>> buckeye broadband supports c-span as a public service along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> and today in the senate lawmakers are set to work on a house passed resolution to repeal a labor department rule that allows managers of retirement plans to consider environmental, social, and corporate governance factors in their investment decisions. senators will also be working on several judicial nominations. votes are expected throughout the day. live coverage of the senate here on c-span2. the president pro tempore: the senate will come to order. the chaplain, dr. barry black, will lead the senate in prayer.

the chaplain: let us pray. eternal spirit, you see our thoughts from a distance. you look not merely on our exteriors, but also at our interiors. you see our desire to please you and to honor you with our lives. you know our remorse for neglected duties, missed opportunities, and selfish pursuits. you are aware that we need strength for today and hope for tomorrow. today, meet the needs of our lawmakers as they confront the challenges of our time.

give them faith to trust that your sovereign providence will prevail. remind them that they are never alone. we pray in your holy name. amen. the president pro tempore: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to our flag. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. morning business is closed. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the nomination. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary, margaret r. guzman, of massachusetts, to be united states district judge for the district of massachusetts.

>> after military retirement he had his original district rge and earned his way to the top of that agency with an annualridership of 40 million people . of over 40 million. in denver mister washington implemented the nations private partnership called eagle t3 project, on time

expanding mobile transit region and in 2015 was named ceo of los angeles county metropolitan. in washington he oversaw rail and bus network that translates 2 million passengers ãnine dollars oversaw thousand employees. use key in the expansion of our payment from with new real connections between los angeles international and became ceo of denver international airport, third busiest airport in the world. i did have to look that up sure enough it's true. you a lot of people do that for the least 35,000 employees and managers one: 3 billionoperating budget . nearly 70 million passengers travel through the terminal, about 18 percent . so organizations like the

american public transport association, airbus council, national aviation administration and many other organizations including many labor organizations also support your nomination so congratulations, thank you for being here and i'll forward to discussing the future of the faa. i'll turn to my colleague. >> thank you metal chair. the faa faces enormous challenges. it must modernize our space while navigating the entrance like drones. instruct the standard as the gold standard while dealing with marketing close calls and operating an updated air traffic control system that most safely move roughly 2 million passengers a day. to meet its mission the faa

needs as a confirmed leader with decades of experience in aviation to make certain the flying public is safe. that is the agency's primary obligation. this obligation is so important congress mandated the faa administrator", have experience in the field directly related to mediation . quality for us on an honorable career and he does not have any experience in aviation. this quite simply is a position he is not qualified for . i'm disappointed that the administration has chosen to treat a cd position, a position you are as they. they chosen to treat it as patronage. as a result of the white house playing politics with the flying public safety, the aa lack is confirmed leader

for a year now. i expect we will hear some members of this committee glossed over mister washington's lack of mediation and aviation safety experienced and he has a record of strong management, of transit agency. he understands buses and isn't that good enough for claims? his record demonstratesthe opposite . democrats said at any transit agencies these runs have been beset by mismanagement waste is. in 2019 cbs news reported mister washington had $2000 song to the la metro employee jim after being presented with work currently $50,000 per. he knows this lavish spending as city buses broke down and caught fire due to lack of money. the new york times reported

the denver rental project foreseen by mister washington ran a 2 billion are plus deficit becomes over 30 years behind schedule. just last month mister washington and other denver officials since more than $100,000 on a target. to drum upsupport for denver . dominance waste file over budget projects are things we want to change at the aa, not continue. i'm also afraid mister washington's record suggests he focused on producing only at a time when the faa needs to be laser focused on agency modernization. as a metro ceo said everything you enter mobility to look through the lens of equity. at the denver airport he spending millions to build a special all of equity and change the contract vetting process to play a heavy

emphasis on so-called equity and so-called social cultural merits. safety. not political posturing needs to be paramount at the faa. i also have serious concerns regarding outstanding allegations of misconduct a metro. he was made in multiple search warrants in ongoing criminal crops corruption investigation and was the subject of multiple whistleblower. one whistleblower who exposed details of the scene claims to have been retaliated against finewashington . washington went to denver about a metro settle the claims for more than a half million dollars and just last month mister washington was named in a discrimination

retaliation lawsuit filed by a former denver airport employee. mister washington failed to notify the city of austin, the missions question your existing and respectfully transparent raising concerns about how he everywhere. price. finally mister washington has a retirement of military needs a leader from both the house and senate to be eligible to serve as from a long wire. industry 30 civilian retired members of the military is law. on five occasions on this past legislative leaders retirement is a personnel cancer the faa. we do the same for mister washington his record merit it experience in mediation safety and some democrats force this nomination through a lever a legal cloud hanging

over. let me". i have said it is very important in this day and age when it comes to aviation safety always be our top priority. we consider the nominees record an ongoing case of whistleblower and foundation and get all of that is clear is not the person safety culture and he faa . those were the words were now the. final chairman of this committee in 2019 see this in the last four years of mediation experience. mister washington is not the nominee for this position. >> thank you senator in my opening statement i commissioned a letter by our former house on the journey because you who extensively about internet into the record. he calls you a strong leader with decades of senior leadership to help accomplish

the goals of the faa so that i'm going to turn to our colleague on the committee senator amber and senator bennett. >> we need faa administrator is center but also goes on to get things done. administrator of the complex bureaucracy faa always, someone can still the threat someone will be short bus that he will stay not in. that's still washington. phil came from humble beginnings and asinine chair mentioned years in the army. she achieved the rank of command sergeant major, i extract for student services and command sergeant major

start on people that make things, get things done by organizing motivating nurturers. i'm holding the castle. he was stationed at fort carson in colorado, the game of his relationship. tomorrow darnell for your disciplinary leadership, education. phil embodies all the streets more than you had a natural regional transportation is the largest transit agency in state . the authorities transit system contract. with a flash fast-track program that was over and behind schedule. this my problems and competitions. when the last three quarters was underconstruction . he exited to heal the transportation authority, third largest transit is over 20 visitors annually.

again another multibillion-dollar expansion which was present by challenges and we got back. he's now the ceo of denver international airport someone years, the third is in the world as a timeshare. yes transformed airports, one aging infrastructure. the great hall project will expand internal capacity from 75 passengers a year to 100 million passengers a year that's division i will support transition by the end of this decade. still is an expanding terminals and modernizing runways these laws but center of equity and excellence, personal and training facilities and ensure we can grow a diverse workforce at a small business by mediation that does deliver on the mind

mission of transportation at the city as possible level. he's not hesitate to decisively again and again). we have winter storms on 2022 that devastated air travel all across the country, ãhe immediately launched us after action review between dia and major airline partners. this review will identify causes to the airline capacity is future incidents of having to as we see in faa . phil fits the mold of several passengers. questions were raised at the previous administrators jean barney was the administrator under the clinton came from the massachusetts department of public works led logan,

boston's logan airport. mary with a certification expiration was administrator of an highway transportation safety administration

history, european allies are now following america's lead. nato members are making historic investments in defense that will keep paying dividends long after ukraine defeats putin's aggression. the west is firming the pump of the industrial capacity that will ensure we are prepared to meet the larger military challenges posed by systemic rivals, like china. the recent press reports that beijing is considering providing weapons to russia should not

come as a surprise. china has plenty of reasons to fear a russian defeat and plenty of reasons to hope russia gets away with forcibly seizing another country's territory. yesterday the senate armed services committee heard testimony from keith kellogg, a former advisor to president trump, and cochair of the center for american security at the america first policy institute. like the vast majority of republican senators, he complained the biden administration had been actually too slow in providing military assistance to ukraine. he noted the best way to end the conflict was to, quote, enable ukraine to defeat the russian army in ukraine. and what about the claim that the west supporting ukraine is somehow distracting us from the threats posed by the prc? here's what kellogg said -- make

no mistake, weakness against russian aggression is weakness against the communist chinese threat. russian victory in ukraine today almost certainly means war for taiwan tomorrow. likewise, in japan senior officials are spelling out the clear link between the response to putin and the prospects of deterring president xi. they've taken historic steps to invest more in their own defense, and during our trip last week prime minister kashita announced that japan plans to direct $5.5 billion in assistance toward ukraine. other reports indicate the citizens of taiwan are volunteering to fight alongside ukrainians against russia. let me say that again. there are reports that indicate citizens of taiwan are volunteering to fight alongside ukrainians against russia.

the very people most threatened by the ambitions of the prc tomorrow understand the importance of ukraine prevailing today. our friends and partners in the middle east know the score as well. they've had to contend with russia as an influential force in the region ever since president obama failed to enforce his red line in syria and putin came rushing in to that conflict. now our partners see the same iran missiles and uav's that have struck their own cities being used by russia to attack ukraine. they know moscow will repay tehran soon somehow and a victorious russia will be less constrained in providing advanced capabilities to iran. so we've seen senior israeli officials showing up in kiev. we've seen saudi arabia vote against russia in the united

nations, pledge $400 million in assistance to ukraine, and send its first official delegation to kiev in 30 years. clearly, america's friends all around the world know that the way we respond to today's threats will determine our readiness to face tomorrow's. they know in europe, they know it in the indo-pacific, and they know it in the middle east. and here at home? republicans know that the safest america is a strong, strong and engaged america. that's why we'll continue to push president biden and his administration to move faster, to exert our leadership, invest in our own defense, equip our friends, and keep america safe. now, on another matter, the quality of president biden's judicial nominees has been in the headlines recently, for all of the wrong reasons.

recently, the white house celebrated their 100th judicial confirmation with a bizarre press release that said less than one senate is talking about legal qualifications before devoting five paragraphs to the nominee's demographics. then a newly published analysis pointed out that the nominees whom democrats have been confirming have been significantly less likely to have clerked at the supreme court, clerked at a circuit court, or graduated law school with top academic honors compared to the judges that republicans spent the previous four years confirming. fewer prestigious clerkships, fewer academic honors. not terribly surprising. it appears this qualifications gap might also be leading to a job performance gap. a law professor at the university of iowa has found the first ten biden-appointed

appellate judges have written about 140 majority opinions between them, or an average of about 14 opinions each. by contrast, the first 12 appellate judges confirmed during the previous administration had written 415 majority opinions. that's 140 for the biden nominees and 415 for the previous administration appointees. majority opinions by february 2019, or 34 each over a comparable period of time. 14 opinions each for the biden first ten, 34 for the previous administration's first ten. it appears president biden's court of appeals judges are publishing opinions less frequently than other recent judges. tomorrow our colleagues on the judiciary committee will meet for a markup of a slate of nominees including the infamous nominee from washington state

what was actually unable to recall what article 5 or article 2 of the united states constitution were about. this is not exactly the bar exam. this is basic constitutional literacy. and this person on whom president biden wants to bestow a lifetime appointment flunked. did thes are also trying to push forward the nomination of michael delaney, an attorney from new hampshire who threatened a teenage jane dough of sex -- d.o.e. of sexual assault, threatened make it a story if she and her family did not settle the suit against the powerful prep school before it went to trial. even some of our democratic colleagues seem troubled by this. senator blumenthal says he has concerns about this nominee, chairman durbin admitted delaney

had, quote, a rough hearing, end quote. senator feinstein sent this nominee from her own party's white house a long list, long list of detailed written questions. this is the caliber of judicial nominees this administration is sending to the senate? folks who couldn't pass a high school civics exam on the constitution and folks who threaten a high school girl when she demands accountability for being attacked? oh, and by the way this brave young lady is outraged that president biden is trying to reward her legal tormenter with a lifetime appointment and that our two democratic colleagues from new hampshire are actually backing this person. she just explained in a courageous op-ed for "the boston globe" how she received rape threats and death threats, how photos of her and her sisters were uploaded to hateful websites, how people took out inappropriate classified ads

using her family's information, all, all because she dared to speak out and seek justice for what she had suffered. this young lady wrote, quote, biden's nomination as well as this nominee's support from senators shaheen and hassan of new hampshire show me and other survivors that they approve of what delaney and the st. paul school put me and my family through. michael delaney's nomination must be withdrawn. that's from the victim. the american people deserve the best and brightest. it appears the democrats are producing something else. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

quorum call: modernize this technology, lift employee morale while stepping up and maintaining its global . yes, we need to reinforce that we are the regulator for aircraft manufacturers, airlines and do insurance to the national airspace. yes, we need to stress continuously safety as second nature for all faa employees. however, to accomplish all of these things we need permanent leadership at the top of the faa to address the challenges we have seen in the last several

years. if confirmed i will draw on a career spanning almost 45 years to be that leader. safety of the traveling public will remain my top priority as it has been for me leading the third largest airport in the world, two two large transit agencies and then women in uniform. if confirmed, i will be guided by the sacrifice and distort advocacy of the families of the 737 air tragedies and perform the administrator role as i performed every leadership role in my professional life with accountability, integrity, transparency, respect, honesty, discipline, and an innovative mindset. i will own well-intentioned failure, and faa employees will own their success. i will quicken the pace of public service and leave the faa better than i found it. my hope is that the committee and the full senate will see the

value of my leadership and multimodal transportation will experience as it deliberates my confirmation. thank you for your consideration. i'm excited about the opportunity to serve, and then please do take your question. >> thank you. thank you mr. washington. i'm convinced somebody who runs the third-largest airport the issues of the faa that deal with air traffic controllers, deal with nextgen systems, deal with the integration of new entrants that you have very good grasp of those issues. you have to is he running a large organization like the airport every day. and my sense is your history of being manager of large organizations with thousands of employees also gives you a very good sense of some of the challenges of moving a big bureaucracy to address the

technology issues of today. that is clearly any organizations challenge today is how do you adapt to innovation and new technology. but i do want to get you on the record as it relates to the aviation safety built on a mentioned that senator wicker and i passed out of committee after response to the max accidents, and the fact that we feel that industry and faa got to cozy, that they moved away from the delegated representative model in which the faa was really in charge and somehow confused the people on the ground as to the level of oversight that was required. our reforms made sure that those employees who were doing this certification work were directly hired, that they were able to communicate directly with the faa, and that they were able to be removed from the faa.

so i want to know first and foremost, do you support that focus? and will when you continuet to implement the oversight of an aggressive faa and holding manufacturers accountable for the working engineering? >> senator, thank you for the question. absolutely, yes. i think administrator dixon and acting administrator nolen have done a great job of sort of footstomping that we are the regulator. i will continue that. i will also continue the implementation of the reform act and look to accelerate the outstanding things that have not been completed. so absolutely, yes. >> one of the things that isn't complete and editing we maye having mr. novak who to talk about this is, just because we want to continue to make progress and he is the safety lead come is a legislation also d

with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: now, mr. president -- excuse me. now, mr. president, on monday evening, reports came out that rupert her dock, owner of fox news, acknowledged in a deposition that hosts of the network promoted the false narrative that donald trump won the 2020 election. asked if he could have stepped in to prevent this, mr. murdoch acknowledged that he could have but chose not to. he could have stepped in but chose not to. and expressed regret for not doing so. to this day several fox news hosts continue promoting the big lie.

they keep spreading the big lie despite mounting evidence that behind the scenes, many top hosts and executives at fox have recognized the stolen election narrative is entirely bogus. nevertheless, they continue broadcasting it all the time. this morning leader jeffries and i wrote a letter to mr. murdoch demanding that he do what he should have done a long time ago, orderer tucker carlson and other hosts on fox news to stop spreading lies about the election. they need to stop giving a platform to dangerous and entirely unfounded conspiracy theories that eat the well spring of our democracy and they need to admit on the air that they were wrong to engage in some negligent and destructive

behavior. sadly, too much damage has already been done to our democracy. a significant segment of voters by some measure as much as 30% of the electorate, still do not believe that the 2020 election was legitimate. and what fox news hosts have done is flat out dangerous, dangerous when people doubt that elections are on the level, that is the beginning of the end of this wonderful democracy because elections are our wellspring. they're the core of what the founding fathers set up. it was the great novelty of the constitution that is spread around the world. and when conspiracy theories like the big lie are allowed to grow, violence can ensue as we all saw for ourselves on january 6. and mr. murdoch's testimony is all the more alarming after

speaker mccarthy is reportedly allowing tucker carlson to review highly sensitive security camera footage of the events surrounding the violent january 6 insurrection. sharing that footage is a grave mistake that risks emboldening the supporters of the big lie. mr. murdoch, fox news executives, and hosts all have a choice, a very important choice. they can continue broadcasting lies about our elections and further erode trust in our democracy or they can admit their mistake, start telling the truth, and move beyond this shameful chapter in their company's history by coming clean with their viewers and with the american people. we hope mr. murdoch heeds our

call. the survival of our democracy is too important. now, on the new buyback bill, later today a bipartisan group of senators including senators brown and vance of ohio and fetterman and casey of pennsylvania, a bipartisan group plan to introduce the railway safety act of 2023. in the aftermath of the terrible accident in east palestine, this is precisely the kind of proposal we need to see in congress, a bipartisan rail safety bill, one that includes provisions relevant to the accident that happened a month ago. i salute them for this fine bipartisan effort and commit to them that i am going to work with the sponsors of the bill to move this bill forward. we should pass it, a bipartisan bill here in the senate and hopefully in the house.

