inheriting. thanks, guys. [inaudible conversations] >> have you taked to president biden? have you spoken to the president? >> yes. >> about the-- >> yeah, yeah, thank you. >> thank you. >> all right, guys, thank you. >> i was asked whether i'd spoken with president biden and the answer is yes, and he was very generous and kind in his comments. >> senator, thank you. >> thank you, guys. [inaudible conversations] >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government who are funded by these television companies and more, including wow. >> the world has changed. today, the fast reliable internet connection is something no one can live without. so, wow is there for our customers, with speed, reliability, value and choice, now more than ever, it all

starts with great internet. >> wow. >> wow supports c-span as a public servic along with these other television providers. giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> and we take you live now to the capitol where the u.s. senate is about to gavel in. today members continue work on a three-bill spending package to fund the agriculture, housing, transportation and veterans affairs departments. a vote to begin debate on the spending package has been set for 10:30 a.m. this morning. take you live now to the floor of the senate here on c-span2. the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. the chaplain, the reverend dr. barry black, will open the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. shepherd of love, as we begin

today's legislative session, we pause to acknowledge your sovereignty. you are a god of might and miracles, and we are sustained by your mercy. today, lead our lawmakers beside still waters and replenish their spirits with your power, as they grapple with the challenges of our time. give them a faith that will not shrink, though pressed by many a foe. lord, provide them with the wisdom to hear your voice and the courage to obey your precepts. let your hand rest on our nation and lead it to a greatness that

deplorerifies you. -- that glorifies you. we pray in your powerful 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 14, 2023. to the senate: under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable raphael g. warnock, a senator from the state of georgia, 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. 436666, which the clerk wil report. the clerk: an ability making appropriations for military construction, the department of veterans affairs, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2024, and ending september 30, 2024, and

into the president the desk. that meant poison pills that could take these bills. third we understand it was important we get each and every to weigh in on these bills, and the american public the chance to see his work on them. so we held over 40 hearings this spring to assess our nation's needs for the year ahead. we thought input from all of our colleagues ne of the most informative and historic discussions ever held in the

congress. many of us came out of our first a.i. insight forum exhilarated. the debate was illuminating, the discussions candid, unvarnished, direct. i want to thank senators rounds, heinrich, and young for joining me in leading the discussion. they helped make yesterday an all-out success. i want to thank every senator who attended. we had great turnout. i'm told about 70 senators from both parties attended. and i think we all left with a greater understanding and appreciation of a.i.'s importance and complexity. by the end of the day, everyone in the room did reach a consensus on a few important points. first, congress must play a role -- must play a role -- in regulating a.i. one of the most striking moments at the forum was when i asked all of the participants, the critics, the experts, the

developers alike, to raise their hands if they agreed that government had to be involved. and we had universal support. not one person had their hand down. second, most everyone agreed that the government must also play a role promoting what we call transformational innovation. bill gates talked about a.i.'s potential for combating hunger worldwide. ericeric schmitt talked about hw doctors can use it. dr. rounds talked about losing his wife to cancer. and it led to a conservation about how -- conversation about how a.i. can be used one day to use never-before-seen drugs to do the unthinkable -- cure cancer. but at the same time and with

equal vehemence, we had a consensus on the need for guardrails, for a sustainable innovation because just as a.i. can be used to design cancer cures, it could also, if things went wrong, be used to make terrible bioweapons or other dangers. i think everyone at the forum agreed that if we don't do anything on a.i., then the lowest common denominator could occur -- racial bias that in our society would be enshrined in a.i., massive job displacement, and even more unthinkable doomsday scenarios. so we talked about the need for not only transformational innovation that does the positive but for sustainable innovation where the government installs guardrails to minimize these risks. called sustainable because a.i. won't be able to go forward if we don't have guardrails to prevent the very serious down sides. and we agreed, only the

government can fill the hole of creating and enforcing these guardrails because even if a good number of private companies do the responsible thing and regulate themselves, there will always be outliier companies who don't, and that brings the lowest common denominator way down. finally, there was a consensus that we need to find balance between innovation and guardrails. this won't be easy, but it is essential. you can't go too far in either direction. we want to maximize the benefits and minimize the risks. if you go too far on one side, you may hurt the other. so congress must pay attention to both. that ain't easy. this is going to be one of the toughest jobs the congress has ever undertaken, but one of the most important and one of the most necessary. to be sure, we didn't cover everything in today's forum. we're just at the beginning.

the conversation that began yesterday will continue into the fall and beyond, when we host even more a.i. insight forums. our committees, which will have to do the work, the real work of crafting legislation, they've already held a dozen hearings and are going to hold a lot more. using what we learned at the forums to help craft legislation. well, mr. president, we have a lot of work in front of us, but yesterday's conversation gave the senate a strong sense of where to begin, and was a decided blow to the ostriches around here, who might put their heads in the sand and say it's too complicated, too difficult, let's do nothing. thanks to all our participants who came to yesterday's a.i. forum. thanks to senator rounds and young and heinrich for hosting with me. and thanks to all my colleagues who joined. let's now look ahead to our second a.i. insight forum, which

will happen very soon. now, on senate business, today the senate will take up our bipartisan appropriations process. we'll take the next step in our bipartisan appropriations process. later this morning, we'll hold a vote on the motion to proceed to the minibus, which contains three spending bills -- milcon v.a., agriculture, and transportation housing. affectionally known around here as t-hud. earlier this week, the first vote on this bill got an overwhelming 85-12 vote. that's yet another example of the bipartisan nature of our work here in the senate to date. i hope both sides come out in strong support of the vote in a few minutes. we should not slow this process down, because once we're on the bill i look forward to a constructive debate, where both sides can secure votes on amendments. off the floor, the work of advancing the president's highly qualified nominees also

continues. today, the judiciary committee will hold a markup on another seven district judges, two u.s. attorneys, and other nominees. i thank chairman durbin and my colleagues on judiciary for their work. they've helped the u.s. senate confirm over 140 judges, including 36 circuit judges, 104 district court judges, and of course ketanji brown jackson, the historic nomination to the u.s. supreme court. now, on republican extremism, mr. president, a lot has changed since i first arrived in congress, but nothing more so than the seismic shift in the republican party's support for the members of our great armed forces. when i arrived in the house, republican representatives used to fall over each other to give speeches expressing support for those in uniform. the same when i arrived in the senate. their policies didn't always match the rhetoric, but the support truly seemed real and

genuine. it no longer does. oh, some of them may still use the rhetoric, but these days the actions we see on the other side say more than all the patriotic rhetoric on earth. look at where we are. in the house, the republicans can't even agree to debate a bill to fund the defense department and the intelligence community, and they balk at providing emergency aid to a democratic partner fighting off a russian invasion. in the senate, our republican colleagues are more supportive of our ukrainian friends, to their credit, but extremists in their rinks are blocking the -- in their ranks are blocking the promotions of hundreds of military leaders. what does the republican leadership do? nothing. tacit approval of this nakedly cynical tactic. shrugging their shoulders and

letting it go forward. the result? real lives, real lives -- families -- trapped in limbo, because a select few want to push the maga hard line on women's choice. to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, these servicemembers, the finest our military has to offer, are seemingly just numbers on the senate calendar. the senator from alabama claims no one is being harmed by his obstruction, and that the leadership of his conference supports him. well, i say to my friends, these are not just numbers. our armed servicemembers are real people who have dedicated their lives to serving, defending our great country. they're real families, spouses, children whose lives have been put in limbo by the callous calculation of the senator from alabama. officers cannot assume their new assignments. spouses who cannot find jobs in

new locations. families that cannot get settled in their new homes. kids who have to go to a new school can't start it. the bottom line is this, this is a republican problem. it was created by the senator from alabama, no one else, and it's up to republicans to put pressure on him to back off, plain and simple. we already see that pressure mount. last week, one of the major republican presidential candidates said that the senator from alabama ought to back off. just a few days ago, the house chairman of the foreign relations committee, one of the most respected, conservative members of the house, said the same thing. but senate republican leaders need to step up. here we are, yet here we are, with extremists, extremists of

one party choosing to upend the lives of hundreds of dedicated and honorable military families. i will continue to find a way to break this logjam and get these lives back on track. i yield the floor. note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. the clerk: ms. baldwin. quorum call:

mr. mcconnell: mr. president. the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent that further proceedings on the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: america's example and the threats posed by

russia and china are leading major allies and partners in europe and asia to step up their commitments to collective security and dramatically increase investments in their own defense. it's worth pointing out, once again, that the united states is not -- i repeat, not -- shouldering the burden for european free-riders. in fact, when it comes to security assistance to ukraine, as a share of gdp, 14 of our european allies are actually giving more. lithuania, a small nation by any measure, has sent tens of thousands of rifles, handguns, and grenade launchers, and millions of rounds of ammunition. denmark and estonia have sent

their entire inventory of certain critical artillery. larger allies, like the united kingdom and france, are making remarkable contributions themselves, including longer range systems than the united states has provided. even germany, despite slow and sometimes agonizing decision-making, has provided historic support to ukraine and is the continent's leading, largest provider of security assistance to ukraine. and europe has more than doubled american economic and humanitarian assistance, not to mention a massive cost of hosting millions of ukrainian refugees. but like america, our allies are not in the business of

philanthropy. as far away as tokyo and seoul, leaders are making a sober calculation about their interests. our friends are making historic new investments in growing their arsenals and modernizing their militaries. more than half of our nato allies are now on track, on track to hit the alliance 2% spending target by the end of next year. sweden, not yet a full-fledged nato member, is increasing its defense spending next year by nearly 30% to invest in modern military capability and meet its 2% of gdp target. lithuania, which spent less than 1% of its gdp back in 2014, is set to spend over 2.5% next

year. and to bolster their security, many of our allies are buying american. since russia's escalation began last february, our allies and partners across the globe have purchased over $120 billion in advanced american-made weapon systems. germany, switzerland, finland, the czech republic have all moved quickly to sign contracts to purchase f-35's. indonesia has signed up for nearly $14 billion in f-15 fighter aircraft made in st. louis, missouri. bulgaria, an economy roughly the size of the state of maine, has spent $1.5 billion on striker combat vehicles that are produced in lima, ohio. and anniston, alabama.

and poland has ordered $12 billion worth of apache helicopters produced in mesa, arizona, and is planning to buy 486 himars launchers. they will the biggest himars inventory in the world. here's the most important part, when our friends and allies buy american, they're buying into a closer security relationship with the united states. they're building more interoperable militaries to strengthen deterrence. and they're also lowering costs for the american taxpayer as we rebuild our capabilities. they're sharing the burden of collective defense. these investments are not a coincidence. they're a demonstration of the confidence our allies have in american leadership. but make no mistake, that confidence is perishable.

as we saw with the disastrous retreat from afghanistan, america can lose trust far more quickly than we can earn it. if we pull the plug on our commitment to stand with europe, our largest trading partner, i can guarantee it will shred our credibility as a security partner worldwide. it will make it harder to convince our allies to stand together against chinese aggression, the single biggest threat to our own security and prosperity. now, on another matter, today i join folks in my home state in thanking mike duncan for his decades-long service to the kentucky republican party as he steps down as our national committeeman. in washington, it's rare to find an individual equally skilled at

navigating the worlds of business and politics, but my good friend mike is just that rare hybrid. despite his success, standing up a chain of community banks, mike chose to commit his considerable talents to public service. he would serve terms as governor of the united states postal service, chairman of the republican national committee, and chairman ever the tennessee valley authority, on ton of a number of impressive positions under five republican presidents. in my home state mike served for the kentucky gop since 1992, advising republican leaders at the state and local and national levels his entire career. early on mike had a gift for giving that he shared generously with the people of my home

state. when mike and his wife jo ann first moved to east kentucky, they committed to spending at least one day a week doing something to benefit their community. since then mike has devoted decades to student mentorship, training young people in appalachia, and sponsoring their continued education. his lifetime of civic service has been recognized by a number of prestigious organizations. now somehow between raising a family and serving his country, mike found time to develop a close circle of friends, which i'm grateful to be a part of. mike has been a trusted source of counsel and i'm thankful to always have him in my corner. so as mike steps away from his national role, i'm grateful he will continue to be a leader in our state party and in his own community. so thank you, mike. thank you for your decades of

friendship, your service to our country. elaine and i wish you and jo ann all the best. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mrs. murray: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. murray: mr. president, thank you. i urge all of our colleagues who have come to me and to the senator from maine to talk about the need for regular order to vote yes now on this motion to proceed. i will have more to say about what we all need to do to keep this process moving, but this vote is important if we want to make sure that senators will have the opportunity to speak out for their values and their constituents. so i urge a yes vote on the motion to proceed, and let's get going on an agreement as soon as possible so senators can vote and debate and act on amendments. that's what regular order is, and that's just about what

everyone has told me exactly is what they want and what i've been hearing all year from senators on both sides of the aisle. so thank you, mr. president. let's keep up the bipartisanship. let's get to work. the presiding officer: under the previous order, all postcloture time is expired. the question is on the motion to proceed. mrs. murray: i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. the clerk: ms. baldwin. mr. barrasso. mr. bennet. mrs. blackburn. mr. blumenthal. mr. booker. mr. boozman. mr. braun. mrs. britt. mr. brown. mr. budd. ms. cantwell. mrs. capito. mr. cardin. mr. carper. mr. casey. mr. cassidy. ms. collins. mr. coons. mr. cornyn. ms. cortez masto. mr. cotton. mr. cramer. mr. crapo. mr. cruz. mr. daines. ms. duckworth. mr. durbin. ms. ernst. mrs. feinstein. mr. fetterman. mrs. fischer. mrs. gillibrand.

