>> buckeye broadbandupports c-span as a public service, along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. in the senate's gavelling in this morning to consider the internal revenue tax attorney rose jenkins to be a judge on the u.s. tax court for a 15-year term and reportedly lawmakers may voice a bill on a three billion funding shortfall for the veterans that the house passed earlier this week and also expected debate on the short-term funding bill, current spending expires september 30th. this is expected to be the last day of work for the senate this week. you're watching live coverage on c-span2. ... . the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. our chaplain, the reverend

dr. barry black will open the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. dear lord, let this day be marked with resilience and guided by your righteous hand. when our lawmakers are confronted by obstacles, instill unrelenting resolution inside of them to meet the challenges of the changing world. today give them the wisdom to turn from every thought, word, and deed that weakens instead of strengthens. lord, help our senators to

hunger and thirst, to be people of integrity, striving to honor you with their lives. may this be a day when they serve you with gladness because your joy has filled their hearts. lord, all nations are yours. help us to trust you to rule our world. we pray in your merciful name. amen. the presiding officer: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to the flag. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

the presiding officer: the clerk will read a communication to the senate. the clerk: washington d.c., september 19, 2024. to the senate: under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable raphael g. warnock, a senator from the state of georgia, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: patty murray, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. morning business is closed. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the following nomination which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, united states tax court, rose e. jenkins of the district of columbia to be a judge.

>> madam president, in a few weeks time we will mark the one-year anniversary of the war

. it has been almost one year since hamas' horrific terrorist rampage on october 7, which killed 1200 innocent israelis, and took hundreds of hostages, including americans. as i've said many times, israel has an absolute right to defend itself and respond to the hamas attack. but tragically, prime minister netanyahu's extremist government has not simply waged war against hamas. it has waged an all-out war against the palestinian people. israel has conducted this war with little regard for innocent civilians, bombing indiscriminately, and severely restricting the humanitarian relief operation needed by desperate people.

after nearly one year of this carnage, out of a population of some 2.2 million people, more than 41,000 palestinians have been killed, and nearly 95,000 injured. 60% of whom are women, children, or elderly people. that me repeat. 60% of whom are women, children, or elderly people. madam president, netanyahu's policies have trampled on international law, made life unlivable in gaza, and created one of the worst humanitarian disasters in modern history. we cannot continue to turn a blind eye to the scale of the suffering caused by this all-out

war against the palestinian people. 136,000 casualties, most of whom are civilians. the full toll is likely even higher, with thousands of bodies buried beneath the rubble. madam president, 90% of gaza, 90% of the people in gaza have been displaced from their homes. 1.9 1.9 million people. many families have been displaced again and again and again, forced to uproot their lives and pick their way across a war zone with their children, and what little they can carry. these are poor people going from place to place amid bombings and total destruction. when these families find finally a safe place to seek refuge,

perhaps setting up a tent in the so-called safe zone, they are often been forced to evacuate due to renewed israeli bombings. madam president, a few of these even have homes to ever return to. more than 60% of gazans housing has been damaged or destroyed, including 221,000 housing units that have been completely destroyed. imagine, imagine going from place to place knowing that you're never going to be able to return to your home. today, as a result of the devastation of housing in gaza, more than 1 million people are homeless. and i would ask my colleagues to try to think for a moment what

it means to be carrying your children from place to place in the heat without food, without water, one, speaker johnson's deeply flawed and highly partisan c.r. failed by a vote of 202-220. the no votes included democrats, republicans, fiscal hawks, conservative ideologues and people in between. in other words, there was broad opposition to the speaker's partisan maneuver. it's time the speaker moves on. sadly, time is not a luxury that congress has right now. today is september 19. the government shutdown is september 30. that's 11 days away. and instead of doing the bipartisan work everyone knows is required for avoiding a shutdown, the house republican leadership has wasted two weeks, two weeks listening to donald trump's le dick louse --

ridiculous claims on the campaign trail. now that their efforts have failed, house republicans don't seem to have any plan for actually keeping the government open. so the senate will step in. later today, i'll file cloture on a legislative vehicle that will enable us to prevent a trump shutdown in the event that speaker johnson does not work with us in a bipartisan, bicameral manner. both sides are going to spend the next few days trying to figure out the best path remaining for keeping the government open. by filing today, i'm giving the senate maximum flexibility for preventing a shutdown. democrats and americans don't want a trump shutdown. i dare say most republicans, at least in this chamber, don't want to see a trump shutdown. and the american people certainly don't want their elected representatives in washington creating a shutdown for the stake of donald trump's

ridiculous claims when it's clear he doesn't even know how the legislative process works. senators are ready to work this process the right way. democrats talking to republicans, both sides at the negotiating table finding a way to keep the government open without partisan hoopla. the speaker must choose. either keep paying blind obeisance to donald trump and his ridiculous claims or work with both parties to spare the american people from a republican shutdown. and just a parenthetical note. how does anyone expect donald trump to be a president when he has such little understanding of the legislative process. he's daring the congress to shut down. i remember he did that with speaker -- with leader pelosi and i in his office a while back. it didn't work out too well for him. our republican colleagues should not blindly follow donald trump. he doesn't know what he's doing. he doesn't have a plan. and frankly, he doesn't know

what he's talking about. now, on project 2025. later today, senate democrats will hold a press conference to expose donald trump's 2025 project -- project 2025 for what it actually is. project 2025, trump's project 2025, is the most harmful, most unhinged and most extreme conservative agenda in recent american history. by now, many americans have heard about project 2025, and the more people learn about trump's plan the more they realize how disastrous it would be for our country. i could speak about project 2025 every morning for the remainder of the work period and still not have enough time to cover all the nasty things hiding inside this agenda. for middle-class families project 2025 will raise taxes by $3,000. and it caters to the ultra wealthy by giving people who earn more than $10 million a

$1.5 million tax break. for workers, project 2025 will undermine overtime pay, resulting in less pay for longer hours for middle-class americans who work hard and often have to work more than 40 hours a week. as many as 4.3 million americans will have their overtime and wage protections eroded. for our national security, project 2025 will make us less safe by gutting agencies charged with protecting americans at home and around the world. and for our border security project 2025 reject the bipartisan plan we've released earlier this year, the strongest bipartisan border security measure in decades. it also adopts a policy of utterly cruel mass deportations with little or no due process and even risks deporting three million dreamers. how cruel. deport three million dreamers? it's in project 2025. and finally, project 2025 will

weaken our democracy by opening the floodgates to foreign interference and big money in politics. if all of that isn't enough, just yesterday donald trump's running mate actually proposed going back to the days when having a preexisting condition meant you pay far more for your health insurance. that's right, under the trump-vance plan, anyone with a chronic condition or estimated 125 million -- 129 million americans could face outrageously expensive health care costs. this is all beyond sinister stuff. while donald trump tries to run away from project 2025, here's the simple truth -- donald trump owns project 2025 and every single one of its proposals. project 2025 has been led by hundreds of former trump administration officials chomping at the bit to get back in government and impose their

horrible plans. some of these sections were written by trump's own cabinet officials, and trump himself said in a speech that the heritage foundation, which houses project 2025 would, quote, lay the groundwork and detail plans for exactly what our moment will do. let me say that again. this is donald trump talking about the heritage foundation, which has created project 2025, it would lay the groundwork and detail plans for exactly what our moment will do. as the head of the heritage foundation said earlier this year, that his goal was -- and the head of the heritage foundation said earlier this year that his goal was, quote, institutionalizing trumpism, including with project 2025. let me say it again -- institutionalizing trumpism. who are these guys fooling? now, of course, even trump himself is backing off with all

the criticism, because it's so far away. these right wing ideologues want to steer america over the cliff and hurt just about every average american. and then, when it becomes public what they want to do, when the public learns more of what they want to do, they try to say, oh, we really didn't mean it. but we know they did. watch out, america. watch out for project 2025. it will hurt you. it will hurt your family. and it will be implemented by donald trump and his right wing coterie if he gets elected. hispanic heritage month, finally i'd like to wish my colleagues and americans everywhere happy hispanic heritage month, which crystallizes why we live in an amazing country. you can't tell america's story without talking about hispanic americans who left their mark in every corner of life --

entertainment, sciences, arts, food, military, government. hispanic heritage month is perhaps more important today than ever it has been. some politicians are trying furious will i to demonize america -- furiously to demonize america's diversity, but diversity is what makes america strong. it's what makes america wondrous. that's why i've always fought to defend dreamers and fight for comprehensive immigration reform. it's why i've worked with the biden-harris administration to lowers insulin costs, make communities safer, and help hins yanick-owned -- hims yanick-owned -- hispanic-owned businesses. finally, i will fight for the latino museum to honor the contributions of hispanics and latinos to our nation, and so much more. we can get it done.

si se puede. in the senate, we have confirmed 22 women, and the first latino to -- latina to serve on the board in the history of the board. the first hims yanick judge on the -- hispanic judge on the circuit court. speaking of puerto rico, there are few causes that mean more to me as a senator than helping puerto ricans have greater opportunity and a better life. a few months ago, i championed legislation that expands snap benefits to puerto ricans who have been unjustly excluded from this program for decades. is one reason it's crucial we make progress on the farm bill. because puerto ricans deserve the justice that's long been denied to them. america's strength has always been rooted in our diversity, our immigrant heritage, being a home to americans for all walks of life. so today, i want to celebrate the contributions of hispanic americans to the country we call

home. without them, america as we know it would not be possible. i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. not yet. i ask unanimous consent that when the senate resume legislative session and proceed to the consideration of h.r. 9468, which was received from the house and is at the desk. further, that the only amendment in order to the bill be paul 3289, which is did he tophic. that time -- is at the desk. time until 1130 only on the amendment, and 11:30 a.m. the senate vote on the amendment, with 60 affirmative votes required for adoption. further, upon disposition, the bill as amended, if amended be considered read a third time and the senate vote on passage, as amended, if amended, all without further intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. mr. schumer: i yield the

quorum -- no. the clerk: h.r. 94678, an act -- h.r. 9468, an act making supplemental appropriations for the year ending september 30, 2024, and for other purposes. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the clerk: ms. baldwin.

>> chellie pingree democrat of maine representing the first district in that in theg us. thank you for being here. let's start with that spending bill proposed by the speaker of the house to fund the government for six months at current level. it included the save act. we been talking about here on "washington journal" this morning. how did you vote? >> guest: i voted against that. i i don't think the save act was necessary and honestly we see that what we call a clean cr probably for three months just

to move this forward. that was a bill put on the floor for political reasons, yet the speaker didn't have the votes to pass it. this is one of those things were we all kind of have is going to end. we need to agree with the senate, have the president passed the cr. we could've done that last week and got on with other important business but this is kind of the way this particular congress has gone. there's political back-and-forth, some attention that a potential gotcha votes. what happens at the end is republicans don't have the vote on the outside to pass the measures they propose. we're stuck at ground zero again. perhaps what will happen next will be the senate proposes a bill. again what we call a clean cr, continuing resolution that just moves us forward so we can finish negotiating issues appropriations bills. >> host: congresswoman, three of your democratic colleagues did vote for the six-month

continuing resolution, including your colleague from maine, democrat jared golden. he posted on x yesterday he voted for this because for two principles. first, keeping the government funding and is a basic obligation to congress and second citizenship in the u.s. confers often responsibilities and exclusive rights including the exclusive right to vote in american elections. these principles he says are noncontroversial. how to respond to your colleague? >> guest: we don't always agree. welcome to politics. welcome to the big ten of democratic politics. we can all disagree at certain times. noncitizens already do not have the right to vote and i worry things like the save act our way to repress the vote and what we know is a very important election. we have built up the sort of the stigma about the emigrants, the asylum-seekers, people are in a country now. there's little evidence of fraud

around voting or of noncitizens voting. it's already illegal. i didn't think we need to add that to the bill. let's face it, in the practical work of politics here, that was never going to move probably through the house and certainly not passed in the senate. i believe are most awesome responsibility to keep the government open. i'm on the appropriations committee. i negotiate these bills. i got to work through every detail of review bill and i know what asus negotiators and i know what a political gotcha buildings and there's no way i was wasting my vote on that. >> host: so why not though, if it's unnecessary, you said and it could repress the boat, what evidence is there that it could repress the vote? >> guest: i worry it's another way to sanction a purging of the voting rules which might take a lot of people off of the voting rolls who belong on their pickets would ask people to bring an necessary information to their polling places.

it's a complex ideas to say prove that you are a citizen. every state has a specific election laws to know who should be on the voting rolls, who should be removed, what it takes to prove you are in voter in that district. i trust the system we have. i feel like this attention on the voting is rigged, the former president saying no election is fair in this country, gives people the wrong idea about a system that's worked very well for us and voting has been very secure with very little fraud. >> host: if a continuing resolution is not passed, then what would happen? >> guest: we have been there before. we will have a government shutdown. i know from talking to many of my republican colleagues they don't want to see shutdown. the american people get so discouraged with the government, and the idea we would shut it down again, and this important time, is ludicrous. i know there are impacts in my state, been through government

shutdowns before. it's not good for anybody. it shuts down vital services of the government. it's obligated. we know where we're going here. we all know we have to have a continuing resolution. we eventually have to come up with an appropriations bill that serves both sides. i've been in this republican house for a while. i've been an appropriator and i know the republicans have to propose really ridiculous budgets with dramatic cuts that no one will agree to not even their own side, and they had to go through that whole cycle and there we goth back to the drawig board, we come to mr. mcconnell: since october 7, the israeli military has achieved remarkable success in destroying hamas' capacity to wage war and in targeting hezbollah terrorists. but israel's operations against

the terrorists surrounding it have also succeeded in exposing some of the most malignant and persistent biases of western media against the jewish state. -- jewish state of israel. we need to look no further than the astonishing willingness of the most prominent outlets in america to parrot the terrorists' preferred casualty figures produced by hamas' own health ministry or the haste of even the nation's so-called paper of record. a devastating strike on a hospital that careful work showed to be the work of the terrorists themselves. to deny the role of careless

coverage and outright bias in the groundswell of anti-semitic hate across the west is willful ignorance. consider just this morning, for example, courtesy of taxpayer-funded national public radio, in its coverage of an apparent israeli operation to target hezbollah networks, npr described hezbollah as a, quote, lebanese militant and political group, end quote. the most accurate description of hezbollah, a terrorist organization, was conspicuously absent. and npr editors did manage to

include a quote from a man on the street accusing israel of terrorism. well, as intrepid journalists so often remind us, context matters, and it matters especially in the work of an organization that takes federal government funding and whose ceo has declared that, quote, reverence for the truth might be a distraction, end quote. so let's establish some context. hezbollah is arguably the world's most dangerous terrorist group. the u.s. government and more than 60 other countries recognize this essential characteristic. hezbollah is funded, trained, and equipped by iran, and with iran's help, hezbollah has conducted terror attacks all

around the world, from bombings in argentina and greece to backing the ghoulish assad regime and the syrian civil war -- in the syrian civil war. hezbollah killed 321 americans in bombings at the u.s. embassy marine barracks and annex in beirut back in 1983 and 1984. they also coordinated with the irgc and its master terrorist soleimani to kill hundreds of u.s. servicemembers in iraq and, of course, hezbollah continues to threaten u.s. personnel in iraq and syria today. but, of course, one of hezbollah's primary reasons for existence is the murder of jews

and the destruction of the jewish state. to the extent that it is a political entity, it has corrupted and strangled lebanon's fragile democracy, and hezbollah's efforts to threaten israel are tens of thousands of missiles, that's what has put lebanon in the spotlight. so it may be worth mentioning that perhaps the most carefully targeted series of simultaneously attacks against terrorist operatives in human history comes in response to this all-consuming campaign which has turned lebanon into a staging area for war on israel's exist edges. -- existence. so how is that for context?

