tv U.S. Senate U.S. Senate CSPAN September 27, 2023 9:59am-12:33pm EDT
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let's not shop that progress by shutting down government and causing tremendous hardship to our military, to our law enforcement officers. to those who are serving americans through so many different agencies. let's not have that happen. please, i implore my colleagues, let's proceed by voting yes on the motions to invoke cloture tonight. thank you, mr. president. >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government who are funded by these television companies and more, including cox. >> this syndrome is extremely rare. >> hi. >> but friends don't have to
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be. >> this is joe. >> when you're connected you're not alone. >> cox supports c-span as a public service along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> and the senate about to gavel in to resume work on a short-term spending bill to fund the federal government beyond saturday's midnight deadline and avert a government shutdown. senators voted 77-19 yesterday to move forward with the measure as they wait for the house to pass its own temporary spending bill. the senate planning to recess this afternoon at 12:30 for weekly caucus meetings. as we take you live now to the senate floor. the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. the guest chaplain, lieutenant colonel kent a. lund, wing chaplain of the 181st intelligence wing, will lead the senate in prayer.
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chaplain lundy. if you would, be in prayer with me. inspiring god godthat creates a way where there is no way•inspire these servant senators to rise to every challenge by putting people over profits and freedom for all, over privilege for a few. bless them and their staff with a passion in their bellies and steel in their spine so that they can do the hard things well. may they never take more power than we the people give them. may the good they seek to do, be the good for everyone that calls the united states home. give this body a passion to especially make sure our military is ready to defend democracy at home and around the world. eternal light that never shuts down, may our senators answer a higher calling that will care for your creation for at least the next seven generations and
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may you endow them with wisdom, as they steward the gift of freedom for such a time as this. instill the characteristics of integrity, truth, humility, and compassion in all americans just as we expect the same from these servant senators. let us all commit to making selfless service great again. even if the institution of the senate would last 1,000 years, may the people one day say this was their finest hour. mindful of all the names your children use to call upon you, i pray in the name of jesus. amen. the presiding officer: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to our flag. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
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the presiding officer: the clerk will read a communication to the senate. the clerk: washington, d.c, september 27, 2023. to the senate: under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable peter welch, a senator from the state of vermont, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: patty murray, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. morning business is closed. under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration senate will resume consideration it was more than three years ago h.r. 4366 -- h.r. 3935, an act to amend title 49, united states code to authorize and improve
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the federal aviation administration for that and other purposes. mr. -- mr. young: mr. president, let us all strive to make selfless service great again. so lieutenant colonel kent lundy opened this chamber in prayer today. when the constitutional convention reached an impasse in the summer of 1787, the oldest delegate offered a suggestion to the assembled. rather than searching in the dark for truth, benjamin franklin reasoned they instead should begin each day's work with an appeal through prayer to the father of lights to
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illuminate their path. without his assistance, franklin argued, we shall be divided by our little parochial local interests, our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves become a reproach and a byword down to future age. without that divine assistance, none of that came to pass, this is gooded by the constitution that they wrote is surely proof of it. and proof of his blessings. we still need them, mr. president. we need those blessings over our work here, over our nation. i'm honored that today that appeal was made by one of indiana's own, an airman pastor,
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lieutenant colonel kent lundy has long served his nation and the communities he's called home. he wares the uniform -- wears the uniform of the air force as a member of the indiana national guard. he's an ordained elder in the united methodist church. he had has been a member of the indiana air national guard for 26 years, is it 12 of which with the fighter wing in for the wayne. he's been deployed overseas twice and for the last four years he's been on active duty with the 181st have intelligence wing in terre haute, indiana. he supports the physical, social, mental and spiritual needs, the four pillars of airmen fitness of his fellow guardsmen. as they do their work, as they
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seek to make america great again, through service from the ground up, as they provide our military with critical assistance for missions and rescue efforts during natural disasters. a testament to the passion he brings to his work, chaplain lundy has said being an air force chaplain is the greatest job in the air force, and when you meet him, you have a sense of his enthusiasm for his work, for his service. i've come do understand that. but his work goes beyond that, he's an advocate for hoosier veterans and he's worked to destigmatize and increase access to mental health for those who served. chaplain lundy originally joined the air force in 2006. his calling goes back much further than that though. he first heard in a visit to the
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holy lands as appear seventh grader shortly after joining the church. it's led him to pastor churches in fort wayne and other places in indiana, his wife, dr. marty gates lundy, who is also with us is also a chaplain. chaplain lundy has devoted his life to god and meeting the spiritual needs of his fellow hoosiers and the men and women who serve our country. i don't know if he found the senate as big a thrill as he has the indianapolis motor speedway. we'll not ask him that question, he's offered prayers there. but we're privileged to have chaplain lundy deliver today's invocation. after all, to borrow franklin's words, with we need the assistance of heaven on our deliberations. thank you, chaplain lundy, for
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making those appeals on our behalf. the presiding officer: the senator from indiana. mr. braun: i'd like to thank chaplain lundy for coming all the way from terre haute, it's on the west central side of our state. it's a pretty good trek out here. you heard what the senior senator from indiana said. he's has a storeied career in the military, but having a life led based on good faith, there's no substitute for it. serving there with the national guard, indiana has a notoriety for having a lot of veterans in our own state, always come to the call when there's a need, whether it's through the national guard or active duty. he plays such an important role because so often the troops that
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give the most serve, you know, need the help probably from the almighty than any of us in this task. thank you for doing that. caring for that spiritual well-being, it's hard to imagine how that works this some instances, and, again, doing it, you ought to feel good about the career you made and spent back home in indiana. we're a state where i think faith is a cornerstone of so much of what we do. our families and our communities all intertwined. every town, i think, needs that, every state needs that. and thank you, again, for doing this today to open the senate session in prayer and for what you've done throughout your storied career.
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mr. schumer: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: well, yesterday afternoon democrats and republicans reached an agreement on a c.r. that will keep the government open until november 17. and with the strong bipartisan vote of 77-19, the senate agreed to move forward last night on this legislation. it shows that in the senate both parties can work through our differences for the betterment of the country. but in the house, republicans have tried everything but bipartisanship. last night, the speaker twisted himself into pretzels yet again trying to avoid his responsibility of governing. but this is the truth -- every bill house republicans have pushed have been partisan, every c.r. has been aimed at the
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hard right, and every path they've pursued to date will inevitably lead to a shutdown. speaker mccarthy, the only way a shutdown is bipartisanship. and by constantly adhering to what the hard right wants, you're aiming for a shutdown. they want it, you know it, you can stop it. work in a bipartisan way, like we are in the senate, and we can avoid harm to tens of millions of americans. bipartisanship is precisely what we have been pursuing here in the senate. we haven't agreed on everything, and there's still a lot more work to be done. but we haven't let our differences paralyze us. the result has been a commonsense, bipartisan, sensible approach for a c.r. it will keep the government fund the at -- funded at current levels until november 17.