mr. graham. mr. grassley. mr. hagerty. ms. hassan. mr. hawley. mr. heinrich. mr. hickenlooper. ms. hirono. mr. hoeven. mrs. hyde-smith. mr. johnson. mr. kaine. mr. kelly. mr. kennedy. mr. king. ms. klobuchar. mr. lankford. mr. lee. mr. lujan. ms. lummis. mr. manchin. mr. markey. mr. marshall. mr. mcconnell. mr. menendez. mr. merkley. mr. moran. mr. mullin. ms. murkowski. mr. murphy. mrs. murray. mr. ossoff. mr. padilla. mr. paul. mr. peters. mr. reed.

mr. ricketts. mr. risch. mr. romney. the clerk: ms. rosen. mr. rounds. mr. rubio. mr. sanders. mr. schatz. mr. schmitt. mr. schumer. mr. scott of florida.

mr. scott of south carolina. mrs. shaheen. ms. sinema. ms. smith. ms. stabenow. mr. sullivan. mr. tester. mr. thune. mr. tillis. mr. tuberville. mr. van hollen. mr. vance. mr. warner. mr. warnock. ms. warren. mr. welch. mr. whitehouse. mr. wicker. mr. wyden. mr. young.

senators voting in the affirmative -- coons, ernst, murray, romney, shaheen, smith, warner, and warnock. no senator voted in the negative

the clerk: mr. graham, aye. mrs. hyde-smith, aye. mr. mullin, aye. mrs. why i believed -- mrs. gillibrand, aye. mr. kelly, aye. mr. cassidy, aye.

the clerk: ms. hirono, aye.

the clerk: ms. collins, aye.

the clerk: mr. merkley, aye. the clerk: mr. cornyn, aye.

the clerk: mr. ossoff, aye.

the clerk: mr. sullivan, aye. the clerk: mrs. blackburn, aye. mr. padilla, aye.

mr. braun, no. the clerk: mr. durbin, aye.

the clerk: ms. warren, aye. mr. moran, aye. mr. welch, aye.

ms. baldwin, aye. the clerk: mr. budd, aye. mr. booker, aye. mr. kennedy, aye.

the clerk: mr. sanders, aye.

the clerk: mr. lee, aye. mr. scott of florida, no. mr. lankford, aye.

the clerk: ms. sinema, aye. mr. hagerty, aye. mr. thune, aye. mrs. capito. aye. mr. tillis, aye. mr. daines, aye.

mr. schatz, aye. ms. lummis, no. mr. kaine, aye. mr. grassley, aye. mr. reed, aye.

the clerk: ms. stabenow, aye. mr. murphy, aye. the clerk: mr. mcconnell, aye. ms. cortez masto, aye.

mr. tester, aye. ms. rosen, aye. mr. heinrich, aye.

the clerk: mr. johnson, aye.

the clerk: mr. markey, aye. mr. cardin, aye. ms. cantwell, aye. mr. boozman, aye. mr. schumer, aye. the clerk: mr. schmitt, no.

the clerk: mr. carper, aye. the clerk: mr. rubio, aye.

the clerk: mr. . mr. hoeven, aye.

the clerk: mr. marshall, aye. mr. cramer, aye.

mr. featherman, aye. mr. the clerk: mr. fetterman, aye. mr. rounds, aye. the clerk: mr. wyden, aye.

the clerk: mr. tuberville, aye.

the clerk: mr. brown, aye. mr. hawley, no. mr. wicker, aye. mr. whitehouse, aye.

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

the clerk: mr. ricketts, no. the clerk: mr. hickenlooper, aye.

the clerk: mr. young, aye. mr. king, aye. mr. bennet, aye. mr. crapo --

the clerk: mr. crapo, aye. mr. risch, aye.

vote:

the clerk: mr. blumenthal, aye.

the clerk: mr. cot cot -- mr. cotton, aye. mr. menendez, aye. mr. manchin, aye.

the clerk: mrs. britt, aye. mr. scott of south carolina, aye.

the clerk: mr. van hollen, aye.

the clerk: ms. murkowski, aye. the clerk: ms. klobuchar, aye.

the clerk: mr. cruz, no.

vote: the clerk: mr. paul, aye.

the clerk: mrs. feinstein, aye.

the clerk: mr. peters, aye.

the presiding officer: the yeas are 91, the nays are 7. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the bill. the clerk: calendar number 198, h.r. 4366, an act for making appropriations for military construction and for other purposes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i call up substitute amendment 1092. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from new york mr. is schumer for in ms. collins and mrs. murray propose amendment 1092. mr. schumer: i ask to dispense with the further reading of the

amendment. the presiding officer: without objection. the senator from washington. mrs. murray: i have an amendment at the desk to the substitute. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from washington, mrs. murray, proposes amendment numbered 1205 to amendment 1092. mrs. murray: i ask to dispense with further reading of the amendment. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: i move to commit 4366 to the committee. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from new york, moves to commit the bill h.r. 4366 to the appropriations committee with instukses to report bark forthwith with amendment numbered 1207. mr. schumer: i ask to dispense with further reading. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i yield. mrs. murray: i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

the clerk: ms. baldwin. quorum call:

quorum call:

mrs. murray: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator for washington. mrs. murray: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. murray: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the substitute amendment numbered 1092 be considered an appropriations committee amendment and with no other points of order waived by this agreement h.r. 4366 and

h.r. 4688, and h.r. 4820, as reported in the house of representatives on july 24, 2023, serve as the basis for defensive germane and that it be under floor amendments to amendment in more than one place. in it be in order for the following amendments to be made pending and at a time to be made by the majority leader and in consultation with the minority leader, and votes on 1092 with no fursdz amendments or motions in order to the amendments. paul 1157, vance 1125, ernst 1123, blackburn, 1155, lee 1121, stabenow 1115, peters-cornyn 1132, rosen 732, schatz 1120. the presiding officer: without

objection. is there objection? a senator: i object. the presiding officer: objection is heard. ms. collins: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from maine. mr. president, i'm both surprised and disappointed that the senator from wisconsin is objecting to this unanimous consent agreement. the senator from wisconsin has repeatedly said, and i agree with him, that we should not end up with an omnibus bill, a 4,000-page bill at the end of the year with little consideration, largely drafted by a small group of people. so why is the senator from wisconsin objecting to proceeding to three

appropriations bills that were reported unanimously -- unanimously each one of them by the senate appropriations committee after a great deal of work? furthermore, the senator is subjecting republican amendments being offered to this package, amendments by senators paul, vance, ernst, lee, and that's just the first tranche of amendments. negotiations are ongoing. there will be additional amendments. but if we cannot proceed to consider this bill and the other two appropriations bills unanimously reported by the

senate committee, then those amendments offered by some of our members cannot be considered considered. the senator from wisconsin opposed to the amendments that will offered by senators paul, vance, ernst, blackburn, and lee? because by objecting he is preventing them from being considered by the full senate. , we have worked very hard to clear amendments for consideration by this body. but if we can't even get past the procedural amendments that allow us to bring the transportation and housing

appropriations bill and the agriculture appropriations bill to add to the milcon v.a. bill, then the senate is broken once again. senator murray and i along with all the members of the appropriations committee have worked so hard to achieve bipartisan consensus. we held nearly 50 hearings and briefings, asking tough questions, reviewing the president's budget request, evaluating the numbers in the budget, and we worked hard to draft, to develop, draft, and approve all 12 of the appropriations bills for the first time in five years. how can a member stand up and

object and at the same time say oh, i don't want an omnibus bill? well, that's what we're heading for. we lost last week. i wish that the democratic leader had brought this to the floor last week. we're now losing this week. and needlessly so. there has been a great openness by my democratic colleagues to consider republican amendments. we just asked unanimous consent for the first five to be considered. and yet that is objected to. mr. president, members cannot have it both ways. they cannot block floor consideration of appropriations bills that were unanimously

reported by the committee and yet maintain that they don't want an omnibus bill. it's one or the other. or a government shutdown, even worse. so i would ask my colleague from wisconsin to think through this and think about the fact that he is blocking republican amendments from getting a vote on the senate floor. he is setting us up for either an omnibus bill or a government shutdown. and none of those outcomes serve the american people well. i yield the floor. mrs. murray: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: mr. president, let's be clear. to all of my colleagues who told

me and senator collins and the american people that we have to get back to regular order, that is what exactly we are working to do here. but we have been working in good faith to set up amendment votes, to get the ball rolling on this bill, and now there are a few colleagues on the other side of the aisle who are dismissing all of this out of hand. any kind of reasonable agreement to move this process forward and blocking all of the agreements we do put together to move forward. listen when i say this. if we all want regular order, a key part of this is allowing senators to come down, have amendments voted on, and moving forward with an amendment process so senators can make their voices heard on our funding bills. so we can't move at a glacial pace, and we can't have senators obstructing this process needlessly. i do hope they reconsider and work with us on a timely,

serious process so all senators, especially those who serve -- who do not serve on the appropriations committee, can come up here and speak up for their values and their constituents. i know colleagues are ready to bring forward amendments, some of which i don't agree with. we'll like -- agree with, likely vote against, all of which i'm prepared with my colleague from maine to discuss and to debate. but the senate should be allowed to work its will and debate these issues here on the floor. and the american public should be able to see for themselves where their elected leaders stand on those issues, as we consider the legislation that will fund the united states government. that is regular order. but that cannot happen until everybody in this body gets serious about coming to this agreement, about how we move this process forward. r, period. now, i want to be clear. while there are a few senators who are determined now to derail this process, this bipartisan process, the vast majority of

our colleagues on both sides of the aisle have put forward serious efforts into crafting these genuine bipartisan bills. i know that because the senator from maine and i took great pains to make sure everyone could weigh in here. we made extraordinary progress in the senate appropriations committee. i have heard about it from so many of you on both sides of the aisle all week. how did we do it? we agreed early on to have an open, bipartisan process for our bills. exactly what many senators have been calling for. we said let's stick to the bipartisan debt limit deal when we -- we all passed in july and let's keep out partisan poison pills. and let's give members the chance to weigh in and make their constituents' voices heard. in other words, let's show the american people congress can actually work. let's be clear. the bills we are considering aren't democratic or republican

spending bills. they are bills both sides, democrat and republican, wrote after a lot of negotiation and compromise together. this package that we have reflects input from senators from across the country and across the political spectrum working on behalf of the people who sent them here. and that is exactly why all of these bills in this package passed our committee unanimously. mr. president, the american people are watching. they're wondering can congress still work. in we can actually come together and reach common ground, even on something as fundamental as funding our government. they do not want to see grandstanding or chaos. they want to see results. and the vast majority of this body wants to show them that we take this job seriously, that we take their problems seriously, which the senator from maine and i greatly appreciate.

so i hope that the few hold youths who -- holdouts who are now keeping us from moving forward and reaching agreement so we can line up amendments and votes will see reason. and let us show the american people congress is still capable of working in good faith to help people and solve problems just like they sent us here to do. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. i subject the absence. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. the clerk: ms. baldwin. quorum call:

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from arkansas. mr. boozman: i ask we dispense the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. boozman: thank you. i'm happy to present with senator murray the fiscal 2024-2025 appropriations bill for the department of veterans affairs and department of defense military construction. i'm proud to be a part of this first mini bus as we continue the fiscal year 2024 appropriations process and the return to regular order. as in years past, this subcommittee crafted the bill in an open and bipartisan way, and i expect to continue that today

as we consider this bill on the floor. this bill takes into consideration the needs of our veterans, their families, and our servicemembers, and within that framework we have created a thoughtful and responsible path for both departments and our related agencies. this bill provides $154.352 billion in discretionary spending which is $184 million over last year's level. within that the department of veterans affairs has provided $134.8 billion in discretionary funding which is $85 billion over last year's level. included in that level is the $121 billion for veterans medical care, a $2.3 billion increase over last year. this bill funds priority accounts to prevent suicide --

veteran suicide, increase access to rural health care, support critical mental health programs, helps prevent veterans homelessness and provides funding for innovative medical research. the bill provides $19.07 billion to support military construction and family housing needs and funds a total of 163 major military construction projects which we desperately need. this bill will give the department of defense the resources it needs to project the power globally, enhas our war fighting capabilities, and train our forces. this is bill also provides $1.9 billion to improve the quality of life for servicemembers and their families. i also want to note that the bill includes $147.3 million for related agencies, which includes

the american battle monuments commission, the u.s. court of appeals for veterans claims, arlington national cemetery, and the armed forces retirement fund. i want to thank chair murray and vice chair collins for their leadership of the total committee and then i also want to specifically thank chair murray and her staff, my staff for the hard work that they've done in crafting this bill to get us where we're at today. so we appreciate them and then also we'll be encouraging votes so that we can actually get these bills across the finish line. with that, i yield back, mr. president. mrs. murray: mr. president, i want to thank senator boozman for being such a great partner and for his work on this bill and all the appropriations bills

