thank you for your attention at the really great questions here and join me in thanking our panelists for terrific presentation. [applause] >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government to we are funded by these television companies and more including mediacom. >> at mediacom we believe that whether you live here, or right here, or way out in the middle of any work you should have access to fast reliable internet that's why we leading the way in taking you to jim g. >> mediacom support c-span as a public service along with his other television providers giving you a front row seat to democracy.

>> israeli president will address a joint meeting of congress on wednesday. large light beginning at 11 a.m. eastern on c-span, c-span now, free mobile video out or online at c-span.org. >> the u.s. senate is about to gavel in on this tuesday afternoon. today lawmakers will consider the nomination of rachel blue cast to be a judge for the six circuit court judge in pittsburgh their expected events the 2024 defense programs built. live coverage of the u.s. senate here on c-span2. senate will come to order. the chaplain will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. .eternal god, we praise you for the marvelous things you have done throughout our nation's

history. thoughts about your mighty deeds continue to fill us with joy. .lord, in these difficult times, we continue to trust you to guide our nation toward your desired destination. .surround this nation we love with the shield of your divine favor as you execute judgment from your throne. .lord, continue to remind our lawmakers that they are accountable to you. .use them for your glory as they seek to ensure that your will is done on earth even as it is done

in heaven. do for us all immeasureably, abundantly, above all that we can ask or imagine, according to your power working in and through us. we pray in your merciful name. amen. the presiding officer: please join me in reciting the pledge f allegiance to our flag. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the presiding officer: the clerk will read a communication to the senate.

the clerk: washington, d.c., juy 18, 2023. to the senate: under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable peter welch, a senator from the stae of vermont, to perform the dutis of the chair. signed: patty murray, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. morning business is closed. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the following nomination which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary, rachel bloomekatz of ohio to be united states circuit judge for the sixth circuit. te:

test:

mr. schumer: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: mr. president, later today the senate will take the first procedural step to begin consideration of our annual defense bill. for more than six decades, democrats and republicans have worked in good faith to pass the ndaa. this year's defense authorization bill is a prime example of how senate d's and r's can work constructively to provide our nation's defense, take care of our servicemembers,

and dod civilians and make the investments necessary to innovate and build up our military and inteps capabilitiee capabilities. i hope we can have a open and constructive process for the ndaa, without needless delay or dilatory tactics. i certainly hope we do not see the kind of controversy that severely hindered the ndaa process over in the house. both sides should defeat potentially potentially tox imamendments an. so far, we have avoided that. over the weekend, nearly all the committees across the senate worked round-the-clock on a substitute with the managers' package that has 51 amendments, 21 from republicans, 21 from demedz, and nine bipartisan -- from democrats and nine bipartisan. we've had many great amendments. this a good start. we're working towards a second

managers' package with more priorities for democrats and republicans. i want to thank chairman reed, ranking member wicker, all the other chairs and rankers and all my colleagues in the staff -- and staff who worked long around hard over the weekend for their good work on this bill. now, there are a few items in the bill that desieve some attention -- deserve some attention and i'd like to highlight. i want to highlight a few items added to the managers' package that are very important and bowed well for our -- bode well for our country's future, particularly on a.i., on outcompeting the china government and tackling our nation's fentanyl crisis. fir, i'm pleased the managers' package includes an amendment i worked on with senator rounds, young, and heinrich that takes some early initial steps on a.i. legislation, the first steps this body is taking in a while. the senate has already done

important preliminary work to bring ourselves up to speed on this issue, but the ndaa will be the senate's first opportunity this year to pass real a.i. legislation. my a.i. amendment includes provisions that will boost a.i. oversight within the national security space, including an increase in data sharing within the dod. new risk studies to examine explainability and similar issues, and provide for bug bounty programs that help sniff out vulnerability in a.i. systems used by the dod. this year, our first managers' package also makes a critical down payment on the senate's efforts to outcompete the chinese government. we have over a dozen amendments related to our ongoing competition with the chinese government, complug measures that take -- including measures that make progress on the agreement between the u.s., u.k. and australia. senator menendez and i wanted

more, but we have a good compromise in the bill. i hope to add mo more in the amendment process. we have provisions to strengthsen partnership with ti. we are working on a bipartisan china competition package that will deal with the excesses and wrongs of the chinese government. but this in the dod bill is a first good start. i also want to praise my colleagues, tim scott and shared brown, for their -- sherrod brown, for their work to combat the fentanyl crisis. this is one of the most devastating heft crises in our country. in 2021, the drug enforcement agency seized enough fentanyl to give every american a lethal dose. every single american. a lot of blame for this crisis lies at the feet of the chemical suppliers located in china that operate with little or no accountability, which represent

the bedrock of the international fentanyl supply chain. i felt this is very important that we do more to stop the scourge of fentanyl from coming into our country. so i pushed very hard to get this amendment in the package. i'm glad it was. championed, passed in the banking committee by chairman brown and ranking member scott, it declares the international trafficking of fentanyl a national emergency and adds teeth and potential sanctions to the administration's ability to hold wrong doers accountable. the ability to declare this a national emergency gives the president broader powers and allows him to do more to stop the flow of these precursor chemicals coming from china and other countries. the bill was passed unanimously, i'm proud to say, by the banking committee, another great example of regular order here in the senate.

finally, i'm pleased the ndaa will include my amendment on increasing transparency on uap's, or unidentified anom nuss phenomena. with the curiosity sometimes comes misinformation. my amendment will require the national archive and records administration to create a collection of records from across government agencies that can be declassified for the public's use, similar to the approach used in 1992 with the jfk assassination records collection act. these records will carry a presumption of immediate disclosure, which means they can only remain classified with good reason. i thank my colleagues who worked with me on this legislation, senator rounds, rubio, heinrich, gillibrand and young for their partnership on this amendment. as many know, my mentor and dear friend who i miss so much, harry reid, was passionate about this issue. so were senators stevens and

inouye. i'm glad we could get this into the amendment. for these and other reasons, i look forward to beginning floor consideration of the ndaa bill today. the four things i've mentioned, dealing with fentanyl, dealing with competition with china, dealing with the a.i., and with making public the uap phenomena and what we know about them in an unclassified way, are all important additions to the defense bill, and i'm glad we added them in. i thank both sides for their good work and i hope we can pass this important bill without needless delay or controversy. now, on the freedom to vote act, in just a few minutes i'll be joining a group of democratic colleagues to mark the reintroduction of the freedom to vote act. the freedom to vote act rests on a simple yet fundamental principle -- all americans, no matter where they live, thud have the -- should have the

freedom to vote. our bill sets basic standards for americans to vote safely and securely an instill confidence that our elections are free and fair. i want to thank senators klobuchar, kaine and warnock for their good work on putting this together, as well as house colleagues led by leader jeffries. while democrats are actively working to expand access to the ballot box, nagga republicans in the house -- maga republicans in the house are doing the opposite. last week, house republicans introduced and advanced through subcommittee the most restrictive voting rights package we've seen in decades. the republican package makes voting harder for millions of americans by creating more barriers to the bloox, -- to the ballot box, including new obstacles to voter registration and mail-in voting. it allows the scourge of dark money to fester, by loosening

exan safeguards and empowering wealthy donors. let me be very clear -- democrats will never allow in republican package to become law. instead, we'll focus our efforts on commonsense real voting civil rights, voting rights legislation, like the free tonight do vote act. on -- freedom to vote acts. later today, the senate will confirm rachel bloomekatz to serve as circuit court judge for the sixth circuit. a graduate harvard and ucla law, ms. bloomekatz has dedicated her career to the pursuit of equal justice for all. i want to note, mr. president, with the bloonl cats confirmation -- bloomekatz confirmation, the senate will have confirmed 36 circuit court judges to lifetime appointments under president biden, including 27 women. these are significant because the lion's share of all federal cases never make it to the supreme court, but are instead

resolved at the circuit court level. senate democrats prioritized filling these vacancies with highly qualified nominees that reflect the diversity and dynamism of our country. that's the best way he we can restore trust in our court, so sorely needed today. i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. the clerk: ms. baldwin. quorum call:

quorum call: the presiding officer: the mr. mcconnell: mr. president.

consideration of this year's national defense authorization act. the ndaa is our most significant opportunity to set priorities for competition with adversaries like china and russia. it's our chance to keep the biden administration focused on critical missions like rebuilding america's defense industrial basin stead of the woke partisan agenda of political appointees. it's our time to lay the groundwork of robust investments in hard power. for 62 straight years, in the

thick of the cold war, through the global war on terror, the senate has used the ndaa to match reed, and our colleagues on the armed services committee considered 445 amendments and adopted 286 of them. here on the floor, the full senate should do the same. senate republicans are committed to exceeding 6 the president's woefully inadequate defense budget request and delivering the resources our armed forces actually require.

so i expect the democratic leader to allow through your row -- allow tiewr row consideration. first and foremost, i'd like to remind all of our colleagues that the number one piece of business on the senate's agenda is actually already overdue. so it's especially important that we begin this process without further delay. on a related matter, the sooner we pass the ndaa, the sooner we can deliver on full-year appropriations for defense in each of the other areas senator collins and senator murray are working to finish in committee. i'm grateful to our colleagues' commitment to a regular order appropriations process.

funding the government on schedule means fulfilling one of the senate's most basic responsibilities. but just as important as the must-pass measures that are kept in are the radical ideas that are actually kept out. here's an example. last week, the appropriation committee adopted an amendment to prevent unelected administration bureaucrats from banning the use of affordable and ee -- efficient gas appliances in american homes and small businesses. but the energy department's proposed rule regulating gas stoves into extinction is just

one of the many ways washington democrats want to let elite coastal liberals impose their preferences on all 50 states and spend truckloads of taxpayer dollars accordingly, it would ban 96% of the gas stoves currently in use in america and the consumer product safety commission has begun work on a ban of their own. unelected bureaucrats are preparing to pounce and working families and small businesses across the country are rightly worried. one who's hospitality expert in west virginia called the cost of switching a kitchen from gas to electric is, quote, a

multi-thousand dollar thing. that would mean lower quality and longer wait times. well, as with -- well, as with any number of radical colleague ideas, some of our democratic colleagues don't seem to care about these real world impacts, and in this case some have been down right oblivious to the threat. back in 2021, senator barasso proposed a proposal that democrats couldn't restrict the use of gas appliances, but the senior senator from west virginia led the vote against the amendment and the energy and natural resources committee and senate democrats plopped it on the floor for good measure.

in response to senator barasso's concerns on behalf of working families and small businesses, senator manchin said, quote, i don't see that happening. i don't see that happening. even as senator manchin authored the reckless tax-and-spending spree that gave $840 rebates for folks to swap their gas stoves for electric gas ranges that activists prefer. it appears that our colleague has since changed his tune. this time around he sponsored the amendment blocking the radical legislation he couldn't imagine just two years ago. as our colleagues continue to make headway on the regular order appropriations, i'm glad

this commonsense measure has earned bipartisan support. but it really begs the question, wouldn't working families and small businesses be better off if washington democrats would just stand up to the radical climate regulations in the first place? mr. mcconnell: i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. durbin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. durbin: are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: yes. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be suspended -- suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: with vladimir putin's ruthless invasion of ukraine and the new threats of a.i. and emerging technologies, america's military readiness has never been more important, that's why i'm pleased to speak in support of the national defense authorization act for fiscal year 2024. i want to thank senator reed and senator wicker for their leadership and staff work, and because of that, the senate will vote on the ndaa that will defend our nation's interests and support our allies.

for the 63rd year in a row, this bipartisan agreement will authorize necessary funding for our nation's security. i hope we'll pass it without delay. this year's national defense authorization act authorizes a top line of nearly $886 billion, including $884 billion for the pentagon. this is a $28 billion increase compared to our current fiscal year and more than $100 billion increase compared to the last year. that may come as a surprise if you listen to the political speeches, given that some voices on the right has said that our defense spending has fallen so far behind. the fact is, this is the largest defense budget in the history of the united states ever. the largest defense budget ever. importantly, it provides a more

than 5% pay increase for our troops and our pentagon civilian workforce. that's the largest increase in decades -- the largest increase in decades, and it's well deserved. this bill also expands employment opportunities for military spouses, funding for child care, improve military housing, the quality of life elements that we absolutely owe the men and women in uniform. it will ensure that our nation can ward off threats from china and north korea with strong investments in the pacific deterrence initiative. it addresses shortfalls in recruitment, improves our cyberdefense capabilities. this year's ndaa also includes a number of provisions that i helped to author, including proposals that would support the administration's august agreement, boost aid funding for school districts that support

military families, and authorize key illinois military construction projects. in addition to funding our nation's long-term priorities, this package also will provide military aid to our friends in ukraine and our allies throughout europe, including the baltics. nearly 18 months after putin began his full-scale invasion, ukraine remains on the front lines of democracy. and as i saw recently in vilnuis last week during the nato summit, the ukrainian people's heroism continues to rally the western alliance. today nato is stronger than ever, it is more united than ever, and the united states must continue to do everything in our power to maintain the strength and unity of this alliance. mr. president, i want to give special recognition to president biden. when he was elected to the presidency, he told me the

story, and he shared it with others, that at the first meeting of the nato alliance, there was a fundamental question asked, is the united states still committed to the nato alliance? it was an unthinkable question years ago, but not so when president biden came into office. the previous president, donald trump, raised serious questions as to we viewed nato as a part of our future. president joe biden made it clear from the start, he was committed to nato even before the putin invasion of ukraine. he made it cheer that that alliance had a future under his administration, and he's proven it. i saw it last week in vilnuis. his arrival and commitment to future support for ukraine made a difference. it really mobilized not just the members of the mobilized not just the 31 nations but other countries from around the world who wanted to be there and testify. the prime minister of japan, the president of south korea, the

prime minister of australia. one of those countries are members of that alliance but they wanted to be physically present to make it clear that they stood in support of the alliance and its goals and its values. i salute president biden for his leadership in bringing us to that moment. unfortunately, some lawmakers on the other side of the capitol seem ready to capitulate to putin and other autocrats. last week the maga majority in the house of representatives voted to inject politics into this defense appropriations process. thankfully, their amendment to block u.s. support for ukraine amid putin's war of choice failed. even though 89 house republicans voted for it. think of that. putin is killing innocent people in ukraine every day. they are begging us to stand with them to defend their own country, to defend democracy, and to give them a future that is aligned with nato and the

