for the package of appropriation bills in the senate. huge bipartisan support. they are working together. so the center city is mod with a bipartisan bill. on the house side you're looking at a more partisan process and that that is somewhat normal at the house will go on a more partisan route. at this point but they are really running into some issues when it comes to passing appropriation bills on the floor of the house do you have some house conservatives who want significant more cuts to the billsil that appropriate or writing which already underneath the cap, and yet the moderates about policy provisions. it will be really interesting the next few weeks. we are still at the point where both chambers are working on their individual appropriation process and continue resolution negotiations have not quite started at least of high level of what we expect to see in the

next two weeks. but at this point they are still trying to work out their own processes. very important vote today in the house, potentially. they're trying to pass the defense appropriation bill but it does appear there's -- >> we are leaving this program for live coverage map of the u.s. senate. today lawmakers are expected to continue work on a three bill spending package to fund the agriculture, housing, transportation and veterans affairs departments. it totaled $279 billion for fiscal year 2024. live coverage of the senate here on c-span2. the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. the chaplain, dr. barry black, will lead the senate in prayer.

the chaplain: let us pray. almighty god, show favor to our land and bless us with your grace. transform us into people who look to you for guidance and fulfillment as we seek to do your will. lord, unite us to accomplish the things that honor you. strengthen the members of this body to serve you as you deserve. empower them to give and not to count the cost, to strive and not to heed the wounds. help them to toil and not to

seek for rest, to labor and not to ask for any reward except of knowing they are doing your will. may each senator daily strive to speak the truth and honor you. we pray in your righteous name. amen. the presiding officer: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to the flag. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

the clerk will read a communication to the senate. the clerk: washington d.c., september 13, 2023. to the senate: under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable john w. hickenlooper, a senator from the state of colorado, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: patty murray, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. morning business is closed. under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to h.r. 4366, which the clerk will report. the clerk: motion to proceed to h.r. 4366, and act making appropriations for military construction, the department of veterans affairs, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2024, and for other purposes.

test:

mr. mcconnell: mr. president. the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are not. mr. mcconnell: as i outlined yesterday, the senate's pending business on proamtions is tremendously important -- on appropriations is tremendously important to america's farmers, to our veterans, and to the future of our airports, roads, bridges, and ports. my home state of kentucky is certainly no exception. the commonwealth is home to a host of important and overdue infrastructure projects. as a transportation and logistics hub, my home state boasts an impression network of

roads, ports, railroads, and waterways that keep our economy and the american people literally on the move. overhauling this infrastructure strengthens the essential link folks in kentucky have to the rest of the nation, while making those transit resources faster, more efficient, and more reliable for everyone. i'm also proud of kentucky's diverse agricultural industry, made up of over 75,000 farms, an overwhelming majority of which are family-owned and family-operated. kentucky's rural communities understand the importance of efforts like expanding rural broadband deployment and protecting livestock from diseases that can financially

devastate small family farms. certainly, our work in the coming days will also impact kentucky's army installations and national guard facilities. investments in military construction ensure our brave men and women in uniform have access to the world-class training facilities they need to defend our country. maintaining kentucky's premier fighting forces is critical to cerming -- deterring aggression from our adversaries and protecting american strength. so, as the senate continues to make progress on regular-order appropriations, i'm pleased to see kentucky take center stage at solving some of the real issues that face our people. now, mr. president, america's

defense industrial base is in the middle of an historic transformation. this is something republicans have been working toward literally for years. it's good news for america's national security. in fact, it's essential for our strategic competition with communist china. today, i'd like to talk a bit more about what exactly is making this urgent progress possible. over the past year and a half, the lethal u.s. aid helping ukraine defend its sovereignty and degrade russia's military has consisted in large part of aging weapon stocks that were sitting in our own arsenal, in

many cases literally collecting dust. the security assistance money appropriated for ukraine isn't just buying weapons for ukraine. it's also replenishing and modernizing america's own arsenal, and the vast majority of it is going to american defense manufacturers. this includes funding to expand production lines of munitions needed by the u.s. military, as well as vulnerable allies in both asia and europe. we who want and need american weapons. that's tens of billions of dollars directly supporting tens of thousands of jobs in at least 38 states, so far. support for ukraine is driving

historic investments in the communities that we all represent. take the 155 artillery round, replenishing america's stockpile of this critical munition has meant spending $3.6 million to producers in neff, $-- in nevada, $48 million to florida and illinois, $65 million to ohio, $141 million to arizona, $174 million to tennessee, $181 million to virginia, $355 million to pennsylvania, and $519 million to texas. that's generally $2 billion worth of direct investment in american industry, american jobs, and american strength. contrary to critics who say

ukraine is a distraction from china, this investment isn't flowing in spite of our support for ukraine, but actually because of it. a west virginia facility that supports 1600 jobs has significantly increased production of moators and war -- motors and warheads for guided multiple-launch rocket systems, for which there is increased global demand. in st. charles, missouri, a facility that employs 1300 workers, so-called ukraine money has funded a vastly expanded production line to build fresh stocks of extended-range jdam precision-guided munitions. these are actually

transformational investments, and they wouldn't have happened without the supplemental funding that we approved last year. we're not just talking about buying these stocks, but about expanding production capacity to meet u.s. and allied demand. this is a critical piece of our race to compete with china. in fact, that same missouri munitions production line is also set to fulfill orders from some of america's closest allies and partners in asia. that's right, japan, singapore, south korea, and the philippines are arming themselves with american munitions to deter china. and the same is true for other critical munitions. thanks to ukraine funding, we're on a path to double production

of critical weapons like stingers and javelins, along with innovative new weapons like the ground-launched small diameter bomb, which will be produced in arkansas and new york. this expanded production capacity will benefit america as well as partner militaries from europe to asia. i'll have more to say in the coming days about the historic investments our allies are making here in the united states as a direct result of american leadership. but for now, i'm tremendously proud of our own work to invest in american industry, american workers, and american strength. now, on one final matter, i spoke yesterday about the biden administration's war on american industry, energy, and how

working families are feeling it at the gas pump. but energy prices are not the only reason it's been so hard to balance household budgets on washington democrats' watch. just this morning the bureau of labor statistics announced that inflation increased by 0.6% this month, putting year-over-year inflation at 3.7%. that's well above the federal reserves 2% targets. -- target. it puts cumulative inflation since president biden took office at over 17%. but as the american people continue to struggle against rising costs, the president appears to be taking a victory tour, touting bidenomics as one of his counseling achievements. over labor day weekend,

president biden told voters that bidenomics, quote, is working. the american people are not fooled by this. they can feel the pinch in their wallets. they know that washington democrats' runaway spending is the reason for it. as one woman told reporters recently, quote, i don't think president biden has the everyday people's best interests in mind. everything's gone up -- electricity, groceries, fuel. it's not fair to the american people. well, she's not alone. according to one recent survey, a large majority of americans disapprove of the president's handling of the u.s. economy. families are paying 20% more at the grocery store. credit card debt has surpassed $1 trillion for the first time ever. and overall, real wages are down 2.3% since 2021.

the numbers do not lie. even biden's secretary of commerce has said that inflation is still a challenge. and something that people still see on a daily basis when they go to the grocery store or pay their mortgage. bidenomics may be working, but it's working against working americans. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. the clerk: ms. baldwin.

>> at the start of the year when vice chair collins and i took over as leader of the senate appropriations committee, we announced something ambitious. return the committee to regular order. the first thing everyone told us was that's great, we all want to return to regular order. we all want to show the american people that congress can actually function. that we can work together and solve problems and pass bills to make their life better. but the second thing they told us was essentially good luck, you're going to need it. vice chair collins and i went to work. we said look, if this is going to happen with to show we are serious about writing these bills that can actually he signed into law. that meant a few things. first of all admit we had to work with the funding levels in the debt ceiling deal struck by president biden and speaker mccarthy, a deal that a hat and they still have concerns

about. and which we quite tough funding decisions across each of our 12 bills but the president and speaker shook hands and that is the agreement that congress passed into law, and we can't produce serious bills every start by throwing that framework out the window. secondly, met we had to work together to find common ground, including on top and thorny issues, and compromise where necessary to produce spending bills that can make it through both chambers and to the president desk. that meant avoiding poison pills that could think of these bills. and third, we wanted to make sure that we had an open, bipartisan process. we wanted to give each and every one of our colleagues the chance to weigh in on these bills, and the american public the chance to see our work on them. so we help over 40 hearings this spring to assess our nation's need for the year ahead.

we sought input from all of our colleagues. we wrote these bills together, and then we held markups for the first time in two years. we televise the markups, first time ever, so people could follow this debate from home. and that those markups we discussed the draft legislation, consider amendments, and voted on our bills. the results, for the first time in five years we passed all 12 2 of our funding bills out of our committee, and we did it with an overwhelming bipartisan support. nine of the 12 bills passed unanimously, or had just a single no vote. in total, 97% of the votes the vote on our bills in committee or yes votes. mr. president, these are not the bills i would've written on my own. they are not what vice chair collins would have written on her own. they are the bills we wrote together along with our colleagues on the committee, and with input from nearly every

senator on both sides of the aisle. and they are serious bills they can be signed into law. which is how this process should work. we should come together, look for common ground and build on it to write bills that solve problems and make people's life better, and give our nation and the communities the resources they need to stay safe and competitive and to grow and thrive. that's exactly what the three bills in this package you do. as chair of the subcommittee on military construction veterans affairs and related agencies, i am pleased to say i was able to work with senator boozman to put together a bill that gets our military and our veterans the support we owe them, the support that they need. this is essential to keeping our nation safe, because our ships and submarines and aircraft are only as good as infrastructure they rely on. and the troops operate them. so this bill provides dod with

19.1 billion for military construction that is an increase over fy '23 levels. this funding will help with construction needs across our country at base installations for projects like chastity belt and sectors, to make sure our servicemembers and their spouses can go to work knowing that their children are safe. housing him like the barracks project at joint base lewis-mcchord in my home state, and of the facilities across the country to support our troops. it will help make sure that our shipyards like the naval base and the puget sound naval shipyard are up-to-date and up to the challenges of this moment. these investment will build our present around the world especially in the indo-pacific regions and strengthen our military infrastructure to keep it resilient in the face of threats like severe weather and earthquakes. and i'm really glad we include funds to address harmful pfas

chemicals and other toxins at form installations that could put our communities in harm's way. i'm also very proud of the work we have done in bill to support veterans and their families. as a daughter of a world war ii veteran, i take the promises we made to those who fought for our country very seriously. and this bill ensures that we keep those promises by fully funding the das budget request. we are talking or for mental health, suicide prevention programs, the caregivers program, expanding the childcare pilot program. they continue to be a huge priority for me across all of our appropriation bills. funding for homelessness prevention programs for our veterans, rural health programs and, of course, women's veterans health care. by the way women are the fastest-growing demographic of veterans over all. our milcon va funding bill also increases the eight infrastructure funding so we can begin to address the challenges related to v.a.s aging medical facilities.

