator boxer and for the last couple of years yours truly. many of my colleagues have heard me say senators cannot do all that we do without our staffs. we hire people smarter than me with better hearts and minds. in this case she's right at the

top. but quite simply she is the heart and the soul of our epw operation. everyone in the senate building from the furniture department to the parking staff to printing and graphics department knows, loves, and respects carolyn. at a recent retirement party, carolyn reflected on what she liked about her job. here's what she said. i like to help people. that's what she said. i like to help people. what a humble and lovely way to view one's job in the united states senate, namely that it's something that comes and flows from wanting to serve. we're grateful for carolyn's help in all these years and wish her the very best. carolyn jones is departing, sadly. she started four years ago as an intern. the presiding officer knows how important interns are to us. they're like the farm system, if you will, of a great staff. she's an integral member of our staff working with our climate and clean air teams. this year she was the lead for us in working to ratify the kigali amendment to the montreal

protocol, something she did an incredible job with. carbon is a thousand times worse than co2 in terms of climate change. not only that provide jobs, address climate change but provide jobs, tens of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in opportunity. going to miss caroline's attention to detail. miss her hard work. we know she's not going too far. she's joining the staff of the federal highway administration's climate office. we know she'll bring her talents to that office and they will be the better for it as well our country. i wish them both the very best and remind them you can leave the payroll but you can never leave carpertown. what they say in hotel california? you can check out but you can never leave. that certainly is true in this case. with that, madam president, i yield the floor and as we say to our departing staff members, we say in the navy, fair winds and

a following sea. thanks much. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the question occurs on the velez-rive nomination. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote: