position to pass this bill quickly. and i'm even f more confident tt once we finished our work on this package, america will be a healthier, more prosperous, and more secure country thanks to the work we have done here and now. thanks to my colleagues. let's finish the bill very soon. i yield the floor. >> the senate returning from recess. working today on funding the government through september 30 next year. a procedural vote is expected later this afternoon. the bill includes aid to ukraine and for natural disasters as well as $858 billion in defense spending. take you live now to the senate floor here on c-span2. officer:e

senate will come to order. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: office of personnel management, robert shriver, iii, to be deputy director.

the presiding officer: the senator from california. mrs. feinstein: thank you, mr. president. as if in legislative session, i ask unanimous consent that the judiciary committee be discharged from further consideration of h.r. 785, and the senate proceed to its immediate consideration. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: h.r. 785, an act for the relief of maria isabel rivera, and so forth. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? the senator will suspend. without objection, the committee is discharged and the senate will now proceed to the measure. mrs. feinstein: i ask unanimous consent that the bill be

considered and read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. feinstein: mr. president, this is truly a tragic case. the young woman on my right was born in guatemala. she suffers from a rare, life-threatening disorder called msp type 6. this is a genetic condition caused by the absence of an enzyme that's needed for the growth of healthy bones and connective tissue. she uses a wheelchair, has a shunt in her brain and requires a tax tax break ot needs

assistance to help her breathe. when she was 7 years old, doctors invited her and her family to come to california so that she could participate in a clinical trial to treat her condition. that trial led to the development of a treatment that is now approved by the fda. it is a six-hour infusion of a prescription drug that replaces the enzyme lacking in people with mps type 6. she now receives this lifesaving treatment every week at the university of california san francisco children's hospital. this treatment is not available in guatemala. if she were removed from the united states, she would no longer have access to the lifesaving medical care she

needs. she would die. for the past ten years, ms. barreno and her family have received deferred action from u.s. citizen and immigration services so that she could continue receiving the treatments that keep her arrive. -- alive. in 2019, she and her family were notified that their extensions of deferred action were denied and that they would be deported if they did not leave the united states within 33 days. this decision was effectively a death sentence for this young person. uscis ultimately reconsidered its decision and granted ms. berreno and her parents an extension of deferred action.

since then she and her family have lived in fear that they might be forced to leave the united states with no way to provide for the care she needs. she's beaten the odds because of one thing, the lifesaving treatment that she she's receivg in the united states. she is now 26 years old. she lives in concord, california. she is a 2018 graduate of cal state university in the east bay, and i am very proud of her. she has become an outspoken advocate on behalf of people with rare diseases. her family pays taxes, owns a home, and is active in their community. the family will now be allowed to remain in california where they will continue to enrich their community and where she will be able to receive the care that allows her to live a life

and to thrive. so i thank you and i know my colleague, senator padilla is on the floor, and i would like to yield to him. thank you very much, mr. chairman. the presiding officer: the senator from california. mr. padilla: thank you, mr. president. i also thank senator feinstein for her effort to get to this point. i am proud to stand today and now celebrate the passage of h.r. 785, which will provide relief the bueso family. as you heard, the bueso's came to california 20 years ago from guatemala because their daughter isabel had been diagnosed with a rare, dangerous genetic disorder

that can cause large organs and skeletal be a schedule skeletal -- and scettal issues. she was invited to help find a treatment for this condition, and thanks to her participation in this criminal trial, doctors eventually identified and created an effective lifesaving treatment for this disease, not just to help save her life, but others. so, yes, her participation, the treatment that was developed will save lives of americans. now, to this day isbel bueso receives this drug which is administered to her in a

hospital in oakland, california. not only that, this treatment, not available in guatemala, doctors said she cannot survive without it. so here at home in america, isabel is an inspiration to countless others. as she heard she graduated assume couple lauda from -- summa cum laude where she graduated from college and is now an advocate for immigrants and others with disabilities. so i was proud to cosponsor this bill because there are few options left for this family to adjust their status. isabel has renewed her medical deferred action status every two years for the past 20. her father obtained h-1b status.

but now isabel, who cannot get a green card, that is a story for another day. we know the urgency of why we need to modernize the immigration system. this is a classic example of those harmed by the immigration system. isabel and her family deserve better than to be stuck in this limbo for so long. colleagues, i'm grateful for your support for this measure was approved unanimously by the house of representatives already. and so as we are in the holiday season, all i can say is that i'm grateful to the united states senate was able to pass this bill today. thank you very much. thank you, senator feinstein. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor.

mrs. feinstein: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from california. mrs. feinstein: may i just make one remark, and i want to thank the senator for his excellent remarks. you know, once in a while we have a case that is really so difficult and sad to solve, and this is one of them. it happens to be a constituent of both of ours in california, and they have asked to help. and i hope this senate will respond and give that help. thank you very much. the presiding officer: without objection. the question is on the nomination. a senator: i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll.

vote: vote:

vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: the yeas are 57, the nays are 356789 the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the motion to recar is considered made and laid upon the table and the the president be immediately notified of the senate's action. and the senate will resume legislative session. mr. wyden: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. wyden: mr. president, since 2009, i have led a bipartisan coalition of senators to pass a resolution each congress acknowledging the plight of a community in iran and i want to note that chairman menendez and i, we worked together on a lost issues. he and i are both very much in support of this. in doing this, i carried on the work of former colleagues on both sides who have used their bully pulpit to condemn the persecution of the bahis.

the house of representatives passed their own resolution on this issue earlier this month. in my view, it is crucial -- and i know chairman menendez feels stronglloy about this, too -- that the senate pass this resolution and strongly condemn the repressive iranian government. over the past 13 weeks, the world has witnessed the iranian government os violent repression of its own people in response to nationwide pro-fests defending women's rights. it should come as no surprise to my colleagues that the iranian government has a long history of repressing and targeting religious minorities and in particular the bahi community. the wide wyden community knows quite bit will regimes persecuting on the basis of religion. i know the presiding officer of the senate has known several i would dense and has heard the stories of how we fled the nazis. not all got out.

we lost families to other horrors, too. so we know a lot about these authoritarian regimes. and today the baha'is continue to face this. my resolution, which is long -- which has long had bipartisan support, condemns the government of iran's state-sanctioned persecution of the baha'i community, the international covenant of civil and political rights and the international covenant on economic, social, and cultural rights. the resolution further calls on the iranian government to release all people detained or imprisoned solely on account of their religion and their campaign of hate against the baha'is and reverse policies that deny them equal opportunities, freedoms, and rights under the law. my resolution calls on the biden

administration to condemn these human rights violations, push for the release of religious prisoners, and use its authorities to impose sanctions against those responsible for these deplorable human rights. and i want to close again, mr. president, by emphasizing that chairman menendez and i have a history of working together on this. both of us have been strong supporters of the baha'is and documenting these human rights, you know, issues and at the end of the congress, you have all kinds of challenges with respect to the process. and i respect his views very much. so i ask unanimous consent that the foreign relations committee be discharged from further consideration and the senate now proceed to s. res. 183, the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. menendez: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new jersey. mr. menendez: mr. president, reserving the right to object, let me first praise senator

wyden for his continuing effort on behalf of the baha'i. as as he has mentioned, we've worked on this in the past. i've been in complete agreement with what senator wyden wants to do in terms of shining a spotlight on the abuses that the baha'i face at the hands of the iranian regime and taking steps to protect that community. i believe that religious freedom and support for religious minorities is a fundamental right, one we have to defend both at home and abroad. and for decade decades iran has persecuted religious minorities, ethnic minorities, women, as we have seen most poignantly of late, and anyone who does not tow the regime's line. my challenge here is that we have a flood of requests to release the committee, both of resolutions and legislation, including of members of the

committee, and we have said no in order to preserve the opportunity to have the imprint of the committeest process on any given resolution or piece of legislation. and in order to preserve that, we ultimately have a challenge, if we were to allow this to happen at this point, there would be an enormous number. so what i can commit to the senator is that at the very beginning of this new session, that the committee will take up your resolution. i'll work with the ranking member, because we have comity. but we will take up the resolution, look to pass it out, and then work with you to make sure it passes through the -- to the floor. mr. wyden: i thank my colleague. i understand full well because between the foreign relations committee and the finance committee, we have these kinds of challenges very, very frequently. and i very much appreciate working with my colleague and look forward to moving this early next year.

mr. menendez: and because of that, i object at this point. the presiding officer:

>> there are some things that we experience in life that we can never prepare for no matter how hard we try. of a life of the person you

love is one, having, raising and loving a child is another, and then there's this one today. i've been here 48 years. perhaps to the dismay of hundreds of distinguished presiding officers, i've delivered many statements, some more eloquent than others, some less. but i've never delivered a speech like. and i so appreciate all of you indulging me. my friends and colleagues, i have such warm and lasting memories of so many who have saved in chamber now and in too many years including member to haves -- mentors. on the first day i arrived here, republican senator bob stafford, he was our state's senior

senator when i arrived here, and i watched him in awe. he was a person who looked me in the eye and said to 34-year-old freshman, patrick, you're not my junior senator. from here on you're my senate partner. and what a difference that made. mt. last 48 years -- in the last 48 years, the senate has become a family. we've found friends, some of our best friends and relationships that will last throughout our lifetime. it's also the place where i had the privilege of fighting for vermont, the place where i was born, where i met -- [inaudible] the place where with we started our family and the place which early in the new year we'll return together -- period of morning business with

senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. the senator from arizona. ms. sinema: thank you, mr. president. i rise today as border communities in arizona and across our country are in complete crisis. this crisis is not new. it's one that has progressively worsened year after year. administration after administration due to the federal government's repeated failures to address our broken border and immigration system. as a native arizonian, i've seen first hand how these fall scwawrly on the -- squarely on the shoulders of border states and endangering the lives of migrants themselves. we are experiencing a dangerous tipping point. the combination of an unsecure border, an overworked and under resourced border patrol and protection force and

never-before seen levels of immigration and asylum seekers have completely ruined an already broken system. to make matters worse, title 42, the public health order that stops some migrants from entering our country may soon expire, allowing thousands of migrants to enter arizona, texas, and other border states without the proper procedures, plans, or infrastructure in place. let me be clear. this is a humanitarian and security nightmare. already our border towns can barely keep up with the demand from the overwhelming levels of immigration. in a small community of roughly 37,000 people right on the arizona-mexico border, the fire chief recently told us that three of his five ambulances are used solely to care for migrants in need, leaving only two ambulances for the entire local

community on any given night. the city of tiew tucson has alry accepted over 15% of its total population just in migrant releases since april of this year. and in yuma, the threat of street releases persists every single day, including today. with thousands of migrants coming to our border and seeking asylum, our overwhelmed border patrol agents are now additionally tasked with processing asylum seekers, taking the agents away from their important work of patrolling the border, apprehending illegal crossers and stopping cartels, drugs, and smugglers. the consequences are plain to see. the mayor of san san luis repord seeing migrants traveling along inner-city highways because

border patrol was too overwhelmed to apprehend them closer to the border. while towns like san luis, humanitarian organizations across our states and our brave men and women in blue, green and brown shoulder the burden of a failed system, washington continues to politicize solutions. politicians are retreating to their partisan corners, instead of examining the problem for what it is. not what one party or the other party wishes it was and focusing on finding meaningful solutions. some refuse to acknowledge the need for increased security measures at all while others have a singular view of what kind of security is sufficient. some want to welcome all who come to the border and to our country while others want to keep everyone out. and a few want to defund the very agencies who are tasked with enforcing our immigration

