york 110,000 planted in your. their crushing the social services in new york. mayor adams now welcome to the first and declared new york asylum city now says new york is going to be destroyed. they're putting them in a encampments on the playing fields. the children in new york city, they are locked for two and half years so they couldn't play sports. many of us kids were on scholarship trajectory. there were not allowed to play sports. now they are finally out from covid and they can't play the sports because there's immigrants encamped on their fields. i work with cesar chavez between the last 20 years of his life. i worked mainly on pesticide issues. it was -- he was my father's close political allawi. because my work with him and when he died his family out of me by ask me to be a pallbearer at his funeral. he had two great concerns during

the last 20 years of his life. one of his concerns was pesticide which dramatically and disproportionate impact hispanic farm workers. the other concern was closing the border because he saw that those, the influx of illegal immigrants were destroying his leverage to get good wages for his workers. and what you're seeing now is the immigrants get hold of social security cards, which is all you need -- >> we believe this to keep our over 40 year commitment -- cali. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the question is on nomination. 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. 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.

senator, voting in the affirmative -- baldwin, blumenthal, cardin, cassidy. cortez masto. duckworth, hassan, heinrich, hirono, kaine, lujan, markey, menendez, padilla, peters, reed, rosen, smith, tester, warner, warren, whitehouse, and wyden. mr. bennet, aye. senators voting in the negative -- budd, crapo, moran, tuberville, and vance.

mrs. gillibrand, aye. mr. hawley, no. the clerk: mr. hagerty, no. mr. schmitt, no. mr. paul, no. mr. tillis, no.

ms. stabenow, aye. ms. cantwell, aye. mr. graham, aye. mr. casey, aye. mr. romney, no. mr. cornyn, no. mr. cruz, no.

mr. grassley, no. mrs. fischer, no. mr. cotton, no. mrs. britt, no. ms. klobuchar, aye. mr. schatz, aye. mr. carper, aye. mr. lee, no. mr. lankford, no.

mr. cramer, no. mr. ossoff, aye. mr. cassidy, no. mrs. blackburn, no. mr. rounds, no. mr. wicker, no. mr. van hollen, aye.

the clerk: mr. kennedy, no. mr. mcconnell, no. mr. thune, no.

mrs. capito, no. mr. barrasso, no. mr. ricketts, no.

mr. hoeven, no. mr. marshall, no. vote: the clerk: ms. lummis, no. the clerk: mr. booker, aye. mr. risch, no.

mr. daines, no. mr. scott of florida, no.

the clerk: ms. ernst, no. the clerk: ms. collins, aye.

the clerk: mr. durbin, aye. mr. warnock, aye.

the clerk: mr. sullivan, no.

the clerk: mr. coons, aye.

the clerk: mr. young, no. mrs. hyde-smith, no.

the clerk: mr. rubio, no. mr. schumer, aye. mrs. murray yiewks -- mrs. murray, aye. mr. murphy, aye.

the clerk: mr. king, aye. mrs. shaheen, aye. the clerk: mr. brown, aye.

mr. boozman, no.

the clerk: ms. sinema, aye. the clerk: mr. mullin, no.

the presiding-- the clerk: mr. sanders, aye.

the clerk: mr. welch, aye.

the clerk: mr. fetterman, aye.

the clerk: mr. hickenlooper,

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

vote the presiding officer: the yeas are 52, the nays are 45, the nominations is confirmed. under the previous order, the explosion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table and the president will be immediately notified of the senate's action.

under the previous order, the senate will resume legislative session in the consideration of h.r. 4366. the clerk: h.r. 4366 an act making appropriations for military construction, the department of veterans affair in the fiscal year-ending 2024 and for other purposes.

test:

the house majority to accept a this week are trying everything but bipartisanship, everyone knows the gop's proposed cr is a nonstarter here in the senate. everyone knows the house gop's proposed deal will not pass the senate because instead of pretending to aim for bipartisanship, this bill had zero democratic input. it calls for a crushing 8% cut to virtually all non-defense spending. 8%. the house republican proposal drafted and put together by the maga are right is reckless and

cool. it includes cutting investments to social security administration. nutrition assistance k-12 education, small business moral community to protections for drinking water to lifesaving medical research, cancer and other research and much more. the american people need to know how bad this model republican cr this estimate lifesaving research hollowing out the national institute of health. this reckless cr with lower public safety cutting back on drug and food inspection, weakening wildfire prevention and eliminating law enforcement officers in the federal

government weakening our battle against violent crime and the scorch of fentanyl. in this school cr would guard investments in k-12 education,/resources for support services investments and cut loan to rural communities. it reckless, cruel. that is the hallmark of this model republican proposal in the house. then there is ukraine which the house gop's bill completely abandoned. at the very same time president zelenskyy comes to the united states to make the case for standing firm against putin, republican leadership in the house of representatives essentially telling him you are on your own.

nothing would make putin cap you're right now then to see the united states waiver in support for the ukrainian people. nothing would make putin happier. providing aid is not a matter of ukrainian security but americans already, to because victorious putin would be emboldened and make the world less safe through democracy for america. applicants to oppose ukrainian aid is a terrible and dangerous mistake that could come back to haunt u.s. security. ukrainian aid could have been an opportunity for bipartisanship but the heart right against what i imagine is the majority of republicans in the house has prevented that from happening so let me say again, the house package is reckless and cool and everyone knows it has no chance of passing the senate. more time republicans waste trying to pass this wish list

while ignoring chances for real bipartisanship, the greater the odds will push into a costly government shutdown. mr. president, hamas government shutdown lasted 35 days and began when the president, then president trump said to me and speaker pelosi in the oval office our practice shutdown the government. pretty sad. in the two years democrat pulled the senate and white house, we didn't have a government shutdown, we didn't have a debt limit crisis, we didn't have the kind of chaos we sequins maga seem to control so much of the republican agenda. this year we've already seen those. debt limit crisis and blooming shutdown crisis just one part. only one thing has changed since last year when there was none of this chaos. house controlled maga

republicans. back to the. former president trump is trying to add to the crisis, practically commanding to shut down the government make an appropriate deal. absolutely. it's not capable of governing. it's only capable of chaos this year sadly chaos has raised the house. it doesn't have to be that way. it doesn't have to be maga republican only the, it doesn't have to be the maga way or shutdown. house republicans have the choice the matter between pursuing real changes for bipartisanship catering to the hard right. each time they have chosen to empower the hard right and have chosen dysfunction and chaos. they've chosen to ignore bipartisanship. what was true for him to go is

true today, there's no scenario avoid a shutdown without bipartisanship. the democrats tried to do it only our way, there would be no bill but now republicans are trying to do it their way and there are plenty of men sides of the aisle, despite our disagreements would like to get bipartisan a chance to most of the american people into as well. choose a more fruitful way urge them to reject payoffs and choose to work with democrats there are real people with real lives and hundreds of thousands, services could be disrupted, our communities fellow americans suffering from disaster.

those are a few of the tragic and unnecessary comes the republicans in the house that the maga extreme control the agenda. the matter is simple. if both sides embrace bipartisanship, the shutdown will be avoided. house republicans reject bipartisanship, the hard right is given license to run the show, the shutdown will be almost inevitable. now on the minibus, chaos seems to define everything republican house does. in the senate, we have shown bipartisanship is key to getting things done and tomorrow democrats and republicans get a chance to make sure he got bipartisanship continues. unfortunately last thursday a lone senator representing a small group in this chamber tried to undermine bipartisan appropriations process.

yesterday my colleague senator murray chair of the appropriations committee moved to get things back on track for rule 16 and invoke culture on the. we will vote on that motion tomorrow. i believe a clear majority of senators want to see us continue on the appropriations process. i hope they vote to keep the appropriations process going. our colleagues on the other side of the order and we have worked with them to make sure that happens as it did on the ndaa bill. our colleagues in the other side asked for a minute and we work with them to consider amendment to back senator collins and murray and a list of amendments that would go forward with the okay of the minority and majority leaders until senator johnson through the log of the tracks.

our republican and democratic leaders of the appropriations committee asked to consider appropriations bills on the floor and it's with their cooperation these three bills, agriculture and transportation hub up and brought to the floor for consideration. democrats want to work with democrat colleagues whenever possible. no one pretends like we don't have disagreements. we do. but the important part is so far disagreements not stymied the ofprocess. mandates a covid booster vaccine for pages. is the senate covid vaccine for pages continues despite the fact that the senate voted 83-11 to repeal the military covid vaccine mandate. why in the world would we continue a mandate on pages that we've repealed for our soldiers? is there any science to support continuing this mandate? the answer is an emphatic no.

the science has been clear since the early spring of 2020. healthy children are not seriously affected by covid. in fact, several large studies show that healthy children are rarely hospitalized, and that deaths from covid in healthy children are virtually nonexistents. dr. marty mccary of johns hopkins describes a large, nationwide study in israel that found that the rink of covid death in people under 30 with two vaccines was essentially zero. a nationwide study from germany showed zero covid deaths among children over 5 who had no core morbidities. even the head of the hmo concluded that there is no evidence right now that suggests healthy children and adolescents need boosters. and yet here we are with democrats desperately clinging

to covid vaccine mandates for young people who have essentially zero risk of dying from covid. common sense should prevail and the senate should repeal this mandate just as we did for our young soldiers. we shouldn't allow politics to infect and cloud commonsense judgment. the vaccine committees that make recommendations for vaccines actually don't recommend covid boosters for young healthy individuals. the fda's vaccines and related biological products advisory committee voted to limit covid vaccines to adults over 65. they wanted because of the risk profile of the covid vaccine to limit it to people who were at risk for dying from covid. a cdc vaccine panel also voted against recommending boosters for young healthy individuals. but these committees who have lifetime scientists on them who voted not to advise the booster

vaccine for add less sents were overruled by a political appointee, rachelle walenski. the director of vaccine director center at children's hospital in philadelphia wrote that a healthy young person with for covid vaccines is extremely unlikely to be hospitalized with covid so the case for risking any side effects such as myocarditis diminishes substantially. dr. offit, a lifelong proponent of vaccines even advised his own son not to get the covid booster. the argument against mandating covid boosters on young, healthy people is not just that they are unnecessary, but that the covid boosters may actually harm young individuals. reports of heart inflammation or myocarditis after covid vaccines has been consistent and worldwide. a study in the journal of

american medical association cardiology examined 23 million people across denmark, finland, norway, and sweden and found that the risk of myocarditis increased with covid vaccination, particularly after the second dose. this is exactly why several european countries, including germany, france, sweden, denmark, and norway restrict the use of covid vaccines among young, healthy people. some countries such as south africa and eveningless recommend only one covid vaccine to avoid the risk of myocarditis. a study in the journal of medical ethics similarly found that about one in five cases of myocarditis per 10,000 vaccines. in the cases of those suffering from heart inflammation still having stops three months later.

another doctor looked at 29 studies across three continents and also found an increase in play crow car diets after covid vaccines. the studies reviewed showed a little more than two cases of myocarditis per 15,000 vaccines. even the cdc admits that myocarditis occurs in about one per 15,000 vaccines. dr. tracy beth hague looked at the vaccine adverse event reporting system and found 1.62 adverse cardiac events per 10,000 vaccines. now, that doesn't sound like a high number but we're talking about a perfectly healthy kid. how would you feel if your perfectly healthy football player or band member is given the vaccine and comes home with a heart inflammation. it's actually diagnosed with rising heart indies the same way a heart attack is diagnosed. hague found that the risk of myocarditis was five times greater than the risk of hospitalization versus covid.

you're asking yourself can my kid go to the hospital or could he get the heart inflammation? both are rare but the chance of your kid getting a heart inflammation from covid is five times more. another study found a little over two cases of myocarditis per 15,000 vaccines. this is across the scientific lilt tur, across all the continents, across the world and it's a consistent finding that even our government admits to. but the democrats want submission. they don't want you to have the choice to keep your kids saifs and make a decision whether or not your kid who may well have already had covid needs yet another vaccine. why are we forcing these kids to do something that i would say is against medical advice to be a page in our program here? the senate continues to look away from all the evidence of myocarditis. in each of these studies, the risk. myocarditis increases with each

vaccine. about 90% of the myocarditis or heart inflammation occurs after the second vaccine. and yet inexplicably, the senate pages are being mandated to take three vaccines. there's all kinds of compromises. you would say one, you could say two, but three, you're increasing the risk with each successive vaccine. not only are three covid vaccines unwar rarntsed for healthy individuals, this mandate actually risks their health. it is the height of malpractice to subject young, healthy kids to three covid vaccines. in fact, nowhere in the examination or discussion of whether they should have the vaccine is there any discussion of whether they've had covid. so what is a vaccine? it is meant to simulate having had the infection. shouldn't they tell us the data on children or adults if you've had the infection, what is your chance of getting it again? what is your chance of going to the hospital? what is your chance of dying from covid if you've already had it?

they won't tell us for adolescents because the answer is zero. originally the logic of advocates for the covid vaccine mandates argued that the vaccines were not necessarily for the children but to protect their parents and grandparents. this argument now holds no water as even the zealous advocates for mandates such as biden's cdc director rochelle walensky admit that covid vaccines do not anymore prevent transmission. so the side of the people promoting these mandates admits they don't stop transmission. now, they may well still reduce hospitalization and death if you're in the target category of the elderly or those with health disease. but for young, healthy kids, there's no effect other than to increase their risk of a heart inflammation. a danish study confirms that by december 2021, the covid

vaccine's effectiveness was less than 10%. the virus had mutated on and the vaccine had not been changed. a study from january 2022 of over 1.2 million children in new york shows that the vaccine effectiveness was 10%. wasn't stopping transmission. wasn't stopping them from getting the disease. and it wasn't protecting their health. no serious scientist now argues that covid vaccines stop transmission. no one. and yet here we are. with democrats saying you're not smart enough to make your own decisions. we will make these medical choices for you. when we look at the effectiveness of the covid booster and we ask what is the science towards whether or not a booster is effective, isn't this booster now formulated against the newer variants? yes. the booster is directed against newer variants but about three months or so the virus changes enough that the latest vaccine

is no longer effective. in fact, the cdc has largely given up testing the boosters and the new vaccines for effectiveness. instead in bushing for all children to get covid booster vaccines, the cdc doesn't argue that the booster stops transmission. it doesn't argue that it prevents hospitalization or death. so what argument does the cdc have for continuing to promote boosters on our children? the cdc readily admits the vaccines don't stop transmission in any group. as to hospitalization and deaths, the cdc can't show any evidence that the booster lessens hospitalization or death among young peep. why? -- young people. why? because the rate is already virtually zero. it's hard to prove the boosters help anything when no healthy kids are dying from covid. the cdc can't prove that the booster helps because it's impossible to improve upon the already low incidence of severe

disease among young people. in fact, when the cdc approved the covid booster for children, they didn't even argue that it was effective or that it prevented anything. what they argued is that the kids will make antibodies if you give them a vaccine. which means absolutely nothing. i've challenged anthony fauci on this on the lack of effectiveness. an antibody response limp r simply means that the vaccine generates an immune response but tells you nothing about disease prevention, tells you nothing about preventing hospitalization, tells you nothing about infectiousness, nothing about death rate. in fact, you could give every kid in the country a hundred different covid boosters and they will make antibodies each time. that doesn't mean they need a hundred boosters. what they've done is they've given up on trying to prove the booster has any effect on their health and they just want you to shut your eyes, be quiet and do what you're told. this is the democrat policy.

this is the democrat medical policy for you. shut up and do as you're told. take the injection. we don't care if your kid might get sick. we don't care if you might have a choice. we don't care if you have any say in your kid's medical care. in a free society no one should be forced to undergo a medical procedure against their will. in a free society, no one should be forced to receive an injection into their body that they do not wish to have. the democrat party support for medical choice seems selective and inconsistent. whatever happened for my body, my choice? vaccine mandates to children who had virtually no risk for covid death creates vaccine hesitancy among the mubl. the public is -- the public. the public is well aware that healthy children don't die from covid and have resisted covid vaccines on their children but the vast overreach of vaccine mandates actually creates among

the public a tendency to doubt and disbelieve the government's overall vaccine message. because of the dishonest, over-the-top mandates on children, the public wonders if the government messengers are downplaying other risks. it is, however, true that the vast majority of people at risk for serious covid have indeed already been vaccinated. over 97% of people over 65 watched the news, learned of their friends, watched their neighbors, found out who was dying and they took the vaccine voluntarily. if vaccine advocates want the public to continue to listen to public health pronouncements, then they need to end the nonsensical vaccine mandates on our kids. a good start would be ending the ill-advised covid booster mandate for our senate pages. so, mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the committee on rules and administration be discharged from further consideration and the senate now proceed to s.