it's my understanding the senior senator from vermont has said he will introduce joint resolutions of disapproval of u.s. security assistance to israel. such a signal would only empower and embolden terrorists like hamas and hezbollah. each of our colleagues deserves a chance to go on record right away to reject in extremism. now, on a different matter, i spoke yesterday about how working americans are having a tough time figuring out where vice president harris stands on left-wing climate policy. she's played both sides of issues that carry real consequences with the livelihoods and family budgets. and, unfortunately, it doesn't stop at the green new deal. voters consistently report that border security is among their

top concerns, and with good reason. in the last four years, humanitarian chaos and a security crisis at the southern border has set all the wrong records. since the biden-harris administration took office, cbp has recorded more than 9.9 million encounters with illegal aliens, and this doesn't include the nearly two million known got-aways. in the past fiscal year alone, cbp has encountered 2.3 million people attempting to illegally enter our country, and the democratic nominee for president also happens to be the current administration's point person responsible for this exact issue. you might expect the border czar to have taken command and left a

clear idea of where she stands on otoissue. ah, but think again. back in 2020 she described president trump's border wall as a complete waste of taxpayer money that won't make us any safer. but recently she said that she would sign senator lankford's border bill into law if it lands on her desk. remember, this is a bill that would unlock hundreds of millions of dollars to fund construction of that wall. in 2019 when she first ran for president, our former colleague expressed support for decriminalizing illegal border crossings. apparently this was a long-standing view. in her maiden speech in the senate, she proclaimed, i know what a crime looks like, and i will tell you, an undocumented immigrant is not a criminal. but, according to her campaign, she no longer believes that.

on other aspects of border policy, her campaign has declined to say whether her earlier commitments still hold true. vice president harris has bragged that she was, quote, one of the first senators after president trump was elected to advocate for a decrease in funding to ice. is she still proud of that stand? the harris campaign won't say. this is especially puzzling given her stated support for the lankford border bill, which increased funding for ice. does she know what's in the legislation she says she now endorses? in this body, she introduced legislation to decrease detention by at least 50% and end funding for new detention facilities. would she sign a bill like that today? the campaign is mum on the issue.

and they're similarly tight-lipped on the vice president's 2019 statement for taxpayer-funded gender transition treatment for persons in immigration detention facilities. this isn't to say that the american people are at a total loss for clues on where the vice president stands. she repeated often in the campaign trail that, quote, my values have not changed. and it's useful to note who's taken her word for it. the director of a immigration group put it this way, we all know vice president harris will make the right decisions when she is in office. when it comes to campaign strategy, some of our democratic completion are even saying the quiet part out loud. the senior senator from vermont,

a self-described democratic socialist, said, quote, i don't think she's had abandoning her -- she's abandoning her ideas. i think she's trying to be pragmatic and doing what she thinks is right in order to win the election. the senior senator from hawaii reiterated this point. he said, quote, i certainly don't think we should be demanding that she take unpopular positions in key states. sitting democratic senators are calling it like it is. our former colleague is saying what needs to be said to appeal to independent voters, but when it comes to her progressive idea, she's dyed in the wool. she just needs to wait until the election to let the mask come off. so for voters trying to make sense of where the vice president stands, it really comes down to this -- if washington democrats'

left-wing base isn't afraid of her flip-flops, then it's safe to say that working americans should be. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the clerk: ms. baldwin.

>> republican. >> caller: i have an analogy about the voting. now, we have laws against speeding, but what good would it be if we didn't check for speeders and arrest speeders? that's like in voting, , you hae laws against illegals voting but you don't want to check for illegal voters. so what good is it? people can just do what they want to do and they get away with it. and also, greta, you should do away with your independent light because it's all democrats. they have two lines. there's a democrat line and independent line which they abused daily. thank you. >> guest: it's an interesting point about independents. i come from a state where more people are we call them on a robot or independent voters than democrats or republicans. i think you find a lot of people who just wouldn't want to call in on it of those other lines,

that's your housekeeping issues to fix, not mine. interesting question brought up about the speeders but again i will say every state has its own system for voting. every state does everything they can to make sure voting is secure. the concern is that individual states could have excessive requirements, things like birth certificates, which are not always available to people. states have ways to purge their own voter rolls, ways to determine that your registered voter in that town touch of residents in the town or your probably going to school in that community. it's worked overtime and i think it's an erroneous argument. it is against the law to vote if you are noncitizens, and it is my understanding that it rarely ever occurs. >> host: we will go to bill in delaware, independent. >> caller: yes, as an independent, in many states i have no safe into what candidates come forward. because only republicans and

democrats can decide who are the candidates. that being set aside, i would like to point out that massive deportation is undertaken, there were so many categories of people who were here without documents. we had people who are overstays cocaine for vacation. we have people came here for school and never left. we have people who are spouses or relatives of people who they came to visit, and they never left. we also have people who are asylum-seekers who can't be processed because we don't have a mechanism to do it. we have not an adequate system to provide a judgeship and hearings and decisions regarding are you an asylum seeker legally? i believe that the current

system is so broken and it's been brokenfi for 40, president. mr. president, it was another installment of show vote summer in the senate this week. really, the senate is starting to feel like an arm of the dnc. when i say show votes, mr. president, because, of course, this week's vote and the other show votes we've taken this summer had nothing at all to do with legislating. these were not attempts to pass bills. these were future campaign talking points and television commercials. if the democrat leader really wanted to pass legislation, i could think of a number of bills he could have brought up but he's not interested in getting anything done. he's interested, he hopes, in getting votes in november. mr. president, with rare exceptions, the senate has spent essentially the entire summer confirming biden nominees and

conducting show votes. and that's not because there hasn't been important legislation for us to take up. in fact, it's quite the opposite. the senate has crucial legislation that should -- it should have been considering. the national defense authorization act for one thing. one of the most important pieces of legislation we consider each year. defense appropriations. veterans appropriations. all appropriations. the end of the fiscal year is almost upon us. we have 11 days left. yet we haven't taken up a single appropriations bill on the senate floor. and that's not because the appropriations committee hasn't been doing its work. again, quite the opposite. by the beginning of august, the senate appropriations committee had passed 11 out of the 12 yearly appropriations bills. several of them unanimously. just yesterday senator collins, vice chair of the senate appropriations committee was on

the floor urging the democrat leader to take action on the appropriations bills. there is zero, zero reason why we shouldn't have taken up these bills on the senate floor. and the only reason we haven't is because the democrat leader has been more interested in scoring political points than in doing the job we were all sent here to do. i hope these hypothetical political points were worth the cost to our military that comes with continuing resolutions. which is what we're going to be forced to resort to now to keep the government running. mr. president, in a properly functioning senate, committee work would be reflected on the senate floor. for example, by taking up the appropriations bills that the committee has produced. but in the schumer senate, leadership is top-down. and so the actual work of the senate and the hard work of the committees has taken a back seat to the democrat leader's

political machinations. as i said, he's currently ignoring the national defense authorization act and 11 appropriations bills all passed out of the committee, all available for floor consideration, in some cases for months. in addition to ignoring committee work, the democrat leader is also happy to entire r interfere with -- is happy to interfere with or go around committees when it suits him. the commerce committee's finally release of the federal aviation administration reauthorization bill was delayed for months, months because the democrat leader objected to an amendment that was likely to pass in committee on a bipartisan basis. rather than letting the democratic process play out, the democratic leader chose to call a halt to committee consideration of the bill bringing the commerce committee's work to a standstill literally for months. and while he did finally allow the senate to take up the bill,

we passed the bill a total of eight months after the previous reauthorization had expired, again solely because the democrat leader didn't like an amendment that was likely to pass with bipartisan support. i was not surprised to learn last week that the leader may proceed right to an informal conference on the national defense authorization act, bypassing consideration of the senate version of the bill on the floor of the united states senate. again, one of the most consequential pieces of legislation that we do on an annual basis and which should have allowed to have every member have a choice through an amendment process on the floor. he has made it very clear that member input is not one of his priorities. and as if the senate weren't dysfunctional enough, if democrats win the majority, the

democrat leader intends to destroy perhaps the most important senate rule we have, the senate filibuster, permly diminishing, if not eliminating any meaningful voice for the minority in the united states senate. which is what this institution was created to represent. mr. president, my great hope is to see a properly functioning senate again, one where for starters we actually take up each year's appropriations bills after they come out of the comm committee. i want to see a senate where committee work is recognized and serves as the basis for the floor schedule and where committee chairmen are empowered. the senate where members have the opportunity to have their voices heard through a robust amendment process from committee to final consideration here on

the floor of the senate. and a senate where the role the senate plays in the legislative branch is respected and pro protected starting with safeguarding the filibuster rule which helps preserve the senate's role as the founders said, cooling saucer of democracy. i don't have much hope that we'll see this type of senate if democrats are reelected and the current democrat leader continues in his role. but it's the kind of senate that i will continue to work for and that i hope a majority of senators aspire to. in the meantime, i guess we'll continue to the democrat leader's show votes. mr. president, i yield the floor. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

the clerk: ms. baldwin.

>> madam president, in a few weeks time we will mark the one-year anniversary of the war in the middle east. it is that almost one year since

hamas' horrific terrorist rampage on october 7, which killed 1200 innocent israelis, and took hundreds of hostages, including americans. as i've said many times, israel has an absolute right to defend itself and respond to the hamas attack. but tragically, prime minister netanyahu's extremist government has not simply waged war against hamas. it has waged an all-out war against the palestinian people. israel has conducted this war with little regard for innocent civilians, bombing indiscriminately, and severely restricting the humanitarian relief operation needed by desperate people. after nearly one year of this

carnage, out of the population of some 2.2 million people, more than 41,000 palestinians have been killed, and nearly 95,000 injured. 60% of whom are women, children, or elderly people. let me repeat. 60% of whom are women, children, or elderly people. madam president, netanyahu's policies have trampled on international law, made life unlivable in gaza, and created one of the worst humanitarian disasters in modern history. we cannot continue to turn a blind eye to the scale of the suffering caused by this all-out war against the palestinian

people. 136,000 casualties, most of whom are civilians. the full toll is likely even higher with thousands of bodies buried beneath the rubble. madam president, 90% of gaza, 90% of the people in gaza have been displaced from their homes. 1.9 million people. many families have been displaced again and again and again, forced up with their lives and pick the way across a war zone with their children, and what little they can carry. these are for people going from place to place amid bombings -- poor people -- and amid destruction. when these families find finally a safe place to seek refuge,

perhaps setting up a tent in the so-called safe zone, they are often been forced to evacuate to renewed israeli bombings. madam president, few of these people even have homes to ever return to. more than 60% of gaza's housing has been damaged or destroyed, including 221,000 housing units that have been completely destroyed. imagine, imagine going from place to place knowing that you are never going to be able to return to your home. today, as the result of the devastation of housing in gaza, more than 1 million people are homeless. and i would ask my colleagues to try to think for a moment what it means to be carrying your

children from place to place in the heat without food, without water, knowing that your home that you came from has been destroyed. and that's what's going on today. madam president, what we are witnessing now is not just the loss of human life as severe, terrible as that is. gaza civilian infrastructure has been devastated, including water and sewage systems. raw sewage runs through the streets, spreading disease. clean water is still in short supply. most of the roads in gaza are impassable, torn up by bombing and bulldozers, and there is virtually no electricity right now. ..

95000 people have been injured putting children get 19 hospitals have been knocked out. the world health organization reported thousands of tax on healthcare facilities. not surprisingly the collapse of the healthcare system and diseases like hepatitis, polio and other infections have taken hold. cosa has 12 universities. every single one of them have hundreds of schools.

88% of all school buildings have been damaged. 80% of school buildings in gaza have been damaged and 500 people have been killed while sheltering in schools. there are many hundreds of thousands of children, a lot of children. virtually none of them have been to school since the war began. corsican unspeakable, there's something even worse taking place in gaza now. that is in as a result of restrictions on humanitarian aid people in gaza are now starving to death.

leading experts from the un estimate for 95000 palestinians facing starvation. more than 50000 children require treatment and are at risk of starving. not a doctor but i know enough to tell you these children for the rest of their lives. malnourished women struggle. formula is inaccessible and when available, it cannot be used without source of clean water. according to the un virtually every humanitarian organization functioning and gaza is one primary reason for the

suffering. israel severely restricted the amount of humanitarian aid including food, water and medical supplies that can reach the desperate people of gaza. this is clear violation of u.s. and international law. clear violation of u.s. and international law. every day the environment continues. following carried out with u.s. provided weaponry financed by american taxpayers.

congress voted to send $10 million in american taxpayer dollars to buy more bombs and weapons to wage war. it must and. along $20 billion. they are the only tool congress has to block sales which are inconsistent with international law. the senate will vote.

let me outline why it is critical we prevent the sales from going forward. i have laid out the horrible reality of the situation of gaza but the sad truth is that much of this carnage carried out with military equipment providing offensive weapons to continue disastrous war would be immoral and also illegal. these contradict this act of 1961. these require the transfer to foreign countries must be

consistent with internationally recognized human rights and advance interest and avoid u.s. complicity with any human rights. that is the purpose. during the august recess, the administration sent official letters and they clearly do not need these. 120-millimeter background and explosive quarter round and up to 50. all these systems have been used in innocent men women and

children. they been used on a significant portion of the civilian. they have painstakingly documented numerous in the incidence involving these leading to unacceptable deaths. there's a mountain of evidence regarding this. hundreds of eyewitness testimony and satellite imagery, one single thing. these weapons are being used in international law. i have a list of the most egregious incidents involving systems tragically. the list is too long for me to read but i asked that this be

included. >> without objection. >> the administration's report pursuant to national security memorandum concluded that it's reasonable to assess the articles have been used since october 7 and instances inconsistent with international humanitarian obligations to establish best practices. reports stated high levels of civilian casualties for whether the defense course is using medication effectively.

