tv U.S. Senate U.S. Senate CSPAN June 6, 2023 2:59pm-6:33pm EDT
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agents but they are a necessary group of agents. so the irs has a big job to do, and it affects every taxpayer in this country. and so what we need to do is to have many layers of service, which means that we need to ensure that you are waiting on the other endar of the line can get your questions answered so that if you are not getting a refund you can get that refund back as quickly as possible. we also want to make sure that audits are done correctly and that they are done for everybody because, unfortunately, the wealthy have the resources to be able to evade those kind of audits. they can have army's of accountants that can prevent them from actually paying their fair share of taxes, and we need to make sure that they do pay
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their fair share of taxes. >> host: to the tar heel state, north carolina, like the democrats. good morning. >> caller: yes. i have a question -- >> we believe this to keep our commitment to live coverage of congress. you can watch more if you go to our website c-span.org. the u.s. senate is gaveling now to work on more of president biden's executive nominations. today they will consider david crane to be undersecretary for energy for infrastructure. a vote to advance his nomination is expected later today. and now live to the senate floor here on c-span2. the chaplain, dr. barry black, will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. o god, our father,
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in a chaotic and violent world, we look to you as our mighty fortress. have mercy upon our nation and world. help us all to remember how you have led us in the past. guide our senators so that they clearly understand your desires and give them the wisdom to obey. lord, provide our lawmakers with daily strength to honor you with their service. remind them that they will answer to you for the way they use their talents to serve others. inspire the hearts of all of us to honor you with faithfulness
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and humility. we pray in your sacred name. amen. the presiding officer: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to our flag. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the presiding officer: the clerk will read a communication to the senate. the clerk: washington, d.c, june 6, 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.
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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 and resume consideration of the following nomination, which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, department of energy, david crane, of new jersey, to be under secretary.
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mr. schumer: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: mr. president, this morning i released a dear colleague alongside heinrich, rounds and young, announcing three senators only briefings on artificial intelligence taking place in the -- starting in the next few weeks. these bipartisan briefings will culminate in the first ever classified all senate briefing on a.i.'s impact on national security. in fact, all three briefings are the first all senators briefing on a.i. the briefings will be led by some of the top minds in a.i. and will help senators on much-needed experience on the technological shift. i urge all of my colleagues to attend these briefings, because it won't be long before we see
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a.i.'s changes in the workplace, and virtually every corner of our lives. it's already starting to happen. we must be ready. these all senate briefings are important because elected representatives in the 21st century can't ignore a.i. any more than we can ignore national security, job creation or our civil liberties. a.i. will permanently impact all of these things and more. the first briefing in the next few weeks will focus on the state of artificial intelligence today. the second briefing will focus on where this technology is headed -- is headed in the future and how america can stay at the forefront of innovation. the third, our first-ever classified briefing on a.i., will focus on how our adversaries will use a.i.
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against us while detailing how intelligence agencies will using this technology to keep americans safe. we'll share more details on dates, times, and speakers in the come days. and, again, i urge every senator, democrat and republican, to attend all three briefings. and i thank senators heinrich, rounds, and young for cosponsoring these briefings with me. the senate and all leaders have an obligation to deepen our expertise in a.i. because if we do our jobs correctly, we can ensure a.i. becomes a remarkable force for human prosperity while mitigating its very real potential risks. i look forward to attending these briefings and, again, thank senators rounds, heinrich and young for joining me in this important announcement. now on nominations. mr. president, after voting to avoid default last week, the senate will focus this week on
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advancing more of president biden's key administrative and judicial nominees. later today the senate will vote to advance the nomination of david crane to be under secretary of infrastructure at the department of energy. the under secretary for infrastructure is a new role created by the biden administration and charge the implementing the clean energy investments made in our bipartisan infrastructure law. once confirmed, mr. crane's job will be ensuring our infrastructure dollars translate to lower energy costs, new clean energy manufacturing jobs and a more resilient energy grid. mr. crane received bipartisan support in the enr committee and i expect that to carry on to the floor. also, mr. president, this week the senate will advance the nomination dilawar syed, he isa
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highly qualified nominee. his nomination is supported by a broad range of business stakeholders, including the u.s. chamber of commerce and he will have the crucial task of helping tens of millions of small businesses to get the resources they need to increase their operations. the s.b.a. has not had a confirmed deputy in five years. so i'm exceedingly pleased this qualified nominee is moving forward. if confirmed, mr. syed will add to the diversity of mr. biden's administration by serving as the highest ranking muslim. we will consider the nomination of detail ho, to be the united states district judge for the southern district of new york. on implementation, last week congress passed legislation
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averting catastrophic default. that is very good news for every single community in this country. better yet, congress averted default while also preserving the important investments we made through investing in the bipartisan chips act and the landmark inflation reduction act. now democrats are getting the word out on our agenda and for months i worked with the administration and my colleagues to plan out implementation. it's one thing for americans to read about congress passing this bill or that bill. it's a whole different ballgame for them to see these investments come to the right through the construction projects, new factory ocean, new job announcements. implementing our agenda is not abstract. it is happening across the country as we speak. it's happening across the country as we speak. it means jobs, jobs, jobs as well as real help for so many different communities, suburban, urban, rural, across the
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country. to that end, the biden administration announced today they'll hit the road very soon for their phase two of investing in america tour. it'll be a great chance for americans to hear directly from the administration in their own backyards and for the administration to tout the new projects sprouting across the country. today the white house also's a nnounced the rollout of invest .gov. a terrific new resource mapping out precisely how implementation is taking roots across the country. i encourage everyone to visit invest.gov so they can see all the projects in ask unanimous consenting, ev and manufacturing. and my friends, the numbers don't lie. under president biden and democrats in congress, 32,000 infrastructure projects, more nan $470 billion, billion with a
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capital b worth of private investments have been announced, including $214 billion investment toward semiconductors, which was largely made possible thanks to the chips and science act. more than $200 billion to help make america the leader in clean energy manufacturing, led by legislation like the inflation reduction act. and these investments include everything from new battery plants in georgia and west virginia to solar power facilities in oklahoma and south carolina, to wind turbine assembly lines in new york and so much more. and these are just a few examples of how democrats' agenda is paving the way for the future and the future for jobs in this country. implementation will remain at the top of democrats s. priority list in months and years ahead. democrats have a great story to tell the american people. now we're putting in the work to make sure americans know precisely, precisely how our
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mr. strength of the immediate crisis and potential default now past, what you think congress can and should be doing to keep us from being back in crisis position 18 short months from now? >> a number of things. the first thing is addressing our debt problem. the debt is on an unsustainable trajectory, expected to rise
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substantially the next ten years in the next 30 years in the underlying drivers are spending, projected spending on the social security program, projected spending on the medicare program, increases in interest payments requires service cadet and tax revenue below historic norms so congress needs to address the problem. unfortunately there is bipartisan consensus that something congress should be addressing. both republicans and democrats agree taxes should not be increased on the bottom 98% of household, democrats will raise taxes on the top 2%, republicans wouldn't but raising taxes on
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the top 2% will not be nearly sufficient to solve the problem in both republican and democrats agree projected spending on medicare and social security should not be reduced so for all the talk on division in washington there's strong bipartisan agreement congress should not address the underlying problems for the underlying drivers of the deficits so the first thing congress should do is get the debt under control. imagine congress needs to look seriously at the debt ceiling and whether or not it is a mechanism congress wants to keep in place. i would argue the debt ceiling is to dangerous a tool to be
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used as leverage in spending so i would favor reform that automatically increase the debt ceiling when congress passes bills i will increase the deficit or other similar reforms to take the debt ceiling as a leverage off the table to prevent future crises. >> if the debt ceiling were automatically increase in the future, what incentive would there be to get congress to do the things you want congress to do, address these drivers of debt and social security, one less tool to get congress to think about spending, some would say. >> it would be nice if congress didn't need massive leverage to execute the basic task of government so we could have leadership in congress and the white house and say we have a
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problem and we need to solve. it's not as crazy as it sounds. we've seen that in the past during the reagan administration, future spending on social security reduced and reforms have stuck even though it's nearly 40 years later so there's reason to believe congress and the president don't need points of potential catastrophe in order to work from these programs and address the structural deficit but there are other leverage points, social security program and medicare program going to in crises in the next decade and it will create a situation where benefits paid out by those
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programs will be substantially reduced unless congress does something, that is a good opportunity for reform and the government needs to be funded and if a potential government shutdown is never leverage congress and the president could use to push through politically difficult reform, the thing about a government shutdown, the thing about a situation where congress may not be able to pay out social security and medicare benefits at the levels said while those would be bad situations, they would not to the catastrophes that a potential default on u.s. treasury applications would bring so playing with default is like playing with a nuclear
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bomb, playing with a government shutdown or potential reduction in social security and medicare benefits, that's playing with a grenade. the current aid is dangerous and you don't want a grenade to go off but it's not like nuclear explosion if that makes sense. >> our guest this morning, the american enterprise institute, director of economic policy studies to talk about the u.s. economy and the debt ceiling deal signed into law by the president saturday and you can join us democrats (202)748-8000. republicans (202)748-8001 and independence (202)748-8002 let me come back to the issue of tax revenue you brought up in your first comment, president biden in his call office address friday that talks about the push
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to raise taxes on the wealthy in this country and here is some of what he had to say. >> on what to do even more to reduce the deficit, we need to control spending if we are going to do that. we have to raise revenue, make sure everybody is paying their fair share. i promise no one making less than $400,000 a year will pay a penny more but like most of you at home, i know the federal tax system is in fair and that's why i kept my commitment no one earning less than 400,000 a year will pay a penny more. that's why last year i secured more funding, more irs funding to go after wealthy taxpayers. none partisan budget office, nonpartisan says this will bring in $150 billion in other outside experts expect it will save as much as $100 million.
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forcing people to pay their fair share. republicans may not like it but i'm going to make share the wealthy pay their fair share. i'm also proposing closing a dozen special interest tax loopholes from big oil, crypto traders, hedgepr funds, saving taxpayers billions -- objection. mr. mcconnell: last week the senate passed an agreement that preserved america's full faith and credit and begin to rein democrats' spending. but the senate's work is far from over. we begin with the threat of the economic crisis behind us. it's time for the senate to focus its full attention on some of the most basic responsibilities we're sent here
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to fulfill, keeping america safe, keeping america fed, and keeping the lights on. first, we have a little less than four months left in the fiscal year. our colleagues' appropriations chair murray and vice chair collins, have expressed a shared goal to fund the federal government through regular order. that means 12 full-year funding bills processed, passed, conferenced, and signed into law before the end of september. i think all hundred of us agree that we should not be funding the american people's government through one big omnibus at the end of the year, but achieving that is going to require hard work and incredible cooperation.
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to producing funding bills that can pass the house and become law, we'll have to build on the progress we've made last week. after two years of taxing, spending, and runaway inflation, the american people chose to elect a divided government. in the coming weeks, that divided government has an opportunity to restore stability to the appropriations process and deliver more of the fiscal sanity they expect. but only if the democratic majority let's the process actually work. this year we also have the responsibility to deliver a farm bill, a full 10% of the american workforce depends on agriculture. the commonwealth of kentucky is
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home to nearly 75,000 farms. and in the past five years since the last farm bill was passed, farming hadn't gotten any easier. neither has ranching or forestry. small businesses and farm families across the country will be watching the agriculture committee's work especially closely. chair stabenow and ranking member boozman and our colleagues are already hard at work producing legislation that delivers the certainty and support they need to continue innovating, supporting rural jobs, and feeding america. and chair cants well and -- cantwell and ranking member cruz and commerce committee are working on another measure that will require our attention before the end of the fiscal year reauthorizing the federal aviation administration. reliable and affordable air
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travel for both people and cargo is important to the prosperity of communities and industries across our country. so on behalf of kentucky growers and the entire country, i hope each of these measures receive swift consideration here on the floor. and finally, as i made clear last week, the government's work to provide for the common defense remains unfinished. president biden's request for the defense budget is simply insufficient given the major challenges that our country faces. we are investing roughly half as much in defense today as the share of gdp as we were at the height of president reagan's buildup in the mid 1980's. in the dangerous world that surrounds us today, this is wholly inadequate. decades aft cold war, the fame -- after the cold war, the
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famous reagan maxim peace through strength still applies. the biden's record on defending america, our partners and our interests has been one of weakness and delay. take, for example, the president's approach to helping ukraine fight russian invaders. at seemingly every opportunity, from guided rockets to drones to abrams tanks, he hesitated to put divisive capabilities in ukrainian hands until they were several steps behind the pace of relevance. last month the biden administration finally authorized the transfer of f-16 fighter aircraft, but as with the tanks, they waited too long for these highly capable systems to be ready for counteroffensive any time soon, making it more likely, more likely that this
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conflict becomes a stalemate or worse instead of a ukrainian victory. and the president continues to avoid authorizing other key capabilities like longer-range fires and cluster munition, even though russia is already using them against ukrainian forces. the consequences of these misjudgments are not limited to ukraine itself. the same adversaries who watching president biden's botched withdrawal from the battlefield in afghanistan are watching the west for signs of weakness in ukraine. america's friends in the indo-pacific know along with robust investment in real military capabilities, the best way to deter aggression if china is to help ukraine defeat acreation from russia -- aggression from russia. tomorrow the president will walk with the primakov of the united kingdom to washington. a special relationship between our two countries is a source of
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strength in the face of shared threats around the world. anglo-u.s. cooperation including with australia and the indo-pacific will help shape the next century of strategic competition. i hope president biden will recommit to standing with america's closest allies and partners in confronting shared threats. and congress must commit ourselves to equipping our military with the capabilities it needs to control growing threats from china, russia, iran, north korea, and terrorists emboldened by america's retreat from afghanistan. keeping america safe, keeping america fed, and keeping the lights on. our responsibilities are crystal clear.
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mr. durbin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: mr. president, the strongest military alliance in the world is the nato alliance. president joe biden has made that alliance stronger than ever since its creation. countries like finland now want to be part of that alliance for their own safety. and because they share our values. countries like sweden feel the same way. they want to be part of this alliance which president biden has supported completely. it has never been stronger since its creation. and the contributions made by the alliance members to the war in ukraine are unprecedented. it's never happened before. nations from all over europe, nations that share our values, are standing behind the nato
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alliance. to hear the suggestion on the floor of the senate that somehow there's a weakness in the biden administration when it comes to nato is belied by the facts and the truth. and the fact of the matter is as well that when you look back at the previous president named donald trump, chart what he has to say about ukraine now. he questions whether we should be helping them at all. he questions whether or not we should make vladimir putin angry. you all know and remember, as i do as well, during the four years of the trump administration there was this ambivalence this romance between putin and trump that no one can explain. and now to have someone come to the floor and say joe biden isn't strong enough when it comes to standing behind the people of ukraine, that's just flat out wrong. the support for the ukrainian people against vladimir putin is universal across -- i shouldn't say universal.