laws or underfund the very humanitarian organizations that provide vital services and care for the asylum seekers our country has always pledged to help. as someone who has seen all of the challenges at our border my entire life, i know these are all false choices. that's why i rejected the partisan echo chamber and partnered with my good friend, senator tom tillis on a bipartisan proposal to help solve some of the real problems our border communities and immigration system continue to face. just as we have on a number of complex issues, from gun violence to marriage equality and religious freedoms, we focus on our shared values and shared goals. before we could tackle the issue of a backlogged asylum issue or the status of undocumented residents, we knew we had to

focus first on securing the border, a problem as big as our broken border needs a smart, comprehensive solution, and that solution starts by investing in the brave men and women who keep our border safe, a robust, well-trained and well resourced border patrol, office of field operations and air and marine operations force are critical to secure the border, to keep our community safe, and ensure the fair and humane treatments of migrants. senator tillis and i focused on boosting pay, increasing forced sizes and providing our agents an officers the equipment -- and officers the equipment they need to do their job safely and efficiently. beyond supporting our men and women in blue, green, and brown, we are committed to reasserting control of our border. senator tillis and i understand that to secure our border, we

need physician physical barriers where they make sense. but relying only on physical barriers is a 17th century answer to a 21st century problem. the fact is the majority of drugs seized coming into our country arrive through the port of entry. our office of field operation officers reported a 73% increase in fentanyl seizures compared with just one year ago. and just two weeks ago the office of field operations officers seized over 1.5 million fentanyl pills in less than five days. a wall alone can't stop these drugs from finding a way into our country and killing our friends, our neighbors, and our loved ones. we must supplement security barriers with i be vai

alternative toiblg -- with innovative technology solutions, boost our protection and patrol forces and we must update the policies governing our border to meet the moment. for years our asylum system has represented the promise of america, welcoming those fleeing persecution to find freedom and safety. today, though, our asylum system is broken. our border patrol isn't able to do their jobs and catch dangerous criminals. and our border communities cannot keep up. in order to uphold the promise of protection and freedom and ensure that our asylum system works for those who seek to serve, we must acknowledge that the status quo is no longer functional. our immigration courts and asylum officers remain completely backlogged with simple cases taking years to resolve. sending a message that america does not take this process

seriously and that our system can be manipulated. in arizona, the impact is clear. small towns along our border like san luis, nogales, nako, yuma are overwhelmed daily struggling to care for their own residents while managing an increasing influx of hundreds of migrants every day. with our asylum system broken, more migrants make the arduous and often devastating journey to our border. when they arrive, they risk not being able to access the care and medical attention they need. now, arizona's humanitarian organizations do incredible work. they go above and beyond every day to avoid street releases and to ensure that migrants are treated fairly, but they can only do so much. for example, the main humanitarian organization in tucson, casa elitas, has been

operating over capacity for a month, serving an average of 600 asylum seekers a day. and yuma's regional center for border health now is contracting hotel rooms and buses due to the large number of migrants coming to that small city. with the snow bird season and farming season well underway, hotels are increasingly limited placing even more strain on yuma's already overwhelmed public health and emergency response system. so senator tillis and i understand we cannot address the border without also fixing our asylum system. our bipartisan plan creates an orderly system for those wishing to claim asylum, by streamlining the asylum process in a manner that respects american values, we will quickly and fairly adjudicate claims and remove those who do not have a valid claim of

asylum, sending a meblg to those other countries that our asylum system will no longer be manipulated. the crisis at our border represents an immediate threat, but those of us from border states know, and we've seen up close, that strong border security, healthy cross-border trade, and a fair immigration system all go hand in hand. we can and we must achieve all three. in 2019, over $2 trillion worth of goods were traded through our ports of entry and the nogales port alone handles over $1 billion of produce every year. the goods and services traded between arizona and mexico power jobs across our state and often immigrant workers are the very ones fueling our cross had been border trade and keeping a sector of our economy strong. to ensure that our border

states' economies continue to grow and to ensure our nation's economy continues to thrive for generations to come, we need a robust workforce, and that's why our bipartisan proposal fixes a wasteful loophole in our current employment visa system. for years hubs of thousands of visas have gob to waste. by righting this wrong we'll increase our country's competitiveness and ensure that america has the workforce it needs to power our economy and compete on the world stage. i believe the future resilience of our country also depends on the full inclusion of millions of young people often known as dreamers. in america, we don't punish children for the actions of their parents, and millions of young people have been brought to our country through no fault of their own. these kids have groab up in our neighborhoods, attended our schools, graduated, gotten

jobs, they've served in our military, they've contributed to our economies, all while making our communities more vibrant and rich places to live. but now they're stuck in limbo, casualties of washington's inability to solve our broab immigration system. and that's why senator tillis and i have said enough is enough. we call on our colleagues to join us in a bipartisan plan to give these young people a chance to be recognized as americans. our proposal is tough, but it is fair, and i am certain that it will make america a stronger and safer place for all of us. i stand here today disappointed as we come close to closing out the 117th congress, that washington has chosen yet again to retreat to its partisan corners instead of doing the hard and necessary work of

finding the lasting solutions when it comes to the crisis at our border. and in arizona, we will continue to shoulder the burden. now part of the problem is that many in washington have never taken the time to really see our border up close, and without seeing it for all of its diversity and its challenges, it can be easy to rely on the partisan talking points instead of focusing on the meaningful, realistic solutions. that's why when we come back to congress in january, one of the first things i'll do with senator tillis is could be convenient a bipartisan group of senators who are willing and committed to get something done. we're going to bring them to the border. we're going to see what arizonaans see every single day, because a crisis this big should not and cannot be ignored. and in arizona, we cannot afford for this crisis to

continue much longer. over the past four years i've been privileged to work with colleagues in this body on both sides of the aisle to solve some of our country's toughest challenges. through honesty and collaboration, we have shown america there is so much more that unites us that be divides us. we've shown america what is possible when we list be to one another, not to respond or debate, but to understand. there's no cheablg more intractable, more difficult to bridge and more dire for us to solve than our border and immigration crisis. and i believe that we can come together and earnestly solve this challenge. i am willing to do this work, and i couldn't be more grateful for partners like senator tillis

who is also willing to do this work. and today i call on my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to join us. put down the politics, let's get this done. thank you. i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from north carolina. mr. tillis: thank you, mr. president. i first want to thank my colleague senator sinema for her comments. i think she's framed the challenges we're seeking to address that are going to persist into the next congress now. i think one of the things that we have to do if we're able to achieve bipartisan consensus in the next congress is to get more people to recognize just as senator sinema stated in her first few lines of her comments just before me, we have a crisis at the southern border, and it's a crisis where the border states, the southern border states bear the brunt of it. but it affects everybody in the

united states, every city, every state, every community is being affected by the crisis at the border. i think this administration has to recognize it's interesting if you watch the news coverage, how suddenly one end of the spectrum says now is time for congress to act. the crisis at the border, two million illegal crossings in each of the last 12-month periods for a total of four million people illegally crossing the border. we do believinged a bullet this -- we dodged a bullet this week which he title 42, a policy which expedites removal of a group of those crossing the border to be returned. but tomorrow or next week or in the next couple of weeks that policy is going to come off the books. then border patrol says that they will no longer have control over the border. they already have said that they can barely keep up.

the vast majority of people who are border patrol agents who should be responding to illegal crossings are now working in the aftermath of two million people coming across the border over the last 12 months. they're providing housing, transportation. they're not actually doing law enforcement. if title 42 goes away that two million is estimated to be three million over the next 12 months and it could go up from there. ever since president biden has taken office, we have to keep in mind that this is just an objective observation. in the 12 months before president biden came into office there were about a half a million illegal crossings, in the 12 months before. in the 12 months after there were two million. and the 12 months after that there were two million. now we have the threat of three million and continuing. what's even worse thabz, though, you have -- than that, though, on the one

hander when you see somebody risking their life to come into this country you have to take it as a compliment. they want to realize the american dream and i admire that. one of the very reasons why we're so attractive as a country to come and live and prosper is because we're a nation of laws. we have order. now we have disorder at the border. and even though it's a huge problem to have two million crossings every year, it's even worse problem to have 50,000 got-aways. the way it works down at the border, i've been to the border several times. the vast majority of people that cross the border immediately, you literally see the northern side of the rio grande, an arrow that points you to where you can go to be processed. they know they're going to be treated respectfully. they'll be given housing, given food, they'll go through the process. what's concerning is that there's some 50,000 per month

who intentionally evade apprehension. why object earth, if you've got a valid asylum claim or you don't have a criminal record, would you rub the risk of evading border properly -- patrol rather than getting in line and being released wb a few weeks? many of them have criminal background records. we had 750 recently apprehended who were documented members of gangs in their country of origin. these are people that are coming to this country and quickly going to the communities that they're most like and making those communities less safe for the people who are legally present or for the people who have been relocated over the past couple of years with the flood at the border. you also have to understand that the cartel, the reason the administration has to recognize this is a crisis is the cartels

made an estimated $800 million over the last 12 months paying a toll to come to this country. if you're in a latin american country or south american country, you're paying on average between $5,000 to $7,000 per person. if you're from china, you're paying about $35,000. these cartels have set up a marketing function. they go to these source countries and say if you pay us a fee, we will get you to the united states. in spite of the fact that they may have passed through other safe countries that they could seek asylum. that's what we talk about when we're talking about abusing our asylum system. our international treaties say that if somebody comes to you and you have a credible fear for your life or your family's life in the country that you live, relocate to a country that can grant you asylum and go through the process. but what the cartels are saying, pay us a fee, we don't care where you are in the world

literally, and we will get you to the united states. and you will pass through several countries where you could have applied for asylum in between. and when you get here, the cartels have coached them on exactly what to say to make you think that they have a credible asylum claim, in spite of the fact that with hundreds of judges, democrat judges, republican judges, independent judges, 80% of those asylum claims are deemed not to be credible. so the asylum system is broken. it has to be fixed. it's one of the foundations of any kind of framework that i could support. the border has to be secured and we need more technology and more enforcement at the legal ports of entry because those same cartels that are making $l 00 million a year are spending that money to then send truckloads of fentanyl and dangerous drugs poisoning and killing americans. so i hope that in the next congress we can recognize, number one, hopefully the

administration will recognize that we do have a crisis at the border, and it can't be solved on partisan grounds. we have to have a conversation, both ends of the political spectrum need to recognize that you've got to move to a point where we can produce a solution. otherwise americans are going to be poisoned to death, people trying to cross the border are going to die in the hundreds, and it's a moral -- it's a moral obligation that we have to get out of our political comfort zone and get something done. otherwise the deaths, the blood of the people who die as a result of inaction are on the hands of everybody in this room. thank you, mr. president. ms. cantwell: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from washington. ms. cantwell: mr. president, i know i'm interrupting a very, very important debate, and i appreciate my colleagues being out here to discuss this and i know the senator from illinois, the leader, is also here to discuss this issue. but i'm asking if i could interrupt that for a second.

mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar 591, s. 3773. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 591, s. 3773, a bill to authorize leases of up to 99 years for land held in trust for the confederal rated tribes of the chialis reservation. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed. ms. cantwell: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time, passed, and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table h. the presiding officer: without objection. so ordered. mr. durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: mr. president, i want to thank my colleagues, senator sinema, senator tillis, for their statements on the floor earlier on the issue of immigration. a number of us are going to the

floor to discuss it today. it is a sad day. it is sad because there are many people who were counting on this congress to do something, who understood that we have an immigration system that is terribly broken and we're paying a heavy price for it it and there are many who are watching this proceeding today who are paying an even heavier price. if we do nothing to help those who are protected by daca, if we do nothing to help the dreamers, court decisions, they pre-emeutes and may force some of these people to force reality that they can no longer work in america and are subject to deportation. many of these young people -- and i'd tell the story of one in just one minute -- have spent their whole lives here in the united states. they go to our schools, they go to our churches, we see them at the high schoolen if games, they work in the datary queens. they're autumn over america because -- they're all over

america because they're part of america. at least they think they are. but they're not. they're undocumented. their parents brought them to this country when they were infants, toddlers, little kids. they grew up in this nation thinking they were part of it and then there was that day of awakening when the parents sat down and said, we've got to tell you the truth. you're not here legally. these are dreamers, people who i have tried to help forever to 20 years -- for over 20 years, since i think introduced the first dream act. i thought perhaps we could get something done, but we haven't been able to it and unfortunately today it looks very, very unlikely that we will. but i hear in the comments of the senator from arizona and the senator from north carolina the bottom-line truth -- any reasonable, factual discussion or debate on immigration not only deals with the dreamers and those who are here in an undocumented status, but it also has to deal with

what's going on at our southern border o the senator from arizona is correct. it is a humanitarian and security nightmare that is only getting worse. we're being flooded at the border by people who want to be in the united states, safely in the united states. i had an opportunity to meet some of those migrants who were bussed to chicago a few weeks ago and to sit down across the table from them and hear their stories. i tell you, i recommend that to all who are interested in in this issue. hiroshima hear the real -- hear the real stories of desperation and danger and realize that their sentiment to be part of america, protected in america, have an opportunity to america is the same sentiment that brought my grandmother to this country with my 2-year-old mother and her sister and brother. i recall the stories. these are not "people" setting out to cheat -- these are not people setting out to cheat some political system. these are people fighting for survival.

a family that spent four months on the journey from venezuela to our border. and an individual named maria who is a college-educated individual in caracas who left because of fear of her life. came to the united states and during her trek to this country went through a violent, personal assault in mexico. she broke down in front of us as she toldous the story. these are real people, real human beings. but one of the real bottom-line principles should guide us. i think there are at least three, maybe more. but the ones that come to my mind are this -- we have to have an orderly process if he border. there has to be some system that monitors the number of people coming in and the circumstances that bring them here. that's number one. number two, we should never knowingly allow anyone dangerous to come into this country. that's unequivocal. i hope that everyone agrees on that a and, third -- and this is the hardest part -- we cannot accept at any given moment all of the people who want to come

to america at that moment. we have to have an orderly, timely process that makes sense for america, that makes sense for our reputation as a humane nation, and moves us forward along the right track. i think of these dreamers because i come to this floor so many times -- five different times i have called the dream act for passage. in the senate, as most people know, it takes 60 out of 100. and i couldn't get the 60-vote margin, five different times. years ago we had a saturday-morning vote. this gallery was filled with young people. they were wearing caps and government shutdowns to tell the story that they were one of the graduates of high schools and colleges and wasp to be part of america's future. and when we lost that vote, didn't get our 60 votes, i joined with them at a church nearby, a ruth ran church, and -- a lutheran church, and there was a lot of tears being shed at that moment. i said to them at the time, i'm

not going to give up on you. don't give up on me. we can do this. and that has driven me ever since. and i have reached out in every direction that i can think of to try to find allies in this conversation who will sit down on a bipartisan basis, fix this broken immigration system. i want to thank the senator from arizona for taking the initiative on this issue, alopping with senator tillis -- along with senator tillis. i believe that their proposal, although i don't agree with it all, is the right startingpoint for the conversation and debate on a bipartisan basis. but the real starting point has to be the true stories of people who are going to be affected by this. let me tell you one, as i have before. this is the 132nd time that i have taken to the floor of the senate to tell the story of a dreamer. and this young man's a name is jose flores valor. hoe arrived in this country from mexico when he was only 11 months old, and he grew up in my

home state after illinois in dekalb, illinois. he served as an interpreter for his family at their medical appointments. it was through these experiences watching doctors care for and provide support for his family that his passion for health care bloomed. in high school he enrolled in a certify nursing assistant course and his goal is to eventually be a doctor. it was not until he was 16 when his classmates were getting drivers' licenses and making their decisions about colleges that jose realized he was undocumented. even though he was accepted to the university of illinois at chicago, his legal status meant he didn't qualify for any federal government assistance or scholarships and he could not afford to stay beyond the first semester. but he didn't let that obstacle stop him. jose sought other avenues for pursuing a career in health care and recently earned an associate of science degree in malt averages illinois.

on top of busy economic schedule, jose worked with a travel nursing agency as a certify nursing assistant. in this role, traveled to six different -- he traveled to six different states, worked in rehab centers, nursing homes and cared for some of our most vulnerable citizens. when the pandemic hit, he was deployed across the country to meet urgent health care needs. his work took him far from home, and he was unable to be by his grandfather's side when we passed away from covid. it was one of the many sacrifices jose made to pursue his passion for serving our nation. today jose has earned a full scholarship at loyola university in chicago to complete his premedical student studies and obtain a bachelor's degree. madam president, let me take a moment to say a kind word about low ola university in chicago. there are many great higher education institutions in my state and in our nation, but they have gone out of their way

to really show that they care for people like jose. it was their stricture college of medicine, which opened competition for the first time to daca students all over the united states. they didn't give them a quota for say there was a certain number that would be accepted but they say you can compete with everybody else for admission. for many of these daca students in illinois and outside, it was the first chance they ever had to apply it a medical school. more than 25 students whether accepted by loyola stritch college of medicine. here they have accepted jose valor. he wants to attend medical school and begin his journey toward being a doctor. he plans one day to open a clinic to help the uninsured and low-income people. he considers daca, quote, his opportunity to become a contributing member of society. a simple question -- is america better or worse for

having jose living among us? would we be better off if we just deported him back to mexico? he came here before he was one year old. he didn't know a thing about the journey or where his parents were taking him. he's done everything right ever since, volunteering to help in health care, doing the hard work that many people would turn away from, and now trying to finish college with a premed degree so he can become a medical professional in america. do we need him? i need him in chicago. i can think of places around our state where we're waiting for people with nursing backgrounds on the one hand medical backgrounds to step -- and medical backgrounds to step up and treat american people. one of the hospitals in chicago came to see me last week. it struggles. it is in a tough neighborhood. the administrator of the hospital said we almost closed

down. but luckily we were able to bring in 30 filipino nurses to keep the department open. 30 immigrant filipino nurses keeping a department open in a major hospital in the city of chicago. that story is repeated everywhere, and for people who say we need no more immigrants, we just don't need them, they're wrong. we need jose. we need those nurses. we need people who will make this a better nation. but we have to do our work here. we have to deal not only with their situation, the undocumented situation, but also with border security. the senator from arizona was correct. it is a humanitarian and security challenge, and now it may have to wait for another day. we can't finish it this week. when we do return to it let's do it with an open mind and heart. let's understand that we can make this a better, safer nation, a nation of immigrant whose make us a better place and we can have order at the border as well. that is the only thing that gives us any chance to thrive as

an american nation into the future. i look forward to working with the senators. i thank them for their initiative. i will do all i can to help them. madam president, i yield the floor. mr. blunt: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from missouri. mr. blunt: madam president, i won't be able to work with you or others on this in the next congress. i'm coming to the end of my 26 years here in a couple more weeks. i'll move on to whatever is the next chapter, and i'm excited about that. but i'm frustrated that we haven't been able to do a better job with this issue. first of all, met me say i've heard maybe not all 130-some of those speeches that senator durbin has given, but i've heard a lot of them, and, like him, i fully am supportive of the kids who grew up here being able to stay here. we should want them to stay here, we should be eagerly looking for ways to be sure they stay here. you know, one, demographics

matter. a younger society a more healthy society in lots of ways. but also just the fairness of asking somebody not to live where they grew up or even, more importantly, asking them to go back and try to live somewhere where they have never lived before. it is a critical thing that we should ease lay be able to get behind. i actually thought that the plan that senator sinema and senator tillis had put together had a lot of appeal because it didn't try to do everything. it tried to do just enough things that were doable and to get them done together. i've always thought, madam president, in 20-plus years of looking at this same challenge that the comprehensive solution is unlikely to be the best solution we could achieve. i was in in a chip in the houset takes 218 people to get something done in the house. when you look at the challenges

before us, how to secure the border, what are the legitimate workforce needs of the country, what do you do about the people who came and stayed outside the law, what do you do about people seeking asylum. the 218 house members are the same 60 senators that may be the best 60 senators to deal with the issue of how do you secure the border probably aren't the best 60 senators to figure out what do we do about the legitimate workforce needs of the country. and neither of them may be the best 60 senators to figure out what do we do about people who came or stayed without documents. it's about half and half, i think, or none of them may be the best 60 senators to figure out what's the very best way we can wrap our arms around people who grew up here and let them know for sure we need them here, we want them here, and find that

quick solution. i frankly think the dreamer problem is and should be the easiest problem of all these problems to solve because the alternative to solving that problem makes so little sense, makes so little sense in a personal way, makes so little sense in an economic way, makes so little sense for our communities. they're sitting here in caps or gowns and doing every day hard things in america and adding to our capacity, we should want that to happen. the asylum system, clearly, is broken. it just can't work that you can walk up to the border in the united states of america and say, i come seeking asylum, i come with fear for my life or whatever. living in a poor, dangerous country is not the criteria for asylum. in fact, that's why when people do go to the court to have their

case heard, about one out of ten times do they qualify. now, somebody's told them before they got here that they would qualify or that the system just works in a way that if you get here and get into the country, we're so far behind, you get to stay and who knows what might happen that allows you to stay longer than you think you might be table to stay. the border -- securing the border is definitely a definition of one of the responsibilities of a country. if you can't secure your own border, no matter what country you're talking about, you really don't meet one of the entry-level definitions of a country. it's just incredibly basic and we're not doing that. frankly, under the last administration, i think we were doing a lot of things right when it came to securing the border, a barrier where you needed a barrier, other things where you needed other things to monitor what was happening, being sure

that people understood the likelihood that they'd be able to go to an asylum, make an asylum claim in court. all those things mattered and did matter, trying to be sure that people had the information they need, even a third safe country. if your goal is to get to a safe country, that should be your goal. if your goal is to get to a country with a better economic opportunity, it probably should be coming to the united states of america. but as senator durbin said, and i suspect every senator when asked about this will say, everybody can't come here who lives in the country that is less safe or less economically successful than ours. it just can't happen. it's not possible. we can't have a border that allows everybody who has that desire and can get to the border to permanently be in the country. but i thought the bill i was

very interested in that we just ran out of time to get to that looked at the asylum system, that was gaining strong support from the border guards and immigration officials who came to see me and others, who said, here's what we need, here's where the bill is perfect, here's where it could be made a little bit better, and if this happens, we're going to to be unanimously for it. i thought that was a good approach. didn't try to do everything, but tried to do enough things that people could feel like we were making progress. building around what should be the easiest things, the dreamers moving on to get border patrol and others who work at the border back into their real job rather than the job of detaining people who really aren't here for reason they say they're here, who know or will soon find out they won't have an asylum claim, that's just not working.

