it and why don't we get along and historians come in -- >> we're going to leave the book tv program to fulfill or more than 40 year commitment of live coverage of congress. the senate will gavel in and lawmakers considering a federal deposit in court and congress facing a deadline to fund the government through next year to avert a shut down after the row cent short term extension and current money runs out this friday at midnight. senate lawmakers take up spending package first up the house and live coverage of the senate here on cspan2. ...

the pledge of allegiance. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. :

the president pro tempore: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved and morning business is closed. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session to consider the following nomination which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, federal deposit insurance corporation, martin gruenberg to be a member of the board of directors. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from hawaii. ms. hirono: i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

quorum call:

>> is also worked for several members of congress and joining us to talk about presidents and divided congress . first of all though doctor troy you are with the bipartisan policy center. what's your organizations purpose and mission? >> guest: i have the presidential leadership initiative and were talking about the presidency, how important it is institution needs to maintain its relevance also respect for the office in this time of politicaltunnels . the bulwarks of freedom against fascism on the right. socialism on the left. the bipartisan policy center strives for bipartisan solutions this is a perfect place to have it.

>> host: what do you thinkof the leadership challenges for president joe biden coming into this divided government ? >> guest: biden has a number of significant challenges. these lost control of the house, not sure republicans have control of the democrats do not have control. the house and senate remain closely divided although they did gain one seat. we have an economy where people are concerned about what's going on and we have the rise of authoritarian nations including russia and china is the host of challenges going on around the world by his little age and it seems like it's a tough time to deal with a lot of challenges and jimmy carter said he didn't think he could do the presidency at an age much older than he was at the time so it's just a very hard job. >> artist is the author of several books in your experience as a presidential historian and your experience working for the george w.bush administration , what does

history tell us about especially this close divided government. residents being able to function and lead during a closely dividedgovernment like this ? >> guest: we've had many series of closely divided governments in our history and we have somewhat of a raucous system and we generally don't like it when there's one party dominant. if you are going to be a successful leader you have to figure out how to navigate through period of divided government. >> is part of the problem besides continue to bang the drum for their side as opposed to working together, they're banging the drum for the next election . >> politicians are always banging the drum .th >>

i have faith that the forces of intolerance will lose in the end, just as they did in the days of anti-semitism when judah mca beled the jewish people

against the oppressive authority. the fight is long and all of us must do our part. as we continue observing the festival of lights, i say to colleagues and to jewish americans across the country, a happy holiday. and thank god that, in this country, freedom of religion and tolerance is part of our watch word, unlike it was in the old days of judah mcabee. on the omni, appropriate reports are racing around the -- appropriators are working around the clock to finish our to-do list of 2022, an omnibus package to keep the government funded into next fall. it was another extremely busy weekend for appropriators, members and staffs. i was on the phone all day friday, saturday, sunday, every ten minutes another call, with my colleagues, with the committees and my staff, my great staff, who hardly slept this weekend to help finalize a

deal. sunday night was the first night of hannukah, but unfortunately i had to spend 75% of that night on the phone with my colleagues and staff. my family, of course, was very understanding, and i appreciate that. sleep has been hard to come by for many who are part of the appropriations process, and while the world enjoyed a truly heart-stopping world cup final, stack were on the clockworking diligently to keep our government funded. i thank all of them for the great work. much of my focus today, tonight, around tomorrow will remain on getting the omnibus done. despite a little more work to do, the omnibus continues heading in the right direction. we must wrap the whole process up and vote on final passage before the end of the week. it won't be easy, but we are working hard so we can get it done before the end of the week and be with our families for christmas. once the omnibus comes before

the senate, i'm confident both sides will find things in it they can enthusiastically support. we all know the omnibus will be the best way to ensure kids, our veterans, our small businesses and military continue to have full access to vital services and programs they depend on. it's not going to be everything anybody wanted, that's for sure, but it's far preferable to a c.r., which will leave the country high and dry, and it's certainly preferable to a government shutdown. the omnibus will also allow the senate to pass the electoral count act into law, which my colleagues on the rules committee, senators klobuchar and blunt, have done great work on, and finalizing the omnibus is critical, absolutely critical, for supporting our friends in ukraine and fully implementing bipartisan bills like chips, science, the pact act and more. just as both parties cooperated on bipartisan achievements like chips, gun safety, veterans

benefits, respect for marriage act and so much more, let's finish this session by passing an omnibus, by working together in good faith. i yield the floor, and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: worried about losing the

republican primary in utah so i think that is one change. the parties have lost some power and if the parties lose power than the people representatives of the party being the sitting senators, that it's much harder for them to be able to make those

bipartisan across the aisle deals without facing these challenges from their flank. >> host: teddy troy is with us, he's written in a number of books and frequently published in publications like the wall street journal and youropinion piece , the president presidential traditions of. george bush among the leaders who helped a jewish holiday part of the american story the first night of on they had the lighting of the national menorah on the law, what was your point in your article about. >> i know a lot of people talk about christmas and the traditions of isthmus but i think it was important to point out we almost 200 years of on a cut traditions that are part of the american story so that's why the book is coming out because there's a number of times, i love presidential history and to find all these cases of presidents reporting talk on it, whereas with theodore roosevelt referring for the

maccabees as strong fighters who are the filters in the story i think it just is very encouraging in terms of talking about how the america story is a story of multiple nations coming together, multiple people coming together and feeling comfortable maintaining their traditions but still being part of the larger american nation. >> host: we saw in last night's event at the mall attorney general garland,, and smoke spoke to the crowd. in a more secular society the united states has become does it get harder? you work for a strong christian george w. bush, does it get harder to show your faith . in public as an elected official or a government official period. >> in some ways i think it gets easier. i do an analysis of the states of the union addresses or presidential inaugural addresses and i found that in the last century, the presidents were more likely to fight the bible than they

were in the first century of our republic so there is some comfort in looking to religious conventions i also my own personal experience in the bush white house it could not have been more accommodating of my own religious traditions to keep the sabbath and the white house is a very tough environment, people working seven days a week and respecting the fact that i took the day off for the sabbath. i do have a problem with kosher food and white house waiters new what i was going to order and things that were legitimate for a kosherperson to eat . i found a very accommodating environment and i think that's something we can celebrate as part of the american story. >>. >> host: tevi troy is with us, let's go to larry in st. joseph talking about the divided government. good morning, democrats line. >> thank you for taking my call. i have a question for your guest. we're talking about a split congress, whether republicans

were controlling the house and the democrats were controlling the senate a little bit . so what is going to happen if republicans and democrats can't get along but then the house of republicans, i'm sorry . and the house of representatives even the republicans can't get along with themselves. how do you see that creating more conflict and trying to get legislation passed and things like that. thank you and you all have a merry christmas and happy hanukkah . >> so divided congress caucus he's talking about in the republican party and the challenge of kevin mccarthy getting elected speaker . >> i think there's been questions by larry and i appreciate theholiday wishes . creates some unusual alliances. we've had many years of so-called pastor rule, that republican speaker won't ring

a bill to the floor unless it has the support of a majority of the republicancaucus . and if speaker mccarthy feels he doesn't get reliable votes within his own caucus you might say past something that is must pass legislation like let's say i'm going to work with the democrats and republicans will give me the votes i need. and once you have these unusual alliances and these alliances break traditional party lines you could see things past you don't necessarily expect the past when we're talking about the divisions between the two parties. >> chief of california want on the republican line,good morning . >> i would like to know all this programming about anti-trump, trump! go on trial, i like to know when the defendant trump gets to speak. at trial without the defendant and i just saw titans side all morning and bite in space but no

mainstream media seems to want trump to speak for himself. when does trump get to have his say? only mainstream bashing. >> host: wanda picking up on our previous ours conversation about the results of the january 6 committee but tying in the bipartisan nature, does that committee or hurt bipartisanship ? >> there's some bipartisan aspects to it but i think it would have been better off if they gone in a more traditional bipartisan way meeting let republicans pick their people and are some people republicans want to put on that were not cooperative, i get that but that's the way it works in congress. each side gets to pick their people and you have two work through these things. i'm not sure the committee even though it's recovered uncovered some interesting things i'm not sure it stands for much. >> the history has indicated all, people think of divided

government they think they'll make, is that usually the case? >> i don't think that's the case, sometimes divided government and we are real steps forward. look at the bill clinton after the republicans took over in 1994 with the republican revolution we had welfare reform, a balanced budget. we were talking about not only erasing the debt, we haven't thought about that for years unfortunately so i think sometimes divided government henry lead to real right) ronald reagan never had a republican house didn't always have a republican senate. he was able to get things done legislatively by working across the eye . >> with that historical perspective you think there are things or items that president biden could use to his advantage in terms of working with the republicans on they say something like immigration reform . >> a number of things we can see forward, immigration reform is i would put that on

the first list but reorienting how we think about china or example is one thing we could do. working on telemedicine and all sorts of medical approaches that were exposed during the pandemic that are actually helping. cyber security is something both parties can get behind so there could be real accomplishments in this congress on things both parties don't the as the most contentious issues , the most partisan issues immigration is one of those. >> let's hear from richard next in oceanside california, democrats line. >> merry christmas gentleman. good morning. thank you for taking my call. i wanted to mention historical perspective. you just said a minute ago and presidents in divided congress is a good topic. i'm an old guy now so i think back to the times of the early 60s and john kennedy.

before he got shot. and nikita khrushchev you may know about. he was the premier of russia at that time. and little nikita, one thing he was most notorious for doing was proclaiming that the proletariat is as the russian party called them common. the rest of us would bury ourselves. he said we will not bury you, you will bury yourselves. he was known to bang the shoe on the podium at the un. i saw him do it on tv. bang his fist on the podium and make a lot of trouble. i kind of think he was right. historically but the gentleman thinks about that sort of thing going back to jack kennedy was able to get things done . ronald reagan was able to get things done .but i'm kind of losing hope will ever do that again and the gentleman

thinks he might be able to and things to go up and down but i know a lot of people here in the county that are hard right-wingers and they are pretty radical. that's about all of thatto say about it . i wonder if you comment on nikita and his productions and so on. thank you for your time and merry christmas. >> that was an interesting question and i appreciate the historical perspective project was indeed a antagonist of the us and did warn the us. we had some real challenges and i do think our biggest challenges are internal. we do things to ourselves that our enemies may not be capable of doing. but again, that doesn't mean that the current partisan situation we are in is always going to be aspartisan is it is now . i think sometimes this oracle perspectivechanges .