and look forward to working with you as we continue to try and bring this up and get it rolling and moving on the floor. so thank you very much. and, mr. president, agency i said, we're -- as i said, we are working in good faith to set up amendment votes and get the ball rolling on the bipartisan appropriations package that the senior senator from maine and i assembled so that we can return the senate to regular order for the first time in a long time, which many of our colleagues have called for. in the meantime, today i want to talk about the military construction veterans affairs and related agencies bill that is included in this funding package and why the investments in this bill are so important for our military readiness, for our military families and especially for vents across our -- for veterans across our nation who have sacrificed so much for us. as chair of the milcon subcommittee, i worked closely with the senior senator from

arizona who just spoke -- from arkansas who just spoke to draft the strongest possible bill, even under tough top lines from the debt limit deal. i am ape very pleased that the bill we put together which did pass our committee unanimously makes crucial investments and gets our military and veterans the support they need. this bill provides $19.1 billion for military construction. that is an increase over the fy2032 level and supports hundreds of construction projects at base installations so we can improve the quality of life for our servicemembers and families, modernize maintenance and training facilities, and make military installations more resilient against growing threats like climate disasters. the $2 highway 4 billion for -- the $2.4 billion will support projects like building new housing and maintaining existing

housing so that the homes military families are living in right now do not fall into disrepair. i'm proud that our bill provides funding for eight new child development centers so we can expand child care access for our military families. these type of quality-of-life investments are essential to our recruiting and retention and overall readiness. and, more importantly, they are what our troops deserve sand what we owe them for the sacrifices they make. this bill also funds other essential military construction projects like training and vehicle maintenance, improving energy resilience on bases and making sure that our installations are better prepared to face severe weather evented, because as our generals and admirals have made crystal clear, climate change is a national disclosure threat and we cannot ford to let it undermine our readiness. the bill that we are considering also includes investments to

strengthen our alliances and partnerships around the world, including by supporting nato infrastructure projects and providing funding to strengthen our global presence, including over a half a billion nor this work in the indo-pacific. i'm also glad we were able to include funding to address pfas and other toxins, the forever chemicals, at former installations that could put our communities and military families especially in harm's way. pfas's have been found at hundreds of military bases across the country including in my home state. of course there is the v.a. funding in this bill that is us just as essential. i'm someone who previously chaired the veterans' affairs committee. i specifically asked to be assigned to that committee as soon as is came to congress, and i'm really honored to have been the first woman ever to serve on that committee because, as the daughter of a world war ii veteran, i take our nation's commitment to care for our

veterans personally. when my father was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis which forced him to stop working, his v.a. benefits were crucial to making sure he could get the care that he needed. so i know firsthand how essential v.a. care is for veterans and their families and am constantly meeting with veterans in my state about their experiences, too. lisk up to our obligation to -- living up to our obstacles to those who served is nonnegotiable for me. i know many of my colleagues feel the exact same way. that's especially true for my partner across the dais across the aisle. we have worked closely for many years. i knew when we started on this bill, he is someone who cares deeply about our men and women in the military and takes our obligations to our veterans seriously. in other words, he's exactly the

kind evidence partner you want across the table. and i'm pleased to say we worked together to draft a bill that ensures that we keep our programs to servicemembers and veterans by fully funding the v.a.'s budget request. that means increasing funding for mental health and suicide prevention programs since we know that suicide is the leading cause of death for veterans, especially our youngser vents. it means increased funding for rural health care so that veterans in every corner of the country can get the indicator they need, homeless any prevention programs that help with the challenges of returning to civilian life, and for the caregiver's programs which i thought to expand with so many of my colleagues last year. and of course it means increased funding for women veterans care. women are the fastest-growing demographic of our veterans. this bill includes funding to expand the child care pilot program that i helped establish.

we have a child care crisis in this country, which is why i worked to include funding to include child care sites at our v.a. facilities so that lack of child care doesn't keep our veterans from getting the care they need. in addition to the v.a. funding, last year we passed the largest expansion of v.a. care in decades by passing the bipartisan pact act and earlier this year congress worked to live up to that expansion by passing more than $20 billion in funding for the toxic exposures fund as part of the fiscal responsibility act. this is already making a difference for veterans, who were exposed to burn pits and other toxins. another crucial investment is is the funding increase for v.a. infrastructure because we cannot let vents' health care be undermined by the challenges to the aging medical facilities and for that matter jeopardized by

botched rollouts like we saw with the electronic health care record modernization program. i was glad to see that the v.a. did put a pause on the rollout of the ehr earlier this year, something i had been pushing them to do and we made that sure that pause wag reflected in our funding bill because i was raise i.g. the alarm from day one about how the botched ehr rollout was hurting washington state veterans. it is a challenging situation right now with vhr. we cannot just switch on a flip. i am working to make sure we see changes that provide results for our veterans and v.a. providers because at the end of the day, these investments are not just about programs and contracts; this is about our promise to get our veterans the benefits that they earned and need to stay healthy -- prescriptions, mental health care, cancer screenings and so much more. and to make sure every woman and

man who serves our country in uniform gets the support and training and the equipment they need to be at their best. mr. president, before i wrap up, i also want to say a little bit more about some of the items in this bill i fought hard for that are especially important to my state. when it comes to military construction, there are certain projects like new barracks and a rigging facility, bulk storage facilities, updated electrical infrastructure at the puget sound naval shipyard, and funding to advance other projects across my home state like equipment maintenance and platoon training facilities. and about it comes to support for our veterans at our v.a. facilities, i pushed to make sure this includes funding to help the v.a. medical center provide quality care and upgrade

its facilities. and it's worth note iting while those are some of the projects i'm most excited about in my state, we made sure all senators on both sides of the aisle could weigh in on this bill, and i know many other members worked very hard to support similar projects and get funding that is important to their states. so i urge my colleagues to come to the floor, talk about some of the projects that you have in this bill, and why this funding is so important to your families back home. i also invite them to talk to me and the senator from maine about investments and ideas about how to make these bills better. our staff is working around the clock and so are we. we do want to set up a managers' package and amendments and we want to get this funding package passed in the senate and passed into law because, let's be clear, this is a bill that can actually be passed into law. and that's because all of the hard work and careful

consideration and in many cases compromise that went into the producing this bipartisan bill. this is a responsible bill that we wrote together, democrats and republicans. how? by listening to our communities, listening to each other so we can help people solve problems. that's how this process should work. that's what we were all sent here to do. so let's work together, show the american people that congress can do its job, can actually get our communities the resources they need in a timely and responsible way, and help people and solve problems. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the clerk: ms. baldwin.

quorum call:

mr. sanders: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. sanders: thank you mr. president, let me begin by -- the presiding officer: we're in a quorum call, senator. mr. sanders: i ask that the quorum be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. sanders: mr. president,let me begin by thanking senator

marshall, from kansas, for his very hard work on the bill that we have introduced today, after being on the floor with me this aftertune to -- afternoon to briefly discuss it. i also want to thank his staff and my staff for putting in an number amount of time on this bill over the last several months. mr. president, most americans understand that our health care system is broken. we are spending nearly $13,000 a year per capita on health care. that's an astronomical sum of money, almost twice as much as most other countries. yet despite all of that spending, some 85 million americans are uninsured or underinsured, and there are estimates out there, believe it or not, that some 60,000 americans die each year because they do not receive the health care they need, when they need

it, and our life expectancy as a nation is actually in decline. despite all of that spending. frankly, as broken as our general health care system is, our primary health care system is in even worse shape. as everyone knows, i don't think there's any debate on this, we face a major shortage of doctors, nurses, mental health professionals, dentists, and those shortages will only grow as a result of the covid burnout that many providers experienced, and the aging of our health care workforce. according to the most recent estimates that i have seen, over the next decade our country face as shortage of over 120,000 doctors, including a huge number of primary care physicians. the nursing shortage may be even worse. over the next two years alone, it is estimated that we'll need more than 200,000 nurses.

despite the very serious mental health crisis we face, we're facing a massive shortage of mental health providers, psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, etc. now, that is not the point that bernie sanders is making or senator marshall has made. this is the point of view of virtually every major medical organization in the country, and on this matter let me quote from a recent "washington post" op-ed by elizabeth rosenthal, contributing editor at kiser family foundation health news, this is what she writes, quote -- and i hope our colleagues hear this -- quote, american physicians have been abandoning traditional primary care practice, internal and family medicine in large numbers. those who remain are working fewer hours, and fewer medical students are choosing a field that once attracted some of the best and brightest because of

its diagnostic challenges and the emotional gratification of deep relationships with patients. the percentage of u.s. doctors in adult primary care has been declining for years, and is now about 25%. a tipping point beyond which many americans won't be able to find a family doctor at all. already, she writes, more than 100 million americans don't have usual access to a primary care doctor, a number that has nearly doubled since 2014. i ask unanimous consent to enter the full article into the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. sanders: now, what this article points out is certainly not news to the people in america. in vermont and all over this country, our people often have to wait months in order to get an appointment with a doctor, and in some cases they have to

travel very long distances to get the health care they need. let us be clear, there is no debate upon this. some people think, well, we don't have to act on it now, let's to it next year, next year, following year. wrong. the crisis is only going to get worse, and every day we delay it, it becomes even worse. why is this happening? well, there are a lot of reasons why. one of the reasons is that, it turns out, the united states, despite all of our spending on health care, spends about half of what other nations do on primary health care. is we spend approximately 7%, most other countries spend at least twice as much. the absurdity of that situation is that everybody knows that, quote, an ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure, end quote. if there's anything that senator marshall andry talking about, that is exactly what we're talking about. if you spend money, you are

spending money to save money, keeping people healthy saves money. in other words, common sense tells us that if we can prevent disease, do a better job keeping our young people healthy, if people can access to the t -- access the medical care when they need it, not just when they're very, very sick, if we can do those things we can keep them out of the hospital, and hospital costs are just extremely, extremely high. common sense also tells us it is literally insane that millions of americans with nonemergency health care needs get their primary care in a hospital emergency room, which in some cases is ten times more than the care provided them in a community health center. let me give you one other example of the irrationalities of our current system. in my own small state of vermont, last year our major

hospital spent $125 million in one year on traveling nurses, because we don't have enough local nurses to support the needs of the hospital and many other facilities in vermont. meanwhile, young people want to become nurses, they're applying to nursing school, but the nursing schools don't have the faculty to educate them. i recently talked to a senator who told me that in her state some 1100 young people were applying for a space in nursing school, the school can only provide 80 openings. we have a nursing crisis, we're not addressing it, hospitals are spending three, four times as much money on traveling nurses as they are on home-grown nurses, because we're not educating our young people at nursing schools. this may make sense to somebody. it does not make great sense to me.

mr. president, the legislation that senator marshall and i introduced today does not solve by any means all of the health care crises we face, but if this legislation is passed it will not only save us substantial sums of money, not only provide a medical home for millions more americans, not only significantly increase the number of doctors and nurses we desperately need, but it will go a long way toward transforming primary health care in america, something that is so long overdue. with that, i want to turn the floor over to senator marshall. i would say this, that senator marshall has a unique perspective on this. not only is he a senator from a rural state, he is also a practicing physician and has an insight into the crises in health care that many of it us don't with. that, senator marshall, thank you very much for being with us. mr. marshall: thank you, senator

sanders. the presiding officer: the senator from kansas. mr. marshall: thank you so much, mr. president, for sharing this moment with us. one of my mentors here on the hill has a saying that some senators come here to make a point, others come to make a difference. the first time senator sanders and i sat down together, he said, roger, do you want to make a difference? we have worked so hard on this issue together, developing rapport, confidence in each other, in our staff. they've all done an incredible job, as we try to get through this riddle of health care challenges across this great nation. i think as both of us travel back to our home states of vermont and kansas, what we found is not everybody has meaningful, affordable access to primary care. so we tried to find the best actors, what are the best outcomes, who is making a dent? i think we both discovered our community health centers were

doing a great job. they'd taken many pilot programs and were improving them. i'm sure senators sanders would talk about some of his, but i saw this meeting patients where they are concept, integrating all the different elements of primary care, not just your blood pressure, not just your accu-check, but mental health, dental needs as well, are a few more things we're seeing ints graifted into the community -- integrated into the community health centers. nutrition coaching, something seldom i ly done in clinics bef. we saw these community health centers doing a good job, and asked how can we improve upon them? senator sanders and i agreed on this hofty goal, that we could -- this lofty goal we could get more americans into these clinics, and that was a great solution for primary care. for the past three months, we've had a very thoughtful approach to this problem. even before then, our committees

have multiple hearings, with different folks, as they've tried to address the problem as well. then we've had multiple zooms and meetings with folks back home, how do we solve this primary care problem? again, this mental health epidemic, just slang us in the face every time we -- slapping us in the face every time we go back. most of our committee would agree, the community health centers are a great solution, but they need to be bolstered and need to continue that mission across this great nation. i'm proud of the work we've done on the community health centers in this legislation. again, thoughtful legislation, and our goal is to make sure it doesn't cost the american taxpayer any more. again, senator sanders and i have said many times, this country is spending plenty on health care, but maybe we need to refocus a little more of it to primary care. that's what we've done with this legislation, again, with the thoughtful approach, and our goal again is to make sure it's all paid for and doesn't cost the american taxpayer any more.

