mentoring program and the impact is incredit card and will as i like to say, no kid needs one and every kid deserves one. i hope you'll come back and learn and o help us inspire all nebraskans that we have every kid have a chance to have a mentor. thank you all for being here. congratulations. >> nebraska governor jim pillen announcing appointment of pete ricket to fill the senate seat. in a few minutes, mr. rickets,. the former governor of nebraska will be sworn in on the senate floor. live coverage here.

the national taxpayer advocate, talk about your organization annual report, phyllis in on the you play with the irs. >> thank you, good morning. the national taxpayer advocate service is a creation of congress over 20 years ago

congress wanted to give taxpayers help, in essence so they created the position within the irs although we are independent division agency within the irs so we have a couple of missions, two key ones are once a year at the end of the year we file annual report to congress and the statute requires to identify what we believe are ten serious problems as well as recommendations for irs corrected and the opportunity to make legislative recommendations so congress can fix the tax law which would benefit taxpayers the other sort of hat we where is we work with taxpayers 101 may have problems with the irs and they come to a local office and we work with them as an advocate working with the iris.

>> are to dive deep into that role, the advocate. your primary clientele is american public, abdicating for the things they solve or resolve. >> again we do it out of systemic basis that impact multiple taxpayers in these last three years it's been difficult for taxpayers so there's problems impacting millions at once and we do it one on one with taxpayers. we have about 77 offices across the united states so if a taxpayer has a particular issue where they can't fix it with the iris, we are the safety net and there to help. >> are those taxpayer advocate offices separate from the irs were in the same building? >> same building but because of our independence --

the vice president: the chair lays before the senate a ser certificate of appointment created by the resignation of benjamin sasse, the certificate is in the form approved by the senate. the reading of the ser certifice will be waived and printed in full in the record. if the senator designate will now present himself at the desk, the chair will administer the oath of office.

the vice president: do you solemnly swear that you will support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that you will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that you take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which you are about to enter, so help you god? mr. ricketts: i do. the vice president: congratulations.

test.

mr. schumer: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: madam president, today the thoughts of the senate are with the people of monterey park, california. as they heal from this weekend's tragic and terrible shooting. what should have been a weekend of joy and celebration within the aapi community as this seel brate the lunar new year, turned into another occasion of

geography and -- grief and morning. i spoke yesterday with the sheriff of los angeles county, and assured him that the federal government is ready to provide whatever assistance they need right now. while first responders are still investigating the cause of this pins dent, it's clear that the prevalence of guns in our country has made tragedies like this one too frequent. while the senate passed bipartisan gun safety legislation last year, and that was very welcome move, more should be done. my thought are with all of families and loved ones of the victims of this insidious attack. i thank all the first respondsers, and even the private citizens who responded quickly to stop the shooter andd prevent more lives from tragically being cut short. now, madam president, and i want to also welcome our new colleague from nebraska and wish him the best. now, mr. president, this week for the first time in the 118th

congress, both chambers gavel into session to begin work anew, to gib anew the work of -- to begin anew the work of serving the american people. it's a new era of divided government where both parties will have to demonstrate they can work together to solve our nation's problems. democrats begin the 118th congress with an open hand of cooperation, and i urge my republican colleagues to respond in kind so we can hit the ground running. we have a lot of difficult and important work ahead of us, perhaps none more important than working together to raise the debt seeing tanned protecting the -- and protecting the full faith and credit of the united states. in america, when it's time to pay the bills, we have followed through on our obligations without any exception. in the last month -- in the month to come, in the months to come, i expect we're going to hear a lot from our republican colleagues about the debt ceiling. so let me begin by making a few

things perfectly clear at the onset. first, few issues rechoir more bipartisan -- require more bipartisanship, cooperation, and serious mindedness than making sure america is able to pay its debts on time. at stake is the health of our economy and the very stability of the global financial system. should the u.s. default on its debt, the consequences could be severe, and it's going to affect just about every average american family. this is not some esoteric issue that's abstract and up in the clouds. it affects all of tus. listen to what -- it affects all of us. if we default, interest rates go up on mortgages, car loans, credit cards. peptions, the money people -- pensions, the money people put aside will lose billions, so will ira's and 401-k's in all likelihood. home values will decline, because when mortgage interest rates go up, people are willing

to pay less for homes. that's lots of money for many people. for many, their home is their rock, it's all they have. by playing brinksmanship, some of the maga republicans on the other side of this -- in the house, are risking just that. so again, this is not an abstract issue. real americans will see real dollars, from so much of what they own, disappear from their pensions, their imp ira's andd home value. merely approaching default could raise coughses on everything -- raise costs on everything. it's going to hurt average families this is not an abstract argument. as the months go on, as we get closer and closer to the day that we have to act, the american people will see this, and we're going to make sure of that. second, raising the debt ceiling has consistently been a

bipartisan responsibility for decades. neither party has played brinksmanship. since the 19-- since 1960, the debt ceiling has been raised approximately 80 times, under both republican and democratic administrations. under both unified and divided government. i will note once again that while president trump was in office, and republicans had the house and senate, democrats voted to raise the debt ceiling. we did it not once, not twice, but three times, including twice under republican majorities in the house and senate. of course we could have done what some maga republicans want, threatening to block debt ceiling extensions unless we got our way. but we knew how badly it would hurt the american people, and we didn't do it. this time should be no different. brinksmanship, hostage taking, default on the debt should be off the table.

