for oversight of the intelligence community has made them better, more responsive, and our country safer. mark, i'm going to miss that work with you. i'd also like to offer my deepest thanks and proud affection for the men and women of the intelligence community. from the junior analyst to the station chiefs in d.c. and around the world, the thing that has always stood out is there love of country, their commitment to mission, to keep the american people safe and our country secure. it's easy to focus on their so-called intelligence failures, which are more actually policy failures, and we don't get to talk about their successes, but that's what enables them to keep doing the work they do successfully, to keep us safe. it's a rare opportunity to praise them for a job well done. so to all of them, thank you.

it's been an honor, and it's been a privilege to serve in that capacity. committees are where you roll up your sleeves and you get to work. i learned that from john dingell in the house and from my friends ted kennedy and orrin hatch in the senate. it's where friendships are made and where we work together to get results for the people who sent us here. if i have any regrets about the operation of the senate in recent years, it's how much leadership ignored the work of the committees, and in many cases ignored the expertise of our staff. the senate needs more committee consideration of bills, and serious issues, less consolidation of decision-making in the hands of a few. mr. president, thomas jefferson once said, i like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.

so let me look forward in my remaining time, rather than just reminisce the past. i've never been more optimistic about america's future. during the next two decades we'll see technology and innovation at a speed none of us can envision today. technology platforms will emerge that change the global economy and at a pace that will be hard for this institution to keep up with. breakthroughs will transhormuz -- transform health care, agriculture and manufacturing. then it will hit a wall called the federal government, with an architecture designed in the 1950's. the work you've got is huge. it's time for congress to be the visionary body our founders envisioned when they created us. we're now 22 years into this new century.

-- there we go. what are we waiting for? we need to unleash americans to solve today's problems. with the intellectual power of our great country. america's full of bright and intelligent men and women of all ages, who are creative at finding solutions and forging new paths. we need these folks in the united states senate, and i'm glad that i've had the chance to serve with some who will now continue to carry on the great efforts for years to come. we need more statesmen and fewer politicians. as harry truman said, while serving in thissate body, regar, regardless of politics, our fate is tied in what happens in this room. what happens in this room. the tradition of a farewell speech usually includes some words to your colleagues about

the importance of the united states senate. john dingell's complaint about us being the enemy of the house not withstanding, here are -- notwithstanding, here are some lessons about what i learned and recommend to colleagues on both sides of the aisle, both to the newcomers and those in term one or five. one, thank your family. they put up with more than you'll ever know. to my wife, brook, thank you, thank you, thank you. while i'm sure she's happy to see me retire, she also reminded me she doesn't do lunch, so i better get a job. to my sons and their family, tyler, meg, rooney, and william, tyler -- yeah, a boy tyler and a daughter-in-law tyler -- mary, virginia, henry, thank you. i'm proud of the lives you're

building and the grandchildren you've blessed brook and i with. i love you. i look forward to spending more time with you, instead of these guys. two, thank your staff. they're actually the reason you're here. it's not you. in my time in the house and the senate, during my leadership of the intelligence committee, the help committee, i've worked with roughly 200 of the smartest, hardest-working staff who sacrifice time and higher pay to work behind the scenes to make so many things happen. i've been blessed with a staff in north carolina that my constituents couldn't be better served by their tireless efforts. i've had the best constituent

service folks in north carolina, as north carolina has ever seen. it would be impossible to name all of you, and i will put the names in the record, but particularly i want to thank dean myers and chris joiner for their years of friendship, service to north carolina, our country, and to me. i thank both of you. there are so many names, but from my house term, i'd like to especially thank jenny hanson-ware, john versagi and a.t. from the senate, natasha hickman, chris tongs, polywalker, brecka glover, josh bowlan. from the intel committee, christian cook, emily hardy, vanessa lee, tommy nguyn, the entire bipartisan russian team, and all who served the committee under my chairmanship. and my help committee, angela wiles, rachel portman, anna

abrams, dr. bob cadlick, martin, and david cleary. finally, also a few words about alicia peterson-clark. she helped me in my first election. she became my house chief, and she got me to the senate. she helped build the operation and established the culture that runs through my office today. today, even if you never met her, if you have worked for me you've been influenced by her leadership. she passed away a few years ago, heartbreakingly young, and she is deeply missed. three, consistently remind yourself why you came to serve. the american people expect us to get things done. like it or not, they may not send you home, but you'll leave feeling that you played in the game and have very little to show for it. four, only do things that have

meaningful purpose. my staff knows my rule for the introduction of legislation -- you've got to show me the human face behind the issue if you want me to introduce it and be passionate about it. five, remember our founders expected congress to be visionary. when we complain about regulation we don't like it's usually our fault, because we either delegated that authority away or remained silent when an out-of-control president just takes authority we never granted. our system's designed so that congress would do things to fix problems, including problems that didn't exist. the creation of it barda proved to me the importance of being visionary. we would not have been prepared for h1n1, ebola, zika or corona virus. look -- or coronavirus. look ahead and build an

architecture to solve them. six, nobody wins in impeachment. let me say that again. nobody wins in impeachments. i've lived through three. 75% of all impeachments in the history of the united states. congress should resist the temptation to treat impeachment as just a new -- the newest form of political opposition. seven, principle is important, but flexibility is essential. while we all have areas of interest that we're most comfortable with, they may not be the greatest need of our time. when 9/11 terrorist attacks happened, we all had to shift our focus. when is the financial collapse happened in 2008-2009, it was all hands on deck. when covid became a pandemic we had to scramble to become

health, education, and financial experts, to shore up our economy and save lives. i wish we'd done more to keep schools open so children wouldn't have suffered so much. i know that the future, we will have learned from these mistakes and we won't make them again. that's seven lessons on how to be an effective u.s. senator. i hope some of my colleagues find these to be helpful. america's always been a great country, where dreams can come true. let's keep it that way. our citizens and elected officials alike should dream big and then work hard to make them reality. the job of being a united states senator means making tough decisions. please remember that good judgment in making those decisions often involves finding some balance between two parties, as much as it means standing firm on your personal convictions and on the platform in which you were elected.

i hope we're all committed to supporting the ingenuity of our citizens so that they can match the likes of henry ford, thomas edson, george washington car ver, beulah louise henry and so many others. government should not be a roadblock to innovation and new ideas. rather, it should encourage new ideas, new innovation, and new possibilities to realize the untapped potential of our citizens. i've often expressed my belief that america's best days are still ahead, and lately i've been chided for thinking that that is true. but my optimism is rooted in reality. our country and our citizens have an unlocked potential and unbound determination to overcome any division, any problem. yes, there's much work to be done, but americans have never been afraid to roll up their sleeves and work hard to succeed. think of the challenges that

we've overcome since our country was founded -- the civil war, the great depression, two world wars, racial division, the cold war, terrorist attacks, presidential impeachments, disputed elections, an international pandemic and more. yet, none of these have destroyed the fabric of our nation or its people, and i refuse to believe any challenge is too great to tackle when we come together. mr. president, i stand here today in awe of the history made in the capitol complex. the people's house. the united states senate, the old house chamber, the old senate chamber, and even the old supreme court chamber. our nation's history is crystallized here in this building. our flaws, our triumphs, our humbling errors and breathtaking successes. if you listen closely at night when all around is quiet, you

can hear the echoing voices of the ordinary men and women who became giants in our nation's history. sam rayburn, margaret chase smith, everett dirksen, barbara jordan, john dingell, tom coburn, barbara mikulski, john lewis and so many more. they served here with dignity and honor, and they shaped the course of a nation's destiny. they shared my optimism about our country and our future, even in the darkest days, i know that optimism is not misplaced looking ahead. it's hard for me to imagine that i've had the great honor and extraordinary privilege to follow in their footsteps. i hope that my time here has had purpose and meaning. i know i've done my best to contribute and to help build a more perfect union. i'll miss you, my colleagues,

and i will miss the tremendous staff in congress who are unknown by the public, but behind the scenes they keep everything running smoothly. i'll especially miss the hardworking, dedicated and fearless men and women of the united states capitol police, for the job they do to keep us safe. when trouble rears its head, they stand up. we must all remain thankful for the job they do on our behalf. mr. president, as i conclude, i want to thank my wife and my family again, as well as my colleagues and my staff. i also want to thank the people of north carolina for honoring me with the trust and respect i've hum -- i'm humbled they sent me here to congress eight different times, and i appreciate their support. mr. president, i yield the floor.

mr. thune: madam president. the presiding officer: the republican whip. mr. thune: madam president, it's hard to believe that my friend richard burr is leaving congress. he's someone i've known since my days in the house of representatives, and we've been friends from the very beginning. and so it's difficult to mablg -- imagine serving in the senate here without him. we came to the senate in the same year as well. our wives are very close friends, and we've had many wonderful times with the burrs. in fact, i've enjoyed hosting richard in south dakota on a number of occasions. richard is an outdoors guy as i am, and he fits right in in my home state of south dakota. perhaps except for the fact that he's the only guy not wearing socks. although i will say, madam president, i have found occasions which have required him to get the socks out of his

suitcase. during one of our trips to south dakota to hunt pheasants, we landed in sioux falls. we got off the plane, it was 7 degrees, and i noticed at the next stop he had socks on. there are limitations to his practice of not wearing socks. anyway, one of our favorite past times of course in south dakota is pheasant hunting, and i've had richard out there a number of times during if he sanity season. he is a -- during pheasant season. he is a great shot. he has a fate -- favorite place to eat in south dakota which is known for among many things home-made pies. i discovered when my wife and i visit him in north carolina he's a great handy man. apparently he thinks his guests should be as well since he put me to work on a new door he was installing. we hung a door at his house. i was the grunt labor. he was the architect, the

designer, and said hold this, you know, that sort of thing. so that was my job. i was well paid for my trouble because richard also, in addition to his assets and had i attributes as being a handyman is also an excellent cook. many of you probably perhaps heent don't know that -- but one of the privileges i've got to enjoy is his cooking. he really can make just about anything -- breakfast, lunch, dinner. i'm not saying he ought to open an a restaurant in his retirement but if he did i would be the first one at the opening. he left a mark here in washington, his car a thing often left with the top down no matter the season and adornd with his colleagues campaign stickers i think everybody knows is a fixture here on capitol hill.

richard, a capable mechanic could often be found under the thing's hood, which could be a true labor of love particularly in the last few years. i would say, madam president, in this chamber, of course, richard is best known and really known for being an outstanding legislator. and i have to say thank you as he did, to his outstanding staff. there isn't anybody here who works here who knows that the heavy lifting in this place gets done by staff. and so we appreciate your many years of service to him and making him such an effective and accomplished legislator. and he mentioned the capitol staff, the capitol police here on a daily basis protecting us, just say how much we appreciate everything you have done. richard has always been someone who knows how to get things done. in addition to building a great team and staff around him, he knows how to build coalitions, he knows how to get legislation across the finish line and that's evident in his record of accomplishment here in the

senate. he talked a little bit about that, but promoting medical research, innovation has been a passion of his. supporting veterans, changing the way student loan interest rates are set to save families money, working to ensure that child care settings are safe and high quality. establishing able accounts for individuals with disabilities to help better their lives. and the list goes on. long before covid, richard was working to prepare our nation to respond to the threat of a disaster or pandemic, and since covid he's worked to ensure that our nation's future pandemic response reflects the lessons that we have learned. and of course as he mentioned, hissing longtime work on the intlelings -- intelligence committees in the house and senate, the number of hours he sat in padded rooms in classified settings, making sure that our country was prepared, working with our intelligence community, as he mentioned, to protect americans from the threats that we face

here at home and around the world. richard's been a strong advocate for his home state of north carolina, particularly for veterans. he's worked to bring new v.a. facilities to north carolina to ensure that veterans and their families who are exposed to contaminated water at camp lejeune receive v.a. medical care. i think all of us get into this life and the hope that we can one day leave congress knowing that we've done something to make life better for our fellow americans. richard can leave congress with that assurance. and, madam president, i'm going to miss him. it's a privilege and a blessing when you're able to serve with a friend for so long. i'll miss our daily interactions, but i know in congress or not, our friendship will endure. and i look forward to seeing all that richard is going to do in his next chapter in his life. i want to thank brooke, his

sons and daughters in law and grandkids for the sacrifices they made through the year. i think we all know this doesn't work unless you've got a partner, and brooke has been a partner for all these 28 years to richard, and a part of everything that he's been able to accomplish here. so i wish him and his family many more happy hours in the years ahead, and congratulate him on his retirement and on a farewell speech that i think we all ought to take to heart. madam president, i yield the floor. a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from virginia. mr. warner: madam president, it's with more than a little mixture of sorrow and pride that i raise today, rise today to pay tribute to my good friend, the senior senator from north carolina. i was thinking about the fact that senator blunt sitting in front of you, we were here for his farewell speech the other day.

our good friend rob portman who is behind you, we'll be here for his. we're losing a lot of great members in this congress. folks who are going to follow them will not replace them. they've got big shoes to fill. i mean, celebrating richard's 18 years in the senate, years on top of that, 10 years in the house, 28 years of doing this stuff, senator burr and i first got to know each other actually through a mutual friend early on in my senate career in kind of a strange series of circumstances i became really good friends with saxby chambliss. sachs -- saxby and richard were running buddies and i would run with them sometimes. richard is a pretty open-minded guy. but i've got to acknowledge, i shouldn't probably do this in front of everyone, that i'm not

sure he initially took to me that well. my staff has occasionally called me slightly intense. richard is -- has more than a few times asked whether i'm getting my daily medicine to stay on that equilibrium. so much for that. but in contrast, richard burr is more of a low-key kind of guy. senator thune has already made mention, and every senator has made mention, notice, or fun of his lack of socks. we have seen the migration of his thing from outside the russell building to where maybe it's permanent -- its permanent resting place in the garage in hart, but i park next to it almost every day. i hope he will leave it there in perpetuity. but despite this kind of where

we started off and us being a little bit of an odd couple, we have formed an enormously strong partnership. for me, at least, more importantly, a strong friendship. for five years richard preceded me as chairman of the intelligence committee, and he had been on the intelligence committee since he came to congress. and i have learned so, so much from him. not only on the substance, which is terribly important. there are a whole series of issues extraordinarily important where i never fully got up to speed because i trusted his judgment. but what really he did was he set the tone for how the committee ought to operate, a committee that, frankly, doesn't get as much attention as most because so much of what we do is behind closed doors.

