[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] ♪♪ >> since 1979 in partnership with the cable industry, c-span has provided complete coverage from the house and senate floors to congressional hearings, party briefings and committee meetings, c-span gives you a front row seat to

how issues are debated and decided, with no commentary, no interruption and completely unfiltered. c-span, your unfiltered view of government. >> today on capitol hill, senate lawmakers wrap up consideration of a bill reauthorizing federal grant programs for local firefighters, for training, equipment, and staffing. votes have been set for 11:15 a.m. eastern time on amendments to the bill. phenal passage is expected around 1:45 this afternoon. now, live to the floor of the u.s. senate here on c-span2. the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. the chaplain, the reverend dr. barry black, will open the senate in prayer.

the chaplain: let us pray. eternal god, who rules the raging of the sea, we exalt your name because in spite of the chaos and confusion in our world, you remain the king of kings and the lord of lords. we will continue to praise you for as long as you permit us to borrow our heartbeats from you. lord, use our lawmakers to transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows. lift up the heads of all who place their trust in you. and lord, we praise you for the life and legacy of dr. charles

stanley who was in touch with you enabling him to touch the lives of millions. we pray in your loving name. amen. the presiding officer: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to the 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: the clerk will read a communication to the senate. the clerk: washington d.c., april 20, 2023. to the senate: under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable raphael g. warnock, a senator from the state of georgia, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: patty murray, president

pro tempore. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the senate leadership time is reserved.

>> congress and administrations

working on agreement to pay the bills for them to reduce the debt moving forward and the best way to result this for congress and the administration to return to normal negotiating process. in other words to do her job. year after year relying on continued resolutions to fund government operations so i hope the department works with us to come up with a more prudent plan to come up with reductions and draw back and glad to see west virginia and the budget

department and requesting funding for the deployment and storage. methane emissions and energy resources and laboratory headquarters in morgan town and brian anderson and his team the dedication to e inrig visit -- reinvigorate and the working group on coal and power plant. we have a lot to discuss this morning madame secretary. >> thank you, mr. chairman.

not worrying about energy markets and lowering the country and take any president would want to build on that energy success and no, not joe biden and surveillance rending their gains and attacking america's oil, natural gas and coal producers at every turn and place he could. political activists and providing accessible, affordable, reliable energy.

record high energy prices and stubbornly high inflation. the president with the price of energy and the press of home heating oil and decent fuel and up 49% and price of electricity up 23%.

john kerry suggested seven or eight years and this is a fantasy. the only real question here is following up with president biden's agenda and american's will become even more dependent on china and russia. access to that and president biden getting minerals from why

china. china-linked company and last month political magazine quoted and the biden agenda and scientists at the department of many americans and contributed to the deaths of 1.1 million americans and nearly 7 million people worldwide and china declares in our energy policy and they shouldn't be. at a minimum, china-linked

companies and the companies and president biden ordering to the american people. thank you, mr. chairman. the department of energy and latest budget request for the president and over the last two years and the department meeting many of our nation's biggest needs from the energy needs and the development through maintaining and taking critical steps to ensure the united states can outmaneuver and

outcompete. the president's budget request for 2024 the challenges and russia's barbaric war in ukraine and energy security risks inherent in overreliance on any one source of energy and higher energy costs and in response we are pursuing a strategy of energy security and energy diversity and congress' efforts in the united states for the most attractive destinations

with the clean technologies and hydrogen and advanced nuclear and decarbonization technologies like carbon with increasing solutions and better weathering disruptions and at the same time engaging in long overdue efforts for the technologies here at home. no adversaries will be able to threaten our access to energy. this is all to the great benefit of the american worker.

the battery in the solar wind supply chain reached $100 billion and supplying thousands of new jobs and also to the benefit of course to the american consumer that can take pride in purchasing technology stamped made in the usa. still we know that this strategy of energy diversity depends on continuous innovation and the more we can improve the performance and reduce the cost of technologies, the faster we can deploy them and lower bills will be for american families. the budget is bolstering a wide range of energy solutions and includes funding for office of fossil energy and carbon management to advance a suite of ccus technologies and technologies to recover critical minerals from carbon sources. budget request expands funding for office of science. among other things that would allow us to ramp up isotope

program, which is critical to both economic competitiveness and defense and medical solutions and also includes over $1 billion -- issue of avoiding, yesterday speaker mccarthy made it clear how unprepared republicans in the house are to resolve our nation's default crisis. with a default approaching speaker mccarthy yesterday capitulated to the maga right and rolled out a partisan wish list masquerading as legislation. this maga wish list has no chance of moving forward in the senate, and it doesn't move us any closer than we were yesterday to avoiding default. to quote one hard-right conservative house republican, quote, the leadership just picked up the house freedom caucus plan and helped us convert it into the legislative text. that shows you how hard right

this wish list truly is. again, let me quote one of the most well-known hard-right conservatives in the house, quote, the leadership just picked up the house freedom caucus plan and helped us convert it into the legislative text. wow. that's what leader mccarthy is doing. maybe not as a surprise after what happened with the many votes he needed to get elected. americans who look at this package will overwhelmingly agree, the biggest losers in speaker mccarthy -- the biggest losers in speaker mccarthy's agenda are parents, kids, law enforcement, small businesses, countless others who work hard every single day to make ends meet. want to talk about reducing debt? wall street billionaires are not asked to pay even a nickel under mccarthy's bill. hurt the parents, hurt the kids,

hurt law enforcement, hurd small businesses -- hurt small businesses, but leave the billionaires alone? that's what mccarthy's doing over there in the house. let me say that again. the biggest losers in speaker mccarthy's blueprint are parents, kids, law enforcement, small businesses, countless others who work hard every single day to make ends meet. wall street billionaires are not being asked to pay a nickel. americans will not accept this transparently unfair and draconian package. if these maga cuts become law, it will decimate everything, ranging from food nutrition programs to funding for mental health, opioid addiction, child care, parents who need help buying groceries and baby formulas will see their out-of-pocket costs go up. it is so cruel and heartless that parents, who get $6 a person a day to feed their families, would see it disappear. can you imagine? can you imagine? if this maga wish list becomes

law, untold thousands of clean energy and advanced manufacturing jobs could leave our shores and go to china. this maga wish list will also make americans less safe, by slashing funding for the department of justice by billions of dollars and eliminating tens of thousands of law enforcement positions nationwide. we hear a lot of talk from the other side about helping the police. this helps defund them. this legislation. donald trump called for republicans to defund law enforcement, and now republicans seem to be following through. the wish list will further punish middle-class taxpayers and reward tax dheets by slashing what is there's to go after the ultrarich tax cheats, while raising taxes on the middle class by depriving them of many of the new tax credits that we passed, we democrats passed during the last congress. you heard me right. this maga wish list punishes

middle-class taxpayers while rewarding ultra-rich tax cheats. it's clear what's going on. speaker mccarthy cobbled together extraneous measures to pass something, anything, no matter how extreme. these measures, and they're truly extreme, have no place in a debate about avoiding default. if republicans truly wish to sell their extreme agenda to the american people, they had should not do so in the middle of discussions to avoid default. there's a time and place to debate that. not during this debate, because what they're doing is dangerous to the country. in the meantime, the solution to resolving the debt limit crisis has not changed. if republicans want to avoid causing a first ever default, they should do what we did three times under donald trump, twice under president biden, work with democrats to avoid default without brinksmanship, without blackmail, without

hostage-taking, without extraneous demands that nobody in america would want to accept, hardly anybody at all. speaker mccarthy's wish list is an extreme stepped in the wrong direction. it heads us in the direction of default, and time is running out. next, on women's rights and veterans' rights. for weeks, the senior senator from alabama has threatened american security by blocking over 180 routine military promotions, because he objects to women in the military accessing reproductive care. yesterday the senator from alabama's objections came before the senate for consideration, through a resolution that would have eliminated reproductive care for our veterans and their families. senator tuberville lost the vote. senator tuberville lost while our women veterans won. yesterday's vote made two things

very clear -- first, maga republicans are so hell bept on owe -- hellbent on eliminated reproductive choice that not even veterans and our generals are safe. americans made clear that they reject the anti-choice agenda, but maga republicans still double down. second, the senate has now spoken on senator tuberville's anti-choice proposal and said no. one of the few instances where a cra has been voted down in the senate, and in this case with bipartisan votes against it. the senate has spoken. senator tuberville has zero excuse for blocking 180 military promotions. his objection has been presented, considered, and rejected on a bipartisan basis. he should drop his holds against our military personnel and move on. i urge my republican colleagues

who care about our national defense and veterans to talk some sense into our colleague from alabama so he can drop his dangerous holds. next, on the fbi, a few weeks ago former president trump called on republicans in congress to defund the department department of justice and fbi because of personal grievances. instead of standing up to president trump, speaker mccarthy and republican leaders have been silent, and some members of their party even echo the former president's call. that's why today i'm introducing a resolution denouncing president trump's call to defund the doj and the fbi. the senate will act on this measure as soon as next week. the resolution is simple -- it expresses our support for federal law enforcement, and it condemns donald trump's call to defund the doj and fbi and any other partisan attempts to undermine their authority. when the resolution comes to the floor, every member of this chamber will have a chance to do the right thing -- stand up for the brave law

enforcement who keep us safe and reject the former president's dangerous call to strip away their funding. i hope the resolution passes unanimously. it certainly should. the doj and fbi do critical work to protect our communities from threats at home and abroad, including drug trafficking, gun violence, terrorism, and so much more. do republicans really want to cut their funding, the funding of these agencies, making it harder for them to do their job? so again, where will republicans stand? will they stand with the federal law enforcement who keep us safe, or stand with the former president and his dangerous call to defund federal law enforcement? the american people deserve to know how radical the hard right has become, and this resolution will give them answers. on fire grants and the safety act, later today the senate will pass a much-needed lifeline for our fforts, the fire grants and -- for our fire fighters. i thank my colleagues on both

sides of the aisle for their good work on this overwhelmingly bipartisan legislation. passing fire grants and safety act will extend two important federal grant programs that support our paid and volunteers firefighters. safer and afg. extending safer and afg is crucial to ensuring firefighters have lifesaving equipment and personnel to do their jobs. this is particularly true in smaller, more rural, more suburban areas, where volunteer firefighters staff the firehouses, but the equipment is hard to purchase for smaller and less wealthy communities. our firefighters are brave. they risk their lives for us. they run towards danger, not away from it. they work tirelessly around the clock, often in dangerous and unpredictable conditions putting their lives on the line. firefighters have this our grant. pass the this act will show we have their baskets -- have their

backs too. i was proud to work with senator dod in an earlier senate to pass this. i thank my colleagues. this is an example like we did a few weeks back on the aumf of how the senate should work -- bipartisan. we worked with our republican colleagues and the ranking member of the relevant committees to allow republican amendments, and in turn our republican colleagues are supporting us moving forward on this important legislation. it's a good thing, and i hope this model continues. as leader, that's one of the things i am trying to do. i yield the floor. i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. mcconnell: mr. president. the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: well, the biden administration's reckless economic policies have hurt

american workers and families right from the beginning. right from the start of their one-party government, democrats used party-line votes to light trillions -- trillions -- of dollars on fire and supercharge inflation that's still hammer the country right up to the present. after two years of reckless policies and human pain, the american people voted for checks and balances. they elected a republican house and a narrowly divided senate to literally pump the brakes on this radicalism. but there's on old saying in washington that personnel is

policy. so while the american people put a stop to reckless legislation last november, president biden continues to send reckless nominations to his senate. they want to accomplish through big government regulations what the voters have stopped them from doing here in congress. this morning, for example, the help committee is hearing from julie su, president biden's nominee to run the department of labor. ms. su has a lengthy track record for all -- all -- the wrong reasons. before entering the biden administration, she presided over a disaster as head of the state labor department out in california. tens of billions of dollars in fraudulent payments went out the

door on her watch. the state auditor found ms. su and her department were totally asleep -- total lei sleep -- -- totally asleep -- at the switch on antifraud efforts. even "the los angeles times" had to labor her performance -- listen to this -- an epic failure. our supply chains are already in enough peril due in part to high-stakes labor negotiations. think about the negotiations to keep open the ports on the west coast. think about the ripple effects. our national economy cannot afford a track record of epic failure leading our department of labor. she also supported and helped implement a controversial new california law that essentially -- listen to this -- declared war on independent contractors

and tried to give big-labor special interest visa stow power over the entire -- veto power over the entire gig economy. in essence, these far-left democrats want every ride-share driver, hairdresser, or personal trainer to be reclassified and handled more like a corporate employee, all so that part of their paychecks could be vacuumed up and donated to left-wing political causes. the same partisan inflexibility has defined ms. su's time here in washington as deputy secretary of labor on the national level. from the powerful number-two job she helped president biden try to force that california model into our entire economy, a giant gift for big-labor bosses at the

expense of workers and consumers alike. she also signaled that she wants to help lead the far left's crusade against the current joint employer rule, yet another effort to give big-money union bosses even more power to squash innovation and skim money from workers' paychecks. what they can't get through legislation, they fully intend to push forward through regulations. so it's no wonder that an unending parade of small business leaders, independent contractors, and other job creators have written the senate literally begging us -- begging us -- to demand a fairer and more mainstream labor secretary. confirming this nominee would compound the economic pain the biden administration has already caused.

i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quantum materials helping us with the roadmap. this budget invest further in quantum science, in advanced science we're grateful for that because the chips and science act give us the ability

at least the authorization to ask for more funding to continue our leadership. >> thank you. i think we're all aware of the national quantum initiative act expires this year. do you agree that congress should enhance expand and we authorized that i do. >> i again folks are looking for an amazing quality of life, no traffic and safe places to live. montana is a great place and we've been discovered by the way. secretary granholm, hydropower is reliable. it is a big part of our baseload energy supply in montana. it's affordable. its carbon free. it's a renewable resource. i was shocked when it first came to the united states senate that hydropower was not considered a renewable source of energy. one of the first things i learned in this commitment at the change. political greatness dictator it would be wind and solar but not hydropower we got that fixed. it's a wonderful source and glad that is not officially meets the definition standards on the

federal government but some i would find a way to to not defined hydropower as a renewable resource. unfortunately we sing many individuals calling to breach hydropower dams. this is ridiculous. we cannot let it happen. the department of energy and the bonneville power emaciation has long stood with people of montana to support the lower snake river dams and the important baseload power they produce for the region. however i very concerned there's an internal push within this administration to breach of these dams. do you support the breaching of existing federal hydropower dams? >> i know that this is a matter that's in litigation. i completely agree with you on hydropower, 100% it is a renewable, cheap form of power that we should be expanding and not reducing. i also know that there are sensitivities around salmon fishing, et cetera, and that

that is under negotiation right now. so beyond that i can't say much more. >> so do you support the breaching existing federal hydropower dams? >> i'm saying i know it is a negotiation right now. i wish we could achieve a win-win. >> i never thought i would live to see the day when we would have a discussion about breaching hydropower dams, truly in terms of how radically agenda has moved. would you commit to me you would oppose the breaching of the lower snake dams and stand with montanans to push back on any proposal for the breaching of affordable baseload hydropower? >> i would totally stand with you on finding a win-win solution to -- >> that doesn't answer my question. lastly, i'm worried the energy efficiency standard is been weaponized at d.o.e. are being used in a partisan frankly driving and they energy initiative. >> we seen the proposals have of an jaw dropping to limit gas appliance to get ross

contributed short of transformers. this is got to stop. on when it we're seeing that coming out of d.o.e. recent epa come out and say we want to save 70% nearly of vehicles electric vehicles in the next nine years. you can't have it both ways. we have worked hard in congress on energy efficiency issues and we use wisely the key way to reduce energy demand and promote reliability. however, these actions were seen out of your department to create unachievable standards that all but prohibits the use of natural gas appliances, i get i didn't have that i will have a conversation with breaching hydropower dams, , and now prohibiting the 2% natural gas appliances in the united states, that does not help consumers and it actually harms energy security. senator, will have a second round. >> mr. chairman, i will say my room electric co-ops were here this week pleading with me on

this rule on transformers by the way. these new roles coming out. this is a big issue. my rural electric co-ops are not partisan folks. they are very pragmatic. i urge you to reverse the course come work with manufactured on this transformer issue come work with co-ops find a real solution not ones that simply cater to this green delusion that striving a lot of to discussions in washington. please stop the weaponization. come back to common sense. use the word win-win. we need your help. thank you. >> chairman, despite all the political rhetoric we've heard this morning about domestic production of energy related manufacturing, i would point out that the only meaningful industrial policy in the last 30 years has been the inflation reduction act. something that our republican colleagues voted against. before the ira that was really

little incentive to open a new factory in the united states to make electric vehicles or batteries or solar panels or wind turbines or fuel cells or hydrogen aircraft. and so it is worth taking a look at the fact that we are not even a year into that legislation, and yet 46 factories have been announced in the united states. those are 46 factories we wouldn't have had. several announcements in my home state regarding hydrogen aviation, wind turbine manufacturing. $150 billion of private investment just in those 46 factories. 18,000 jobs that. 18,000 jobs that will be created. and 96 gigawatts of utility scale projects being announced. that's the equivalent of 96 nuclear power plants in scale. so i think you should be very proud of what you've accomplished.