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it will extend the federal aviation administration until december 31. it will replenish the disaster response emergency fund to help communities battered by natural disasters. it will continue paying federal firefighters. it will extend funding for community health centers, the national health service corps, and other health care programs. and it will send more help to our friends in ukraine. thank you to my colleagues who negotiated this bill in good faith. thank you to chair murray and vice chair collins and all the staff on the appropriations committees who worked all day and night through the weekend. and thanks to leader mcconnell and the many, many republicans who worked with us and joined us in passing this, or moving forward on this bipartisan c.r. now, there's still much more work to do. now that we're on the bill, it will reef choir consent and --
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require consent and cooperation to move it swift think through the chamber. we cannot have members trying last-minute delay tactics and risk a shutdown. the c.r. agreement the senate released in a good -- is a good, sensible and bipartisan, let me emphasize bipartisan bill. it's a bridge towards greater cooperation between the chambers and away from the paralyzing extremism we've seen in the house. and a reckless shutdown will serve no purpose, except for hard-right partisans whose only goal is to grind the gears of government down and promote extremism. it will cause grave harm for communities across the country. a reckless shutdown will cause grave harm to our border. it will affect our military by withholding their pay. it will affect everything from food safety inspection to tsa operations to small business loans. this is the problem with maga extremism. it's not serious about governing. chaos is the only word in their
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playbook. conflict seems to be their natural state of being. and some of them seem to exult in shutting down the government. if maga republicans get their way, the danger for this country will be great, extremism will be dominant, the ultrarich will be empowered, working families will suffer, women's health care will be even more curtailed. we don't want to go down that troubling road. the speaker should resist the 30 or so republicans who want to drag us in that direction. he can do it by giving bipartisanship a chance, just apps we are doing here in the senate. now, on safer banking, this morning as we speak the banking committee is holding a markup on our safer banking -- bipartisan safer banking act. today's markup of safer banking represents a huge step forward in the senate's effort to help cannabis businesses operate more efficiently, safely and
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transparently. i worked long and hard to get to this point, with chairman brown, ranking member scott, and a special thanks to senators merkley, daines, lummis, sinema, and reed, because i thank them for their cooperation as well. it's been a goal of mine since we've started the senate to move forward on this legislation, since we started this session of the senate to move forward on this legislation. the good news, the safer banking bill is about to be reported out of committee with strong bipartisan support this morning. i will bring -- once reported out of committee, i will bring safer banking to the floor for a vote as quickly as possible. for too long cannabis businesses have been forced to rely primarily on cash transactions, no credit or dent cards. -- or dent cards. this -- or debit cards. this makes them easy targets for
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theft, robbery, and other crimes. no industry has the ability to thrive if they can't access banking infrastructure, especially not an industry growing as quickly and is as new as the cannabis industry. congress has always been in the business of promoting entrepreneurs, small business, and job growth. we should continue doing so with the cannabisfry. industry. our safer banking act connects businesses, especially in minority and underserved communities, to traditional financial resources, like bank accounts and small business loans, creating a safer and more transparent environment for the industry to grow. i'm also committed to including criminal justice provisions like home and graham in safer banking. each long advocated for expungement of records for cannabis offenses, and be with this moving through the committee in a strong bipartisan way, now is the time to get it done. again, i thank my colleagues on
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both sides for their work, on this legislation, which has been an effort years in the making. once reported out of committee, i will put safer banking on the floor for a vote very soon. i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. the clerk: ms. baldwin. quorum call:
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republican leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: yesterday, the senate took the first step toward avoiding a harmful and unnecessary government shutdown. the business before us now is to pass a standard short-term funding legislation to keep basic and essential government functions operating while work continues on full-year appropriations. we're talking about making sure that the servicemembers who will continue to stand watch around the world, and the border patrol and ice agents who will continue to contend with the biden administration's border crisis here at home, and the v.a. medical proiforts who will continue to care for --
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providers who will continue to care for america's heroes don't have to go without their paychecks. the choice facing congress, pretty straightforward. we can take the standard approach and fund the government for six weeks at the current rate of operations or we can shut had the government down in -- shut the government down in exchange for zero meaningful progress on policy. so, let's be clear -- there are a number of important discussions on additional funding priorities that are still unresolved. many colleagues are eager to make real progress in bringing the democrats' reckless spending to heel, to force the administration to start taking its southern border crisis seriously, to provide greater
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rehe leaf for victims of -- relief for victims of wildfires, hurricanes, and other natural disasters, and to deliver continued assistance to ukraine's defense against russia. on all of those counts, i'm one of them. we'd like to address all of those issues. but these important discussions cannot progress if congress simply fails to complete our work on the standard short-term funding and the basic functions of government end up being taken hostage. so mr. president, a vote against a standard short-term funding measure is a vote against paying over a billion dollars in salary or border patrol and ice agents, working to track down lethal fentanyl, contain our open borders, letting fema's disaster relief fund dry up is not a
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productive way to advocate for victims of disasters. letting small bimses -- small businesses' loan applications accumulate dust is not a helpful way to help working families contend with washington democrats' historic inflation. shutting down the government isn't an effective way to make a point. keeping it open is the only way to make a difference on the most important issues we are facing.n another matter, the american people are absolutely sick, sick and tired of living under bidenomics. according to one recent survey, nearly 70% of americans think the economy is actually getting worse. and support for president biden's handling of the economy is at the lowest level of his presidency. it might have something to do
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with the fact that since president biden took office, soaring inflation has turned rising wages into net pay cuts for american workers. real wages are down 2.3% since 2021. household incomes fell in 17 states last year. and for all but the wealthiest 20% of households, american families' savings have actually shrunk. a food truck own near atlanta told reporters recently that he is paying -- listen to this -- 25% more for ingredients while the lines for his sandwiches are dwindling as customers cut back on their spending. here's what he said. i've had to raise some of my prices just to kind of keep up, to make it. and gas prices when you drive a
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food truck, you only get eight miles a gallon. so the cost of my fuel really hurts. here's what the fed chairman jerome powell said last week. people hate inflation, heat -- hate it. the chairman of the fed is absolutely right. working families are tired of wondering how to make ends meet every month. they're tired of being told that bidenomics is working for them. the presiding officer: the
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weeks ago, regulations enacted in the european union went into effect that cover more than a dozen of the world's biggest tech platforms. this includes online marketplaces, app stores and social media platforms like facebook and instagram. the european union regulations addressed a host of harmful practices, including preventing targeted advertising, minimizing illegal content and hate speech, and most importantly, protecting kids from harmful content. if companies fail to comply in the european union, they can be fined up to 6% of their annual global revenue. they can also be banned from operating in european union countries. this shows that big tech can be regulated. it is possible to craft rules to protect our families without breaking the miracle of the