the other big issue we found in common with folks back home is a nursing shortage and primary care doctor shortage. if there's one thing this bill does, it turns around the nursing cries ills in a matter of just three years -- crisis in a matter of just three years. my own wife is a community college graduate nurse. 90% of the nurses in our hospitals in kansas, especially the rural hospitals, are two-year community college graduates. what we've done with with this legislation is bolster more money for nursing proposal grams. the other program, like senator sanders said, the other challenge is colleges cannot afford the faculty, the nursing faculty. we have money to help bolster that program up as well. we have young men and women standing in line for incredible jobs in healthcare, but we don't have the faculty to bring them in. we help with scholarships, we help with the faculty. that alone will change the dynamics across america, if we have more nurses who are just the glue to this health care

system. then the next challenge we attack here is just a shortage of primary care doctors in so many ways as well. so the legislation addresses that. it's great steps forward. i've been very proud, again, to work with senator sanders and his team, finding common ground. i think we've made incredible strides. senator sanders and i talked many times about our community health centers. i might ask him about the suck searcheses that you're seeing -- the successes you're seeing in your community health centers and what is your vision going forward, what that looks like. sanders . the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. sanders: this is an issue i've worked on really since i've been in congress. one of the results with that, working with others, in my state of vermont, i think we're leading the nation in terms of the number of people per capita who participate in the community health center program. senator marshall, my understanding is that in vermont, one out of three

vermonters get their primary health care or dental care at a community health center. one of the things that i love about community health centers is that they really are community health centers. in vermont, they're not just for low-income people. as important as that is. they are for everybody in the community. we used to have a supreme court justice of the united states of america who vacationed in vermont. guess where he went? to a community health center. my understanding is the governor of the state of vermont gets his primary care at a community health center. 2 that's what i love about them. as you well know, you mentioned, what they do is not only provide primary health care, many of them provide dental care, which is a huge issue. many provide the mental health counseling which as you indicated we have a major crisis in. they also provide lower-cost prescription drugs. so what they say is that

regardless of your income, you've got medicare, come on in. you've got medicaid, come on in. you've got private insurance, fine. you've got no health insurance, we're going to work on a sliding scale. by expanding these community health centers all over america, we're going to provide millions of people the opportunity to get the health care they need. that is what exists in vermont right now and we want to see that expanded all over the country. mr. marshall: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from kansas. mr. marshall: senator sanders and i have discussed this vision of what primary care looks like in the future, making sure we're meeting patients where they are. some of our community health centers back home are bringing in food banks, bringing in wic programs, social services, able to do basic work in those units. when we lose track of the patients is when we have to say come back in a month for your mammogram. instead it's a great thing to say let's get it done today. one of the biggest underserved

areas of medicine is dental. i know this is one of senator sanders' vision specifically in this legislation is to address the dental crisis. as an obstetrician myself the only known cost of preterm labor is poor dental health, cavities, whatever you want to call it. there's lots of links to having cavities and poor gum health too, having heart attacks as well. it's a way underrecognized challenge for primary care. i can't tell you how many times i've been called at 10:00 at night, 2:00 in the morning on a saturday with one of my o.b. patients that's obviously very pregnant but she has a cavity, now it's tender into an abscess and i can't get her into a dentist. i'm calling all my buddies. it's saturday, 10 p.m., the dentists are gone. senator sanders, maybe you will share your vision on denlt --

denlt -- dental. sanders deshes. mr. sanders: in vermont we have a crisis. we made progress but we have a serious problem. the cost of dental care is very high. if you're a poor child you are on medicaid, probably can't find a den tifort. what we have done in this bill is put $3 billion one time, just one time, into capital improvements for community health centers. that's long overdue because if you want to expand community health centers, they need money for their own expansion and infrastructure. building a dental operatory, and that is the dental chairs and the equipment, good equipment that dentists need, is a very expensive proposition. by putting $3 billion into capital improvements, much of

which i suspect will be going to those dental operatories, we're going to able to provide communities all over this country with the ability to access dental care in a way they are not doing it today. mr. marshall: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from kansas. mr. marshall: i want to continue this discussion of what our vision is for these primary care community health centers. i think we all realize we have an obesity epidemic in this country, a type 2 diabetic epidemic in this country we need to address on the front end. i'm happy to see community health centers coming in, doing nutrition classes, doing cooking classes. i think so many folks of our current generation maybe learned how to do cooking in the past, foods that were too easy. this out-of-box cooking, different programs, i would call it coaching.

we need to be coaching folks and teaching them but also giving them the opportunity. whether we're in the ag community and working on food programs, we're trying to bring all these pieces together in the program as well. i know senator sanders is also committed to helping us address, he's been a leader in trying to take care of folks with diabetes as well. mr. sanders: senator senator marshall raised this issue from almost the first time we sat down and seriously discussed it. if we're going to talk about prevention, we've got to talk about obesity among others things, because we're looking at a major -- you tell me if i'm wrong, doctor. we're looking at a major diabetic epidemic in this country. that is not only going to cause massive amounts of suffering, it is also going to be a very expensive health care bill. and certainly one of many of the contributing factors is obesity. what senator marshall has talked about from the very beginning, we have to do a better job in

nutrition education. and community centers, community health centers are very well situated to be able to to do that. at senator marshall's insistence, and i was delighted to work with him, we have language in here that will make it easier for community health centers to work on nutrition programs in a variety of ways with their clients. mr. marshall: mr. president, i might just close with a couple thoughts. again, we came in with the lofty expectations that we could make a difference in primary care for people across the nation, and i think our bill accomplishes just that. and again, i can't thank the staff enough for their support through this. senator sanders and i smoafnt of the august recess and our staffs met every moment of every hour of every day on this august recess working on this legislation. i think it's a good product, always opportunity for improvement and we welcome those ideas. i appreciate the senator using

traditional protections at the appropriate places so we maintain that which is important to many folks, including to myself. i think we've addressed primary care issues. i think that we have a plan for increased nursing resource. in three years' time we can turn that problem around and long-term address some of the primary care yiew -- issues. addressing dental as well. at the end of the day you cannot overestimate how much money this will save programs like medicare and medicaid and health insurance back home and help drive the cost of health care down for people. i'm glad to see us try to emphasize maybe some better ways to spend the american taxpayer monies, but most importantly to me the physician, is this is the right thing to do. this is absolutely the right thing to do. it's a chance to improve the health of americans, and i'm proud to stand here beside senator sanders and introduce this legislation. thank you.

mr. sanders: let me say senator marshall and his staff so much for their hard work and to say as he just said, we don't think there are other ideas that could improve this. we're open to new ideas. we hope to be marking up, intend to be marking up this bill next thursday. i look forward to talking with all of the members on the health, education, labor and pension committee for doing what's really important. senator marshall started his remarks off by saying i think exactly the right thing. we can come here and we can all give great speeches. we can all talk about how next year we're going to get to something or five years from now we're going to get to something. everybody in america, in vermont, kansas, and all over this country understands we have a primary health care crisis. this is the greatest country on earth. we spend more money on health care than any other country. it is not asking too much that when you get sick, you're able to find a doctor, that you're able to find a dentist.

it is not asking too much that when you're in a hospital there are enough nurses there that are young people who want to become nurses are able to get that education, so they go out and get really good jobs. that's not too much. that's all that we are doing in this legislation. we are looking at the real world as it exists, and senator marshall as a physician understands that world quite well. we're looking at that world and saying you know what, let's not wait five years from now. we've got a crisis today. let's deal with it. and with that, mr. president, i would yield the floor. thank you. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. the clerk: ms. baldwin. quorum call:

the most historic discussions in congress. exhilarating in the debate was illuminating. discussions candid, unvarnished, direct. i want to thank senators for joining me and leading the discussion they helped yesterday

and all our success. i want to think every senator, a great turnout and 70 senators from both parties and i think we all left with a greater understanding and appreciation of importance and complexity. by the end of the day, everyone in the room reached a consensus. first, congress must play a role in regulating a.i. one of the most striking moments was when i asked all participants, critics and experts and developers alike to raise their hand if they agree government had to be involved and we had universal support. not one person had their hand down.

second, most everyone agreed the government must also play a role promoting what we call transformational innovation. bill gates talked about a.i.'s potential for combating hunger worldwide. eric schmidt and others talk about a.i. helping doctors do the job. senator brown's in a touching moment talked about losing his wife to cancer. as it does with millions of americans. it can be used on day two model never before seen drone to do the unthinkable or cancer. at the same time and equal, maybe even more, a guardrail for sustainable innovation because just as a.i. can be used to design cancer cures, it can also things went wrong, used to make terrible bio weapons or other dangerous.

everyone agreed we don't do anything on a.i. and the lowest common denominator, racial bias in society and trying to job displacement and even more unthinkable doomsday narrows. we talked about the need for not only transformational innovation but sustainable information and minimize these risks called sustainable, a.i. won't be able to go forward and guardrails prevent serious downside. creating and enforcing these guardrails even if a good number of companies do the responsible thing to regulate themselves, there will be outlier companies who don't and that brings the lowest common denominator down.

finally, there's a consensus we need to find balance between innovation and guardrails. this won't be easy but it is essential. you can't go too far in either direction. i want to maximize benefits and minimize risk if you go too far one side, you may hurt the other so congress must pay attention and that's not easy. it's one of the toughest jobs ever undertaken in the most important and one of the most necessary. to be sure, we didn't cover everything, we're just going. the conversation that again yesterday will continue into the fall when we host even more a.i. forms and our committees which will have to do the homework in legislation that have held a dozen hearings and a lot more

using this cross. we have a lot of work in front of yesterday's conversation gave the tenant a strong sense of where to begin decided love around here. they might put their heads in the sand and say it too difficult, let's do nothing. our participants who came to yesterday's forum, thanks to senator ron heimlich will things to my colleagues who joined jars forms will happen very soon. this will take up bipartisan appropriations process, the next step. this morning a motion to proceed

three spending bills and transportation house known around here as t. earlier this week the first thought on the bill an overwhelming 85 to 12 boat yet another example of bipartisan nature of our work here today and i hope both sides, and strong support in a few minutes and will not slow this process down because we are on, i look forward to constructive date where both sides can secure any amendment. advancing qualified nominees and continues. today future clinical market of seven district judges u.s. attorneys and other nominees. i think sharon derman for their work. they've helped the u.s. senate confirm 140 judges including 36

circuit just 104 district court judges and ketanji brown jackson, historic nomination to the u.s. supreme court. republican extremism, a lot has changed but nothing more than the seismic shift republican party supports members of great armed forces. when i arrived, republican representatives is to fall over each other to give speeches expressing support for those in uniform. the same when i arrived in the senate, their policies didn't always match the rhetoric support seemed real and genuine. it no longer does. some may still use the rhetoric but the actions we see on the other side say more than the patriotic rhetoric.

look at where we are. in the house, republicans can't agree to the debate of the two fund the defense department and intelligence community and emergency aid to democrat congress fighting off russian invasion. in the senate, republican colleagues are more supportive over ukrainian friends to their credit but extremist in their ranks walking the motion of hundreds of military leaders and what does the public and leadership do? nothing. approval of this cynical tactic shrugging shoulders to go forward. the result? real lives, family in limbo because of a select few push the hardline on women's choice. my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, these service

members in the military has to offer are just numbers. the senate from alabama claims no one is harmed by obstruction in the leadership of the conference supports him and what i say to my friends, these are not just numbers. service members are real people who dedicate their lives to serving, defending our great country. real families, spouses and children whose lives have been put in limbo by the calculation and the senator from alabama. officers cannot assume the assignment, thousands cannot find jobs in locations. families cannot get settled in their homes. kids go to a new school can't start. the bottom line is, this is a republican problem created by

the creator from alabama, no one else and it's up to publicans to put pressure on him to back off, plain and simple. we seen that pressure. last week one of the major republican candidates said senator from alabama ought to back off. a few days ago the house chairman one of the most respected conservative members of the house said the same thing but senate republican leaders need to step up. yet here we are with extremist of one party choosing to open lives of hundreds of dedicated honorable military families. i will continue to find a way to break this and get these lives back on track.

i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. >> the threat posed by russia and china are leading allies and partners in europe and asia to step up their commitment to collect security and increase their own defense. it's worth pointing out once again the united states is not shouldering the burden of european free riders. when it comes to security assistance to ukraine as a share of gdp, 14 of our european allies are actually giving more. a small nation by any measure that sent tens of thousands of

grenade launchers and millions of rounds of ammunition have sinned their entire inventory of critical artillery. united kingdom and france making remarkable contributions including longer-range systems in the united states. even germany despite slow get sometimes agonizing decision making providing historic support to ukraine and the largest provider of security. it's more than doubled humanitarian assistance not to mention hosting millions of

ukrainian refugees but like america, our allies are not in the business of philanthropy. tokyo and seoul, leaders are making sober calculation and left their interest. friends are making historic new investments growing arsenal and modernizing their militaries. more than half of our nato allies are on track to hit the spending target site is. not a full-fledged nato member increasing defense spending nearly 30% to invest in modern military capability and 2% of gdp target. with the spent less than 1% of

its gdp defense in 2014 is set to spend 2.5% next year. to bolster security allies are buying american since russia's escalation began last february and hope the approaches over $120 billion in american-made weapon systems. germany, switzerland, finland, czech republic couple moved quickly to purchase of 35. indonesia sign up for nearly 14 billion on private aircraft in missouri. bulgaria, the size of the state of maine spent 1.5 million on,

bugles used in ohio and in all the data. the worst of helicopters produced in arizona. 486 launchers and they will have the biggest inventory in the world. here's the most important part. our friends and allies in america are buying into closer security relationship with the united states building more interoperable militaries to strengthen deterrence and lowering costs for the american taxpayer as we rebuild capabilities.to they are sharing the burden of collective defense. these are not a coincidence, they are a demonstration our

allies have in america leadership -- of the minority and majority leaders. the presiding officer: duly noted. mr. brown: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i hope my colleagues will join me, as i know the senator from michigan, the presiding officer does, in standing in solidarity with workers that demand that auto workers respect the work they do to make these companies successful. there is still time. r, the rest of the day, and really beyond this, for the big three to avert a strike which we know is always the last resort for workers. my wife is the daughter of a utility worker in the far east corner of the state. she credits her dad's union card for saving her life, she had an

asthma attack, was taken to the cleveland clinic, spent a week there and couldn't otherwise afford if it weren't for her dad's benefits from the utility workers. she said the union twice during her growing up the union struck because their backs were against the wall. they thought they had no choice .is she said that the workers never really recover from a strike. these workers in toledo, cincinnati, and in other states, they want to be on the job, they don't want to strike, they don't want to be in the picket line, but when companies refuse to recognize the work they do, workers are backed into a corner, a union card means that workers can stand together for fair pay, for better working conditions, for a better workplace, for as voice in their company and community.