resolution 336. further, that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: is there objection? a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. murphy: mr. president, reserving the right to object. i heard a very similar speech last week when senator paul came to the floor to offer this exact same resolution. and i came to the floor to offer the exact same objection. and i guess we're going to be here next week and the week after having this same back and forth on the senate floor. i don't know that this is the most important problem face facg the country today, the question of -- facing the country today, the question of whether a small number of pages have a vaccine or not. i think senator paul's obsession with page vaccine policy is a little weird.

and not squared with the actual priorities of the american public. but i'll continue to come down here and object because it's important to know that there is no legal mandate that pages be vaccinated. it's a policy, not a mandate. senator paul is proposing a mandate. a mandate through this resolution that under no circumstances can pages be required to have a vaccination as a condition of their employment here. i find senator paul's recitation of his body of evidence interesting. i don't dispute the fact that the vaccine today is much more efficacious on preventing serious illness and is not like

prior vaccines effective at preventing transmission. but here's the two things to say about that. senator paul says over and over again that if you're a healthy kid, you have nothing to worry about, that no healthy kids are dying. okay. that's broadly true. it is true that healthy children have very little risk of dying of covid. but the assumption then is that every single page that is part of this program has no preexisting conditions, that every single page comes here with a clean bill of health. that is not true. there are pages here just like our employees who have preexisting conditions, and we have a responsibility for the young people that work for us. we have a long history in this country of requiring vaccinations for young people. senator paul objects to that policy, but it is long accepted that young people during their

school-aged years should have a set of vaccinations to keep them healthy. and if you have a preexisting condition, even as a child, you have a potential of dying from covid. guess what? covid is the eighth-leading cause of death for young people. that's not inconsistent. it is perfectly consistent with the general policy we have in this country of requiring students to get vaccines to require the same of the page population. who, by the way, are students. the second thing to say about this resolution is this -- even if senator paul is correct -- and i broadly would submit that he is, that this vaccine is really about preventing serious illness, not about preventing transmission -- this resolution is permanent. this says that under no

circumstances should a senate page be required to have a vaccination. but what if a follow-on vaccine is effective -- is more effective at preventing transmission? what if the next covid variant is a more significant threat to children? this is a mandate. this is -- no matter what the scientific recommendations are, under no circumstances, under no circumstances, no matter what the scientific recommendation is, can you mandate -- can you require that a senate page, as a condition of working in the senate, have a vaccination. that's bad policy. i would rather have this question be up to the attending physician, to the adult whose run the page program than have mandates from the united states senate about the health care policy of our pages. i think this is really bad policy.

but i also think it's super-dangerous because, really you the question of whether a handful of pages in the senate have a vaccine is not worthy of a half an hour of back-and-forth between two years senators. -- between two united states senators. what this ends up being is yet another wedge to try to drive apart the american public from a belief in science and vaccines. this is a long-standing effort by senator paul and others to question the efficacy of vaccines. it feeds into a broader narrative about the efficacy of science writ large, and that has deafing consequences for this country, because as people lose faith in medical recommendations, as less people get vaccines because they come under the belief that the vaccine will do more harm than

good, people die. and so by itself, this is bad policy because this is part of a broad consensus in this country that students should get vaccinated for significant conditions, and this policy stands no matter what the future recommendations of medical professionals are. but i object to it just as strongly because of how it fits into this broader incredibly dangerous narrative to try to undermine people's faith in science and vaccines. and for that reason, mr. president, i would object. mr. paul: mr. president. the presiding officer: objection is heard. the senator from kentucky. mr. paul: the accusation has been made that my purpose is somehow to undermine vaccines and to have people question vaccines, but obviously the arguments were not listened to, because in no part of my

arguments or public statements have i said anything in general that vaccines were bad. i'm most fascinated by the development of vaccines, the story of the development of the smallpox vaccine, the polio vaccine were all tremendous scientific successes, and they continue to be. my argument is simply for medical freedom. now, there's been a disingenuous argument made by the other they say that i'm proposing a mandate, that this will be a legal mandate and that there is no mandate. in you want to be a page, there is a -- there is a mandate. if your kid gets into yale or princeton or harvard or university of chicago, maybe they follow the lead of the senate doctors and say your kid has to have three vaccines. but if you look at the evidence carefully that i've laid out you'll find that the scientific studies across all continents, across the world, across the

united states, studies of millions of people show that the vaccines have some down side and danger, particularly for children. not once have i said that the elderly shoop be vaccinated -- shouldn't be vaccinated. in fact, my 92-year-old and 96-year-old in-laws, we suggested they get vaccinated as soon as they could. my wife was vaccinated and had immunity. the studies turned out to show that actually having had the disease does give you immunity and it's actually twice as potent as the vaccinate. when i say that the left gets apoplectic, oh, my gosh you're saying that people should just get sick to get immunity. i'm not saying that at all. but i am saying that if you have gotten sick, you have immunity and we should be honest with people. people want to know, if they have avenue had two vaccines,

should they have a third one? tell us how many people are subsequently getting it again and going to the hospital or dying. wouldn't you want to know that before you take your third, fourth, finally, six, seventh, eighth, ninth vaccine? the other side argued that if -- what if one. pages has a health condition? anybody in this country can freely get a vaccine if their parents and they decide to get a vaccine. by all means do it. nothing in my resolution would prevent pages or anyone else from getting a vaccine a what i'm arguing for is freedom. as far as the idea that this will be permanent and unwavering and won't be able to recognize what gnaw diseases come -- what new diseases come upon us, it doesn't mean the concept of

freedom changes. everyone will still evaluate this. the evaluation of this vaccine when it first came out is different than it is now, frankly. it's also different if you've had it. people should just be honest with you. i'm not saying don't take a booster or that you can't take a booster. take all you want. but i'm saying the government's job should be to give you information. i'm saying the opposite of what he actually made a point of. vaccine hesitancy or people undermining the belief that vaccines work comes from people who tell you things that are dishonest and untrue. there is no science -- and i'm adamant about what i'm saying here. there is no science that the booster for your children reduces the transmission of the disease. there is no reduction in your child's ability to get covid if they take a covid booster, zero. the other side accepts this. rachel walensky, biden's nominee, accepts this. no change in transmission with a

vaccine. how about hospitalization and death? there is still some data that people at risk for this can have reduced hospitalization. not transmission. they can still catch it. but maybe reduced hospitalization and death. most of this data came in the previous iterations, when we had the wild variety in 2020. we've now advanced three iterations out. with each successive iteration, with each successive mutation and variant, the good news is this -- it's become less deadly. it's become less deadly because the virus is less deadly but also because the community has more immunity. the virus has evolved to become less deadly and we're in a much better situation. but government medicine and health policy shouldn't be about telling americans what to do. it should be about giving information. the government should never be in the business of mandating,

whether it's masks or vaccines or any of this other stuff. you wear it, you do it if you want. your body, your choice. but there is a lot of conflicting data here, and you really need to be informed to make an informed choice. there is some data the government is still preventing from being released, so you can't tell. werer to the masks -- with regard to the masks, there were 78 different randomized control studies and they found that the masks did not prevent the transmission in public. there was no evidence that more significant mandates or more significant use changed the transmission at all. this had been the accepted conclusion by all of the medical world before 2020. we had never advised masks in public for influenza because the influenza, the size of the virus, the same as the size of covid, is much smaller than then

the mask. we looked at large populations and found they didn't prevent the disease. does that mean you can't wear a mask? no, wear a mask if you think the it makes you more healthy. in the hospital, doctors wear them. of course we do. i volunteered in hospital after i got covid. i felt comfortable going in there because i had already had the disease. we wore the n-95 masks because if worn properly it will protect the particles. as we came out, we took off the glovess government shutdowns, and the masks and through -- the gloves, the government shutdowns and the masks and threw them away. done properly -- there are still a lot of doctors and nurses that got covid. but it is still probably worth a try. a lot of people don't know this, but the n-95 mask, which actual lay the pores are small enough,

worked with something called an electrostatic charge. the moisture from your exhaled breath actually changes the electrostatic charge and it is not as effective. but really what we're arguing here is there can be two sides to every argument. what we're discussing is who should make the choice? the democrat majority believes that they should make the choices for your health care and the kids belong to them t this is the same argument we had in education in virginia had you have the parents in northern virginia saying, we want to be involved with our children's education and you had the democratic nominee for governor in virginia come out and say, the kids don't belong to the parents. the school makes these decisions. it is none of your business, stay out of it. that's what they're telling the pages and their parents a. it is none of their business. if a page had a kidney

transplant or has leukemia, the vaccine is probably a reasonable thing to do. but if they're young and healthy, if you look objectively at the data, it turns out that they have five times greater risk of getting heart inflammation than they do of being hospitalized for covid. these are the statistics. people should just be aware of that and good, honest people could still disagree on this. but what happens in a free country is, you make your decision. you make your decision which doctor you take them to. if you don't appreciate the opinion of that doctor, you go to another. and sometimes it's complicated. sometimes mothers and fathers don't agree. but who wants to give a political party the power to make these decisions for your children? how would you feel if your young, healthy football player, band member, choir member got the covid vaccine and then has a heart problem that permanently blares them for the rest of your

-- impairs them for the rest of their life? wouldn't you want your government to release the data, release the data on what it means if your kid has already had covid. let's say your kid as already had one or two vaccines and they've had already had covid. don't you think having covid might replace the need ford more vaccines? the vaccine gives immunity to the s protein on the surface of the cell. when you get infected, your body destroys the cells that have the virus in and as the virus empties out its inner contents, you actually get a broader immunity. now, the lowest misinterprets this. the left say, you want everybody to get sick and die. all i'm telling you is people should give you the information. most of us have had covid. what does it mean? what does it mean if you've had two vaccines and covid? what does it mean to towards

your future? what we're talking about here is freedom. what we're talking about is who should make the medical choices, the government, the democrat party, or whether or not we should leave this to parents and their kids and i, for one, say that we ought to have medical freedom. in a free country, everyone individual should be free to make those decisions. mr. brown: mr. president, thank you. right after workers for stellantis, the old name stellantis was chrysler, a plant in toledo, they make the jeep

chero key, union -- cherokee, we both drive them, my wife and i, one saved me after a kid driving hit the side-my car while sitting and virtually no injury. i went to the picket line friday morning, talked with a lot of workers. i know many of them. there are 6,000 at this plant. 1,000 -- actually 1,100 of these workers at this stellantis plant, at the jeep plant rb on a tear -- are on a tiered wage system where they make fewer than $19 and something an hour, some have been there one year, two years, some five at six years, yet they make less than $19 an hour.

the reason for that is when chrysler and g.m. were in serious trouble, the government held, the union in order to save these plants and save essentially the automobile industry, they did major givebacks of their wages and benefits. so management insisted and the workers went along to major pay cuts, set up a tiered wage system. new workers, hundreds and hundreds, over a thousand at a plant of over 6,000 workers were making substandard wages. that's troubling enough that those workers years later still are making those substandard wages. in some cases you can't support a family on these wages, yet, that's when chrysler and g.m. were in such economic trouble. since then, we know how well chrysler, stellantis now, and

g.m. are doing. we know how well they're doing by a number of -- number one, stellantis made $12 billion just in this calendar year alone. this company made $12 billion. when they were in trouble, the workers by giving up a lot, making sacrifices saved them. now that the companies are so profitable, $12 billion this year alone, stellantis, they have essentially given nothing back to the workers and they are unwilling to provide the workers a decent wages and benefits. i met an entry-level worker there, the ceo of stellantis makes 850 times what this worker makes, 850 times what this worker makes. the ceo of stellantis makes 365 times what the average worker at

stellantis makes, in that plant and other plants around the country. the fact is these workers, clearly we come down on the side of the workers. the industry has done well because of america's economic system. the industry has done very well because they've had the opportunity to do well in this country because the workers sacrificed so much. that's why i will go back to the picket line. there may be picket lines and shutdowns and strikes in other parts of the auto industry. the public clearly sides with these workers, the public understands that these ceo's making between $22 million and $29 million, the ceo's got 29% increases. a decade ago, workers were willing to give up a lot, now they are having $12 billion profits and the auto industry is simply not willing to come to the table and negotiate in good

faith. we know it not only hurts those workers when they're only making $16 an hour, it hurts the community, it hurts toledo, it hurts woods county those communities that don't have the taxes they would in the workers were making decent wages in buying and spending at the grocery store and all the things that help to create a prosperous communities. i know most of the senate stands with the workers, i know most of the american people stand with these workers, i incur g.m., stellantis and ford to come to the table and make decent offer. they don't want to strike. their backs are to the wall they had to strike. i yield the floor. mrs. fischer: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from nebraska.

mrs. fischer: thank you, mr. president. when it comes to the economy, we hear a lot of statistics, since president biden came to office and put his bidenomics to work, prices have gone up, grocery prices are up by 25%. and energy costs by 43%. gas prices have risen by an unbelievable 65%. as alarming as those percentages are, i'm most concerned about the individuals who are hurting because of these increases, and that's why i was struck by new numbers i saw last week from the census bureau. bidenomics is making life harder for children in nebraska.

the number of children living in poverty in my home state increased by almost 5,000 from 2021 to 2022 -- 5,000 more kids living in poverty. that's thousands more families who are living below the poverty line, thousands of families who are struggling to pay bills, to buy food, to afford a place to sleep. some of these 5,000 children are from families who cannot afford any of these things. they're going hungry, they're couch suffering, or worse -- couch surfing, or worse, that's

bidenomics in nebraska. bidenomics is making life harder for the more rural parts of nebraska. soaring prices caused by inflation are especially affecting those areas of my state. they're especially affecting kids in more rural areas. according to an analysis by an omaha nonprofit, from 2021 to 2022 there was a 25% increase in the number of kids below the poverty line who are located in nonmetro areas of nebraska. a quarter more kids living outside urban areas come from families that are barely getting by. some of these children live in sparsely populated areas where

it really -- where it can really take hours to get to the grocery store, the pharmacy, or to a hospital. when gas is 65% more expensive and groceries will brake the bank, families are going to struggle with those long trips. they are in dire need of resources, but inflation is ripping away their ability to access those resources. that is bidenomics in nebraska. bidenomics is making life harder for anyone who pays rent, mortgage, or utilities in nebraska. the most basic of necessities, affording a place to live is now a huge financial strain.

close to half of the renters in nebraska are spending more than 30% of their income on housing. almost 20,000 more renting households are considered financially burdened. that's 20,000 more in just one year. that is bidenomics in nebraska. bidenomics is making life harder for businesses and their employees. as rent encroaches on a larger percentage of people's incomes, the incomes themselves, they're getting smaller. neb they -- nebraska's median income declined by 3.6% in 2022. businesses can't pay their employees as much when all of their money is being spent on

rising utility and rent prices. rising inflation, it means higher costs, lower salaries, and a harder time earning a living. that is bidenomics in nebraska. mr. president, i am thankful that my home state of nebraska has many nonprofits that are ready to help those who are struggling from inflation. these organizations, they make a real difference in people's lives and they are part of a rich tradition of charity in my state. charities can do good work to minimize damage, but they cannot do surgery on an injured economy. the only way to stitch our economy back up is to get rid of

this administration's suffocating regulations once and for all. the bidenomics must hear. it's time for a new approach to the economy. so how do we heal the economy? we roll back the regulations that are still poisoning it, including those from the ironically named inflation reduction act. we unleash american energy, which will lower the gas prices that have climbed by 65%. we can heal our economy by turning the page on bidenomics and adopting a new economic strategy, one focused on getting rid of wasteful policies and bringing down costs for every

day americans. nebraskans are experiencing bidenomics. the american people are experiencing -- are experiencing bidenomics. bidenomics is an economic plan that inflates prices, hurts real families, real children, real businesses, and real employees. mr. president, the american people don't want to experience bidenomics anymore. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor.

mr. cornyn: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: mr. president, i remember when title 42 went away away. the covid and public health order that the border patrol used to expel people from the border region in the interest of public health. there were many people who expected a surge of migration, recognizing what a money-making opportunity that human smuggling and drug smuggling is for the

cartels that control much of the u.s.-mexican border. it looked like it might not happen, but despite the administration's best efforts to downplay or distract the situation at the border, we now see the biden border crisis in full flower. preliminary data secured by "the warm post shows that a record number of migrant families illegalley crossed the southern border. in awpg the border patrol arrested more than 91,000 migrants in august. people who entered the united states as part of a family unit, the highest number we've seen in a single month. but it's not just the families. apprehension numbers have be inned dramatically over the past couple of months in all

categories. we've gone from just under 100,00000,000 in june to 102,00n july to more than 177,000 in august. i would point out that much of the migration we've seen from texas, into texas has been seasonal because it's been very hot and it's dangerous for migrants to make the dangerous trip from their home to our border. but that hasn't happened this year. it got worse and worse the hotter the summer months got. so when you include migrants processed through the ports of entry, "the washington post" is estimating roughly 230,000 migrant encounters in august, 230,000. this would make it the busiest month for border crossings this

calendar year. as i said, since title 42 ended in may, the biden administration has tried to spike the ball and declare victory. it pointed to a temporary drop in border crossings and said this is the proof that the situation was under their control. but that's obvious lip not the case. -- obviously not the case. we just experienced the busiest month of family crossings on record and likely the busiest month for overall crossings this calendar year. as "the new york times" reported, in august alone nearly 82,000 migrants passed through the darian gap, the sole land route to the united states from south america describing it as, quote, by far the largest single month's total on record, close quote. and the border crisis isn't getting any better. if anything it's getting worse.

and communities in texas and those across the nation are beginning to feel the strain. el paso, for example, right across the border in west texas is in the midst of a surge in border crossings. it's seeing an average of 1,200 encounters per day. the leader of rescue mission el paso which provides migrants with food, clothing, and shelter said we've lost track of of what capacity means track of what capacity means. we're beyond full. further down the text-mexico -- texas-mexico border is the pass. between midnight sunday and monday morning, more than 2,200 migrants crossed ilt legally. that's -- crossed illegally. that's 2200 in one night. the migration surge is happening across the entire u.s.-mexico border but two areas in particular are under tremendous

strain. one is the tucson sector which covers most of the arizona-mexico border. border crossings in this sector have been on the rise with agents apprehending as many as 2,000 migrants a day. this includes migrants from all over the world, even those from senegal. it reminds me when i was in yuma, arizona, with four democratic senators, four republican senators. we were welcomed by the acting border patrol chief that said welcome to the yuma sector. last year we encountered people from 174 countries, speaking more than 200 languages. senator kelly, the senator from arizona, was there, and noted that mexicali is a city in northern mexico with an air air. so it was explained to us that

likely what was happening is that human smugglers were facilitating the travel of migrants to mexicali where they could simply uber over to the border patrol and claim asylum. and the biden administration would make sure they're successfully deposited in the united states of america, perhaps through the way of asylum hearing that may never occur. well, given the spike in ready intoer crossings, the border patrol, it's no surprise it's struggling. the agency doesn't have the facilities, the resources, or the personnel to manage an influx this large. and actually that's part of the plan. if you're -- if you're the transnational criminal organizations that profit from smuggling my my -- migrants and drugs across the border, what a tremendous idea. let's flood the zone with

migrants. and then when the border patrol is distracted or diverted elsewhere, then here come the drugs. and we saw last year alone 108,000 americans died of drug overdoses. 71,000 from synthetic opioids like fentanyl. we know where it's coming from. the precursors come from china. it goes to mexico. manufactured there. largely to look like traditional pharmaceuticals. but they're contaminated with fentanyl. i was in houston just last week meeting with some parents who lost their children to fentanyl poisoning. i wear on my wrist -- i typically don't wear things like this but i have throughout the last nine months. a father in carrollton farmers branch asked me to wear this band around my wrist in memory of his daughter who lost her life to fentanyl poisoning.

it says among other things one pill can kill. now, the children who die of fentanyl poisoning, they don't know they're taking fentanyl. they think it's maybe something more innocuous. and that's part of the insidiousness of what the cartels are doing. they're using industrial-size pill presses to make it look like things that certainly wouldn't kill you. maybe it's not optimal, things like xanax or perk cet or some other -- percocet or some other pharmaceutical drug but in fact it's contaminated with fentanyl. as i said 77,000 americans died last year alone as a result of synthetic opioid poisoning. well, so the border patrol can't keep up with the flooding of the zone and here come the drugs only to be distributed across the country in each of our communities by various criminal

gangs. well, because the border patrol can't keep up with the influx of people, they simply are now releasing them. that's right. instead of returning them across the border, they are releasing them into u.s. streets every day. and it's unclear really who these individuals are or how they're being released. how many of these migrants are asylum seek whoars have completed -- seekers who have completed a fear screening. how many are being paroled into the country with flimsy instructions and told to appear at an i.c.e. office, imgraition and customs enforcement. how many are to appear before an immigration judge and how far away is that court date. i read recently in new york an immigration court date could be as far as ten years off. we don't have answers to these

questions because the biden administration has not been candid about exactly what's happening. they basically had hoped nobody is noticing what's going on. but we're noticing. and oh, by the way, people like the governor in massachusetts, the mayor of new york city, of chicago and washington, d.c., they are noticing because these migrants, once they pass the border region, they go somewhere. and what we're seeing is the impact on cities far and far -- very far away from the southern border. well, the biden administration keeps sweeping the problem under the rug and expecting us not to ask questions and conduct appropriate oversight. last week alone, agents released 100 to 200 migrants to date near knew gal liss, arizona --

nougalis, arizona. san diego is also seeing a spike in border crossings. last week customs and border protection closed one of two pedestrian crossings at the point of entry so they could help with the migration surge. the border control doesn't have the pace to qom date the flood of humanity comes across. videos show hundreds of migrants are being released into the streets and sidewalks of san diego, including migrants from as far away as pakistan and china. now, one of the things that amazes me when president biden appointed vice president kamala harris as the border czar, she claimed that all ever the flow of illegal immigration was as a result of local circumstances in mexico or south america.

and as if we couldn't fix our border problems without basically nation building in one of those states. but either she does not understand or is unwilling to acknowledge that this isn't global phenomenon. and who would blame some of these people who are coming across. you think well, for a few thousand bucks maybe i can make my way into the united states and stay there, well, maybe it's a good bet. but it's a disaster when our immigration system is basically handed over to transnational criminal organizations who care nothing about the people and who care nothing about the drugs that are coming across. all they care about is the money and they're getting richer by the day as a result of biden border policies. well, if there was any question

about whether the biden administration understands what is going on, recently a migrant asked an agent if he could travel to chicago. the agent replied you can do whatever you want. you're free. that's the biden administration's border enforcement policies. you can do anything you want. you're free. if there was any confusion about the biden administration's catch and release policies, well, that statement cleared it up. you can do anything you want. you're free. the action happened to be captured on video and it's made the rounds on social media and national news. and it's been viewed by people around the world. and you know when other people see that, you think they're discouraged or deterred from coming to the united states through this illegal route? no. they're encouraged. it's like a magnet which is why

we are seeing the huge numbers that we continue to see. again, it makes me think the biden administration simply does not understand the dynamics at the border or which is more like lip the case, they simply don't -- likely the case, they simply don't care. you have to imagine there are people out there who are debating whether or not to make this dangerous journey. if they had any doubts about whether or not their journey would be successful, well, this video statement pretty much cleared that up. the secret is out. you know, it's ironic when you hear secretary mayorkas of the department of homeland security or the president or vice president said don't come. don't come. when almost every other message that people around the world are receiving is come. you can make it. just pay the money, take the dangerous journey, take the risk, pay these criminal organizations the cash they

demand, and you can make it into the united states and, boy, have they come. people around the world see that america's borders are open, they see videos of migrants from all over the world being released into the united states and told our you a free -- and told you're free. the biden administration continues to create new incentives for migrants to make the dangerous journey to the border. prish has -- president biden has proven he's not only incapable of addressing the crisis, he's completely uninterested. he doesn't care. he apparently has no desire to enforce the law and secure the border. and the reason i conclude that is because if he did care, if he was willing to work with us to solve that problem, we're here ready to meet him halfway. but all we hear is crickets.

he'd rather appease the open border base in his political party than take the steps needed to protect the american people. border communities have endured the biden border crisis for more than two and a half years now. and they're bracing for yet another migration surge. given the administration's complete and utter failure to address the crisis, it's time for congress to step up. i'm i'm proud to cosponsor the secure the border act by senator cruz. this legislation would give the border patrol the tools they need in order to secure the border and safeguard the american people. it includes more agents to enforce the law and stop anyone or anything that doesn't legally enter the united states. it restricts the biden administration's ability to release thousands of migrants into the united states under the

weak guise of parole. this is not parole in a criminal law sense where somebody is released from jail. this is a mechanism under our immigration laws where people are simply released and told you have two years in the united states, and they'll come back and check with us later on about staying longer. and there is no such thing as a temporary program. all of this becomes permanent. but this legislation tightens asylum standards that prevents migrants with frivolous asylum claims from gaming the system. this legislation implements a range of reforms to address the humanitarian and security crisis at the border. it passed the house in may and has cosponsored by more than half the republican conference in the senate. my hope is that this would serve as a starting point for the senate to begin discussing ways to secure the border and protect

the memorial. it would also be nice -- and i've had this conversation with the chairman of the senate judiciary committee on which i serve, the senator from illinois, who so far has declined to consider or mark up any immigration bills, border security bills. in the the senate, that is the committee of jurisdiction on which i sit, and i happen to be the ranking member of the immigration and border security subcommittee. well, it's clear that president biden's approach to the border is not sustainable. his administration has rolled out one incentive after another to encourage, not discourage, not deter, but to encourage people from around the tworld come to our borders and enter our country. that's the reason we're experiencing a humanitarian and security crisis. the record migration levels of the last years have tested law

enforcement, tested our cities and nonprofits in ways that i've never seen before. record number of migrants, soaring demands for resources, dwindling budgets, overworked percent ?el, and we haven't -- personnel and we haven't talked about the impact of this uncontrolled migration on our local hospitals and our education systems and the like. all of them have been operating under incredible strain for more than two years. so it's past time to adopt policies that impose consequences. that's what the border patrol said we need, is we need consequences to illegal immigration. look, i think that legal immigration, orderly, humane legal immigration has been one of the greatest, greatest things that america has ever embraced. it's made us the country we are today, the most prosperous in the world, the most diverse. but surrendering our legal

immigration system to drug cargts -- cartels and human smuggling organizations is a recipe for disaster, what we're seeing right now. well, any time the biden administration would like to engage on this topic, i'm ready, willing, and able to do that. so far, even when we have bipartisan legislation like the bipartisan border solutions act that senator sinema and i, congressman cuellar and congressman tony gonzalez introduced a couple of years ago, there's been zero interest by the biden administration and no markups in the judiciary committee simply to consider that and come up with son -- some consensus on how to deal with this disaster. mr. president, i yield the floor.

countries can chart their own course. they see more secure more prosperous for all people because we know our future is bound to yours. let me repeat that again. we know that our future is bound to yours. no nation can meet the challenges of today alone. generations preceded us organizes the united nations and built international financial institutions of multilateral and reasonable bodies to help take on the challenge of their time. it is not always perfect, it was not all perfect. improving the lives of all people. we have avoided the global conflict while lifting more than

1 billion people out of extreme poverty. we have extended for millions. we have saved tens of millions of lives for preventable and treatable diseases like measles, malaria, tuberculosis. hiv-aids infections and death plummeted. no small part because of kepler 's work in more than 55 countries saving more than 25 million lives. it is a profound testament of what we can achieve only a together. we take on tough challenges and an admonition for all of usaccet no one is left behind because too many are being left behind. at the end of the second world war are the bedrock of our progress.

the united states is committed to sustaining them. this year we are proud to rejoin unesco. we also recognize that to meet the new challenges of our decades-old institutions and approaches they must be updated to keep peace with the world. bringing in more leadership in capability. especially for reasons that have not always been fully included. challenges that are more connected and more complex unit we have to make sure we are delivering for people everywhere not just somewhere, everywhere. the 21st century, 21st century result are badly needed when needed to move us along. that starts with the united nations. starts right here in this room.

i announced to the united states supporting expanding the security council, increasing the number of permanent and nonpermanent members. the united states has undertaken serious consultation with many member states. continuing to do our part to push reform efforts forward. points of common ground and making progress in the year ahead. we need to be able to make the gridlock that too often the progress and blocks consensus sit on the council. we need more voices. more perspectives at the table. the united nations preventing conflict and alleviate human suffering. we embrace nation stepping up the lead new ways and to seek new breakthroughs. for example, on haiti, the community has facilitated the

dialogue along the haitian society. i think him for his willingness to serve as the lead nation of the support mission. i call on the security council to authorize this now the people of haiti cannot wait much longer the united states is working across the board to make global institutions more responsive, more effective and more inclusive. for example, we have taken significant steps to scale up the world bank. expanding its financing for lower and middle income companies. for meeting the sustainable developmental goals and better addressing challenges like climate change and fragility. a new president of the world bank changes all of your room,

last month i asked united states congress for additional funds to expand world bank financing. by $25 billion. mobilizing even more funding. collectively, we can deliver a boost towards world bank lending because the development banks are among the best tools that we have for mobilizing transparent for the country reforming these institutions can be a game changer. similarly, we propose making sure developing countries have such a strong voice and representation at the international monetary fund. we will continue efforts to reform the wto. preserve competition, openness, transparency while at the same time equipping it to a better type of modern-day imperatives like driving a clean energy

transition, protecting workers, promoting sustainable growth. this month we strengthen the g20 as a vital forum welcoming the african union as a primary member. it is only half of the picture. we must also forge new partnerships. confront new challenges. emerging new technology. they hold an enormous potential and an enormous peril. we need to be sure they used tools of opportunity not as weapons of oppression. together, theaters around the world, the united states is working to strengthen united states and policies so that they are safe before they are released with the public to make sure we govern this technology. not the other way around.

continuing to work with this institution and other international bodies and directly with leaders around the world including our competitors to assure we harness artificial intelligence for good of protecting for the most profound risk. it will take all of us. we've been working on this to get all of this right. watching a regionalized approach to this challenge. to better uphold laws and protect the rights of migrant. ending in the indo pacific our

quad partnership with india, japan and australia. concrete progress to the people of the region on everything from vaccines to maritime security. just yesterday, after two consultations dozens of nations across four continents. establishing a new partnership. so that they can better cooperate on science, technology , environmental protection and sustainable economic development. we have brought together nearly 100 countries and a global coalition for synthetic drugs. to reduce the human cost of this affliction and it is real. as a nature of the terrorists threats of all and the geography expands to new places. working with new partners to

bring it to bear. great networks and to protect all of our people. additionally, we convene the summit for democracy. to strengthen democratic institutions. rule out corruption and object political violence. democratically elected have toppled western self-control africa were reminded that this work was as urgent and as important as ever. we stand with the african union. another regional body to support constitutional rule. we will not retreat from the values that make a strong. we will defend democracy. our best tool to meet the challenges we face around the world. we are working to see how democracy can deliver. the partnership of global infrastructure investment

addresses the enormous need an opportunity for infrastructure investment and lower middle income countries. particularly in africa and southeast asia. for a strategic targeted public investment. enormous amounts of private sector financing it the g7 has pledged to work with parties to collectively mobilize $600 billion in infrastructure financing by 2027. the united states has already mobilize 130 billion to date. we are creating a risk to the top. the environment and intellectual property while avoiding the trap of unsustainable debt. we are focusing on economic corridors. maximizing the impact of our collective investment and deliver consequential results across the pool countries and multiple sectors. for example, extending across africa from the western court to

the drc to zambia boosting regional connectivity and strengthening commerce and food security in africa. similarly, groundbreaking effort announcing at the g20 connecting india to connect india to europe through uae, saudi arabia jordan and israel. sparring opportunity across continents. this is part of our effort to build a more sustainable integrated middle east. demonstrating how israel theory normalization and economic connection with its neighbors. delivering positive and practical impacts even as we continue to work religiously to support a just and lasting peace between the israeli and's and palestinians to states for two people. now, let me be clear. none of these partnerships are about containing any country. they are about a positive vision for our shared future. when it comes to china, i want

to be clear and consistent. we seek to responsibly manage the competition between our countries. so it does not tip in the conflict. i have said we are for the risking, not decoupling with china. we will push back and defend the rules of the road from freedom to overflight to the playing fields. it helps safeguard security for decades. but we also stand ready to work together with china on issues where progress hinges on our common efforts. nowhere is that were critical to an accelerating the climate crisis. we see it everywhere. record-breaking heat waves in the united states and china. wildfires ravaging north america in southern europe. the fifth year of drought in

africa. tragic, tragic flooding in libya killing thousands and thousands of people. to gather, these snapshots tell an urgent story. we failed to reduce our dependence on fossil fuel and began to climate proof the world for one day, for one day my administration, the united states has treated this crisis as an existential threat from the moment we took office. not only for us, but for all of humanity. last year i signed into law in the united states the largest investment everywhere. hoping to move the global economy. working with the congress to quadruple our climate financing.