the reason why the senate intelligence committee has stayed bipartisan, the reason why it is so productive, the reason why we get year after year an intelligence authorization bill out virtually unanimously with never more than one or two votes against is a lot due to richard burr. my friend, who served in the house, the dean of the virginia delegation, congressman bobby scott, has often to referred to around virginia that the senate intelligence committee is an oasis of dignity. i think that's a patricia -- a pretty darned good description. and that dignity would not have come about without rich burr's leadership. he made mention of his staff. i want to echo that, particularly those folks i've had the opportunity to work with

on the intelligence committee staff. this does not have to be the case. this is not always the model. i won't make more than a passing reference to hipsi. if you don't have not only members agreeing, you've got to have staff agreeing. and sometimes staff come with their notion that we've got to start with conflict. that was never the way that richard chaired the committee. he knew my staff as well as he knew his own. nowhere was that more evident than when he took on one of the greatest challenges and one where we kind of got battle hardened together on the russia investigation. and one of the things i know he had pride and i had pride in, there was an awful lot of folks that had to be interviewed. and without exception, the

folks who got interviewed didn't know whether the interviewees were republicans or democrats. it was that kind of professionalism, and the notion that we were going to follow the truth. and i think that work product will clearly stand the test of time. the other thing that i think richard taught me, and this was something that he has been just relentless about, is to recognize the courage and the patriotism of the men and women who work in the intelligence community. they're never going to get the recognition. public officials get the recognition, but the men and women who serve in our military get. but no matter where you travel with senator burr, there were generally two things that you could guarantee would take place. one is at some moment during the

trip he'd find a way to get a couple of hours at whatever the local bizarre was and go -- local about a -- local about a -- local bazaar was until brooke said no more rugs. he taught me when you were out on the field you go see the station and not just the station chief, but make sure you see all the members of the station and personally meet them and thank them. and in every hearing that we've had -- and i've tried to continue this tradition -- and we may not get along, we may not agree with the briefers, but at the end of that hearing, no matter how tough it may have been, he thanks the briefers, he thanks the folks who are on the back row oftentimes not getting to the front table, and he makes sure to say go back and tell the men and women you work with back at headquarters, back

at station how much we respect you and will have your back. and he has shared with me a little bit in these last few weeks the kind of outpouring of support that he's had from intelligence community members both here and around the world. and we are going to have him back in january with the leadership of the intelligence community to celebrate that again. the other thing that's a little insurance about -- unusual about senator burr and i say that to our friends in the press. most of us like to talk to the press, this has never been high on senator burr's list. i've never seen anyone manage with complete politeness give more nonanswers in the hallway as the press pool follows after him on so many occasions. but it's because it's all about

the work. others have mentioned, he's mentioned, he was and has been the leading voice on disease preparedness. listen more to him earl -- if we had listened to him earl earlier on -- earlier on like on covid, it could have been averted. i mentioned already the russia investigation. we both took incoming on that from both our sides wanted us to do it differently. he said we're going after the truth and i can assure you there would be no one i would rather be in a foxhole with than richard burr. because when the incoming kept coming in, he said, let's buckle down, do the work. he empowered the staff to do that in a way that was remarkable. and, again, that product will stand the test of time. i'm sad to lose a colleague.

i think his admonitions to us were great. i think his recognition, again, this is so richard burr that he's got so many staff here and he put the staff not in a passing reference, but was one of the major themes of his speech because we all would not be here without the kind of men and women that have supported you and support each of us who have the honor of standing on this floor. but i'm going to be really sad to lose at least the daily back and forth as a friend. he's a little bit quirky. he is not shy about giving somebody grief. i'm not sure there will ever be another senator with the same taste in footwear, sockware or lack -- sock wear or lack there of. he is one of the best senators in the world and as i've said

after getting to know brook and the kids and seeing lots of pictures of the kids and some live in richmond, and i will visit there, and on the outer banks. he has a great next chapter in front of him. he will continue to contribute to this nation in the business world. i look to see where that path leads and look to see this friendship we built will continue into the future with each of our daughterrage going forward. with that, i yield the floor and salute my friend, richard burr. thank you. the always distinguished senator from maine and senator burr knows the one thing he was also

extraordinarily critical critical of -- critical of was anybody being late to a committee hearing. i'm sure i'll get a run down on the comments later. ms. collins: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from maine. ms. collins: madam president, how heart warmwarming -- how heart warming it has been to listen to senator burr's speech, to his constituents and all americans. equally heartwarming it has been to listen to the heartfelt tributes that he is receiving from those of us who have been privileged to share with him. during his 28 years in congress,

as both a member of the house and of the senate, richard has been a strong voice for responsible government and bipartisanship. and i join my colleagues in thanking him for his truly extraordinary service, not just to the people of his beloved north carolina, but to all of our country. throughout his service richard has consistently reached across the aisle to meet challenges and to move our nation forward. as the leader of the senate health, education, labor and pensions committee, he has supported innovations in our health care system that have made a real difference for his fellow americans. these advancements include enhancing the ability of

cutting-edge treatments in medications to reach patients as well as advocating for historic increases for biomedical research. richard has also left a lasting mark on educational policy for americans of all ages. he has worked to ensure that the very youngest learners have the best possible opportunities in life by supporting early education through head start and quality child care and after-school programs through the child care development block grant. he has sought to increase the affordability of higher education by authoring the bipartisan student loan certainty act, and he has helped

americans obtain good-paying jobs by strengthening workforce development programs. richard was also a member of the bipartisan group that shepherded the great american outdoors act through congress. two years ago i was proud to join him when that bipartisan bill was signed into law. this historic legislation fully funds the land and water conservation fund that supports access to the great outdoors for all americans. it is preserving and creating recreational opportunities from the outer banks to the pacific coast. perhaps less well known but also important is the fact that richard has been a champion of

civil rights. he spearheaded the passage of the able act, one of the most important laws for individuals with disabilities since the americans with disabilities act. he partnered with congressman john lewis, the late self-rights icon, to reauthorize the emmett till civil rights crimes act to right the wrongs committed against african americans that were never investigated. when in 2010 former senator joe lieberman and i led the fight to repeal the discriminatory don't ask, don't tell law, that prohibited patriotic americans from serving in the military due to sexual orientation, richard stepped forward to help ensure

that successful repeal. as chairman of the senate intelligence committee, richard oversaw the agencies that helped to keep our nation safe and ensure that they had the tools needed to guard against foreign threats. in addition, as senator warner has mentioned, at a time of intense partisanship, he led the investigation into russian attempts to meddle in u.s. elections. he deserves enormous credit for keeping our committee focused on the task at hand and for producing a fact-based account of the events surrounding the 2016 election. there is a final story that i want to end with about richard, and it is repeating in many ways

what our chairman, mark warner, has said. i too have a accompanied -- have accompanied richard burr as he has visited with our men and women of the intelligence community at stations around the world, and he done just receive the intelligence briefings, as you would expect. no, he goes beyond that. he makes the effort to thank each and every one of our intelligence community staff who are serving in stations, sometimes enterdangerous conditions -- sometimes in dangerous conditions, often separated by their families or enduring hardship, he thanks each and every one of them, and that tells you a lot about who richard burr is.

richard, thank you for your countless contributions to the united states congress and to our nation. and i join your friends and colleagues in wishing you and brooke all the best in the years to come. thank you, madam president. mr. blunt: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from missouri. mr. blunt: calculating it may be possible that i served on the intel committee longer than anybody besides richard burr currently on the committee, sometimes in the house, not all the time in the house, and in the senate, and it is truly amazing the depth of understanding he has of programs, of capacity, of places

we are all over the world. i think he and senator warner have done a great job of maintaining that committee as a bipartisan committee, working together and understanding most of what we do and most of what we talk about is only seen by us and the staff of that committee, the important responsibility to hear questions and ask questions that others can't. richard burr is incredible. i want to spend a few minutes to talk about the other portfolio that he's involved in on the health, education, labor and pensions. in so many ways after covid, richard, we became the team appropriating to make this all work together and his efforts are extraordinary as well. we heard the long list of things he did to create an understanding of what we needed to do.

the whole idea of rapid response, of barta, of having a stockpile, all of this is not only so much richard's idea, but also richard kept the idea alive. i can tell you from absolute and knowledge from the press, why are you spending that money on the stockpile, we didn't use it last year, we didn't use it the year before, why do we need to have things that are usable and efficacy now. richard has been there. often the only person advocating for the stockpile, being ready for things that we hope don't happen are the manufacturer who is willing to manufacture this and richard burr. and others who -- a very small group of people who say we've got to be ready. now we're talking about with richard's leadership again, be ready in other ways, to be ready to manufacture and have a

response with covid and have a capacity to figure out what we need and produce that, but you've got to have the kind of relationship to have that rapid production. you know, when something like this happens, everybody's willing to do everything, and, frankly, everybody's willing to spend everything, but that's likely too late. you had to be willing to plan everything and be prepared to execute a plan rather than -- now we've got a problem, let's do whatever it takes. richard burr's been there in thinking about how we plan, how we prepare, what kind of relationships we need to have. and on top of that the biomedical research, the new interest in synthetic biology, so much of that leaves this building and this floor when richard leaves. i think there are so many ways he can be and will be available to the country and the service to the country, but showing up

every day in every congress and every session, at every meeting with the knowledge he's brought to those issues is incredibly important. we see the possibility of health used in a war like way. we see the interest and the need to look into this and see what has happened or what could happen. and let me just say from the health, labor, and education job that i've had, i've been able to see maybe like nobody else has the health, education, and labor commitment and understanding he has. i'm grateful for that. i'm grateful for his friendship. i look forward to things he and i can continue to find for do together, but i'm grateful for the fact that he's been here when he was so needed and stepped up in such a significant way. our good friend lamar alexander on that committee in the height

of covid, very close to both of us, very dedicated to this work. and when lamar said, one of the things i was most grateful was i got to serve in the senate including lamar alexander. i'm also grateful i got to serve in the senate that included richard burr. the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. portman: madam president, i am here on the floor to congratulate my friend from north carolina, the tar heel state. we go back a few years. he's from winston-salem where my wife is from. our spouses actually waitressed together back in winston-salem in high school.

more important, rich charpd has been a terrific representative for the state of north carolina, first in the house of representatives when i served with him when i was a member there from ohio. and then he snuck over to the senate a little bit ahead of me, kind of laid the groundwork. and we've had the opportunity to work on so much together, richard. and i think of every major bipartisan achievement in this place, and you will see richard's fingerprints on it. to his staff who are here, i know those of your fingerprints as much as his. so congratulations. they haven't always been easy issues. sometimes they've put in a difficult political position. but he did what he thought was right for his beloved state of north carolina and for the country. so today i've heard a lot about health care. i like health care. that's great to talk about it, but i want to talk about something else. but first on health care, i must say on operation warp speed, remarkably successful.

i think everyone has to acknowledge that now. no one in this chamber was more responsible for laying the groundwork for that than richard burr. i'm not sure people understand that. but while the discussion about interest in innovation, your work on health care, i think that's one that perhaps needs to be emphasized. you've also done a good job in other areas as was talked about today, the intelligence committee in particular. i will tell you richard and i have traveled the world a little bit together and will go to some hot spot and i'll be dutifully going to the meetings with the political leadership of the country and richard will disappear. and he'll show up a few days -- no, a few hours later. and we'll have a good conversation about things he's not allowed to tell me about so he doesn't tell me everything. but the bottom line is he is in touch with intelligence people not just here in washington but around the world and expressing our support for them and our encouragement for them for the

difficult jobs that they do on behalf of our country and really, you know, keeping the world a less dangerous and less volatile place. richard, i've seen you in action on that. but i want to talk about something else which is his love of the out of doors and his work on conservation. we are cochairs of what's called the international conservation caucus. and this is a group of members of -- two democrats, two republicans, senator whitehouse and senator coons for the democrats. senator burr and i are the republicans who talk about international conservation issues around the world. these are issues that are directly related to economic development, directly related to security, to terrorism. you think about the wildlife trafficking that goes on in places like africa where people are trafficking in ivory or rhino horns and so on. so much of that is related to providing funding for terrorist groups over there and causing a lot of insecurity in those areas. same things in terms of economic development. any of these natural areas once

destroyed don't provide the ability for clean water for food, for eco tourism which brings in money for these countries. it's all related. but ultimately i think richard got involved because of his love of nature and the out of doors and the diversity he has helped to maintain around the world not just here in this country has been one of the beneficiaries. there's a piece of this that i think also hasn't gotten enough notice today. that's my job to sort of clean up here. not just his work on what was called the great american outdoors act and there was a number of provisions in there. one of mine was on the national parks that richard would help me with on restoring our national parks. but there's one piece in there that i believe that would not have been successful without richard's advocacy over many years. he really wanted to make sure that we put our money where our mouth was in terms of the land and water conservation fund. lwcf. if you don't know what that is, then ask any of your county

commissioners or governors or others who take advantage of it. township trustees, community leaders, certainly conservation groups. because this is funding that helps with matching funding typically, local, state, sometimes other federal funding to ensure that areas are protected, that parks can be built and so on. and congress is very good about saying we're all for that, you know, we're going to what we call around here authorize the legislation to do that but then we didn't provide the money. what richard said over the years is well, if this is such a good idea, why don't we fund it like we're supposed to. that was actually falling on deaf ears for quite a while. i think it's fair to say. but rich card was persistent -- richard was persistent. i recall being at the wh white house signing ceremony and knowing that one of the most significant elements of that was full funding of the land and water conservation fund. that was because of one senator

and that's richard burr. so richard, it's been a pleasure to serve alongside you. i wish you and brook and william and tyler the very best going forward. i suspect if you want to see richard, you're going to have to go to his beloved north carolina shore particularly the outer banks where you might see him fishing for tuna or doing something else very productive. so godspeed, my friend. a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from north carolina. mr. tillis: thank you, madam president. we heard a lot of great comments. first, we heard great words from senator burr. i hope that people yield and learn from the lessons. we've also heard a lot about his body of work over the 28 years that he's been in the house and the senate. he mentioned speaker boehner

earlier who was possibly crying as he listened to richard's comments. i have a tendency when i see a friend leaving to get a little sappy too. to make sure we keep speaker boehner on the leader board for the one who cries the most, i want to talk a little bit about our relationship. we knew each other before i came here. i was speaker of the house when i first met him. but i've learned a lot from him over the last eight years. i have -- and i've seen him work in a way that is unique among many members. i feel like you sum up richard burr by his patience, his practicality, and his persistence. he's a very patient person. he doesn't think in terms of we've got to get this done this congress. he looks at the reality of the situation and he just continues to build support until he gets it done. he's practical. he looks at something, the face of the policy, and he decides

whether it makes sense, and he's willing to take the political hits to get good policy done, policy to use richard's words that have purpose and meaning. and, man, is he persistent. we've had a lot of people talk about the land and water conservation fund. i watched him work this and he worked it for quite some time. and when it was finally set up to get passed, he was making a few people in his own conference a little bit uncomfortable because of his encyclopedic knowledge of procedure. and i can remember one scene when he was walking down this aisle when we were working to get agreement, that it reminded me of a scene in a western comedy from many years ago. people down there were saying don't shoot him. it will just make him mad. he knows how to get things done. i've learned a lot from him. and i'm going to miss him. but -- with all due respect to

john boehner, i'm going to have your friendship for the rest of my life. thank you, madam chair.