both parties should work together to ensure we can continue to pay our debt on time, and we democrats are ready to move quickly in order to make that happen. indeed, we are ready to move well in advance of default, because even brinksmanship over the debt ceiling can cause serious damage to the economy and to individuals american families. unfortunately, madam president, unfortunately, house republicans have kicked off their new majority by saying yes to brinksmanship, yes to hostage taking, and yes, even to risking default, all because of draconian spending cuts pushed by the hard right. house republicans' approach to the debt ceiling is dangerous, destabilizing, and the only thing it accomplishes is making a bipartisan solution less likely. if republicans want to show that they can govern effectively, they're off to a pretty poor

start. if house republicans are serious about taking the debt limits hostage in exchange for spending cuts, the new rules that they adopted require them to bring a proposal to the floor of the house and show the american people precisely what kind of cuts they want to make. it's not enough to hide behind the old gop talking point about wasteful spending when you're in the majority, substance counts. if republicans are talking about draconian cuts, they have an obligation to show americans what those cuts are and let the public react, and let them do it now. not six months from now when the dang every of default is much closer. house republicans, you voted for rules that require regular order for bringing bills to the floor. so put your proposals for debt ceiling on the floor, let the entirety of the house debate it and vote on it, and let the

american people see and assess these cuts for themselves. otherwise, americans are going to be left with some pretty big questions. republicans say they want spending cuts. well, does that mean cuts to social security or medicare or child care or pell grants or our military or pay raises for our troops or funding police and law enforcement? many house republican are serious about cutting national defense in exchange for raising the debt ceiling. i hope they're not, but many seem to be. or maybe they're pushing cuts to public health and nurses and hospitals. whatever the case may be, americans deserve to know what kind of cuts republicans want to make and why they think it is worth forcing an unnecessary crisis, that will hurt most american families. frankly, i expect the house republicans themselves will

struggle to come one a serious answer, because deep down they know that no matter what they propose, their cuts are likely to be deeply unpopular with the american people. this is the central quandary of the new majority. by yielding so much to the whims of the maga hard right, house republicans have boxed themselves in and now have to choose between serving the american people or pleasing the extremists within their ranks. we are already seeing this play out when it comes to the debt ceiling. i yield the floor. mr. mcconnell: madam president. the presiding officer: the republican leader.

mr. mcconnell: moments ago, the senate returned to our full 100-person strength as nebraska's new junior senator took the oath of office. the cornhusker state expects a lot from its leaders. for the last eight years, nebraskans could rest easy knowing they had deb fischer and ben sasse on the job here in washington. during that same time, if of course, they also had an outstanding leader, even closer to home. as governor pete ricketts applied private sector savvy to the work of public administration with great effect. he secured for nebraska families and small businesses the biggest tax relief in that state's history. he championed parents' rights, and defended civics education. and in the face of a global pandemic, he built his state's response on common sense, saving lives but also safeguarding

livelihoods. preserving liberties and protecting kids' educations, all at the same time. the people of nebraska chose wisely in electing and reelecting governor ricketts by huge margins, and their new governor chose wisely in sending his predecessor here to this chamber. i know i speak for the entire senate in extending a warm welcome to senator ricketts and his wife, suzanne. pete, we're glad to have you here on the team. now, on another matter, the american people want and need this it 118th congress to work differently from the past two years that we just finished. we just had two years of one-party democratic control. two years of spending us into record inflation on party-line votes. two years of ignoring top priorities of the american

people, like violent crime and open borders. two years of senate democrats procrastinating on basic governing duties in order to push radical proposals like an unprecedented elections takeover and unlimited abortion on demand for all nine months. the american people put an end to that one-party government because they wanted change. this year, the senate leadership must not put off our most basic jobs, like intelligently funding our federal government and providing for our armed forces before the very last minute. basic duties like the appropriations process and the national defense authorization act need more thoughtfulness, more bipartisanship, and more regular order. and they must not be shoved into late december, after the senate democrats waste literally months looking for ways to placate the

radical left. the american people elected a bipartisan, divided government. the country voted to change washington. so this chamber's democratic leadership needs to change accordingly. now, on one final matter, over the recent state work period my team unexpectedly lost a dear friend and longtime colleague, our eastern kentucky field assistant, donna budd moore. donna worked in my london, kentucky, field office for 14 years. she and her coworker, donna mcclure, ran the team as the dynamic duo. they were born only a month apart they even shared the same initials. back in kentucky, they were known as just the donnas. while donna m would travel around eastern kentucky, donna b was the rock who held down the fort at our office. she fielded calls. she greeted visitors. she solved kentuckians'

