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order your copy tay or go to c-span shop.org. 29.95 plus shipping and handling and every purchase helps to support our nonprofit operations. and this morning on capitol hill, senate lawmakers continue work on the president's judicial and executive nominees. at 11:30 a.m. eastern time advance colleen shogan to be the next archivist. now to the floor of the senate on c-span2. the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. the chaplain, dr. barry black, will open the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray.. o lord, our redeemer, abide with our senators through the

passing hours of this day. strengthen them to stand firm for those good and eternal values that keep a nation strong. lord, give them the courage to do the right even when others are doing wrong. remind them that you are the pilot of their lives who can guide them to a desired destination. let discretion preserve them and understanding keep them, protecting them from the forces of evil. lord, save them from pride that mistakes their abilities for possessions, and keep them humble enough to see their need

of you to solve the problems of these turbulent times. we pray in your mighty name. amen. the presiding officer: please join me in reciting the pledge f allegiance to our flag. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the presiding officer: the clerk will read a communication to the senate. the clerk: washington, d.c., may 4, 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 leadership time is reserved. morning business is closed. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the following nomination which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary. lashonda a. hunt of illinois to be united states district judge for the northern district of illinois.

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trying in that. it is obviously in the policy community and i'm not sure i would know frankly what it is that they are looking at. >> thank you. >> also, director, looking at

afghanistan, do you expect they still expect to conduct external operations against the united states, our forces, our allies and partners? >> yes. >> do you agree with the assessment that we had in march about how long it would take isis capability to conduct external operations? he told us at that time that any operation against the united states and western interest abroad could have been within six months with little or no warning. would you agree with that? >> i would have to take that back, to be honest. a number of intelligence since testified on this issue. i think it may affect the timeline. i'd be happy to take that for

the record. >> do you feel that we have lost information gathering capabilities and also key operations in afghanistan since our withdrawal? >> clear about the fact that we may not collect as much information today. >> how would you, i guess, rate the amount of intelligence that we are able to gather in afghanistan? it is my understanding our operations are basically nil. we are looking at hardly anybody on the ground to be able to help. how do you rate what we are able to give and looking at a threat of not just united states interest and persons, but also our western allies.

>> to be specific, we would have to do this i think enclosed session. i think that we tried to, i'm trying to think about how to do this in an unclassified way. monitor the threat. it is definitely degraded from what we had previously and we can discuss the details. >> thank you. >> director james. engaged in cyber operations. gain intelligence about how these adversaries operate in the cyber domain. inch the event of a large-scale cyber attack —-dash. >> majority leader. america. without taking even a moment to explain how their bill would wreak havoc on their country.

that, of course, was by design. republicans have known for years that their agenda is horribly unpopular with the american people. so the maga part of the gop has used this default crisis to sneak their radical proposals through the backdoor. since maga republicans, and house republicans in general, have refused to level with the american people, senate democrats have been doing their work for them, exposing how default on america will crash the economy, raise costs, and kill millions of good-paying jobs. yesterday, at an appropriations subcommittee hearing with administrator regan, chair murray and subcommittee chair merkley showed how default on america would devastate clean water and cut programs that protect kids from harmful pfas chemicals. chair murray and senator heinrich also met with deputy

secretary turk, and showed how default on america would slash scientific research and cripple american competitiveness. just as both parties passed chips and science. here we have finally passed good, strong, bipartisan legislation, that will help us compete against the chinese government, and what do the house republicans, led by the maga group, do? they cut all of that. they cut so much of that out. american people don't want that, and they don't even want the american people to know what they're doing. today, the senate budget committee is hearing from experts, like mark glandy of moodies analystics, hardly a liberal stalwart, to show how default on america would lead to hundreds of thousands of job cuts and diminished economic prosperity. default on america, as you know, is the republican plan. that is what we are calling it,

and that's what america knows. we won't stop there. senate committees will continue next week, showing how the republican, the maga republican, default on america plan utterly wreaks of maga republican extremism. it's not a plan at all. it is just a right-wing wish list, thrown together in the house. the stench is foul. just look at the way the republican bill treats our seniors. one million seniors will lose access to meals on wheels, if republican default on america becomes law. these are seniors who often can't leave their homes by themselves to get groceries and need a hand from others. it's incredible. tell seniors who are home bound they can't get meals, so that some right-wing billionaires don't pay taxes? that's the whole way these maga

republicans think, and that seems to be where house republicans are following. or look at the way default on america turns its back on our nation's veterans. if republicans get their way and default on america becomes law, up to 80,000 jobs at the veterans health administration would be cut, our nations veterans have dedicated their lives to keeping our country safe. there's no greater shame than intentionally depriving them of the resources to stay healthy, but that is precisely what the house republican bill does. if anyone wonders whether or not house republicans truly care about law enforcement and public safety, default on america would cut 30,000 law enforcement jobs. 30,000. let me emphasize that again, because it's a stunning revelation. if default on america becomes law, 30,000 law enforcement jobs would be cut, our border patrol would be left hanging to dry. our communities fighting the opioid crisis, guns, drugs,

would be less safe. this party, which has railed against, quote, those outside of this room who have said defund the police, are defunding the police. cuts to seniors, cuts to veterans health, cuts to federal law enforcement, these are just some of the consequences of the default on america that has been proposed, default on america wish list that has been proposed by the maga republicans and the republican leadership in the house. but the horrors don't end there. default on america is loaded with poison pills that have nothing to do with averting default and everything to do with the hard-right agenda. default on america would deregulate fossil fuels and empower big oil, make life easier for wealthy tax cheats and impose unpopular work requirements on vulnerable fleaments. there is no -- vulnerable families. there is no way the american people will accept legislation

as hard, cruel, hard right as the republican default on america act. default on america cannot credibly be called any sort of plan from speaker mccarthy to avoid default. it reads musm more like a house freedom caucus manifesto. the solution is staring republicans in the face. do what we've done under president trump and president biden, under both democratic and republican majorities. we should pass a clean bill to a i void default, with no brinksmanship, no hostage-taking. if we do that, there will be no default on the national debt. now, i want to salute jack reed. he put together an important letter. leader mcconnell and i received a letter regarding the blanket hold by the senator from alabama on the nominations of

senior military leaders. the letters signed by secretaries gates, coen, panetta, hagel, mattis, esper and perry minces no words. it hams u.s. readiness, damaging u.s. security. harming u.s. readiness and risks damaging u.s. security. that is the assessment of secretary secretary of state from both parties. that is the damage by the senator from alabama. key leaders are not able to take key positions including the seventh fleet, critical for keeping the chinese government in check. let me read one sentence from the letter. quote, leaving these and many other senior positions in doubt at a time of enormous geopolitical uncertainty sends the wrong message to our

adversaries an could weaken our deterrence. senator tuberville's holds are affecting the next military representative to nato to support ukraine. the future director of intelligence at u.s. cyber command is also impacted. i hope senate republicans read the letter and tell senator tuberville to drop the reckless holds. i urge all of my republican colleagues to impress upon senator tuberville the damage he is causing to our military and to our own national security at a time when we can't afford to drag our heels on national defense. all of us in the senate have strong opinions on various topics, but that cannot justify putting our national preparedness at risk. on a.i. today the white house will hold a meeting with four a.i. top developers. over the past several weeks my staff and ri have met with close to 100 krerch o's, being academd

more, and i plan to continue to do this. i met with republicans on this important policy topic, i welcome the white house's engagement here. as i said, a.i. is one of the most pressing and serious policy issues we confront today. that is it why we're meeting with so many experts to maximize the benefits of ampletd i. and minimize the -- a.i. and minimize the harm it may do. this is a deep and difficult issue to deal with and that's why we're meeting with so many experts right now. it is critical that as we grapple with artificial intelligence, we should seek to invest in american ingenuity, enhance our national security and ensure it is done in a responsible manner and anything we do regarding a.i. must be thoroughly bipartisan. that's why i'm talking to a good number of my republican

colleagues here in the senate and we've got to be clear eyed about the pros and cons of this technology. this is not an ideological issue, but it is an important issue, and i hope both parties will come together on it. on nominations. mr. president, it was another productive week here on the senate floor when it comes to judges. by the end today the senate will have confirmed another six highly qualified judicial nominees to lifetime appointmentments on sh -- appointments on the court. i thank my colleagues on both sides for their cooperation. confirming judges is one of the senate's most important priorities and this was a good week in that regard but we are not done. you can be sure, mr. president, that confirming judges and bringing balance to the judiciary will remain a top priority for the senate in the days, weeks, and months ahead. i yield the floor.

mr. mcconnell: mr. president. the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: in the teeth of the great gretion, america -- great depression, america built the tallest structure in the world, the empire state building, and we did it in 18 and a half month. today infrastructure projects wait an average of four and a half years just for an environmental impact statement before they can break ground. beginning in the middle of the civil war, the transcontinental railroad took five years and seven months to build from first

rail to golden spike in the middle of the civil war. today it can take roughly twice that long just to get the permit to open a mine. the american people have heard a lot of talk from washington about permitting reform, but our nation's builders, refiners, miners, and job creators know what they need is a lot less washington getting in the way. america's facing down strategic competition with major rivals like china that will shape the next century of world history. we're in a race for security, prosperity, and influence, but even as washington democrats say they want to help america build

things, make things, upgrade our infrastructure and win that competition, they keep making it harder to do exactly that. after the bipartisan infrastructure bill became law in 2021, the biden administration had unelected bureaucrats at the federal highway administration urging states, listen to this, not to spend infrastructure funding on commonsense things like expanding highway capacity and focus on equity and sustainability side shows instead. after the chips act passed in 2022, the administration's commerce department tried to rewrite parts of the law after the fact to maximize the benefits for democrats' big labor allies.