and it reflects a much-needed pause in greece that happening with the electronic health record modernization program. i was raising the alarm from day one about how the unacceptable botched rollout of the program hurt veterans in my home state and of watching closely to make sure we see changes that provide real results for our veterans and rva providers because at the end of the day these deficits are not just about programs and contracts. this is about our promise to get veterans of benefits they earned and need to stay healthy. like prescriptions, mental health care, cancer screenings, and more. so the stakes could not be high for those families and we owe them that much. which i am proud that this bill sends a clear bipartisan message we are not going to shortchange our veterans and our servicemembers, and we will live up to our obligation to provide them with the resources that they need. the next bill in this packet from the subcommittee on

agriculture, rural development, food and drug administration and related agencies make sure we're living up to another crucial obligation, and that is to keep our food supply safe and secure and support will commence across our country. because at the most basic level we can't test all committees if people can't put food on the table. that means making sure the food that is sold in our country is safe pick it means protecting families from shortages so avoiding and mitigating supply chain disruption. addressing climate crisis like drought which can threaten crops that we all rely on. it means addressing food insecurity so people can afford and access the food they need to keep the families healthy and fit. and in supporting our nation's farmers who are such a huge part of our economy. for example, everyday my home state of washington we ship apples, cherries, wheat, potatoes, and many other commodities across the country

and across the world. so want to think senator heinrich and senator hoeven for the very hard work to help put together a bipartisan bill that delivers on those crucial issues. this bill will make sure fda has a resources it needs to keep grocery stores and dinner table safe, and to input the bipartisan cosmetic legislation the week ago should last year and that many of us worked very hard to pass on. it also includes crucial funding to support our farmers. for example, increased investment in agricultural research. just last month i was home and visited my alma mater washington state university which is home to world-class agriculture research programs. this funding will help universities like wsu to tackle problems that our farmers are facing like in my state smoke exposure to wine grape, herbicide resistance and little cherry disease. not to mention efforts we need to make to address water

shortages, prove our yields, reduce inputs and more. the bill also funds absolutely critical nutrition programs like rick which is a lifeline to keep so many families from growing hungry -- going hungry. this bill fully fund rick included in the president's budget request and we know that participation and calls for the program are changing. so as we work to get final appropriation bills signed into law, i will keep working around the clock to make sure that no one loses their wic benefits underwent his force to be on a wait list. we've got to maintain the strong bipartisan support for that program going forward and continue to fully fund it, and that's a top priority for me. mr. president, my family had to rely on food stamps were short time, and thanks to that help that we got when i was young, every one of my six brothers and sisters and i have been able now to grow up and get back to our communities because i country had our back when we needed it.

so make no mistake that our investments in wic are not just a white trip right thing, the moral thing. it is investment in future of america. so if i hadn't painted a picture yet, investments like this would maintain our nutrition program support our farmers and keep our food supply safe and secure are truly mission-critical to our nation's future but they are also why partisan. there are things we can all agree on that are important for america. finally, this package includes the funding bill from the transportation, housing and urban development and related agencies subcommittee. i previously led the subcommittee along with vice chair collins as a chair and ranking member. and i can tell you investments you are critical to help prevent people from living on the streets or being out in the cold and get people and goods where they need to go in a safe and timely way. washington state like some of the states in her country has really been grappling with our nation's housing and

homelessness crisis for years. so i'm glad that we're able to maintain and build on some key investment in this bill that provide rental assistance to families in need, increase our housing supply, support and maintenance for distressed properties, and connect people with health care and education and employment programs and other support services. and the help we can come together in a bipartisan way to do more to tackle those challenges in a serious weight in the future. because while this bill does take important steps and includes messenger investment, our housing and homelessness crisis is going to take a lot more in flat funding in most areas and modest funding increases in some programs which is what it was possible to negotiate under the tough budget caps in this debt ceiling deal. now when it comes to a nations transportation infrastructure, the investment in are especially important in light of some other derailments and disasters and disturbing close calls that we

saw this year. i am very please were able to increase funding for the federal aviation administration so it can address the shortage of air traffic controllers, reduce flight delays, increase efficiency, and modernized technology, and quickly improved safety which is a important given the concern number of near misses we've seen recently. this bill also increases the federal railroad administration funding for its safety work to make sure we have enough inspectors to keep our rails safe and we can research important questions to improve rail safety and efficiency. so i really want to thank senator schatz and senator hyde-smith for the excellent work putting that built together. mr. president, each and every one of the appropriation bills in the package before us today is a result of an open bipartisan process that invited input from every single senator. in fact, that is true for all 12

of the bills our committee passed all an overwhelming bipartisan votes. as my colleagues know, the senate appropriations committee has plenty of members on opposite ends of the political spectrum, strongly progressive democrats and deeply conservative republicans. in other words, getting here took a lot of hard work, late nights, early mornings, and we had to really set politics aside, listen to each other, focus on the problems and find common ground. i think i speak for everyone when i say this work has not been easy. and, of course, i know as well as anyone, i work is not done. i think we all understand a cr will be necessary to see this process through and we all understand supplemental funding is absolutely essential to respond to some of the urgent challenges our states are facing like delivering disaster relief. communities really desperately need today. and playing our wildland firefighters, continue to have our ukrainian allies back and

addressing the fentanyl crisis. not to mention the need as i spoken of, of addressing the childcare funding cliff the threads to put childcare further out of reach for too many families. and, of course, even after we pass this funding package before us today, we need to get all the rest of our appropriation bills across the finish line. but by passing this package and the rest of our appropriation bills, we're showing the american people that there is a clear bipartisan path for us to do our jobs and fund the government. there is absolutely no reason for chaos or a shutdown, and i will continue working nonstop with my colleagues to make sure we get that job done. this was never going to be easy, but none of us came here because we thought it was easy. we came here because we wanted to make life better for folks back home. helping people solving problems. i have said that a lot during my time here in the senate and i

brokered a lot of bipartisan deals, always in service to the people i represent back home, the friends and neighbors that i grew up with. helping people in solving problems, that is our job and i would like to see us do more of that together, democrats and republicans. so i urge all of our colleagues, let's keep this momentum going, let show the american people congress can work for them. there doesn't have to be a calamity over funding the government. let's show that there can't and will be major policy disagreements on any number of issues, but their elected leaders can come together on what we do agree on. and we will fund the government responsibly so they don't have to worry about chaos shutdowns. and on that note i would like to encourage my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to come to the floor and talk about these bills. what did mean for your state, what they mean for your constituent, what your priorities are here and to talk to me and to talk to senator

collins if you have amendments and ideas for how we can make these bills better. because senator collins and i are working out to clear manager's package and set up votes. our staffs are still working hard and we're happy to work with your team so we can pass the strongest bill possible. we have been working closely from day one to run an open bipartisan process to get input from all of our colleagues and to make sure everyone can make their constituent voices heard. one issue vice-chairman, and i've heard about from many of our colleagues is they need to support community is rebuilding after recent disasters. i will have more to say that on the days ahead but it is fun to buy for both of us in the appropriate committee as a whole to take care of our communities who are working so hard to rebuild after the recent formal disasters which include as an of the wildfires in hawaii is a washington state flooding in vermont, california as well as the damage caused by hurricane i

delegate. so as we get started on this bill i say to all of my colleagues can come to the floor, talk to us, june, congress passed a bipartisan bill to increase the debt limit and impose meaningful fiscal controls. that law was appropriately titled the fiscal responsibility act. its passage marked a long overdue step towards fiscal sanity it. i assume you got to go back about a dozen years until congress has taken such a fiscally responsible step. the nonpartisan congressional budget office, or cbo, as we call it here in town, projects the fiscal responsibility act could save americans $1.5 trillion over the next ten years. i say could save because for

this to hold true, congress must adhere to spending caps that it has imposed. the cbo's latest long-term budget outlook shows that in 30 years our national debt will be $11 trillion lower than previously projected. this is in large part thanks to this bill passed this year, the fiscal responsibility act. while $11 trillion is certainly a large sum, it's a drop in the bucket compared to the $118 trillion in debt that the u.s. is expected to chalk up over those same 30 years -- chock up over those same 30 years. so of course the fiscal path we're on is not sustainable. if you take debt held by the

public, today public debt is about as large as the annual u.s. economic output. within six years, public debt will reach an historically high 107% of gdp. the previous record was set in the wake of world war ii. once that dismal record is broken, public debt will grow faster than the economy, with no end in sight. as you can see from the chart on display here. when public -- when the public holds large amounts of debt, well, it naturally cellulose the economy. it naturally reduces national income and naturally increases

inflation. it also leads to ballooning from the costs -- ballooning interest costs, which are already at a 22-year high. based on current trajectory, here is a snapshot of years ahead. so pay attention to the chart, please. within five years, the united states will spend more on interest than on national defense. within eight years, interest payments will surpass our spending on nondefense discretionary programs. over the next ten years, interest on our debt will cost taxpayers more than $10.4 trillion. that's $10.4 trillion that could be used to improve the lives of

americans. now, instead, it will pad the pockets of our nation's creditors, even including foreign adversaries like china, which considers investment in the national debt of the united states to be a good investment. finally, within 30 years, interest payments will reach over $5 trillion a year. that would make interest the single-largest annual government spending, surpassing both social security and medicare. now, everybody listening and everybody not listening knows that we can't keep swiping our nation's maxed out credit card while we cross our fingers for prepandemic interest rates to

return. families, farmers, and small businesses make trade-offs every day to stay on budget. they have to balance their checkbooks, besides staying on budget. congress, of course, needs to do the same. enacting spending caps in the fiscal responsibility act was a -- was the very, very easiest part. so the real challenge will be walking that walk and sticking to those caps. to do this, congress must renew its focus on two things -- fiscal responsibility and good government. now recently, you know, fitch downgraded the united states' credit rating just last month.

it named both fiscal responsibility and good government as factors in its decision. congress has the responsibility and the duty to demonstrate fiscal responsibility and good government and do it now. as we work to fund federal agencies and programs for this upcoming fiscal year. former fed chairman paul volker told congress in the 1980's, quote, cutting spending may appear to be the most painful part of the job, but i'm convinced that the pain for all of us will be ultimately much greater if it is not accomplished, end of quote.