i'll do whatever i can to make sure that happens. the bill is as smart as it is necessary. it provides -- it includes provisions to increase safety protocols for trains with hazardous materials, new requirements for crews operating trains, and increases the fines that can be imposed on rail companies take engage in reckless behavior. and we must do more because the accident like the one in east palestine didn't come out of the blue. on the contrary. the chair of the ntsb said the norfolk southern derailment was 100% preventable. the fault here lies with the rail companies who spent years lobbying to slash crucial safety regulations intended to keep people safe. it has created dangerous culture where the profit motive is king above all others. even above the need to keep people safe. there are countless small towns just like east palestine across

america with rail lines running through them. in my dear state of new york, there are lots of them, particularly in upstate. they're all at greater risk when rail giants work together to slash safety, slash worker compensation, and place shareholder returns above everything else. now on esg. later today my republican colleagues will force a vote here on the floor to reverse a labor department rule allowing retirement tissue disturb-years to use esg -- fid disturb-years to use esg if they so wish when evaluating investments. i will strongly oppose this ill-considered proposal. my reasons which i'll outline in a minute are also outlined in an op-ed in "the wall street journal" editorial page today and i ask unanimous consent it be added to the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: republicans have

been trying mightily to turn esg into their newest dirty little acronym. they're using the same tired attacks we've heard for a while now that this is more wokeness, that it's intrusion into the markets and on and on and on. but republicans or missing or ignoring an important point. nothing in the dol rule imposes a mandate. again, let me repeat that. nothing in the rule they seek to undo imposes a mandate. it merely says if a fiduciary's wish to look at esg factors and if their moafds are shown to be prudent, its -- it's a very narrow rule, then they have the freedom to do so, the freedom to do so. it's literally allowing the free market for do its work. this isn't about ideological preference. it's about looking at the biggest picture possible for investments to minimize -- for investors to minimize risk and maximize returns.

why shouldn't you look the at risk imposed by an increasingly volatile -- by increasingly volatile climate incidence. why shouldn't they consider aging populations or other trends that could impact their portfolio? in fact, more than 90 p.r.c. of s&p 500 companies already publish esg reports today. the present rule gives investment managers an option. the republican rule on the other hand ties investors hands. no freedom for companies to choose what they think is right. republicans talk about their love for the free market, small government, let the private sector do its work. but their obsession with eliminating esg would do the opposite, forcing their own views down the throats of every company and every investor. i say let the market work.

let the market work. mr. and mrs. free market republicans, what the heck are you doing here imposing your views on these companies? if the market naturally leads to the consideration of esg factors, then republicans should practice what they've long preached. get out of the way. aumf, we have a lot to talk about today and there are a lot of very important issues before us. i want to offer a brief but hart felt thanks to chairman menendez and ranking member risch as well as senators kaine and young who have worked so diligently for this proposal for so long, for reaching an agreement to mark up next week a long awaited measure that many of us have waited for. a repeal of the iraq aumf. i'm glad that this effort has been for the most part bipartisan and bicameral. it was bipartisan and bicameral

under full republican control of government, under full democratic control of government, and it is now every bit bipartisan under divided government staying bipartisan. there's support on both sides of the aisle for this proposal because both democrats and republicans have come to the same conclusion. we need to put the iraq war squarely behind us once and for all and doing that we should extinguish the legal authority that initiated the war to begin with. so thank you chairman menendez, ranking member risch for moving forward in this repeal in your committee and again kudos, accolades to senators kaine and young for their great work, too. we haven't yet passed this but their work gives us a real chance to see some light finally at the end of this long tunnel it's my hope we can bring this to the floor during this work period. now, later today, mr. president,

i'll join a number of senate democratic colleagues to talk about a new report that throws a spotlight on the dangerous ways the republican budget proposals would harm average americans. as has been the case so many times this year, this report tells a story of contrasts. on the one hand democrats and president biden have spent the last two years reducing the federal deficit, lowering drug costs, lowering people's energy bills and making sure the wealthiest pay their fair share. but here are just a few of the things the republican budget proposals would do. listen to this. the american people ain't going to like it. republican proposals would push millions of americans off social security benefits and raise the retirement age to 70. republican proposals would privatize medicare which would gut seniors' benefits, threatening their access to guaranteed services. and force those who gut republicans proposals would

cut medicaid by $2.2 trillion and end coverage for tens of millions of americans, especially people with disabilities, seniors, families families -- living on lower incomes. a large part of medicaid goes to those in nursing homes and assisted living and it takes a burden off of 50 and 60-year-olds. and republican proposals would narrow health care eligibility and cut v.a. mandatory funding. and so much more. so much more. these proposals are anathema to even most republicans. that's why we democrats insist that speaker mccarthy answer the one thing we all have been asking. the question we have been asking speaker mccarthy is where is

your plan? we believe a plan this drastic will not get the votes in the republican conference in the house. so, speaker mccarthy, show us your plan. speaker mccarthy, show us your plan. republicans love to taut themselves as the party of the average american, but actions speak loud her than words. when republicans put social security, medicare, medicaid on the chopping block an cut taxes for -- and cut taxes for billionaires and mega corporations, there's no question where they truly stand. with the wealthy, with the very well-connected and with the biggest of corporations. finally, i want to make a quick mention of an important nominee who is testifying before the senate commerce committee. recently president biden announced phil washington is his nominee to lead the faa, the

federal aviation administration. the faa needs to have a leader as soon as possible. americans cannot afford to go through another busy travel season like the one they went through last winter. when you have wide widespread computer failures, not having an faa head is terrible. i look forward to seeing more in the coming weeks, but i thank my colleagues in the commerce committee led by the very capable, very hardworking maria cantwell for holding their hearing today on mr. washington. i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

having someone who has repeated examples of come in difficult construction projects, having that person holding accountable entire investment in transportation is the right direction. >> senator wicker. >> thank you, madam chairwoman and sergeant major washington thank you. i have a great deal of respect for your service with the united states military, and i say that as a veteran who didn't do anything nearly what you are able to do as a command sergeant major. you were nominated in july of 2022, is that correct? >> yes, senator. >> sergeant major, i think it's fair to say that you would already be confirmed if they're not been serious bipartisan

questions about your qualifications and your fitness for office. it gives me no great pleasure to say that. i've been chairman of this committee. i've been ranking them of this committee. i've been on for a long time. what is going on with her r: yes. mr. thune: i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: mr. president, in the state of the union address, the president expressed bipartisan. i said i hope his words would be matched by his actions. after all, he said he would be a president for all men's in his inaugural address, but his first two years were not exactly distinguished by bipartisan. while i was encouraged by the president's words in his state of the union address, as i said, i'm looking for them to be matched by his actions and

renominating a slew of extreme nominees, as the president has done so far this year, is no way to start. so far this year, the president has renominated at least 16 individuals who are unable to get any bipartisan support in the last congress. they included individuals with serious unanswered questions about a possible movement about pushing out officials at the consumer protection financial bureau. lots of them aligned with the radical green new deal, many who have -- multiple abortion extremists, a leftist litigator who called the u.s. senate and the electoral college anti-election institutions and

motivated by his hatred of conservatives. and the list goes on. and there is the nominee who recently appeared in front of the senate conference committee. this is her third nomination to the federal communications commission during the biden administration. her previous two nominations stalled thanks to her inability to garner any bipartisan support. and with good reason. because gigi sohn has to be the poster child for terrible presidential nominees. although i support the biden -- although i suppose the biden nominee who couldn't explain title 2 of the constitution should also be in the running for that title of worst presidential nominee. i have serious policy disagreements with ms. sohn on multiple issues. she not only wants to bring back

the hf handed -- heavy handed of the obama administration, but she wants to have the fcc set data caps. this should discourage broadband investment and threaten u.s. leadership -- or this would discourage, i should say, threaten u.s. leadership in fivg and diminish communication for those in suburban areases and i have -- areas. i have issues on her position on rural broadband. she has supported the use of scarce government dollars to overbill networks in already well-served areas. her hostility to rural broadband led one former democrat senator to ask how democrats can support rural broadband expansion and

also support gigi sohn. but my concerns don't end there. i not only have serious policy disagreements with her, i have serious questions about her character and fitness for the office she is nominated. the federal communications commission has jurisdiction over radio, tv, and the internet. which means it deals with a number of sensitive issues, notably free speech issues. and for that reason it calls for commissioners who are thoughtful, fair, and impartial. ms. sohn is none of these. she is an unpollingic -- unapologetic partisan, knowing to speak despairingly of media outlets, the same outlets she would regulate and politicians who disagree with her. her nomination is opposed by the

left of center policy institute which is due to a pattern of ilf those on the left who dissent from her hard left orthodoxies. end quote. she is the very opposite of fair and impartial. i can think of few candidates who would be more detrimental to the protection of free speech on the public airways. but it doesn'tened there. -- doesn't end there. she raised questions with her political donations to simple democrat senators at the same time that her nomination was before the united states senate. one of those donations was given to a member of the commerce committee, which of course is the committee considering her nomination. mr. president, miss sohn may not have intended to influence

senators considering her nomination, but at the very least her decision to donate to these senators while her nomination is before congress gives the appearance of improprietary and raises serious questions about her judgment. her ethical issues don't end there. she was less than forthcoming with the commerce committee about her time on the word of a -- board of a company found to be operating in violation of copyright laws. and questions remain about how she got the substantial settlement against her company drastically reduced. miss sohn has volunteered to recuse herself if confirmed on a variety of issues related to broadcasting and copyright violations because of her involvement with this company and the settlement. but i'm hard-pressed to understand why we would choose a commissioner who would have to recuse herself from participating in substantial parts of the fcc's work.