it's not working. no matter what anybody says, the border is clearly not under control. it's hard to solve these other problems with a border that's not under control, but i thought the idea that we would move toward that control and have some signoffs before we move further was really one of the good things in the bill that i was looking forward to seeing -- seeing presented and debated. it's time we had bills debated on the floor. it's time we shared more information and more thoughts. it's time we found the right number of senators to solve these problems in the best way rather than, frankly, not being able to find 60 senators that have ever been able to come up -- with a comprehensive solution that would also pass the congress. i hope we can continue to pursue the right thing for our country, the right thing for dreamers,

the right thing for our economy and the workforce, the right thing for people who meet the skill needs of our economy, come here and find jobs at the level of jobs that they are prepared for. we need to move forward. thanks to senator sinema and senator tillis for their efforts in this. i look forward to watching as, hopefully, we continue to move more dramatically toward the right goal for america and the right goal for people who want to be americans. a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. kelly: madam president, i join my colleagues to discuss the issues on the border and

immigration system. i think what folks heard so far is that republicans and democrats can find a lot of common ground even on this topic. i'm here today because securing our border and fixing our broken immigration system is a priority for me and for the state of arizona. in the state of air -- the state of arizona bears the brunt of washington's failure on this issue, and this is a national security issue. for decades now, toll pigses have -- politicians have tried to fix our border and fix our immigration system. we see crisis after crisis under administrations of both parties, and we see attempts by congress to pass reforms, fizzle out over and over and over again because on this issue more than any other folks often retreat to

partisan corners rather than finding common ground that we know exists. it's what led to the federal government to fail border states like arizona for decades when it comes to border security. and it has led to a broken immigration system that doesn't work for families. it doesn't work for dreamers, it doesn't work for businesses, small and large, and it doesn't work for our country. in arizona, these aren't abstract issues. these aren't theoretical questions to debate over. these are real problems and arizonians deserve real solutions. our state is left to deal with crisis after crisis at the border, including the one we're facing right now where record numbers of border crossings are straining law enforcement and it's strange humanitarian --

straining humanitarian organizations, and this is unsustainable. in a change to title 42 to the title 42 authority now is only going to make these challenges worse. so that's why we're here today because it's past time for congress to work together to reform the broken immigration system and plan better to prevent this continued humanitarian crisis. over the past couple of weeks, including today, i've been speaking with arizona officials on the border about the situation on the ground. that includes border patrol who are seeing their staff stretched even further, that includes cities and counties who are having their emergency services strained, and that includes humanitarian and nonprofit organizations who are trying to increase their capacity because they're be stretched so thin.

and they're expecting to be stretched even further just to help people. so i've been pushing the department of homeland security, as they work to mobilize as much staffing and resources and coordination as they can ahead of a change in the title 42 authority. and there's a lot left to do. and i will working with them to ensure there is a humane and orderly process at the border. ultimately -- ultimately congress needs to step up too. we have to do our jobs because it's not just arizona that sees the impacts of washington's collective repeated failures to tackle this issue. there are hundreds of thousands of dreamers across the country who are as just american as my own two kids or my grandkid, and they still do not have a pathway

to citizenship. they watch every court case, every legislative effort to understand how it will impact their lives. that's so they can determine if they can continue living, studying, and working in the only country that they've ever known, planning their lives, their careers, their goals based on the outcome of a court hearing or what we do in this room or fail to do, that's just wrong. they deserve a pathway to citizenship. i know it's a priority for many who i've spoken to here over the last two years. it's time we do this. furthermore, our immigration system just doesn't work for our economy. across the country there are businesses that can't get the workforce they need or that face

huge backlogs in the immigration system. and a lot of families face similar backlogs too. these are folks who are following the rules laid out by our laws but still run into a wall of bureaucracy. it leading to labor shortages that sweez squeeze supply chaino let's fix it -- includes putting up physical barriers where it makes sense. like the morell liss dam in yuma where i pushed to finish the construction. but also hiring more border patrol personnel, increasing their pay, and deploying more of the right technology. here's the thing, when you're willing to sit down and work together, you find that there is a lot of common ground on this

issue. so that's my message to my colleagues today. come to the table and let's get this done. let's stop just kicking the can down the road. let's do the tough work that we were sent here to do and great something done to secure the border and fix our broken immigration system. thank you and, madam president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from nevada. a senator: thank you. madam president, i know arizonans feel the same way. ms. cortez masto: as i've talked with you, some of my colleagues,

nevadans are frustrated. time and again over the last two decades they've seen congress work towards much needed legislation on immigration only for reasonable, bipartisan agreements to fall apart because someone is playing politics. we saw this happen in the senate just last week when some of my colleagues, madam president, because of you and senator tillis, we saw a framework of a bipartisan bill to give dreamers a pathway to citizenship that also provided additional resources to increase our border security. there was a balance there, to address what we are hearing. and i heard from my colleagues today and what we're seeing on the news what is happening at the southern border right now. but just as we seem to be closing in on a deal, it, unfortunately, fell through once more. now, i know the hope is that we will continue to work on it in

the new congress, and i hope we do. i hope we are able to bring more of your colleagues together because if we don't, the alternative is just unacceptable. there is broad bipartisan consensus in my state, and i know across this country and i've heard it from some of my colleagues that congress must create a path to citizenship for dreamers across the country. now, we're just talking dreamers. and i heard senator blunt earlier saying dreamers -- a solution for dreamers exist. and that should be the easy thing to pass. why? you know, it's really been over two decades since legislation was first introduced to protect people who were brought to this country as children who love the only home that they have ever known. that's our dreamers. and it has been over a decade since the creation of the daca program which protects some but not all of our dreamers. and what's more, the program continues to face legal challenges, and that's left not

just nevada dreamers but so many dreamers across this country in terrifying limbo. without legal protections, dreamers, they can't reach their full potential. even though many of them have had incredible successes thanks in part to daca. there are 12,000 daca recipients in nevada alone and many thousands more dreamers that we know in nevada and across this country. i've heard my colleagues say they're teachers, business owners, health care workers. they're servicemembers. they go to work and school every day. they pay taxes. they care for their families, and they contribute to our communities. all over this country dreamers enrich our nation. not only do they want a path to citizenship, they deserve it. they are on the from nts lines during -- front lines during the pandemic. they are the essential workers.

madam president, i've heard my colleagues talk about dreamers. i know you know this, but i think oftentimes we need to bring to washington the faces of the very people we are talking about. because sometimes it gets lost. we talk about numbers. we have a graph. we say we should do this, we should do that, but we don't actually have the very people that we are talking about in front of us right now so that we could show our colleagues who may not be familiar with a dreamer what we're talking about. so, madam president, this is a stack of letters that i received from dreamers in nevada and some across the country. and i want to bring attention to some of these dreamers that i know that have sent me letters because this is truly why we should be working on at the very least legislation that focuses on moving the ball forward when it comes to our dreamers. this is from a dreamer in nevada. his name is ricardo.

he says i am an undocumented student at the college of southern nevada. i will be graduating in the spring of 2023 with a 4.0gpo and i'm going to be majoring in real estate. prior to studying at the college of southern nevada, i graduated from northwest career and technical academy with a high honors diploma and a gpa of 3.65. this track record in school has allowed me to be eligible for many opportunities that unfortunately i haven't been able to take advantage of due to my status. even though i've done many things to be a stellar student and get opportunities, i've only been able to go so far with my academics because of my status. many times throughout my life both in school and outside, i've been told that i could do anything i want in life as long as i worked hard for it.

so far i've worked twice as hard to get half as much success as many of my friends. madam president, i would tell you that is true for all of the dreamers take i've talked to. they work hard. they love this country. it's the only country they know. they do everything they can to excel, whether it's in school, at work. they want to be a part of our workforce. they are committed to doing so and that's why as senator blunt said, this should be an easy solution. and i will tell you, by the way, these aren't just dreamers in nevada that i talk about all the time and i'm proud to. i've got letters from dreamers in kentucky. i've got letters from dreamers in texas. they're all over this country. and they're similar. they're similar to the ones that i just talked about. so, yes, i think dreamers deserve a pathway to citizenship, not some time in

the future, not in some future congress but now. people on both sides of the aisle know this. that's why we've been close to compromise so frequently and so frustratingly. but i know it is possible to come together on a compromise that supports dreamers and, yes, increases border security. we could do both. they're not mutually exclusive. we can work to secure our borders and still work to pass legislation to put dreamers on a pathway. we can do both. that's common sense. we need these reforms. we need to focus on moving forward and not just pointing fingers at the problem. we just heard senator leahy earlier today give his speech. his farewell speech. and in it he talked about the importance of us not only working together to come to compromise but he talked about that we've got to stop finger

pointing. we've got to stop finger pointing to the problem for political advantage and start pointing the way to a solution. and that's what this needs now. this is the moment for all of us to come together, to really find the solution here at the end of the day, to get in a room and have commonsense legislation that moves this issue forward. because the truth is there's no need for us to have -- to face one crisis after another on our southern border. congress' role, and believe me this is congress' role, is to solve this problem by working together. but partisan finger pointing and blame games keep us from getting it done. i know. i just came off an election cycle. i know. i can tell you my opponent instead of coming up with a solution, all he wanted to do was point to the border.

but i'll tell you i wasn't sent to congress, i wasn't sent here to just point blame, identify the problem and do nothing about it. we are sent here to solve problems. and these aren't easy issues. that's why it requires us to work together. and, madam president, i have to tell you. because of your willingness to reach across the aisle, and you recognize the importance of working together to solve problems. and that's why i have hope that we can still get this done because hearing from some of my colleagues here today, there are problems at the border. we need to fix it. i know, i was attorney general for eight years in my state. one of the issues i worked at was the border, the southern border. because we had human trafficking

issues, money laundering, weapons trafficking that bled into my state because of what was happening at the border. so my focus has always been, yes, putting those resources at the border to address those issues, including the fentanyl that's coming across the border now. and we can do that and still address an issue for so many dreamers who are already here living in our communities, who want to be an essential part of our workforce. and why is that important? because right now we have seen such an incredible change in america and across the world since the outbreak of this covid-19 pandemic. during that time workers retired, immigration slowed, and labor markets tightened as a result. this country needs workers in industries from the tech sector to agriculture to home health care and child care. and we need them badly. and here's what i know and we all know this, that according to

the department of labor, the u.s. has a labor shortfall of roughly 3.5 million people. this is our workforce. if we were to pass this pathway for citizenship for so many, this is part of the essential workforce. they're already here. we're feeling this shortfall in nevada. i hear it across the country there my colleagues -- from my colleagues when we talk. every week i hear from business owners in nevada who talk about their struggle to find employees. comprehensive immigration reforms would let us welcome workers in a way that benefits our society and our economy and treats those who want to come to america with dignity. and yet we're not enacting them. the last time congress passed comprehensive immigration reform was when ronald reagan was president. that's re-- that's ridiculous. madam president, nevada sent me

back to the senate because they believe, they believe -- not only that i can reach across the aisle to make change but that i will do it. they've seen me do it before. i know i will -- they know i will work with anyone who's willing to come to the table. but we need serious action. and i hope my colleagues whether they're in my party, nonpartisans, or they are republicans are willing to come to the table to find a solution. we need that willingness to work together and to act on issues, like dreamers, like border security. i know my colleague from texas is here. he's going to talk about that. i agree with him. but we can do both. we can do both and do right by so many and move this country forward. as long as i'm in the senate, i'm going to be a voice for dreamers because they are part of the fabric in nevada. i will work with anyone to fix

our broken immigration system and make sure we can keep our border secure. madam president, thank you very much, and i yield my time. the presiding officer: the senator from alabama. mr. tuberville: madam president, rye rise today to call attention to a very serious issue and potential crisis that seems to be unfolding right under our eyes and under the radar. right now many, many communities across our country are facing a huge shortage of children's painkillers, like children's tylenol, antibiotics, and amoxicillin. we're in the middle of flu season and as unusually bad for

rsv, a viewers that can be -- virus that can be tough on children. parents head to pharmacies to get medicine to help their kids and they're seeing very empty shelves across our country. my staff is hearing from folks daily about the problems that they're seeing trying to find these medicines, both over the counter and prescription. a pharmacist from alabama told me, quote, currently they cannot order multiple ant buy on the -- antibiotics comoonly used for pediatric patient, including amox sill lynn. it's -- he's also unable to order pain medicine like tylenol and advil. it's not available. can't even order it much less get it. david was told by his wholesaler that the supply of medication simply does not exist as we

speak. and this is in the middle of a very serious flu and cold season all throughout our country. another pharmacist, dennis, from alabama faces the same problem and described the potentially dire nature of the shortage. he told me, quote, this can rapidly and is rapidly turning into a serious situation among the most vulnerable population which is our children. worse is what some desperate but well meaning parents are turning to in order to provide their children help. moms and dads who can't find kids medicines are choosing to give their children smaller doses of adult medicine instead. doctors are warning constantly against this in the strongest possible terms, a warning we should be sharing far and wide.

