we have certain mechanisms, exim bank, and finance operation, other things the gemini we are working on ways to move this forward. because when you lift the economic situation, like for instance, if we could do that in central america when we have migration phenomena that we see at our southwest border? i think hitting the root cause of that, because 85% are fleeing for economic reasons. some for political -- >> we believe this year to continue our decade-long commitment to congressional coverage. you can finish watching this record a program if you go to our website c-span.org. u.s. aid about to gavel back into session after a break to allow republicans to attend a weekly party caucus lunches. democrats will hold their us tomorrow. no votes scheduled in the senate today. and now live to the floor of the senate here on c-span2.

>> senate democrats join president biden in green lighting is multitrillion dollar purely partisan spending extravaganzas over the last two years.

ago about this time we started seeing the democrats proposals on a purely partisan, massive spending proposal and tax increases. in fact, even democrats from the obama administration were warning that if this legislation were to pass it would have inflationary effects. well, now we see those effects. recently went and filled my pickup in montana, over $100 to dollars to fill up my pickup. grocery prices up 18.6% since this president took office. when you look what that means for montanans, that's over $10,000 more being paid for groceries, for food, for housing when president biden took office. now, make no mistake, if nancy pelosi were still speaker of the

house, the senate right now would be getting ready to put in play with chuck schumer leadership another reconciliation bill that would have more spending and more taxes. the only thing holding the back is a fact is a slim republican majority in the house. and regarding the debt ceiling, we cannot default on our debt. but i was in it to you all here today that if there was a republican president with a democrat-controlled house, i think the media would be talking about and expecting the the president to negotiate with the speaker. and i hope we have fair play here, because president biden's position of not negotiating on the debt ceiling in terms of putting some common sense spending reforms in place moving forward is, it's been done eight

times since 1985, with the debt ceiling discussion and spending reforms. we need to do the same thing now. >> you seem to indicate a couple weeks ago that you're going to let president biden sp could try to work something out on the debt ceiling here. that said you've also indicated you don't think we will default but in 2011 because we strongest out so close to the deadline, s&p actually market down the united states. is there concern that if you and others don't get involved in the sooner rather than later we could be in a similar situation? >> i don't have any concern. i negotiated the deal in 2011. i remember it fully. and by negotiating dash of my negotiating parker was then vice president joe biden. and it actually worked if your goal was to reduce spending, and actually did reduce spending for

a couple of years, for the first time since right after the korean war. the problem was it was too impactful on defense for republicans and too impactful on the domestic side for democrats. and gradually we agreed to walk away your butt getting beyond the history lesson, as others have said here today it's not unprecedented to have a discussion about spending in connection with the debt ceiling. obviously from our perspective that needs to be led by the speaker there in the majority. the president knows full well since he was, a negotiating partner years ago that this has been done before. and i think the deal has to be cut obviously between the house majority and the democratic president in order to have a chance to survive over here. so we are all behind cavan and

wishing well in negotiation. >> did you sign on to his letter that two dozen members of your caucus and leadership team that an increase in the debt ceiling must be accompanied by cuts equal or greater the amount of the debt is increased? to you a great? >> i wouldn't be too much into it. there are letters floating about in our conference all the time. most of the time i don't sign them up. >> how concerned -- [inaudible] [inaudible question] are we doing enough to deter chinese -- [inaudible] >> look, it's not confusing, the japanese prime minister said if you want to push back against president xi, beat putin in

ukraine. we need to have a total focus on defeating the russians in ukraine. of course boris johnson was just involved as i know he is running around the capital today earlier. that sort is that only his view but the view of the government in the uk and putin has produced widespread unity among nato that didn't actually exist before his invasion. so think president xi is watching this. in the meantime we need to work with the taiwanese to make sure that they purchase from us the military equipment that they actually need as a deterrent to a potential effort by the mainland to engage in a military activity. so think that's what we need to do with the taiwanese, make sure they are adequately armed. they can pay for it and beat putin in ukraine.

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. barrasso: thank you it mr. president. i come to the floor to talk about our economy. the president has been doing a the although of bragging these days about the economy. last week it was virginia.

later this week it is philadelphia. he is in new york city today. he's going to be here on capitol hill down the hall in the house next tuesday night with the state of the union. you know, the american people that i talk to and looking at statistics and poll numbers from around the country, the american people don't believe the president had anything to brag about. look at the economy that's facing our nation today. two-thirds of people in polls out this weekend say they disapprove of the way joe biden is handling the economy, disapprove, doing a bad job, country heading in the wrong direction. it is real lay problem when 70% of the people in the country which they love is headed in the wrong direction. why would they say it? they take a look at their own personal situation. the average family has lost more than $10,000 to higher prices

since joe biden took office just two years ago. now what we're seeing across the country is more and more signs of the economy slowing down. last week we found out that the economy had slowed down at the end of last year. last year the economy grew at only a rate of 2.1% for the entire year. the white house predicted that it would be 3.8%. so much below what the the president and. mr. whitehouse: had predicted. -- mr. barrasso: so much belee what the president and the white house had predicted. this is the latest in a long list of disappoints that have affected people across the country. we found out that consumer spending has dropped again. this week working families are now getting another punch in the gut. economists are predicting that the federal reserve is likely going to raise interest rates in just two days. more rate hikes are going to make it even more expensive 0 to

borrow money. it is going to slow the economy down even further. over the last year, we've seen the largest rate hikes in 40 years. the average rate of new mortgage has doubled since joe biden became president. credit card interest, an all-time high. higher rates, harder to buy a home, harder to buy a car, higher to pay off credit card debt. mortgage rates hit their lowest level in 25 years. they damages afford is sat that's rates. -- they can't afford it at these rates a. they've been living through the worst inflation in 40 years. so why do we have the worst inflation in 40 years? it is obvious. it is the massive spending done by the democrats on a strictly party-line basis and the fact that the democrats shut down american energy. talk about a one-two punch -- trying to kill the american

energy industry and massive amounts of spending on top of it -- inflation a 40-year high, people suffered all across the country. now economists are predicting another recession coming this year. what does that mean? it means more pain for people, more punishment for families who are just trying to get by, who are trying to put food on the one hand the table. and food prices have skyrocketed again. the american dream is moving further and further out of reach for many, many american families. according to the gallup poll group, faith in the the american dream hit an all-time low. how could that happen? record numbers of people surprisingly believe that their children will have a lower standard of living than they've had. that's not the way my parents looked at me when i was growing up or your parents did, mr. president, when you were growing up. the american dream was about a better next generation. parents today don't see that for their kids because they see what

they see going around in this their communities and that country. -- and this country. many people are giving up on their hope to buy a home someday. families trying to get ahead are having a harder time and many falling behind. didn't have to be this way. this is a result of the decisions that joe biden made and at inflation that joe biden and the democrats have brought upon this country. remember when joe biden took office just two years ago inflation was virtually nonexistent. typical 30-year mortgage went for less than 4%. the lockdowns from the pandemic were coming to an end, economy was ready to take off, and then in march of 2021, mr. president, with every democrat voting for it and every republican voting against it, democrats printed $2 trillion and added it to the national debt. republicans warned the democrats, don't do it. don't do this. don't print the money.

don't spend the money. don't add it to the debt. we said it would cause inflation. and it wasn't just republicans saying it. democrats' own economic experts warned them, don't spend the money. going to jazz up the economy to the point of more money in, prices are going to go chasing it. democrats advisors like those of president obama, larry summers and rattner, to name a few, democrats in this body on this side of the floor ignored the whole thing, refused to listen. nancy pelosi and democrats in the house said we don't want to hear it. put their fingers that their ears. a month after president biden signed the bill, inflation climbed. we have the been suffering the consequences ever since. president biden said, no, no, it's transitory. i.t. not inflation. he had 100 ex-crews. it was here and it was here to stay and the democrats cause

ited. democrats also raised taxes on nearly every tax bracket. this was a direct violation of the promises joe biden made to the american people. democrats raised prices anyway. joe biden gave an inaugural address where he talked like he was going to work together. not what happened. no, he went to the white house, killed the keystone x.l. pipeline and then went far, far to the left. raises taxes on american energy, reyes raised taxes on energy -- raised taxes on natural gas. natural gas powers half the homes in the united states. taxes on coal up a billion dollars. that means everybody is paying higher prices. it's strangling our economy, it's strangling our energy production. it's wrong for the nation. look at joe biden. he's smiling away like things are going well, completely out of touch with the families across the country. we're still producing a lot less oil than we are today than we were before the pandemic.

and gas prices are going up. they're up about 40 cents already this year. they're predicted to go over $4 a gallon by march because of the attack on american energy by this president. democrats have taken a sledgehammer to our economy on each and every side. higher spending, higher debt, less american energy. that's a democrat policy in a nutshell. that is the democrat economic policy. higher spending, higher spending, higher debt, less american energy. it is a policy for pain for american families. i guess that's why right now today in the united states joe biden is the least popular democrat president in the last 60 years. least popular. so instead of bragging, instead of going to new york pounding his chest, as he did in virginia, he's going to do in pennsylvania, instead of bragging, he ought to be apologizing to the american people.

he does owe the american people an apology for the damage and the destruction that he has inflicted because of his radical left-wing policies. his policies caused higher prices, caused higher interest rate adds, caused slower growth, caused much pain and much stress. so the american people are taking a look right now at the biden economy and they're not liking what they see. people want their money back. they want their future back. they want a future for their family. so if joe biden won't apologize, which is what he should do when he comes to congress next week for the state of the union, then he she at least announce that he's going to change course, try to make things better, announce he's going to stop this reckless spending that has brought us these problems, announce that he is going to finally unleash america's affordable energy so it is available and reliable.

that's what the american public is asking for and demanding. working families of this country cannot afford any less. thank you, mr. president.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> hello, everybody. what a great day. what a great afternoon. and it is so great to be here to celebrate a major milestone in the most consequential infrastructure project in all of america, gateway. [applause] >> now, as many of you know, for a long time now this project has been my passion. it's a labor of love. and after many false starts and obstacles placed in our way, gateway is full speed ahead. [applause] with today's new dollars,, gateways future is assured. finally, finally, finally we can say gateway will be built.

so hooray, hooray, hooray. here comes gateway. i want to thank governor hogle,, governor murphy, bob menendez, cory booker, kirsten gillibrand, mayor adams, secretary buttigieg, deputy secretary paulie who worked for me for many years for all their help on this project. now, why is this project so important? because the rail tunnels under the hudson river are an essential artery that move countless people and goods along the entire eastern seaboard. if that artery gets backed , then the heart of our national economy will cease to pump. america would go into a recession overnight. millions of people would lose their jobs. the george washington bridge, holland and lincoln tunnels would be jammed with traffic 24/7. pollution would increase exponentially.

now all too often we as as a society fail to look far enough ahead to plan for the worst case scenario in advance and avoid it. taking real steps to prevent it. but in this case, , thankfully,e are looking ahead. we are acting, and gateway is finally coming down the tracks. now, my late father who passed away a year ago taught me a lot of lessons that still stick with me. he's right here right now. and the most important was this, if you know what you're doing is right, and if you persist and persist and processed, then you will succeed. so we have persisted, and now we are succeeding. when i started talking about gateway more than a decade ago, there were a lot of people who refused to see the light. we all remember governor christie, abruptly pulling the plug on the first iteration of

gateway. one of the worst decisions that any governor on either side of the hudson has made. we had to start all over again. i worked hard to stand up to gateway development corporation, ever get the states of new york and new jersey to each agree to contribute 25% of the cost of the project in exchange for the federal government contributing 50%. thank you you governor hogle and governor murphy. we painstakingly negotiated the technical principles of financing agreement for federal loans to the states would count as a local share of funding. once again with finally had the pieces back in place, and once again a republican bully tried to wreak havoc. as soon as donald trump took office he set about sabotaging gateway by halting all administrative approvals on completely bogus grounds. he said he wouldn't even negotiate on gateway until there

was money to build his wall. he shut down the government for weeks when he invited me into the oval office to try and force an agreement to build the wall and then maybe gateway, i had a few choice brooklyn words for him. no effing way, mr. president. now, that doesn't mean we didn't make any progress during those years. we worked hard in the delegation, new jersey and new york, to secure tens of billions of dollars in appropriations for various federal spending accounts that gateway could use once president trump was gone. but what i couldn't have anticipated then is that the best is that the person who would replace trump what happened to be the best possible person anywhere to move gateway forward, mr. amtrak himself, joe biden. [applause]

a man, president who is more interested in down walls that separate us then he has been building them. who, thanks to his death negotiation of deep relationships on capitol hill, was able to transform the cruel illusion of trump's so-called infrastructure week after week after week, into an infrastructure decade that will be funded by the amazing $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure investment and jobs act that we passed into law. and we're going to build this infrastructure decade -- where are you -- with tens of thousands of new good paying union jobs. all union. all good paying. we love you. [applause] as majority leader i made sure that the bipartisan infrastructure law included formulas and allocations that will provide ample funding for

gateway, and many, many, many other good projects across new york, new jersey, and across the country. and one of these programs that we got find it is the mega program which is providing the $292 million grant that we are celebrating today to build the next phase of the box tunnel. this is a first and necessary starting point of gateway but it's also one of the hardest parts of gateway because it cuts through solid manhattan bedrock to form the entry point of the two new underwater trails that are the centerpiece of the project. thanks to this historic 292 million investment led by the president, passed by my senate and house colleagues, gateway is finally leaving the station. now, you can use whatever train metaphor you want, anyone you want, but get on the joe biden express now because we are not stopping.

[applause] for four years the former president was shoveling you know what. and now we're going to put real shovels in the ground, wielded by real american workers. that's the basic contrast between this presidency and the last. empty rhetoric versus experienced leadership. schoolyard bullying versus building consensus. personal grievances versus getting things done. and so it is my absolute, wonderful, wonderful great pleasure to welcome to my beloved city a man who knows infrastructure, public transit better than anybody in america and who is going to make sure that we get gateway done, the

president of the united states, joseph robinette biden. [applause] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [cheers and applause] ♪ ♪ ♪ >> hello, hello, hello. please have a seat if you have one. well, thank you, tha. thanks for the introduction. that was worth the trip. thank you, really, thank you very much and look, one person in particular pushed relentlessly for the advanced diskette with project and

approved rail transit in the region. and i many times i heard chuck about this project time and time and time again. he did let anything stop him because he knows how incredibly critical it is to people's lives and the strength of the county of new york and new jersey, and, quite frankly, all across the country. and that's a chuck schumer. he's relentless. he never gives up. no one has done more to make today a reality and is truly, this a chuck schumer day, pal. you got it done. chuck, you've done a hell of a job. a big thanks and the rest of the delegation as well. senator gillibrand who's here, a true champion of this state and always puts new york first. and she made sure everybody in the military is great and up to, but that's a different story. mayor adams, thank you -- wears mayor adams? they are. good to see you, pal. thank you for the passport into the city. and governor hogle thank you as well. we got a chance to speak a little earlier. and governor murphy has been a great friend a longtime.

your leadership has been vital to this project, and the new jersey congressional delegation fought like hell to push forward what this all this entails it out of what you think everybody here. i want to thank bob menendez. why you bob? they are. good to see you bob. and cory booker, two a great senator from new jersey. and also what, , we tried to sht down while others try to shut this down we made clear, i made clear this is a national priority. i told you that we would get this done and we did it together. i want to thank representative got time as well and two members of new jersey congressional, the delegation bob menendez who smarter than his dad, and don goldman. i know because my son was more that i was. so look, for being here we got a lot of work to do. we got a lot of work to get together. you're going to pay for them and you get home, right? but look, i want to think everyone from amtrak, everyone

from amtrak. you guys and india is up there, too, actually. for this gateway development commission is really important. i thank you for your partnership. partnership. folks, just outside this space the first piece of the new hudson, is being built. it's one of the biggest parts of the gateway program. now let me say this at the outset. this is just the beginning, this is this is a beginning of finally constructing a 21st century rail system that's long, long overdue in this country. this project is critical to transform of the northeast corridor, increasing speeds, capacity, reliability and safety. in addition to getting folks out of cars and onto trains we are going to help the environment as well because we are going, all the study show and i been harping on this since the mid- mid-\70{l1}s{l0}\'70{l1}s{l0}, that every study shows you get from point a to point b on rail. that's faster, faster than you can an automobile, you don't take the car. you get in the train.

that's how important project is, for up to 200,000 passengers who take amtrak or new jersey transit under the hudson river every single day. and you know what matters a lot, the northeast quarter from her to boston, boston to washington all the way down. for years people talk about fixing this tunnel. but thanks to the leadership of chuck and bipartisan infrastructure law we are finally getting this done. this law is the most significant investment in rail, the most significant investment in rail since we created amtrak over 50 years ago. and billions, billions are going to projects along the northeast corridor including replacing the existing hudson tunnel. that's why it's so important. 2200 trains, 2200 trains run along the northeast corridor every single day. it's the busiest corridor in the united states of america in one of the busiest in the world. and the problem, problem anywhere along the line means delays up and down the east

coast for folks on to get to work. businesses trying to ship goods, travelers try to get to see the families. by the way as yes, senator i commuted for 36 years every single solitary day the senate was in session. i've traveled over 1,100,000 miles on amtrak, and i can tell you where all the delays were. and they weren't all in one link in delaware. sino to be a fact. if, if this line shuts down for just one day it will cost the american economy $100 million a day in cost. the current hudson river rail, can be an major chokepoint, a critical link to new york translation trance station. the visas and all-america. this tunnel open for in 1910, 113 years ago. and the structure has little to deter you get it. the roof is leaking the floor is thinking puzzle was badly damaged by super storm cindy. i was a vice president.

i came and wanted to do this tunnel. you ought to see it. today over ten years later they're still remnants of seawater in the tunnel eating away at the concrete, steel and electrical components within the tunnel. in 2020, there were over 12,000 minutes of delay in just one year. 12,000 minutes of delay. the united states of america, for god sake, what are we doing? this is the united states of america. we know better. we are so much brighter than that. now we're going to prove it. we're going to rebuild existing tunnel but we can't do that until we build a brand-new entirely second, an entirely different and separate tunnel. you can't fix the old first one with the building the new one. that tunnel will run a faster speed with no interruption, be running at 100 miles an hour. while the original tunnel is under construction. that will mean fewer delays, less risk in major shutdowns. the new total web two tubes with

one tracking each tube so you can keep operating unit one side breaks down. it's going to be safer, , more resilient, more reliable. the biggest rail line in the united states of america. and to get it done is a first step for completing, need concrete casing under the hudson yards as chuck reference was chuck has been talking and talking and talking and talking and talking about. hudson heart sits above where the new tunnel will connect to penn station. this is a critical step for everything else where going to do in the corridor and rail period. as you may know work started in the hudson yards in 2013 2t stalled due to lack of funding your but thanks to the idea, i emphasize bipartisan infrastructure law we now have the money we are finally going to get it done. when the project is complete, trains will be in and out of new york more quickly and more safely and with fewer

interruptions. this is only one part though. the overall gateway program will improve train travel between new york and new jersey. for example, last year we also broke ground on a portal northbridge, gov usai in new jersey and thinks of the lepers infrastructure law we are rebuilding two other critical bridges, sawtooth and oxbridge in north jersey. all told this one of the biggest and most consequential projects in the country. but it's going to take time. the multibillion-dollar effort between the states tl government. but we finally have the money and were going to get it done, i promise you. we're going to get it done. [applause] folks, we are making similar investments to improve rip up and down the northeast corridor. yesterday i was in baltimore for similar announcement of the baltimore potomac tunnel, another critical juncture that was built nearly 150 years ago.

no changes and 150 years. i walked through that sucker, too. [laughing] no, you think i'm joking. i'm not. man, when you commute on highway every single day and that was my highway, you get interested in one thing when you're told things are falling apart. over the next two years we're going to hit milestones in other real projects include the east river tunnel here in new york, the bridge in meriden, connecticut river bridge. and we're not stopping at all. this was rail. earlier this month i was in kentucky with the republican leader. we are spending over $1 billion in the brent spence bridge over the ohio and kentucky river. they have been trying to fix for years and years. we are repairing the original bridge and building an entirely new one parallel to it. you know, over that bridge today which keeps breaking down, trucks carry roughly $2 billion worth of freight goods every single day across that bridge now. from florida to canada.

the bridge was built six years ago. folks haven't talked about fixing it for decades but now we are going to get it done. and there's more that we are doing. for example, up in the bronx we're redeveloping the hunts point terminal produce market, which handles 60% of new york's fruits and vegetables. 60%. we are expanding refrigerated warehouse space, installing charging stations for electric vehicles for delivery trucks and get in and out faster and recharge and return, for the return trip. on staten island we're upgrading the port at arthur kill terminal site to turn into a state of the art assembly site for wind turbines. by the way, just one blade of these new wind turbines is 102 yards long. 102 yards long. ..

critical waterways from two that are jammed to the jersey shore. one of the things about the infrastructure law i am most excited about is we are doing all of this with all american workers. [applause] all american workers. and by the way all of it is union labor. all of it that. >> every one union labor. you think i'm kidding, i am not. in august we are building the project under the new project labor agreement making sure one of these projects as well here, the agreement contract unions to put in place an agreement before

construction begins to ensure projects are handled with well-trained highly skilled union workers resolve disputes ahead of time ensuring saver workspace avoid disruptions and rotor stoppage to cause expensive and extensive delays down the line. it's not just good for workers, it's good for taxpayers, to an building trades agreed on the labor agreement will be in place across major rail construction projects up and down the northeast corridor and the hudson river project will lead to 72000 good lane jobs. laborers, electricians, comforters, iron workers, operators and more. good job you can raise a family on and most don't require a college degree but they do require four years of partnerships, training programs, one reason the u.s. has the best

trained workers in the world. [applause] we do. [applause] everybody thinks you want to join the ibew, just show up. after four years of apprenticeship, maybe. you are the best in the world, you really are. making investments in american cities and towns in america's heartland and rural areas as well. it's about making things here in america again, it's about good jobs, the dignity of work. my dad used to say joey, jobs mean a lot more than a paycheck, it's about your dignity, respect. being able to look your kit in the eye and say honey, it's going to be okay and mean it. he meant it. it's about respect and self worth. it's about time. for too long we talked about american leadership was again

building the best economy in the world but to have the best economy in the world, you have to have the best infrastructure in the world. people don't build factories if they are not rail stations were there not access to highways. the don't attract businesses unless you have the best infrastructure to get products to market the pace thousands of good paying jobs. for most of our century the economy let the world by a significant margin because we invested in our people and ourselves and research and development -- morning. it said general motors announced it's making a $650 million equity investment in lithium americas to develop the thacker pass mine in nevada. that's been talked about for 10, 12, 13 years but it's time to do something. agording to g.m., this representing the largest investment by an ought aute

battery-free veels vehicles. now we've got to make sure we follow through. g.m. ceo, miss mary berra, even said, direct sourcing of critical electric vehicles, raw materials, and components from suppliers in north america, and free-trade agreement countries, helps make our supply chain more secure, helps us manage cell costs and creates jobs. this is really what we're dealing with, mr. president. we're dealing with basically china has a captive market. i had a hard time understanding why our administration was going down a path of transitioning into electrical vehicles as quickly as they intended and wanted to do without having our own secured supply chain. china right now has 80% of the world's anode production, that's the positive and negative part of the battery that makes the battery work, 80% of the battery

material processing, which is what makes the batteries that runs the vehicles we have, 60% of the vehicle's cath owed production, 75% of the world's lithium ion battery cells. i'm old enough to remember, mr. president, maybe you might be too, that basically in 1974, i was standing in line weighing to buy gas if it was my turn to buy gas to go to work. i don't intend to stand in line to wait for china to send a battery to make my car work. i just won't do it. this is why we're moving in the direction we are. china has worked long and hard on cornering this market and has done a very, very thorough job. we've seen firsthand what russia has done to the e.u., to you're, our allies, but most importantly to germany. they have used their production