mr. president, unfortunately, there's a lot more i can say about the problems with miss sohn's nomination, but i'll stop here. suffice it to say that i cannot think of a less appropriate candidate for this position. instead of continuing to attempt to place a virulent partisan like miss sohn at the fcc, the president should nominate a qualified candidate who will do his or her job in a fair and impartial manner. as i said at the beginning, if the president truly wants to usher in an era of bipartisanship in this period of divided government, he can start by rethinking some of the highly partisan renominations he's made in this congress and consider nominating individuals who are able to gain at least some bipartisan support. mr. president, i yield the floor, and i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

quorum call: i believe that what i'm doing now and what i have done for the last 40 years to include my military career is directly transferable in terms of especially leadership. leadership is a real thing. it is a real skill, motivating people, , inspiring people, getting people to do what they otherwise may not do is a real skill. and i think when we talk about

the faa we are talking about a different kind of organization that needs a different skill set to run it now in this day and time. and i think i bring that to the table. >> thank you very much. >> senator moran. >> chairwoman, thank you. mr. washington thank you for your presence here today. i represent a state in which aviation is hugely important, one of the most significant component of how kansans earn a living. we are know as the air capital of the world. we manufacture general aviation, commercial aircraft, defense. we have many companies that are involved in air safety and navigation aids, and certainly the faa and it administrator is among the most important federal agencies and individuals that have a consequence to my constituents, and to the country in this case. i'm often thought of as a

senator who worries and cares about and works on behalf of aviation because of that manufacturing base and that is certainly a component. i represent a state in which air travel, kansans who fly in kansans who fly from kansas airports matter greatly to me. and so i recognize the value and importance of airports, large and small. yesterday kansas city celebrated the opening of its new airport we are excited about that. wichita has a new airport. eisenhower. i also represent as a syndicator earlier by those who are i think the senator from colorado the importance of the small and regional airports, essential air service reps with the exception of alaska. kansas is most dependent upon essential air service programs to make certain all rule airports are able to remain available and open and the transportation occurs, and we forget sometimes the importance of aviation for bringing a

physician or a patient to a physician, to cropdusting, the weight again we earn our living in kansas in agriculture that airplane matters greatly. so this is hugely important and i've invited every faa administrator since i've been in congress to come to kansas and spend time with me. if you are confirmed i will make that request. the challenges that the faa faces and my you are tremendous, and the leadership needs to be consistent and bold. it needs to be different than it is been in the sense that we that too many changes to many times and we need consistency. i would be delighted to hear how you believe you can manage the magnitude of this job, and you've indicated that to some degree. let me give you an example of and tell me how you would handle this. the aviation industry in recovering from the pandemic

experienced a tremendous backlog, supply chain problems, difficulty in getting answers from the faa but also getting difficulty in getting parts and materials from suppliers. the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. manchin: i rise to warn against our administration's unreleapting campaign to weaken our national security, energy, and economic security to advance truly their environmental and social agenda. the esg rule we're going to vote on later today is just another example of how our administration prioritizes a liberal policy agenda over protecting and growing, protecting and growing the retirement accounts of 150 million americans that will be in jeopardy. our country's already facing economic unseptember, record -- uncertainty, record inflation and increasing energy costs that keep americans up at night and put a squeeze on their pocketbooks. we all see it, whether georgia or west virginia, we're feeling

the same pain. the inflation reduction act was written with the primary goal in mind, which has not been at all promoted from our administration. the inflation reduction act was intended to be, and and it still is, energy security for our nation. if we as a nation are not energy secure, if we have to depend on foreign supply chains, if we're not able to help our allies in need, we will not remain the superpower of the world. and that is what i was concerned about as we worked on the inflation reduction act. we're going to use all of the fossil fuels we have in america to maintain for the next ten years energy independence, energy security, and be able to have the supply chain to help our foreign -- our allies, the e.u. if you want to see the devastating effect of what a war on energy can be, look no further than ukraine, look no farther than the e.u., what has happened over there. we've talked about this and wrote a piece of legislation

that we could walk and chew gum at the same time. we can basically invest and produce more oil, produce more natural gas, basically build pipelines that carry the frowcts much -- the products much saver than rails and roads, we're seeing so much the devastation happening by rails right now, which should be alarming to all of us. basically, to do it it from, and in a much safer way. any denier of any kind, denying the reality of what's needed today, is dangerous. that's what's happening right now. we have a significant investment in states like mine that allow us to produce more energy. here at home. and that means onshoring energy supply chains, creating good-paying jobs, help the economy and start working out of the debt we've accumulated. the administration should be our partners partners in this effort. i always said government should be your partner, not your provider. shouldn't make all your decisions, but have good guardrails on.

when they try to infiltrate, such as esg, the environmental, social guidance this bill intends to do, if you don't weigh that with the geopolitical risks being taken around the world today, that we're involved, being the superpower of the world and defender of freedom and democracy anywhere and every with, in the world, if we don't acknowledge that and allow just one evaluation, i'll guarantee it had will make very unsound decisions, that will be very harmful. i say look no further than the e.u. u.k. has basically thrown all their environmental concerns out the window to survive. they'll burn anything they can get their hands on to keep from freezing, to keep their economy going. that's the geopolitical risk when things are topsy-turvy or unraveled. that's what we're facing. instead of the administration basically continuing to take care of every opportunity we have to be energy secured,

they're investing and twisting the legislative text with cherry-picking the pieces they want to advance. i've been very, very critical, because i've been watching it very carefully, what's going on. we talk about electric vehicles. well, the reason that the inflation reduction act said if we're going to give $7500 to advance people buying electric vehicles, then we should get something as a countries out of it. that means being totally, totally self-sufficient. we should not have to depend on russia for 80% of the supply of the batteries that run the vehicles when we've never in the history of the united states of america relied on any foreign entity or supply chains for us to basically take care of our transportation needs whether it be automobiles, trains, planes, whatever. now, all of a sudden, we want to switch to electric vehicles knowing that we don't supply the main ingredients of running an electric vehicle, which is the battery. makes no sense at all. what we said is basically you will get a credit of $3750 if

you secure the critical minerals it takes to produce that battery in north america or countries that have a free trade agreement with america. we have a dependable, reliable supply chain that wouldn't be choked off by countries, such as china, russia, whether it be iran, north korea, those who don't have any, any relationship to our values whatsoever. and do not wish us well, as i would say. with that, the other 3750, that equals $7500 for a battery would be if the battery is basically manufactured in north america. now, what's wrong with bringing these types of jobs and manufacturing, if it's going to be our transportation mode, don't you think we ought to have a dependable supply chain? that's all. but no, treasury department has made a decision, without even putting the rules and regulations out yet, they made it on whim and wishes what they want to do, after we passed the

legislation we voted for. they basically said we're going to allow people to get the $7500. well, how can you do that, when you have rules and regulations? they cherry-picked, saying we're going to basically say if your income is less than 150, $150,000 or less, or $300,000 total, can you qualify for $7500. if the car is self is within $-- itself is within $55,000 or less for a car or sedan, and a truck $80,000, even more than that, they picked certain luxury vehicles, suv's, not trucks, but they want to classify them as trucks to qualify for $7500, up to $80,000. that's the kind of crap we're putting up with right now, never intended in that bill, was not written in that bill, but that's how it's being interpreted. this is the thing that gets me upset, because i know exactly what was in the bill because we had an awful lot of input in

that bill to do the right thing for our country. it was energy security, supply chains in america that we can count on. it's just crazy. it's against the law. it's everything that we chose to do and everything we voted for. the climate goal, i'm as concerned as anybody about the climate. every american, everybody that loves the opportunities in life we have, the quality of life, should be concerned. but also be a realist. we are not going to be able to be fossil-free for quite some time, but we can sure use our fossil industry in a much cleaner, and we've done that with the ira. we're able to basically have carbon capture sequestration that will take us to another venture we've never seen before. we have methane capturing, which has been harmful from the emission of natural gas. we're capturing all of that now. we're doing everything. but that's not good enough for some on the far left. no, they want to go even furthe,

stop it. i've said you cannot eliminate your way to a clean arer environment. you can innovate your way to it, and that's what america is doing. with the ira, we're bringing more investments from around the world than ever before. it's a transformational bill, if the administration will just do the rules and regulation and administer the intent of the bill. energy security. that is the only purpose we have, and we can do that and be able to mature the new technologies that makes us even much better with our climate. but you can't eliminate something before you have something that will replace it that the american people depend on every day. if they're worried about what's happening, i'm worried too. china is using more and doubling down on fossil. india is using more and doubling down on fossil. if you think they're taking our lead because we put stranglehold on our economy and people and make it difficult for us to survive in this very, very challenging times, i'm sorry, that's not happening. it's not what i see the rest of

the world doing right now. we can lead them with the technology we're creating right here in america. but leadership takes leadership. you have to be a leader to have leadership. and in america we have the opportunity. the inflation reduction act gives us a chance to continue to be the leader and the hope of the world. thank you, mr. president. and i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cruz: mr. president, today is texas independence day. 187 years ago today the texans

declared our independence from mexico and fired a shot for liberty. in the fight for independence from mexico, many would go on to give their lives for liberty at the aloe, including william barret travis, jim bowie, and davy crockett. but shortly afterwards, after losing battle after battle after battle, the texans won a decisive victory and formed the republic of texas. the rest is history. after nine years of the republic, our own nation, texas officially became part of the united states in february of 1846. sam houston, the founding father of the lone star state, was also born 230 years ago tomorrow.