children's medicine is specifically designed for the developing of young bodies. but parents with sick children don't have time to drive if town to town to search for these medicines. this crisis is developing across the country and we should not wait for it to get worse before doing something about it. we cannot allow this situation to turn into the baby formula crisis, and while this medication shortage will no doubt require a short-term solution, i want to take a minute to highlight an important long-term solution to these supply chain problems. we need to produce pharmaceuticals in the united states. very little of that happens today. the united states has every

capability to produce eexception goods -- essential goods right here at home. the pandemic showed us the serious, very serious consequences of depending on imports for things that we need to survive, especially from adversaries like china. congress and the rest of the federal government should do what we can do to boost domestic production in medicine and medical supplies. it has to be done. we can't wait. along with essential goods like fuel and critical min mals, pharmaceuticals -- critical minerals, pharmaceuticals are vital to national security, because we cannot allow our adversaries to hold their supply over our heads as a bargaining tool, and that's exactly what they're doing as we speak. so i hope my time on the floor today has opened some eyes to the children's medical shortage,

the dangers of foreign independence is getting worse every day. so that every parent in alabama and across our country, we're listening, and we wants to listen to the advice of your doctors, and always check with medical professionals before giving your children any medicine. and hopefully in the near future, this body can help solve this problem and move our suppliers from internationally to domestically. madam president, i yield the floor. mr. cornyn: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: madam president, over the last few years pandemic relief bills have sent billions of dollars to state and local governments to support their pandemic response and recovery, and it's appropriate that we did so. but the truth is when the

pandemic hit, we didn't know how long it would last or what the ripple effects of that would be, both from the public health and the economic impact on state and local governments and the constituents they serve. i've heard from countless texas leaders that they have more money than eligible expenses, under the guardrails congress applied at the time. and my colleagues can attest to the fact that this is not a unique problem to texas. states, counties, and cities across the country want more flexibility to spend these relief dollars on their highest-priority projects, especially infrastructure. if we don't do this, madam president, these jurisdictions are going to fritter these dollars away on things that will not have a lasting, positive impact on our economy or public

safety, and investment in infrastructure will be an investment in public safety and a growing economy. my friend, senator padilla, from california, and i have worked with the administration and our colleagues on both sides of the aisle in order to come up with a bill that would grant this flexibility. this bill originally passed the senate unanimously last october. you know, people sometimes think we can't get along, we can't get anything done, but when big things happen sometimes they happen without even people recognizing it, and that demonstrates not only the bipartisan nature of this legislation but the fact that it just makes good sense. but unfortunately, the house never passed our bill. we've now worked in good faith to build the kind of support necessary among house members and house leadership in order to get that done, and i hope the senate will advance this new

version today. simply put, this legislation will unlock billions of dollars in unspent covid funds for infrastructure projects, as well as disaster relief. it restores decision-making power to the local level, and this is unique in spending bills in washington, d.c., this will not result in a single dollar of additional appropriations or a single dollar added to the deficit. this money's already in the hands of the states, the counties, and the cities. they just need more flexibility to spend it in a way that makes sense to them. if i could just add as a quick footnote, before deferring to my colleagues, you know, a lot of times when we have disasters or we want to do something big for the country, we pass legislation but it takes years to implement.

part of the problem is getting the money from washington, d.c. down to those local jurisdictions, among other things. well, this will expedite these infrastructure projects and disaster relief because they already have it in hand. i just want to say publicly how much i appreciate senator padilla and his staff, senator murkowski and her staff, senator tester and his staff for working with us on this legislation. again, this makes so much sense that it passed unanimously previously, and now we've worked out the differences with the house, and with any luck we'll get this to the president without further delay. we benefited from feedback from countless members on both sides of the aisle, and i hope we can finally grant our state and local leaders the flexibility that they've requested to spend these dollars in a way that makes the most sense according to their priorities.

the presiding officer: the senator from california. mr. padilla: thank you, mr. president. thank you, madam president. i rise alongside my colleague, the senior senator from texas, to speak in support of our bipartisan effort to continue to give states, local tribal and territorial governments the support that they need as they continue to recover from the covid-19 pandemic. while no corner of the ups was untouched -- of the united states was untouched by covid, we also know that every town, and frankly every tribe, every city, and every state, every local community was impacted in a different way, and as a result has different specific needs for that recovery. now, over the last two years congress has provided critical life lines to communities across the country, trying to get

through the pandemic and begin to rebuild. but today, almost three years since the start of the pandemic in the united states, there's still more we can and should do to help tailor the federal resources that we have previously approved to better fit each community, each local community, and give them the tools they need to address their most pressing local needs. now, at its core this bill is about flexibility, and empowering local governments that are closest to the people. flexibility for state and local governments to use their fiscal recovery dollars as strategically, effectively and efficiently as possible. flexibility for the treasury department to continue to implement critical assistance for communities that need it. flexibility for counties and tribes that host our nation's public lands.

as the senator mentioned, senator cornyn mentioned, this bill is the result of a long, bipartisan effort that has involved many of our colleagues on both sides of the aisle, on both sides of the capitol. i particularly want to thank senator cornyn and his excellent staff for their hard work as well. i thank senator tester, senator murkowski, and others for getting us to this point. i urge my colleagues to support us in this measure. mr. tester: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from montana. mr. tester: i echo senator padilla, senator cornyn, and senator murkowski from alaska for working on this important issue. this is a place oftentimes where common sense tends to take a leave of absence. this is a great example of a commonsense bill, where folks came together from both sides of the aisle, to address challenges facing our local governments.

earlier this month, senator murkowski and i introduced the local assistance fairness act. this fixes an error in the american rescue plan that prevented consolidated local governments from accessing this critical funding. back in montana, this impacted two of our counties and municipalities, both counties can use this help. this legislation will help them continue to keep folks safe, improve infrastructure, and lay the groundwork for bringing good-paying jobs to the region. i appreciate my friends from texas, california, senator murkowski, to be able to include this bill in the cornyn-padilla bill. we thank you very much for that, and i look forward to getting this to the president's desk for his signature. i yield. the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: madam president, i now ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of s.

5323, which is at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. 5323, a bill to amend title 6 of the social security act so forth and for other purposes. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection, the senate will proceed. mr. cornyn: madam president, i now ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. mr. cornyn: thank you, madam president.

ms. duckworth: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. ms. duckworth:i ask unanimous consent that the committee on health, education, labor and pensions be discharged from further consideration of s. 52en 6. ms. duckworth: and the senate proceed to immediate consideration. further, the bill be considered read a thirty time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: is there okay? mrs. hyde-smith: i object. the presiding officer: the senator from mississippi. objection is heard. ms. duckworth: madam president, my daughter, abigail, my oldest,

just turned 8. she's silly and smart and gives the best hugs you could ever imagine. she has big dreams and if you've ever met her, you just know that she'll reach them. she's decided that one day she's going to become an engineer or an army nurse. she wants to build things and help people. that's it. my younger daughter, mylie pearl, is 4 1/2, with about the most contagious laugh i've ever heard. my girls are my everything, and for them i'd do everything. they might never have been born without the basic reproductive rights americans have depended on for nearly a half century. city would never have my -- i would never have had my girls if roe v. wade had not paved the way, as i was only to be able get pregnant through ivf. because of that, i get to enjoy

motherhood. because of that, my husband and i aren't just tammy and brian, we are mommy and daddy. because of i vf, we are a family, that family and hoped for dream is now in danger for millions of would-be parents. overturning -- this would go further to controlling women's bodies, including plans that could ban fertility treatments like ivf. we know that because they told us. because they said the quiet part out loud. one antichoice group even admitted to gop legislators that they considered figuring out to go after ivf treatments, and i quote, next year, two years from now, three years from now. if you're thinking this makes no sense, you're right. you're not misunderstanding anything. you're not missing something. it's the ultimate blend of

misogyny as you think it is is. those claiming to defend family vol use are shouldering policies that would prevent millions of families from starting families. they're pushing the kind of so-called personhood bills that paint women undergoing ivf has criminals even as we're trying everything we can to create life. the thing is they craft this kind of policy carefully, tactically. they're strategic about every word they use, winking to their political base all the way. their so-called personhood bills don't say, we're going to ban ivf, full stop, what they say is, hey, we're not fully opposed to ivf per se, but we won't let you implant multiple eggs at once. they say you you can have this

expensive procedure, but you can only implant one egg at a time. it is -- it the process relies on implanting multiple embryos to give a mother the best shot to carrying to term. one per round would be expensive and emotionally devastating for so many. personhood. this policy could band die laition or d -- it could cut dnc. dnc is necessary to necessarily remove the lining of the uterus. what happens after the woman carries after the six-week mark? what happens to women like me who miss carried at nine weeks. if that kind of policy had been in place in that horrible, most searingly painful moment in my life when i learned that my pregnancy was inviable, i would

have been kept from the medical care i desperately needed. i was able to undergo another round of ivf, care that allowed me to get pregnant with my rainbow daughter, miley. i have gotten to know some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle quite well. i ask those republican colleagues a simple question, think back to is that stretch of time before you became a partner. -- a parent. imagine the only way to get pregnant was through ivf and then imagine some politicians was robbing you of your dream of having a child, stealing that moment we all had when we locked eyes with our newborns for the first time. how would that feel? how would that sit with you? if it so happens you didn't struggle with infertility that you didn't need a little medical help to have your child, i'm happy for you.

truly, i can't tell you how fortunate you are. if through sheer luck you won the proverbial lottery, how could you stomach robbing other americans the joy you have been lucky enough to experience? no, no, no, no. in this scary precarious post dobbs world we cannot risk one more state getting closer to stripping one more person of the right to build their family, how they choose, when they choose. that's why today i asked my colleagues to pass with unanimous consent my right to build families act, which would ensure that every american's fundamental right to become a parent via ivf is truly protected regardless of a person's zip code. my bill would ban states from this, it would protect health care providers who provide art or related counseling and allow the department of justice to pursue action against states that violate this legislation, because no one should feel

someone else's religious beliefs or partisan slants could rob her of her chance to get pregnant, no doctor should have to risk becoming a criminal in their state's eyes to provide a woman the help they need to start their families. if you believe in basic logic, then you know there's no chance that these extremist republicans have any right to call themselves pro-life. if they were pro-life, they would do the number of first graders murdered in their classrooms by assault weapons, they would staunch the mortality crisis. if they cared about protecting life on this planet, they would do something about our planet dying, they would stop stripping health care from parents working double shifts, they would stop ripping social security away from grand manned grandpa -- grandma and grandpa.