west. and these 89 republicans set cut them off. don't give them another nickel. that's the end of it. what were they thinking? where are their values? ultimately, the house passed a bill that would abandon our servicemembers in other ways along with our allies and jeopardize our national security in a new age of threats. the bill passed by the house of representatives would eliminate access to reproductive health care for men and women in the military, politicize school books and undermine progress addressing the climate crisis and record breaking heat. if you paid any attention at all to the weather forecast across the nation over the last two weeks, how can you question that we are in a real climate crisis? the city of phoenix, arizona, last week had three days with temperatures in excess of 115 degrees. the temperature of the globe

measured in scientific terms is the highest ever recorded. extreme weather events in new england and other places are fair warning to us that if we don't take this seriously, the next generation, our children and grandchildren, will face a world much more difficult to live in. so maga republicans in the house nevertheless want to rip away not only the addressing of the climate crisis but also the basic freedoms of every american, particularly those who defend our freedom every day. they have hijacked a bipartisan process to pursue an extremist agenda the best explanation they can give for this irresponsible conduct was don't worry, the senate will clean it up. well, we will clean up their mess. we have to. we need to do it on a bipartisan basis. but the maga republicans cannot prevail when we talk about our nation's defense. here in the senate one republican, for instance, is blocking hundreds of military

promotions to advance that same extremist agenda. think about that. the men and women in service in our military who have risked their lives and seen their comrades and friends fall beside them, who have been given combat awards for their bravery are being denied promotions because of one senator, one republican senator from alabama who has decided to stop the promotions for over 200 of these deserving individuals. is that our gratitude to the military for therapy service to our -- for their service to our country and their bravery? i think it's awful that we're in this situation. indefensible. i hope more and more republican senators will speak out against their colleague and what he's doing to our military. it endangers our national security and it shows great disrespect for men and women who deserve our highest level of respect. as my colleague from illinois, senator duckworth, and she being a national hero herself for

service to our nation, has pointed out, this partisan charade by one senator from alabama has already had a direct impact on our military readiness. for the first time, for example, in over a hundred years, the united states marine corps is without a senate-confirmed commandant. everyone should take note of how extreme that situation is. very soon the army, navy, and joint chiefs will be in a similar position if the senator from alabama does not lift his hold. so to my republican colleagues who come to the floor and question president biden and the democratic party's commitment to national security, i is a take a look in the political mirror -- i say take a look in the political mirror. the national defense authorization act we have before us is a serious proposal which of course means there's compromises included. while it will take -- make important progress, it's far from perfect. for instance, this bill once again in my estimation extends

unnecessary restrictions on transferring detainees from guantanamo. this will make it even harder to close the shameful facility once and for all. the amount of money we ask taxpayers to spend on guantanamo is indefensible. millions and millions of dollars for each person is being held there after agreed that more than half of them should be released, it's time to close guantanamo and this senator would like to see that done as part of this bill. this bill also includes questionable provisions based on false concerns regarding diversity inclusion in our armed forces, provisions that ultimately impair, not improve military readiness. i would like to see several of my amendments considered, including those that would hold accountable perpetrators of heinous atrocities in ukraine and elsewhere by criminalizing crimes against humanity, strengthening public transparency on the impact of lethal strike, push the pentagon toward technologies of the

future, such as e.v.'s, address the troubling human rights record of uncountries such as ediswript which claim to be our allies and friends in one breath and then painful activists in the next and more. i look forward to seeing these issues to consider. lastly, i hope that any increase in defense spending is matched by a similar increase in nondefense discorrection-year spending to keep parity between the two accounts. the reality is this. while it's important to provide robust funding for national security, it is equally important to invest in america, schools, roads, hospitals, and beyond. simply put, our strength at home projects strength abroad. i look forward to working with my colleagues on these issues before we leave for the august recess, and i yield the floor.

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from north carolina. a senator: mr. president, i rise today to honor a gshedz north carolinian and a dear friend, high point university president dr. nito r kuvane. he immigrated to the united states whether he was 17 years old. he came to our country to pursue his education to attend college. mr. budd: his academic achievements were impressive and they were an early indication of the success that he would build in north carolina. he received his associate's degree in business from mount olive college, a bachelor's degree in human relations from hyde point university and a master's in business education from the university of north care lone that at greensboro. my family and i have had the

pleasure of knowing the doctor and his family and his wife for decades. we've been inspired by their dedication to education and their service to others. during his business in -- his career in business, he has been widely recognized for his work. he has received the ellis island medal of honor, the association for distinguished americans designation, the daughters of the american revolution american i'm ward, and has been inducted into the national speakers hall of fame. but of all his accomplishments, what he's been able to achieve for hyde point, north carolina is perhaps his most indelible legacy. in 2005, hyde point university trustees asked him to become its seventh president. dr. qubein decided to scale back his business career and accept their offer to lead his alma

mater. that decision launched hpu's golden age. what has happened under his tenure is nothing short of a complete transformation of hyde point university. enrollment at the school has more than quadrupled. now over 6,000. and nearly every year hpu has topped itself increasing the number of students in each year's class. in 2005, hpu had three specialized academic schools. today there are 13, including dental, law, and engineering. in 2005, the university had 108 full time faculty. today they have 500. in 2005, the university's endowment was just over $45 million. today it has quadrupled to $180 million. the size of the campus has

skyrocketed by over 400% to 520 acres. under dr. qubein's leadership, the university established a full time probono physical therapy clinic as well as new schools for business, communications, law, natural sciences, health sciences, nursing, a school of pharmacy, a conterve toar, and -- conservatory, and so much more. all of this growth has led to this amazing fact. the percentage of graduates who either begin a career or enroll in graduate school within 108 days of earning their degree -- 180 days of earning their degree is 99%. that outcome is 14% higher than the national average. the success is all the more exceptionally because hyde point university is an institution led by the values of its president. hpu is a god, family, and

country institution. they welcome students of all backgrounds but the values of faith in god and patriotism are at the core of what defines hyde point university. they lead and they lead with purpose. simply put, dr. qubein has trons parm -- transformed hyde point university from a small little known college to a nationally known and respected institution that now draws students from all 50 states and more than 50 countries from around the world. on behalf of the citizens of north carolina, i'd like to extend my sincere thanks to dr. nido qubein for everything he has done for the city of hyde point and the university that bears its name and setting the standard for what it means to be an extraordinary american citizen. mr. president, i yield the floor.

mrs. blackburn: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mrs. blackburn: thank you, mr. president. are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are not. mrs. blackburn: thank you, mr. president. i ask unanimous consent that the following interns in my office be granted floor privileges for the rest of the congress. benjamin chamberlain and peter seecan. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. blackburn: thank you, mr. president. a.i. is really grabbing some headlines and other the past few months, tennesseans have been watching the senate as we go about having hearings and deciding how to handle this emerging technology. this technology has broken boundaries in ways that most people never imagine would be

possible and they see great potential in it. health care companies in tennessee are already using a.i. to enhance the quality of care that doctors can offer their patients. if you've been in for a doctor's checkup in the past few years, you've probably noticed that your doctors and nurses are using more digital tools to help form their diagnosis and choose which drugs they're going to prescribe. most of those tools are powered by a.i. as are many of the apps and the gadgets that health care providers recommend to their patients to monitor their health and keep their treatment on track. we've seen the use of these remote monitoring tools just explode. especially in rural areas and during the pandemic. we're also seeing a.i. make a substantial impact on

manufacturing. the largest auto manufacturers in tennessee are already using this technology to make our cars safer and more efficient. many of them are experimenting with automative driving systems. they're also using it to make operating a vehicle a little more practical. one that i found amusing is ford used a.i. to develop a program that would automatically hook a trailer to a hitch. now, i know some of our members who have farms and ranches probably think you should have a skill, but i think for many of us, that would be a practical application. so whether we're talking about making things safer, finding which pharmaceuticals are going to better treat diseases, or making things more convenient, a.i. has the potential to

completely transform entire industries. indeed, innovators are working on those components as we speak. it also comes with significant drawbacks, and nowhere are those problems more pronounced than in tennessee's music industry. all things considered, technology has been great for the business side of the music industry. the increased use of social media by up-and-coming musicians has allowed record labels to sign artists who have millions of fans. platforms like spotify automatically generate playlists that promote new music and all that music is available instantly available an app on your cell phone. but the thousands of musicians, songwriters, artists are worried about the lack of control that

they have over how a.i. platforms exploit their creations and their intellectual property. this month the senate judiciary committee had a hearing to examine the down sides of making technology an essential element of the creative process. the most obvious problem that we have uncovered in our discussions with artists and songwriters comes down to a basic question of copywrite infringement. we know to create artistic works, a.i. systems must train on data scraped from existing artistic works. if you look at how this technology has advanced, it becomes clear that generative a.i. is often trained on popular music that was used without the

copyright users permission. one model was trained on a staggering 280,000 hours of music and there is not a reasonable person that would ever suggest that the writers and artists were compensated fairly for that 28-- 2 8:00,000 hours of -- 280,000 hours. now the very existence of this tech and what it produces is enough to draw challenges to spurious claims that data scraping counts as what is called fair use. but we have even more extreme examples of what a.i. can do after training on existing popular music or music that has

been scraped in order to train the platform. most recently, an anonymous content creator uploaded an a.i.-generated song called "heart on may sleeve." it was a perfect replication of the vocals of drake and the wknd. it was so perfect that listeners on multiple platforms were dopped into think it was real. the song gained over nine million views on social media and hundreds of thousands of plays on spotify and youtube before the platforms took it down. but because the internet is forever, so is this fake song, and there is nothing that those artists can do about it. not only does this raise questions about what fair use

means in the age of a.i., it also raises serious concerns about our current state-by-state approach to protecting an individual right of publicity. common sense tells us that this isn't right, even if the law is still catching up with the pace of technology. we've discussed having a federal -- a federal individual right of privacy law. a.i. has also affected how fans interact with real music. at least on streaming platte for the purposes, companies have employed a.i.-driven play lists to expose listeners to new artists with decidedly mixed results. martini mcbride, no knows a few things about country musics,

has gone public about her experience trying to build a playlist using spotify's recommender system. in a play list she prompted with the words country music, she had to refresh her recommendations 13 times before it delivered a song by a female artist. now, country music is an expansive genre, yet somehow the algorithm spit out 120 songs by men before managing to include a song by a woman. we could chalk up this apparent bias to a glitch in evolving tech were it not for the fact that fans rely almost exclusively on technology to listen to and discover new music. people expect more innovation, not less, because that's exactly what big tech is selling them.

when they spin one of those customized play lists, they expect to hear a fair of what they ask for. this matters to established artists like march teen narcs but it matters even more to up-and-coming artists who are forced to rely on these algorithms to feign exposure to the -- to feign exposure to the -- to feign exposure to the -- to gun expos our. 9 over the course of several hearings, we produced evidence of the unraveling of safety and security standards on social media platforms. senator blumenthal and i worked together on this. we heard testimony from parents, children, industry experts, r. we exposed how platforms

prioritize growth over maintaining even the most basic checks on predatory and dangerous content. this congress we have the too under the to put guide rails on these companies through the passage of the kids online safety act. it is a strong bipartisan bill that will make a real difference for children and their families 9, and i would like to remind my colleagues that it took us far too long to engage on this issue. indeed, mr. president, when you and i were in the house, we were leading the way to get our colleagues to address these issues. i think we're at the point that we can say now this has to be done. we can't afford to wait and let a.i. systems be put in place without protections for the american people. so in recent months we've held several hearings on this issue.

most recently we examined the impact on intellectual property rights. in june we fielded several firsthand accounts of how this technology can be weaponized against basic human rights. senator ossoff and i led that hearing. we have yesterday to yet to truly dig into the dangers of allowing chain to outpace us through the use of a.i. and i think it is time that we catch up. when it comes to tech, we have done our best work when we have listened to the people and worked with people who are closest to the issue. the kids online safety act came to be because we listened when parents spoke out about how impossible it was to protect their children in the virtual space. years ago when the house energy and commerce committee was crafting what would become the 21st century cures act, i

worked with tennessee's health care innovators to include provisions that made the law more respoon stiff to -- responsive to the rapid growth of the health care industry. we had several conversations in the run-up to the passage of the musics modernization act so i would encourage my colleagues to start engaging with us 0en this issue now before it gets away from us. listen to what creators and engineers have to say about a.i.'s effects on their industries. there is no turning back the clock on a.i. jules as we have learned there was no turning back the clock on social media, there was no turning back the clock on the world wide web. a.i. is here to stay. it is going to drive innovation, but that doesn't mean we have to

accept innovation at any cost. i yield the floor. ms. stabenow: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. ms. stabenow: thank you it, mr. president. first i want to indicate that there is a lot to think about here when we're looking at art filibuster intelligence and a lot of very serious questions that we've got to figure out and i'm really pleased that we're seeing this bipartisan initiative in the senate. senator schumer, our majority leader, coming forward but also with other colleagues as well that are really helping us go through briefings and really look at all the questions

because it is very serious in terms of the questions. it is something we have to deal with. it is not going away. but certainly there is a lot that we've got to figure out in all of this. mr. president, i come to the floor today first of all to say that, as everybody in this chamber knows, i'm extremely proud to be from michigan. we are the state of innovation. we built the automobile. the automobile asemi-line and the the -- asemi-bligh and the -- the ssembly line and the middle class as a result. just take a look at recent headlines. ford chose marshall, michigan, as the site of the a new battery plaints. it's expected to create 2,500 jobs when it opens in 2026. in june i was at the groundbreaking for a new u.l. solutions battery lab in auburn hills. their work is is going to

improve the batteries that going into the volt. products used in the semiconductor and solar industries are expanding their plants, creating an industrial park, creating 170 new jobs and i expect a lot more jobs coming after that a6 and we're attracting businesses from europe and around the world. this spring the company knell hydrogen announced that it is building a plant in michigan that is going to create more than 500 jobs. exciting things are happening and not just in michigan; all around the country, all across the country manufacturing facilities are opening, small businesses are launching, and folks are headed to work at good-paying jobs.