it's not just the civilian casualties. presiding officer: w objection. mr. daines: it's been my privilege to represent the people of montana in congress for more than a deck achltd i've seen -- for more than a decade. i've heard my constituents voice concerns and deservedly so about many of them. by far, one of the worst habits that congress has is its failure to follow its own budget process. in fact, it's not an understatement to say that the budget process has completely collapsed in both chambers, and i hear about this back home, and rightfully so. wherever i go in montana, folks tell me they're tired of the dysfunction here in congress, and especially its lack of fiscal discipline. for a body elected to represent the will of the people, we're doing the exact opposite. this is simply not what our constituents sent us here to do. too many families in our country living paycheck to paycheck,

working sometimes multiple jobs to make ends meet, and most importantly they're sacrificing to do so. when they elect their representatives, they expect good, responsible governing. they expect congress to operate more like they do when it comes to budgeting, spending, and living within their means. yet, year in and year out, congress does anything but. let me read you the tail of the -- the tale of the tape. the last time congress enacted all 12 appropriations, you could say it's passing the budgets, they're called appropriation bills, the last time they met the goal of getting it done by september 30, the end of the of the federal government was 1997. that's nearly three decades ago. it's not like we wake up on the first of january every year and wonder when are they going to schedule september 30, when is september 30 going to fall this

year? it's not like they surprise us, we say my word, it's september 30. no surprise. 27 consecutive years. even sadder is how congress has ignored the budget act. the budget control act became law in 1974. this law put into place the modern budget process. it was enacted, ironically, to give congress more control over federal spending and the budget process. theoretically, this would give our constituents a stronger say in how their tax dollars are spent. but what has congress done with that authority? since the budget control act became law 50 years ago, congress has been out of control, though the budget control act was passed 50 years ago. congress rarely passes a budget resolution anymore, which is supposed to start the budget process every spring. this resolution is supposed to provide a roadmap for how we approach the appropriations process. without this roadmap, congress inevitably depends itself in

a -- finds itself in a spending train wreck. our constituents, by default, have little say in how their tax dollars are spent. that's exactly what has happened year after year after year, 27 consecutive years in fact. in the past 50 years, since the budget control act was passed, congress has only enacted all 12 appropriations on time four times -- 19-77, 19 -- 1977, 1989, 1995, and then 1997. again, back to 1997, we'll now have a 27-year consecutive losing streak as we will go past september 30 without having the appropriations passed fer. this year, senate democratic leadership hasn't brought a single appropriations bill to the floor, and we're just 12 days from the beginning of the new fiscal year. continuing resolutions that fund the government at current levels are now the norm.

in fact, between 1977 and last year, congress passed 200 continuing resolutions. 200. and thus the threat of a government shutdown is always looming. all this forces congress to fund the government through what we call omnibus appropriations. for those watching back home, that means instead of giving each appropriator an appropriations bill a hearing and scrutiny it deserves, most of the spending bills are all lumped together into one or two giant bills, often thousands of pages long each. no one has time to read the entire bill before we pass it. so it's usually chock-full of wasteful spending, pet projects inserted literally in the dead of night. since 1982, congress has passed 36 omnibus appropriation bills. that's just short of one per

year. since that time, omnibus appropriation bills have served as a legislative vehicle for more than half of the federal government's appropriations. in short, our broken budget process has created an incredible amount of uncertainty. in fact, the only thing that is certain in the whole mess is that this broken process has exacerbated the federal government's out-of-control spending. it's no way to run a household, small business, not to mention the government, and the american people know it. why is all this important? as i mention, congress doesn't have a revenue problem. it's not a revenue problem. look at our deficits and debt. this is not a revenue problem. this is a spending problem, no matter how you look at it. our failed process is not only a cause for the fiscal disaster, it's also playing a role. the last time our government had

a surplus was 23 years ago. the budget deficit for this year will be around $2 trillion. that's unprecedented. in fact, the deficit over the next decade will now total a staggering $22 trillion. that's the deficit, added a on top of the current debt. even more frightening is the fact that medicare will be broke by 2031, social security by 2034. by 2035, c.b.o. estimates that debt held by the public will top $50 trillion and be the equivalent of 122% of our gdp. these are staggering numbers. we can't ignore this crisis. to start the long process of fixing it, we need to start with serious reforms in the budget process. the people of montana know i'm not a creature of washington, nor frankly do i care to be. i'm not a career politician. i did not work my way up through the ranks of state legislatures. my experience is in the private

sector. anyone who is he's been to mandela -- anyone who's been to montana knows that while montana is the most beautiful state in our country shall the strength of our great state lies with its people. we're hardworking folks. they believe in an honest day's work for an honest day's pay. and they never hesitate to share a good dose of common sense, something that i find severely lacking leer in you should with a. -- here in washington, d.c. montana common sense combined with my private-sector background taught me a number of principles that i think we can apply to our budget process. for starters, let's hold members accountable and performance needs to be scrutinized. when structural failure persists, it's got to be addressed. for that reason, if members of congress can't pass all 12 appropriations bills, suspend their bill. shut down the pay of the members of congress. in fact, shut down their pay. shut down their travel. force them to stay here in

washington. and, believe me, this will get resolved rather quickly. because we all know, if you don't do your job, you don't deserve to be paid, especially when the american people are the folks paying us. that would put an end to government shutdowns. and, let's be honest -- shutting down the government only punishes the american people and increases cost, which is exactly the wrong thing we need to do. but put the pain on congress, and that will start to change things around here in a hurl rhode island -- in a hurry. second, congress should address all spending, including discretionary and nondiscretionary programs. think about it. discretionary spending is utterly dysfunctional, and there's virtually no forcing mechanisms to require congress to actually deal with the autopilot spending that accounts for nearly 70% of federal spending. and avoiding the tough challenges of mandatory spending means our national debt will just continue to soar to a new,

incomprehensible heights, and that puts our kids and grandchildren on the hook. this will require a bipartisan cooperation to save these programs and future generations. and speaking of bipartisanship, the reforms we make must work, whether we have unified government or divided government. right now it's about impossible to pass a bicameral budget during divided government. this just leads to the unwanted, behind-closed-doors mad dash as the expiration for the latest continuing resolution approaches. which leads to my final and maybe my most important point -- any reforms to our broken budget process must be bipartisan. there's always going to be disagreements around how taxpayer dollars should be spend, but we should be able to agree on a workable, durable process. to that end, we need to build on the good work of my late friend and former colleague, mike enzi of wyoming.

during two decades serving in the senate, mike worked tirelessly on this issue. i believe two attention. the first would reorient the budget resolution to a two-year cycle. that would allow congress more time to develop and enforce the budget. i also believe senator enzi's proposal to create at new reconciliation process that can only be useded to reduce the deficit also warrants consideration. there are many others. i know a number of my completion have weighed in on this as well. so the question i pose today is, when are we going to get serious about addressing this calamity? how many more times are we going to kick the can down the road? how many more shutdowns? how high muster deficits and -- must our deficits and debt climb before we say enough is enough? mr. president, i humbly submit today that we did reach that

point actually long ago it is past time to bring the common sense of montanans to bear on the nation's budget process. now is the time for serious budget reform. thank you, mr. president. mr. sullivan: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from alaska. mr. sullivan: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that i be permitted to speak for up to 20 minutes and senator paul be permitted to speak for up to ten minutes prior to the scheduled roll call vote. the presiding officer: without objection.

mr. sullivan: mr. president, i want to compliment my good friend from montana, senator daines, who was on the floor just now talking about government accountability, and that's what i am going to talk about, government accountability, and we need much more of it, and we need much more of it, mr. president, in the veterans administration. so today, mr. president, what i'm going to be doing is i'm going to ask for unanimous consent on my bill, the pro-vets act. that we all need to move forward both on funding the v.a. -- and i'm going to talk about this shortfall -- but also on having some reforms to the v.a., and they're very simple, mr. president. i'll be really disappointed if any of my colleagues come down here and block my unanimous consent request. that's just me asking all my senate colleagues to pass this bill right now. but when you hear about it, mr. president, you'll say, why

wouldn't we pass that? holy cow! the v.a. needs a little accountability, actually a lot of accountability? but here's what's going on? a little context of my legislation, which, by the way, mr. president, right now already has 15 cosponsors. we just put this together two weeks ago given the crisis at the v.a., and it's got 15 cosponsors. so, just -- six weeks ago, mr. president, congress wag officially informed, and many of us were surprised -- and by the way, i sit on the vet veterans' affairs committee -- our committee was informed that the v.a. was experiencing a $15 billion shortfall. my state has more veterans than any state? the country.

very important constituency of mine. they wouldn't get their benefits unless we act real quick. so, mr. president, the house acted two nights ago, and we're going to get this money down. we'll get it. we want to make sure our veterans have their benefits. but in exchange, we're asking, hey, what's going on over at the v.a.? we see this all the time, mismanagement, last-minute requests for money, illegal bonuses up to $11 million just a couple months ago paid out to people in the v.a. who don't deserve t so my bill is very simple. it's going to bring accountability to the v.a. of course, that's a vital institution senator our veterans and our country -- with some more oversight in accountability. it's not complicated at all a

it's basically two things. we're going to fund this short-term $3 billion amount of money the v.a. says it needs asap, even though they didn't inform us until six weeks ago. by the way you the total -- the total amount that they need in terms of how they screwed up the budget is $15 billion, mr. president. that's a lot of money. and so it just says, the bill requires two things. it institutes a three-year requirement for the secretary of the v.a. to submit quarterly in-person budget reports to congress to encourage greater oversight and financial accountability. that's pretty simple. and that the secretary should come to us quarterly with these budget estimates and brief our committee, the v.a. committee, in person.

easy. and for any future financial shortfalls, which we're experiencing right now, it would result in the withholding of bonuses for senior v.a. and omb personnel who worked on that budget. that's it. that's it, mr. president. most people would say, hey, that's pretty good reform. it's not too much. but, remarkably, i think one of my senate colleagues is is going to come down here and object. so we're going to throw $3 billion at the v.a. and we just have simple reforms. the secretary come quarterly to the committee. here's our quarterly estimates. and oh, by the way, if you are part of the team at the senior level that screwed up the budget, you don't get a bonus. what's wrong with that? maybe my colleagues won't object. that's it. that's the bill, because we're going to give the v.a., again,

additional money that none -- that they didn't plan for. so, mr. president, this is not the first time this has happened. as a matter of fact, i have been on the v.a. committee going on ten years. i really like the committee, as i mentioned. veterans in america and veterans in alaska is so important. the v.a. in d.c. often screws up the budget, often comes up with scandals. heck, just a couple months ago, $11 million went out to senior v.a. officials for bonuses that they didn't deserve. in a hearing yesterday, i asked, has anyone been held responsible for that? no. anyone held responsible for this budget oversight? no. so is, as i mentioned, mr. president, there's been a lot of these kind of scandals, some you might remember the v.a. secret waiting list that the phoenix veterans affairs --

affairs health training system. cnn described the secret list as part of an elaborate scheme designed by veterans affairs managers in phoenix where they were trying to hide 1,400 to 1,600 sick veterans who were forced to wait months to see a doctor. and 40 of them died waiting. pretty scandalous. the hospital in colorado -- that was a budget overrun in 2016 where congress had to do what we're doing right now, jump in immediately at the last minute. that was budgeted dominican republic they were three times the amount it was budgeted that they ran over to build that hospital, but we again acted, hundreds of millions of dollars at the last minute because of v.a. mismanagement. and here's the thing, mr. president -- the congress, even the veterans' affairs committee, is becoming numb to these kind of shortfalls

and these kind of dysfunctional approaches to management for our veterans. let me be clear, i work with the v.a. in alaska all time. the people on the ground helping our veterans, the vast, vast majority do a great job. but the problem seems to be here in d.c. with this giant bureaucracy. last week the inspector general -- president biden's inspector general for the v.a. in front of the house testified along the following lines about a report they just had in terms of an investigation of the v.a. they said, our staff -- inspector general's staff -- routinely finds breakdowns in processes, infrastructure, governance, leadership, and other failings that erode the

foundational elements of accountability at the v.a. last week, the inspector general of the v.a. said that. these breakdowns impede the v.a.'s efforts to make certain that patients receive timely, high-quality health care and that veterans in other eligible -- and other eligible beneficiaries are afforded the services they are owed. so here is the biden administration i.g., inspector general, saying we've got big problems at the v.a. now we're seeing it with another cost overrun. like i said, $15 billion budget shortfall for the v.a. right now. we only heard about it six weeks ago. and i with several members of the v.a. committee six weeks ago, as soon as we heard about this sent a letter to the chairman of the veterans' affairs committee at the end of july saying we need an immediate hearing right now. let's do it right now.

and have the secretary testify in person to tell us what the heck is going on. what are you doing over there? the chairman didn't do that. he waited until yesterday to hold the hearing. the secretary didn't show up to come testify. we heard all kinds of things from the witnesses from the v.a., but what we didn't hear, mr. president, is anything about accountability. we did hear this, by the way. i think most americans, most alaskans would find this stunning. the v.a. has a new rule. we went through a pandemic four years ago. people were doing remote work. guess what? most of the federal government is still doing remote work. most federal employees still, like, work in their pajamas next to a computer at home. the v.a.'s new rule is that you're required to come in to the office twice in a pay period. excuse me?

what? so most v.a. workers in d.c. work at home in their pajamas. can you believe that, america? we've got these big beautiful federal buildings here and nobody comes into them. come on. maybe the secretary was teleworking yesterday, part of his rule that you only have to come in twice a month to work. so we need accountability. we need accountability. now as usual, the v.a. and other bureaucrats are saying, hey, this is actually a good thing that we've got a $15 billion shortfall. this is a good thing because more veterans are getting benefits. well, listen, mr. president, i voted for the bill that is helping our veterans with regard to burn pits. i voted for all that

legislation. it is good that we're getting veterans to have more benefits that they've earned, but that doesn't excuse the v.a. mismanagement of its budget or the idea that congress, if it's going to appropriate more money at the last minute -- which is what we're going to do, and i'm supporting that -- that they, that we apply accountability. here's what the legislative director for the vfw supplied in written testimony to the house last week. quote, since news of the funding shortfall became public, the communications on the matter from the v.a. has been inappropriately positive. so this is the vfw saying, hey, v.a., don't spend this. it's positive because the v.a. is delivering more benefits than ever, as if the v.a.'s calculation that now threatens

the delivery of all compensation pension and education benefits is somehow a positive thing. so the vfw is looking straight at the v.a. saying don't spend this. $15 billion shortfall you just told us about, we've got to rush to fund it or veterans across america are going to lose their benefits? that's not positive. no matter how they spin it, it's not positive. it's called mismanagement. so, again, mr. president, all i'm asking for as part of the money that we are going to appropriate on an emergency basis for the v.a. is to simply pass my vets act, my pro-vets act. and, again, here's all it does. the secretary of the v.a. has to come in quarterly to the committee, in person, out of

your pajamas, and tell us what the budget is so we don't have this again. and if you are part of the v.a. or omb team that put forward a budget, that the v.a. went over, you don't get a bonus. that is imminently reasonable, mr. president, and i hope my colleagues here will support it. so, mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the committee on veterans' affairs be discharged from further consideration of s. 5074 and the senate proceed to its immediate consideration. further, that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: is there objection? mrs. murray: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: thank you, mr. president. reserving the right to object. i he be share my colleague's

focus on making sure we never have shortfalls that deny our veterans the care and benefits they were promised. and we're going to vote in just a bit on a v.a. supplemental package to make sure that the v.a. has the resources it needs. and it even includes reporting requirements similar to what is proposed here. as we implement laws like the pact act which makes worthwhile expansion of our veterans care, there's going to be some growing pains. that is frustrating but it is not unheard of. the important thing, and i think we all dprae here, is meeting those needs and keeping our word to our veterans and their families. and i would say as the daughter of a veteran, i take that responsibility very seriously. now while i'm not convinced all the elements of this proposal are the most effective way to work with v.a. on these issues right now, i do sincerely appreciate where my colleague is coming from, and i'm willing to work with him on this. so i look forward to continuing

this conversation and working in a bipartisan way to make sure that the v.a. is working for our veterans. but right now i object. the presiding officer: objection is heard. mr. sullivan: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from alaska. mr. sullivan: while i've worked closely with my colleague from washington, the veterans administration committee in the senate, i know she's committed to veterans and i want to work with her on these matters, i will say, though, i would disagree with her on one major issue. she mentioned growing pains, and the pact act has expanded veterans benefits and that's good. i voted for that bill. but this isn't about growing pains, mr. president. this is about what the i.g. just testified to the house on last week. and it is systemic problems of accountability at the v.a. and to be honest, if you're on the committee, you know that more than anybody because we see it all the time.