secretary raimondo marketed the bill as an urgent security priority, securing the supply chain for microchips, but the left wants to turn it into a trojan horse for demands related to h.r. by one measure last year, the number of natural gas pipeline projects that were canceled dwarfed the number that were completed. on the biden administration's watch, we are canceling more gas pipelines than we're building. in this administration, canceling more pipelines than we're building. last april the council on environmental quality issued a rule that would open new infrastructure projects, listen to this, to even more frivolous

litigation from radical activists by whole categories of potential environmental effects. so, mr. president, this week the democratic leader announced he wants the senate to pass even more legislation related to competition with china, but our democratic colleagues give the game away when they continually obstruct real honest to goodness commonsense reforms to our permitting process. we cannot and we will not outcompete china by rewarding radical activists' bad behavior. we will outcompete china if and when we decide to help builders actually build. our colleagues, ranking member kroopt of the epw committee and ranking member barasso, of the

energy committee experts in this case. consider the case our friend from west virginia recalled just yesterday on the floor, the mountain valley pipeline was designed to help heat ten million homes -- 10 million homes across appalachia. and it was supposed to be completed, listen to this, five years ago. construction is more than 90% completed. but thanks to predatory legal challenges, the builders have now literally spent more time in court than on the job site. and a project that was supposed to cost $3.5 billion now has a price tag almost twice that size thanks to legal delays and legal fees. it's actually mind-boggling to think that in the world's most advanced economy, we simply let

our critical infrastructure crumble, our skilled workers stay home, and our brightest ideas languish until radical environmentalists run out of legal challenges and unelected washington bureaucrats decide they're finally satisfied. thankfully, thankfully our colleagues from west virginia and wyoming are teaming up to introduce two bills that deliver real, real permitting reform. the capito and barrasso bills are designed to create a streamlined fast-track for energy and infrastructure projects, set enforceable limits on bureaucratic reviews and legal challenges and give builders certainty that legal wins won't hamstring their projects. unleashing american energy, harnessing american resources, and investing in the american

workforce, these are the crucial priorities. and led by senators capito and barrasso, senate republicans are on the case. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. durbin: mr. president, are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: the senate is in a quorum call. mr. durbin: i ask consent the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: mr. president, in the past two years we've made historic, steady progress to strengthen the american economy. under president biden's leadership, we have successfully navigated one challenge after another. from the covid pandemic to putin's invasion of ukraine, to supply chain snarls and persistent inflation. and though america's economy has remained resilient in the face of these challenges, it is not invince -- invincible. we received a reminder of that a few days ago when financial regulators took swift action to prevent a catastrophe. over the weekend federal regulators seized a major bank that was tee teetering on the

brink of collapse, first republic, and sold it to j.p. morgan chase. these actions not only protected the depositors, it could have saved our economy from potential recession. why do i say that in first republic was the third major bank to fail in two months. it was the second-l largest bank failure since 2008. so think about what could have happened had regulators failed to contain the damage of first republic's collapse. today we will be reading headlines about panicky investors, panicky deposits and turmoil throughout the financial system. thankfully we avoided that outcome. and it's because the government had the good sense to step in and maintain confidence in the banking system. now federal regulators stepped in to protect our economy when

the crisis at hand was a bank with $229 billion in assets. but that $229 billion banking asset pales in comparison to a much larger undertaking we're facing in washington today. the future of america's $23 trillion economy. right now in the u.s. house of representatives, speaker mccarthy is threatening our economy with the first ever federal debt default, the first time ever in our history. and let's put speaker mccarthy's dangerous gamble in context. just days ago some of the smartest financial minds in the world were convinced that a $229 billion bank could mean the difference between financial stability and financial calamity. well, that's $229 billion is a tiny fraction of the $23 trillion economy that speaker

mccarthy is gambling with. we're only weeks away from a deadline of july 1. that's when secretary yellen says america could default on our federal debt. so every day that the house republicans refuse to perform the most basic responsibility of government -- paying our bills -- they are spreading uncertainty throughout the global economy. that uncertainty is dangerous and costly. over the past few years, our nation emerged from the depth does of a once-in-a-century pandemic, we navigated one market disruption after another, and today we're finally moving in the right direction. but now speaker mccarthy and the house want to throw all of that historic progress away. why? to please the most radical members of his party. the debt ceiling proposal house republicans passed last week is not a budget. it is a maga manifesto. it is a ransom note to the american people -- either suffer

the disastrous consequences of a debt default or face devastating cuts in services and programs that millions of americans rely on every day. mr. president, i just left a hearing on the appropriations subcommittee on health and human services. appearing before that committee was the national institutes of health. this is the premier medical research agency in the world, of 500-plus new prescription drugs, they're responsible for almost all of them, the basic research. just this week, we had an announcement, a dramatic announcement, in chicago, northwestern university, doing medical research, and i'm going to try to state this properly as a liberal arts trained lawyer, but i get into medicine and science. they've finally found a way to successfully breach the blood-brain barrier. what does it mean? we had two of our most famous senators in modern time, ted

kennedy, john mccain, both pass away because of glioblastoma, brain cancer. you understand that personally, more than any other member of this body. we watched as they went through surgery, the only technique that could be used on this brain cancer, in an attempt to remove the tumor and all of the cancer cells. unfortunately, that process is not as good as it should be. tumor brain cells remained, and ultimately took their lives. well, now, these doctors at northwestern found a way to breach this blood-brain barrier so that they can apply chemotherapy drugs to the brain addressed -- to the brain directly. it is a dramatic development that could have applications as well when it comes to parkinson's and alzheimer's. of that was discovered this week because of an nih grant,

national institute of health grant. millions of dollars to these researchers that could transform the way we treat brain cancer in america, as well as parkinson's and alzheimer's. what does speaker mccarthy want to do with the budget of this agency, the national institute of health? he wants to cut it by 20% to 25%. that is an outrage, to think we would forestall the research, which could save lives and alleviate suffering across america. the fact that our leadership in the world in medical research would be jeopardized because of gamesmanship by speaker mccarthy on the issue of the debt ceiling. his proposal for a budget, if you want to call it that, is a maga manifesto. they don't wear. they're determined to preserve the trump tax cuts at any expense, and when you look at cutting 20% to 25% of medical research, it's true they'll go to an extreme. what would debt default look like? it would wipe out trillions of

dollars of savings by families across america, and the 401-k's would take a beating. it would kill millions of jobs and force businesses to grind to a halt and accepted our economy into a recession. does speaker mccarthy believe any of us were september to washington that -- were sent to washington that achieve that? defaulting would send interest rates soaring, making credit cards and mortgages more expensive. it's a nonstarter. but so is accepting any of the destructive cuts i've described. their maga manifesto would cause needless suffering all across america. it would hurt virtually everybody in this nation, except the top 1%, which would have their trump tax cut preserved. this would decimate funding for america's veterans, eliminating 80,000 jobs in the veterans health administration, and threaten housing and security for them as well. this would also wipe out 30,000 law enforcement and border patrol jobs. next week, we've got a watershed

event occurring on the border. i'm sure you're aware of it, as the presiding officer represents new mexico. the question is what's going to happen when we eliminate title 42? are we going to have an onslaught of thousands of people seeking asylum in this country? are we ready for them? i've heard members of the senate from the other side of the aisle suggest they're unhappy with the situation. i am too. but we need to respond to it and in an orderly, direct fashion. defunding border patrol agents is a ridiculous outcome. to think speaker mccarthy would defund border patrol agents in this country, at this moment in history, is just not sensiccal at all. nonsensical. i will say, when it comes to the defunding of police and border patrol agents, it's a bad idea, even if it comes from the republican speaker. if this proposal became law, i might add the proposal by

mccarthy for his budget, we would also cut one million senior citizens of meals on wheels. what does this program do? for many of our elderly citizens, particularly those in a compromised medical state this is the only contact, the social contact they have each day, perhaps with the mailman as well. that's it. to eliminate this meals on wheels in order to preserve the tax cut for the trump administration, is just unfair. let me tell you what the cuts would mean in my state of illinois. the republican proposal would force 13,000 children in our state to lose child care and preschool. it would strip food assistance from 55,000 women, infants, and children. does that make any sense at all? it would threaten medical care for more than 186,000 veterans in illinois, 50,000 seniors would lose their meals on wheels in my state. yesterday, my office heard from

the greater chicago food depository, a food bank that's one of the best, that provides meals to seniors and families. here's what one senior staff member said, quote, these proved cuts are coming at a time when the need in the community is as high as it was in the beginning days of covid. families are really struggling. these are the families that speaker mccarthy would abandon with his maga manifesto. for what purpose is he doing this? i'll tell you -- to keep tax cuts for the wealthiest people and the most profitable corporations in place. another windfall for the well-off. we can and should debate our spending practices for the year to come. but this is not it. this is not the place to do it, and this is not the time to do it, with the debt ceiling looming. right now, we have one responsibility -- maintain the reputation of the united states of america for having full faith and credit, standing behind our debts, and making our payments. that is our constitutional duty.

the path forward is clear. we need a clean bill for the debt seal, then we can debate the issue of the budget and appropriations. i yield.