this is the biggest change in jobs in manufacturing in our lifetimes in the united states. secretary, , want to ask you if house republicans insist on defaulting on the debt, how does it impact your ability specifically to safely operate and maintain our nuclear deterrent? >> well, clearly the ability to modernize our systems is dependent upon being able to continue to ensure we have a safe nuclear deterrent. and if we have to lay people off, we put our nation in jeopardy. these projects soar with costs and delays. so what is not just a cost issue. it is a national security and our nation's ability to protect ourselves. that is at risk. in addition to all of the other

issues related to competitiveness along the lines of what you just talked about. do we really want to stop the investments and the stream of investments that you have listed? although the number i have is much higher than yours. >> i like your number. i'm referencing open-source sources, so i look forward to reviewing those and hopefully i can revise my numbers upward. and as someone who represents the workforce at two of our national labs who work very hard for nuclear security, i would just point out that it would be insane to default on our debt. as you know, power transfer transformers plays an important role in our grid. there is been a decades-long trend of outsourcing manufacturing because we didn't have industrial policy with respect to transformers. i think we need to look at some of the things we have accomplished in the ira and see if we can't create some of those incentives for transformers

here. i'm just curious how the d.o.e. is looking at the supply shortage with respect to transformers, the need to re-onshore that, and what sorts of tools would you find helpful to create that industrial capacity in the united states again? >> we have a shortage as you noted in transformers, and we get, we get a significant amount imported but we need to have this ability to manufacture inside the united states. the defense production act through our manufacturing and energy supply chain office, we have about 75 million to help that. it is not enough. we need a larger investment, perhaps a one-time investment to tell the market that we will invest in factory expansion for the building of these transformers. so it's something that i would ask congress to consider.

we need one, 22 billion toast commitment to build this transforms in the united states and i hope we can work together on taking that to the next level. >> i would be very interested in working with you on that anything we should probably be looking at the utility of something like an investment tax credit or production tax credit to also help with that. transmission, we are not building transmission fast enough. we're going to need more transmission. it is the bottleneck. it is the chief bottleneck for cleaning up our electric supply in this country. one of the solutions would be to re-conduct our existing transmission and and i can y change it again. what is deal we looking at with respect to creating incentives for reconstructing existing transmission while we figure out how to build more transmission? >> i'm so happy to. talk about that. i'm ut

objection. mr. thune: the presiding officer: morning business is closed. the senate will presume consideration of s. 870 which the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 28, s. 870, a bill to amend the federal fire prevention and control act of 1974 and so forth. mr. thune: mr. president, this morning the senate health, and labor pension committees is considering the nomination of julie su to be secretary of labor. before joining the u.s. department of labor, as deputy secretary under president biden, ms. su previously served as labor secretary for the state of california. in that post she was notable for presiding over massive unemployment fraud during the covid crisis. mr. president, unemployment fraud was a significant problem during the pandemic, but even with widespread fraud, california stood out for the scope of its problem.

during the first six months of the pandemic, california had an improper payment rate of 36.6%. let that sink in for a moment. an improper payment rate of 36.6%. ultimately, the state paid out around $30 billion in fraudulent claims between the start of the pandemic and last spring. now, mr. president, certain states faced an influx of unemployment claims during the pandemic that put additional pressure on unemployment agencies. but california's fraud situation was not simply a result of an increased workload during the pandemic. it was also in part the result of ms. su's decision to remove safeguards intended to help prevent fraudulent claims. during the early days of the pandemic, ms. su directed the california employment development department to, in the words of the california

state auditor, and i quote, pay certain claimants u.i. benefits without making key elibility determinations and temporarily stop collecting biweekly eligibility cert caigs, end quote. these directives unquestionably helped smooth the path for widespread unemployment fraud as well as a significant number of improper payments. it's difficult to know what president biden was thinking when he decided to nominate someone who presided over massive unemployment fraud to be the next labor secretary. if that's what happened when ms. su was the labor secretary for a single state, it's difficult to see her as a qualified nominee to head the labor department for an entire country. but my concerns with ms. su don't end there. in addition to questionings about -- questions about her ability to effectively administer a cabinet department, i have serious concerns that ms. su would use her national platform to continue promoting policies that are hostile to

workers. during her time in california government, ms. su was a proponent of assembly bill 5 which is a piece of legislation that reclassified many workers who had been considered independent contractors as employees through a set of criteria known as the abc test. that test proved to be so unpopular and unworkable that ultimately dozens of occupations were exempted from the measure, so many that the list of exemptions ended up being longer than the text of the original bill. even california voters recognized how problematic it was which is why they approved proposition 22 which specifically designated at base wide share delivery drivers as independent contractors. now, people tend to think of uber or lyft as the prime example of gig work. but an actual fact, gig workers and independent contractors make

up a sizable percentage of the labor force and are part of a wide range of professions from hairdressing to truck driving to insurance adjustment. and a lot of gig workers and independent contractors are big fans of the freedom and independence that independent contracting provides and are not looking to be reclassified as employees. a 2017 report from the bureau of labor and statistics found that a whopping 79% of independent contractors preferred their work arrangement to a traditional work arrangement. less than 10% expressed a preference for a traditional job. the truth is that laws like california's arise not from a groundswell of gig worker dissatisfaction but from liberals' commitment to big labor which would like to see the majority of workers forced to pay union dues. laws like california's assembly bill 5 are supported by unions because they would put more workers in a position where they might end up joining unions, even if gig workers and

independent contractors themselves don't want to find themselves in that position. and ms. su's antigig economy, antiindependent contractor positions aren't limited to her time in california. during her time at the department of labor, ms. su has continued to attack independent contracting and gig work. she presided over the biden administration's proposed new worker classification rule last fall which would force independent contractors and gig workers who typically receive 1099 income to reclassify as w2 employees. gig workers who receive 10 99 taxable income have the ability to deduct business expenses like mileage like in the case of an uber or lyft driver, equipment rental costs and home office needs. forcing gig workers to reclassify as w2 workers would mean they could no longer avail themselves of some of these deductions putting this significant sector of our economy to financial disadvantage and reducing worker

flexibility. this new rule would, however, offer opportunities for labor unions to collect new members which is presumably ms. su's and the biden administration's goal. president biden of course is a big fan of big labor and has done everything he can to advance big labor's priorities. ms. su said as much last year to a group of labor activists. i quote, the department of labor stands with you she said. the biden-harris administration stands with you. and you have a president who has vowed to be the most pro worker, pro union president in history, end quote. the president's and democrats' ultimate goal here is passage of the pro act which ms. su supports. this legislation, a major priority of big labors, would implement a national version of california's assembly bill 5 only without the california

bill's exemptions as well as a number of other provisions designed to appease union bosses. if the pro act passed, its antiindependent contractor provisions could wreak havoc on whole industries like trucking which would not only be bad for affected workers but for our entire economy. the last thing that we need during a time of supply chain problems, for example, is an unnecessary reduction in the number of truckers carrying food and goods around our country. i've introduced legislation in the past to help gig workers and i was proud to join senator tim scott this week in introducing his employee rights act, legislation that would protect both union and nonunion workers and preserve the freedom of independent contractors to maintain their preferred work arrangements. and i will continue to support measures to ensure that americans have the freedom to choose the work arrangement that works for them instead of being forced into arrangements

preferred by the democrat party and by big labor. mr. president, before i close, i also want to mention the hostility ms. su has presented. is a supporter of another disastrous california idea, the fast recovery act which is legislation passed by the california state legislature and signed by the governor that would give government appointees authority to micromanage franchised restaurants throughout california, including setting wages and working hours among other decisions. that law is so unpopular in her own home state that a million californians signed a petition to add it as a ballot initiative in 2024 so that they can vote on whether the law should actually be implemented. and the opposition is not

surprising. when you consider that the measure would raise costs for restaurants and according to an international franchise association or according to the international franchise association, could increase prices at affected restaurants by as much as 20%. mr. president, julie su is a poor choice for secretary of lake. and i hope that at least some of my democrat colleagues will join republicans in acknowledging the serious concerns about both her policy positions and her ability to effectively administer the labor department. and will urge the president to withdraw her nomination. 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:

mr. van hollen: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. van hollen: i call up amendment number 85 as provided under the previous order and i ask that it be reported by number. the presiding officer: we are in a quorum. mr. van hollen: mr. president, i ask that the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. van hollen: i call up amendment number 85 as provided under the prees order and i ask

that it be reported by number. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from maryland, mr. van hollen for himself and ms. murkowski, proposes amendment 85. mr. van hollen: our firefighters put their lives on the line every single day, charging into danger whenever duty calls. that's why we have a duty to back them up, not just in words, but also in deeds, by provided them with the resources and facilities they need and deserve. the underlying bill today extends critical programs to provide training, equipment, and personnel, and i commend the chairman of the committee and the full committee for their action on this. but there's also an urgent need to repair crumbling, insufficiently safe firehouses. nearly half of the fire stations across the country require major repairs. 46% of them do not have similarities that prevent our first responders from being exposed to mold or cancerous

carcinogens. some suggest we take funds from the a program already overprescribed. in 2020 alone, over $2 billion in requests competed for just $319 million. that's why the firefighters oppose the amendment to poach moneys from the underlying fund. this measure, this amendment does not poach those moneys. it adds an authorization so that we can have additional funds, when appropriate and if appropriated by the congress, to provide for fire stations that are crumbling. this is based on a bill, bipartisan bill i introduced with senator murkowski, and i appreciate her support for this amendment. in the house it is also a bipartisan bill, led by congressman bill pascrell. so i urge my colleagues to support this amendment. mr. peters: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. mr. peters: mr. president, i want to thank my colleague from