we're in washington in the 90s when bill clinton was president people thought that was a time of hyper- partisanship . and there was no way of getting along and things were terrible and now we're back to the 90s was a good time. times historical perspective changes you view something. >> and in that 94 election news gingrich had a much bigger election. >> we had a working majority in the senate and they passed some things but i think working with clinton was the most effective strategy especially with that welfare bill. >>. >> host: let's hear from sergio, pompano beachflorida, independent line . >> caller: yes, good morning mister troy, shalom to you. >> guest: thank you. >> caller: my question is this. i have a couple of questions like i'm kind of confused about. particularly the republicans.

i don't understand why they're having this, that they're not getting along and trying to get things done as well, particularly with kevin mccarthy trying to become speaker of the house. that's causes confusion to me as well as kristen cinema, senator cinema now became independent and turning on her own party and the party that made her. i don't understand how can we fix these problems to make this country better because what i know, democrats are republicans are supposed to be working together to bring this country together and i just don't understand why it's going out of control and especially the ukraine situation in china, what can we do to correct those situations as well to go after our former president trump for what he's done

wrong,what can we do about it ? >> host: sergio, couple things on the plate with tevi troy. >> guest: in terms of ukrainians been somewhat encouraging. it's terrible what the russians did but they have not been performing in a very impressive way militarily. there was a great feature in the new york times that talked about all the tactical blunders that the russians had made beyond strategic blunders entering ukraine in the firstplace . their tactics on the ground and in air are not working and it really reveals that there a bit of a paper tiger so i think that's encouraging from our perspective . second in terms of senator cinema, she did come out as the democrat is you said i guess the democrats made her but the democrats been harsh on her even though she was 97 percent supportive of president biden. credit to her for that, i don't think we should be busting up some filibuster and i think the level of

opprobrium that she got is just not warranted given where she both overall.i recognize that she's fixing to become an independent which i don't think she could win the democratic primary in arizona . halfway staying at the senator going independent route, something joe lieberman did in the past. in terms of kevin mccarthy it is true. there is a core about five republican members who say they're never kevin and said they're not going to support him but there's an interesting report in axial's about how the republicans are not those five are working to shore up kevin mccarthy and they're nothing but kevin that this group and i think he's doing a good job of trying to make sure these got a vast majority of republicans because he needs that in order to become speaker which i believe he will be. >> to jerry calling us from florida. good morning,republican line . >> good morning and happy new year everybody . first off, i don't have any

questions, just because i really don't trust anything that i hear on any news broadcast or any political talk or anything like that. when you have an illegitimate president and you stole an election from 100 million people and then you want to know why there's no bipartisanship. how can you treat that many people and then the author your opponents and try to lock them up, try to smear them and another point to is i think that the main problem with america is the media. i think that if people turn their tvs off and there was no more television i think this country would flourish and there would be near as manyproblems . as far as the january 6 debacle, that is, you have the trump people at the rally and then they show up at the capital andthere's already a

riot going on . all these people, all these police officers letting them come in. trump offered the national guard. nancy pelosi is in charge of that. she should have allowed it, she should have called for it . let's see, let me catch my breath. >> host: jerry, severalthings there and to be clear nancy pelosi doesn't have control of the national guard in the district of columbia , tevi troy. >> guest: jerry is mentioning a number of concerns that republicans have. i'll be careful on the facts, trump got 70 million votes, not 100 million votes, something to be aware of what is on to something when he talks about the larger level of distrust of the media. people feel like they're not getting a fair shake from the media part of it is as you have these alternative media sources, conservatives go to fox news and you have let's say republicans not reading

the new york times and the new york times says our fan base or listeners or readers are 90 percent liberal so then they service who their readers are and i think it does affect theproduct . i've read the new york times since it's i've been a kid and it hasbeen in a more agenda driven direction . they force it on you whether it's in the sports package pages or the cultural pages are obviously in the news pages. i'd like to get back to more of a hard new situation where the reporters report the facts and don't see themselves as actors in a play. >> host: what you think is behind that with those media organizations ? more of it as say an agenda behind that reporting? >> the new york times in particular recognizes it has a lot of power and a lot of sway and they use that to try to shape the narrative but it backfired because it used to be everyone read the new york

times or at least all the key elites on both sides of the island now you hear republicans, i don't even read the new york times. most of my friends on the right don't even read it. i think they've armed themselves in that respect. in general i think there are many more reporters today who see themselves as activists and not hard newsgatherers . that's a problem to but you also see reporters push back there are some reporters who have to much like an activist . in some of the washington post where the newsroom says we're supposed to report the facts and let's try and do that. >> let's hear from chris and hyattsville maryland,chris on the democrats line, good morning . >> so you mentioned how the bush administration was very accommodating to religion . i think that the united states is actually far too accommodating to religion and religious beliefs . we have people who are going to the supreme court under the shroud of their religious

beliefs trying to deny people's. and we have evangelical preachers who are out there using political speech, a speech and getting tax deductions or tax free benefits for the protections of being a nontax or nonprofit entity and i just don't understand, don't decide what is "religious space in america or belief and why those roots should have the benefit that they are allowed currently. >> finish your question chris . we didn't catch the last part of your question, what was it ? >> what is the difference between religious belief and someone's just simple thoughts, for example if i believed in being against gay marriage, but i was not religious, another person who

is religious can use that as an excuse to deny service. because of their religious pr belief and the constitution.

nondefense nonveterans baseline.se nonveterans let me say that again. president biden wanted to cut defense spending and grow liberal domestic spending in defense spending and grow liberal domestic spending in real dollars. rejecting the biden administration's vision and doing the exact opposite. this bill will grow defense spending and cut nondefense, nonveteran spending after inflation. just last week the senate passed the national defense authorization act on an overwhelming bipartisan basis. senators on both sides acknowledged that president biden and his administration had

failed, failed to request the level of resources that our servicemembers and their commanders actually needed. so on a bipartisan basis, we ignored the administration's request and authorized what our armed forces actually needed. but the landmark investments in upgrading and modernizing our armed forces that we just laid out in the ndaa will not happen unless congress follows through and pro appropriates the -- and appropriates the money to pay the bills. that's what they have given us the opportunity to achieve. make good on our commitments in the ndaa by following through with actual funding.

americans want our nation to remain the preeminent global superpower. we want our country to remain the mightiest civilization the world has ever seen. we want to keep helping ukraine, keep outcompeting russia, and keep pace with the huge investments that china is making in their own military and new technologies. so it's a strange position to say the least when republicans in congress have to poke and prod a democratic commander in chief into sufficiently funding the men and women that he actually commands. but as i said all along, funding our armed forces is a basic governing duty. republicans were not going to let our democratic colleagues demand extra left-wing goodies in exchange for doing their job

and funding our troops. the president's own party does not get to take our national defense hostage and demand rewards. so i'm grateful that our democratic colleagues backed down and accepted our position. the bipartisan bill that our colleagues have negotiated equips our armed forces with the resources they need while cutting nondefense, nonveteran spending in real dollars. this is a strong outcome for republicans and much more importantly, it's the outcome that our nation's security actually needs. so i want to thank our distinguished colleague senator shelby for his hard work and look forward to reviewing the full text soon. now, madam president, i've saved my tribute for the most senior retiring republican member for late in the year.

but even with mere days remaining until the end of his term, our colleague's calendar has been quite packed. not with fancy farewell parties but with the final chapter of high-stakes negotiations and tireless legislative work on behalf of his state, our nation and in particular our armed forces. it's no surprise that senator richard shelby's final days in the senate see him running through the tape and burning the literal midnight oil. the state of alabama has sent some prolific and powerful senators to this chapter over its history. but richard shelby has surpassed them all. he is not just the longest serving senator from alabama, he is the most influential. our friend is one of the most effective legislators the united

states senate has ever seen. growing up outside depression-era birmingham, richard shelby was not automatically predestined for the halls of power. but even before our friend had grown into the fullness of his commanding stature, i understand that young richard shelby was never afraid to throw his weight around whether he was fighting for his team on the football field or putting himself between a classmate and a bully on a streetcar. as a young man there was hardly any academic or athletic test that richard didn't pass with flying colors. but the way i hear it, the most important test was ensuring that a pretty girl named annette was delivered back home in time for curfew after their first date.

annette was intrigued by this handsome young man, but she also loved and respected her own family. so she declared that if richard was late dropping her off the first date would be the last. thus a partnership for the ages was born. and ever since the shelby's first campaign victory in 1970, the people of alabama have had a natural campaigner, a trailblazing problem solver, and an intellectual giant looking out for their interests. and in addition to annette shelby, they've also gotten richard in the package deal. dr. annette shelby was -- has chartered a historic course of her own here in washington, including becoming the first woman to hold a tenured

professorship at georgetown's business school. meanwhile, across the city, the other half of the shelby partnership was developing a reputation for visionary leadership here in congress. where richard is concerned, the word visionary is neither throwaway praise nor exaggeration. it is simply accurate. people around the senate like to say that richard shelby doesn't just see down the road. he sees down the road and also around the corner. our colleague is not just known how to fight for alabama and the individual issues and debates that each day has brought, he's also invented creative, new, forward-looking visions and missions that nobody else had dreamed of. and then methodically set about turning them into reality.

richard has trained his efforts on a small number of core priorities at one time. the places he is most convinced he can make an outsized difference. and once one of those big priorities is identified, he's been like a dog after a bone. take the city of huntsville. as the story goes, a few decades ago it was a sleepy town by the tennessee border. today it's a booming technological hub for cutting edge industries like space exploration and missile defense. or take the port of mobile. the way i understand it, the spark was an overseas trip where richard saw firsthand the latest international shipping infrastructure that was rapidly taking shape out in asia. i think the sentiment was more or less this.

if singapore can do this, why not mobile? so today what used to be a small inlet on the gulf coast is now a booming hub for shipping, a transformation that is sending ripples of prosperity across the entire region. but even our visionary colleague's prolific foresight occasionally hit its limits. richard's good friend, our former colleague phil graham had the good judgment to switch to the republican party way back in 1983. he immediately started working on his good buddy to follow s suit. but even after a charm offensive

that i'm told involved multiple white house lunches with president reagan, even after robert byrd had sceptically accused senator shelby of harboring, quote, definite republican tendencies, took our friend until after republicans landslide victory in 1994 to finally cross the threshold and join our team. well, the rest is history. the iconic phrase chairman shelby could refer to our colleague's time steering sensitive oversight at the helm of the intelligence committee or his mastery of the most complex matters as head of the banking committee. or his time lending a steady hand to institutional priorities

as rules committee chair. or more recently, the years our colleague has spent in the number one or number two slots on top of the appropriations committee directing the american people's money into key national priorities, most especially our constitutional duty to provide for the common defense. but richard's washington expertise never came at the expense of his home state roots. just the opposite. the national renown that richard shelby accrued was just a pathway by which his beloved alabama came to punch more and more above its weight.