so i'm disappointed that simple reforms, accountability, the secretary coming in quarterly in person -- not teleworking like 99% of the v.a. current does and shouldn't do, by the way -- telling the congress where they are on the budget so you're not going to have another overrun. and if you made the mistake and there is a big budget overrun, you don't get a bonus. very simple. and i'm really disappointed that we can't take basic, simple accountability reforms when we're once again at the last minute scrambling to make sure, due to the v.a.'s mismanagement, congress is coming in with additional money to make sure our veterans get their benefits. that's not the way to run a really important federal bureaucracy and organization like we have with the v.a., and i'm disappointed that my bill is not being passed right now in addition to getting the

additional funding to the v.a. for our veterans. i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from kentucky. mr. paul: as we've been discussing the veterans affairs is out of money, this is not something that was unpredictable. i predicted this a year or two ago when we expanded benefits. now i think it is the priority and it is the responsibility of america to take care of its veterans. we still have to think about what we're doing. we can't say, well, every veteran should have a corvette and $200,000 a year because we don't have the money for that, so we try to link benefits to something we can afford and something within reason related to their service. when the pact act was passed, though, there were those of us saying, hmm, if you allow something like high blood

pressure to be associated with military service, you may have a problem. i'm 61 years old. 60% of people over 60 have hypertension. you think you might get too many people applying for things if you allow a really common condition like hypertension to be connected to these benefits. what we are talking about were burn pits, and burn pits you could convince me, and they have, that inhaling things from burn pits might damage your lungs and you might have respiratory diseases or lung cancers. but saying hypertension is related to this allows pandora's box and now we have millions of people flooding through the doors to get benefits, and they're out of money. this is typical of washington. this year we will spend $6 trillion, and we'll bring in p 4. no american family can do that. no state does that, no city does

that. no county does that. washington's fiscal recklessness is putting the american dream out of reach for millions of americans. historically high rates of inflation from this debt have made every american poorer. as families across the country struggle to put food on the table, washington seems content to spend money without regard to consequences. but sometimes the consequences are too shameful to ignore. congressional spending and mismanagement at the department of veterans affairs are the latest examples. with both resulting in a nearly $3 billion shortfall. threatening the benefits of millions of veterans. our veterans shouldn't have to pay the cost for the federal government's incompetence. this is why i ask the senate to adopt my amendment today. my amendment would just simply offset the new money they need for the veterans affairs that

they didn't calculate well and didn't appropriate by taking it from somewhere else in the budget. to me it seems imminently reasonable rather than borrow more money and put ourselves further into debt, we have a $35 trillion debt, why don't we find something in the budget maybe that's not an emergency, take the money from there and pay for the veterans benefits. my amendment would ensure that veterans receive their benefits without adding to the national debt. my amendment is simple. it pays for the veterans benefits by rescinding $2.9 billion in department of energy loan guarantees. the american taxpayer should not be asked to subsidize companies with vast resources, often multimillion-dollar owners that are for this green energy that we're going to subsidize. which is more important? subsidizing millionaire owners of green energy or paying for

veterans benefits? why not take one to pay for the other? unsurprisingly, these loans, these green loans that are out there, these gambles that have been taken by the department of energy have come at an exorbitant cost. a 2015gao study did i revealed that the extent of the department of energy loan failures. the report lists 5 companies defaulted including solyndra, fisker, abound solar, beacon power, and vehicle production group, costing the taxpayers $807 million. so these loans are not without risks. we cut these loans, we cut our risk, and we shift the money over to veterans. i think it's a pretty easy thing. it could be done in a few minutes. but if you'll watch, if you'll watch the vote, my guess is that nobody from the other side of the aisle will vote to transfer the money over to the veterans. they just say borrow it.

put it on my tab. well, that's why when you go to the dproesry store and a -- grocery store and a steak costs 20 bucks at the grocery store, why your gasoline costs more, why the home prices are doubling because they're diminishing the value of the dollar with all the borrowing. today they'll add another $3 billion. they don't care. they think money grows on trees. here it is, $3 billion, take it. we care about the veterans but we don't give a damn about the debt. you can care about both. i'm for shifting money. let's don't increase the debt today. let's take $3 billion that would go to millionaires who own these companies and shift it over to the veterans. pretty simple. how could anybody vote against it? but watch the vote. everyone on the other side of the aisle is going to vote to borrow the money rather than pay for it by shifting the money. the v.a. shortfall was very foreseeable, just as the failure

of the d.o.e. loans. the v.a. has been overwhelmed, receiving more than 2.4 million claims in 2023, the most ever. 39% higher. i warned them when you pass this, when you allow hypertension to be associated with disability, you're opening pandora's box because everybody's got hypertension. you may recall i stood here on the senate floor and warned that the pact act would put veterans benefits at at risk. there were veterans who have chronic asthma, emphysema or cancer, but those deserving people are having the money taken from people who have high blood pressure. everybody has high blood pressure, if you put it in there, you are stealing the money from the people who have

lung damage from breathing in these fumes. everybody should get money, it's free, no problem, we'll just borrow it instead of saying, why don't we try to conserve the resources for those burned by the burn pits. instead, you have high blood pressure, sign up. come down. we'll give you money. cdc estimates that 116 million americans have hypertension, 50% of men, 44% of women over 6060% of -- over 60, 60% of all people have hypertension. if you include that as a trigger for benefits, it makes the number of people so much, it depletes the funds. instead of asking why we're short $3 billion, no one is ask

why, it's just, put it on the nation's tab, borrow more money, why are we short on money? because they decided to include hypertension as a trigger for disability. because of congress's inability to make difficult decisions, precious resources that ought to go to veterans exposed to toxic substances are at risk of going up in smoke. they're at risk of being diverted to people who weren't injured by the burn pits. congress must take its oversight responsibilities seriously. hold the v.a. accountable for fiscal mismanagement and corruption. in fiscal year 2023, the v.a. issued $3 billion in improper payments. so we have the veterans' affairs $3 billion short of money but we found out they gave $3 billion to the wrong people. they made a mistake of issuing checks to the wrong people for $3 billion. why wouldn't we ask the v.a.,

hey, we know you're short of money, but guess what, you have to quit sending the money to the wrong people. why wouldn't the people who are sending the money to the wrong people be punished, reassigned. maybe they shouldn't work for the v.a. if they aren't competent enough to get the money to the right people. over the past three years, it's estimated that the v.a. has had $10 billion in improper payments. in may 2024, the v.a.'s inspector general record that the department improper awarded over $10 million of incentives to its own senior executives. it's been determined by the inspector general that the v.a. paid their own executives $10 million in bonuses that shouldn't have been given to the executives while the executives were overseeing $3 billion that went to the wrong people. there could have been resources could have been devoted to

veterans, to their benefits. instead the v.a. shamefully squandered them. it's high time that the members of this body face the incontrovertible fact that congress's reckless spending has awful consequences. we've seen in the form of inflation. this is what's happening to americans. it's what's making all of us poor and now we see what is happening to veterans. we must use these failures as a warning many we must get serious about our spending and oversight responsibilities. i encourage my colleagues to vote for my amendment as a first step to ensure our veterans receive the care they deserve. i call my amendment 3289 and ask it be reported by number.

the presiding officer: the cloture motion will report the amendment number. the clerk: the senator from kentucky, mr. paul, proposes amendment 3289 to h.r. 6498. mr. paul: i ask unanimous consent that there be two minutes of debate equally divided prior to the vote. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. murray: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: thank you, mr. president. you know, when it comes to supporting our veterans, the bottom line is that we have to live up to our word and give them the care they were promised. we have a long bipartisan history of putting our veterans first. that's what our bill before us is about. this amendment would jeopardize all of that by making partisan cuts to unrelated programs. our veterans should not be used as partisan leverage, simple as that. now, i fully outright oppose this amendment on the merits, but even for colleagues who may

feel differently, i would urge you to join me in voting against this amendment because we should all agree that veterans are not fair game for partisan poison pills. our promise to our veterans and their families is a sacred responsibility we have to live up to, not political leverage. i urge all of my colleagues who feel the same to join me in voting no. mr. paul: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from kentucky. mr. paul: this amendment is simply about paying for veterans's benefits, it doesn't stop their benefits, it pays for them by moving money from wasteful programs over to the veterans' affairs to pay for veterans benefits. it does this so we don't add to the debt. veterans fought for our country, the biggest threat to our national security is our debt. i think our veterans would want us to do this in a responsible matter. this amendment will take money elsewhere in the budget.

it's the responsible way to go. mr. president, i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote clo -- vote clo -- vote: 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. butler. 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. mr. fetterman. mrs. fischer. mrs. gillibrand. mr. graham. mr. grassley. mr. hagerty.

the clerk: ms. hassan. mr. hawley. mr. heinrich. mr. helmy. 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.

the clerk: mr. markey. mr. marshall. mr. mcconnell. 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. senators voting in the affirmative -- barasso, boozman, britt, capito, daines, fischer,

mullin, paul, schmitt, tester, tuberville, and young. senators voting in the negative -- baldwin, cantwell, cardin, durbin, hirono, king, lujan, murray, ossoff, padilla, reed, sanders, schumer, welch, and whitehouse. vote:

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

mr. warner, no. mr. merkley, no.

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

mr. ricketts, aye. the clerk: mr. risch, aye. ms. ernst, aye. mr. cornyn, aye.

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

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

the clerk: mr. booker, no.

the clerk: mr. kelly, no. the clerk: mrs. shaheen, no. ms. murkowski, aye.

the clerk: ms. collins, aye. mr. peters, no. mr. hoeven, aye.

mr. kaine, no.

the clerk: mr. van hollen, no. the clerk: mrs. blackburn, aye.

the clerk: mr. scott of south carolina, aye. ms. stabenow, no. mr. markey, no.

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

the clerk: mr. fetterman, no.

the clerk: mr. coons, no. the clerk: mr. graham, aye.

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

the clerk: ms. smith, no. mr. hickenlooper, no. mr. scott of south carolina, aye. mr. cruz, aye.

the clerk: ms. hassan, no. the clerk: mrs. gillibrand, no.

mr. crapo, aye.

the clerk: ms. cortez masto, no.

the clerk: mr. warnock, no. mr. wicker, aye.

the clerk: mrs. hyde-smith, aye. mr. blumenthal, no.

the clerk: ms. lummis, no. vote:

the clerk: mr. murphy, no. mr. grassley, aye. ms. warren, no.

the clerk: mr. cassidy, aye.

mr. cotton, aye. ms. rosen, no. mr. schatz, no. mr. rubio, aye.

the clerk: mr. lee, aye. the clerk: mr. kennedy, aye.

ms. butler, no. mr. scott of florida, no.

mr. scott of florida, aye.

the clerk: mr. budd, aye.

the clerk: ms. duckworth, no.

the clerk: ms. klobuchar, no.

the clerk: ms. sinema, no. vote:

the clerk: ms. lummis, aye. mr. sullivan, aye.

mr. helmy, no.

the clerk: mr. lankford, aye.

the presiding officer: on this vote, the yeas are 47 and the nays are 47. under the previous order requiring 60 votes for the adoption of this amendment, the amendment is not agreed to. there will now be two minutes of debate equally divided. mrs. murray: mr. president. the presiding officer: the president pro tem of the senate. mrs. murray: thank you, mr. president. today, thanks to the pact act more veterans are getting access to more benefits than ever before, but we need to provide additional funding to keep our promise to all veterans, which is why we now have a bill to provide 2.9 billion in additional funding for the veterans benefit administration to pay compensation and pension

and readjustment benefits. this is funding that goes directly to our veterans, and that they have been promised. but without this bill, in less than two weeks time, the v.a. will be unable to issue payments to as many as seven million veterans and their survivors, and 800,000 veterans seeking readjustment benefits. our veterans were there for us. we have to be there for them. congress has a responsibility to ensure these veterans, their family members, and survivors receive the benefits they've earned on time. it's as simple as that. i hope every single one of my colleagues will join me in standing with our veterans and vote to get this done. i yield back all time. i yield the floor.