to help developing countries reach their financing goals and adapt to climate impact. this year the world is on track to meet the climate finance made under the agreement. $100 billion raise collectively. the pump -- republican private sector contributing so little to the global nation and facing some of the worst effects of climate change like the pacific islands. the united states is working directly with the form. even as we lead the efforts from all sides. creating a market demand for

products like concrete shipping, aviation and trucking. the agriculture innovation mission for climate which is bringing farmers into the climate solution and making our food supply more resilient to climate shock. beyond the targets to reduce gases in our atmosphere. we have seen admissions. these goals were adopted at the united nations for improving lives around the world. the hard truth is for decades of progress for all those lost crowns his last few years in the wake of covid-19 conflicts

another crisis the united states is committing to doing it's hard $100 billion to drive development progress for food security, expanding access to education worldwide the healthcare systems and fighting disease. we help mobilize billions more in the private sector investment to accelerate our forward progress on a sustainable development goal we all have to do more. we need to build new partnerships. change the way we tackle this challenge. unlock trillions of additional financing from development. we need to fill the gaps and address the failures of our existing systems exposed by the pandemic. we need to ensure they benefit fully from our progress.

must also do more to grapple with a. holding back so many low and middle income families countries the sustainable debt payments over the needs of their own people it makes it harder for them to invest in their own futures. as we work together to recover from global the loss will continue to be the largest single community donor of humanitarian assistance at this moment of unparallel need in the world. folks, cooperation partnership, these are the keys to progress on the challenges that affect us all. the baseline for responsible global leadership. we don't need to agree on everything to keep moving forward on issues like this. a cornerstone of international security. after more than 50 years of progress under the

nonproliferation treaty, russia standing in agreements including announcing the suspension and will join from the enforcement in europe treaty. making the entire world less days. the united states will continue to pursue good faith efforts to reduce the threat of weapons of mass destruction and lead by example no matter what else is happening in the world. this year we safely destroyed at least the last of the u.s. stockpile. filling our commitment towards chemical weapons and we condemned the dpr case continued in violation of the security council resolutions but we are committed to diplomacy bringing about the denuclearization of the peninsula. we are working with our partners to address stabilizing activities and we remain steadfast in our commitment that

iran must never acquire the nuclear weapon. new partnerships. let me be clear, certain principles want to thank my colleagues and i want to thank the administration for the response to the devastating floods that we experienced in vermont this august. today i have -- i'm here to make a report and also to make a plea that we replenish the disaster relief fund in the fema budget so that the work that needs to be done in vermont to help our farms, our families, our communities recover will continue to be done. today i had a telephone

conversation that was setup by senator sanders, our governor was on the floor and my colleague, congresswoman ballet was on the phone with the fema administrator. she has done a tremendous job and extremely responsive, we're all grateful for her work, it is absolutely essential for fema's capacity to continue to provide response that the budget be is upment. i -- supplement. i want to thank the folks who helped us, there's a long way from where we are with the precarious activities that are going on in the house.

first of all we're proud of the response. president coolidge who was our president in 1927 but it was a vermonter from plymouth, vermont, toured the flood damage when we had a catastrophic flood in 1927. and he nicknamed the state a brave little state, and that's who we are in vermont and his appalachian of that term was his ec mission of the spirit that our people in vermont have to pick themselves up, pull together, and to rebuild. nearly a century later, of course this august we experienced another devastating flood. what we experienced in july and august was nothing short of catastrophic. towns across the state were devastated with homes and businesses and farms completely destroyed. you can see here, this is our capital, mount mount peelier.

it's dry now but these businesses along main street have not reopened. some have, many haven't. and to some extent their decision is will the fema aid be there so they have a chance to open those doors and make up for the lost income and hopefully revive that downtown. damage estimates are still coming in but currently it's totaling in the hundreds of millions of dollars for our very, very small state. the impact on vermont's farmland is stunning. this is paul mazza's farm. and he was -- that farm, vegetables, row crops, that was under enormous amounts of water with the -- whether the water receded, the crops, the berries, the pick your own crops that are not only important to families

and nutrition but was a revered activity by families in vermont to come to paul's farm and pick their berries with their kids. he's not going to be able to harvest any berries this year. by the way, in terms of the damage that was done, the usda's natural resource conservation service estimates anywhere between 145,000 of agriculture land in the state was impacted by flooding. the conit riverside farm which i visited along with the governor and senator sanders have their hay -- half their hay and corn was impacted by the flooding. silk covered corn used to feed their cows, there's real question about how they're going to make it through the winter because what they do is store that and feed that to their animals over the winter.

the foot brook farm which is owned by joey and tony lahoolier in johnson, vermont, are one of the main sources of food for that small community in johnson, the grocery store in that town was totally flooded out but will be reopening. their farm was flooded, too, and they had over $100,000 in losses and what was really bad this time, they also lost a lot of their equipment. so i do thank the administration, president biden, fema. i acknowledge the tremendous work that governor scott and his team have been doing staying on top of this and it's been a tremendous effort on the part of senator sanders who's been the leader of our delegation of three here in the united states congress. but we've got to get that fema supplemental passed.

while that $16 billion of fema's disaster relief fund is critical, the vermont delegation, as i mentioned, are pushing for more because with what has happened regrettably to our colleagues in hawaii, the hurricane in florida, has added to the challenge and the need. we need to increase fema's cap for hazard mitigation. we need to make small business loans forgivable. you know, if you're a small business and you just implemented a plan to expand and you borrowed money from the bank in order to do it, you can't afford to take out more loans. so it's really essential that we make it possible for folks to get grants, these businesses that are so critical to our communities rather than saddle our money businesses with more debt. we also need to expand the

usda's emergency grant relief program for our farers. -- for our farmers. mr. president, even if the world has moved on for other parts of the country, vermont still needs help. one of the heartbreaking situations that you see, you know, we visit when there's a farm, there's a family whose home has been destroyed, the business that can't open. and do all we can to make certain the relief gets there. but if it's your home that you can't get back into, if it's your business that you're not certain at all you can reopen, if it's your farm where the crops have been destroyed, there is a lot of suffering that continues and it takes an immense amount of courage. and what we have to do is make certain that folks who are willing to rebuild and come up from the flood waters to do their work, that we make certain

that we do our work here, and that means getting the fema supplemental passed and enacted into law with the signature of president biden. our farmers like the seventh generation conit family farm, they need the support of congress to get through the flooding of flooding. our businesses on main street who hope to reopen need the support of congress and fema resources. and of course our homeowners, including folks who have mobile homes that were washed away. they absolutely need the assistance in order to get back into a safe and secure home. so, mr. president, my request to my colleagues is to do what all of us have done for each other when the people we represent have been on the receiving end of a catastrophic national -- natural disaster. and that's to make certain that we come to the aid of our fellow

citizens and the way we can do that is by the passage of the fema supplemental request. mr. president, i yield back. the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. welch: i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the

address by his excellency zelensky president of ukraine.

a request is excellency. the half of the general assembly i have the honor to welcome his excellency volodymyr zelensky. [applause] >> thank you very much. the welcome all and i promise being united we can guarantee fairness for all nations. once more unity can't relent wars. ladies and gentlemen mr. secretary-general, mr. president and federal leaders, we have seen so many wars. in many cases the final war, the

war that no one would gather in the general assembly hall again. the third world for was seen as a nuclear war on the highway to nukes. other wars, seemed less scary compared to the effect of the so-called grades powered firing their nuclear stockpiles. so the 20 century thought to restrain from the use of the weapons of mass destruction, not to deploy, not to proliferate, not to settle with and not to test but to promote the complete nuclear disarmament. this is a good strategy.

it should not be the only strategy to protect the world from the final war. ukraine gave them the largest nuclear arsenal in the world decided russia should become a keeper of such power. yet history shows it was you nuclear disarmament, the most back in the 1990s. in russia deserves it now. have no right to hold nuclear weapons. no right. truly while nukes remain in place immense destruction is gaining its momentum. the aggressor is westernizing many other things in those things are used to not only against our country.

against all of yours as well. federal leaders, there are many conventions that restrict weapons that there are no real restrictions on weaponization. first, let me give you an example. since the start of a full-scale war view craning worse in the and the salt seas have been blocked by russia. until now our force remained to the target of missiles and drones. it is clear russia's attempt to weaponize the shortage on the global market in exchange for recognition for some if not all of the captured territories. russia is launching -- as

weapons. the impact stands -- spans from the atlantic coast of africa to southeast asia and this is the threat of scale. i would like to thank those leaders who have supported our black sea program from ukraine. thank you so much. [applause] united we turned -- more than 45 nations are how important it is to make ukraine food products available on the market from bulgaria to spain to indonesia and china and even when russia has undermined the black sea green initiative we are working to ensure the stability and i hope that many of you will join us in these efforts.

we launched a temporary corridor from our border and they are working hard to preserve the land routes for grain export and it is alarming to see in europe some of our friends in europe play political theater making it from the grain and they play their own role but in fact they are helping set the stage. second, weaponization of energy. many times the world has witnessed russia using energy as a weapon. the kremlin weaponized oil and gas to weaken the leaders of other countries when it came to that and now the threat is even greater regression is weaponized

thing nuclear energy. not only is it spreading its nuclear power plant destruction technologies but it is also turning other countries into real bombs. look where russia did to our power plant. they shelled it, occupied it and now -- is there any sense to reduce nuclear weapons by russia that is rep weaponized in nuclear power plants to regression to the global security offers no response or protection against such a treacherous threat and there is no accountability so far.

children, children unfortunately groups have attacked children to put pressure on their families and societies but never would deportation be part of the government policy, not until now. we now tens of thousands of children and we have evidence on hundreds of thousands of others kidnapped by russia in the occupied territories of ukraine and later deported. the international criminal courts issued arrest warrants for putin for this crime. and we are trying to get children back home. time, time goes by. what will happen with them? what will happen to them? those children in russia are

taught to hate ukraine and all ties with their families are broken. this is clearly a genocide. when hatred is weaponized against one nation, it never stops. each decade russia starts a war. parts of georgia remain occupied and are in ruins and in russia the chemical weapons would have never been used here in syria. russia has almost swallowed belarus. it is obviously threatening kazakhstan and other baltic states. and the goal of their present war against ukraine is due to take our land our lives against you the international

rules-based order. many in their general assembly hall they become empty of russia -- if russia succeeds with its treachery and aggression. ladies and gentlemen, it brings ruins even without nukes but their outcome is alike. we see towns with villages in ukraine wiped out by russian artillery, leveled to the ground completely with the work drones. we know the possible impacts of spreading the war into the cyberspace. artificial intelligence could be trained before with help humanity. thank god people have not yet use climate is a weapon.

even though humanity is failing on the climate policy comes this means extreme weather will still impact the normal global -- in some states will weaponized its outcomes. people in the streets of new york and other cities of the world out on climate protests and when people in morocco and libya and other countries try as a result of natural disasters and when countries disappear underwater and deserts are spreading into new territories and all of this is happening, unnatural disaster decided to launch a big war and kill tens of thousands of people. we have to stop it.

we must act united to stop the aggressor and focus all of our capabilities and energy on addressing these challenges. as nukes are restrained, likewise the aggressor must be restrained in order to end the war. each war can become final. our unity to make sure aggression will not reckon again and it is not a time to attempt the so-called great power software behind closed doors that can guarantee us only a new worse era in open war of all nations of peace. last year i presented the ukrainian peace formula at the u.n. general assembly.

in indonesia i presented the full formula and over the past year this formula became the basis on existing security. now we can bring back to life the u.n. charter and guarantee the full power of the rules-based order. and tomorrow i will present it at a special meeting of the u.n. security council. the main thing is that it is not only about ukraine. more than 140 states and international regimes have supported the ukrainian peace formula in full or in part. solutions and steps will solve all forms of weaponization that russia used against ukraine and other countries and other aggressors. for the first time in modern

history we have a real chance to end the aggression on the turf of the nation which was attacked. this is a real chance for every nation to ensure that aggression against your state, if it happens, forbid, not because your land will be divided as you will be forced to submit to military war and political pressure. because your territory and sovereignty will be fully -- we launched meetings with the national security alliance and representatives. important talks and consultations to how when hiroshima copenhagen on the implementation of the peace formula. we are preparing global -- i ask all of you who do not tolerate any aggression to jointly

prepare. i'm aware of the attempts to make some dealings behind the scenes. cannot be trusted. ask prigozhin. please, let unity decide everything openly. why rush is pushing the world to a final war, ukraine is doing everything to ensure that after russian aggression no one in the world will be able to detect any nation. weaponization must be restrained or more crimes must be punished. deported people must come back whole and occupy their own land. we must be united to make it and we will do it.

[applause] [applause] >> on the health of the assembly in which the present of ukraine request to the call to escort his excellency.

the senate vaccine mandate for covid continues despite the fact the senate voted 83-11 to repeal the military covid vaccine mandate. why in the world would we continue a mandate on pages that we review for our soldiers? is there any science to support continuing this mandate? the answer is an emphatic no. the science has been clear since the early spring of 2020. healthy children are not seriously affected by covid. in fact several large studies show healthy children are rarely hospitalized in covid and healthy children is virtually nonexistent. dr. marty makary of johns hopkins described a large nationwide study in israel that

found the risk of covid death in people under 30 with vaccines was essentially zero. a nationwide study from germany showed zero covid death among children over five who had no comorbidities. even the head of the wh zero concluded there is no evidence right now that suggests healthy children and adolescents need boosters and yet here we are. the democrats desperately clinging to covid vaccine mandates for young people who have essentially zero risk of dying from covid. common sense should prevail and the senate should repeal this mandate just as we did for our young soldiers. we shouldn't allow politics to infect and crowd commonsense judgment. the vaccine committees that make recommendations for vaccines actually don't recommend covid boosters for young healthy individuals.

the fda's vaccines and related biological products advisory committee voted to limit covid vaccines to adults over 65.

this mandate risks their health.

it is the height of malpractice to subject young healthy kids to covid vaccines. in fact nowhere in examination and discussion is there any of of covid so what is the vaxxing? is to stimulate having had the infection. what is your chance of getting it again. what is your chance of going to the hospital of dying from covid they won't tell us for adolescents because the answer is zero. originally the logic of advocates from covid vaccine mandates argue the vaccines were not necessarily children to protect their children's and grandparents. such is the cdc director rochelle wilensky admits that

covid vaccines do not anymore prevent transmission. the people promoting these band-aids admits they don't stop transition. they may well still reduce illness if you're in -- but for young healthy kids there's no effect other than to increase their risk of a heart inflammation. a danish study confirms by december 2021 covid vaccines effectiveness was less than 10%. the biotech mutated in the vaccine had not been changed. a study from january 2022 of over 1.2 million children in new york shows the vaccine effectiveness was 10%. it wasn't stopping them from getting the disease and it wasn't protecting their health. no serious scientist argues that the covid vaccine stops transmission, no one. and yet here we are.