a long line of shelby staffers have learned there's no need for a road map or a gps when they've got the senator himself in the car. our friend knows every single back road and highway exit. he knows every good meet and three and if there is ever time to stop in for lunch or coffee, just pick a spot and richard will know a handful of the folks inside. how exactly has our colleague sustained this level of sharpness and influence over such a historic career? well, for one thing, i understand the seasoned chairman is a frequent visitor to, quote, the health committee. that's his moniker for the senate gym. likewise i have it on good authority that at one point our friend held the distinction of

having more books checked out in his name from the library of congress than any other member in either chamber. occasionally, though, having such a vow raishes read -- voracious for a colleague can lead to trouble. years ago shortly after the passing of president reagan, i was wrapping up a meeting with my banking committee colleague when i half-heartedly -- what i half wondered whether we could find a way to honor the gipper with a place on our currency. with no particular mall louse toward alexander hamilton in mind, i loosely suggested what about, perhaps, the ten-dollar bill. but alas little did i know, i was sitting across from the most recent person in america to finish ron chernow's gigantic newly released biography of

"hamilton." this was the book that would go on to inspire the hit musical. richard shelby spent weeks eating up every single page, admiring hamilton's genius more and more with every chapter. so let's just say a few minutes later i was back at the drawing board. it's difficult to imagine the senate without richard shelby. but i'm not too concerned that the opposite will hold true. as much as richard has loved this institution and excelled in it, we know our colleague can imagine life beyond the senate just fine. it will -- there will be even more time to stay a student of history, even more time for duck hunting with good friends. the vision-year brainstorming for alabama and our nation won't

stop. oh, no. but our friend will get to balance it out with a whole lot more time with his beloved annette, their two sons, and their grandkids, more time to enjoy the home state that has been literally transformed by richard's passion and vision. richard, thank you very much for an outstanding career. mr. durbin: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: madam president, i came to the floor to speak on another topic, but i want to join in the comments of the republican leader about richard shelby of alabama. we became friends under different political circumstances when he served in the house of representatives. it's been my honor to count him as a friend and to have the occasion to travel with him and his wife, annette, in the past.

i'm going to miss my friend. i wish you well. i'm sure you got some football to watch in alabama when you get home. madam president, this congress democrats have shown up for everyday americans. we passed historic legislation to build infrastructure, we became a global leader in chip manufacturing, we improved gun safety, and we protected our climate. these are wins for americans, and they make headline news. but today i want to talk about an issue that may not get the headlines, but it's just as important to fixing our broken student loan system, ensuring that americans can go to school and participate fully in our economy and maintain our nation's competitive edge. i'm talking about holding for-profit colleges accountable. i've been coming to the floor for almost ten years on this topic. i believe in my heart of hearts that what's going on here is unfair to students, their

families, and taxpayers. why is it essential to bring this issue up frequently? two numbers -- and these two will be on the final, so pay close attention. the numbers are eight and 30. for-profit colleges enroll only 8% of america's college students, 8%. they account for 30% of federal student loan defaults. how can that be? 8% of the students and 30% of the student loan defaults? the answer is obvious. the schools charge too much. they offer too little. those who don't drop utah end up with worthy diplomas. in a sentence, that's the problem. it's built on a business model, this for the college model. first for-profit colleges deliberately lower lure in

low-income students. slick marketings that community colleges can't match. they pressure students to take on as much debt as possible to pay for the courses and they charge a lot more than community colleges in offering good quality educational courses. third, once the students are enrolled and on the hook for huge amounts of debt, these for-profit colleges provide low-quality education and very little support. if a student graduates from a for-profit college and ends up with a degree and it's frequency worthless, finding a working job that will pay them any kind of money to pay back the loan is next to impossible. they can barely cover basic living expenses, much less pay back their student debt. i've been calling for great scrutiny and accountability over the for-profit college industry for years. despite the well-documented misconduct and fraud of this nefarious industry, the department of education continues to provide billions in federal funds to them each year.

under the trump administration and former education secretary betsy devos, for-profit colleges had just an absolute holiday. we witnessed crucial protections like gainful protection -- pardon me, gainful employment rule, which puts sanctions on the worst-performing schools being rescinded. early on, secretary devos said she was going to prioritize individual students. instead, by removing these safeguards and accountability, they left them even more vulnerable to the unscrupulous for-profit colleges. the devos education department even refused to provide defrauded borrowers with loan discharges they deserved under brother defense. after secretary devos' undefensible policies were struck down in the federal court, she continued to refuse to act even after the court ruled against her, allowing a backlog to piddle up -- d. to build up -- thereon this -- to

230,000 student borrowers who languished under mountains of debt that secretary devos would not remedy in any way. the trump-devos education department left borrowers hopeless and buried in debt while the taxpayers footed the bills. as i said, i've called for more accountability over the for-profit college industry for a long time. luckily, the biden administration is listening and reversed the course done under the trump administration. i hope it continues to be the case. unlike the trump-devos department of education, president biden's department has processed borrower defense claims as the law requires. this has canceled the student loan debt of nearly 1.1 million borrowers who were defrauded and swindled by predatory for-profit colleges, legendary names like corinthian college, itt tech, westwood, turned out to be the worst excuses for higher education in america's history.

and it's enabled these students to get a chance to start again, to make up for time lost and a better experience with a for-profit school. the biden administration also issued sweeping student debt relief, which disproportionately helps low-income students, which is the way it should be. borrowers who attended for-profit colleges borrow on average $40,700. that's average for each student. 71% do not graduate on time or at all. 71% of for-profit school students. for those who do graduate, they often have degrees that are worthless and jobs that are worthless as well. if the supreme court approves president biden's student loan relief plan, it will help millions of borrowers climb out from the mountain of debt, pay their bills, and even return to a higher education experience that's worthwhile. to curb future wrongdoings, the biden administration has also

terminated federal recognition of sketchy accredit i thinking agency that long ago failed to meet the mark, which long ago kept these for-profit schools in business when it shouldn't have. it's taken steps, too, to close the infamous 9010 loophole that basically says for-profit colleges do not count g.i. bill and servicemember benefits as part of that i remember revenue from pentagon federal government -- as part of their revenue from the federal government. listen to what these schools d they lure kids in to the for-profit college experience. they promise them the sun, the moon, and the stars. many of them are the first generation in their families to ever get near a college. their parents don't have any lasting experience to draw f the students are told to add up your debt and don't worry about it. we're going to pay it owl back with a wonderful job that awaits in your future. it turns out to be a fraud on them, their families, and the

public. the taxpayers end up holding the back. that for-profit industry is taking advantage of veterans, too. the g.i. bill of rights was national designed to be wasted on -- was not designed to be wasted on for-profit schools. we lead need to make sure students are protected and there's real supervision and reform. that's why i introduced the proprietary agency interagency improvement act which has got gottemoeller to be the longest title ever introduced. it creates can an interagency task force with the departments of education, justice, labor, veterans affairs and defense to improve coordination. this is a serious problem. when i think of the thousands of young people that i'm aware of who have been defrauded by the for-profit colleges, i say shame on us, shame on the department of education. let's do right by these young people. i yield the floor.

mr. sullivan: madam president? the presiding officer: the junior senator from alaska. mr. sullivan: i rise too talk about a very important and i i believe very bipartisan issue, and it's the need for us in the senate and the entire u.s. government to focus on the intensifying chinese communist party threat and people's liberation army threat to taiwan and why it matters. now, madam president, my remarks will be focusing primarily on

the chinese communist party. the leader of that party, xi jinping, not on the chinese people who have a proud history, heritage, culture, thousands of yearsment, and as we've seen over the last several weeks, they're very brave people who simply want more freedom. in march of 2021 in a senate armed services committee hearing, i asked the then-indopacom commander, admiral davidson, when he thought there would be an invasion by the pla and communist chinese party of taiwan. he responded by saying this. senator, i think the threat of an invasion of taiwan is manifest during this decade. in fact, within the next six years.

now, madam president, that was two years ago almost. his successor, admiral aquilno. has recently been ringing alarm bells on this timeline as well. on the heels of the 20th national congress of the chinese communist party, xi jinping has emerged as the ultimate supreme leader, surprising the assessment of even the most seasoned chinahands with his audacity. he's packed the poll i think bureau committee with loyalists, and positioned the central military commission to preside over the conquest of taiwan p.

now, take a look at this poster. that's chairman xi and a bump of his comrades i just talked about. let's nays face it. they might look ridiculous in military fatigues -- i think they do -- but the message of these kind of propaganda photos are very, very clear. this was just recently sent out by the chinese communist party, and it's this -- china is preparing for war. americans and the rest of the world should take this threat very seriously. i know that our eyes are on ukraine, something that we should stay focused on, defeating authoritarian aggression in europe is essential to deterring it in asia. but we can't lose sight of the threat to the taiwan and what is at stake. so i want to lay out today what will be the consequences of a potential invasion of taiwan and

why i believe vital american interests -- security, economic interests are implicated by that and what we should do, all of us together, to work to deter it. but i'd like to begin my remarks by focusing on a different era in a different region of the world. in 1948, the soviets cut west berlin off from food and fuel, and the united states and our allies, led by our powerful military, responded with the berlin airlift. many of you have seen this very famous photo taken during the berlin airlift. at the height of this airlift, allied supply flights were landing in west berlin literally every minute. think about that a we did that for a year -- think about that. we did that for a year to save this city, to save it from

absorption into the tyrannical soviet orbit and empire. think about that, madam president. our citizens, our country, very tired and exhausted after world war ii, just a couple years later somehow we understood that the stakes mattered in berlin. and americans look back on the berlin airlift as a point of pride for our freedom-loving nation. john kennedy famously lifted berlin in is the 63 and before he went, he had seen berlin as an irteet tant in soviet-u.s. relations. but after declaring himself a berliner, he came back and recognized, quote, berlin is an asset, no the a liability, in the wider struggle for europe and global freedom. the united states defended the city and people of west berlin during the 20th century because we understood as a

country that this city and these citizens of this city stood on the front line of the struggle between the american-led free world and a powerful expansionist authoritarian regime. the same is true of taiwan today. taiwan is the 21st century's west berlin. now, madam president, it's not as if american political leaders have disregarded the critical importance of taiwan. to the contrary, starting with president eisenhower, there has been a long and bipartisan consensus focused on the security of taiwan. i have recently been rereading president eisenhower's excellent member wores, and you -- memoir and you see it in the pages of these books.