this past month 209,000 jobs were created, 209,000 jobs were created last month, which is 15.2 million jobs created since president biden took office, and this is in less than three years, less than two and a half years. about two and a half years, i guess. and we are now seeing an unemployment rate that is 3.6%, under 4% for the last 17 months in a row o13.7 million jobs being created in two and a half years coming -- in about twa and a half years coming out of a pandemic and all that has surrounded that with supply breakdowns and all of the challenges and yet because of what we are doing, we are seeing

the strength in the underlying economy. that's the longest strn over 50 years when we look at the unemployment rate. the longest stretch in over 50 years, mr. president, 50 years. and the highest number of americans age 25 to 54 are now in the workforce, the highest number since may of 2022. the percentage of women who are working set a new record for the third month in a row. wages are up, inflation is going down. it's down at the lowest level in two years. we've got more to do, but it's going in the right direction. this is bidenomics in action. this is not by accident that all of this is happening. we are growing our economy from the middle out and bottom up, not the top down.

it's the opposite of trickle-down economics. it's the opposite, not giving everything to those at the top, the very wealthy, who can then take their dollars and go anywhere in the world and be able to invest in a race to the bottom on jobs, which is what we have seen from decades, which, by the way, got us the supply chain problems, when over half of the chips going into our automobiles and other electronics were made from one company in taiwan. we're now turning that around. we're making smart investments in america, including in our infrastructure, rebuilding america, in manufacturing, in clean energy, and actually making sure we are saying if you want those tax credits that we want to support you to create those jobs, you have to make it in america. you have to make it in america.

not just take the dollars from america and put them somewhere else. you have to actually make it in america. that's what we are doing. we're empowering american workers through higher wages and better training, more support for unions. we're lowering costs for the things that americans need, starting with prescription drugs, by the way, capping the cost of insulin per month at $35 for other seniors and people on medicare. and we are laser focused to do more, by the way, to make that cap in, for everybody who is on insulin, and all the other changes to bring down health care costs, prescription drug costs, laser focused in taking on the drug companies to be able to to do that. and we're making sure small businesses have the support they need. i'm excited we've seen the largest number of black small businesses being created in the last couple of years.

we're seeing so many more opportunities for entrepreneurs, for small businesses across the country that are so much a part of the backbone of our economy. so we're seeing that as well. we're basically seeing what we call bidenomics, because it is growing the middle class. it's aiming at the american middle class. it's saying we want to support you, but the jobs have to be here in america. we want to rebuild and invest in america for the future, and all of our technologies from high- speed internet to our roads, bridges and rails and all the other things that will allow us to be leading the pack in a global economy and competing. we want to bring those jobs home, and then we are laser focused on lowering costs for folks. if that means taking on the oil companies or taking on the drug companies, so be it, but we are laser focused on bringing down costs. and that's what bidenomics, mr. president, is all about.

bidenomics. opposite of trickle down. opposite of trickle down. meanwhile, what are republican colleagues doing? unfortunately the same thing they have been doing for decades. by the way, they've never met a problem that a tax cut for the wealthy wouldn't solve. i remember so many times when the economy was doing well 20 years ago, we should do a tax cut for the wealthy. and then the economy was down, and then we had wall street crashes. oh, we should do a tax cut for the wealthy. it doesn't matter what the problem is, the solution is a tax cut for the ultra wealthy of the company, with the idea that it will trickle, trickle down. and unfortunately, what's happened with that, it never trickled down, at least not to people in michigan. we're still waiting for it to trickle down. but it did blow up the deficit. it did blow up the deficit. in fact, 25% of all of the debt

accumulated by the country ever was in four years of president trump. 25% of all of the deficit and debt created ever in the country was under four years. and the 2017 trump tax giveaway exploded the deficit. that's why that was happening. it exploded the deficit by nearly $2 trillion, gave the ultra witle massive tax -- ultra wealthy massive tax breaks. so we come out of this manufactured crisis around the debt ceiling and taking the country to the edge of default and all the talk about how much debt we have, and then as soon as that gets resolved and president biden brings everybody to the table and there's a bipartisan agreement not to have our country crash and default because of, unfortunately, the

manufactured antics on the other side, but what happens next? our house republican colleagues have a new tax package. it's like after talking about the debt and the deficit, they turn around again and want another tax cut for the wealthiest and largest corporations. in fact, big oil would get another $10.5 billion tax break under their latest tax cuts. on top of embedded tax breaks that have been there for 100 years with big oil. these tax breaks help folks get started in the industry. i think they're pretty much established in our country after 100 years of this. but no more. $10.5 billion tax break in addition is what's being proposed in the house. their proposal would roll back

clean energy tax credits that are creating jobs, the things i listed at the very beginning as i was talking all relate to the focus on investing in clean energy and saying it has to be a production tax credit. so don't get it unless you are making this in america. and this is key. this has not been happening for decades, and it's now happening. so they want to roll that all back, roll back all the things we're trying to do to combat the climate crisis which is hitting us over the head every single day, destroying homes and creating havoc and costing lives and all that's happening because of excess carbon pollution that is in the atmosphere and has been here for as long as we have been using fossil fuels. i wish the oil companies would take some of the hundreds of

billions that they have been given on tax breaks and put it back into technology to stop pollution. that would be very helpful if that's where they had put that. but instead what they have done is put it into funding efforts to say the climate crisis isn't real, that it's all a hoax, everybody is making it up. and we see where we are today, because it's not made up. it never was made up. and when they got the first tax breaks 100 years ago, if they put part of that into technology to make sure what they were doing was not polluting the atmosphere, we wouldn't even be here today talking about the climate crisis. and certainly, mr. president, in what's happening in your home state of vermont, you have a story to tell. extraordinary about what has happened on the weather and all the damage. our republican colleagues want to roll back all the efforts right now to try to clean up

things, cleaner environment. they want another big tax break for big oil. they're going to endanger about 150,000 good-paying jobs and on top of that it would balloon the deficit again by another $300 billion, just over the next three years. if republicans extend all of the trump tax giveaways we would add another $2.5 trillion -- t -- trillion dollars to the deficit if they got what we have been proposing. so again, we have tried trickle-down economics. tax breaks for those at the top, slashing investments for america, shipping good jobs overseas, that has been the strategy or the result of the strategy. not that they were saying we're going to ship jobs overseas. they just let it happen by giving tax breaks to folks who

did that with no accountability. that's trickle-down economics. now we have what we are proudly calling bidenomics. investments in america, empowering workers, lowering costs, and helping small businesses. and it's actually working. let me go back. it's actually working when we look at just last month, 209,000 jobs, and every month there's a jobs report. more jobs, more jobs, more jobs. 13.2 million jobs created in the last two and a half years, that's real. that's economists talking about that. good-paying jobs for people, jobs you can raise a family on. 3.6% unemployment rate, under 4% for the last 17 months, the lowest in 50 years. so it's not about just debating

rhetoric back and forth. what we have is something that has never worked, which is trickle-down economics, but used over and over and over again. i shouldn't say it never worked. it never worked for the majority of people. it never grew the middle class. it worked for a few people. it worked for a few people really, really well. but it's not worked for the majority of americans. and now we are turning and saying let's focus on something that does, investing in america, bringing jobs home, tackling the big special interests that are causing all our costs to go up, like the drug companies and oil companies. and bring down the costs. and by the way, the engine of our economy, small businesses, let's make sure we are laser focused on helping our small businesses. so, mr. president, we've tried republicans' trickle-down economics. surprise, it didn't work. it never worked.

the wealthy keep buying bigger yachts while everybody else is left treading water. bidenomics is different. it's investing in us, all of us. it's investing in our shared future. it's growing the middle class. and it's working. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor.

the presiding officer: ?rom iowa. -- the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: thank you, mr. president. congress and our entire nation have no more solemn duty than ones we owe to our veterans. they've given their blood, their sweat, and their tears for our great country. they fought on battlefields only to come home and face new battle s like difficulty accessing health care, challenges in transitioning to civilian life. a lot of them face homelessness, ptsd, and of course we hear it all the time in our various congressional offices about bureaucrat red tape at the veterans administration. i've long engaged in veteran

administration oversight. the v.a. fought my efforts tooth and nail. i won't tire. our veterans deserve nothing less than making sure the v.a. delivers in an efficient way, and particularly when we find things to be wrong there. it's because of my oversight that i placed a hold on the nomination of deputy secretary at the v.a. i urge my colleagues to oppose the nomination as well. and so i'm here to tell you why. records in my possession as well as statements from v.a. whistleblowers show thaz she has failed to secure our veterans private and sensitive protected

health information, personally identifiable information and whistleblower information. information also shows that she played in a key role in the veteran administration's obstruction of my investigation of v.a. corruption. my democratic colleagues writes r brought -- brought her nomination through the veterans' affairs committee without investigating the allegations that i brought to the committee's attention. let's start with one of these -- with the v.a. integrated enterprise work flow solution, otherwise known by the acronym

vues, it exposes medical, health and personal information of many veterans, as well as whistleblower names and information. at least 1,900 veteran affairs' employees have access to this system, but without the need to view this sensitive information. now, ms. bradsher has direct responsibility for that system as the v.a.'s chief of staff, her present position. e-mails and screen shots an views -- and views were supplied to me. these e-mails show that these e-mails notified -- deputy

notified ms. brad sher a year ago. one told her office that she had been harassed and feared for her safety. to this day, ms. bradsher hasn't followed up or instructed anyone else to follow up with these whistleblowers to make sure their concerns were addressed. despite questions for the record asked by ranking member moran and senator blackburn, ms. bradsher has offered no explanation whatsoever for why this specific personnel information brought to the office's attention was not secured as it should be secured. instead, she pointed to a few feeble actions. she -- action she said were taken to address future

correspondents such as training on private data. this is unacceptable for a nominee who will be in charge of the v.a.'s effort to modernize our veterans' sensitive electronic health records if she is confirmed. ms. bradsher was in the chief of staff position 16 months before whistleblowers notified her of the serious potential data breach, and now for a year after. that kind of inaction and negligence is remarkable, even for the veterans administration. these flaws provide a backdoor, enabling whistleblower retaliation and potential identity fraud and they must be fixed now, not ignored.

a matter -- the matter was serious enough that the office of special counsel last august found, and i quote, substantial likelihood of wrongdoing, end of quote, in potential violation of federal privacy laws and ordered the secretary to complete an investigation within 60 days. the veterans administration still hasn't completed its investigation. so the office of special counsel advised my office that the most serious allegations relating to data privacy has already been confirmed. the -- the veterans' administran report by special counsel should be issued by august 1, just days

away. we failed our nation's veterans and neglected our constitutional duty to offer informed advice and consent on this nomination if we allow this nomination to go forward before we have those answers. also, how can any member have an informed choice on this nominee if the veterans' affairs committee didn't bother to interview the people with relevant information on that matter? instead, rather than investigate the majority actually circulated a misleading memo to the committee members that was written by the veterans administration. it also slandered my office by claiming my staff had these eationz but -- allegations but intentionally hid them from the committee until the day

ms. bradsher's hearing. this is not true. my staff provided the information to the committee right away. the v.a. ought to quickly get with the program, and that brings me to my second point of opposition to this nominee. documents obtained under the freedom of information act show that ms. bradsher played a key role in the v.a.'s failed response to my investigation into v.a. corruption, which the v.a. has stonewalled for over two years. we shouldn't continue to reward the veterans administration and nominee for their intention to congressional oversight. we shouldn't confirm a nominee who represents business as usual

and continued inattention to congress and our veterans. i urge my colleagues to vote against this nomination until we get the answers to the american people as they deserve those answers. i yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. mr. welch: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. welch: madam president, i appreciate the opportunity in the senate today as vermont's new senator -- the presiding officer: if the senator will hold, the senate is in a quorum call. mr. welch: i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: would you like to have the quorum shall vitiated? the presiding officer: i would. without objection, the senator from vermont. mr. welch: thank you. madam president, i appreciate the opportunity to address the senate as vermont's new senator. and i will outline the challenges we face as a governing body and as a nation. i will state why i believe the united states senate can be an

institution that renews the strength and vitality of the democracy that all of us, whoever we represent and whatever views we advocate, depend on for our mutual benefit. but before i begin, i'd like to say that my heart today is with the people of vermont. they are grappling with the brutal flooding that hit us last week. and when i came to the floor last week, after touring the damage in vermont, i pledged that, along with senator sanders and congresswoman ballot, that we will do everything we can to give the people of vermont the resources they need to build back from this. and i make that pledge again today and i appreciate the leadership of our senior senator, senator sanders in advocating for vermont as we

recover from this real crisis. i appreciate the offers of help from so many of my colleagues here in the senate. one of the first senators to approach me was senator kennedy from louisiana, a state that has had to deal with more than its share of natural calamities. vermonters have always supported emergency aid when disaster struck others. senator sanders and i are very grateful for so many assurances of support now that vermonters face their own huge recovery challenge. madam president, i recently heard our colleague, senator eric schmitt from missouri give his first speech. he spoke with reverence for the people of missouri, hardworking, honest, family and community oriented and very generous. i felt senator schmitt's deep

connection to the people who sent him here. in that respect, senator schmitt spoke for me. in fact, i think he spoke for all of us. and senator schmitt and i and all of us share something else. the citizens we represent, despite the differences on many issues, share common needs. all the things that families and communities need, affordable housing, safer schools, good health care, a secure environment for our kids, good jobs where you can pay your monthly bills and have a little left at the end of the month, we share that in common. so the question i have is this. if we share so much, respect for the citizens who sent us here and our commitment to their shared aspiration, why can't we make more progress? why are we so divided?