maryland for his support of the fire grants and safety act. the amendment he is offering would authorize a new grant program at fema to fund fire station construction. and while i fully support increased federal resources for this purpose, i must, unfortunately -- and reluctantly -- vote no on this particular amendment. this language has not been moved through committee and fema has not had the opportunity to provide input to ensure that this bill achieves its goal. i fully support the senator from maryland and agree with him fully that we need more resources to help our communities to upgrade our fire stations. this is an urgent need. i want to make sure that we are not raiding the current fund for this purpose, which is why the next amendment coming up i will also be voting no. but i fully intend to work with the senator from maryland to

move towards a markup on his stand-alone bill on this very topic, which has been referred to homeland security and government affairs committee, a committee in which i chair. but i will reluctantly be voting no on thisempt amendment. -- on this amendment of -- on this amendment. the presiding officer: question is on the amendment. mr. van hollen: i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be o the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: on this vote, the yeas are 46, the nays are 51. under the previous order requiring 60 votes for the adoption of this amendment, the amendment is not agreed to. mr. schumer: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. the senate will be in order. mr. schumer: mr. president, it's a great moment because, or a few moments ago was a great moment, but it continues to be. our dear friend, senator patty murray reached an amazing milestone. 10,000 votes over the course of her career in the senate. the first woman senator in american history to do so. we're not supposed to clap, but

every once in a while, breaking protocol is appropriate as it is now. so it's a remarkable accomplishment for a truly remarkable public servant. if she just cast 10,000 votes, that would be pretty good, but her accomplishments go way beyond that and often dwarf it. she was the first woman to serve as the chair of the veterans' affairs committee, the budget committee and at the beginning of this congress she made history as the first woman ever to serve as president pro tem in the senate. she's a voice the senate and the country replies on -- relies on. when we speaks, everyone listens, democrats, republicans, liberals, independents, because they know she has studied it carefully and it comes right from the heart. it's not political calculation. on issues like child care,

pension, there is patty murray as a beacon, not just a speaker or legislator, but a beacon to all of us. let me tell you, she has been such a valued member of my leadership team through the years where she did so so much and i relied on her for advice, 20237435. i won't say the last two numbers. i know the number by heart because i call her so much. didn't do the rest. don't worry. maybe we should delete that from the record. i ask unanimous consent to delete all those number from the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: let's take a moment to recognize and congratulate this great person, this great woman, this great senator, this great friend, this great member of the united states senate. senator patty murray.

thank you. the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: mr. president, if i may say to our colleague from washington, i remember, as you certainly did, that 1992 was declared the year of the woman and a number of women were elected to the senate. but you were the leader of the group and you've had an extraordinary successful career, and i wanted you to know that people on both sides of the aisle add admire your service ad congratulations. ms. collins: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from maine. ms. collins: mr. president, i just want to add my congratulations to my friend and colleague senator murray for casting her 10,000th vote. she has been such a remarkable leader, a steady force, a hard

worker, and it has been wonderful to work in partnership with her on the appropriations committee. patty, congratulations, and we look forward to many more. -- many more extraordinary accomplishments. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator for alaska. mr. sullivan: mr. president, i call up my amendment number 83 and ask it be reported by number. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from alaska, mr. sullivan, proposes an amendment numbered 83. mr. sullivan: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that there be four minutes of debate equally divided. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. sullivan: mr. president, every job in america is important, but there's something

special, sacred, even noble about a job that entails putting your life on the line to keep your fellow citizens safe, and that is the job of our firefighters, in alaska, firefighting season will be upon us soon. it can be brutal. in 19956,000 acres of the state burned. think about the courage and dedication it takes to fight those fires, many of which are in rural parts of our states. it is only right when firefighters come to congress asking for assistance, we should give them the flexibility they truly need. currently the assistance to firefighters grants only allows modifications to existing fire stations rather than new facilities. many old firefighting facilities can't be modified. a 2021 report by the u.s. fire

service found that 44% of fire stations are over 40 years old. the issue is even more acute in rural parts of our country where facilities have problems which cannot be fixed through maintenance and repair alone. for example, roughly 61% of fire stations over 40 years old exist in communities serving less than 10,000 people. so, mr. president, my amendment is simple. it costs zero dollars. it gives discretion to the firefighters in rural communities to allow federal grants to small communities of less than 10,000 people to use the federal funds to build new stations. that's it. a simple, commonsense amendment backed by data to help firefighters and small communities in america who often don't have the tax base to build

new facilities. we should help them. we all have rural communities that need this help. i urge my colleagues to support this commonsense amendment. the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. ms. stabenow: first of all, i have to lend my voice in congratulations to senator patty murray. we are so proud of her and look to her for her leadership, and it's an honor to serve with her in the leadership in the senate. she's an extraordinary member. 10,000 votes, that's a lot of votes and we should continue to be grateful for her leadership. so congratulations. mr. president, this amendment is one that, in spirit, i agree with the need. senator sullivan and i have talked about he has identified something that is important for small rural communities, but it is duplicative of work we do

with the usda. the usda has a communities facilities program, they provide grants and loans and loan guarantees for essential rural areas of 20,000 residents or less. communities have used this for fire trucks, fire community construction, fire equipment. senator sullivan has talked eloquently about last year it was nearly $100 million in assistance to rural fire departments. so i -- i told senator sullivan we will have in the next number of months the farm bill, reauthorization on the floor, want to work very much with him on how we might be able to more focus or strengthen this program that already exists. the farm bill is coming up. i believe that's the place for us to address what is a very important issue. so i would urge my colleagues to channel their support to rural first responders and to support

this particular program in the upcoming farm bill reauthorization. thank you. mr. sullivan: mr. -- mr. president. mr. peters: i ask to speak for one minute on the amendment. the presiding officer: is there objection? hearing none. peters peters i -- mr. peters: i appreciate and fully agree with his amendment to build new facilities. but i ask my colleagues to oppose the amendment because of the unintended consequences. it receives applications for five times the amount of funding that is available. in 2020 there were $2 billion of of -- request for $3 billion in funding. that's why the major firefighting services in this country oppose this amendment that includes the international association of fire chiefs, the

international association of firefighters, the national volunteer fire council, the national fallen firefighters foundation, all are calling for clean passage of the firefighter act without amendment. i know that i share the same goal with my colleague from alaska. i ask that you oppose this amendment, let's send a clean firefighting bill to the house. mr. sullivan: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from alaska. mr. sullivan: i ask unanimous consent for 30 seconds to respond. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. sullivan: thank you, mr. president. again, i want to work with senator stabenow on this issue, but we have an opportunity, every senator knows that our firefighters from small communities come to the senate and ask for help because they don't have the tax base to actually build new facilities and their facilities, as i mentioned, are very, very old. all this amendment does is add a new category to request for assistance only from communities

of 10,000 people or less. it's common sense, we all know it's needed. again, i encourage my colleagues to support it. i respect all the firefighter groups who saying they oppose it. the only reason they oppose it is because they say they want a clean bill. sorry, that's not a very good argument. i urge the support of this amendment numbered 83. the presiding officer: the question is on the amendment. mr. sullivan: i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. there is. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: on this vote, the yeas are 42, the nays are 56, and this amendment is not agreed to. under the previous order, amendment number 58 is withdrawn ?rom -- the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, since president

biden took office a little over two years ago, more than 348 ,000 -- 348,000 unaccompanied children have crossed our southern border. to be clear, these 348,000 children did not arrive in the united states by themselves. children often make this dangerous journey with friends, neighbors, or other relatives, and of course in the custody of transnational criminal organizations or what are otherwise known as coyotes, who get paid to smuggle people into our country. the sad reality is that many of these children come to the country in the care of these cartels, human smugglers, coyotes. parents pay smugglers thousands of dollars to bring their child to the u.s., but the truth is the money doesn't guarantee their safety. the journey to the southern border is not easy or safe.