this of course wasn't just the executive branch. this body in particular, the united states senate, has been the ally of taiwan during its darkest times, when the u.s. switched diplomatic recognition from taipei to beijing, it was congressional leaders like senators barry goldwater and bob dole as well as democrats like representative lester wolf who worked on a bipartisan basis to give us the taiwan relations act, one of the most remarkable petess of foreign policy legislation the united states congress has ever passed, led right here in the united states senate. the president of the united states, jimmy carter, wanted to abandon a long-standing ally, taiwan, and congress said no. and in the process, america's loafgget -- legislative body

rewrote our relationship with taiwan, and that is the policy that still exists to this day and drives our relationship with the island democracy. with this remarkable legislation, congress laid down the law and policy on taiwan for generations, including up and till today, and in 1979, madam president, 84 u.s. senators, including a young senator named joe biden, voted for that important, very important piece of legislation. those stalwart supporters of taiwan, republicans and democrats, understood that the stakes were more than just about the island itself. they encompassed the issues of american leadership in asia and our commitment, like we demonstrated in berlin, to prevent a communist power on the march from devouring an outpost of freedom, this time in the

pacific. so, madam president, given this history, it's not surprising that the fate of taiwan has been weaved in and out of the careers of countless americans, including my own. 27 years ago i was a young marine infantry officer deployed to the taiwan strait as part of a marine amphibious ready group and two u.s. carrier strike groups, all in response to chinese communist party's aggressive military provocations on the eve of presidential elections in taiwan. the third taiwan strait crisis this period, 1995-1996, is now called. this was an important and decisive demonstration of america's commitment and resolve to an emergency democracy and partner that is still remembered in the region by everybody. this is a picture of a ship, the ship that i was on during

that time. later, madam president, i was part of another demonstration of american commitment and resolve when senators tammy duckworth and chris coons and i flew to taiwan on that aircraft. that's a picture of our flight. where we were able to bring close to a million vaccines to the taiwanese people. we did this in the face of the chinese communist party's aggressive attempts to prevent the citizens of taiwan from receiving this lifesaving medicine from western countries. and so america responded. i'll never forget, madam president, my first trip as a u.s. senator on a codel led by senator mccain to taiwan. we were getting on the bus after getting off the airplane, and the state department official from our de facto embassy there, the american institute in taiwan, greeted the senate

delegation by saying this -- welcome to taiwan, a vibrant democracy of 24 million people with one of the most innovative economies in the world, a hub of trade and cutting-edge technology, and the only reason this incredible place exists on a map as such is because of the sacrifice and commitment of the united states of america. our military, our government, and our citizens. all americans should be very proud of this, that's what he said. very moving, very true. what a powerful dpreegget. so american commitment and resolve on taiwan has been part of our law, our heritage, trade, economics, military deployments for decades. but i worry too few americans know this history and the reason for this commitment. we need to rebuild this

understanding to ready ourselves for the test of wills that i believe is approaching. this starts with all of us doing a better job of explaining to the american people collectively why taiwan matters. in this regard, one question that i don't believe has been asked or analyzed enough is a difficult question to contemplate but it's this -- what would the world look like and how would american interests be imply implicated by a pla or chinese communist party takeover of taiwan. so over the last several weeks, actually several months i have asked different u.s. government agencies, intel agencies, think tanks, military commands to help me think through this important but little studied question. and perhaps it's little studied because it's a difficult and

depressing assignment to contemplate. the chinese communist party and the pla launch a massive multipronged, violent military invasion of taiwan, and u.s. forces either do not get there on time, either decide we're not going to go there at all, or actually go to the taiwan strait and are defeated by the pla and their attempt to defend taiwan. none of this is something that we as americans want to contemplate. nevertheless, i believe it is our job as leaders to help our fellow americans understand the ramifications of precisely this scenario today in order to better prevent it from taking place in the future. so let's look at that world and what it would look like particularly with regard to american interests. a successful pla military

invasion and takeover of taiwan would be a massive blow to the commanding heights of the technology that powers our digital age. as you can see from this chart, taiwan dominates the production of the world's most advanced semiconductors. secure supplies of advanced computer chips today are as important to our economy and that of our allies as the supply of oil has been for us and our allies for decades previously. suddenly being deprived of these advanced computer chips would have a devastating impact on the u.s. and global economies, negatively impacting millions of good-paying jobs. just look at the current impact of the current chip shortage. according to the commerce department, in 2021 alone, it cost the u.s. economy $240

billion, one-quarter of a trillion dollars, including 7.7 million fewer cars being produced because of the low end chip shortage we have now. this hasn't just been an inconvenience for those in the market for new cars, this has been devastating in terms of manufacturing jobs in america. imagine what would happen if home to 92% of the world's most advanced semiconductor production, which is what taiwan is, were taken off-line. it would cost us multiple times more than the $240 billion i just mentioned. all in all, a military conflict over taiwan launched by xinjiant the economy $2.5 trillion.

$2.5 trillion. and this sum does not justify the huge strategic advantage the chinese communist party would gain if it sees the crown jewels of the global economy, which is what they strongly desire. and that is the fabrication of the world's most advanced computer chips. and this would also present an extraordinary challenge to the u.s. stability to defend itself not only abroad, but at home. as you know, madam president, advanced mike it chips from -- microchips from taiwan feed directly into our ability to develop and sustain our most sphissed military weapons -- fiscal indicated military weapons, radars, just to name a few. this translates into great risk for our national security and importantly the men and women in uniform who defend us.

second, there is taiwan's geostrategic value, not just economic value, that of course would be shattered by a successful pla invasion of the island. in his memoirs, president eisenhower devotes pages and pages to taiwan. at one point he says, quote, if the capture of taiwan's offshore island should in fact lead to the loss of taiwan, the future security of japan, the philippines, thailand, vietnam, even okinawa would be placed in jeopardy, and the united states vital interest would suffer severely. last year assistant secretary of defense for indo-pacific security affairs, eli rattner, made essentially the same point in his testimony before the senate foreign relations committee. now certain critics wrung him up for it, apparently calling

taiwan a critical node within the first island chain and an anchor within a network of u.s. allies and partners in asia, as assistant secretary rattner did risk offending their sensibilities. of course president eisenhower and rattner were correct. taiwan in the ccp's hands breaks china out of the constraints of this area in the pacific known as the first island chain. and a ccp takeover of taiwan has the potential to further push the u.s. and our forces out into the pacific in what's called the second island chain out this far. and this includes american territories and guam and the northern mariana islands just to name a few. madam president, as you know, these aren't just points on a

grand strategist map. residents in guam and mariana islands are american citizens. guam has an enormous u.s. military presence with tens of thousands of servicemembers and their families. with the first island chain broken, these americans will come under direct threat from an emboldened china with a massive and growing military. and here's the other thing, it is highly unlikely that the ccp would stop simply at taiwan. if history teaches us anything, it is that the appetite of an aggressive authoritarian regime on the march increasings with each meal. for decades the ccp has focused almost exclusively on building a military with the objective of conquering taiwan. take a look at this force posture that currently exists across the taiwan strait.

it's a rather depressing picture. these are the military capabilities and numbers of the chinese people's liberation army, and this is that of taiwan. you look at each of these numbers in terms of what each of these means in terms of infantry, naval forces, air forces, it's a massive, massive overmatch right now in this period of the world. and if there is an invasion that's successful, do weary think these forces -- do we really think these forces are going to stay around taiwan? no. they're going to shoot out to other parts of the pacific and other parts of the world. the chinese communist party and pla's military will be supercharged for expansion. madam president, president eisenhower was also deeply concerned about the impact a successful ccp invasion of taiwan would have on american alliances and our ability to

credibly meet our defense treaty obligations to them. this concern continues to today. we look at our allies in the region, and i want to commend the prime minister of japan just a few days ago who stepped up, saw significant challenges, primarily this, the chinese communist party, and is saying japan's military is going to grow significantly. that's a hugely important development. it's great news for our national security as we work closely with japan. but -- but a chinese pla takeover of taiwan, in my view, would threaten and call into question our treaty military commitments throughout the region, japan, korea, australia, new zealand, the philippines, thailand. of course it's always hard to

predict the future, but it's little doubt that a chinese commcommunist takeover of atigun would in some countries' minds call into question our alliance commitment. it could cause some other countries to build up their military capabilities, or nuclear capabilities when they don't currently have it or a much more accommodating middle kingdom position. the questioning of our pacific network of alliances that ungird the security of the american homeland by our allies and by balancing and deterring dangers far away from our shores i believe makes americans less safe. finally, madam president, a chinese communist takeover of taiwan would give a global boost to the ccp's model of

authoritarian governors. in the 19 -- governance. in the 1930's, many around the world thought that the future lay with fascism. it was alluring to millions. democracy can be messy, disagreements, sometimes ferocious disagreement is the hallmark of representative government. and because of the transparency inherent in democracy, it is there for all the world to see, the good, the bad, and the ugly. the united states, along with oother democracies prevailed during world war ii, we did so by force of arms and also by the desire for freedom and self-government that we led. but a military takeover of

taiwan and the -- in the current global climate could leave many to believe as xi jinping has put it that this vision offers a new choice for humanity, one that relies on total tall tearian -- we cannot rely on the legitimacy that the ccp would gain at home and abroad. and with that would come new forms of ccp aggression throughout asia and throughout the world. so, madam president, the next slide has a summary of a number of these issues of why taiwan matters. it's actually a slide taken from a slide deck in a briefing out at indo-pay com command. it's a good summary of what china would gain, what the u.s. would lose.

i won't go through each one of these. i talked about a lot of them. but the authoritarian world that the ccp is offering is not what xi jinping bills it as. look at its manifestations today, concentration camps for uighurs, no freedom of religion speech or assembly, mass censorship and social control, pandemic lockdowns approximating house arrests for millions of citizens guilty of no crime, a cult of personality around a leader who brooks no consent and a world order built on ccp power and values, freedom, and american interest would be unsafe. -- unsafe in many parts of the world. take a hard look at that. this is why taiwan matters.