the democrats are saying we aren't smart enough to make our decisions and we will make these medical choices for you. when we look at the effectiveness of the covid booster and we ask what is the science towards whether or not the poster is effective isn't this booster now formulated against the newer variant? yes. the booster is directed to newer variants but every three months or so the virus changes the month at the latest vaccine is no longer effective. the cdc is largely given up tesw vaccines for effectiveness. instead of pushing for all children to get covid booster vaccines the cdc doesn't argue that the booster stops transmission. it doesn't argue that a prevent hospitalization or death. so what argument is does the cdc have for continuous promotion of

boosters on our children? the cdc readily admits that vaccines don't stop transition in any group. esta hospitalizations and deaths of the cdc can't show any evidence that the booster less and hospitalization or death among young people. why? because the great is virtually zero. it's hard to prove the roosters help with anything when no healthy kids are dying from covid. the cdc can't prove that the booster helps because it's impossible to approve above the low incidence of severe disease of young people. in fact when the cdc approved the covid booster for children they didn't even argue that it was affected or prevented anything. what they argued is the kids will make antibodies if you give them a vaccine. which means absolutely nothing. i challenged them on this. on the lack of effectiveness. an antibody response simply means the vaccine generate an immune response that tells you

nothing about disease prevention and tells you nothing about preventing hospitalization, tells you nothing about infectious this and nothing about death rates. in fact you could give every kid in the country 100 different covid boosters and they will make antibodies each time. that doesn't mean they need 100 boosters. what they have done is they have given up on trying to prove the booster had any affect on their health and they just want you to shut your eyes, be quiet and do as you're told. this is the democrat policy. this is the democrat medical policy for you. shut up and do as you're told to take the injection. we don't care for kids might get sick and we don't care if you have a choice and we don't care few have any senior kids medical care. in a free society know what should be forced to undergo a medical procedure against their will. in a free society no one should be forced to receive an injection into their body that they do not wish to have.

the democratic party support for medical choice seems selective and inconsistent. whatever happened to my body, my choice of? vaccine mandates for children were virtually no rest for covid death face vaccine has in same and the public. the public is well aware that healthy children did not die from covid and they rarely have persistent covid vaccines of their children but the vast overreach of vaccine mandates actually creates among the public a tendency to doubt and disbelief the government's overall vaccine message because of the dishonest, over-the-top mandates on children. the public wonders if the government messengers are downplaying other risks. it is however true the vast majority of people at risk for covid have indeed already been vaccinated. over 97% of people over 65, watch the news, learned from

their friends watch their neighbors found out who is dying and they took the vaccine voluntarily. vaccine advocates want the public to listen to public health announcement and they need to end the nonsensical vaccine mandates on our kids. a good start would be ending the ill-advised covid booster mandate for our senate pages. so mr. president i ask unanimous consent the committee on rules and administration be discharged from further consideration in the senate now proceed to resolution 336. further the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to and the motion to reconsider the considered maiden laid upon the table. is there objection? >> mr. president. and that the senator from connecticut. >> mr. president reserving the right to object, i heard a very similar speech last week when senator paul came to the fore to offer this exact same resolution

and i came to the fore to offer the exact same objection, and i guess we are going to be here next week and the week after having this same back-and-forth on the senate floor. i don't know if this is the most important problem facing the country today. the question of whether small number of senate pages have a vaccine or not. i think senator paul's obsession with page vaccine policy is a little and not squared with the actual priorities of the american public. i will concede to come down here and object because it's important to know that there is no legal mandate that pages be vaccinated. it's a policy, not a mandate. senator paul is proposing a

mandate. a mandate through this resolution that under no circumstances can pages be required to have a vaccination as a condition of their employment here. i find senator paul's recitation of his body of evidence interesting. i don't dispute the fact that the vaccine today is much more efficacious on preventing serious illness and is not like prior vaccines, effective at preventing e presiding officer: e senator from rhode island.cer: e the senate is in a quorum call. mr. whitehouse: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the pending quorum be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection, the senator from rhode island is recognized. mr. whitehouse: i also have four requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate, with the approval of the majority and minority leaders. the presiding officer: without objection. so offered. -- so ordered.

duly noted. mr. whitehouse: all right. to business. i'll call this my let's say speech. lawyers know what a hypothetical is. we'll talk about some hypotheticals related to the scheme to capture the court. let's say, mr. president, that you're a creepy billionaire, and it is your plan to capture and control the supreme court. to take it over, just like 19th century robber barons would have taken over and captured the railroad commission that set the rates for their own railroad. let's say you sent millions of dollars, secret dollars, to the federalist society for it to

funnel money to its employee and your operative, leonard leo. let's say that leonard leo got his cred with you and yore right-wing palls when he helped you kill the nomination of the hair yet myers. a political hit job from the far right against a republican president's nominee, which proud of none other than sam alito. let's say you also sent millions of dollars to leonard leo's judicial crisis network, a fictitious name front group for another front group praying out of the same hallway on the same

floor in the same building as the federalist society. let's say you sent judicial crisis network secret millions of dollars. checks as big as $15 million, checks as big as $17 million to run ads against merck garland to help mitch mcconnell block his confirmation by the senate. lets say you also send millions of dollars, secret dollars, identity laundered through front groups like 501-c-4's and donors

trust which exist to scrub off your identity from your money. and through the 501(c)(4)'s and through donor's trust through republican political groups like super pacs controlled by mism mcconnell -- mitch mcconnell. and let's say with those secret millions fund into those secret pacts, you acquired loyalty and obedience from republican political figures. let's say that that worked. let's say that for your millions of dollars to the federalist society the federalist society allowed you to use its name on a list of supreme court nominees

that you and your right-wing billionaire pals and leonard lieuo cooked up -- leonard -- leonard leo cooked up, there was never an agenda item, never a vote, but a list from some back room of the federalist society pulled together by leo and the billionaires that candidate trump promised to follow. and let's say that for that trump promise to let you supreme court justices, you agreed to hold your nose and not object to trump's candidacy. let's say that trump kept that promise and nominated your

chosen ones to the supreme court. and let's say that when trump kept that promise and nominated your chosen ones, you sent millions more to the judicial crisis network and to mism mcconnell's political -- and to mitch mcconnell's political operation, not just to stop merrick garland but to push the confirmation of your chosen ones, kneel gorsuch, brett kavanaugh and amy coney barrett. let's say that you funded dozens of front groups to bring cases and to file briefs at the supreme court at your orchestrated direction, 10, 11, 12, and in one case 50 at a time

like piano keys on a piano. and you sent that message through that front group in those briefs to remind your chosen ones what it is exactly that you wanted them to do in those cases. and let's say that the chosen ones proud of an amazing statistically stunning record of doing in the opinions they produced just what your front groups asked. let's say you and your fellow billionaires played your front groups like piano keys and your chosen justices harmonized perfectly with their direction. and let's say that to keep your chosen ones loyal and happy and

entertained you secretly paid for their personal lives. you paid for family tuitions, you bought family houses, and let family members live rent free. you paid for lifestyles of the rich and famous level vacations, including free travel to resorts on private jets, traveled on private yachts and you gave them expensive gifts and you directed money to their spouses and, of course, you hung out with them. and let's say that that last part, keeping them loyal and

happy and entertained with all of those gifts, was illegal -- illegal. let's say that your loyalty gift program required the chosen ones to file false federal disclosure forms, and perhaps even false tax returns. let's say that your loyalty gift program might put you in trouble with the tax man for claiming false business expenses. how could that be? let's say that the chosen ones were calling this bonanza of free byes -- freebees personal hospitality, a term of art

allowing nondisclosure under the disclosure laws. let's say they were all calling it personal hospitality, but you were calling the bonanza deductible business expenses of corporate yachts and jets, then it wouldn't all add up. that's a lot of let's say, i know, but that's about what we're looking at with the supreme court right now. we know it's not one right-wing billionaire, but a bunch of them. we don't know all the free free, maybe we know 10% of the freebees. we know there has been no meaningful investigation of this

so there's lots to learn. and that's our job in congress to investigate malfeasance in government and expose abuse so the citizens can see what's been going on and laws can being changed to better protect against that kind of abuse. so let's say congress starts doing its job and starts asking nosey questions. what's a creepy billionaire to do? that's easy. you lawyer up. you refuse to cooperate. you're a billionaire, remember, so you can pay lawyers a thousand dollars an hour until the cows come home and not even notice it -- a thousand hours

of,000 dollar -- thousand lawyering wouldn't cost you a thousandth of your wealth. you live above the law sheltered by your billions. you actually direct the law through your chosen ones on the supreme court. the inpert nens -- the impert -- of being investigated is insufferable. here is what we have. these are two letters, one was sent by the billionaire harl han crowe and the other was sent by leonard leo. when i say painting mate, i mean this painting that harlan crow,

the billionaire has with one of his chosen ones and leonard leo, the operative. couldn't be more cozy. so you send these letters. leo, by the way, has himself joined your billionaire boys club, he did so one when his billionaires larry syde, set up a $1 billion slush fund held by a 501(c)(4) front group connected for that transaction. this is hard to imagine that it could be made in good faith. as you can imagine when letters come from lawyers, from

billionaires in the billionaire court-packing boys club, the letters are pretty alike. the first one for crow says congress does not have the constitutional power to impose ethics rules and standards on the supreme court. the second one for mr. leo says this exceeds the limits by the constitution with the investigatory authority. and then there's another one for the billionaire that has one paragraph, that says what leonard leo's lawyer said, reweefer you to the relevant portions -- refer you to the relevant portions to the letter to mr. leo. i feel bad for these lawyers because you don't get to bill as much for one paragraph. poor fellows.

i ask unanimous consent to append the letter of lawyer bop for billionaire crow and the little of rivkin for billionaire operative leo at the end of my remark with the short one-paragraph letter, the tag-along letter from attorney clarke. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. whitehouse: lawyers bop and rifkin tell me that investigating this is unconstitutional under the separation of powers, we can't legislate supreme court ethics, so we can't investigate supreme court ethics. first, remember alongside separation of powers is its

twins, checks and balances which requires branches, like the legislative branch to check and balance the other branches, like in this case the judicial branch. that's what we're doing here, checks and balances. let's dive down into the specifics a little bit more. they're primarily three topics. one, did the billionaire or the operative take improper advantage of the tax code in their dealings with the justices? that's what we're looking into. the finance committee has its own investigation, along with the judiciary committee, to focus on the tax side of this. well, i've got to say it's hard to see how abuse of the tax code by a private citizen in his tax

filings could raise any separation of powers concern. that's between the tax filer, the government, and the law. the justices are simply not a party to that. even were we looking at the justices' own tax filings, were it to come to that, they'd be investigated in their roll not as justices but as taxpayers. being a justice doesn't allow you to violate the tax laws or immunize you from tax investigation, or permit you to make actionable false statements in your tax returns. any more than being justice would allow you to commit any other offense. so there's tax abuse, issue one. no visible separation of powers

angle to it. issue two, did the justices receiving gifts and emollments from the billionaire properly report them or did the judicial gifts reporting system fail here? the billionaires' lawyers say that's not our business. well, that is congress' business for two pretty obvious reasons. first, the reporting requirements are a law passed by congress whose implementation we can absolutely oversee like any other law passed by congress. and this law includes justices. second, the implementing body of that law is the judicial

conference, a body created by congress whose activities we can absolutely oversee. we created it. the notion that congress cannot investigate to see if an agency it created is properly implementing laws congress passed is loot crouse on its -- ludicrous on its face. peripherally, it's worth noting that the supreme court has never objected on constitutional grounds to that body or to those laws. the chief justice actually chairs the judicial conference without objection to its congressional nature. when questions about justice thomas' first round of free yacht and jet travel from harlan crow were raised a decade ago,

those concerns went under the law to the financial disclosure committee of the judicial conference for review. without objection through the power of review by justice thomas. and when thomas' recent round of billionaire-funded free yacht and jet travel, crow-thomas 2.0 you might call it -- raised questions anew, again those questions went to the financial disclosure committee of the judicial conference for review. were those questions penned now, again without objection, nobody said the judicial conference is unconstitutional. the reporting laws are unconstitutional, you can't look at this. congress could never pass those laws. congress could not create the judicial conference. nobody said that. additionally, when justice

scalia's trick came to light of obtaining dozens of free hunting vacations and not disclosing them because it was supposedly a personal invitation which supposedly made it personal hospitality that didn't have to be disclosed, the question of that tricks propriety went to the financial disclosure committee of the judicial conference for review. the conference shut that trick down firmly. and justice thomas conceded he would abide by the judicial conference's determination, again with no assertion that there was anything unconstitutional about it. so the separation of powers argument in addition to making no sense, founders on the decades-long acceptance in real life by supreme court justices

of our congressional roll through these laws and through the judicial conference. here's another argument they make. this is an interesting one. we've been too mean. we've been too mean looking into these facts. they tart that argument up in constitutional terminology, but that's it in a nutshell. i have used the analogy describing leonard leo's role in the billionaires court capture scheme of a spider in a web. they think that's too mean. the problem with that too mean argument is that it assumes the result. if in fact there is a secret

operation to capture and control the supreme court for the benefit of special interests and if in fact leo is its key operative, it's not actually all that mean to make annal ji to a spider -- an analogy to a spider and a web. it's actually pretty mild and quite descriptive. the accusation that we are doing this just to be mean and that it's unfair to ask questions presumes that there is nothing secret and sordid and wrong that would be revealed by our investigation. it's a little like saying the police can't investigate me because it would be unconstitutionally unfair because i'm so innocent. well, that's what the police investigation would reveal, just

as this congressional investigation unless successfully obstructed by the billionaires might very well al a dark episode of secret corruption of our highest court, perhaps even the most covert, most persistent effort at judicial corruption in our country's history. to be continued, mr. president. i'll be back with more of this story. and with that i yield the floor.

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

mr. president i remember when title 42 went away and covid public health order that the border patrol used to expel people from the border region in the interest of public health. there were many people who expected a surge of migration, recognizing what a moneymaking opportunity that human smuggling and drug smuggling is for the cartels that control much of the u.s. mexican border. and for while it look like just maybe that search would not happen.

despite the frustrations best efforts to downplay or distract from the situation at the southern border we now see the biden border crisis in full flower. preliminary data secured by the "washington post" shows that last month, last month a record number of migrant families illegally cross the southern border. in august the border patrol arrested more than 91,000 migrants, in august. people who entered the united states as part of the family unit, the highest number we have seen in a single month but it's not just the families. abraham should -- apprehension numbers have increased in all categories. we have gone from just under 100,000 detentions in june to 132,000 in july to more than

177,000 in august. i would point out much of the migration we have seen from texas into texas has been seasonal because it's been very hot for migrants to make the dangerous trip from their home to our border. but that hasn't happened this year. it got worse and worse the hotter the summer months. but when you include migrants processed through the ports of entry the "washington post" has estimated roughly 230,000 migrant encounters in august, 230,000. this would make it the busiest month for border crossings this calendar year. as i said since title 42 ended in may the biden administration tried to spike the ball and declare victory. temporary drops in border

crossings and said this is the proof that their situation was under their control. that's obviously not the case. we have just experienced the busiest month for family crossings on record it might be the busiest month for overall crossings this calendar year. as "the new york times" reported in august alone nearly 82,000 migrants pass through the darien gap, the sole land -- in south america describing is a quote by largest single month total on record." the border crisis isn't getting any better. if anything it's getting worse. communities in texas and those across the nation are beginning to feel the strain. el paso for example across the border from juarez in texas is

in the midst of a surge in border crossings seeing an average of 1200 encounters per day. the leader of rescue mission el paso which provides migrants with food, clothing and shelter said we lost track of what capacity means. we are beyond full. further down the texas mexico border is the eagle pass which experienced a mass crossing earlier this week. between midnight on sunday and monday morning more than 2200 migrants crossed illegally. that's 2200 in one night. the migration surge is happening at along the entire u.s.-mexico border by two areas in particular on or under tremendous strain. one is the tucson sector which covers most of the arizona mexico border. border crossings in the sector have been on the rise with agents apprehending as many as

2000 migrants a day. this includes migrants from all over the world and even those from senegal. it reminds me when i was in yuma arizona with four democratic senators and republican senators who were welcomed by the acting border patrol chief that said welcome to the yuma sector. last year we encountered 174 countries taking more than two -- speaking more than 200 languages. senator kelley the senator from arizona was there and noted mexicali is a city in northern mexico with an airport. so we explained what likely was happening is that human smugglers were facilitating the travel of migrants to mexicali or they could simply uber over the border patrol and claim

asylum and the biden administration made sure they were successfully deposited in the united states of america perhaps the way an asylum hearing may never occur. given the spike in border crossings the border patrol it's no surprise they are struggling for the agency doesn't have the facilities, the resources or the personnel to manage an influx this large and actually that's part of the plan. if you are the transnational criminal organization that profits from smuggling migrants and drugs across the border what a tremendous idea. when the border patrol is distracted or diverted elsewhere than here come the drugs. like we saw lester allowed 108,000 americans died of drug overdoses.