children are subjected to violence, exploitation or sexual abuse on the way to the united states. and why in the world would anybody think if i turn my child over to a criminal organization that will smuggle them into the united states, how in the world would they ever have confidence that they would be safely transported here? so it sadly is not surprising. but as folks along the southern border and our border communities in texas will tell you, trying to help these migrant children when they get here is no small task. there are laws that spell out how long a child is to remain in custody as well as the resources that they must receive. things like, of course, food, water, medical care and adequate supervision. and i believe we do have a responsibility once those children get to our border and in our custody to make sure they

are safe and well cared for. given the huge number of children crossing the border every week due to the administration's open border policies, that job, caring for these unaccompanied children, has gotten nothing but more difficult. and we've seen the harrowing consequences. at the start of the biden administration, holding cells in detention facilities were lined with children and other teens sleeping on gym mats with only a thin aluminum blanket to keep them warm. thousands of children were stuck in border patrol facilities which were never designed to hold children in the first place, but many of them were detained of necessity beyond the 72-hour limit contained in the law. and massive public facilities like the joe freeman coliseum in san antonio, these were used as emergency shelters because there

was nowhere else to put them. but unfortunately, most of the public lost interest in these children after that point. certainly the biden administration appears to have lost interest in these children once they made it past the border and were released from these various detention facilities. because once children were placed with sponsors in the united states, say, for a couple of isolated reports that should serve as warning beacons, congress and the public doesn't have any information about how they were doing, whether they were healthy, whether they were being treated appropriately. anything about their well-being. well, that information deficit was recently filled by an investigative story by "the new york times." in february, the "times" published its first story detailing the widespread child

exploitation of migrant children. it includes stories of unaccompanied migrants who were working in dangerous jobs that violent child labor laws. for example, a 15-year-old girl who packages cereal at night in a factory, a 14-year-old boy who works on a construction job instead of going to school, a 13-year-old child a day laborer, children working in meat processing plants, commercial bakeries, and for suppliers for automakers. this was all documented by the investigative report by "the new york times." we aren't talking about part-time gitions after -- part-time gigs after going to school. these are grueling and dangerous full-time jobs meant for adults, not children. so the big question is how they got there. how on earth did the biden administration allow so many vulnerable children to be

exploited? after all, the administration should have been aware of the history of migrant children being exploited by their sponsors. in 2014, the office of refugee receltsment place -- resettlement placed children were members of a human trafficking ring who posed as family or friends. these were were forced to work on an egg farm in ohio with no pay 12 hours a day, six or seven days a week. they worked in deplorable conditions and were threatened with violence unless they complied. it was a disgusting and heartbreaking case of abuse that rightfully garnered a lot of attention. given the sheer volume of cases, the biden administration has managed over the last two years, it should have been on alert for similar stories and similar cases.

a high percentage of sponsored children could not be reached a month after their release increased from 20% in 2020 to 34% in 2021. let me say that again. these children were supposed to be placed with sponsors checked out by the administration by health and human services. but in 2020, 20% of those children were unaccounted for one month later. in 2021 it was 34%. unfortunately these warning signs went ignored, and the biden administration did nothing to try to correct the problem. as the biden border emergency crisis ramped up, emergency shelters were filling up, and the administration had a major public relations problem on its hand. its top priority wasn't apparently the safety of these

children, but the speed at which they could be moved from the border to sponsors with no follow-up. the biden administration wanted to get these children out of the shelters and into the care of these sponsors as quickly as possible. to make that possible, health and human services loosened vetting requirements and urged case managers to move faster with little regard for the danger that was created for these migrant children. in a staff meeting last september, secretary becerra reportedly told employees, he said if henry ford had seen this in his plants, he would have never become famous and rich. that's not the way you do an assembly line. this is the secretary of health

and human services, meant to care tor these children and he's telling his employees to create an assembly line. he pushed for speed, speed and more speed because of the public relations problem the administration was experiencing. just one year earlier during secretary becerra's tenure, nearly a dozen managers from the office of refugee resettlement sent a memo expressing their concerns about labor trafficking, exactly the problem that the "new york times" investigation exposed. they said they feared that the office had come to reward speed over safety, but apparently nothing changed. earlier this week "the new york times" published yet another story with even more details on the administration's failure to protect migrant children. one of the most star telling

revelations was the sheer scale of the crisis. this chart shows the number of calls to health and human services each month reporting trafficking, neglect or abuse of migrant children who have been placed with sponsors by the u.s. government, specifically by the biden administration's health and human services department. as you can see, the department was receiving fewer than 50 calls a month back in 2018. it climbed in 2019 and 2020, and starting in 2021 the number of calls skyrocketed. and of course these weren't just cases in which somebody spotted abuse and spoke up. we have no idea how many cases

went unreported. but it's become breath takingly clear that this widespread abuse wasn't caused by missteps. it was the result of intentional policy decisions from top administration officials. as it turns out, the white house and federal agencies were alerted again and again that these children were at risk and did nothing. in 2021 the most senior career member of the office of refugee resettlement sent an e-mail to her bosses warning them that children were likely to be placed in dangerous situations. when her warning was ignored, she filed a complaint and requested whistleblower protection. not long after, she was moved out of her position. she then filed another complaint arguing that she was retaliated against, a move that is against the law. but sadly, this is not an

isolated event within health and human services, at least five staffers have filed complaints and said they were pushed out of their jobs for sharing concerns with their leadership about this extraordinary crisis of abuse or neglect. well, the labor department was aware of child labor violations too. last year investigators identified major instances of child labor violations that took place in auto parts factories and meatpacking plants. as they continued to uncover more and more cases of migrant children being exploited, the department shared its concerns with the white house. former labor secretary marty walsh confirmed that the department included details about these situations in its weekly reports to the white house. so the white house was clearly informed about these issues. in december the labor department

even released a public report showing that -- a 69% increase in child labor violations since 2018. well, miraculously, the white house now claims to have no knowledge of this disturbing trend. susan rice, who serves as director of the white house domestic policy council which oversees virtually every aspect of domestic policy affairs, claims no knowledge of this problem. even though we know that when the border crisis reached its fever pitch during the summer of 2021, ms. rice's team received a memo from health and human services managers about you trafficking. two people confirmed that ms. rice was aware of the contents of the memo but the whitehouse now disputes that claim. health and human services

provided the white house with frequent updates on a group of children explaitd in alabama, but the -- exploited in alabama, but now they say senior officials were never made aware of this situation. again and again the biden administration was told but failed to heed the warnings of these migrant children being exploited. and now after major investigative reporting has been done by "the new york times," they refuse to accept responsibility and apologize. instead they decided the blame game is what they wanted to do. hhs blames the labor department, the labor department said it shared information with hhs and the white house but they failed to respond and the white house blames both departments because even though they passed along information about potential abuse, they somehow didn't mark it as urgent.

well, to state the obvious, the biden administration shouldn't need to be told that potential child exploitation is an urgent matter and deserves attention. it's self-evident. given the history of migrant children being exploited and the massive scale of president biden's border crisis, the administration should have been on top of this from the beginning. clearly they weren't, and they still aren't. and ultimate i had the -- ultimately, the children they claim to be helping are the ones paying a terrible price. as "the new york times" makes clear, the biden administration knew that children were being exploited and willingly failed to act. it repeatedly brushed aside warnings and continued to prioritize speed over safety. so the american people need to know, is this an example of gross negligence, of

whistleblower chilling or willful violation of the law by the biden administration? right now the answer to all those questions appears to be a big and resounding yes. we need answers are from secretary becerra, the department of labor and susan rice on how this could possibly be allowed to happen and how it could continue to happen as i speak. we need accountability and we need to see proof that there needs to be changes implemented to prevent this from happening in the future. but time and time again the biden administration has claimed that their approach to the border is fair, orderly and humane. but there's nothing fair about putting children in the care of people who will exploit them. there's nothing orderly about ignoring warnings of child labor violations, and there's nothing

humane about the way migrant children are suffering in silence across america. mr. president, every member of this chamber, republicans and democrats alike, should be absolutely outraged by the biden administration's abdication of responsibility. their obligation, our obligation to protect these migrant children. i hope now that "the new york times" has detailed the abuses that are occurs that will somehow finally get the attention of the biden white house and they will finally take appropriate action to protect these children they claim to be helping but in fact are being sacrificed to those who would exploit them and take advantage of them. mr. president, i yield the floor.

a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from nebraska -- the president pro tempore: the senator from nebraska is recognized. mrs. fischer: thank you, madam president. this presidential administration has consistently been marked by egregious overreach. over the past few months, we have seen them try to regulate everything from state water to the personal requirement funds, now the biden administration wants to control which cars americans are able to drive. last week the environmental protection agency issued new regulations cracking down on vehicle emissions. these new standards make it harder for people to drive gas-powered cars in an attempt to coerce americans into purchasing new electric vehicles

or e.v.'s, vehicles that cost about as much as the average family makes in a year. this is part of a so-called emissions plan, but there's nothing realistic about what the biden administration is trying to do. the administration says it wants 67% of the cars in this country to be electric by 2032, just nine years from now. last year, e.v.'s only accounted for 6% of new car sales, and the international energy agency predicts that by 2030, e.v.'s will only make up 15% of the vehicles in our country. we need to tell it like it is. the white house's plan is based on the speculative wish that e.v.'s will make an inconceivable jump from a tiny

faction of our vehicles to the majority of them in less than a decade. this so-called plan is really a pipe dream and the facts show that the epa's goals are liely unlikely -- highly unlikely if not impossible. the administration is strieg to create -- trying to create a world that the world doesn't want. and it ignores the complexities when it comes to electric vehicles. let's talk about some of those complexities. electric vehicles rely on the electric power grid and a massive increase in e.v. use, like the biden administration wants, could cause serious issues with the grid. during a heat wave last september, power authorities in california had to ask residents to avoid charging their electric cars in the evenings for fear that the power grid would

malfunction from being overwhelmed. imagine what would happen if e.v. use increased expo tensionally -- expo tensionally. if e.v. use is going to grow, it should be a natural growth driven by consumers, rather than an artificial spike manufactured by the government. that way pows producers and -- power producers and electrical grids have time to -- the e.v. mandate overlooks serious public safety concerns. electric vehicles can weigh up to three times as much as gas-powered cars because of their heavy batteries. the force of an e.v. hurdling toward another car in a crash is