i yield back all time. the presiding officer: is there further debate? hearing none, under the previous order this bill is considered read a third time and the question occurs on passage of the bill. all those in favor, say aye. all of those no, say nay. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the bill is passed. mrs. murray: mr. president. i ask unanimous consent the senate resume executive session. the presiding officer: the senator from washington is recognized, and without

objection. mr. helmy: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from new jersey is reco recognized. mr. helmy: thank you, madam president. it is a distinct honor to stand in this esteemed chamber as a member of the world's greatest deliberative body, the united states senate. that i'm even standing here, just as laths owe the -- just as the 81st new jerseyan, only arab american, and the first member of the couldn'tic church to --

coptic church is something i never imagined and struggle to accept. for many years, i proudly served as a staffer for two united states senators from the great state of new jersey. first the late senator frank lautenberg, and as fate would have it, my friend, meant northern, now colleague and senior senator cory booker. as such, it was always my job to be the guy behind the guy. it was my job to make sure they were prepared, that they had the best possible counsel, and were ready to make the cons -- the consequential decisions. now it's very humbling. i will, as i have for many years, do my utmost to live to the faith placed in me by governor phil murphy to be thoughtful, diligent, and a forceful voice and representative of the people of new jersey. i have a very short window in which to do just that. in fact, it is my stated intention to resign from this post once the general election is certified by the lieutenant

governor, who is also our secretary of state, at which point governor murphy has said he will appoint my duly elected successor. so there is a possibility that my tenure in this body will last all of 73 days. should that be the case, that means i will tie for the tenth shortest tenure as united states senator, which also means i will forever be rooted for the good health and good fortune of those who follow so that i can make at least one top ten list at some point in my life. as with those who have come before me and who follow me, no one comes to this august and revered chamber because they were a wallflower before they got here. when no one seeks to be a wallflower whether here a day or decade, the challenges facing our nation are many, but that means so too are the opportunities and i'm going to lean into these opportunities so that, while my time here may be short, my impact may be lasting. i intend to be focused, busy, and to make every day count for

the people of new jersey. one vital issue close to my heart, which i will spend much of my energy on over the next nine weeks, is that of our nation's youth mental health crisis. as the father of two sons, joshua, 15, elijah, age 12, i know i cannot make them immune from the strains and stressors that impact their and their friends' mental health. i can try to mitigate the harmful impacts, while i hold office, and longer while the lord gives me life and voice. the changes -- the challenges are well-known and shocking. over the past decade, cams of severe de -- cases of severe depression among young adults have doubled. in the 2010, suicidal behavior among high school students increased by more than 40%. since 2017, the number of our youth hospitalized for anxiety increased by half and the proportion hospitalized for self-harm has nearly doubled. allow me to repeat that. in just seven years, the number

of youth hospitalized for anxiety increased 50%, and the proportion of our kids hospitalized for self-harm increased by nearly 100%. the kids are not okay. last year alone, 40% of our nation's high schoolers reported so sad or hopeless they stopped usual activities. childhood and adolescence should be a time of great hope and optimism, not hopelessness and pessimism. in new jersey, up to one half of our youth are experienced poor mental health, and we know this is more prevalent among young women. in 2021 alone, in new jersey, nearly 60% of female students reported experiencing persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness. it's double the rate of their male peers, nearly one in our of our female students made suicide plans. one in four. i'm incredibly grateful to welcome two teens from new jersey who have overcome their own struggles with mental health and are now looking

toward college and a brighter future, emma bya in the gallery is a senior from north arlington high school. after her own challenges, she's a junior commissioner in the bergen county commission on the status of women. valuaria jimenez also in the gallery just graduated high school. she participated in the pathways program, an important counseling session in new jersey, and says it changed her life. she's starting college in the spring and wants to be a physician. thank you so much for being here. i deeply admire your courage and perseverance. it gives me great loan we can and must do more -- great hope we can and must do more to support teens like you. the statistics revealing the scope of suffering among our next generation are unconscionable and unacceptable. we need more support for american youth in this crisis. to that end, i'm cosponsoring the supporting all students act to lead to peer-line support to provide the critical support

during these moments of crisis. the bill would also allocate the required funding for more professionals who can support these youth. among the lgbtqia+ youth, the numbers are even more dire, with nearly 40% having con tem 34r5i69ed suicide -- contemplated suicide. with one in ten having actually attempted to take their own lives. that statistic should break our hearts. i signed on to a colleague with my colleagues, including my mentor and friend, senator booker, the pride and mental health act. i would be remiss not to acknowledge the senior senator from new jersey, senator cory booker, to my left today, i'm ina of your relent -- in you an of your relent -- i'm in awe of your relentless fight, for newark and our state of new jersey, the nation and beyond. senator booker, your work ethic and compassion inspire me and i'm beyond belched to have you -- i'm beyond blessed for having you in my corner.

we're known for quoting, and say in our speeches, that we stand on the shoulders of giants. from the time i met cory in 2012 until now, i have stood on his shoulders. the act will enhance mental health support for the lgbtq youth both by providing grants in addition to mandating the cultural competency and training four owl caregivers that we know is so needed. we can point to numerous stressors that are feeding the crisis, and i think all parents like me know them well. social media lands at the very top of that list. social media has altered not only the way our young people interact but the way they see themselves and the way their brains develop. last year the surgeon general recognized the impacts of social media on our youth.

like cigarettes, the surgeon general general issued an unprecedented warning last year confirming serious risks to our youth from social media. there has been anal unprecedented shift -- there has been an unprecedented shift. over half of our teenagers spend at least four hours a day on social media. frequent users of social moo he haddia are likely to experience twice as many mental health challenges including suicide. the isolation forced upon our youth by the pandemic and compound by social media has further exasperated the toll. the opioid and tentsal in epidemic, anti-arab rhetoric and anti-semitism and on and on has only aided in creating this hopelessness feedback loop. i've also cosponsored the youth mental health data act which aims to establish the federal task force focused on improving

the data systems needed to help solve the problem. it can be easy for some of us to sit back and say counsel something what our kids need and, yes, the resources have been poured by this body and others to provide more and better counseling for at-risk youth. however, serious disparities remain. even in areas where access has been enhanced, particularly in lower-income and immigrant communities which have received funding to address these issues, the utilization of these services remains unacceptably low. to tackle this problem we must first fully understand, he willing, why at-risk youth are not availing themselves of the resources. i am committed to breaking this negative cycle. i am committeded to preventing our next generation from failing further into this downward spiral. here is where i see opportunity and opportunity means hope. i am hopeful because i know my colleagues on both sides, led by our majority leader, senator

chuck schumer, see these opportunities, too. from my neighbor colleague, bob casey, to my friend and staffer turned member from alabama, katie brit, i am inspired by the conversations i have had with others about protecting our children. i am hope hopeful to find common ground and both parties will address the universe of issues. it is and must be an american priority. we need not reinvent the wheel. there are numerous good pieces of legislation before the senate. i have proudly put my name on cosponsoring a number of them. we must also look to the states, the true laboratories of our democracy for policy solutions that have worked to chip away at this crisis. during my time serving as chief of staff to senator murphy, he led the national governors association and committed one year 6 his term to i would abouting a national playbook for tackling just this. the youth mental health crisis. i should note that his cochair,

no one has ever been confused the politics of governor cox and governor murphy. together we took on seemingly intractable issues. but i will be clear-eyed about one thing -- even if we are successful in eliminate going at least one measure to the president's desk and seeing it become law, it will not mean the end of our efforts to address the youth mental health crisis. as with many things in this chamber, there will always be more work for us to do together. as i conclude my remarks, madam president, it is in this spirit, the spirit of bipartisan, of partnership, of collaboration for the greater good upon wish i which to land. i had no intention of ever seeking office. for me, once a starvings always a staffer. however, duty called to continue my service to the people of new jersey. i have had the privilege of working for two united states senators and the governor, all of whom embody the term public servant.

i draw great inspiration from one of my most esteemed former new jersey colleagues, our late-lieutenant governor sheilah oliver s she was the first black woman elected to serve as speaker of the new jersey s. a.m. bring and the first black woman to be elected to statewide office. she was smart, funny and you bet she was jersey tough. in her first inauguration, sheilah said, we make history not in the moment but in what we do with it. during my time in this capacity, i am dedicated to making a lasting impact that will benefit our nation's youth. when i accepted this position, i told the people of new jersey that part of my job side from representing them in the senate, was to begin to restore their faith in our democracy and trust in this office. if i can do just that, even for a little bit, in my remaining time, i will have succeeded. i want to thank my colleagues

who have honored me and joined me on the floor for tuning in to my maiden speech. i want to dedicate and thank my team who are here on the floor in the gallery and in my offices back home. in regard to my short time here, i channel the late, great robert f. kennedy. few will have the greatness to bend history itself. but each of us can work to change a small portion of events. it is from numberless diverse acts of courage that human history is shaped. even -- every time a man stands many for an ideal or acts to improve the lot of others or strikes out against injustice, he sets forth a tiny up ripple of hope. those ripples build a current which can sweep down the oppression and resistance. i look forward to the next few months in which i will be a member of this august body and i

intend to use every moment to its fullest, working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle. i hope and pray that i can be helpful to i can ma -- to making a difference to what they do with this brief moment here in the senate. madam president, i yield the floor. mr. booker: madam president. i just want to take a moment -- we must heard a speech that is special, not just because it is a maiden speech but because of the man who gave it. george helmy is one of 2,004 americans in the history of our country, hundreds of millions of people, that ever has been a united states senator. and i will tell you, he is different. he said it in his biography a he's the first ever person of the cop particular faith to be -- coptic faith to be here. that is a phenomenal achievement itself. in a body known for its lack of

diversity. but i will say what makes him truly special is that he has been a man behind the scenes that for governor, senators, and others has made our state already such a better place. i have watched him do the work that others often take credit for that has made him, in my heart, and through the millions of new jerseyans he has touched have already made him one of new jersey's extraordinary public servants. i will note that he in his time in the senate has staffers, as he pointed out. many of them have taken an unusual assignment -- to leave their jobs that they had, toss come take a temporary assignment to serve this country, and for that they have my tribute. if i can end by just saying one more thing that makes him special. he is throwing himself into this

job as if in every single day is precious. i dare say there is not a senator in this body who is taking each day like he is and trying to make it as meaningful as possible. in that sense, jersey has a senator that is incredibly hardworking. i want to tell you something. this morning i woke up and saw a text message from him at 6:00 in the morning. the last time he annoyed me like that, he was my state director. because that's how hardworking he was then. and when i woke up then and i got those early, early morning text messages, they were often about something that was vital, something that was important. and this morning that text message made me angry because here is the most junior senator, 100th in seniority, writing to

my, asking my advice about something that happened yesterday in which one of our colleagues in a hearing took on a witness who happened to be there to talk about working against hate, and the chairman will know this, attacked them with questions that were so painful to listen to. i went to the tape and heard a muslim american being asked if they support hamas, being asked if they support hezbollah. it was offensive, and this arab american, this united states senator at 6:00 in the morning wanted to make sure that this was the first thing read, to talk about that. george helmy is a colleague. equal vote, equal power, but his being an arab american gives this body something that is needed that i have seen in the

women that are here, i have seen in the latinos, theation americans, people -- the asian americans, people who have come to this body. they bring a different lived experience often and a deeper especially pa think and connection. -- empathy and connection. we are at a moment in america where we are seeing rising hate, rising hate crimes, rising racial violence, rising religious violence. and every single one of us has an obligation to lose sleep over it, to struggle with it, to feel the pain of americans like that witness in judiciary hearing, to feel the pain that they feel when they are being accused or questioned or attacked for who they are or how they pray. it may be only 73 days that george helmy is serving in the

senate, but this body needs him. it needs his conscience, it needs his heart, it needs his empathy, it needs his love. and i dare say he will have a short time here, but i know the difference he makes here will endure. thank you.

:

a senator: mr. president.

the presiding officer: the senator from missouri. mr. hawley: this country's success in the second world war and cold war was driven by our nuclear program. it was made possible by the manhattan project and follow-on projects that made our nuclear program the envy of the world and the most powerful part of our military arsenal. and do you know what that was made possible by? it was made possible by the work and the sacrifices of everyday americans in states like new mexico and arizona and, yes, my home state of missouri where we processed uranium for the federal government. these workers, these americans who risked their lives, who risked their health in order to help their country build a program that helped us win wars, they deserve our thanks, mr. president, not mockery. and that's why finally after decades the senate finally in march of this year passed my legislation with senator lujan by a huge bipartisan margin,

nearly 70 votes, to compensate those good americans who gave their health, who gave their energy, yeah, and in some cases gave their lives to sustaining our nuclear effort. because here's what happened in all too many places. in places like st. louis, missouri, in st. charles, missouri, when the uranium processing stopped, the government didn't clean up their mess. no, the government dumped the leftover uranium, dumped it into public landfills, dumped it into public streams, dumped into our waterways, into our soil, and now it's everywhere. now it's underneath homes, next to our schools, now it's in the water and in the air in places across the region. and numerous, multiple, at this point countless members of the state of missouri, residents there of st. louis and st. charles have gotten sick, have died. we have some of the highest rates of cancer in the nation in the st. louis area, the highest rates of breast cancer. why is that?

because there is so much nuclear radiation in the area that is still not cleaned up, because the government never cleaned it up. that's why the senate acted in march by that big bipartisan margin to force a cleanup and to compensate those americans who have gotten sick, those who have lost family members because of the government's inability to clean up their own mess, because of the government's nuclear program that they never properly paid for in terms of compensation to the americans who made it possible. now that bill is in the house awaiting action. and even as we sit here today, it continues to be attacked by those who just think that if you want to be compensated for the damage the u.s. government caused to you, you're somehow greedy and unthankful and ungrateful and undeserving of any help or recognition or thanks from this country. nothing could be further from the truth, mr. president.

but i read today in the "wall street journal" yet another attack on these good americans, attack that appears to have the support of members of congress which i find absolutely unbelievable. i don't know how anybody, why anybody would want to attack the victims of nuclear radiation. and they're not just victims, mr. president. they're heroes. they are the people who made possible our victories in the second world war and the cold war. but to read "the wall street journal's" op-ed page today you would think if you're a mine worker you ought to be quiet, go off in a corner and die. that's what they say. if you are a uranium worker, then you don't deserve any compensation for the fact that while you were down in the mines making possible your government's victory in war, you were also being exposed to nuclear radiation that made you sick. to listen to this op-ed tell the story, you should just be

thankful that you got to live as long as you did. and if your family has to suffer the consequences of your illness, of your cancer, if you've loved loved ones because of their exposure to nuclear radiation, well, too bad according to "the wall street journal." too bad. just shut up and take it. i can't believe that anybody would treat nuclear radiation victims this way, but to read this story, you would think that nobody who lived in a uranium processing site like in missouri, who worked in a uranium mine, who lived downwind of nuclear tests like in new mexico and arizona and utah, nobody who has been exposed to radiation by their own government should get anything. that's the essential premise of what the "journal writes today. what i find most disturbing is there are members of congress who appear to agree with that. if you agree with that, don't want to compensate nuclear

radiation victims from your own state, come to this floor. tell the world. if you don't support what the senate did, if you want to try and kill it in the house, tell us. put your name to it. don't hide behind "the wall street journal." come and put your name to it. this is a time to stand up and be counted, mr. president, because i tell you what. the victims of this radiation are heroes. they've waited for decades. they've borne the cost for decades. they deserve some justice, and they're coming to capitol hill. oh yeah, they're going to be here. they'll be here again next week. they're coming and they want to see some process. they're coming be and want to see results. i invite anybody who is opposed to them, opposed to their compensation, who is opposed to justice to them, come and explain it to their face. come to this floor. come to this floor. i know there are some in my own party who would like to say that 47% of the american public are just freeloaders and don't deserve anything and we ought to treat these people like that. i disagree with all of that.

it's ludicrous. it's ridiculous. and i don't know why any member of a state that has nuclear radiation victims would want to try and block the effort to compensate them. i don't understand it at all. i don't get it. and i tell you what, we will not stop fighting. we will not stop working until every nuclear radiation victim who has given their life and health for the support of this nation is thanked and compensated. we're almost there, mr. president. this body has done it. this body has done it. i believe there's real progress in the house. i hope that we can act soon. but it's time now for members of congress to stand up and be counted, and it's time to stand together for justice for our heroes who have made possible this country's success, who have made possible this country's victories and who have shown us what true devotion to country looks like. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor.