let's be clear. auto workers surely are the engines behind the companies' success, people around the country know stellantis as chrysler, they would not make profits if it weren't for the workers. this is the most important thing. all theo workers stood up and made sacrifices a decade ago, especially g.m. and chrysler and stellantis because those companies in -- about in trouble. companies today on the side of them and remember the depth of the recession, uaw worker stood behind the big three when a whole lot of politicians in this town wanted to abandon these companies, now that times are good, all workers are asking for is their fair share. let's be clear, times now are very, very good for these companies and very, very, very

good for these ceo's. we know auto executives. i don't know how many, but i know auto executives at all three companies, many of them make more than a million dollars a year, some make tens of millions of dollars a year. together mm, ford and stellantis brought in $21 billion in profits in the first half of the year alone. think about that. these companies were struggling a decade ago. they were in real trouble, losing money, in trouble during the recession, workers gave them major kinds of give backs, major kind of concessions, took less money for themselves, set up a two, three-tier wage structure that hurt workers but had to do it to save companies. they agreed to do that. times are good for the kms. -- for the companies.

they brought in $21 billion in prove fingerprints but they don't want to share those profits with these workers. who makes these profits possible? again, the history. these companies were in trouble. government helped them. workers gave up a lot. workers sacrificed. workers gave back money they shouldn't have to give back because they wanted to save the companies. now the companies are doing well and the executives doing very, very well, $1 billion in profits and -- $21 billion in profits and the company is not willing to appreciably share in those profits. g.m. makes 62 times what its median worker makes. the g.m. ceo who accompany -- a company who was struggling saved because of worker concessions is making 362 times what the median -- not the lowest-paid worker, what the median worker of that company makes. frankly, i hesitate to call names and i'm really not. i don't want to hear whining from companies that they can't afford to pay workers what they're wornght.

and that goes for all workers, all auto workers, making all kinds of vehicles. it means cars and trucks and suv's. i know these companies' plan to be overwhelmingly making -- using batteries, making electric vehicles. that's their decision to be sure. but i want those -- i don't want those because some politicians whine about well, we don't want electric vehicles. these are the companies' decisions, the companies' plans, the companies' future. but i don't want those jobs. those politicians that whine, if they get their way, they'll see these electric vehicles made in japan and china and taiwan and overseas. we went through that already. we know what my hometown of mansfield, ohio looks like. i know what dayton looks like and cities in the prifer's -- prifer's -- presiding officer's state looks like. i know what happens to those cities, those communities. i grew up in a town of 50,000, mansfield. i went to johnny appleseed high

school, really its name, the pioneers. i went to school of sons and daughters of auto workers at g.m., electrical, members at westinghouse. there were several thousand at one point. machinists at tapan stove. brick layers, inconstitutional laters, and laborerrers and -- i'm forgetting others. operating engineers. you know what? within ten or 20 years, most of those jobs are gone. they were gone because companies always looking for lower wages wanted to go to nonunion states. first they went to alabama. that wasn't good enough so then they jammed and i mean jammed, sorry to say it this way, buying off a whole lot of politics. they jammed these like nafta through the congress. it got worse. it wasn't just companies going to alabama, mississippi, georgia, south carolina and tennessee. they weren't greedy enough. they wanted even cheaper labor.

then they went to china and mexico. that means that my community of 50,000 where i grow up, you just don't see the prosperity there that you did when those kids -- when i went to school with those kids. so as i said, we heard a lot of politics blaming electrical vehicles for the dispute as somehow corporations want to squeeze their -- wanting to squeeze their workers as a new development. i'll make it clear. i don't care what kind of car americans drive. my wife and i drive -- we drove chevy now we drive a jeep cherokee, two hours from our home, the other direction in toledo. so people can drive what they're going to drive. people buy union made cars made in the united states. but when i -- you know, i see what happened when both political parties, frankly,

unfortunately it wasn't a partisan thing. my party was almost as guilty as republicans on this, pushed for nafta which sent thousands of jobs overseas. we fought them. when politicians say let these companies die, foreign automakers can do this better, we fought them every step of the way. today for whoever who doubts -- anyone who wants to give up on the plants or force workers to settle less, we'll fight you the way i fought nafta the first year in congress, the way i fought normal trade elations that give away to chinese -- not chinese workers, but give away to the chinese communist party officials and corrupt leaders different r, different kind of corruption from american leaders who sold them short but nonetheless. we know this industry is changing. 40 years ago when jeep rolled out the jeep cherokee, chrysler now, most people had never heard of an suv. now they dominate the market. 23 years ago hybrids came along. whatever the auto industry looks

like in 20 years, 50 years, a hundred years, i'm not an auto expert, i don't know what they're going to look like 20, 50, or a hundred years from now. i do know this. ohio auto workers, american innovation will be leading it if we let them, if we reward these workers and don't let companies searching for cheap labor, going to antiunion states, moving overseas, as long as we don't let them run the show. i was where the chevy cruze plant was, youngstown, been to the union 50 times in my life. with my friend dave green, a uaw superstar, came up through that plant. there were for locals at that plant. i can't remember if i came from 11, 12 or the other one. and these are the workers now at the new battery plant. many of them work at the cruze plant before g.m. closed it. there are reminders everywhere of what bad trade deals to the valley. but you know what?

g.m. was paying -- this was a joint venture. this was g.m. and a korean company called lg, a joint venture, 50-50. those workers were making $16 an hour. and i said to g.m., how can you do this? you have a national -- they voted for a union, by the way, the uaw there, just recently by a 90 percent-plus vote. i said how can you pay them $16 an hour when you have the nawngs uaw contract that's much more generous than that, negotiated, earned together? and they said, well, we can't do anything because this is a jointly owned plant. we're just half of it. they are general motors. of course they can do something about it and they need to do something about it. we were able -- i hate to say -- we were able partly by shining a light on general motors on what they've done and their history is, we were able to get a four to five dollar an hour raise working with the local 11, 12

and getting thousands of dollars in stock buybacks for the workers who had been there a year or more. they're again at the forefront of their industry but they're not getting paid like it. america should continue to lead the global industry. auto industry. but the big three can't do it without their workers. there's still time for this to happen, for these auto workers and auto companies to agree to a fair contract. there's still time for these great american companies to do the right thing. it means something we probably don't do enough of here, mr. president. it means listening to their workers. it means forgoing strike busting tactics. it means like we saw the last time, uaw workers were forced to pick. 2019 g.m. cut off striking workers health insurance, a bad faith tactic that not only hurts the most vulnerable asset, their workers, it hurts their families and communities. i was at local 14 in toledo talking to one worker. here's what happens when a company uses its prowess and power when they do that and take

away health care. there was one worker had -- his health care was cut off, local 14 toledo chrysler plant. his 4-year-old daughter chesney needed surgery. he couldn't get it because g.m. canceled the family's health insurance. these are workers that had a contract, they paid in. they were picketing because they didn't think over these ten years g.m. and chrysler and ford lived up to their side of the bargain. i have a bill with senator casey who sits next to me to make sure it doesn't happen again, the striking workers health care protection act. we shouldn't need that. we shouldn't need companies to be strong armed or forced by government to honor the dignity of work. that shouldn't be necessary when these iconic companies that have done s well, paid good dividends, rewarded their executives, compensation that nobody would have dreamed of a generation ago, we shouldn't have to do that.

but until these companies understand you should respect the dignity of work and they don't, make it's time that government says okay, we're going to have a strike workforce health protection act, striking workers health protection act. it's time to agree to a contract that indeed honors the dignity of work. i yield the floor.

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from virginia. a senator: thank you, mr. president. first of all, mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the privileges of the floor be granted to the following member of my staff, max slimon during -- today. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. warner: also, mr. president, i want to thank my good friend, the senator from oklahoma, who is also a member of the intelligence committee on a subject of which i'm going to

speak to and appreciate the courtesy of allowing me to go first. today, mr. president, i rise to say a few words about someone who's been an essential part of the senate community for many, many years. i'm proud to note that earlier this week, as a matter of fact on tuesday evening, with the support of the senator from oklahoma, the senator -- the senate unanimously confirmed the nomination of mike casey to serve as the director of national counterintelligence and security. at a time when the u.s. is facing tremendous foreign intelligence and security threats, it's important to have a senate-confirmed leader as the head of ncsc which is charged with protecting against insider threats, supply chain risks, and other counterintelligence issues.

the position has been vacant since the end of the last administration, and so as chair of the senate intelligence committee, i'm glad that we'll finally now have a senate-confirmed leader in place to protect u.s. critical infrastructure, advance the counterintelligence and security mission and maybe most importantly be on constant call of the senate intelligence staff to make sure that efforts to reform security clearance is at the top of the agenda. but while i recognize that this is a great step for our country and our national security, it's a real loss to me personally, to members on both sides of the aisle on the intelligence committee, and to our staff. because we are losing mike casey, who has been the staff director for the last eight years. and while he doesn't look

medicare-eligible, the truth is, he's been working up here for 28 years, starting in the house of representatives, eventually joining the staff of the house armed services committee, before senator feinstein brought him over to the upper chamber as staff director for the senate intel committee in 2016. i have worked extraordinarily closely with mike over my years as a member of the committee but particularly when i bumped up to the position of vice chair. i think a lot about our kind of bonding and in many ways i think the committee's bonding when under the able leadership of then-chairman richard burr the committee took -- burr, the committee took on the responsibility of the investigation into the outside interference in the 2016 national elections. our staff and at that point the majority committee staff worked

so seamlessly together, and one of the things, while we got a lot of grief from all across the political spectrum and a lot of this was due to mike casey, one of the things that i was most proud of is that that is a variety of people came before the committee to testify on what could have been otherwise a totally partisan manner, as it was in the house of representatives, witness after witness said that they didn't know as they were being questioned whether they were being questioned by majority or minority staff. a lot of that was due to mike casey's leadership. truth is as well that mike -- i've had to push him at times, you know, he 00 used to that the job of the intelligence committee was basically just to do oversight son the 17, 18, 19 -- depending on the week -- number of i.c. agencies that we oversee.

he didn't realize that actually the i.c.'s responsibility -- and i know sometimes the presiding officer and i have had to clash on this. the i.c. -- the intel committee's responsibility was literally everything that touched technology in our country. and, again, mike, while sometimes reluctant, has stepped up to that task. and i'm proud of the fact that it was our committee that worked initially with him on the chips bill. it was our committee that first pointed out some of the problems with 5g and huawei. one of the reasons why we've got a lot of the staff behind success because literally mike casey knew everyone in the dod and knew where the bodies were, knew where they were buried. and could mike sure that basic core function of oversight was never, never undermined. and again he did this always

after a little nudging in a bipartisan way, and i'm extraordinarily proud of that and proud of the service that he's provided in educating me on a lot of issues that i was not familiar with as i came onto the committee, in keeping our intel committee staff together, and that bipartisan nature has continued under his leadership in our workings with vice chair rubio and his team as well. so while we say goodbye to make, we also work him well as he embarks on this critical new role. as director of the national counter intelligence and security center, mike will face many of the same challenges we've wrestled with on the intelligence committee. national security is no longer about who's got the most tanks and planes and ships. it really is holes who's going to lead in 5g, synthetic

biology. these are areas where mike in his new job will have to point out threats both external and internal to america's leadership. he will, as mentioned -- and he has committed that he will respond to our staff member, john rosenwasser, to make sure that we don't see a repeat of what's happened. while mike casey is leaving our staff, it is safe to shea that he will not be leaving my speed dial. we will miss you, mike. most importantly, mr. president, i give him this final word of advice -- don't screw it it up. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor to my good friend, the senator from oklahoma. the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma.