intensified by all of that weight. a heavy e.v. accidentally crashing into a lighter, older car is a recipe for severe injury or death. the heavier the car, the higher the risk of fatality in a crash. the biden administration itself admits this. national transportation safety board chair jennifer hoedy shade she was concerned about the increased risk of injury and death from all road users from increasing size, power, and performance of vehicles on our roads, including electric vehicles, unquote. and i would point out that this safety risk disproportionately affects women. a report released last month by

the government accountability office found that crash tests, which identify car safety issues that might endanger passengers in an accident don't use physician logically -- physician logically e-mail dummies. they don't even attempt to test car teaft on the female body. this is why car crashes kill women at higher rates than men. before mandating a rush of electric vehicles on the roads, the biden administration needs to find a solution to the risk these cars can pose, especially to women. heavy cars like e.v.'s put extra stress and damage on our roads as well. their weight causes more

maintenance and more upgrades and more costs. but right now only gas-powered cars pay into the highway trust fund, or the htf, which provides 90% of federal highway assistance. this fund repairs wear and tear from vehicles on the highway. the sale or charging of e.v.'s doesn't contribute anything to the highway trust fund. but the highway trust fund exists to fix exactly the type of damage that heavy e.v.'s can cause. so it's only fair that both gas powered and electric vehicles pay into that fund. i plan to introduce a bill soon that would fix this discrepescy. we -- discrepancy, we need to do this to address some of the

complexities at play for electric vehicles and a government mandate that would push for so many on our roads so soon. the electricity and road concerns related to e.v.'s should be enough to temper the biden administration's fanciful ambitions for a massive electric vehicle push, but the repercussions of a federal e.v. mandate, they go beyond america's borders. we know that china completely dominates the e.v. battery supply chain, and you know that's not going to change any time soon. 60% to 100% of all battery minerals are processed in china according to an energy think tank known as safe. our domestic supply, well, it's not anywhere near the demand that would result from this new legislation. and it is so ironic that many of

the same activists who support an electric vehicle mandate, they oppose -- they oppose u.s. mining needed to make e.v. batteries. they would rather use horrible mining practices in other countries and support very dangerous working conditions for those miners. also this means that a push for e.v.'s, it's a push for energy dependence on china. in china, we all -- and china, we all know, is not our friend, as news this week about a secret chinese police station in new york city reminds us. our turbulent relationship with the communist chinese party means it would use any dependence that we have on china to its own advantage.

americans don't want to rely on china for vehicles, but studies also show that americans aren't interested enough in e.v.'s to merit a government mandate. a recent pew research poll found that a majority of americans oppose the biden administration's plan to phase out gasoline-powered cars and trucks by 2035. a gallup poll found that 4% of americans own an e.v., 4%, and only 12% are seriously considering getting one. 41% claimed that they would never buy an e.v. 60% of people say they think e.v.'s are too expensive. the price of e.v.'s would have to come down by about $15,000 for the average american to see them as real competitors to gas-powered cars.

americans have the right to buy electric vehicles if they so choose, and i support that right, but they should also have the right not to buy one. our government is supposed to be of the people, by the people, and for the people, but, frankly, this federal mandate is of the epa, by the epa, and for the epa. it's not based in the interest of the american people, only the interest of a power-hungry white house. president biden is prioritizing electric vehicles, and by extension, the small slice of americans who want and can afford e.v.'s without adequately considering the effects of a top-down government mandate on energy security and the lives of the american people.

in closing, madam president, the biden administration's plan for a utopia of perfectly green vehicles, it's a cute idea but it is completely out of touch with reality. it's also out of touch with americans' real needs and desires. this administration has got to stop with these top-down mandates that force americans into outcomes that they wouldn't choose themselves. in the meantime, i hope my senate colleagues will join me in advocating for what americans really want and pushing back on this administration's overreach. thank you, madam president. i yield the floor. mr. schumer: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority leader is recognized. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that i be permitted to speak for two minutes following senator peters who will speak up

to three minutes prior to the scheduled roll call vote. the president pro tempore: is there an objection? without objection, so ordered. the senator from michigan is recognized. a senator: in just a few moments each of our colleagues will have the opportunity to cast their vote for a bipartisan bill to provide essential federal resources to fire departments all across our country. the fire grants and safety act reauthorizes two vital grant programs administered by the federal emergency management agency that provide funds to help fire departments purchase safety equipment, address staffing needs, fund fire training and education programs and provide cancer screenings to firefighters. mr. peters: the legislation also reauthorizes the united states fire administration which works to support fire and emergency medical services as they help safeguard our communities. federal grants enable many fire department, especially those in smaller and rural communities to invest in the vehicles, equipment, or training they need to do their job safely and

effectively. i have had the opportunity to visit several fire stations across michigan to see firsthand how they use these vital grant programs to purchase extraction tools like the jaws of life and up-to-date breathing equipment to keep firefighters safe on the job. without these programs many fire departments would simply not have the resources to afford the equipment and tombs they -- and tools they need to protect their communities. now the senate will be able to show these heroes that we have their backs by voting to pass this commonsense bipartisan legislation and i want to thank my cosponsors and colleagues for their support, including senator collins, carper, murkowski, coons, moran, boozman, heinrich, rounds, king, sullivan, tester, sinema, and kennedy. by passing this critical bill, we can ensure our firefighters and first responders have what they need to continue safeguarding our communities from emergencies. mr. schumer: madam president.

the president pro tempore: the majority lead ser recognized. mr. schumer: i would like to make for points. first on this gait legislation, i thank senator peters and his entire committee, democrats and republicans, for moving forward. our firefighters are the people who protect us. we need to protect them. equipment has gotten more and more expensive to save their lives and save the lives of the people they're protecting. and yet for many smaller communities, rural, smalltown, even suburban, there's not money to afford this equipment. so we have stepped up to the plate. i helped author this legislation with senator dodd back in 2002 to help them. we desperately need this legislation. we need it for firefighters both paid and volunteer around the country, but particularly as i said, in the smaller areas where they desperately -- in the smaller communities where they desperately need the equipment, we have to get it done. the second point is this. this is the second bill we've done in a very strong bipartisan

way. our colleagues came to us with a list of amendments. it wasn't dilatory. some of them were difficult for us. but we agreed to the amendments and in turn our colleagues voted to move forward. this again is how we can run the senate in a very good and productive way. and i hope to do that in every opportunity where we can come to agreement on amendments, move forward, and pass good legislation. this is good and needed legislation. i move -- i hope we get overwhelming vote for it. the president pro tempore: under the previous order, the bill is considered read a third time. the question is on passage of the bill. there's sufficient second. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

vote:

. the presiding officer: on this vote the yeas are 95, the nays are 2. the 60-vote threshold having

been achieved, the bill is passed.

mr. schumer: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar 64. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all those in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, department of veterans affairs.

joshua david jacobs of washington to be under secretary for benefits. mr. schumer: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. 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 64, joshua david jacobs of washington, to be under secretary for benefits of the department of veterans affairs, signed by 17 senators as follows. mr. schumer: i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all those in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to calendar 32, s. res. 326. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: motion to proceed to s. 326, a bill to direct the vary of veterans affairs to carry out a study and clinical trials, and so forth and for other purposes. mr. schumer: i send a cloture

motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. 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 motion to proceed to calendar number 32, s. 326, a bill to direct the secretary of veterans affairs to contrary out a -- carry out a study and clinical trials on the effects of cannabis of those with post traumatic stress zeroed as follows. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum call for the cloture motions filed today be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i have seven requests for the senate to committees to meet, they have the approval of the majority leader and minority leaders. the presiding officer: duly noted. mr. schumer: mr. president, i am now going to ask unanimous

consent to recognize the 30th anniversary of the united states holocaust memorial museum. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the consideration of s. res. 167, submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. res. 167, recognizing the 30th anniversary of the united states holocaust memorial museum. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: mr. president, first i want to thanks senators cardin, rubio, and many others for introducing this legislation, this recognition. the holocaust museum is an amazing place. i hope every american and every citizen of the world gets to visit it. it reminds us of one of the greatest horrors man ever

inflicted on man. the horrible of the holocaust, where six million people, one million children died, exterminated or murdered. and, mr. president, every time i go to the holocaust museum something new strikes me. there's so much, so many people lost. you see the faces and the families and were they were killed, just because they were jews. and it reminds us to remember to always remember, if we remember those who died, we keep their -- we keep their flame alive and by remembering we will also prevent future holocausts from occurring because if we realize the horror that can occur, it will importune men and women throughout the world and throughout this country to prevent any occurrence like this and make sure it is stopped. and, second, there's an increase in anti-semitism in america and the world today.

we must do everything we can to fight that as we must fight all forms of bigotry and this memorial will remind us that we can never sweep things like this under the rug, that we must remember and we must fight as hard as we can to snuff out anti-semitism and all other forms of bigotry and prevent the kind of evilness that occurred in the holocaust from ever occurring today. i yield the floor. i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. wicker: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from mississippi. mr. wicker: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. wicker: thank you, sir. today i call on my colleagues to join me in supporting the effort to rebuild america's nuclear deterrent. for most americans this may seem like a relic of the cold war, but to those of us tasked with funding our national defense, nuclear threats are not a thing of the past.