the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. cardin: thank you, mr. president. as the senator from the state of maryland, i am so proud to represent so many marylanders who are federal workers dedicated to helping their fellow citizens with the essential work that they provide. so i come to the floor today to speak about the threat project 2025 poses to our federal workforce and to our nation. this is a plan that if enacted would take america back to some of the darkest chapters in our history. from a nationwide abortion ban to eliminating civil rights for millions of american to gutting the checks and balances enshrined in our constitution by the founding fathers and putting unlimited power in the president's hands. mr. president, this kind of extremism is deeply disturbing. as the senator from maryland and chair of the foreign relations committee, i want to focus on one particular reason i think these ideas are so dangerous.

that is the way project 2025 targets nonpartisan public servants in the federal government. a senator: mr. president. mr. schumer: could i ask my colleague from maryland to yield for a moment. mr. cardin: be glad to yield. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that after i return the floor, the senator from maryland, his remarks be appearing as not interrupted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: thank you. mr. president, i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all those in favor say aye. all those opposed no. ayes appear to have it. ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. schumer: i move to consider calendar 550. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all those in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. they do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, department of state, michael sfraga of alaska to be

ambassador at large. mr. schumer: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate do hereby move to bring to a close the debate on the nomination of executive calendar number 550, michael sfraga of alaska to be ambassador-at-large for arctic affairs. mr. schumer: i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all those in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to calendar 457, h.r. 1555. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: motion to proceed to calendar number 457, be an act to designate h.r. 15 an a, an act to designate the facility of the united states postal service located at 2300silvan avenue in

modesto, california. mr. schumer: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the motion to proceed to calendar number 457, h.r. 1555, an act to designate the facility of the united states postal service located at 2300-silvan avenue in modesto california as the michael anderson post office building. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the manned -- i ask unanimous consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum calls for the cloture motions filed today, september 19, be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i return the floor to the senator from maryland for his outstanding, excellent remarks. the presiding officer: the

senator from maryland. mr. cardin: first let me thank my leader for those kind remarks. in the state of maryland alone, there are over 150,000 federal employees serving our country and their fellow americans. they are dedicated and they believe in public service. . and they have always played important roles. repay the traiting -- repatriating americans who were stuck overseas when covid-19 hit. coordinating the resettlement of afghan ref faw gee -- refugees, emergency food assistance, counterterrorism and in every state of our nation public servants, our civil servants put the principles over politics in order to serve their fellow citizens. mr. president, that's why we

need to be clear-eyed about project 2025 will mean not only to our federal workforce but to our national security. project 2025 is a blueprint for a government that is so radical and disturbing, even donald trump doesn't want to take credit for it. he said, quote, i have no idea who's behind it. despite that four of his six former cabinet members signed it, and people will lose their jobs. talk about an understatement. project 2025 envisions federal employees who will be politically loyal to an individual and a percent rather than -- personalty rather than the letter of the law. our federal workforce, career diplomats, career people trying to serve their fellow citizens,

we do not want to politicize our civil workforce. as the chair of the senate foreign relations committee, this is the kind of thing you aor tearian -- authoritarian countries do. this is something the united states has not seen before. these ideas aren't exactly new. there's a long track record of smearing federal employees as being part of the deep state. back in 2020, there was a staff report detailing the concerning efforts of the last administration had on the state department on its moral and -- morale and trying to affect its professionalism, a culture of fear and mistrust, nominees with extreme views and concerning records. that is a glimpse of what could lie ahead for project 2025. the president of the american federation of government

employees said, and i quote, project 2025 will take away freedoms and rights from every american, hurt the middle class and working families and is a threat to our democracy. they want to gut federal workers' pay and benefits, they want to eliminate millions of federal jobs and easier to discriminate against people of color, women, and lgbtq people, from the veterans administration to the environmental protection agency, they want to make big changes, dismantle support for public education, and eliminate the department of homeland security. these are extreme ideas. i believe these ideas are incredibly dangerous and we must do everything we can to support our public servants, that is why i applaud the biden-harris administration and the office of personnel management for issuing a role in opposition to the schedule f classification, i

cosponsored legislation with senator kaine to codify the same effort. as a long-time member of the senate foreign relations committee and now as chair, i've been working to strengthen its workforce, us-aid for making sure our personnel can compete globally, to increasing recruitment and intention. that should be our focus. let's make them more competitive, leading our national security, diplomacy, and federal agencies not by dismantling them. at a time of its implementation, our merit base civil service was an anticorruption initiative, teddy roosevelt wrote that it's important in the fact that it is the most powerful implement with which to work for the moral generation of public life.

no one intends to -- that was the motivation behind the civil service and it is more important today than ever. i agree our federal work employees are tremendous force of good for our community. we don't acknowledge them enough on this floor, we don't do enough to help them, support them and give them the resources they need. we don't want to make it more difficult for people to serve our country. that is why we must say no to targeting of american public servants for doing their job, no to loyalty tests, no to taking our country backwards to a time before there were civil rights and reproductive rights and no to weakening our democratic institutions. with that, mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from indiana. mr. hagerty: i rise today to celebrate 150 years of perdue

engineering. perdue engineering produces more than 5% of our engineering. they are distinguished themselves for 150 years around the world and even on the moon. the first and most recent man to walk on the moon, neil armstrong was a purr due engineering alumni. some of the greatest wonders of the engineering here in the u.s. are byproducts of perdue engineers, such as the golden gate bridge. perdue engineering touches every aspect of our day to day life. alumni have been behind innovationings and -- innovations and technologies. they are foundational to our modern life, like transistor, this celebrates 150 years of

perdue engineering and the significant aaccomplishments they have had -- accomplishments they have had on our world. as if in legislative session, i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of sr. 830, which is at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: sr. 830, ro recognizing the 150th anniversary of perdue engineering. mr. braun: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that 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. brawn brawn mr. president, i -- mr. braun: mr. president, i rise today on another topic, one that's dear to me. i've been involved in this past time since i was 10 years old. most of you may not know where i'm going to go, but it's one of the most unique birds that the lord ever created, it is a purple martin. it is a bird about eight ounces that my greats from north america to the amazon each year. i became a landlord for them back many, many years ago, and it's only bird -- the only bird through adapting totally dependent on manned -- man made housing, they are a bird that only lives in a colony. most song birds are territorial. a really unique bird. there's an association called

the purple martin bird association. due to habitat loss over time where their normal habitat would have been in the wild, and indians lured them into their own communities because they only eat insecretaries, truly -- insects and they are truly amazing. since they are now dependent on manmade housing, we could lose one of the most unique birds god ever created. efforts by conservationists across the country have been behind making sure this heritage remains. this resolution celebrates the efforts of all of them. it designated this past august 10 as purple martin conservation

day to recognize their work and to protect this natural treasure. its resolution was endorsed by the national auto -- autobon society and many other naturalist and conservationist groups. mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the committee on the judiciary be discharged from further consideration and the senate now proceed to the consideration of s.r.803. the clerk: recognizing the importance of purple martin by designating august 10, 2024, as purple martin conservation day. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed to the resolution. mr. braun: i ask unanimous consent that the preamble be

agreed to preamble, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening, an or debate. the presiding officer: -- without intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. braun: mr. president, i yield the floor. mr. braun: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from indiana. brawn brawn i -- mr. braun: i ask that the scheduled vote occur immediately. the presiding officer: without objection. the clerk: cloture the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby bring to a close debate on the

nomination of executive calendar number 700, rose e. jenkins, of the district of columbia to be a judge of the united states tax court for a term of 15 years. signed by 17 senators. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived. the question is, is it the sense of the senate that debate on the nomination of rose e. jenkins, of the united states tax court, the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. the clerk will call the roll. vote: 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. butler. 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. mr. fetterman.

vote: the clerk: mrs. fischer.

mrs. gillibrand. mr. graham. mr. grassley. mr. hagerty. ms. hassan. the clerk: ms. hassan. mr. hawley. mr. heinrich. mr. helmy. 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. merkley. mr. moran. mr. mullin. ms. murkowski. mr. murphy.

mrs. murray. mr. ossoff. mr. padilla. mr. paul. mr. peters. mr. reed. mr. ricketts. mr. risch. mr. romney. ms. rosen. mr. rounds.

mr. rubio. mr. sanders. mr. schatz. mr. schmitt. mr. schumer. mr. scott of florida. mr. scott of south carolina. mrs. shaheen. ms. sinema. ms. smith. ms. stabenow.

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

the clerk: senators voting in the affirmative -- baldwin, barrasso, brown, capito, cassidy, coons, cornyn, cramer, crapo be durbin, fisher, hassan, heinrich, hickenlooper, johnson, kaine, kennedy, king, lummis, manchin, mcconnell, mandatory quorum call, peters, reed, ricketts, schatz, schumer, smith, thune, whitehouse, wicker, and young. senators voting in the negative -- braun, cotton, lankford, lee, haul, rubio, and scott of florida.

mrs. shaheen, aye. ms. duckworth, aye. ms. sinema, aye.

the clerk: mr. welch, aye. mr. tester, aye. mr. lujan, aye. ms. cortez masto, aye. mrs. hyde-smith, aye.

mr. sanders, aye. the clerk: mr. kaerdz, aye. mr. van hollen, aye. -- mr. cardin, aye.

the clerk: mrs. gillibrand, aye. the clerk: mr. risch, aye.

the clerk: ms. hirono, aye.

the clerk: ms. ernst, no. mr. mullin, no.

the clerk: ms. klobuchar, aye. ms. stabenow, aye. the clerk: mr. hoeven, aye. ms. butler, aye. ms. collins, aye. mr. merkley, aye. vote: the clerk: ms. rosen, aye. mr. bennet, aye.

mr. grassley, aye. ms. warren, aye. mr. hagerty, no.

the clerk: mr. graham, aye.

the clerk: mr. boozman, no. mr. warnock, aye. mr. ossoff, aye.

mr. markey, aye.

mr. padilla, aye. mr. helmy, aye.

mr. kelly, aye. mr. budd, aye.

the clerk: mr. warner, aye. mr. booker, aye.

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

the clerk: mr. fetterman, aye.

the clerk: mr. daines, aye.

the clerk: mr. scott of south carolina, no. vote: the clerk: mr. hawley, no.

the clerk: mr. carper, aye.

the clerk: mrs. murray, aye.

the clerk: mr. blumenthal, aye.

the clerk: mr. romney, aye.

the clerk: mrs. britt, aye.

vote:

the clerk: ms. cantwell, aye. the clerk: mr. murphy, aye.

the clerk: mr. sullivan, no. the presiding officer: on this vote the yeas are 76, the nays are 15 and the motion is agreed to. #

a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. murphy: madam president, first i'd ask unanimous consent that privileges of the floor be grapted to the -- granted to the following members of my staff none of the end of december. isabella rivera, jamine, hamilton and colin welsher. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. murphy: madam president, when i was growing up, i had a pediatrician. his name was dr. cartland. he was kind, he was reassuring. his advice and his comfort meant a lot to my parents who were young parents and in need of a steady shoulder to lean on when their kids were born. i remember dr. cartland distinctly even though he retired when i was pretty young, and i remember he was an important part of my family's support system.

he was an important part of our community and family identity. my kids don't have a pediatrician. they have many pediatricians. that's because the big pediatric practice that we use decided that it was inefficient and not cost effective to assign one pediatrician to every family. every time we book an appointment, we go see a different doctor at this practice. they're all competent, our kids are healthy, and this very efficient system, it does mean that we probably get in to see a doctor faster than when my parents were trying to find a last-minute appointment with only a very busy dr. cartland. it's an efficient system, but it's hollow.

i don't know any of the doctors' names. we have no relationship with one pediatrician. it's clinical. it's not personal. and while we get good care, i admit it leaves you feeling a little bit empty, a little bit al alone, you're just a number or a name in an appointment book. without a dr. cartland that you can count on, that experience is a little less assuring. so i got curious and i looked up who owns this very competent, very efficient pediatric practice that we use. what i learned is that the primary investor in our children's pediatric practice is goldman sachs. a wall street investment bank owning your children's pediatrician would have sounded silly to americans a generation ago. but today the role of private

equity and hedge funds and big banks in health care ownership is one of the most important stories in health care. and by and large, it's bad news for patients. right in front of our eyes the defining purpose of our health care system is being transformed. our hospitals and our nursing homes, our hospice care, even our kids' pediatric practices now exist often for the primary purpose of making obscene amounts of money for investors. it's not about keeping us healthy. it's about return on investment. and that's what i want to spend a few minutes talking to my colleagues about today. historically, you could count on your doctors office and your

nearest hospital to be locally owned, likely to be not for profit and trusted the reason they existed was to make sure patients got the care they needed. the people that own the health care institutions you counted on lived in your community. they didn't answer to new york private equity firms or los angeles investment companies. they were accountable to you, to their neighbors. that really mattered. it made you feel safe. it reassured you that you or your loved ones were in good hands because ultimately that's the only thing that mattered. when we're at our most vulnerable, whether that be because of something joyous like a pregnancy or something more worrying like a difficult diagnosis, all we want to know is that the priority at that institution that we or our loved

one is at is that we're being taken care of, that the primary motivation of the person taking care of us is taking care of us. but increasingly that is no longer the case. let's just take for today private equity firms. companies that buy up companies, extract as much rent from them as possible and then quickly turn them over to the next highest bidder. over the past decade, private equity investors have spent more than $1 trillion acquiring hospitals, nursing homes, and physician practices. you can see here in this chart that private equity acquired six times as many medical practices in 2021 compared to just a decade earlier in 2012. the reach today of private equity in our health care system is enormous. think everything from specialists like object bgyn's

and anesthesiologists to generalists like primary care providers and urgent care. you might not even know that the new doctor you're seeing or the place where you're getting your blood work done is owned by anybody in your community, but by a for-off private equity firm. to understand why this is so dangerous, you just have to understand what private equity is all about and how it makes a very small number of people a ton of money. the playbook is pretty simple. private equity firms invest in companies largely through borrowed money, then flip them for a quick profit to enrich themselves and their investors. it's called buy, strip, flip. buy. the private equity firm uses a leveraged buyout normally, meaning they put up a small amount of their own money and

borrow the rest immediately saddling their purposes with huge amounts of debt. strip, they comb through the ballot sheets, they lay off workers, stop paying vendors. they even might sell the land underneath the company that they bought, giving themselves a big onetime payout, leaving the company to pay rent on the space they used to own. and then flip -- they find a new buyer or they get bailed out by somebody, sometimes even government, and walk away richer than before and complement insulated from -- insulated from any legal or moral fallout from the consequences of their actions. short-term profit is the priority, and in the health care system that comes with real risk and down side. because at the moment you are most vulnerable, you want to make sure that the priority is taking care of you. let me tell you a story to give

you a little example about how this works. prospect medical holdings is a safety net hospital operator, which means they provide health care to people who are on medicaid, people who don't have insurance. prospect was acquired by a private equity firm in 2010 and currently owns 16 hospitals in this country -- in pennsylvania, california, rhode island, and connecticut. before we get into the details, let's talk about how a private equity firm buys a hospital. they raise capital from investors, but a huge portion of the money they raise, as i mentioned before, is borrowed. so from the start, the hospital that they're buying is millions of dollars in debt, additional debt, and is immediately responsible for generating revenue to pay that debt. the debt that the hospital

didn't acquire, debt that is on the hospital because the ownership company borrowed the money in order to buy the hospital. sometimes that means taking a bad financial situation and ultimately replacing it with an even worse one. so in 2016, this company, prospect, bought three hospitals in my state. rockville general, manchester memorial and waterbury hospital for a total of $150 million. combined these hospitals serve about 6,000 patients. these hospitals are sometimes their best and often their own option, access to the emergency rooms can be a matter of life and death. many of the patients are on medicare or medicaid and they might not have access to transportation that would allow them to get to a hospital further away.

