with reporting and oversight controls that give them confidence that the program is operating as intended in compliance with the law, and are asked as we preserve those really important capabilities to continue to generate the intelligence, for intelligence derived from this program. >> so that's a good pointer into him. we're coming up to the end of the out and if one question which is just follows onto your last point, which is given what you just said, how is inr and state going to be involved in the discussion with congress on the reauthorization? odyssey i see that as being led by both the white house and odni director haines, but how are you and state going to get involved in that final discussion? >> look, we have taken a step today where we are trying to share more real-world examples,

classified examples of a savage information supports diplomacy. there are some that as hard as we pushed is going to be difficult -- some of common example is declassified because ultimately we do not want to jeopardize valuable sources. behind closed doors with the cards will provide more -- >> we are going to leave this to continue our commitment to live coverage of the u.s. senate. members will be considering more a president biden's judicial nominations as the chamber awaits action for the house on the debt ceiling agreement between the president and speaker kevin mccarthy. now live to the floor of the senate here on c-span2. the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. the chaplain, dr. barry black, will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray.

eternal lord god, dressed in a robe of righteousness, we place our trust in you. you refuse to let our enemies triumph over us. as we return to the business of freedom, use the members of this body to accomplish your will. lord, strengthen them to never abandon the struggle and inspire them to endure to the end. help them to press forward to the goal of your ideal for humanity. inspire them to choose the more difficult right. lord, remind them that perspiration is usually the price for laudable

accomplishments and that, without the cross, there is rarely a crown. we pray in your merciful name, amen. the presiding officer: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to the flag. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the presiding officer: the clerk will read a communication to the senate. the clerk: washington d.c., may 30, 2023. to the senate: under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate,

i hereby appoint the honorable peter welch, a senator from the state of vermont, 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. and, 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. darrel james papillion of louisiana to be united states district judge for the eastern district of louisiana.

mr. schumer: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: so, mr. president, three days ago president biden and speaker mccarthy announced a bipartisan budget agreement that will protect the u.s. economy while eliminating the threat of a catastrophic default. i support the bipartisan agreement that president biden has produced with speaker

mccarthy. avoiding default is an absolute imperative. the damage that default would inflict on our country, our economy, our families would be enormous and take years from which to recover. of course, nobody isest going everything they want -- nobody is getting everything they want. there's give on both sides. but this agreement is the responsible, prudent, and very necessary way forward. today the house of representatives is beginning the process of moving that legislation through the chamber. when this bill arrives in the senate, it is my plan to bring it to the floor as quickly as possible for consideration. senators must be prepared to act with urgency to send a final product to the president's desk before the june 5 deadline. i commend president biden and his team for producing a sensible compromise under the most difficult of circumstances.

the bipartisan agreement accomplishes two major goals -- first and foremost, it takes default off the table. sparing americans from immense economic pain. and, second, it protects key investments that are essential for our growing economy -- for growing our economy, for fixing our infrastructure, for making the u.s. more competitive on the world stage. social security, medicare, medicaid will not be touched. our veterans will be cared for, and, again, we are avoiding the single-worst outcome possible -- a default on the national debt. from the start, i said the best way forward to avoiding default is bipartisan cooperation, and that's what this agreement represents. again, nobody gets everything they wanted. but this bill is the responsible, prudent, and necessary way forward. a default on the national debt would be one of the great disasters in our nation's

economic history. it would mean another painful recession. it would mean eight million fewer jobs, and it would mean soaring costs on credit card payments, mortgages, small businesses, loans, and diminishes 401(k)'s. there is no reason to subject the in american people to the pain of default. we still have more work to to do in congress. but i'm optimistic that the path has been paved. we must pass this as soon as we can. i hope the house moves quickly, and i'll make sure the senate moves quickly the moment this bipartisan bill is sent to us by the house. now, on senate business, as congress fulfills its responsibility to avoid default, the senate begins this work period with a lot of work to do, both on and off the floor. later this afternoon, the senate will vote on the confirmation of darrel papillion to be a district judge for the eastern district of louisiana.

off the floor, senators will be busy with a number of important hearings on a wide range of bipartisan priorities. this thursday, for instance, the senate foreign relations committee will hold a markup on a critical treaty for the united states -- the u.s.-chile tax treaty. at stake in this treaty is access to critical minerals like lithium, that make everything function. the world is racing to source these materials and this u.s.-chile treaty would give america an important edge. thursday, markup represents a crucial step towards ratifying this treaty. also during the work period, i look forward to working with colleagues on both sides to begin the process of advancing bipartisan legislation to, one, outcompete the chinese government, two, prepare for a future defined by artificial

intelligence, three, to lower the cost of prescription drugs, including insulin, four, to strengthen rail safety regulations, and five, to build on our work for the last few years to make the world for competitive and prosperous in the 21st century. i thank my colleagues for their good work and yield the floor.

test:

the presiding officer: mr. president. the presiding officer: the minority leader. the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: four months ago, speaker mccarthy invited president biden to start negotiating an agreement to preserve the full faith and credit of the united states and to begin to get our nation's financial house in order. the speaker stood ready to discuss a responsible way forward, but for weeks on end the biden administration and senate democratic leader insisted that there would be no discussion of reasonable reforms to federal spending. washington democrats wanted a

green light to spend more taxpayer dollars, with no strings attached. well, the people's house had other plans. speaker mccarthy and his team committed to what i said repeatedly was the only way to get an outcome. just as with seven of the last ten debt limit agreements in recent history, house republicans focused on reaching a bipartisan agreement to put reasonable caps on federal spending. the speaker's deal secures reductions in discretionary spending, but this top-line achievement is actually just part of the story. house republicans also succeeded in clawing back $28 billion in unspent covid emergency funds,

they eliminated this year's budget for hiring new irs agents, and they expanded work requirements to put more americans on sustainable paths out of poverty. they put an important down payment on permitting reform by imposing a shot clock on the costly bureaucratic review that hamstrings infrastructure projects. and they forced the executive branch to start balancing the cost of new regulations with corresponding cuts. a move that would have saved taxpayers $1.5 trillion in just the past two years. last fall, mr. president, the american people elected a divided government. after two years of total democratic control, two years of radical spending and runaway

inflation, they decided to send a republican majority to the people's house. they decided to require that president biden and washington democrats start working with republicans on the biggest issues facing our country. now divided government means negotiated deals. it means nobody gets everything they want. but in this case it means the american people got a whole lot more progress towards fiscal sanity than washington democrats wanted to give them. speaker mccarthy and house republicans deserve our thanks. this spring they passed the only viable legislation that both preserved our nation's full faith and credit and made real progress toward getting federal spending under control.

house republicans' unity forced president biden to do his job. it's really just that simple. and now congress will vote on legislation that locks in that important progress. republicans have a tremendous opportunity to take on an existential challenge facing our economy and future generations of americans. we have a chance to start bringing washington democrats' reckless spending to heel. soon it will be the senate's turn to put this historic agreement on the president's desk. let's not pass up our shot. now, on an entirely different matter, yesterday our nation took pause to remember the brave

servicemen and women who laid down their lives in defense of our country. today i'd like to take a moment to honor another fallen hero from my home state of kentucky who made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty. sheriff's deputy caleb connelly was shot and killed last week during a traffic stop in scott county. deputy connelly served eightiers in the u.s. army before coming home to join law enforcement in kentucky. he was a hard worker, a man of profound faith, and his dedication to protecting and serving his community was known all across the commonwealth. elaine and i continue to hold his wife, rachel, their young children, his parents, and the entire scott county sheriff's

office in our prayers. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

a user's manual for every american. welcome back to the program. >> good to be with you can. >> you said it was a continuation of means you explored in your laboratory, can you bring that forward why you wrote the book? >> sure.

laboratories of autocracy is all about how statehouses are gerrymandered, so rick that's where the attack on democracy is taking place but people who would read the book say to me it is so disturbing to see was happening. i would skip to the end to get the solution and they would tell me i heard so much i'll just write a book basically about what you can do about it and i'm sure the listeners and colors agree i heard one person watch tv in washington you watch the meltdown all over the country, electric impressions there's nothing you can do, we just have to sit and watch and wash the investigations and some campaign far away and the battle for democracy is having all over the country which is where you live,

literally where you live. you're on the front line, blue state, state, swing states of the book says if it's where you live, it means there's nothing you can do and there are many things you can do. you usually don't hear those things. there's a book that will walk you through what you can do, how you can do it and even .22 organizations that might be helpful and they might have done the same thing is decide to take on a school board they were worried about. run for office in the district competition site tried to letter the users manual so people frustrated by the state of things can act on the frustration and not super just watching happened feeling like they are powerless. >> to develop these in your position as chair, for the other things that help to formulate how to go about this?

>> that's a great question. currently things i learned i do well in other lessons that are. if people haven't read it, it really does walk through the problem. it's not about a few individuals in washington, it's state and statehouses because the way our country is designed is statehouses write most of the rules of democracy, not washington. as i wrote that i wrote in ohio where i am from case study i started to get e-mails and start to do zoom calls with groups and peoples, individuals and i learned from the meetings about their stories and what they were doing so i took as many examples as it could of people doing great things. people adopting a statehouse in helping candidates that don't

get attention and that made a difference and in pennsylvania last year, other people figuring out how to use nonprofits to engage voters disenfranchised or people willing to stand up and go to the school board meeting and take don't want you to book yourself a lot of people i've met since the last book not only are inspiring but they are showing activism at the local level can work, it has to work to turn it around so a lot of it is informed by those stories and use these stories to make it accessible so readers usually don't have to wait for u.s. senator her famous celebrity, there are everyday people doing things to lift democracy so i could do the same thing so a lot of it comes from interacting with people even in this covid world, people doing great things and i use their stories as well

as well as my own experience. >> used a soccer analogy describing strategies you apply and you write this thing a generational of more assumes american democracy and civil most by the second assumption, are you confident this reflects broader america's diverse majority, can you elaborate? tried to explain, i do think there is going on one side regarding lines, none of the parties. there is a slide that supports democracy and willing to their system the site doesn't feel democracy automatically most

good ideas and strong election every two years, we're going to win that is their battle. there is a side and it's not just one party, i think it's the story of parties for now, they don't hide it, they are undermining democracy directly and it does literally what they are going after because they have views when and for not popular abortion ban is no exception, 10% or fewer your viewers agree with. nothing about gun violence, something 10% or fewer of gun owners agreed with so to get put into place, it can't decide is going in the statehouse where they can gerrymandered to keep

in place of you that wouldn't win election and the reason i used the soccer analogy, described his dates in this country doing what i described, winning houses, gerrymandering focused on federal elections and certain dates of the second project is in respect of the only offense but allowing 50% of voted out didn't even have an election so one side of his defense in my book that's when using as i mentioned in the

book, my sons play soccer, they know why they are losing because of one team takes all the shots on offense and blocking the shots, asking for a better goalie won't solve the problem, you have to go on offense and block shots were they been taken so i hope that is easy to understand why the side. as he seems to be even winning federal elections regularly. >> if you want to ask questions about the themes of the book, (202)748-8000 for democrats (202)748-8001. for republicans and independents (202)748-8002. send a text at (202)748-8003. a highlight of the event might reflect things to talk about in your book, they highlight donna

deegan, the city's first female underdog 52% of the vote, daniel davis and they show pennsylvania where special election takes 102 seats to control the agenda and house of representatives, take the events and the themes in your book. >> thank you, great question. those in the frontline position i'm talking in the book, a goodwin and pennsylvania special election will determine house majority of pennsylvania, a huge deal and i write my book with democracy has been outmaneuvered for a long time, not even on defense let alone offense, there is an infrastructure and awareness growing that they have

to change their battle and those winds are part of that like last november you saw for the first time in decades, midterm or democrat representative the white house and democrats are supposed to do poorly in the statehouse and statewide elections in that year but last november he saw democrat pickup michigan statehouse michigan senate pennsylvania statehouse which the cap special and other big wins you saw election deniers running for secretary of state around the country, not a single 11 in a swing state they are underperformed formed and republicans on the ballot the same time so you see if we figure this out scale up, you see infrastructure bill of that doesn't only focus on federal races, of course you want to win seats but if that's all you win,

when the other side is using statehouse to do their dirty work, or outlining the places, pennsylvania statehouse wins, another one wisconsin supreme court a couple months ago all around the country people care about democracy focusing on supreme court, they probably would never have thought before because people see these are the offices long-term shape democracy, the federal government plays a role sometimes, it can stop gerrymandering. the statehouse in pennsylvania advanced democracy or suppress its depending on who's in charge, one way you know for too long we have talked about these in the wrong way is we often say this is the french, the only value is that some day people knew they run for something

else, this is frontline, people do a great job as a state representative protecting democracy for rights in the statehouse, i don't care if they never run for anything else in their life, they are on the frontline of democracy in those positions. we have to start seeing that and operations on the other side, coke brothers or alec, they don't use the physicians at the bench, they view them as the most important part of their overall infrastructure because of the part that shapes democracy in america for everybody. >> for booking, savings democracy, users manual for every american. first coal burning in turkey democrat line, good morning, you're on with our guest. >> good morning. i love the name of the book because i read a lot of users manual. i was wondering, have you had

any dealings when he was governor and any thoughts about him? still probably felt democrat anyway but i have this fantasy if we beat trump in the primaries, we don't have to worry about did not election. what would happen if a third-party candidate came through since no one received 230 electoral votes? with somebody know that question? >> thank you, bernie. >> thank you, great question. the first thing, i'm glad you like that, someone told me no one reads users manual, so that worried me but for this topic i

do that in as a subtitle because i think most people are watching in frustration and oftentimes when i watch tv and thinking about those viewers when it comes to the interview the host says to the person saying democracy, what can they do? they always say boat and talk about and those things may be helpful and of course i want you to vote but there's so much more you can do and it's not hard to do. the presiding officer: yes. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent that it be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: pending before the united states senate is the nomination of darrel james papillion, the eastern district court judge for louisiana. i want to say a word about this nomination, because it indicates a positive development in the senate judiciary committee, which the presiding officer and i share membership

in. and the fact that this is a bipartisan nomination. on may 11, darrell papillion was voted out of the committee by a vote of 15-6. senators on the republican side -- graham, cornyn, kennedy and tillis joined all democrats in voting for this nominee. he received a unanimous rating of well qualified from the american bar association and he has the obvious support of the two louisiana senators, cassidy and kennedy, both of whom returned positive blue slips, which is a committee process, and both of whom are republican. papillion had a b.a. from louisiana state university and a j.d. from lsu's law center before clerking for associate justice katherine kimbell on the louisiana supreme court. he entered private practice in

minority leaders where he specialized in the defense of products liability access and since moving to baton rouge in 1999, papillion's main areas are wrongful death litigation. he tried at least 33 cases to verdict including more than a dozen jury trials. he's been a special prosecutor for the east baton rouge district attorney's office and mediator for mediation cases in south louisiana. he served as a special master in state court on three different occasions. he's deeply involved in louisiana legal community having served as president of the louisiana state bar association and the baton rouge bar association. let me repeat that. the president of the louisiana state bar association. the committee received several letters of support from individuals and organizations on his behalf. the former president of the louisiana state bar association, former president of the new orleans bar

association, six former opposing counsels and treasurers of the new orleans chapter of the federal bar association. the reason i read that in detail is because if i went back home to illinois, like i did last week, and told people where considering judges before the senate judiciary committee, which i chair, their first reaction is can't you find a judge that both democrats and republicans agree on. here's one. he wouldn't be here before us today but for the fact that two republican senators from louisiana reached an agreement with the biden white house for this man to have a lifetime appointment to the federal federal bench. in case that sounds like front-page news, it happens, and more often than not. the reap i come to the floor -- the reason i come to the floor at this moment is to make sure it's a matter of record. during the trump administration, democrats approved what we call blue slips for 120 nominees for

federal court. some were two democratic senators in a state, like illinois, but there was a level of negotiation and cooperation. i had, as senior senator from illinois, i had to sit down with the legal counsel from president trump's white house and put nominees on the table, saying, here's one we want, and here's one that you want. i think we can agree on those two. let's move forward. and we did it. that happened, as i said, over 120 times, with democratic senators working with the trump white house. we filled all of the vacancies in illinois, virtually all of them, during the trump administration, with that bipartisan agreement. today, we have another one -- two republican senators with a democratic president. it happens. for it to happen, you need two things -- the will for members to move and put nominees on the bench, and secondly, a person so qualified that both sides don't feel they'll be embarrassed by them.

they're more -- there are more judges and -- they're more judges and attorneys than politicians. in that case, we found that kind of nominee. there are roughly 87 pending vacancies in the district courts across the nation. about half are in states with two democratic senators, and the other half in states with at least one republican, maybe two republican senators. we're trying to reach a point where we have an agreement on this. i think we can do it. this is an indication, another -- i can list other senators i'm working with on the republican side to fill those vacancies as well. i think that's what the american people are looking for -- more evidence we're trying to find common ground, despite the obvious political differences in this case. this is an issue that i think is timely and i wanted to bring to the attention of the senate on the floor this afternoon. mr. president, when i went home to illinois, i can't tell you how many people who know that i chair the judiciary committee

asked me what's going on with the united states supreme court? obvious question. because, in the last few weeks, there have been disclosures about at least one justice on the court that have raised serious questions. justices have an important job to fill, as one of the major branches of our government. they'll be issuing their remaining decisions for this term and will recess soon, until they reconvene in october. but the debate is still going to continue, even if they're not sitting in the court across the street. how will the justices spend their time during these several months when they're not in session? that's really the question. rest up? possibly. or spend time with family? possibly. or maybe take a trip or two? there we have a question that is timely. we've learned through recent investigative reporting that some supreme court justices on the highest court in the land have enjoyed lavish travel during their summer months.