paul volker's advice is even more apt today than ever because our national spending and our national debt is much greater than it was in paul volker's time. we need to stop governing from crisis to crisis and return to regular order, like we are today on the appropriations bills before the united states senate. that means restoring a key component of senate procedures -- real and robust debate on spending decisions. the senate has only debated one or more appropriations bills seven times, just seven times, since 2008. the last time we did it was five years ago, 2018. otherwise, between 2018 and last year, we operated under this

omnibus appropriations bill process, where we didn't give proper attention to each segment of our government. we didn't have much chance for debate and probably no chance for amendment. last year, as one of those years, not a single funding bill was reported out of committee. congress didn't complete its appropriations until december 23. we must do better this year, and we need to applaud chairman murray, ranking member collins. they have both done their part by shepherding all 12 regular funding bills through the senate appropriations committee. now it is the full senate's turn, so let's get to work, get the job done. i yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: f.w. de klerk ms. baldwin -- the clerk: ms. baldwin. mr. thune: mr. president. the presiding officer: the minority whip. mr. thune: i ask that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: officer without objection. mr. thune: i want to associate myself with the remarks of senator from wyoming and it is long time overdue that this senate get back to regular order. if you look at the way that you govern a country and have as much spending and debt on an annual basis as this country does, you need to do it in a way that reflects each individual bill being considered so that individual senators, not just those on the appropriations committee but those in the entire senate, have an opportunity to have their voices heard. in the last few years what we've

ended up with, as the senator from iowa end pointed out, a huge omnibus spending bill at the end of the year, cobbled together by a bunch of people in a back room. that's not the way to run a government with as many parts as we have. we need the fiscal responsibility and restraint hopefully that comes with a regular appropriations process. and so i would echo that and am pleased that the senate appropriations committee has reported the bills out to the floor of the senate. i would hope that that the democrat leader will ensure that that is job number one, and that is taking up these bills and passings them in a way that reflects the will of not only our constituents, with toys have more visibility and transparency and accountability when it comes to government spending but also a way that reflects the rights and prerogatives of their

representatives have to consider these considered in the light of day and to have their voices heard, whether they serve on the appropriations committee or not. since particularring office, president biden has not hesitated to use the power of the legislative state. take his recent decision to cancel oil and gas leases in alaska in defiance of congressional direction or his radical interpretation and implementation of the green new deal provisions of the so-called inflation reduction act which has left one of the bill's authors deeply unfortunate frommed with the white house. but today i want to talk about another instance of presidential overreach and that is the biden administration decision to use the bipartisan safer communities act to deny funding to school, hunting, and averagery programs. the -- and archery programs.

it was not intended to prevent hunting safety training or deny students the opportunity to participate in archery programs. in fact, neither hunting nor archery is mentioned in the legislation. characteristically hurricanes the biden administration has -- character stickily, the biden administration has used this provision to advance its far-left agenda. for the sake of the biden administration, which frequently seems completely out of touch with rural america, let me just talk about hunting for a minute. it is a venerable institution. it is about gathering meat to fill the freezer, but it's also about much more than that. it is about community, tradition, coming together over the around, conservation, and respect for the land. my dad taught me and my siblings to hunt, and while we learned

how to bag roosters, we also learned a lot of life lessons from patience to perseverance to gun safety. i cherish those times with my dad and the times i spend today hunting with my family, friends, sons-in-law, people on an annual basis and get together and spend quality time together in the beautiful outdoors in beautiful south dakota. school districts should have the choice of spending their extracurricular dollars on programs that teach kids how to carry on this venerable tradition safely and responsibly. hunt safe for schools, which teaches hunter safety in south dakota schools, uses nonfunctional guns to teach kids about hunting with, and i quote, an emphasis on firearm safety and responsibility, end quote.

and these kinds of programs have an effect. learning to safely handle firearms results in a decrease in firearm-related injuries and accidents. hunting education programs have contributed to a steep decline in hunting accidents. funding these programs in schools seems like a good thing to do to promote saver communities -- safer communities. as for archery, i'm at a complete loss why the biden administration would seek to deny federal funding to these programs. the national archery in the schools program, which has 1.3 million students in nearly 9,000 schools in 49 states enrolled in archery programs offers students the opportunity to experience all the benefits of an accessible and inclusive sport that teaches everything from personal excellence to perseverance. the national archery in the schools program reports that 58% of participating students say

they feel more connected to their school. 40% feel more engaged in the classroom. a whopping 91% pursue or want to pursue other outdoor activities as a result of their archery participation. once again, school districts should have the choice of spending their federal extracurricular dollars on programs like this that unquestionably, unquestionably meet the goal of helping to offer students a well-rounded education. and it is a use of those dollars that congress never sought to ban, as i suspect the biden administration is well aware and already knows. mr. president, there have already been reports of schools canceling plans to include hunting or archery education in their curricula as a result of the biden administration's directive.

the biden administration needs to immediately reverse its decision before more programs are canceled and more kids lose out on opportunities to develop the confidence, the skills, and the sense of community that comes from participating in these programs. mr. president, i have a little -- i have little hope that the biden administration will rein in its radical agenda or stop using its regulatory power to impose its far-left visions. i'm grateful both democrats and republicans are raising questions about this particular instance of biden administration overreach. and i hope that we can continue to work to curb the biden administration's regulatory e-sesses and prevent -- excesses and prevents americans from suffering the painful consequences of this president's radical policies. mr. president, i yield the floor, and i suggest the absence of a quorum.

the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. the clerk: ms. baldwin.

>>

>> my home state of kentucky is certainly no exception. the commonwealth is home to a host of important and overdue infrastructure projects. as a transportation and logistics hub, my home state boasts an impression network of roads, ports, railroads and waterways that keep our economy9 and the american people literally on the move. overhauling this infrastructure strengthens the essential link folks in kentucky have to the rest of the nation while making those transit resources faster, more efficient and more reliable for everyone. i'm also proud of kentucky's diverse agricultural industry made up of over 75,000 farms.

an overwhelming majority of which are family-owned and family-operated. kentucky's rural communities understand the importance of efforts like expanding rural broadband deployment and protecting livestock from diseases that can financially devastate small family farms. work in the coming days will also impact kentucky's army installations and national guard facilities. investments in military construction insure our brave men and women in uniform have access to the world class training facilities they need to dedefend -- defend our country. maintaining kentucky's premier fighting forces is critical to determining -- deterring aggression from our adversaries

and protecting american strength. so as the senate continues to make progress on regular order appropriations, i'm pleased to see kentucky take center stage in solving some of the real issues that face our people. now, mr. president, america's defense industrial base is in the middle of an historic transformation. this is something republicans have been working toward literally for years. it's good news for america's national security. in fact, it's essential for our strategic competition with communist china. and today the i'd like to talk a bit -- today the i'd like to talk a bit more about what exact ly is making this urgent progress possible.

over the past year and a half, the lethal usa helping ukraine protect its sovereignty and degrade russia's military has consistented in the large part of aging weapons stocks that were sitting in our own arsenal. in many cases, literally collecting dust. the security assistance money appropriated for ukraine isn't just buying weapons for ukraine, it's also replenishing and is modernizing america america's own arsenal. and the vast majority of it is going to american defense manufacturers. this includes funding to expand production lines of munitions needed by the u.s. military as well as vulnerablal lyes --

allies in both asia and europe. who want and need american weapons. that's tens of billions of dollars directly supporting tens of thousands of jobs in at least 38 states so far. support for ukraine is driving historic investments in the communities that we all represent. take the 155 artillery round. replenishing america's stockpile of this critical munition has meant spending $3.6 million to producers in nevada, $48 million to florida and illinois, $65 million to ohio, $141 million to arizona, $174 million to tennessee, $1811 million to

virginia -- 181 million, $355 million to pennsylvania and $519 million to texas. that's nearly $2 billion worth of direct investment in american industry, american jobs and american strength. contrary to critics who say ukraine is a distraction from china, this investment is in spite of -- isn't in spite of our support for ukraine, but actually because of it. a west virginia facility that supports 16000 jobs -- 1600 jobs has significantly increased production of motors and warheads for guided multiple-launch rocket systems for which there is increased global mass. in st. charles, missouri, a facility that employs 1300

workers, so-called ukraine money has funded a vastly-expanded production line to build fresh spockss -- stocks of extended range precision-guided munitions. these are actually transformational investments, and and they wouldn't have happened without the supplemental funding that we approved last year. we're not just sw talking about buying these stocks, but about expanding production capacity to meet u.s. and allied demand. this is a critical piece of our race to compete with china. in fact, that same missouri munitions production line is also said to -- set to fulfill orders for some of america's closest allies and partners in asia. that's right, japan, singapore,

south korea and the philippines are arming themselves with american munitions to deter china. and the same is true for other critical munitions thanks to ukraine funding. we're on a path to double production of critical weapons like stingers and javelins along with innovative new weapons like the ground lots -- ground launch small diameter bomb which would be produced in arkansas and new york. this expanded production capacity will benefit america as well as partner militaries from europe to asia. i'll have more to say in the coming days about the historic investments our allies are making here in the united states as a direct result of american

leadership. but for now, i'm tremendously proud of our own work to invest in american industry, american workers and american strength. now, on one final matter, i spoke yesterday about the biden administration's war on american industry -- energy and how working families are feeling it at the gas pump. but energy prices are not the only reason it's been so hard to balance household budgets on washington democrats' watch. just this morning the bureau e of labor statistics announced that inflation increased i by .6% this month including -- putting year-over-year inflation at 3.7%. that's well above the federal reserve's 2% target. and it puts cumulative inflation

since president biden took office at over 17%. but as the american people continue to struggle against rising costs, the president appears to be taking a victory tour touting bidenomics as one of his crowning achievements. over labor day weekend, president biden told voters that bidenomics, quote, is working. the the american people are not fool filed this. -- fooled by this. they can feel the pinch in their wallets. they know that washington democrats' runaway spending is the reason for it. as one woman told reporters recently, quote, i don't think president biden has the everyday people's best interests in mind. everything's gone up; electricity, groceries, fuel. it's not fair to the american people. well, she's not wrong.

according to one recent survey, a large majority of americans disapprove of the president's handling of the u.s. economy. families are paying 20% more at the grocery store. credit card debt has surpassed di ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. must remember nawrmt. -- thank you, mr. president. mrs. murray: i want to thank senator collins for her partnership in putting together the package we are now considering. i'm very pleased she was able to join me on the floor yesterday as we both spoke about the effort that was gone into getting this bill off the ground. at risk of repeating myself i'd like to speak again about how we crafted the bills before us and urge my colleagues to join us in debate to advance this package. today we are doing something that many senators have been calling for for quite some time, something senator collins and i have been hearing about from our colleagues since the moment we took over the leadership of the appropriations

committee. we are keeping our foot on the gas as we continue returning the appropriations process to regular order for the first time in years. last night we began the process to allow the senate to consider a legislative package of three strongly bipartisan funding bills. and let me just say this again, getting to this point was no easy feat and i'm grateful to my partner on the appropriations committee, vice chair collins, for working with me to make this happen, and to all of our members, especially the subcommittee chairs, bho worked on the -- who worked on the bills in the package before us today. senator collins and i knew from the start if we wanted this to work, we had to write serious bipartisan funding bills that can actually be signed into law. as i said yesterday, that meant a few things. first of all, we are going to have to abide by the top-line numbers that were set in the debt limit deal.