71,000 were from synthetic opioids like fentanyl. we know where it's coming from. the precursor comes from china and it goes to mexico manufactured there largely to look like traditional pharmaceuticals but they are contaminated with fentanyl. i was in houston this past week meeting with parents who lost their children to fentanyl poisoning. i typically don't wear things like this but i have for the last nine months. the father in carrollton farmers branch who asked me to wear this band around my wrist in memory of his daughter who lost her life to fentanyl poisoning. among other things one pill can kill. the children who die of fentanyl poisoning don't know they are taking fentanyl.

they think it's something more innocuous and that's part of the insidiousness of what the cartel is doing. they are using industrial sized pressers to make it look like things that certainly wouldn't kill you. maybe it's not optimal things like xanax or percocet for some pharmaceutical drug when in fact it's counterfeit a contaminated with fentanyl. 71,000 americans died last year alone along as result of synthetic opioid poisoning. so the border patrol can keep up with the flooding of the sauna in here come the drugs only to be distributed across the country in each of our communities by various criminal gangs. well because the border patrol can't keep up with the influx of people they simply are now releasing them. that's right, instead of returning them across the border

they are releasing them on to the u.s. streets every day and it's unclear really who these individuals are or how they are being released. how many of these migrants are asylum seekers who it completed incredible screening at how many are simply being paroled in this country with flimsy instructions to appear at an issa immigrations and customs office in the interior destination. how many are given a day trip before an immigration judge and how far away is that corday? i read recently in new york in immigration court date could be as far as 10 years off. we don't have answers to these questions because the biden administration has not been candid about exactly what's happening. they basically hope nobody is noticing what's going on. we are noticing and oh by the

way people like the governor of massachusetts, the mayor of new york city of chicago and washington d.c. they are noticing because these migrants when they passed the border region they go somewhere and what we are saying is the impact on cities very far away from the southern border. the biden administration keeps squeak -- sweeping the problem under the rug and expects us not to ask questions and conduct the probe read oversight. last week alone agents released 100 to 200 migrants a day near nogales arizona. san diego has also seen a spike in border crossings. last week custom and border protection closed one of two pedestrian crossings in the san ysidro port of entry so

personnel could help with the migration surge. again the border patrol doesn't have the personnel to accommodate the flood of humanity coming across. video shows hundreds of migrants are being released into the streets, sidewalks of san diego including migrants from as far away as pakistan and china. one of the things that amaze me when president biden appointed vice president kamala harris she claimed all of the flow of illegal immigration was as a result of circumstances in mexico or south america. as if we couldn't fix our border problems without basically nation-building in one of those states. either she does not understand or is unwilling to acknowledge

that this isn't a global phenomenon. and who can blame some of these people coming across. if you think well for few thousand bucks maybe i can make my way into the united states and stay there, well maybe it's a good bet. but it's a disaster when our immigration system is basically handed over to transnational criminal organizations caring nothing about the people. they care nothing about the drugs that are coming across. all they care about is the money and they are getting richer by the day as a result of the biden border policies. if there was any question about whether the biden administration understands what is going on, recently a migrant asked an agent if he could travel to chicago in the agent replied,

you can do whatever you want. you are free. that's the buy demonstration's border policy. you can do anything you want, you are free. if there was any confusion about the biden administration's catch and release policies that statement cleared it up. you can do anything you want. you are free. it happened to be captured on video and made it around social media and the national news and it's debuted by people around the world. you know when other people see that to you think they are discouraged or deterred from coming to the united states to this illegal routes? no, they are encouraged. which is why we are seeing these huge numbers as we continue to see and again it makes me think the biden administration simply does not understand the dynamics of the border or more likely the

case they simply don't care. you have demands and their people out there who are debating whether or not to make this dangerous journey. if they had any doubts of whether or not their journey would be successful, well this video statement pretty much clears that up. the secret is out. it's ironic when i hear secretary of mayorkas of the department of homeland security or the president or the vice president say don't come. don't come. almost every other message that people around the world are receiving is, come. you can make it. just pay the money, take the dangerous journey and take the risk, pay these criminal organizations the cash they demand and you can make it into united states and boy have they come. table around the world see that america's borders are open with

the videos of migrants from all over the world being released into united states that say you are free. the biden if continues to create new incentives for migrants to make the dangerous journey to the border. president biden has proven he's not only in capable of addressing this crisis he's completely uninterested. he doesn't care. he apparently has no desire to enforce the law and secure the border. the reason i conclude that is because if they did care if he was willing to work with us to solve that problem, we are here ready to meet him halfway. all we hear are crickets. he would rather appease the border, open border base in his political party didn't take the steps needed to protect the american people. border communities have endured

the biden border crisis for more than 2.5 years now and they are bracing for yet another migration surge. given these administrations complete and utter failure to address the crisis it's time for congress to step up. i'm proud to co-sponsor the secure the border act which was introduced by my friend my fellow texan senator cruz this legislation would give the border patrol the tools they need in order to secure the border and safeguard the american people. it includes more agents to enforce the law and stop anyone or anything that doesn't legally enter the united states. he restricts the buy demonstration's ability to reach thousands of migrants and united states under the guys of parole. this is not parole in a criminal sense where somebody is released from jail. this is a mechanism under our

immigration laws where people are simply released and told you have two years in the united states and they will come back and check with us later on about staying longer, and there is no such thing as a temporary program. all of it becomes permanent. but this legislation tightens the asylum standards that prevent migrants with asylum claims from gaming the system. this legislation implements a range of reforms to address the humanitarian and security crisis at the border. it passed the house at me and has been cosponsored by more than half of the republican conference in the senate. .. far has declined up any immigra.

they are border that is the committee of jurisdiction on which i sit. i happen to be the ranking member of the immigration border security subcommittee. while it is clear president biden's approach to the border is not sustainable, his administration has rolled out one incentive after another to encourage, not discourage, not to deter but to encourage people from around the world to come to our borders and enter our country. that is the reason we are experiencing humanitarian and security crisis. record migration levels of the last years have tested law enforcement, tested our cities and nonprofits in ways that i have never seen before. record number of migrants soaring demands for resources,

dwindling budgets, overworked personnel we have not even talked about the impact of this uncontrolled migration on our local hospitals and our education systems and the like. all of them have been operating under incredible strain for more than two years. so, it is past time to adopt policies or consequences that's with the border patrol said we need we need consequences for illegal immigration. look, i think legal immigration orderly, humane legal immigration has been one of the greatest things america has ever embraced it. if it made us the country we are today the most prosperous in the world, the most diverse. but surrendering our legal immigration system to drug cartels and human smuggling organizations is a recipe for disaster. what we are seeing right now.

any time the biden administration would like to engage on this topic i am standing ready, willing, able to do that. but so far even when we have bipartisan legislation like the bipartisan border solutions asked that senator sinema and i, congressman gonzalez introduced a couple years ago, there has been zero interest by the biden administration. note markups in the judiciary consider you to consider that and come up with some consensus on how to deal this disaster.

okay, good afternoon everyone. thank you for being here. i would give thanks enders murray, shaheen and murphy. members of the appropriation committees for being here with us. now, we are days away once again from a government shutdown. all at the hands of this endless maga madness. the only way to avoid a shutdown

is very simple. bipartisanship. we need a bipartisan bill in the house. we nipped bipartisan bill in the senate. and then we will be able to avoid a shutdown to keep the government funding. yet this week house republicans are trying everything but bipartisanship. even though everyone knows their proposed cr is a total nonstarter in the senate. and it has no, no democratic influence. set a pretend to aim for bipartisanship, as i said instead of aiming for bipartisanship this bill has zero democratic input. crushing 8% cut to virtually all non- defense spending. extreme republicans are dead set against raising costs and lowering safety for american families. american people nation of just how bad that extreme is.

it is reckless and it is cruel. it's a slap -- reckless cruel cr. this would decimate hollowing out the national institute of health. who wants to cut cancer research? some of house republicans two. this reckless cr it would lower public safety. cut back on drug and food inspection. weekend wildfire prevention eliminate law enforcement officers. weakening our battle against violent crime in this war against sentinel. who wants to do that? some people in the house the maga republicans in the house. the cruel cr it would cut got investments in k-12 education. /resources for suicide support services precut loans to small businesses and to rural

communities when so much need them. this is not rhetoric. here are the facts about how the cr cuts would have on real impact. k-12 100 10,000 children would lose access to headstart. social security social security benefit would wait two months longer. 4000 fewer fbi personnel. including agents to investigate crimes. 800 fewer custom border protection agents and officers. the tuition assistance hungry families and children. 60000 seniors would be robbed of meals on wheels. 2.1 infants and children would be waitlisted for wic. 300,000 households including 20000 veterans, 90000 seniors will lose housing choice vouchers. you hunter 50000 americans would be denied job training and employment services and the list goes on and on and on.

we will be sure to get these faxed to you as soon we can. find dev eight will have some of those as well. but we all need to be disciplined in repeating all of this. makes his case for standing against putin and the house republicans say you are on your own. do not want to get any help at all. nothing would make putin happier than to see us waver and our support for ukraine. providing aid is not just a matter of ukrainian security at the matter of american security. because a victorious putin as it emboldened putin. making the world less safe for democracy. ukrainian aid could've been a great opportunity for bipartisanship and the house as it is in the senates. the hard right prevented that from happening too. so what is the word that

describes was going on in the republican-controlled house? chaos. the republican house has chaos, here in the senate we have shown bipartisanship can work and can get things done. tomorrow we will get the chance to make sure that bipartisanship continues. yesterday, senator murray our great chairs and a great job of chair of the appropriations committee moved to suspend rule 16 while culture on that motion and plans to vote tomorrow on the bipartisan appropriation bills. the collies on the other side of asked for two things. that we do the appropriations bills they do not want to have an omnibus at the end and we do them in regular order. we are doing both. we are doing both. but one senator from wisconsin wants to block all of that. we plead with our republican colleagues to not let him succeed. and not let the hard right tail wag the dog of the republican

party in the senate and wag the whole senate as well. our appropriation committee leaders have asked to consider appropriation bills on the floor. it is with their cooperation these three bills were brought to the floor for consideration. we want to work with our republican colleagues and get this done. we hope that vote will vindicate that hope. tomorrow is about will be a chance to ensure we keep the bipartisanship going. i think my colleagues on the appropriation committee of whom are here today. particularly jarrett murray chay vice chair collins for their great work. and even more important i hope the house can find the wisdom to follow the bipartisan senate roots. >> thank you. as you all know i pit work with center collins from the start of this year to make sure we have an open bipartisan appropriation

process. just last week at 91 senators voted to proceed to our first funding package. every bill in that package he passed our committee unanimously this past summer. that is because we are writing to serious bipartisan bills they can actually be signed into law. we stuck to the deal that president and speaker shook hands on that congress passed. we kept out poison pills we asked for input from everyone of our colleagues. now we are working to move forward on that process and it is no secret that last week we were blocked from voting on amendments and having a real debate on the senate floor by one senator. but i want you to know we are determined to make sure a handful of senators do not overrule the vast majority of us who worked on this package and want to see it moved forward. we are still working hard and hope of securing an agreement. we have also filed for a procedural vote that we will

take tomorrow to get things rolling if necessary. so here is my message to every senator told me in center collins that they want to get back to regular order. they want to get back to bipartisanship. they want to avoid that massive end of the year omnibus, this is the chance to do that. they need to join us on the procedural vote so we can keep this process on track. because if we are not able to keep our bills moving on the floor then an omnibus is what we end up with. so it senators need to decide what they want. i personally do not want to let a few members cause chaos and stop other senators especially those who do not serve on the appropriations committee from weighing in on these bills on the senate floor. hope all of our colleagues agree. now, looking ahead i will say it again. there is no need for chaos or shutdown. i am afraid to say the proposal we have seen from the house republicans is not a serious

proposal to keep our government funded. if they pass it it's a bill with no money for ukraine. no money for disaster relief. none of the critical funding the president has made serious and reasonable case for. and it would cut drastically domestic funding even further because it let's not forget the deal the president speaker agreed to, forced us already to work with some very really tough cut numbers. especially across the federal programs here at home that so many of our counties count on. they are talking about acr that was severely undercut the work of social security administration. those of the people whose job it is to make seniors get the benefits they need. cr would get the faa at a time but i think all of us can agree we need to be hiring more air traffic controllers doing more to make sure our air traffic is timely and safe. and just in time for the fall

house republicans cr would decimate light heap which is literally going to leave families in the cold and drive t their energy costs. and all of that is something extreme be attached to the bill. i hope you all get the point. hope you understand what it unserious proposal the house republicans are making and i hope it is clear what a gut punch it would be to working families everywhere in this country. now, in contrast i working hard here in the senate to make sure we do put together a bipartisan cr that will deliver on the necessary funding for disaster relief, supporting ukraine, paying our wildland firefighters and more because we need to show the american people that congress can come together and help people and solve problems. that is exactly what we are focused on doing here in the senate. i'm pleased to be joined today by two my chairs for the

subcommittee on the appropriations on i want to give a shout out to all of our subcommittee chairs and ranking members it appropriations they have had to put together these 12 bills under very difficult challenging circumstances and they have done so successfully. i appreciate the work of all of them. ask thank you very much senator murray. thank you for your leadership along with senator collins. as you say it we work hard to get the 12 appropriation bills out of committee. i think for the first time all 12 bills out of committee since 2018. i'm very pleased the commerce ee justice and science committee bill the subcommittee that i chair with gerry moran from kansas passed out of our committee 28 -- one. i think a senator murray said so well people in the senate want to see regular order. we want to see a process where we have a chance to weigh in on the budget. i don't want to see a massive

end of the year omnibus bill that only four people in congress know what is really in it. i want to see a process that moves forward as we are moving forward. and the fact that we saw the senator from wisconsin last week hold up progress on the appropriations process, i believe is very deliberate. make no mistake this was an effort to help extremists in the house shut down the government. and the inadequate bill we are seeing from the house as it centers murray and schumer have said so eloquently would be a disaster for people across this country with 8% cut to the base bill and this is really not about fiscal conservatism. the last government shutdown cost $12 billion.

this is about trying to make the point to the people of this country that government can't work. we are here to say government can work. i do not want to see the impact this house built would have on the people of new hampshire where we will see delays in infrastructure projects including housing construction and new hampshire has one of the tightest housing markets in the country. we would sit impact on seniors with meals on wheels. on payments coming to hospitals. on small business loans and i was in the northern border in new hampshire with a candidate yes to hampshire does border canada. what i heard from law enforcement up there was the concerns they have about additional people coming across from canada. the concern that is having on the drug trade in northern new england. and the cuts to cbp would have a

huge impact on us in northern new hampshire. though this is also something our adversaries are watching. you can believe that china and russia, she and putin are watching with glee to see if the government shuts down. to see if we are going to pass -- of the house is going to pass a bill that's going to get a post in the senate and shut down the government. so i believe we should honor the funding agreement, the last i knew it when you are in politics you should be as good as your word. if you agree to something you should try to follow up on that. so let's keep this agreement and get this done, thank you. >> thank you, senator schumer. i am so proud to be a member of the appropriations committee. to be able to do this work on behalf of the american people. republicans and democrats coming together in the senate to

confront the big problems. this is how it is supposed to work. so i listen to speaker mccarthy complain about how hard it is for him to ram acr through the house given his narrow republican majority. and i think to myself doesn't he know there's a better way? doesn't he know is not the speaker of the republican congress he's a speaker and house of representatives. we have shown you can get bipartisan agreement on appropriation bills but speaker mccarthy cares more about preserving his own power then he does about preserving the security of this country and the health of american families. once again the house is in meltdown mode. because speaker mccarthy refuses to reach out and do what is available to him. find a bipartisan path to keep

the government open and to fund the government through the rest of this year. i just want to quickly cover two aspects of this continuing resolution. it may be they never pass this dangerous cr. it may be they never had the votes for it. but if they do we need to make sure the american people know how dangerous this bill is. republicans say they care about protecting the border. and yet there are devastating cuts in their cr for border security. their cr would likely require there to be 800 fewer customs and border protection agents and officers. the results of that cut would be to allow 300 additional pounds of fentanyl into this country. 50000 additional pounds of cocaine.