mr. lankford: mr. president, thank you so much. i do appreciate the leadership on the intelligence committee and for leadership that has been there and i would concur. you have a spot to be able to lead and a task to be able done. you've studied this, so this must mean you know it. we look forward to your leadership in the days ahead. appreciate that very much. i do want to speak on a very different subject as well, and it's a subject that we're all going to face in the days ahead. it is this wouldenderful issue about a government -- it is this wonderful issue about a government shutdown. we seem to forget at times in this body the issues that press around us, that the one that seems to get slipped under the rug most of the time is national debt. where we are and how we're going to tray to address this in --

tray -- try to address this in the days ahead. the challenge is, how do we actually address it based on its size. let me give a little bit of context. we're right now preparing within days to cross into the $33 trillion in total federal debt, $33 trillion. to give some context of that acceleration, from the time of jackson jackson, who was the last president when we had no debt at all, from the time of andrew jackson to ronald reagan, our nation accumulated $1 trillion in total debt, from andrew jackson to reagan, $1 trillion in total debt. from reagan to the present, now we are $33 trillion in total debt.

we are on a rapid acceleration of debt that has not slowed. to give you again the picture of where things have gone just in the last several years, if you go back 20 years ago to 2003, our total spending was just over $2 trillion. if you go back to 2013, ten years ago, our total spending was less than $3.5 trillion. our spending this year will be right at $6.5 trillion. so in the past 20 years, our spending has increased from just over $2 trillion to $6.5 trillion. to give you just the acceleration in spending, just in the last few years, if i were to go back to 20s 18 before covid -- 2018 before covid, our total spending was just over $4 trillion.

this year's estimated spending is just under $6.5 trillion. that's $2.5 trillion of accelerated spending just from 23018 -- 2018 to now. again, to set this in context, the revenue that's coming into the federal treasury this year is estimated at $4.8 trillion. nd 4.8 trillion. we're spending an estimated $6.4 trillion. now, that's a lot of numbers, but let me give you one just as a takeaway. we have almost $1.5 trillion of deficit, that is, overspending this year. some estimates depending on what happens in the next few weeks, it could be almost $2 trillion in total overspending just this year. to put this in context, with the

record revenue that's coming in this year at about $4.8 trillion, if we were spending the same this year as we did in 20818, a -- 2018 a short five years ago, if we were spending is the same this year as we were in 2018 prior to covid, we would have a $700 billion surplus this year rather than an almost $2 trillion deficit. -- this year. because the record amount of revenue coming in this year compared to what our spending was five years ago we would have been in surplus this year. but we're not, and it's $1.5 trillion over that. we should have very hard conversations about our revenue,

about our spending, about the direction that we're actually heading and about how do we get out of a $33 trillion debt. this is not going to take a year or two years. i've had folks that i've talked to recently even that have talked about the time in the early 1990's and the work that was done by the bush administration and the clinton administration to work to get us back to a balance. two administrations in a row had to work on that a but here's the frightening thing -- our overspending this year is more than the total spending during the clinton administration. just our overspending this year. this is not going to be a simple process to be able to come out of. this is not going to be two administrations in a row making agreements to get back to

balance. this is going to take decades. and my concern is that many here are not willing to start the first year of decades of work to be able to get us out. so we have work to do on this. myself and senator hassan from new hampshire sat down several years ago and started having a conversation about how do we end government shutdowns and get into a real dialogue about how do we deal with debt and deficit issues. from that productive conversation, she and i created a piece of legislation that's all designed just to prevent government shutdowns. all the conversation right now among the media seems to be about, is a government shutdown coming at the end of this year? and we should not have one at the end of this month, the end of the fiscal year. we should continue to be able to keep going, but we should also have the debate of what

direction are we going to go. so senator hassan and i came up were a -- with a simple proposal. it is a completely nonpartisan proposal, a simple proposal, quite frankly, that is equivalent to two things i had growing up. one was if you don't finish your homework at school, you have to actually stay after class to be able to finish that. if you don't finish all your work that outside to get done, stay after class, keep finishing it. when you are done, then you can leave out. the second one was, when my ordinarily brother and i would get into an argument, which of course as brothers we never did get into an apparatus. but in that rare moment we got into an argument, my mom would put the two of us in a room and would say, you guys settle this and when you're done, you can come out. we slammed those two ideas into one simple proposal about how to end government shutdowns. if we get to otoend of the fiscal year and the

appropriations work is not done, like it is this year, we stay in session seven days a week and the only bills that can actually come up that can actually be called up during that time period are appropriations bills. the second part of it is, there is no travel for anyone, so we couldn't fly home and fly back, so no official nor mccain funds could be used to be able to travel. so we're in session seven days a he can would washings the only bills that are allowed to be brought up with appropriations bills. -- there is no travel and the next part of if is simple. there's what's called a continuing resolution to maintain the government to be open so that the american people and federal workers are held harmless. if puts the pressure on this room. not on federal workers that are, woulding for faa, not on people that are working for the housing administration, not on our border patrol. those individuals don't get a

vote on this this. they should not feel the pressure of a government shutdown. we can keep the system moving while we still have our arguments to be able to resolve those things. why is this so important? a couple of reasons. one is we're the united states of america. we should actually have an organized system because the rest of the world watches us to try to figure out how to do government. and when we look dysfunctional, the rest of the world says, how are we going to figure this out if even the americans can't figure this out? now, we as americans lose track of that at times but a the rest of the world is watching us. we should have our arguments. we are a representative republic. every single voice counts, and we don't all agree. great, bring it up. that demonstrates us at our

best. but let's resolve those issues, rather than having government shutdowns in chaos ensuing. because we need to set a better example for the world. second issue, must closer to home, we need to stop having government shutdowns, because the american people are calling in to federal agencies and expecting someone to answer the phone, expecting to get help, whether it be passports, permits, whatever process it may than they have to interact with the federal government. they need to get somebody to answer the phone and to be able to resolve that. this puts the american people struggling to be able to get basic answers. the third is the federal workforce. we have millions of people that work in the federal family. they work all over the country. when there's a government shutdown, there's two settles of things that occur. if you're a contractor, you're just out. those contractors may be doing janitorial services in one of our buildings, or supplies food

services to someone. they're just out. they don't get repaid. they just lose money, period. those on the federal payroll, they don't get their check during that time period. they have this crazy, weird essential, nonessential, some people laid off, some not. but everyone is in chaos in that process. for those folks that are in the federal family, even though they may be declared essential or nonessential, their car payment still comes in, their mortgage still comes in, they still got to put food on the table, but they're not getting a check during the time of a government shutdown. so those individuals that live paycheck to paycheck, like many americans do, suddenly have a gap. not by a fault of their own, but because this body couldn't resolve what we were going to do on the budgeting issues. the fourth issue i've already partially mentioned, that's the contractors. let me give you an example of what this means.

our southern border right now has the worst border crisis we've ever faced as a nation. to give you perspective on it, in the last few days, we've had up to 9,000 people illegally crossing our border a day. a day, in the last few days. we had one border crossing area in tucson where they had 2,000 people that crossed in a day. those folks are being cut loose and released into the country. but it is chaos along our border. our border patrol and cbp, all those folks that are law enforcement, are doing their best to be able to watch for safety and security of americans, while literally thousands of americans are being cut loose into the country. this he depend on -- they depend on contractors in that area, to help sometimes with transportation, with processing, with food, with medical care, all those things. those contractors are very important to be able to help our border patrol in the chaos of

what's happening. when there's a government shutdown, those contractors aren't going to be there. in the chaotic boarder that we have now, it will be even more chaotic at that moment. that should not happen, because we can't resolve our differences here. we need the national security on that. a senator: mr. president, will the senator yield for a question? mr. lankford: i will yield to senator cornyn. mr. cornyn: i want to ask the that's senator from oklahoma, 9,000 a day. i had to get out my calculator to figure out what that means. are you talking about 3 million? 3.285 million? mr. lankford: that's possible. if the current rate assistance. -- if the current rate stains. yielding back my time for senator cornyn and for others as well. two weeks ago, our nation crossed a threshold that most people just missed. we had just over six million

people that illegally crossed our southern border in less than three years under the biden administration. just over six million people. that number is the same number, that six million number, is the same as both terms of the obama administration and the trump administration combined. the biden administration has allowed more people to fill legally cross our border in less than three years than the previous 12 years along our border. those border patrol need help right now. they don't need a government shutdown. they need help. coming alongside them. so, what senator hasain and i have done -- hassan is a very simple proposal, let's stop government shutdowns, end those. don't have the drama and countdown clocks on 24-hour news cable tv. let's have the arguments and

talk through the appropriations that need to be done. that's work we're required to do. but let's hold the federal workers harmless in the process. let's hold federal contractors harmless in the process. so we can settle the issues, do real planning. this ending government shutdowns bill is very straightforward. we just want to prevent government shutdowns. we want to be able to stop the chaos and show the american people this body can have the arguments, resolve our differences, and move forward. this is something we should be bringing to a vote. this is something that has wide bipartisan support. let's resolve this piece while we've still got more to be done. with that, i yield the floor.

mr. cornyn: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senior senator from texas. mr. cornyn: well, here we are, mr. president. 16 days before the end of the fiscal year. and the senate has finally begu, we're just beginning, of taking up the annual appropriations process. just to remind everybody, there are 12 individual appropriations bills. there's no time for us to finish this process before the end of the fiscal year. which is actually part of the majority leader's plan. he never intended to have a normal process by which the appropriations bills were being considered, because what we call the regular order around here means you take them up one at a

time, all 12. it's a transparent, open process where the american people can see it, where every senator, all 100 senators, get to participate in crafting those bills. if they believe that the spending needs to be cut in a certain area, they can offer an amendment to do that. if they need to -- we need different priorities in the spending bills, well, you can do that by offering an amendment and getting it passed. earlier today, the senate voted 91-7 to begin debating this legislation that funds military construction projects and supports america's veterans. this bill is important, because it bolsters our military readiness by investing in new and existing facilities in our military bases around the world,

including texas, places like fort bliss, joint base san antonio lackland, and fort cavasos. it also helps us fulfill the promise we made to america's veterans by investing in mental health care, telehealth, housing, and other critical services. today, texas is the proud home of 1.5 million veterans. this is one important way we keep our commitment and honor their service and the many sacrifices that they've made for our country. this legislation passed the appropriations committee earlier this summer with unanimous support. every democrat, every republican voted for it. all 28 members. but this is just one of 12 funding bills the committee

passed this summer with strong bipartisan support. earlier this week, the majority leader, the senator from new york, spoke about the senate appropriations process thus far, and he referred to it as the, quote, gold standard in good governance. when i read that, i nearly fell out of my chair. he calls this process, which is doomed to failure because of his refusal to bring these bills to the floor in a timely basis, he calls this the gold standard of good governance. well, given the fact that we're 16 days from a government shutdown, unless the house and senate can agree on a continuing resolution, i would say this is far from the gold standard. as a matter of fact, i think you could say we have sunk about as

far as we can. it's important to remember this funding deadline does not -- it didn't surprise us. it didn't pop up out of nowhere. it arrives every year on september 30. though the majority leader had plenty of time to plan, prepare, and to carve out time to pass all 12 appropriations bills, just like the rules contemplate. but here we are, september 14, 16 days ahead of the funding deadline, and the senate has not passed a single funding bill for the government. if the majority leader's gold standard comment had been in reference to the committee process, i would agree with him.

the appropriations committee did their job. senator murray, the chair of the appropriations committee, senator collins, the ranking member, all 28 senators on a bipartisan basis did their job on a timely basis. first time they've done that in five years. but the committee's productivity was no accident. the chair and vice chair of the committee, senator murray, senator collins, promised to return to regular order, and that's exactly what they delivered. our colleagues on the appropriations committee worked across the aisle, which is the way you're supposed to work around here, to pass all of these bills by the end of july. they put the senate in a strong position to debate, vote,

amendment, and -- amend, and finally pass appropriations bills before the end of this month. so the committee process certainly was the gold standard of good governance, but that outstanding product has been squandered. you might even say this whole process was designed to fail, because the majority leader refused to bring those bills to the floor on a timely basis. let's look at the milcon v.a., military construction v.a. funding bill, as an example. this legislation was approved by the committee on june 22, more than two and a half months ago. the majority leader, the senator from new york, could have brought this legislation to the

floor anytime between then, jun. he could have said, well, this is important work, so we maybe need to shorten the senate's two-week recess for the 4th of july so we can get our work done. or he could have scheduled a vote during the july work period, instead of working on nominations. he could have canceled or, my preference would have been, delayed, the five-week august recess. if we had to cut that back to four weeks, do you think anybody would have suffered? well, that would have given us an extra week to get our work done. but that didn't happen.

most of us understand the importance of getting our work done on a timely basis. as we k, none of that happened. days, weeks, months have passed as the senate did nothing, nothing to advance any of the 12 bipartisan appropriations bills. and i want to be crystal clear, it didn't have to be that way. again, this end of the fiscal year deadline is not a surprise to any of us. it's not as if the appropriations bills weren't ready on time. they were. or that the senate has been preoccupied with other priorities.

the majority leader is the only person who can set the agenda of the senate. he's the only one who can call up these bills and schedule a vote. but he's done nothing but squander the opportunity. i know that many of our colleagues are frustrated that the senate has not obtained consent to consider two additional funding bills as part of a so-called minibus, bundling three bills together, but that's a rule. rule 16 of the standing rules of the senate require a unanimous consent vote before you can bundle those individual appropriations bills together. but the majority leader knew that.