and i shared my personal concerns about that limit before and they have meant some tough choices because that was agreed on by the house and senate for all of us in these bills. but president biden and speaker mccarthy shook hands. they shook hands, and we passed this deal in congress in a bipartisan way. so the reality is we can't produce serious bills if we start by throwing that bipartisan framework out the window. so we didn't do that. we worked within the framework, and i pushed at every stage of the process with my colleagues to make sure we produced the strongest possible bills under those circumstances. because we simply have to move forward, not back. secondly, we understood we were going to have to work together to find common ground, including on some very tough and thorny issues, and compromise where necessary to produce spending bills that can make it through both chambers and

president's desk. that meant avoiding poison pills that could sink these bills. and, third, we understood it was important that we give each and every one of our colleagues the chance to weigh in on these bills, and the american public the chance to see us work on them. so we held over 40 hearings this spring to assess our nation's needs for the year ahead. we sought input from all of our colleagues, including requests for congressionally directed spending so members could advocate for projects that they know are crucial to their states. and then we held markups with debate and amendments from members on both sides. and we actually televised the markups for the first time ever, so people could follow this debate from home. the result is that we passed all 12 of our funding bills out of committee for the first time in five years, and we did it with

overwhelming bipartisan support. in fact, all three of the bills that are included in the package we're now considering passed the committee unanimously. so as i detailed in my remarks yesterday, these bills provide essential investments for programs that all of our communities rely on. the milcon-v.a. bill provides funding to show up military installations and improve quality of life for our servicemembers and make sure we live up to our obligation to get our veterans the care they need. the ag-fda bill funds programs that are critical to making sure our food supply is safe and secure, getting families the support they need to put dinner on the table and helping our farmers to stay ahead of global competition. and the t-hud bill, the third one provides crucial investments to help keep people living in their homes, not on the streets, and to make sure we can get people and goods quickly and safely where they need to

go. i look forward to saying more about these bills and how they are crucial to supporting our families and securing our future as we continue to debate this package. and just as importantly, i look forward to hearing from all of our colleagues during this time as well. mr. president, i hope that everyone will come to the floor to talk about these bills, what they will mean for your state, for your constituents, what your priorities here are, and i invite all of our colleagues to talk to me, talk to senator collins if you have amendments and ideas about how we can make these bills better because senator collins and i are working now to clear a managers' package and set up votes. our staffs are working hard on this, and we are happy to work with your teams, all of your teams so we can pass the strongest bill possible. we've been working closely together from day one to run an open bipartisan process to get input from all of our colleagues, and to make sure that everyone can make their constituents' voices heard. we know our work is not done

yet, but we are committed to showing the american people that this place can actually work, that members with different viewpoints can actually come together in a timely, responsible way to get our communities the resources they need and to help people and solve problems, which is why so many of us got into politics in the first place. the american people are watching, mr. president. let's show them we're listening. let's pass this package and continue to get our job here done. this summer we produced a bipartisan road map to fund the government with serious bills that can actually be signed into law. i'm glad here in the senate we are moving right ahead with several of these bills now. i urge our colleagues to work with us to get this done. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. and i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

quorum call: a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from west virginia. mrs. capito: thank you, mr. president. monday marked --. the presiding officer: the senate is in a quorum call.

mrs. capito: i ask that we vitiate the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. capito: thank you. monday marked 22 years since the 9/11 terrorist attacks on our nation. and although we are now two decades removed from one of the greatest tragedies in our nation's history, the memories remain in our minds as if it had just happened yesterday. we will never forget. many of us were here that day, including me. and i certainly will never forget that awful, horrible, tragic day. those horrific events in new york city, washington, d.c., and shainchtions -- shanksville changed america. our nation banded together and we supported one another. as part of our collective response, we saw the beginning of the global war on terror. together with the help of our allies, we made significant progress encountering violent extremism and eliminating the territorial gains that the

islamic state had made. while this threat still remains today, we've made progress in diminishing the ability of terrorists to harm americans. now we are again seeing the landscape of our national security shift. as we are facing a new challenge of rising threats from nations like russia and china. putin's unwarranted aggression has created a large-scale ground war in the european continent, something that was really nearly unthinkable a few short years ago. added to that we -- there is a buildup of the chinese military state. make no mistake, those chinese military investments were made with of u.s. capabilities in mind. nations that directly oppose u.s. values and interest are beginning to create an uneasy closeness with one another. just yesterday, north korea's

leader pledged full and unconditional support for russia's vladimir putin, and we don't know what the behind the scenes conversations were or the tradeoffs that were made. this is something that we must monitor closely and demands a collective response. the growing threat from china was something i discussed with the indo-pacific command leaders when i met with them over august. this is a real threat and underscores the importance of working with our allies in this region. our allies in the indo-pacific area are very important, and when it comes to both deterrence efforts and facilitating u.s. operations in the event of a crisis of conflict. that cooperation is a key piece in our ability to protect the power that the united states has led with.

the august agreement between australia, the united kingdom and united states further cements this relationship and ensures that we'll become more interoperable with our allies in the indo-pacific. we need to maintain a strong military posture in this region and bolster our cybersecurity and technological abilities to ensure that our nation and our allies will be ready for any and all threats that we may face. the intrinsic relationship between china and taiwan and russia and ukraine cannot be lost on us. there is no doubt that china and xi jinping are closely watching russia's attempted land grab and are taking note of the united resistance they are now facing. stopping russia in ukraine will send a clear and direct signal

to china that violent, unwarranted aggression will be met with swift and unified -- a swift and unified response. it is vitally important to recognize that supporting ukraine explicitly and clearly strengthens our own national security. i truly believe that is a fact. our support for ukraine has benefited the u.s. by illuminating vulnerabilities in our own defense industrial base, which we now have the opportunity to remedy. without this, we might not have discovered these issues until a crisis of our own. and these production challenges would have severely disabled our ability to defend ourselves and strengthen our u.s. war fighters in a time of conflict. it is important to recognize that funding congress -- that funding congress appropriating in support of ukraine is going directly back to our own

capabilities, this is initiated facility upgrades at our ammo points, it funded replenishment of our own u.s. arsenal. as leader mcconnell mentioned on monday, by showing support for ukraine, americans are making strides in our competition with china, we're degrading the military -- russian military capacity, we are encouraging our allies to buy american, and we are reassuring the importance of investing in our own defense. we have seen this directly from our allies like australia and japan who are making serious investments in their defense capabilities, or the u.k. who has also pledgeled meaningful -- pledged meaningful military support for ukraine. moving forward, nato members need to take the commitment to

pledge 2% of their gdp more seriously and move at the speed of the threats that we face. one thing is for certain, this is not a time to show weakness, however president biden and his administration have unfortunately not shown the strength needed in the face of these rising threats. we saw this in the botched withdrawal in afghanistan in 2021 where 13 of our servicemembers senselessly lost their lives or just this weekend when president biden claimed, while he was on a trip to the far east, we're all better off if china does well. and then on 9/11, of all days, the biden administration notified congress that they are negotiating with the leading sponsor of terrorism, iran, and sending $6 billion in frozen assets with hill or no

accountable -- with little or no accountability. actions of these threaten everyone abroad and it is inconsistent with the true standing and power that the united states has. we are currently at a pivotal moment in our history, both in the history of our nation but also the history of the world. american leadership has always and -- and has always transcended nefarious forces. that i am confident in. we muss -- we must always lead with the strength that defines this leadership and make sure that our national security remains the foremost priority that it deserves to be. my own state of west virginia which has deep roots of military service and patriotism has established a growing presence and participation in our national defense infrastructure. west virginia companies and universities are stepping up and

are contributing in increasing hi important ways to the military industrial base in this country, from ammunition productions to cybersecurity advancements and critical components for vehicles, aircraft and weapons. west virginia is leading the way. our country must follow this example and continue this level of investment into our national security with each and every one of us contributing to the proud tradition of american leadership. with that, madam president, i yield the floor.

the presiding officer: the senator from nebraska. mrs. fischer: thank you, madam president. china is on track to triple its nuclear arsenal by 2035. russia continues its nuclear sabre rattling in ukraine. north korea is hel bent on developing -- hell bent on

developing the capability to develop nuclear weapons at long ranges, conducting missile tests this last year, and iran is weeks away from obtaining nuclear weapons. but on sunday night president biden said, and i'm quoting him, the only existential threat humanity faces even more frightening than a nuclear war is global warming above 1.5-degrees in the next ten years. end quote. the leader -- the leader of the free world believes that global warming is a bigger threat to global security than nuclear war. now, i'm not dismissing the importance of our climate. we should continue to take responsible, commonsense action

to address climate change, and we should support an all-of-the-above energy strategy. we should promote policies to ensure that we have clean air, clean water, and we should do that without hindering economic prosperity or burdening hardworking americans and their families. but the president's claim that global warming is more frightening than nuclear war sends the wrong signal to our adversaries and to our allies. it demonstrates a total ignorance of the instability of today's global threat environment. the strategic forces subcommittee, where i'm ranking member, specifically oversees our country's nuclear forces, and based on the hundreds of official hearings, briefings and

documents that we have analyzed, i can tell you with all confidence that the most frightening threat to global security today is the chinese communist party. the ccp made it crystal clear that it wants to fundamentally alter global deterrence dynamics. china's relentless military buildup has outpaifd anything that we could -- outpaced anything that we could have imagined. like i said earlier, china wants to triple its nuclear arsenal over the next decade, and it's well on its way to meet that goal, if not exceed it. u.s. strategic command or stratcom is located in my home state of nebraska, and they confirmed earlier this year that china possesses more

intercontinental ballistic missile launchers than we do here in the united states. china is developing a sub sonic stealth bomber that is essentially a copycat of our b-2 bomber, it is working on submarines capable of carrying over 12 nuclear missiles at a time. to the people of the united states, let me say this. for the first time in history, the united states will face two adversaries who are peer-nuclear powers, china and russia, and that is the biggest national security threat we face. when the president says that climate change is more

frightening than nuclear war, he is downplaying the serious, terrifying possibility that china puts its nuclear weapons to use. this administration neglects our nuclear arsenal while our adversary -- adversaries, well, they prioritize theirs. this administration has done things like tried to cancel the sea-launch cruise missile. this would fill a known capability gap. it would allow us to deter china or russia from using a nuclear weapon. which is part of their de-escalate strategy. while congress has pushed back

on the president in a bipartisan and bicameral way when it comes to him cancel cans slicm, is itt time to get serious about the threat that china poses. the president needs to tackle this issue head-on and not trivialize it. one way that president biden can do this is by signing this year's national defense authorization act. the senate successfully passed this year's ndaa by a majority, 86-116789 i led provisions to accelerate the modernization of our nuclear triad, our land, our sea-based nuclear weapons and our air-based ones.