6000 additional pounds of methamphetamine. this cr is devastating to the security of our border. in addition to this cr, over the weekend on the back of an applicant republicans wrote a new immigration policy for the country. it was done so hand handedly and so quickly they are going to end up making an absolute disaster of the border. one provision of the immigration reform proposal is to deny the ability to transport immigrants and between ports of entry. that's most the work cdp does. it's in between the borders. the claim asylum or send them back the slapdash nature of this bill they are making mistake after mistake it's going to compromise our nation security.

and lastly, just to talk about house republicans abandonment of ukraine. this is a critical moment for ukraine. the counteroffensive is slow but it is making progress. this is the worst possible time for house republicans to be signaling that they are contemplating turning their back on ukraine and handing that country to vladimir putin. we are running dry of funding to keep ammunition flowing to the ukraine army. we desperately needed to continue our work to make sure ukraine has everything it needs. this a critical inflection point in the fight for ukraine's sovereignty is so irresponsible and so dangerous for the house republicans to be showing the world the potential abandonment of this key ally. there is potential for us to

come together to protect our border. to support ukraine. to make sure the kids don't get kicked out of head start programs but it requires speaker mccarthy to do what senator murray did. reach out across the aisle and find a bipartisan path forward to save this country. >> thank you. three excellent members of the committee. yes? [inaudible] [inaudible] >> look, the house bill leaves out disaster aid completely. we believe in disaster aid we want to come together in the senate on a bipartisan cr. yes. cuts of you have any conversations with. [inaudible] and emergency type plan are you planning anything? >> look house democrats and houd senate democrats are the same.

we are urging our republican colleagues to pursue the only path out of avoiding a shutdown which is a bipartisan bill. yes. >> has it been your intention to add disaster money to the cr? [inaudible] >> look, it would like to work on a bipartisan basis on the cr with the republicans. but we've gotten indications they want to do that. we have done it very successfully on the appropriations process and hopefully we can come together bipartisan here as well. yes. [inaudible] >> look i am not going to speculate how to package it other than to say we need a bipartisan process each way, yes, ma'am. >> senator collins and senator johnson. [inaudible] they have reached a deal. [inaudible]

>> i have not seen that yet so i'm not commenting. >> at what point do they decide to move first and try to pass the cr over here? >> our first job is to get the house to pass something. we will see if they can. but we need a bipartisan bill in each body. thank you everybody. i. >> hello everyone. excuse me. while we are waiting to see witt the house is going to do on a continuing resolution, i think all of you know i am not a man of government shutdowns. i've seen a few of them over the years. they never have produced a policy change. they have always been a loser for republicans politically. on another issue i'm looking

forward to seeing president zelenskyy on thursday. i think it's always good to remind everyone that a good portion of the money allocated to ukraine is being spent in this country to rebuild our industrial space. it's also important to remember we have not lost a single american until these people and inukraine are fighting for their independence. you're taking on one of the two adversaries they have it. it seems to me we ought to be helping. >> the biden border crisis is the worst in american history. so bad that even the mayor of new york is now saying it would destroy new york. evidently new york is finding out every state ends up being a

border state their 20000 encounters trying to come across the border illegally supposed to be out by now i don't think they are we expect that to be the highest number of this entire year which is a record clearly this administration and the cities like new york and chicago which are sanctuary cities are learning what it is like. what border communities have to deal with for a really long time. it is a 50 state issue. it is a one state issue. the biden administration canceled the wall, limited the common sense border policies that's an open border they're

trying to come across a border illegally. not to mention another million or half got a ways. one the biden administration has chosen by their policies and cities in this country large and small are now having to do with the consequences. >> joe biden has surrendered our southern border. two criminals, to gang members, to drug dealers. this past month we are looking at close to a quarter million individuals, illegal immigrants coming across the board and what happens? they vanish. the cartels that are running this is a billion-dollar sophisticated criminal enterprise which is flooding our border with illegal immigrants and drugs. from a criminal standpoint they're coming from all around the world from china, from

africa, from the middle east. border towns used to be arizona and texas. but when you see the city council in chicago and the mayor of new york all claiming the illegal immigrants are destroying their cities, amber these are so-called sanctuary cities but every state has been impacted so in my home state of wyoming is no exception. the fentanyl coming in across from mexico is now a major killer in every state in the country. our incompetent president and the democrats continue with their head in the sand. and now what do they want to do? they would to defend ice immigration customs enforcement per they want to use the money to set up a welcome wagon of housing and benefits for illegal immigrants. the republicans have the right idea to deal with the border it is called secure the border act of 2023. it involves technology,

manpower, and the physical barrier to prevent illegal immigration. that is the way to provide security and safety to our communities and actually secure the border.

>> putting more americans at risk by green lighting iran violent activities and increasing its nuclear capabilities. this is a direct result of biden's failed appeasement strategy, and i'm going to call biden's bluff on this, folks. the world knows that iran has already called biden's bluff on this. his administration has to stop the pursuit of this flawed iranian nuclear deal.

>> west virginia national guard at the request of the governor joined in with the texas national guard at operation lonestar along the border along eagle pass. our guard members that went volunteered to go. and after talking with them, just last week i did talk with them. over the course of 40 days, they encountered 10,000 illegal immigrants coming across this is not at the ports of entry this is aside from the ports of entry. to which one of the guard members young man said, the whole experience was shocking. at what he saw -- he saw children that were dehydrated, young babies that were not in good health conditions. crossing with their families being used as ways to get in. we also wanted guard members from west virginia was a medical

professional. she went down and administered medical help at the southern border to the texas guard and also the west virginia guard, and also any of the immigrants that need it as they were coming many. the illegals. and they had not had health care down there at that portion of the border for the last six months and she said she worked 24/7 and again, was shocked at what she was seeing. this is an utter failure by the administration, the interior border of policy strengthening enforcement is not there. you've heard my colleagues talk about it. it is a 50-state problem i'm proud of our state i'm proud of our national guard to go down and assist but this issue when we get these numbers from august are going to be shocking as well. not just to our national guard. but to the rest of the country. >> 26 years ago, 199 7 is when

hong kong was handed back chinese by the u.k. it is when the titannics was a hit movie also the last time congress passed all of the appropriation bills before the end of the fiscal year. as we stand here today we are now swimming in 33 trillion debt deficit projected to be close to $2 trillion going forward. and this institution still can't get appropriations passed by the beginning of the next fiscal year. we're in the same position last year we've been in this same position the last 25 years. and i guarantee you unless something changes we will be right back here a year from now right back here in 25, 26, in 27, and 28 -- as we have now seen this occur over and over again will be the 26th consecutive year. no if ands or buts a projecting

process in washington is severely broken. we need to do two things. we need to stop the government shutdowns, pass the prevent teff that senator committee have and put the pain back on the congress and not american people if congress cannot do appropriation bills passed before beginning of the next fit call year without proper reform and holding members of congress accountable, we're on a run away truck with no offramp. >> alan -- mcconnell -- >> do you have reaction to schumer loosening senate dress code and if back in majority would you require to wear coat and tie this on the senate floor? >> look i'm pretty safe in saying most if not all republican smarts think we ought to dress upping to to work.

and so i can't imagine that we're going to be wearing jeans on the senate floor any time soon. >> senator mcconnell. >> what point is it appropriate for them to get involved in the spending issue they dealt with 91-7 but if senate lose time deferring so long to the house because it takes longer to process things over here and is that going to cause a shutdown? >> so many variables in your question chad that -- i can't predict in advance how this is going to unfold. what i do think is critically important to the american people is for the government not to shut down. not to shut down that's just one. with regard to the appropriations process, it is my hope that we be able to pass the series of many buses and thank speakers hope that he would be able to pass all 12 that's

still -- might happen. but -- >> a week, though, asking about timing of the senate. >> it still might happen. but i can't predict exactly how this ends. we'll see what the house does. and act accordingly. >> senator mcconnell -- mcconnell -- >> do you support mccarthy -- [inaudible conversations] >> obviously, i support what the speaker is trying to accomplish because he's trying to avoid a government shutdown and he's trying to help with an appropriations process so that we can something close to a normal process which steve just indicated we have not had since 1997. so we're pulling for the speaker and hoping we can move forward. >> mcconnell --

[silence] and here on senate floor waiting for a senator to speak, lawmakers today continuing deliberations on three spenting bills to fund agriculture, 00ud and military construction projects juror patty murray filed closure on the package setting up a vote on whether to advance the measure on wednesday. and bypassing objections of ron johnson and rand paul who do not want the spending bills considered as a package. earlier senators worked further on president biden's judicial nominations and approved reta

lynn to be court judge for california you're watching live coverage of the senate on c-span2. business reporter and newsletter coauthor here with us this morning to talk with us about the united autoworker strike entering day five welcome to washington journal. >> thank you for having me. >> as strike continues in detroit what's the latest on negotiations? >> well i think they're still far apart uaw just last night threatened to expand the strike on friday if they don't make seris progress with four general mors and, of course, strike started on on friday thee uaw was asking for a wage increase of 36% the automakers have only offered 20 or 21%. the uaw wants traditional pensions. they want retiree health care.

they want a whole host of other thengs and automakers are not really willing to budge on benefit but we could be headed to expansion later this week. >> who you say expansion of the strike this is what's been termed stand-up strike tell us how this approach is different from a previous autostrikes and other strikes in general. >> the best way to think about it so as a targeted strike. because what they've done here is they've selected one plant at each automakers ford gm to vehicle and this is unusual look for a multiple reasons for starters uaw has historically only selected one automaker to strike. so for in 2019 for example they decided to streak at gm and then they ended up reaching deal there and then they use that as a pattern to bargain with other automakers and this particular case, they've decided to strike all three but only pick one plan each to start with.

but shawn the president of the uaw said if the strike if the negotiations continue to not reach the progress he believes is necessary, then they will expand strike to other plants possibly including at some point all of the factories in the united states that are run by uaw workers. >> what shall we know about shawn faine how long has he been union president and during the last five days -- >> he was only elected as president of the uaw earlier this year. so he's a newcomer and i think he's trying to make his mark. he understands that the uaw workers have -- have been, you know, looking for progress on their compensation and benefits for years and honestly the uaw has been through a very difficult period an struggled with corruption for several years federal charges last autoworkers presidents in prison because of all sorts of accusation against the union over the last several years so

he's trying to regain the moral authority that the union sort of lost over the last couple of years and show his members that he's fighting for them. so i think that's kind of the context in which this occurs now what he's doing is putting the focus on the automakers saying that they have had these over the last self years that they can afford now to deliver some of that back to the workers. >> give us an idea of the potential economic effect the impact of a -- strike if indeed isen expanded streak and more plants are added to the list of the three that are countrily being struck. >> well right now -- it's somewhat limited because of the fact that it is just the three like you mentioned. so right now it is going to affect vehicles like the ford bronco and jeep gladiator these are folks that are important to automakers but they're not the full size pickups where they're making all of their money. so if the uaw were to start to strike some of those even more critical plants, like for example, the river ruse plant in michigan where ford makes f-150

that's most popular vehicle in vehicle most profitable vehicle if they were to hit that plant i think then you see really escalation and tension. if they get to all plants this is -- this could be a devastating effect on the midwest likely a recession in the midwest possibly triggering substantial damage to the economy in a broader basis not there yet but a threat that uaw has made. >> our guest he's actually business reporter he's been covering the uaw strike we would love to hear from you lines are 202-748-8,000. for independents others -- if you are a uaw member, that line is 202-748-8003 we would love to hear from you we have a piece from ben in axos how ev

worries are fueling historic uaw strike tell us more about this in the -- role of for example, battery manufactures and consideration of what strikers the uaw is asking for. >> yeah well transition to electric vehicles is a centerpiece of this debate because electric vehicles don't require as many workers to make. as your traditional gas engine car, and because of that, that means the uaw is concerned about the transition naturally fewer works required to build ev that could mean fewer members of the uaw so they have publicly expressed concern about the president subsidies for ev and automake ergs handling of the ev transition now they've said they're cautiously in fair of the ev transition but they want it to be equitable and they want to make sure that it's done by unionized workers. ening the problem for the automakers is that most other ev's, in fact, all other ev in the united states that are made by other companies are made by

nonunionized workers that include tesla, for example. tesla already has a significant wage advantage on gm ford and so the only question here is how much wider is that gap going to be after these negotiations are complete? >> is the uaw then hoping to make inroads into those battery plants say for example in states that have right to work laws places like -- georgia or simply in kentucky where plants those battery plants are opening up big battery plants? >> i think they certainly have a dream of doing that some day. they have not had much success in the south you look at volkswagen in tennessee for example with nissan plant in tennessee, they've just failed to -- to organize those plants over the years. i think they have a better shot of going after tesla. you know about fremont california plant in california -- i'm sorry in california used to be organized when it was gm and toyota plant long before tesla

ever acquired it. so there's a history of unionization at that factory. the uaw went after tesla several years ago -- and failed to organize that plant. but we live in different times now tesla has become a more mature company could the uaw go after tesla after this is over that's a possibility but right now they're focused on getting deals at the detroit 3. >> lines for nathan 202-748-800 independents and others 8002 and for those of you uaw members call -- we'll get to your calls in a moment nathan i want to play you the comments on friday from president joe biden now i don't think we've heard from him on the strike since then. but these were his initial comments as the strike got underway here are some of your response as we hear from president biden. >> after negotiations broke down uaw announce target strike and

few big three autoplants. let's be clear -- no one wants a strike. say it again no one wants a strike. but i respect workers right to use their options on a collective bargains union and over generations autoworkers sacrifice so much to keep the industry life and strong especially to economic crisis and the pandemic. workers to everybody is a fair share of the benefits they help create for an enterprise i appreciate that party have said working around clock and my first call at the very first day of the negotiation i said please stay at the table as long as you can to try to -- work this out. and they've been around the clock and companies have made some significant offers but i believe they should go further to ensure record profits meaning record contracts for the uaw say it again record corporate profits which they have. should be shared by a record contracts for the uaw. and just as we're building an economy of the future, we need

labor agreements for the future. it is my hope that the parties can return to negotiation table to forge a win/win agreement. >> clearly the president coming out in favor of a better deal for uaw workers. >> yeah it was fascinating remarks i think he kind of toed the lean in the sense that he's in a difficult position here. on one side he has the progressive left -- that wants to have more electric vehicles and on the other side is labor left getting better unionized jobs and better compensation so these are both priorities for him and he wants to have this all go away i think this is a very difficult position for the president to be in. you know he's been very clear he's prounion, he wants these to be record contracts i think there's not much risk of that not happening. i think these will be record contracts and all livelihood. but it was one phrase in that speech that really stood out to me also which is where he said that companies have made, quote,

unquote significant offers -- i don't think that that was well received by the uaw, in fact, not long after that speech they said that, quote, the white house is afraid and not really sure what that means. but you know, uaw is not really embracing joe biden's role in this process -- and yon they continue to say they're fighting for their workers and they'll stand up to anybody who is in their way. >> also said in the comments no one wants strike now they've got one. does the administration have any ongoing presence or connection with the uaw or the automakers as these negotiations continue? >> yeah, the president dispatched julie and economic advisory he's from michigan so they're on the ground they're not brokering the talks, though. so there's so much observers -- the president said that they're there. they're able to provide help if needed. i don't really think that that's

going to play much of a role in the outcome here. i think that the president wants to get the uaw's endorsement understandably. but surprisingly uaw has withheld that endorsement i think this is historically something that the democrat president could -- assume was coming that's not the case anymore and i think you immediate to look at the what's happened to the uaw in way that its membership has changed over recent years in 2016, and in 2020 about one-third of uaw members voted for president trump. and so -- i think the uaw understands that this is not an organization that's going to endorse the president trump that's not going to happen they just issued a statement just the other day -- bashing president trump, so that's not going to happen. but i do think this is a union that starting to question where some of its loyalties lie. >> let's go to our line for bills former union member calling from delaware hi there bill, go ahead. >> yes.