the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: madam president, interspersed among the farewell speeches which are always enjoyable to listen to as people reminisce about their time in

the senate and it causes all of us to reflect on our role and what we've done to help our country and help our constituents, and no one has done it better than the senator from north carolina. but we also have a few things to do before we break for the holidays. and perhaps the most -- the next important thing that we have to do is to pass the national defense authorization act, which of course provides the authorities necessary to strengthen our armed forces, modernize our defense, and to maintain the peace. this year's defense authorization act includes a significant increase in defense funding, which in light of the range of threats confronting our country and the world is appropriate coming in roughly at $45 billion above the white house's most recent budget request. this is a bipartisan increase in

the authorization which is the appropriate role of congress to tell the white house we think you've low balled the number. and we think the threats deserve even more support in terms of the funding. but these investments are absolutely critical to our military and our national security, but we all know that this legislation is more than just about funding levels. it includes a range of bipartisan bills to support those who wear the uniform and their families, our allies, and our national defense as a whole. it really includes a lot of different bills in this unbrem la of the -- umbrella of the national defense authorization bill. one example of one of those comappropriates is protecting our service -- components is protecting our servicemembers through proven methods act which i introduced with senator sinema of arizona and a bipartisan group of colleagues. the goal of this bill is to

focus on proven methods that empower military leaders to prevent sexual assault and harassment in the military from happening in the ranks. the ram corporation, a think tank, published a ten-step approach to strengthen sexual assault prevention in the military. and step one is all about data. we need a clear picture of the problem before we can craft the most appropriate and effective solutions. our bipartisan bill specifically answers that recommendation by requiring the department of defense to collect data on the causes behind sexual assault, harassment, and domestic violence in the military. that data will better inform our decision-making within the department and beyond. it'll help guide our work in the senate, too, where there's a bipartisan commitment to ending

sexual assault and harassment in the military. and i hope it leads to stronger prevention efforts across the board. our bill requires the department of defense to confer with the universities and public health institutions to best identify the practices that will combat these abuses, whether that's in the workplace or on college campus. reliable data will then inform our prevention efforts and help stop those acts before they occur. we have grown to great -- we go to great lengths to keep our servicemembers safe on the battlefield and these efforts need to extend this every part of their service. i'm glad this legislation was included in this year's national defense authorization act, and i appreciative all of our -- and i appreciate all of our colleagues who fought to make that possible. the defense authorization bill provides a great opportunity to support our friends and allies around the world, and this bill

takes big steps to further support ukraine against the outrageous invasion effected by the russian federation on february 24 of this year. we know that the united states can't focus on countering russia or supporting ukraine. we need to do both. over the last ten months, we've supplied ukraine with critical military assistance, and this year's defense authorization act will give ukrainian soldiers even more resources to keep up the fight. and i'm glad this bill also includes a provision which will impose greater costs on mr. putin and the russian federation. since russia launched its attack on ukraine, the united states and our allies have imposed sanctions on russian businesses and oligarchs and cut off russian banks from the global financial system. but, in typical fashion, russia has found a loophole in the

current sanctions. it's taken a page out of venezuela's playbook by using the purchase and sale of gold to bring in cash. the russian federation started buying gold to offset the devaluation of the ruble and then selling that gold on international markets for high-value currency. in short, russia is laundering money through the gold market, and we need to put a stop to it. that's why i introduced the stop russian gold act with senators king, hassan, and hagerty to end this practice. this legislation would apply sanctions to anyone who helps russia finance their illegal war against ukraine by buying our selling or transporting russian blood gold. that means anyone who buys or transports gold from russia's central bank holding would be the target of sanctions themselves, a deterrent for anyone considering doing this

sort of business with russia. so we need to do everything we can to cut the financing to putin's war machine, and this is one important way to do it while we continue to support ukraine in their will to repel and defeat russian aggression and invasion of their sovereign territory. i'm glad the ndaa will build on the work we've done to strengthen our semiconductor supply chain. i know we've all learned a lot about the vulnerability of our technology, everything from our television sets to our computers to the f-35 joint strike fighter or even our cell phones. the threat of high-end semiconductors being cut off, that supply. and over the last couple years we've done big things, made major strides, to bolster domestic chip making. as our colleagues know, this is a matter of both economic and national security.

made-in-america semiconductors, microcircuits, mean more jobs, investments, and more growth here in the united states, and a strong domestic supply means we aren't at the mercy of other countries for our most critical technology. congress funded the chips act earlier this summer and we're already seeing a glimpse of the sort of upvestments it will -- investments it will bring to the united states, no -- most notely to places like texas and arizona. there's more we can and should do to safeguard our critical supply chains. at this moment, chinese companies with known connections to the chinese communist party are actively selling semiconductors to companies that do business with the u.s. government. that's a huge red flag and a major vulnerability. it puts us at risk of cyberattacks and threatens the disclosure of sensitive information, and our reliance on

these chinese companies is a risk in and of itself. the chinese communist party want wanted to starve the u.s. of our access to chips, it could use these companies to help in that effort. at the snap of president xi's finger, they could cut off the supply of chips to companies that supply products to the u.s. government. we're well aware of the risks associated with reliance on other companies for semiconductors, which is why this has been such a big priority over the last couple of years. now we need to ensure that the u.s. government isn't purchasing chips from companies connected with the chinese communist party. u.s. military assets shouldn't be threatened by using these chips which could be sabotaged by the chinese communist party and the people's republic of china. senator schumer and wicker and i have worked together on an amendment which will address this vulnerability.

our amendment would prohibit the u.s. government from doing business with chinese companies with known links to the chinese communist party and the chinese military. it specifically mentioned three companies with known links. this ban will be phased in in a responsible way to ensure that it doesn't lead to paralyzing supply chain disruptions. but once its fully implemented, it will ensure that taxpayer dollars aren't spent on chips from chinese military contractors. i'm glad this amendment made its way into the ndaa and i want to thank senator schumer sand senator wicker for working together -- and senator wicker for working together to make this possible. those are just a few of the pieces of legislation contained within the national defense authorization act, but it also includes other important provisions, too. it includes bipartisan legislation i introduced to prohibit former members of the

intelligence community from working for our foreign adversaries, including state sponsors of terrorism. what we've seen is occasionally when people retire, they're hired by other foreign governments with the knowledge they take along with them, which came in the form of protecting the united states but could then be used by our adversaries to endanger the united states. we also in the ndaa amended existing drug trafficking laws to crack down on countries like china which are known to export precursor chemicals used in deadly inclusion like fentanyl, the opioid that took the lives of millions of americans last year. this also includes in the national defense authorization act, the work product of the environment and public works committee known as wrda, the water resources development act. specifically, so far as it applies to my state, texas, this

bill authorizes the texas coastal spine project which will safeguard communities and critical industries along the texas gulf coast against inevitable future hurricanes. bill also requires the president to document, catalog, and preserve evidence of war crimes committed in ukraine so that justice will eventually be served. i want to commend senators inhofe and reed for their bipartisan work that they've done on the defense authorization bill. my only regret is that it's taken us this long to get to it. since it came out of the armed services committee last july. but we know that they've done their best under the circumstances to include bipartisan recommendations and legislation that will keep our country stronger strong and help maintain the peace. we know that both senators reed and inhofe have fought tough head headwinds getting the bill

to the floor, and my hope is that tomorrow we'll have a chance to vote on it, perhaps with a handful of amendments. this is a strong bill that will support our men and women in uniform and their families. it will help preserve our readiness against threats anywhere in the world and help preserve our national security. i look forward to casting my vote in support of that bill, perhaps as early as tomorrow. madam president, i yield the floor. mr. casey: madam president. the presiding officer: the senior senator from pennsylvania. mr. casey: thank you, madam president. i would ask unanimous consent to speak as if in 0 proceed to a period of morning business -- a if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. casey: i rise, as so many of us are talking about today

and reflecting upon the massacre in newtown, connecticut, sandy hook elementary school ten years ago today. i rise for two purposes, one is to commemorate those who lost their lives that day, especially the children -- 20 children as well as six adults -- to remember them, each of them today, but also to commend and salute the work done by families and so many sorries across this country to -- and so many others this cross this country -- across this country to make progress to reduce the likelihood of more gun violence across the country. i wanted to start, though, madam president, by reading the names and the ages of those who perished on that day at sandy hook elementary school. for each individual i'll read

their name and then the age they were on that day. first, charlotte bacon, six, olivia uncle, six, dylan hockley, six years old. madeleine hsu, six. catherine hubbard, six. jesse louis, six. anna marquez-greene, six. james mattioli, six, emilie parker, six, jack pinto, six years old. noah posner, six. carolyn previdi, six. jessica rek0os, six. avielle richman, six years old.

benjamin mealer, six. allison wyatt, six. daniel barden, seven years old. josephine gay, seven. chase kowalski, seven. grace mcdoll -- i'm sorry, grace mcdonnell, just age seven. they are the children and here are the adults who were killed on that day. victoria soto, 27 years old. rachel d pouf svino, 29, lauren rousseau, dawn hachsprung, an murphy, and mary sserlach.

when we remember them, unfortunately for the nation, it didn't stop there. and just as i've read those names, we could continue reading names from other cities in other years under different circumstances but all leading to the same place -- death and darkness because of the scourge of gun violence all across america. the children of newtown, connecticut, came before the most recent massacre of children in a school in uvalde, texas. there was, among many front-page newspaper stories on this day, i guess it will be tomorrow's newspapers across the country, we had little -- small pictures of each child and each adult.

i saved one from "the wall street journal" and then later it was on my desk for a long time and then ultimately had it matted, but i still have one just from may of this year that is still in its newspaper form from uvalde, texas. the same newspaper, "wall street journal." but you could pick any paper in the country in 2012 or this past year. that tells us all we need to know. so, as we remember and reflect upon that loss, i believe today it's also important to remember and commend what the parents did, what the families did, what their friends and relatives and supporters did, what volunteers did all these years, who didn't know these families. but let me start with the parents. these parents, of course, were

consumed by grief, as anyone would be, but somehow, somehow although they were consumed by that grief, somehow by way of their own courage and the grace of god they figured out a way to come together in common purpose, remembering and trying in their own way to pay tribute to their children, to form organizations which have been highly successful in making the case as to why we have to take action here, on the senate floor, and not far away, on the house floor, to take action on gun violence. for example, groups like sandy hook promise and newtown action alliance and so many others, and related groups that sprung up. got involved in the debate, made the case to legislators personally. parents, burdened by their own

grief but making the case to legislators. the progress has been all too slow, but because of the courage of the parents of those sandy hook children, and because of so many other families and parents who have loved and lost, we made some progress just this past year. but unfortunately, in the last ten years, it took thousands more mass shootings, and hundreds of thousands of gun deaths, for congress to finally act. let me say that again, hundreds of thousands of gun violence deaths for congress to finally act. this past summer we even had republican senators join us. not enough, but enough to pass a bill in the senate, to pass a bill that had commonsense gun-safety measures in that bill. this bill that passed this

summer not only will save lives, but there's some evidence it's already doing that, by some of the data and the analysis done by law enforcement. but this bill, if anyone is being honest about it, this bill, this effort, this ongoing effort to reduce gun violence deaths, has to be just the beginning, the very beginning of our work. people are still being killed and injured by gun violence every day in cities, in communities all across the commonwealth of pennsylvania and across the nation. we owe it to the families of those 20 children and those six adults who died in newtown, connecticut, at the sandy hook elementary school, and so many other places that we can name and catalog here today. and because of the length of that list we don't have time to go through all of them today.

so we have work to do to make sure we not only pay tribute to those families who have loved and lost and done so much to help other families, but we owe so much to them in the form of passing legislation. we have to continue to make sure that those who lost their lives on that awful day, a day that most american will never forget, we have to make sure that all the efforts that their parents undertook, that their family members undertook, will not be in vein. we have more work to do to pass commonsense gun-safety measures. my god, a background check supported by 90% of the american people has not yet been passed into law, but it will. we're going to get there, here in the senate and across the country. so we have more work to do, but

on this day, as we commemorate and reflect on those young souls we lost we also have to be positive about what their families have done since that day, showing uncommon courage and dedication to their -- not just the memory of their children, but to the betterment of the country as a whole. madam president, i would yield the floor, and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call: the presiding officer: the senior senator from alabama. mr. shelby: today i come before the senate -- are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are. mr. shelby: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. shelby: madam president, today i come to the senate floor which will be probably one of my last times. perhaps not my last time, but close. and i want to start off by

thanking the people of alabama, my home state. they put their trust in me for more than 50 years. it's more than i could ever wish for. and this has been truly here an experience of a lifetime, something i could have never dreamed. i came to the house, some of you know, 44 years ago and served 8 years as a democrat, coming from the state of alabama. i had a good run in the u.s. house, and i appreciate that. i'm grateful for that, but i always wanted to come over here to the u.s. senate. in 1986, i ran for the senate against the incumbent, jeremiah denton, a prominent here, a great war man, and i won that race by 6,854 votes. it was razor, razor thin, as you can imagine.

in 1994 -- some of you were here -- i finally after years of being told to join the republican party, should be there from president reagan all the way down, i decided to switch parties, and i joined the republican party. some people would say that i was in the vanguard of the realignment of the republican party in the south. that's the history. during my time in the senate, i've been given a great opportunity of chairing four committees, four committees, something i couldn't have believed. in these positions of leadership, i've tried to influence legislation that will have a lasting impact creating conditions to improve our country. on the committee of intelligence, i served there for eight years and was chairman

of it. on the banking committee, i'm still on it after 36 years. 36 years. i chaired that, and i'm grateful for that for three years, three terms. three congresses. and for three congresses i was wranchg -- ranking on it. and worked on that with various senators. i've had the opportunity, as some of you had, to chair the rules committee which is important to the running of the senate, and we worked together and instituted some very serious legislation. but finally after many years of work, i chaired the appropriations committee. working across the aisle, we in a bipartisan way passed most spending bills in 2019. it was the first time in 22

years, i believe, working together with senator leahy. as i look back on the senate, i think of some of the people, some of the people who were here that are not with us anymore, but they have a lasting impact on this body, the senate. senator dole. senator bob dole, presidential candidate, vice presidential candidate, majority leader, minority leader, friend, mentor. i think of senator byrd, democrat of west virginia, former majority leader, later chairman of the appropriations committee. he had strong views and was a man of the senate. we also had senator mark hatfield, a republican, former governor of oregon, distinguished chairman of the appropriations committee, that i had the opportunity and privilege to serve with.

and we had senator ted stevens, republican of alaska, well health care plan known, strong -- well known, strong views, appropriations chairman, and a good role model for me on the committee. 40 years in the senate. and we had a democrat here, senator daniel inouye of hawaii, a war hero. he's a great senator and chairman of the appropriations committee, powerful chairman for years of the defense subcommittee on appropriations. and we had here in the senate, democrat, senator ted kennedy right here. he was involved in a lot of stuff. a lot of it i voted against. some of it i didn't, though. but he would reach out. and one thing about senator kennedy, if he told you something, he kept his word.

and that's so important not just in the senate, but everywhere. and i remember my good friend bob kerrey, war hero, congressional medal of honor winner, former governor of nebraska, senator. we served together on the intel committee and appropriations committee. and on the banking committee, a stalwart here, democrat, paul sarbanes of maryland. we had our differences philosophically, but i was ranking, then i was chairman. he was ranking, then he was chairman of the banking committee. but we made things work because we worked together toward that end. senator harry reid, former majority leader, right here, old friend of mine from our house days, personal friend. people knew that. people knew, they'd see us talking and say why are y'all speaking today? i would say well, we're talking about everything, maybe personal, maybe not, maybe

trying to get something done. then we had senator cochran from mississippi, a nice man, a real gentleman, chairman of the appropriations committee, served here 40 years. and my friend from maryland, barbara mikulski, a democrat. what a fighter, always. chairman of the appropriations committee. we worked together, and i was ranking on the appropriations committee, to get things done, and we did. i'd like to touch on some of my colleagues that i served with from my state of alabama. by the way, today is the 203rd birthday of my state of alabama, today. it became a state 203 years -- i was not there then. but some of my colleagues from alabama, senator howell heflin, he's bigger than life and larger than life.