mr. thune: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, as i begin, i want to talk about a subject here in a moment, i also want to react to what the senator from illinois said with regard to the debt limit, because i think it is important to point out, as folks on the other side and at the white house talk about the need for a quote, clean debt limit, in other words, a debt limit that increases the amount of borrowing without anything whatsoever attached to it. to point out that in seven of the last ten debt limit debates, there were budgetary or policy items that were negotiated and attached. seven of the last ten debt limits. many of those insisted upon by the democrats at the time. in fact, i pointed this out yesterday, but president biden when he was vice president harris back in 2011 made statements that he couldn't

understand how anybody could not understand the importance or the need to negotiate on a debt limit increase other policy matters related, hopefully, to spending and debt, but it seems to me, at least, that a debt limit debate presents an opportunity to actually do something about the debt and to address the issue of spending. there have been a number of good suggestions made in a bill that's sent to us from the house of representatives about how to do that, about how to save money, how to make government more efficient, reallocate, reprioritize how we spend money, and hopefully reduce the amount of debt that we have going forward, and perhaps the need to again raise the debt limit. because it seems like every time we have this conversation, everybody laments that we have to do this and have this huge debt. one way to address that is to have a conversation about what we might do to reduce the debt in the form of spending reforms

and budgetary changes that could address both the spending and debt issue. seven of the last ten times that has happened, and in many cases instigated by the democrat leaders, including senator schumer. one other observation about that, because it's important, is you talk about spending and debt. think about the -- just the absolute aggregate levels we're now dealing with in terms of debt. i make this point because back in 2010, the amount that we spend annually on interest in the debt was a little under $200 billion. and in 2022, last year, the amount that we spent on interest on the debt, in other words, to finance the debt, to pay the interest on the amount of borrowing we have in this country, was $475 billion. in that time period, from 2010,

we went from paying a little under $200 billion a year in interest on the debt to $ $475 billion a year in interest on the debt. that's 142% increase. that's going to go up dramatically, as we all know, because interest rates are going up. now the cost of borrowing is increasing dramatically. in fact, over the next ten years, the estimate is that 50 cents out of every dollar we borrow will go toward nothing but paying the interest on the debt. when you're $31 trillion in the hole, $31 $in debt, it seems -- $31 trillion in debt, it seems logical to me, and i think most americans, because they've weighed in on this if you believe any of the polls, to address the issue of the debt as you're raising the debt limit. which is precisely what house leadership, the house of representatives did when it

passed a bill last week, sent it to the senate for consideration, including a number of spending reforms that would reduce not only the amount of spending we have, but also the amount of debt significantly. reduce the amount of debt over that time period by about $500 billion. that's significantly higher than that, several trillion dollars over the next ten-year period. that's a significant amount of money. the amount of interest savings is about $500 billion. the total on the debt is about $4.5 trillion. they're making an earnest effort at addressing what i think is a colossal problem for our country if we don't start reining it in and under control. it behooves the united states senate to consider that, and the president as well, what we might do to address spending and debt instead of declaring, as the democrat leader did about the house bill, that it's dead on arrival in the senate. there are a number of ideas in there that i think should be supported by both sides, and

that are meaningful in terms of what they do, obviously, by the amount that they would save. 50 cents out of every dollar borrowed in the next ten years would be used for nothing more than to pay interest on the debt, interest on the debt, which today, or as of last year, 2022, is already $475 billion each and every year. 65% of the american people, including 58% of democrats think before we raise the debt limit we ought to put restraints in place, budgetary restraints to control the spending in this country, and therefore the amount of deficit and debt that we rack up. mr. president, the budget president biden released a few weeks ago is perhaps most notable for two things -- the incredible levels of spending it proposes and its proposed $ $4.7 trillion in tax hikes.

again, in light of what i just mentioned with respect to the debt and deficit, it seems ironic that you would put a budget on the table that would dramatically increase the amount of debt at the ends of the -- at the end of the ten-year period, the debt would increase $17 trillion under the president's budget. it also includes $4.7 trillion in tax hikes. on top of the hundreds of billions in tax hikes the democrats passed last august as part of the inflation reduction act. wen thing that strikes me is -- taxes, of course, have a huge impact on our economy and the capacity for prosperity. and i don't need to tell anyone that. the more in taxes that individuals and businesses pay to the government, the less money they have to save, spend and grow. you would think that everyone would be able to agree that our tax system should be able to

promote individual prosperity and individual growth. but, as i said, when you hear the president talk about taxes, specifically about racing taxes since that is mostly what the president talks about on the tax front, you don't usually hear him focusing on the ways in which the tax plan would grow our economy. his interest in taxes is not in growing our economy, it is in financing the growth of government and furthering a highly partisan progressive social agenda. president biden and democrats have big plans for expanding the federal government and to do that they need more taxpayer money, and they regard tax policy not as a way to help secure economic prosperity but as a pay to collect that money so they can follow through on plans for new and ever-expanding government programs and they spend little if any time considering how their high-tax agenda might burden our economy and american families. i would say that is a striking

contrast to how republicans think about taxes. republicans' primary interest when it comes to tax policy is not how to bring in more money for the federal government, it's about how to help our economy grow to expand prosperity for all, which in the end always which ares in more -- which in the end brings in more revenue for the government. when the economy is growing and expanding, people are make manage more money. we believe it should be pro-growth, pro-opportunity and pro-taxpayer. the historic reform of the tax code is a perfect example of this. prior to our 2017 legislation, the tax cut and jobs act, our tax code was not working for our taxpayers or economy. it was taking too much money from families' paychecks, it was making it difficult for companies large and small to increase wages and grow and to contain perverse incentives for

companies to go abroad. republicans knew that if we wanted our country to thrive, our outdated tax code needed to change. and so we set to work to reform our tax code to help grow our economy and allow americans to keep more of their hard-earned money. we lowered tax rates and simplified the tax code so hardworking americans would pay less in taxes and spend less time filing them every april. we lowered tax rates for farms and ranches, and made it easier for them to recover the cost of investing in their businesses which in turn freed up cash for them to invest in their operations and their workers, i.e., higher wages. we lowered the massive corporate tax rates, which prior to the -- to the legislation, was the highest in the world, we did that to make businesses more

competitive and empower them to invest in wages and benefits for the workers and it worked and we brought our international tax system into the 21st century so american businesses would no longer be operating at a disslang next to their foreign counterparts. and that also worked, mr. president. in the wake of the tax cuts and jobs act, incomes grew. unemployment fell to a 50-year low. the poverty rate fell to its lowest level ever -- ever recorded in american history. black americans and hispanic americans saw record low rates of poverty and record-high increases in income. the income gap narrowed. business investment increased. inversions, and that's tax speak for companies moving their headquarters overseas, stopped, and the list goes on.

companies created new jobs, invested in their employees and they opened new opportunities for american workers by moving production and capital into the united states. and contrary to what some of my colleagues on the on the other side of the aisle would have you believe, the tax cuts and jobs act also helped increase revenues to the federal government. in short, tax reform helped create an economic environment for american businesses and american taxpayers to prosper with some of the biggest benefits going to lower and middle-income americans. and our economy has rebound from covid and much of the strength it still has after democrat-fueled inflation is in large part due to the tax cut and jobs act. mr. president, we're at an inflection point when it comes to tax policy and to the economy. key parts of the tax cuts and jobs act are set to expire in the not too far future. certain innovations that make it

easier for small- and medium-sized businesses to thrive have expired and there are two ways we could go. we could either maintain and build on tax cuts and jobs act policies to help businesses grow and expand opportunities for american workers or we can move in the direction the president is moving, which is dismantling pro-growth provisions of the tax cuts and jobs act and making tax hikes the focus with intent of not growing the economy, but of growing the federal government. i, for one, believe we should be focusing on tax policies that help spur economic growth and help allow americans to keep more of their hard-earned money. and i intend to do everything i can to preserve the economic benefits of the tax cuts and jobs act to work with -- by working with my colleagues to expand and make permanent its policies. even the president has grudgingly agreed that the lower

rates for individuals making under $400,000 should be continued. and i hope that he will work with members of congress to make that happen in the very near future. but we need to extend not just the lower individual rates that republicans implemented but the other tax policies that helped american businesses grow, ensured more individuals could save for their retirement and provided new opportunities for americans to invest in their future. american workers don't just need reasonable tax rates, they also need a thriving economy, the kind of economy that produces good jobs with good pages and rewarding careers, that's the kind of economy the tax cuts and jobs act helped create and that's the kind of economy that we need to be fighting to create for the future. the massive tax hikes president biden is proposing, would tear

down the what the tax cuts and jobs act created and drag our economy and the american taxpayer down with it. and i will do everything that i can to prevent the president's job-killing tax hikes from being implemented. we don't need a pro--government tax code. we need a pro-growth, pro-opportunity and pro-taxpayer tax code. and for the stake of -- sake of all the south dakota families i have the opportunity to represent and all the hardworking families all across our great country, that's the kind of tax code that i will continue to fight for. mr. president, i yield the floor. mr. menendez: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from new jersey. mr. menendez: mr. president, from dark prison cells in

terrain to the prison in moscow, autocrats and dictators are unjustly detaining innocent americans as pawns to advance their geopolitical goals. and so, mr. president, i come to the floor today as families of these americans have gathered in washington to shine a spotlight on the plight of their loved ones, and to support passage of the americans wrongfully or unlawfully detained abroad act of 2023, which is a bipartisan effort i'm leading with the ranking member of the foreign relations committee, senator risch and senators shaheen and hagerty. this would lessen the burden on these families as they work toward the release of their loved ones. it would allow the state department to help with travel