of energy, inexpensive, cheap energy, and let europe, and mostly germany, put their guard down and become totally dependent. and then putin weaponized energy against them and put a heck of a stranglehold. then we had basically decisions were being made about what could they do. well, the first thing they did was basically eliminate their dispatchable, dependable fuel, whether coal-fired plants, which they had a desire to do but they actively worked quicker than what they had anything to replace it with and become more dependent. they got rid of their nuclear plants because they're ex -- their extreme environmental community wanted none of that. they wanted to go absolutely clean and green. there will be a time probably, hopefully in our lifetime, maybe not but our children's lifetime,

that all this might be transitioned into a new carbonless fuel. right now, we need all-of-the-above energy policy. they became totally dependent on cheap russian gas and realized, only after the invasion, they had made a mistake. well, now they're scrambling to revive the very same coal-fired plants they shut down prematurely and bring back the nuclear reactors they'll need for a while. people talk about the social cost of greenhouse gasses. and i agree, there is a social cost. but what we're not talking about, dpt geopolitical -- the geopolitical cost of inaction by being energy secure. that's what this is all about. the inflation reduction act that we worked so hard on, and every democrat voted for it in the house and senate, as you know, has been touted as an environmental bill. that's all you've heard. you've not heard the word from our administration talking about that's

energy security. the united states is the super power of the world. to remain that status, you have to be have energy independence and be secured of our enenergy sources. if you recall, when all this happened, and the invasion of ukraine by putin, basically the challenge in the high-rising of oil prices to gasoline prices to everyday workers back and forth, in my state an awful lot of transit to secured your jobs, what had happened during that time, our administration started saying, well, maybe we can reduce the sanctions on iran. i says you have the most prolific terror supporters in the world, and you want to lift sanctions so they can put more product into the market and make more money or have more revenue to wreak more havoc on humankind? i don't think that's a good idea. and i sure can't sign up for something such as that. then we allowed venezuela, who basically has very little

oversights on their environmental missions. but we've released that. now they're putting product in the market. now, if we're so concerned about the environment, which we all should be, shouldn't we basically look at what's going on, or is america turning a blind eye, saying out of sight, out of mind? we're asking other parts of the world to do what we won't, we asked the imufl states, saudi arabia -- the gulf states, saudi arabia to produce more oil, put more into the marketplace, because that would stabilize the oil price, bring the price of gasoline down? we never asked our friends in texas. we never asked our friends in alaska. we never asked our best trading partner in canada to do more for us. but we were seen as asking other people, and pretty drastic measures, if you would, by other nations to do something we didn't want to do for ourself. i thought that was unattainable, it was unrealistic, and it did not show the leadership of the superpower of the world.

repeat this, i'll continue to, you will not maintain this status of being a superpower unless our allies look to us for help when they need it. we didn't have the energy to even be independent ourself, let alone help our allies as quickly as they needed it. we're getting up to speed now. we're coming back. that's exactly what the inflation reduction act was intended to do. if we don't establish a domestic supply with the god-given resources we have, we produce oil, we produce coal, we produce natural gas environmentally better than anyplace else in the world, and in the ira that bill was designed to have two tracks. for ten years, we'd have certainty we'd be energy independent by using everything above, and that means relying on the fossil fuels we have, and we

have. we put more money in carbon capture, sequestration and utilization than ever before. we put technology and fees on methane emission, which we know is harmful to the environment, than ever before. basically, we're leading the world and going to find the new technology we can share that makes the environment better. but if you can replace the dirty production of fossil with the cleaner production from the united states, that's truly helping the environment. it's something that the leaders and the superpower of the world should be doing. we weren't in that position. we're fighting to get back. i have to watch now, after we passed the legislation we all voted for, we're getting different interpretations from treasury and other agencies that have oversight. which is so wrong. that's not their job to interpret what they want in the piece of legislation. their job is basically to enforce what we wrote in the legislation. we said we will be independent, we will have our own supply of our critical minerals, we'll

have our own supply basically, and we're not going to have to depend on champion for car batteries -- on china for car batteries or anything else we need for our economy. that's what we should be fighting for and all should be doing. the ira is crystal clear, what the department of treasurery did is wrong. the law was very clear, by december 31 of last year, 2022, they were supposed to have the rules and regulations how they would enforce the bill we wrote. guess what -- they didn't. now guess what happened. let me explain to you how the law worked before. before we did what we did, with the ira, the electric vehicles, the supplement we gave, $7500 from 2008 after the crash of the economy, the banking crar that we had -- banks crash we had, there was a bill passed in 2008, recovery bill, that gave $7500 credit to any manufacturer, i

mean any manufacturer that sold electric vehicle in the united states of america. now, once they saturated and sold 200,000 cars, it was over. they got no more credits. let's look at our big manufacturers in the united states. we've got general motors, okay. we have basically ford, and we have toyota. let me just tell you what has happened. so we're going to set the record straight, because he had a discussion with my dear friend and colleague from michigan, senator from michigan, and we talked about that, and i think there were some misinterpretation or misspeaking about what has really happened. as of last year tesla and -- no, 2018, so that bill went into effect in 2008, by 2018, tesla and g.m. motors reached their cap of 200,000 cars. they weren't getting any more

$7500 if they sold a tesla or general motors electric vehicles. didn't slow down the cells. tesla is past the million mark, still going strong. people want the product. we didn't have to give them treasury or taxpayers' money to do it. general motors hit their 200,000. toyota reached theirs last year. ford reached theirs september of last year. so all the major manufacturers, if we had not done the inflation reduction act and put new guidelines, all the people would have got to $7500 credit from the american taxpayers was all foreign manufacturers, sending electric vehicles to america. that's not right. what happened is they picked and chosed. so the secretary of treasury -- and we had a conversation. we agreed to disagree, and i disagree stronger than anyone disagreed and will continue to

fight and hold them accountable. last week a bipartisan bill with senator braun. it will implement the law as intended by putting the sources provisions in effect immediately whether treasury chooses to issue guidance or not. i can't, i cannot pressure them to do their job on time, but i can do this. we can do our job, we wrote a piece of legislation and make sure it takes effect when it is supposed to if they haven't done their job. they failed to do it. what they're trying to do is this. they said we don't have rules and regulations, but from january 1 and still going on, they're going to continue to give $7,500 to everybody again. so they're opening it back up to general motors, opening it back up to tesla, opening it up to toyota, to ford, to everybody open up again to start giving $7,500 again. what they did, they chose out of our bill, the inflation reduction act, they said if you make more than $150,000, you're

not qualified. that's exactly what's in our bill, but they said they don't have rules and regulations but they took that part of it. they said if you buy a sudan that costs -- a sedan that costs more than $5,500, you don't qualify. if you buy a pickup truck more than $85,000 you don't qualify. that's in our bill. if you can't write the rules and regulations but pick and choose what was in the bill you don't want to enforce the bill the way it was written. that's what not anybody in this body should tolerate to let the agencies do what they want to do to appease what they want to appease versus what we pass. that's what i'm upset about and that's why we're going to continue to fight. they're cherry-picking and completely crerry picked -- cherry-picked. the selective representation will create a disadvantage for some automakers by allowing this to happen. it's beyond being not right.

so let me tell you what we are going to make sure that the american people understand. if you believe that we were wrong in passing that piece of legislation, speak up. if you believe we were wrong in saying that we should not be dependent on china but you want to continue to have china dominating a market. you want to have total control in a market we're moving, it's the first time in the history of the united states that we have ever had to rely on a foreign supply chain for our transportation mode, whether it's trains, planes, automobiles, any form of transportation. we have been able to not have to fend on another foreign supply chain because we've been able to do it in the united states. what we said basically in the bill was all, you get $3750 credit towards an electric vehicle you bought from an american manufacturer, where the vehicle was manufactured in north america.

that's the combination between the united states, canada, and mexico, which is what nafta, which is what the usmc, the new bill, that's what we do, moving those vehicles back and forth, if it's manufactured here you get 3750. you get the first 3750 if the selection of all the rare earth materials are selected from either north america or countries that we have a free trade agreement. and the reason that's done, we want to make sure that we have a secured channel for these rare earth minerals it takes to process and manufacture the battery. so the processing, as far as the selection of the rare earth minerals have to come from either north america or our free trade agreement countries. that gives us a solid supply. we're not dependent on china, russia or any other nation that does not have our best interest, that is not a democracy, does not have the same beliefs we have for human rights and everything else we do right. we have that first and then basically it has to be manufactured in north america. then you get the other 3750.

we use the 75 hundred dollars as the character, to reimplement ourselves into the manufacturing and self-reliant of our trftion mode. -- of our transportation mode. that's simply it. i would hope everybody watching, listening or anything else as far as trying to get the knowledge of what we've done and what we tried do and what we're intending to make sure happens is to hold this administration, hold basically the treasury department and every other agencies that think they can free will and just make up what they want and do what they want and pick regulations that they think that they would rather implement rather than implementing the law. that's where we are, mr. president. that's what i want to make, set the record straight that first of all all the automakers in america already hit the 2,000 cap. thfs a new lease on life for them, the irs selecting it. i'll quote, from mary bara, the ceo of general motors, the

direct sourcing of critical raw materials and components from suppliers in north and free trade agreement countries helps make our supply chain more secure, helps us manage cell costs and creates jobs. if that's one of our largest manufacturers of automobiles in the united states, she thinks it's good for her company, good for the american citizens and car buyers in america, then it should be good enough, the bill should be supplemented the way it was -- intended to. not being reliant, super power of the world, maintain that, have the energy sources, use our fossil for the next three years, investing billions for the new technology of carbonless or carbon-free energy, then that's leadership. that's what the world needs. that's what the world expects from the united states. and if we're going to maintain this world power, be the super power of the world, we must maintain that leadership. and it's tough at times but we

can do it. we've always done it. i notice the absence of a quorum, mr. president. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

good afternoon, everyone. mind-boggling pace of the senate beginning of this year is astonishing. i've never seen a slower beginning started new congress

and the senate but we are not in majority. regarding the searches for classified documents, i think the bipartisan request chairman warner and vice chairman rubio is entirely reasonable asking who would not interfere with ongoing criminal investigations and i hope the administration will come up with a better answer than know which is apparently the chairman and vice chairman were told recently. there request to find out exactly what kind of documents were in proper custody seems to be squarely within the oversight district, until committee and i want to think both of them for

pursuing this in a bipartisan way. >> the president will, state of the union it will be an opportunity for all of us examine his last year in office, first two years in office in one thing they are feeling is the impact of policies in respect of inflation. if you look at overall relation, 13 and a half% increase in the cost of everything this president took office but more particular, he look at food where a lot of people experience that is much higher, 18.6% increase in the cost of food since president biden took office for basic items like eggs, 50% increase from 30% increase for butter, 44% increase for lettuce so these are the types of costs american

people are experiencing on a daily basis and i hope the president will address that issue of what he intends to do to address rampant inflation that's harmful to the pocketbooks of everyday americans. as we think about the cost of food and those who produce it, it's an issue that is incredibly important to me, agriculture is an important industry in south dakota so as we get into the arms of debate this year, making sure we have a firm built in place that's good for american agriculture and consumers. that really starts sure consumers know where their food is coming from, where it originated. one i hear from folks across south dakota is the importance of and all products particularly beef going and if you think about beef you bite in the supermarket today in the grocery store today and in many cases

the only thing american about it may be a plastic it's wrapped in, if that. i've introduced against the american system which would require mandatory origin labeling for beef so the american consumer will know where their beef is coming from and i hope to have that included in next farmville. at the president and the state of the union speech this week takes a hard look and talks about those things he intends to do to make life easier and not harder and less expensive not more expensive for the american people for the past two years, have been expanding harmful impacts of inflationary policies. >> our nations debt is over $31 trillion, a staggeringly high number, larger than the size of our nations economy.

we've maxed out our credit cards and we did it in just a little over a year from the last time we raise the debt ceiling. the interest on the debt alone is $400 billion right now, more than we've spent on issues including veterans retirement. this is all a result the fact that we are hitting it so soon after raising it as a result of single party two years doing massive amounts of spending. over $3 trillion the last two years and even more than that would be considered executive actions. as a result, we have a 40 year high inflation. interest rates have been raised seven different times. credit cards interest on car loans is up, interest on mortgage is up. people are paying more and hurting as a result of this. we have to stop spending money

we do not have. it needs to stop to the question is, how do we possibly deal with the debt ceiling at a time of the responsible spending by the democrats? were not going to default on the debt, we need to find a way though to tie together raising the debt ceiling with changes in reforms and raining in our spending, the only way to get our economy back on track. president biden has said people like me who are concerned about the size of the debt and spending he said are fiscally demented. people in his administration and the white house in the midst debt ceiling entirely, we don't need it at all conclusion treasury secretary. to me, it's dangerous, irresponsible, fiscally reckless preacher to for revoking senators signed and sent a

letter to the president saying if you want us to put raising the debt ceiling, we have to have fundamental reform in the way spending is done. we've done this before going back to 1985, we've done this eight different times where we have tied reforms to raising the debt ceiling. two thirds of the american people absolutely believe we should tied reforms to spending to raising the debt ceiling because it's the only way to get our failing economy back on track. >> january 31, 2015 there was a young council bluffs woman who just graduated from bellevue university with a 4.0. she was so excited about her future, she was celebrating with friends, she was in her car and stopped at a stoplight.

she was struck by a man who was treat raising. 70 miles an hour struck the car from the rear and killed her. her name was sarah route. the killer was in illegal immigrant named edwin. everyone was allowed to post bond and fled before sarah was ever laid in the ground. it was because of a loophole that exists in our code which requires local authorities to release people after a certain length of time if the federal government doesn't feel they need to be detained. we are going to close off that loophole with sarah's law which i am reintroducing today. our federal government should

require is an illegal immigrant and seriously injured or killed another person to be detained so the families of the fallen and justice. it's common sense, folks. edwin is free. he's free summer and we have no idea where yet michelle and sarah's mother and scott, her father and scotty, her little brother, they wonder everything with a if they will ever seek justice. this is very personal to me and i got to know the family quite well over the past seven years. many families have suffered from these tragedies they don't receive justice. the united states is where we should be able to find justice and i'm asking my colleagues to support sarah's law, let's move

it this year. congressman randy and i will has the lead in the house and we hope we can see success. god bless for sarah and her family. >> good afternoon, i like to talk to you briefly about what the two johns talked about, middle-class we've seen the last two years under the obama -- i mean, biden presidency, excuse me. we see over 30% inflation, we see mortgages the over 7% now. any wage increases we see across the country are totally wiped out by increased cost of goods. when you see the cost of energy even though slightly come down recently, it's still many more times more expensive than it was before president biden took over but i guess the food one is the one that gets me. if you think about it in your

own mind, everybody goes to the grocery store and you approximate in your mind what you are going to spend unless you have a big party friday night or something like that. whether you have a family of two like we are down to now or a larger family with younger children were you would have a bigger budget but you have in your mind what it's going to be and every single week it's always more, it increased two, three, four, $5 more and before you know it, it's double. this is putting the squeeze, our inboxes are filled with people from all across the country, west virginia of the mother of young children, she's up all night because she can't figure out, how am i going to pay for food? give a guy paying more to heat his house and to pay his mortgage, his mortgage pre-biden but he's also trying to help his neighbors pay their heating bills because they skyrocketed so much. every day americans, every

working american, everybody's paint browse and paying to heat the house is feeling the squeeze in the president better address it. he hasn't, he needs to address it. i hope he addresses it and it is addressed next week. >> senate democrats joined president biden green lighting like trillion dollars purely partisan spending extravaganzas the last two years, two years ago about this time we started seeing democrats proposals on a purely partisan massive spending proposal and tax increase. even democrats from the obama administration are warning if this legislation were to pass it would have inflationary effects.

now we see the effects and recently developed my pickup and my sweet wife. grocery prices of 18.6% since this president took office but when you look at that means for montana, that's over $10000 more being pay for groceries and food, housing then when president biden took office. make no mistake, if nancy pelosi were still speaker of the house, the senate right now would be getting ready to put in play check shooter name leadership another conciliation bill with more spending and taxes, the only thing holding them back is the fact that republican majority is in the house.

regarding the debt ceiling, we cannot default on our debt. i would submit to you all here today if there was a republican president with a democrat-controlled house i think the idea would be talking about and expecting the president and negotiate with the speaker. i hope we have fair play here because president biden's decision of not negotiating on the debt ceiling in terms of putting common sense pending reforms in place going forward, this has been done eight times since 1985 with debt ceiling discussion and spending reform in the same thing now. >> a couple weeks ago --

[inaudible] is there a concern if you and others don't get involved sooner rather than later it could be -- [inaudible] >> i don't have any concern, i negotiated the deal in 2011 and remember it fully. mike negotiating partner then vice president joe biden. it actually worked if your goal was to reduce spending and it did reduce spending for a couple of years in a row and the first time since right after the korean war. the problem was, it was to impactful on defense for publicans, to impactful on the domestic side and we agreed to

work away but it will be on the history lesson and as others have said, it's not unprecedented to have a discussion about spending in connection with the debt ceiling. obviously from our space perspective that needs to be led by the speaker. they are in the majority. the president knows full well since he was negotiating partner years ago that this has been done before and the deal has to be cut between the house majority and a democratic president in order to have a chance to survive over here so we are behind kevin and pushing as well. >> you have to sign on right now. [inaudible] it must be accompanied by cuts -- >> i wouldn't read too much into it. it's floating around all the

time and most of the time i don't doubt it. [inaudible] >> it's not confusing. prime minister said if you want to push back against president xi jinping, beat putin in ukraine. we need a total focus on defeating the russians in ukraine. i know he's running around the capitol today earlier but certainly not only his feel for the view of government and the uk putin has produced wide spread unity among nato that

didn't exist before his invasion so i think president xi jinping is watching and in the meantime we need to work with them to make sure they purchase from us military equipment that they actually need is a deterrent for potential efforts by the mainland to engage in military activity so i think that's what windy to do, make sure they are adequately armed and they can pay for it and beat putin in ukraine. >> good tuesday morning to you, you can call in now. the headline on the whole released yesterday. the government has the top u.s. problem inflation rate second. we will take you to the numbers in the bull, 21% respondents to the pole found that government

and forth leadership in the country is the top problem facing this country. that's up explained since just november. inflation 15% of americans think that's the top problem and immigration, the economy in general, 11% saying -- 10% saying it's the top problem, down six points since november and the idea unifying the country 6% saying the top problem in this country, background on the poll released yesterday from the report both january 2 through 22nd time in the field included 40. from 815-foot process and republicans hold us the majority of the house of representatives ultimately ected kevin mccarthy as speaker of the house. revelations about classified government documents in 20,922,017 on president joe biden's private office home also service while the poll was in the field. top problem rose six points this

month to the 21% rating, job approval rating for president biden and congress remains biden 21% and congress at 21%. we are going to take you more through the pool in the first hour of the "washington journal" today but we want to hear from you, what you think is the top problem? usual lines. we will start on the line for republicans. greg. was the top problem based on this country? >> the major problem is mainstream media. i think it's related to poll results of leadership in government. the problem is mainstream media ceased to do what it was given as its main responsibly in the u.s. constitution to be skeptical of everybody. everybody.

just one time. what happened the last 20 years has been demonizing the republicans and sanitizing and cleaning up everything. that's the problem. government and leadership response to the people who vote for them as long as people are in positions of power continue their positions without any opposition and continue to do what they are doing. the mainstream media does not question everybody equally. if it did, i do not believe government would be the number one issue. >> headlines from the washington times. the department of justice unwilling congress is -- congress on biden classified documents to headline comber

from ahead of the oversight on the house. the times today politics, this will cover those issues and by the republicans that house fairly, you think it's going to get the attention it deserves? >> no. today on npr and i forced myself to listen to them and i forced myself to watch msnbc and cnn maybe 15, 20 minutes a day. do i think those that you quoted will be even referenced? it was not today on npr. i don't expect to be on cnn either. they are important issues today npr is about donald j and

stormie daniels. not all but that's what they quoted. that was their story today this morning on politics. >> greg in pennsylvania to climb for democrat. >> i appreciate all that you do. the problem facing america today has got to have much to do with economic indignity from political disenfranchisement and it has less to do with it than the root problems. i think for the first time in history we really do have the ability to do something about creating worldwide middle class properly regulated capitalism working in harmony with social democracy. it's not that difficult if we could only achieve the will to

make it so. >> if you don't mind me asking, how long have you have been watching this program? >> years. >> why was this the first time you decided to call in? >> sometimes it's difficult to get through, sometimes the questions are so generally. sometimes i get so angry at the answers i have to scroll on but today i thought we get to the root. we got to discover a new vocabulary, a new way of looking at things. it starts with education, critical thinking. less to do vocational training i think especially today in our high schools. systemically economic indignity, a lot of political enfranchisement. voting i think has a lot to do with it. we are getting there, i'm not a pessimist, slowly but surely i'll leave you with one question

in light of these murders in memphis these five cops, black on black violence. the question begs itself, is this really an issue about race was the unit contaminated by deeper economic social bias? >> we are going to focus on that in the next segment 8:00 a.m. eastern going by former congresswoman deming's, former police chief in orlando before her time in congress. working on police reform issues, we are going to focus on that topic so stick around for that topic. you can call in once every 30 days as i'm sure you know. patrick in florida, independent, good morning. >> of money. and kind of surprised foreign policy allows one policies to

turn and make no effort to clean that up. israel just did a drone strike in advance. do think that will lead to anything good? talking about the history of iran a little bit, saddam hussein was reagan's bff, he cast three times because he thought they were fighting on the side of iran. he cast iranians three times and when iran went to national human security council to get sanctions against iraq, the reagan administration vetoed that. maybe that's why he wanted nuclear programs so they don't get pushed around anymore without any ramification. south korea barely a 30-year-old democracy. we are supposed to fight for

them taiwan, we are supposed to fight for them? but we don't live in south america to wipe out drug gangs and help them get some type of stability? >> the gallup poll is u.s. we mentioned the time i've already or leadership, inflation, immigration economy in general unifying the country and race relation and racism, poverty, hunger and homelessness, crime and violence and ethical are family and moral decline in this country rounding out the top ten. those were the top ten answers in the government and poor leadership 20 were present, of from november and december when it was at 15 in north carolina, this is ray, republican. good morning. >> good morning, thank you for taking my call. i would say number one issue

would be the national but because we have $30 trillion national debt and that affects -- there is a bill at the desk and ask for its first reading. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the title of the book. the clerk: to amend chapter 8 8f the united states code. mr. durbin: i i ask for a second reading and i object to my own request. the presiding officer: objection is heard. and the bill will be placed on the calendar. mr. durbin: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding the order of january 24; 1901, the traditional reading of george washington's farewell address take place on february 23, following the prayer and pledge

of the flag. the presiding officer: without objection, the chair on behalf of the vice president, pursuant to the order of the senate of january 24, 1901, as modified of the order of january 31, 2023, appointments the senator from oklahoma to read washington's farewell address on monday, february 27, 2023. the senator from oklahoma, lankford. the presiding mr. durbin: i ask that when the senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned until 10:00 a.m. on february 1, twreetd, and the senate be in period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. further, that the senate recess from 12:30 12:30 until 2:15 p.mo allow for the weekly democratic caucus meeting.

the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: roll call votes are expected during wednesday's session, if there is no further business to come before the senate i ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until senate stands adjourned until we believe what is here or here or out in the middle of anywhere you should have access to past reliable internet. we are taking you