he served 18 years here in the senate. jeff sessions, a lot of you remember jeff, 20 years in the senate. luther strange, who is here on the floor, his tenure was short but we remember him well, a dear friend. doug jones served here three years in the senate, a democrat from alabama. we had a good relationship. we did a lot of things together in a bipartisan way. and my current colleague, tommy tuberville, he's doing well. he's ended his second year in the senate. a great coach when he played alabama. he beat the dickens out of us. so i said let's keep him in the senate. we don't want him coaching. but i want to mention my friend pat leahy, chairman of the appropriations committee, president pro tempore of the senate, long-term serving member of the appropriations committee. when i was chairman, he was

ranking. we worked on the committee and we got things done. i told him i'd rather be chairman, but if a democrat is going to be chairman, it had to be you. because he was the only one in the room when i said that. so we have worked together to get some things done. we got work to do before this year is out, and we hope we're on the right track. mitch commonly, sitting -- mitch mcconnell, sitting right here, friend, accomplished leader, the longest-serving senate leader, majority leader, republican leader now, a long-term friend with deep roots in alabama but from kentucky. mitch, i've said to other people that i've seep a lot of people work, but you know how to work the senate. you know how to make it work. and i consider you and i've enjoyed my time with you. i'm also here, been in the

senate, had the great privilege to serve with eight presidents -- jimmy carter, president of the united states. ronald reagan, george h.w. bush, bill clinton, george w. bush, barack obama who was a former colleague of ours, donald trump, and joe biden now, former colleague, senator. i've had that. that's a great honor. i want to speak just a few minutes here on what i think is important here in the senate. we're in the senate. we are the senate. why bipartisanship is important, and it is. it's important because it's good for the country. yes, and it's important because it brings people together. it's important because we all have our differences in philosophy, but the country, i

believe, should be first. nation first. it's important, i also believe, because of the oath we take, all of us, when we're sworn into the senate. and i want to share this with you. you've done it. you've taken -- all of us do, and you take that oath and you swear. i do solemnly swear that i will support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies foreign and domestic. that's a lot. that i will bear true faith and allegiance to the same. that i take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that i will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which i'm about to enter, so help me god. that covers a lot of ground. everybody here knows that. so as i look back on my years here this afternoon, a lot of

it was at a time when we did things together here. we ate together, we socialized together, we worked together. but today i think we've become too polarized, and there are a lot of reasons for that. we understand. but i can say we need to get back to the basics and put the country first. we must not put ourselves or our party first. we must put america first. we have to. and many of us, a lot of you have tried to do this at times. we all have in our way. senator leahy and i worked toward that end. i've always believed -- and this goes back -- we should strive for plato's instructions to all of us, to strive to work for the ideal. i know he means the utopia and

that's probably never going to happen, but that's a goal. in the senate, having taken that oath of office, i've always thought that the security of the nation is the number-one obligation of the senate and the house, the congress, and the president of the united states. my parents taught me this, and i believe this, and it's referenced in the oath of office that i just shared with you. it's important to how i believe in priorities. i've done my best to focus on things that will have a big impact on america and also my home state of alabama, because i always looked at being in the u.s. senate, i'm a senator from alabama but i'm also a united states senator. we all are, for america.

some of my priorities have been national security, as you well know i've chaired the intel committee. i have worked, i was on the armed services committee with senator nunn and warner. education is a high priority for all of us, both sides of the aisle. it has to be. creating a manufacturing workforce development as education, trade, training, you have to have it. infrastructure is so important. it covers everything from communication to roads. outstanding federal judges that we vote on here are important. also, as my days are ticking away -- and i know they are -- here, i want to mention my successor coming, senator-elect katie britt. she's here. she will be coming into office. i think she will serve the nation and all of us well.

she has a lot of promise. lastly, toward the end, i also want to thank my family for their enduring support. i want to thank my wife annette who's here, my wife of 62 years. my service here would not have been possible without her. i'm also immensely grateful for her dedication to my career and her ambition and ability on or on to break her own glass ceiling in academia along the way. my two sons, i want to thank them, richard and claude. i want to thank them for their support and perseverance while growing up in political times in a political family. it was tough on them, as you well know. i also want to thank my two grandchildren, anna shelby is here and my grandson william. he better be in the library

studying. and i want to thank my parents for everything. i mean everything. i also want to say thank you to my staff over the years. many of them are here today. and they have -- and there have been many of them, outstanding people. i couldn't have done anything without them. i don't know where i would start calling the roll. but i also want to thank ann calwell. a lot of you know ann. she's been with me 44 years. wow. and i thank her for her loyalty, her perseverance, and for getting me to meetings on time always. anne, thank you very much. lastly, i've had a lot of chiefs of staff. i've had good ones. i mean, so many good ones, but i have a young man working for me now, and he took a leave of

absence from a big job with a big pay to work the last two years up here, watson donald. thank you, watson. and i want to thank my friends back home in alabama for their support over the years as well as my friends here in the se senate. and importantly, i want to thank the people of alabama for electing me 12 times to public office. it's been the honor of my lifetime. i yield the floor.

mr. leahy: madam president. the presiding officer: the senior senator from vermont. mr. leahy: madam president, i am going to take the prerogative of the president pro tempore to speak because i know the distinguished republican leader has already spoken. i, of course, would have yielded to him had he not.

madam president, it's always hard to say good bye to -- goodbye to friends, especially one as good as senator shelby, one with whom i'll walk out of here arm in arm. but at the same time, we have to think about a time when this body and nation are as divided as ever. senator richard shelby's tenure exemplifies a commitment to cooperation and fairness. i've seen that not only in his public life and what we see on the floor but i see it in meetings we have in his office or my office, the two of us knowing we'll always keep our word. and so i would say, madam

president, at the conclusion of the 117th congress, the senate will lose a skilled leader and a true senator of his word. that has been the way with our decades of service together. senator shelby's legacy, one marked by his intellect, his integrity, will undoubtedly persist in this body and throughout the country. my great mentor when i came here as a junior most member of the senate was robert stafford of vermont. senator stafford was mr. republican from vermont and he took me under his wing. and he said to me, he said patrick, always keep your word, but you'll find you'll be the best senator if you learn to

work across the aisle, if you can work with people of integrity, both republicans and democrats. and you find among both parties you will develop close friendships. more than a fellow senator, i'm proud to consider senator shelby one of those great friends. the reference we've seen before to distinguished republicans and democrats, of course we're all called distinguished senators, but we consider in my family, my house, some more distinguished than others or for different reasons. and devotion to public service

is engrained in senator shelby's character. after he obtained his jurist doctorate, senator shelby served as the birmingham city prosecutor. i always like senators who have been prosecutors. and as alabama state senator. i never got elected, an opportunity to be elected state senator. but he began in 78 his congressional career by serving alabama's seventh district in the house of representatives. and for the last 36 years, senator shelby tirelessly served alabamians in the senate. personally when i think of who they look to, they look to him. he's been fortunate to serve with some very good senators from his state, friends of mine. a couple on the floor today.

but he built an impressive resume. he served on the senate appropriations committee and the intelligence committee and the banking committee and the rules committee. and on the appropriations committee, senator shelby fought to allocate federal dollars to institutions and infrastructure across alabama, but he did it openly and honestly. he should take great pride in his reputation as a leader who has truly improved the lives of his constituents, something senators should do. and he's -- and i worked alongside senator shelby for decades. we spent countless hours working to pass the annual appropriations bill. together we negotiated the end of the longest government shutdown in u.s. history. and i remember senator shelby, you and i sitting there and deciding okay, we have an

agreement. we're ending the longest shutdown. and we told our leaders, our republican leader and democratic leader, that we'd worked out an agreement and here's the details. and they said if you two have worked it out, that's good enough. and within hours, the longest serving shutdown ended. senator shelby coming on the floor announcing t and me having the honor of joining him. we also share memories of traveling the world together on a variety of key diplomatic missions. during that time we had long discussions, candid discussion, open discussions. thank god discussions were not -- did not have any record as we discussed what could be done better and should be done better in the senate. we formed a great friendship.

our wives, his wife dr. annette shelby, my wife marcelle, also had that friendship. and dr. shelby was able to quietly give history lessons on every single place we went to and would have -- you remember this, senator shelby -- the senators and spouses are with us of both parties would just sit there and quietly listen to dr. shelby, professor shelby. this came in very handy once in a visit to cuba where the leader in cuba, president raul castro was looking at us with suspicion, concern. dr. shelby talked about the cuban students she sought at

georgetown -- she taught at georgetown. and you remember the whole atmosphere changed. and we all got along well after that. i could say so much more and i will later but i wish both you, my dear friend, and annette, the best in the next life. i will miss you. this will not be the same place without you. and it makes my leaving here that much easier. thank you, madam president. i yield the floor. a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senior senator from alabama. mr. tuberville: madam president, as we near the end of the 117th congress, we're also preparing to say farewell to some of the body's most dedicated public servants. among those is alabama's own

richard craig shelby. i've known senator shelby for years but enjoyed getting to know him as a colleague and a friend in congress. his helping guidance have been invaluable to me since i came to the senate two years ago. it was quite the transition from college football to politics, but i jumped into the rink because i cared deeply about the future of our nation. and i realized very quickly so does richard shelby. my transition to public office was supported by some great advisers who shared my belief in america. chief among those allies is senator shelby. even though he's a lifelong alabama fan and pulled against me for ten years, we still became friends. congress is like a football team. has a lot of great prayers in

different positions, but to come together, form a game plan and get some wins for our country, those players need good coaches. senator shelby has been one of the best. born in birmingham, senator shelby graduated from the university of alabama and the birmingham school of law becoming a city prosecutor in tuscaloosa. for all the folks back home, at least we can all agree that senator shelby is one of the finer things to come out of tuscaloosa. senator shelby has represented alabamians in congress since 1979 and has served in the senate since 1987. always keeping an eye on the future and the other eye on the people he has been serving. to say senator shelby committed his career to the betterment of his state and the nation would be a huge understatement.

his retirement is well earned and his work should be celebrated. so today i want to honor the countless hours, countless hours he has spent fighting for alabama and the many achievements he has championed for the betterment of all americans. senator shelby's work has hit almost every corner of alabama. number one, his focus on national defense, manufacturing, infrastructure, and education will be the hallmarks of his legacy. first, senator shelby's commitment to our state's defense industry is second -- and i mean second -- to none. his support for america's military and his belief in the abilities of alabamians cemented our state's role as a leader in

america's national defense infrastructure. in nearly every position he's held in the position, he's used the tools available to bolster our armed services and utilize resources alabama offers. more recently, as chairman of the senate appropriations committee and its subcommittee on defense, senator shelby delivered billions in crucial defense funding. his efforts helped significantly expand the capabilities of redstone arsenal in huntsville, alabama. redstone arsenal has grown from a u.s. army base to a collection of crucial facilities for our national defense and the federal government. the resources and responsibilities secured by senator shelby for the redstone arsenal increase its capabilities, missions and its tenets. and behind the fence at redstone arsenal today, we have the army

materiel command, army aviation and missile command, the missile defense agency, nasa's marshall space flight center, the missile intelligence space center and the expanding presence of the federal bureau of investigation. under senator shelby's leadership, the fbi's presence in alabama will be its second largest only behind here in washington, d.c. along with me and the entire alabama delegation, senator shelby has also been instrumental in the work to permanently relocate u.s. space command to redstone arsenal, a move we hope to applaud after an official announcement by the air force in the very near future. second, thanks to senator shelby's commitment to bringing jobs and industry to alabama, our state has also grown into one of the country's leading manufacturing hubs.

after a visit to germany by senator shelby in the 1990's, he played a key role in bringing mercedes-benz and their suppliers to alabama. fast-forward a couple of decades to today, there are more than 30 german suppliers in west alabama pennsylvania loan. the impact of the automobile industry and migration has been huge for the workforce and economy thanks to senator shelby. he was also crucial in recruiting suppliers for airbus in its south alabama manufacturing plant in mobile, which added hundreds of billions of dollars to our economy and created thousands of very, very quality jocks. his work to establish manufacturing centers at universities to help make alabama home for many aerospace and defense companies resulting in thousands more jobs and countless, countless opportunities of growth. and, third, that growth would not be possible without solid

infrastructure which senator shelby has helped build for decades. alabama's vast and unique geography presents certain challenges for infrastructure and many opportunities. senator shelby's ability to both foresee challenges and imagine opportunities has made him invaluable -- an invaluable tool throughout our state's growth. a lot of that growth has stemmed from our state's coastline and the port of mobile, one of the largest in the country. and now the u.s. army corps of engineers is working on a project to deepen the mobile ship channel allowing bigger ships to navigate mobile bay. with senator shelby's guidance and support, the port authority and terminals have steadily expanded the mobile terminal, making it one of the fastest growing in the nation. as a key player in the senate

appropriations committee, senator shelby has secured many dollars for alabama's infrastructure, upgrading highways, airports, and bridges. fourth, all this growth in defensive manufacturing, infrastructure, and more would mean nothing without the talented men and women who serve our military, lead our companies, and pioneer the new industries driving economic development. that talent, and those are cultivated through education, and senator shelby believes in the value of quality education, even at auburn university. he is a product of an alabama public school and a state university. his personal experiences instilled in him a deep respect for the role of public education and a desire to make it the best it can be, to make sure our state was on par or leading other prestigious educational

institutions, senator shelby fought to support and invest in alabama's schools. he delivered hundreds of millions of dollars to alabama's universities to build math, science, and engineering complexes. these top-tier facilities have helped to bring students and experts from around the world to alabama. today airbus works closely with the university of alabama's engineering program, a relationship that is the perfect example of connection between premier -- premier education, talent. senator shelby understands the relationships as he does his wife, as does his wife, a decorated professor and a lifelong education advocate. that understanding has driven his priorities throughout his career and helped alabamians along the way. there are a lot of big personalities, big decisions and

big egos here in washington, d.c., but it takes commitment, humility, and patriotism to make a difference in the lives of others. senator shelby is a giant in the senate because he never forgets about the things that matter the most -- the little things. things that are most important to everyday americans back home. they have supported him for decades because he has always had their back. as we bid farewell to senator shelby, i encourage all my colleagues to honor his legacy by following his example -- put your family, your country, and your principles first and the rest will fall into place. we all know public service is not just a burden of time and of effort for the servant. it's also for their families. so to dr. shelby, thank you for your steadfast service to our

state, along side your husband, and to senator shelby, thank you for your mentorship over the past two years. i will use these lessons learned by serving you with the rest of my time in the senate and beyond. i yield the floor. mr. blunt: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senior senator from missouri. mr. blunt: mr. president -- madam president, a moment ago when i saw senator shelby and senator leahy shake hands warmly in the middle of the aisle, i thought immediately, that's a century of service in the congress. it's a century of learning lessons that fortunately they've both been able to share with us. i mentioned in my farewell remarks the other day senator shelby and senator leahy and how working with both of them on the appropriations committee and the rules committee i'd learned so

much from them. but i was reminded today, i've heard a number of these speeches in the time i've been in the senate. i don't think anybody has ever reminded us quite so well of the obstruction of justice we -- of the oath we take. the oath we take to the constitution is the oath we take to do this job as well as we can, the promise we make, frankly, to find a solution. and it's a lot easier in washington these days and in the senate -- it's easier to find a fight than it is to find a solution. you know, we've kind of fallen into a place where so many people now run for office talking about what they'll never do. frankly, when you start talking about what you'll never do, that usually takes you out of the conversation of what can be done. and if anybody here has been a determined participant in finding what could be done, it's senator shelby. and that certainly does not mean that he gives in easily, and

many times i've been asked by other members and the press, well, what do you think senator shelby is thinking about this final deal? and i say, i don't know what he's thinking, but i know he's thinking. and i know we're not going to find out what he's thinking until he's ready to tell us what he's thinking. but he's trying to figure out a way to come to a conclusion that can actually solve the problem and in the appropriating process, that problem is usually keeping the government in business. and, you know, the other thing i've noticed especially about senator shelby is how obvious he's willing to share -- how often he's willing to share things that he appears from his family. his older sister used to -- i'd hear from him, well, i got advice from my older sister and i'm wondering, well, how old is your oldest sister.