let me tell you something. they're going to go too far -- one time we had almost a million workers nationwide. down to 145,000 and counting. so go ahead and keep asking for all of these big raises and stuff you people put yourself out of work, and that's just the way it's going to be. >> bill how long did you work -- as a uaw member? >> 30 years. we had two plants in delaware -- joe biden and chris coons let them close hay did not help us. they caused people go on welfare so don't believe joe biden about a prounion. >> all right bill in delaware -- >> i think it's an interesting point because uaw compensation by all accounts did contradict to the bankruptcies of gm and chrysler in 2008 and 2009. that's pretty well established. and the uaw as a result of those bankruptcies made major

confessions an gave back some of the benefits they had gotten overtime. so i think in the time since then uaw compensation has been affordable for the automakers and indeed contradicted to their contract so callers concern, though, i think is appropriate in the sense that if -- i think everyone can agree if the compensation was way out of whack and automakers couldn't afford it that would be bad for the -- for the future of their jobs. so the only question is -- where is the middle ground? how much is too much? and i think, you know, we're going still see whether the automakers and the uaw can reach that middle ground make an affordable deal. >> all right let's hear from gabe calling from holly michigan independent line -- >> yeah. this has been for years, you know, who is getting more who is getting less. i think if they just created a tear if the top down, you know, whatever -- whatever the ceos get or whatever the highest level gets, that percentage is balanced out with the union members and

whatever the union members get promised, in terms of compensation and -- and retirement plans and so forth mentions percentage that have could be equal only towards the ceos it is a balance, you want more -- the other side gets more and if there's a lawsuit with the problem with the cars -- that goes against union moneys whatever the agreement is and if there's a crappy design and people don't buy it that goes against ceo side so that way each they care problems they each share benefits -- and they can be done with this once and for all just -- create a stable balance between the two. because they are in relationship -- and only people who really suffer are the workers and they're ones that family members that have been uaw and any time they struck it was always in the most profitable time and next thing you know we're getting close to bankruptcy. or my family is getting close to -- mid da was close to, you know,

struggling all of the time whenever overtime was about to be there that's when they struck. >> thanks gabe. nathan. >> it is interesting because over time the uaw deals have changed -- so actually include a percentage of the profits so since the bankruptcies in 2009 the uaw members actually do get profit sharing checks for ford that's a percentage of the north american profits for automakers which happens to be where they make most of their money so what you've seen is -- at gm and ford for example, profit sharing checks in order of 7, 8, 9, 10,000 in a given year at the end of the year so that's a really nice boost for the union members at the end of the year and does reapplicant in the company does well then hay do well. but what the uaw accounts and says here -- to your point is that the ceos are making way too much. and that their bonuses and their

pay has outstripped pay of the average workers and they want some of that to flow down to the ordinary folks on assembly line. >> caller from retired uaw workers said that membership had been up to a million. he thinks it is 145,000 today how has the -- how has automatn and line itself making an automobile changed over the years nathan bom yi. i was a report or in willow run plant in the area had 19,000 workers and closed in 2009 ting had a thousand or two thousand people. that gives you a good sense for not just the automation but also the decline of the sales overtime so automation has been a big factor over time for the automakers. >> on to st. louis john is is on

the democrat line. good morning. >> i have two thoughts. one is where is the profit sharing announcement? you would think it would happen the same time with the managers bonuses okay. so that's number one. number two, trump is talking to the uaw on the 27th. it's trump extending the strike. that streak could have been settled by now. okay -- all right if he's looking for a win where he talks to them and they get the profit sharing -- and the strike is over -- >> all right john. john is referring to reports this morning that former trump will be heading to detroit to speak to union workers including uaw on september 27th. nathan your follow-up. >> i don't think the president trump what is any information in status of the talks i don't think that timing is necessarily related to that.

i mean i think they could reach a deal before he comes although i would be a little bit surprised at this point to be honest. but i think what trump trying to do is connect with the uaw workers who have voted for him like i mentioned earlier about one-third of uaw members voted for donald trump in 2016 and 2020. so he has a pretty big basis support there. but he's, you know, he's anti-uaw leadership they're angst him so there's no love loss there but i think he's trying to and go directly to workers because he's bashed president biden's ev agenda and he's going to go ahead to tell workers that president's agenda is hurting their jobs that's up for debate. but that's going to be his message. >> unusual approach because many states -- some states are benefiting from the states we talked about earlier that now have and several red states have battery plants built in the states. pledgets absolutely.

you know there's a lot of battery and ev manufacturing in the midwest that jobs that are unionized and so -- you know, but there's certainly some positions there aren't. i think the uaw is concerned about the -- the advent of the joint venture operations between a battery company and an automakers where the jobs may not be unionized for example, in ohio, you know, gm has a factory that uaw wants to be unionized and this concern there. but the point is that, you know, ev jobs of the future are gong to be different in some respects and uaw wants to make sure those folks are in the fold. >> all right on to let's hear from -- mark in maryland independent line. ...

by jon hopkins researchers in the mid to late '90s. forecast the bankruptcies because ultimately extravagant medical coverage with no deductible, no co-pays. that might've been a reasonable but the rest of the non- comp benefits another fine. and the models. in the 80s and 90s it's tough to deal with those factors. and it got the financial crisis. in that environment. so to date with tvs they have

the opportunity to lead in the late '90s. when those products for the big three, in particular gm were killed. it is not labor's fault. that is the management executive management problem and execution problem. better management all around is what is needed to come by this more reliable quality this leading edge not following edge. >> host: thanks for those observations marker. the good news is vehicle quality has improved dramatically since the bankruptcies. i think you are right the automakers fell down on the job and that lead up to the bankruptcies. they did not have the kind of vehicles people wanted as a root to the automakers and who deserves the blame for the 2008 -- 2009 crisis.

as a great auto journalist once said that uaw and the automakers were co-conspirators in some ways. company complacent in the sense they were arguing and bitter at each other at the same time they did not look over their shoulders to see toyota coming down the road and it was going to be a huge threat. they both did deserve blame for the clash of the companies for the goodness as they worked together for the got the government bailout they reconstructed the company in much better shape so the question is how do you share the wealth? quick skim is on the line from california. kim, go ahead with your comments. >> yes. first off i want to say i'm supported that uaw workers one 100%. it in 2008 and 2009 i don think there is an industry or a human that did not feel the

great economic fall that happens. we felt it in the postal service. and i want to say every time that a company makes these record profits. usually those profits have come because many time unions have three or four tiers of workers in them. that is when the biggest complaints the uaw is talking about we sit in the postal service. we see it and big unions like the uaw. they make it extremely hard to work alongside coworkers that have a decent retirement. have a decent health plan. that is one of the biggest things they are fighting for. when the unit in 2008 and nine gave up so much. the workers took it. they save their jobs. we as americans build the companies out. but when profits come 3065 more than the median wage.

we as workers in the united states of america are standing up. and believe me if it's not uaw tesla will be. if starbucks at other places are fighting for union so will they. and i hope they win. i hope and pray that our government stays out of it. they each have their own. it is an election time and none of them are honestly thinking about the workers appeared wheat workers have to stand together and think about ourselves. we will win it should be our saying. good luck. stu and arik kim will give you a moment. >> it's interesting the automakers i think the uaw is primarily focused right now on the past process the automakers had made. the automakers are focused on their future profits. that is where the tension is. the uaw says you made record profits is time to pass some of that on. the automakers are concerned going forward it won't be that

possible they won't be able to pay for the labor costs and electric vehicles are coming they need to be able to make those at a price people can afford. right now most electric people vehicles are not affordable by the average consumer. the question is will they be able to give it to tesla to your point? tesla is the leader in the clubhouse. tesla has a major cost advantage now. will that uaw be able to succeed in getting in there? it's possible. even if they do will take years to be. >> steve has a question for his part of the negotiations please explain tier paid the issue of tear pay. >> the automakers after the 20009 bankruptcy implemented a plan that was partially negotiable i the obama administration at the time of the auto task force that essentially taken over gm and chrysler. they implemented a tiered pay plan were essentially new

workers were getting paid in a much lower level than a long time established workers. that is shrunk a little bit over the years but continued there is a two-tier system. the uaw was to completely eliminate that. with unionized workers they feel we are all in solidarity here. we should all be on the same pay scale. i do think that is likely to go away. it is going to be harder and harder for the automakers to justify that since the bankruptcies are becoming more of a distant memory. >> we wrap up one more observation we touched on this a little bit. joan in milwaukee has this observation say my father was uaw worker 1958 -- 81. he was grateful for good wage and benefit nothing upset my parents more than the greed of the union which ultimately destroyed she said the industry in the u.s. which could not compete against foreign automakers. >> there is a lot of bitterness at the uaw internally. not just externally. in part because of the

corruption over the last several years. let us not forget uaw corruption got so bad the federal government appointed to oversee the unions that inflates today. there is some bitterness there that is partially why sean has been so aggressive trying to recapture the uaw lost in recent years he is now saying i will stick up for the average uaw worker we are going to clean house. that is part of his agenda here. >> follows the reporting on social media at nathan it's also xds.com. thanks to rick with this in the update this morning. thank you.

faxing continues despite the fact senate voted 83 -- 11 to repeal the military covered. >> vaccine mandate. so i and the world will be continue a mandate on pages we have appealed for our soldiers? is there any science to support continuing this mandate?

the answer is an emphatic no. the science has been clear since early spring of 2020, healthy children are not seriously affected by covid. in fact several large studies show healthy children are rarely hospitalized and deaths from healthy children are virtually nonexistent. doctor margaret mcgarry of johns hopkins describes a large nationwide study in israel found risk of covid death and people e under 30 with two vaccines was essentially zero. a nationwide study from germany sharon zero covid deaths on children under five who had no comorbidity. the head of the w.h.o. concluded there was no evidence right now suggest healthy children and adolescents need boosters. and yet here we our.

desperately clinging to vaccine mandates zero risk of dying from covid. common sense should prevail the senate should repeal this mandate just as we did for our young soldiers. we should not allow politics to infect and cloud common sense judgment. the vaccine committees and make recommendations for vaccines actually don't recommend covid boosters for young healthy individuals. the fda vaccine and related biological products advisory committee voted to limit vaccine to adults over 65. limited to people who were at risk for dying from covid. cdc vaccine panel also voted against recommending boosters for young healthy individuals. but these committees have lifelong who voted not to advise

the booster vaccine for adolescent were overruled by political appointee rochelle rowen skippered the director of vaccine education center and professor of pediatrics and infectious disease at children's hospital of philadelphia wrote that a healthy young person with two covid vaccines is extremely unlikely to be hospitalized with covid. the case for risking any side effects such as mild card i do diminishes substantially. a lifelong proponent of vaccines even advised his own son not to get the covid booster. the argument against mandating covid boosters are young healthy people is not just that they are unnecessary but the covid boosters may harm young individuals. reports of heart inflammation or myocarditis after covid vaccine has been consistent and

worldwide. a study in the journal of american medical association cardiology exam at 23 million people across denmark, finland, norway and sweden from the risk of myocarditis increase with covered vaccination particularly after the second dose. this is exactly why several european countries including germany, france, sweden, denmark and norway restrict the use of covered vaccines among young healthy people. some countries such as south africa and england recommend only one covid vaccine to avoid the risk of myocarditis. a study in the journal of medical ethics similarly found about 1.5 cases of myocarditis per 10,000 covid vaccines a. but with 80% of the kids who suffer from heart inflammation still having symptoms three months later.

doctors look at 29 studies across three continents also found an increase in myocarditis after covid vaccines. the studies reviewed show a little more than two cases of myocarditis for 15000 vaccines. even the cdc admits about card artist applets and one for 15000 vaccines. doctor tracy looked at the vaccine adverse reporting system and found 1.62 adverse events per 10,000 vaccine. that does not sulk a high number we are tired but perfectly healthy kids. how'd you feel if you're fear py healthy young football player or band member is given a bit vaccine comes from the heart inflammation it's diagnosed with rising heart enzymes assembly a heart attack is diagnosed. found the risk of myocarditis what's five times greater than

the risk of hospitalization versus covid. through asking yourself could my kid strode to the hospital to the heart inflammation? both are rare but the chance of your kid getting the heart inflammation from the vaccine is a five times greater than your kid being hospitalized from covid. the vaccine safety datalink similarly found little over two cases for 15000 vaccine. this is across the scientific literature. across the continents, across the world but they consistent finding even our government admits too. but the democrats want submission they do not want you to have the choice to keep your kids safe make the decision whether or not your kid who very well may have already had covid needs yet another vaccine. where we force these kids to do something as is against medical advice about a page in my program here? the senate continues to look away from all the evidence of myocarditis for each of these studies the risk of myocarditis

increases with each vaccine. about 90% of the heart information occurs after the second vaccine. inexplicably senate pages are being mandated for three vaccines. there's all kinds of compromises. you could say one, you could say to you, but three you are increasing the risk with each successive vaccine. not only are three unwarranted for healthy individuals this mandate actually risks their health. as the height of malpractice to subject young healthy kids to three covered vaccines. in fact nowhere in the examination or discussion of whether they should have a vaccine is there any discussion of whether they have had covid. so what is a vaccine? it's meant to simulate having had the infection. shouldn't they tells the data on children or adults if you have had the infection what is your chance of getting it again? what is your chance of going to the hospital? what is your chance of dying

from covid if you've already had it? they will not tells for adolescents because the answer is zero. originally the logic of advocates for the covid vaccine mandate argued the vaccines were not necessarily for the children to protect the parents and grandparents. this argument now holds no water as even the zealous advocates of mandate such as biden cdc director rochelle walensky admits covid vaccines do not anymore prevent transmission. this side of the people promoting these mandate admits they don't stop transmission. they may well still reduce hospitalization and death if you are in the target category of the elderly and those with health disease. for young healthy because there's no effect rather than to increase the risk of heart inflammation. a danish study confirms by

december 2021 the covid vaccines effectiveness is less than 10%. study from generate 2022 of over one point to vaccine effectiveness with 10% is not protected their health covid vaccine stops transmission yet here we are what democrats think you're not smart enough make in their own decision will make decisions for you we ask what is the science towards whether or not a booster is affected. objection. mr. reed: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the committee on health, education, labor and pensions be discharged

from further consideration and the senate now proceed to s. res. lusion 238. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate res. lusion 238, expressing support for recognizing september 20 as national service dog day. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection, the committee is discharged and the senate will proceed. mr. reed: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the tester amendment at the desk to the preamble be considered and agreed to, the preamble as amended be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reed: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of s. res. 351, submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will rompt. the clerk: senate resolution, 351, designating settlement 25, 2023, as national lobster day.

the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection, the senate will proceed. mr. reed: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reed: mr. president, if i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of s. res 352, submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 352, designating september 2023 as national childhood cancer awareness month. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding? without objection. mr. reed: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, and no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without

objection. mr. reed: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that web the -- when the senate completes its business today, it stands adjourned until 10:00 a.m., wednesday, september 20. that following the prayer and the pledge, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed. that upon the conclusion of morning business, the senate resume consideration of h.r. 4366. that the cloture motion with respect to the motion to suspend rule 16 ripen at 12:15 p.m. further, that the senate recess from 5:00 p.m. until 6:15 p.m. to allow for the all-senators briefing. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. reed: if there's no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it stand senate, i ask that it stand

>> the senate today continued work on president biden's judicial nomination. lawmakers approved read at linn u.s. district court judge wert northern california. a calendar of federal spending bills to fund the department of agriculture, housing, transportation and veteran's ves affairs and military construction projects. watch live coverage of the senate here on cspan2. >> if you ever miss any of c-span's coverage you can find it any time online at c-span.org. videos of key hearings debates other than speech or markers that guide you to interesting and newsworthy highlights these points of interest markers appear on the right-hand side of your screen when hit play unselect videos this timeline makes it easy to quickly get an idea of what was debated and decided in washington. scroll through and spend a few minutes on cspan2 points of interest.

♪'s he spent as your unfiltered view of government paid funded by these television companies and more including comcast. >> are you thinking this is just a committee center? it is way more than that. comcast is part of the 1000 committee centers to create wi-fi enabled students from low-income families get the tools they need to be ready for anhing. comcastupport c-span as a public svice along with these other television providers. giving you a front receipt to democracy. ♪ this yearbook tv marks 25 years of shining a spotlight on the leading nonfiction authors and their books with talks for more than 22000 authors. nearly 900 cities and festivals visited and 16000 events. batavia provided viewers with 92000 hours of programming on

the latest literary discussions on history, politics, and biography. you can watch book tv every sunday on cspan2. or online at booktv.org. book tv, 25 years of television for serious readers. commerce secretary appeared on capitol hill to provided update on the enactment of the chips and signs act but a full year after was signed into law. legislation was passed by congress to provide new funding for domestic research on manufacturing of semiconductors in the u.s. in her testimony secretary discuss competition with china, workforce initiatives of the importance of education and training. they hearing before the house science space technology committee was about two and half hours. [background noises]