tomorrow is sam houston's birthday. happy birthday. sam houston was an extraordinary american, born in virginia, spent many years in tennessee where he served in the u.s. house of representatives and then became governor of tennessee. in texas he served as commander in chief of the texans army. he led the texas army to victory in the war for texas independence. when texas became an independent nation, sam houston served in the texas house of representatives and then as president of texas. he served in the united states senate and finally as governor of texas. i've always been a bit sad that my colleague senator cornyn happens to occupy the seat that once was held by sam houston.

sam houston was a tireless talented leader and a great statesman who believed passionately in freedom. his words govern wisely and as little as possible remain true today and the lone star state still follows that principle. these great heroes, these great texans risked everything for freedom to make freedom a reality for generations of texans. today we celebrate and honor their sacrifices. many years in the past i've stood on the floor of the senate and read travis' letter from the aloe -- alamo to honor texas independence day. this year senator cornyn will read it since i read it last

year. i also want to take the time today to thank another group of texans for their incredible sacrifices that they have made to the lone star state over the span of 200 years, the texas rangers. 2023 marks 200 years since steven f. austin formed the texas rangers to protect people who had settled in texas to protect them from outlaws and hostile attacks. over the years the duties of the texas rangers expanded and they played a key role in keeping texas safe from stopping an assassination attempt on president taft to tracking down the infamous outlaws bonnie and clyde to doing the hard, painstaking work to arrest the cult leader warren jeffs. the rangers are critical to law and order in texas where rural

counties often don't have the resources they need to investigate crime. the rangers are always ready to step in and serve. there's an old line in the state of texas, one riot, one ranger. that's who the texas rangers are. mr. president, i've been to the texas rangers hall of fame in waco, texas, where the rangers have done a wonderful job are preserving artifacts and telling the story of the rangers. anyone stopping through waco should visit it. it's the -- the story of the rangers is the story of texas, and in many ways the american west. it's a story about seeking freedom and it's a story about courage. that's why today i'm proud to introduce a resolution honoring the bicentennial of the texas rangers and in just a moment to

propound the unanimous consent request in this body. i'm also proud to welcome here major james thomas to the capitol. major thomas has served as a ranger for eight years. and he's the first ranger to have a doctorate. major thomas, thank you for being here today and thank you for your years of distinguished service to the great state of texas. and to all of the rangers as we celebrate with you your 200th anniversary, congratulations and thank you for your incredible service to texas. and to every texan, all 30 million, i wish you a very happy texas independence day. mr. president, as if in legislative session, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the consideration of s. res. 86 which is at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 86

commemorating the bicentennial of the texas ranger device of the texas department of public safety, the oldst state law enforcement -- old estate law enforcement agency in north america and honoring men and women past and present of the rangers. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection, the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. cruz: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. cruz: thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. and i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

and i know you've trained many a soldier in the simulator. my second question for you, as we discussed last year our main concern about the faa's hesitancy to use its civil enforcement authority. there are two issues involving the boeing 737 max that i find just stunning but not in a good way. the first involves evidence of the candlelight as part of congressional investigation, and i have a graphic that is a peer. this is an internal boeing memo documenting plans to avoid using the term mcas outside of the

company and instead merely describe the new function as an addition to the already existing speed trip system. the memo suggests a motive. and and i quote, if we emphase mcas as a new function, there may be greater certification and training impact. end quote. even worse, the memo says this plan to downplay the significance of mcas was approved by an authorized representative which was a boeing employee that faa specifically authorized to conduct certification work on behalf of the agency. this is what i mean, have strong backbone for the pressures from the industry. yet faa never investigated this internal boeing memo and i'm not aware of any faa civil enforcement action against the responsible individuals. as you know pilots inability to arrest the mcas alt elected two deadly max crashes killing 346 people. the people. the other issue is apparently

owing to of the alert was an operable on more than 80% of the 737 max aircraft. in direct violation of the planes faa approved pipe design. yet boeing did not inform the faa era characters or max pilots of this more than a year, and not, and only did so after the first deadly max crash. faulty -- a factor in both max crashes, yet faa as it stands currently does not appear to take in any civil enforcement actions against boeing for this. while i please that apartment transportations inspector general is examine faa's handling of these issues, i fear this speaks to a broader reluctance that faa to use its civil enforcement authority. mr. washington, when you commit to using faa's full civil enforcement authority as appropriate? >> thank you for the question, senator. yes. i think i want to first

acknowledge the role of the families in advocating for holding boeing and faa accountable. and if confirmed i would do and foot stop what is already been conveyed to boeing -- foot stop. i would vitiation of the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. markey: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i come to the floor today to speak in support of the nomination of judge margaret guzman to serve as the united states district judge for the district of massachusetts. yesterday the senate invoked cloture on judge guzman's nomination and in a few minutes, we will vote on her confirmation. margaret guzman currently serves as a massachusetts state district court judge. she is a massachusetts native and a graduate of clark university in worcester and the boston university school of law. in addition to judge guzman's more than 20 years of service on

the massachusetts state judiciary, her three decade career in the law includes work as a solo practitioner handling civil cases and as a public defender representing independent jerchts criminal defendants. judge guzman will therefore bring to the federal bench not only the knowledge and experience of a state court judge who has presided over more than 1,000 cases in her career that have gone to verdict or judgment, but the wisdom of a public defender and solo practitioner joining together precisely the kind of professional legal diversity that the biden administration has made a priority and that the federal judiciary badly needs. but there is more to margaret guzman than this impressive legal resume. her personal story has also shaped her and her outlook from the bench. in 1999, during the challenging

time for her family, she became the guardian and custodian to six of her nieces and nephews. then age 3 to 15. during this time she also took on a caretaker role for her ailing mother. these daunting personal experiences helped judge guzman understand and appreciate the difficulties that so many people, especially those involved in the criminal justice system, face in their day-to-day lives. her lived experience has led her to always show compassion and understanding. to her own clients as a practicing attorney and to the litigants who appear before her as a judge. and to ensure that those who must navigate our judicial system, emily the indigent and marginalized are always treated fairly and with dignity and with respect. and finally judge guzman will be a trailblazer wh. confirmed she will be the first -- when confirmed, she will be the first latino to serve on the u.s.

district court for the district of massachusetts, a long overdue milestone in a state that has nearly one million latinos that call their home out of our seven million residents, one million lat -- one million are latinos. senator warren and i are proud to have recommended judge guzman as a nominee to president biden and proud to have that nomination before the full senate today. judge guzman leaves me with no doubt that she will serve the people of massachusetts with distinction as a federal district court judge. i urge all of my colleagues to vote yes on her confirmation today p she will be a superior district court judge representing our entire country. and with that, mr. president, i yield back.

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

vote:

vote:

vote: vote:

vote:

the vice president: are there any senators in the chamber who wish to vote or change a vote? if not, the yeas are 48 and the nays are 48. the senate being equally divided the vice president votes in the affirmative and the nomination is confirmed.

under the previous order, the motion is to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table and the president will be immediately notified of the senate's action. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby bring to a close debate on the nomination of executive calendar number 24, colleen r. lawless, of illinois, to be united states district judge for the central district of illinois. the presiding officer: the question is, is it the sense of the senate that debate on the nomination of colleen r. lawless, of illinois, to be the united states district judge for the central district of illinois, shall be brought to a

close? the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. the clerk will call the roll. vote dlvote: vote:

vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: the graser 53, the nays are 43. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: the judiciary, colleen r. lawless of illinois i will to be united states district judge for the central

district of illinois.

pandemic likely caused by chinese lab leaked this coming from christopher wray. what did he say? >> the story was written by my colleague and ipa we've been working the story for like three years now. christopher wray for the publicly knowledge the fbi's position its assessment is that

the pandemic was caused, likely caused by a lab leak. found it interesting he decided that publicly. up until now the community biden administration has given the overview of where the intelligence community is but none of the individual agencies have knowledge where they are. he went public on saying we think this is probably atlantic. >> is it in part because of the story you published about the energy department assessment, same assessments of it being a maverick? >> i think does a direct correlation and perhaps we don't know for sure but maybe you want to get out and say hey we think this and without this became his assessment before the energy department and we have expertise in this area. >> you and your colleague michael broke this story this weekend. why would the energy department looking into the lab leak? why are they doing a separate assessment? ..