so so i'd usually act. -- so i'd usually ask. just like his sister was calling him and saying, whatever it was they were talking about that day, he was always talking about his sons and always talking about mrs. shelby. you know, i have such great respect for her. and he'd say to me, you know, you're married to a strong woman, too. and i'd say, yes, i am. and he'd say, we better not forget t and he hasn't forgotten it nor has he forgotten to appreciate her and brag on her and understand what an important part of his life and his career she has been. i hope i've learned something from that as well. and then team shelby, it's just pretty good. you know, richard has surrounded himself with people that have stayed in his working orbit. maybe they go from one committee to another, maybe they stay right where they are being sure they keep him on tomorrow, maybe they find out that if if you're

going to travel, you're going to travel in a way that absolutely reaches the diplomatic conclusion and the helpful conclusion for the country. in alabama, it was designed to make. i've always been a big respecter of team shelby as well. and i was particularly impressed to watch team shelby, whether they knew it or not, they just produced their to ensenator. i think katie britt is is going to be at that great part of the united states senate. she was an important part of senator shelby's efforts here. he'd listen to her, she'd listen to him. when it came time to step up, i don't think any member of the senate that i am aware of has made a greater compliment to try to be sure that -- a great commitment to try to be sure that they would be replaced by someone that would do the best possible job of following their legacy for the state. it's been wonderful for me to

get to be on that appropriations committee and the rules committee and work with senator shelby but also all the many times we've had just to talk about what's going on that day, what was going on with his family, what was happening with the staff, and i'm glad to be here today and share with him how much i have benefited from the great friendship that we had but more importantly the great example and to be reminded again of our oath to the -- of our oath to the constitution and of the importance of being a problem solver rather than being the person that always wants to talk about the problem. richard always wants to solve the problem, and the country is better for that and so is the senate. i'd yield back. the presiding officer: the senior senator from north dakota. mr. hoeven: thank you, madam president. i just wanted to add my congratulatetory remarks and

things to senator shelby, our senior senator from alabama. for me, he will always be the chairman. he has been certainly my mentor, and i think the senator from missouri and others would say the same thing. he's been our mentor on appropriations. in my case for 12 years. and i would have to say it's -- to me, it's amazing how well he understands the process. of course, you've been at it for a while. but, how well he understands the process, how well he works it and then the people he hires are so good. and that's something we have to work with. as chairman of the subcommittees, is the -- our chairman as well, oregon staff shall -- or our staff administrators as well. in working with senator shelby, we're able to get the very best people. so it wasn't just his staff director for the full committee but the staff directors that we had on our subcommittee and and

i think the senator from missouri would back me up on that. we were able to have such good people who really understood the process very well also. and that's incredibly important in appropriations. because you've got all of these things that are authorized and then we have to figure out what to fund and how to fund. and not only that, but how to get those bills passed at the committee level and then ultimately passed across the floor and of course everybody has a tremendous interest in what's in those appropriations bills. so it's not just the process he understood so well and worked so well but his understanding of people. and he didn't always -- he wasn't the person who always talked and he certainly wasn't the person when he talked who talked the the longest. but i've always believed that sometimes the person that can express a thought in the most cogent way, a full, complete

thought that's appropriate at the time that actually makes the point in the fewest number of words actually shows the keenest intellect. try it some time. try saying as much as you can in terms of something important and making a point in the fewest possible words. it truly does take a keen mind. the chairman not only had a keen mind for the policy and what needed to be done, but also working with people. and i think maybe that, you know, is something i appreciate even more is that when you work with chairman shelby, he took the time to understand what was important to him, and then to the best of his ability, he would try to help you accomplish that. now, if you kind of thought that's pretty good, i think i'll go back and try to get a few more things, sometimes you'd -- he'd have to remind you that you've got to prioritize and he might remind

you that, boy, you're kind of pushing for a lot there. in that respect gave you perspective. and that's important too. that's important too. but for the things that really mattered and for the things that you needed to get done, he really took the time to work and make it happen. and that might not happen in one cycle. that might be something that he would recognize, okay, i get it, this is important to you. and we maybe can't chop that tree down, you know, with one swing of the ax, but we'll keep working on this, and i'll work with you on it and we'll get that done. and he gave you the confidence that it actually would happen, because you knew he was going to stick there with you. i guess in return, you know, you had to try to make sure you're doing your part. and in that respect, that would be the one other point i would mention is that doing your part, he also understood there were times you could accomplish and do what he wanted you to do

and vote with him, and that you probably should, but then he also recognized there's times when you can't. and he accepted that. and i think that takes an awful lot too because there's a lot of type a personalities around here and it can get a little demanding once in a while. and i think he understood both, the leadership and the idea of, okay, let's get something done, but then also sometimes understanding that you had to make a decision that might not be exactly what he wanted nbltions situation and accepted it -- wanted nbltions situation and accepted it. the final point i would make is i really like sports. now that i'm an old guy all i get to do is watch them anymore. but senator, chairman shelby, he looks sports too. anybody that knows him pretty well knows that he's somewhat partial to the tide. he's kind of an alabama fan. that might be because he played

football for alabama. i don't know how many know it, but back in the day of bart starr, an incredible football star for the green bay packers, i remember as a kid watching them win the first two super bowls, the green bay packers against the chiefs and raiders. when i got here i found out chairman shelby had been a tight end on a team where bart starr was the quarterback, i thought, wow, that's pretty cool. as a result of that, i always looked to talk to him about sports. we'd talk about, i'd talk about north dakota state bison football team and not surprisingly he'd talk about his beloved alabama football team. i have to say, you know, probably most people when they watch the tide play, and that seems to be pretty frequently for a national championship or important games, they think of bear bryant, coach bryant, the

coach, and how he kind of got the whole alabama football dynasty going. and that's another thing that's interesting that chairman shelby knew bear bryant and worked with some of bear bryant's other really great players like joe namath and a few others. i love hearing those stories and i will have to tell you that not only now but for as long as i'm around, i always take an abiding interest in watching the alabama football team play. and while most people probably think, you know, when they think about icons and they're watching the alabama football gape, they go, oh -- game, they go that bear bryant, didn't he start something amazing? isn't that an amazing dynasty? as a matter of fact, i've got to do one quick story, and that is we like to kid the chairman. so one year alabama had a particularly good football team, and the story we were

kind of teasing him about was did you see the new football rankings came out for college football. we'd say who was number one? he said alabama of course. and we'd say who was number two? alabama second string. and they said that's good. how about number three? well, that's clemson or somebody else. they said okay, how about number four? well, that's alabama's third string. we like to tease and have fun. but whenever i watch the alabama football games now, i don't think about bear bryant. i think about chairman shelby, and i think about all the amazing things that he has done in congress, in the house, and in the senate not only for alabama -- and he's done quite a few good things for alabama, but he's done an awful lot of good things for this country. i think where the rubber really hits the road on so many of these things, this legislation

get authorized, whether it's dwengs or -- defense or anything else but it's got to be funded. if you really look back at the length of this gentleman's career in the house and in the senate and what he's actually done and all the things that he's been a part of and been involved with, it's monumental. it's iconic. it's a big, big deal. and we're going to miss him a lot. so i just want to say thank you to senator shelby, to his wonderful, beautiful, classy wife annette, from both myself and my wife mikey. it's been great working with him. i hope we see a lot of him in the future. and congratulations on just an incredible career in the united states congress and senate. thank you, mr. chairman. with that, i yield the floor.

a senator: madam president, i would note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

the presiding officer: the senator from virginia. mr. kaine: mr. president, i rise for multiple occasions. to begin, i want -- the presiding officer: we are in a quorum call. mr. kaine: i ask that the quorum call be sus suspended. the presiding officer: without

objection. mr. kaine: kaine i rise to acknowledge earlier this week, we mark the bicentennial, we share a border. our cultural ties are particularly deep. 40 million americans have mexican heritage, many of whom are proud residents of virginia. people of mexican origin represent nearly 60% of our hispanic population. these people-to-people ties are invaluable. these two countries share an important tradition of democracy, and it requires consistent work and maintenance to ensure strong and independent institutions, rule of. law. we know this is a vital endeavor and bedrock of our partnership. as we celebrate the

bicentennial, it is important to continue all efforts to advance this relationship. i want to commend the biden administration for working side by side with mexican leaders and taking on the challenges we face together. this is exactly what we should be doing with a close neighbor and partner and i'm committing to continue to support these efforts through my role on the foreign relation foreign relations subcommittee. through the high-level dialogue, and the north american leaders summit and other national engagements, we have worked closely. we have to ensure the future of the u.s.-mexico relationship continues to be grounded. the protection of fundamental freedoms that are so important to both of our people. so, mr. president, i thank you. i'll have a more formal and detailed statement on the bicentennial that i will will have submitted for the record. now, mr. president, if i may continue. i want to rise together, together with my colleague from

new hampshire, senator shaheen, to seek consent to advance the nomination of a friend, dr. gupta. i would like to ask if i might yield time now to my colleague from new hampshire, senator shaheen. the presiding officer: the senator from new hampshire. mrs. shaheen: thank you, mr. president. and thank you to my colleague from virginia, senator kaine. i'm really pleased to join you on the floor in support of dr. gupta to be ambassador at large for global issues at the department of state. this isn't the -- sadly, this isn't the first time that i've come to tt floor to raise dr. -- to the floor to raise dr. gupta's nomination here with our colleagues in the senate but also with our colleagues on the foreign relations committee. i have to admit, mr. president, that it's disappointing to still be standing here trying to convince my colleagues that women's rights matter. they matter whether they're in the united states and

afghanistan and iran, in china or venezuela. partisan obstruction should not prevent a qualified nominee from undertaking the necessary work of the ambassador at large for global women's issues. and i have to be honest, it feels to me like what's at issue here is more than just the office of global women's issues. it feels like the members of this body don't understand the role of that office and think any time there's something that has women in the title, that we must be talking about reproductive rights. well, that's not what the office of global women's issues does. reproductive rights are not part of that office. and it's disappointing that we are here still debating whether we're going to put an ambassador into that office when for the last -- since the beginning of the trump administration we've only had about a year when we've

had an ambassador at the office of global women's issues. you know, i would say to my colleagues across the aisle who are worried about dr. gupta's record, to meet with her, sit down and talk about what she would prioritize as ambassador for global women's issues. they should request a briefing with usaid's office of global health because that's where their work is done to address women's health care. and what usaid's office of global health has done is reduced maternal deaths by 30% annually and saved the lives of 1.4 million children under 5 each year and it decreases. let me repeat that. it decreases the number of abortions, particularly unsafe abortions that happen around the world. but that's not what the office

of global women's issues does. i hope they won't continue to 0 hold up dr. gupta's nomination because they don't understand how women's health is support by the united states government or which offices do the work that they object to. the office of global women's issues is charged with advancing the rights and liberation of women and girls around the world through our u.s. foreign policy. it endeavors to empower women and eliminate barriers that prevent them from achieving equity and equality, particularly economic equity and equality. so not only does the office of global women's issues prioritize policies and programs to advance the status of women around the world, it ensures that u.s. policies incorporate genders at all policies and decision

levels. we need an office is that charged with leading women's policies. what we've seen as a result of the last few years of this pandemic is that the gender gap has grown. girls are dropping out and staying out of school at a higher rate than boys, the female labor force participation right has declined with women holding less secure jobs and taking on even more unpaid child and housing labor than before the pandemic. gender hef based -- gender-based vines has increased -- has advanced to -- increased that there is a shadow of the pandemic. more than half of the world's population. they need a champion in our u.s. foreign policy. they need dr. gupta. gender equity, equality and the

empowerment of women and girls must be a focal point of u.s. foreign policy and that is what the ambassador at large is intended to facilitate. the reason it matters to our foreign policy is because what we know is that when women are empowered, their families are empowered, they gave back more to their families and communities then men do, and societies that empower women are more stable societies. these are issues that we need to pay attention to. we need someone in that role who's going to pay attention to those issues, and that's what dr. gupta would do if she is approved. so, madam president, senator kaine, that's why we're here again on the floor in support of dr. gupta's nomination in hopes that our colleagues on both sides of the aisle, but particularly our republican colleagues, will recognize what the office of global women's

issues does and understand that it's not the office that is working on reproductive rights for women. a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from virginia. mr. kaine: in just a second i will make the motion for unanimous consent. before i do, i just want to say this nation has a bipartisan track record of fielding fantastic women diplomats. secretary clinton, secretary rice, secretary albright, and so this is something we do well and have done well in a bipartisan way. my colleague from new hampshire talked about what this important position does and what it doesn't do. i just want to say a few works about dr. gupta. she's a nationally recognized leader and expert on women's contributions to economic prosperity. she has over three decades of experience in advocacy and the implementation of programs to empower women and girls. that includes five years at

unicef and working at a research institute. she has demonstrated that investing in women is one of the best tools to promote economic development and stability. because of her strong reputation, because of the importance of the role, because of the fact that this is not a position that deals with some of the issues that often cause controversy on the floor, reproductive rights, i now move to the following. i ask unanimous consent that the senate foreign relations committee be discharged and the senate proceed to the following nomination, p.n. 1578, dr. geeta gupta to be ambassador at lornlg for global women's -- at large for the global women's issues, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, that no further motions be made in order to the nomination, that any related statements be printed in the record.

the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. lankford: reserving the right to object -- the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. mr. lankford: thank you. let me clarify what this motion is. this motion today is to ask for unanimous consent of all 100 senators to be able to move a nominee through the process, a nominee that when she came through the foreign relations committee, every single republican opposed. every one of them. it seems the frustration here doesn't seem to be with republicans. it seems to be with the democratic leader, quite frankly. this nominee was brought to the committee last year and then was voted out of the committee in july of this year but has never been brought to the floor for a vote. never. instead, it's been a try to do a unanimous consent when my colleagues full well know that every single republican on the foreign relations committee

opposes this nominee and now the request is, now that you opposed her in committee, now consent on the floor to be able to support her. that's not going to happen, obviously. now, we've not blocked a vote. if the democratic leader wants to be able to bring this nominee to a vote, he's had plenty of opportunity to be able to that and still has opportunity to be able to do that. no one is inhibiting a vote on the floor. what we oppose is what's being pushed onto us to say, now unanimously consent to someone you know you don't agree to in the first place. it has also been interesting in this conversation to say, this nominee has nothing to do with reproductive rights, has nothing to do with that a i've heard that from my colleagues. it's fascinating to me that planned parenthood put out a statement in strong support of this nominee and specifically stated in their release, because she'll speak out on reproductive rights for women globally. so either planned parenthood is not telling the truth or something else.

so it is interesting when we get into this dialogue to say, okay, let's just have the vote on it and allow everyone to be able to speak o we have a disagreement on this -- to speak out. we have a disagreement on this nominee. but it is the right of the majority leader to be able to bring whoever he chooses to the floor for a vote. but i would say please don't ask me to unanimous consent to someone that we have a philosophical difference with. so with that, i object. the presiding officer: objection is is heard. mr. kaine: madam president, might i -- in response to my colleague, might i modify my request. because certainly someone should have the right to vote no if they want to vote no. let me modify my request. i would ask unanimous consent that the senate foreign relations committee be discharged and that the senate proceed to the following nomination -- p.n.1578, pete at that time rao gupta and that the senate vote on a nomination to be determined by senate leadership. the presiding officer: is there objection?

mr. lankford: reserving the right to object -- the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. mr. lankford: i would say to my colleague that obviously i'm not in the position to be able to make a decision for all of my colleagues at this moment. whether that's acceptable, that's something we should discuss with the ranking member of the foreign relation relations committee and with the republican leader-and-how our conference to be able to have that dialogue if that's an acceptable thing. so at this point i would object, just saying i'm not in a position because i'm not going to try to speak for the ranking member of the foreign reels committee who vote -- relations committee who voted unanimously in opposition. the presiding officer: the senator from new hampshire. a senator: i think i wasn't clear. when i said i didn't talk about dr. gupta's position on reproductive rights for women, i talked about the role of the office of global women's issues. mrs. shaheen: when i supported kelly curry who was nominated by

president trump top the head of the office of global issues, i didn't ask what her position was on choice. i asked her what she was going to do when she took that role. and she had an excellent history of working on issues that mattered to women and foreign policy, and because that's not the agency that's charged with women's reproductive health in our government, i didn't think that should be the basis on which i judged whether she was the appropriate person to take over that role. and, sadly, what seems to have happened is that because dr. gupta personally says she is pro-choice, those -- all of the antichoice organizations have made her nomination an issue. so i would ask my colleague, have you sat down with

dr. gupta? have you asked her what she would do in her role if she's approved to be the head of global women's issues and whether that was something that she was going to talk about or work on? mr. lankford: if i may respond to my colleague as well -- the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. raping lang in a colloquy, a conversation -- lang if a colloquy, a conversation. -- mr. lankford: if a colloquy, a conversation. that's not a committee that i serve on. i do knowual the members of the committee. i have been able to sit down with her personalland go over all those notes. i know how she was able to go through the committee without any republican support at all. there is a very strong statement on support of her. that seems to say at least somebody is saying this role is going to take on that issue but that's not a committee that i currently serve on. but i do know those well that do. mrs. shaheen: i would just say

to my colleague, having sat through those hearings which my recollection is only one 0 two republicans on the committee showed up and that most of the people who i talked to had not actually talked to dr. gunpoint ttackers didn't actually know what the office of global issues does and it's very disappointing that they're going to make a decision based on a press release from planned parenthood as opposed to looking at what she would actually do in that role and the the responsibilities of that office. so, you know, you guys think that every time you see women in the title, as i said, we're talking about reproductive rights. that is not the case. there's a lot that women do besides having babies. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the

senator from oklahoma. mr. lankford: madam president, i would affirm again as a husband and as a dad of two daughters and as someone who's very passionate about global women's issues as well, i am fully aware that women do a lot more than have babies regardless of health and human services currently using the term byrneing people and men straighting persons -- and menstruateing persons, which i find offensive. this is a group of people that's made tremendous contributions, including in my own life and family. i would just ask the question, this is not a nominee that we're going to give unanimous support to, but i'm unsure why the democratic leader hasn't scheduled this vote now for months on the floor when there's been months that we've been in session that it's yet to be scheduled for a vote. mr. kaine: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from virginia. mr. kaine: i said i was rising for multiple purposes.