if -- they wouldn't throw around words like man manslaughter whel we want is to become mothers. there are many things to debate, this shouldn't be one. many have a problem carrying pregnancy to term, it doesn't include lgbtqia couples, there are one in four red states, one in four of the biggest cities and the smallest of rural towns, one in four of the wealthiest and poorest zip codes, infertility doesn't seek party lines or state lines, so to my republican colleagues, please, think about how many women that 25% equates to be in your state, women willing to go through expensive, painful medical procedures just for a chance to experience the smallest moments

of a newborn, a baby whose diaper to change. think about these constituents, if you believe they have the right to be called mom without being painted as a criminal, that all you have to do to prove it is to defend this most basic right. it's that simple, it's that easy.

the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota. a senator: mr. president? a moment i will ask unanimous consent to confirm executive calendar number 1204, the nomination of jessica looman. ms. looman's nomination was favorably reported out of the senate help committee with a strong bipartisan vote of 13-9. jessica looman has very capably served as the principal deputy

administrator in the wage and hour division since january of 2021 and in recognition of her excellent service, ms. looman was nominated to permanently lead the division of the department -- the division of the department of labor. i can't think of a better candidate. i've had the opportunity to know and to work with jessica since 2011. she's from st. paul, minnesota, a long-time labor leader, an attorney and lifelong champion of workers. in addition to being a strong advocate for working people, she's also thoughtful and innovative and fair. ms. smith: she has led executive agencies and has wide experience working with diverse stakeholders. i'm confident she will be a fair and pragmatic administrator as she enforces some of our nation's most important labor laws, including laws governing minimum wage, overtime, and child labor. this role that she will serve in has a direct impact on working people, like the waitress who

should be protected from a boss who steals her tips, the build trades carpenter or laborer who has the right to earn the prevailing wage to support their families with they work on a federal project and the worker who works overtime but is not being paid the hours they worked. at a time when we've seen child labor abuses at meatpacking plants in minnesota and auto suppliers in alabama, it's critical that we have strong oversight and enforcement to protect children from abuse. ms. looman's values are rooted in upholding the dignity of work and supporting hardworking americans, and in all of the time that i have known her, she has approached issues with a keen desire to understand both sides of an argument and to find fair solutions that both sides can accept. and this is why she is respected by both labor and employers. first in minnesota and now in her work at the u.s. department of labor. ms. looman has built this reputation because she is reasonable and builds consensus, even when it's difficult and

there are real differences to bridge. ms. looman will be a strong, fair wage and hour administrator for workers and for employers across the country. and for this reason i urge my colleagues to support her nomination and to allow this request to move forward. so, mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that as if in executive session, the senate consider the following nomination, calendar number 1204, jessica looman to be administrator of the wage and hour division department of labor. that if the senate vote -- that the senate vote on the nomination without intervening action or debate, that if confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, and the president be immediately notified of the senate's action. the presiding officer: is there objection? a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from indiana. a senator: reserving the right to object. mr. braun: before coming to the senate, i was actually involved in a very, very small business. nearly 17 years.

this business had one location, 15 employees. after all that work over the next 20 years it did grow into a regional company and a national one. all i can tell you is that that's the hardest job out there. farming is another example where you're a sole proprietor and you've got all the risk. and whenever there's burdensome regulations that come into play, they've got to be measured. you've got to make sure that you don't have things that are going to make that job even more difficult. living that life as a main street business owner, i know firsthand how some of that stuff, even though well intentioned, can end up being something that makes a difference whether you survive or not. as wage and hour administrator, ms. looman would be in charge of enforcing the fair labor

standards act, which is a federal statute dictating minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and child labor requirements for private employers. as acting administrator, she oversaw the end of the trump administration's rules on joint employers, independent contractors, and overtime. these rules brought greater regulatory certainty and consistency to employers and entrepreneurs, small ones. the biden administration is working on their own version of these rules which i fear will be job killing, burdensome, and bring uncertainty to employers, employees, and entrepreneurs. and the other thing that these businesses do unlike larger ones, this is their main source of income. their living is made out of it. they're lucky if they scrape out

a return on investment. so if it gets to be too burdensome, you're taking away in essence a paycheck. post recently they announced a proposed rule for determining independent contractor classification. this proposed rule would have immediate and long-term disruptive effects on millions of workers and thousands of businesses at a time when the economy is facing high inflation rates, stress, and the business community in general. this position impacts too many americans and small businesses not to have a vote for them or to have undue burdennensome regulations. therefore, i do object. the presiding officer: the

i rise today because arizona and our country are in complete crisis. this is not new. it's one that has progressively work in -- worsened year after year. administration after administration used the federal government repeated failures to address our border and immigration system. as a native arizonan i've seen first-hand how these failures fall squarely on the shoulders

of border states risking the safety of our communities and endangering the lives of migrants. right now we are experiencing these dangerous tipping points. the combination of an unsecure border and overworked and underresourced border patrol and protection force and never before seen levels of illegal immigration and asylum seekers and smuggling efforts have completely run and already broke and system. to make matters, title 42, the public health order that stops some migrants from entering our country may soon expire, allowing thousands of migrants and into arizona, texas and other border states without the proper procedure, plan or infrastructure in place. let me be clear, this is a humanitarian and security nightmare. already our border towns can

barely keep up with the demand from the overwhelming levels of immigration. if a small community of roughly 37,000 people right on the arizona mexico border, the fire chief recently told us three of his five ambulances are used solely to care for migrants in need leaving only two ambulances for the entire local community on any given night. the city of tucson has art accepted over 15% of its total population justin migrant releases since april of this year. and in yuma the threat thread of street releases persis every single day, including today. with thousands of migrants coming to our border and seeking asylum are overwhelmed border patrol agents are now additionally tasked with processing asylum seekers,

taking the agents away from their important work of patrolling the border apprehending illegal crossers and stopping cartels, drugs and smugglers. the consequences are plain to see. the mayor of san luis recently reported seeing migrants traveling a long intercity highways because border patrol was too overwhelmed to apprehend them closer to the border. while towns like san luis humanitarian organizations across our state and their brave women and men in green and shoulder the burden of a failed system. i'm getting tired of winning. gop leadership declares that this bill is a victory, but not unless you define victory as adding over a trillion dollars in new deficit spending. so really there is a debate, a big debate within the republican party, which is more important,

is it more important to add $45 billion to military spending or is it more important not to add a trillion dollars in deficit to our debt? we'r adding a trillion dollars a year and republicans say this is a victory because we're getting more military spending. but it's a victory at what expense? are we actually more secure? are we more safe? is our national security more protected by spending more on the military or is sour national security -- or is our national security more threatened by incurring more debt? i would add the latter. our debt is the number one threat to our national security. it's the week before christmas and predictably congress is considering yet another

$1.7 trillion spending bill. we haven't had a chance to see or even read. last night at 1:30 in the morning, the text of this 1,455-page spending is spree was released. if you thought congress couldn't possibly spend more money than it did last year, you would be wrong. the omnibus increases spending by 10% compared to last year's budget. you would think that nearly two years of 40-year high inflation would create some hesitation. you would think that a looming recession, spurred largely by exorbitant government spending would give this congress pause, but instead of taking a minute to consider what a responsible federal government budget looks like, we are instead placed behind the barrel of a begun forcing us to -- gun forcing to

choose between letting government expire or spending a $$1.7 trillion spending package. how does congress spend taxpayer money? here's just a few examples of how your government currently spends money. we found that they spent last year $2.3 million injecting beagles with cocaine. it seems that they were curious, their researchers were curious, despite the pain they inflicted on these dogs, they were curious to know if cocaine causes adverse effects. guess what. read the newspaper. read the news. look at the addicts across the country. do you think you need to inject beagles with cocaine to know that cocaine is a bad deal? $700,000 was spent to study how male parents attract their mate.

really? we've got people who go hungry in our country. we've got people that are trying to get out from behind poverty and we're spending $700,000 studying how male parents attract a female. we spend $187,000 to study whether or not dogs help kids cope. of course they do. ask any pet owner. any pet owner could have told you and we would have saved the taxpayer $187,000. we spent $118,000 to study if a metal replica of marvel comics evil war warlord could snap his fingers. $118,000, really. they apparently hired some dude to wear metal gloves and try to

snap his fingers. you know what? they found it is impossible to make a snapping sound with metal fingers. robots of the world, be warned, it's hard to snap your fingers. while we continue to spend ourselves into oblivion, almost every single european nation is working to shrink their deficit. we retunely look at government when -- routinely look at government to say look at how socialized and most of europe balances their budget. in 201915 of 26 european countries ran budget surpluses. another eight european countries ran deficits of less than 3% of their gdp while here in the u.s. in that same year, our deficit exceeded 6% of gdp. europe is a glaring example that fiscal responsibility is

possible. it's not a pipe dream. in fact, if we just cut our spending to what we spent in 2019, just three years ago, we would actually have a balanced budget today. instead, we have jumped from a deficit that was 6% of our gdp to a deficit that is 12% of oir gdp. we are adding debt at an alarming rate. we are adding debt at a greater pace than we ever have in the history of our country. thankfully, some of our predecessors in congress anticipated this lack of restraint and they gave us some guideposts, they gave us some rules. they established guardrails and tools to keep our budget in check. for example, there is a rule called the statutory paygo act, it requires if you have new spending, it has to be offset by cuts elsewhere in the budget or

elsewhere in the spending bill. despite equipping our government with this necessary tool, though, congress, with almost every budget in recent history, abuses its power, spends like drunken sailors and ignores the fact that a day of reckoning is coming. unfortunately congress has virtually 100% of the time voted to waive the pay-go requirements. the american people demand accountability for the damage the big government spenders are doing to our families and our nation's economic well-being. i will not allow my colleagues to escape accountability by hiding behind 4,000,000 pages of legislative text. i will raise a budget point of order as this bill comes to the floor that will put every member of the senate on record as to where they stand on fiscal responsibility. unfortunately, most of the senators, even if they share my

sentiments, they know this point of order will be waived. they think they can quietly vote this way and no one will notice. well, when american voters finally notice that people here are saying one thing at home and doing another, are promising balancing budgets an promising that deficits do matter and then vote the opposite way, one day the american electorate will wake up and vote these hip hypocrites out. there are many other points of order that can be raised on this. it is of some value if we would obey the rules. some of the people, you see them, you see them in their states, they're at campaign rallies, they will tell you at town lawls and on the -- town halls and on the senate floor that we must get spending under control, they will tell you that the debt is a problem, it's terrible to run omnibuses, it is

terrible to have a bill released at 1:30 in the new morning, past and read about it later. i suspect you will find a lot of promises that will be violated as we vote on the pay-go restrictions. realize this is the law. the law of the land says you can't do this. congress, in passing this omnibus, is breaking the law. the statute says very clearly they cannot do this. the only way they actually can oh, vaid responsibility -- evade responsibility is change the law. they say it would be embarrassing to get rid of the law, so we waive the law. we have laws for decades that can put us on a course toward balancing our budget and the rules are waived. they disobey their own rules. congress does a disservice to the economy every time it waives these points of order. what good are these procedures if they're never upheld?