he knew what the senate rules were. and all along he was taking the risk that one senator, maybe a handful of senators would want to consider the bills one at a time, which is the normal process. it's just not normal to do it, start it 16 days before the end of the fiscal year. well, while the majority leader has preached the virtues of regular order, he's refused to actually engage in a process where we can be successful. as a matter of fact, he knows by delaying the appropriations bill to this point that we will not be successful because he's underminedded, -- undermined it, sabotaged it. you might ask why would the majority leader do that. well, two reasons. one, is when you do a

continuing resolution, it actually maximizes the power of the leadership, because they are the ones that actually negotiate it, and then rank-and-file members get to vote up or down. but the other reason he did it was because he wants to point to the house and claim that somehow they are trying to shut down the government. now admittedly the house is having their challenges, but speaker mccarthy has pulled a rabbit out of the hat more than once this year and i'm hoping he will do so once again. but if we do have a shutdown because the house and senate can't agree, it will be a schumer shutdown. a schumer shutdown.

members on both sides of the aisle want an opportunity to participate in the process. they want an opportunity to shape this legislation, even at this late hour, to do as much as we can in the truncated time that the majority leader has allowed us. so i'd urge the leader to let the senate vote on this underlying bill, the milcon-v.a. bill. it's important. shouldn't act like it's a throw-away or inconsequential. we ought to do our work, even under the impossible time frame that the majority leader has given us. i think it's dprus when congresn congress circumvents the normal process when it comes to funding the government. it's no secret that our debt is about 100% of our gdp.

we're going to spend more money just paying interest to bondholders on our debt than at some point more than we spend on national defense. interest rates are high, we know, because the federal reserve is fighting inflation caused by too much reckless spending. but as a result, we're also paying more money to our creditors to finance our national debt. and i think that's another symptom of the broken system by which we fund the government. it's become all too common for short-term funding bills and large spending packages to be negotiated by a handful of leaders and rush through both chambers before the clock runs out. there's a growing sense of

frustration among members of this body on both sides of the aisle and a strong appetite to return to a normal, regular, transparent, participatory process, one that will give us at least a chance to try to get our fiscal house in better shape. but we have no chance to do that when in essence the majority leader creates an emergency situation, claims that he's the gold standard and tries to blame the house and say they want a shutdown. i'm not for a shutdown. i agree with the senator from oklahoma. the same problems that cause you to shut down the government are always there staring you in the face when you reopen. so we need to do our work, solve those problems and avoid a

shutdown. but it's really hard to do when the majority leader of the united states senate, the only one who can schedule votes on the floor in the united states, sabotages the process. the majority leader has purposefully wasted more than 80 days that could have been spent debating funding bills and left the senate with only two optione government or kick the can down the road with a continuing resolution. and of course that's just a temporary measure. and then when that expires, we have to deal with the consequences of that by figuring out, okay, how do we continue to fund the government at some appropriate level. he knows we can't move 12

appropriations bills through the senate and the house in the next 16 days. so this exercise will certainly end with another spending bill that's crafted at the lacht minute -- last minute and jammed through both houses. if this is the gold standard for anything, it's a gold standard for political theater. this is drama scripted by the majority leader. he's trying to put on a show, or i would say a pretense of regular order in the senate so he won't get the blame if the government shuts down. he can blame his political opponents in the house. well, suffice it to say, i'm disappointed we find ourselves where we do, especially in light of the hard work done by

our colleagues on the appropriations committee. they've done their job, but the majority leader has blown that up. this is not an accident. this is by design. if the government shuts down at the end of the month, the majority leader won't be able to escape the blame for what will be a schumer shutdown. despite the political theat and the kabuki dance, he will have to own that shutdown because he will have been the primary author of it. mr. president, i yield the floor and i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

quorum call:

the substitute amendment number 1090 to be considered an appropriations committee amendment for purposes of rule 16 16 and with no other rule 16 points ordered way by this agreement the h.r. 4366, h.r.

4368 as reported in the house of representatives on june 27, 2023, on june 27, 2023, and h.r. 4820 reported in the house of representatives on july 24, 2023, serve as the basis for defense of domains under rule 16 for any floor amendments and the be an order the an order for floor amendments two in one place. further in the in order for the following amendments to be made pending and that at a time to be determined by the majority leader in consultation with republican leader the senate vote on the following amendments to murray, called substitute amendment 1092 with affirmative votes required for adoption with no further amendments promotions and order to the amendment. paul 1157, 1125, 1123, blackburn 1155, lee 11 to one, stabenow 1115, peter's corn and 1122, rosen, 1117, padilla 1139, shot 39, shot 1120.

>> without objection. >> is there objection? >> object. >> objection is heard. >> mr. president. >> senator from maine. >> mr. president, i both surprised and disappointed that the senator from wisconsin is objecting to this unanimous consent agreement. the senator from wisconsin has repeatedly said, and i agree with him, that we should not end up with an omnibus bill, a 4000 page bill, at the end of the year with a little consideration, largely drafted by a small group of people. so why is the senator from wisconsin objecting to proceeding to three

appropriation bills that were reported unanimously, unanimously each one of them by the senate appropriations committee? after a great deal of work. furthermore, the senator is objecting to republican amendments being offered to this package, amendments by senators paul, senator vance, senator ernst, senator blackburn, senator leahy, and that's just the first tranche of amendments. negotiations are ongoing. there would be additional amendments, but if we cannot proceed to consider this bill and the other two appropriation bills unanimously reported by

the senate committee, then those amendments offered by some of our members, cannot be considered. is the senator from wisconsin opposed to the amendments that are offered by senators paul, vance, ernst, blackburn, and leahy? because by objecting he is preventing them from being considered by the full senate. mr. president, we have worked very hard to clear amendments for consideration by this body. but if we can't even get past the procedural amendments that allow us to bring the

transportation and housing appropriations bill and the agriculture appropriations bill, to add to the milcon va bill, then the senate is broken once again. senator murray and i, along with all the members of the appropriations committee, have worked so hard to achieve bipartisan consensus. we held nearly 50 hearings and briefings asking tough questions, reviewing the president's budget request, evaluating the numbers in the budget, and we worked hard to draft, to develop draft and approve all 12 of the appropriation bills, for the first time in five years.

how can a member standup and object, and at the same time say, oh, i don't want an omnibus bill. well, that's what we are heading for. we lost last week. i wish that the democratic leader have brought this to the floor of last week. we are now losing this week, and needlessly so, there has been a great openness by my democratic colleagues to consider republican amendments. we just asked unanimous consent for the first five to be considered. and yet, that is objected to. mr. president, members cannot have it both ways. they cannot block floor

consideration of appropriation bills that were unanimously reported by the committee, and yet maintain that they don't want an omnibus bill. it's one or the other. or a government shutdown. even worse. so i would ask my colleague from wisconsin to think through this, and think about the fact that he is blocking republican amendments from getting a vote on the senate floor. he is setting as of four either an omnibus bill or -- setting us up for either an omnibus bill or a government shutdown, and none of those serve the american people well. i yield the floor. >> mr. president?

>> senator from washington. >> mr. president, let's be clear. to all of my colleagues who told me and senator collins and the american people that we have to get back to regular order, that is what exactly we are working to do here. but we had been working in good faith to set up amendment votes to get the ball rolling on this bill, and now there are a few colleagues on the other side of the outdoor dismissing all of this out of hand. any kind of reasonable agreement to move this process forward and blocking all of the agreements we do put together to move forward. listen to what i say. if we all want regular order, a key part of this is allowing senators to come down, have amendments voted on, , and movig forward with an amendment process so senators can make their voices heard on our funding bills. so we can't move at a glacial pace, and we can have senators obstructing this process needlessly.

i do hope they reconsidered and work with us on a timely come serious process so all senators especially those who do not serve on the appropriations committee can come here and speak up for their values and their constituents. i know colleagues are ready to bring forward amendments, some of which i don't agree with, likely vote against, all of which i prepared with my colleague from maine to discuss and debate. but the senate should be allowed to work its will and to debate these issues here on the floor. and the american public should be able to see for themselves where their elected leader stint on those issues as we consider the legislation that will find the united states government. that is regular order. but that cannot happen until everybody in this body get serious about coming to this agreement about how we move this process forward, period. now i want to be clear while there are a few senators were determined out to derail this

process, this bipartisan process, the vast majority of our colleagues on both sides of the aisle have put forward serious efforts into crafting these genuine bipartisan bills. i know that because the senator from maine and i took great pains to make sure everyone could weigh in here. we made extraordinary progress in the senate appropriations committee. i've heard about it from so many of you on both sides of the aisle, all week. how did we do it? we agreed early on to have an open, bipartisan process for our funding bills. exactly what many senators have been calling for. we said let's stick to the bipartisan debt limit deal when we, we all passed into law and let's keep out partisan poison pills. and let's give members the chance to weigh in and make their constituents voices heard. in other words, let's show the american people congress can actually work.

let's be clear. the bills we are considering are not democratic republican spending bills. they are bills both sides democrat and republican wrote after a lot of negotiation and compromise, together. this package that we have reflects input from senators from across the country and across the political spectrum working on behalf of the people who sent them here. and that is exactly why all of these bills in this package passed our committee unanimousl unanimously. mr. president, the american people are watching. they are wondering can congress still work? if we can actually come together and reach common ground, even something as fundamental as funding our government. they do not want to see grandstanding or chaos. they want to see results. and the vast majority of this body wants to show them that we take this job seriously, that we take their problem seriously,,

which the senator from maine and i greatly appreciate. so i i hope that the few holds who are now keeping us from moving forward and reaching agreement so we can line up amendments and vote will see reason. and let us show the american people, congress is still capable of working in good faith to help people and solve problems, just like they sent us here to do. thank you, mr. president.

>> mr. president? >> senator from vermont. >> thank you. mr. president, let me begin by -- >> we're in a quorum call. >> asked the quorum call be vitiated. >> without objection. >> mr. president, let me begin by thanking senator marshall from kansas for his very hard work on the bill that we've introduced today after being on the floor with me this afternoon to briefly discuss it. and also want to thank his staff and my staff for putting in an enormous amount of time on this

bill over the last several months. mr. president, most americans understand that our healthcare system is broken. we are spending nearly $13,000 a year per capita on health care. that's an astronomical sum of money, almost twice as much as most of the countries. and yet despite all of that spending come some 85 million americans are uninsured or underinsured and arrest s after building or not that some 60,000 americans die each year because they do not receive the health care they need when they need it, and our life expectancy as a nation is actually in decline, despite all of that spending. frankly, as broken as our general health care system is, our primary health care system is in even worse shape. as everyone knows i don't think there's any debate on this, we

face a major shortage of doctors, nurses, mental health professionals, dentists. and those shortages will only grow as a result of the covid burnout that many providers experienced, and the aging of our healthcare workforce. according to the most recent estimates that i have seen over the next decade our country faces a shortage of over 120,000 doctors, including a huge number of primary care physicians. the nursing shortage may be even worse pick over the next two years alone it is estimated that we will need more than 200,000 nurses. and despite the very serious mental health crisis we face, we're facing a massive shortage of mental health providers of psychiatrist, psychologists, social workers, et cetera. now that is not the point that bernie sanders is making or

senator marshall has made. this is the point of view of virtually every major medical organization in the country, and on this matter let me quote from a recent "washington post" op-ed by elisabeth rosenthal the contributing editor at kaiser family foundation. this is what she writes, quote, and i hope our colleagues hear this, quote, american physicians have been abandoning traditional primary care practice internal and family medicine in large numbers. those who remain are working fewer hours, and fewer medical students are choosing a field that once attracted some of the best and brightest because of its diagnostic challenges and the emotional gratification of deep relationships with patients. the percentage of u.s. doctors and adult primary care has been declining for years and is now about 25%, a tipping point beyond which many americans will

not be able to find a family doctor at all. already, she writes, more than 100 million americans don't have usual access to a primary care doctor, a number that is nearly doubled since 2014. i ask unanimous consent to enter the full article into the record. >> without objection. >> now, once this article points out it's really not news to the people in america. in vermont and all over this country our people often have to wait months in order to get an appointment with the doctor, and in some cases they have to travel very long distances to get their health care they need. and let us be clear, there is no debate, some people think we don't have to act on it now, next year, next year, dexter, following year. wrong. the crisis is likely to get worse and every day that we delay it becomes even worse.