and advocate for their loved ones. it would support the mental health and well-being of detainees and their families and it would eliminate a completely arbitrary distinction under u.s. law, currently if your loved one is being held hostage by a non-state actor, for example a terrorist group like ice -- isis or al qaeda, you will be -- but if your loved one is detained by russia, iran or the like, there is no funding. senator risch and i are trying to fix it for american families who find themselves in painful circumstances. now, this bill passed unanimously out of the senate foreign relations committee. let me repeat that, unanimously. it's not and should not be controversial. this is the least we can do for

families that lie awake wondering if their loved one will return home, wondering if there is one more thing they could do to make a difference that could break the deadlock of their loved one's captivity, maybe the right confluence of events to bring their child back home. so, mr. president, i ask this body to give these families just a little bit of peace as they navigate an unimaginable nightmare. surely cutting a bit of red tape, getting them a train ticket or plane ride to washington once or twice a year is not too much to ask. so i'm here to seek passage of this bill. i was going to seek unanimous consent request. i understand that my colleague, the senator from kentucky, senator paul, has a fiscal issue. i just met with him. we look forward to hopefully working it out and being able to

return to the floor to seek its passage. until then, i yield the floor. i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. grassley: i ask that the calling of the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. grassley: i ask unanimous consent to be able to finish my speech before the vote. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. grassley: in the past several years i have come to this senate chamber to discuss my constitutional oversight of the justice department and the fbi. in many of those floor speeches, i've discussed legally protected and unclassified whistleblower disclosures that were made to my

office relating to the hunter-biden -- hunter biden criminal investigation. these disclosures were made public in the interest of transparency and accountability because the public's business should be public and we should know as senators or congressmen and congressmen whether the executive branch of -- congresswomen whether the executive branch is following the rules. those disclosure i made have a common theme. the justice department and fbi have allowed political infection to take root within each agency's decision-making process. such an infection is an existential threat to any government agency, but to a law

enforcement agency that can interfere with our constitutional rights, such an infection is catastrophic. after cross fire hurricane, which was the definition of a political investigation, the whistleblower disclosures demanded congressional attention more than ever. so i wrote public letters asking questions. i i directly asked the same to the attorney general and the fbi director at committee hearings. i've asked them about allegations that politics infected the hunter biden investigation. this sort of political bias

erodes trust in government and prevents the equal application of the law as required by the constitution. i also asked them about allegations that the fbi used false claims of russian disinformation to bury potential criminal investigations about hunter and james biden. also, i asked them about allegations regarding specific records within the department's possession relating to potential criminal conduct by the bidens. i've asked about allegations regarding specific records that show biden -- joe biden may have been involved in hunter biden's business arrangements. the allegations my office has

received are very precise, very direct and very consistent. accordingly, they're highly credible. these credible allegations raise important and fundamental questions, like these questions. did the fbi follow normal investigative procedures to vet these claims? did the fbi follow the facts wherever they led? or did they improperly shut down credible leads in advance of the 2020 elections? remember, i've made -- i've been raising these questions for a long period of time. i've done it through many

venues, letters, in hearings, in private calls with agency leadership, and like today right here on the floor of the united states senate. the department of justice and the federal bureau of investigation had plenty of opportunities to respond to all these questions i've raised. not once -- so let me emphasize. not once has the justice department ever substantially disputed the whistle-blower's allegations that i have made public. i've given the attorney general garland and director wray every opportunity to put our worst fears to rest and assure the american people as they should

that everything has been done by the book. both agencies have failed to do so. just think how simple it is to say that everything was done right way if they could say that. and that ought to tell you something. even with their credibility on the line, the fbi and justice department has refused to cooperate when asked for basic information. so as you know, if you've been following all this stuff, and i don't expect people to have time to do that, but yesterday house chairman comer and i issued a letter accompanied by a subpoena from the house committee demanding one fbi document. based on protected and highly

credible whistle-blower disclosures, the unclassified document exists, and it's allegedly referencing a criminal scheme involving then-vice president biden. notably, it's a crime -- it's a crime to provide false information to congress during a congressional investigation. most important, this very document was generated by the fbi themselves. it's time for the justice department and fbi to come clean to the american people. what did the justice department and fbi do to investigate the information in the document at issue? the answer goes to the heart of

whether taxpayer-funded government agencies proceed normally or whether that agency cuts corners. simply put, did the justice department, the fbi treat this information like they would if we, the people, were implicated or did they sweep it under the rug to protect then-candidate biden and president biden now? if the justice department and fbi have any hope of redeeming their once trusted position, and that is what the american people have long held, to trust the fbi, attorney general garland, and director wray must answer. their credibility is on the line. i yield and suggest the absence

of a quorum. the presiding officer: will the senator withhold his request? the question occurs on the nomination. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: on this vote, the yeas are 56, the nays are 41. the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the motion to reekier is considered made and laid upon the table and the president will be immediately notified of the senate's action. the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of executive calendar number 79, colleen joy shogan of pennsylvania to be archivist of the united states, signed by 17 senators.

the presiding officer: by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived. the question is, is it the sense of the senate that debate on the nomination of cool threne joy shogan of pennsylvania to be archivist of the united states shall be brought to a close. the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: the ayes are 53, the nays are 44, and the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: national archives and record administration, colleen

joy shogan, of pennsylvania, to be archivist of the united states. the presiding officer: the senate will resume consideration of the following nomination. the clerk: department of state, amy gutmann, to be ambassador at large for global women's issues. issues -- geeta rao gupta to be ambassador at large for women's global issues.

a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from maine. ms. collins: mr. president, on april 10, 1998, the governments of the united kingdom and the republic of ireland signed the good friday agreement. giving birth to a new era of peace in northern ireland. on this 25th anniversary, i join my colleagues in sponsoring a resolution commemorating a historic success that marked the

end of decades of conflict and that remains crucial to peace today and in the future. this resolution passed the senate foreign relations committee unanimously just yesterday, and will be passed shortly by the full senate. mr. president, the recent celebration of this landmark event in belfast brought together the three leaders of the day. prime minister tony blair, by day ahern and president bill clinton. the highlight of that gathering was the unveiling at queens university, the senator george

mitchell, the architect of the good friday agreement, this chamber's former majority leader, and my fellow mainer. and i know i speak for my fellow mainers when i say how proud we were of this extraordinary accomplishment, and we salute senator george mitchell on this, the 25th anniversary. mr. president, during the three decades that the troubles plagued northern ireland, some 3500 people were killed and 50,000 injured in sectarian violence. in 1996 during one of the many sporadic and ineffective cease-fires, george mitchell,

one year after his retirement from the senate, stepped forward to serve as america's special envoy to northern ierpland. he was -- northern ireland. he was committed, determined to forge a lasting peace, and he did. george mitchell approached this daunting task with the statesmanship and dedication to justice that have defined his life. for nearly two years senator mitchell worked with unyielding energy and endless patience to bring together the many parties and conflicting interests. despite arguments, controversies and walkouts, the talks were held together by his leadership and by his mitchell principles.

first and foremost, those principles held that political issues must be resolved by democratic and exclusively peaceful means. finally, on good friday, 1998, one day and a long sleepless night after the deadline senator mitchell had set to complete the complex negotiations, agreement was in fact reached. six weeks later the voters in northern ireland and the republic of ireland endorsed the pact with overwhelming margins. the good friday agreement has been a remarkable success in meeting its primary goal of

ending bloodshed and bringing sustainable peace. the resolution that i introduced with senator menendez, the chairman of the senate foreign relations committee calls upon congress to reaffirm its steadfast support for this historic agreement and to the údeh only way to settle political differences. and equally important, it recognizes george mitchell's pivotal role. mr. president, senator george mitchell himself defined leadership as having the wisdom to know what is right. the courage to say what is

right, and the strength to do what is right. this is not merely a definition he has offered throughout an inspiring life of service but also an example he set for others. i appreciate my colleagues' support of this resolution in his honor as we seek to commemorate this historic anniversary of the agreement that he forged, an agreement that would not have come about but for george mitchell's endless leadership and patience. thank you, mr. president.

ms. collins: mr. president, i would note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

>> that of course was by design. republicans have known for years that their agendas horribly

american people so the maga part of the gop has used this default crisis to sneak the radical proposals through the back door. since maga republicans and house republicans in general have refused to level with the american people, senate democrats have been doing their work for them, exposing how default on america while crashing crash the economy, raise costs, and kill millions of good-paying jobs. ..