what started as formal guardrails to keep fiscal health of this nation strong is now merely just a messaging tool with no real significance that allows senators to get away with making promises they never intended to keep. that is why, in addition to raising this point of order, i am introducing an amendment to reform our budget procedures by raising the threshold. let's make it less easy for them to break the rules. currently 60 senators can break the rules, let's make it two-thirds, let's make it 67 senators necessary to break the rules. why? because they're bankrupting this country, both sides of the aisle, there's an unholy alliance between both parties. one party wants more welfare, one wants more warfare. it's either the military industrial complex or the welfare industrial complex, but what happens in inevitably every

year is spending goes up. people come and the journalists question, what will happen? what will happen with christmas this year? the only thing that is known to thap is -- is this body, both bodies, will continue to add to the debt. there is a day -- there is a day when you wake up and the dollar is worthless. right now the dollar is losing nearly 10% of its value on an annual basis, but there's a day when it's 10% a day or 10% an hour, great countries have succumbed to the destruction of currency and it happens through debt, through deficit financing and it's coming to us. there is a day of reckoning unless we wake up and say enough's enough. we're going to do the prudent and rational thing, we're going to balance our budget. it's time that we take our nation's health seriously and it's time that we show concern for those who are being damaged and devastated by inflation.

the inflation at the grocery store, at the gas pump, who does it hurt the worst? it hurts those on fixed income, senior citizen, it hurts the working class and the poor, those who have most of their expenditures that go towards consumption, towards their food and groceries and gas, people who spend 90% of what they earn on buying the stuff that allows them to live are the people that are decimated by inflation. so if there are people in this body who do care, who do really care about those who are struggling with the burden of inflation, the best way is to quit digging the hole deeper, quit adding to the debt and do even what european countries do, and that's begin to balance our budget.

mr. leahy: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: mr. president, i'm pleased to announce, as people know that late last night, actually as i recall, it was

sometime in the wee hours-this morning, -- wee hours of this morning, i introduced the 2023 omnibus appropriations bill. this bill invests $172.5 billion had in nondiscretionary programs, including $118.7 billion, which is a 22.7% increase for v.a. medical care and $858 billion in defense billion dollars, the medical care is $118 billion, it provides assistance to ukraine and our nato allies, $40.6 billion in emergency funding to assist communities across the country recovering from drought, hurricanes, flooding, wildfire and other natural disasters, something the

kind of disasters it doesn't care whether you're a republican or democrat. it hits america. the pain of inflation is real, it's felt by the federal government and the american people. we offer relief. certainly for the operations of the federal government to the fiscal year, the resources necessary to secure the national defense, and for funding for nutrition programs and housing assistance, to home energy costs and college affordability. this is a strong bill. it directly invested in the american people, and i think it shows the effect of the weeks -- actually, months -- that we worked day, night, and into the weekends to get it done. this is the product of bipartisan negotiations, in line with the framework announced by vice chair shelby, chair delauro, myself last week.

it fulfills the promise of bipartisan landmark legislation we passed this year. so if you voted for the pact act to care for our veterans, then you should vote for this bill. if you voted for the chips act, you should vote for this bill. if you voted for the infrastructure law, you should vote for this bill. if you want to help families deal with the cost of heating, child care, college and housing, you should vote for this bill. if you actually want to fund the troops and the families at the level of the ndaa, you should vote for this bill. if you wants to help the victims of domestic violence, vote for this bill. if you want to support law enforcement, vote for this bill. i'll have more to say about the bill tomorrow, but our choice is clear, because the alternative of a continuing resolution into the new year is short-sighted, wholly unnecessary, imperils our national security, ignores the real pain and consequences of

inflation and will cost taxpayers billions of dollars more. i'll put the rest of this in the record, and i i ask unanimous consent the joint explanatory statement accompanying the consolidated appropriations october of 2023 be printed in the "congressional record." the presiding officer: without objection. mr. leahy: i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. schumer: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. we are in -- mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection.

the majority leader. mr. schumer: mr. president, it's my understanding the senate has received a message from the house of representatives to accompany h.r. 2617. the presiding officer: the senator is correct. mr. schumer: i ask that the chair lay before the senate the message to accompany h.r. 2617, and i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

vote: vote: vote:

vote:

vote: the presiding officer: the yeas are 70, the nays are 25, and the motion is agreed to. the majority leader. mr. schumer: i move -- the presiding officer: no, the clerk will report. the clerk: resolve that the

house concur in the senate amendments numbered 1, 2, 3, and 5 to bill h.r. 2617 entitled an act to amend section 1115 of title 31 united states code to amend the description of how performance goals are achieved, and and for other purposes, and the house concur in the senate amendment number 4 to the text of the aforementioned bill with an amendment. mr. schumer: mr. president, i move to concur on the house amendment to the senate amendment number had to h.r. -- number 4 to h.r. 2617 with an amendment. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from new york, mr. schumer, moves to concur in the house amendment to senate amendment numbered 4 to h.r. 2617 with an amendment numbered 6552. mr. schumer: i ask concept further reading of the amendment be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be.

the yeas and nays are ordered. mr. schumer: mr. president. i have an amendment at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from new york, mr. schumer, proposes amendment 6571 to am 6522. mr. schumer: i ask consent further reading be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i move to refer h.r. 2617 to the committee on appropriations with instructions to report back with an amendment. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from new york, mr. schumer, moves to refer the house message to accompany 6427 on the committee to appropriations to report back forth withwith amendment numbered 6572. mr. schumer: i ask consent further reading of the motion be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the yeas and nays are ordered. mr. schumer: i have an amendment to the instructions at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk

will report. the clerk: the senator from new york, mr. schumer proposes an amendment numbered 6573 to the instructions to the motion to refer. mr. schumer: i ask consent the further reading be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the yeas and nays are ordered. mr. schumer: i have a second-degree amendment at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from new york, mr. schumer, proposes amendment 6574 to amendment 7573. mr. schumer: i ask consent further reading be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: madam president, i yield the floor. mr. portman: i rise tonight as we're hearing media reports that president zelenskyy of ukraine

will be coming to washington tomorrow to address a joint session of the united states congress. i hope that is an accurate report. i think it's important that he come. this would be, by the way, the first time he has led ukraine -- left ukraine in 300 days, not since the start of the invasion, which is now 300 days from today. if against all odds, ukraine has held out against the russian assault. many thought they'd be able to hold out a week or so. instead, it's been 300 days. they pushed russia back in so many places. i'm glad he's coming because i know what he will do is talk about his deep appreciation for what the american people have provided. every time i've been with him, and i traveled to ukraine about ten times since 2014, he talks about that, but particularly over the last few months i've been to ukraine twice, and he focused on the fact that they couldn't do it without us, and the deep appreciation that he feels. second, i know he will give us a

firsthand report of what's going on. this morning he was inback mute, in -- in bakhmut, in eastern ukraine. this is what it looks like today. so he's going from a ravaged battle zone, looks a little like a world war i battle zone when you see all the damage occurring in this area. he'll be able to tell us specifically what is happening on the battlefield and talk about the continued russian atrocities being committed in the country of ukraine. i'm here for the 29th consecutive week on the floor of the senate to talk about this attack on ukraine, a brutal, illegal, and totally unprovoked war on a democratic ally of ours who wants to live in peace with its neighbors, including russia. in each of these previous 28 speeches i've talked about the progress that's been made, and

some of the issues that the ukrainian people still need to address, particularly with regard to more technology and more weapon systems from the west and from the united states. today i thought it might be useful to step back and take a look how we got here and how far ukraine has come over these 300 days. let's consider what the ukrainian military has accomplished since that initial invasion of sovereign ukrainian territory, now over eight years ago. this first picture shows ukrainian soldiers taking up positions back in 2014. this was again right after the so-called revolution of dignity, when ukraine decided to turn to the west, united states, europe, democracy, free markets, and the russian-backed corrupt government was thrown out. russia responded by attacking ukraine, taking crimea and parts of the donbas. these are the ukrainian soldiers

at that time. you can look at this very basic kit, old, rusted weapons, boots that don't look very sturdy, helmets that look from the soviet area, and -- soviet era, and probably are, small anti-armor weapons that really didn't have the ability to stop the russian armor. they couldn't puncture the armor in tanks and other vehicles. these were the soldiers tasked with stopping russia's initially invasion in 2014. they look more like soldiers from the 1980's. in those days, the ukrainian military was underfunded, faced a lot of allegations of fraud, had a lot of corruption, was shockingly small, and that was on purpose, because the russian-backed government didn't an effective military. in 2014, with the help of an assortment of militias they were able to slow russia's advance just because the ukrainians were taking the high moral ground, but they were unable to push the russian forces out of the country or keep them from taking crimea and large parts of the

donbas, which remained in russian hands. let's fast forward to 2022, today. this is a photograph of what soldiers looked like on the front lines today. this is in a trench in bakhmut. you can see modern firearms, body armor, additional gear and equipment for extended operations and weapons that make a difference. for instance, the american-made javelins provided that were so effective against the russian tanks and other armored vehicles. there's an additional thing you can't see in this photograph, or any photograph, but it's really important, and that's training. these soldiers in 2022 are far better trained than predecessors and are schooled in western tactics. they're competent, displibd and able to operate -- disciplined and able to operate independently, in sharp contrast to russia's military, overly centralized command and control,

poor discipline and unwillingness or inability to learn from mistakes. this is the modern military that shattered the sword of russia's war machine, all made possible through the combined efforts of the united states, american tack pairs, but -- taxpayers, but also allies, particularly the u.k. that did a lot of training, our european allies did a lot of training, particularly the eastern european countries in the region, also canada. we stepped up and helped to train the next generation of ukrainian military, and through that we've helped professionalize, arm, and train ukraine's military since 2014, to prepare for the exact contingency that now occurred earlier this year, a full-scale invasion by russia. our efforts are paying off as russia's invasion has floundered and its military has been truly denigrated. if you need more proof about the success, let's look at this map. when the invasion came in february of this year, all of

this area in blue was occupied by russia. ukraine has now taken back about 55% of its own territory, liberated these areas, and they continue to make progress here in herson and in the kharkiv region and throughout eastern and southeastern and northeastern ukraine. russia thought it had an easy battle. they thought within a matter of days or weeks this map would be red and all of ukraine theirs. instead, since february, ukraine has liberated over 74,000 square kilometers of sovereign territory and thousands and thousands, millions in fact, of ukrainian citizens who embraced these troops as liberators. ukraine's fighters have strong morale, but they'll be the first to tell you none of this would have been possible without help from this body, from the u.s. house, from the united states taxpayers, to give them the tools they needed to protect their freedom. we have sent ukraine now

billions of dollars worth of military, economic, and humanitarian aid since that attack in february. humanitarian aid that has saved lives, economic aid that keeps the government and economy afloat, and military to enable ukraine's brave defense of their homeland. javelin missile launchers stopped the attack against kiev in february and march. since this summer, the most important weapon has been the high mobility artillery rocket systems, known as himars. we provided about 20 of these units, not a single one has been taken out by the russian military. it's extraordinary. they shoot and they scoot, and they're very effective. these same weapons have been provided to the ukrainians by germany and by the u.k. we're not alone. nor should we be. our allies should be there for ukraine. as i've said on this floor many times, these 20 launchers have been game changers in the battlefield.