madam president, i believe there's two reasons. first, our democracy is more imperiled at this time than any time since our civil war. and second, working in middle class -- working middle-class americans have been treading water economically for the past 40 years. top-down economic policies have failed them. so the towns many of us grew up in with diverse economies and vibrant downtowns, farms and factories that support our communities are vanishing. and many americans, no matter how hard they work still struggle to pay their bills. so, madam president, our challenge is strengthening our democracy and improving the living standards for everyday americans. and we must do both or we won't

do either. democracy depends on trust. it also depends on results. if conditions stagnate for working americans and they fall further behind, their trust in democracy will begin to erode. and we need democracy to ensure that working families have a seat at the table when their aspirations are at stake. madam president, as a young person, i was the beneficiary of the fruits of democracy. i grew up in the 1960's, one of six kids in an irish catholic family in springfield, massachusetts. it was stable and secure. when i was asked where i was from, i answered by giving the name of my catholic parish, holy name, not the city of my birth. the sense of community was paramount. helping a neighbor is what you

did, reflexively and always. when i was a boy, my mother did something that only later did i realize what a profound impact it had on me. she taught me what small d, democracy meant in practice. when i was in grammar school, i didn't know what abortion was. i did know my parents, church-going catholics, were against it. it was also illegal in massachusetts at that time and a neighbor across the street actually went to jail for purchasing abortions. my mother made dinner every night for our family of eight. and every week she sent me across the street with another hot dinner for our neighbors when their parent was away for a while. when i think about what my mother did, i really hope i can follow her example. instead of vilifying a neighbor with whom she disagreed on something that was really

important to her, she made that family dinner and helped a neighbor and family through a very difficult time. madam president, wouldn't democracy be stronger, wouldn't our communities be stronger if we made dinner or gave a ride to the post office or helped out with child care for someone who needed a hand, even if we disagreed with them? madam president, later i attended holy cross college in worcester, massachusetts, like my father and three brothers. in those college years, two great issues captured my attention. the war in vietnam and civil rights. and as i was finishing up my second year at holy cross, i learned of a community organizing project in the lawndale neighborhood on the west side of chicago. it was led by a jesuit seminarian that was affiliated

with martin luther king jr.'s southern christian leadership conference. i was really interested and i hitchhiked 900 miles from springfield, massachusetts, to chicago, illinois. it really changed my life. lawndale was poor. it was ignored by city hall. we students went door to door asking about concerns, and when the lack of sanitation services emerged as an issue, we got together with neighborhood folks and we trucked trash from lawndale to city hall. if the city wouldn't pick up the trash in lawndale, we'd bring it to city hall. it caught the mayor's attention. the next week there was a caravan of chicago sanitation trucks throughout lawndale. it worked. but our fight didn't stop at trash pickups. just before i was to return to holy cross for my junior year,

we discovered that unscrupulous folks in real estate were brutally exploiting black families who were moving into lawndale through a practice we now know as red lining. they were doing it with the active help of the federal housing authority and with the downtown big banks. i was really shocked at the injustice and what was most shocking to me then is an idealistic and eager young person who is accustomed to being treated fairly was that this immense infliction of suffering on those families was legal. it was legal for banks in the fha to deny mortgages on the basis of the color of that person's skin. so i had to make a decision at that point. it was time for me to return to holy cross for my junior year, but that would come with a cost.

abandoning the neighborhood folks whose hopes we had helped raise, that they could get relief from these oppressive contracts. that felt wrong. or i could drop out of holy cross and continue my community organizing work. that came with a risk then. losing my student deferment and being drafted. as many of my classmates from high school had been, to go to vietnam, a war that so many of us opposed. but it felt right to stay and continue my work. and i stayed in chicago. during that next year we created a successful neighborhood-led organization called a contract buyer's league. we exposed the rimoff contracts, demonstrated in front of the big downtown bank, the federal housing authority. we picketed in the serene north shore neighborhoods of the contract sellers, exposing what they had done, an exposure that

was long overdue. in short, madam president, we really raised hell or as john lewis would say, good trouble. but we succeeded in getting then-mayor dally to help us renegotiate these contracts and substitute them with legitimate mortgages that folks should have had in the first place. it made a big difference in the lives of many residents of lawndale. and it certainly made a difference in my life. i saw the power of a community coming together, and i saw how democracy was effective when people cooperated, when they did work together. and in seeing how much of that injustice was actually legal is when i made a lifelong commitment to two things. the law. if i became a lawyer, i could

use the legal system to help people hurt by bad laws. and politics. if i ran for the legislature, i could work to change laws to address injustice and create opportunity and strengthen communities. in my years of service as a community organizer in chicago, as a state senator in vermont, as a member of the house of representatives has taught me that democracy is more -- it's more than an idea we strive for. it's the tool that we use to make meanleful differences in -- meaningful differences in the lives of the people we love and in the lives of people we may never meet. madam president, we must preserve our democracy so that hardworking americans can finally gain economic security, the ability to pay those bills and have a little leftover, and the ability to build stable

communities, and hopefully these communities can grow and thrive so that one day if their kids decide to stay or they leave and return, they can do so with a decent job and promise be opportunities. -- promising opportunities. as u.s. senators, each of us has a unique and urgent opportunity to revitalize our democracy and improve prospects for our constituents. let me acknowledge candidly. we have within this body and within this country very substantial differences on many ideological issues. but we also have many areas of agreement. the folks in katie brits, alabama, in john fetterman's --

fetterman's pennsylvania and the folks in the state of vermont, they need and deserve the same things. affordable child care so parents can work. they need affordable homes and apartments. they need the security that when they droop their -- drop their child off at the bus stop or at school, that child is going to return home safely. these are the building blocks of strong community. these are among the issues that the u.s. senate should debate. you know, it's said that the u.s. senate is the greatest deliberative body. that's something we know is very much now in dispute. but we do have the power to make it so. and in doing so, we could help restore democracy. we can debate those issues and others on the senate floor. should social media companies enjoy legal immunity for

anything their algorithms promote? should we work for a sustainable budget but talk about spending and revenues? is it acceptable that we have the most expensive health care system in the world that leaves so many people behind? how do we act immediately and effectively to stop climate change from burning up the planet? the senate can deliberate and it can and should debate. but, madam president, deliberation should be in service of making a good decision. it should be in service of achieving an outcome. it should not be a device by which delay is endless and resolution nonexistent. every senator i know is genuinely honored to be serving in this body. every senator takes her and his

responsibility very seriously. but every senator i know realizes that the honor of service is hollow unless we get good things done. that's our job. and as a senator, i will use the valuable lessons of democracy i have learned from my parents, the importance of helping a neighbor you may disagree with. from my time in chicago, the power of democracy and action. and from vermont, struggling today with the onslaught of the flood, the strength of community that shows us that even on the toughest of days, the ability we can achieve when we work together. we in this country and in this senate may face significant challenges. we have opportunities to succeed if we face those challenges

together. madam president, i yield back. [applause]

later today the senate will take the first perceivable step for the consideration of our annual defense bill. in more than six decades democrats and republicans have worked in good faith to pass the ndaa for this year's defense authorization bill is a prime example of how they can work constructively to provide our nation's defense and take care of our servicemembers, and dod civilians and make the

investments necessary, innovate and build up our military and intelligence capabilities. i hope we can have an open and constructive amendment process for the ndaa without needless delay or dilatory tactics. i certainly hope we don't see the kind of controversy that severely hindered the ndaa process over in the house. both sides should defeat potentially toxic amendments and refrain from doing the ndaa's passage. so far, we are thankful we have avoided all of that. over the weekend family all the committees across the senate worked around-the-clock on the substitute with a manager's package that has 51 amendment, 21 from republicans, 21 from democrats and nine bipartisan. we had many great amendments. this is a good start and we are working towards a second manager's package which is even more priority to democrats and

republicans. i want to thank chairman reed ranking member wicker and all the other chairs and members in all of my colleagues and staff who worked long and hard over the weekend for their good work on this bill. there are a few items in the bill that deserves some attention and at like to highlight. i want to highlight a few items added to the manager's package that are very important and bode well for our country's future reticulated on ai and outcompeting the chinese government and our nation's fentanyl crisis. first i'm pleased the manager's package includes an amendment i worked on with senator rounds a young and heinrich that takes early initial steps on ai legislation. the first step the spot is taking in the wild. the senate has already done important things getting ourselves up up to spend on this

issue but the ndaa will be the senate's first opportunity this year to pass real ai legislation. my ai mm and includes provisions that will boost ai oversight within the national security bill including an increase in data-sharing within the dod, new risk studies in and explained ability other issues and provides the programs that will help sniff out systems used. this year our first manager's package also makes a critical down payment on the senate's efforts to outcompete the chinese government. we have over a dozen amendments related to our ongoing competition of the chinese government including measures they can make progress on the defense cooperation and agreement between the u.s. the uk and australia. senator menendez and i have a good compromising bill and i hope you can add to our

amendment process. we have provisions to strengthen our partnership with taiwan, boost the development of information technologies, strengthen the u.s.'s position in the indo pacific region to name a few. as you know we are working on a bipartisan china competition package that will deal with the with the chinese government put the dod bill is a good first start and i also want to praise my colleagues tim scott and sherrod further work to combat our nation's fentanyl crisis. this is one of the most devastating health crises happening in our country great in 2021 the dea the drug enforcement agency ceased in the fentanyl to give every single american in a lethal dose every single american. a lot of blame for this crisis lies at the feet of the chemical -- located in china that operate with little or no accountability which represent the bedrock of the international fentanyl supply chain.

i felt this was very important that we do more to stop the scourge of fentanyl from coming into our country so i pushed very hard to get this amendment in the manager's package and i'm glad it was three champion desai said passing the banking committee by sherrod and ranking member scott it declares the international trafficking of fentanyl and national emergency and adds teeth and potential sanctions to the demonstrations ability to hold it accountable. the ability to declare this a national emergency gives the president broader powers and allows him to do more to stop the flow of these precursor chemicals coming from china and other countries. the bill was passed unanimously in proud to by the banking committee, another great example of the senate and finally i'm pleased the ndaa will improve my

amendment on seeking transparency and uap's or i might genocide anomalous -- they generate a lot of curiosity for americans in with that curiosity sometimes comes misinformation. my amendment will require an national archives records administration to create a collection of records across government agencies that can be declassified for the public's use similar to the approach used in 1992 when the jfk assassination records collection's act. these will carry presumption of immediate disclosure which means they will remain classified. i think my colleagues who worked with me on this legislation senator rounds, rubio heinrich gillibrand and young for their partnership on this amendment and my mentor and dear friend who i miss so much harry reid was passionate about this issue and so is senator steven inouye

and so glad we could get this in. with these and many others i look forward to beginning broadcasts and russian at bill today. the four things i've mentioned dealing with fentanyl dealing with competition with china, dealing with ai and with making public the uap phenomena and what we know about them in an unclassified way are all conditions in the defense bill and i'm glad we added them in. i think both sides for their good work and i hope you can pass this bill without needless delay or controversy. now on the freedom to vote act in just a few minutes i'll be joining a group of my democratic colleagues to mark the reintroduction of the freedom to vote act. the predicted vote act rests on a single fundamental principle all americans to matter where they live should have the freedom to vote without discrimination or. i'll bill was that basic standards for americans to vote

safely and securely and feel confident that our nation's elections are free and fair. i want to thank senators klobuchar and warnock for their good work on putting this bill together as well as my colleague leader jeffries. while democrats are -- while democrats are actively working to expand access to the ballot box republicans in the house are trying to do exactly the opposite. last week as republicans introduced an advanced through committee the most restrictive voting acts passed in a decade. the republican package would make voting harder for millions of americans by creating more barriers to the ballot box and new obstacles to voter registration, mail-in voting for the republican package would allow the scourge of money to in our politics by empowering wealthy donors. let me be clear let me be very

clear, democrats will never allow this republican package to become law and instead we will focus her our efforts on common sense real voting civil rights voting rights legislation that the freedom to vote act. and on nominations later today the senate will confirm rachel -- to serve as circuit court judge for the sixth circuit graduate of harvard and uc law she is a conscious litigator who has dedicated her career to the pursuit of equal justice for all. i want to note that imprisoned that with her confirmation the senate will confirm 36 circuit court judges to lifetime appointments including 27 -- these appointments are significant because the lion's share of all federal cases never make it to the supreme court and remain unsolved at this circuit

court level. democrats have prioritized these highly qualified nominees that reflect diversity and the dynamism of our country. that's the best way we can store just as in court so sorely needed. i.e. the floor and obey absence of the quorum. >> later today the senate will vote to begin consideration of this years national defense authorization act. the ndaa is her most significant opportunity to set priorities for competition with adversaries like china and russia. it's our chance to do -- to focus on critical visions like rebuilding america's defense industrial base instead of the woke partisan agenda of political appointees.

it's time to lay the groundwork for robust investment and hard power. for 62 straight years in the of the cold war through the global war on terror the senate has used the ndaa to match tailored solutions to evolving national insecurity challenges. this year is no different. member worker chairman reed and her their colleagues on the other side of this committee considered 445 amendments and adopted 286 of them. here on the floor the full senate should do the same. senate republicans are committed

to exceeding the president's woefully inadequate defense budget request and delivering the resources our armed forces require. so i expect the democratic leader to allow thorough consideration of these important amendment as we begin that work with the ndaa. first and foremost i'd like to remind all of our colleagues that the number one piece of business on the senate's agenda is are we overdue. so it's especially important that we begin this process without further delay. on a related matter the senate repass the ndaa the sooner we can deliver on full appropriations and each of the

other areas senator murray and her colleagues are working on in committee. i'm grateful for our colleagues for regular order preparations process. funding the government on schedule means fulfilling one of the senate's most basic responsibilities. just as important the must pass measures that are dinner at the radical ideas that are actually kept out. here's an example. last week the appropriations committee adopted an amendment to prevent unelected administration bureaucrats from banning the use of affordable and efficient appliances in american homes and small businesses.

the energy department's proposal in regulating stoves to extinction is one of the many ways washington democrats want to let elite liberals impose on all 50 states and spend truckloads of taxpayer dollars. this would effectively ban 96% of does currently in use in america and the consumer product safety commission has begun work on a patch of -- potential stove them of their own. unelected aircraft are preparing the house and working families and small businesses across the country are rightly worried.