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let me strike that word. is almost universal and should be universal across all members of congress. democrats and republicans alike in the senate believe that we are doing the right thing as a nation, standing behind the people of ukraine. as a cochair of the ukrainian caucus in the united states senate, i believe this in my heart and soul. if ukrainians do not prevail over vladimir putin, i'm afraid we're going to have more wars to fight. i can think of other countries that are vulnerable to his expansionist dreams. poland for goodness sakes. the baltic states, moldova. the list goes on and on. president biden has made a stand in ukraine and it's the right position to take. and to suggest that the nato alliance is not behind him is wrong. they're behind him in a way that is unprecedented in history. i'm happy to report that i'm not only pleased to support the ukrainians in this effort, i think we've done everything that we should do. now remember, president biden has an important decision to make each time someone suggests
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a new weapon system. will this be provocative? will it lead to expansion of the equipment used in war even to nuclear weapons? that's an important question. i don't know if i could sleep at night if i had to worry about my decision the next morning and whether it would trigger a nuclear war. but that's what trib faces -- what president biden faces day after day. people come in and say just send every weapon system and don't think ties about it, don't understand the burden of the presidency. to make sure we do the right thing to support the ukrainian people but not a provocative action that draws in american forces or runs the risk of nuclear war. the president has to make that careful decision with every weapons system. if it takes him an extra day or week, do it right, mr. president. don't be pushed into it by those who really can't understand the gravity of each of these decisions. stand behind the ukrainian people. do it through the nato alliance. do it in a way that doesn't expand this war to include
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american troops or to make it a nuclear conflict. that i think is the bottom line. mr. president, i ask to speak on a different topic and be placed in a separate part of the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: mr. president, it was ten years ago roughly when the inauguration of barack obama took place. it meant a lot to me. he was my colleague in the senate for a number of years. he was my friend. i endorsed him for president. i was the first senator to endorse him and for 14 months i was the only senator who endorsed him. i traveled to iowa many times to campaign for him as president. and of course i remember that glorious cold, cold day when he took the oath of office out here on the steps of the capitol. it was cold but there were huge crowds. i'll never forget it. i was lucky enough being in the senate and friend of his to be on the platform when he took the oath of office and when my friend barack obama reached his hand over and put it on the
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bible of abraham lincoln to take his oath of office, i was witnessing along with america a moment in history i never dreamed of. it meant a lot to many other people, too. there was a school class in chicago that decided to send out the students and their band to march and to honor the new president. they were as proud of him as i was, maybe more so. it was an african american school class and it included in its ranks a young lady named hidia pendleton. after she witnessed that swearing in, she went back to chicago. sadly, two weeks later she was senselessly shot down and killed on the south side. she was 15 years old. president obama's wife, michelle obama, came to her funeral in chicago to honor this wonderful little girl, young girl who came to the capitol to be part of
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history and only lived a few weeks afterwards. friday would have been her 26th birthday. i join community members in chicago in a violence prevention center, called build. the people i spoke to were united, not only in wearing orange to signify unity, but sharing the belief that we've got to do more to protect communities from gun violence. in the more than 10 years since hidia was killed, america's crisis of gun violence has gotten progressively worse. today, gunfire is the number one killer of america's children. think about that for a second. gun violence, the number one killer of america's children today, of all the things they face in life. one in five americans now say they've lost a loved one to gun violence. one in five. many americans say they live in fear of sending their kids to school, or the local grocery store, or church. that they'll become targets of
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the next mass shooting. last weekend, sadly, at least 46 people were shot in the city of chicago during the weekend, ten died. this includes a horrific mass shooting in the austin neighborhood where seven were shot, one died, blocks away from where the new mayor lives. some politicians claim, well, that's part of american life, we have to accept it. i think they're wrong. nearly 90% of americans who support new gun safety laws agree -- it's time for congress to do something. that is why it is unbelievable to me, having served there this body for a number of years, that this week the senate republicans want to take us backwards and weaken an existing gun law, one that has been on the books since 1934, almost 90 years. the national firearms act.
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congress passed this law almost 90 years ago to set strict rules around particularly dangerous firearms, like machine guns, sawed-off shotguns, and short-barreled rifles. but right now, the republican effort on the floor wants to wipe away a regulation from the bureau of alcohol, tobacco, firearms and explosives that restricts devices that can convert pistols into short-barrelled rifled. the device is known as a stabilizing brace. when you attach one to a pistol, you can hold the weapon against your shoulder to fire it. it's accurate like a rifle, but easily concealable like a handgun. that is exactly why, for almost 90 years, short-barreled rifles have been regulated in the united states. this kind of weapon is still being used. it was used by the mass shooter who killed nine people and injured 17 others in dayton,
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ohio, in 2019. and by another mass shooter in boulder, colorado, in 2021, who killed ten people. now, ask yourself, is this what america needs in the year 2022 or 2023? weakening gun laws on the books since franklin roosevelt was president? making it easier to concealed short-barreled rifles in your handbag or backpack? absolutely not. but this republican proposal, at this moment of gun violence and bloodshed in america, would make it easier for mass shooters and criminals to access these dangerous weapons. under the atf rule, gun owners have a number of ways to comply. they can take the brace off their pistol or put a longer barrel on it. but they cannot have a short-barreled rifles without being subject to regulations from that 1934 national firearms act, which included registration and limits on transfers.
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the atf's regulation on pistol braces is just common sense. more importantly, it will save lives. the only question is, why are the republicans bringing this up at this moment in our history? why? is it for the gun lobby or for the american people? mr. president, on another topic, last month, a few of my colleagues and i had a memorable meeting with a former interim president of sprens waylay -- of venezuela, juan guito. after trying to bring democracy and stability to venezuela, he and his young family fled in fear for their safety and future. he showed me the harrowing photos of his wife and daughters fleeing into colombia, a story that sadly isn't unique or the worst i've heard. under the current maduro regime,
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venezuela is a politically repressive, failed state. i visited with this president in caracas before the discredited election, and what i saw and continues today is heartbreaking. there are people starving and fainting at work from malnutrition. hospitals without electricity. and basic medicines. brutal political repression and torture, and staggering corruption and the dismantling of what's left of that country's democracy. it's not surprising, then, over the last decade more than six million venezuelans have fled their country in despair and fear, traveling to neighboring nation -- nations and some to the united states. yesterday i went to the pietroski park shelter in chifg and met with a number of these -- in chicago, and met with a number of these immigrants, some bussed into chicago from texas. it's not the first time i've sat to hear their stories.
