and economic advisers to other democratic presidents, their own larry summers told them before this president took over that the economy was already turning around; don't spend anymore money or you will have inflation. so what do we see? on average, american consumers are facing prices that are 16% higher today than when biden took office. while prices have climbed, wages have failed to keep up. american workers have seen their paychecks shrink by more than 3% in real terms. now, we heard the word transitory, that inflation was going to be transitory so you didn't need to worry about it. and this was as the biden administration claimed when they

took office. and, of course, inflation has proved persistent. just remember, 1.4% inflation the day this president took office. it rose to 9.1% a year ago, and it's still at 4.5%. in his effort to tame initiation, the fed has hiked interest rates to the highest level in 16 years, putting mortgages, putting businesses and their loans out of reach for more and more americans. half of the small businesses report delaying plans to grow their business, due to rising interest costs. a rebranding of his far-left agenda as bidenomics is cold

comfort for iowans and americans everywhere, who are coping with rising prices, falling real wages, and ballooning interest rates. as we saw with last year's partisan tax-and-spending package, that the democrats named the inflation reduction act, as you see labels are often deceiving. contrary to the bill's name, this partisan tax yabd -- tax-and-spending package had nothing to do with reducing inflation or providing relief to americans struggling with inflation. the nonpartisan congressional budget office, and i emphasize the word nonpartisan, confirmed

it, meaning the inflation reduction act, will worsen inflation. of course, recent estimates show it will add hundreds of billions more to the nation's credit card. rather than providing relief for americans struggling to make ends meet, this legislation raised americans' taxes while showering democrat-favored industries with corporate handouts, with the government taking an increasing role in choosing winners and losers in our economy. unless you're a corporation or a wealthy individual looking to buy an $80,000 electric suv, the democrat inflation enhancement act has little to offer. and i think changing the name from the inflation reduction act

to the inflation enhancement act is exactly the intellectually honest thing to do. bidenomics isn't about growing the economy from the middle out or the bottom up, as the president claims in almost every speech. it's the same old top-down big government agenda democrats have always pursued. it means then, as you know, higher taxes, more reckless spending, and a growing national debt as far as the eye can see into the future. it's time for a change in policy, not merely a change in messaging. president biden needs to redirect his message to the facts, the real facts of life,

because bidenomics is not selling. mr. marshall: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from kansas. mr. marshall: bidenomics. bidenomics. i think everyone knows that you don't give tur self a nickname. you don't get to do that. your friends get to do that for you. who can imagine back in grade school giving yourself the nickname? by the same token, you don't get to name an economy after yourself either. you have to earn it. just like j.lo. before there was j.lo, there was jennifer lopez. for jennifer lopez to become j.lo, she had to prove herself, she had to become a great singer. before taylor swift was known as the countries pop princess, she had to compose music, play instruments and sing to the hearts and souls of millions

across the world. margaret thatcher, before she was the iron lady, had to earn that nickname, because of her iron fist, the way she ruled her country. ronald reagan, the great communicator. could you imagine ronldz reagan -- ronldz reagan stemg -- reagan stepping onto the stage, telling everyone, i'm the great communicator? it took years to earn that nickname. one of my favorites, mr. october, reggie jackson. he didn't name himself mr. october. he had to be a historic player for the new york yankees in october, not in may. derek jeter, another great nickname, the captain. did derek jeter give himself that name? no, his teammates did. mr. president, you don't get to give yourself a nickname and you don't get to name an economy after yourself. you have to earn it. the nickname this white house has earned for this economy is bideflation.

bidenflation. he earned it. it's deserved. when my grandkids and great-grandkids open the history books and get to the 46th president of the united states, the title will be bidenflation. the subtitle? the worst economy in 40 years. certainly, it's the worst economy in my professional lifetime. when i say it's the worst economy, i want to start by saying i've not had one person in recent memory, in the past two years, come up and say, hey, this economy is just great. i just love that i'm paying so much more to make a living, whether it's food or groceries or housing. no one has come up to me, said, hey, i love this economy. it's actually just the opposite. i want to take a closer look. you may come up with different conclusions, but you can't argue these facts i'm about to give you. the average kansas family is paying $800 more per month just

for basic needs. $800 more a month. when we gave them the tax cuts in the previous administration, the average kansas family was able to put $2,000 more back into their pocket. now this administration has taken an extra $800 just to pay for their basic necessities. i don't have to remind anybody gas prices doubled under this president. groceries up 20%. utility bills, i can't tell you how many people call me to tell me my utility bills have doubled compared to previous winters. housing, let's take a minute and talk about housing. the average monthly payment for a person searching for a new home has doubled under this president. let me say that again. the average monthly payment for a person searching for a new home has doubled under this president. the white house economy has made housing totally unaffordable, especially for first-time homebuyers.

let's think about the american dream. every american dreams of owning a home. in kansas a truck and a fishing boat. under this president, none of those are happening. i recently had the builders association from kansas in my office. largest number from that group i've ever had, all with long, long faces. i knew their concerns before they even gave them. i hear it every day, every week back home. i hear it from friends, i hear if from families and business owners, union workers. senior citizens, i really hear it from my senior citizens, just that the cost of living is unbearable. young families with kids starting off, maybe that first job out of high school or college, those are the ones being stung by bidenflation. there's no one immune from it. before they could go through their list of concerns, i asked a serious question -- is there any policy remaining that this white house could implement that

would hurt their business more? was there one policy the white house hasn't turned over yet that could hurt their business more? they sat there silent, crickets. they couldn't think of one more thing this white house could do to hurt their business. they don't have workers because the white house pays them more to stay at home than to work. they need lumber, nails, bolts, plumbing supplies, heat and mare. if they could get them, those are all through the roof. interest rates -- nothing kills housing like higher interest rates. of course, we know the higher interest rates are a direct reflection of bidenflation. just to state it very briefly, bidenflation has made housing unaffordable. think with this -- think about this. this government spends millions, perhaps billions of dollars on affordable housing. but inflation destroyed any gain made recently. mr. president, you're not ronald reagan. you should not put your name on something that's a miserable

failure. reaganomics gave us a great opportunity, perhaps the greatest economy of my lifetime, but your economy -- why put your name on the worst economy in nearly half a century? no matter what you say, no matter how you spin it, you're not going to convince the folks back home that this economy is good. they're smarter than that. americans know otherwise. bidenflation, that's the title of the chapter in the history book. thank you. i yield back. mr. brown: madam -- mr. barrasso: madam president. i come to the floor to join my colleague from kansas, senator marshall, in talking about the economy. president biden has spent the last two weeks trying to define and then redefine what has come to be known as bidenomics.

the president now wants to talk about his economic record. well, i would say let us have that conversation. here's what bidenomics means to working families in wyoming -- record inflation, hollowed out savings and crushing interest rates. bidenomics is a radical recipe, causing more and more americans to fall further and further behind. it means families are faced with tough decisions every single day, decisions about how they're going to make ends meet, decisions about what they can afford at the grocery store, how much gas they can put in the vehicle, decisions as they're trying to pay their bills sitting at the kitchen table. bidenomics is spelling a summer of suffering for every single american. now, before the president took office inflation was practically

nonexistent, 1.4%. under the bidenomics-harris -- under the biden-harris administration, prices have risen 16.6%. american households are spending $900 more per month just to keep up. the average household has spent over $2300 more on energy alone since joe biden came to the white house. now, that's to fill a tank of gas, to keep the lights on, to heat the house in the winter and cool it in the summer. look, wyoming families are worried about our nation and our nation's future, and they believe this country is on the wrong track. i've heard all over the 4th of july recess, families from cody, gillette, casper to pinedale, that's what they shared with me, and they are so much in agreement with families all across this country, because the high cost of everything is the top issue people are talking about and thinking about

nationally. that's the impact of if bidenomics. that's what joe biden has done to this country. the pain and suffering that the american families are feeling is nothing to celebrate over the 4th of july. but that's what the white house is trying to do. so, you wonder how we got here? well, let me tell you. this agenda by the democrats and joe biden and his colleagues in the house and senate, the democrat have an agenda of runaway spending, of government overreach, and of reckless tax hikes. we warned our democrat colleagues that the biden-harris spending would send prices soaring. that's exactly what happened. the spending also drove interest rates higher. sky-high interest rates are sapping savings, they're putting an additional burden on working families. people are actually dipping into their savings account or taking on additional credit card debt just to pay current-day bills.

credit card debt recently hit a record of nearly $1 trillion. that's roughly $10,000 per household go this country. these are drastic measures that people are being forced to take because inflation has outpapersed wages -- outpaced becames for 26 months in a row. adding to the record-high prices and more debt is the administration's excessive and continued government overreach. the biden-harris administration's regulatory agenda is the most expensive of any administration in modern history. the administration is surrendering america's dominance to adversaries like cheant, and right now -- like china, right now as john kerry prepares to go to china and continue this american surrender. the president wants all americans driving electric cars, no matter what it costs.

here's the catch -- the electric cars are going to be slapped with made in china stickers. what happened last week? china choked off supply of critical minerals used for solar panels. that joe biden wants us to make here. china controls the supply chain for the minerals needed to build the electric cars and the batteries, but we're not allowed to mine for it here. no, his department of interior shut down mining in northern minnesota for critical minerals. he's making china richer and america poorer. joe biden is turning to china, not american workers, for the critical minerals needed to build these cars. bidenomics is selling out america's economic interests to communist china. america isn't blind to the blunders of biden economics. here's a quote from a recent cnn story. most americans are convinced the economy is in bad shape, and

they blame the president. a new poll from the associated press and the national opinion research center found 64% of americans, almost two-thirds of americans, disapprove of the way joe biden is handling the economy. a harvard harris poll said 74% of americans said their financial situation is not improving under this administration. and yet you see joe biden touring the country and democrats giving victory speeches. bidenomics is ravaging our wallets, wrecking our savings, ruining our economy, and the democrats are saying great. senate republicans have solutions to get america back on track and it starts with spending less and reducing red tape and unleashing american energy. as the top republican on the senate energy and natural resource committee, i will tell you that unleashing american energy is my top priority.

to accomplish that, we need to pass troo permitting reform. our plan is going to make life more affordable by making it easier to produce every type of american energy. we will need traditional, reliable forms of energy like oil, coal, natural gas for years and years to come in spite of what the president may foolishly believe. we also need to produce more energy from resources like nuclear, wind, solar. we need it all. unleashing american energy with permitting reform is the key that unlocks american dominance again. this is what we need to do to reverse the damage, the destruction and the devastation of joe biden and bidenomics. bidenomics is a grim reality for too many people in wyoming and across the country. joe biden, kamala harris, and washington democrats cannot keep ignoring the pain that they are

causing. nobody can afford another bad day of bad bidenomics. thank you, madam president, and i yield the floor. a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from alabama. mr. tuberville: thank you, madam president. i join my colleagues on the floor to talk about joe biden's economy. over the past few weeks the president traveled across our great country. he's been giving speeches on what he calls bidenomics. he's bragging about how good our economy is. i've got news for the president. the american people aren't buying what you're selling. two-thirds of the american people disapprove of him on the economy. two-thirds. three out of four americans say our country is on the wrong track. most economists think we're going to have a recession within the next year. we all hope that doesn't happen. nevertheless, i agree with the american people. bidenomics has been a disaster,

a complete disaster for the people of this country. when joe biden took office, this economy was ready to take off. we were opening back up after the pandemic, but obviously joe biden took credit for that too, the congressional budget office said the economy didn't need any stimulus, no more money. we were expected to fully recover within just a fuel months. -- a few months. guess what? our president didn't listen. he signed the biggest stimulus bill in history. joe biden spent $2 trillion that we didn't need. it wasn't paid for. we didn't have the money. but we approved it any way, in this room. that $2 trillion is going straight to the national debt, $32 trillion, embarrassing. even the democrats' own experts

warned them not to do this. president obama's economic advisor jason furman said i don't know any economist who is advocating for ago spending bill that size. bibbing's treasury -- bill colin's treasury secretary said it would cause inflation. a month after the democrats passed their spending bill, inflation started going up. now prices are at 14% higher than they were when president biden took office. 14%. gas prices are still up by more than $1 a gallon since this president took office. the price of diesel is raising costs for farmers in my state of alabama and across america, and they're struggling. in total, inflation has cost the typical american family more than $8,000 annually since joe biden took office.

last summer joe biden and the democrats started spending trillions in taxpayer money again. didn't learn a lesson. it was an election year, and they must have thought it was going to help them in an election. as of today joe biden has authorized more than $4 trilliot billion, that's trillion dollars in spending. that's more money than we spent in world war ii. again, this is after the congressional budget office said we didn't need any stimulus, and again it was money that we didn't have. we didn't have it. it's no wonder we've had the highest inflation in 40 years, and it's no wonder joe biden is the least popular president since jimmy carter. record inflation has caused the fastest increase in interest rates in 40 years, and it's sex inflicted. the -- it's self-inflicted.

the american people didn't do that. this city did that. interest rates on a mortgage doubled since joe biden took office. doubled. more and more young people are giving up on the goal of owning their own home because they can't afford it. last summer joe biden also raised taxes on nearly every person in this country. he wants 85,000 more irs agents to shake people down because they need the money. they need the money to help pay this debt down but they're going to take it away from the american people. that should never happen. so now we're paying the price for inflation, and we're paying more p because of higher taxes. last fall a gallup poll showed a record number of people have given up on the american dream. given up, that's what everybody wants to come to this country for, is the american dream. folks, it ain't here anymore.

it's gone. according to to a poll, a majority of americans do not think their kids will have a better standard of living than they had when they were growing up. joe biden shouldn't be bragging right now. joe biden ought to be on an apology tour across this country because it's embarrassing what we've done to the debt and what we've done to inflation and prices all over the country. he ought to apologize to the american people for robbing them of thousands of dollars that they worked for, that they shouldn't have to send to this place to spend when they don't need it to be spent. he ought to apologize to the people for giving up on the american dream. two-thirds of american people disapprove of the handling of joe biden's economy, and i agree p with the american people. bidenomics has been a total disaster, and it will go down in history, it will go down in history. it will be remembered, but it

will be studied how not to run an economy. totally wrong. thank you, madam president. i yield the floor. mr. durbin: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. durbin: madam president, i got home last night, or at least got back to washington last night at midnight after completing a whirlwind trip of three days to lithuania. i went there on a bipartisan delegation to be present for the nato summit. it was an historic meeting. president biden was there. the leaders of many countries from around the world, not just the nato allies, but, for instance, the president of the republic of south korea and the prime minister from australia. what brought them all together was an historic event. the nato alliance, which has been in existence for over 70 years, was created after world

war ii to bring peace to at least the european and american region of the world. it has been successful because we gathered nations, now 31, together in common purpose to fight off anyone who would attack us, to let those who are thinking of attacking us know the heavy price they would pay. so the message from lithuania to vladimir putin this week is not a good one for him. the message is that the nato alliance is bigger, stronger, and more unified than it ever has been in history, and in a way it's kind of a surprise. it wasn't that long ago that the previous president, donald trump, raised enough questions among leaders in the world. they wondered if there would be a nato. trump, of course, was a close friend -- i still can't understand why -- with vladimir putin. often fiedged him so -- finding

him so add -- admirable and praising him for his crazy politics but yet when it came to the nato alliance president trump was critical. when president biden became president of the united states and started meeting with the world leaders the first question they asked what is the position of the united states when it comes to this common security alliance. biden assured them it was strong and he continues to prove it. what happened in lithuania at the nato summit this week is a tribute to the leadership by many people, not the least of which is our president. he came together and understood we're stronger when we stand together and we saw it in vilnius. the situation that we witnessed yesterday was historic. my mother was born in that little country of lithuania many years ago and emigrated to the united states at the age of 2. i have been back many times. my first visit was in 1979,

before i was elected to congress. i'm glad i went. it was good for me to see what lithuania looked like in soviet times and to see the sharp contrast today with modern lithuania. it's just plain historic that a nato summit would be held in that same former soviet socialist republic this year, 2023. that summit was hosted in lithuania because of that country's extraordinary journey from soviet tyranny to a thriving democratic voice. knowing putin's tyranny all too well, lithuania has been an outspoken supporter of ukraine despite the invasion by putin. as well as a supporter of the exiled voices from belarus and russia, and it stood firm against chinese economic bullying resulting from growing trade with taiwan. it brought back to mind what i witnessed over the years, is