so, madam president, my purpose today was to paint a picture of what the world would look like in the face of a successful cc p-pla invasion of taiwan. what i want to talk about briefly next is what we should do about it. i talked about this slide many times, as a matter of fact, the presiding officer and i had a lot of discussions. this is where we should be focused. no one wants a war in the taiwan strait, and if it is launched it will be launched by the ccp and the pla. it won't be launch by the united states of america, it won't be launched by taiwan. what do we need to do? we need to teeter it. i -- deter it. we need to -- we need to look at the taiwan defense capabilities,

that smaller countries can fight and take on giant authoritarian regimes like the ukrainians are showing the world today. we need to make sure taiwan has the capability to do that itself. as a matter of fact, there's discussions going on right now in the omnibus, and i sure hope the administration weighs in heavily about more assistance for taiwan to build up its own military and weapons capability. the second level of deterrence, of course, madam president, is our ability as a country with our allies to come to taiwan's aid if the president so orders. that has been a constant in the decades-long history during these different crises when there has been threats by the ccp, the chinese comm communist party, the pla, the united states has shown up every time.

that's going to be increasingly important and we need the capability to do that. finally, madam president, a topic you and i have spoken about quite a lot about, is a third level of deterrence, which actually isn't talked about that much, but in my view and in the view of many of our intel analysts, could be the most powerful, and that is devastating economic and financial consequences that we should let the the chinese communist party know about now -- let the chinese communist party party know about now, economic, financial, energy. madam president, that's why i've been pushing my legislation called the stand with taiwan act. it's legislation that would have very broad-based sanctions that would be triggered against all aspects of the chinese communist

party's economy and its leadership that would be triggered by an invasion of taiwan by the pla. this is something i believe we, as the congress, need to pass. it's something that i have pitched to many of our allies in europe, in asia, and it's something that i think could have an enormous, positive, deterrent effect in the taiwan strait. so let me conclude with this. with the invasion of ukraine, it is clear we have enter a new era of authoritarian aggression led by xi jinping and putin like we saw in the 1930's. for nearly a century american presidents have seen asia and europe as theaters that have -- if under hostile control would put u.s. national security risks at extreme -- would put national security at extreme risk for the united states and generations of

americans have fought and died so that east asia and europe would not fall under the dictatorial control of u.s. adversaries. both of these theaters are at risk today. the world cannot be neutral in this contest between freedom and authoritarianism, especially in the indo-pacific region. american alliances power, and ingenuity helped to build a world that provided more freedom and prosperity to more people than ever before. in fact, think about it, madam president, the united states democracy, bolstered by our strong military has done more to liberate human kind from oppression and tyranny, literally hundreds of millions of people than any other force in human history. the chinese communist party has clear plans to reverse all of this. it knows exactly what it wants to accomplish to make the world

safer, its tyrannical government to profit off the export of its model to other countries, to separate from america, to erode u.s. leadership. a world governed by xi jinping's toirn vision would be a -- toirn vision would vision would -- ths why -- this is a thriving prosperous chinese democracy that holds free elections with power bound by the rule of law. for that reason it threatens the ccp''s central premise, that one man knows what's best for 1.4 billion people. the chinese communist party has

crushed hong kong, once a bastion of liberty. should america and the world stand by as china does something similar to taiwan, a peaceful democracy of 24 million people, that would not simply undermine the security of the pacific, but it would undermine the values w- and it would affect concrete national security and economic security interests. so i am committed to working with all of my colleagues, the presiding officer has been a leader on many of these issues, working with her and others, to make sure that that world never comes to pass. this is why taiwan matters and we need policies of deterrence, all of them, to prevent its violent takeover by the chinese communist party. i yield the floor.

mr. grassley: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: thank you, madam president. earlier this summer, my democratic colleagues got through on reconciliation in a strictly partisan way, a bill that provided that the irs would get $80 billion in mandatory funding which was meant to double the size of the irs by 87,000 employees. this additional $80 billion, which comes on top of its annual appropriation, is over six times more than it received through annual appropriations in 2022. now, i expect the new congress, starting january 3 of next year,

there's going to be an attempt to reduce the $80 billion and not go for the 87,000 additional employees. i favor doing just that, however, in the meantime the $80 billion and the 87,000 employees is law and so this unprecedented increase in funding demands that commerce have a comparable increase in congressional oversight of the irs exacting an unyielding oversight to be precise. after all, we're talking about 87,000 new employees. to begin this oversight, finance committee republicans, including this senator, sent a letter to the government accountability office in october in pursuit of this oversight.

in that letter we asked for information on outstanding issues that the government accountability office has identified at the internal revenue service and the status of recommendations the irs has failed to implement. the government accountability office responded to that letter at the end of november and, as you might quite expect, there are many ongoing an persistent issues. in the november letter the government accountability office notes that, quote, the irs had 41 unimplemented recommendations related to information systems control deficiencies at the beginning of the 2022 audit of the irs financial statements and

of gao quote. these recommendations related to information systems control deficiencies are especially concerning given the unauthorized disclosure of taxpayer information contrary to the u.s. code section 6103, which guarantees the privacy or supposed to guarantee the privacy of your irs information. as you'll recall almost a year and a half ago, proppublica, a publication, published stories based on, quote, a vast trove of internal revenue service data. end of quote. we're no closer to understanding how propublica obtained this confidential taxpayer data now that we were more -- any more now than we were in june of

2021. i've sent multiple letters to the internal revenue service and to the justice department requesting updates on their supposed investigations on this matter of how did propublica get this private information of individual taxpayers. yet these agencies, the irs and the justice department, have failed to provide any information concerning how confidential taxpayer information was disclosed or if additional taxpayer data remains at risk. in fact, just last week we learned of another confirmed data breach. the irs inadvertently redisclosed information from tax returns filed by tax exempt organizations. this is after the information

was already improperly disclosed in september. the irs clearly has a problem then protecting taxpayer information as the law requires. now, the 41 information systems deficiencies are only a fraction of the total open recommendations identified by the government of accountability office. so g.a.o. has said that, quote, as of november 2022, irs had 176 open recommendations. fully implementing these recommendations could significantly improve the irs' operation. end of quote. despite irs' shortcomings, my democrat colleagues handed the irs $80 billion in additional funding without seeing its plan for the funds or including the

additional oversight. so that's why we're calling on additional oversight. it's very important to protect this $80 billion. moreover, my democratic colleagues have heavily weighted the additional funding towards enforcement rather than updating its systems or taxpayer services. because you can hardly call the irs and get a live person. if you do, you probably don't get the right answers to your questions. so taxpayer service ought to be the number one goal of this additional $80 billion instead of enforcement. specifically, more than half of the additional irs funding is dedicated to enforcement while less than 5% is for taxpayer services. so you can see taxpayer services is an eye on the agenda of the irs. the lopsided nature of the irs

funding raises legitimate concerns of overly aggressive tax enforcement. this is especially true given three and to tenths million tax filers are still waiting for the irs to process their 2022 tax returns. countless others are trying to voluntarily comply with the law but can't get anyone at the irs to answer the telephone. as a result, my office has been flooded with calls from frustrated iowans requesting assistance in getting the information that they need from the irs. getting the services they need from the irs. this is a recipe for disaster. while serving on the 1998 irs restructuring commission, i heard firsthand from small businesses and from individuals some of the abusive tactics the

irs can use when enforcement takes pray quarts over taxpayer -- takes priorities over taxpayer services. given these and other concerns, senator shiewn and i introduced the irs -- senator thune and i introduced the accountability act. our bill would place a moratorium on irs spending, additional funding. other than for taxpayer services until the irs submits its spending plan to congress for approval. congress would then have the option to reject the plan. if congress approves the spending plan, the irs and the treasury would be subject to regular reporting requirements and incur financial penalties for noncompliance. in other words, enhancing congress' constitutional responsibility of oversight to see that the money spent is intended by congress. as the former chairman of the

senate finance committee, i understand the necessity for enforcement. taxpayers should pay what they owe and not a penny less or a penny more. during my time on the finance committee, i've worked to provide the irs with additional tools to identify tax cheats and to collect tax debt that are already due and old. for instance, i helped create the bipartisan irs private debt collection program which uses private contractors to track down and collect taxes owed to the irs that they've shelved as a very low priority. this program has collected nearly $3 million in net revenue since fiscal year 2019, including over one and three-tenths million in the fiscal year 2022 alone. every year this program has

operated, it's brought more revenue into the treasury. additionally, i offered implements -- improvements to the irs whistle-blower program in 2006. this program incentivizes whistle-blowers to expose tax fraud by corporations and high net worth individuals. since 2007 this program has collected over $6 billion from noncompliant taxpayers. both of these programs are proven. initially received resistance from the irs. however, i appreciated former commissioner rec receipt -- commissioner reddicks public support for both of these programs. if president biden is really committed to closing the tax gap and going after wealthy tax cheats, he should encourage his

nominee for irs commissioner daniel wearfeld to embrace both of these programs. the irs has significant and persistant issues that need to be addressed. congress must exercise robust and aggressive oversight. this is especially true given the outrageous infusion of $80 billion that's mostly geared towards enforcement against the taxpayers. the irs must do a better job protecting taxpayer data, provide better taxpayer service, and use its existing enforcement tools and regular appropriation funding more efficiently. simply put, that's what the taxpayers deserve. now, on another subject, madam president, biodiesel producers are a vital part of iowa's rural

economy. in 2021 iowa produced 340 million gallons of biodiesel which helps iowa farmers add value to each bushel of soybeans by producing a much-needed transportation fuel in addition to high protein animal feed. not only does buy -- is biodiesel good for iowa's economy, it's also significantly better for the environment. according to our department of energy, greenhouse gas emissions from biodiesel are as much as 74% lower as compared to traditional petroleum diesel. recently we've seen rapid growth in the renewable diesel production which also uses soybeans as a feed stock. currently the united states has the capacity to produce about 900 million gallons of renewable diesel. however, if all of the planned

investments come to be, within two years the united states will have a capacity to produce five billion gallons. despite rapid growth in the biodiesel industry, the environmental protection agency has proposed a mere 60 million gallons increase in volumes. it's particularly disappointing given that the energy information administration predicts a 500 million gallon increase. so it's very clear. it sounds like the epa has failed to consult with the executive branch's own energy department. this bad policy can be corrected because this is just a proposed rule. the epa has the ability to

correct its mistakes in the final rule. if the epa fails to account for expected growth in this industry, then the epa will have failed soybean farmers in the united states, my state of iowa as well. this also comes at a time when soybean farmers are making great strides in conservation practices that reduce -- further reduce carbon emissions and improve soil health. as the treasury department begins to look at the sustainable aviation fuel tax credit in the so-called inflation reduction act that passed last august, they need to acknowledge these advances. i did not support the inflation reduction act because it is chock full of reckless spending and job-killing taxes.