problems. donna was endlessly patient, endlessly kind, and endlessly focused on helping constituents. she was sweet, and sometimes quiet, more of a listener than a talker, and deeply empathetic. she was the kind of person who would come to the verge of tears almost daily, after reading a news article or facebook post about somebody in need. but woe to anybody who mistack donna's big heart for lack of determination. if donna wanted something done, if eastern kentucky needed something done, she made it happen. that's why condolence notes have poured into our office and to donna's family from all over eastern kentucky. all from people she helped through her public service. donna's work brought her into contact with important leaders but i understand she was most excited when she had the opportunity once to snap a

picture with lee greenwood. and i understand another long-time dream was fulfilled just this last august when they are duties led donna to ride on a blackhawk helicopter with the kentucky national guard. after each year's busy august state work period, donna would always take vacation on the first day of september. not to kick up her heels and take a rest but to head out in the woods and hunt with her husband. this past year she bagged a deer all by herself. donna was the definition of eastern kentucky resourcefulness. if she heard you had some extra flowers lying around your house, she'd swing by to gather them for a beautiful arrangement. if you had a leftover meal in your freezer, she'd want to cook it up and feed the whole neighborhood. in fact, she spent much of her time outside the office catering parties for her friends and her neighbors. donna and her beloved husband

doug met later in life, fewer than ten years ago. it was true love from the start and donna quickly became a deathing grandma to doug's grandkids. she loved her brothers bruce and bug. she loved her nieces and nephews. she cherished having such a dynamic family so close to home and treasured any time they could spend together. donna was also a woman of deep faith who looked to the bible in every single aspect of her life. her home and her desk had signs containing just one word. blessed. she savored every gift she received from the lord and her funeral service in london last week showed how donna budd moore was herself a blessing to everyone around her. elaine and i and my entire staff were stunned and heart broken to hear of donna's passing. friend, colleagues and neighbors

across kentucky are grieving her loss. i'm so grateful for her service to the people of our commonwealth. mr. durbin: madam president. the presiding officer: the senior senator from illinois. mr. durbin: madam president, i want to begin by welcoming our newest senator from the state of nebraska pete ricketts. i don't know him well. i'm sure i will come to know him, but i certainly know his family. they have made their impression on the city of chicago by purchasing the historic franchise, the chicago cubs. they made major investments in the city of chicago and state of illinois in that pursuit, and best of all, they've virtually guarantee that wrigley field is going to stay in wrigley field, exactly where it should be. it's one of the cathedrals of baseball in america and the rick cetsz family has made a -- ricketts family has made a commitment to it which is certainly satisfying to devout

babe fans like myself. i hope the time of the new senator will be productive and gratifying. the work in this body can sometimes be slow and frustrating but with patience, good things can happen. madam president, four years ago today as another new congress was starting its work, america was nearing the end of the longest federal government shutdown in history. it was day 33 of a 35-day shutdown, a shutdown that was precipitated by president donald trump when he refused to sign any budget that did not include billions of dollars for what he wanted to build and called his, quote, big, beautiful wall on the southern border. that dysfunction and that government shutdown cost our economy billions of dollars. and it shook the confidence of many in this country and its future and america's ability to do the basics. fast forward to the start of the last congress two years ago.

three newest members of the senate had just been sworn in giving america only the second 50-50 split in its history. the deadliest public health emergency in a century, the gravest financial crisis since the great depression and then, and then a violent attack on the capitol by an insurrectionist mob. one of the darkest days in the history of this building in our nation. the doubters said that a 5-50 senate coming into being with that circumstance was destined to be gridlocked. madam president, we proved them wrong. today we begin the legislative work of a new congress, the 118th congress. the next two years will they be remembered for dysfunction or democracy? chaos or consensus? that really is the challenge we face. the choice is not entirely in our hands here in the senate.

with a 51-49 slim majority. the new maga majority in the house of representatives has promised endless investigations, confrontations, impeachments, and chaos. but it doesn't have to be that way. the senate can be a steadying force. we can pass a budget. we can give a helping hand to families and businesses. we can invest in a better future. we can defend democracy against the rise of autocracy. we can pay our nation's bills if we're willing to work together for the common good. if you want to see our choices, look at what we faced on january 4 just a few weeks ago. on that day the house of representatives was in chaos. a small band of maga hard-liners held the house hostage to their extreme demands. in the end it took 15 roll call votes over four days to elect a

new speaker who will be after all the concessions to the extreme wing of his party on paper perhaps the weakest speaker in recent memory. however, on that same day, january 4, president biden and the republican leader senator mcconnell were together at a major bridge that connects covington, kentucky, with cincinnati, ohio. it's a bridge that's needed repair for years and now those repairs will happen because of the historic infrastructure bill passed by the last congress, the largest infrastructure plan since eisenhower administration in the 1950's and the creation of the interstate highway system. that bipartisan infrastructure plan will rebuild bridges and roads all across america and our state of illinois. we've already seen evidence of that. it will expand affordable high-speed broadband services and will build the 21st