that former soviet socialist republic was literally the first republic to step forward and say we're breaking with moscow. we want our own independence. they paid a heavy price, pressure, killing, invasion, all of the things with gorbachev and the soviet leaders could conjure up to try to stop this little country from succeeding, but they failed. lithuania is a proud nation now and i'm glad it hosted this nato summit. we saw at this summit an amazing array of international leaders including asian allies like australia and south korea as well as our own president and secretary of state tony blinken. what struck me was the ?aifned resolve -- sustained resolve and common purpose in defeating russia. our allies, many former captives themselves are

determined to not allow russia's imperial actions of today. i want to recognize president joe biden's clear-eyed vision and leadership in gavel niezing and reinvigorating the critical nato alliance and its support for ukraine. the chairs of our journey, the nato observers from the senate were jeanne shaheen of new hampshire, thom tillis of north carolina. they did an admirable job and i was glad to be a part of of their effort. we must never forget nato was formed from the ashes of two horrific wars in europe with newer members joining after l decades of soviet owe tion -- owe oppression. despite putin's paranoia to the contrary, it will defend from russia. the alliance is still growing with the summit's newest member, finland and now sweden on the way. putin's colossal strategic

blunder in ukraine cost the lives of more than 100,000 russian soldiers and it lowered russia's standing in the world. much to his disappointment, putin's senseless invasion strengthened the nato alliance including along hundreds of miles of russian border. there were a few other key summit outcomes notably security guarantees to ukraine and an easier pathway for ukraine to ultimately be part of nato, which i hope they will be. i believe ukraine's future rests ultimately within nato and until then the united states and our allies must support its defense against russia. i think lithuanian president argued this well. europeans understand that ukraine's fight is their fight. that also is my feeling and most of those in the senate, both political parties. ukraine's fight for democracy and sovereignty is our fight too. in vilnius.

we met with belarusian opposition leaders, whose husband was jailed when trying to run an election against a strongman, the last dictator in europe. she ran in his place and probably won, but lukashenko refused to honor election results. she had to flee to neighboring lithuania. her country has become a puppet state of putin, allowing russia to move nuclear weapons into its territory. countless bell rue shans have been jailed for demanding basic freedoms and yet she and others continue the struggle including some who are fighting to help ukraine. this poster shows two jailed journalists who work for radio free europe which is doing very heroic quality journalism in the region. andrey kuznechyk and losik.

they and all the political prisoners should be released, period. i hope the administration will soon announce a new special envoy for belarus and i'll work with my senate colleagues to update and strengthen the belarus democracy act. i want to close with a message to vladimir putin from the summit. the nato alliance is stronger than ever and we are united in our determination to stop the ruthless invasion of ukraine. madam president, i ask consent to place the following statement in a separate part in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: yesterday the associated press published a series of articles detailing a range of ethical failures by the supreme court of the united states. the report's detailed justices involved in fundraising at colleges and universities, the use of supreme court staff members to push sales of books, donor funded teaching positions that double as all expense paid

vacations. the supreme court is now on recess. i wish them many sunny days, but even if the sun is shining there is still a shadow over the supreme court. for several months now there's been a steady flow of reports documenting how the members of our nation's highest court have failed to live up to the public trust that they have been given. justice clarence thomas has traveled the world on billionaire harlan crow's yacht and private jet. crow bought the home of justice thomas' mother and allowed her to continue living there rent free. he even paid for the education of justice thomas' p minor relative. mon of this was included in justice thomas' financial disclosure forms. justice samuel alito took a luxury fishing trip to alaska.

he traveled there on a private jet of billionaire hedge fund manager paul singer and stayed at the fishing lodge of robin arkley. justice alito didn't disclose any of it to the public. etch said that didn't really count because in fact the seat on the jet would have been empty if he didn't sit in it. what an argument from a supreme court justice. the solution to the problems we're seeing at the supreme court is a simple one. they need, like every other court in america, to adopt an enforceable code of ethics. every federal judge in the country is bound by a code of ethical conduct and a set of ethics rules and enforcement mechanisms except for nine, the nine justices of the supreme court who sit across the street from this building. i first urged chief justice roberts to adopt a binding enforceable code of conduct over

11 years ago. sadly, he didn't accept my suggestion. and he continues to ignore the issue today. this is the john roberts court. it will go down in history as the john roberts court. he has the power and i believe the moral obligation to straighten up this mess and restore the integrity of the court. when the court reconvenes in october, there is a tradition for someone to an announce oyea, this honorable court. how can they call it an honorable court in light of these disclosures? i honestly believe, madam president, that before they broke for this vacation period, that justice roberts would announce reforms that really count and finally start to restore the integrity and reputation of the court. but so far nothing. he is next week the senate judiciary committee which -- will vote on the recusal and

transparency act. this bill introduced by senator sheldon whitehouse of rhode island would require the supreme court to adopt an enforceable code of conduct. it would add new recusal and transparency requirements under federal law. the legislation does not distinguish between justices appointed by a democratic president or a republican president. it requires a code of conduct enforceable against all justices. i was disappointed to learn today that one of the republican leaders has come out in opposition to any enforceable code of ethics established by the judiciary committee on the u.s. supreme court. what is he thinking? we live by standards of disclosure and limitation and think about if this congress lived by the lack of standards in the supreme court by making

sure the highest court in the land doesn't have the lowest standards our legislation would be the key first step in restoring confidence in the supreme court. the markup will be next week. i sincerely hope before that time chief justice roberts will step up and accept the responsibility for his supreme court to establish credible standards of integrity and i yield the floor.

the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. ms. lummis: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the following interns in my office be granted floor privileges until july 13, 2023, michael neuman, jennifer campost and iana harrison. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. lummis: thank you, mr. president. it is my real honor today to

join senators barasso, of wyoming, and carper, of delaware, in support of legislation to rename the sha showny -- wyoming post office to the debbie post office. wyoming is full of great women and desi is one of them. desi was one of the first woman to enlist in waves, the women accepted for volunteer emergency service. she traveled across the country to new york city for basic training. she was later stationed in seattle for two and a half years where she was responsible for recording the arrival and departure of sailors to and from the pacific fleet. desi then married herbert hugh b

ebout and moved back to wiping to -- wyoming to start their lives together. they raised five children and they now have 13 grandchildren and 19 great grandchildren. in 1962, desi became the postmaster of the post office. her exemplary service was recognized when she was awarded the order of the vest, which is the highest honor given to postmasters. des passed away in may of this year at the age of 102 years. she lived up to what it means to be part of the greatest generation. it is very fitting that we rename the sha showny post office after desi bebout, it

shows our appreciation to her service to wyoming and to our country. i would like to yield to the senior senator from wyoming, john barasso, whose inspired idea to name the post office after desi bebout brings us here today. the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming is recognized. mr. barrasso: it is such a privilege to be here today, joined by my colleague from wyoming and my colleague from delaware, the chairman of the environment environment and public works committee, senator tom carper, to honor this incredible woman desi bebout. i attended the funeral of this 102-year-old a couple of weeks ago. she was laid to rest with military honors in hudson,

wyoming, and i thought was an opportunity to name a post office after someone who has given so much to their country as well as the post office. it is a pleasure to work with tom carper, he was a senior partner when she named another post office in wyoming after bob brown, a world war ii hero, who served 41 years at the post office before he retired as the post master -- postmaster. i come to the floor to introduce a bill to honor the legacy of this remarkable woman desi bebout of wyoming. she was a trail trailblazer, she was one of the first to take the oath and volunteer as she did

for this remarkable group of individuals who volunteered, women accepted to voluntary emergency service in stwar. -- world war ii. she was born in hudson, wyoming. if you haven't been to hudson. there's a small maine street and since hudson didn't have a doctor, she was born with the help of a mid-wife. she was the fourth of nine children. they worked hard to support the family business that was the sweller family hsm they had -- family. they had sweelle bar. and they had a derby bar. it's a small town, but it makes for a small town charm. the bar and restaurant is

still open today. if you ever get to hudson, stop in because they have the best steaks you'll find anywhere. her life experience is one that highlighted her legendary worth ethic. after graduating from freemont county high school in landers, she worked for the extension service and air force base. but that japanese attack on pearl harbor in 1941 changed the united states and the world forever. and it certainly changed her. you know, willing to serve the country, step forward, part of the wyoming bloodstream. she -- when she joined and she went to new york city for basic training, then stationed in seattle, washington, she reconnected with a young man that she had met previously in hudson, herbert hugh bebout. after a few months of writing letters, they were married in 1943. he was an enist listed man in the u.s. -- enlisted man in the u.s. air force. after world war ii ended he was