this military capabilities that we have, they are essential to keeping adversaries like china in check. china will be less likely to use its weapons if it believes that we can and that we will hit back harder. once the ndaa gets to the president's desk, he should sign this legislation without hesitating for a moment. let's not put nuclear war on the back burner. let us step forward. let us show china that it has no chance against the united states of america. thank you, madam president. i yield the floor.

mr. cornyn: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: madam president, are we under a quorum call? the presiding officer: no, we are not. mr. cornyn: thank you, madam president. i want to thank our friend, senator capito, for bringing us together to discuss national security and the many challenges that we see on the horizon. when we think about national security, we often picture the brave men and women in our uniform military who've made

immeasurable sacrifices to protect our freedom. we envision the ships, the tanks, the aircraft, and the weapons that they use to keep us safe. we think about the greatest threats to our country, including countries like russia and china. but today i want to talk about a lesser known but no less important aspect of our national security apparatus which is section 702 of the foreign intelligence surveillance act, fisa this is sometimes called. in short, section 702 allows the intelligence community and the department of justice to obtain intelligence on foreigners located outside of the united states. as we know, different rules apply here in the united states and particularly in so far as it involves u.s. persons and u.s. citizens. all of the protections of our

criminal justice system, including requirement of a warrant and the showing of probable cause for a search and that sort of thing. that applies to american citizens and u.s. persons on american soil. but overseas, when it involves foreigners, this is an important tool, section 702. congress enacted section 702 in 2008 in response to threats posed by terrorist groups in the wake of 9/11. it tore down some of the walls between the criminal justice system and our intelligence community and made sure that we could share, legally share information that could be used to keep america safe. and there's no question that it's been a success. when talking about section 702, the fbi director, chris wray

said several years ago, he said the fact that we have not sustained another 9/11-scale attack is not just he noted that it's a product of diligence, teamwork, information sharing, and connecting the dots. and much of that dot connecting occurs and is made possible by section 702. this authority has been vital to detecting potential terrorist attacks but also it's important for applications that reach far beyond america's counterterrorism missions. section 702 has helped the united states understand and combat drug trafficking, including the scourge of fentanyl which is affecting so many people in this country, as i speak. section 702 -- has helped identify foreign

ransomware attacks, for example the attack on the colonial pipeline that shut down gasoline deliveries. it helped develop components -- section 702 has helped uncover russian war crimes in ukraine. it's even helped disrupt our adversaries' efforts to recruit spies on american soil or send their operatives to the united states. section 702 is a critical tool in america's national security toolbox, but its future is in question. unless congress acts in the next few months, section 702 is set to expire at the end of this year. if this happens, it will deprive america's dedicated intelligence professionals of the laws they

need to keep us safe. director wray said that allowing section 702 to expire would be a, quote, act of unilateral disarmament in the face of the chinese communist party, close quote. unilateral disarmament in the face of the chinese communist party. given the threat that china poses to the united states and to peace in the region, an unforced error is the last thing we need. in the coming months i hope we can pass a bipartisan law to preserve section 702 and at the same time promote greater trust in the agencies that use it. general paul who heads the u.s. security agency and u.s. cybercommand has been very clear about the need to secure section 702 authorities. last month he summed up its

importance rather succinctly when he said that section 702 saves lives and protects the homeland. saves lives and protects the homeland. that's what national security is all about, saving lives and protecting the homeland and our very freedom that's we cherish. we have a clear and urgent opportunity to do just that and we can't let it slip through our fingers. madam president, i yield the floor and i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. sullivan: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from alaska. mr. sullivan: madam president,

is the senate in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are. mr. sullivan: i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. sullivan: madam president, my colleagues and i are down on the floor talking about national security. and it's clear, and this is testimony from admirals and generals and department of defense officials over the last few years, that we are certainly in one of the most dangerous times globally since any time since world war ii. with we have this new era of authoritarian aggression led by the dictators in beijing and moscow, who are very aggressive, paranoid about their neighbors, certainly willing to attack them. and so, madam president, we need to be strong as a nation. and, as a matter of fact, the national security advisor jake sullivan, he often talks about situations of strength. now, this is actually a phrase

that came from dean atcinson when the cold war. he talked about confronting the soviet union and the strategy containment and situations of american strength. so it's a good framework. unfortunately, the biden administration, especially in a couple of key areas, is not focused on situations of strength at all. let me give you two, madam president, and i really want to focus on one. the first one, of course, is our military. pretty obvious. it's a dangerous world. the dictators in beijing and moscow understand hard power, and hard power is u.s. military power. what have we seen from the biden administration since the president came into office?

three budgets three years in a row that are inflation-aif justed cuts -- inflation adjusted cuts. that's a fact. next year's budget will actually go below 3% of gdp spent on our military -- it's probably one of four or five times in the last 70 years that we have gone that low on investments in our military. and one of the most dangerous times we've faced since world war ii. this year's budget from the biden administration shrinks the army, shrinks the navy dramatically, and shrinks the marine corps. you think that impresses xi jinping and vladimir putin? it doesn't. so that's the military going in the wrong direction, white house take note. that is not a situation of strength. that's a situation of weakness. well, madam president, here's the other one that's quite

remarkable, actually. it's america's natural resources and energy. and i'm talking everything. we are the envy of the world in terms of oil, gas, renewables, critical minerals, all of the above. we are the envy of the world. and what does this administration do? from day one -- day one, this incredible american strength, this incredible comparative advantage we have relative to china, there's reporting that xi jinping looks at american energy dominance and knows how vulnerable they are in terms of importing energy, particularly oil and gas, and they are frightened by it -- frightened by it. our biggest adversary, chinese communist party is scared to death of american energy

independence and dominance. so what does the biden administration do? day one, they come into office and they say, we're going to shut down the production of american oil and gas. we are going to wall street and the investment firms in america and pressure them not to invest in american energy, and we're going to kill and dplai key infrastructure that -- key infrastructure that moves energy. of course the predictable result is $90 oil that we're seeing now and working american families being hit the hardest. that's a fact. what i just stated are facts. that's been the policy of this administration since day one. it hurts working families as i mentioned but this is a gift to our adversaries. one of the great strengths of the united states of america, that administrations, democrat and republican, for decades have

pursued. read the history of world war ii. a big part of how we won is because we were the dominant energy producer in the world. we have been seeking energy independence no decades -- for decades. we got it during the trump administration. the biden administration comes in and unilaterally surrenders that great comparative advantage. madam president, how do i know? i see this every day in the great state of alaska. my home state. alaska has been ground zero on the radical, irrational policies of the biden administration to undermine american energy and natural resource strength. let me give you two examples. we have an area in alaska called the ambler mining district. it has one of the richest deposits of critical minerals

anywhere in the world. there's no road to it. so in federal law, in 1980 senator stevens got a provision and was called the anilca act to mandate a road to the ambler mining district. now, in most states you want to build a road, nobody cares. my state you want to build a road, every lower 48 environmental radical group sues to stop. it's unbelievable but it's true. sad but it's true. so during the obama administration and the trump administration, state of alaska applied for a road, got an environmental impact statement, cost about $10 million. seven year eis to build a road to the ambler district so america could have critical minerals. what happened? that's good news. supported by two administrations. the day the president of the united states, president biden,

holds a critical mineral summit telling the world we need critical minerals to compete with china and for our renewable energy future. you know what they did? you know what they did, madam president? i know you've seen it in your state so i know you're frustrated on these issues as well. they reversed the record decision granting alaska the ability to build this road to the ambler mining district. what? where are we going to get our critical minerals? where are we going to get our oil and gas? we need these things. let's get them from america with the highest standards on the environment in the world. my state has the highest standards on oil and gas development in the world. so they said no. alaska, go back to ground zero. we'll continue to get our critical minerals from chj. and as for oil and gas -- from china. as for oil and gas, we'll shut it down in america and where are we going to get it? well, we've seen this administration. three months ago they lifted

sanctions on venezuela. so now we're importing a hundred thousand barrels a day from venezuela. it's a terrorist state. doesn't matter. they're still going to import from them. they have the worst environmental standards in the world. they have a greenhouse gas emissions profile 20 times higher than the state of alaska does in terms of energy production, but we're going to get oil and gas from venezuela and shut down alaska. that's number one. number two, the president was recently last year over in saudi arabia, literally onded knee begging the saudis for more oil and gas. but america, alaska, no, we're going to shut you down. in recently -- and recently, madam president, and i know every member of this body is like what? we're not going to do a deal with the iranians, lifting sanctions on their ability to put oil on world markets, the largest state sponsor of terrorism, no environmental standards, but we're going to let the iranians produce oil and

shut it down in america. we just had another attack on my state, 55 executive orders and executive actions from the biden administration, singularly focused on alaska to shut my state down. we have so many resources for america, for alaskans, for the world. they're shutting them down. and what are we going to do? we're going to get them from adversaries like venezuela, iran, and other countries. it makes no sense, madam president, and it's illegal as well. last week the biden administration announced that the least sales that this body, the congress of the united states, mandated for the arctic national wildlife refuge, they just canceled them. the secretary of interior said hey, i know congress said shall put out two lease sales. they said we didn't like the process by which they were given

out so we just canceled them. madam president, this is banana republicville. this is venezuela. that's what we're doing in terms of energy security. it is national security suicide. when we favor our adversaries who have no environmental standards at all and we shut down the production of american energy in alaska, in america, in the gulf. in august they took over a million acres of land off the -- from the state of wyoming to produce energy. it makes no sense. it makes no sense. if you care about the environment, you need to produce from the place with the highest environmental standards, not the lowest. that's my state. if you care about energy security, you should produce from america, not iran or

venezuela. if you care about american workers, the best workers in the world who get paid a very high wage to work in the oil and gas fields in my state, you should produce in america and alaska, not saudi arabia. none of it makes sense, madam secretary. it's national security suicide. and the vast majority of the american people know it. they know it. and it's got to change. i yield the floor. a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the democratic whip. mr. durbin: madam president, it was about 12 years ago that i went into a hearing of the senate judiciary committee. i think it was around the time that arlen specter was the chairman of the committee. and he had a hearing on something that i knew something about. it was called interchange fees.

i walked in there and the room was packed and it turned out there with are two sides to a debate over this so-called interchange fee. on one side were the monsters and giants of credit card industry, visa and plaster card -- mastercard. the duopoly that controls 73%, 75% of the credit card transactions in the united states. and on the other side were a handful of people from gas stations and restaurants. and what were they talking about with the interchange fee? they were talking about the fact that credit cards issued by banks that honor visa and mastercard exchanges are required to pay fees on every transaction. well, what was interesting about the conversation was that when it got down to it, the retailer, the restaurant owner, the gas station had no control over what the fee was going to be charged

by the bank and visa and mastercard. mr. durbin: take it or leave it. you want to honor our credit cards and use them in your business, you'll pay the interchange fee. i kind of thought that was unusual and maybe unfair. there was no competition. there was no voice. the retailer just had to pass along the charge and visa and mastercard raised the charges on a regular basis. they just did recently. we're fighting inflation in america, and visa and mastercard are on the other side of the battle. consumers and retailers are trying to keep prices down. visa and mastercard are trying to run them up with a fee they charge for each transaction. and so i decided to ask for a study. that's pretty easy, innocent. a study to find out how much the fees were, why these credit card giants were charging fees in the united states in which they weren't charging in other countries. well, they fought me tooth and nail to stop me from this study.