senate budget committees hearing from experts, hardly a share how default in america would lead to hundreds of thousands of jobs cuts diminish economic prosperity default america as you know is what is republican. that's are calling and what america knows. we'll talk there. senate committees continue on

how the republican, republicans default in america plan a really weeks of maga republican extremists and it's not planted all, it's a rightly wishlist from together in the house. stench is fellow, look at the way provoking build meets our seniors, 1 million seniors will lose access to meals on wheels provoking default on america becomes law, these are seniors who often can't leave their homes by themselves to get groceries need a hand from others. it's incredible. seniors homebound they can't get meals some right-wing billionaires don't have to pay taxes, that's the way maga republicans spent in seems to be where house republicans have found. look at the way default in america turned its back on

american veterans and republicans get the way default america becomes law, up to 80000 jobs of the veterans health administration would be cut on issues veterans dedicated to lives to keeping our countries safe. there's no greater shame than depriving them of resources to stay healthy but that's precisely -- ay in support of dr. gupta's nomination as ambassador-at-large for global women's issues. around the world today women's rights and fundamental freedoms are under attack. in ukraine an untold number of women and girls are enduring the brutal sexual violence accompanying vladimir putin's war. in iran female protesters have been killed in the street. in latin america, a wave of femme i sides have gone unanswered. in afghanistan, the taliban are erasing women from the public

sphere, denying them the right to an education or the ability to work. and in china, the government has sent ethnic minority uighurs into concentration camps, forcing uighur women onto birth control, forcing them to have abortion oz, even forcing them to be sterilized. this has got to stop. and it is unacceptable. bost we cannot and must not stand idly by as such horrors continue, and one way we can fight back is by making sure u.s. diplomacy and foreign assistance prioritizes the protection of women and girls in all corners of the globe. dr. gupta is an excellent and well-qualified choice to lead such an effort. she would bring decades of experience working to empower women. she has fought to increase the economic security and political participation of women. she has pushed for an end of

pervasive violence against women and girls. and from her time as deputy executive director of unicef to her work as president of the international center for research on women, dr. gupta has demonstrated global leadership on women's issues and commitment to advancing gender equality through u.s. foreign policy efforts. as chairman of the senate foreign relations committee, i am confident that as ambassador of global women's issues, she will work tirelessly and effectively to advance the rights of women and girls worldwide. dr. gupta should have been confirmed last congress, but we cannot go back in time. but what we can do is act now. so, mr. president, i strongly support dr. gupta's nomination and urge my colleagues to vote for cloture, and with that, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

quorum call: mr. menendez: mr. president. i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. menendez: and i had ask unanimous consent that the vote that was supposed to take place at 1:45 commence immediately. the presiding officer: without objection. the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of executive deafer number 66, geeta gupta of virginia to be calendar at large for global women's issues signed by 17 senators. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived. the question is, is it the sense

of the senate that debate on the nomination of geeta rao gupta of virginia to be ambassador-at-large for global women's issues shall be brought to a close. -- to a close. the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. the clerk will call the roll. vote: h

vote: .

23w vote: vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: on this vote, the yeas are 50, the nays are 44, and the motion is agreed to.

a senator: mr. president . the presiding officer: the senator from new hampshire. mrs. shaheen: i rise today to express my excitement and support that the senate voted to take another step closer to confirming dr. geeta rao gupta to serve as ambassador at-large for women's global issues. today's vote has been a long time in the making, but it moves us one step closer to ensure that we have a functioning office of women's issues that has a senate-confirmed leader. this is really critical, particularly right now given what's happening around the world. because around the world, women -- women are under attack.

in iran thousands of girls and young women have been the victims of chemical attacks in classrooms. we still don't know what the cause of those attacks are, but we do know who's been at at risk and who's been suffering, and that's girls and young women. girls and young women who are the future of iran, and they're forced to go to school worrying about their safety. their families are forced to consider if their education is worth risking their lives and their communities is forced to -- with senseless attacks on their girls. in ukraine, russian forces have used masked rape, children and their mothers have been reported to be sexually assaulted while their family members are forced to watch. in latin america, a woman is

killed every two hours because of her gender. that's 12 women a day dying simply because they're women. and in sudan, we see another disturbing, but sadly, expected pattern. women are disproportionately affected by the conflict there. they're forced from their homes, it they're forced to share their homes with soldiers, they face sexual and gender-based violence and human trafficking and the because of the civil war, roughly 219,000 pregnant women are at risk. and in afghanistan, it is even worse. the de facto taliban authorities have normalized the systematic violation of women and girls,

where discripple in aorly -- dim cripple tripersecution of crime against humanity. these horrible examples humanize the plight that women around the world are facing. but another troubling set of statistics underscores why this plight is not isolated to one country. it is a global challenge that does not stop at the border of one nation. 30% of women and girls 15 and older has experienced physical or sexual violence at the hands of a partner. the majority of the world's poor are women who globally earn 24% less than men and who face some form of job restrictions -- so some form of job discrimination in 84 countries. and it's a sad reality that in

2023 there's not really a single country that has achieved gender equality. in fact, the progress of the last several decades has been the set back by the covid-19 pandemic and authoritarian trends around the world. so dr. guptaa, when she -- gupta, after she is confirmed next week, as she takes over the office of women's global issues, she has a huge responsibility. she will head an office of smart, engaged, dedicated staff who have devoted their careers to the rights of women and girls. i would be remiss if i didn't mention katrina who has served there since 2021. she has left the office as it implements the biden-harris

countering violent extremism and combating gender-based violence. her leadership has been invaluable and she exemplifies what it means to be a public servant. now, for those people who question why we need an office of global women's issues to been a lens for our foreign policy, i think it's important to remind everyone that empowering women and achieving gender equality is not just a moral imperative, it is also a strategic imperative. the evidence routinely demonstrates that women's empowerment is integral to achieving greater security and stability around the world. simply put, those societies, those countries that empower women are more stable and they're more likely to be democracy. when women work, even when they

make less than men for the same job, they invest 90% of their incomes back into their families and communities. that's compared with only 35% for women. -- for men. closing the gender gap in education adds half a percent to a country's capital gross national product. and we have excellent data that shows a peace agreement in conflict areas is 35% more likely to last at least 15 years if women participate in the development of the peace agreement. so these are tangible benefits that show that empowering women benefit whole communities, women and men alike. now, we've seen that the work of the office of global women's issues has shown that change is possible. we can leave a better future for our daughters and granddaughters. around the world, more women are

in government at all levels today than they were a generation ago, and not coincidentally, more countries are also creating laws to achieve gender equality and women's empowerment, rates of child and early and forced marriage are down while more girls are staying in schools. clearly, the women of the world have not been cowed by violence, oppression and inequality. they're fighting back and demanding equality and equity. in 2017, we passed the women peace and security act, ensuring that women's voices an participation are -- and participation are included in decision-making processes. i have been heartened to hear about the effect of the united states leadership on women's peace and security which is part of the mandate of the office of global women's issues.

this is making an impact despite the huge challenges they face on a daily basis. and around the world we're seeing women fight for their rights. in iran, women have faced down a brutal dictatorship, defied state-sanction marches. in ukraine women have taken up arms against the russian vainding force while leading families and communities to safety. across latin america, women have demanded that their governments do more to stop the gender-based violence and hold those who commit violence accountable. women have long been at the forefront of the pro-democracy movement in sudan, leading efforts to hold military to account and demanding that their voices are heard. in afghanistan in the face of

overwhelming odds, week are defying the taliban's strict decrees to actively protest for their rights. they have not given up. they continue to risk beatings, detention, and death to demand their rights. their peaceful demonstrations have been met with military force and yet they continue to protest. so we cannot stand idly by. these women are why we need a strong u.s. policy that supports the equality and empowerment of women. they are why we need an engaged office of global women's issues. and they are why we need to confirm dr. geeta roog gupta as ambassador -- rao gupta as ambassador as large as soon as next week so she can take over in that critical position. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

quorum call:

mr. schumer: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the postcloture time on the show began and gupta nomination -- i ask unanimous

consent the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the postcloture time on the show began and gup ta -- gupta nominations be considered expired and a vote to be determined by the majority leader following consultation with the republican leader. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar 71. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all 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: international bank for reconstruction and development, l. felice gorordo of florida to be united states alternate executive director of the --

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 71, l. felice gorordo of florida to be united states alternate executive director of the international bank for reconstruction and development 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 those opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar 55. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all those in favor say aye. all those opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, department of education, glenna laurine wright-gallo of nef to

be assistant secretary for special education and rehabilitative services. mr. schatz: 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 55, glenna laurine wright-gallo of nevada to be assistant secretary for special education and rehabilitative services for the department of education signed by 17 senators 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 calls for the cloture motions filed today, may 4, be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the senate consider the following nominations, all nominations placed in the secretary's desk in the foreign service, that the nominations be confirmed en bloc, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate, that no further motions be in order to any of the nominations, that the president be immediately notified of the senate's actions.

the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the senate consider the following nominations en bloc. calendar 74, calendar 153, that the senate vote on the nominations en bloc without intervening action or debate, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, that the president be immediately notified of the senate's action. the presiding officer: without objection. the question is on the nominations en bloc. all in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the nominations are confirmed en bloc. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to legislative session and be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: mr. president, i have seven requests for the committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. the presiding officer: duly noted. mr. schumer: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the appointment at the desk appear separately in the record as if made by the chair. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: and, mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the committee on health, education, labor and pensions be discharged

from further consideration of s. res. 81, the senate proceed -- mr. schumer: mr. president. the presiding officer: majority leader. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the committee health, education, labor and pensions be discharged from further consideration of senate rest 181, the senate proceed the en bloc consideration of the following resolutions, s. 181, s. 198, s. 199, s. res. 181, s. res. 198 and 199. the presiding officer: without objection. the senate will proceed to the resolutions en bloc. mr. schumer: i know of no further debate on the resolutions en bloc. the presiding officer: if there's no further debate, the question is on the resolutions en bloc. all those in favor say aye. all those opposed say no.

the resolutions are adopted en bloc. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the preambles are agreed to, the motions to reconsider be considered paid and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: all en bloc. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. murkowski: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senior senator from alaska. ms. murkowski: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i come to the floor this afternoon to speak to

a tragedy that we saw this past week, just a week ago today. two army aah-64 apache helicopters were making their way back to fort wainwright. fort wainwright is an army post in interior alaska. they had been training in the donnelly training area. they tragically collided and crashed. three soldiers from the first battalion 25th aviation regiment from alaska's 11th airborne division were killed and i have come to the floor this afternoon to honor their lives and express my deepest condolences to their families. chief warrant officer 3 christopher robert aramo of new york was 39 years old. he had deployments in support of operation enduring freedom.

he had served in iraq, in afghanistan, and most recently in kuwait. chief warrant officer kyle d. mckenna of colorado was just 28 years old. he also had deployments in support of operation enduring freedom and had served in both kuwait and saudi arabia. and warrant officer 1 stewart dwayne waymont of without was 32 years of age. according to an a.p. article, it said that he was, quote, excited to be stationed in alaska, to fly over rugged landscapes and see the northern lights and wildlife. his mother stacy weaver is quoted in that article as saying family was everything to him. from basic training to warrant officer candidate school to the apache pilot pipeline, these men

truly dedicated their lives to the service of our nation. and in doing so, they added to one of the proudest traditions in america while exemplifying the best of it, and that's the brave men and women who stand ready to protect and to defend us every day. and as we acknowledge the sacrifices that are made by the men and women in uniform, we have to remember that those sacrifices don't always come at times of war, in times of combat. this accident, as i mentioned, came after a two-week training exercise. training exercises themselves can be dangerous. and for the individuals who take part in them, we recognize that they face challenges daily. we also must remember, though, the sacrifice, the tremendous

sacrifices that are made by our military families. there's -- it's significant and placed upon them by circumstances that are beyond their control. when something bad happens, when some tragedy occurs, they lose husbands, wives, fathers, mothers. many have never had to worry about that, but today we are grieving with the families. all three soldiers were married. mr. waymont also had three young children that he leaves behind. scripture tells us that the lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. and to the families, i know no words can lessen your grief. but i hope you'll find some small measure of comfort in knowing that christopher,

stewart, and kyle were heroes and that they will always be remembered as such. i know that the fort wainwright and fairbanks communities are absolutely heart broken. there are families and brothers and sisters in arms who are grieving today. they are attending a private memorial service if their fallen comrades this afternoon in alaska. and my husband, verne and i offer our deepest condolences to them. know that we are keeping all who serve no our prayers and all, all who are no longer with us. this has been an awful, awful tragedy. there is one small sliver of light, however. there was a fourth servicemember who was injured in that same crash. he was treated at fairbanks memorial hospital and he's now been released and we're told that he is recovering at home. a full recovery is expected.

so hopefully this can be some small bit of hope to the fort wainwright and fairbanks communities that are suffering this loss. but it is indeed a sad moment for this military community. our interior community. know that in our golden heart, we will hold these men and their families tight. with that, mr. president, i yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum -- i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from nebraska. a senator: thank i, mr. president. over a decade ago when president obama was in office and apple's ipad was just hitting the market, our intelligence agencies began to notice a disturbing pattern. mrs. fischer: chinese-made

communications equipment was multiplying across our country, placed on top of cell towers throughout the midwest. equipment made by chinese state-banged companies like huawei and zte spread across my own home state of state of nebraska as well as nearby colorado and montana. curiously, these technologies were clustering near critical military locations in midwestern states. nebraska is home to sensitive areas like offutt air force base and a number of nuclear missile silos. well, the fbi looked into it and they discovered that at least one chinese company -- huawei -- was regularly selling its equipment to rural providers at cheap prices that appeared unprofitable, but once

installed, the equipment would be located right next to american military assets. the chinese communist party is actively seeking ways to disrupt department of defense communications, and that is why we cannot allow communications equipment made in china next-door to our military sites. this is just one example of the pervasive threat chinese-made equipment in our communications networks poses to our national security. we know that the chinese communist party intends to exploit these vulnerabilities for all kinds of activities, including espionage. that's why in 2020 the federal communications commission football banned the use of its funds to expand or maintain

networks containing any huawei or zte equipment. since then, the commission banned all equipment authorizations for several chinese tech firms that pose threats to national security. blocking their import and sale. we also passed along in congress approving $1.9 billion to secure our communications infrastructure, to rip out the chinese network gear and replace it with secure equipment. it's been years, but not all of this dangerous chinese gear has been replaced. approximately 24,000 pieces of chinese-made equipment remain in 8,400 different locations across our country. nearly all of the 85 companies approved by the fcc are still waiting for that federal

reimbursement money because they aren't able to pay to replace the technologies without help. the fcc's program is facing a budget shortfall of $3.08 billion, the sum of money that we first approved based on initial estimates is not going to cut it. that financial uncertainty means that smaller regional carriers, after being mandated by the federal government to rip out the equipment, won't receive the money they need to replace that high-risk chinese technology. i've heard from rural carriers that this basically leaves them with two options. one, go out of business or, two, to never replace the equipment

after they remove it and instead that would reduce the size of their wireless networks. either option would be devastating for communities, especially communities in rural areas. we need more, not less, connectivity. and we need more, not fewer, jobs. that's not just true in nebraska. but across this country. think about it. if these carriers go out of business or they reduce coverage, that's going to leave thousands of residents without wireless services, services that are -- services that are essential for work, emergencies, and life in the 20th century. and people traveling through these vast areas of our country,

they often won't have any services either. mr. president, addressing this funding shortfall is urgent. the fcc has a july 15 deadline by which reimbursement requests are due. if congress doesn't act quickly to fix this issue before that july deadline, there won't be enough funds to cover the costs. this would impact communities in 49 -- 49 -- states, plus our united states territories. without action now, we face incomplete removal of high-risk chinese equipment from u.s. networks. wasting the money that congress has already passed. i've introduced the defend our networks act to remedy this problem.

protecting our national security is vital, and it's also vital that we ensure the government's response to protect our security doesn't put smaller companies out of business. the defend our networks act does both. it would allocate $3.08 billion of unobligated covid-19 emergency relief funds to the rip-and-replace program. that's only 3% of the unobligated emergency funds. i introduced this bill with my colleague, senator hickenlooper, because securing our communications infrastructure, it is a national, it is a bipartisan issue. the fcc commissioners, including chairwoman rosenworcel, have come out in strong support

demonstrating the importance of getting this done. just a week ago, i had the opportunity to question secretary of commerce gina raimondo about this big problem we have, and she agreed that we must address it immediately. over the coming weeks, i expect that we will continue to gain more bipartisan momentum, and i will continue to push for a swift passage of the defend our networks act, even as stand-alone legislation. spy balloons and secret police stations have recently reminded us of the chinese communist party's sly and underhanded espionage tactics. if we cannot completely remove risky chinese telecommunications equipment, how can the american

people expect us to defend them from the threats that china poses? we did the right thing when we passed the secure and trusted communication networks act to establish that rip-and-replace program. now, let's do the right thing again by completing the funding so that we can follow through on what we said we would do. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

a reminder a few days ago financial regulators took action in the event yesterday. over we can federal leaders seized a major bank teetering from the brink of. most of the salute to j.p. morgan chase. he's the only the first hogan's depositors, the paper from recession but i say that? first republic was the third major bank fail most. the second largest bank failure 2008 something what could have happened regulators failed to contain the damage of first republic's collapse. today.

headlines about picking investors and depositors and tomorrow financial system the government had the sense to step in and maintain confidence in the banking system stepped in to protect connie and crisis and billion dollars in assets that 29 billion dollars thinking facing in washington today, the future of americans truly color economy. right now in the u.s. house of representatives mccarthy work only with the first ever federal debt default. pat: mccarthy's dangerous gamble

context days ago the smartest financial line in the world for convinced i'm going to leblanc be the difference between financial stability financial calamity. $29 billion tiny fraction of the 23 trillion-dollar economy is gambling with. we are weeks away from the deadline of july 1 when secretary galen is america on our federal debt. everyday house republicans refused the basic responsibility paying your bills spreading concerned throughout the global economy nation emerged from the assumption pandemic we have one market destruction after another

today we are finally moving in the right direction but no mccarthy wants to throw progress away why? the most radical members of the party the debt ceiling last week of budget, it's a maga manifesto and suffered faster spoke with a face devastating services and programs millions of americans every. appropriations subcommittee is, before the committee is the national institute of health this is premier medical research finish in the world will 500 plus responsible for all basic research. his, dramatic northwestern

university medical research -- o. mr. cornyn: mr. president, are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: yes, we are. mr. cornyn: i'd ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cornyn: mr. president, since president biden took office, he and our democratic colleagues have been on a mission, a mission to replace every car in america with an electric vehicle. think about that for a minute. there are 280 million cars on the road in america, and our colleagues on the democratic side of the aisle want to replace every single internal combustion engine with a big battery with wheels on it, known as an electric veeblg. they are c -- determined to please the green new deal by

shoving taxpayers' money into this effort and they are making some head wait a minute last summer our democratic colleagues abused the rules of the senate to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on something called the inflation reduction act, which in true washington form does not actually reduce inflation, but that's the name they gave to it. more importantly, this massive bill included a variety of pet projects from a super-sized internal revenue service to handouts to rich folks who want to buy electric vehicles. wealthy americans, the only ones who can afford these expensive cars, can receive up to $7,500 in taxpayer assistance to buy an electric vehicle. so in effect, you and i and everyone in the country is subsidizing with our tax dollars

a private, well-to-do person to buy an electric vehicle, most of which costs in the $60,000, $70,000, $80,000 range and up. democrats passed this bill at a time when most people can't afford their basic expenses. that's because of inflation, another product of profligate spending. working families are struggling to keep up with everything from gasoline to groceries to rent and electricity. our democratic colleagues responded by forcing every person in america to subsidize wealthy people's purchase of an electric car. initial estimates pegged the cost of this e.v. tax credits, as they're called, at just over $30 billion. that's a lot of money.

but private forecasters have recently reevaluated that number based on more precise projections. they said that the actual cost of the interest vehicle credit will be -- of the electric vehicle credits already closer to $196 billion, six and a half times higher than advertised. again, hardworking families suffering under inflation when everything costs more, their purchasing power diminished, washington, d.c. and our friends on the democratic side of the aisle said, well, your life is not quite hard enough, so we're going to make it harder. we're going to force you to subsidize wealthy people's purchase of these cars. unfortunately that's not the end of the story. the administration recently rolled out new rules to ensure that, or at least claim that by 2032, two-thirds of new passenger vehicles sold in the

united states will be electric. by 2032, president biden will be long gone, probably many members of the united states house and senate will be no longer in office. nevertheless, the administration says by 2032, we're going to mandate that two-thirds of new passenger vehicles be run on batteries, be electric. of course this announcement was met with applause by those who think that every driver in america should drive an electric vehicle, that somehow this is the price that has to be paid in pursuit of climate change, tor combat -- or to combat climate change. but everybody else in america understands this is an unrealistic mandate. because, like i said, with 280

million cars on the road, only about 6% max of the new cars sold in america are electric vehicles. only 6% of the new cars are sold. but the biden administration says by 2032, two-thirds of the cars have to be electric vehicles. so making the leap from 6% to 66%, which is two-thirds, of the new car sales in less than ten years is an impossible task, and it comes with a lot of risks and hurdles. one of the most obvious one is the cost to consumers. at the end of last year the average price of a new electric vehicle -- this is just the average price -- was more than $61,000. that's only a few thousand dollars less than the median household income in my state.

most families don't have tens of thousands of dollars to spend on fancy electric cars. as we've seen over the last few years with inflation, people are already struggling to keep up. they are not in the market for a fancy new electric vehicle that costs more than they make in an entire year. another big issue that has to do with how these vehicles are going to get powered. one of my favorite questions for my friends who are enthusiasts for this mandate and these taxpayer subsidies, one of my favorite questions is do you actually know where electricity comes from. and, no, it's not just that wall socket that you plug an appliance into. electricity is generated by the same source that produces most of our other energy -- natural

gas, some nuclear, some coal, some other types of energy, hydroelectric internaling -- energy, depending on the location. but all of that energy use, including fossil fuels, is needed to produce affordable energy that then becomes electricity, that you can then plug your vehicle into. so this pie-in-the-sky idea that we're going to somehow cool the climate by everybody driving an electric vehicle is just, well, it's unattainable and it is, frankly, ridiculous. last year 60% of america's electricity was generated by fossil fuels, including 40% by natural gas and nearly 20% by coal. despite the fact that we will need these energy sources to

power the electric grid and charge electric vehicles, we know the folks on the left side of the political spectrum waged a war on fossil fuels. well, this will turn out about as well as europe's dependency on russian oil and gas on a sole source of energy, which they found out did not turn out well at all once russia invaded ukraine and they tried to diversify their energy sources. putting all of our eggs in one basket, with unrealistic goals and mandates, to achieve a social outcome, it's bound to be unsuccessful. our colleagues across the aisle have also made these energy sources more expensive, by instituting a methane fee and tax hikes on energy producers, which invariably get passed along to the consumer. and they are consistently, it

seems, trying to make fossil fuels less affordable in order to push our country toward renewables. now, don't get me wrong. i'm not opposed to renewables. we generate more electricity from wind turbines in texas than any other state in the nation. one reason our state continues to prosper economically is because we have low, affordable energy costs that come from an all-of-the-above strategy. we don't try to put all of our eggs in one basket. that's bound to be unsuccessful. we say, well, let's do as much as we can using renewables -- solar, wind -- but we are also pragmatic and clear-eyed about where electricity comes from, and we need all of the above. one big important issue that i think was overlooked when the

inflation reduction act was passed by strictly democratic votes in the senate is that renewables only accounted for 22% of america's electricity generation last year. 22%. it is growing, but it's not near sufficient to generate the electricity necessary to charge your electric vehicle. either consumers have low-cost, reliable energy from fossil fuels or an all-of-the-above strategy, or else they're condemned to an expensive and unreliable grid powered only by renewable energy sources. those are the only options at this point, and i'm afraid that's exactly the path that our democratic colleagues are heading down. since covid-19 hit we have seen what happens to vulnerable

supply chains for the components we need to do all sorts of things. we spend a lot of time and money and focus on advanced semiconductors. that's really important, because if we lost access to those advanced semiconductors it would tank our economy, and it would also jeopardize our national security. but the supply chain for electric vehicles is a vulnerable one as well. the feature that differentiates electric vehicles from those with an internal combustion engine is the battery. actually, what you can think of is the electric vehicles are like a battery on wheels, run by a computer. and this should really come as no surprise, but you would think this would have been vetted before, here's where batteries come from. last year, china's battery

manufacturing capacity accounted for 77% of the global total. its production capacity is greater than that of the rest of the world combined. you can see poland at 6%, u.s. at 6, and everybody else at just 11%. china is home to -- six of the world's biggest battery makers and completely dominates the global battery manufacturing market. nobody else even comes close. by 2027, it's estimated that its manufacturing capacity is expected to increase nearly seven-fold. seven-fold. in that same time frame the united states is expected to see a 12-fold increase, but we're just starting, at 6%. that's not going to get us

anywhere near where china is or where they will be by 2027. china will still command more than two-thirds of the world's battery manufacturing capacity, and the united states will be in second place, with a measly 10%. anyone who doesn't recognize and appreciate this issue hasn't been paying attention. over the years, the senate's been spheng a great deal of timf time analyzing and addressing supply chains, and particularly security gaps. as i said, the pandemic taught us many lessons, many tough lessons, but one was the importance of resilient supply chains, and we tried to make sure, we tried to learn from that so those lessons would not be in vein. i mentioned semiconductor.

that may be the best conductor. the global chip shortage affected everything from personal electronics to cars to defense assets and critical infrastructure. we came to appreciate the hard way how reliant we had become on other countries for these semiconductors, these ints graifted circuits -- integrated circuits, and that made us incredibly vulnerable, to another pandemic, to a natural disaster, or heaven forbid a military conflict in the taiwan strait. so we, congress, responded and appropriately, by creating the chips program to bolster domestic chip manufacturing and close this massive security gap. but now our democratic friends seem content to replace one vulnerability with another. if they continue to push for arbitrary and unrealistic

electric vehicle goals, we'll find ourselves in a similar situation when it comes to the batteries necessary to run these electric vehicles. to be blunt about it, we'll be at china's mercy, which as we all know is a very dangerous place to be. despite the fact that china dominates the supply chain for the critical minerals used to produce batteries, most of those minerals are not actually mined in china. they come from reserves around the world. the democratic republic of congo, for example, is home to the world's largest co-baltimore reserves -- cobalt reserves. indonesia is the largest producer of nickel. three of the largest lit yes, ma'am preserving -- lithium reserves are in argentina, venezuela and child. -- and chile.

china has made a huge investment in processing those critical minerals in china. in other words, they're mined in these countries, exported to china for processing where they control access to the critical minerals that are needed to build batteries, among other things. china has aggressively increased its own processing capacity. part of the problem i might mention, mr. president, is because it takes so long and requires an arduous bureaucratic rubik's cube in order to get a permit to build things in america, and that's true whether it's from fossil fuels or the transmission lines from green energy that can transmit the electricity generated from wind turbines in texas or anywhere else.

you don't have those problems in china. and they also don't have the same concerns we have for the environment. and, as we know, china is building more coal-fired power plants than any other country in the world. what happens in china does not stay in china when it comes to those emissions. so, right now, we have a general sense of the problems that we are confronting, but we're lacking some specifics when it comes to critical minerals particularly. we don't know what reserves are under the control of foreign adversaries. we aren't guaranteed to receive a heads up before major deals are made regarding mining rights and processing. indeed, china has shown itself to be expert at operating surreptitiously under the cover of companies that sound like they come from somewhere else, where actually the people's republic of china, the chinese

communist party have controlling interest in those companies. we're not able to identify the many risks to the global supply chain or critical opportunities for new trade partnerships. we need to address the blind spots that are protecting china's dominance in critical minerals and battery production, and we're not going to be able to do it overnight and certainly not going to be able to meet president biden's goal of two-thirds of new cars being electric vehicles by 2032. it's just not going to happen, unless we're going to go to china and get those batteries. a number of us are working to try to solve the problem. i think that's the appropriate response. i hope this is a topic where we can work together and we're in bipartisan support, much as we did on the chips act, where senator warner, the senior senator from virginia, and i introduced that bill back in june of 2020, and we ended up

passing that into law as i indicated earlier, because both sides of the aisle saw a need to come together and come up with a solution. we need a solution in this area too. well, our colleagues on the other side have repeatedly prioritized some ideological obsession with all electric vehicles over the practical ramifications. most americans can't afford to purchase these pricey vehicles. given the war upon fossil fuels, our electric grid may not be able to sustain them, even if they could. and by increasing our reliance on battery-powered vehicles, we're certain to increase our reliance on china. given the major costs and risks, you have to ask, is this really worth it? can we afford the risks? well, it actually -- can it

actually work? will this have an impact on emissions, as our friends across the aisle seem to believe? the answer is no. china's responsible for nearly a third of all global emissions. they build more new coal-fired power plants than any other place on the planet. so china's responsible for nearly a third of all global emissions, more than two and a half times the amount emitted by the united states. when it comes to the u.s. emissions, passenger vehicles are only a fraction of the total. in 2021, the entire transportation sector accounted for 28% of total greenhouse gas emissions in the united states. if every car, every truck on the road was operated by an electric battery, an electric vehicle,

courtesy of china, that would only account for 28% of the emissions. so, this is not some solution to what our colleagues across the aisle are actually saying they're trying to do. transportation is a significant source of emissions, beating out electricity production, industry, and agriculture, but that doesn't mean that personal vehicles are responsible for 28% of the emissions, because you'd have to include cars, suv's, and minivans, trucks that drive all across america, and so, regular working families driving their kids to school or to work account for a little over only one half of the transportation emissions. the remainder comes from

semitrucks, airplanes, trains, buses, ships, pipelines. in total, personal vehicles account for a little over 16%, and the u.s. emissions account for only 12.5% of global emissions. we're not talking about a solution that our friends across the aisle say they want to accomplish. we're not going to eliminate our dependency on all of the -- all-of-the-above sources of that's correct, and we're certainly not going to solve what they perceive as a problem with the climate by forcing hardworking american families to subsidize electric cars for rich people. my purpose in speaking today, mr. president, is to demonstrate that these goals set out for by the president, and which our colleagues have voted for in

pursuit of their climate agenda are unrealistic, they're dangerous, and they're short-sighted. and we'll continue to shine a bright light on the facts, as i've tried to do today, so the american people can understand exactly what's going on here. this is more pursuit of an ideological agenda rather than a practical solution to the real problem. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senior senator from maryland. mr. cardin: thank you, mr. president. i rise today as chair of the small business and entrepreneurship committee and on behalf of over 33 million small businesses across the country to recognize national small business week. mr. president, when i complete my remarks, i'm going to ask consent to pass the resolution, s. res. 200, which has been

cleared from the hot line which is sponsored by myself and senator ernst and the distinguished senator from new jersey, a distinguished member of the small business committee, our current presiding officer, senator booker. this is a resolution that recognizes the contributions of small businesses and entrepreneurs in every community in the united states. mr. president, a lot has change hd in the 60 -- changed in the 60 years since we first celebrated in 1963, the small business week, but today they're as resilient as ever. they have faced immense challenges like covid-19 and continue to serve their communities with great commitment and courage. our small businesses deserve far more than a week of appreciation for all they do, but this week we look forward to celebrating them and committing our full and unconditional support.

small businesses account for 99.9% of all u.s. businesses and employ nearly half of all u.s. workers. they are spearheaded by entrepreneurs like lois gam bench rman from my home state of maryland who was hit hard during the pandemic but pulled her business through to continue to serve our great state. her grit and resourcefulness earned her the 2023 maryland small business person of the year. i congratulate lois on this accomplishment. lois saw an 85% less sales, and distributors received help from the small business administration paycheck protection program and the covid

injure disaster program. i thank my colleagues for the passage of those critically important bills to keep our small businesses alive. lois is one example of many of small businesses that are alive today because of the efforts that we did here in the united states senate. now, it occupies 33,000 square feet of space and employs over 50 individuals. for lois and other entrepreneurs who depend on these resources, we must double down. the default on america act speaker mccarthy unveiled last week would do the on. it would -- do the opposite. it would cause the small businesses we need to suffer. america needs to invest in our small businesses, not aban don them -- abannon them. if default on america act were to become law, capital for

entrepreneurs would diminish and they would have nowhere to turn for assistance. the s.b.a. entrepreneurial development program helped 1.2 million small businesses, the default on america act proposes cutting funding to fiscal year 2022 level. if there is a cut, s.b.a. would serve 125,000 fewer small businesses than in the previous year. 125,000 american small businesses would be denied the resources and assistance that is critical to their survival. while many small business owners would find themselves struggling without necessary resources, entrepreneurs of color, women, and rural and other underserved small business owners, in particular, would feel the squeeze. now is not the time to walk back our support. in fact, under the biden-harris administration, we have seen small business boom.

today there are more small business owners nationwide than ever and now is the time to invest in them, to grow our economy from the middle out and bottom up and build on the small business boom. we must come together to keep our economy strong, not push for legislation that would cut jobs and harm the local shops we love. part of keeping our community strong is ensuring the agencies serving them work efficiently and effectively. the s.b.a. does essential work to support small businesses in communities. for the sake of small businesses, i ask my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to come together to pass the long overdue reauthorization of the small business administration. national small business week is a chance to show our small businesses how valuable they are p and pledge our continued support. to all americans, small businesses and entrepreneurs, thank you for what you do this week and every week.

madam -- -- madam president, nawb that the senate -- i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to s. res. 200, which is at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 200, expressing support for the designation of the week of apri, 2023 as small business week and so forth. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed. mr. cardin: i ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection.

bd. mr. cardin: unanimous consent that the senate proceed to consideration of calendar number 42, s. res. 119. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. calendar number 42, senate resolution 119, recognizing the 202nd anniversary of the independence of greece and celebrating democracy in greece and the united states. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed. mr. cardin: madam president, i further ask that 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. cardin: madam president, i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned to convene for a pro forma session with no business being conducted at 9:30 a.m. on friday, may 5. what the senate adjourns on friday, it stands adjourned until 3:00 p.m. on tuesday, may 9. that on tuesday following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be

approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed. following the conclusion of morning business, the senate proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the jadano nomination. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cardin: madam president, if there's no further business to come before the senate i ask that it stands adjourned under the previous order following the remarks of senator hoeven. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. hoeven: i thank my colleague from maryland and appreciate the opportunity to make my remarks before this session ends today. madam president, i rise today to once again call attention to the growing and unprecedented crisis

at our southern border. this crisis is the result of the biden administration's open border policy. it's a function of the biden administration's failure to secure the border and enfons our laws. in fiscal year 2022, u.s. customs and border protection -- there was an increase of 37% from fiscal year 2021 and more than 400% increase from fiscal year 2020. in the first six months of fiscal year 2023, dowms and border protection has -- customs and border protection has encounter 1.5 million

individuals, it surpasses the record numbers of last year. now, with title 42 public health order set to expire next week, it is only getting worse. take a look. anybody can turn on their television and check it out. it's only getting worse. in response to the expected surge of illegal crossings, the biden administration announced that they're going to send 1,500 troops to the southern border to help with paperwork. well, it's good they're sending the troops down there, but without a change in the policy, it's not going to get the job done. they're not table to do the job that they can do and need to do. the customs and border protection officers and agents on the front lines do the best job possible but face an impossible task given the biden administration's actions.

the biden administration's open border policy. i've seen first hand the work of these dedicated individuals, including members of the north dakota national guard, my home state, i have traveled down to texas on numerous occasions to draw attention to the border crisis, i have been to del rio and to el paso and the rio grande valley. in each of these border towns it is clear now more than ever that more needs to be done. and it is not just stopping illegal migration, it is preventing illegal trafficking and also to prevent the drug trafficking. this affects every state in our country. i also traveled with a bipartisan congressional delegation to mexico, to ecuador and guatemala to outline the need to work with these nations to stop illegal immigration, drug trafficking, human trafficking to prevent these

problems. these are all part of our efforts to draw attention to the problem and outline solutions that will stem the tide of illegal immigration. to stop the crisis the biden administration has to change its policy. it has to change its policy. and there's several things that can be done right now to make that happen. first, the biden administration needs to implement the migrant protection protocols, or the remain in mexico policy, which required people seeking asylum at our southern border to wait in mexico while their case is adjudicating. second, reinstate the safe third country agreement which requires that individuals coming from laces like el salvador or hon

honduras that they seek asylum in their own country first or runed to their own country to await the outcome of their claim. now, title 42 expires on may 11. the border is already in crisis and it will just get worse. but the reality is if those two policies are reinstated, then the customs and border protection can get on top of the problem. let them do their job. mutt in place border policies that will enable our customs and border protection professionals to do their job. it's been shown those policies will work. i gave you the numbers going back to 2020. we're not guessing. we know it works. those two policy changes will enable our customs and border protection professionals to get

control of the border and with title 42 expiring on may 11, they need to be implemented now. we have to do more. we need a border wall, with we need personnel. all of those things need to be a part of securing the border. right now, particularly with title 42 expiring, we need to implement those two policy changes that -- and enable our customs and border protection professionals to do their job. border security is national security. with that, madam president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the senate stands adjourned until 9:30 tomorrow.

c-span.org. 118 congress nearly 80 freshman members, c-span, for careers before coming to congress and political philosophy. some of the interviews tonight will include high with congress and texas representative jasmine crockett and leslie. 8:00 p.m. eastern 20 spent to wash all interviews online at c-span.org and don't forget to download free video app, c-span now. >> saturday morning king charles

the third will take place. he became king of the united kingdom following the death of his mother, the uk's longest reigning monarch. c-span will air coverage of the coronation in its entirety 4:00 p.m. eastern roper session to westminster abbey to the coming of the new king the coronation of king charles the third saturday 4:00 p.m. eastern on c-span or online c-span.org. >> c-span is the unfiltered view of government funded by these television companies and more including media,. >> @media calm, we believe whether your here or right here or in the middle of anywhere, you should have access to fast reliable internet that's why we are