now my third purpose. i would seek consent to speak for about five minutes on legislation that we'll be contemplating tomorrow. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. kaine: we're currently in consideration of the national defense authorizing act and the leadership is working out a timing agreement for a vote possibly on one or mo amendments and -- and one or more amendments 0 and then a vote on ndaa. i think the defense bill that our armed services committee did with strong bipartisan support is a very strong one. the timingston my liking that it -- the timing isn't to my liking that it took so long to reach with the house. we are likely to have a vote on aen amendment tomorrow on an amendment offered by my friend and colleague, joe manchin, dealing withempt permitting repeal. i want to stand on the floor to express my rejection not to the topic and not to much of the substance but to one particular provision that i think is horrible policy and that will cause me to oppose the amendment.

do we need to do permitting reform to accelerate infrastructure in this country? we do. we do. many of the permitting reform rules, for example, are decades' old and haven't kept up with new technologies or new needs of our population. i'm strongly of the belief -- i'm strongly of the belief that we should do permitting reform. the amendment that we're going to be voting on tomorrow at least i i've been told -- i haven't seen the language, but i've been told it's very similar to an amendment that was offered in september. it's an 88-page permitting reform bill, 85 pages are permitting reform. the last three pages are the opposite of permitting reform. what do i mean by that? 85 pages of the bill go deeply into permitting for infrastructure, especially energy infrastructure, and propose a whole series of reforms, many of which i strongly support. although i had no hand in the drafting of that bill, and i think i could improve it if i was involved, i would give that

bill a good solid b or b-plus. and i would have no trouble voting for it as an amendment to the defense bill or a a -- a stand-alone women perform the last couple pages of the bill take a singular project called the mountain valley pipeline and exempts it from permitting reform. it slings says this 85--- it essentially says this 85-page reform that sets p how a project should be administered and then reviewed by the judiciary if there are complaints about it, that's what the 85 pages does. then the last three pages says the mountain valley pipeline should be exempt interest that, should get an administrative green-light and in a provision that i find to be both unprecedented and really troubling, it suggests is that if individuals want to seek judicial review of mountain

valley pipeline, the current jurisdiction in the federal code which would suggest that suit would be heard in the fourth circuit -- judicial circuit which includes virginia, the case about one project, the mountain valley pipeline, will the stripped away from the court where it is currently be lit gatted and all future litigation must happen in the d.c. circuit. now, never in the history of this body has congress gone into the middle of a case and because a corporation was not happy with the rulings of the court stripped the case away from the court and given it to another court. and i have verified that through my own staff and research since this provision came up in september. stripping a case away from a court. now, this is my hometown court. it's headquartered in richmond. the chief judge is somebody i used to try cases against when i was a civil rights lawyer before i got into politics. he is an esteemed jurist. yes, the fourth circuit has

rendered some rulings in this case that the pipeline operator doesn't like. i used to lose cases in the fourth circuit. i wasn't always happy with them. but the people i represented, if you lose a case, you appeal. you don't rewrite the federal jurisdictional code to say, this court can no longer hear the case in the middle of the case. if we go down this path on this project, i can see it opening a door we will not want to open, a door that could even lead to corruption. i'm a wealthy, powerful corporation. i don't like the way the second circuit is ruling on derivative shareholder suits. maybe i can strip jurisdiction away from them. i don't like the way the ninth circuit is ruling on employment discrimination cases. maybe i could strip jurisdiction away from them. i get it that a big company is not happy because they have lost a case. 50% of all litigants are unhappy. someone wins and somebody loses. but the solution is not to take

jurisdiction away from the court that is hearing the case and give it to another court. that's not the solution. the solution is to improve the permitting process. there are two elements of the first 85 pages of the bill that actually help mountain valley pipeline. one element would be in the first 85 pages that president biden -- the president in the bill is allowed to designate 15 projects of national significance and then expedite them. that's in the first 85 pages. and if president biden decided the mountain valley pipeline was so important to make that top-15 list, that permitting reform could help the mountain valley pipeline. and, second, there's a provision in the first 85 pages that would require that on matters that come up again and again and again, the panels 0 on circuit courts have to rotate and randomly sign, not keep the same panel. so because i haven't seen the

language yet, it may not still be final and i would urge those pushing it, do permitting reform but don't exempt a project in my state from the permits, don't exempt it from judicial radio he view, don't strip jurisdiction away from my hometown court and give it to another court. i was never consulted about this. my constituents feel very, very passionately. their land is being taken from this. the only way you build pipelines is to take people's land. this is 100 miles of land in virginia of people's land being taken and this body should not green-light a project and exempt it from permitting rules in a bill that we are saying is designed to improve permitting. with that, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the question

occurs on the nomination. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote: vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: the yeas are 51. the nays a 45a the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, and the president be immediately notified of the senate's action. the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. brown: thank you, madam president. it is always an honor to speak on the senate floor, especially an honor when the presiding officer is one of my favorite

members of the senate and especially an honor when i'm going to be followed by the other senator from ohio, about whom i spoke yesterday. so thank you. madam president, i think we can agree we've had a very productive 23 months in this session of the united states senate. democrats passed the inflation reduction act, which will lower prescription drug costs, which will combat climate change, which will hold corporations accountable when they reward ceo's at the expense of workers. we worked together on a bipartisan basis and i worked with my colleague, senator portman, 0en this one to pass an historic infrastructure bill. presidents of both parties promised it, but we finally got it done starting last year with a new president and a new senate. it means progress on projects americans need, like the bridge on the other end of my state. it connects my state to leader mcconnell's state and the

brent spence bridge, they say that something like 3% of gdp crosses over that bridge every single day. we also -- senator portman and i also worked together to make sure that we had strong buy-america language, the strongest ever buy-america language. we pass the pact act, again bipartisan, the most comprehensive expansion of benefits for veterans who face toxic exposure in our country's history. senator tester, who sits just two seats is away from me here, who came to the senate with me, senator tester from montana is the chair of the veterans' committee. i will be next year the second-most senior member of that committee. we wrote that bill together. i give more credit to senator tester, but we worked together. the most comprehensive expansion of benefits i've been in 15 ohio counties since that bill passed a talking to people. if you are diagnosed as a veteran with one of 23 illnesses, this bill spells out,

you will automatically -- and you were exposed to these football field-sized burn pits in iraq or afghanistan, you automatically will get coverage at the cleveland v.a. or dayton or chilly consequently or one of the communities in zanesville or parma. after decades of inaction, we passed the first meaningful legislation on gun safety in decades, which will help make our schools and communities safer. we passed a the chips and science act, already helping to reshore semiconductor manufacturing in the united states. earlier today i was with a number of people from intel, the company that's going to have a huge expansion, and that company has promised when they hire 5,000 workers, which they've already start add, to do the construction on the intel manufacturing plant, that they are hiring -- they have a so-called pla, which means

they'll hire union workers. in the worst depths -- this is what i want to talk about in detail -- the worst depths of covid, democrats passed the american rescue plan which extended child tax credit. it saved the pensions of more than a million retirees. would saved the pensions of more than 40,000 ohio workers. that will grow to 1 see,000 by the time it is fully in effect. i sat on the floor on that day, march 6, and i turned to senator casey when we passed the child tax credit and the pension bill and keeping renters in their homes, i said, this is the best day of my career because i knew what it would mean to do the child tax credit. the bill passed march 6 after a 12-hour vote, passed by one vote two different times. the president signed it a few days later. i called secretary yellen. she immediately enlisted the

head of the internal revenue service who began the process. by mid-july, checks were going out to hundreds of thousands of families in minnesota and ohio, across the country. we saw in the space of about three months a 40% reduction in the child poverty rhode island i heard from parentst parents -- poverty rate. i heard from parents across the state helping them buy items for their children. we know what a difference this made in a time when families struggled keep up with rising costs. unfortunately, the child tax credit expansion ended in 2021. it shouldn't have happened, but we have an opportunity now get it going again. i bipartisan work of this congress doesn't have to be done yet. and here's what we need to do. in 2017 tax law republicans passed gave profitable corporations a 14% reduction in the corporate tax rate.

a huge gift. i opposed it, a number of us d a huge gift to the megawealthy and to corporations. part of that law changed the rules for business deduction. it said, get a 14 h.r. cut to the corporate rate but now you have to amortize research and development and expensing. there's going to be a limit on the interest you can deduct. utah won't be able to deduct all the investments in the year you make them. just four-fifths. businesses are asking us to undo these new rules. in exchange they're offing to give back in no, they got a huge windfall five years ago. they want more now. are they offering maybe half a point? a quarter point? no. they just want another tax cut. here's what i want everybody to hear. in this body and throughout the united states democrats are willing to do it. we believe we should invest in mflg manufacturing. as part of a balanced package we'll make the changes businesses are asking for.

we've offered to make these changes. all we're saying is it needs to be balanced. if we're going to give huge tax cuts to large corporations, we're going to at the same time make sure we take care of children. this isn't just the lowest-income kids. they certainly are part of it. this is 90% of children in ohio. this is two million ohio children. it's all but the wealthiest 10% families get this tax cut. you know what that means? think about if this child tax credit had been in effect in the last year, how it would have blunted the inflation, the damage from inflation that inflicted so many families. if they were getting that $250 or $300 per child per month as they got through calendar year 2021, from july until the end of the year and the beginning of the next year, imagine how much easier their lives would have been, how much more they would have been able to cope with inflation if they had gotten that monthly $250 or $300 check. it's a smart policy.

it's a win-win for every single one of our states. one in four kids living in rural idaho are left out of the full credit, full child tax credit. in kentucky and ohio, that number is one in three. we can fix that, raising kids is hard work. i heard time and again after we passed the ctc people said it made it just a little bit easier for families. we got so many calls and letters. i'm sure senator portman did too, about how this would make people's lives just a little bit easier. if you have two children, two and four years old you get $600 a month. if you have three kids that were 7, 10 and 12 you would have gotten $750 a month for a period of time. what are we here for in this body? we're not just here to give tax cuts to rich people and to corporations. we should try to make things just a little bit easier. i heard that term over and over. make it a little bit easier for the families we represent. there's a deal to be had here. let's knock out one more

bipartisan victory for the american people before we go home. yes, let's do the research and development tax break. it will help us grow jobs, but at the same time let us do the child tax credit expansion. it will help us grow our children. it will make a huge difference. i ask my colleagues, let's get this done. i yield the floor, mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from ohio.

mr. portman: i come to the floor once again to discuss the war in ukraine and why it's so important that all of us, the united states, our allies stand up for ukraine at this point and provide them the needed military, economic, and humanitarian aid that they need. over the weekend i spoke at the annual holiday lunch of the cleveland area nationalities movement. as my colleague from ohio knows, this was started during the cold war to advocate for freedom for the former soviet states. the group today includes people whose families came from all over eastern, central europe, poland, lithuania, estonia, slovakia, of course ukraine and many other countries. all strongly support ukrainian freedom and the right of ukraine to chart its own course. at the luncheon i talked to some of my friends who were there, many of whom have family or friends in ukraine. we talked about some of the hardships that their relatives and their friends in ukraine are

facing today and how as we approach the holiday season here in america, we're thinking about christmas shopping and putting up decorations and spending time with our family and friends over the holidays. they're thinking about something else. they're thinking about how they can survive. they're thinking about how to stay warm, whether they're going to have running water or electricity. they're living with fear and uncertainty not knowing when the next russian missile might strike. the brutal, unprovoked and illegal invasion of ukraine has now turned into an outright attack on civilians and noncombatants. this photo is something that we're seeing in communities all over ukraine. this is some civilian infrastructure. you can see the power grid here, the power lines. this was the result of a russian missile strike. all over this is happening, drones, missiles attacking infrastructure, killing civilians, by the way, and forcing people to live in the

dark and in the cold as ukraine's severe winter weather approaches. although these merciless russian attacks are meant to weaken the resolve of ukrainians, it's not having that effect. i've seep this on my trip to ukraine, it's hardening their resolve. criewks -- ukrainians know these are desperate attacks because russians are losing on the battlefield. ukrainians have shown courage, effectiveness and pushing out russia from all these red areas of ukraine. this is where russia was after february 24. 50% or more of the country has now been liberated by ukraine troops. we forget about that. about 55% of ukraine has now been liberated thanks to the, again, the resolve and the courage and the military skill of the ukrainians. ukrainian soldiers continue to

advance more slowly, but continue to advance, giving the russians no time to relax or recover. here is where we are today. remember before there was red all over the country of ukraine. this is where the russians are now. this striped red line is the part that russia invaded back in 2014, and the red part here is where they invaded on february 24 and are still occupying parts of ukraine. in the east near bakhmut, which is right here, russian forces and wagner group mercenaries, who are fighting on behalf of russia, are fighting a war of attrition. it's a grinding war of attrition. with marginal gains to show for their massive losses in terms of manpower and equipment. in its attempt to capture this town of bakhmut, russia has turned what used to be a quaint

tree-lined city that i visited in 2018 into a blood baths. this is what bakhmut looks like today. it looks like something you'd see out of a world war i film. ukrainian officials say moscow is now losing 50 soldiers a day to maintain this slow, bruising advance to reach the city's eastern gates, all this death and destruction over a city that has marginal strategic advantage for russia. it appears to observers that russia is willing to put their soldiers and mercenaries in harm's way in bakhmut because it's the only place that russian forces are genuinely advancing at all. and vladimir putin is eager, even desperate to claim some sort of victory to try to salvage this failed military campaign that they're on. i did go to bakhmut back in 2018. it was then called the line of contact. i met with ukrainian troops who were there holding the line, including the 54th mechanized brigade who were still fighting

there in that region. i saw men willing to die for their country, for their freedom, for their families. so i was not surprised by the bravery and resolve the ukrainian troops have shown since february 24. i was expecting it based on what i had seep in bakhmut. those soldiers i met gave me this flag when i was there. it's signed by a number of the soldiers i met, and it says at the bottom here, glory to ukraine. glory to the heroes. slafer -- that's the rallying cry. these troops who signed this flag, to me, i'm told many of them are likely to be dead or injured now because the fighting in bakhmut has been so intense. so godspeed to those troops who are holding the line against

this russian assault tonight as we talk on the floor of the united states senate. the ukrainians are making progress elsewhere. you see here in kherson, this was the city that the russians took on february 24. it was the only provincial capital that they took, the biggest city they took early on. they have now abandoned kherson, and ukrainian troops have taken kherson and liberated it, and the liberation has been extraordinary. you see people coming out of their homes and hugging the troops, and you see the war crimes that the russians were committing. the withdrawal from kherson to the west side of the river here has been a great victory for the ukrainian troops. the relentless counteroffensive is actually working. with this situation on the battlefield, the military outlook here for russia looks bleak. it's precisely because they are not winning on the battlefield, though, that they are instead attacking civilian targets.