i got my back up and decided to offer an amendment to the dodd-frank bill which dealt with wall street and the excesses of the 2008 recession. came to the floor, offered to it and to every june's sure -- everyone's surprise, it passed and it regulated the amount of interchange fees on debit cards. debit cards are just like a checking account. it didn't touch credit cards. so it turned out that that was a big deal because the big banks on wall street that were affected by my amendment were losing up to $8 billion a year in interchange fees that people were paying. and so debit cards were at least containing the growth of these fees while credit cards were still untouched. and so here we are today. american consumers are concerned about inflation and the high

price of groceries and gas. what they may not know is that the fees charged on the credit cards that they use known as swipe fees or interchange fees are adding to the problem. visa and mastercard control just about 80% of the credit card market. each time a credit card is used, whether for groceries, gasoline, critical drugs, anything else, visa and mastercard charge an interchange fee. some of them -- some of that they keep for themselves. most of it is given to the bank that issued the card. it's usually charged as a earning 'of the transaction plus a fat flat fee. for example, 2% of the transaction plus 10 cents each transaction. visa and mastercard set the fees on behalf of thousands of banks and tell the merchants, the retailers, the restaurants take it or leave it. merchants have no choice but to accept these outrageous fees if

they want to have credit cards used by their customers. there's no negotiation. there's no competition. small business owners and consumers take it or leave it or hold in the bag. in 2022 alone, u.s. merchants and consumers paid $39.2 billion in these fees to line the pockets of the biggest banks on wall street. if you ask the man who owns the restaurant or ask the lady who owns the shop, what percentage of your overhead costs is interchange fees on credit cards, you'll be shocked. interchange fees are the second largest cost for small businesses only behind labor costs. think of that for a moment. making your payroll is the highest expense. the next expense is not utilities or rent. it's the interchange fees charged by visa and mastercard and their banks. despite the nearly $100 billion

visa and mastercard took out of communities and small businesses across the country last year, guess what they're going to do in october? they're going to raise the interchange fee again. while we're trying to fight inflation, every angle we can find to bring down the cost of groceries and gas, the credit card companies have decided it's just the right time to have this take-it-or-leave-it fee increased. when credit card fees go up, it increases inflation. consumers pay t. i strongly urge visa and mastercard to reconsider this misguided division. i wrote them a letter. doubt they'll read t. i'm not holding my breath. that's why i made a priority to pass the credit card competition act this year. the credit card competition act which i introduced with senator marshall -- there he is on the floor right now. good to see you, senator -- senator welch who has joined us from vermont and senator vance of indiana, a bipartisan bill would finally introduce

competition and choice to the credit card market and bring down the excessive credit card fees. it would require the only, the largest 30 banks in america, and they're the big boys, banks with more than a hundred billion dollars in assets to enable at least two credit card networks to be used on credit cards with at least one of the networks, a company outside the visa and mastercard duopoly. so there would be some competition. i thought that was part of a free market. but when it comes to credit cards, they want no competition. merchants would then get to choose one of the network. there would be real competition for their business and it would keep the fees as low as possible. the credit card competition act is estimated to save merchants and consumers $15 billion a year. with that in mind, nobody should be surprised to hear that visa and mastercard and their big bank buddies have committed to, quote, spend whatever is needed to stop the durbin-marshall

amendment. i stood up to the big banks and giant credit card -- debit card companies in 2010 when i introduced similar reforms. and i'll always choose main street over wall street. it is long overdue for congress to break up the sweetheart deal that visa, mastercard, and the biggest banks in america and certain airlines enjoy. we must bring the bipartisan credit card competition act to the floor for a vote. madam president, the question is whether my colleagues will listen to the consumers and families that are struggling with inflation. whether they'll listen to the restaurants that they frequent as i do, whether they're listen to the small shops and businesses that have to pay these outrageous fees. give them a chance. tell visa and mastercard they cannot lord over these people who are working hard for at that living and shouldn't be stuck with these duopoly fees. i yield the floor.

the presiding officer: the senator from from kansas. mr. marshall: i am proud to stand in this foxhole with my friends, senator durbin and senator welch from vermont. the democrat whip is right. the senate has to choose. who are we going to listen to? are we going to listen to wall street or are we going to listen to the folks back home? across kansas everyone is feeling impacts of inflation. family budgets are being stretched to the absolute limit with little room for error, so can you imagine the shock? kansans eyes when i tell them this year they will spend over $1,000 in hidden credit card swipe fees, which is really a tax. these fees, these swipe fees are really just another additional tax, in this case a 2% to 4% tax paid to wall street on top of every purchase you make. these fees are baked into nearly every purchase you make, whether it is your morning coffee, that

starbucks confirm knee that you're paying $7, $8 more, you're going to pay 2%, 3%, 4% more. when you stop and fill up your gas tank, again, $50 of gas, you're going to pay 2%, 3%, 4%. every time the visa and master card duopoly line their pockets. i stand up with a clear message -- enough is enough. before you feel sorry for these multibillion-dollar industries, i want to remind everyone that on top of the $100 billion, nearly $100 billion in fees that americans pay to wall street, these banks pay an average of 25% interest to consumers. the average consumer in america carries a balance of over $1,000 a month.

25%. back home, we'd call that highway robbery. when kansans are facing the highest inflation in 45 years, small businesses are fighting to keep their losses and costs low while wall street plots their next dayday, announcing they're doubling down and hiking umtheir fees on merchants this fall. i am not going to stand for this massive price-gouging of small businesses at every turn. in fact, madam president, as is speak, swipe fees are a staggering seven times higher than those in the european union. americans are paying self isn't times more for this swipe fee than the folks in the european union are. that's not a trivial difference. that's a canyon-sized gaap. why should you are small businesses and by extension our consumers bear such a disproportion not burden? are payments seven times more

secure in america than rest of the world? of course not. is the visa/mastercard duopoly providing american consumers seven times the value in customer service they provide their e.u. customers? of course not. it is simple. they are exploiting our weakness. visa and mastercard are grabbing every penny they can from small businesses and consumers until this gets fixed. when i was fixed sworn in, my friend and mentor, the late, great senator bob dole, gave me the best advice i could ever get. he said, listen to kansans. when you have a concern, when you don't know what to do, go back home and listen to kansans, and i'm sure my colleagues radio hearing the same voices that i'm hearing back home. in august i went to visit a little grocery store in conway springs. it was called hired man's

grocery and grill. it is run by a wonderful couple, gini and clint. their employees for the most part are high school students. they were a desert, a food desert. they are the only ones with fresh food products and fresh meats as well. without their help, this community would have no grocery store. when i visited them, they shared with me their challenges. inflation is raising prices and swipe fees are eating away at their profits. they're paying more in swipe fees than they do for utilities or employee health care. back in kansas, we have a saying -- pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered. madam president, visa and mastercard have gotten hoggish

on the back of hardworking americans. i understand my colleagues from the great state of illinois and vermont and i have bull's eyes on our backs and those that support this legislation is being attacked by misleading odes. but i guess that -- by misleading ads. but i guess that means we're over the target. when we have legislation that will benefit every single person in vermont, illinois, kansas, every american who uses a credit card, i'm moving full speed ahead. just a couple weeks ago visa announced they plan to raise their swipe fees on merchants again. these megabanks have no guardrails. they can play fast and loose because no one can stop them. the credit card industry has been enriched by the covid-19 pandemic that pushes further into a cashless society. inflation is impacting every corner of our country, putting the american dream further out of reach for millions. but not visa. listen to what the visa ceo said. he even admitted that inflation

has a positive impact for them. inflation -- visa and mastercard welcome the inflation. why? because these swipe fees are inflation multipliers. and wall street is the benefactor. i want to go back and talk about that little grocery store in rural kansas. gini and clint and other small businesses across the state have little to no wiggle room on their budgets but the big banks press on, tightening the grip on similar mom and pop businesses across america. wall street doesn't care about my friends in conway springs, that they would lose their town's only grocery store, forcing them to drive 40 miles each way to get some milk and food for their families. while these financial titans might have their hands around the necks of merchants, we're going to keep fighting for the right thing.

we will fight for main street businesses and choose hardworking americans over wall street every single time. the credit card market is broken but we have a solution to fix it. the credit card competition act will level the playing field for merchants by injecting competition into the credit card payment industry -- not a price cap but more competition. with the bank that issues the card picking the alternative interchange. and oh, by the way, financial institutions with a value of less than $100 billion are excluded from this legislation. our legislation forces visa and mastercard to come to the table and compete with other companies in the industry, and in doing so we will drive down the cost for merchants and consumers. let me be clear -- competition is always a good thing for consumers. our credit card competition act will lower the cost of doing business for gini and clint in

conway springs and it will lower the bills for the consumers? the checkout lane. my message of hope to the merchants across the country is that help is on the way. we hope for voting on our credit card competition act soon. when that time comes, we hope other leaders in the senate body will be willing to stand up to wall street and fight for hardworking families. i hope all our colleagues will listen, not only to the folks back home but also to the thousands of your small businesses who are pleading for relief. and, please, choose those voices over wall street. thank you, madam president. i yield back. mr. welch: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. welch: thank you, i'm delighted to be here with my colleagues, the senator from illinois and the senator from kansas. you know, i'm going to start by answering a question that the senator from kansas asked rhetorically. why is it that american citizens

and consumers and merchants pay seven times what is paid by merchants and individuals in europe? it's because our government doesn't protect our consumers. our government is not protecting our merchants and our small businesses. where there is a monopoly, or in this case a duopoly, and there's this the massive -- there's this massive -- pricing power, they just stick it to our merchants. you know, $33 billion in charges in 2013. it's $93 billion in charges now. and it's not as though the expenses for visa and mast sper card have really gone up anything close-to-that inflation is their ally, as you said. covid was their ally, as we had

to rely more on those cards. and they justify what they're doing because it's a convenience for the shopper. you know what? it is a convenience for the shopper. it's a convenience for the merchant. but how does that justify a rip-off just because user a. doing something that we need, and it's folks in kansas who voted for my republican colleague, it's folks in illinois who voted for my democratic colleague, it's all of the people we represent -- not only small businesses that are absolutely essential to our local economy and to the vitality of the our small communities. you know, we were at that press conference and your grocery store folks were here, senator marshall. they were salt of the earth. they were like the highest compliment i can give, they're almost like vermonters, all right? they were terrific people. and we had a father and a son

who was going into the family business and the family business is about serving people in that community. and you know we've got a store in vermont, dan and witz, which has been there for generations, and it's motto is, if you -- if we don't have it, you don't need it. and you can basically get anything you want. but do you know during covid when they had these incredible challenges with workforce, they actually put an ad on the signboard and retired folks from norwich would come help do the work, stack the shelves, do the checkout. and when a lot of my neighbors found out that every time a customer used a credit card it was costing dan and witz2%, 3%, 4% just so they would pay the bill, they were shocked hand appalled. and this store, like your store in kansas, all of them, they're -- their -- retail is hard.