one hospitality industry in west virginia called the cost of switching the kitchen to electric cheaper and more efficient is quote a multi-thousand dollar thing. a multi-thousand dollar thing. it will lower-quality with the later wait times. as with -- as with any number of other radical climate idea some of our democratic colleagues don't seem to care about these real-world impacts and in this case some have been downright oblivious to the threat. back in 2021 senator barrasso proposed an amendment to ensure democrats radical climate regulations couldn't restrict

the use of monitors. the senior senator from west virginia voted against the amendment and the energy and resources committee and senate democrats blocked it in the floor for good measure ping response to senator barrasso is concerned on working families and small businesses senator manchin saying quote i don't see evidence. i don't see that happening. even if senator manchin office when on a reckless spending spree that gave $840 special rebates for folks to swap their stoves for the electric ranges. it appears our colleagues has since changed his tune.

this time around he sponsored the amendment blocking the regulation we couldn't imagine just two years ago. as her colleagues continue to make headway on the regular order appropriations and glad this commonsense measure has earned bipartisan support. but it really begs the question wouldn't working families and small businesses be better off if we have stand up to the radical climate authorizations in the first place. >> mr. president with bladder or's invasion of ukraine and a new generation of threats on the horizon with ai and emerging technologies americas military readiness has never been more important. that is why today and please to speak in this court the national

defense authorization act from the year 2024. i want to thank chairman jack reed of rhode island and ranking member roger wicker of mississippi for their leadership as well as their staff work and because of that the senate will soon vote on a national defense package that will protect the men and women in uniform, defend our nation's interest and support our allies. for the 63rd year in a row this bipartisan agreement will authorize the necessary funding for our nation's security. i hope we will pass it today. this years national defense authorization act authorizes nearly $886 billion including $844 billion. this is a 20 billion-dollar increase compared to our current fiscal year and a more than

100 billion-dollar each increase compared to last year. that may come as a surprise given that some voices on the right have cried their defense spending is falling so hard -- far behind. the fact that this is the largest defense budget in the history of the united states ever, the largest defense budget ever. importantly it provides a more than 5% pay increase for our troop's and the pentagon civilian workforce but that's the largest increase in decades. the largest increase in decades and it is well deserved. this bill expands employment opportunities for military spouses funding for childcare, improve military housing plvmen. the presiding officer: thelvmen. senator from ohio. mr. brown: it's my honor to rise in support of rachel bloomekatz stoamb as a judge on the u.s. sixth circuit court of appeals.

people often think of the courts, especially the circuit courts -- this comes from a non-lawyer -- as something like an ivory tower deep tached from people's every single day's lives. we know the decisions judges make affect ohioans about how to live their liessments that's why it matters so much whom we support to these important jobs. we need our brightest talent on the bench. we need thoughtful judges, thoughtful judges who adhere to the highest ethical standards, who follow the letter and the spirit of the law. we need junches who are compassionate, capable of understanding the different perspectives of the people who will come into their courtrooms and we need judges with wiferred and a love for our country's core values. rachel bloomekatz will be all of those things. she will protect the rights of all americans, not just the

powerful and the privileged, something we see far too much of in the nation's highest court. ms. bloomekatz brings with her the empathy, the intellect, the deep commitment to justice required to serve the people of the sixth circuit. rachel had an impressive academy career. she clerked for highly respected judges on the state supreme court, federal district in circuit levels and she clerked on the united states supreme court. rachel has a robust and successful litigation practice where she has advanced the cause of justice. throughout her career, ms. bloomekatz sat on both sides of the table. she represented people across the oij spectrum. she -- the oij spectrum. she has argued on behalf of of the government and rights of private citizens. she's been recognized for the breadth of her practice, which includes work on both civil and criminal matters, both types of cases she will see as a judge on the sixth circuit.

she's worked with women's groups, she's worked with veterans groups seeking justice for women harmed while giving birth on active duty at military hospitals. she helped represent our colleague, senator marco rubio, with an amicus brief arguing in support of his legislation providing protections for victims of human trafficking. don't just take it from me, mr. president. listen to the chorus of people from all across the ideological and political spectrum who support rachel bloomekatz's nomination. 20 fellow supreme court clerks, including several scalia clerks and dmawf clerks, wrote -- and kavanaugh clerks wrote saying we hold diverse opinions on many areas of law. we're united in our view that rachel is an extraordinary nominee who will uphold the best traditions in defining attributes of the federal courts, the rule of law, equal justice, fidelity to the constitution, unquote.

joined by 25 ohio appellate lawyers, again, from across the political ideological spectrum also wrote in support. they said, quote, some of us will no doubt disagree with some of the opinions rachel will author or join on the sixth circuit. we are nied, though, in urging the judiciary committee to confirm her to the sixth circuit. the letter goes on, rachel has the right temperament to serve as an article 3 judge and her intelligence and respect for the rule of law will make her an excellent addition. perhaps her most powerful endorsement is from the judges already on the sixth circuit who have appointed her to represent clients in serious cases with fundamental rights at stake. ms. bloomekatz is supported by jewish leaders who represent the dwedth and diversity of ohio's jewish committee. eric fingerhut, holly

beagleman, executive director of the ohio jewish committees who brought a group of colleagues to washington last week to talk to members of the ohio delegation, both parties about the scourge of anti-semitism. rabbi cantor, rachel's cantor when she was a child in nashville, said rachel's deep values have led to her compassion to people and her commitment to justice and to the law. mr. president, i can think of no better endorsement than that, no better candidate to serve the state of the sixth circuit. my state of ohio, kentucky, michigan, tennessee. i urge mile colleagues to join me in supporting rachel bloomekatz's confirmation. the presiding officer: the question occurs on the nomination. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

mr. crapo. mr. cruz. mr. daines. ms. duckworth.

mr. durbin. ms. ernst. mrs. feinstein. mr. fetterman. mrs. fischer. mrs. gillibrand. mr. graham. mr. grassley. mr. hagerty. ms. hassan. mr. hawley. mr. heinrich. mr. hickenlooper. ms. hirono. mr. hoeven. the clerk: mrs. hyde-smith.

mr. johnson. mr. kaine. mr. kelly. mr. kennedy. mr. king. ms. klobuchar. mr. lankford. mr. lee. mr. lujan. ms. lummis. mr. manchin. mr. markey. mr. marshall. mr. mcconnell.

the clerk: mr. menendez. mr. merkley. mr. moran. mr. mullin. ms. murkowski. mr. murphy. mrs. murray. mr. ossoff. mr. padilla. mr. paul. mr. peters. mr. reed. mr. ricketts. mr. risch. mr. romney. ms. rosen. mr. rounds. mr. rubio.

mr. sanders. mr. schatz. mr. schmitt. mr. schumer. mr. scott of florida. mr. scott of south carolina. mrs. shaheen. ms. sinema. ms. smith. ms. stabenow. mr. sullivan. mr. tester. mr. thune. mr. tillis. mr. tuberville.

the clerk: mr. tester. mr. thune. mr. tillis. mr. tuberville. mr. van hollen. mr. vance. mr. warner. mr. warnock. ms. warren. mr. welch. mr. whitehouse. mr. wicker. mr. wyden. mr. young.

the clerk: senators voting in the affirmative: baldwin, brown,

cantwell, cardin, cortez masto, gillibrand, markey, murray, reed, schatz, schumer, shaheen, stabenow, warren. senators voting in the negative, boozman, budd, cotton, shined, rounds, schmitt, scott of florida, tuberville.

the clerk: mr. daines, no. mr. merkley, aye. ms. capito, no.

the clerk: mr. whitehouse, aye. the clerk: mr. wicker, no. mr. lankford, no.

the clerk: mr. grassley, no. mrs. fischer, no.

the clerk: mr. thune, no. the clerk: mr. cassidy, no. mr. barasso, no. mr. cornyn, no. mr. mcconnell, no.

ms. ernst, no. the clerk: mrs. britt, no. the clerk: mr. tillis, no.

the clerk: mr. coons, aye.

the clerk: mr. peters, aye.

the clerk: mr. menendez, aye.

the clerk: mr. braun, no.

the clerk: mr. carper, aye.

the clerk: ms. hassan, aye. mr. ricketts, no. mr. graham, no. mr. lujan, aye. ms. collins, no.

the clerk: mr. young, no. the clerk: mr. cramer, no. the clerk: mr. heinrich, aye. mr. rubio, no.

mr. welch, aye. the clerk: mr. johnson, no.

the clerk: mr. tester, aye. the clerk: mr. kelly, aye.

the clerk: ms. sinema, aye.

the clerk: mr. warnock, aye.

mr. sanders, aye. the clerk: mr. romney, no.

the clerk: mrs. blackburn, no.

the clerk: ms. smith, aye. mr. wyden, aye. mr. king, aye.

the clerk: mr. lee, no.

the clerk: mr. van hollen, aye.

the clerk: mr. crapo, no. the clerk: mr. casey, aye.

the clerk: ms. lummis, no.

the clerk: mr. paul, no.

the clerk: mr. hagerty, no. mr. murphy, aye. mr. risch, no. the clerk: mr. hickenlooper, aye. the clerk: ms. murkowski, no.

the clerk: mr. rosen, aye. mr. hoeven, no. the clerk: mr. vance, no.

the clerk: mr. sullivan, no.

the clerk: mr. fetterman, aye. mr. ossoff, aye.

the clerk: mr. blumenthal, aye. the clerk: mr. moran, no. mrs. feinstein, aye.

mr. kennedy, no. the clerk: mr. president manchin, no. -- the clerk: mr. manchin, no. the clerk: mr. duckworth, aye -- ms. duckworth, aye.

vote:

the clerk: mr. hawley, no. the clerk: mr. cruz, no. mr. bennet, aye.

the clerk: ms. hirono, aye.

the presiding officer: mr. padilla, aye. the clerk: mr. padilla, aye. the clerk: mr. booker, aye.

the presiding officer: the yeas are 50, the nays are 48. 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 calendar number 119, s. 2266, a bill to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2024 for military activities of the department of defense for military construction and for defense activities of the department of energy to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year for the purposes, signed by 18 senators. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum has been waived. the question is, is it the sense of the senate that debate on the motion to proceed to s. 2226 to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2024 for military activities of the department of defense for military construction and for defense activities of the department of energy to prescribe militariers in nell strengths for -- military strengths for such fiscal year and other purposes shall be brought to a close. the yeas and nayses are

manldztory under the -- mandatory under the rules. the clerk will call the roll. the clerk: the clerk: ms. baldwin. mr. barrasso. mr. bennet. mrs. blackburn. mr. blumenthal. mr. booker. mr. boozman.

the clerk: $. boozman. mr. braun.

mr. budd. ms. cantwell. mrs. capito. mr. cardin. mr. carper. mr. casey. mr. cassidy. ms. collins. mr. coons. mr. cornyn. ms. cortez masto. mr. cotton. mr. cramer. mr. crapo. mr. cruz.

mr. daines. ms. duckworth. mr. durbin. ms. ernst. mrs. feinstein. mr. fetterman. mrs. fischer. mrs. gillibrand. mr. graham. mr. grassley. mr. hagerty. ms. hassan. mr. hawley. mr. heinrich. mr. hickenlooper. ms. hirono. mr. hoeven. mrs. hyde-smith. mr. johnson. mr. kaine. mr. kelly. mr. kennedy. mr. king. ms. klobuchar. mr. lankford.

mr. lee. mr. lujan. ms. lummis. mr. manchin. mr. markey. mr. marshall. mr. mcconnell. mr. menendez. mr. merkley. mr. moran. mr. mullin. ms. murkowski. mr. murphy. mrs. murray. mr. ossoff. mr. padilla. mr. paul. mr. peters. mr. reed. mr. ricketts. mr. risch. mr. romney. ms. rosen. mr. rounds. mr. rubio. mr. sanders. mr. schatz.

mr. schmitt. mr. schumer. mr. scott of florida. mr. scott of south carolina. mrs. shaheen. ms. sinema. ms. smith. ms. stabenow. mr. sullivan. mr. tester. mr. thune. mr. tillis. mr. tuberville. mr. van hollen.

mr. vance. mr. warner. mr. warnock. ms. warren. mr. welch. mr. whitehouse. mr. wicker. mr. wyden. mr. young. the clerk: senators voting in the affirmative -- bennet, blumenthal, boozman, brown, carper, casey,

cassidy, coons, cotton, cramer, cruz, daines, dwerkt, fetterman, graham, grassley, heinrich, hirken looper, hirono, hoeven, hyde-smith, kaine, king, manchin, menendez, murray, ossoff, padilla, reed, rosen, rounds, schumer, shaheen, sinema, smith, stabenow, thune, tillis, warner, warnock, welch, whitehouse, and wyden. mr. ricketts, aye. mr. heinrich, aye. ms. klobuchar, aye. senators voting in the negative close close blackburn, booker, collins, cornyn, crapo, johnson,

kennedy, lee, lummis, marshall, paul, risch, rubio, sanders, schmitt, sullivan, tuberville, and warren. mr. hawley, no.

the clerk: mr. vance, no.

the clerk: ms. ernst, aye. mr. lankford, no. the clerk: mr. schatz, aye.

the clerk: mr. wicker, aye. mrs. fischer, aye.

the clerk: mr. markey, no. ms. baldwin, aye.

the clerk: ms. murkowski, aye.

the clerk: mr. moran, no.

mr. barrasso, aye.

the clerk: mr. murphy, aye.

the clerk: mr. scott of florida, no. the clerk: mrs. britt, aye.

the clerk: mr. young, aye. mr. mcconnell, aye.

the clerk: mr. merkley, aye.

the clerk: mrs. capito, no.

the clerk: mr. kelly, aye.

the clerk: mrs. feinstein. mrs. feinstein, aye.

mr. van hollen, aye.

the clerk: mrs. gillibrand, aye.

the clerk: mr. tester, aye. mr. hagerty, aye.

the clerk: ms. hassan, aye.

ms. cortez masto, aye. vote:

the clerk: mr. budd, no.

the clerk: mr. romney, aye.