however, that a act requires the treasury department with determining how to measure carbon emissions for a variety of renewable fuels. what treasurery decides to make or break the renewable fuels industry. treasury must use the best available science for determining carbon emissions. so i want the treasury department to take note. this science is found at the department of energy's argonne national laboratory. the national lab has developed a state-of-the-art model for estimating greenhouse emissions by fuel source. oddly, for determining the carbon emissions of sustainable aviation fuel, the inflation reduction act directs treasury

to use the international civil aviation organization model or a similar model. phenomenon i was involved in writing the bill, i would have made sure that the treasury department could not outsource these important modeling decisions to an international organization when we've got a u.s. laboratory that can tell you how you can do it in the most environmentally positive way. the international model doesn't reflect advances in conservation practices used by american farmers. american farmers are at the cutting edge of conservation practices, and that should be reflected in any model that treasury adopts. farmers across the country stand ready to provide low cost and low carbon fuel to consumers on land, air, and sea. however, if the international model is adopted, a sustainable

aviation fuel made from homegrown corn soybeans will be very much shortchanged. as the treasury department begins to write these regulations as a result of the inflation reduction act, it must listen to the farmers and their own scientists, particularly the scientists at our own department of energy. we should not be awarding tax benefits based on an international model that is very much outdated and very much out of touch and that has shortchanged american innovation as proven by our laboratory in the department of energy. i yield the floor.

mr. menendez: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from new jersey. mr. menendez: madam president, a few days ago in front of a town hall in northern turkey, president erdogan threaten add missile strike on athens. quote, greece is afraid of our missile. they say that the typhoon missile will hit athens. and then he addressed the greek people directly and said, quote, it will, unless you stay calm, close quote. this is a nato member directly threatening to target athens, a

city of three million civilians. according to the united nations, an intentional attack on civilians, an intentional attack on civilians, is a war crime. and so, mr. president, i come to the floor today to condemn the recent actions of the turkish president, which are not only disturbing, they are totally unacceptable. for years erdogan has pursued repressive antidemocratic policies at home and abroad, from criminalizing insults of turkey and freedom of expression to the suppression of dissent and political opposition figures.

erdogan has jailed and silenced so many pro-democracy and human rights activists that at one point there were more lawyers and journalists in turkish jails than anywhere else in the world. his government continues to try and hide the truth about the armenia genocide, prosecuting writers and historians. in 2008, one of the journalists who wrote about the genocide was assassinated on the streets of istanbul. as violent as erdogan has tenure has been at home, his foreign policy has been absolutely awful. on the eve of bakuse war, turkey sold azerbaijan $77 million of military equipment that was used to attack innocent armenians. so it's no surprise that erdogan

met in taiwan this summer with the russian and iranian presidents, some of the world's most brutal dictators. just look at the leaders that he collaborates with. it's because he shares their world view, and you can see this clearly in the way he approaches the region. five decades after turkey's illegal occupation of cyprus, erdogan is still stoking divisions on the island. last year, he proposed reopening the cypriot town of virosha in an attempt to spread turkish influence. that is a violation of u.n. security council resolutions that was condemned by the european union. and this september, erdogan threatened to reinforce the

almost 30,000 turkish troops on cyprus with more land, naval, and airline weapons, ammunition, and vehicles. clearly, erdogan looks at putin's illegal annexation of parts of ukraine and is taking note. and that's what makes president erdog a. n's comments about launching missile attacks on greece so disconcerting. we see erdogan challenge greek sovereignty repeatly. this summer he sent fighter jets over the ageian sea. so his threats to strike athens fits a pattern of turkish claims to what is greek territory. he has said turkish forces may land in greece, quote, suddenly one night. he seems to be increasing his illegal autocratic behavior in the run-up to the elections in turkey next year. in november he launched an air

artillery and drone assault on kurdish cities in northern syria and suggested ground forces would soon follow. payback time, turkey's ministry of national defense tweeted, announcing the operation against the kurds who have long been a target of erdogan's wrath. attacking the very forces that are essential u.s. partners in combating isis. and in doing so, putting at risk u.s. troops in syria. he's been out for revenge at home, too. just last week, one of erdogan's political rivals, the popular mayor of istanbul, was sentenced to prison for two and a half years. the charge? insulting members of the supreme electoral council.

the charge? insulting members of the supreme electoral council. that would be the equivalent of an american being put in jail for two and a half years for insulting some state electoral commission or the federal election commission or any entity as such. and in case the prison sentence didn't send a clear enough message, the court also imposed a political ban on the mayor. erdogan might be using this as a diversion, no doubt, from the dire failure of his own economy. he might be doing it out of spite. or he might be doing it because he is a thug. but one thing is clear. the united states must take the turkish president's actions seriously. those who just simply say, oh, well he's a lot of bluster, they

do so at risk. they said putin was bluster and we have a with aer in the european -- and we have a war in the european continent. we need to hold erdogan accountable when he challenges democratic norms or allows his forces to commit human rights abuses. and that's why i'm calling for free and fair elections in turkey. i'm asking the international community of democracies to condemn his jailing of his political opponent. i want our allies to use their leverage to try and prevent further incursions into northeastern syria. and i'm demanding that erdogan and all overflights of greece and pull every last turkish soldier out of cyprus. and i think, given all of this recent behavior, the united states should not be putting f-16 fighter jets in president

erdogan's hands. that's why as chairman of the senate foreign relations committee i will not approve any f-16's for turkey until he halts his campaign of aggression across the entire region. now, i'm sure this won't make me many friends and president erdogan has criticized me patternally calling me an enemy of the state, but if standing up to human rights abuses makes me an enin i of erdogan, if calling out turkey for arming azerbaijan and enabling a massacre of innocent armenian civilians makes me an enemy of erdogan, if demanding that turkey recognizes cyprian sovereignty makes me an enemy, then that is a badge i will wear with honor. so to my colleagues here in the senate, i'll close by saying, do not be afraid to stand up for

american values in the face of erdogan's aggression. to the international community, do not hesitate to hold turkey accountable for violating international law. to the citizens living in the shadow of erdogan's typhoon missiles, do not forget the united states stands shoulder to shoulder with you. and to those people in turkey who still hope for a free democratic future, do not give up. one day soon, with your bravery, with your peace, and prosperity will return to your home. madam president, i yield the floor.

mrs. blackburn: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mrs. blackburn: thank you, madam president. i ask unanimous consent that the confirmation vote on the gruenberg nomination occur following my remarks and those of senator brown. mrs. blackburn:. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. blackburn: thank you. i've always believed that serve the people of tennessee requires that i meet them right there in their communities and i bring their ideas to washington to put those perspectives to work.

what we do on capitol hill gets a lot of attention, but back home is where the real work of making this country work really gets done. and so this year i've completed another of my tours of all 95 counties. that is every county in our state. and at every stop i met with local officials, business owners, civic leaders and citizens who really keep these communities afloat. and that is a task that my democratic colleagues have made almost impossible with their massive spending bills and their attacks on small businesses. in so many ways, that situation mirrors that of thousands of families struggling under record-breaking inflation and broken supply chains. during tele-town hall calls with

tennesseans in each of our 95 counties, this was a constant refrain. they're finding more month at the end of their paycheck than paycheck at the tend of their month. from the moment their feet hit the floor in the morning until they put their head on the pillow at night, tennesseans are counting their pennies and wondering when the democrats are going to put their radical agenda aside and go back to putting the american people first. in spite of the mess the democrats have made with the national economy, tennessee communities are growing because their local leaders follow the same rules with their county covers coffers that they do with their small business or their household budgets. they spend within their means. they only buy what they need, and they keep their paperwork in

order. washington would doing with to follow their example -- would do well to follow their example and embrace two key pieces of legislation i introduced this year. in response to the 240 had of year high inflation that the democrats caused with their spending spree, i filed a resolution to raise the senate voting threshold to two-thirds of all senators for all spending bills if inflation is higher than 4%. i also introduced the irs user fee reduction act. this bill would lower irs user fees by 95% for those with a gross income of less than $5 million and allow these small businesses to use the services the irs offers without getting hit with the a massive bill. times are hard enough for

taxpayers without having to worry that their government is working against them. we saw plenty of evidence this year showing that the bureaucracy is actively preventing growth and development. the commencement of the massive blue oval city project in haywood county, tennessee, was clogged in permitting red tape and agency misalinement. it took a remarkable effort to straighten that out, but we got the job done and now they are on their way to creating thousands of jobs. before this fall the mckeller airport in jackson, tennessee, had been without tsa service for 13 years. but by working with the folks in jackson and with the tsa, i was able to get that service set up for outgoing passengers.

now this area of west tennessee has reliable commercial air tax-payings. but remember getting rid of red tape, getting it out of the way, this is something our local government had to go fight for, and it shouldn't be that way. meanwhile tennessee farmers are in the fight of their lives over a combination of unsustainable fuel and fertilizer prices and regulatory burdens so heavy they're destroying the concept of the family farm. they are the reason i called on the biden administration to pursue energy independence, and they are the reason i will keep fighting to implement an operation warp speed for american-produced energy. the government's job is not to micromanage. our job is to give these businesses the tools they need

to create the environment that they need for jobs growth to take place. that's what we did when we passed the drive safe act, to make it easier for the trucking industry to hire and train the workers they need to ease the strains on our supply chains. it's what senator menendez and i did when we introduced our supply chain database act which became law this year. soon manufacturers will have access to the information they need to meet demand. this will make a huge difference in hamblin county, tennessee. morris town is home to more than 109 manufacturing companies. about 25% of the jobs available in morris town are associated with these manufacturers which is about double the national average. this focus on using innovation

to help local economies flourish is making a difference elsewhere in tennessee. the oak ridge national lab is home to fron frontier, which is the world's fastest computer, super computer and the first ever exis scale computer. it's also a magnet for talent. people in businesses are moving to east tennessee to take advantage of the jobs and the other opportunities that our investment in oak ridge has created. elsewhere in oak ridge, high school students are already benefiting from investment in research and education opportunities in advanced manufacturing. and the smart factory institute in cleveland, tennessee, is running a state-of-the-art vocational training facility that is revolutionizing workforce development and training. none of this would be happening if washington had ignored the