these cowardly attacks we've seep all over ukraine. electricity, natural gas, water, knocking out everything they can in order to try to break the will and resolve of the people of ukraine. this past weekend 1.5 million people were left without power after russian air strikes damaged local infrastructure in odessa. 1.5 million people here were without electricity. most of the people now have electricity, because ukrainians are moving quickly to try to restore it but then it's bombed again and again. across the country, according to the ukrainian prime minister, after eight waves of missile attacks on the country, all thermal and hydroelectric power plants in ukraine have been damaged. in other words, every single power plant -- coal, natural gas, hydroelectric have all been bombed. many have now been repaired and again and again and again, but

the bodges bshes -- bombings continue. last friday 68 strikes in the kherson region occurred. 68 strikes across the line here in ukrainian territory. this included a strike at a hospital in kherson that damaged a children's ward. it included an attack on a morgue in this area. in the northeastern part of ukraine near kharkiv there's also been great progress. recently you saw where the ukrainians pushed the russians toward the east. these russian cross-border attacks on the city of volshank in that area left thousands of people without heat in the midst of winter earlier this week. i saw the effects of these missile attacks firsthand the last time i was in ukraine. i visited kyiv about a month ago with my colleague chris coons from delaware. we saw the destruction these missiles are causing.

in this case it was at a headquarters of ukraine's utility company. we then after that actually had a dinner meeting with parliamentarians in ukraine at a restaurant where the power had been taken out through these attacks. we had to conduct business with flashlights. it was incredible later that night to look at the city of kiev from an office building, a modern 21st century city completely dark. thanked to the dated air defense systems they have, ukrainians have been able to destroy a lot of these russian missiles. they're intercepting most of them, somewhere between 60% and 70% probably based on the information i have. but enough of them get through to cause this incredible damage to ukraine civilian infrastructure and to kill ukrainians on the ground, as these temperatures drop. the temperatures in kiev tonight as we talk is about 23 degrees

farenheit. ukraine isn't just trying to shoot down russian made missiles and ukrainian made drones. they also have to shoot down ukrainian-made missiles. why do i say that? because according to ukraine's deputy intelligence chief some of the missiles ukraine fired recently have been missiles ukraine gave to russia as part of the 1994 budapest agreement, the so-called budapest memorandum. recall that the budapest memorandum was a document that was signed by the united states, the u.k., and russia with ukraine. this was after the fall of the soviet union. in the agreement, all parties including russia promised to respect the independence and sompt and territorial integrity of ukraine in exchange for ukraine giving up their nuclear weapons. but also providing missiles and strategic bombers to russia.

so now these very same missiles and very same bombers are being used by russia in its ruthless campaign against innocent civilians in ukraine. there can be no clearer display of russia's contempt for its international obligations and total disregard for the budapest memorandum. ukraine gave up its weapons in exchange for peace and instead they have war. there can be no more urgents or important request from ukraine than a better air defense system. that's what they need more than anything else. every day, vie thal infrastructure is de-- vital infrastructure is destroyed, civilians killed. the news from the biden administration, they may be thinking seriously about sending patriot missile system to ukraine, our most advanced air defense weapons system is very encouraging to me. here is the patriot missile system this is in poland. we provided this to the polish government. we now need to provide it to the

ukrainian government. i've called for this for months, as have others, and i hope this comes to fruition. we need to get these weapons into the hands of the ukrainians quickly, before there are more civilian deaths recorded and more destruction of key infrastructure. if the administration does not do this, i fear, as winter sets in, more and more ukrainians will be forced to leave their communities, compounding the humanitarian crisis already there. as you know, there are 6.5 million people displaced internally in ukraine already, over seven million people, probably close to eight million, outside of ukraine as displaced individuals in places like poland, the e.u., even the united states. i continue to urge the biden administration to take a more assertive approach on military assistance in general. there are about 50 countries helping ukraine on the military side. all the free world is stepping up to help, but america leads, and we need to provide ukraine with more of the weapons that ukraine says they actually need,

like the patriot missiles. but also they've asked for fourth-generation fighter jets like the f-16 or similar european models. they're in europe already. but we have to sign off for the european countries, or other countries, to provide them to ukraine. they want modern tanks like the abrams made in my home state of ohio. they want more long-range missiles like the attack ams -- the atacams that can be fired through the himars launchers that give the russian soldiers few places to hide in the illegally occupied territory. when i visited in march, may and november, i met a lot of these dips placed people in ukraine. and i got to hear their harrowing stories. we were at a world food u.n. site in kiev, in our last trip, and there were a lot of refugees

there, displaced people, internally displaced people from ukraine, who were getting the basics just to be able to survive. many sat down with us and talked, and two women told me one of these stories, it was about a young man who was tortured, tortured by his russian occupiers, and this was near the city of kharkiv. and taken to the main square and tied up in the main square. then when he wouldn't answer whatever questions they were asking him, he was taken down below into a dungeon basically, a basement, and they found these basement chambers all over ukraine where there is occupied territory. the young man actually survived miraculously, but he was in terrible shape when he came out. but his mother didn't survive. the angst and anxiety and despair she felt about her son

resulted in her death. these women were telling this with tears streaming down their cheeks. of course, we were trying too. but that's happening all over ukraine. these war crimes behind enemy lines in occupied territories, revealing every time there's a liberation. it's possible there's a liberation, but you get the negative that this is what happened to these people. we don't really know the extend of the -- the extent of the atrocities and war crimes because there is so much territory occupied by russia. anyway, these people have seen death and destruction no person should have to experience. some of my constituents in ohio have been very helpful. they know some of these refugees. they have personal connections, again, family or friends, and they have helped. from northeast ohio, where we have a big ukrainian communities, marte lish

neiveky -- lishan esky has helped. med-wish, a great organization in cleveland, pro voo ided a lot of -- provided a lot of medical equipment. they provided clothes, medicine, any help for these refugees. they've provided armored vests from law enforcement all over ohio as an example to the territorial defense forces. god bless them. they're doing what they can to help, but unless we intervene with better ways to defend the air, there will be more and more of these displaced people and more and more humanitarian needs. so, on that front, in addition to the possible news about the patriot missile system from yesterday, i was also pleased to hear president biden and president zelenskyy spoke over the weekend about the need for increased support for ukraine. on friday, the administration announced another $275 million

in military assistance, including more ammunition for the himars and other systems that will counter russian and iranian drones. there are dozens of allies who provided military assistance. we're not doing this alone, but u.s. leadership has been key. by the way, the 20 himars, high-mobility artillery rocket systems, in ukraine have all survived. not a single one has been taken out by russians. it's amazing. the ukrainians have been quite resourceful to make that happen. thank god we still have those weapons. germany and the u.k. also provided some of these weapons. they're making a huge difference. the long range and high precision allowed the ukrainians to strike deep into the occupied territories to disrupt russian logistics and command-and-control centers. that's how kherson was taken, was they cut off the supply chain to kherson, to the point

these russian soldiers could not continue to hold the city and continue with their atrocities. it's no wonder, by the way, that himars are popular in ukraine. when i was there, the embassy staff sent out for takeoff food, it came back in a bag, hamburgers, on the bag was scrawled thank you for the himars. from a restaurant worker. i'm also told that himars is now a popular name for ukrainian newborns. they're names their children after the weapons provided by this body, because they're making a huge difference in saving lives. in addition to patriot missiles, we've got to tib to provide -- continue to provide mid range nasems systems and cost-effective electronic worker systems to defend the skies over the long-term. those can be very effective against drones, as you can imagine. we've seen this before. in 1940, the people of great

britain suffered under relenless bombardment from nazi aircraft. they tried to bomb london into the stone age. at the time, many thought this is going to be the end of great britain. you can't push back against these nazis. but the brits were resolute, they were defiant, and eventually the royal air force defeated hitler's onslaught in the battle of britain and ensured the country would survive the war. of course, the united states got engaged. we went on to win that conflict. today, there's another indiscriminant bombing campaign against civilians and civilian infrastructure. ukraine is fighting its own battle of britain. we've got to be there with them to provide what they need to survive their battle. i was also pleased to learn this week the european union proposed a new round of sanctions. if agreed to by the member states, i hope it will be, this package would ban exports of

drone engines to russia, and also include other prohibitions that will hopefully stifle russia's abilities to supply its military. of this is very important. my view, it should have happened a long time ago, but let's do it now, cut off the ability for russia to be able to repair and re-create the drones that are getting destroyed by the ukrainians. let's be sure we're not giving the russians what they need to continue its war machine. russia's assault is not limited to bombs and missiles. i'm hearing more and more about mines. according to reports, russian forces have endangered up to 65,000 square miles of ukrainian territory with landmines. the united states is partnering with our ukrainian allies to demine that area. this aid has come in the form of equipment, training, and contractors and demining team. in areas where the mines are on the ukrainian side of the line,

we are actively trying to help. this is an important step, in ni view. kind of the first step toward ukrainian reconstruction. when russia resorts to these cowardly missile attacks on civil yab targets -- civilian targets, ukraine has responded in kind with precise strikes on russian military targets. russia attacking civilian targets. ukrainians responding with targeted attacks on russian military targets. for example, explosions have occurred here. this is ukraine. this is the occupied area. explosions have occurred deep in russian territory here. what are those areas? well, these are russian air bases deep inside russian territory, but they are home to the bombers that have been targeting civilian infrastructure and killing ukrainian civilians with crews missiles over the past -- with

cruise missiles over the past couple months. as the u.k. ministry of defense reported, quote, these may be some of the most strategically significant failures of forced protection since russia's invasion of ukraine, end quote. over the weekend, ukraine launched a series of humear strikes on the -- himars strikes on the russian-occupied city of maletipol, here. including a strike on russian military barracks that reportedly killed a lot of the wagner mercenaries, in this area. america has been blessed with big, wide oceans on our east, to our west, and friendly neighbors to our north and south. it's hard to grasp what they're going through. if hard to gap what it's like to have a -- to grasp what it's like to have a war ravage your homeland and you leave your land. this is one compelling reason supporting ukraine is the right thing to do. i hope this week, in this

chamber, we'll once again provide support for ukraine. another reason is the death and destruction is not likely to end in ukraine. vladimir putin is on record saying the borders of russia have no end. he and his senior officials have also talked about re-creating the old soviet empire. they have said that ukraine is just the first step. i will tell you, other countries in eastern europe get that, and they're understandably quite nervous. that's why steve stepped up big time -- that's why they've stepped up big time, and expanded their military cooperation with the united states. think of poland, slovakia, romania, hungary, lithuania, latvia, estonia. they're all doing that. finland and sweden certainly understand how dangerous russia has become, which is why they've joined nato, after years of

neutrality. in my view the only way to get putin to back off and negotiate an end to this ruthless and senseless war is to continue to demonstrate unity among free nations, to tighten the sanctions on the russian economy, and to continue to help ukraine win on the battlefield. that's how this thing ends. through success. u.s. leadership and assistance is key to that strategy. i'm not advocating a blank check, by the way. i hope nobody is. i believe there needs to be accountability for the assistance that we provide, and there is. there's accountability on the state aid. there's account and on humanitarian aid. and on the military aid. i've seen it in action in meeting with the 101st airborne in poland, how they have end-use monitoring of the equipment we're sending. the ukrainians themselves want to have transparency. they understand how important that is. that's why they have deloitte, an american accounting firm

involved, in monitoring, providing reports. that's why we're running our assistance through the world bank, with, they're auditing and reporting back to us. that's important to do. but the alternative to helping ukraine, to me, is unthinkable. what would have happened if the united states said we're not going to help here? and the rest of the world said, well, if the americans aren't going to step forward and provide leadership, we're not going to, either? first, it's clear to all of us, this country would be occupied by russia today. even if russia didn't go ahead and move into all these other countries they say they're going to move into, ukraine is the first step and they want to re-create the empire or soviet union, even if it was just ukraine and they stopped at the ukrainian borders, suddenly you'd have three nato countries that have a border with russia, who do not now. really, a fourth, because all poland has is a very small outpost of russia here.

you'd suddenly have nato countries, united states under article 5 is committed to protecting, with an aggressive russia on its border. we would be mobilizing thousands of troops. we would have massive amounts of weapons at the borders of these nato allies at a tremendous cost to the united states taxpayer. is that a better alternative than helping give ukraine the tools they need to do their own fighting? which has been successful up to now, more than anyone could have imagined. finally i would say an thoirn regime -- authoritarian regime being able to take over an ally, would send the wrong message to the rest of the world. think about china eyeing taiwan and israel as they continue to face threats from iran and others in the middle east.

both our adversaries and allies are looking it to see if we will maintain its own post-world war ii order. or if it's each country for itself. if it's each country for itself if we're not helping ukraine, the nuclear weapons increase dramatically. ukraine wants to live in peace with its neighbors, including russia. but when attacked by russian missiles and drones, ukraine fought to ensure the flame of freedom here is not going to go out. from visits i can say with certainty that they will never give up, and we must not give up on them. the ukrainian people tasted freedom when they embarked on their revolution of dignity, they threw back a russian-backed government and instead embraced

freedom, democracy, free markets. ukraine chose to stand with us, europe, the united states and other free nations. this is not the time for the united states and other free allies to stand down. so for my current colleagues and the senators just elected, i judge urge -- i urge you, let's continue our support for ukraine in this worthy cause of protecting freedom. thank you, and i yield the floor.

america will come to the honest reality that gun violence is unacceptable and will do something about it. other nations have done something. other nations have had incidents like this, maybe even fewer victims have decided to change their nation's laws and they have done so. and they made their nation safer because of it. we are gathering here this morning at the request of senator chris murphy of connecticut to remember what happened 10 years ago.

senator murphy was with the families at sandy hook customer senator blumenthal when they learned of the children's feet. can you imagine being a parent of one of these little kids and being asked to wait in a building across the street will be looked at the remains of these for children to to identify them with their parents? i don't know if i would ever recover from the parents or grandparents. senator roofing center blumenthal tried to give the families comfort. i cannot assignments. both the broad much more than sorrow to this cause. since that 10 years ago, we abruptly called to do something about it. and the horrific cartage of gun violence in america. this has been an important year for gun safety in this congress.

after the racism, fueled mass murders in a grocery store buffalo, new york. after the slaughter of 19 little children into teachers in their elementary school in texas, congress passed the most significant gun safety law 30 years. the bipartisan safer communities act. the senate did something that had not been done for seven years, we actually confirmed a director to the bureau of alcohol tobacco firearms and explosives. that is a position to gun lobby had kept on open and unfulfilled for seven years. we have a man on the job now. so we have made some progress but we have a lot more to do. the american people want us to do more. mr. president, it is hard to say in this great nation that we

have been blessed to live in, that we are the only, only nation on earth that accepts these horrifying levels of gun violence on a daily basis. then mass shootings. mass shooting is a shooting for at least four and sometimes more people are shot or killed. many times it is because of the repetition of this horrific conduct. we think it is inevitable, unpreventable and american shrug our shoulders and said that's what happens in the united states of america. just in the category of fatal shootings in schools, kindergarten through 12th grade schools, how many fatal shootings have taken place in america those schools in the 10 years since sandy hook?