discharged along with dessie. they came home to wyoming. started a family, four children, eli, ruby, nick, and david. eli was speaker of the house of the wyoming legislature. ruby runs our public television -- wyoming public television. nick plained for the university of wyoming football and then in the nfl. dessie's life and family and giving just continued to grow. she started her career in the postal service in 1962. she rose to postmaster for shoshoni, wyoming, where she served for 13 years. in 1975 dessie retired as the shoshoni postmaster where she earned the order of the vest. it is the highest award given to post masters. and although she had retired from the postal service, her work in community service didn't stop. she served as a freemont county election judge, the shoshoni chamber of commerce, shoshoni pta, the wyoming women's

commission, the veterans of foreign wars women's auxiliary and riverton hospital board among many organizations. as a result of her military and civic service, she was awarded with the wyoming woman of distinction award from the wyoming women's commission. she received the medal of honor from the daughters of the american revolution and her accolades and awards didn't stop there. she even had her own holiday because in 2022 the mayor ever hudson mark anderson declared may 30 as dessie bebout day. she said -- cynthia said 13 grandchildren. they were -- as those spoke at the funeral, a number of them did, there were those who all claimed to be the favorite grandchild but since kara is here, the granddaughter of dessie bebout, i think that will -- we'll let kara pull upon herself that accolade.

dessie bebout truly exemplifies the code of the west which is in wyoming, you live each day with courage. you take pride in your work, and you do what needs to be done. cowboys never complain. cowboys never quit. and somebody was hungry, she would feed them. a remarkable woman. if they were sick, she would care for them. so i'm proud to be joined by both senator carper and senator lummis today in introducing this legislation to rename the post office in shoshoni, wyoming, the dessie a. bebout post office naming it after dessie is going to ensure her legacy carries on for future generations of wyoming's men and women. thank you, madam president. i yield the floor. mr. carper: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from delaware. mr. carper: madam president, folks that are back in delaware are probably wondering -- they're watching on c-span. what is our senator doing there giving a floor speech and

talking about a woman from wyoming. there's a wyoming, as senator barrasso knows, there is is a wyoming in delaware, in kent county, south of dover. they have great restaurants. in fact, john you described exist in -- exist in wyoming. we have a huge air force base in delaware. dover air force base. they fly huge airplanes and have a mort rather there -- mortuary to receiver the remains of our heroes. a very strong support of military personnel, all things air force. i'm navy. for the idea that we have a woman here -- it's one thing for a guy to have done some of the stuff that dessie did. a woman in world war ii to volunteer and to enlist on the heels of the attack on pearl harbor, to go on and serve

really with distinction. in the navy, my family we believe navy blue. my dad is chief petty officer, my uncles were chief met we officers, my youngest brother died in a comcassie attack. i'm inspired by dessie's heroism heroism that we're hearing about today. for people who might have been listening carefully when senator -- the restaurant, when people were hungry, she fed them. that is a line out of the bible. actually a line out of matthew 25. when i was hungry, did you feed me. when i was naked, did you clothe me. when i was sick and in prison, did you visit me. this is a woman who not only served her country in uniform, not only ran a successful business, sounds like for over a hundred years for her family but actually felt a moral

responsibility to make sure that people did not go hungry. i also -- i'm the senior democrat -- actually a member of the committee called homeland security and governmental affairs. we have jurisdiction among other things in that committee, the postal service. we have literally tens of thousands of people who serve in the postal service across the country today, a tough job. sometimes a thankless job. we're grateful to them for their service. a lot of them it turns out served in the military. they may have served in -- may have served in vietnam, may have served in afghanistan, may have served in iraq. but they wore the uniform of our country and they wore or wear the uniform of the postal service. and in either instance, they were serving this country. they're serving the communities and doing so in some cases at great risk to themselves. there is a little bit of a love story. kind of a mixed marriage, navy

woman, air force man, getting married, raise a family, have all these kids and go on to do amazing things as a family in their own community. but it's a story that i'm inspired by and i'm honored that he would -- you would ask me to join you and senator lummis to tell the story, too. i rather a couple of years ago we were on the floor here, senator barrasso and myself and mike enzi, the late mike enzi who held the seat that senator lummis now holds today. and i heard them talking about the naming of the post office in wyoming, a place called thermomolous. i never heard of it. naming the post office after bobby barrasso's dad. they didn't have a democratic cosponsor for the bill. i talked to senator barrasso and senator enzi and said i would be honored if you're looking for a bipartisan bill here.

i'd be happy to be your wingman on this particular flight. and they were good enough to let me join the team. so dessie bebout, if any of your family members are out there watching or listening, i want to just say thank you for sharing a remarkable person not just with the folks of the town from which she and her family lived and worked for all those years and served but thank you for sharing her with our country in a broader way and thank you for serving as an inspiration. we're in your debt and i'm honored to be part of this trio to offer this legislation today and ask for its adoption. thank you very much. i yield.

a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senior senator from nebraska. mrs. fischer: are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are not. mrs. fischer: thank you, madam president. last week we celebrated the birth of our nation. the first americans took long, dangerous journeys across the atlantic ocean in search of better lives. far away from a regime that stripped away their god-given rights and their freedoms all too often. our founders fought a revolution against absolute power. they chafed against the control of the british empire.

americans united against encroachments on liberty and emerged victorious, just as we've done many times since then. from great britain to the soviet union. madam president, as we look back on our history, we should consider our future as well. the united states faces a threat environment growing more dangerous by the day. authoritarian adversaries including china, russia, iran, north korea, they are accelerating their efforts to chip away at global stability and undermine america's national security. a couple of weeks ago a radio host asked me an important question. what is the point of modernizing our nuclear deterrence. don't we already have the capabilities we need to defend

ourselves, and if we build up a stronger arsenal of nuclear weapons, doesn't that just increase the risk of nuclear war? my answer was related to the history i've just discussed. from the revolutionary war to the world wars to the cold war, americans have prioritized a strong national defense, and the tools we need to achieve that when we are faced with existential threats. the charter of war changed -- character of war changed after the advent of nuclear weapons and during the cold war, the united states recognized that we needed to have a strong nuclear deterrent to preserve the hard fought peace that we had won. we worked overtime to ensure that our commander in chief had

every option to deter and if necessary to fight back against threats. and we were successful. we deterred the soviet union from using its nuclear weapons destructively because its leaders knew we could hit back harder with the push of a button. it's comparable to a game of chess. you're never going to make a move that leaves your king threatened on all sides. if the soviet union had deployed a nuclear weapon, it would have quickly been surrounded on all sides by a retaliatory strike moscow knew it might not survive. a diverse and effective nuclear deterrent gives our country the ability to say checkmate, not

today. and makes other nations think hard about what moves they might make. in other words, it deters authoritarian regimes from attacking the united states and attacking our allies. during cold war we prioritized the production of nuclear weapons and delivery systems because we recognized their essential role in deterring nuclear conflict. we must return to that mindset if we want to get ahead of today's looming national security challenges. our adversaries understand h --s year stratcom --

china is on track to triple, to triple its nuclear arsenal by 2035, and that's just a decade away. stated plainly, one of the most ominous thortain regimes in -- authoritarian regimes in modern history is building a nuclear force that is fundamentally altering global deterrence dynamics. and they're doing it at a pace faster than anyone imagined. as our adversaries race to expand their nuclear arsenals, what are we doing here in our country? well, since the fall of the berlin wall, our nation has sidelined our nuclear enterprise. we have underinvested in the modernization of our nuclear triad. that wordings triad, it refers to the three military fronts of

land, sea,and air. the land-based leg of the triad, well, it's comprised of our intercontinental ballistic missile threat. the sea-based triad refers to our ballistic missile submarines. and the air-based leg of the triad refers to our bomber fleet and certain fighter aircraft. a full triad expands the number of options that our commander in chief has at his disposal. each leg of that triad presents unique advantages. military planners need diverse capabilities to ensure that our nation can act decisively in any scenario. if we can strike from anywhere at any time, our adversaries will hesitate before taking aggressive action.