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internet. in contrast to what's happening in europe, here in the united states congress has failed to regulate high-tech. and while we sit on our hands, other nations are moving ahead and shaping the rules of the digital world. worse than that while we fail to act, children are left in harm's way. we can and we must regulate big tech to protect our kids. let me tell you about one young man named carnell johnson. he's from illinois. he's a man who preyed on 17 victims ranging in age from 4 to 17 years old located across eight states. his tool of choice? facebook. johnson would set up profiles claiming to be a woman and then use these facebook profiles to contact girls all over the country. first he would entice these girls to send him sexually suggestive images of themselves
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in various stages of undress. then he would use these images to coerce the victims into sending him sexually explicit content. he would threaten to post the nude pictures online unless the young victims submitted to his demands for sill more explicit images. more rifsically johnson also directed his teenage victims to sexually abuse younger children in their household and send him the images. he was prosecuted and sentenced to 45 years in federal prison. johnson was held accountable for his conduct. but would about facebook? johnson could not have committed these crimes without the social media platform. he could not have exually exploited those 17 children in eight different states. yet our current law shields facebook from any accountability from the role they played in making
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cornell johnson's crimes possible. earlier this we're year, "the wall street journal" exposed how instagram allega rhythms -- algorithms are -- the platform permitted these searches with terms said with child abuse so vial that i won't repeat them in this chamber. senator lindsey graham and i wrote to meta, instagram's parent country in june to ask for answers to explain these algorithms, we're still waiting. on x, formally known as twitter, a user was banned for an image of a toddler who was abused. the study released in june found that twitter failed to stop the
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uploading of copies of known child sexual abuse material. the study found that twitter would sometimes allow accounts to remain active until they uploaded csam multiple times. nor company failing our children is apple. in 2021, the company paused its plan to detect csam uploaded to its cloud service and then wire published a letter to apple in which the company would make no effort to address child protective system on its plam form. apparently this ongoing abuse is an unacceptable necessary cost of protecting their right to privacy of. i believe we can live in a world where user privacy and child
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safety can coexist, and i believe i have written a bill that does that. my stop csam will give victims a way to hold these companies accountable for their failure to stop joonl child sexual exploitation, in some cases that make their actions worse. importantly this bill achieves this without impact on privacy. this is a product of extensive consultation with stakeholders. it passed out of the judiciary committee which i chair, unanimously. every democrat every democrat has been supporting, and i'm working to bring it to the floor. the senate must act. our failure to do so will preserve the status quo where children are being sexually explode online every single day. what a nightmare. as a father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, you think all the time, what are
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they looking at on those phones all day long, what's on those screens? what message is being sent to them? what is changing them from that experience, and what can i possibly do as a parent or grandparent to police what is going on there? we need to have the law on our side. sure, i want to be certain to recognize the basic fundamental constitutional rights in our country, but i have to being a noblg as -- acknowledge as well we aren't doing anything at it this point. the current law says these platforms are not responsible for whatever they do or fail to do. it's a get out of jail free card and it's been that way for decades. we have to get out of the reality of what we've been living in. even the most conscientious parents cannot know what is going on every hour every day with children and these screens. sectionplotation is happening. what are we doing about it if we
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want americans to raise good kids, we have to give them the tools and back them up with the laws that will take it seriously. the european union has done it. why not the united states of america? it is time to make progress in this area for the good of our children. i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.
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mr. thune: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from south dakota. mr. thune: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: mr. president, no end in sight. that's how one border patrol chief described the influx of migrants in the rio grande valley sector of the southern border in march 2021. no end in sight. that was two and a half years ago, mr. president. and there's still no end in sight to this crisis. on friday we learned that
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232,972 individuals were caught trying to illegally cross our southern border in the month of august. 232,972. that is the highest august number yet for the biden administration. and all signs suggest that we're on track for a third record breaking year of apprehensions at the southern border. roughly 11,000 individuals were apprehended trying to cross the southern border in 24 hours this past weekend. 11,000 in 24 hours. if the white house really thinks its, quote, stopping the flow at the border, as the white house press secretary said last month, it should think again. and, mr. president, it's important to note that the numbers i've mentioned only
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reflect individuals who were actually apprehended. they don't include individuals who have made their way into the country illegally without -- without being caught. since the beginning of the biden administration there have been at least 1.5 million known gotaways. individuals the border patrol detected but unable to apprehend. mr. president, the biden administration's so-called border plan is clearly not working, and state and local governments are stretched thin. and i'm not just talking about border towns and border states, i'm talking about places like new york city, chicago, massachusetts. as migrants flood into these locations, blue states and blue cities are learning what border states have been experiencing for years, and they're struggling with the cost that this crisis is imposing. denver, colorado has spent
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almost $25 million sheltering migrants. chicago is projected to spend more than $250 million this year on migrant care. and new york city could spend $12 billion -- billion with a b -- in 2025 on the migrant crisis, possibly cutting city services. the city's begun housing 3,000 illegal immigrants at a makeshift shelter on local soccer fields, eliminating a source of recreation for local children. here is what the new york city mayor eric adams had to say about the crisis, and i quote, let me tell you something, new yorkers, never in my life have i had a problem that didn't have an ending to.
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i don't see an ending to this. this issue will destroy new york city. end quote. that from the mayor of new york, mr. president. the border crisis is a predictable outcome of decisions made early in the biden administration. the president's team was warned of the possibilities of a migrant surge. yet the moment the president took office, he set about dismantling the immigration policies of his predecessor and weakening our nation's border security. it wasn't long before the border was overwhelmed. while after two years the biden administration finally started to at least half-heartedly acknowledge the border crisis, what few proactive measures the administration has taken have been ineffective, to say the least. as one columnist put it recently in "the washington post," i quote, the biden administration's various efforts have.
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ed to band-aids on a -- have. ed to band-aids on a massive open wound, end quote. i'm also deeply concerned about some of the new policies the administration seems to be considering. the department of homeland security is reported to be considering requiring some illegal migrants to remain in texas or perhaps other border states while they await asylum screening. mr. president, i'm not sure if this is an attempt to spare blue states from having to deal with the border crisis or a recognition that releasing tens of thousands of ill leem immigrants into the -- illegal immigrants into the intiror of the country -- interior of the country isn't a good idea. forcing border communities to shoulder more of the crisis is a terrible and profoundly unjust idea. how about actually turning illegal immigrants back at the borders of this country instead of keeping them within the borders of border states?