nuclear threats are a present day issue. america successfully deterred nuclear attacks during the cold war. back then, we had one clear foe, but today's national security situation is the most complex we have faced since world war ii. russia, china, and north korea are rapidly growing their nuclear stockpiles. and iran stands on the brink of building its own arsenal, facing multiple nuclear-armed enemies at the same time requires us to rethink how we plan to remodernize our nuclear capabilities. let me first briefly outline the nuclear threat posed by our primary adversaries an list four steps the congress can take to respond. in the past u.s. and the soviet

union had nuclear stockpiles that dwarfed china. beijing has changed that. china has so much expanded their nuclear arsenal that it may be more than our own by the end of this decade. with breathtaking, china has long-range bombers and ballistic missle submarines. china's sophistication took us by surprise, frankly. we were slow to respond as china built hundreds of new ballistic missle silos and then they developed a fractional orbital bombardment system. orbital. that is as startling as the name sounds. with this system, china can place a nuclear warhead into the

earth's orbit and then drop it anywhere in the world with little warning. this is a fact. the u.s. and the soviet union negotiated a way -- away this type of weapon during the cold war. russia and the united states did so in part because of the extreme danger that such systems pose to global stability. as xi jinping develops this system for china, he makes it clear that causing international instability does not keep him up at night. in fact, xi seems to thrive on it. the situation with russia is hardly any better. vladimir putin still owns the world's largest, most modern and most diverse nuclear arsenal and is willing to threaten the use of nuclear weapons to get what he wants. i did this to try to keep nato from intervening as he invaded

ukraine and has repeatedly done so since then to rentalster his dis -- register his displeasure with our aid to the ukrainian people. china and russia are bad news to our interest and there is still worse news. russia and moscow -- and china decided to work together. they have purchased -- two other nations present significant threats to the united states, north korea may now possess enough missiles to overwhelm our homeland missile defenses. they've expanded their nuclear forces with little push back from the biden administration. worse still iran may only weeks away from building its own weapons, putting regional stability and our ally israel at

grave risk. the administration has shown little resolve to twrart iran's -- thwart iran's nuclear program before it's too late. this promise us to examine our own nuclear capabilities. when we do, we find them lacking. the last time the united states made investments in our nuclear arsenal was in the 1980's and almost all the nuclear forces we have today are from that decade. these systems hold together only because of the hard work of our servicemembers. the national nuclear securities administration's industrial capabilities for maintaining our nuclear weapon stockpile are so antiquated that they are literally falling apart. for example, the y-12 national security complex in oak ridge, tennessee, is in a state of disrepair.

y-12 is a symbol of the broader issue. because we have not kept our nuclear capacity up-to-date, we are the only nuclearular-armed -- nuclear-armed in country in the world that cannot build a single new nuclear weapon. around 2010 the obama administration and congress, to their credit, agreed to begin replacing our aging nuclear forces and revitalizing our nuclear infrastructure, including programs such as the columbia class ballistic missle submarine, the b-21 bomber, and the sentinel intercontinental ballistic missle. i commend the obama administration and congress for doing that at the time, but i can tell you for now more than a decade later, we are still facing, we are still waiting for these efforts to come to fruition. the biden administration has seen the same news as we have,

mr. president. we are all watching russia fully update its arsenal. china continues its historic nuclear breakout. and, yet, the administration does not seem to take these threats seriously enough and does not hold anyone accountable for missing program development target dates. instead, every single -- instead, every single u.s. nuclear modernization program has been delayed, reduced in scope or canceled. amazingly, despite over $500 million in additional funds to the nuclear administration last year to build plutonium cores, we see no progress, considering the rising threats from china, russia, north korea, and iran, our complanscy is

un -- comes placencey is it unaccept. i want to thank the chairman and ranking member of the strategic forces subcommittee, they led bipartisan efforts to advance our overdue modernization programs, and i applaud them for their leadership. senator king from maine, senator fischer from nebraska. now congress needs to come together to take even stronger actions to ensure the department of defense and the national nuclear security administration urgently prioritize the modernization of our nuclear forces. specifically, i believe we should take the following steps. first, increase investments to accelerate the building our -- of our nuclear forces and restore the basic capabilities to maintain our nuclear stockpile, and do this as soon as possible. secondly, remove regulatory barriers, hindering the success of our nuclear modernization

programs. and also hold the department of defense and the nuclear security administration leadership accountable for performance. third, immediately commit to expanding and diversifying our nuclear forces, an essential first step is establishing and funding a formal program to build the sea-launched cruise missile. and fourth reposture u.s. forces to bolster deterrence and reassure our allies in nato and asia of the u.s. commitment of deterring russia, china, north korea, and iran. these are significant but necessary steps, mr. president. in today's world we must deter multiple adversaries at once. that's just the reality now. this demands the preparation and investment i have just outlined. during the cold war, we understood what it meant to face

down existential threats. we prevented nuclear conflicts then by remaining true to president reagan's peace through strength doctrine. we would do well to return to that vision today. thank you, mr. president. and i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: thank you. the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

the presiding officer: the senator from north dakota. mr. hoeven: thank you, mr. president. are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: yes, we are. mr. hoeven: i ask the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection, sir. mr. hoeven: thank you. recently i visited -- as a matter of fact, this past week i was in south korea and taiwan. i just wanted to describe what i learned there and talk about some ideas for advancing our interests in east asia. the trip convinced me even more that our highest priority should be to cultivate close security and economic relationships with our fellow democratic and free market allies and partners in the region. this is the best way to defer conflict and advance prosperity both for the united states and across the region. let me start by addressing security. there's no shortage of threats to peace and stability in east

asia. from sim jong-un's missile program to china's threats to taiwan. and we need to do three things in response. first, we need to work closely with our allies and partners in the region to understand what they need to enhance deterrence and improve their ability to defend themselves. in south korea this means deepening our 70-year alliance and focusing on new challenges. in particular, we should look closely at expanding our efforts at missile defense, missile defense for south korea and also for japan. in taiwan this means accelerating delivery of critical systems that taiwan has purchased through our foreign military sales program. right now they have almost $19.5 billion worth of military hardware that they've ordered and that they're paying for that they're waiting to receive. think how important that is. we're talking f-16's.

we're talking missile-to-air defense. think how important those things are right now in terms of taiwan's defense and deterrence, deterring the prc's aggressive action in the taiwan strait. it also means thinking creatively with taiwan's leaders about how we can jointly develop and produce near-term capabilities that will deter chinese aggression as well and also providing training opportunities for taiwan's defense forces. second, we need to emphasize the importance of a regional strategy that links like-minded allies, partners, and friends to preserve peace and stability and support a free and open indo-pacific region. we have long-standing bilateral security alliances with south korea as well as japan, the philippines, and other countries in the region. right now we're conducting

military exercise with the philippines. so we have niece long-standing relation -- have these long-standing relationships with taiwan as well. we need to build these alliances. these alliances support u.s. interests in the region and ensure that we are not forced to operate from north america when we seek to secure and stabilize the western pacific because we have these allies working with us in the region. we should make every effort to turn our system of bilateral alliances into a broader network of freedom loving people across the indo-pacific region. we applaud the efforts of the un government in south korea to reach out to japan. president un was just recently in japan to further strengthen the ties between south korea and japan. we look forward to opportunities for trilateral relationships between south korea, japan, and the united states. and we should look for other

ways to work with countries in the region to deter conflict and secure the seas for trade including interoperable military hardware, information sharing, and coordinated strategies to deter address and to secure stability. third, we need to continue efforts to modernize our forces not because we seek a war in the pacific but because the best path to peace is through strength. that's how we deter aggressive actors like the prc. whether we're strong our partners and allies will find it easier to strengthen themselves and work with us to keep the region secure. this means we need to build advanced capabilities to allow our forces to operate at long distances and in close coordination with our allies and our partners. it also means continuing efforts to modernize our nuclear forces which are foundational to our national security and which allow our allies and partners to

focus on developing conventional capabilities rather than being tempted to build nuclear arsenals of their own. our goal is deterrence. and improving the capability of our allies and partners, developing a regional approach to security and modernizing our own forces, that provides the best chance to avert future conflict. in addition to security, i also want to address economic relationships in the region as well. my trip reinforced my belief that coordination with our regional allies and partners should not be limited to military cooperation. we need to maintain strong economic relationships with our east asia friends both because it benefits of the people of the united states and because strong economic relationships in the region also enhance deterrence and support peace. so it's not just a military strategy. it's an economic strategy as well. in particular i want to prioritize trade and economic