century infrastructure america needs to remain strongest in the world. it's already creating good jobs in illinois and around the nation. and it will continue to do so. that's just one of the achievements of this congress that had a 50-50 senate. we also passed the chips and science act to supercharge america's microchip industry and bring high-tech manufacturing back to america. we passed the boldest economic recovery in investment -- and investment plan since president franklin roosevelt. the most sweeping legislation enacted by any government on earth to confront the climate crisis. and the bipartisan pact act to help millions of veterans who were exposed to burn pits and other toxic chemicals during their military service. we capped the price of insulin for seniors at $35 a month and now for the first time ever medicare can negotiate on prescription drug prices and medicare recipients out of okay

death expenses for drugs will be capped at $2,000 a year. in the last congress we confirmed 97 outstanding new article 3 judges, including the first black woman ever to serve on the supreme court justice came tangie brown jackson. these new justices will bring unprecedented diversity to our federal courts, both in terms of democrat -- demographics as well as their backgrounds and professional experience. in the last congress with president biden's leadership and the support of congress, the united states rallied the free world to confront russia's invasion of ukraine. yesterday i was at a meeting in an area known as ukrainian village in the city of chicago. it was a gathering not only of proud lithuanians who were determined to do everything they could to help their friends and relatives back in ukraine fight off putin's invasion but also a lot of others. there were many polish people there, lithuanians as well and many other consular generals

were present to express their support for the common cause. i am proud that the united states is leading this effort. we must continue to. and when i hear suspicions and rumors and suggestions that maybe the maga republicans in the house have grown weary of this war and impatient for it to end, i have to remind them freedom is worth fighting for. the ukrainians are dying for t. we -- for. we need to stand by them and the nato alliance and see this through and put an end to putin's terrible war crimes. we ensured as well that the united states will not be a safe haven for the perpetrators of heinous war crimes in ukraine. we'll continue to stand with the ukrainians until putin's illegal war is over and ukraine is once again free and at peace. we authorized and strengthened the violence against women act, passed new laws to strengthen protections for survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, child sexual abuse, and

sexual harassment. over the last two years the federal government delivered 700 million covid shots for free, two years, 700 million vaccinations. and according to the white house, covid deaths in america are down by 80%. america's economy created 11 million jobs, the strongest job creation in the history of our nation. the nation's unemployment rate is near a 50-year low. gas prices are headed down and inflation is finally easing a little bit. all of that happened with a 50-50 senate. that's not gridlock. that's government working for the common good. priorities for this congress are pretty obvious. preneed to continue -- we need to continue our efforts to protect basic rights of americans as well as voting rights, we need to include in that list reproductive health rights for the women of america. we are determined to end the crisis on our southern border by securing the border, finally

fixing our broken immigration system and passing the dream act, my ambition for almost two decades. well, longer than that, to be honest with you. over the last week i've visited with some of the migrants who were bussed into chicago and talked to them about their families and what they face. if there's anyone who thinks that they are trying to gain the system in america, they ought to talk to them. they're ready to go to work. and we need to make sure that is done in a proper fashion. last year we passed the most significant gun safety law in nearly 30 years. but the horrific shooting that killed 11, now the latest number is 11, and wounded nine more this past weekend at the lunar new year celebration in monterey park, california, is another terrible reminder that more work needs to be done for gun safety. the lunar new year shooting was the 33rd mass shooting in america so far this month, 33 so far this month. last year there were 6 hunl mass

shooting -- 600 mass shootings. i remember one of them well. ima sure the presiding officer does too. a gunman opened fire at a 4th of july parade in highland park, illinois. he discharged 83 rounds in less than a minute. killed seven people. injured dozens more. 19 little children and two of their teachers were murdered in their classroom in uvalde, texas, just days before. ten people were killed in a grocery store in buffalo, new york, in a racist attack. the list goes on and on and on. it's madness. it's sickening. it is a uniquely american problem. try to explain it away. you can't. there are just too darn many guns in the hands of the wrong people, and they continue to produce them and sell them with abandon and without any sense of responsibility for the results. madam president, we must pay our

nation's bills. we all agree with that. using the debt ceiling as a bargaining chip to force deep cuts in social security and medicare is unacceptable. push thriewg other extreme changes that can't pass on their own merits ought to be unthinkable yet this is what the maga extremists in the house appear hell-bent on doing. i would remind those who want to pose for holy pictures as budget balancers that one-fourth, almost one-fourth of our entire national debt accumulated in the united states over the last 230 years was racked up during the four years that donald trump was in the white house. almost one-fourth of our national debt. what we're doing with the debt ceiling now is paying for donald trump's priorities. voted for by congress and many republicans. it's the responsible thing to do. even on policies such as tax

breaks for the wealthiest people in the country, the fact is it was enacted into law and we have a responsibility to preserve the good faith and credit of the united states to extend the debt limit, even for those policies which i personally disagreed with. republicans moved to raise the debt ceiling three times during the trump administration. democrats supported them every time. we don't want to turn america into a deadbeat nation. defaulting on our national debt for the first time in history as the maga republicans are threatening in the house would throw millions of americans out of work and according to a think tank, the third way, a worker with a 401(k) retirement account could lose $20,000 because of interest rates. a new 30-year mortgage would cost an additional $130,000. how many people would be willing to buy a new home or a new car facing those circumstances?