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then there's the supplemental funding request the white house sent to congress. as our colleague, senator hagerty, pointed out, the request includes a provision that would allow immigration and customs enforcement funding to be used for shelters and migrant services. in the words of the senator from tennessee this could, and i quote, effectively convert ice from a law enforcement agency into a u.s. travel agency for illegal aliens and into a grant-making bureaucracy for sanctuary cities, end quote. mr. president, i'm pleased that the administration and mexico have reached an agreement in which mexico will attempt to reduce pressure on its border cities by sending migrants back to their home countries, among other reforms. but after letting this crisis deepen for two and a half years,
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the administration has a lot more work to do. mr. president, currently immigration is high on americans' list of concerns, and it's no wonder. americans can tell our borders are open and that things are not getting better. they know our current situation is not sustainable. it would be nice if the president could figure that out as well. mr. president, ultimately, it's really quite simple -- president biden created this crisis. no ifs, ands, or buts about it, and he has the power to end it. he just needs to decide he's going to enforce the law, pure and simple. unfortunately, until he does so, i'm afraid that it will continue
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>> good morning to you. thank for joining us via zoom. >> yes, yes, thank you for having me. >> the headlines from the hill this morning. this is the paper that's on the doorsteps of members of congress at their offices today. senate grabs the wheel from house in a bid to avoid a shut down. what happened yesterday in the senate? >> with the senate moving
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advance and it's own stopgap funding bill and these types of bills going for the spending bills typically originate in the house. but, no, the senate is trying to take the lead and democrats are pressing for, you know, the senate to do just that as we're seeing these kind of tensions take over the house and slowing down chances of us seeing a stopgap potentially coming out of lower chamber this week. >> what's the senate proposing in its bill. what are the provisions they've agreed on and this was a bipartisan bill that majority leader chuck schumer touted on the floor yesterday. >> the senate bill would fund the government and temporarily levels that were set in the last congress. a lot of republicans on the house side don't like that however. those levels are levels that were last hashed out when democrats took control of both chambers. republicans are pushing on the house side more immediate cuts, which is also a major contrast
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from what we're seeing in the senate bill and it's also pressing for aid in ukraine and aid of disaster relief, but we also know there's house republicans that have raised scrutiny around the idea of further aid to ukraine and some think there's tough chances passing in the chamber 6789 >> your colleagues note note in the story and jam the house before the deadly and the speaker mccarthy will relent and bring to the fall. what are you watching for today and in the next couple hours when the house comes in on the house side? that'll be interesting to see how that plays out and able to pass the bill.
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if some of the bills don't pass, fully funneling bills don't pass, we're able to see potentially a cr come up and mccarthy has been eyeing friday so i'll see what that support looks like for that initial and expected forthcoming partisan plan. >> for the house short term funding bill, the cr continuing resolution as its known, would that be of the same ilk of what we saw early last week that bill that was agreed to by republicans in negotiation that included some cuts but not as much cuts as someone on the conservative right would want? >> rights, i think that's kind of the expectation and i know we were talking to ralph norman, one of the former conservatives of philadelphia and flipped his court last week to support one of the more recent iterations of the cr plan by leadership and
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overall spending levels and sits to overall spending levels and immediate cuts that would take effect for the duration of a stopgap and cr plan, even though these changes don't really have much chance of passing the senate. but, you know, there is also an expectation that we would still see border policy changes as the house is pushing to pass the hr2 signature border bill to overall stopgap funding measure. how likely is that meeting between the speaker and president? >> still very early and i talked with democrats about this yesterday in both chambers, and i don't think many are enthusiastic by the idea of
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another in the past week alone and some democrats feel like he's in more of a weaker position and now it's not the time for biden to meet mccarthy and other democrats will tell you that mccarthy already met earlier this year. they had a budget cap still and at the time people thought that that would make the appropriations process easier. >> watching it all on cap 'til hill is -- capitol hill is aris foley and her colleagues and follow her on twitter as she toll lowed it -- follow this is debate at aris foley, f-o-l-l-e-y. thank you for your time this morning. >> no problem.
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the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: mr. president, are we in a quorum call in. the presiding officer: yes, we are. mr. cornyn: i'd can unanimous consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cornyn: mr. president, more than four and a half months ago, title 42 expired. that was on may # # of this -- may # 1 of this year.
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title 42 to refresh yefer one's mem -- yefer one's memory was a public health order that was dined to prevent the spread of covid-19. particularly from people bering the country from bering the country -- the biden administration rolled out its plan to address the expected surge in migration. this plan they called the circumvention of lawful pathways rule. it was sold as a way to discourage illegal immigration and restore some sense of order along the border. as i and countless others have pointed out, this wasn't a real solution. this was a shell game. it was an attempt to conceal the
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scope and scale of the border crisis and to process migrants into the united states at an unprecedented rate. let me just paraphrase that. this was not dined to deter -- designed to deter people illegally immigrating to the united states. it was a way to greet them and welcome them and then invite them to enter into the united states without following the legal rules and laws that congress has passed. well, despite the people who pointed out that this was really a ruse, a troaian horse if -- trojan horse if you will, the administration moved forward with the plan. just days before title 42 was lifted, homeland security secretary hall an grow mayorkas tried to ahur the american --
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assure the american people. he said the border is not open, has not been open and will not be open subsequent to may 11. well, at the time it was clear that at least two parts of his statement were false. the border was open. that's why more than 10,000 migrants a day were crossing the southern border in the final week of title 42. how do you say the border is not open and 10,000 people are traversing the border each day without going through our legal immigration system. and the border had been open and that's why the u.s. broke nearly every record in the book for border crossings on president biden's watch. so it was open and it had been open and it's clear today that the border is still open, even
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with the administration's new plan in place. despite the initial drop in border crossings after title 42 was lifted, illegal border crossings have surged once again. in august customs and border protection apprehended just under 233,000 migrants setting the record for the busiest month this calendar year. as you might have predicted, the cartels simply sat back to assess the lay of the land and this new state of affairs and adapt their operations to exploit the rules' numerous loopholes. unfortunately the changes at the border, challenges at the border are only grown since august. over the last few weeks, areas along the buyer u.s.-mexico border have experienced a new
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surge in immigration. one area that's under tremendous strain is the west texas town of el paso. last week more than 8,000 migrants crossed into eagle pass -- excuse me. eagle pass. this isn't a mayor city. in fact i mentioned el paso by mistake. eagle pass is actually a much mauler town. this isn't a mayor city with extensive resources. eagle pass is a small border town with a population of roughly 28,000. it doesn't have the resources to house, feed, or transport thousands of migrants each week. eagle pass is bearing the brunt of this surge, but it is not alone. el paso, that i mentioned earlier, is also experiencing a massive influx. several weeks ago, el paso in far west texas was seeing
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roughly 350 to 400 border crossings per day. in recent days, that number has skyrocketed to more than 2,000 a day. customs and border protection is releasing more than a thousand migrants a day into the community, and these aren't even people necessarily who are claiming asylum. they're just simply trying to keep the line from stacking up and overloading the processing facilities of customs and border protection. so what are they doing? they're simply releasing them into the community, and they're on their own. but for the help of some of the nongovernmental organizations that are trying to provide humanitarian assistance. the city of el paso has limited resources to care for migrants, and those resources are quickly being depleted. over the weekend, el paso mayor
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oscar liser said the city had reached a breaking point due to the growing number of migrants. now, that may sound familiar. that sounds like another mayor, mayor eric adams of new york city, who said the influx of migrants into new york city is creating extreme danger and reaching the breaking point. well, i'm generally speaking a pretty optimistic person, but i don't see any indication that anything is is going to change in the biden administration's abdication of its responsibilities to secure the border and have orderly, safe, and legal immigration. people around the world see that america's southern border is wide open, and they're making their way to the united states. i've mentioned this story before, but when four of our