189. 189 school shootings in sandy hook in america. gun violence is now the leading cause of death of american children. think about that for a second period the leading cause of death. every year more than 3000 children and teens by firearms 3000 a year for another 15000 are wounded by more than 3 million americans are exposed to gun violence every year. for many of these kids the trauma of seeing friends, parents, siblings, classmates, shot may result in lifelong damage to their physical, mental and emotional health, that is what trauma does to the survivors. this past june, 10 years after

the 10-year-old daughter lexi was murdered at robb elementary school, kimberly and felix rubio testified in front of the house committee on oversight reform. in their testimony at lexi's mom, kimberly issued a prophetic warning. she said, there is a mom listening to our testimony thinking i cannot imagine the pain that family is going through. not knowing that our pain will one day be there pain unless we do something. and while school massacres and mass shootings tend to capture the nation's attention are tens of thousands of americans who die every year from the daily toll of gun violence. many of these deaths barely make the news they are so commonplace in modern america. they die in suicides, gun accidents, loan, small groups, domestic disturbances, gang disputes.

there is no other corner of the country now corner of the country that is not been impacted by gun violence. some of the politicians like to point to say chicago has got all the problems. sadly that is not the case. we all face these problems. there are many so-called red states who vote on the other side politically that have terrible gunshot and violent statistics for defects red states in the blue states big cities, suburbs, small towns, rural areas you name it. america is a washing guns and gun violence. so far in chicago 200718 shootings have taken place. last sunday i was as vigilant hyde park section of chicago in

augustana lutheran church. we come together each year to pray for an end to this gun violence. but we know in our heart of hearts prayer is not enough. i believe the good lord expects us to pray but expects us to take action too. the senate judiciary committee which i chair has held 11 hearings on gun violence in these last two years. you have heard from a lot of witnesses. one was ernest willingham from the west side of chicago. after the cabrini green housing project were turned down, ernest and his family moved to the west side of town. before he was 17, ernest willingham's father, brother and cousin had all been shot. a few years ago he lost his best friend to a stray bullet. despite the horror around it ernest became first in his family to go to college. he is now a premed student

northeast diversity in boston is been accepted to medical school. ernest said when he grew up people attend a lot more funerals than weddings and parents live in constant fear that their kid will be the next victim. since sandy hook, millions of americans have advocated to keep "guns out" of the hands of criminals some people with mental instability and to protect our kids. but the gun lobby has worked to put more guns and more hands across america. launched aggressive marketing campaigns. one of the more notorious ads show a photo of an assault weapon for that is a military style weapon with the words under it, consider

>> children under the age of 13.look at the logos in this ad i hope you can see them. they're also on the weapon. this gun manufacturer uses cartoon's goals sucking on pacifiers to try to hook children on using military style weapons. if i made that statement you say durban is making of alie, they can't be true . they really want to sell these guns to little children and they have been festooned with these images children will find interesting? on july 4 this year a 21-year-old with a smith and wesson ar 15 military style rifle went up on the rooftop during of fourth of july parade in highland park illinois.

highland park illinois is one of these idyllic suburbs, beautiful little place. wonderful families. a great community. 4 july parade is like a right of passage. you take your kid to see the flag, here the bands and enjoy every single moment of it. this fourth of july we just witnessed was different. up on top of the roof he pulled out his ar 15. he fired off 83 rounds in less than a minute. don't tell me about good shooters with guns. good guys with guns who stop guys. there were good guys with guns all over the place in uniform with firearms by their side. what could they do in the 60 seconds when he fired off 83 rounds? nothing to stop him. that gunman killed seven people and injured dozens more.

fourth of july parade, highland park illinois. he left a little two-year-old boy aiden mccarthy and orphan . he killed his mother and his father. he paralyzed an eight-year-old boy with a bullet that severed his spine . the fourth of july attack in highland park was the 309th mass shooting in america in 2022. do you know how many we've had since the fourth of july? we've gone from 309 on 4 july to 627 mass shootings in the united states of america this year. and every shooting, not every shooting is committed with an assault weapon but if the gunman wants to cause mass harm, assault weapons are the weapon of choice. you see if you haven't already the 60 minutes segment of what happens to

the human body when it is hit with a bullet from one of these guns. it doesn't pass through neatly and cleanly. it does damage inside the body which is almost impossible to repair . doctors know the harm these bullets cause when they tear through the flesh . they don't just pierce bones and organs. they polarize them. i'll make it clear. i support banning these military style assault weapons from civilian use . we've banned them before and i voted for that. it saved lives. it's time to ban them again. military assault weapons belong in the hands of the military, not in the hands of an 18 or 19 -year-old on the roof in highland park firing off 83rounds in less than 60 seconds . one other point. federal law gives the

firearms industry broad and unjustifiable immunity from civil liability . i'm embarrassed to say the laws of the united states protect these weapons from liability.there may be a way around that, i hope there is. firearm manufacturers should not have a license to recklessly pedal high-powered killing machines to those who shouldn't have been. they should be held accountable. every other product in america is held accountable, why do guns get off the hook . the brave families of sandy hook took assault weapons manufacturers for their marketing practices. the families prevailed. leading to a landmark settlement earlier this year. congress shoulddo more to allow victims of gun violence and negligence to seek justice in our courts . if naming and shaming will cause the gun industry to act responsibly that day in court might.

as we mark the grim anniversary of that devastating day 10 years ago in newtown connecticut , we've got to recommit ourselves to do more . or to protect our kids, more to prevent mass shootings, more to reduce the daily toll of shootings in our homes and neighborhoods. our work is not done. families across america are counting on us. let's do something let's stop this carnage in america. mister president i'd yield the floor. >> many of us in connecticut and throughout the nation awoke today with a heavy heart. with greece still so raw we can almost touch it. i wish i could tell you that 10 years ago to this day was a blur. i wish i tell you that the memory of that day has dimmed . i wish i could tell you that the knife like sorrow and pain has subsided but the

fact is it is still raw and real for so many of us in connecticut this day 10 years ago. my mind goes back to the heart, the horror of this day and i think reliving it reminds us of the need to honor those 26 lives with action. it is still searingly and scary vivid. the voices, the faces the unforgettable moments of that tragedy as we stood at the firehouse in sandy hook and saw parents and loved ones emerge after learning that their children were their loved ones, beautiful babies and great educators would not be coming home that day.

parents with their faces frozen in shock and sorrow struggling through tears. police and first responders bench with disbelief. and brief. townspeople, loved ones feeling helpless and hopeless and in the wake and the funerals that followed what we saw was the town estate that rallied together but still this searing sorrow of no losses and also the determination that was expressed that night at saint rosalina church. to turn that grief and sorrow into something positive and if i recall vividly at one of the lakes i approached all mom who just lost her child and said when you are ready,

i'd like to talk about what we can do to stop this kind of gun violence and she looked at me through tears and said i'm ready. i'm ready now. that is the spirit that sandy and newtown brought to the world as the world watched them. and many of them not all but many turned that grief and loss into advocacy.they came here to the capital. they asked us to do something about gun violence. they spoke to colleagues, they crusaded. they sought to improve the background check system that all too often allows people who are dangerous and have weapons.

people who should be separated from their done or prevented from having it in the first place.they were in this gallery, when the vote on that background check bill failed. it was 60 votes but it failed . it received less than 60 votes so it failed. it received the majority but not the 60 votes it needed and from the gallery i heard then and i still feel that echoes in this chamber shame on you. and indeed shame on us. for that 10 years afterwards with no action came from this body. in the last decade, viewed that crusade. they helped to form a movement. they've been joined by tens

of thousands of others. in a movement to change the law, to turn that trauma and loss into positive social change. and reform. and they helped create a movement. organizations like givers and newtown action alliance, sandy hook promised. mom's demand action, students demand action. newtown action alliance. connecticut against gun violence, many of them coming here and working year after year that episode and others like it have given rise to that movement and through that decade, literally 41,000

americans have died every year. 1 million americans in total have been shot. gun violence is now the leading cause of death among american children and teens. every day eight children are accidentally injured or killed due to an unlocked or unsupervised gun. but the survivors and loved ones have become the difference makers. and they have been joined by law enforcement and parents, teachers, medical professionals, activists and advocates who have said to us enough is enough. and their determination in their conviction, that momentum has created a different trajectory. a different climate of

opinion in this country so that now a majority of americans want common sense, sensible controls on nonviolence. so the passage of the bipartisan saver communities act was not an accident of history. it was a culmination of a movement that is still growing and spreading to its influence and impact and there is no minimizing the importance of the measure that we passed with strong bipartisan support last august. it closes the boyfriend loophole. it adopts the concept of red flag statutes.

intervention in crisis. separating people from guns when they are going to kill themselves or others or at least tell people they're going to do it. and that red flag or emergency wrist protection movement is one we in connecticut initiated through the first to pass act. and i have worked with senator graham and others in bipartisan expansions of that proposal. and it is already helping to save lives. in florida it saved countless lives. in the 19 states where there are red flag statutes and the act as a whole is helping to save lives. as my colleague senator murphy who will speak shortly has said , the reforms on background check system alone helped save lives and i credit him with his leadership in passing that measure and yet the death

continues. we know that that measure was not the single solution or the panacea that will solve the problem of gun violence and discourage the epidemic of gun violence steps in this country. we have broken the grip of the lobby, the nra is a shadow of its self. and we have a movement that is growing in importance and impact but there is so much more to be done in the law. we need safe storage such as we've done in connecticut. red flag and emergency risk protection orders statutes. better background checks systems to make them more

complete and better enforceable . and yes, high-capacity magazines. those guns which are the scourge of law enforcement. and so i say to the advocates and activists who are continuing this movement we will continuethat work . we will honor with action lives that are lost not only in sandy hook but all around this country day after day in drive-by shootings, in crimes and criminal assaults, in domestic violence. just in this past month, a brave young woman julie minogue was lost in connecticut to domestic violence where a protective order should have helped save herlife . and we go our police more support. and resources to enforce those protective orders and take action against gun violence.

they are unsung heroes and in the wake of sandy hook, many of them experienced trauma and mental health challenges. that still linger with them and on this day we should remember and commemorate and celebrate the service of our police and yes our teachers who also every day have to do the drills and experience the fear and apprehension for themselves and their students . they are also unsung heroes of sandy hook. and parents who have to explain why they have that apprehension and why their children have to prepare. our medical professionals and in the emergency room we see

his trauma and the death and injury day in and day out, they are doing their jobs. our teachers are doing their jobs. our police are doing their jobs. parents are doing their jobs. congress is not doing its job . thank you to them for doing their job. congress must do its job to strengthen our laws and prevent gun violence. there is a new generation of activists and advocates coming along. the young woman who spoke at the vigil. last wednesday night. and it introduced senator biden. the survivor of sandy hook is just one example. march for our lives emanating from parkland, all the young

people who are demonstrating that positive energy that is so critical and important in advancing this movement. they are showing awe-inspiring hope and grace. junior newtown action line another example. and the community of sandy hook has responded with dazzling strength and courage. that community is not only rallied around the loved ones who have experienced unspeakable loss they have helped support the charitable and nonprofits that those families formed in the wake of those losses. they have truly chosen loss, those families many of them

have established foundations and nonprofits that benefit music, art, education, scholarships for students, animals sanctuaries. i've worked with the jesse lewis choose love movement started by's charlotte lewis, sandy hook promised organization started by leon barton and the catherine violent hubbard foundation, ben's lighthouse. the emily parker

objection, the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby bring to a close debate on the motion to concur in the house amendment to the senate amendment to h.r. 7776, to provide for improvements to the rivers and

harbors of the united states and so forth and for other purposes, signed by 17 senators. mr. schumer: i ask further -- i ask that further reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum calls for the cloture motions filed today, december 14, be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i have four requests for committees to meet today. the presiding officer: duly noted. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that at a time to be determined with the majority leader in consultation with the republican, the senate consider 861, johnson to be a member of the armed forces. that there be ten minutes of debate on the usual form, upon the use or yielding back of the time the senate vote on the nomination without intervening action or debate. if confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered made

and laid upon the table. that any statements related to the nomination be printed in the record and that the president be immediately notified of the senate's action and senate resume legislative session. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask the chair to lay before the senate to accompany s. 3846. the presiding officer: the chair lays before the senate the following message. the clerk: resolved that the bill from the senate, entitled an act to reauthorize the justice and mental health collaboration program and for other purposes do pass with an amendment. mr. schumer: i move to concur in the house amendment, and unanimous consent the motion be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the committee on veterans' affairs be discharged and the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of h.r. 5947. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: h.r. 5943, an act to designate the outpatient clinic veterans' affairs in greenville,

south carolina, as the lance corporal darnell v.a. clinic. the presiding officer: without objection, the committee is discharged and the senate will proceed. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read add third time and passed, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the consideration of s. res. 872, which is at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. res. 892, recognizing interrer scholastic administrator's day. the presiding officer: the senate will proceed. mr. schumer: the preamble be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of hmplets rose 873. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: a resolution to

authorize the production of records by the secretary of the senate and the senate sergeant at arms. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed. mr. schumer: i ask that the preamble be agreed to and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the committee on commerce, science and technology be discharged from further consideration of s. 3429, the senate proceed to its immediate consideration. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. 3429, a bill to establish an alaska salmon research task force. the presiding officer: without objection, the committee is discharged and the senate will proceed. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the sullivan substitute amendment at the desk be agreed to, the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed, and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the committee on environment and public works be discharged from the further consideration of h.r. 5973, and the the senate proceed to its

immediate consideration. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: h.r. 5973, an act to reauthorize the fish and wildlife restoration act of 1990 and for other purposes. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed. mr. schumer: i ask that the of the bill be considered read a third time and passed, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar number 544, s. 4460. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 544, s.4460, to provide customs and border patrol to review and update policies for inspections at ports of entry are. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the committee-reported substitute amendment be considered and agreed to, bill, as amended be considered read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous

consent that the senate proceed to immediate consideration of calendar number 564, s. 4893. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 564, s. 4893, a bill to amend the lobbying disclosure act of 1995. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the bill be considered read a third time and passed and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar number 550, h.r. 5343. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: h.r. 5343, an act to direct the comptroller general of the united states to submit a report to congress. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the committee-reported substitute be agreed to, the bill, as amended be considered read a third time and passed and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection.

mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent these for papers be unstuck. the presiding officer: duly thosed -- noted. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar 572, s. 2135. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 527, s. 2135, a bill to amend title 31, united states code and so forth and for other purposes. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the committee-reported substitute amendment be withdrawn, the hassan substitute amendment which is at the desk be considered and agreed to, the bill as amended be considered read a third time and passed and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar 642, s. 1143. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 642, s. 1143, a bill to prohibit certain individuals from

downloading or using tiktok on any device issued by the united states or government corporation. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the homeland security and government affairs committee be discharged and the senate now proceed to the immediate consideration of h.r. 1917. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: h.r. 191, an act to mod nye eligibility requirements for certain hazard mitigation assistance programs and for other purposes. the presiding officer: without objection, the committee is discharged and the senate will proceed. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the peters substitute amendment which is at the desk be considered and agreed to, the bill as amended be considered read a third time and passed and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent -- i ask the chair lay before the senate the message to accompany s. 1687. the presiding officer: the chair lays before the senate the

following message. the clerk: resolve that the bill from the senate, s. 1687 entitled an agency to amend section 21 of the small business act and so forth and for other purposes due pass with an amendment. mr. schumer: i move to concur on the house amendment and i ask unanimous consent that the motion be agreed to, and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: and finally, i ask unanimous consent that the senate -- when the ?eet completes its business today, it adjourn until 10:00 a.m. on thursday, december 15. following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders, and morning business be closed. that upon the conclusion of morning business, the senate proceed to executive session for the consideration of the johnson nomination. further, that at 12:00 noon, the senate vote on confirmation of the johnson nomination. finally if any nominations are confirmed during thursday's session, the motion to consider be considered made and laid upon the table and the president be

immediately notified of the senate's action. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: if there's no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until current funding on the senate returns watch live coverage here on cspan2. with a collapse of the crypto currency exchange company fdx and the arrest of its founders sam bankman fried a senate banking committee her testimony

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