resiliency. first, we should take steps to advance free trade agreements in the region. we all know that china has a large economy and needs markets for its products. so our ability to cultivate trading relationships in east asia and not only provides an opportunity for the united states producers and manufacturers to make money overseas by expowrting -- exporting their products, it also ensures that china does not dominate those local economies. and china needs those markets. so it also puts pressure on china to stop the aggressive behavior. fortunately we have a bilateral trade agreement with korea right now, and it's working very well. when i first visited south korea in 2011, we were working to complete the u.s.-south korea free trade agreement which went in force in 2012. i'm pleased to say that after more than a decade, the benefits of this agreement are very clear. south korea is our sixth largest

trade partner and of particular importance to my state, south korea is the largest export market for u.s. beef, the second largest export for u.s. soybeans and the fourth largest export market for u.s. wheat. taiwan was the eighth largest overall trade partner for the united states in 2022, and our seventh largest egg export market. -- ag export market. this is a relationship i worked on for almost 20 years. when i was governor of north dakota i sent a trade delegation to taiwan to open markets for north dakota products. soybean and corn, much from my home state goes to tie wand and benefits ag states across america. the u.s. does not have a free trade agreement with taiwan but i believe this is something we should work on. both because it would enhance an

already robust trading religious r relationship with a fellow market-based economy and because it would provide additional support to taiwan during a time of great tension with china. next we should take steps to increase the economic resilience of our east asia partners, particular with respect to energy and food supplies. on energy, both south korea and taiwan would benefit from better access to u.s. liquefied natural gas. stable sources of l.n.g. would help -- lng would help both of their economies in terms of self-sufficiency. taiwan will need better lng supplies as well as enhanced capacity to store lng. we should also see how we can partner with south korea. on food security it is important to note that neither south korea nor taiwan are likely to produce adequate supplies of food for their own people because of

their limited landmass, obviously. and so they remain dependent on overseas supplies for ag products. our ag products do well in both markets which is obviously good for our producers and brings economic stability to the people of south korea and taiwan. for them secure sources of food truly contribute to their overall security and are very much a focus of what they are working on right now. the bottom line is we face significant challenges in east asia, but we should not face them alone. we need to work with our allies and build this strategy of regional cooperation -- regional coordination that creates deterrence, not only in terms of defense but also in terms of our shared market based economies. we actually are celebrating the 70th anniversary of our alliance with south korea right now, and in south korea, they refer to it as friends, allies,

and partners for 70 years. and i think in a recent poll, the united states and south korea has an approval rating of about 80%. think about that. pretty fantastic. and their economy is -- with the security that we've worked to provide, their economy has grown to be one of the largest really in the world. we've maintained strong defense of -- defensive ties and maintain strong economic ties with taiwan for decades, and as i say, this is a tremendous relationship and it shows and we're celebrating the 70th anniversary. and that should be instructive to us. that should be instructive to us as to what we can do with these other partners in the region. standing together with other free market democracies to defend our people and our values is key to peace and prosperity in the years and decades ahead. for ourselves, for our allies in

the pacific, standing together we are strong. peace and stability through strength. with that, mr. president, i yield the floor.

test: mr. carper: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senior senator from delaware. mr. carper: thank you, mr. president. honored to be here on the floor with you presiding today. i rise this afternoon to share my gratitude, and i know i speak

for our presiding officer and every member of this body, all 100 of us, to share our gratitude for those who helped ensure the passage of the fire grants and safety act through the senate today, but really in the weeks leading up to today. as we all know, a bunch of us as kids, probably like my sister and me, wanted to grow up to be firefighters. we ended up finding other ways to serve our states and our communities, but in the beginning we wanted to be firefighters. i might add our two sons, now grown and off into the world, they wanted to be firefighters. those were the role models they emulated and wanted to be more like. maybe one of the reasons is it's widely known firefighters put their lives on the line for us, not just occasionally, not maybe during holidays or weekends, but

every day. every day. today, we honor them by passing this legislation and sending it to our creation in the -- our colleagues in the house of representatives. i think the final vote, mr. president, was i believe 98-2. it's not every day we pass a bill with 98 votes. that means about every democrat and every republican voted for it. i hear a lot from people, not just in delaware but other states i visit, people say why don't you just work together? why can't you guys and gals just work together and get something done? i would present this as just a great example of what we can accomplish when we do work together. i especially want to thank a couple people among our colleagues whose hard work actually enabled us to work together and to pull together and to craft this bipartisan compromise.

i think a bipartisan triumph. let me start with our family members of the -- family members, fellow members of the congressional fire service caucus, and the coleads on this bill, senator gary peters, senator. ms. murkowski: murkowska murkowski, and susan collins and yours truly as well. i want to thank the entire congressional fire services caucus for their bipartisan work on this issue, including the chairs of the congressional fire services caucus, senator jon tester of montana. there are also many organizations who helped us better understand the needs of our firefighters, and i want to thank them too. let me just mention them briefly, if i may. the congressional fire services institute. the international association of firefighters. the international association of fire chiefs. the national vol up tier --

national volunteer fire council. the national fallen firefighters found foundation. and the national fire protection association. i don't think it's an,ageration to say we could -- not an exaggeration to say we couldn't have done this without their work and dedication. even today. most of us in this body will go to bed tonight and turn off the lights, go to sleep, and not have to worry about being awakened in the middle of the night to go out and save somebody's life. we're not going to have to be disare you married with our own families -- disrupted with our own families or personal lives to go out and lend a hand where there's been an outo or truck -- an auto or truck accident and lives are at risk. we're not going to be drawn into a situation with a house on fire, we had not too long ago in

delaware, where firefighters rushed into a house on fire, with the feeling people were in the basement of the house. the floor of the house collapsed and we lost the lives of several firefighters. but none of us have to worry about that, making that kind of sacrifice and undertaking those kinds of risks. none of us have to worry about being the young woman who is a volunteer firefighter, worked in health care field, as i recall, but was a volunteer firefighter, and worked late at night. she was driving home, on i-95, through wilmington, where they were doing reconstruction, right through the middle of our city, and there was an accident. about 3:00, 4:00 in the morning the volunteer firefighter, woman, pulled off, stopped to provide help to those impacted.

the volunteer firefighter was killed when she was struck by a passing vehicle and lost her life. none of us have to worry about any of that happening and having to put ourselves or members of our family in that kind of jeopardy. the reason why is because there are literally thousands, tens of thousands, of people from all corners of this country, all different sizes and colors, men, women, young and old, who understand that we all have an obligation to serve and look out for other people, even when it puts us in danger and at risk for our own lives. so in passing this legislation, it goes to the house of representatives now. it's not a done deal. our hope is that the house of representatives will see fit to embrace it and pass it and send it on to the president. i presume most presidents, i've been privileged to know quite a few of them, have a great

affection for the firefighters in their own states where they come from. nobody has a greater affection in delaware than does our president. he and i and chris coons, mike counsel, pete dupont and all who came before us share that affection and high regard. i've heard our president, when he was a mere senator, say there are three political parties in delaware. one of those is democrat, one is republican, and the other are the folks that are the firefighters and their families. they stand out in the crowd. i just close with this, you ask people why they are willing to put their lives in danger and help save our lives and lives of others that are in jeopardy, and i've heard of hundreds of men and women who say the reason is it gives them joy.

it gives them joy to know they're making a difference with their life, that they're serving other people. one or two, every now and then, will invoke the golden rule, treat other people the way you want to be treated. how would i want to be treated if my house were on fire, or my son or daughter are in a traffic accident, or there is a forest fire surrounding our community? they say well, that's the way i like to be, why don't i treat other people the same way? with that, mr. president, i think it's been a good week. we're ending here on a very high note. i want to thank you for all of your work, good work, it's been a pleasure working with you this week and every week, and i look forward to the neighbor right across the delaware river, looking forward to many, many happy trails in the days to come. we've got these young pages sitting here at the foot of the presiding officer and the floor staff, and i don't know if any

of them still as kids had a desire to be a firefighter. my guess is -- i see some nodding their heads. yes, they do. but maybe we never -- hopefully, you never outgrow the spirit that compels and encourages people to stand up and play the role of a firefighter, either in the middle of the night, a fire or accident, what it ever might be. hopefully, their examples and that spirit will be contagious and infect all of us in a very, very good way. with that, mr. president, i think i'm supposed to yield the floor, and i think there's something that i've been asked to add here. a closing. i ask for a quorum call, please. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. carper: mr. president. i believe we're in a quorum call. is that correct? the presiding officer: the is that correct is correct. mr. carper: i ask unanimous consent to vitiate the quorum call, mr. president. the presiding officer: is there an objection? no objections. mr. carper: i ask unanimous consent, mr. president, that when the senate completes its business today it stands

adjourned to convene for a pro forma session, with no business conducted, at 10:00 a.m. on friday, april 21. when the senate adjourns on friday, it stands adjourned until 3:00 p.m. on tuesday, april 25. april 25. 2:00 p.m. on tuesday april 25 redeemed expired the general proceedings be approved today leaders reserved for their use later in the day and morning business be closed. that upon the conclusion of morning business, the senate resume consideration of the jacobs nomination. further, that the cloture motions filed during today's session ripen at 5:30 p.m. on tuesday, april 25. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. carper: if there is to further business to come before the senate, mr. president, i ask that it stand adjourned under

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