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colleagues on the democratic side of the aisle and four on the republican side went to yuma, arizona with senator sinema and senator kelly, who represent that state, we found a sleepy little agricultural community where the chief welcomed us saying last year we encountered people from 174 different countries, speaking more than 200 languages. senator kelly, one of the arizona senators, pointed out that there was an airport in a northern mexican city called mexicali and that evidently, people were just flying into that city and then literally ubering over to the yuma sector and claiming asylum. "the new york times" reports that in august nearly 82,000
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migrants have passed through what's known as the darian gap, which is the sole route from the united states from south america, the far largest single-month total on record. the border crisis has had and continues to have a major impact on border communities in my state. but the scale of the biden border crisis means the burden is now being shared more broadly with communities across the country. liberal enclaves, self-styled sanctuary cities like new york and chicago have been longtime supporters of open-border policies. i suspect primarily because it hasn't affected them in a negative way, like it has always done in my state and my communities. these cities proudly identify themselves as sanctuary cities and have even criticized
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commonsense measures to enforce our immigration laws. but as more and more migrants are poured into these liberal cities, the narrative has changed, as i pointed out a moment ago. mayor adams of new york city, for example, issued a stark warning saying it will destroy new york city. the democratic governors of -- e democratic governor of new jersey once vowed to turn new jersey into a sanctuary state but now says the state is at capacity, and we've seen the same story play out in boston, chicago, and even right here in washington, d.c. even major sanctuary cities that are more than a thousand miles from the southern border can't keep up with the volume of mig grants from the biden -- migrants from the biden border
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crisis. as our colleagues know, this is more than a humanitarian crisis. this is a public safety crisis as well. when border agents are pulled off the frontlines to process, transport and care for migrants, it creates a vulnerability for cartels and criminal organizations to then move illicit drugs across the border. they're given a clear pathway, literally a multilane highway, to smuggle fentanyl, heroin, and other dangerous drugs across the border and into cities and communities all across this country. this isn't news to the cartel. this is their business model -- flood the zone with people, divert law enforcement, and then move the drugs into the united states. last year alone 108,000
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americans died as a result of those drugs. well, the cartels know that this game that they're playing -- or this business model, inures to their benefit. we saw this two years ago when 15,000 migrants crossed into del rio in a matter of days. del rio is a little city of 35,000 people. they had an influx of 15,000 migrants, mostly haitians, in just a matter of days. well, it looks like we're seeing this history repeat itself. border patrol chief jason owens says he believes the surge last week was by design. as i said, cartels and these criminal organizations know they can flood the zone with migrants and distract law enforcement. it creates open corridors for drug traffickers, human smugglers, maybe even
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terrorists, and criminals of all stripes to sneak across the border. when talking about the threats posed by fentanyl and criminal organizations, chief owens said, it's about as bad as i've ever seen it. and this is somebody who's given his professional lifetime to serving the country as a member of the border patrol. communities across our country are being ravaged by the overdose epidemic, which is killing more than 110,000 americans a year. and president biden seems content to let the carnagetain. -- the carnage continue. he's shown no interest in securing the border and cutting off the cartels' illicit trade corridors. i can't reach any other conclusion but to think that president biden doesn't care.
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if he did care, he would do something about it. but he obviously hasn't done anything about it, and the only obvious conclusion is he doesn't care. we're seeing clear and convincing evidence, both at the southern border and major cities, that president biden's border plan -- if you can call it that -- isn't working. apprehensions are on the rise, detention facilities are overcapacity, and cities and nonprofit organizations are stretched beyond their limits to deal with the migrants with weak or nonexistent claims for asylum, who never should have been released in the first place. the so-called circumvention of lawful pathways rule has made the border crisis worse, not better. in many ways, that seems to be the theme repeated over and over again -- taking a bad situation
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and making it worse. and nowhere is that more evident than at the border. what we've seen is the biden administration is using this rule to funnel migrants into unlawful parole programs, essentially is creating another class of immigrants with flimsy immigration status. rather than deliver consequences for illegal immigration, the administration is simple creating a new -- is simply creating a new set of magic words migrants have to say in order to avoid immediate removal. this rule is riddled with loopholes and when -- are loopholes and when too many migrants claim to fit within these loopholes, they will once again overwhelm dhs capacity. it's not fair to to the migrants who have been led to believe that they can depend on these parole programs long term and it
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is not fair to those with legitimate claims for asylum, which are maybe 10% to 15% of the people claiming asylum to have to wait in line for years upon years with people who have no legitimate claim to asylum, and the reason they have to do that is because of the backlog in the immigration courts. well, we've seen -- as we've seen with daca, which is deferred action on childhood arrivals, these are the dreamers, people -- children who came as children with parents into the country and for whom i have complete sympathy. we don't hold children responsible for what their parents do, yet these migrants will face years of uncertainty and heartache as a result of the procedures employed by president obama at the time, which have now been litigated in court for ten years and right now the current statistic us a is the courts have said that what
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president obama tried to do was illegal. he didn't have that authority. well, it's time for congress to intervene. we obviously can't depend on leadership or even participation at this point from the biden administration. this summer i introduced the congressional review act resolution that puts an end to president biden's shell game. we know from the press that immigration groups, both on the right and the left, oppose the circumvention of lawful pathways rule. earlier in year some of our democratic colleagues said that they were deeply disappointed with the administration's decision to move forward with the rule. i hope my colleagues on both sides of the aisle who have raised concerns over this policy will support the effort to overturn it. our colleagues know the impact of the border crisis, and they
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know that it's being felt far beyond the u.s.-mexico border. cities across the country, from el paso to new york city, are overwhelmed by the burden of caring for these migrants, who have no plausible claim to be in the country legally, yet by sheer volume they've overwhelmed the system. mayors and governors are sounding the alarm over the unbearable weight of this crisis. and they can't look for help at the white house, so they ought to be looking to us to do our job and provide that help. at the same time communities across the country are being terrified by the destruction and the death caused by the fentanyl crisis. on monday i sat down with parents and students in dallas, texas, who really drove home in
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point. each of our colleagues should have a vested interest in ending the policies that are causing a crisis that begins at the border and yet reaches into every community across america. i didn't think it was possible for the biden border crisis to get worse, but it clearly has. congress needs to act before the situation gets even more dangerous and worse, and to force the biden administration to put forth a serious plan that actually discourages illegal immigration and doesn't just invite migrants without any plausible or legitimate claims to being in the country, into the great american heartland. mr. president, i yield the floor.
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mr. kennedy: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. mr. kennedy: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i grew up in a wonderful small town in louisiana called zachary. now, today zachary is a city. it's five times larger than the days i spent there growing up because zachary a number of years ago got very serious about improving elementary and secondary education. mr. president, you know something about that. so zachary is much larger today. and if anyone ever doubts that
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growth and economic development is centered around a quality public education, all you have to do is look at zachary. when i grew up in zachary, it was very small. one stoplight. we were so small, we didn't have a town drunk. several people had to take turns. but i loved it. i loved zachary high school. i know some people did not like high school. i'm not one of them. i cared about two things -- basketball and cheerleaders. and i wasn't very good at either one, but i had fun trying. i also loched baseball -- i also loved baseball, mr. president, in part because my dad, my late father, was a baseball fan.