the clerk: mr. peters, aye. the presiding officer: on this vote, the yeas are 72, the nays will 25. three-fifths of the senators duly chosen and sworn having voted in the affirmative, the motion is agreed to. mr. wyden: mr. president. the presiding officer: cloture having been invoked, the senate will resume legislative session. the clerk will report the motion to proceed. the clerk: motion to proceed to s. 2226, a bill to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2024 for military activities of the department of defense and so

forth and for other purposes. mr. wyden: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. wyden: in a moment, i'm going to put forward a unanimous consent request to pass an important bill exercising congress' constitutional authority in approving the first modern agreement regulating trade between the united states and taiwan. the bill was cosponsored by all 48 democrats and republicans on the ways and means committee and was ultimately passed in the house of representatives by a voice vote. it was originally put forward by ways and means committee chair smith and ranking member neil as well as senator crapo and myself as chair and ranking minority member on the finance committee. before i make this unanimous

consent request on the bipartisan bicameral bill, called the united states-taiwan initiative on 21st century trade agreement implementation, i want to highlight for a couple minutes why this bill is so important. first, the reason behind this proposal, first and foremost, is the united states congress fully supports deepening our trade relationship with taiwan and wants to ensure that the recent agreement covering trade facilitation, anticorruption, and small business is legally sound and durable. not only is taiwan a critical market for u.s. exporters, it's a democracy that shares our values and has strong ties with oregonians and americans across the land. next this body wants to be clear that trade agreements are within the constitutional authority of the congress. one of the ways the senate demonstrates that is by approving trade agreements like

this one. finally, the legislation requires greater transparency in consultation as well as public review for future taiwan trade agreements. our workers, our farmers, and our businesses deserve the opportunity to read a trade agreement and understand how it affects them before it is signed by a government official and declared the law of the land. trade agreements that affect millions of americans can't be done in the dark. congress and the american people need to know what's in these agreements and how they benefit american interests. i look forward to working with the ustr, our point person for trade as it negotiates bigger ticket items with taiwan, issues like digital trade, labor, environment, and agriculture as outlined in the negotiating mandate. future agreements need to bulldoze barriers to trade for or gone exporters, american businesses everywhere, and especially cut red tape like

labeling rules and make sure that there are technical standards that make it tough for exporters to sell their goods. involving congress in the -- and the public is going to help the administration identify issues and holding them accountable for breaking down barriers. this is a proposal that brings both sides together. the taiwan trade approval bill, as i indicated, passed unanimously in the other body. this trade agreement legislation is a can't miss opportunity for the united states senate to support taiwan, clarify congress' role in trade, and call for more transparency in consultation in future agreements. moreover, it needs to be done now. taiwan is expecting to pass their implementing bill in the next few weeks. it's imperative that we move our bill before the administration moves forward with what's called entry in the forest to ensure that the united states gets what it's bargained for. let me close by way of saying we

especially look forward in the future to work with the senate foreign relations committee, the chairman of the committee senator menendez and i have been talking about ways to recognize the inner section between foreign relations and global economics, and there are a whole host of issues, whether it's supply chains or digital trade, environment, and the like where we have an opportunity to really recognize that in this century, what we have to do is break down barriers. we have to find a way to have a unifying strategy for this country. and that means coming together around foreign relations and global economics. and that's what chairman menendez and i talked about this evening and in the past. and i look forward to working with all our colleagues on that. so, mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of h.r. 4004 which

was received from the house and is at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: h.r. 4004, an act to approve and implement the agreement between the american institute in taiwan and the taipei economic and cultural representative office and so forth and for other purposes. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding? without objection. mr. wyden: mr. president, i further ask the bill be considered read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. wyden: mr. president, i yield the floor.

mr. young: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from indiana. mr. young: thank you, mr. president. indiana was eliminate ised by men and women who left the safety of their homes. they headed westward and crossed the appalachian mountains into the wilderness and the unknown. they were willing to endure hardship to risk danger in search of a better tomorrow, to clear a path for others to follow. they were pioneers. but long after our state was

settled in indiana's population -- and indiana's population drifted up from the banks of the ohio river towards lake michigan, hoosiers never stopped looking at the frontier. only they cast their gaze away from the west and toward the sky. in the fall of 1959, 15,000 people gathered in the southern indiana town of mitchell, population 3,500 at the time. some lined the streets. others sat on rooftops or watched through windows. they hadn't come to mitchell's annual persimmon festival for the beauty pageant. nor did they come for the pudding concert or the classic car run. no, they were there to see the convertible at the head of the festival's parade as it drove

down mitchell's main street. seated inside that convertible was one of their own, a local boy. they knew him from the house on baker street. maybe they knew him from mitchell high or first baptist church, but history knows him as the second american to travel to space and the first man to go there twice. i'm proud to have the privilege to deliver these remarks in front of the presiding officer, who has also been to space. his name was lieutenant colonel virgil ivan gus grissom. there he is. a great hoosier, a great american. i ask all who may be watching to study his portrait.

that flat-top haircut, the serious expression. that was grises grissom. as you look at old photos of the white house press events, it's uncanny. he is the odd astronaut out, the one mo lacks like he'd rather not -- the one who looks like he'd rather not be there. you see is the images don't lie. he was toughminded and hard-driven. nasa's head physician described him as confident but not conceited. he was a stern competitor but a good teammate, a frank but care-free speaker. he had little use for publicity or even the press. he only went to the white house events because his wife betty and their boys wanted to. gus grissom wasn't a celebrity. he was a pilot and an engineer.

he was more comfortable racing fellow mercury astronaut alan shepard in his souped-up corvette around cape kennedy. he was a regular guy. but the race that gus grissom truly cared about was the one to the stars. he was determined -- determined -- to beat russia there. i think we ought to declare an out-and-out race with the russians to put the first man in space, grissom once stated. utah see, this hoosier -- you see, this hoosier didn't mince word. he saw this as an important global competition between the united states and russia, between freedom and communism. and the prize was more than just a flag planted on the moon. it meant prestige and pride, yes, but also technological

superiority. and the national security and economic benefits that went with it. america won that race, in part because of gus grissom. and our nation reaped incredible benefits because of his sacrifice. on july 21, 1961, almost two years after he was at the center of the persimmon festival in mitchell, grissom splashed down in the atlantic ocean 260 nautical miles south of cape canaveral. he had just road mercury redstone iv above the earth and back down. appropriately, grissom nick named the ship liberty bell vii. a tribute of course to the bell that rang after the reading of the declaration of independence

in 1776. regardless of what you've read in novels or seen in movies, grissom's flight was flawless. the vessel sank after its match blew, the result of poor design and electrostatic discharge, not astronaut error. four years later on march 23, 1965, friends and former classmates gathered at the first baptist church back in mitchell. nearly every business installed a television so their customers and employees could watch grissom return to space. this was a different journey, though. the mercury ships boosted astronauts into space and retrorocketted them back to earth. this new craft, gemini, gave them a degree of control and added maneuverability, technological leaps that anticipated manned flights to

the moon. grissom, along with pilot pilot john young, did not only skillfully guide gem my iii as it orbited the earth three times, he vertly designed the ship -- he vertually designed the ship. stung by the hatch craft on liberty bell vii, as he called it. grissom securitized and directed the aseemably of the new aircraft. he directed the assembly of the aircraft. their construction so closely followed his vision that other astronauts nicknamed the gemini gus mobile. the cockpit and see were even configured to his 5 foot 7 inch frame. grissom was next given control of the apollo's first mission with its goal of realizing president kennedy's charge of landing a man on the moon before the end of the 1960's.

when the apollo lunar module landed at tranquility base on the lunar surface in 1969, grissom was not on board. he had perished two years prior in a launch pad fire aboard apollo i during testing. the tragedy, though, inspired nasa to improve the construction and ultimately the safety of pennsylvania poll low crafts -- apollo crofts leading to the moon landing. grissom said the conquest of space is worth the risk of human life. the race to the stars ended in america's favor because he gave his. now, grissom may not have been aboard apollo 1111 when it reached the moon, but it never would about gotten there without him. at the onset of that journey and

the most daunting journeys americans have embarked on. there's been skepticism, questions of purpose and value. it never stopped the pioneers, the doers, the dreamers and americans like gus grissom from making a the voyage and making our country better. back in the fall of 1959, during the persimmon festival, mayor roy ira handed grissom a flag, and he gave him a -- a planning and he gave him a simple tribute. mitchell is proud of grissom. i urge our youth to take note of virgil's example, unquote. six decades layer, we're still proud of him. we should all stool follow his example and always press on towards the next frontier, wherever it may be. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor.

and i'd note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. the clerk: ms. baldwin. quorum call:

quorum call:

the driving impulse restarting the group?what suites are from - 2020 different school boards we did not even know each other. we found we did meet up as we wehad the same experience of witnessing parents coming forward, concerns about public education and school districts not addressing them. we feel like all of america got to see that front and center in 2020. so generally first 2021 we launch moms for liberty to help communities and parents organize

locally in their own chapters, to work to better public education and defend the parental rights regrets from 21 how many members and chapters does the organization have? and how are you funded? >> that is a very exciting fonts generate first 2021 with two chapters and for to come up my county and we are to a half years out we are 300 chapters in 45 states with the 120,000 active moms on the ground. >> as far as the funding then were to primarily come from? >> for the first year at 990 is out is publicly accessible. about half a million dollars in revenue, 150,000 of that was in t-shirt sales, small donors made up most of that. one little bit larger donor that first year. the second year the 990 is being worked on right now, to be put out very soon. you'll find some bigger donors have come forward to support us. >> are the donors or republicans, democrats,

conservative groups how would you define that? >> they are individuals. they are not organizations but i do not know what their register that they believe in our mission they believe parents have the right to direct the upbringing of education. the religious and moral upbringing of their children. >> to your group came into noose resell your cleared and the the list compiled by the southern poverty law center extremist groups as it were. this is what they wrote about your group and i want you to respond to it. they were at this the moms for liberty activity make it clear the groups primary goals are to fuel right wing hysteria make the world a less comfortable or safe place for certain students promot as a black, lgbt cure come fromgbtq families pre-tennessee chapter of moms for liberty claim the second grade curriculum which was a book about martin luther king and another by ruby bridges was antiwhite. other chapters have attacked the book at gender queer a memoir about adolescence by non- bary author. this explore sexuality and gender identity for the group showed up alongside crowded boys

at multiple protests including florida and texas. that's the claim from the southern poverty law center at first but we think of the edition of your group to the list? >> are projecting put on that list for date labeled this as a antigovernment extremist group. which is remarkably untrue but lesser chapters five and school board races across the country but when 275 of the seats we were actively working within our system the way it was set up to get set up and run for office sure their ideas get elected that is what we're doing for the something antigovernment about it we are embracing our true form of government. as far as the other accusations we reject all of those accusations. i am glad i'm happy to address some of them put some of the books, all boys aren't blue for example wasn't found in elementary school in montgomery, under daughter's elementary school i the author himself said that book was written for adults. these books do not belong in elementary schools. once our parents are concerned

about. all of the accusations of the southern poverty law center has thrown our way are just untrue. >> the perceptions you go after books about martin luther king, about ruby bridges partway think the perception is in is that correct? >> it is not correct. that specific instance they keep pointing to an williamson county, tennessee, the mother of a biracial child came forward because her son was in the back of the car her second-grade son and he was upset because he wanted the white part of him out he wanted to wash the white part of him off the skin. that mother went to our chair and said i don't understand whathe's learning this and where this is coming from but they went in and found out there's a six-week set of curriculum called wit and wisdom social justice curriculum for second graders. there is no place in second grade. the book ruby bridges is a wonderful book known is try to get that book removed. our chapter had a complaint that the teachers at manual that went along with that book pointed out

things to these junk second graders. they taught them the and word and that class. they taught them about racism. this child who is a biracial child was so confused he hated half of him was embarrassed by one of his parents. these are issues in america that need to be discussed for these are not things that should be squashed by calling people racist because you do not want to discuss the heart issues. we have biracial children in this country they are beautiful. >> local chapter decides to look after the books and raise concerns about that how much is driven by the local chapter? how much by the top and putting people in the organization they are in leadership? >> high pressure that question. we are a grassroots organization through and through but we do not pick issues. not nationally and push them into our chapters for each chapter they meet in a month late chapter meetings a look at what is going on in their school

districts and discuss the issues and bring them to their local school board. often times those will elevate the state board of education or to state representatives and escalate to that level when they are not addressed at the school board. but at the national level we do not pick issues. >> augustus with us till the end of the program if you and ask her question about her organization (202)748-8000 for democrats 2-027-488-0014 republicans and 2027488002 for independence would hundred text us your thoughts (202)748-8003. your organization because of a local chapter in a newsletter including a quote from hitler prehuman start by explaining exactly what happened? >> yes. people need to understand our moms are nonpolitical people many of our moms have never voted before, never voted and a primary absolutely for the organizing around issues that are concerning them. the organizing around the fact there right raise her child is

being infringed upon. that mom put a quote from hitler on a newsletter as a warning to a government can do. what government can potentially do if they're not kept in check. local media picked it up in a national media picked it up. they clipped it out in a way they made it look like she was promoting hitler. that is nonsense. this mother does not appreciate this outlook towards hitler for doing anything other than the horrible atrocious atrocities he put on the jewish people and those the countries around him through the holocaust of world war ii. there's not a member of moms for liberty that encourages or supports anything that has to do with the ideology. >> how much rubber man came to record from you and your cofounder? exits are set again? how much reprimand for the local chapter leader who did this gave review in your cofounder directly? >> there was no reprimanding. she did it in earnest to try to

warn people but we had a discussion with her about how things can be twisted and perceived. she apologized because she felt horrible for the white it represented moms for liberty of what it's doing in the media she still feels terrible about there is no reprimanding a mom who is just trying to stand up and a wave the alarm to a country where parental rights are being attacked. >> was a statement released about the instance and what that statement say? but she released a statement immediately apologizing for putting on the newsletter. tiffany i came out and put out a statement again just think this is not who we are. this is not how it was meant to be taken. people make mistakes she did not really understand the implications of sending out a newsletter tour local people in your local community with a warning audit. and how nasty people can be to twist in the media to pick that up and run with it in a way that was never meant to be.