that is just hard work. you have got to watch your costs, you have got to save your money, provide repeally good service. and -- provide really good service. and you mentioned the second highest expense for many of these small merchants is the cost of the credit card, paying the bill. you know, it is invisible to most of us when we use our card because i always thought, if i use my card and i pay my bill, i'm not going to have to pay those 25% interest rates. but when i found out about what was going on and how much the merchants were getting ripped off, it actually was the last time we had over $4 gas and i was filling up at my local small convenience store and i went in and talked to the owner, got my coffee, got a doughnut. but he got out his bill and he showed me that when i filled up the tank with gas with the swipe fee and then the percentage that was taken out in very, very

small margin for a gallon of gas for these stores, he was losing money. visa and mast sper card were doing fine but my local merchant was losing money. you know, the thing that i so enjoy about being with my colleagues here and senator vance on this bill is, at the heart of this we understand that in rural america, in small-town america, in neighborhoods, even big cities like chicago, these local stores, thee merchants, they give us so much service and so much emotional satisfaction. it's where you stop in, talk to folks you see every day. you share the stories about who won, what happened to the bears, what happened to the patriots. but we need those places. our communities, democratic life needs those places. and this is not a democratic democratic-republican deal. all of the people in america

want to have a sense of community and who more than our local merchants, who oftentimes live above the store, right? i mean, a pretty tough job. they come down, sweep it up in the beginning and the end they give kids their first job. they learn how to be a good employee, how to give good customer service. the ability to hire these kids is compromised because of that extra expense. really, what are they doing? we're paying a billing. they've got intellectual property, security systems, all of that is good, it's a service. so no dispute there. but just because you're providing a service doesn't entitle you to rip off everyday merchants because you can. the question that i think we

have to ask as a united states senate is what's our job and who do we work for? our job is not to pad the already obscene profits of visa and mastercard. our job is to protect our merchants who are doing the work, day in and day out, our consumers, who are doing their best to stay afloat, pay their bills, get from one end of the month to the other and hope their checks clear, they can pay their credit card bill. our obligation is to the people who have no power, but who do have a right to expect that their elected representatives and senators, when they see a rip-off, will call it a rip-off and stand up and say, you're going to get treated fairly. that is essential for restoring our trust and faith in one another, it's essential for our

obligation to help communities that are working so hard to create a sense of place, that people want, a sense of connection that we want, to make certain that those businesses that are doing so much in all of our communities, that are doing so much in all of our communities can keep doing that work that is strengthening communities, providing good jobs to our kids. you know what? let's act. let's pass senator durbin's, senator marshall's bill, and let's protect our merchants against these rip-off credit card fees from visa and mastercard.

i ask, is government needed to play a role in regulating and i in every single person raise their hand. even though they had diverse views. so that gives us a message here, that we have to try to act as difficult as a process may be. second, it was clear that there needed to be some government help to do with what we call transformational innovation. the kind of innovation that i could bring they could do so much good. bill gates talked about feeding the hungry. one of the others talked about curing cancer. some of the people in the room

talked about strengthening our national security and defense, and feeding the hungry. but there was a view one person said we need a lot of money, 32 billion into transformational innovation, the kind of stuff that maximizes the benefits of ai but it was also clear that we needed real help and sustainable innovation. that minimizing the negative is that i could emerge from ai, whether it's in shining bias or the loss of jobs or even the kinds of doomsday scenarios that were mentioned in the room. and only government can be there to put in guard rails. even though some of the companies in the assurance that they're going to try to element some of these things themselves and many had joined the voluntary guidelines that the white house issued, it's clear that the will be rogue companies and other companies that will not go alone on their own, and i

will bring down everybody, the lowest common denominator. so what is 100% clear that clear that we also need, maybe even more, government innovation in coming up with sustainable guard lines which mean the governments placing, putting guardrails in place to deal with issues like bias and worker education and jobs and even some of the more doomsday scenarios that were presented. and finally i think it was a consensus we need to figure out a way to balance the two. you don't want one to too much get in the way of the other. you want to be able to maximize the benefits and minimize -- and that will be our difficult job. it was great, over 60 senators game which showed interest. you'd usually don't get 60 senators to come and spend a lot of time at an event like this.

and the the senators one oft things about this is, an aspirin to any of the senate, we walked out of that room knowing a lot more about how we deal with ai then when they walked in. let me call on mike riddle. >> thanks to senator schumer and senator heinrich and todd right here, todd young. look, this was a bipartisan effort. the idea here was to educate as many of our members as it possibly could and with some great teachers in there. we had folks who went opinions that they made their wealth in ai. there were others that were looking at it from the point of view of individual workers and the challenges that are brought. ai is not going away. good beer for a long, long time. the challenge we have is we try to catch up on the development of care and the united states can we stay ahead of the rest of the world, can we lead to the rest of the world. and second of all can we do it in such a fashion that our

people truly benefit? and that means not just been fitting in terms of new jobs and opportunities but in terms of quality of life for the next generation. and we actually cure cancer? i think we can. can we create new opportunities for young people? and literally ten would wr people in here with marvelous talents and actually have them participate in artificial intelligence types of jobs in the future such a fashion everybody else benefits? these folks he came in here the people on this panel here with us they spoke very frankly about what the opportunities were and they were very frank about the challenges as well. this is a first of a series that we are going be doing. we'll continue it this afternoon and hopefully it's a step forward in terms of us doing the right things to provide the right balance between incentives to keep ai development here in the united states, and also the amount of appropriate regulatory

oversight so that everybody sees a fair playing field, and the privacy and the rights of transparency that our citizens demand is achieved. thank you. >> senator heinrich, can we please -- >> i guess what it really appreciative about this conversation, these are folks a very different perspectives but a lot of shared values and shared agreement in terms of what our north star should be. and it really was not a conversation that fell into dogmatic or partisan lines in any way. so if we can continue that, as i think this group is really strived toward for some time now, then i think we are going to be able to do some exciting things around ai. >> todd young. >> today is a historic day with this gathering of the best lines when it comes artificial intelligence technology and many other important leaders.

they all came together. we had some spirited conversation about the development of this technology and its impact on americans and humanity more generally. but i was struck by the extent to which there is common agreement among parties, common agreement about the need for government to play an important role to regulate some of the concerned individuals have, common agreement about the importance of investing in our workforce so that everyone can play a meaningful part in and enjoy a handsome portion of the benefits associated with artificial intelligence, and government involvement in continuing to invest in basic research in this area of ai, something senator schumer and i have worked on together in the past. right now the incentives are aligned towards those who deploy models quickly to consumers. it's a testament to the individuals representing

businesses in there that many of them have withheld and refrained from deploying those models until we can put together a regulatory atmosphere that is consistent with our values. i guess the lasting we agreed on is, is that it's the values of the united states of america that should be embedded in and informed the development of these technologies, not the values, and i'll say this, that the values of the chinese communistis party. president, is consent that the committee on banking, housing, and urban affairs be discharged from further consideration of s-2391 and that the senate proceed to its immediate consideration, and i further ask that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

the presiding officer: is there objection? a senator: madam president. mr. kennedy: actually, i wasn't finished. it's okay. madam president, would it be in order for me to explain s. 2391? the presiding officer: unanimous consent agreements are not dability. -- are not debatable. mr. kennedy: my unanimous consent request, madam president. the presiding officer: the request is withdrawn. mr. kennedy: madam president, in a few moments i'm going to reassert my unanimous consent, but first i wanted to tell you why i rise today in our senate. it has to do with flood insurance. the national flood insurance the national flood insurance

insurers would not provide flood insurance. the federal government, for that reason decided a number of years ago to implement its own program, and it is administered by fema. the national flood insurance

>> waiting for a senator to come to the floor to speak. today lawmakers continue work on a three bill spending package to fund the agriculture, housing, transportation, and veteran's affairs departments. it totals $279 billion for fiscal year 2024. you're watching live coverage of the senate here on cspan2.

quorum call:

the presiding officer: the junior senator from virginia. a senator: i ask the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. a senator: madam president, i have four requests for committees to meet. they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. the presiding officer: duly noted. mr. kaine: madam president, i rise today to try with my colleagues to put an end to the double shutdown threat. there are two shutdown threats existing right now in the united states capitol. one is a threat by certain in eastbounds in the house majority to shut government down at the end of the month. that would be foolish. it would hurt people unnecessarily. it would be particularly foolish

given the existence of federal law. it would be particularly foomish given the existence of federal law that says federal employees get paid even during a shutdown. how would it be fiscally conservative to shut the government down, lock federal employees out of their offices, disable them from serving their fellow americans and pay them. so we need to put an end to any risk of shutdown or threat of shutdown and it's frankly a bad faith tactic to even to raise it. the second shutdown we need to avert is a shutdown of military promotions. and that is what i want to address today. the senior senator from alabama has held up political nominations of more than 300 senior military officers for months. i've spoken about this numerous times on the senate floor. and yet it is getting more and more severe every day. and this is the behavior of one senator who has placed the hold

on these mom nieptions -- nominations but frankly it's behavior that is being enabled by his colleagues on the republican side of this body. military leaders who have done nothing other than volunteer to wear the nation's uniform and risk their lives to serve this country and served honorably have had their lives derailed over a disagreement on a policy matter that these officers had nothing to do with. a few weeks ago senator reed and i took the floor and we read the name and backgrounds of all who had been blocked. we read their name, their rank, how long they've served wrrks they've -- they'd been deployed, military awards, nominations and medals they've received, silver star, bronze star, purple heart, all of whom are being blocked. it's extremely disrespectful to all these nominations simply because an executive agency has implemented that a policy that one senator does not like, and as i've explained previously on

the floor, it's particularly galling because we have repeatedly given this senator an opportunity to convince his colleagues that the dod policy has been wrong and it's been unsuccessfully. in the armed services committee where we serve together, he wanted a vote on an amendment to change the dod policy. he failed. i have failed in making amendments in the armed services committee before, and i never take out my failure on people who are serving wearing the uniform of this country. if i'm not persuasive enough to convince my colleagues of a policy, i'm not going to punish those who are serving this country. this is causing critical challenges in critical positions throughout the dod and it's affecting virginia, just as it is all states. of those who are being held, 39 of the positions are positions that affect virginians. they're unable to move their families, unable to put their