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chicago, like many other cities, is doing the best they can to provide good, humane care for these people and families. i asked one woman about the journey she made. she sat right next to me, with three little boys, cutest kids you've ever seen -- 7 years old, 5 years old, and 3 years old and told me what it meant to take them through the jungles in panama, realizing at any moment they could perish. that's how desperate she was for freedom and to get to the united states. hers is not a unique story, it's a story repeated over and over. i want to especially thank kate mare and the greater chicago food depository, and the new life church, matt mateo for his leadership in helping this woman's desperate family and so many other migrants arriving in chicago. previously, i with several colleagues, urnldz the
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previous -- urged the previous administration and president biden to grant temporary protect status to these migrants. tsi -- tps is provided to foreign nationals if returning to their country will provide serious threat to their safety because of ongoing conflict, or other extraordinary conditions. it's the kind of commonsense move leaders take to demonstrate global leadership, and compassion. one i was glad president biden made early in his presidency. the original designation covered venezuelans who arrived in the u.s. by march of 2021. today, i'm calling on the administration to make a similar designation for more recent venezuelan arrivals. the venezuelans i met in chicago will tell you that conditions have only worsened since 2021. a new tps designation would not provide permanent immigration status, but instead a mesh your of -- measure of mesh decency and solidarity with those who
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face violence and chaos in venezuelan wailia. i ask consent this -- venezuela. i ask consent this be placed in a separate part of the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: you've all heard about justice clarence thomas, the report published six weeks ago. it turns out justice thomas was receiving lavish gifts from a texas billionaire, harlan crow. harlan crow and his family made a lot in real eat state and other -- real estate and other investments. as recently as this last summer, he had been provided transportation for a supreme court justice, clarence thomas, and his family, and sadly the justice failed to disclose that gift as required by law. mr. president, the highest court in the nation must not have the lowest ethical standards.
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sadly, i'm afra id that is the case today. every federal judges in the united states of america is bound by a code of ethical conduct and a set of ethics rules and enforcement mechanisms. every single judge in america. except for the nine across the street in the supreme court. it was 11 years ago, in februart wrote chief justice roberts and urged him to address this problem. i urged him to have the supreme court adopt a binding code of conduct that applies to all justices, just like every other federal judge in america. he refused. the ethics problem, which was already swirling around the court a decade ago, has grown progressively worse. the senate judiciary committee, which i chair, is currently seeking information to understand the full extent of the ethical problems in the supreme court because of their
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lack of a binding code of conduct. the committee must engage in this work because chief justice roberts refuses to do what is within his power to do today, adopt a resolution binding the nine justices to an enforceable code of ethical conduct, just like every other federal judge. the polling data on the reputation of the supreme court tells the story -- it has plummeted. people have lost confidence in the court that is hiding something as basic as this. if people with interests before the court are able to get special, private access to any supreme court justice, through gifts or travel or vacations or giveaways, the american people have a right to know. if the court is going to be credible, it has to be transparent. at a minimum, it creates an appearance of a conflict of interest, if not an actual one. the senate judiciary committee has well-established legislative and oversight authority over the federal judiciary.
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it's imperative that the committee understand how people and parties with interests before the court are able to gain influence and access to any justice. while we are focused on the ethical conduct of all the justices, the revelations about hundreds of thousands of dollars in undisclosed gifts that justice clarence thomas has received over the past two decades present the clearest example of the appearance of misconduct that we must address through legislation. late last night, senate judiciary committee received a second response from texas billionaire harlan crow to our earlier letters of may 8 and ma. those were requests for information about the lavish gifts he and three companies have provided to justice thomas, and sadly he's made it clear that he refuses to voluntarily cooperate. harlan crow has based this refusal on a dangerous,
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undemocratic argument that informations requested of him about these gifts infringe on the separation of powers between congress and the court. this argument is baseless. good news for harlan crow -- if you check with your lawyers, they will inform you, you are not a branch of government, you are a private citizen. you cannot declare that you're standing up for the supreme court and refuse to cooperate with the congress, and that's exactly what he is doing. he is not a member of government. he is not a government. he is not a branch of government. he is a rich, texas billionaire that wants friends in high places. the senate judiciary committee has clearly established authority to conduct oversight over the ethical crisis of the court's own making and to legislate as needed to address it. let me be clear, all options are on the table to acquire information. we need to help restore faith in the conduct of public servants who serve the highest court in
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the land. mr. president, i ask consent to enter into the report the latest letter received from harlan crow through his attorneys. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: thank you, mr. president. there are parts of this letter which i find incredible. we received it late last night. as i mentioned before, harlan crow, the texas billionaire who gave hundreds of thousands of dollars of undisclosed gifts to this supreme court justice over a period of 20 years now refuses to tell us anything about what those gifts involved, how much was spent, who was there, what was this all about. and he says he can't tell us that because we don't have any authority in congress over that branch of government, the supreme court. well, he's wrong about that. it turns out the ethics laws we passed in congress in years gone by have been upheld by other courts and followed by them, but it's only one court in the land that's decided it won't follow those standards --
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the highest court in the land has decided it will have the lowest ethical standards. it's hard to understand. here is harlan crow, the texas billionaire, spending all this money on one supreme court justice, saying that we cannot in congress ask hard questions about the ethical standards of the highest court in the land because it would put undue influence on the court. bottom line -- undue influence is what this is all about. no one should be able to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a senator, a congressman, or certainly a supreme justice without compliance with the law. for the supreme court to say that's asking for too much, i think the american people can draw their own conclusions. they have a right to know if harlan crow thinks that our passing an ethic's code for the supreme court would put undue influence on the supreme court
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how does he explain spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on chartered airplanes. what surprised me after i received this letter and once again was offended by the logic of it, if there is any. at the end of the day, i looked online today to find that this attorney michael bopp said that he is meeting with the staff of the senate judiciary committee. i read it for a third time. i wondered how i missed that. it turns out it's this sentence, please feel free to have your staff contact me with any questions and set up a time to me. we'll meet with him if he wishes to discuss this further. before we go further in that conversation about this committee, let me make a
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reference to the bottom line in this controversy. chief justice john roberts, the person that this court is named after, as all chief justices can are, the roberts court, has the authority this afternoon, before 5:00 p.m. to announce a resolution and resolve there issue once and forever. to make sure the court steps away from this affair with the right conclusion to put a code of ethics in place that will bring this court into the same rule of reality as the rest of the courts in the united states. the american people need to have confidence in this court and hiding gifts of hundreds of thousands of dollars, not disclosing them and paying no price when they're finally discovered is not the way to commonsense the american people that the court is credible .we will continue in the senate judiciary committee to do all that we need to get to the bottom of the controversy. the american people have a right to believe in this court as we
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ever classified oral senate briefing opportunistic ai's impact on national security. in fact, all three briefings are the first all senator's briefings on ai. the briefings will be led by some of the top minds in ai. and will help senators develop much needed experience on defining the technological shift of the century. i urge all my colleagues to attend these briefing ands see the dramatic changes in the workplace, in the classroom, in our living rooms and in virtually every corner of our lives. it's already starting to happen and we must be ready. elected representatives in 291sg cannot ignore ai anymore than we can ignore national security, job creation or civil liberties and ai will permanently impact
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all these things and more. the first briefing focuses on the state of artificial intelligence today. the second briefing focuses on where the technology is headed in the future. and how america can stay at the forefront of innovation. the third, our first ever classified briefing on ai will focus on how our adversaries will use ai against us while detailing how defense and intelligence agencies will use this technology to keep americans safe. we'll share more details on dates, times and speakers in the coming days and again, i urge every senator, democrat and republican to attend all three briefings. i thank senators heinrichs and rounds and young for cosponsoring these briefings with me.
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the senate and all leader haves an obligation to deepen our expertise in ai because if we do our jobs correctly, we can ensure ai becomes a remarkable force for human prosperity while mitigating its very real potential risks. i look forward to attending the briefing ands again thank senators rounds, heinrich and young for joining me in this important announcement. the president avoiding default last week and senate focuses this week in advancing the president's key administration and judicial nominees and they'll vote to advance the nomination of david crane at the department of energy and the under secretary ovinfrastructure of the new role created by the biden administration in charge of implementing the historic clean energy investments made in the bipartisan infrastructure law.
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once confirmed, mr. crane's job is ensuring the dollars have new clean manufacturing jobs and a more resilient energy grid. mr. crane received bipartisan support in the enr committee and i expect that bipartisan support to carry on to the floor. also, mr. president, this week they'll advance for dilewad to serve as second in command of small business association and highly qualified nominee and nomination is supported by a broad range of business stake holders, including the u.s. chamber of commerce and he'll have the crucial task of helping tens of millions of small businesses get the resources they need to grow their operations. sba has not had a senate confirmed deputy for more than five years, and mr. saed is one of the lodgest pending nominees in the senate and i'm
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exceedingly pleased this qualified nomine is moving forward and if con if i wered, mr. saed willed a to the -- with add to the diversity of the administration. finally, this week we'll begin considering the nomination to serve as district judge for the southern district of new york. last week congress passed legislation averting catastrophic default and alone is very good news for every single community in the country. better yet, congress averted default for people preserving investments we made in legislation like the chips and science act, bipartisan infrastructure bill and democrats landmark inflation act. now, democrats are getting the word out on our agenda and for months i have worked with the administration and my colleagues to pain stakingly plan out
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implementation and one thing for americans to read about confrontation with that bill or not bill and whole different ball game for them to see the investments to their like for the construction projects and new factory openings and announcements and new investments and implementing our agenda is not abstract and it's happening them to speak with jobs and jobs and jobs. as well as real help for so many different communities to have urban and willow across the country. hearing from the backyard and administration to tout the new projects spouting across the country and today the white house also announced the rollout to invest in this invest.gov. a terrific new resource mapping
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west virginia. solo power facilities in oklahoma and south carolina to wind turbine assembly lines in new york and so much more. e these are just here with implementation at the top of democrat's priorities in the months and years ahead and democrats have a great story to tell the american people. now we're putting in the work to make sure americans know precisely, precisely hour our agenda is working for them. i yield the floor. note the absence of a quorum. >> the senate's work is far from over. today with the threat of
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economic crisis behind us, it's time for the senate to focus its full attention on expressing a shared goal to fund the government through regular order. that means 12 full year funding bills processed, passed, conferenced and signed into law before the end of september. all 100 of us agree we should
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not be funding the american people's government through one big omnibus at the ends of the year. achieving that is going to require hard work in the coming weeks that divided government has a opportunity to restore stability to the appropriations process. and deliver more on the fiscal synergy to expect >> farming
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they're working on another measure that requires our attention before the end of the fiscal year and reauthorizing the federal aviation and administration. reliable and affordable air travel for both people and cargo is important to the prosperity of communities and industries across our country. so on behalf of kentucky goers and the other country, it's receiving consideration here on the floor. president biden's request for the budget and insufficient for the challenges our country faces and roughly half as much in defense today in the share of gep as we were at the height of president reagan's buildup in
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the mid 1980s. the dangerous world that surrounds us today. this is wholly inadequate. after the cold war the famous reagan had peace through strength still applies. take for example the president's approach and going for invaders and several steps behind the pace of relevance. the biden administration finally
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authorizes authorizing other key capabilities like long range fires and clustered ammunitions and russia is already using them against ukrainian forces. the consequence are not in a minuted to ukraine themselves and in the battlefield and afghanistan are watching the west for signs of weakness in ukraine.
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helping them defeat from russia and tomorrow the president walk welcomes prime minister sunak from the united statessed kingdom to washington and special relationship between our two countries is a source of strength and threats around the world. congress must commit ourselves to quipping our military with the capabilities it needs to control rolling threats from china, russia, iran north, norta and the involvement to retreat from afghanistan.
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it truly has been a very busy year thus far for congressional oversight. and let me say rightly so. that's the way it should be. because we know first congress passes laws. but congress can't stop there. we've got to make sure that congress follows up to guarantee under the checks and balances of our constitution that a president will faithfully execute the laws. in many of my speeches on the topic of oversight, i've discussed how political infection has taken root in the biden justice department and fbi. such atch political infection -- such a political infection is catastrophic to the trust the american people must have in
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these institutions in order for our people to have -- for those institutions to have any legitimate effect. to restore this country's confidence in the justice department and the fbi, these agencies must come clean with the 1023 document that whistleblowers have approached me about. an fbi 1023 document is used to collect information from what the fbi calls a confidential human source. a confidential human source is not -- i want to emphasize -- it's not a mere walk-in or a mere tip like journalists have reported. confidential human source
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purpose is to advance investigative activity and the fbi takes great care to make sure that they can vet these people and know that they serve a useful purpose. the 1023 that i sought from the fbi references a criminal scheme involving then-vice president biden and his alleged receipt of $5 million for a policy decision. now, at first the fbi refused to even admit that this document existed let alone admit that this document was marked unclassified. then i told director wray last week that chairman comer and i reviewed the 1023. i told director wray that this
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1023 is marked unclassified. i told him that it was dated june 30, 2020. and i and chairman comer demanded that he produce that document. director wray made one excuse after another to not produce it. i reminded director wray of how the f.b.i. has -- fbi has a penchants for leaking classified information to the media and producing documents to the media. in fact, we all know that the fbi did exactly that. in may 18, 2023, "new york times" article, the fbi
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therefore has no legitimate basis to refuse production of a nonclassified document to the congress of the united states. let's keep in mind that congress has received 1023 documents in the past. and now the fbi is subject to a legitimate subpoena for that very document. in last week's phone call with director wray, i also asked him if the 1023 is part of an ongoing investigation. he answered that it's relevant to an ongoing investigative matter. from that vague answer, it's reasonable to conclude that as part of an ongoing investigation
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-- that it's part of an ongoing investigation. otherwise it wouldn't be relative to one. it's also reasonable to conclude that the fbi finds it reliable enough to continue using it several years later. still, still that doesn't preclude congress from running a parallel investigation pursuant to our constitutional oversight responsibilities. you may remember that this senator did the same thing during crossfire hurricane. if anything, this entire process is a lesson for the executive branch with respect to congress' constitutional power of oversight. now remember, congress funds the executive branch, not the other way around.
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remember, the document referenced other details that i believe will be made public in time. we have duties to the whistleblowers who provided legally protected unclassified disclosure to us. these whistleblowers are patriots and must be protected. partisan media most likely in conjunction with the biden fbi have misleadingly reported the 1023 is from a traunch of information provided by rudy giuliani. news reports last week dispel that notion and make clear that 1023 information that we request is independent of giuliani.
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those news reports also show that the source who formed the basis of the 1023 is a long-serving fbi source. the source reportedly received numerous validations from the fbi. the source reportedly operated even during the obama administration. based on what i've been told about yesterday's meeting, the fbi didn't contradict these findings. today i can say that based upon unclassified and legally protected whistleblower disclosures, the fbi source and the 1023 has been paid at least $200,000 by the fbi since the source was opened and
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operational. high-dollar payments obviously means the fbi believes the source to be creditable and representable -- reputable. that makes sense since director wray said 2023 is -- 1023 is relevant to an ongoing investigative report. so is the fbi looking at bribery allegations against members of the biden family? is u.s. attorney weiss looking into this? did the fbi follow normal investigative processes and procedures or did they just sweep this under the rug? for example, did the fbi try to improperly use the august 2020
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bryan altan assessment by shutting down the 1023 reporting by falsely labeling it disinformation? what exactly is the fbi doing with the information in this 1023 document that we request? a vague pronouncement that the 1023 is relevant to an ongoing matter is certainly not even close to enough information to satisfy congress as well as the american people about what is actually being done with the information on this 1023 document. the justice department and the fbi no longer deserve the benefit of doubt. just read the durham report. and in example after example of
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the justice department's and fbi failures that the durham report points out. and since july of last year, i've raised one whistleblower allegation after another to attorney general garland and to director wray of the fbi relating to biden family investigations. now, just remember this. the justice department, the fbi have failed to dispute a single whistleblower allegation that i've made public. they've also failed to provide any records that i have requested from the fbi or the department of justice. here with this 1023 document that i've been referring to
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throughout my remarks, the biden justice department and fbi must explain to congress and the american people what if anything they've done with this information. and they need to show their work. we're not accepting their word anymore. we're seeking documentary proof of what they did to investigate the matter or their failure to so do given the gravity of the issues at stake, the american people deserve nothing less. so to the justice department and the fbi, quit playing games and recognize who you work for. you're not working to protect the corporate interests of the fbi of the you're working for the american people.
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i yield. mr. cornyn: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: mr. president, every day texans reach out to my office to talk about challenges that they and their families are facing or maybe they see something on the news or they read something in the local paper that causes them concern about what the federal government is up to.
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but most often they call and tell me that inflation continues to strain their household budgets, and they're fearful that a recession is approaching. they're raising concerns over a security breakdown at the southern border and fears about rising crime rates in their communities. they share stories about teenage students who died from fentanyl poisoning, maybe friends of their family, and they tell me they're terrified for their own children's safety. of course, these concerns aren't unique to texas. people across the country, everyone wants affordable gas and groceries. we all presumably want dangerous drugs off the streets and dangerous people behind bars. we all want to live in safe communities so we can pursue our dreams. in short, the american people aren't asking for a lot.
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all they want is to be able to live happy, healthy lives, and they're asking congress to remove some of the burdens that are making that more difficult. that's what we need to be doing. here in the senate in recent months, the republican-led house has been a flurry of activity. they passed legislation to unleash the power of american energy and reduce costs to consumers. it passed -- they passed legislation to classify fentanyl as a schedule one substance, the most dangerous of drugs. they had to give parents shall -- and to give parents a say in their children's education. they also passed legislation to address fraud and abuse in the unemployment insurance system. speaker mccarthy and the
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republican majority in the house have responded to the concerns of the american people by -- not with rhetoric but with action. that's a sharp contrast with what we've witnessed here in the senate. the first major pieces of legislation that passed this chamber was just last week after months of president biden saying he wouldn't even negotiate with the house on raising the debt limit. but he finally did up against the back of a potential default. before that, the senate has passed legislation repealing the iraq war authorization, the they reauthorized grants for firefighters and we confirmed some federal judges and other nominees. then we passed a handful of republican-led resolutions to overturn biden administration executive orders. and that's about it. now, to be clear, there were
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some wins in there. less than a week ago the senate passed a resolution i introduced with senator cassidy, the senator from louisiana, to overturn president biden's student loan scheme, claiming to cancel student loans for people who agreed to borrow the money but somehow by canceling really what he meant is transferring that burden to the taxpayers. we were able to get a bipartisan vote overturning that decision here in the senate. but given the fact that we're five months into the year, this is an impairingly short list of accomplishments -- embarrassingly short list of accomplishments. the republican-led house is doing is its job, but the democrat-led senate is not doing a whole lot. but the american people are clamoring for action. again, not just lip service. they want action on inflation, on crime, on the border, energy
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prices and so much more. but for some reason, the majority leader, the senator from new york, senator schumer, seems content to just put us in neutral and coast. we haven't even had votes on mondays. we come in on tuesday and leave on thursday, three days out of a seven-day week. the american people understand that we're coasting here, we're not giving it our best or our all. so there's no doubt we have a major productivity problem here in this chamber, and that needs to change soon. we have a lot of work we need to do before the end of the year. first on the docket is the national defense authorization act. each year this legislation provides our military leaders and our servicemembers with the certainty they need to prepare for the threats of today and tomorrow. and those threats are doing
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nothing but growing on a daily basis. whether it's china, russia, iran, north korea, an on-time national defense authorization act is absolutely critical. senator wicker, the senator from mississippi, is leading those efforts on our side of the aisle, and i'm confident that he and our colleagues on the armed services committee will deliver another strong ndaa. but then senator schumer, the majority leader, who is the floor leader, he's the one who sets the agenda, he needs to carve out the floor time to make this a priority so we can move on to the senate's next big task, which is funding the government. now, as part of the debt limit agreement last week, senator schumer agreed to bring up all 12 appropriations bills to the senate floor by september 30. the reason that's so important
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is last year in december speaker pelosi and majority leader schumer decided basically that the rest of us were going to be potted plants and given the opportunity to vote up or down on an omnibus appropriations bill rather than doing the work of passing each appropriations bill out of committee across the floor, giving every senator an opportunity to participate in shaping that legislation. so, thank goodness, speaker mccarthy was able to negotiate an agreement to get us back to that regular order, a more transparent process. you would think with $13.4 trillion in -- $31.4 trillion in debt, that the majority leader would recognize this as a priority. but these appropriations bills do some essential things like funding our military, veteran services, border security, and so much more.
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again, this is a departure, what i hope will be a departure from what we saw in 2021 and 2022 when the congress, the democrat-led senate did not pass a single appropriations bill until that omnibus bill came up in december. individual funding bills are the starting point for sound financial decision-making here in washington. they allow us to cut wasteful spending and invest in our priorities. that's what a budget is all about. it's about priorities. and our priority, number-one priority needs to be our national security. senator collins, the republican ranking member on the appropriations committee, and senator murray, the chairman of the appropriations committee, are determined to restore common sense to the appropriations process, especially when it comes to defense spending. so i'm glad the majority leader agreed to return to the regular
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appropriations process, and i hope he will stick by his word. the end end of september is the deadline, and it's also the deadline for two other major tasks. one is reauthorizing the federal aviation administration. it's time to modernize the agency and implement long overdue reforms, and i'm glad senator cruz, the junior senator from texas, is leading those efforts on our side of the aisle. and then there's the farm bill, which affects agriculture and food programs across the country. for everything from crop insurance to nutrition programs to rural broadband, passing the farm bill is absolutely vital. the ranking member, senator boozman, is no stranger to that process, and he's committed to passing a strong farm bill before the current one expires. but congress must pass each one of those bills, both housings of congress -- both houses of
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congress, by september 30. if you include this week, the senate is in session only 10 weeks before then, so we have no time to waste. as i said, in those ten weeks we need to pass the defense authorization bill, 12 appropriations bills, an faa reauthorization, and a farm bill, and those are just some of the big-ticket and most urgent items on on the to-do list. we also need to reauthorization section 702 of the foreign intelligence surveillance act before it expires at the end of this year. this is an absolutely essential tool used by our intelligence community in order to detect threats to our nation and our national security. and it's an absolutely must-pass, must-do piece of legislation. then of course there is the never-ending humanitarian and security crisis at the border. we need to continue our work to
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crack down on fentanyl trafficking. again, unleash the power of american energy, ensure that ukraine, together with our allies, be sure that ukraine has the tools it needs to win its fight against the russian invasion and so much more. so i simply don't understand how the senate can continue to coast at a glacial pace. we have a lot to do for the american people. and the majority leader, who sets the floor agenda, needs to make sure that we buckle down and get this work done. mr. president, i yield the floor. i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:
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mr. president. i ask unanimous consent that the following law clerk and intern from my office be granted floor privileges for the remainder of the congress -- bessie blackburn roswell, cole. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. blackburn: thank you, mr. president. i want to begin today by noting that it is d day, 79 years ago today we had brave men that stormed the beaches at normandy. there were tennesseans among those, and tennesseans have chosen to very selflessly serve this country. the volunteer state has a long and rich tradition of military service. they have fought in every major conflict in the history of our country going all the way to the revolutionary war. even our moniker, the volunteer state, is a nod to that
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tradition. it was made famous by the 35,000 -- by the 5,000 citizen soldiers of the tennessee militia who left their families at the drop of a hat to protect our young nation during the war of 1812. we have a responsibility to care for the brave men and women who guarantee our freedom for future generations. as a member of the senate veterans' affairs committee, i've spent the past few years watching various officials fail at this task. especially as it relates to making sure our veterans receive timely access to quality health care that they deserve. despite increased facility staffing, over the past several administrations, despite each administration pushing for
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internal process improvements and expanded community care and telehealth options, the v.a. still cannot manage to perform this one basic task, which is timely access to quality health care. there are examples of this. i know you have them in the state of vermont. i have them in the state of tennessee. and there is no better illustration of this than the v.a. facilities in dover and clarksville, tennessee. these are the only two v.a. facilities in tennessee within 50 miles of fort campbell, which is the second largest army installation in the mainland united states. it sits on the
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tennessee-kentucky border. now, the fort campbell area is home not only to thousands of active duty servicemembers, but thousands more veterans and their families live in this area. so you would think the v.a. would pay some special attention to this area. but of course, that is not the case. if veterans want to see a primary care provider at the v.a. -- now, this is a primary care provider -- if these veterans in tennessee want to see a primary care provider, then for the clarkville facility they have to wait 48 days and 76 days at dover. think about that. this is not anecdotal.
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those are the actual numbers released by the v.a. at 11:30 a.m. this morning. we double-checked the numbers. think about that. you've got a backache, you've got a cold, you have bad headaches, you have a hearing issue, you have a knee issue -- just to see the primary care physician, you will wait 76 days if you're going to the v.a. facility in dover, tennessee. now, this is the reality for hundreds and thousands of our veterans across the country. it is absolutely unacceptable. now, congress has tried to intervene. the veterans community care program, which we established as part of the v.a. mission act of 2018, allows veterans to seek
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care outside the v.a. when wait times at those facilities exceed certain benchmarks. the program has helped alleviate some of those wait times, but it is obvious there is still a lot of work that has got to be done on that. and here's the problem -- the problem is that the v.a. has wrapped this program up in endless layers of red tape. it is obvious the v.a. employees and the union, i am sure, are not wanting individuals to get into community care. so what do they do? they try to make this program unacceptable. they don't want veterans into this program. just take a look at all the hoops that a veteran's got to jump through before they can see
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a doctor. look at this list. bear in mind, as you look at this list, that we promised these veterans. it was part of the promise to them when they enlisted, when they raise their hand, when they took that oath, when they signed up to serve, to protect, to defend this nation and our freedom. but here's what they have to do -- first of all, they've got to request the appointment. they can't just show up, say i need to see a doctor. they've got to request it, and they have to wait for the v.a. to certify that they're eligible and to do an eligibility review. so they call and they request the appointment, and the v.a.
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says, we're going to get back to you. first of all, we've got to verify your eligibility. so it goes into a stack of things to be done. so once the bureaucrats decide that they're going to move forward on that request, on that case, the veteran still has to wait for confirmation from the v.a. that they can, indeed, go see the doctor. then they have to wait for the v.a. to prepare and review a referral for the primary care doctor. only when that comes in can they finally schedule the appointment. but they're not done yet. there's still more. before that veteran can see a doctor, they need an authorization letter from the v.a. in their hand, a paper copy of an authorization letter from
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the v.a. that they take to the v.a. how ridiculous can this possibly be? and once they do finally see a doctor, they have to wait and hope the v.a. remembers to pay the bill. and heaven forbid that that veteran needs a follow-up appointment or another referral. this is why, in clarkville, tennessee, all these steps, 48 days. dover, tennessee, 76 days. some parts of the country it's 100 days to see a primary care physician. this is a bureaucratic nightmare, and our nation's veterans deserve better than this. and if secretary mcdonna and his friends -- mcdonough and his
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friends can't get the job done, then congress needs to step in and intervene. that is why i reintroduced the veterans health care freedom act, which allows veterans to bypass the v.a.'s bureaucracy and choose the care they want to receive. the bill creates a three-year pilot program within the v.a.'s center for innovation care and payment, that will take the v.a. largely out of that referral process. the v.a. can test drive this program in at least four different veteran-integrated service networks. those are called visn's. it would allow the veterans to find and schedule necessary appointments at non-v.a. medical facilities. in other words, mr. president, if they want to go to a doctor in their hometown, if they want
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to go to a hospital in their hometown, if they're taking cancer treatment and they want to do that at the local hospital, let them do it. and send the bill to the v.a. now, it would also require the v.a. to give veterans information about eligibility requirements, about cost-sharing treatments, and providers, so they've got the information they need right there at their fingertips to be able to make their decisions. now, doing this would give the v.a. four years to figure this out, to run these pilot programs and to figure out how to let veterans get the health care they need, when they need it, at the facility that is most convenient for them.
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surely to goodness, the v.a. ought to be able to figure this out in four years. we really owe it to our veterans to get them the best care as quickly as possible. if we want to do that, we have to put more power into their hands. give them the information, the choice, the options. the bureaucrats have proven to us, time and time again, that they're just not going to make this easy. they are not going to make it simple for a veteran to access community care. and in tennessee, mr. president, i hear from veterans all the time. they're a two-hour, three-hour drive away from the v.a. facility. somebody's got to take off work and drive them to the
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appointments. somebody's got to take off work when they have to go back for the referral. let's let them go in their home communities, where they can access the care that they need. i am so committed to continuing to work on this, to solve this problem for our nation's veterans. i'm working with chairman tester, ranking member moran, and my colleagues on the senate veterans' affairs committee so that we can make good on the promises that we have made to our veterans. it's time to stop the false promises to the men and women who have served this nation. i would ask each member of this chamber for their support in bringing the veterans health care freedom act in front of the full committee for consideration. i yield the floor.
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the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 166. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all those in favor say aye. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will read the nomination. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary, molly r. sill fin of the district of columbia to be a judge for the united states court of federal claims. mr. schumer: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to
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bring to a close debate on nomination of executive calendar number 166, molly r. silfen, of the district of columbia, to be a judge of the united states court of federal claims, signed by 17 senators as follows. the presiding officer: i ask consent the reading of -- mr. schumer: i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent mandatory quorum call for the cloture motion filed today, june 6, be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:
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judy chu a member of the house ways & means committee and a no vote on the debt limit compromise that was signed into law on saturday. congresswoman wyatt and no vote? >> well i would never have left -- let it what you call happened but i want to make sure there were the votes there because i believe a default would have a devastating affect on the american economy. we have never done that in their credit ratings would have failed which would have affected so many americans here in the united states. foreign stands we would see a
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lot of $20,000 in retirement savings because the stock market would go so low. so after i was assured there was a vote there to ensure that we would not be called i voted my conscience because there were things in this bill that i found very disturbing. the most disturbing was the fact that it would make more americans go hungry and in fact what it does was to raise the work requirements for people ages 49 to 54 and there are so many amongst those who cannot find a worker cannot get the ability to do the work and as a result they will go hungry. i thought that this was taking it out on the poor and doing it
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unnecessarily and the people that are on food stamps programs actually only get $2 a day to be able to eat. this is not an extravagant use of our money and so i wanted to make sure people could eat and i also did not like the hostagetaking because republicans used this as a way to demand cuts in our budget. now what i found very disturbing was that they themselves had raised the debt ceiling limit three times during the trump years. they did it without any consternation and without any demands. they did it three times despite the fact that trump increased our debt by 25%. he was responsible for 25% of
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our debt of $31 trillion so they chose this time to take the budget hostage and that was completely outrageous. with those multiple concerns to speaker mccarthy outmaneuver president biden and his team in the negotiations? >> oh no. i believe president biden did an incredible job negotiating this deal. he preserved the inflation reduction act, which is the largest amount of dollars that we have had in combating climate change. he preserved the inflation reduction act as well as the infrastructure bill which is the largest infusion for infrastructure in decades. he was able to ensure that social security, medicare and medicaid were preserved despite
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the fact that republicans wanted to attack all of these programs and in fact republicans wanted a drastic 22% cut in all spending which would be devastating for all americans in this country. so president biden did an incredible job with that situation. so let me invite viewers to join the conversation. it's 9:30 a.m. eastern time. 202-74-8001 purple against democrats (202)748-8000 independents (202)748-8002. what role we play in the empoko -- implementation of the fiscal security act and are there ways to limit the impact of some of the concerns you bring up better in the final
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law? >> i talked about the fact that trump increased our debt and is responsible for 25% of it and what republicans are trying to do even as soon as next week is to continue this gop tax stamp bill that allows the wealthy to save on their taxes and wouldn't help the average american in any way whatsoever so we were due our best to make sure this does not get implemented. i doubt that it will pass the senate or president biden was signed into law. the government wants to make sure that the irs does what we think it needs to do which is to audit the wealthy taxpayers in this country. we put in $80 billion for the inflation production acts of the irs code over a decade make sure
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it serves its customers so taxpayers out there won't have to spend hours waiting on the phone to get an answer to their questions so that the wealthy taxpayer can't get audited which would bring in billions of dollars to our budget. and what's happened over the past decade is at the irs has been draining public funds and people have left the irs, especially those with the team who audits those taxpayers. we want to bring that back. most of all we want to make sure the average taxpayer that they are able to get a refund quickly and there is not this backlog for the average taxpayer. congressman judy chu joining us from the cannon office building where our cameras are this morning. she is in congress since 2009
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come a terms on capitol hill and taking your phonecalls for democrats, republicans and independents. sean is in colorado you are up first in the segment. go ahead. cole kahl i'm a rancher in colorado and i also grow food. you're trying to crush fuel and this is all progressive the inflation reduction act was a scam. biden's at 10 billion-dollar asset for china and he needs to be investigated. this channel is a propaganda arm of the democrats. congressman chu. actually parts of the inflation reduction act that combats climate change past have to do with incentives to have more
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renewable energy. so that means more incentives to be able to use for wind and solar. this is not an attempt to take away your cattle or reduce your ability to grow food. i'll have to do with making sure that we are not reliant on fossil fuels like oil and. instead that we have energy sources that will keep america going for many decades if not centuries to come so in order to do that we do have to rebuild their infrastructure. we have to have electric vehicles that do not rely on and so they are incentives for people to buy electric vehicles but also we have to make sure they are charging stations because people won't buy those electric vehicles unless they
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are convenient ways for them to recharge them so we have to have them all across the country which means building them everywhere in the midwest and everywhere that there may not be those charging stations right now. in newark city michael the line for democrats. you were on with congresswoman chu. caller: good morning. i have a suggestion for medicaid and medicare making us all that never have to worry about that again. right now contributions toward social security and medicaid are capped at $125,000. once you get it you don't make any contributions. why not just double that to $250,000? the pour neverre feel it mr. barrasso: thank you, mr. president. i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection.
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mr. barrasso: thank you, mr. president. i come to the floor today and rise in opposition to the nomination of david crane who has been nominated to serve as the under secretary of energy for infrastructure. it is a job that involves sending taxpayer money to energy companies. mr. crane has no business at all deciding how to spend taxpayer money on energy. mr. crane spent 12 years, a dozen years at ceo at nrg energy, a job from which he was fired. not hard to see why he was fired. in his own words he explained it. he said we were taking the profits from coal plants and plowing it into solar development, that got to be annoying to the shareholders and the board of directors of the company. according to "the wall street
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journal," investors were unhappy with mr. crane's efforts with renewable energy. his strategy led to a 59% drop in the company's share price the year before his departure. once he was gone, company stock reversed course with a long and sustained rebound. mr. crane has significantly focused his career on combating climate change, which he has called the moral imperative of our time. he has called for name and shame activism against companies that do not share his extreme vision. he once wrote that his green dream, he said, included being considered the mother teresa of clean energy. mr. crane is welcomed to spend his own money however he wishes, but he should not be permitted to waste hundreds of billions of
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dollars in taxpayer money in his effort. and it's a solutional effort. -- delusional effort to be the next mother teresa. america needs reliable available, we must unleash energy production and therefore promote energy security for our nation. with our grid stressed, blackouts coming this summer, mr. crane has absolutely no interest in reliable energy. instead he wants to spend taxpayer money on sources of energy that make us more dependent on our adversaries like china. david crane's record is that of a climate zealot. it's not what we need at this important post at the department of energy many we need someone
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who's dedicated to promoting affordable energy, reliable american energy, available american energy. david crane is clearly not that person. nor is he mother teresa. so i urge my colleagues to join me in opposing this terrible nomination. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. mrs. blackburn: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mrs. blackburn: thank you, mr. president. i ask that we yield back the remaining time and that the vote scheduled at 5:30 begin.
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the presiding officer: without objection. the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby bring to a close debate on the nomination of executive calendar number 179, david crane, of new jersey, to be under secretary of energy, signed by 17 senators. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived. the question is, is it the sense of the senate that debate on the nomination of david crane, of new jersey, to be under secretary of energy shall be brought to a close? the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. the clerk will call the roll. vote:
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the consideration of the following nomination, calendar 165, craig anderson, for u.s. marshal for the district of montana for a term of four years, that the senate vote without intervening action or debate, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, and the president be immediately notified of the senate's action. the presiding officer: is there objection? no objection. the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, department of justice, craig j. anderson of montana to be united states marshal for the district of montana. the presiding officer: the question occurs on the nomination. all those in favor say aye. all those in favor say aye. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the nomination is confirmed. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to morning business, with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that when the senate
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completes its business today, it stand adjourned until 10:00 a.m. on wednesday, june 7. following the prayer and pledge, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed. following the conclusion of morning business, the senate proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the crane nomination postcloture. further, that all time be considered expired at 11:30 a.m. and if any nominations are confirmed during wednesday's session, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the president be immediately notified of the senate's action. the presiding officer: without objection. so ordered. mr. schumer: if there's no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until senate stands adjourned until that it is working on more of president biden's executive nominations today. they are considering david crane
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