>> again moms for liberty joining us for this conversation. what do you attribute that to considering your recent start, what do you attribute the growth to? >> we have invested any money in promoting, trying to recruit to grow that passion. an authentic grassroots growth. i will tell you exactly what it is. that media and the national news comes out all the time and says this is not happening in public schools. that's not happening in public schools. that amount opens a backpack of her child and she sees the curriculum part she sees the problems. she googles who can she go to for help? moms for liberty is the only organization is going to stand with parents. parents are really start to see the educational failure in america. let's just lay out what happens and followed up this year. the lohse math scores in recorded history the nine states the lowest score since the 1980s two thirds of fourth-grade and not reading on grade level part parents are starting to wake up to this and

question who is been in charge of public education? who's making the decision where my children not learning? >> the local chapters are involved in these things what exactly are the asking school embracing of these books have questions about? it is different and varies we just discussed at various the vs chapter to chapter. often times they are moved from elementary school or a middle school to a high school it's interesting a lot of the national stories has been banned the heritage foundation went in to the list that pant america put out that everyone ran with last year they went into each of the school districts that pant america bandit was they found a majority of the books were still sitting on the shelf. maybe they had been moved to a restricted area maybe they had been moved to middle school or high school from elementary school at the absolute city on the shelf my definition banned is not a book sitting on a shelf that's accessible still to students in public schools were. >> calls lined up for it first comes a minister this is ride

moms for liberty david your other guests, go ahead. >> good morning. i have a few questions earlier you claimed you guys are nonpartisan but all three of your founders are republican. so that is kind of where you say are grounded in conservative values that see sounds right wing. that is right wing. i am just confused, eve don't know who any of your donors are? how do you not know where your money is coming from? that seems disingenuous. i think you guys are bunch of nazis and afraid to say it. go ahead and comment on what you wish. >> i'll try to address a couple of those issues i do not know a proud boy i have never known a proud boy. i do not affiliate with that organization neither does my

cofounder. we do not know anybody in that organization i am not sure where that came from, or the accusation comes from i would love for someone to point me too a time they have ever seen me talk to her have a conversation with anyone from that organization i do not know a 3% or is you mentioned that. you have to explain that to me. these accusations being hurled at us our complete nonsense yes i'm a registered republican but our members are not all registered republicans 63% of our members are republicans come to it that means question at the whatthe rest are democrats or independents. we are not we are eight nonpartisan organization we do not pick sides as many school board races are nonpartisan do we lean conservative? yes we have traditional bias and support those absolute that does not make us a right wing anything. walk some out replica line in clovis, ohio. loves c-span. could be a low question about what's going on here.

as a longtime republican and a veteran of the marine corps this is to what's going on. this seems wrong to any type of democracy this lady is refusing to say where she's getting these big donations it's pushing her own agenda on other people. the fact she then turns instead of saying your group, your organization has been meeting with proud boys. your organization has been quoting hitler. don't just turn it to you, you are a spokesperson for people who are engaged. >> john from ohio are you there? and that is not okay. >> john from ohio. go ahead. sorry about that, he cut up there a little bit.

i am not deflecting responsibility but i would like so much a point to anyone in our organization that's meeting with the proud boys these accusations that keep coming our way i cannot refute something you cannot even point to. we did not refute the quote from hitler on a newsletter this is a mom sounding an alarm to america. i will take responsibility for my organization every day all day. our members sign a document that says they will fight as joyful warriors when they don't we remove them from the organization. i cannot argue with light and false information all day long. i need you to point to facts and truth. >> went they don't you will remove them have any been removed or what is the level of standard there for a removal? bucks we have had to remove a few people but usually handled at the chapter level. they vote as an executive board to each has a chair, pfister, secretary-treasurer sometime executive board members. when there is a concern brought

forward by its members or the executive board they discuss it and vote for removal and they've done that on a few occasions. >> honestly it is up to the chapter if they felt that person is harming that reputation or making bad decisions it's not fighting in a joyful way we are moms we understand with the what themedia is doing to us. where upsetting the balance of power in america right now and in public education. we are being slandered, we are being lied about. we have been added to the hate map. we have to work extra hard to be joyful if someone's fighting and a very negative way that's what they plan to continue to do we remove them from the organization for. >> the efforts you art making as far as school boards and school elections and the like how do you gauge success in what you're doing? speak to a gauge success a lot of ways the weight of two to 35 school board seats with a big win. there are places like dutchess county, new york we did not win one school board see but turnout for the election was three times

higher than it had ever been picked our goal is to get aliza public education. it is a failing system republicans traditionally, the gentleman that called it a little bit ago republicans traditionally either pointed to school choice to just get rid of public education for so many republicans of said public education is a failure we need to banded it. that is why we are more nonpartisan than anything. that is not what we believe. so for years on public school board because we love public education for outside of my children of gunther public education children's 50s children are in public education you cannot do that by covering up the failures and sweeping every thing under the rug. >> in florida independent line independent linecynthia you are. >> yes good morning. tina first about you know who the civil rights leaders and re- add up more work? they were schoolteachers here in

brevard county. they were civil rights leaders. they were killed do you know why? >> yes i'm very familiar with the entire story that happened right there in my county in brevard. >> okay, you know why the they were fired schoolteachers? >> yes, ma'am but she might have for my knee. >> okay they were fired from brevard county school districts because they actually were registering black people to register to vote and the ku klux klan killed them. i saw a marker one day i turned and i did not realize they have a place you can go visit where the home was blown up and so

forth. i am a former teacher i wish i would've known during seventh grade. i could have at least taken my students on a school trip there in those world cultures. a lot of these kids don't know about that. do you know how many children to date have verified white kids about feeling bad about being taught about black history where they are made to feel bad? bucks at a cynthia there in florida. >> and missed the last part of a question. i would like to address there in brevard county that was the county i was raised in and love it. it is horrible. i do not understand why anyone thanks that moms for liberty would be opposed to teaching the true history of what has happened to african americans and the black community in the united states.

horrible, horrible atrocities happened. we've made a lot of progress on to celebrate the progress that is made and made progress as far as the issue of slavery what has been taught what is the ideal what is the age that should be start taught at? >> the truth should be taught absolutely. but there thanks appropriate for second graders are there things apart for high schoolers that are not appropriate for second graders. that discussion needs to be had. our moms like to bring discussions to the table, gentlemen earlier on the call accused me of trying to put what my beliefs are on others that is not the case about the horrors e case of our organization. we just want all voices in the discussion at the table about what children in the community are going to be top for the beatable thing about the public education system as it was designed to do just that. in other countries it's topped out although it's the bottom. the united states of america

each community the voters, the citizens all get to come together and have a discussion florida florida everything the textbook is adopted it's put out in the open you have to present it at a public meeting and ask if it him in was to comment on it. set up that way so parents will step up and get involved come historically parents have it when he served on the school board and nobody showed up at those meetings and everyone's eyes are a people are having concerns discussions are being had it there is nothing wrong with it. hollywood, florida richard democrats line. >> how are you doing? i am a pastor and a veteran. i am amazed that not all white people but especially this one i am looking at it is amazing how for years white bolt white people told black people we need to stop blaming people for our failures. we need to stop looking at the

past. we need to stop being responsible for accidents. as a pastor i know this woman probably says she is a christian but she is a disgrace. because god created all of us the same. just because your skin is white that does not mean you get to decide what other races of people get to listen to, or read regardless of what you do black folks are going to continue to teach children what happens. some of your people did to us. you can do what ever you what to do. just like donald trump. it is everyone's fault but i saw on the television the other day and i think it was you that got up and defended you said i agree with what she said. i saw with my own eyes on the te

tvp quickset is richard there. chris and not show it is referencing in the end but i will address the issues from the beginning. i want my children and all children to learn about the history of this country. just as you want your children to learn about the history of this country the true factual history. if someone is saying otherwise that is it untrue statement. i do not want essay intake but what you teach your children what your teeth children should learn. they should come together and have a discussion what is age appropriate that's it plain and simple for anything that she heard about my organization or about me is false. >> and kathy and delaware republican line. >> hello. there was a little animosity toward white people from the previous color but we will get past that. the problem i am having this

morning is pedro you are not interviewing this lady you are interrogating her. you brought up the most negative things you could find at the very beginning of the interview. she knew that you are setting the tone for the people who come on the show whether they are conservatives. it seems to me you would be a little more open-minded for. >> their points of the conversation part of the reason we invited her she knew that going into it but go ahead with your comments please. >> i think i've made my point you picked up a very negative thing and then insisted the person you are talking not needed to be reprimanded. reprimanded for what? she was simply saying in the settlement was trying to explain how the situation came about. if you are going to start off an interview with a conservative with so much negativity it sets

the tone and i think that is inappropriate. >> out take your comments and move on to rhoda in minneapolis. you could respond if you wish to all that, go ahead. >> i just want to think of her comments. i am a big girl part of represent 120,000 moms across the country who are dealing with this daily from their neighbors and their community. it is important that i come on national television and let people say what they what to say excitement opportunity to set the record straight. many people will not believe what i'm saying they will believe what they've seen or heard or think they are c and heard i'm taking this opportunity to share truth about myself, my organization called my mom's i hope there are people out there that will listen and understand and take the time to research who we really are. what this is our guest third appearance rhoda on independent line. >> good morning, how you will doing? i just want to say words have

meaning. liberty has meaning. words have meaning so when you have a person you have people on twitter, applauding that instinct she should not have apologize. your words have meaning. number two you all need to understand i am gay i'm going to set the record straight the way i would to say forgiving to understand we are going to teach your kids what we need kids you are going to teach your kids what you need to teach her kids but you're not going to teach them the true history because you have an agenda just like i have an agenda. if you want to bring everybody to a conversation you got to bring the gays, the trans- comic guttering socialist pretty dutchman everybody to the table and not just what you think is at the table. try it you don't want people like us pretty tight at baddest, try to get rid of us, try to hide us and then say we have have a conversation.

well, let's have a conversation. bring these people to the table that them speak please. >> okay, thanks color. >> guess i appreciate your comments. i do know to ban or get rid of anybody i need to make that very clear part of our organization international level has members of the lgbtq community we have chapter chairs who are members lgbt community this is about children. we have plenty of members of children who are gay or are lesbians are part of the lgbtq community. this is again about children and what children have been taught in public schools. national summit in philadelphia just a few weeks ago we had the president and founder of gays against speak at our summer and she supports our organization on the work we are doing she is a lesbian but she also understands that small children should not be exposed to the things that are being exposed to right now in schools. >> thank you for bringing up your conference you also had a lot of presidential contenders to that conference. what do you attribute that to,

who showed up and what future beat that to? >> there are a couple of things for doing to put on the record we had five presidential candidates there for yes they were all republicans before your colors to point out again they were all republicans we invited all of the presidential candidates including president biden and robert f kennedy jr. bird president biden did not respond. robert kennedy junior committed to come. they sent us his bio comments headshot we put out a press release that he would be attending. and then he canceled said due to a family engagement a few days out. we want to hear from all candidates are summit was about our issues forward but education of the future of america because of the failure of education we are worried about parental rights and the parents right to direct the upbringing of their children in america. we said that to all the candidates that is a but wanted to hear about. and most of them stuck pretty close to that when they came for they threw in some of their campaign speeches two. we really had the opportunity to dig into those candidates.

we also had on the main stage a panel with education leaders from four different states we really dug in about education failure and what they're going to do in their states to improve education. i note cspan2 stream to some the stuff from our summit we are thankful for that project still available online website c-span.org. what is the philosophy of moms for liberty when it comes to endorsing? >> we will not endorsing a presidential primary. right now our chapters and inorganization only endorses in school board races. we believe that is where we can have the most impact for this all kinds of organizations with all kinds of issues getting involved in presidential campaigns. we brought them to our summit to speak to us on our issues only we are only endorsing in school board races. >> rep richard republican line hi. >> own to call in i'm tired of you getting attacked and want

you to know there are people out here who love what you are doing to protect the children. obviously this is good versus evil where you have people on the left who are really upset what it is to protect the children and you've got a white house that celebrates drag queens et cetera, naked dancing and other stuff. we love you, we thank you this is god versus evil and i am on your side. you are a beautiful woman and thank you. >> thank you sir appreciate your support for lecture talks about your conference want to push forward a little bit in 2024 in the commonwealth of virginia they asked parental rights how much it affected that will be in the next election cycle? >> will be the number one domestic issue in america and it should be. for many years i watched presidential debates on both sides of education was barely

mentioned. sometimes not at all. the goal of our organization with the many goals is to make sure education is front and center for the 2024 election. i think her gender really good job of that recently we did some national polling and found 70% of americans do not like the direction of education right now they think it's in the wrong direction also 70% of americans think of parents get the number would say with their children are taught in public school. we sell it in virginia will see that all across america will impact the 2024 presidential election for sure. >> and south carolina democrats line suzanne you're up next, hello. >> caller: thank you for the opportunity. i have for questions or statements. my understanding from a lot of reading of an phallic moms for liberty for a while now is your guest started this organization when she lost i think a school

board seats. i like to know if that is true. second, i agree with your guest of her visible scores in math and reading done lots of research i don't see anywhere at work moms for liberty are making recommendations on how to improve our children to math and reading skills. what i see them doing is fear mongering. my understanding and i want to be corrected if i am rock is this is actually a pretty right wing political organization asked under the name of moms for liberty. which sounds wonderful i don't know mom who is not for liberty. but i think it is a farce. i think it's a funded republican organization trying to make our

parents afraid of the other it's not bringing us together. it's dangerous. and i will conclude by saying that if you are an engaged parent, as i am you can go online and you can access the daily's teacher plan for every subject here in south carolina anyway. i know for the past eight years i have looked at my children's curriculum monthly, not daily. we all know what they are being taught progress we have to leave it there for the sake of time. you made your three points, go ahead. >> guest: the first question did i lose my reelection in florida? i absolutely did that is affirmative. but to your other two comments, one i am so thankful and grateful to hear you can access your child's curriculum what a