that travel was often paid for by others, and the justices, in some cases, did not disclose this free travel as are required by law. these are the justices on the highest court in the land. the question is whether they're following the law. they impose legal obligations on citizens across america. are they living by the same legal obligations that affect them as justices? it's a pretty obvious question. most notably, pro propublica recently found in june, 2019, after the court issued its final opinion of that term, justice clarence thomas boarded a private jet and flew to indonesia. then his wife spent nine days island hopping through the south pacific on a yacht that was 162-foot long. propublica estimated the cost of chartering the plane and yacht at more than half a million dollars. but justice thomas didn't poi

for to -- pay for that. the travel and trip were provided by a billionaire real estate developer, har lean crowe and several -- harlan crowe and his entities. this is provided to mr. thomas by mr. crowe and his businesses. the justice regularly spent time at a luxury retreat in the adirondacks ownd by one of mr. crowe's companies, free of charge. he also bought real estate for mr. thomas, including the home where his mother lived. justice thomas did not disclose any of these gifts or travel or lodging or other benefits. let me say at the outset, justice thomas is not the only supreme court justice, past or present, who's accepted gifts or free travel and failed to disclose them in a timely manner, but the scope and scale

of the undisclosed thomas gifts has gone far beyond anything else we've ever seen. this highlights the enormous gap in the ethical standards for the supreme court justices. we've known this for years. in february of 2012, 11 years ago, i first wrote to chief justice roberts and urged him to adopt a code of ethics, ethical conduct, to bind the justices. just like the code that binds every other federal judge in america. chief justice roberts failed to act when i wrote him 11 years ago. since then, the court's ethics problems have gotten worse. last month, after propublica published its. report on justice thomas' undisclosed travel, i renewed my call for chief justice roberts to clean up the ethical mess across the street. i invited him, personally, to testify at a hearing before our senate judiciary committee. so he could speak directly to the american people.

you say wait a minute. how many times does a supreme court justice come across the street and formally appear before congress? it turns out, 92 different times since the year 1960. 92 different times. they come across the street when they have something to tell us. i think they should be coming across the street to discuss the ethics of the court. this would have been an opportunity for the chief justice to reassure the american people and start to restore trust in the high court. i watched some of the news programs on sunday morning, typical politician, and they have the polling data of what people think of the supreme court. the numbers are bad. they're almost as bad as congress. the fact is they can do something about it, and they should. this court's trust in this court has fall ton the lowest -- fallen to the lowest level in 50 years. unfortunately, the chief justice didn't accept my invitation to walk across the street. time and again, i've made clear

one point i want to make clear today, the chief justice, john roberts, has the ability right now, the authority right now, to impose higher ethical standards on his fellow justices, standards that would be transparent and enforceable. wouldn't that be refreshing? he could take that action today, but for some reason so far he has declined the opportunity. if he won't act, congress must. we cannot tolerate a system in which the highest court in america has the lowest ethical standards in the federal government. we certainly should not begin another supreme court summer recess where justices can take free trips and travel under an inadequate set of ethics rule. last week the chief justice gave a speech and said, quote, i want to ensure people i'm committed to making certain that we as a court adhere to the highest standards of conduct. he said, we're continuing to

look at things we can do to get practical effect in that commitment. while the appreciate the chief justice's commitment, we need action. he doesn't need to look far away for solutions. we have known for years what the court needs -- binding rules and enforcement mechanisms, just like every other federal judge has operated under for a decade. if every other federal judge has ethical standards and disclosures, why does the chief justice for the highest court in the land not have at least those levels of ethical standards, but even higher? the senate judiciary committee has the responsibility to exercise oversight over the federal judiciary. we take it seriously. we have held two ethics reform hearings this year, and soon will consider legislation to restore trust in the high court. when billionaires and other people with interest before the court try to make friends with the justices through gifts and

luxury giveaways, and obtain special private access to these justices for themselves and their other friends, it's a serious problem. at minimum, it creates an appearance of undue influence that erodes the public's trust in court impartiality. we don't yet know the full extent of the benefits that crowe and his company gave to justice thomas and his family. nor do we know how many other people and companies with interests before the court may have gotten special, private access to justice thomas or some other justice through trips and lodging that people like harlan crowe have sponsored. my democratic colleagues on the senate judiciary committee and i sent a letter to mr. crowe and the three companies that we think sponsored the trip for justice thomas. we asked him, tell us about the gifts. tell us about the access of people to justice thomas during this hospitality extravaganza. the information will be valuable

for us in writing a law for the ethics standards of the court. mr. crowe responded through his attorney last week with a letter that took some astonishing legal positions. he basically claimed that congress lacks the authority to either legislate or conduct oversight when it comes to the supreme court's ethics. he also tried to assert separation of powers as an excuse not to answer our questions. of course, congress has enacted many ethics laws that apply to the justices, including a law passed just last year, bipartisan law, sponsored by a democratic and republican senator, on stock transaction reporting. the justices have announced they're going to follow those laws. mr. crowe is a private citizen, not a branch of government. he can't claim separation of powers as a reason not to provide information pursuant to a congressional oversight request. he's a businessman. he's not a branch of government. if mr. crow is convinced he's

done nothing wrong, what does he have to hide? senator whitehouse, the chair of the federal court subcommittee and i, responded to mr. crowe last week, informing him he still has until next monday, june 5, to provide the information we requested. as i mentioned, we'll soon be considering legislation in the committee and his information could be helpful in our legislative effort. let me close by reiterating that chief justice roberts does not have to wait on harlan crow or congress. he can clean up this miss today by adopting a resolution binding the justices to heyer ethical standards. this is the roberts court. history is going to write the history of the supreme court in the name of this chief justice. it happens all the time. he is going to be known as the chief justice who ignored an ethical challenge that went to the heart of the integrity of the court or as the chief justice who finally responded in his pore -- historic manner to do the right thing, disclosing to the american people exactly

what the conduct is of his justices. chief justice roberts has known for more than ten years that this is a problem and the solution is within his authority. he should act before the end of the supreme court term. don't leave this hanging. don't leave town. leave washington, the justice of the court unresolved. i honestly believe, whether i voted for them or not, that there are justices on that court who are uneasy and uncomfortable with the current state of affairs. they are trying their level best to follow the law and they can't explain why others are not. they want to have an opportunity to prove their own reputations and their own integrity, and they should. the chief justice should be listening to them and i hope he is. it's the chief justice of the court's time to act. if they don't, we will. mr. president, i yield the floor.

they recognize that it was going to be very bad for business if they crash more like it was expected so now all we've seen is we've seen them taper off and seeing the numbers go up but if you numbers numbers also four times higher than what they should be if you look back at the vision, secretary jeh johnson say that a apprehended about the weird three times higher than what we should be added create, we

don't have the resources necessary because we have too many resources doing administrative duties and we don't have resources, create gaps in gas and easy but as, indians from special interest countries. that's when those products across our border illegally we apprehended 100 people on this harris watchlist staffing a previous record so this is a serious issue and if we don't it under control as my experience will be americans suffer from class you will: security, also the numbers but shows us what the author is strictly encounter somethingthat causes illegally we take them into custody . take them back to our border association them, see if they criminal record problem is

that's all you can check we can check was in the united states for interval, we cannot check in our own country >> those numbers were reported 211,000 encounters, and i in february 2 and you're back to sleep easily in april, 17,000 encounters. what are the best ways to understand the increases in numbers? >> everything is risk reward if people believe " he released legally as there's no consequences for violating our laws. if you look at under title 42 percent of the people in the work we were releasing the present when you have a six in 10 chance to cross the border illegally all crimes educated on risk reward and will not reward is great and

this is so small, when you know that all is going to happen is being sent back across the border again going to continue society, we have to have is for violation of the law. but there are consequences you can expect the violations you go as far as borders always was the day today looks like now most title 42? >> is still very much the same as what it was because we just have the resources to deal with the number of people across the border is not just the numbers were getting into custody there is also the only numbers we continue to have approximately 1000, people across you are able to apprehended. they are the ones we have to chase when that happens to our resources often were we can no longer properly

installed or, we can all have higher value products if vehicle for their products and shutdown cartels operations we were in behavior that cracks you talk about the numbers were seeing right now i decision several actors into place including some of those processing areas outside the united states agency is releasing the load? >> right now we're not going to be able to tell because it's new a rhetoric you will see as close there were absent close on political right now is just too early to see me seeing from our high but those eyes were already under this administration we the numbers

were currently out result 34 times than what we should be in a normal administration. is the time before we actually can say whether or not these processing centers on a right now we are three times higher than what we should be class what should change inorder to reduce those numbers ? >> you have to have consequences. laws say in the united states illegally shall that's not happening now. people are not being removed from being in the country illegally. there being released into the united states, they're not being up until we start applying the law properly, as people are going to continue to, we can talk about ruth causes as much as we want the

gang violence. we circumstances all is any long as i've been a border patrol agent nothing has changed as far as responses. the main change is our policy in the united states, we started releasing on people across the has never happened before and when they started as he saw the numbers should stop your sweet and enforce the laws and that numbers go down. >> we are asking questions about his experiences on the southern border. you can call align to two 748-8000 euros 748-8000 one democrats, if you want to tax us you do that will thousand 48e houses. talk about resources

previously it easy those numbers you describe, using resources manpower? >> is correct you have to have the theme of your resources: the border right now we are about 50 percent of our resources is a border times just two days ago we had 1200 roentgens in one sector of olio sector anytime : 70 percent of your resources off the order you will immediately we cannot effectively control or if you only the resources class actions and reviewers if you live in or a cause 202748 8003 we saw sent troops down

to orders in the help with the workload? >> it in context with a crosses order and all decision to scott ross, engine security all that is in contact with individuals in the country and these cards and that they're not freeing up our resources to actively the lower we're doing all and his duties otherwise where they in a great deal is in the metals when we have to screen all individuals were gosh process the air. i'm grateful for any resource we can get what we is resources is a free our

agents to control order and the national guard is not doing. >> will the border full council, described funded class is that represents all ready and five border patrol agents look at the federal union wife, unions are up 25 percent. we are 90 percent foreign 90 percent of border visual agents voluntarily using the border counsel class that he is the. brandon john, you're on, go ahead. >> i'm so happy to get the gentleman on thismorning . i am 40 years old and i have kind of given up on the country online this gentleman is on i wonder that people

don't wantdemocracy, you may have grandchildren or ? great ranch and i do not like the way country is going now thank you so much for being on this morning. >> i appreciate that yes i do have children and grandchildren myself and you want to a strong odyssey year in the united states close to the house on sunday and also the raise in the greatest country i believe exists in the world but what makes us such a great country is the law. the rule of law is not gives us opportunity it, reinstalling the pool of law receive inspections. all we want. nationwide all we want to do is protect and serve the american people there are to

heal with those battles but 90 percent of all law-enforcement, all is so that we you have those freedoms we continue to country in the world. >> mario in texas, a border state, you are. >> i'm calling to say i can let you guys know some information. i see you like to work with us here at texas border states. i want to let you know this is a major problem in our immigration system letter is how we treat these people come into our country are seeing an opportunity where their countries of origin are unjustly destroyed from our own in action is gross out there trying to change these

people's lives and how we tried to destroy them mentally many of people who want to come to this as a five to see opportunity going for another, all three guesses led by our own imperialism. what is el salvador, is a, thank you very much. >> legal immigration, we're all about legal immigration. is extremely humane when the individuals in 60 we treat them the best we possibly can also enforce our laws when people flee for reasons that is not under our law not proper. i have no idea what imperialism has destroyed other countries. i don't know any evidence to prove that has happened. i like to deal in facts we can see. we are a set of laws we are

supposed to enforce we are not enforcing those laws right now. if somebody answers illegally our laws they shall. we're not doing right now. i continue those people across our borders illegally the house you mainly as we possibly can in the circumstance that we have violated our law, and into custody. we have to take them back to our work association we must find out if they have criminal matters. his humane process we go through. >> from north carolina will follow in line , mike. >> is good to be here, we watch fox with carlson it goes all the way back to the mexican because the next president is the president before him is current is your number when biden went down

there and he mister o'brien are not building one more inch of the wall. nobody's talking about how much burden the illegal immigration system keeps on the taxpayer. it's almost $1 trillion while thing congress needs to do his assignments of the 14th amendment that says it only is born in the united states becomes an american citizen. that revolves all the way around. the immigrants that come in, so r4 or five years or having babies over here and sign the democrats bring up this separation stuff. it's the mother and father coming is especially illegal of the year, he is illegal to them to because the parents aren't legal. >> thank you michael, wegot your point . >> there is no doubt that

there is read as an option in all of these countries people 70 countries. is curious we don't deal with people from germany, from england. we don't deal with people from countries that they all governments, that don't have as much ram as corruption exists in the other countries unfortunately that is not a lawful reason to enter our country illegally, not a lawful reason. we have rules claim title. i believe in the law. i believe the loss should be enforced . by our laws even if somebody we operate in our law we can do that. if we had proper policies, we

could shut down the border tomorrow after the criminal cartels save american lives from all the fentanyl poisonings happening. >> mister john, feel that the administration is working with other countries involved are the? >> all is you always will. from this is not from trade, illegal operation there generating a minimum of $13 billion that money goes right back into the mexican economy . why would they want to down? you have to look at what are the benefits. crying is about benefits, what are the benefits and that is a amount of moneythat goes back into their economy . and on top of it the drug trade located because

immigration we ask ourselves why would other countries want to stop this when there so much benefit to them? i don't believe you want to stop it. we have to look at what we can control in afghanistan. we can't control what happens outside of our own borders. we can't control what other governments do nor should we be able to control what other governments can do. what we should be able to control is what's happening in the case. we have to have proper enforcement policy. this illegal immigration crisis happening right now. >> some organizations when they talk about fentanyl in the case until is being brought in rule illegal ports of entry, yousee any disagreements with that ? >> i disagree and we have to

go back to the pandemic era. were ostensibly shut down to all the essential traffic. that means we were dealing with about a third of the normal traffic reports of entry yet seizure went down greatly the amount of on the streets shot up exponentially . that clearly shows wasn't going through. the problem is if you do not cease that load coming into the united states you're never going to know where it's coming from. it is true we received sees more narcotics at the ports of entry for that again common sense dictates that's going to happen. we can use vehicle at ports of entry warehouse between the ports of entry was people that get away every day i mentioned we don't know what they're. we have no idea what. what i can tell you is we ask that many people with pounds and pounds of fentanyl in

their backpacks that cross between the ports of entry. the problem is when we cannot apprehend those people we have no idea what they're bringing in. >> you saw the publicans in the house house this secure the border. one of the things they advocate for his starting construction of the border wall, imposing us asylum restrictions and requiring employers to check legal status . if it will get to the president's desk with it do any effective good? >> those walls are invaluable . i'll use a work, if we were apprehending 100,000 people every two years and this was in a small 15 mile stretch of border 100,000 people we were apprehending. after the wall that number drops down to 10,000 people. you don't have people crossing in mass numbers

where border walls are so infrastructure absolutely works. it's been proven time and time again. if we did e-verify, if we were able to go after employers that hire people in the country illegally against our laws that would have an effect. there's no jobs for people in the country illegally and people are going to come. people come because of all the benefits that exist here with those are social benefits for work ethics, that's why they're coming here. they're coming here we because we have a good system whereas in their country they do not and i realized countries are not the greatest countries in the world but that is not a reason to enter the united states illegally. it is not a reason to allow them, that would give them asylum if they actually showed up to their court dates and lead their case before a judge. >> let's hear from dave in long island, independent line . >> i want to thank you very

much for all your work in trying to people like me out by present preventing this flight, this tsunami of cheap labor. i appreciate it and the problem is a losing battle because the fact is a difficult example with the inflation situation raising interest rates. one of the primary things they look at his the jobs are tight, the inflation and wage inflation so one of the things you've done historically since the 80s is jack welch sent all our jobs overseas so he didn't have to pay americans, dollar and then the judge says flood the country with illegal vulnerable veryexploitable people , desperate and that will work for anything. you get medical benefits, any of that you don't have to pay anybody anything like you have to pay me an american.

and i'm saying is this is 100 percent class warfare and thank you so much for your. >> one of the things that frustrates me the most. >>

always invigorated by the interaction with the folks i work for. yesterday, of course, we celebrated memorial day. we did so in san antonio yesterday with an incredible group of students who have been selected to attend america's military service academies. these young people are among the best and brightest in our state, and they've chosen to pursue a challenging and honorable career in our nation's military. each memorial day my office hosts a send-off for these students, and it is far and away the favorite -- my favorite event of the year. these aren't just students that i have recommended to the

service academies. those are the ones -- it includes those recommended by any member of the texas delegation, and we had about 500 people there in san antonio there yesterday, including about a hundred students, and it was a great event. it's always inspiring to see these students answer the same call to serve that generations before them have answered. they are the next generation of military leaders, but, as we know, i.t. not just military -- it's not just military leaders because many of those folks will get into the private sector, as my parents and others did after world war ii, and they become leaders in their own right in other capacities other than military. but it was a pleasure to spend the day celebrating the incredible journey they're about to embark on. i had a lot of fun kidding the parents because i said your son or daughter is getting a full

ride to a service academy that is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, and that always brings a big smile. of course that's not the main reason they go. the main reason they go is because they're young patriots, and they have worked hard and demonstrated a lot of ability and self-discipline to get to where they are. but it was a delightful event. last week i also had the chance to hear about how legislation that we passed last year called the bipartisan safer communities act actually was being implemented. as you'll recall, this legislation was introduced in the wake of the shootings in uvalde, texas, about a year ago which claimed the lives of 19 students and two adults, two teachers. there was obviously a need for mental health and school safety resources, and that is in large part what that legislation provided. so i visited three school districts that received school

hardening grants that were authorized by the bill. part of me, mr. president, it's very sad to go into a school and realize that these students have to be protected from these sorts of threats because no child should have to go to school afraid for their safety. no parent should have to send their child to school afraid for their safety. but these are the times, such are the times we're living in, and so i was glad to see these protective measures in place. for example, at agnes cotton academy in san antonio, they recently installed a new digital portable radio system which connects to ear pieces in a school intercom system. i saw similar technology at the r.l. pascall high school in fort worth which purchased specialized smart radios as well as a system that can send emergency alerts to school phones and digital clocks inside classroom. at pasadena memorial high school i was shown their i.d. badge of

school access system and new technology for none -- anonymous threat reporting. each of these schools has been able to review their own readiness using the best practices that have been recommended for schools across the nation and then invest in the technologies and capabilities that fit their needs. and it was great to hear about the way that these and other schools across the state of texas were using these grant funds. this legislation also made the single-largest investment the federal government has ever made in community-based mental health care. but experts say there should be about one school psychologist for every 500 students, but we are a long, long way from that goal. texas currently hats one school psychologist for every 2,500 students. but grants from the bipartisan safer communities act are working to close that gap.

first we have to train the people in these professions so they can provide the services. colleges and universities in texas are already using some of these grant funds to help increase the number of mental health professionals in schools and in the state. they partner with nearby school districts to provide real-world training opportunities, and i'm optimistic that the investment that we made in the -- and the hard work that they are doing will have a positive impact on student mental health on the workforce shortage in coming years. and of course with a goal to provide help for anybody who needs it in or around school. so it's always good to go home and see the impact of the laws we pass here in washington, d.c. over the last few days i also had the opportunity to talk about a new bill that i'm working on called the fans first act.

for years musicians, sports teams, performers of all types and their fans have been frustrated by the predatory ticket sales practices in the so-called secondary market. what i mean by that is that a performer, an athlete, an entertainer, a museum, you can sell -- price a ticket for a stated price but unfortunately because of bots, these automated computer programs that go in and can purchase large numbers of these tickets, it then provides an opportunity for professional scalpers to buy huge portions of those tickets and then to sell them at dramatically inflated prices on the secondary market. as a result, fans see sky-high prices. performers and sports teams have a frustrated fan base, and venues are left with empty seats. the only people benefiting from

this current system are the cal pars -- are the scalpers, not the artists, not the teams, not the theaters, concert halls or anyone else who adds value to the live performance experience. this has been a problem for a long time but came into focus last year when tickets went on sale for taylor swift's tour. countless fans waited in a virtual waiting room for hours but were unable to buy tickets because the bots or computer programs were buying up all of the tickets from the primary ticket vendor. in austin, i heard from one of those disappointed fans, a young woman named kate testo. kate has been a dedicated taylor swift fan for years, she said since she was five, and was eager to bile tickets to see one of -- buy tickets to see one of her all-time favorite performers. when she couldn't get a ticket from the point of sale she turned to the retail market but was shocked by what she found.

a seat with an obstructed view cost $450. an upper bowl seat was $900. many tickets were selling for thousands and thousands of dollars. kate's a college students who says she eats ramen for almost every meal. i'm not sure that's strictly true, but that's what she said. but for her and other countless fans, spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on a ticket is simply not an option. i also heard from my friend, music legend robert earl king, who is equally frustrated by the current system. robert's plan to sell tickets for the final leg of his farewell tour for about $100. but once tickets hit the resale market, many were priced at $1,000. i asked him about that, and i said does that money come to you, the person providing the intellectual property, the

creativity, people want to enjoy? he said absolutely not. as a matter of fact, my fans get mad at me if they think they're being gouged for these $1,000 tickets, when in fact i have no control over that. that extra $900 from his fans' wallets did not go to him. it didn't go to the venue. it didn't go to the ticket takers or the concession workers. it went straight into the pocket of a scalper. robert noted that fans often think that it's the artist's fault, but it isn't. once tickets are listed, artists have virtually no control over what happens, even though it's their name and their reputation at stake. i heard similar feedback from venues in san antonio and austin, including the moody center, the american airlines center in dallas and the long horn ballroom. same frustrations were felt by sports teams.

everyone from university of texas athletics to the dallas cowboys. there's an overwhelming sense that the current system isn't working, and it jeopardizes the relationships between fans and their favorite artists, teams, and venues, even though they aren't to blame. i've been working on a bill called the fans first act to address some of the core issues we're seeing. the bill will focus on improving transparency so fans are aware that the $1,000 ticket they're about to buy is coming from a reseller who originally bought it for $100. it will also include reforms that improve consumer protection, and that's really what we're talking about here is protecting consumers from the price gouging. it will restore market integrity and it will punish the bad actors who engage in predatory ticket sales practices, particularly those who use these automated computer programs known as bots to purchase all the tickets once they go on

sale, just to sell them in the secondary market for a much higher price. senator klobuchar has been one of the leaders in this effort, and i'm eager to hear feedback from stakeholders as we try to finalize the text on this bill, but certainly would invite any of my colleagues, particularly on the judiciary committee, on a bipartisan basis to work with us to try to come up with a bill that makes sense. the frustration among fans, artists, teens, and venues is palpable but i'm optimistic we can come up with a bill that will punish the bad actors from ruining the live entertainment experience and restore the power to the artists that produce the wonderful entertainment that we all enjoy and help them protect their reputation against these predatory secondary market scalpers. so, mr. president, it was a busy week back home, and i'm grateful to the many people who shared their ideas and feedback

with me. it's an honor to represent 30 million people from texas in the united states senate, and i have come back feeling energized and ready to dive back into the work we have here. it's apparently going to be all about the debt limit here for the next few days. we know that this unfortunately has been delayed for many months. we shouldn't have to back up against a potential default, but that seems to be the most common way we work around here. we don't get a sense of urgency until we get ready to fall off the cliff. but i'm optimistic that we will be able to address the debt ceiling at the same time we can help restore some measure of fiscal responsibility and integrity. it's simply unsustainable to have a $31 trillion debt and say, well, we want to raise our credit card limit but we don't want to have an adult conversation about how we're going to pay the money back.

that simply is not the way things work in the real world, and it shouldn't be the way things work here in congress. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor.

test. every american.

welcome back to the program. >> guest: thank you, good to be with you again. >> host: you said writing this book was a continuation of the themes you explored in your last book. can you frame that for us as far as why you wrote thebook ? >> sure. laboratories is actually laboratories of autocracy how statehouses are so gerrymandered, so rigged, that's where so much of the attack on the micro c we're seeing is taking place but people who would read the book enjoy it but they would say it's so disturbing to see what's happening in these states. i would skip to the end to get the solutions they tell me and i've heard so much i said let's write a book about what you can do about it. i'm sure your listeners agree

with this and i heard one person say it. if all you do is watch tv in washington and you watch the meltdown we're seeing of democracy across the country your left with the impression there's nothing you can do about it. you have to watch doj investigations or some campaign far away and the point of this book is to say about all for democracy is happening all over the country which means it's where you live. it's literally where you live . you're on the front lines wherever you live. swing states so this book says if it's where you live it means there's nothing you can do about. you usually don't hear about these things but years that will walk you through what you can do, how you can do it and even points you towards organizations that might be helpful or best practices for people like you booked on the same thing. i give stories about individuals who decided to take on the school board they were worried about run for

office in the district that haven't had any competition so i tried to have it be a users manual so people can act upon that frustration and not sit there and watch it all happen and feel like they're powerless. >> did you develop these principles from experiences you gained in your position as chair of the democratic party? where there are ways you went about it? >> partly from things that i learned that i thought i did well, others lessons i learned about things i could have done better but it's funny as i wrote laboratories of autocracy, it really does walk through the problem. and it's not about a few individuals in washington, it's about what's happening in the states and state houses because the way our country is designed is state houses right most of the rules of democracy, not washington. as i wrote that book and i wrote a lot about ohio where

i'm from as a case study of the problem but i started to get emails and adjust starting to do zone calls all over the country with groups of people, individuals and i also learned a lot from those meetings about their stories and what they were doing so i took as many examples as i could of people doing great things . people adopting the state house and helping candidates that normally don't get any attention and that made a difference in michigan and pennsylvania this last year were people figuring out how to use a nonprofit to engage voters to have been disenfranchised or people willing to go to that school board meeting and say we don't want you to ban books here a lot of people who i met frankly since the last book not only are inspiring but showing the activism at the local level can work. it has to work if we're going

to turn things around so a lot of it is informed by those stories and i use those stories to make it accessible so people say we don't have to wait for some us editor to save the day. there are everyday people around this country doing things to lift democracy so i can do the same thing. >> a lot of it comes from interacting with people even in this world i've managed to meet these people doing great things and i use a lot of their stories as well is what i learned from my own experience. >> you use a soccer analogy describing the strategies you apply and you say first we're a generation, it's generally assumed american democracy is intact. the one on the right second most on tv by second assumption they are confident their powers reflect the broader premises of america's divers majority, can you elaborate ?

>> i try and explain that i do think there are different battles going on in american politics is not just, everything makes down to america versus party lines. there's a sign that generally supports democracy and is willing to live with the results of a fair democratic system and this side does assume too often democracy on a intact. this side assumes we got good ideas, if we run a strong election every two years we're goingto win . that's their battle. again it's not just one party . it's the strand of one party right now. they're studying hungary, they don't tie the ball. they're undermining democracy directly . that is literally what they're after. they have a whole lot of views that are not popular.

abortion bans with no exception . it's something probably 10 percent work you are ofyour viewers agree with . we do nothing about the gun violence, it's something 10 percent work you are of the leaders agreement. in order to get its views to put into place it can have elections it would lose so instead this side is going into statehouse where they can gerrymander those eight houses to keep in place of viewpoint that wouldn't win an election and the reason i use a sovereign analogy is the highest i is on offense in state across the country doing what i just described. gerrymandering like in ohio and all these other states and the other side focus on federal elections. so the second side, @that doesn't respect democracy on offense all the time and decide that care about democracy is not only not on

offense, it's not on defense. 50 percent for example of the tennessee publicans who voted out those two representatives didn't even have an election last year. so once i offense and the other side sometimes doesn't even play defense and i argue in my book that's why it's losing. as i mentioned in the book my sons are nine and six. they play soccer. they knowwhy that team is losing . if one team is taking all the shots on offense, asking for a better goalie isn't going to solve the problem. you have to go on offense and block the shotswhen they are being taken . it's a model worldwide aside that care about democracy appears to be losing when their winning federal elections pretty regularly. >> host: if you want to ask

teams about his book 72 88 four democrats. 202 748 8002. if you wish you could send us a text message 202748 8003. we highlighted some of the events and statewide elections that might reflect themes you talk about in your book. in jacksonville florida voters elected donna deacon deceased first female mayor. an existing 52 percent of the votes daniel davis and may point to pennsylvania where that special today democrats 102 seats to control the agenda. can you take those events and at least parlay them into teams in your book? >> guest: great question. those are the front-line

competitions. they were great wins. the special election that determined the house majority in pennsylvania, i write my book of optimism that even though the team that cares about democracy has been outmaneuvered for a long time and not even on defense let alone offense for a long time there is an infrastructure and awareness growing that they have to change the title and those billions are part of that. like in past november you saw for the first time in decades , democrats are supposed to do poorly in the states house and statewide elections that happen in that time of year but last november you saw democrats pick up the michigan state house, pennsylvania statehouse and have other big wins. you saw election deniers running for secretary of

state across the country, not a single one won in a swing state. they often under for underperformed other republicans on the ballot at the same time and this is why i write my book with optimism that we scale this up your starting to see this infrastructure build up that doesn't focus on a few federal races. of course you want to win senate seats and house seats but if that's all you win when the other side is using the statehouse to do all your dirty work you're not winning so those races, the pennsylvania statehouse win, another one like that the wisconsin supreme court when a couple months ago around the country people cared about democracy were focusing on the supreme court race in washington it would never have thought of before because people see these are the offices that long term sheet democracy. the federal government plays a role sometimes but that was

the supreme court which can stopgerrymandering . the statehouse in pennsylvania which advance democracy or suppress it depending who is in charge, these are the offices. one way you know that for too long we talked aboutthese offices the wrong way .it's that we often say this is the bench. this is the bench as if the only value these offices is that someday people may run for something else. this is the front-line, it's not a bench. if people do a great job in the state representative protecting democracy or protecting rights in that statehouse , i don't know if they never run for anything else. there on the front line of democracy in those positions. we have to start seeing them that way and operations on the other side that coke brothers for an outfit called alex they don't view these positions at the bench, they view them as the most important part of their overall infrastructurebecause it's the part that sheets

democracy in america for everybody . >> host: the book saving democracy: a user's manual for every american . early in kentucky, democrats line, you're onwith our guest . >> caller: good morning pedro. love the name of the book number one cause i read a lot of usernames. there's a lot of books and sensor from ohio i was wondering , if you have any dealings with say john when he was governor and if you have any thoughts about him, i changed my partyaffiliation in 2015 just so i could vote for him in the primaries . but i had this fantasy that we could beat trump in the primaries we wouldn't have to vote in the general election and one of the questions was if there's a viable third party candidate came through

an election and no one received 270 electoral votes. i was going to ask somebody if they might know that question there's bernie in kentucky starting us off. >> great question of the first thing is i am really glad you liked that title. someone told me david no one ever reads users manuals, they say it on the side but i think for this topic, i intentionally through that in as a subtitle because i just think most people are watching the in frustration and often times when i watch tv i'm thinking about all those viewers when it gets to the interview where the host says to the person saying democracy is under attack attack, what can people do they say two things. stand up and talk about. maybe half of course i want to do the but there's so much more you can do and it's not that hard to do is not just holding 1000 miles away in a

swing state. it's right where you are. i literally have a worksheet so everyone can go to can go to their own life and figure out here's one way can lift democracy and here's another way can let democracy but i never thought being part of the food bank that i said i'm a volunteer for could be democracy but it can't. every single person who goes at food banks should be registered to vote as they do so or that homeless shelter or rec center. in the book i literally try to give you the tools to walk through in your life, and that's the point, the power i hope is the waves rippling up and filling an ocean with some sort

of power. we will save democracy of all of us find someone in ourselves away to do more and it doesn't involve going to find new things. the point of the book is that involves mainly taking the things in your life that you are already doing and incorporating democracy into those things. the book to bryce to be a user's name on how you can inventory where you work. john kasich i think it's been an interesting evolution and he represents a lot of people. who john kasich i'll be honest was pretty conservative when he started out as governor. things but he is involved in a

lot of important ways so i watch him being willing to stand up to call out extremism. i'm glad to see it. one of the problems on the republican side has been to new republicans for whatever reason they either agree with trumpmack and people that they don't and they've been powered and not stood up and to present the reason he has taken over the party is because so many unlike john kasich have not have the backbone to stand up and the lesson of that is unless you stand up if the other person is the only voice in the room that voice will dominate. when all those other candidates would stand up to hammers anything in disagreement although sudden he's in charge

and he still is a john kasich and i'm sure a lot of viewers on the republican mind don't like it much but for someone like me who feels that lack of courage among those who know better feels we are in a crisis i give them credit. i give them a lot of credit for having the courage to stand up. we are going to the house for a vote. >> howard on the republican line. >> good morning how are you all doing? >> you are on go ahead. it seems like this guy isn't antirepublican for some reason and the last election was not right. so for years you will try to overturn an election and the four previous years you try to overturn it and try to overturn the bush election. when are democrats going to stand up and was that an insurrection on the floor? was the? it was but for some reason you don't want to admit that.

he's turning our nation. he is supposed to unite us and i don't know what he's done. >> dallas howard in texas. >> thanks for your question. obviously i don't agree with your point. i'm all about fair elections but i think this is clear on what happened in november that jill one. i'm working every day to make sure we have elections that include everybody going forward as well. obviously i will agree to disagree on joe biden. i see the republicans in ohio right now and the governor of ohio is bragging every day that ohio has the lowest unemployment numbers ever, the lowest

unemployment percentage. that has happened all over the country because when you invest in infrastructure and middle class-based economy guess what the economy works well. i don't think that's just because of the governor's work. because of national policy is playing out over the country. the gentleman from texas i guarantee you if you look at every single governor right now in the country all of them are bragging about how low their unemployment rate is. is that because each governor is doing an amazing job or is it national policies that were? i submitted to national policies to national polys to national policies -- policies are generally working. i think joe biden the record is quite strong in their other things we can work on and i do agree we remain too divided and my hope is as we go forward it may be tough by the way during the primary cycle. obviously we have a lot of work to do. on the facts again republican or democratic or job earner when

you talk about their state they brag about how great things are in all of this should figure out is each state in itself doing well but our national policies are working and pull this out and incredibly deep recession a couple of years ago. >> correct me if i'm wrong. ohio has a republican governor and a republican legislature. where does it work as far as changing what's going on? >> a republican legislature is a disaster. we are literally about to see the speaker of the house not long ago convicted and he was convicted and now he will be sentenced for them for every -- biggest bribery scandal in the country. this is something i hope all republicans and democrats and independents can agree on. whenever you have people in power, because the districts are rigged so they cannot lose

meaning there's no accountability, it's bad. its benefits in texas in texas and its benefits in ohio and if it's bad in a blue state. unaccountable political power is a disaster for the people. that's what ohio is living through so we are seeing extremism that does not reflect our state. we are seeing lawlessness that's violating the constitution seven times in one year to draw themselves districts that they could not lose. again the gentleman from texas i hope he agrees any time you have politicians who are in the midst of a corruption scandal literally keeping them selves in power not by winning over the voters with policies that they literally drawing districts that guarantee re-election. that's what ohio is stuck with right now and you see it in extremism. we are the state that forced a 10-year-old rate ' them to go to indiana to get an abortion

access because in ohio wasn't allowed even over 60% of ohio supports roe v. wade so that's how extremely cotton and when you see these broken and corrupt statehouses their basic ammo is to give public good to private players and nowhere has that been more clear than in ohio with public school dollars and giving it to things like an on line scam while the public school pays the bills so one thing you are seeing in ohio is a broken statehouse. you are seeing a state that has the fifth or sixth-highest -ranked schools in the nation now in the mid-20s. we have the highest student debt number one in the entire country. people are leaving in droves and health care outcomes are way down. when you have a broken statehouse and it's in public service it stops doing public service and it's a private service using public access.

you see a decline in public outcomes and a great state like ohio can't live through. we are seeing a dramatic downfall in most public outcomes. the young people leaving and we have a governor who i would say is not quite as extreme as this broke and corrupt statehouse. he is not willing to stand up and this is the story of the more moderate governors and republicans of the last 15 years. he refuses to not go along with them. he goes along with all they are doing even though he's far better known than they are so he ends up being an accomplice to it also -- i was in a protest in ohio weeks ago with 1000 plus people. people in ohio are very upset about how much the statehouse is broken in by the way a couple of years ago when we had a referendum to fix the internet problem more than 70% of ohioans

republicans democrats and independents supported. that some people want to change this broken system in the statehouse. >> it's not just ohio. this is statehouses around the country. >> the former chair of the ohio -- call? the presiding officer: no, we are not. mrs. blackburn: we are not, thank you. i ask unanimous consent that the following interns and fellow in my office be granted floor privileges for the remainder of this congress. margaret finnegan, garrett frye, charles morrow, ryan fortani, benjamin bridges. prpb without objection. mrs. blackburn: -- the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. blackburn: thank you, mr. chairman. the dangers children encounter when they go online have increased exponentially since media platforms took over our lives. just a few years ago, cyberbullying dominated our conversations about kids and the

virtual world. now those cyberbullies are joined by drug dealers, sex traffickers, pedophiles, and influencers who glorify mental illness, eating disorders, and self-harm. last week the biden administration decided to pay some attention to this pressing issue. and while i'm glad to see the white house get behind us on this issue, i would be remiss if i didn't point out that they are far behind. over the past two and a half years, the senate has dedicated an incredible amount of time and energy to investigating the harm these threats have inflicted on young people. when senator blumenthal and i led the commerce committee's consumer protection subcommittee, we hosted five separate hearings investigating

the inherent dangers children encounter online. the judiciary committee hosted a sixth this past february. during those hearings, we produced more than 500 pains of testimony -- 500 pages of testimony. mr. president, this is just the testimony from witnesses who have come before us. in hose hearings. -- in those hearings. now, in addition to this testimony, we've collected hundreds of more pages of evidence illustrating the devastating impact that big tech has had on the lives of children and teens. we also found proof that these online companies knew they had lost control of their platforms and still, even knowing it, still they made the affirmative choice to not protect their

users. they did this knowing children were at risk. on top of that are the additional hours we spent talking to parents who tried to protect their children. we also independently confirmed just how easy it is for predators to target young people with dangerous content. i would implore my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to confront what is in these pages of testimony. familiarize yourself with what we heard during these hearings and in conversations, heartbreaking conversations with families and stakeholders. and as you do, remember that the examples we discussed in committee weren't just available for children to access. in many cases there was no

hiding from it, which seems unbelievable until you actually speak to young people about how per scraisive -- pervasive this harmful content and many times illegal content is. this is why senator blumenthal and i spent time talking to kids and teens about their firsthand experience with dangerous content. mr. president, you know this issue well. you have worked on kids' online privacy. did you that when you were in the house. did you it in in this -- in the senate. you know the importance of the steps we've taken. not to limit the conversation just to adults. talk to teens and children. that's what we have done. because no one has a better understanding of what's happening to teens online than teenagers. so we invited them into the room

and asked them what can we do to be helpful? what they told us that they need was something that is more proactive and more enforceable than what the biden administration has chosen to offer. according to the white house announcement, hhs and the commerce department will lead an interagency task force on kids online health and safety. their job will be to identify harms to minors from online pratt forms and then -- platforms and then develop policy recommendations, guidance, and a toolkit for industry. that sounds awfully familiar, doesn't it? we've been doing that here in the senate for more than two years, and yet the white house wants to start from scratch. what's the point in that? we know what the harms are.

the harms have been articulated. we also know that voluntary guidance will do nothing to make online platforms safer. we tried that kinder, gentler method and it failed. it does not work. social media platforms have proven to us they are incapable of self-regulation. why is that? because when our children are online, our children are the product. they are data mining our children. they're selling that data to the highest bidder. the second item i want to highlight is a good development but one that will complement rather than replace work we've already done here in the senate. according to the white house announcement, dhs and the

justice department will work with the national center for missing and exploited children to create combined image repositories to help identify victims of online trafficking and sexual abuse. this is promising because it puts law enforcement on the front lines. that is an important distinction. but this effort needs our support, which means staying the course on existing legislation to bolster both law enforcement and nics mix legal authorities. on that front, this week the judiciary committee will consider the report act. it's a piece of bipartisan legislation i sponsored with senator ossoff that will require online companies and social media platforms to report known

instances of child sex trafficking or enticement on their platforms. it will also substantially increase the fines imposed for failure to report this abuse to nicmic. the report act also includes another one of my bills -- the end child exploitation act, which requires online platforms to preserve reports to nicmix cyber tip line for a period of one year. by extending this retention period, we can ensure that law enforcement has enough time to access evidence and to prosecute these crimes. this bill will also make it easier for miy c -- nicmix to transfer the reports to law enforcement which will help law enforcement prosecute cases

faster and put more owe tenders behind -- offenders behind bars. no more excuses you know, it is so interesting. when i talk to tennesseans, they thought this would already be the law. that these social media platforms would have to report these sex traffickers, these pedophiles, these drug dealers, these child sexual abuse images and things that were online. and they're surprised that they don't and that they don't take them down. so no more executives coming up here to the hill to give us excuses for why they are not able to do this and complaining about how hard it is to tackle criminal perversion on their platforms. they need to get busy with this. the policies laid out in the report act are critical to

helping silicon valley and law enforcement stop predators. mr. president, as i said, they ought to be the first ones to stand up and say, we've got tomorrow bad actors over here -- we've got some bad actors over here. we're going to take them down. there should be bipartisan agreement on this. everybody should say, let's do this and let's do it now. i know i can't be the only person in this chamber wondering why these big-tech companies haven't kept their own promises to make the online world safer for kids and for teens. the white house plan for voluntary guidelines and toolkits gives these companies far too much credit. as i said, they have proven to us they are incapable of self-governance. why are they incapable?

because they need the eyeballs of our kids on their sites for longer stretches of time. that means the data is richer. that means they sell that money. they are putting profit before the safety of our children. go talk to these parents that have lost their kids. go listen top these teens who are recovering from social media addiction. this is why earlier this year senator blumenthal and i reintroduced the kids can online safety act -- kids online safety act. it has 34 bipartisan cosponsors and the endorsement of more than 200 bipartisan organizations. first, it would force platforms to give families the ability to

protect minors' information, disable addictive product features, and opt out of algorithm mick recommendations. next, it would create safeguards needed to protect their children's online experiences as well as a dedicated channel to report harmful behavior. those are things that currently do not exist. and most parents are shocked when they go onto these platforms and they're trying to report cyberbullying and they can't hear a word back from the platform or maybe months later they get an e-mail that says, this content does not violate our community standards. how disgusting. many of these parents know what

is going on, and they are trying to help. they know what their kids are seeing. they know predatory content and content that promotes self-harm, suicide, eating disorders to minors will now indeed be a problem for these platforms to deal with when we pass the kids online safety act. parents are tired of the denial, the deflection, and the disrespect that is shown to them and their children by these social media platforms. our kids deserve better than what these platforms and big-tech companies are dishing out to them. they deserve protection on these sites. beaver and -- and, mr. president, as you well know, there are things that are

illegal in the physical space, but they are allowed in the virtual space on these platforms, and these platforms do nothing -- nothing -- to take down this. in addition to making it difficult for these social media platforms to skirt the provisions of cosa, we are requiring in that legislation a requirement for an annual risk assessment and access to data sets we can use to access and assess safety threats to underage users. it is time to make certain that safety is there, that it is safety by default, safety by design for our children.

both the report act and the kids online safety act have earned the enthusiastic support of bipartisan policymakers, advocates, medical professionals, tech experts, and families from across the country. it is time we pass this legislation. i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

be we barely touch

anything in this deal. as a conference and as the congress we are not. we said we were going to with medicaid. we didn't. we walked away from it in terms of work requirements and medicaid and we walked away from it. okay so we are not doing that. i think my question here is, is it you also best guests that are debt-to-gdp ratio will be higher or lower on january 12025 than it is today with the still? any of the witnesses? do we have a higher or lower debt-to-gdp ratio and not dependent on how we appropriate it. what are we going to end up with? >> representative that debt, the credit card is maxed out based on how congress spends money and

so clearly that is the number one factor of how much that's added to but i will say this, that this bill will make sure our debt-to-gdp ratio is better off than a blank check that was an increase which president biden in the house and senate democrats have been pushing for. >> so we agreed that this is about respect us. i've heard a lot of folks talk about it making sure we are paying her bills. this is really increasing the credit card. part of this is not just about number changes or date changes that would increase the debt, it's obviously has got suspending restraints in place. to the best of my knowledge and if i'm incorrect, their two years of actual caps two years of actual caps that targets that

don't do anything of two years of caps and two years of caps would in year one to the best of my understanding result in the 12 billion-dollar discretionary credit on paper. do we agree with that number that it's a 12 billion-dollar discretionary cut? >> for 2024. >> for 2024. >> yes. >> one thing that i think is important in that is you also have the covid rescissions were rich are 28 or $29 billion however $6 billion of that was actually -- 22 billion was split into 11,000,000,011,000,000,025 and put over to commerce and it's been sitting there able to

be . now again according to appropriations but not with respect to the. so we talk about 12 billion-dollar cut but you have these rescissions that you say we are saving, covid rescissions and we are taking 11 and 12 billion putting it in commerce. do i have that correct? >> any witnesses may speak to that. >> i don't know where the money that went into commerce for those two categories isn't spending and whether that came out of covid money or where that was intended to come from. >> thank you sir. my understanding it was from that pot of covid money the $22 billion divided up per year. any way you view these numbers that doesn't apply to caps i would argue you aren't necessarily saying that

12 billion-dollar cut. this is why i have been saying to some degree in the public. ae vote scheduled for 5:30 begin.ae the presiding officer: without objection. the question is on the nomination. is there a second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

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>> is that the response to the bill. >> confident you won't lose enough members on your side the democrats cannot make up the difference and are you confident on your side, there's not going to be you know this. >> have you any conversations and talks about against his villanelle paternity.

>> affected many of our weather that for her not sure when the bill, the people are concerned about, hit is the largest savings of 2.1 trillion we have in his aversive ministry, the largest pulling money back from the hard-working taxpayers, that are going to china and are they opposed to the work requirements for the welfare should somebody beginning a defense on the couch able-bodied with no children not be helped to find a job and are we concerned about for the first time, to be able to change the environmental review and in 40 years, so that we can build things in america faster quite sure for the ability to even, to health congress work again to do the job that the appropriation bills and the consequences affect but to be able to take a trump executive order and put it in two affect with this president, to stop him from

spending trillions of dollars of people are against any relevant money, their work performance and welfare reform, cannot do anything about a. >> are you worried about anything coming out of the roll here we know that mr. roy has a problem with it mr. norman both members of the risk many in this mess he said he met with you but is not announced his voice yet or rule. >> look, this since we do the majority i wanted to change things in nancy as speaker broken were people cannot be developed in a thousand page bills, trillions of dollars and this is a 99 pages 15 of them are resending the way the washington does this and everybody has an opportunity to read it for their own opinions so they can save your own opinions and that is the idea of congress. >> how many conservatives can use on this bill is so passive it. >> well, we will work through to make sure that i have a. >> only recently when is a circular sometime turn i clarity

the debate would not start until after 715, with the vote come sometime after that. >> the boat will be tomorrow the debate will be tomorrow. >> about jeffries about the democratic personality he might be able to provide. >> have not talked to him yet today. >> isn't necessary to do this. >> we been her longtime anytime there is an agreement with the party are overweight and always two parties evoke for that think that is very interesting here is the largest savings in american history, and then chuckling finally washington spending getting rescinded and do you realize of all of the congresses the past that all of the money that they have rescinded, and add them together, this is higher than that in the idea that we fought so hard to see those work requirements and the welfare reforms are the idea that you can make the president if he was ready new regulation common areas to offset that before were not sure what everybody wants we could get everything that we wanted we had this debate, you cannot talk

about the whole budget and so in essence, we are only able to focus on about 11 percent of the budget, and when their freedom park is about wanting to spend a 2020 of the event is back over the 2022, literacy more money and others get more money so i think this is a place in which for the next six years, i've always said, edit selling is like a family having a credit card, but the family charged all of the way up and so what we done, we make sure that next year, this year we will spend less than last year were going to put a spending cap up for six years that we cannot keep spending the way we are we've looked around for things that we bought that we can return, like covid-19 money, honey to china, had others bringing that back i might have a child that hasn't job and our dependence was sitting on the chasm of a going to the person to get a job having at work which gives them worth and value and according to look other things also make the

economy stronger so we are reforming you no longer have spent years in the environmental reviews now we have it one - two years and these are major victories and i understand the people did the best about to get upset about walking through that selling with this is the house and the senate and the presidency i think that when you read the wall street journal coming read the new york post, is it i can you listen to a lot of economists, they will say, that this is the strongest up selling it we've ever had at a high compared to when republicans were in the majority, and when they had the house, and santa ana presidency, they did not had anything of the just have more money. [inaudible]. i haven't conversations a hold out and vote. [background sounds]. >> let me first just began to president of biden, for arriving at a resolution that there's three important things in first,

president biden has avoided a catastrophic it default. which would crash the economy and hurt millions of everyday americans prayed and secondly, president divided has arrived in a resolution that would suspend the debt ceiling for at least two years. at avoid a hostagetaking situation for the balance of the 118 congress and thirdly, president biden has arrived it is resolution that protects incredibly important it democratic interest. and the president will be immediately notified of the senate's actions.

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>> let me first just begin to express my appreciation to president biden for arriving in a resolution that has three important things, first, president biden has avoided a catastrophic default. which would crash the economy in hers and hurt millions of everyday americans second, president biden is right at a resolution of that would spend the debt ceiling for at least two years and avoid a hostage taking situation for the balance of the 118th congress and third, president biden has arrived at a resolution the protects incredibly important democratic interests in the resolution and revolution reached by president biden protect social security and medicare protect medicaid,

protects veterans and protect the clean energy tax credits vaccine market people from the type of draconian cuts that were included in the extreme i get republican default on america act and to protects vulnerable communities like the individuals who are aging out of regular care think over president biden biden's leadership and confidence that we will avoid a catastrophic default. >> mr. leader, congressional progressive carcass here currently, what is your message to the progressive concerned about this keynote. >> my messages exactly what i just communicated, people to continue to have family conversation throughout the day later on this evening, and tomorrow in terms of the carcass will be all interested in his many votes for the republicans

who negotiated this resolution, going to produce. initially we heard that 95 percent of the house republican supported the agreement that does not appear to be the case. but, but we also are committed to making sure is that the house republicans keep a promise to produce at least 150 votes. >> are you concerned and committed if they are unable. [inaudible]. >> my expectation that house republicans will keep their commitment to do at least two thirds at the conference which is a proximally 150,000 democrats are committed to making sure that we do our part in avoided default. [inaudible]. >> the speaker saturday, would

you agree with that. >> i just outlined, three broad areas that president biden to be commended around in terms of democratic priorities i think most importantly, that are good for the american people avoiding a devastating default crashing on our economy is for the american people. taking us out of this hostagetaking situation, suspending that the ceiling until at least the early part of 2025, is good for the american people and technical security and medicare protecting medicated protecting veterans and protecting the clean energy tax credit particular market people from this devastating test that the republicans proposed in the following america act that is also very good for the american people. >> did the democrats vote yes to be sure. >> my expectations there won't

be issues in getting this bill out. >> what will the democrats. >> speaker mccarthy members already said that they think that the motion to vacate the chair speaker mccarthy should be ousted because he came to an agreement with president divided to raise the debt limit and what is your response to that speaker mccarthy to have the confidence in congress right now. >> were not interested in political gamesmanship, but were interested in avoiding a catastrophic default pretty there too many far extreme republican spring and inside imposter doing what's right for the market people we should be focus on lowering costs raindrops and safer communities if any democracy and fighting to protect the productive freedom t works for everyday americans was post the powers that continues to happen on the other side. [inaudible]. >> when i reached the happy leader the democratic party right now trinity.

>> the white house is engaged in an incredible amount of activity to communicate with all aspects of the house democratic caucus we've had pretty extensive briefing that took place virtually on sunday, took three hours the briefing where every single member had a question in some cases multiple questions had the opportunity to ask the question have a questions answered. headed three hours of virtual briefings that are continuing to take place today in the white house high-level administration officials will be with the president here the capitol tomorrow or in person and in person carcass meetings and the administration of the highest level continues to engage in one-on-one conversations with blue dogs and members of the cdc the ch - women's caucus the carcasses make a pact and all

points in between. i've been incredibly pleased.

>> tennis and is finishing business with a lawmakers confirm the nomination of darrell to be a u.s. district court judge for easton louisiana confirmation makes in the 35th judge and winter 30th judge over all the proof of the senate to a lifetime appointment during the biden presidency and later this week the senate could consider the debt limit federal spending deal reached between speaker mccarthy and president of biden the bill still must make it through the house before being considered in the senate jordi leader chuck schumer said the senate could vote in the belt later this week bring to the weekend if necessary and as always, live coverage of the u.s. senate, here on "c-span2". how would you like to the house rules committee. [background sounds]. [background