request of local leaders. this year i brought this same local focus to my work with the health care industry. rural hospitals are struggling in every state, and in tennessee this is leaving thousands of people without access to basic health care. the telehealth expansion policies that became mainstream during the pandemic saved lives and brought health care to people who had never had easy access to a doctor. this year i fought to make those expansions permanent, and i also per persuaded cms to keep the low-wage index hospital policy on the books. for at least another year this will protect rural hospitals from losing out on the reimbursements they need to keep the doors open. and if rural patients need to fill a prescription after a doctor's visit, they'll be able

to do so. i secured a new rule that would prohibit pbm's from clawing back fees from community pharmacists. this will bring some much-needed stability to those businesses and allow them to keep serving rural customers. and this kind of targeted support is paying off. in march we broke ground on the stand-alone fentress county emergency department. it took more than a few phone calls with cms to sort out the waivers but we got it done, and now we're doing the same work in clay county. tennessee is home also to the finest military community in the country, and this year they had to wait until the 11th hour to see if the senate would come through with a defense authorization bill. it had been dangling over their heads since july, and they are truly relieved to see that it

finally passed. and i want to thank my colleagues on the armed services committee for supporting the amendments i submitted on behalf of tennessee servicemembers and their families. they are the most important element of our national defense, which is why i championed the repeal of the covid vaccine mandate. i believe that no one brave enough to don that uniform should have to choose between taking a shot and losing their job. madam president, tennessee's military community was ecstatic to hear that the u.s. senate agrees with me on that statement. we have a duty to take care of our men and women in uniform during and after their service. that's why i fought to include support for workforce development and stem training in the ndaa, and why i will keep

fighting for expanded access to community care, so once those servicemembers return though civilian life, they will be able to see a doctor close to home when they need to see them. as much as tennesseans focus on national security, they're equally concerned with safety in their own communities. since mid2019, america's largest cities have seen a significant rise in violent crime. in tp, law enforcement -- in tennessee, law enforcement officials are struggling due to a lack of funding and manpower. the restoring law and order act which i introduced earlier this year with senator hagerty, will provide much-needed resources to law enforcement so that they can get drugs off the streets and put criminals behind bars and keep them there. i truly hope that my democratic colleagues will agree that this

sounds much more effective than defunding these police departments. we need to get this bill passed and to the president's desk. and just this month president biden signed my speak out act into law. this bans the use of predispute nondisclosure agreements in situations involving sexual misconduct. i want to thank senator gillibrand for working so hard on this legislation with me. and i also want to thank senator blumenthal for working with me to get risa's law across the finish line. now this will require new safety standards for toys and other products to prevent children from swallowing button batteries. safety was a key theme of the work we did together on the committee for consumer protection this year. as we explored ways that we

could rein in big tech, we looked to regain control over your virtual you, your presence online, and also to introduce competition into the tech sector. this past february, senator blumenthal and i introduced the kids online safety act. after a series of hearings it exposed big tech's disregard for the safety of its underage users. we also worked closely together on the open app market app which will stop tech giants from stifling competition in the app store marketplace. both of these bills have earned extensive bipartisan support, and i see no reason why we won't be able to get them across the finish line very soon. i want to conclude by thanking the thousands of local officials and leaders and the tennesseans who dedicate so much of their time and their energy to making

tennessee a wonderful place to call home. i'm grateful for their hard work and their willingness to work with me for a better tennessee. i yield the floor. mr. brown: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator for ohio. mr. brown: thank you, madam president. i rise to urge my colleagues to join me in supporting the

nomination of martin gruenberg to be a member and chairperson of the federal deposit insurance corporation, what most of america knowns as fdic. mr. gruenberg is an extraordinary and qualified nominee who came out of the banking and housing committee with bipartisan support. he has been confirmed by the united states senate, unanimously five times. senator toomey, the ranking member of the banking committee, someone whom i've not always agreed with on nominations, voted in favor of mr. gruenberg's nomination as part of a bipartisan package to fill the fdic board. i thank my friend, my departing friend from pennsylvania for his support and his cooperation. mr. gruenberg's credentials speak for themselves. a career public servant, longest serving member of the fdic board. the senate confirmed him unanimously five times. he's been nominated and confirmed over and over again. he first joined the fdic in 2005

after spending 25 years on capitol hill, including working as a senior counsel on the senate banking, housing, and urban affairs committee for senator sarbanes, as the presiding officer knows. this committee has been known as the banking committee for some time. and the banking committee was essentially wall street's committee. when i took over as chair, we emphasized this committee as banking, housing, urban affairs. its priorities are housing, its priorities are public transit, its priorities are making the banking system safer, not just to do the bidding of wall street. since joining the fdic, mr. gruenberg be served as chair, vice chair, acting chair and member of the fdic. take a minute and think about that and his qualifications. chair, vice chair, acting chair, and member. i've served on the banking housing committee since 2007. i don't remember any fdic nominee or i'm not sure i remember any nominee for

anything that's had that kind of experience, that level of expertise. since becoming acting chair in february 2022, mr. gruenberg's wasted no time getting to work for the memorial. he's focused on strengthening community reinvestment act, to expand access to credit and investments in low and moderate income communities. he's reviewing the fdic's bank americaer process to ensure it impacts what banks have on competition. we all know as banks have gotten larger and larger, garp gant with an -- gargantuan in many ways compared to what their sizes were during the disaster of 15 years ago, and we know that that can be a problem for our economy. he is going to look at that much more closely than others. under his leadership, the fdic evaluates the risk posed by cryptocurrency is i -- and digital access to communities and the soundness of the banking

system. during his nomination hearing, mr. gruenberg has seen a financial system at its heist -- highest and lowest points. during the financial crisis when wall street and big corporations crashed our economy, mr. gruenberg worked on a bipartisan basis with then fdic chair sheila bair to pick up the pieces. alongside her -- a republican, i would add, restored trust and confidence in our money. he helped implement forms passed by congress to strengthen capital requirements and protect depositors from future financial crisis. he brings this experience and dedication with him as our country emerges from the pandemic. i can think, madam president, of no better person to serve as chair of the federal deposit insurance corporation than marty gruenberg. before i conclude i want to note in addition to mr. gruenberg, the senate is considering the nomination of two other seats to the fdic board. once we have mr. gruenberg and the other two fdic nominees,

travis hill and jonathan mckernan confirmed, both republicans, the agency will have in place for the first time since 2015 a full board of directors. almost a decade it's been, three-fourthses of a decade since the fdic had a full board of directors. i credit president biden for making this a priority. i credit lauren muhammad and others on my staff for making this a priority and i credit the senate housing banking and urban affairs for doing this. i urge my colleagues to support gruenberg's nomination to the fdic board. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the question is on the nomination. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: on this vote, the yeas are 45, the nays are 39, the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to the consideration of the following nominations en bloc, number 1298, 1299, 1300, 1302 and 1297.

the question is on the nominations en bloc. all those in favor, say aye. those opposed? the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the nominations are confirmed en bloc. and the president will be immediately notified of the senate's actions. notified of all confirmations. and the motions to reconsider are made and laid on the table.

the presiding officer: under the previous order, the senate will proceed to legislative session. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from hawaii. a senator: are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are not. a senator: i ask unanimous consent that the homeland security and government affairs committee be discharged and the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of the following

bills en bloc, s. 4411, h.r. 203 and the rest of them are all h. r.'s. 2472, 2473, 4622, 4899, 5794, 6080, 6267, 6917, 7518, 8025, 8203 and 9308. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measures en bloc? without objection, the committee is discharged and the senate will proceed. mr. schatz: i ask unanimous consent that the bills en bloc be considered read a third time and passed and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, all en bloc. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. mr. schatz: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of the following

bills en bloc. all h.r.'s. calendar number 473, h.r. 52671. calendar 475, h.r. 5900. 476, h.r. 6386. calendar 516, h.r. 5619. h.r. 1095 and h.r. 5349, 5650, 5865, 5952, 6042, 6218, 6220, 6221, 6630, 7519, 7638, 8226, 8026, 7514 all of which were received from the house. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measures en bloc? without objection, the senate will proceed. mr. schatz: i ask unanimous consent that the bills en bloc be considered read a third time and passed and that the motions

to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table all en bloc. the presiding officer: without objection. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from colorado. mr. bennet: thank you, mr. president. this weekend families all across america will sit down at the --

that their dining rooms for a holiday meal. and they're going to have to pay more for that meal than they ever have before. they're going to have to pay more for bread and more for butter, potatoes, eggs, vegetables. literally almost everything that's going to be on america's tables this holiday season is going to be more expensive than it's ever been. and although there are several reasons for that, phenomenon, somewhere at the very top is the profound labor shortage that exists in american agriculture. today america's farmers and ranchers are short more than 100,000 workers all across this country to plant seeds, to pick berries, to raise cattle and do the hard essential work of feeding this country. it's why growers all across america are banging down the

doors of this capitol pleading with us to fix the broken h-2a system for farmworkers. it is obvious to everybody who has anything to do with this system that it's completely broken. there's no argument that can be made that it's not. to start the h-2a program isn't even home to year round jobs. that's just the beginning of the trouble. that's every dairy in america that has to milk their cows two or three times a day, including the holidays. it's every mushroom grower, livestock producer, horse breeder that needs those year round visas. the h-2a program is also hopelessly and embarrassingly outdated. to qualify for a visa, this ancient program requires farmers to put a physical advertisement in a local newspaper if there is a local newspaper. if they can find one.

they can't advertise online. that's prohibited in the year 2022. and you have to reapply for the h-2a visa every single year which is an incredible burden on farmers and on -- and farmworkers. it's the last thing they need. and finally, the existing program does nothing to protect farmers from dramatic spikes in labor costs from year to year. they can't plan for the future. they have no idea what kind of uncertainty they're going to have to deal with when it comes to wages. i'm thinking of farmers like bruce talbott who grows peaches in palisade, colorado. the labor shortage hurts bruce in two ways. one, he doesn't have enough people to pick everything he grows so he's forced to leave money on the table every single year. and second, this labor shortage

is driving up labor costs which are now 80% of his total cost of his operation. and we're seeing this all over the country. you can see it right here, mr. president. h-2a wages up almost 50% in the last ten years. by the way, this is all wages down here, mr. president. and this is what's happened to wages in farming and ranching in this country. it's grown so much faster than the rest of the workforce and it's pushing family farms and ranches to the edge of a cliff. sadly, a lot of them are going over that cliff or are considering moving their operations from the united states to mexico. since 2007, mr. president, america has lost 190,000 farms. almost all of them small family farms. that's nearly 10% of the farms

in this country, mr. president. and some industries like dairy have been hit even harder. between 2003 and 2020, the number of dairy farms in america fell by over half. by 55%. that's not just bad for dairy farms. it's bad for the communities that they're in and that they support. and it's bad for this country. if we don't deal with this, this country is on track, believe it or not, mr. president, to become dependent on foreign food imports. you can see it here. these are -- this is the export line and here's the projected import line. we're right at the point where we could be a net importer of food for the first time in my life time, maybe the first time in forever.