80% of their -- the company and the hospitals it owns are largely funded by us, taxpayers. these hospitals, i will admit, weren't in great financial shop when they were bought but they were hopeful that these new owners with lots of money at their disposal would bring in an infusement of money, two years after their purchase, the hospitals in rockville, manchester, and waterbury haven't seen much improvement or investment. they were beginning to fall into greater disrepair as the three of them entered some pretty dire financial straits, prospects didn't make further investments, they took out a $1.1 billion mortgage and made these hospitals the collateral. now, surely they put some of

that money, they used the hospital as collateral, they raised $1.1 billion, surely they put that money back into the hospitals to pay for repairs and their financial situations. you know the story. they continue the do -- they didn't do that. half of that loan, they used the hospitals for clat rals, half of that loan went to dividends, investors, across the country where prospect was located. $90 million went straight to one person, the ceo. let me guarantee you $90 million would have made a huge difference at waterbury hospital. it would have saved lives. but waterbury hospital was used as collateral so sam sea could make $90 million, none of it

went to any of the hospitals that prospect hospitals. prospect owes $60 million in taxes, they owe waterbury, which struggles to pay elementary school teachers $10.5 million. none of that money went to pay the taxes they owe connecticut or the city of waterbury. prospect ceo made $90 million while his company refused to pay taxes. maybe, you ask, the ceo really needed the money. well, he didn't. it's just greed. in guy sam lee, i don't know him, he owns not one but two luxury homes in los angeles, they're worth more than $15 million combined. each has its own pool and one has a private basketball court. they're 11 minutes from each other. sam lee pillaged three medicaid

hospitals in connecticut so he could have two mansions 11 minutes apart. but here's the real problem. sam lee isn't the exception. he's the rule. we just finished up a set of hearings and meetings on steward health care, which is the same playbook as prospect to run their hospitals into the ground while their out of state ceo also cashed out. the hospital steward bought in louisiana and massachusetts were gutted. a nurse testified before our committee this month that they put dead babies in cardboard boxes because they wouldn't pay for the kind of temporary coffin that would normally be used for a dead child. the nurses would leave during the day to go to local stores to

buy basic supplies on their own dime because they didn't have them in their hospital. the elevators in steward stopped working. why? because that ceo raffle dalatory, who ignored a subpoena to appear before the help committee this month, could bought a 190-foot yacht that costs $40 million a year just to keep in the water. dead babies in cardboard boxes so the ceo could burn $80,000 a week on a crew and shrimp cocktail and champagne for his private yacht. that is obscene and revolting, but that is our choice, is that -- that is the health care system laws that exists. what is happening with prospect and steward is happening all over the country.

i'm not saying every private equity firm is as ra patientus -- is as rapacious as what i'm talking about today. they will claim that the private connecty ownership increased -- ownership increased quality. here's the thing. it's just not true. yes, as i explained with regard to my own pediatric practice, efficiency is often not good for the well-being or the peace of mind for patients. my kids' pediatric practice is efficient but doesn't deliver the same kind of peace of mind as when you have a reliable pediatrician. there is almost no evidence that this inincreases quality. the evidence suggests that the

opposite is true. a recent study from harvard asked, are patients at hospitals acquired by private equity receiving better care. insurance data was looked at for ten years and the findings were stunning, though not surprising. after a hospital was acquired by a private equity firm, there was a 25% increase in complications for patients. patients experienced 27% more falls, 38% more bloodstream infections, the rate of surgical site infections was double that of hospitals not owned by private equity. those are stunning numbers. this is not patient care being 5% worse, 10% worse, you're talking about infection rates

after surgeries doubling just because a private equity firm owns it rather than a hospital being in the hands of a local community. when a private equity takes over, it's not about the patient, it's about profit. how do you maximize profit? you have to start paying back those loans that you took out to buy the hospital, you've got to start get ready to flip the asset. you have to make the ceo's even richer. what do you do? fire employees to cut costs, you have doctors see more patients with less time, you discharge patients much more quickly if that makes you more money. okay, that's quality, but what about costs? it turns out that private equity ownership is driving up costs for premium payers and taxpayers. one study looked at what happens when a private equity firm

engages in a rollup strategy. that study found in eight out of ten specialities they looked at from onology to primary care, it went up by 16%. when private equity buys a hospital, quality goes down, costs do consumers goes up. this begs a larger question. how is capitalism gone so far off the rails? how have the rules of our economy become so unmored from the common good and any conception of reality? no one in this country would endorse a health care system where nurses are forced to go to a local pharmacy just so the hospital owner could pay for the expensive upkeep of a luxury

boat. nobody in this country thinks it's okay for a hospital ceo to refuse to pay taxes so he can more easily make mortgage payments on his two luxury homes 11 minutes away from each other. these ceo's, most of them don't think they're doing anything wrong. they think that these of they're just playing by the rules and to an extent they're right because our government, our culture, our society has deemed it okay for people to make a for the -- a fortune even when it comes at the expense of hurting other people. listen, there are parts of the economy where maximizing profit alliance with maximizing quality but health care is not one of them. people are dying so executives can get rich. that is not right and we don't have to accept it. we can build a free market economy that has guardrails to protect against the worst kind

of immoral greed and excess. i don't begrudge anyone making money but if you're making it off a sacred part of the economy, and making it to go to your own pocketbook, there has to be a limit. today i'm outlining the problem. make no mistake, there are solutions. congress and the president does not have to accept this trend of private equity ownership in our health care system and the abuse that it allows. for instance, the biden administration and the ftc are taking these risks seriously, they're filing antitrust suits against privately owned monopolies, the help committee reported on steward health care and we heard outrage from both republicans and democrats on that committee. when that ceo refused to

testify, ignored the subpoena, republicans and democrats voted to sanction him for that illegal action. congress can take a stand and limit or restrict private equity or investor ownership of health care institutions that receive a bulk of their revenue from medicare or medicaid. let's be clear. this is not the only problem in the american health care system. we have a lot of work to do to increase quality and reduce costs, but this new phenomenon, the financialization of health care and the rapidly increasing ownership of health care institutions by private equity have happened virtually overnight with little public discussion and it has made all of the failures that already existed in our health care system 100 times worse. it's been a boon to the private yacht industry, but it's been

largely miserable for patients. it might feel like this train has left the station but it has not. it is not too late to turn it around. congress can and should act. i yield the floor.

mrs. murray: mr. president. the presiding officer: the

president pro tempore. mrs. murray: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i rise today to speak about a new resolution that i introduced which reaffirms the basic principal that when you go to the e.r., they should be allowed to treat you. when your life is in danger, doctors should be able to do their job. and when you need emergency care, including an abortion, no politician should stop you from getting it. this is so simple. and yet when president biden and vice president harris tried to make that clear, republicans worked to stop them, opposing the basic notion that, yes, e.r. doctors might have to provide emergency abortion care to save a woman's life. make no mistake, we are talking about women whose water breaks dangerously early or who are experiencing uncontrollable hemorrhage or sepsis or

preeclampsia. these are patients we are saying doctors should treat under the basic right to emergency care. these are the women republicans don't think deserve access to emergency care. i don't know where on the long path of antiabortion extremism that saving lives became a bridge too far for so many republicans, but that is where we are. it's not just an extreme position. it is a very dangerous one, and it is a deadly one. there are so many tragic stories about how republican abortion bans are hurting women. those stories include women who have been unable to get an abortion after a pregnancy became bad for their health, unable to get one after the situation had become a medical emergency, unable to get one until the only onion was a hysterectomy that totally ends their dream of having a child one day. and in some heartbreaking cases, women have been unable to get an

abortion until it is too late. they have died. they have died because republican bans denied and delayed the care they needed. just this week we heard the stories of two black mothers who lost their lives in georgia due to the state's draconian abortion ban. according to a report from propublica, in 2022, after georgia's six-week abortion ban went into effect, a pregnant woman went into the e.r. she was a single mom. she had a serious infection and needed a dnc. that is a routine procedure and the standard of care for her condition. her case was not a mystery. but even if it was clear that a dc would save her life, doctors could not perform without facing danger under the law. her condition worsened.

her organs started failing the by the time she got the procedure, 19 hours after she arrived at the e.r., it was too late and tragically she died. the state's medical review committee concluded there is a good chance she would have survived if the procedure would have happened sooner. her name was amber thurman. another black woman in georgia died without ever seeking medical care. she was too afraid to see a doctor given the current legislation on pregnancies and abortions. the state's medical review committee also found her death to be preventable. a heartbreaking outcome for the three children she left behind. her name was candy miller. how can that be the status quo in our country in the 21st century. how is anyone okay with this. how does anyone think that these extreme abortion bans are a good

idea. how does anyone oppose clarifying? women have a right to emergency care. don't we want our hospitals to save lives. how can anyone look at this wreckage. how can you hear the stories from doctors who are racked with guilt for decisions republican politicians made for them. how can you hear the stories from these women who have bled and suffered and died? how can anyone hear the chilling accounts. women who have died and just shrugged it off and say well, i'm sure this will blow over. or it wasn't so bad. and yet we have republicans by and large just trying to ignore this and trying to get everyone to whistle past the graveyard that they spent decades digging. as a -- as if a woman would ever in her life forget the time her doctor said yes, you are in danger. yes, we know how to treat you, but, no, i can't do it.

politicians won't let them. as if a mother would ever forget losing her daughter because she was denied care, as if a husband would ever forget losing his wife, as if a kid growing up without a mother because she was denied emergency abortion care will ever, ever for a single day of their life forget this. mr. president, we have republican-led states hearing from providers about how completely unworkable and dangerous these bans are, and not really lifting a finger to meaningfully address this problem. we have states where people are trying to put it to the voters, trying to let the people have their say on these bans, and republicans have been fighting those tooth and nail, tooth and nail to block them. just to let people have their say. and we have donald trump still after all this has happened saying -- everyone wanted roe overturned. that's what he said. everyone wanted roe overturned?

who is he listening to? he said it's great states that can cause this chaos. great politicians can effectively lock patients out of an emergency care room. make no mistake, this is the post-roe world republicans spent decades fighting for. this is the policy outcome that trump and republicans moved heaven and earth to achieve. and they make that clearer and clearer every time they not only refuse to lift a finger to stop it but republicans even filed a brief telling the supreme court essentially no, we don't think doctors should be required to provide abortion care when a patient's life is at stake. when a patient's life is at stake. if republicans thought even in the slightest that this is a problem they could start by cosponsoring a resolution saying it's a problem. this should not be a hard step. let's see who takes me up on that offer. i am waiting to see.

mr. president, when i think about the carnage the republican abortion bans have caused, i truly cannot put my outrage into words. but i can be here and i can share the horror stories i'm hearing on the senate floor and give voice to those patients and providers who are living this nightmare firsthand. dying women being turned away from an emergency room, being left to bleed out, left to get sicker, left to miscarry on their own. the lucky ones, the lucky ones get airlifted to a state like mine where abortion is legal and protected. mr. president, by july of this year, one hospital in idaho next to my state had already airlifted six pregnant women out of the state for emergency abortion care. the unlucky ones died. we can't look away from this

hard reality. here in america in the 21st century, pregnant women dying not because doctors don't know how to save them but because doctors don't know if republicans will let them. mr. president, as you well know, we have a maternal mortality crisis in this country, and these bans are making it worse. we are moving in the wrong direction. and to republicans who have the gall to talk about exceptions for the life of the mother while arguing against abortion care as emergency care, even when it is lifesaving, what do you think emergency care is for? what do you think emergency care is for? and let's be clear. providing emergency stabilizing care is the bare minimum to keep a patient alive. these women may have undergone tremendous trauma and suffering up until they meet the threshold for emergency stabilizing care.

it should never have to get to take point. women should not have to lose organ function before they can get medical care. they shouldn't have to bleed out in a parking lot. they shouldn't have to be left to miscarry on their own. their husband shouldn't have to find them when he comes home bleeding and unconscious and call 911 in a panic. this is what is happening. and, mr. president, i know you feel the same. we are not going to stand for this. this will not become a new accepted normal, period. democrats are going to continue to be here to tell these stories. we are going to continuing pressing to fully restore reproductive freedoms for every woman in america. and we're going to continue to put up -- to put a white-hot spotlight on the devastating, deadly fallout of republican policies and abortion bans.

and on the cruel callousness trump has offered in response, never missing an opportunity to gloat about overturning roe v. wade. women and families are listening to him gloat, mr. president. they're not going to forget, and i know we won't. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. mrs. murray: mr. president. the presiding officer: the president pro tem. mrs. murray: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to legislative session and be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten

minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. murray: i have six requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate them have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. the presiding officer: duly noted. mrs. murray: i ask unanimous consent that the committee on foreign relations be discharged from further consideration of s. 288 and the senate proceed to its immediate consideration. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. 288, a bill to prevent, treat, and cure tuberculosis globely -- globally. the presiding officer: is there an objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection. the committee is discharged and the senate will proceed. mrs. murray: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the cardin substitute amendment at the desk be considered and agreed to, the bill as amended be considered read a third time. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. murray: i know of no further debate on the bill as

amended. the presiding officer: is there further debate? if not, all in favor say aye. all opposed, say nay. the ayes appear to have it. the eyes do have it. the bill as amended is passed. mrs. murray: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. murray: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of calendars 493, s. 4698. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 493, s. 4698, a bill to authorize the joint task forces of the department of homeland security and so forth and for other purposes. the presiding officer: is there an objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection. mrs. murray: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the committee-reported amendment be withdrawn, the peters substitute

amendment, which is at the desk, be considered and agreed to, the bill as amended be considered read a third time and passed, and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. murray: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that if the senate receives h.r. 9614 from the house of representatives, the text of which is identical to s. 4539, the senate proceed to its immediate consideration, the bill be considered read a third time and passed, and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: is there an objection? without objection, so ordered. mrs. murray: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the committee on homeland security and governmental affairs be disclassroomed from further -- discharged from further consideration of h.r. 4693 an act to provide the federal report eliminations and sun set act of 1995 does not acquire to certain reports required to be submitted by the tennessee valley authority and the bill be

referred to the committee on environment and public works. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mrs. murray: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned until 3:00 p.m. on monday, september 23. following the prayer and pledge, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed. following the conclusion of morning business, the senate proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the jenkins nomination postcloture. further, that all postcloture time be considered expired at 5:30 p.m. finally, if any nominations are confirmed during monday's session, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, and the president be immediately notified of the senate's action. the presiding officer: without objection. so ordered. mrs. murray: mr. president, if there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order following the

remarks of senators lankford and mcconnell. the presiding officer: without objection.