>> guest: the sunny weapons proliferation programs of other countries, will be and find out what you are here for years about all of us he's not just in nuclear in chemical and biological weapons about all of expertise out there is crazy outside to say what is the energy is this but the fbi and the energy habit c1 how many agencies are looking into the origin of transport. >> guest: is not always a space which will you as a

college's unit all don't have expertise c1 how is nine we know were in wujan now. >> guest: the intelligence community does not have any final conclusions: anybody tells you they know where this comes from is wrong. far as the intelligence community's agencies that with low confidence . you have to in fbi energy lean towards the last week. you undecided. we know what site once c1 john kirby making this point that they don't have a definitive conclusion yet. it's 30 seconds from his press conference monday.

>> i have where we are process. the intelligence community and rest of the is still looking at this. there's not been a definitive conclusion so i don't saying or should i have to and pressure recording a preliminary indication here. what the president wants is fax. you want to ask and that's what we're doing and for just not there and it we have something that is ready to be briefed to the people and congress wewill do that . >> host: john purdy on monday wall street journal, what will it take to get your government theredo a certain number of these agencies have to agree ? >> guest: you have to get a consensus with 18 agencies and billions of dollars but in the report to the office of national intelligence did,

to get more answers were going to need more answers from china, more cooperation and more information to anybody, maybe people in china broadly speaking but it's still a mystery which is my my colleague michael and i is important to keep this. >> host: fact that they released this with low confidence, like that he ? c5 there's low, medium and high confidence and is a structured terms. they don't. (need the information is incomplete and not conclusive that we don't know what the intelligence was the energy from saying we know to witness us more likely than not it was a laughably c1 how long have you been looking? >> guest: three years. >> host: do you mean towards an answer yourself?

>> guest: on not agnostic, and order. complex scientific issues in the past i haven't seen one piece of evidence or another that makes me say it. on the other hand as i sent a couple of timesalready there are people on capitol hill and elsewhere that say this was all have the . for any scientist to say for sure, i don't know. >> host: or other origin stories that can be discarded at this point ? >> guest: in the follow up on our story that broke on sunday i don't think enough attention has been given to what we reported that the original tumor 25 report by the director of national intelligence said this is not a deliberately engineered biological weapon and in the follow-up report find the party that report reaffirms that consensus even more

strongly so not a biological weapon. >> host: what should wedraw from this ? because of where the intelligence community is right now and these threats. they're leaning towardsthat this was a mistake . >> guest: bad bio security procedures, shoddy, what have you there's chatter on a and elsewhere that is literally created chinese biological and they have consensus they do not believe that's the case. >> host: we invite callers to join the conversation, reporter with the wall street journal, how long have you been wall street journal? the four years. before that happily at greater. >> host: back at the wall street journal after a long absence . do were easy to import the

8001 independence 8002. jeff is up first frombayville new york independent, good morning . >> caller: thank you for taking my call. i'd like to point out that the origin of covid in the sense of whether or not it was an infectious disease process that gave rise to transport her to a laughably is not really very clearly eliminated when these discussions occur.people often falsely equal to allow week with the inference that that means it was a genetically engineered virus so the scientific evidence shows overwhelmingly it was 09 infection not biological easier presently because there is no genetic engineering technology

available that can possibly have created sars transport to. from any of the viruses that weknow that our wildcat viruses in nature , so it's a misnomer and it does an injustice because we just continue to find the truth as to why this occurred, where not going to be into the hands the next we need the cystitis units we need all the proper safeguards in my last pictureis say . we need to continue this week distant to the of this would be a tragedy. >> host: just in new york. >> guest: the caller listed once, we find out how this candidate started working in future months. there was an opinion piece in

the washington post the that said either way we should you both things, improve our lives. our monitoring because we don't know, we may never know what we need to stop the next . in terms of general engineering, the consciously saved rsis of the virus. i do what you are as you generally engineer something the nose first others can't tell you they want to, even if it wasn't generally engineer will virus was modified, passed through what are called mice and i'm not saying this happened but then release have been allowed without being generally easier. >> host: have you been to china to do recording over there ? >> guest: but my colleagues from the wall street journal have almost all the way to the lab where they collected

samples from. i think he got stopped. >> host: had anybody been to the wujan lab? >> guest: i'm pretty sure no reporters have been there since the pandemic began. scientists in america that their study there for the c1 t yet, you are on. >> caller: blend that had a gentleman named mister moynihan investigating frequently but they came across a department of justice that dena chemistry from harvard was arrested in december 20 two chinese nationalist working. he allowed since 2014. these lifetimesout last . you need to look at department of justice website

. donald trump also in february 2020, thank you for doing research. like. >> guest: i'm honestly only vaguely aware that case and it may have been one-of-a-kind pieces the justice brought which was later dismissed. we have to be careful, getting off? michael and i prepared to do this story was sent off a bombshell in bc on of the lab the label in the also new or were concerned that i'm concerned generally the investigation issue does not become anti-china because that would be bad. his heart, covering the subject is hard enough without an class running line 4, paragraphs .

>> caller: thank you. i'm curious.

generated by the past two presidential administrations. executive overreach has become synonymous with the biden administration. it's created a desperate need for oversight from our republican colleagues here in the senate and certainly that's occurring across the way in the house of representatives. we've seen overreach from the biden administration in areas that impact just about everything, whether it's how we heat our homes or whether we're going to have a gas stove or

not, how we fuel our cars, how we educate our children, how we move goods across the country, how we spend private investments, how we enforce law and order, or even how we define water. plain and simple, president biden and unelected bureaucrats in washington are continuously overstepping their boundaries and creating hurdles and interfering with how we live our everyday lives. on top of this, congressional democrats continue to obstruct critical oversight efforts on these harmful policies, and they're blocking opportunities for the american people to hear directly from the administration about policies that impact us directly every day. it's kind of -- it's not kind of. it's very unfair and it's a disservice to folks across the nation who want the leaders to be held accountable. in the face of such rampant overreach, my senate republican colleagues and i continue to push back on president biden's

out-of-touch mandates and bring the voices of american people to the table. my colleague from tennessee, senator bill hagerty, has introduced a bill that blocks washington, d.c.'s dangerous and irresponsible rewrite of their criminal code that lessens punishment for violent crimes. my colleague from south dakota, senator john thune, has introduced a bill to prohibit the president from canceling outstanding federal student loan obligations due to a national emergency. another tool at our behest against this unprecedented expansion of the administrative state is called the congressional review act of disapproval. it sounds kind of bureaucrat and it is but it can be very, very meaningful. as you -- as you know, congress can vote to overturn rules from the executive branch that are classified as overreach. my colleague from indiana,

senator mike braun has introduced a cra that would block a recent department of labor rule that would have fiduciaries to consider governance factors. i don't know about you, but most people who are retired and beginning to retire and looking at their accounts they're going to be living on, they would rather see their returns in the most profitable way possible and in the end that's better for all of us. this effort would full fie the department of labor and prevent similar rules from taking affect. it has similar impacts on states like mine by steering capital away from the american energy sector. we should invest in the american energy sector.

i have introduced my own cra in response to a repeated overreach by the biden administration. last december the biden administration launched its latest round of regulatory overreach through waters of the u.s. it marked the third major change to the definition of what waters are in this country and which ones are subject to federal jurisdiction. this is is the third time it -- this is the third time it changed over eight years. if you're in agriculture or con have it -- construction, big impacts. it's very overreaching. it's misguided and it's not necessary. even worse, it places an undo burden directly on america's farmers, on america's rachers, on -- ranchers, on america's miners and landowners it it

repeals the 2020 2020 water protection rule that provided predictability and certainty and protected our waters and most importantly, it properly implemented the clean water act by protecting our waterways through cooperation with states and the federal government. you may hear that without this new definition some waters may go unprotected. well, ths not true. to -- that's not true. it's an insult to our state officials who know their local ecosystems and have jurs dictio- jurisdiction over territorial waters. it requires more people to get more permits and causes fear of epa enforcement actions and frivolous lawsuits from environmental groups. this all comes at a time when we

should be streamlining our nation's permitting and review process. instead, the administration is using their classic overreach tactics to make more projects subject to federal permitting requirements and add more bureaucratic red tape. my cra gives every member of congress the chance to stand with our farmers, ranchers, our landowners, our miners and our builders. it's also a chance for us to protect future transportation, infrastructure and energy projects all across the country. while for this particular rule -- and cra -- we've seen widespread support in both the house and senate in an effort to overturn this rule. i look forward to having that here on the senate floor. as ranking member of the epw committee, i made it a priority to ensure that the historic investments we made in infrastructure are being implemented as congress