blessing that is, ma'am. but there are parents all across this country who cannot and when they do a records request to get access to it they get slapped with 10,000 dollar bills those are things we are fighting. not every parent has the opportunity to access a child's curriculum or what they're being taught or the books. you open the window right there for me too explain that exactly. as far as what are we doing to improve reading or math scores in this country we are doing a variety of things. if you are in south carolina it's her second or third largest state as far as membership reach out to your local chapter. ask them what they are doing i ithink you will be pleasantly surprised. they are volunteering. they are donating books. they are doing a variety of things for the number one indicator of student success and everyone agrees on this is parental involvement we are getting parents involved. our chapters are doing fundraisers and rights for their schools. they are doing some flight drives for students but not just that at the national level we are working right now with

multiple organizations on getting reading. if you go back to our youtube channel and look at the panel on the education leaders in the four states we brought in there is a really great discussion about reading and how we've been teaching reading wrong for quite some time in america and what needs to be done research based on studies have been done on how reading needs to be taught. what you're about to see for moms for liberty is as to enroll whole campaign on helping our chapters bring that to the local school districts by course corks comes in at 10:00 p.m. we will hear from ana in missouri independent line. >> good morning. first of all i would like to say thank you tina for your dedication. i am a teacher. i have been a principal, vice prince i worked in curriculum instruction and assessment. it is interesting how people want to judge based on a

republican, democrat, independent and it is bad. we are talking about children, little bitty kids. even though you might be able to look online and look at your curriculum you don't know it's going on in the classroom until you are there. the last year or two i have been appalled by how many of our children are exposed to things that are inappropriate sexually things am i a boy, am i a girl? i think it's bad when you want to judge someone on the color of their skin or what they do or what they don't do. i think we should step back and realize we are check about children. i love this show tina god bless you. do not let people stop you from what you are doing for. >> and that there in missouri, thank you. >> thank you ma'am i appreciate

your support you are right spieth our organization is working on many things but want to sort to protect the innocence of children. but it comes to these controversial issues of gender ideology or when to teach the details of things like the holocaust or slavery and things of that nature we need to be taught one 100% agree all the truth needs to be taught but young young children need to be protected. but we've also learned through some pulling a 67% of americans think gender ideology should not be taught in the youngest grades and yet we have whole states that have adopted curriculum to teach four year old they can be a boy or a girl or neither or both it is really concern in america to most parents today. >> and jason in florida at republican line you're next. >> 18 a good morning and thank you for what you're doing to protect our children. i would also like to ask you, can you talk a little bit about

the concerns the majority of american parents have about the standards of education and the fact these scores the actual graduation and sat scores have dropped over the last several decades and what you and your organization are doing to help improve the quality of classical education in our school systems? thanks again, tina. >> thank you, thank you for your question. what's going on in america's graduation rates as far as we can tell are not decreasing their increasing we like to call that graduation inflation rate so many so explain to us and i think that should be the department of education on how that is happening when two thirds of american fourth-graders are not reading on grade level. went over all through eighth grade the math and reading scores we already went over

that, or at such dismal lows how are graduation rates increasing? is a lot of things i need to happen right now but the number one thing i think our organization can do and anyone can do is shine a light on what is going on for this is not going to fix or get better were not going to be competitive with their education system in america alyssa shine light on the problems and address the problems at the most local level. through an 18 on moms for liberty twitter feed recently there's is to eat i want to read it to you can set up the context. it says let's debate to randi weingarten that says show up and put up your best argument, defend your failure we dare you could you toast with this tweet is about? >> yes so tiffany justice my cofounder runs or twitter account for that as a tweet straight from her. she has called on randi weingarten several times and asked her to debate her in public about education issues in education failure that is what

that tweet is about. she is bringing that to the national stage asking her to come on outward randi turns off from her twitter account often so she will not be criticized. we keep our comments open you can let comments on our tweets we let the attacks role. we believe people need to be able to be open and honest and share how they feel about these issues. education issues are so important she's a leader of education movement in this country. i will call out right now and ask her to debate on live stage with tiffany justice or are cofounder brickwork since brickd suppose there's not been a good response? >> no, no no response yet maybe now she will see this on c-span reach out question a boxer deskr desk the website moms for liberty.org tina is the cofounder of moms for liberty joining us for this conversation as always thanks for coming on and taking questions. >> thanks pedro appreciate the time to look to first guess the morning is michael he is the president and ceo of the brennan center for justice at new york university school of law.

he is also the author of a super majority supreme court divided america. good morning thanks for giving us your time. >> great to be with you. >> want to talk about talk about themes in her book in just a second recently wrote about the supreme court you wrote this, this was on the 11th of july's in 2023 is a bit more tempered than the incendiary year that came before surely the justices have noticed the courts of court'scredibility is its only e of power and his colleagues cannot continue to squander it at the current rate. they do not see their job of serving the republican party orf donald trump they seek a bigger goal of fundamental conservative transformative transformation of the country with lifetime tenure these unelected government officials of the keep their cool have a chance to do just that part i was wondering about the idea of a fundamental conservative transformation could you elaborate on that? >> yes. right now we have super majority very conservative wielding enormous power at moving very

quickly it's only been in place for two years now. moving quickly to reshape the country in the first term ending in june of last year. without the dobb's decision dobn overturning roe v wade with protection in the constitution of the women's reproductive rights we sell by far the most sweeping second amendment ruling in history in the bruin case. we saw the beginning of a significant push the power of agencies like the epa to regulate environments and build climate change and public safety then this year long cherished conservative goal overturning from higher education. quite clearly more to come when it comes to curbing the power for detecting the environments. this term was a bit more

tempered. there was a significant unexpected positive ruling and that voting acts case they did not finish the job of destroying the voting rights act. but the direction of the court is quite clear it aims to change the country by changing the court's interpretation of the constitution very quick to brico mention the redistricting case the independent case as it will put you call them i think you describe them brief but does not show the examples the court that go against this idea of the majority? >> independent state legislature there were a lot of conservatives to rule as it did it was a crackpot idea and they never should have taken the case. the extreme judge is most

important constitutional case on democracy in a long time if they had ruled for what the north carolina legislature wanted which was to say the legislatures of the states to say election rules without checks and balances from state constitutions from the state ste board of governors. but more broadly times they made a ruling i thought was a positive one they just kept the law in place. it was a very good thing they did it comes after decade in which the supreme court has really weakened the voting rights act but putting aside this two cases they have been moving aggressively and carefully both in this term to continue pushing the court to the right to the theory of how to read the constitution itself pretty radical in the way the claimant to be originalist. last year in june they can in three days they cramped in

decades of social policy. less like a court that we see as a public trust in the supreme court has collapsed ever recorded in the polls. and certainly the justices and the chief justice john roberts who is kenny and thanks about the public standing of the court, would have to be well aware of that. they are continuing to work cautiously but very unmistakably in the direction of set frequency mention polling the polling in june when asked about the views of the supreme court only 29% of those saying they showed approval of the court versus 58% the same pulsing 68% saying the supreme court is quote mainly motivated by politics, 25% of those saying mainly motivated by the law.

>> those are really devastating numbers for a court like this. we have an unusual system and our country the supreme court is a singular institution. we sit and wait every june for these big rulings as you said they are nine unelected government officials with lifetime tenure making these very big rulings the court only has the power to do this because we the people give at that power because we are willing to see it in some respects as above it politics as being really a court. and when the supreme court as it is now i would argue, is extreme, ideological, overreaching or even partisan there can be a fierce public backlash and collapse and trust and a withdrawal of the public consents. the part of the constitution dealing with the federal courts is only one tenth the length of the part of the constitutions and with congress and the

presidency which we assume to be that democratically accountable branches that will be doing most of the governing. again we have this court and the role that it is in now because we broadly, we the people have conferred our trust into that institution when one squanders that trust it squanders that ability to act quick to supreme court our topic with michael he is with new york university school of the brennan center for justice he serves as the president ceo is also the author of the super majority how the supreme court divided america. just some question (202)748-8000 for democrats for (202)748-8001 for republicans. independence (202)748-8002. you can texas (202)748-8003. a little bit about the brennan center remind our viewers what it is about fun too and financially supports you? >> thanks the brennan center is a nonpartisan law and policy institute.

we work to strengthen, to reform and when necessary to defend the systems of democracy and justice in our country so they work for everyone. we are philly with nyu school of law were not part of the university for we are funded entirely by private sources we do not get any government money we do not get support from the university. we have 40000 donors mostly individuals, some foundations and businesses and law firms. we have found there is a huge amount of interest in protecting american democracy and protecting our constitution from across the applicable spectrum. we think we are in a great fight for the future of american democracy in this country. as a think tank and advocacy group we try to be part of that. >> your book of the super majority wasn't based only on decisions of recent note by the supreme court or a longer view of its action? >> a lot of it was about this first full year of the super

majority control of the court and date in the big rulings i mentioned in june of 2022. but it tried to take a longer view because i think that history has a lot to teach us. broadly speaking when you look at the whole history of the country the supreme court reflects the consensus in the country most of the time for at least the elite consensus pretty much hugs the middle. but there have been times, a few times when the supreme court has overreached and there has been a significant fierce and political backlash that happened after 1857 with the dred scott ruling which was the ruling that said congress could not prohibit slavery in the territories and set black people cannot be citizens. the response was so outraged led to abraham lincoln's election to the presidency. and the rise of the republican party and ultimately had a lot to do with bringing on the civil war the end of slavery. use a similar dynamic in the

early 20th century in the. the lawyers call the lochner area after a particular taurus case that's i was a tight of a great industrialization concentration of wealth and change in our country. the supreme court justices felt their job was to stop government from being able to do anything about it too. to protect workers, women and public safety. in striking down those kinds of government action. this was a fight that lasted all the way from the beginning of the century, it was very political part i had not realized until researching the book that teddy roosevelt 1912 presidential campaign when he was running against his hand-picked successor and woodrow wilson was a democrat and the socialists. teddy roosevelt's big issue was taking on the activism and arrogance of the supreme court of that era and of course leading up to the fight between his cousin franklin roosevelt and the supreme court over the new deal.

i was had the third era was certainly a significant backlash came in the ward court era in the aftermath for think the war court made extraordinarily important strides for justice of freedom and democracy in this country with cases like brown versus board of education. by the end it was so active on so many fronts it created a political backlash, a conservative counterrevolution legally and we have been living through that backlash for decades. i think we are in a moment like that today where this court is misreading its moment in overreaching the political backlash is already begun. >> michael wall here for this discussion tom joins us from nashville. this is on the independent line you are on and the author of the but the super majority of the supreme court divided america. tom go-ahead for. >> that was pretty good what you just said about my favorite president, teddy roosevelt i call mainly reflect on the court

from 53 years ago were they virtually destroyed the national public school system. they destroyed it. so the best public school systems in the country because they introduced force the busing throughout a metropolitan county. they made poor people come to what rich people lived. it did not work. it does not work. nashville has more people going to private school stated than you have ever seen when you came up with think this latest thing of roe versus wade another big mistake. but once again this court is supreme. i like what andrew jackson said when simon supreme court ruled against him he said by the way, what kind of army does the supreme court have question with that being said you hit a lot of good points from roosevelt aldwych adjuster sworn. i will get your book for sure. >> tom, thank you.

what's the color makes an interesting point. a lot of the criticisms of the supreme court that have gone on over the decades of big activists of it being unaccountable democratically unaccountable have come from conservatives who were unhappy as this color express, with ruins from half a century ago. right now though this shoe is on the other foot in the sense the supreme court has not really fit activists in the way the gentleman describes on those issues for half of a century. interestingly the afterglow from that. both animates a lot of conservative rhetoric about the court or at least up until recently but also has given liberal's i think something of a false notion of the role the supreme court plays and should play in our system. right now, what people want among other thing is the protection of the rights and stability there can be criticism of the original roe v wade ruling for example justice ruth

bader ginsburg was one of the people who criticized it. but over the years especially in the later case written by sandra day o'connor it became part of the fabric of american life it became an expectation that american women have of the the y to have reproductive freedom. so when the court says as they did last june it was wrong from the beginning it was egregiously wrong and rip set up the original reasoning of the case is less important than the impact here and now it has been quite compulsively see it playing out in the politics in many states for. >> is this from steve and north carolina the democrat line. >> good morning gentlemen. but your own with the guest go-ahead. >> guests go-ahead. >> yes or i'm sorry. i am a conservative democrat. i have issues with the court, obviously.

but i think too many people have turned to the court to say we cannot get our legislatures to do what we want to look at the court to do what we want. that is so, so wrong. north carolina passed a state constitutional amendment which i did not necessarily agree with only recognizing same-sex couples as being legal in the state within the supreme court basically said oh no, state constitutions don't matter anymore it's the rights of the people of the states don't matter anymore. so where do the rights of the people of the individual states and national takeover? >> first about the great set of questions for the constitution makes clear that when it come to some basic and fundamental individual rights the federal constitution covers the whole country. and so when states or state laws

are in conflict with the federal constitution the federal constitution prevails. we won it that way we want to live in one country with one set of rights. more broadly the colors really onto something. i think that when possible it is by far the best to secure advances for equality, for democracy, for justice through that democratically accountable branches of government by voting for legislators for voting by congress and a lot of what we need the courts to do ultimately is to get out of the way but not to impose a political philosophy in this case a very conservative and i would argue extreme philosophy and the guys of interpreting the constitution. this idea of judicial restraint with something progressives and liberals cherished for much of the country's history because they saw other errors the harmful consequences that you could have permit overly activist judiciary.

i will give you a great set of example some deal with north carolina. over and over again we talk about these issues on democracy, on voting on money and politics in campaign-finance what we are really looking at his laws passed by congress. state legislatures or the people to protect voting rights. to advance campaign-finance laws that curb against the excess of big money and politics. the courts have stepped in and undone what the people did print the quest the courts would step aside would have a much more robust and functioning democracy. i will say the case coming out of north carolina in this term which would have been a catastrophic disaster if it had gone the other way was a relief. north carolina chose the way the issues can play out sometimes the state, as the caller knows is a pretty evenly divided state has a democratic governor and republican legislature, voters have split half and half.

the legislature passed a very gerrymandered map that produced a congressional delegation that was wait wait disproportionally heavily republican. t the senaten recess subject to the call of the chair. the presiding officer: the senate stands in recess subject to the call