i see senator klobuchar on the floor. when we were in ukraine a few months ago we were talking to the u.s. embassy personnel, a small, dedicated group there, about what was happening. they said the day before they ordered food in kiev. when the food arrived in bags, hamburgers, by the way, on the outside of the bag was written thank you for the himars. thank you for the himars. we were told that newborns in ukraine are often taking the name himar now. that's the degree to which they know and appreciate what we've provided for them to save their homeland, families, and freedom. the long range and high precision of these weapons enabled ukraine to be so successful, particularly going after logistics, command and control, cutting off the troops, forcing the russians to leave kherson, the first major city russia occupied. it's also critical we send more

air defense equipment, particularly counterdrone weapons right now. we've got to provide ukrainians with these air defense systems, including cost effective electronic warfare systems to control the skies without exhausting the scok piles of anti-air -- the stockpiles. we know what's happening. as ukraine is making progress on the battlefield, russia, out of desperation, is turning to civilian attacks, targeted civilian attacks. that's what's happening every day and nate in ukraine -- day and night in ukraine. i was pleased to see recent reports the administration may soon send patriot air defense systems to defend against russia's critical bombardment on these civilian targets. in my view, this is long overdue. patriots are defensive. we should have sent those as soon as we could and train up the ukrainians, we do would have avoided so much death and destwrux, but it's good that the administration is -- death and

destruction. it's good that the administration is considering cog -- is considering doing it. russia's military warned if the united states delivers these to ukraine, it would be another provocative move by the united states, end quote. they said it would result in a swift response from moscow. ladies and gentlemen, this is clear propaganda. patriot missiles are defense by their nature. they're not the same missiles you would fire into another country offensively. they are smaller, meant to kill missiles in the air and drones in the air and airplanes in the air. any reasonable person can clearly see that the provocateur here is not the united states or any other country. it is russia, of course. ukraine has every right to defend its citizens, and i believe america is well within its rights to help them do that. this is more evidence that russia's claims of mesh provocations are -- america's provocations are baseless. they always have been. every time they've said that

this is provocative. they'll continue to claim that anything we give ukraine to disrupt this inhaveition is provocative. why do we keep letting these illogical claims stifle our aid to ukraine? let's not let it happen here with the patriots. for the past ten months i've seen news story after news story about the u.s. refusing to provide this or that weapon for gear of provoking russia. they've been asking for fourth-generation aircraft, f-16's in other countries willing to provide them, but we need to approve it for those planes to go. they want to -- to be able to have abrams tanks. long-range missiles like the atacm missiles that ukraine has asked for, larger than the ones you see on this map. they would be doing even better. the same fear of provoking russia is exactly what drove the

obama administration back in the day to refuse to provide any lethal assistance at all to ukraine in 2014 and 2015. that certainly did not stop the russians from holding on to crimea. and parts of the donbas. it just emboldened them because they knew that the united states was not going to respond and, therefore, our allies without our leadership were not going to help. likewise refusing to give ukraine the weapons it needs now will not stop russia's onslaught. no one can believe that. russia will only leave ukrainian territory if it is pushed out by force of arms. it will not suddenly decide to leave if we just give the -- give in to their unreasonable demands and agree with them that because it's provocative we can't provide it. we've got to continue to provide more aid to ukraine and do it as soon as possible. we can't allow a stalemate. every day this war drags on, there are more impacts on our economy, on the global economy, and every day this war drags on, there are more war crimes being

committed by russia. throughout my several trips to the region since the invasion began ten months ago, i have spoken with women and children would have seen death and destruction that few of us would ever imagine. our military aid can propel the forces of ukraine to victory but the mental and emotional toll of this war will be felt for decades to come. as russian attacks on civilian infrastructure continue to knock out power throughout the country, last wednesday and thursday seven civilians were killed and a further 19 were wounded according to a report from president zelenskyy's office. 20% of kyiv, this modern city in ukraine, only 20% of it had lights. and the war crimes do not end there. in the recently liberated city of herson, ukrainian officials discovered a room that russian soldiers used for the detention of children. we saw the rock bottom. the children were given little water and almost no food.

the children were also subjected to psychological abuse. one 14-year-old boy was arrested and tortured just for taking a picture of broken russian equipment. who can hear these words and truly think the ukrainians of the west are the true provocateurs here. that's just the war crimes we know about and we know about a lot of them now. we don't know what horrors are still being conducted here behind the lines in occupied areas of ukraine. unfortunately, russia is making it abundantly clear it will do nothing to hold its soldiers accountable for these crimes in ukraine. a new bill making its way in the russian legislature would legalize any and all war crimes committed by russian soldiers if the crimes are aimed to protect the interests of the russian federation. as many of us have said for months the pain and suffering inflicted on the innocent people of ukraine is the point and now russian soldiers will have official legal cover to commit those atrocities. this is a terror campaign. knocking out power, putting people in the dark, in the cold

during the ukrainian winter. we can't allow this suffering to continue. i'll be leaving the senate soon and ending my time in this great chamber. it's my last speech on the senate floor about ukraine. before i go a couple of thoughts about the future. ukraine can win this war. they've shown that. the ending has been clear to many of us for a long time if we provide assistance. compare ukraine's military competence, bravery, discipline and creativity on the one hand. on the other hand russia's incompetent and lack of ability to control or supply its troops. there's a "new york times" story over the weekend you may have seen in the sunday times about russia's inability to provide troops with their basic needs. russia has fumbled every opportunity it has had in this war from failed attack on kyiv in the beginning to the invasion -- to the port offenses and the west bank of the knee pro -- knee pro -- dnipro river.

victories reflect a serious inability to think or learn creatively on the part of the russian forces. ukraine on the other hand has had the moral high ground and the morale and the spirit in this war since the first russian soldiers crossed the border with belarus in the north in the lines of contact here in the east. ukrainian soldiers have either outright defeated russian's offensive as they did in the north or the spring or slowed them to a crawl as they've done in the east. right now russian forces near the city of bakhmut are advancing no more than 100 to 200 meters a day at a cost we're told of at least 50 russian soldiers a day. and on the attack ukrainians have been brave, bold, and relentless. their liberation in september was a matter of carefully testing russia's defenses. once the weakness was spotted ukrainian soldiers surged through a hole in the line. one week later all the province

was liberated. it was a beautifully executed operation which will likely be studied in military academies for a long time to come and was american and european and canadian training that allowed that to happen. in the south near kherson, it was a different kind of offensive. there ukrainian forces provided with these himars from the united states, we talked about earlier, grad usedly whittled away at forces until the situation became untenable. they couldn't be resupplied and left, again the one major city they had occupied. one of the counteroffensive kharkiv required quick thinking and a ability to rapidly exploit success. the other required meticulous planning and patience, two very different operations yet ukrainian soldiers held them both off. that is why ukraine can win this war. its defenders are bold, creative, smart, and endlessly brave. they've proven it to us. every russian missile fired at the ukrainian infrastructure to destroy the ukrainian people's

will is a wasted missile. why do i say that? because the intention is to make the ukrainian people want to back off, to lose their resolve and this morale and the spirit i talked about. it had just the opposite effect every time it happens which it makes the ukrainian people even more resolve and even more intent to win this war. the ukrainian people are unbreakable as we've seen. and once ukraine wins this war, i believe it will join the european union and eventually it will join nato. the e.u. granted candidate status in june which sent them down a path toward eventual membership. ukraine has already passed seven pieces of legislation to adopt reforms that are necessary to join the european union. ukraine expects to be a full-fledged member of the e.u. within five years. that's the future. regarding nato, by the way, i've

long supported ukraine's inattention to join the alliance, the most successful military alliance if the history of the world. none of this would be happening were they in nato already. it's in line with nato's open door policy. any and all eligible countries are welcomed. it would provide incredible military power to nato. russia launched its initial invasion in 2014 and larger one in 2022 to keep ukraine out of nato. they have the right to decide their own destiny, their own foreign policy. we cannot legitimatize the kremlin's ridiculous demands by giving up now. it's hard to think of a more qualified country to join than ukraine. russia has been a greatest threat to the alliance. what better country to induct than one that has extensive

experience defeating that threat on the battlefield. so it's in our interest but not just our strategic interest. it's also in our moral interest. if we falter in support of creap, we condemn millions of innocent ukrainians to a future of repression, a future of summary executions like we saw in bucha. i've been there and seen the damage they d. i've seen the place where they had a mass grave burying ukrainian citizens. a future of torture chambers built for adults and children alike. a future in which the very idea of being proudly ukrainian is outlawed and punishable by torture or death. if we falter we allow president putin to threaten the rest of europe and potentially start a war with nato that would draw in the united states. we cannot do that. this aggression must stop here. ukraine and its western allies are fighting to preserve freedom in europe and globally. how this war ends will have far-reaching consequences both on the rest of the continent and around the word. we can stop russian aggression

here. we can deter other adversaries. they're watching. china is watching. iran is watching. they're watching and thinking about whether they should start similarly horrific wars of conquest. we must send a message to the rest of the world that america will not back down when rogue nations threaten free countries. this has always been america's role. today was the national mall seeing the prayer that franklin roosevelt said on d-day. and this plaque has just been placed on the national mall based on legislation we passed here in this body. and in that prayer franklin roosevelt says that american troops were not going to europe for conquest. it was not for the love of conquest. it was not for the lust of conquest. rather it was to combat the germans and to stop conquest that american troops were there to liberate. that's what we do. in this case it's not our troops. they aren't asking for our

troops but they are asking for the tools to be able to successful in liberating the people of ukraine. so i urge my colleagues to support the funding bill that was released yesterday that included $47 billion in assistance for ukraine. we talked about this before. but it will support the military, the civilians and the government in ukraine as that country continues to fight off the invasion. i know these are significant investments. and we must be good stewards of taxpayer money. i'm very supportive of the accountability measures that are in that legislation that are very important. the end use monitoring for our military equipment, the fact that an american accounting firm is there to make sure the money is properly spent. the world bank gives us regularly reports and audits the funding. this is significant and ukraine, by the way, is for this transparency and we should be, too. but as we're good stew waters of american taxpayer money, let's also remember that ukraine is fighting for all of us. ukraine is fighting for all of us. and fighting for freedom.

and freedom is a worthy investment. i yield back my time. the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. scott: i want to thank my colleague from ohio for his commitment to ukraine, knowledge about ukraine about the needs and continued support for heathal aid for ukraine and hope this body continues to support ukraine. i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of my bill which is at desk. i further ask the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. leahy: reserving the right to object. the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: and i will object. you know, i agree with the senator from florida we have a responsibility to help americans in the wake of disasters. it doesn't matter if you're republican or democrat or if you're from a blue state or a red state. i certainly voted -- i don't

want to interrupt the conversation of the senator from florida, but the staff can tell him when he gets through with his conversation that i said to he and the senator from ohio i don't want to interrupt their conversation. but i have certainly voted for helping florida, in therapy states when they've had -- in their states when they've had disasters. that's why i included $27.1 billion in disaster assistance in the omnibus bill we filed last night. states have been hit hard by natural disasters, including hurricane ian. the disaster supplemental included in the omnibus is nearly identical to the bill the senator from florida is

proposing. now, the difference is when the omnibus has a clear path to becoming law now, it's part of a bipartisan, bicameral bill that will pass this week. we don't have time to play politics. we have to enact the bill. we have to aid the people in florida. we have to aid those veterans that are suffering from burns, the pits they served near. we have to help the hospitals that are overcrowded. we have so many things we have to help. so if the senator from florida -- and he has an absolute right to bring up a bill that takes

care of his needs. he has absolutely the right to do that. but this bill, this omnibus supplemental bill is to help every state and primarily the united states. so i will object and therefore i do object. the presiding officer: the objection is heard. mr. scott: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. scott: madam president, i've been in the senate for about four years now. and i'm not sure i can recall a day before this one that was so personally exposed that washington is still dysfunctional. just before 1:30 a.m., senate leadership finally dropped the $1.7 trillion pelosi-schumer spending bill. all 4,155 pages of it. a typical washington -- to prove this bill without a reasonable opportunity to review, debate, or amend it. most important to me are the