borrowing would become harder and more expensive an the national debt would increase by $850 million just for our failure to extend the debt limit. abraham lincoln once said, we cannot escape history. warning congress and a nation torn apart by a civil war. thank god we're not facing anything like that today, but we are facing deep divisions and continued assaults on our democracy. so, as we begin this new copping, we need to ask ourselves -- what do we want history to say about this senate during the next two years? will we be remembered for chaos or consensus? will we work to heal divisions of our nation or deepen them? will we solve the problems that really matter to otoamerican people or -- to the american people or invent problems and start them for political advantage? my colleagues and i are hopeful that there will be a positive answer to these questions, that we can negotiate and work together in good faith for a better america. and i yield the floor.

mr. tuberville: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from alabama. mr. tuberville: madam president, it's great to be back with my senate colleagues this week. it's been a while, but we need to get a lot done on this year's new congress. congress getting under way. our country faces many problems, many problems that we need to address. however, as we look ahead to what we accomplished this past congress, we also need to look back and learn from the past. having the courage to recognize and address problems prevents us from making problems and continuing the same thing in the

future. it's high time we take a look back at the devastating impacts of some of the federal and state government policies in response to covid-19 and the pandemic. most importantly, with he have to focus on education -- we have to focus on education. we have to look at the toll the lackdowns have -- the lockdowns have taken on our country's youngest citizens. unfortunately, like many issues in d.c., the covid crisis was weaponized for some political gain. the government misused emergency measures to grow its control over americans' daily lives. hopefully those days are over. this time three years ago covid was making its way around our country through the states and through the communities. of course, in the early days, we

knew very little about the virus and how to respond to it. so leaders in both parties, leaders across our states and our communities called for a pause in daily activities to get control of the spread of covid-19. but what we didn't know then is how long that pause would last. not just in some areas but all over our country, as we certainly didn't know that our response could end up being worse -- the response that we had being worse than actual covid that was running across our country. we are now just starting to understand the impact of covid-related lockdowns. they weren't just extreme, they were deadly in some areas.

research led by a professor at the university of chicago, exposed the deadly impact of lockdowns by analyzing the excess death rate in our country during the use of these lockdowns. the excess rate is a term used to describe the number of deaths above historical norms or how many more americans died than we would typically expect to pass away during any given year. so those were balanced up, looked at from the years of covid to the years past. according to the data from the cd crunches the number of non-compost -- cdc, the number of non-covid excess deaths reached almost 100,000 people in 2020 and the same in 2021. the hundreds of thousands of

non-covid excess deaths during the pandemic can be mainly attributed to shocking increases in accidents, over-overdoses, and deaths from alcoholism and homicide and those causes disproportionately impacted minorities and low-income americans, the same groups lockdowns were often built and made to protect. the number of deaths for hypertension and heart disease and diabetes also skyrocketed during the pandemic. this was especially true for america's young people. in total, excess deaths among young adults throughout the pandemic were 27% higher than they should be, according to historical records of years past a -- of years past.

it does not take a scientist to draw a connection between lockdowns and all the excess deaths that we've had the last three years. not only were americans kept out of gyms, parks, churches, social settings and family gatherings, they were forced to skip routine doctor visits, surgeries and in-person medical treatments out of fear, and fear was the main weapon used against the american people. as a result, mental and physical health plummeted, and while lockdowns across the country slowly ended, the deadly repercussions did not. for example, through the middle of last year, overdose deaths per year outnumbered the total number of military deaths in the past 60 years. the truth is, the physical and

mental health consequences of overreaching lockdowns will be measures for years and years to come -- will be measured for years and years to come. locking americans out of school, work, church, and social contact had disastrous impacts on our economy, our education system, and our society as a whole. we all saw businesses across the country go under as customers were kept away and the daily hum of our economy was silenced. and as kids were forced into virtual schooling, an entire generation of americans lost months and even years of valuable educational opportunities. research conducted by the global consulting firm mckenzie found that covid-related school

disruption left students five months' behind in math and four months behind in reading. students who were already underserved were hit even harder by school closures. high schoolers were left more likely to drop out and less likely to pursue further education after the lockdowns. and more than 35% of american parents were left, quote, very or extremely concerned about their children's mental health. today our schools are facing a shortage of teachers, months of instruction still missing, a mental health and behavioral crisis among our country's students. it is a pandemic. as someone who spent decades -- myself -- as an educator and a

coach, who fostered the potential of young adults, i am committed to ensuring we never inflict the damage on our school-age kids again, no matter what. i bring up these sobering facts on health and education toss call -- on health and education to call on both to join in the committee in this congress to do away with what we just did. we have to evaluate it. we cannot keep going forward. this is especially important as some influential people in our government, media, and public health circles continue today to call measures that disrupt our society in ways we know have terrible consequences. the biden administration is hellbent on keeping the covid-19 public health emergency that is still in place.