i don't know. but i don't want us to relee on other nations to feed america -- rely on other nations to feed america. we have the most productive agriculture sector in the world and yet because of this labor problem, we are going to accept the idea that we should be a net importer of food for other countries? that's terrible for our economic security, mr. president, for our food security. and i would argue for our national security as well. just on the economic point, colorado's agriculture generates over $40 billion a year for our state's economy. nationwide there are nearly 20 million jobs in food, agriculture-related industries. that's one in every ten jobs in this country. and it's over $1 trillion of our gdp is agriculture. and i think people, especially

people that don't work in agriculture, don't think about agriculture, don't live in maybe a rural area, they tend to forget that literally every single sector of our economy depends on agriculture. you can't have an economy without food, mr. president. there's never been one. when we talk about the crisis in american agriculture that i'm here on this floor to address today, we have to understand that the stakes could not be higher. at the same time we have that issue, there are hundreds of thousands of undocumented workers living in the shadows in this farm -- farmworkers living in the shadows in this country. these men and women are breaking their backs every single day to feed america. women like lulu ga rare ra --

garara who lives in colorado. she gets up at 3:00 in the morning, every single morning. to plant crops like watermelons and tomatoes and pumpkins. she's been doing that for 20 years. i met people in my state that have been doing it for 30 years, been doing it for 40 years with no status, with no protections, with no legal recourse if somebody tries to take advantage of them. many of them with u.s. citizens who are their children, people who can't goat back and forth to -- can't go back and forth to see their relatives south of the border when somebody dies. this has been going on for decades. and we have ignored this problem in part because the food keeps showing up somehow miraculously in our grocery stores.

as if somebody waved a wand to put it there. these workers have broken their backs to support their families, to support the united states of america, to make sure that we're fed. the least we can do for our own country is bring them out of the shadows of the law. the status quo is terrible for workers. it's terrible for businesses and farms, and it's terrible for american families who have seen their grocery bills go through the roof. through at this, mr. president. i'm not saying all of that is the labor short annual, but a huge -- the labor shortage but a huge amount of that is the labor short am. in the last year alone grocery prices have shot up about 12%, faster than any time in 40 years, as you can see from this

slide. and it's everything. i won't read all these, mr. president, but it's everything. the price of apples is up 7% of the price of milk -- milk is up 15%. and i guarantee you that's a result of people unable to find people to do that work. and eggs are almost up 50%. these aren't nice to have. none of these are nice to have for the american people. these are essential to a well balanced meal, to a family being able to feet itself -- being able to feed itself in america. that's why congress has to finally fix this h-2a program and we have the opportunity to do it. there's good news, mr. president. we have a plan to fix it. the affordable and secure food act. our proposal builds on legislation. this is an important point. you know, sometimes people over here blame the house of representatives for not getting done what needs to get done for this country.

in this case they have passed this bill twice or a version of this bill twice in a bipartisan fashion. there were republican members of the congress over here last week imploring republican members of the senate to please pass this bill, which from the growers' perspective, by the way, is an improvement over the bill that passed in the house. legislatiod reason it had bipartisan support in the house. now from the perspective of the other side of the aisle, in many ways it is a better bill. our bill opens the program to year-round jobs for the first time ever. that's going to mean dairy farmers and mushroom growers can finally access the labor that they need. that they can't access today.

it creates wage certainty for farmers, saving them $23 billion over the next 12 years. $23 billion over the next 12 years because now people are going to know what the wage increases are going to look like. they're going to be predictable. they've been agreed to. and that results in the savings of $23 billion. that's $2 billion more over that period of time than the savings that were achieved in the house bill. -- for growers. it requires e-verify for farmworkers nationwide. that's going to help, mr. president, with the chaos at border because people are now going to know they're not going to be able to come here and work illegally or in an undocumented fashion. -- in agriculture. so they'll be less likely to want to come. and finally had the bill establishes a pathway for undocumented farmworkers to apply for a green card after

they've worked in agriculture for at least a decade. passed add background check and paid a penalty a that's not amnesty. it's a recognition that anybody who's spent a decade breaking their back to feed america should have the opportunity to apply for lawful status. are we really going to accept as a definitional matter for this country that we want fields filled with indentured servants in the united states of america? that really where -- is that really where we are as a nation? i don't think so. that's not what people in colorado believe. no matter what party they're in, they don't believe that. they think we should fix this problem. they know how hardworking the people are that are working in our fields and on our ranches and at our dairies. and that's why this bill is

broadly supported, not just in colorado but all across the country by farmers and labor, by immigration advocates, by businesses, by the american people, a vast majority of the american people know we need to fix this. and this morning, mr. president, over -- this isn't meant for anybody to read. i'll get to that in a moment. but over 240 groups from all across america, including from new mexico and from colorado sent a letter supporting this bill. and i am ape not going to read -- i'm tempted to read all 240 and there isn't anybody here tonight. but let me just give you a sense of the breadth and the depth of the support of this bill. the signers of this bill include the international fresh produce association, the national council of farmer cooperatives, the national milk producers federation, the national farmers

union, the national thoroughbred racing association, the american honey producers association, american mushroom institute, american sugar beet growers association, california apple commission, the california association of wine grape growers, colorado potato legislative association. let me just tell you how hard it is for our potato producers in colorado to deliver that incredible crop when we finally have created a situation where mexico has to import our potatoes and can't just keep them out, which is what they've been doing for years and years and years, but they can't find folks to do the work. they -- they're already facing -- with the rise in input costs

that farmers and ranchers have to deal with, with the drought that colorado potato growers are dealing with in the san luis valley that i know the presiding officer knows so well, you know you'd think the least we could do is solve a problem that can be solved, that is a major headache for them and for their colleagues all across the country, like the food producers of idaho, the georgia blueberry commission, the idaho hay and forage association, land o'lakes, lone star milk producers, maine potato board, michigan nursery and landscape association, national association of state department of agriculture -- you know, as i read this list, you know what one thing these people don't have in common? they're not democrats or republicans. they're just trying to deliver agricultural products to the

american people. that's all they're trying to do. and they live in red state understand and they live in blue states. they live all over the united states of america. the national pecan federation, the new york apple association, the north carolina potato association, ohio dairy producers association, the pennsylvania vegetable growers association, premium peanut, mr. president; society of american florists, the national asparagus council, the united dairy farmers of florida, the utah tart cherry marketing board, mr. president. the virginia apple growers association, the washington state tree fruit association, the western growers, and let me say something about the western growers. in 2013 i had the privilege of being the gang of eight that negotiated the comprehensive immigration rereform bill that put -- reform bill that pass the

-- passed this floor with 68 votes, led on the republican side by john mccain, jeff flick, marco rubio and lindsey graham. we had four democrats on our side. and i have to say in the 14 years i've been in this place, that was the best work that we've done as a body. we dealt with this tough issue of immigration, and we dealt with all aspects of it, 11 million people that were undocumented. you know, had the chance to earn a tough but fair process to citizenship in this country and come out of the shadows. we dealt with all the visa issues, business visas, agricultural visas. i negotiated with senator rubio and senator feinstein and senator hatch. and we had the most progressive

dream act that had ever been conceived, much less voted on as part of that bill. and it also had $40 billion of border security in it. people forget that part. every single democrat voted for a bill that had $40 billion of border security. that is a heck of a lot more money than donald trump ever spent to build his, you know, his wall, that medieval device. we were -- that t.d. 40 billion, which was -- that $40 billion, which was a bipartisan effort, again, was meant to spend the money on 21st century technology, so we could see every inch of the border so that the border crossings actually could be much better policed than they are today. and i'll come back to this later in the speech, but, you know, i am he -- i'm not somebody who believes we should have a border that's not secure. i believe we should have a border that's secure. i think the american people expect that we will.

and i came to this floor, i think it was in may to say that i thought it was wrong for the biden administration to lift title 42 while -- without a plan to address the border. and we are seeing the effects of that, i think, today. but that shouldn't be an excuse for making lives more miserable for people working in american agriculture. it shouldn't be an excuse for driving food prices up for families. it shouldn't be an excuse for compromising our economic independence, our food security, and our national security. we have in front of us a negotiated agreement that passed the house of representatives with a bipartisan vote. we have an agreement that's been negotiated over here that's more generous to producers than the one that passed the house of representatives and that has all of the support from all these people all over the country. i'm not going to read every single one of these marriages

but you get the idea -- every single one of these names, but you get the idea. these are people that agree on this. they agree on t and part of that is because the situation they're confronting is so dire and part of it is because they've helped produce a good piece of legislation that you get -- that should get its chance. and i would ask, mr. president, that the letter with all these names be entered entered into the record so i can spare you listening to all of the names. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. bennet: thank you, mr. president. i'll end with this. there is a a vegetable farmer in brighten, colorado, that i've known for many, many years. his name is robert sicata. his dad started saicata farms in 1994 after he was released from a japanese-american internment camp where he was interned

during world war ii. for almost 80 years sicadda farms has been a critical ingredient of our colorado economy, a staple of colorado to put it in food terms. but when robert visited my office in the last couple years, he handed me flyiers advertising his equipment for sale. i said, robert, why are you sell something your influence? why are you doing that? he loves what he does. he's so passionate about what he does. he's so passionate about the people that work side by side with him to produce incredible fruits and vegetables in colorado, but he told me that he was selling because he didn't have enough labor to harvest his

vegetable crop. and today they no longer grow vegetables at sicata farms. they only grow row crops. is that the future that we want for american agriculture? it's not what we want in colorado. i've heard stories like that, like robert sakata's story all over my state, all over this country for the last decade. and we don't have to accept the loss of the next 10% of america's family farms. we don't have to accept hundreds of thousands of people living in the shadows when they work every single day. they're breaking their backs, and i don't use that term lightly. working in some of the worst conditions that there are to work in, to feed the american people. to give us economic security and

food security and provide for our national security. and we shouldn't accept crushing food prices for families just because this congress can't reform an antiquated h-2a program. and we can do something about this this week before we go home with this proposal. sometimes the politics of an issue like this seem so hard that you're defeated on it before you even get started. and that's not been the case with this coalition of people from all over america. they have all they can contend with every single day, as i said with rising inputs, costs, with the trade issues t