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and i was an okay fielder in baseball, but i had to quit the sport because i couldn't hit a curve. i was okay with a fast ball but i couldn't hit a curve. and i remember my coach telling me, kennedy, keep your eye on the ball. keep your eye on the ball. and i tried, but i just couldn't do it. my purpose in rising today, mr. president, is to suggest that we should keep our eye on the ball. we are faced with many difficult issues in the senate today. we always are, but i think that's especially true today. my colleague, senator cornyn, just talked about one -- immigration. of course the war in ukraine is on everyone's mind. and kicked go on and on and on. but i don't want my colleagues
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to forget about one of the most important issues of all facing the american people today, and that is the cost of living in our extraordinary country. inflation. in my state, the median household income for a family of four is about $55,000. that means half of our families make more and half of our families make less. but the median is $55,000 for a family of four. as a result of president biden's inflation and as an aside, i would note -- i say this with no joy whatsoever -- inflation
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in america today is manmade, and that man's name is president joe biden. in my state, where the mean household income is $55,000, the average american family is paying $800 a month more. a month, not a year. a month more to live in this wonderful country as a result of bidenomics. that's $9,600 a year that a family of four making $55,000 a year has to find. and my people, mr. president, they have maxed out their credit cards and they've spent their savings and they've borrowed money, and they have had to take money off their children's
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529 college savings program. it is strangling my people. it's not any better in other states. i looked at the numbers this morning. what we call core inflation, or what we call overall inflation right now is about 3.7%. core inflation, if you take out food and energy prices, as many of the economists like to do, is 4.3%. 3.7% overall, 4.3% if you take out food and energy. now we're doing better. a year ago those numbers were double. and i'm so pleased that inflation has fallen just a bit, but i want you to understand what that means.
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falling inflation just means that prices are, they're still rising but they're not rising as fast as they were. let me say that again. falling inflation just means prices are still going up yemp month -- yemple every month, every day but not as fast as they were. we call that disinflation. falling inflation also means that prices overall are not going down. that's deflation. my point is even though inflation is falling -- and i am so glad it is -- all that means is prices are not going up as fast as they were, and we're going to be stuck with these high prices. they're going to be permanent even if inflation goes to zero.
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what does that mean? let's look at basic goods. even if inflation goes to zero tomorrow, since february of 2021, electricity is up 24%. we're stuck with that. when inflation falls, electricity is not going to go back down to where it was. we're going to continue to pay 24% more. in louisiana, gas is up 71%. we're stuck with that. even if inflation falls to zero. eggs are up 28%. potato chips are up 28%. bread, 28%, permanent. coffee 30%. rice 28%.
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flour 29%. milk 17%. ice cream 20%. chicken per pound 24%. and that's why the american people in large part are struggling so economically. you should not have to sell blood plasma in america, the wealthiest country in all of human history, in order to go to the grocery store. it's not any worse, our inflation, which i'm afraid these high prices, as i said, are going to be permanent, it's not any better if you look at necessities by category, mr. president. all goods as a result of president biden's inflation starting in february of 2021 and running through today, all goods are up an average of 17%. how many american families have
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seen their income go up 17%? not many. food, all food average, an average is 19%. housing is up 16%. clothing is up 10%. used cars and trucks are up 32%. and even if we can get inflation down to zero, we're going to be stuck with those prices. new cars are up 20%. mortgage rates are up 161%. mr. president, let meaned as i began. we have a lot of issues that we're struggling with right now, but among the five things
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that moms and dads in america worry about when they lie down to sleep at night and can't is the cost of living in our wonderful country. and these are the people who made this extraordinary country. america is not great because of the federal government. america is great because of ordinary people doing extraordinary things, people who just get up every day, go to work, obey the law, pay their taxes, try to do the right thing by their kids. president biden's inflation is strangling free people. the american people deserve better, and i don't want us to lose sight of that fact as we grapple with other important issues. thank you, mr. president. i suggest -- i do not suggest
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>> democrats and republicans reach an agreement on the cr that will keep the government open until november 17. with a strong bipartisan vote of forward last night on this legislation. it shows in the senate both parties can work through our differences for the betterment of the country. but in the house, republicans
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have tried everything but bipartisanship. last night, the speaker twisted himself into pretzels yet again trying to avoid his responsibility of governing. but this is the truth. every bill house republicans have pushed have been partisan. every cr has been aimed at the hard right, and every past the pursuit to date will inevitably lead to a shutdown. speaker mccarthy, the only way, the only way out of a shutdown is bipartisanship. and by constantly adhering to what the hard right wants, you are aiming for a shutdown. they want it. you know it. you can stop it. work in a bipartisan way like we are in the senate and we can avoid harm to tens of millions of americans. bipartisanship is precisely what we have been pursuing here in the senate.
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we don't regret everything and are still not more work to be done but we have let our differences paralyze us. and the result has been a common sense, bipartisan sensible approach for cr. it will keep the government funded at current levels until november 17. it will extend the federal aviation administration until december 31. it will replenish the disastrous response emergency fund to help communities battered by natural disasters. it will continue paying federal firefighters. it was extend funding for community health centers, the national service corps and other health care programs. and it will send more help to our friends in ukraine. thank you to my colleagues who negotiated this bill in good faith. thank you to chair murray and vice chair collins and all the staff of the appropriations committees who work all day and
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night through the weekend. and thanks to leader mcconnell and the many, many republicans who worked with us and joined us in passing this, moving forward on this bipartisan cr. now they're still much more work to do. now that we're on the bill it will require consent and cooperation to move it swiftly to the chamber. we cannot have members trying last-minute delay tactics and risk a shutdown. the cr agreement the senate has released is a good sensible and bipartisan, let me emphasize bipartisan, bill. it's a bridge towards greater cooperation between the chambers and away from the paralyzing extremism we have seen in the house. and a reckless shutdown will serve no purpose, except for hard right partisans whose only goal is to grind the gears of government down and promote extremism. it will cause great harm for communities across the country.
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a reckless shutdown will pose great harm to our border. it will affect our military by withholding their pay. will disrupt everything from food safety inspection to tsa operations, the small business loans. this is a problem with maggot extremism. it's not serious about governing. chaos is the only word in a playbook. conflict seems to be the national state of being and some of them seem to exult in shutting down the government. and if maga republicans get their way, the danger for this country will be great. extremism will be dominant. the older rich will be empowered. working families will suffer. women's health care will be even more curtailed. we don't want to go down that troubling road. the speaker should resist the 30 or so republicans want to drag us in that direction and he can do it by giving bipartisanship a chance, just as we are doing here in the senate. now on safer banking. this morning as we speak the
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banking committee is holding a market on our safer banking, bipartisan safer banking act. today's markup represents a huge step forward in the senate effort to cannabis businesses operate more efficiently, more safely, more transparently. i worked long and hard to get to this point with chairman graham, ranking member scott, and a special thanks to senators merkley, danes, senator and read. because i thank them for their cooperation as well. it's been a goal of mine since we started the senate to move forward on this legislation since we started the session of the senate to move forward on this legislation. and the good news, the safer banking bill is about to be reported out of committee with strong bipartisan support this morning. i will bring once it is reported out of committee, i will bring safer banking to the floor for a
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vote as quickly as possible. for too long cannabis businesses have been forced to rely primarily on cash transactions, no credit or debit cards, giving only in cash stifles these businesses growth, opens them up to so many risks, makes them easy targets for theft, bribery and other crimes. no industry has the ability to thrive if they can't access banking infrastructure. especially not an industry that is growing as quickly as the cannabis industry. congress has always been the business of promoting entrepreneurs, promoting small business, promoting job growth. we should continue doing so with the cannabis industry. our safer banking act will connect cannabis businesses especially ones in minority and underserved communities to traditional financial resources like bank accounts and small business loans, creating a safer and more transparent environment for the industry to grow.