we still have it today. just last week president biden extended the emergency declaration because of the extra power it gives to the federal government. and it does that for another 90 more days. attorneys for the federal government were in court asking an unelected judge to reinstate the national mask mandate for air travel just the last few weeks. keep in mind, this body in a bipartisan manner voted to end the emergency declaration just this last year, something we should do again in this congress. but even though the president himself has deemed the pandemic as over, democrats are obsessed with keeping this charade going.

enough is enough. we must be the barrier between the american people and tyranny because tyranny orders, like the covid lockdown, are dangerous to every citizen in this country p. as we get to work this congress, i hope all my colleagues join me in recognizing the tough realities that i've just laid out. we cannot continue to do this, and we can't do it again. we have to commit to the defending freedom in every circumstance. we have to learn from our past mistakes. madam president, i notice the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

>> pete ricketts replaces placessenates torr sass and the assistant secretary of the defense and live coverage on

cspan2. >> we're joined by the national taxpayer advocate and talk about your organizations and your report to congress. fill us in on the role that you play with the irs. >> so the national taxpayer advocate service is a creation of congress and over 20 years ago, congress wanted to give taxpayers help innocence so they've created a position and it's within the irs and our independent division or agency within the irs and we have a couple missions and two key ones are for once a year at the end of the year we file our annual report to congress and the statute requires us to identify what we believe are 10 serious problems impacting taxpayers and payer rights as well as make recommendations and irs corrective and i get the

opportunity to make legislative recommendations so congress is fix the tax law to benefit taxpayers and the other hat that we wear is we have taxpayers one-on-one when they have problems at the irs and come into local offices and we'll present to them as an advocate to fix for the packs payer roles. >> your primary role on this american public in terms of advocating for the things that they need solved or resolved. impacting them for years and very difficult for taxpayers and there's problems impacting taxpayers at once and there's about 77 offices >> those

taxpayer advocate offices in a separate place from the irs office or within the same building. >> in the same building but we try because of independence we have independent office space and all the systems and necessary it's unusual thing to have a division independent inside of the agency and that's what we do. >> you mentioned a moment ago how tough the last couple year haves been and this is a job you came into a couple years ago yourself, just before covid kicked in. >> yeah, i came in in march of 2020 and right when covid was really starting to spike and joking with the former commissioner that's what impacted the challenges of carrying over year-to-year

because a couple of years. >> stepping into a leadership role is getting to know your people and at that point 100% of my employees were working remotely and i had to establish the relationship with the employees and then also establish the relationship with all the irs executives and difficult the last couple months and bring in a a couple years with the taxpayers and the annual report congress we reported with taxpayers and more and taxpayers and tax experiences more in 2022.

the biggest factor in getting those -- that back line resolved. >> it started in -- when the irs shut down in march of 2020. in june, july they started bringing employees back but when you think about the amount of paper that the irs processes every year, when you all of a sudden shut down and literally all the mail sitting in tractor trailers in the parking lot, it took them months and months to start getting caught up coming

through next year and last year it was a little bit reduced and this year we're looking at between 12-15 million in for 2023 and still not to be worked and start focusing on the new filing return. >> looking at it from the backlog of 2022 in january a year ago, 4.7 million returns, 3.2 million business returns, 3.6 amended returns as of december, whittled down to 400,000 individual returns and a million business returns. what are you doing in advance of the new tax season to monitor the backlog situation? >> yeah, we work with the irs on a daily basis and weekly as to the numbers i'm looking at whether challenges and provide recommendations so the advantage of having our agency inside the building is we have access to irs data and irs employees. so we get to as the process is

moving along, we're very active trying to identify and make recommendations to work with the irs and improve situations. >> aaron college is national taxpayer advocate and we're talking about not only the report to congress but more importantly the tax season ahead and your comments, your questions or concerns about that are welcome (202)748-8000 is the line to call in the east or central time zone, eastern or central time zone. (202)748-8001 for mountain and pacific. as an advocate, what's the number one thing people come to irs and say i can't figure this out and i need this problem solved? >> fortunately the last three years is processing. the irs had such a backlog.

that means people are not getting their refunds and there's a lot of folks that actually build those refunds into their budgets whether it be the monthly budget or annual budgets and so having those delays has been a real financial hardship for a lot of people. >> think it's a benefit for people to actually do that, when they i've heard the reverse and looking at the savings account and by taking that money away all the sud anne donovan january, february, march, april whenever they receive a refound and lately it's been more like

june through a lot of income stacks credits to file for. >> credits in the current tax year and the tax year for 2022. the tax filing for 2022 taxes.