the presiding officer: the senior senator from oklahoma. mr. lankford: mr. president, it is the middle of september, end of the funding year is actually just over ten days away. the senate has brought up exactly zero appropriation

bills, though the committee on appropriations has worked in a bipartisan way to be able to get those through the committee on appropriations, but zero of them have come to the floor for a vote. which means we're facing a continuing resolution in the next week, and another one of those hanging deadlines out there. we could have worked on it last week, except last week there were just judges, and this week it was tax judges and other folks on the docket and some political votes that came up, so we didn't work on it last week, and we didn't work on it this week, we didn't work on it two months ago or three months ago when they'd already been out of committee. they just haven't come up at all. so once again, the nation's whispering about will we have another government shutdown, facing the fact that congress has not finished its work. quite frankly, even during this september we've not even brought up appropriation bills for a vote on the floor at all. i've come to this floor multiple

times to say this is not the way it should run, and quite frankly a hundred of thousands would nod and say it's not the way it should run. i continue to bring to this body a very simple idea that maggie hassan and i, my colleague from new hampshire, that we've had together for years now, that if it ever came to the floor would pass. we have plenty of support on both the republican and democrat side of the aisle to be able to deal with ending government shutdowns. it's a simple she and i have, that is if we get to a moment like this, that we've not finished our work, that government doesn't have a shutdown, we have actually a shut-in, where all of us have to stay here, continue our work, federal employees and the nation is held harmless, but we have to actually finish the work. we have multi trillion dollars in debt, and little to no conversation here about it.

and we won't have any in september. now, it looks like we'll punt this for several months. my question is, will we have it then? probably not. it may punt to november, december, or next year. we haven't decided yet. when that's decided, there will be another deadline sitting there, and more things to do during that time period, whether at the end of this year, because there are so many unaddressed things that have not happened this year that we have to address, suddenly crammed into the year, so there will be no serious conversation then, or it will be punted into next year, and there are so many things under a new presidential term that have to be done, there won't be any serious conversation then. my simple question is -- when do we have this conversation, of something we all acknowledge is a problem? instead of working on what we all know is the big issue, we're instead voting on judges and chit scating and pre -- chitchatting and pretending it's not a problem, when it is. we're not voting on the national

defense authorization act either. that's come out of committee already in a wide bipartisan support months ago, but it's yet to come to the floor of the senate. my understanding now of the latest rumor is there is no plan to bring it to the floor of the senate, that there seems to be an intent to say we'll just not ever bring it to the senate and just kind of pretend we did, then move to a conference report at the end of the year. this is one of the single most important bills we do during the course of the year, is our funding for americans' tax dollars and our national defense act. so far, we've not done any of the 12 bills dealing with our funding, and apparently we're not going to do the national defense act this month, next month, maybe november or december, if they can form an agreement with members of the house behind the scenes. so the first time we may ever see the bill may be after some deal has already been struck and

we'll have no amendments, no conversation, just the single biggest thing we work on during the course of the year, national defense, landing on the floor of the senate, saying vote up or down. does anyone think that's the way it should actually operate? anyone at all? in this bill i fought for things like tinker air force base, the largest sustainment base in all of the air force, happens to be in oklahoma there are serious things there. we're in the transition between two different airplanes, the e-3 to the e-7. the e-7 has not come on fast enough, and the e-3 was already fading away. not being sustained. so in this bill, it says hold on, air force, the other platform is delayed, we can't give up this one until that o one's on board. so it is a literal national defense issue to say we've got to resolve there.

it's congress speaking into what we should speak into, in a very practical area, to say these are things that need to be solved. we have personnel issues like pay raises for military. we have issues for spouses and their work. we have all kinds of things built into this bill, dealing with our different installations around the world and the fight happening in europe, in the middle east, and our preparation all around the world to be able to secure the united states. we're not talking about that. we're having votes on judges ins instead. and apparently, from what i'm hearing rumor of, we may not have any talk about it at all on the floor of this senate. there's a bill that's been moving through committee dealing with energy permitting. seems to have bipartisan support. saying we've got to fix the process of how we're doing energy transmission for transmission lines, also for pipelines, basic energy needs. it's interesting, ten years ago i would have people catch me, saying we want to get renewable

energy, we need that for our manufacturing. that's what we want to do. you know what i hear now from manufacturers moving? we just need energy, period. because our electric grid is being strained across the entire country. because we have more data centers, because we have a.i. coming onboard, which uses a tremendous amount of electricity, we have electric vehicles which use tremendous amount of electricity. in the process, we have more and more regulations slowing down the production of more and more energy, and we're not keeping up, around we all know it. yet a bill to deal with energy permitting languishes. i have no idea, after it comes out of committee, if we'll ever discuss it on the floor of this senate, though it's been worked on. we have health care issues that we all talk about the importance of health care and trying to bring down the cost for consumers. guess what -- the finance committee did a

protracted, multi-year work in a bipartisan basis to move a bill dealing with pharmacy benefit managers to bring down the cost, not of ten drugs but of all dr drugs, and to be able to make it more available. not just available by mail, available at pharmacies, especially rural pharmacies that are struggling under the oppression of the pharmacy benefit managers. just this year, this calendar year, middle of september to january just this year, 2,275 pharmacies in america have closed. you know why? that pharmacy benefit manager bill we have, that's been out of committee and a wide bipartisan vote, is still sitting there not even debated on this floor, while 2,275 pharmacies closed. because apparently we needed to do other things.

and so we have ignored more than 2,000 pharmacies closing, many of them in rural areas. if we brought it to this floor, this would pass tomorrow in overwhelming support on both sides of the aisle. but it's not been brought up. there's a farm bill that's out there that was due last year, so there was an extension into this year. well, guess what. that farm bill expires now within the month, and there's no debate still about the farm bill that was extended from last year into this year where it's going to go. and farmers that are dealing with reference prices right now and inflation and what they are facing for the cost of fuel, the cost of fertilizer, the cost of equipment, as they continues to accelerate, congress continues to ignore in bringing up the farm bill. as if our food is just going to

appear at the grocery store. these are big issues. it's the reason we all were elected was to work on these big issues. but so far this year, these issues won't even come to the floor of the senate for debate. not that they've been brought up and voted down. they're not even brought up. my simple challenge is, it's the middle of september. why aren't we working on budget? why aren't we working on the national defense authorization? why aren't we working on the energy and the cost of energy and permitting for energy? why aren't we working on lower-priced prescription drugs? why aren't we working on the farm bill. all of those have wide bipartisan support coming out of committee, all of them. but none of them have been brought up here on in floor. maybe it is so everything can get crammed into the end of the year and get passed,

quote-unquote -- -- and get past, quote-unquote, the election. maybe we need to reset our priorities. and let's get the things done that the american people expect us to work on. the hard things, the things that are important, whether i.t. health care -- whether it's health care, energy, ag policy, the budget, national defense. let's address the things that should be addressed and let's get started. i'd be okay with starting today. let's aleast -- at least address -- at least address them next week. my understanding of next week's schedule, they're not coming then either. with that, i yield the floor.

the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: no, sir. mr. mcconnell: one of my predecessors in the senate from kentucky was a guy named happy chandler. he had a legendary career that continued -- two-time governor. he was actually baseball commissioner for a while. he was known for what i found to be a wise observation -- you can start too late but never too soon. that sums up how i feel about the task i began this time last week, publicly thanking the talented people who served with me in the republican leader's office. i.t. not because i'm -- it's not because i'm going anywhere anytime soon. it's not because there's any

shortage of important work still to be done. i've just had the great good fortune of leaning on an outstanding staff. and it's never too soon to thank them for their devoted service over many years. the group i'd like to single out for particular praise this afternoon includes some of the longest-serving members of my team and some of its newest arrivals. some of the most familiar faces around the capital and some of the behind-the-scenes heroes who actually keep us going. every one of them is essential to the work that we do for kentucky and for the nation. i'll begin with someone whose first stint on my team predates my time as republican leader.

today the former secretary of the senate, julie adams, is a senior leader with administrative responsibilities that touch every corner of this institution. but i will claim credit for first bringing this proud iowan to the senate as my deputy communications director. when julie left my team the first time, she wisely picked an opportunity i'd have a rough time objecting to, and that was working for first lady laura bush at the white house. well, ever since she got back, i've done everything i could to keep julie's numerous talents right here in the senate. from complex personnel policy to ancient institutional protocol, julie hasn't met a senate

challenge she couldn't handle with tact and with grace. appointing julie as secretary under the last republican majority was literally a no-brainer. from this desk, i had a front-row seat to julie's professional excellence, but i wasn't the only one. as i understand it, julie's daily appearances on the senate floor were appointment viewing for her parents, harold and leah. they turned in from back home, and they have good reason to be proud of their truly exceptional public servant. so, julie, thank you so much. now while julie has been out amongst the tapestry of the broader senate, the next pair i'd like to thank have been

holding down the fort just inside the doors of my capital office. the first person anyone sees when they stop by my office, grace harrison, and that's by design. grace has both the warmth and the poise of a royal and the authoritative confidence of a bouncer. she knows how to makest guests feel welcome, whether they are kentuckians stopping by on a family vacation or dignitaries arriving for important meetings. at the same time, she knows thousand keep a firm hold on what comes in and out of the office. it's a rare combination of skills and it usually takes years to hone. but grace had it mastered on day one. as i understand it, it wasn't long after she arrived that grace also had the names and faces of each of our colleagues committed to memory.

and she's wasted no time in taking on extra projects above and beyond the duties of the front office. this isn't at all surprising for someone who i'm told found time back in high school amidst the demands of academics and extra curbing lars to start up her own business on the side. well, i'm grateful that grace continues to make it her business to support my entire team so well. so, grace, thank you. now, if you make it past grace, you may find yourself striking up a conversation with the other half of my all-star front office -- gaden james. it usually begins with a detailed account of the incredible history of the room. the very first home of the library of congress. but where the conversation goes

next, anybody's guess. gaden is as comfortable discussing the finer points of sport fishing as he is the nuances of richard nixon's foreign policy. no matter the topic, you're sure to come away with some new walking-around knowledge. perhaps that's par for the course with an alumnus of one of our most erudite former colleagues, rob portman. gaden has struck a sort of balance few young capitol hill staffers manage to achievement he's both 100% present for the task at hand and 100% committeded to honing the skills he hopes to use in his future. in other words, he's not above keeping track of my favorite coffee mug. but he never misses an opportunity to attend a briefing on an interesting topic, either. and when the senate works odd

hours, so does my front office team. i'm grateful that gaden has been very willing to burn the midnight oil. so, gaden, thanks a lot. now, if the front office sounds like an energetic place to work, just ask our special assistant, katie carol, what it's like helping my senior staff in the back office. katie came aboard last year at a particularly busy time for my team. did heing on who you ask -- depending on how ask, she was either stolen or rescued from the wild world of house campaigns. regardless, katie dove head first into a tough job. keeping tabs on a chief of staff whos ■known to--who's known to come and go via a secret door,

tracking down a national security advisor who is frequently unreachable by phone or e-mail and taking on extensive other duties as assigned, all with a calm but eager willingness beyond her years. katie's an sponge for new knowledge and skills, and we have come to count on her as a utility player. she has followed a distinguished family service to public service. i know she makes her family very proud. so, katie, thank you. of course i can't talk about my office with calm efficiency and professionalism without mentioning the great work of my

scheduling director, sarah steinburg, around the senate it's considered wrong form -- when my dear friend lamar alexander announced his retirement, i concluded it was fair play for the kentucky delegation to borrow sarah's talent from her native tennessee. at any given moment over the past five years, there isn't anyone who had a better idea of where i am or more importantly where i'm supposed to be. discretion and attention to detail are her calling cards. sarah closely guards my confidence and vigilantly protects my time. she spots sensitive situations from a mile away and steers us through them with the ease of a pro who's seen it all. indeed, sarah has seen it all from her days at the business

end of senate casework back in tennessee to her tenure managing some of the most demanding schedules here in washington. it's a job of which i'm sure she's most proud, raising two young sons, connor and graham with her husband shane. i've been so grateful for sarah's willingness to juggle it all with such excellence. so thank you, sarah. now, i'm proud of the way my team thrives under pressure. but when technical difficulties throw a wench in a busy -- wrench in a busy day, even the coolest heads require a bit of grace. in those moments there's nobody my team is happier to see than my long-time administrator of information technology moon sulfed. of course with moon's capable hands on the wheel, moments of

technical crisis are few and far between. he plugged in the entire republican leader's office, he'd be the only one to unplug it as well. and every day in between i've relied on moon's trust, loyalty and discretion and skill to keep our entire operation. he is an asset not only for my team, but for the entire senate. but for every memory of moon bailing us out of every wonky technical problem, my team remembers him as just the friendliest colleague they could ask for. moon asks about others parents

and their sports team and learn about their latest travels and regale them with stories and gifts of his own. around the capitol it is well known that moon has never met a stranger. by his own admission, he's living an american dream, and by his joy for his work, his lifelong love of learning and his devotion to this institution, moon reminds those around him that we are as well. so, moon, thank you so much. my late friend and former chair of the ethics committee, johnny isakson was to worn people not to drawn in shallow water. what he meant was that you can't forget to dot your i's and krs

your t's. my office manager took that as words to live by. alex is a proud kentuckian and as i was reminded during my travels through kentucky, kentucky is quite proud of her as well. so is our shared alma mater, it is not uncommon for others to say they know alex. i suspect they he see in her what i knew about her when she joined the team, a passion for public service and wisdom beyond her years. it didn't take long before the selfless initiative that prompted alex to quietly come into work on sundays to secure coveted tickets for white house tours invited even greater responsibilities. as office manager, alex is constantly emersed in the

minutia of policy and personnel. when my senior most staff need honest assessments to make sensitive decisions, alex doesn't pull any punches. her confidence and composure prevent headaches and quite literally keep our team out of harm's way. i can't help but recall how on january 6, while working from home, alex provided such timely instructions and updates to members of my staff literally locked down in the capitol that many of them assumed she was there as well. i know my entire team is grateful for alex's patience, friendship, and the bitting wit that keeps office mates on their toes. and behind only her proud mom, deborah, i count myself among

her biggest fans. so, alex, thank you. so, mr. president, for a second week in a row, i've chosen to close by saying there's still many more incredibly talented and dedicated public servants that i need to thank publicly in the days ahead. in the meantime, my entire team will continue to do what they do best on behalf of kentucky and the entire nation. the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until

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