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i am also committed to and including criminal justice provisions like coke and grant and safer banking. i have long advocated for expungement to record for cannabis offenses and was safer banking were moving to the committee and a strong bipartisan way now is a time to get it done. so again i thank my colleagues on both sides for their work on this legislation which has been an effort years, years in the making. and once it is reported out of committee i will put safer banking on the floor for a vote very soon. i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. >> yesterday, the senate took the first step avoiding a harmful and unnecessary government shutdown. the business before us now is to pass standard short-term funding legislation to keep basic and essential government functions operating while work continues
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on full-year appropriations. we're talking about making sure that the service members who will continue to stand watch around the world and the border patrol and ice agents who will continue to contend with a biden administration's border crisis at home, and the v.a. medical providers who will continue to care for america's heroes don't have to go without their paychecks. the choice facing congress, pretty straightforward. we can take the standard approach and fund the government for six weeks at the current rate of operations, or we can shut the government down in exchange for zero meaningful progress on policy.
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so let's be clear. there are a number of important discussions on additional funding priorities that are still unresolved. many colleagues are eager to make real progress in bringing the democrats reckless spending to heal, to force the administration to start taking its southern border crisis seriously, to provide greater relief for victims of wildfires, hurricanes, and other natural disasters, and to deliver continuous assistance to ukraine's defense against russia. and of all those accounts i am one of them who would like to address all of those issues. but these important discussions cannot progress if congress simply fails to complete our work on the standard short-term funding, and the basic functions
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of government in debt being taken hostage. so mr. president, a vote against a standard short-term funding measure is a vote against paying over a billion dollars in salary for border patrol and ice agents working to track down lethal fentanyl, letting fema disaster relief fund dry up is not a productive way to advocate for victims of disasters, letting small businesses loan applications collect dust. it's not a productive to help working americans contend with washington democrats have store inflation. shutting down the government is it an effective way to make a point. keeping it open is the only way to make a difference on the most important issues we are facing.
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now, on another matter the american people are absolutely sick, sick and tired of living under bidenomics. according to one recent survey, nearly 70% of americans think the economy is actually getting worse, and support for president biden's handling of the economy is at the lowest level of his presidency. it might have something to do with the fact that since president biden took office soaring inflation has turned rising wages into net pay cuts for american workers. real wages are down 2.3% since 2021. household income fell in 17 states last year, and for all but the wealthiest 20% of households, american families savings have actually shrunk.
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a food truck owner in atlanta told reporters recently that he is paying, listen to this, 25% more for ingredients, while the lines for his sandwiches are dwindling as customers cut back on their spending. this is what he said. i had to raise some of my prices just to kind of keep up to make it. and gas prices when you drive a food truck he only get eight miles a gallon. so the cost of my fuel really hurts. here's what the fed chairman jerome powell said last week. people hate inflation. hate it. the chairman of the fed is absolutely right. working families are tired of wondering how to make ends meet every month. they are tired of being told
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that bidenomics is working for them. >> mr. president, a few weeks ago regulations enacted in the european union went into effect that cover more than a dozen of the world's biggest tech platforms. this includes online marketplaces, app stores and social media platforms like facebook and instagram. the european union regulations address a host of harmful practices, including preventing targeted advertising, minimizing the legal content and hate speech, and most importantly, protecting kids from harmful content. if companies fail to comply in the european union, they can be fined up to 6% of their annual global revenue. they can also be banned from
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operating in the european union countries. this shows that big tech can be regulated. it is possible to craft rules to protect our families without breaking the miracle of the internet. in contrast to what's happening in europe, here in the united states congress has failed to regulate high-tech. and while we sit on our hands, other nations are moving ahead and shaping the rules of the digital world. worse than that, while we fail to act, children are left in harm's way. we can and we must regulate big tech to protect our kids. let me tell you about one young man named carnell johnson. he is from illinois. he's a man who preyed on 17 victims ranging in age from four to 17 years old locator across eight states. his tool of choice, facebook. johnson was set up profiles claiming to be a woman and then
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use these facebook profiles to contact girls all over the country. first he would entice these girls to send him sexually suggested images of themselves in various stages of undress. then he would use of these images to coerce the victims interest in him sexually explicit content. he would threaten to post the new pictures online and bless the young victim submitted to his demands for still more explicit images. horrifically, johnson also directed his teenage victims to sexually abuse younger children in their household, and send him the images. he was prosecuted and sentenced to 45 years in federal prison. johnson was held accountable for his conduct. but what about facebook? johnson could not committed his crimes without the social media platform. he could not have sexually exploited those 17 children in
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eight different states. yet, our current law as written shields facebook for many accountability for the role they played in making carnell johnson's crimes possible. sadly, there are many examples were big tech is failing children in america. earlier this year the "wall street journal" exposed how instagram algorithms are connecting pedophiles and getting them to locations where they can purchase child sexual abuse material. the platform permitted searches with terms associate with child abuse so vile that i will not repeat them in this chamber. senator lindsey graham and i wrote a medic, instagram spirit company in june asking for answers to explain these algorithms. we are still waiting. on x formally known as twitter,, elon musk reinstated the account of the user was banned for tweaking an image of a toddler beaten and tortured. as a late july, the image drawn
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more than 3 million views and 8000 retweets. a study released in june found that twitter fail to stop the uploading of copies of no child sexual abuse material, the study also found that twitter would sometimes allow accounts to remain active until the uploaded it multiple times. elon musk claim of zero tolerance for child exploitation on his platform doesn't reflect the disturbing reality. another company failing our children is apple. in 2021 the company policy it planned to detect united states uploaded to its cloud service. then last month wired published a letter from apple which the company confirmed it will make no effort to address child sexual abuse material stored on its platform. apparently apple views permitting this ongoing child
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sexual exploitation as unacceptable and necessary cost of protecting their right to privacy. but i believe we can live in a world where user privacy and child safety can coexist, and i believe that if i've written a bill that does just that, my stop csam i will stop big tech free write and give victims of we hold these companies accountable for phil to stop online sexual exploitation, in some cases for the actions that make it worse. importantly, the bill achieves this goal of a manner that will avoid any unintended impact on technology that protects privacy. the stop csam act as a part of extensive consultation with stakeholders is passed out of district committee which i chair unanimously. every democrat, every republican supporting it. i am working to bring it to the floor. the senate must act. our failure to do so will preserve the status quo where
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children are being sexually exploited online every single day. what a nightmare. as a father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, you think all the time what i do looking at on those phones all day long? what's on those screams? what message is exempted in? what is changing them from that experience? and what can i possibly do as a parent or grandparent to police what's going on there? we need to have the law on our side you're sure, i wantn to recognize the basic fundamental constitutional rights in our country but have to acknowledge as well we are not doing anything at this point. the current law says that these platforms are not responsible for whatever they do or failed to do. it's a get out of jail free card completely and it is been that way for decades. we've got to wake up to the reality of the year we live in and the reality of life and towns across america. even the most conscientious parents cannot know what is
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going on every hour of every day with children and these screens. sex exploitation which are outlined here in detail is happening. what are we doing about it? if we're going to help americans raise good kids and we want them all to raise good kids we've got to give them the tools and we have to back them up with laws that says we're going to take it seriously. the european union has done it. so why not the united states of america lacks its time for us to make progress in this area for the good of our children. i yield the floor. >> mr. president, no end in sight. that's how one border patrol she described the influx of migrants in the rio grande valley sector of the southern border in march 2021. no end in sight. that was two and half years ago, mr. president. and they're still no end in sight to this crisis. on friday we learned that
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232,972 individuals were caught trying to illegally cross our southern border in the month of august. 232,972. that is the highest august number yet for the biden administration. and all signs suggestive are on track for a third record-breaking year of apprehensions at the southern borders. in fact, roughly 11,000 individuals were apprehended attempted to cross our southern border in just 24 hours. this past weekend. 11,000 in 24 hours. if the white house really thinks it's, , quote, stopping the flow at the border, as white house press secretary said last month, it should think again. and, mr. president, it's important to note that the numbers i mentioned on the reflect individuals who are actually apprehended.