>> the top ten most serious issues facing taxpayers in 2022 and processing delays and complexity of the tax code and ir s and training and telephone and in person service and>> let's go

to houston, texas. >> good morning. thank you for taking me call. hi a question and specifically related to the state's returns and those multistate workers, especially in the line of this virtual working environment. what's my rights for working in another state and filing right s? >> your question is not unlike many across the country with folks working a lot more remotely and being a lot more flexible. for purposes of the federal side, it isn't the same issue as the state side and so unfortunately i'll punt a bit because we have 50 states and they all have different rules on this.

so depending on the various state and state expertise is not, you know, on my short list. i suspect all of the states are trying to tackle this and do you pay your employment tax with texas or forget the other state talking about and how do you deduct the office space? >> i think a lot of people will look at as an employee you have a different ability to deduct things than you do as a business themselves and that is always going to be a question, are you entitled to a home office, how

do you deduct it and what percentage and make it easier going forward. if you're working at home it is a section of who to contact for this line. >> going to take another call. >> these debt ceiling things and

they're considering the social security and medicare and how likely is that -- how likely that can happen and in social security to go through in and they're not speaking about the rich being the -- paying their fair share of taxes and major corporations and they are making wind false positives profits and taking advantage of the covid situation and getting by with all that -- all those profits while the social security -- the majority of people >> go ahead

and respond. >> i was going to say that's something the irs or tax administrator can't per se deal with. congress does set the law and irs is to administer it. irs can do a better job collecting and i think that's been an issue that's been raised

were able to witness firsthand two separate migrant groups crossing the river. one of those groups included a pregnant women and several children. the other included children and

an elderly woman who was clearly struggling to keep her footing while she was coming across that river. and with this dangerous situation, with those freezing waters, the texas national guard troops could only watch and just hope that no one drowned. now that's what we saw in the early morning hours. but what we know is during the night there were 57 other groups that crossed. a lot of them single adults. we know that the cartels, which are multi multibillion-dollar, multinational organizations, they work globally and they're bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars a week. and, madam president, they

have brought along people from 150 different countries who are going to the cartel to come into the country because they think it's faster to do it that way. or maybe they want to be one of the got-aways, people we see on surveillance that are known got-away the, or the unknown got-aways, which is what the really bad ones are. they go in completely different areas in crossing to bring in drugs, to bring in sex traffickers, to bring in human traffickers, to put people in to modern-day slavery. 57 more known crossings -- known -- that we did not see. bored -- border agents told us that the day before our tour

that there were 1,000 arrests in the del rio sector. now, madam president, the day before we were out, it's important to note there in eagle pass there were 1,000 arrests. the president on that very same day was at el paso. he saw no migrants, he saw a cleaned up community. the visit had been sanitized so that he did not see what they were experiencing in the del rio sector and at eagle pass. now after we had been out with border patrol and were watching all of this, we made one more stop, and it was to the harris ranch, which is near uvalde, texas, and this area has seen significant migrant traffic. it has disrupted their ■entire

community. i met with local officials -- mayors, sheriffs, d.a.'s, people that own businesses, farmers, ranchers, and they told us that sometimes people may need an ambulance, but many times they're unavailable to people at uvalde or in kinney county because they're too busy responding to migrant emergencies. the county attorney stated that he has prosecuted 4,000 criminal trespass cases. 4,000. and since august of 2021, he has prosecuted twice the number of people as live in the entire

county. now think about that. double the number of people in your county where you live, and think about that as cases that are going to come before your local court system. and who pays for that? that's right. you do. the taxpayer. every penny being spent, every penny, is coming out of your pocket. and when you talk about the humanitarian crisis at that border, the loss of life, the abuse, the humanitarian cost is amazing. people who are risking their life because they're buying the lie of the cartels. they're physically, mentally,

emotionally, sexually and drug abused as they make this journey. now the harris ranch has about 30 miles of fencing around it, but even though they've got that fencing, it doesn't stop the migrants from coming on to the property. the owner of the ranch told us that he regularly gets a call in the middle of the night, informing him that a migrant is having an emergency somewhere on his land and has dialed 911. sometimes these calls come in too late or they don't come in at all. and we've all seen the news reports of these ranchers finding dead bodies on their property. and i will tell you that nothing in these reports is blown out of

proportion. it is devastating, it is sad, it is a humanitarian crisis. many of the migrants that the people at harris ranch have discovered got lost or they were abandoned by the smugglers. others were dumped there by the cartels. and we know this because the ranchers have seen it play out on their security footage. i would encourage my colleagues to think about this the next time they're in front of the cameras and commenting about how compassionate they think the biden administration policy is when it comes to open borders. madam president, it is not compassionate. when you talk to a young woman who for four we, the undersigned senators -- who for four years suffered at the hands of a

cartel and sex traffickers, raped over four times, beaten with chains, it's not compassionate. when you hear these stories of abuse, when you hear about cartels killing somebody who they think is too weak to make the journey, there is nothing compassionate about it. in december, according to border patrol and the department of homeland security, which, by the way, that's this administration's department of homeland security, there were more than 250,000 migrant encounters, which is the highest number of encounters ever recorded at the southern border. putting that into context, that is more than the population of knoxville, tennessee. more than the population of chattanooga, tennessee. madam president, part of the