why is this happening? there are a lot of reasons why. but what other reason is is that it turns out that the united states, despite all of our spending on healthcare, spends about half of what other nations do on primary health care. we spend approximately 7%. most of the country spent at least twice as much. and the absurdity of the situation is that everybody knows that quote an ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure, end quote. and if there's anything that senator marshall and i are talking about, that is exactly what we're talking about. you spend money, you are spending money to save money. keeping people healthy safe money. in other words, common sense tells us that if we can prevent disease, do a better job keeping our young people healthy, if people can access the medical care when they need it, not when they are just very, very sick,

if we can do those things, we can keep them out of a hospital, and hospital costs are just extremely, extremely high. common sense also tells us it is literally insane that millions of americans with nonemergency healthcare needs get their primary care and hospital emergency room, which in some cases is ten times more than the care provided them in a community health center. let me just give you one other example of the irrationality of our current system. in my own small state of vermont, last year are major hospitals spent $125 million in one year on traveling nurses because we don't have enough local nurses to support the needs of the hospital and many other facilities in vermont. meanwhile, young people who want to become nurses, they are applying to nursing school but

the nursing schools don't have the faculty to educate them. i recently talked to a senator who told me that in her state, some 1100 young people were applying for a space in nursing school, the school could only provide 80 openings. so we have a nursing crisis. we are not addressing it. hospitals are spending three, four times as much money on traveling nurses as they are on homegrown nurses because we're not educating our young people in nursing schools. this may make sense to somebody. it does not make great sense to me. mr. president, legislation that's senator marshall and i have introduced today does not fall by any means all the healthcare crises we face, but if this legislation is passed it will not only save us a substantial sums of money, not only, that only provide a medical home for million more

americans, not only significantly increase the number of doctors and nurses that we desperately need, but it will go a long way toward transforming primary health care in america, something that is so long overdue. with that, i want to turn the floor over to senator marshall here and i would say this. senator marshall has a unique perspective on this, not only is he a senator from a rural state, he's also a practicing physician and has an insight into the crises in healthcare that many of us don't. so with that, senator marshall, thank you very much for being with us. thank you, senator sanders. it's an honor to be with you on the floor and with the president. they carry much, mr. president, for sharing this moment with us. one of my mentors you on the hill has a saying that some senators come here to make up points and others, to make a difference. the first time senator sanders and i sat down together, he said

roger, do you want to make a difference? we have worked so hard on this issue together, developing rapport, confidence in each other, in our staff here they have all done and a credible job as we try to get through this riddle of healthcare challenges across this great nation. i think is both of us traveled back to her home state of vermont in kansas, what we found is that everybody has meaningful affordable access to primary care. so we went out and tried to find the best actors, what with the best outcomes, who was making a dent? i think about this, our community health centers were doing a great job. they have taken many pilot programs and/or improving them. not sure what senator sanders would talk about some of his but what i saw is that meeting patients with our concept. integrating all the different elements of primary care, not just your blood pressure, not

just your thank you check but also your mental health, dental needs, as well, are just a few more things that we are seeing being integrated into the health. nutrition coaching come something that is seldom done in clinics before pics i think we saw these community health centers as doing a great job and asked each other how can we improve upon them? and senator sanders and i agreed on this lofty goal that we could get more americans into these clinics and that was a great solution for primary care. so for the past three months we had a very thoughtful approach to this problem. even before then our committees have multiple hearings with different hoax as a tie to address the problem as well. there we that multiple zooms in beatings with folks back home, how do we solve this primary care problems? and gunness mental health epidemic just slapping us in the face every time we go back.

and certainly i think are most of our committee would agree that the community health centers are in great solutions but they need to be bolstered come need to continue that mission across this great nation. so i'm proud of the work that we've done on the community health centers in this legislation. again, not for legislation and our goal was to make sure it doesn't cost american taxpayer anymore, again senator sanders and i have posted many times this country is spending plenty of money on healthcare but maybe we need to refocus a little bit more of it to primary care pics of that so we have done with this legislation, , again, witha thoughtful approach and our goal again is to make sure that it's all paid for and it doesn't cost the american taxpayer anymore. i think the other big issue that we found in common with folks back home is a nursing shortage and a primary care doctor shortage. if there's one thing that this bill would do, it was turned around the nursing crisis in a matter of just three years. my own wife is a community college graduate nurse. 90% of the nurses in our

hospitals in kansas especially the raw hospitals are to your community college graduates. so what we've done with this legislation is bolster more money for nursing programs, and the other program like senator sanders said, the other challenge is colleges cannot afford the faculty, the nursing faculty so we have the money to help bolster the program up as well. we have young men and women standing in line for incredible jobs in health care but we don't have the faculty to bring them in. so we help with scholarships. we help with the faculty. that alone will change the dynamics across america if we have more nurses who are just the glue to this healthcare system. and then the next challenge that we attack here is just a shortage of primary care doctors in so many ways as well. so the legislation addresses of that. it's great steps forward. i'm been very proud to get to work with senator sanders and his team, finding common ground and think we've made an

incredible strides. senator sanders and i have talked many times about our community health centers and i might just ask him about the successes that you are seeing in your community health, are and what your vision going forward that it looks like. >> thank you, senator marshall. >> senator from vermont. >> this is an issue i've worked on releases i've been in congress. and one of the results of that working with others is that in my state of vermont, i think we are leading the nation in terms of the number of people per capita who participate in the community health center program. senator marshall, my understanding is that in vermont, one out of three vermonters gets her primary health care or dental care attic unity hospital. and one of the things that i love about community health centers is that there really are community health centers. in vermont they are not just for low income people, as important as that is your they are there

for everybody in the community. we just have a supreme court justice of the united states of american vacation in vermont. guess where he went? to a community health center. i understand is the governor of the state of vermont gets his primary health care attic community health center. and that's what i love about them. as you well know and as you mentioned, what they do is not only provide primary health care, many of them provide dental care which is a huge issue. many of them provide the mental health counseling which as you indicated we have a major crisis in. and that they also providet prescription drugs. so what they say is that regardless of income, you get medicare, come on in, medicaid come come on you. private insurance, fine. no health insurance, we will work on a sliding scale. ..

quorum call:

times i've been called at 10:00 at night, 2:00 in the morning with ob patients that they are pregnant and it was a cavity announced turned into an abscess and i can't get her to a dentist. it's 10:00 p.m. and my buddies are gone so maybe share your vision on dental and how it impacts that. >> thank you for raising this issue in america. i can tell you we've made progress but we have a serious problem. if you are a poor child on medicaid you probably can't find

a dentist so what have done in this bill is for $3 billion in capital improvement long overdue to expand health centers they need money for their own expansion and infrastructure and that is the dental and very expensive opposition and 3 billion into capital for what i suspect will go to dental operatories, you will be able to provide these all over the country with the ability to access dental care and the way they are not doing it today. >> mr. president.

>> as we continue this discussion for primary care unity health centers, i think realize we have an obesity epidemic, type two diabetic epidemic in this country we need to address on the front end and i'm happy to see my community centers coming in doing nutrition classes and nutrition cooking classes. our current generation may learn that fast food is too easy so is the out of box thinking, i call it coaching. we need to poach folks and teach them but also give the opportunity to whether we are on the committee working on food programs, we try to bring these pieces together in the program as well and i know senator sanders is committed to helping us address, a leader in this issue trying to take on diabetes as well.

>> let me just say senator marshall has raised this issue. if we are going to talk about this, obesity and other things as we are looking at this diabetic epidemic in this country and a very expensive healthcare bill. one of many of the computing factors, i'm community health centers are well situated to do that. we have lingered in here to make it easier to work on nutrition

centers and a variety of ways. >> i might close with a couple thoughts. we came in with the expectation that we can make a difference for people across the nation are bill accomplishes the end i spent the august recess and every moment of every hour of every day working on legislation, it's a good one. as always opportunity for improvement and i appreciate the productions in appropriate places which is important to many including myself. primary care issues, we have a plan to increase nursing workforce in and we can come around and adjust primary care

issues and dental, a huge improvement and you cannot overestimate how much money this will save programs like medicare and medicaid and drive the healthcare cost down and will emphasize. it is the right thing to do, a chance to improve the health of americans and i'm proud to stand here and introduce this legislation. >> to say what you said, we don't think this to be improved so we are open to new ideas and look up this bill next thursday and look forward to talking to

numbers on the labor and pensions committee to do what's really important. we can come here and give great speeches and talk about how next year we are going to get to something. everybody in america all over this country understands we have a primary health care crisis. this is not too much that when you get sick you can find a doctor. it's not asking too much that they can get education so they can go out and get good jobs. that's all that we are doing in this legislation real world that

exists in saying let's not wait, who got a crisis today. with that, i yield the floor.

[inaudible conversations] >> you have already stated be back but if you have questions, i'd be happy to respond. the. >> i considered my age and the fact that at the end of the second term would be in my mid- 80s and i think it's time for guys like me to get out of the way and have the next generation step forward because they want to shake the world and over the last couple of decades the

boomers have done for themselves. we look for benefits and programs for us and i think the people coming along next want a say in how we believe the earth from preparing for the future they are going to live in. >> with him on the ballot next year, up for reelection? >> there is a reasonable showing strong numbers. even those who don't agree with me, they respect those who vote will and i appreciate that and i don't have any question whether to run again. i just don't think we need another person in their 80s. the issues of the day relates to china, climate change, a i and a lot of guys in there 80s don't deal with those issues.

>> you mentioned your age is a reason, is that a nice way to say to your colleagues who are older that maybe it's time for them to step down as well? >> everybody will make their own decision and consider their own circumstances. i just don't think of my age where i am -- if i knew i'd be like chuck grassley and fingers into my 90s, i may have a different decision but you never know. i do think the times we are living in command the next generation to step up and express their views and make decisions that will shape american politics over the coming century and having a bunch of guys around, baby boomers around in the postwar era, we are not the right ones to make those decisions. >> the republican party, you think they're beholden to donald

trump? >> the republican party today is in the shadow of donald trump, the leader of the republican party. a demagogue portion and i represent a small wing of the party and i don't believe we are going away and we will come back into leadership in the party. the trump part of the party talks about resentment and revisiting the 2020 election. my party is only successful getting young people to vote for us if we talk about this and that's not happening so far. >> that wing of the party and

you said the constitution, what you mean by that? >> i was in iraq or someone said running for senate if you are collected in d.c., bcm cbs and this is republican rally and i was like really? there's no question, there's some position who think they need a strong man and president trump the president trump set we should with the constitution and reinstall him as president. the great majority of american people in terms of what i'll be doing, i want more young people voting and involved in the political process.

[inaudible] >> what you believe -- to mid 80s? >> partly because we want young people coming in to make those decisions. not worth the bucket of spit, who cares who endorsed who? make your decision as a voter and become a candidate and their vision and you don't care about what another person says. i hope it would get a strong contender. >> if you think you are too old, what about trump, you think they

should rerun? >> i think it's a great thing if president biden and former presidential would stand aside and let spector party pick someone in the next generation. president trump -- president biden when he was running said he was a transitional figure to the next generation. what kind of transition? this morning's closing argument that we should see that exchange, i think both parties would be better served if they were represented by people other than those of us from that generation. >> bipartisan accomplishments in your statements earlier, are you concerned about a race of senators are out? >> the group has dissipated, susan collins is the ranking member and senator manchin, tester on the democrat side so we are pulling on different

sides pulling together, an unusual thing. i recognize i have an embarrassment of riches, as senator i got together with a group of other folks and we got a lot done. covid relief package in the white house and then speaker pelosi couldn't get one done, infrastructure bill, reform, religious liberty production and marriage act, gun safety legislation, we got a lot done which was a lot of fun. unusual and looking forward and i think it will be challenging for something like that to happen again. >> worked you run for office over again? i never imagine i would from this time and can't imagine again but there's a one in a million shot.

>> on both sides of the aisle, another impeachment trial, what is your response? >> i have been heartened today as i received text from a great number of colleagues saying they are going to miss me in the pool a couple weeks ago was encouraging, very positive approval rating but leave when they wish you to stay and i don't want to be worked people are saying why is she still hanging around? i'm going to continue to work the next three year end a half and climate change strategy.

>> another impeachment? >> i know the house is beginning impeachment inquiry, i haven't heard any allegations, i think it would be very unusual to see this impeachment. i don't expect that to happen. they can inquire, but there is no allegation so i don't expect that to occur. >> what do think about your colleagues? >> would you say to your colleagues according to their health? >> and their position, he's a

leader of the republican caucus. what he is able to do at his age is extraordinary. i would not be committee chair or ranking member, and be fighting through regular order process. i was able to break through with this but is in a position to make a real difference at his age which of our work majority leader, i might reach a different decision, to. >> are you disappointed by republican party? >> i have a great deal of respect and one of the mysteries, i don't understand. the singler reason we have this

report and people recognize that and is an effective leader when you have a group, 50 of us, everyone thinks they ought to be president. and there's nothing in the book is written that is critical of the leader. those specific things along those were not close for me but a member of staff in it was kind

of obvious points. >> i really do believe many of the people and leadership and elected officials and me to recount the ballots in the judicial process. it is not a surprise. democracy requires credibility elections and people are taking us out of election classes threatening the very foundation

talk i would be surprised to hear it again consent that the quorum call be vacated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: thank you. i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 265. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all those in favor, say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination now. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary, vernon t. oliver, of connecticut, to be united states district judge for the district of connecticut. mr. schumer: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate do hereby move to

bring to close the nomination of executive number 265, vernon d. oliver, of connecticut, to be united states district judge for the district of connecticut, signed by 18 senators as follows. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion to proceed. all those in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 37. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all those in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination right now. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary, rita f.lin, of california, to be united states district judge for the northern district of california. mr. schumer: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators, in

accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close the debate on the nomination of executive calendar number 37, rita f. lin, of california, to be united states district judge for the northern district of california, signed by 17 senators as follows. mr. schumer: i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: finally, i ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorums for the cloture motions filed today, settlement 14, be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the legislative session to be in a period of morning business, with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of s. res. 345, which is at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 345, supporting the designation of september 15, 2023, as national concussion awareness day.

the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: finally, mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned until 3:00 p.m. on monday, september 18, that following the prayer and pledge the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, and the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed. that upon the conclusion of morning business, the senate resume consideration of calendar 198, h.r. 4366. further, that at 35bg p.m., the senate -- 5:00 p.m., the senate proceed to resume consideration of the oliver nominations, and cloture motions ripen at 5:30 p.m. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: if there's no further business to come before the senate, ski that it standed

a -- i ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until

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