the problem is that we've been too slow to replace and upgrade those systems. as former stratcom commander admiral richard testified before the senate armed services committee last year, we have, quote, sum submarines that were built in the 1980's and 1990's and air-launched crews missile built in the 1980's, intercontinental ballistic missiles women in the 1970's selves, a bomber build in the 1960's, part of our nuclear command and control that predates the internet and a nuclear weapons complex that dates back to the manhattan project. end quote. our nuclear deterrent only serves to deter our adversaries so that no one will ever use a nuclear weapon if that deterrent

we have is safe, reliable, and effective. to ensure it remains so in the future, it must be modernized. underinvesting is a huge mistake, and we need to tip the scales back in our favor by bringing our systems rapidly into the 21st century. the good news is that there is big bipartisan support for modernization. i'm the ranking member of the senate armed services committee's subcommittee on strategic forces, and our subcommittee oversees stratcom, which is headquartered in my home state of nebraska. stratcom does indispensable work at the helm of our nation's strategic nuclear deterrence. over the last ten years, i have

worked with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle so that we can get key modernization provisions into the annual national defense authorization act. we've continued this vital support in the fiscal year 2024 ndaa, which the senate will consider this month. this year i've also fought to keep the sea-launch cruise missile program, or slcm, fully funded by the ndaa. we've held multiple hearings, briefings, classified and unclassified with senior, senior military and civilian leaders as well as a number of outside experts, and we concluded -- again on a bipartisan basis -- that the biden administration's attempts to cancel the slcm program would make our nuclear

deterrent less effective in the 2030's and beyond. so we've included a provision in the bill to create a program of record for svcm -- slcm. this will prevent the premature cancellation of the program without future congressional consent. i also fought to secure provisions that would support the sentinel program, which will replace our aging icbm's across the country. this program is the most significant and complex weapons system in recent united states history. and it will cover an aggregated land area almost as lark as the state of south -- as large as the state of south carolinament. both chambers of congress are considering their versions of the ndaa this month.

i am proud of the work that my colleagues and i have accomplished with this legislative package that is coming to the floor. and i urge my fellow lawmakers, as well as the president, to support the vital measures that we've included in this bill. i will continue to support modernization efforts, and i am confident that we will produce a strong final ndaa to send to president biden's desk. if our work in the senate isn't done when the ndaa passes, we still have to back our defense priorities up with real dollars through the appropriations process. i am a member of the appropriations committee, as is the presiding officer, and i know that we are committed to working together to be able to allocate all the funds that are

necessary so that we can maintain a strong national defense. the world has changed since the fall of the berlin wall, and we are now, for the first time in history, facing two peer adversaries with significant nuclear arsenals. now is not the time to shortchange our national security. it's a time for us to work together to strengthen our national security. this means that president biden needs to cooperate with congress so that we can get our ndaa passed. america was born by uniting in defiance of outside threats, and we have done it many times since then. i am hopeful that we will live up to our history as new

challenges loom. as a member of congress, i will continue working with colleagues from across the aisle to strengthen our national security. for the sake of our safety, our legacy, and our freedom, i urge my fellow members and the president himself to do the same. thank you, madam president. i yield the floor. mr. kennedy: madam president. the presiding officer: the junior senator from louisiana. mr. kennedy: thank you, madam president. madam president, i ask unanimous consent to use several props during my remarks. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. kennedy: thank you, ma'am.

silas james hog. i want to introduce silas to our, madam president, and to the american people, and to my colleagues in the senate. i would love to be able to put his photograph up here because he's a fine-looking young man, but for privacy reasons, i decided not to. silas and i go to the same church, so in some ways we have kind of grown up together. -- his mom and dad are jeff and shannon hogg, two wonderful people, two great parents. silas has a sister named ellie grace. and ellie grace is splendid in her own right, maybe some day

i'll come down to talk about ellie grace. but today i want to talk about silas. silas is a rising eighth grader. he just finished the seventh grade. next year he is going to attend brighthouse learning academy. in his spare time, he likes to play with his mom and dad and sister. he is very close to all three of them e he has a motorized bike that he likes to ride around his neighborhood. he likes to play legos. he likes to play video games. he has three pets -- two dogs, one cat, to by and mamo are the

pups. kahn is the cat. kaan probably rules the roost. silas, as i alluded to, is -- i hope you're listening, silas. silas is whip smart. he is kind. he is special in every way, and he is what cool looks like. now, why am i talking about silas? i just want to thank him, madam president. over the break, silas gave me a present. and it was heartfelt from him, i know, and it was heartfelt when i received it. first, he gave it to me in this envelope. it was very safe. he stapled it together. he gave me a pen. silas knows i'm always losing pens. and he gave me -- we're still

talking about what it is, but it is a glass stone or crystal. we're in the process of researching it. but silas, i can't tell you how much this meant to me and does mean to me. my new pen, which -- well, i don't want to lose it. i'm going to put it right here -- and my new lucky stone. you're special, silas. you're special in many, many ways. i want you to know, simas, i am bringing back home -- silas, i'm bringing back home to you, and i'm going to give you a gift of a seal, the seal of the united states senate. silas is one of louisiana's best and brightest. he has challenges.

gosh, we all do. but he rises above them every day. thank you, silas. let me talk about another subject quickly, madam president. one of my cities. my city of new orleans. it is iconic. the whole world knows it. i've told this story before, i'm going to tell it again, because it illustrates my point. my first job in government was with a reformed governor, governor buddy roemer. that was at a time when japan and its economy, still strong today, but it was rising high and looking good, back in the late 80's. governor roamer -- roemer took a trip to japan to entice our japanese friends to invest in louisiana. governor roemer came back.

he said kennedy, you will never believe what happened to me. he said my first meeting. i was meeting with 50 japanese business people. he said i thought i'd break the ice. i asked all of them, how many of you have been to louisiana? and governor roemer said three, four people raised their hand. so then he turned to this group of 50 japanese business people, said okay, second question, how many of you have been to new orleans? he said 25 people raised their hand. and my point, of course, is that new orleans is special. special to the world, it's special to america, special to me. i used to live there, my son was raised there for a while, met my wife there. every state and country in the world would love to have a

new orleans. we're 300 years old. we were founded in 1718. we're envied for our food, our music, our architecture, our diversity, our dialects, our merriment and festivals, our celebration of life. people in new orleans dance, with the music on and without. it's a special city. but my city, madam president, has hit a rough patch. crime is strangling a free people. nowhere more than the city of new orleans. i regret to say this, but it is safer to walk down the streets of mogadishu than it is some of

the streets in my city of new orleans. i know others are having a crime problem. doesn't make me feel any bit better. last year new orleans was the murder capital of the world. we had 265 people murdered. that's double since 2019. that doesn't include the burglaries, the carjackings, the break-ins, and the thefts and other crimes of violence, the rapes and property crimes. our 911 program is a mess. we're trying to deal with this. but we're not just taking it lying down, madam president. we're right now looking for a new police chief. and we need a good one. we need a tried-and-tested

police chief who has experience in a big city, and we're in the process of picking a police chief. now, our mayor, who has two more years on her term, is in charge of picking the police chief. our new police chief has to be confirmed first by our city council. but more importantly than our city council, as important as our city council is, our new police chief has to have the confidence of the people of louisiana and the good people of new orleans. our mayor, as is her right, has decided to handle the selection of a new police chief herself. she has appointed an outside third party group to quarterback the selection of a new police chief. that outside third-party group

says it has done a nationwide search. it had 33 applicants for police chief. apparently -- we don't know this for a fact -- most of them were not interviewed. six were. and that's all we know. that's all we know. one of the most important, maybe the most important, selection in municipal government in the last decade in new orleans. our mayor has shared nothing else with us. nothing. zero. zilch. nada. now, to her credit, our mayor has been asked why -- by the

way, that includes our city council. you would think, since the city council has to confirm the new police chief, that our city council would have been brought in from day one, but our mayor decided not to do that. at a press conference on july 5, our mayor was asked about it, about this secrecy, and here's what she said -- i'm going to quote our mayor. for whom i have great respect. because i certainly don't want to put words in her mouth. this is what she told the press, quote, to the press, i have to say you all have a great way of doing that to people. you know you damage people, even though you try to say you're doing it fairly. that's not what i want. the mayor goes on to say to the press, i don't want to do that,

for those who look at new orleans as a place that they want to come and serve. and i definitely do not want to do that for men and women that have responded, who are currently serving. now, look, i get it. i know all about the gifts and the gaps of our news media. we have an opinion. but you toapt have to -- you don't have have to like or dislike a free press to serve your people. and i can assure you right now in new orleans, parts of which look like a scene out of "mad max" that the people of new orleans are interested, not just the press, in who our new

police chief will be. our mayor has two years left to serve. it's going to be a challenge to get a police chief to come to new orleans and serve for two years. uproot wherever she or he is, come to new orleans with two years, with no guarantee that a new mayor will reappoint the new police chief. so it's going to be a challenge to begin with. on top of that, we all in new orleans have a lot of questions about crime in our city and our new police chief. i just jotted down a few. we want to know if our new police chief believes in broken windows law enforcement. we want to know if our new police chief, how she or he is going to increase police response times. we've got great cops in new orleans. the morale is low. we don't have nearly enough of them. but their response times have tripled in three years. i'm not blaming it on them, but it's a problem.

in picking a new police chief, we want to know our new police chief's opinion about whether we have enough investigators, about the federal consent decree that we're under. has it helped? has it hurt? is it time to ask to get out from under it. we want to know if our new program, called ethical policing is courageous, is working. we have high hopes. is it working? what does our new police chief think about it? we want to know what our new police chief thinks about our adopt a block program. is it working? we want to know our police chief's opinion about whether police officers, we're trying hard to recruit them but we're losing them -- we lost 20% in the last two years -- we want to know how our new police chief feels about requiring or not requiring police officers to live in the city. can they live outside in the suburbs? we want to know what our new police chief thinks about computer analytics.

and camera technology. and facial recognition technology. i can keep going. these are all fair questions. it's not just the press asking, even though the press is entitled to ask. it's the people in -- of new orleans. because they're scared. because they love our city. because they think it's worth fighting for. because they want justice. but they understand without order there can be no justice. so madam president, i say to my mayor of new orleans, with all the respect i can muster, please, mayor, please, mayor, please, with sugar on top, call

a press conference. tell us who has applied. tell us who didn't make the cut. tell us why they didn't make the cut. tell us the criteria that you and your team used, without an interview, to eliminate them. tell us who the six remaining semifinalists are. give us their names. let us hear from them. give us time to look at their record. give us time to ask fair but tough questions. let's make this decision together. because we're all going to have to live with it. please, mayor, please reconsider your position. let's do this together. madam president, i suggest the absence of a quorum.

the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the junior senator from virginia. mr. kaine: madam president, i rise to talk about a -- the presiding officer: we're in a quorum call. mr. kaine: might i ask that the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection.mr. kaine:thank you, m president. i rise to talk about a cries nis our military -- a crisis in our military leadership, driven by one of my senate colleague's decision to place a blanket hold on now more than 250 apolitical nominations of senior military officers. the senior senator from alabama has done so. these 250 military nominations are soon to be joined by another

400 or so, which would mean that 650 individuals who volunteered to wear the uniform of this country, and to defend the country even at risk of their own lives, are being blocked in their professional advancement by a senator punishing them for something they had nothing to do with. nothing to do with. the senator is concerned about a policy of the pentagon that would allow women servicemembers, who cannot obtain reproductive health care where they're deployed or assigned, to travel to other places to receive that care. that is currently the way we treat members of the military. if they are assigned at a base in the united states or elsewhere and they need medical care that they cannot obtain where they are assigned they are

able to travel to seek that care. but because the pentagon in the aftermath of the dobbs decision has said that that long-standing policy allowing travel would also apply to women troops seeking reproductive health care , the senator from alabama has taken the drastic, radical, extreme, unusual step of saying that he will block confirmation and approval of now hundreds of our military officers. i'm a member of the armed services committee. i have a child who is a united states marine. i want to take the floor today to talk about how destructive this policy is and ask the republican minority in the senate to drop this opposition. stop punishing people who are patrioticically serving this

country. to be clear, my colleague who's placed a hold on these individuals has stated no challenge with their qualifications. and to be clear, my colleague who has placed a hold on these nominations has never suggested that they had anything to do with the policy he disagrees with. he is just using them as targets because he's dissatisfied with the way the pentagon is operating. there's a right way and a wrong way to do this. before i get to the right way to raise the issue, let me talk about what this means when you are a member of the military and you have your career delayed because a member of this body decides to hold you up so that you cannot be promoted.

many of the promotions and appointments in the military that we are obligated to vote on in the senate occur during the summer. the transition times occur during the summer. why? because this is the time when someone gets a promotion and they move where they can move with their families sometimes across the country, sometimes across the world, at a time when they can then maybe look for a new place to live or a new school for their children to attend. when you are held up in a promotion or advancement, you don't know what to do. you might have sold a house, but you don't yet have orders where you can take a new position. your children might be in a school, but you're not yet sure what you can do to try to find the next school they should go to. remember, these senior military spherts, -- officers, many of them have deployed not once or twice or moved threes or four times in their careers, they

moved dozens of times. five, ten. we had a military leader before us recently whose family during the course of his career who was up for one of these positions that is being blocked has moved 20 times. it's not easy on the family to do that, and blocking them from planning and moving and accepting an appointment is not just keeping them from an advancement that they have merited, that they have earned, but it's also hurting their families. what have they done to deserve it? i mean, they volunteered to wear the uniform of this country. they volunteered to risk their lives for this country. why do they deserve to be punished? why do they deserve to be disrespected? why do they deserve to have their careers blocked? let me give you an example of a couple of the people, the positions that are being blocked

by this. as of monday, for the first time in 164 years the united states of america does not have a confirmed commandant of the marine corps. the proud marine corps is lacking a confirmed commandant for the first time since the 1850's. that interregnum was caused because of the death of a commandant when there was no successor confirmed, so obviously there was a brief period where there was no confirmed commandant. this one we've been seeing coming for months. general berger had an announced retirement date that was monday. there should have been a commandant in plai and yet there is not a confirmed commandant because of this block. eric smith can't take over as commandant of the marines. it impacts the marines' ability to develop and implement long-term plans and policies, and it's especially damaging because as those of us know who have been on the armed services committee and working with our marines, they're in the midst of a forced design

transformation that is midstream right now. we don't need a gap in leadership in the marine corps. it goes deeper in the marine corps. forgive me for being a little marine corps centric with a marine in the family but it goes deeper in the marine corps. the hold is also impacting the leadership of the first marine expeditionary force which is in california, and the third marine expeditionary force based in okinawa, japan. the first is the marine corps' combat power focused on the indo-pacific. we're spending all this time talking about the challenge of the indo-pacific, the challenges of china, but the leadership of this critical marine expeditionary force is now not in place because of this hold. the third marine expeditionary force is our stand-in force that would be called upon if there were any challenges in the first island chain in the indo-pacific. these holds are affecting these critical units just in the

marine corps commandant and the leadership of key expeditionary forces that the nations needs for defense and to protect allies. i've been working, madam president, on a really exciting initiate -- initiative of president biden that would combine the military capacities of the united states, the u.k. and australia to do submarine construction and other work. these are nuclear subs managed by naval reactors. the appointment for the current director of naval reactor expires next month. the hold that has been used by the senator from alabama would block our ability to put someone into this key position, challenging not only the aukus advance but our nuclear submarines are one of the most important capacities that we have to promote security all around the world and protect this country. i said, madam president, there's a right way and a wrong

way to do this. i'm on the armed services committee. i'll be honest, there's things in the pentagon i'm not happy with. and every year i have a chance to do something about it. just three weeks ago in the committee, and the senator from alabama sits on that committee with me, we had an opportunity to mark up the defense authorizing bill, and any of us could advance any policy change we wanted. if we wanted something in pentagon policy that wasn't there, we got to make our case. if we wanted to take something out of pentagon policy that we didn't like, we got to make our case. i've done this year after year after year. i have a pretty good batting average when i offer an amendment, but i know when i offer one, if i can't convince a majority of my colleagues on the armed services committee, i'm not going to win. when i don't win, i'm

disappointed. but never would it even occur to me to offer an amendment to my committee colleagues, to fail to persuade them, and then take my disappointment and use it as a weapon to block the promotion of hundreds of military officers. and indeed, the senator from alabama had that opportunity and he exercised that opportunity. in the debate, we had a very full debate. every member gets to offer any amendment they want, and there was an amendment specifically drawn and designed to change the pentagon policy with which he disagrees. he lost the amendment vote. he lost the amendment vote. he couldn't convince a majority of the committee that this was a pentagon policy that should be changed. that's the right way to go about this. if you don't like a pentagon

policy, convince your colleagues on the armed services committee, convince your colleagues in the united states senate to change the policy. but if you fail, if you fall short, if you're not persuasive enough to convince your colleagues to change the policy, that's on you. when i lose amendment votes in the committee, i don't take it out on people who have had nothing to do with the policy. i try to work with my colleagues, come up with a better argument, change it, shape it, do something so that if it matters to me, i might find some success in the future. but it shocks me, madam president, because it never would have occurred to me, every time i've lost an amendment vote and working on se authorizing bills, occur to me to say i know what i'm going to do. i did not get my way on the committee, and so what i'm going to do is i'm going to

punish hundreds of people who have volunteered to serve this country and risk their lives in doing so. that's what i'm going to do. i'll conclude, madam president, and just say this, that we're facing recruiting challenges in the military right now, and particularly in the army. we had the hearing this morning for general george, who is the nominee to be the new secretary of the army, is the vice chief right now. not secretary, would be the service chief. the vice chief right now. we have been talking about some of the recruiting challenges that the army is facing in the last fiscal year they had a goal of trying to get about 60,000 people in and they fell 20,000 short. 40,000. the good news is they upped their goal to 65 and they will probably come in at 53. they're not getting what they need but they're kind of closing that gap. we talked about what is it that makes recruiting into the military hard. the the army, to their credit, has done a really good job of

kind of surveying what it is that makes it hard to recruit people into the military. and i was surprised at this. i would have guessed that the number-one obstacle would have been people thinking it's dangerous. i might risk my life. i might see something bad happen to somebody i care about. but you know, madam president, that wasn't the top goal. people coming into the military, they're patriotic and they're willing to be patriotic even to the point of risking their lives. the number-one reason that was cited by people for being reluctant to join our volunteer military, just celebrated 50 years of being an all-volunteer force, is that they believe if they do so they will have to put a lot of their life on hold. that others who don't join the military will move ahead where they might find themselves limited or put on hold by

conditions beyond their control. what message does it send to someone who's thinking about going into an rotc program being an officer or going to a service academy? what message does it send to someone who might be a young officer who's thinking about do i make this a career or do i leave and go somewhere else? when a single member of this body has decided to take it upon himself to punish hundreds of officers and block their professional advancement p because of something that they had nothing to do with. we should be sending a message to these officers that we're proud of them. we should be sending a message to them that we are thankful to them for the sacrifices that they and their families have made. we should not be sending a loud message that we're going to hold their careers hostage, disrespect them, delay or postpone their appointments.

i would urge my colleague from alabama, but what i really want to urge is i want to urge the republican minority in this, because i don't want to see members of this body enable this kind of behavior. because where do we stop? all 100 members of this body could find nintions in the pentagon that they're -- could find things in the pentagon that they're not happy about. so it might be travel policy for senator tuberville. it might be cluster munitions for someone else. it might be whether the military is doing enough to battle sexual harassment for somebody else. we can all find things in the pentagon that we're not wild about. and to the extent that we do, we should be trying to persuade our colleagues to make the policies better. but when we make that effort in good faith and fall short, the last thing we should do, the last thing we should do is take our own disappointment out and

punish people who are serving this country who have had nothing to do with the policy we disagree with. and with that, madam president, i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call:

a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senior senator from missouri. a senator: madam president, i ask the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. a senator: madam president, today there are for revelations, new evidence about the extent of the radioactive contamination that has plagued the st. louis area since the 1940's.

mr. hawley: where did this radioactive contamination come from? simple. it came from the federal government. beginning in the 1940's in the manhattan project, st. louis was a center of development for uranium, but what did the federal government do when the manhattan project concluded? well, we know more today after 15,000 marriages of documents that had previously not been released were obtained by a parents' rights group in st. louis and shared with news organizations. here's what we learned. that the federal government gave this radioactive waste, fobbed it off on to companies in the region who did what? who poisoned the water, who poisoned the soil, who poisoned the air, and the government knew about it. oh, yeah, they knew about it. they knew about it for decades, and for year upon year upon year they played down the threats. they tried to hide the evidence. they told the people of st. louist, oh, -- st. louis,

oh, everything is fine. don't be worried. don't worry at all. it's all final. and meanwhile kids playing along a creek filled with radioactive waste, kids going to school in buildings contaminated by the waste, residents coming out to houses, building homes in areas contaminated, and then the government wonders why the levels of cancer and autoimmune diseases and rare genetic disorders have spiked in the st. oh, we know. we know. it's because of the radioactive material from the federal government dumped into the st. louis water and air and soil. let's just review what we have learned. we now know that as early as 1949, that's right, 1949, the federal government paid a contractor, private contractor to dispose of waste but instead that contractor left the

radioactive waste in steel drums sitting out in the open, in the elements right next to a creek called cold water creek. familiar to just about everybody who lives in the st. louis region. it's familiar because whole housing developments and neighborhoods and, yeah, schools have been built along cold water creek. well, as early as the 1940's, that radioactive waste began to leach out of those steel drums and into the water. and it gets worse. the same federal government paid another contractor to dispose of other waste and what did they do? rather than dispose of it, they drove it to a public landfill and in the early 1970's, they just dumped the waste right into the landfill. dumped it right into the landfill. how did this happen you might ask. well, as it turns out that is a violation of federal law. you think? but what did the federal government do about it in the 1970's when they learned that

this government-paid contractor had carried out this illegal act? did they prosecute him? did they fine him? did they at least have a hearing and ask some questions? no, no, and no. they did nothing. and so the waste seeped into the soil, spread into the soil, and all the time the people of st. louis were told don't worry, don't worry, it's all going to be fine. in 1976 -- in a 1976 government test, government test revealed that the levels of radiation in the creek water were at extremely dangerous lefts. -- dangerous levels. 1976. and here we sit in 2023, and we are told by this same federal government, the epa, the department of energy, the army corps that the cleanup of cold water creek won't be done until at least 2038. earlier this year the school alongside cold water creek, an

elementary school, had to close apparently permanently because of radioactive contamination found inside the school. now, in response to that, this body took action and passed my bill to mandate federal cleanup of the school and if it can't be cleaned up, a new school to be built. and i thank my colleagues for their unanimous support for that activity. but that's not going to be enough. no, it is clear today that further action is needed because the federal government has caused this harm. i want to be crystal clear about this. this is not the people of st. louis saying that we had a weather incident which would be bad enough. it's not a natural disaster which would be terrible. no, no, no. this is their government using them essentially as human begin any pigs. -- guinea pigs. this is their government dumping radioactive material into their water, into their soil, and then lying to them about it, not even

for a year or two years but for three-quarters of a century. and it still continues today. as i stand here, the army corps of engineers insists there needs to be no further testing either around the elementary school which is now closed or anywhere else in the st. louis region, and at the same time, the epa is admitting that the radioactive contamination of the soil has spread further than they previously admitted. i mean, what is it going to take to get some basic justice for the people of st. louis? we're talking, madam president, about working people. these are people who moved to these regions of the city in search of a quiet neighborhood, a good school for their kids, an opportunity for a better future. these are parents who allowed their kids to play in the creek because wasn't it awesome to have a creek right near their neighborhood. these are parents who sent their

kids to school trusting they'd get a good education. and what did they get instead? exposure to radioactive contamination. this shouldn't happen in this country. and when it does happen, the federal government should make it right. that's what needs to happen now, madam president. i am sick to death of hearing the excuses from this government for decades on end. i am secretary of the lies that they have told to the people of st. louis, to working people, from neighborhoods all across the city that everything is just going to be fine. just trust us. it's all going to work out. and i'm tired of this administration which has still refused to answer my repeated pleas, repeated to mount a cleanup effort at the elementary school, to clean up cold water creek. all we get is finger pointing and blame shifting. the department of energy says it's the army corps' fault.

the army corps says it's the department of energy's fault. in recent reporters the department of energy wouldn't comment. they referred them to the department of justice. what next? here's what needs to happen next. it's time for this body to act. in the past when we have asked members, citizens, members of this nation, when we've asked them to bear unique burdens, what we have put -- when we have put them in harm's way, we have said if you will serve your country in this way, we will stand with you. that's essentially what the people of st. louis have been asked to do. the manhattan project which was a national project for war, the people of st. louis have borne the burden of it. and now it's time for their government to make it right. what needs to happen is n. the federal government needs to pay the medical bills for any st. louis resident who has contracted cancer or an autoimmune virus or a genetic

disorder because of exposure to radioactive contamination. the federal government needs to act. so i will introduce legislation that will create a fund to make the people of st. louis whole. sadly for some it's too late. this has been going on for decades, and too many members of our community have already been lost to cancer, to disease, to the hazards that were imposed on them by their government without their knowledge and without their consent. but that is no reason not to act now. we should act and act swiftly to provide remediation, to provide support for every member of this community who has suffered because of the actions of the federal government. we've done it in the past. we've done it for our veterans. we've done it for other folks who have been negatively impacted by the nuclear program dating back to the 1940's, and

we should do it now in the city and region of st. louis. i will introduce legislation that will provide this support, that will provide this justice to the people of st. louis. and i'll just close by saying this. it is justice that we are talking about. this is not a handout to the people of st. louis. they're not asking for a giveaway. they're asking for some basic fairness. whether their government imposes on them -- when their government imposes on them disease and disaster because of nuclear contamination, the least their government could do is to make it right. and i will come to this floor as long as it takes until we make it right for the men and women and children of st. louis. i yield the floor. mr. schumer: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous

consent that notwithstanding rule 22, if cloture is invoked on the kotagal nomination, all postcloture time be considered expired at 11:30 a.m. on thursday, july 13. further, that if cloture is invoked on the uhlmann amendment, all postcloture time be considered expired and the vote on the confirmation be at the time to be determined by the majority leader in consultation with the republican leader. further, that following the cloture vote on the uhlmann nomination, we proceed to legislative session, be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. further, that at 1:45, the senate proceed to executive session to vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the bloomekatz nomination. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. schumer: for the information of the senate, the 4:00 p.m. votes will be the last votes of the day.

a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the junior senator from contract contract. mr. murphy: madam president, first i have a unanimous consent request. i have privileges for the floor be granted to the following members of my staff through the end of july. eleanor, clara adams, caroline, nicholas, stephanie crocker, bennet, alex page, elena brennan, lee bernstad, evan mayor. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. murphy: thank you. madam president, i come up to the floor today -- first i would ask one more unanimous consent request. i'd ask to be allowed to speak for ten minutes prior to the scheduled vote. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. murphy: thank you. i come to the floor to talk about one of the greatest citizens, leaders, public

servants in the history of my state, lowell weicker jr., died june 28. we held services for him in greenwich on monday. i want to celebrate him for a moment with my colleagues because they don't make them like lowell weicker any longer. lowell weicker served virtually every capacity you could, helping to lead our state. he was a first selectman, he was a state representative, he was a congressman, he was a senator here in this chamber, and he was a governor. but throughout his long storied tenure as an elected official, for most of that time a republican, as governor an independent, he led a life that was led by one simple axiom --

do what was right. he put his principles and his convictions and what he thought was right for our state above every other political consideration, certainly above party. he bucked his party here over and over and over again. his auto biography was entitled "maverick." but he also made decisions for the betterment of the state that ran directly contrary to his own political interests, and i'll talk about the most famous of those decisions, those calls that he made, in a moment. -- when which was governor. -- when he was governor. i got to know lowell weicker only in the last part of his life. i'm sorry about that. lowell weicker was born in paris. he was raised on park avenue in

manhattan, oyster bay in long island. he followed his father's footsteps through prep school, to college at yale. he graduated yale in 1953, university of virginia law school in 1958. served two years in the army as an artillery officer. he began his political career as a local representative serving his town of greenwich. he was a state representative, and then he was first selectman. he ran first for congress in 1968. he unseated a three-term democrat, representing fairfield county. and from that first race you could see that lowell weicker was going to be a different kind of political leader. he ran to the left of his democratic opponent on the issue of vietnam. he ran for congress as a republican who opposed president nixon's war.

and as congressman, he staked out a series of contrary positions to his party, earning him early on a reputation of someone who was just going to do what he thought was right over and over and over. later in life he said, there's going to be this crucial moment in your career. the question is whether you mature or whether you're going to be an ideologue. lowell weicker was never an idiolock. and there's no question of whether he matured k he was proud of the fact that he changed his stance on issues over the course of his career. when he got to congress, he supported prayer in schools. he ended up as a senator here successfully leading the opposition to president reagan's push for a constitutional amendment to allow organized prayer in public schools. he changed, he matured.

he didn't run from that. he was proud of it. in the senate, he is probably best known to be the first republican to call for president nixon's resignation. speaking about his republican party that he was so proud of, he said, let me be clear because i've got to have my partisan moment. republicans do not cover up. republicans do not go ahead and threaten. republicans do not go ahead and commit illegal acts. and god knows republicans don't view their fellow americans as enemies to be harassed. i can assure you, this republican and those i serve with look upon all americans as human beings to be loved and won. in 1981 he was the only republican to vote against president reagan's first budget. as i mentioned, he fought hard against that constitutional amendment to allow organized prayer in schools because he came to believe very deeply in the separation of church and state.

but maybe what defines lowell weicker's career in the senate more than watergate is his ability to see the future. he always talked about the fact that he was living for the future. when standing up for people living with hiv and aids is controversial -- was controversial, he was leading the fight on the floor to put money into early aids research. when it wasn't a foregone conclusion that we would make sure that people with disabilities have access to buildings in this country, lowell weicker wrote the americans with disabilities act. it passed just after he left the senate, but he was the originator of that legislation. today sheldon whitehouse reminds us about our obligation to the oceans. before that it was lowell

weicker who was down here talking about our obligation to the oceans. but i remember lowell weicker when he became governor. he ran as an independent for governor. he won a three-way race, and he was facing a state crisis -- a fiscal crisis of epic proportions. he didn't like of idea of a state income tax. he opposed the idea earlier in his career, but he surveyed every other option necessary to rescue connecticut from its political and fiscal crisis and he judged that an income tax was the only path forward. so he took a step that he knew would mean he could only serve one term in office. he stood up and said, the only way for connecticut to be fiscally stable was toss have an income tax. he fought to get that done and he got it done.

i was 17 years old when he became governor and made that proposal. i don't think i had any thoughts on whether an income tax was the right or wrong thing. but what i saw for the first time was a political leader standing up and doing what they thought was right even though they knew it was unpopular, even though he knew it was likely going to be the end of his political career. and i was mesmerized. he was mis-mehrizeed -- mesmerized by this act of political courage. but this act of political statesmanship. and it was one of the early examples that convinced me that there was honor in public service. and so i am deeply grateful to the example that lowell weicker set for all of us during his time in the senate, the first republican to call for nixon's resignation, to the time as governor where he set the state son a course of fiscal sanity. during those income tax debates, thousands of people would show

up at the capitol. in fact, one day 40,000 people showed up at the state capitol. they hung lowell wycheer in effigy. he walked into the crowd to try to negotiate with them. he was public healthed with cans and bottle oz. he had to be hustled out of the crowd. it caused one of his friends in the senate to say, lowell weicker is one of the only man i ever met that would strike a match to go look into the gas tank. it's been popular to say over the last few days that he belonged to a different era. in which you could just be for what you thought was right and not worry about the political consequences. but i think that's a cop-out. and i think lowell would say that's a cop-out. doing the right thing should be

timeless. putting country over party should be timeless. there's no reason why all of us can't learn a little bit about governor, senator lowell wyche we are's record about his passing and use him as a model for how we act as public servants as well. lowell weicker died last week at age 92, one of the most consequential people in connecticut's history, and i choose to remember lowell weicker and the example he set as timeless. i yield the floor. 9 the presiding officer: under the previous order, the question occurs on the joun nomination. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll.

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the presiding officer: the yeas are 52, the nays are 46. the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table and the president will be immediately notified of the senate's action. the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of executive calendar number 114, kalpana kotagal of ohio to be a member of the equal employment opportunity commission, 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 kalpana kotagal of ohio to be a member of the equal employment opportunity commission shall be brought to a close. the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote:

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