tragedy is month after month, year after year this gets worse. it continues to get worse. and we have to remember these are the numbers that we know. these are not the got-aways that they could see on surveillance camera. they think used in the last year a million, a million got-aways that are running into the country. those are the known got-aways. we don't have a number on the unknown got-aways. and we have people that want to say this administration's policy is compassionate and they're bringing in drugs -- fentanyl -- 16,000 pounds of it, enough to kill 3.3 billion

people. they're trafficking women and girls, and we know that because we're hearing their stories. our human trafficking organizations are rescuing these women and girls. we hear about the gangs. we hear about crime in our communities, and we also hear from the border patrol. we can fix this. we can fix it. as i said, they've asked for a barrier, they've asked for better technology. they tell us keep title 42. they tell us we need remain in mexico. they tell us you have to end catch and release in this country. take away the incentives to come to the country illegally. it is time that we make certain

that we secure that southern border. and my hope is that my democratic colleagues will put down their talking points and that they will pay attention to what is happening not only in the border communities, but in towns and cities and communities and in families who are experiencing adverse effects because of what is happening with this open border. it is time that we realize the cartels are taking advantage of an open border. they are taking advantage of a weak administration who will not stop them. it is time to secure that southern border. it is time to give the border patrol what they need to defend

our southern border. it is imperative that we address these issues. i yield the floor and i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call: the former senator benjamin

sasse of nebraska. the chair is in the forum suggested by the senate. the reading of their certificate will be waived and printed in full in the record. the senator designate will now present himself at the desk. the chair will administer the oath of office. >> please raise your right hand. do you swear you will support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies foreign and domestic, that you will give true faith and allegiance to

the same. that you take this obligation freely without any reservations or purpose or even you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office you are about to enter, so help you god . congratulationssenator . [applause]

>>. [inaudible]

>>. [inaudible] >> nice to meet you. congratulations, take the whole family . >> i'm ready. >> is your right hand. do you solemnly swear you will support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies foreign and domestic, thatyou will bear true faith and allegiance to the same , that you take this obligation freely without any reservation or purpose of evasion and you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office you are about to enterso help you god . congratulations senator.

and to the whole family, congratulations. our whole family came in and it's a very special moment. what have you been told about this room? this is the old chambers. literally it's the space in the gallery and then this has been laid out in here. it's a long recess and all of this is because it was brought from washington dc. you'll see the vents behind it. so arguably there's no reason to have a recess.

hello, is this the family? come on down. yes, one photo with us. hold the bible. >> mom and dad. >>

vote:

in vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: the presiding officer: on this vote, the yeas are 60, the nays are 35, and the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table, and the president will be immediately notified of the senate's actions. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. kelly: i ask unanimous consent that the senate employed to legislative session and be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. kelly: i ask unanimous consent that the appointment at the desk appear separately in the record as if made by the chair. the presiding officer: without objection.

mr. kelly: i understand that there are two bills at the desk, and i ask for their first reading en bloc. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the titles of the bills for the first time. the clerk: h.r. 23, an act to rescind certain balances made available to the internal revenue service. h.r. 26, an act to amend title 18 united states code to prohibit a health care practitioner from failing to exercise the proper degree of care in the case of a child who survives an abortion or attempted abortion. mr. kelly: i now ask for a second reading, and i object to my own request, all en bloc. the presiding officer: objection is heard. the bills will be read for the second time on the next ledges lative day. mr. kelly: i ask unanimous consent that when the senate complete its business today it stand in recess until 10:00 a.m. on tuesday, january 24, 2023. further that following the prayer and the pledge, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for

the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and the senate be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. finally, that the senate recess from 12:30 p.m. until 2:15 p.m. to allow for the weekly caucus meetings. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. kelly: if there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it stand in recess under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate stands in recess until senate stands in recess until today at former nebraska governor pete ricketts was sworn in replacing former senator ben sasse who resigned to become president of the university of florida. lawmakers also confirm brandon owens to be defense secretary for the environment. live coverage of the senate when lawmakers return here on cspan2.

♪ we spent is your unfiltered view of government. funded by these television companies and more including comcast. >> do you think this is just a key media center? no it's way more than that. comcast is parting with 1000 committee centers secret wi-fi enabled list so students with low income families can get the tools they need to be ready for anything. comcast support c-span as a public service along these other television providersg gou a front row seat to democracy. quick c-span every day we are taking your call life on the air on the news of the day. and will discuss policy issues that impact you. coming up tuesday morning, hathaway international law professor at yale law school special counsel talks about the classification of government documents and how they should be handled.

president of the committee for a responsible federal budget on the debt ceiling and proposals federal spending. fifty-seven eastern tuesday morning on c-span or on c-span now our free mobile app. jointly discussion with your e ll, facebook, text messages and tweets. ♪ correct since ticketmaster's merger with live nation over a decade ago, the company has dominated america's industry to suit senate judiciary committee will hold a hearing looking into recent issues with the company including ticketmaster website crashed in november at which left consumers unable to buy concert tickets for musician taylor swift to her. members of the committee lack of competition in the ticketing industry whether the company may have violated a consent decree in abuse its market positions. watch the hearing live tuesday at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span, c-span now are