intended. the infrastructure investment and jobs act, and we call it here iija. we have an acronym for everything, that we passed in 2021, and the president signed, will benefit all communities by providing our states with the flexibility needed to upgrade, expand, or modernize our nation's core transportation infrastructure. that's why ensuring that the letter of law is followed, as we intended it, will be and has continued to be a high priority for me. we do not want to miss this moment. that being said, the federal highways information, or frwa, released a memo a little over a year ago in december, that found its way into numerous documents attempting to enact a wish list of policies we -- and when i say we, i mean the bipartisan epw committee, intentionally

negotiated out of the final law. i, along with the infrastructure committee chair sam graves, had announced our intention to formerly -- formally challenge this rule. the fhwa heard what we were saying and what our state transportation folks were saying. last friday fhwa released a substantially revised replacement, reversing course from the september 21, memo. it removes the policies that congress rejected because it's not administrative policy, it's congressional law and issued a revised memo and the administration basically admitted that they wering wrongn their attempts to undo the flexibility provided to states in the law by establishing preferences for certain policies, building highways, maintaining highways, creating bike paths, however you want to do your state is different in nevada, it's different in

indiana, it's different in west virginia. our states need to have flexibility. this is a good example, i think, of the biden administration knows they were overreaching and they actually corrected that and i'm grateful for that. as my colleagues highlight, the continuous level of overreach this administration has grown comfortable with, i would suggest the president reference a u.s. historic book and leave the legislating to the legitimators. until then my colleagues and i will continue to stand for the way of life outside the beltway and provide solutions that strengthen our families, communities instead of having setbacks. with that, i would yield the floor and i see my fellow member of the senate from indiana, senator braun is here, to talk on this topic. thanks for coming. mr. braun: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from indiana. mr. braun: i come here today, we're going to vote later this afternoon on something else that involves overreach of the federal government.

i witnessed it a lot. i've been here just a little over four years. i jump in, i come from main street america when it just doesn't make sense. the last time i was engaged in this was at the tail end of the covid saga when a rule from the biden administration was going to force a vaccination on all americans working if you work for a company down to 100 employees. that's a lot of people. we weighed in on that. it was bipartisan. the supreme court jumped in a week and a half or two later, and thank goodness, said enough is enough there. here we're talking about something you hear the acronym esg, environment, social and governance. in a nutshell that just means now, when we're looking at hard-earned money that you save,

your retirement, let me tell you how much it's going to impact, 11.7 trillion. 152 million americans. and i really am okay with what you want to invest in as long as it's going to push the best rate of return. now, over the long run, if something changes, that's different. but currently this rule now allows the criterion of using those esg goals, which would be simplified being able to push a certain debt debt ideology, a cn point of view into how requirement earnings are invested. this is a fiduciary things. most people when they give money to their financial advisor,

their broker, you would think they would think that it's going to to get the best return. bloomberg tracted it if you actually invested according to ideology over the past few years, it would have been the difference between an 8.9% return and 6.3% return. imagine trying to explain that in a way where someone trusted that you would be doing the best thing with their hard-earned money to get the best financial return. that is nearly a 30% cut in what you would have had otherwise. i've got to believe everybody would be thoroughly upset with that. it's a step too far. it's injecting the federal government in how it's

enterprised over the last couple of years into many different arenas. i think it's a wakeup call. we're going to vote on this later this afternoon. everyone will be able to, i think hopefully vote in a way that they would tell their constituents would make sense, give me the best rate of return. figure out all of this other stuff here on the legislative floor but don't make an impact hard-earned retirement funds. the house just last night passed this in a bipartisan way. hopefully we will do the same thing later this p afternoon. -- later this afternoon. it makes sense to hoosiers, it makes sense to americans. madam president, i yield the floor.

a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. barrasso: madam president, i come to the floor today to talk about the misguided priorities of the democrat majority in the senate. so far this year senate democrats have ignored the most important issues that are facing our country. democrats are focused on cramming through joe biden's radical left-wing nominees. looking at the senate floor, you would think that everyone is going well in the world and well across the united states. well, i have news for joe biden and for chuck schumer, people all across this country are not happy. countries are -- the country is heading this the wrong direction. in meeting after meeting in wyoming last week as i traveled the state, people talked about sky-high prices, the sky-high debt we have as a nation and

china's spy balloon. under joe biden america is in crisis. an inflation crisis, energy crisis, crime crisis, and a spending crisis. inflation went up again in january. the numbers came out friday. the headlines don't lie. they said inflation remains entrenched -- entrenched and that's what people are feeling all across the country. drugs are flowing across the southern southern border, when the numbers are like they are in my state, that tells you every state is a border state. crime is out of control and democrats' strongholds in cities like washington, d.c., we see it here, we saw yesterday in chicago, the mayor didn't even make it through the primary process. didn't finish first, didn't finish second, not even in the run-off and according to people

i talked to in that state the number one issue is crime, the number two issue ask crime and the number three issue is crimea and reportedly president xi is going to moscow. why? to strengthen his ties with vladimir putin. the failures go on and on with what this administration is facing and for the most part caused and created. democrats are doing nothing to deal with him. there's a lot we should be doing in the united states senate. we should be enleashing american energy. -- unleashing american energy many we should stop the reckless tax and spending that democrats continue to promote. we should secure the border, stop the flow of illegal drugs, crack down on the criminals terrorizing communities. we need to put china on notice. yet, the democrats are distrtd disinterested and ignoring it

all. senate republicans will force a vote to help people. we will vote to help protect america's retirement savings accounts. joe biden continues to spread lies about social security and medicare. he is so concerned about people's retirements, he needs to look in the mirror. the only politician meddling with people's retirement is joe biden. that's right. the the only politician meddling with people's retirements is president biden. the biden administration wants retirement plan managers to invest people's retirement funds based not on the best return for the money, no. based on woke ideology. democrats want this so they can funnel trillions of dollars to their climate elites. it's called esg, environmental, social, governance. a more accurate name might be

extreme socialist greed. now, this is going to rob american people of a lot of people. esg is legalized theft from american workers. numerous studies have shown that these woke investments are bad investments. people wanting to maximize their savings and their investment and the investment income to benefit their families long term are being held hostage by these new regulations coming out of the joe biden administration. bloomberg analysts looked at these numbers of people that invest in this esg, and what did they find? well, they found that the return for the esg investments fell way behind the general market. way behind. year after year, that means less money growing in your retirement account. this is a slap in the face to the working men and women of the

country who are trying to save for their future. now, i'm proud of the state of wyoming because we've actually sued the biden administration to stop this. retirement accounts are not for promoting a political agenda. they're for helping people retire with money in the bank. they're about giving people some safety, some security, and peace of mind. if woke investors want to promote political agenda, then they should do it with their own money, not force investors to do so. the only people who benefit from esg are the climb elites and the professional -- the climate elites and the professional activists. everyone else loses money. let me point out that the analysts from bloomberg not only said the return is much less, but the expenses of investing in those programs, with the management fees, is much higher. so, you get hammered at both

ends, lower returns and higher expenses. so, esg means you can't invest in things like oil, gas, coal, american energy, it means less american energy for people in our country, it means higher energy costs, means fewer energy jobs, less money in people's retirement accounts. this is an all-around disaster for the american people, but it's what the biden administration and so many democrats want. democrats know the american people would never vote for this, would never become law. that's why the democrats attack american energy through the bureaucracy and through the courts, through their wealthy friends on wall street. now, democrats have friends on wall street who have been doing their bidding for years. a couple of examples, goldman sachs, morgan stanley, chase, wells-fargo, citibank, they refuse to finance oil and gas projects near the arkt ict.

citibank re-- arctic. hsbc refuses to fund any oil, gas, or coal projects. the american people need to remember this next time democrats say they owe poe the big banks -- oppose the big banks. democrats and big banks are practically joined in the hip. citigroup won't give a loan to a coal company, yet siti bank is happy to do business with china. some chinese companies have higher esg scores, including those using slave labor. it tells you esg is a scam by the radical left. now joe biden wants the esg scam at every bank in america, every bank, every savings account, every investment. that would mean trillions of dollars funneled to politically driven, woke investments. people who have saved their entire lives under this democrat scheme would actually retire with less money in their

accounts. i'm going to join all of my republican colleagues today to vote to stop this. republicans are ready to stand up and say no to joe biden and the administration in this reckless policy. no more command and control from biden's bureaucratic bullies. no defunding american energy. no to woke corporations. and no to democrats' meddling in people's retirements. thank you, madam president. i yield the floor. mrs. fischer: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from nebraska. mrs. fischer: thank you, madam president. my colleagues are here today to shine a light on the biden administration's obsession with unhelpful and unnecessary regulations. we know that excessive red tape deaf states our -- devastates our economy and it harms communities. that's why the president's

agenda needs to be stopped, and we can do it right here in the united states senate. i've introduced legislation this congress to push back against the administration's misguided rule intensifying emission standards for heavy-duty vehicles. in my home state of nebraska, one in 12 people are employed by the trucking industry, making it the third largest industry in our state. in the united states as a whole, over three million people work as commercial truckers, and american truckers transported almost 11 billion tons of freight in the year twoism. 2021. consumers all across the country rely on trucking to bring goods to markets quickly and affordably. truckers play an essential role

in our communities and our economy, but the biden administration doesn't seem to agree with that fact. instead, our president routinely chooses to prioritize excessive environmental regulations over people's livelihoods. nowhere is this clearer than in the environmental protection agency's recent rule establishing stricter emission standards for heavy duty vehicles. the biden administration, well, they want to saddle hard-working drivers with an onerous regulation that's going to increase vehicle costs and it's going to deal a serious blow to good-paying jobs. this aggressive epa rule will hit mom-and-pop truck operations the hardest. for trucks to be compliant with the new overregulation, it will be cost prohibitive for small business owners.