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they don't include individuals who have made their way into the country illegally without without being caught. since the beginning of the biden administration there been at least 1.5 million known gotaways. individuals aboard a patrol detected but was unable to apprehend. mr. president, the biden administration's so-called border plan is clearly not working. and state and local governments are stretched thin. and i'm not just talking about border towns and border states. i'm talking about places like new york city, chicago, massachusetts. as migrants fled into these locations, blue states and blue cities are learning what border states have been experiencing for years, and are struggling with the cost of this crisis is imposing. denver, colorado, has spent
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almost $25 million sheltering migrants. chicago is projected to spend more than $250 million this year on migrant care. and new york city could spend 12 billion, billion with a b, by 202525 on the migrant crisis, possibly precipitating cuts to city services. just to give you one example of the current crisis, the city has begun housing 3000 illegal immigrants in a makeshift shelter on local soccer fields a limited popular source of activity and recreation for local children. here's what near city mayor eric evans had to say about this crisis the other day and i quote, let me tell you something, new yorkers, never in my life have i had a problem that i did not see intending to. i don't see an ending to this.
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this issue will destroy new york city, end quote. that from the mayor of new york, mr. president. mr. president, the border crisis works as a particular outcome, decision made early in the biden administration to the president team was warned of the possibility of a migrant surge. at the moment the president took office he said about dismantling the immigration policies of his predecessor and weakening our nation's border security. and it wasn't long before the border was overwhelmed. and while after two years of the biden administration finally started to at least have the halfheartedly acknowledge the border crisis can what you proactive measures the administration has taken have been ineffective, to say the least. as one columnist put it recently in the "washington post," and i quote, the biden administration's various efforts have mounted to band-aids on a
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massive open wound, end quote. i also give the concerned about some of the new policies the administration seems to be considering. the department of homeland security is reported to be considering requiring some illegal migrants to remain in texas or perhaps other border states while they await a silent screening. now, mr. president, i'm not sure if this is an attempt to steer blue states of having to deal with the border crisis or a recognition of releasing tens of thousands of illegal immigrants into the interior of the country is in a good idea. but regardless, forcing border community shoulder even more of the burden of this crisis is a terrible and profoundly unjust idea. how about actually turning illegal immigrants back at the borders of this country instead of keeping them within the borders of border states? and then there's a supplemental
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funding request the white house sent to congress. as our colleague senator hagerty has pointed out the request includes a provision that would allow immigration and customs enforcement funding to be used for shelters and migrant services. in the words of the senator from tennessee this could add a quote effectively convert i.c.e. from a law enforcement agency into a u.s. travel agency for illegal aliens and into a grantmaking bureaucracy for sanctuary cities, end quote. mr. president, i am pleased the administration and mexico have reached an agreement to which mexico will attempt to reduce pressure on its border cities by sending migrants back to their home countries among other reforms. but after letting this crisis deepen for two and half years, the administration has a lot
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more work to do. mr. president, currently immigration is high on americans list of concerns. and it's no wonder. americans can tell that our borders are open and that things are not getting better. and they know that our current situation is not sustainable. it would be nice if the president could figure that out as well. mr. president, ultimately it's really quite simple. president biden created this crisis. no its and our butts about it. and he has the power to end it. he just needs to decide if he's going to enforce the law. pure and simple. unfortunately until he does so, i'm afraid that will continue to be no end in sight at our
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southern border. mr. president, i yield the floor and i the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved -- i take that back. under the previous order, the senate stands in recess until 2:15. and the u.s senate in recess for the weekly party caucus meetgs. today lawmakers continue work on
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a short-term spending bill to a government shutdn on saturday at midday. e bipartisan measure what extent current funding levels until november 17. in addition the bill provides $6 billion eac for ukraine aid and u.s. disaster relie watch liv coverage of the senate when lawmakers return at 2:15 p.m. eastern here on c-span2. >> since 1979 in partnership with the cable industry, c-span has provided complete coverage of the halls of congress from the house and senate floors to congressional hearings, party briefings and committee meetings. c-span gives you a front-row seat to our issues are debated and decided with no commentary, no interruptions and completely unfiltered. c-span, your unfiltered view of government.
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tight former president donald trump holds a rally outside droit just ahe of the gop presidential debate which he will not be participating in. it will be his first campaign evtince a judge in new york fod him and his company liable for fraud, deceit and banks insurers with exaggerated assets dinancial information in the years prior to being president. you can watchhe former presidentsal live starting at 8 p.m. eastern on c-span2, c-span now our fre mobile video app, or online at c-span.org. >> a healthy democracy doesn't just look like this. it looks like this, where what americans can see democracy at work, were citizens are truly informed, republic thrives. get informed straight from the source on c-span, unfiltered, unbiased, word for word. on the nation's capital to wherever you are. because the opinion that matters most is your own.
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this is what democracy looks like. c-span, powered by cable. >> the chair of the fcc jessica rosenworcel announced plans to reinstate net neutrality rules. she says the text of the policy can be expected in the coming days. the fcc voted for net neutrality in 2015 during the obama administration. it was repealed in 2017 under president trump. this is 25 minutes. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]
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