children in school. they can't start the jobs for which they have been nominated based upon their track record. of the 39 positions, 25 are in one region, hampton rhodes, virginia, the senator of c-power in this country -- seapower in this country. they affect operations, modernization and the future of the largest naval base in the world but it's not just hampton roads, it's also mclean, felt belvoir, falls church, and winchester. the irresponsible hold is not only affecting the lives of individuals and affecting the strength of our military, it is getting attention from around the world. it is getting attention from allies who depend on us and want to know we're reliable and it's also getting attention from adversaries. let me just read a sampling. and this is a small sampling of headlines about how the actions of the united states senate in

blocking these appointments are being interpreted around the world. r.t. is russia today newspaper, an article that was a somewhat gleeful one. u.s. military hit by unprecedented leadership void. this is a good news story in r.t. the action of the senate is a good news story in russia today. al jazeera, this is not a publication of an adversary but it's a publication that is widely received throughout the middle east, including by folks and nations who are adversaries. senator saws military promotions in antiabortion standoff. this is going throughout the middle east. bbc news, the u.k. is probably our most reliable ally militarily and also in the intelligence community. they're part of the five i's we share intel. senator tuberville, no truce over military blockade on abortion. madam president, you know president biden two years ago

announced a pivotal new partnership called awk cust, the -- aukus, the u.s., australia and u.k. it will be more important and yet what is being read by the citizens and military leaders in the united kingdom, they are reading about this action in the united states and blocking military promotions. this is a publication -- and i've got to admit i cannot pronounce this but i will translate it. it is global times, a publication in the peoples republic of china that is support nant to -- it's been spreading like fire, exclamation point. this is a good news story in china. more than 300 appointments were blocked by republican lawmakers and the three u.s. military branches angrily denounce them. this is what our adversaries are saying about what is happening in this chamber. more accurately what is not happening in the chamber.

the sidney herald, our framework of the u.s. and u.k. will depend heavily not only on the cooperation with the australians but the australians have pledged to invest billions of dollars in the american submarine industrial base so we can train them and eventually build up a domestic submarine production capacity in australia. u.s. senator blocks hundreds of military promotions over reproductive rights. as the australian parliament is making the decision about whether to commit these resources to the united states in a historic way, this is what they are reading about the american military and the leadership of this body with reduce to promotion of military members. cbc, the came flaidian broadcasting -- canadian broadcasting network. this is again one of our primary allies in the world who we work with together on everything. embassies on staff, military gaps, america's toxic politics

spills into foreign affairs, one of our best allies. that is what they are saying about us. then finally this last publication, this is a publication that's a taiwanese publication. taiwan is increasingly reliant upon the united states and other nations to try to protect them from chinese aggression. u.s. antiabortion senator boycotted general promotions, criticized for assisting the communist party. whether it's our allies or our adversaries, they watch what we do and they watch what we don't do. and they are paying critical attention to the blockade of these men and women in the military. now, my republican colleagues have sort of switched tactics. for a while they weren't sure whether they wanted to defend the blockade that the senator from alabama is leading, and they've realized it's indefensible. now they're trying to blame senator schumer for t. senator

schumer should just take responsibility for addressing this by putting votes on the floor. senator 12450u78 has nothing seg to do with these blocks. he has not put at block on military promotions, nor has any other member of the democratic caucus. the fact that it is senator schumer's fault is laughable. the only way to overcome this massive blockade by the republicans would be to take up each of these appointments. that would take over 700 hours. if we did that, we wouldn't get to the budget. we wouldn't get to other important priorities. we wouldn't get to faa reauthorization. we wouldn't get to the farm bill, we wouldn't get to confirm judges. so the notion that we'll just bring them all up individually, the republican majority knows

that that is not practical. some have suggested something that frankly is even more pernicious and that i find insulting. some of my republican colleagues have said, okay, look ... senator tuberville is holding hundreds of people, including service chiefs and the head of the naval academy in annapolis. why don't we do this? why does senator schumer just bring up the top brass and we'll have votes on the top brass and allow senator tuberville to keep punishing everybody else down the line? that's not a good-faith offer, and it is directly contrary to the spirit of the american military. i'm not a veteran. i serve on the armed services subcommittee from a very military state. my oldest son a united states marine. if you say to somebody in the military, just advantage the brass and punish everybody you understandder neath them, i would -- underneath them, i would advise you not to say that to anybody in the military.

that is not the american military ethic. i have heard my son say many times, officers eat last. you take care of the enlisted. you take care of the lower ranks before you take care of the higher-ups. so the notion in this body or even some of the military nominees who have been advanced for the high positions would accept this body acting on them while continuing to punish everybody beneath them is outrageous. and in fact i'll just remind my colleagues, my colleagues who are here -- the president and the senator from washington -- we all were together at a luncheon a number of years ago with john mccain before he passed away. a decision was made that was sort of rare that we would have a closed-door lunch with all 100 senators and senator mccain would speak about the unspeakable, his time as a pow in hanoi during the vietnam war.

he was beaten and imprisoned. he was imprisoned for multiples years. there came a time during his imprisonment where his captures -- captors realized that his father was one of the key members of the navy, key members of the brass. he was a vip. many people have been imprisoned in that same hanoi hilton before senator mccain but the north vietnamese believed that if we let senator mccain out, it will suggest that we're beneficial. we'll let out somebody who is high up on the list and we'll continue to punish others. and they came to captive mccain, and they said, we will let you out. how tempting that must have been. i don't know any of us who can kind of put themselves in that

position. madam president, you and i were together at the memorial to john mccain where he was shot down in hanoi a few years ago. put yourself in that position. you have been a pow for years and you are given an offer for your freedom, and he turned it down. and he turned it down and said, i'm not accepting it because there were people who were here before me. and only if you let all of those hostages go will i then accept your offer of freedom. i'm not going to let you benefit me and continue punishing others who were here before me. that's what the ethos of the american military is. you don't benefit the vip or the bigshot or the person with the high ranking and punish others. and so for us to countenance such a suggestion in this body, that we would have a debate and a vote on a few of the top brass and then we would allow the punishment of these poor people who are trying to move across

the country, whose kids need to be in school, whose spouses have jobs they can't report to, not only should we do this had i can't imagine that the -- i can't imagine that the key leadership would even want us to do that. there is one solution for this, and the solution is for the republican minority in this body to go to senator tuberville and convince him to stop this punishment of these individuals. these officers had nothing to do with the policy that senator tuberville doesn't like. if he doesn't like the policy, i disagree with him on that. he is within his rights to disagree with the policy. but when he has had repeated ability to try to persuade his colleagues that the policy is wrong, and he has been unsuccessful, he should not take out his inability to persuade his colleagues on these patriotic public servants. i urge in the most urgent way that i can the quickest end to

this blockade. let's get these people in positions that they have earned through their lives of service and enable them to continue to serve this country. with that, madam president, i yield the floor. a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senior senator from new mexico. mr. heinrich: madam president, the substitute amendment contains the appropriations committee-reported versions of three bills, the military construction and veterans affairs, agriculture, and transportation, housing, and urban development s i rise today as the chair of the agriculture, rural development, food and drug administration, and related

agencies subcommittee. and i just want to urge all of our colleagues, all of them, to support the agriculture bill that the appropriations committee reported out on a unanimous and bipartisan 28-0 vote. the fiscal year 2024 agriculture appropriations bill provides nearly $26 billion to continue the important work of the u.s. department of agriculture and of the food and drug administration. this includes support for american farmers and food producers, protections for our nation's food supply, and investments in important conservation and clean water programs. as we drafted this bill, our subcommittee made difficult decisions on how best to invest taxpayer dollars in line with the agreement forged earlier this year by both president biden and, i would point out,

house leadership. and i am proud of the incredibly collaborative approach taken by ranking member hoeven to make this a truly bipartisan bill. our subcommittee held substantive hearings. we considered nearly 3,000 requests from our senate colleagues, and we worked in an incredibly bipartisan manner to address all of the ways that these agencies serve our nation and our constituents. every single state, including my own state of new mexico, has farmers, families, rural economies that will benefit directly from the investments in this legislation. at the core of this bill is our commitment to ensuring that families can put food on their tables and that no child goes hungry. the committee-reported bill includes $6.3 billion for the special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants, and

children -- or wic. it safeguards the enrollment of more than 6 million women, infant, and children across this nation in this vital nutrition program. and we will continue to monitor the impacts of rising food costs and the increased participation of families in wic. we must deliver on the goal of providing every eligible family with the full benefit that they need to keep healthy and nutritious food on their tables. few federal aid programs garner such broad bipartisan support as wic. and i am confident that my colleagues will continue to sustain this essential program just as they did when you, as the presiding officer, were chair of this appropriations subcommittee. and equally important, this bill fully funds the supplemental nutrition assistance program and child nutrition programs so that kids across the country will

continue to receive healthy school meals. children should not be able to focus on -- should be able to focus on learning and growing, not on the worries about when or if they will get their next meal. and this bill also provides a $20 million increase for the food and drug administration to support its mission of protecting the safety, the security of our nation's food supply. as we head into another winter flu season, see potential new uptician up-- uptakes of covid cases, this bill will ensure we keep our supply safe. funding for both the agricultural research service and the national institute for food and agriculture.

these funds support scientific discovery at land-grand universities and research centers all across this great nation. these programs protect our nation's current food supply and ensure the long-term viability of american agriculture. i'm also please with the $922 million that we provided for conservation efforts around the country. in the face of a rapidly changing climate and the weather impacts that that has, it's essential that our farmers and producers have access to technical assistance and tools that they need to implement best practices on their working landscapes. importantly, this bill makes key economic investments in rural america as well. many rural communities, including in new mexico, are burdened by a lack of affordable housing as their housing stock

continues to age and construction costs increase. the bill provides over $30 billion for rural americans to achieve homeownership. the majority of whom will be first-time home buyers. it also fully funds the rental assistance program, which provides a lifeline for many low-income families in rural communities. these funds are coupled with almost $2 billion for business and industry development to increase job growth and revitalize rural economies. finally, this bill underscores our commitment to global food security by maintaining funding for vital international food aid programs. these programs support developing countries and provide for the donation of u.s. agricultural commodities. as conflict and climate threats around the globe contribute to rising levels of famine and poverty, these programs

demonstrate our nation's leadership in the fight against world hunger while also building new markets for our agricultural exports. the agriculture portion of this minibus appropriations package is a bipartisan, comprehensive bill, and i am proud to see it before the full senate for consideration. and i want to take just a moment here at the end to recognize the members of our subcommittee and all of their staffs for both the majority and the minority, for their incredibly tremendous efforts to negotiate this bill. with that, madam president, i would yield the floor. a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: senior senator from north dakota. mr. hoeven: thank you, madam president. i'm here and pleased to join my colleague from the state of new mexico and thank him for his leadership on the ag appropriations committee and to