don't get me wrong -- nebraskans, over a quarter of whom work jobs related to agriculture, care deeply about environmental stewardship. but the epa's emissions rule wouldn't actually accomplish its stated purpose of cleaning up our environment. the epa itself estimates that the technology required to meet this new rule's standards will cost between approximately $2500 and $8500 per vehicle. this means that many truckers will choose to keep their old, heavy-duty vehicles, which do have higher rates of emissions, instead of buying vehicles that are both affordable and more climate conscious.

during a period of high inflation and supply chain disruptions, the last thing that this country needs is more expensive freight costs and fewer truckers. congress needs to vote to overturn this excessive rule, one that will hurt both the transportation sector and consumers at large. the bottom line is that we have an obligation to stand up and push back against out-of-touch far-left policies. i appreciate the work so many of my colleagues are doing towards this goal. senator braun, he's leading the charge to overturn the president's new environmental, social, and corporate governance rule on retirement funds. the biden administration should not be if playing games --

should not be playing games with americans' hard-earned money like this. my friend, senator tuberville, he's pushing back on the administration's veterans affair rule that would funnel taxpayer dollars toward abortions. and as senator capito shared earlier, she is leading us in resisting the obama-era wotus rule implemented late last year, the wotus rule, which i've been fighting sips since my firstm here in the united states senate, is the federal government at its worse. it -- at its worst. it encroaches on families, on communities, and on businesses by its brazen intrusion into states' precious water resources. the biden administration has a track record of prioritizing politically charged regulations

over the financial and the economic well-being of americans. my colleagues and i are here to stop these rules from taking effect on more and more americans' lives before they damage the livelihoods of even more nebraskans and more americans across this country. as long as i have the honor of working in the united states senate, i will continue to oppose radical, far-left rules, and promote commonsense solutions instead. my colleagues on both sides of the aisle should join me. thank you, madam president. i yield the floor. mrs. blackburn: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mrs. blackburn: thank you, madam president. i ask unanimous consent that senator young and i each be able to speak for five minutes prior

to the scheduled vote. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. blackburn: thank you, madam president. last year, senate democrats used the budget rec onle isiation process to pass the inflation reduction act. they did this without a single republican vote. included in that monstrosity was an $80 billion payday for the internal revenue service. more than 6.5 the times the amount of funding that the irs would normally receive in any given year. after this happened, i had a lot of at tennesseans ask me, whys the irs need that much money? many of them are really fearful that the irs is going to come after them and their small businesses. you know what -- they're probably right. the biden administration insists they're going to use this $80 billion to help the irs answer the telephones because

they're only answered about 20% of the time. but we know that it means more audits for small businesses, small-business manufacturers, and main-street merchants. this administration has never once passed up an opportunity to expand government power, and they aren't about to stop now. we know that this expansion will lead to needless harassment. that's the nature of big government. but i'm equally concerned about the sheer amount of data the irs has scraped up during investigations. the irs already collects far more data than they need. in 2022, they hired a contractor to block taxpayer from accessing government services unless they handed over sensitive biometric data. they already have your name, address, and social security

number, but now they want to collect a picture of your government i.d., your fingerprints and a selfie photo. why in the world would we allow the irs to collect this data? the answer, of course, is that most people wouldn't let them have it if they had a choice, but the irs wants to force this on the american people. to make matters worse, we know that they are completely incapable of protecting the data that they have access to. let's just take a moment and look at some of the instances where the irs has shown their disregard for your data security. in 2015, hackers exposed more than 700,000 taxpayers' social security numbers. in 2017, the irs notified

congress that hackers had access to more than 100,000 federal student aid accounts. in 2021, the infamous propublica leak unlawfully exposed financial information on many prominent americans. and in 2022, the 99-t leak exposed the sensitive info of more than 100,000 taxpayers, not once, but twice. even on a good day, the top men at the irs have refused to prioritize data security. they still haven't responded to inquiries i made about what security protocols they implemented as part of their work-from-home policy. the irs should be collecting the minimum amount of information required to do their job and they should be doing all they

can to protect your information. instead this agency has a giant flashing sign out front inviting hackers to browse their files. these bad actors already know the irs is vulnerable and we will not be able to control that threat until the irs abandons its latest power grab and prioritizes data security. this is what the biden administration needs to focus on before it spends $80 billion taxpayer dollars harassing the american people. i yield the floor.

a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from indiana. mr. young: in recent weeks the biden administration has reassured americans that our economy is historically strong and that their policies are the reason why. but far away from the white house most people, i have to say, are unpersuaded. the cost of their bills and the state of their savings simply don't match the rosy picture that the administration presents. there's a reason the rhetoric of this administration is so disconnected from the reality. this administration claims it's investing in america's economy, but at the same time it strangles our economy with unnecessary and ideologically motivated rules and regulations.

just ask hoosier farmers. the latest in their deluge of red tape, the rewritten waters of the united states rule will make it much harder and significantly more expensive for our farmers to help feed the rest of the world. look at what they had to navigate over just the past few years. a global pandemic, a supply chain stoppage, inflation, and the increased price of inputs. in an industry that's so fundamental to america's prosperity, where margins have for generations been razor thin, why would we create even more uncertainty for our nation's farmers? because the priorities of environmental ideologues in washington, d.c. are evidently more important to this administration than the needs of the people who actually work the

land, the people who provide our food supply. this isn't part of an agenda that helps americans. no. it's a bare knuckle attempt to expand the reach of the federal government over the lives and activities of regular people. now my office has recently heard from james ramsey from rush county, indiana. james and his family farm corn, soybeans, and wheat in the east central part of our state. they've been farming and maintaining the same land since the 1860's. they also run a small business helping farmers and counties with drainage installation, ditchdigging, and land clearing, improving water quality and soil health in the process. they started out doing minor projects back in 2008, but they've since grown acquiring their own wheel tremplegger and commercial -- trencher and commercial plow.

through hard work and a lot of planning, james, his father, his brother, and others have expanded this business. they have clients now throughout the state of indiana and they have eight employees. it's a really american success story, exactly the time wotus won't interrupt. businesses and farmers across the country know what this newly revised overly complex rules will accomplish. they'll accomplished increased overhead, prolonged permitting processes, slowed or even stopped projects, and ultimately laid off employees. james has never had to let a single employee go because of a lack of demand. instead he regards his employees as family. and they have their own families to feed. they have their own mortgages to pay, their own homes to heat. and james understands this. this is why one of his greatest

fears is having to one day sometime soon perhaps walk into his shop and tell one of his guys he can't keep everyone because of these new regulations. if this new definition of wotus stands, that's a strong chance of becoming reality. james might have to make that walk that he so wants to avoid. listen, our farmers don't want to clear the land or harm its creeks and streams. they want to take care of the soil. what they've been doing for generations. they want to continue to work hard on behalf of their families and ensure that they can continue in this noble profession that their fathers and grandfathers have been involved in. they want to pass this on to their children and grandchildren. but i have to say our farmers also know quite a bit more about their land than the bureaucrats who wrote this wotus rule.

as james pointed out, much of indiana is not naturally drained. because it was cleared long ago, rain empties into manmade streams and tile drains. we have the highest percentage of subsurface drainage in the entire nation in the state of indiana. drainage systems are central to the productivity of our farms. tangling them up with greater federal regulation could be disaster for our agriculture industry. farmers like james have been through so much over the past few years. they've hung in there nonetheless. now just when they think they've turned another corner, wotus resurfaces. and as james said, there's a real fear these new regulations will have an even greater long-term impact than the pandemic or supply chain crisis. right now our farmers are asking

for clarity, for an even-handed approach to regulation that at once respects the environment and allows them to continue to grow. if the biden administration is serious, if they're genuinely serious about strengthening the economy, they will reverse course and give our farmers this clarity and certainty they so desire. mr. president, we should rescind this rule. madam president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of executive calendar number 35, jonathan james canada grey of michigan to be united states district judge for the eastern district of michigan signed by 17 senators.

the presiding officer: by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived. the question is, is it the sense of the senate that debate on the nomination of jonathan james canada grey of michigan to be united states district judge for the eastern district of michigan shall be brought to a close. the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote: