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let's go further. let's go beyond. >> midco supports c-span as a public service along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> on this tuesday, we take you live to capitol hill where the senate is ready to gavel in. today lawmakers will consider president biden's nominee for u.s. ambassador at large for arctic affairs. they may also hold a procedural vote on a short-term government funding bill. live to the senate on c-span2. ... the presiding officer: the senate will come to order.

our guest chaplain is pastor william l. gnash of glad tidings pentacostal church, mangham, louisiana. the guest chaplain: good morning. shall we pray. our eternal god, as this body assembles for session today, we thank thee for the blessings of heaven upon america in it's 248th year of freedom! our prayer on this september day is for wisdom and anointing of thy spirit to transcend upon each senator. may guidance and strength for sound legislation move from each committee room to the floor of this chamber. may these honorable servants represent the heartbeat of america. after all, they are sent by the people for the betterment of the people! forgive us, god of our failures.

repair our altar, and may this chamber of calhoun, webster, long, and goldwater become renewed with the best fruits of labor. lead the senators to the mountaintop of victory, so that one hundred years from today we may say it was good to be here! in the name of jesus christ, amen. the presiding officer: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to our flag. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the presiding officer: the clerk will read a communication to the

senate. the clerk: washington, d.c, september 24, 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, department of state. michael sfraga of alaska to be ambassador-at-large for arctic ambassador-at-large for arctic

>> the assembly water and address by his excellency, joseph r biden, jr., president of united states of america. i request protocol to his excellency and invite him to

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[applause] >> my fellow leaders, today is the fourth time i've had the great honor of speaking to this assembly as president of the united states. it will be my last. i've seen remarkable history. i was first elected as u.s. senator in 1972. i know i look like i'm only 40, i know that. [laughing] i was 29 years old. back then we were living through an inflection point, moment of tension and uncertainty. the world was divided by the

cold war. the middle east was headed toward war. america was at war in vietnam. at that point the longest war in america's history. our country was divided and angry, and there were questions about our staying power and a future. but even then i entered public life not out of despair it out of optimism. the united states and the world got through that moment. was it easy or simple without significant setback. but we go on to reduce the threat of nuclear weapons through arms control. and then go on to bring the cold war itself to an end. israel and egypt went to war, but then forged a historic peace. we ended the war in vietnam, the last year in hanoi was met with

the vietnamese leadership and we elevate our partnership to the highest level. the testaments and resilience of the human spirit and the capacity for reconciliation. but today the united states and vietnam are partners and friends, and it's proof even from the horrors of war there's a way forward. things can get better. we should never forget that. i've seen that throughout my career. in the the 1980s i spoke out against apartheid in south africa, and then watched the racist regime fall. in the 1990s i worked -- for war crimes turkey was held accountable. home i ended the scourge of violence against women and girls, not only in america but across the world as many of you have as well. we of have -- with so much more to do a special against rape and sexual violence as weapons of

war and terror. we were attacked on 9/11 by al-qaeda and osama bin laden. we brought him justice. then, i came to the presidency in another moment of crisis and uncertainty are commonly america had to look forward, new challenges, new threats, new opportunities were in front of us. we did put ourselves in a position to see the threats to deal with the challenges and to seize the opportunities as well. we need to in the war that began on 9/11. as vice president to president obama, he asked me to work to wind down the military operations in iraq, and we did, painful as it was. when i came to office as president, afghanistan had replaced vietnam as america's longest war. i was determined to end it, and

i did. it was a hard decision but the right decision. four american presidents had faced that decision but i was determined not to leave it to the fifth. it was edition accompanied tragedy, 13 brave americans lost their lives along with hundreds of afghans in a suicide bomb. i think those lost lives, think of them every day. i think of all the 2004 at 61 military deaths over a long 20 years of that war, 20,744 american servicemen hundred 44 american servicemen wounded in action. i think of their service, their sacrifice and their heroism. i know other countries lost her own many women fighting alongside us. we honor those sacrifices as well. to face the future is also determined to rebuild my coaches alliance and partnerships to a level not previously seen. we did. we did just that from traditional treaty alliances to new partnerships like the quad,

the trendy, japan, austria and india. i know, i know many look at the world today and see difficulties and react with despair. but i do not. i won't. as leaders we don't have the luxury. i recognize that challenges and ukraine to gaza to sedan and beyond, war, hunger, terrorism, mentality. record displacement of people, the climate crisis, democracy at risk, strangers in our society, promise of artificial intelligence and its significance risk. the list goes on but maybe because all i've seen and all we've done together over the decades i have hope. i know there is a way forward. in 1919 the irish poet bates described a world, and a quote,

where things fall apart, the center cannot hold, anarchy is loosed upon the world, end of quote. some may say those words describe the world not just in 1919, biden 2024. i see a critical distinction. in our time the center has held. leaders of people from every region and across the political spectrum have stood together, turning the page we turned a page in the worst pandemic in a century. we make sure covid no longer controls our lives. we tended the u.n. charter, ensured the survival of ukraine as a free nation. my car to make the largest investment in climate, clean energy ever anywhere in history. there will always be forced that poor country apart, , and the world apart.

aggression, extremism, chaos and cynicism. desire to retreat from the world and go it alone, our task, our task is to make sure that the forces holding us together or stronger than those that are pulling us and support. but the principles of partnership, and we came in each you to uphold can withstand the challenges that the center holds once again. my fellow leaders, i truly believe we are at another inflection point in world history. the choices we make today will determine our future for decades to come. when we stand in the principles that unite us, we stand firm against aggression. when we have the complex that a raging today, when we take on global challenges like climate change, hunger and disease, when we plan now for the

opportunities and risk of a revolutionary new technologies. i want to talk today about each of these decisions and actions in my view we must take. to start, each of these bodies has made a commitment to the principles of the u.n. charter, to stand up against aggression. when russian in bed ukraine we could have stood protested it. the vice president hurts and i understood that was an assault and everything this institution is supposed to stand for. and so my direction, america stepped into the breach writing massive security and economic security. we stood up. most important, the ukrainian people stood up. i asked the people of this timber stand up for them. the good news is putin's war has

failed and, at its core a. he set out to destroy ukraine, but ukraine is still free. he set out to weaken nato, but nato is bigger, stronger and more united than ever before with two new members, finland and sweden. but we cannot let up. we the world now has another chase after choice to make. when we sustain our support to help ukraine when this war and preserve its freedom? or walk away from that aggression and a nation be destroyed? i know my answer. we cannot grow weary. we cannot look away. and we will not let up on our support for ukraine. [applause] we also need to pull our

principles as we seek to responsibly manage the competition with china so it does not fear in the conflict. we stand ready to cooperate on urgent challenges for the good of our people and people everywhere. we recently resumed cooperation with china to stop the flow of deadly synthetic narcotics. i appreciate the collaboration. it matters to people of my country. many others around the world. a matter of conviction, the united states is unabashed pushing back against economic competition against military coercion of other nations in the south china sea. and making peace and stability across the taiwan straits, protect their most advanced technologies so they cannot be used against us or any of our partners. the same time we will continue to strengthen her network of alliances and partnerships across the indo-pacific. these partnerships are not

against shutdown. house republican leadership needs to get the c.r. done quickly because we still need time in the senate to move the bill through the floor. house republicans should work with democrats, house and senate democrats, to find the best path to getting the bill passed in a bipartisan way. they've already -- the house republicans have already wasted enough time as it is. once the house acts, the senate will move quickly to get the c.r. done. i encourage my colleagues on both sides to prioritize speedy passage of the c.r. if both sites keep working together, if we stay away from poison pills and partisan spectacle, the american people can rest assure there won't be a -- rest assured there won't be a government shutdown. but we still have more work to do. nothing was inevitable about the tight deadline we face now. the bipartisan c.r. i negotiated with speaker johnson and leaders mcconnell and jeffries is more

or less the result people expected from the beginning, a short-term c.r., one that does not last six months that is free of poison pills and which honors the bipartisan funding levels we agreed to earlier this year. but this feels like the third or fourth time this congress that -- in this congress that house republicans have had to learn the same elementary l lesson. in a narrowly divided government partisan bully tactics and appealing to the extreme just does not work, plain and simple. i know a few on the hard right say, oh, we can demand, bang our fs -- our phippses on the table and -- our fists on the table and force everyone to do what we want. that ain't happening they want is so -- a large number of democrats and republicans don't want to do it. nonetheless, this feels like the third or fourth time this congress -- in this congress that the house republicans have

had to learn the same elementary lesson. i say particularly the house hard right republicans in the freedom caucus, in a narrowly divided government partisan bully tactics and appealing to the extreme simply does not work. i would have thought that would have been made clear a year ago, mr. president, when speaker mccarthy kept trying and trying and trying to appease the hard right with increasingly severe funding cuts, and it ended up being all for naught anyway. we passed a bipartisan c.r., and radicals turned on speaker mccarthy. this time around, it was donald trump again telling the hard right to shut the government down if we didn't agree to their poison pill provisions. never mind that a shutdown would mean costs go up, programs like head start would halt, public safety here and at the border would suffer. to donald trump, these are all okay because they're just apparently the costs of feeding his ego.

it is bewilderingly cynical to see donald trump push for a shutdown knowing the pain it would cause the country. but thankfully, we are still on track to avoid that kind of mess. of course, we still have more work to do. i earnestly open today brings good news in the house. we here in the senate are ready to work to get this bill done quickly. now, on abortion, last week a report by propublica told the hard wrenching story of amber thurman of georgia who tied because abortion -- who died because abortion bans in her state prevented her from getting lifesaving emergency care. i know you're familiar with this case, mr. president. it's the first known case of a woman dying because of new abortion laws in the wake of the maga supreme court's disastrous repeal of roe. doctors said her death was preventable. this was a prime example of the government interfering with lifesaving medical decisions, exactly what is envisioned

unfortunately in the maga project 2025. sadly, as we all know, she will not be the last. a person's ability to receive lifesaving care, including lifesaving reproductive care should never, never hinge on what state they live in. it should be something to which everyone in every state has a right, and georgia's case is particularly foul because georgia has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the country, which disproportionately affects black americans. what happened in georgia is a directs example -- direct example of how abortion bans continue to exacerbate the racial disparities in maternal death. amber's doctors didn't perform the medical procedures they knew she needed because of georgia's law. it was the law overruling their good medical judgment. she went into septic shock and her heart stopped, all the while doctors did everything except the medically sound treatment she needed.

in our country right now, doctors are calling lawyers to ask permission before they treat a patient. can you believe that? that is so wrong. but that's what our republican colleagues in their extreme views on women's reproductive health have asked for. today, the senate will act on legislation to help prevent tragedies like amber's death from happening again. first, democrats will bring up a resolution, led by senator murray, that affirms the senate's position that every person has the basic right to emergency health care, including abortion care. i implore every single senator, democrat, republican, independent, to support this resolution. it's a simple idea that emergency care should be a right for all, and that doctors should never be afraid of doing their jobs while making life and death decisions. how on earth could anyone have a problem with that?

democrats will also bring up legislation by senator baldwin to create a grant program that will assist with travel-related expenses for those seeking an abortion. this fund would help people overcome financial barriers like transportation, lodging, and child care, if patients need to travel out of state to get the care they need and require. perhaps if amber had access to this fund and could have left georgia, if she had the federal resources to move quicker to get care, perhaps she'd be alive today. i thank senators murray and baldwin for leading these two important bills. if passed, they may help save lives. i'm proud to support them and urge everyone to do the same. when it comes to abortion, donald trump and republicans are pump pushing the argument that abortion issing left to the state leaving aside the fact

that their end goal is a total ban. the tragedy of amber thurman shows exactly why leaving abortion to the states is such a dangerous idea in itself. it has led to a dangerously inconsistent application of justice and rights. many of these state legislatures are dominated, frankly, by radicals who don't know are care one iota about reproductive care. and abortion is just the start for some of those states. some of them will want to police a woman's travel. they'll want to prosecute people who help women receive care. they'll want to jail doctors. that's already in legislative ideas in many of these states. these are utterly delusional ideas. my senate republican colleagues say abortion should be left to the states. what do they have to say about states like georgia where abortion laws got someone killed? do republicans think this is a just outcome? do they think this is an acceptable way to legislate on

people's individual freedoms, some states saying one thing and others saying something different? i don't think so, democrats don't think so and the american people don't think so. all of this is an attempt from maga republicans to get a national abortion ban. i hope today, mr. president, i hope today we can see a tiny ray of light amid so much darkness when it comes to reproductive freedoms. i hope my colleagues on both sides support the legislation to today, to say no, to say no would be a cruel and heartless message to send to the american people. i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the clerk: ms. baldwin.

mr. mcconnell: mr. president. the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: yesterday the pentagon announced the deployment of additional u.s. servicemembers to the middle east. the approximate cause, of course, is the threat of war on israel's northern border. but ongoing iran-backed attacks against u.s. personnel from the red sea, iraq, and syria offer plenty of reminders that america's enemy lacks neither the resources nor motivation to tackle us. democrats and republicans alike

should recognize that america's enduring security interest in the middle east are not served by abandoning the region to iran, russia, and china. but what the biden-harris administration is grappling with right now is a problem of its own making. it is the combination of a weak and ineffectual response to iran-backed aggression. it's the predictable and forewarned inadequacy of a planning construct that rules out serious preparation for meeting multiple threats at the same time. i've spoken repeatedly about the naivete of under resourcing our

military and the threats our adversaries pose to our interests. it's worth remembering how former british prime minister harold mcmillan reportedly responded to a question that the greatest challenge for a states m.a.p. is, quote, events, dear boy. events. well, events have proven particularly challenging for the biden-harris administration. it the risk of repeating myself, losing resolve to meet and defeat adversaries when they threaten us only emboldens them. retreating from difficult challenges only invites even bigger ones. and most importantly, there is no serious accounting of the global threats to america's interests and our allies today that concludes they can be dealt with one at a time at our leisure.

the enemy gets a vote. the demand for a u.s. military that can meet simultaneous challenges is acute, and we ignore it at the peril of the entire american-led international order that underpins our security and our prosperity. today when president biden addresses the u.n. general assembly, he will no doubt hear about the grave challenge these interconnected threats pose to america and the entire world. but the president's concern will carry little weight without explicit commitments to the sort of hard power necessary to address them. the president will assist that his leadership has, quote, produced results, end quote. that's true. just not good results. for years biden neglected the

urgent requirements of the national defense, anemic defense budget requests and the biden-harris administration has compounded the challenges that we face. what the commander in chief is reckoning with this week is the product of nearly four years of failing to check iran and to prepare adequately for great power competition. four years of appeasement, hesitation naive and desperate diplomacy as well as outright retreat. it is indeed too late to undo this administration's record of net cuts to defense investments. likewise, it's too late to roll

back the disastrous withdrawal from afghanistan. here in the senate, after weeks of partisan show votes, it is now too late for the senate to discharge a fundamental obligation of this body to provide for the common defense and debate the annual defense authorization and appropriations bill before the election. it is not, however, too late to stop treating israel as an escalatory force in need of micromanagement. instead of a sovereign democracy encircled by the forces of the world's most active sponsor of terror, it's not too late to stop responding to proxy violence with the sort of unwavering force necessary to change iran's calculus. and for that matter, russia's and china's as well. it's not too late to show our

adversary that in a race to undermine america's global influence and threaten global interest, it will meet determined opposition. on another matter, about halfway through president biden's term, he leveled some rather weighty accusations at the opposition party. he said republicans, quote, do not respect the constitution, end quote and, quote, do not believe in the rule of law, end quote. well, that was pretty rich coming from someone who is already exploring the possibility of resurrecting one of the most flagrant afronts to the constitution in american history. after less than 100 days in office, the president had formed an faux academic commission to pack the supreme court. this idea had been dead and

buried since the 1930's when it proved so inconceivable to even the most loyal new deal democrats that it almost tore president roosevelt's administration apart. and just months convenienting, the president's's own commission concluded that structural changes would, listen to this, risk irreparable damage to an independent judiciary. that was the president's commission. the commission warned that, quote, in recent years we've seen democratic governments regress or backslide with respect to judicial independence. this has come through electoral majority using their power to restructure previous independent institutions, including courts, to favor the political agendas of those governments. now this didn't entirely chasen a washington democrat. even though they haven't yet gone forward with a nearly

90-year-old plan to turn the nation's highest court into a fief of the presidency a campaign to undermine judicial independence is alive and well right here in the senate. vice president harris for her part has yet to disavow her own openness to take a truly radical steps in 2019, then-senator harris said, quote, we're on the verge of a crisis of confidence in the supreme court. we have to take this challenge head on, and everything is on the table to do that. everything is on the table? clucks as she confirmed summer, packing the court? the vice president endorsed the president's call for packing the court including imposing term limits on service. it would be difficult to draw a more devastating blow to public confidence and the independence

of a coequal branch of government than subordinating it to election cycles. -- cycles of another. vice president's flip-flops have voters wondering where she stands but this particular within -- one is no secret. the democratic nominee for president of the united states wants to reanimate a dangerous, long-rejected attack on judicial independence, an idea the american people would do well to send back to the ash heap, where it belongs. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

quorum call: the clerk: ms. baldwin.

mostly children and women were ruthlessly taken away. and no one knows where more than 10,000 people are, most of which are children. and likewise, 100,000 people were injured, maimed, or the lost their limbs. 172 journalists were killed while trying to do the job and a

very difficult, and more than 500 medics have been killed while they were trying to save lives. humanitarian aid workers and the united nations personnel who came to the rescue of the people of gaza who are struggling with hunger and thirst were killed. more than 250 united nations personnel. marketplaces, tents and camps with refugees were sheltered, churches and mosques and even more and the deliberately dozens of hospitals, hundreds of schools, more than 130 were carrying patients. they shredded the charter of the united nations and shamelessly challenged the whole world who are people of conscious. they challenge them. my friends, images from israel's

prisons which it is turned into concentration camps clearly show what kind of barbarian -ism we are facing. as result of israel attacks, gaza has become the world's largest objection. mr. thune: mr. president, as a senator from a rural state and a former chairman of the senate commerce, science, and transportation committee, expanding broadband access to rural areas has long been a priority of mine. i've done a lot of work on this issue, which is precisely why i was so concerned when the infrastructure bill proposed $42 billion for rural broadband to be funneled through the commerce department's national telecommunications and information administration, or ntia. i was doubtful whether ntia was

capable of administering $42 billion, given its previous struggles to administer a fraction of that amount of money. unfortunately, those concerns have turned out to be well-founded. the biden-harris admini administration's signature broadband initiative and her ten your as broadband czar has been -- tenure as broadband czar has been nothing short of a disaster. it's been three years since the $42 billion bead program was established to provide broadband access to unserved communities. three years, and in all that time, mr. president, the program has not connected a single household to the internet. let me say that again.

it's been nearly three years -- and to be precise, 1,044 days -- since the bead program was established, and in all of that time, over a thousand days, the program has not connected a single household to the internet. a logical question would be why? please, tell us why. well, mr. president, it is a story, a sad story of government inefficiency and progressivism run amok. instead of focusing on delivering broadband services to unserved areas, the biden-harris administration load down the bead program with a liberal wish list of requirements that have obstructed broadband deployment. climate change mandates, prioritizing government-owned

networks over private investment, biased technology mandates, prioritizing the use of union labor, attempts to impose price controls in direct violation of the law, dei hiring priorities. what should be been a straightforward application and approval process for building networks has become a literal morass. why, oh, why, mr. president, should rural telecoms in south dakota be talking about climate change mandates and building out broadband networks to serve underserved people in rural areas of the country? and as if the list of woke requirements weren't enough, it has been matched by massive

inefficiency from the administration. one state official who recently testified before the energy and commerce committee in the house had this to say about the program's implementation, and i'm quoting here -- states face a common issue -- navigating the complex bead process. ntia's functional requests are akin to building a plane while flying it without having the necessary instructions to be successful. ntia has provided either no guidance, guidance given too late, or guidance changing midstream, all with a lack of appreciation for state operations and costs and the needs of our telecommunications providers, end quote. another official from another state described bead -- and i quote again -- the most burdensome federal program, end quote, she has ever imagined. the most burdensome federal program she has ever imagined.

and worse yet, ever had to manage. given all this, i suppose it's no surprise that not only has broadband not reached even one household through the bead program, but construction projects haven't even begun. current expectations for the start of construction on various bead projects range from sometime next year to sometime in 2026. 2026. we're already at 1 serbsing 044 -- at 1,044 days since this program was enacted. not a single dollar has been allocated out of the $42 billion. well, if this is what things look like with vice president

harris as broadband czar, i shudder for think what things would look like if she were in charge of the entire federal government. mr. president, this isn't the first time i've sounded the alarm on the implementation of the bead program and the burdensome requirements that the biden-harris administration has imposed. and i've been joined in this by commerce committee ranking member senator cruz, who shares my concerns as well as other committee republicans who share those concerns as well. and i'd like to see some of my democrat colleagues taking a closer look at bead implementation and broadband comp implementation more generally. as the bead program makes very clear, you can throw a lot -- a lot -- $42 billion a lot -- a

lot of taxpayer money at a problem and still not get results. and i'd like to see the commerce committee conduct a lot more oversight of the programs and agencies under its jurisdiction. it's been more than 1,500 days since the last federal communications commission hearing at the commerce committee. the principal committee of jurisdiction over the fcc. in fact, we haven't had a single fcc oversight hearing since democrats took control of the senate back in 2021. and despite the ongoing failure of the bead program at the national telecommunications and information administration, we haven't held a single hearing on ntia yet in this congress.

and while i understand that highlighting the failure of the biden-harris administration's signature broadband initiative is probably not high on democrats' priority list, our obligation to the american people and our concern for the millions of americans without broadband access should put bead oversight at the top of the commerce committee's agenda. mr. president, the bead program's failure certainly highlights the fact that vice president harris has been no more effective as broadband czar than she has been as border czar. it also points to a larger problem -- larger problems with progressivism, like big promises

but poor results and the prioritization of liberal social fantasies over the needs of the american people. and i suspect that if broadband czar harris becomes president harris, the bead program will not be the last disastrous government program we see on her watch. mr. president, i yield the floor. and i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the clerk: ms. baldwin.

quorum call: britt britt mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from alabama. mrs. britt: i ask unanimous consent to sus penalty the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. britt: thank you. mr. president, it is always an honor to represent my great state, to stand and speak in front of my colleagues before the american people. but today is particularly special for me, as my parents are here in the gallery. and i rise today with great concerns for our country, as a parent myself. as a mom of two, i know firsthand the struggles that parents face with raising their children. you add doing that and this

digital age and obstacles and challenges become that much more great. our country is in the throes of a mental health crisis, and don't just take my word for it. just look at the data. 20% of americans between the ages of 12 and 17 experienced at least one major depressive episode in 2021. when looking at just girls, that number then increases to 29%. this crisis, and crisis doesn't even really feel strong enough when we're talking about rates this high, is alarming, and recent developments show us that. but before that, let's rewind. between the years of 2011 and 2019 depression rates amongst our teenagers more than doubled.

the number of adolescents who reported a major depressive episode shot up 60% from tavern to 2019 -- from 2007 to 2019. emergency room visits by children and teens for anxiety, mood disorders, and self-harm increased sharply during this time as well. and suicide rates among our children between the ages of 10 and then all the way to 24, which had been stable the previous decade, jumped by almost 60%. when we talk about suicide and the numbers show an incredible heart break of what's actually occurring, suicide is now the second leading cause of death for americans under the age of 44. in 2021, 25% of teenage girls

made a plan to die by suicide. the next year, in 2022, one third of high school girls said that they seriously considered taking their own life. and then 9% of our high school population actually attempted death by suicide. that is nine out of every 100 high schoolers. this is not okay. meanwhile, factors that contribute positively to mental health are on the decline. data from surveys conducted by groups like the cdc youth risk behavior surveillance system and national institute on drug abuse show that teens and between -- teens amendment tweens get less

sleep, less exercise, and have less in-person contact than their peers before them. in an age where we brag about being more connected than ever, we've actually never been further apart. and while we should always be weary of blaming just one cul culprit, there is one thing that stands out amongst the rest, and that's social media usage. nearly 100% of teenagers have access to smartphones. i am looking at our incredible group of pages down front, and my guess is that if i poled this group we would see that that stat is probably true. half, though, of american teenagers say that they are on line constantly. i wish that the gallery could see, i'm actually getting some shaking heads up here. this is about the same

percentage of teens who reported feeling addicted to their smartphones in 2016. 54% of american teenagers admit that it would be really hard to give up their social media, and 35% of american teenagers say that they're on youtube, tiktok, instagram, snapchat, facebook, i'm sure i'm missing a few, right, almost constantly. tiktok in particular has presented some really serious concerns. so, for those who may not be aware, just this spring several american lawmakers received death threats from users, saying they would kill us if we voted for the tiktok divestment bill. my office got one of those messages. so did senator tillis from north carolina. i wouldn't be surprised if we polled all 100 senators, if there weren't messages like this on many, many more machines.

the truth is, it wasn't just about killing us. these messages also said if we did this, they would kill themselves and/orharm others. of that came after tiktok urged users to call american lawmakers and to stop them from voting for that bill. so, clearly, social media has a deep hold on our country's children and teens. united states surgeon general vivek murthy wrote a few months ago that adolescents who spend more than three hours a day on social media double the risks of anxiety and depression than those who do not. guess what the data shows -- our teenager aren't on social media for three hours a day. on average, they're on social media around five hours a day. many kids acknowledge that social media's bad for them, and

many parents acknowledge that too. but the situation is clearly getting more devastating. it seems to just be getting worse. our kids are suffering, and with many not realizing that the root cause is due to an addictive quality of social media, and they actually seem to feel powerless in how to end that sun general called for the creation of a warning label on social media, and 42 out of 50 states attorneys general, including alabama's own steve marshall, and pennsylvania's michelle henry, backed this proposal. senator fetterman and i are on the same page about this. there should be a warning label on social media, and that is why today we have introduced the stop the scroll act.

our bill would require a social media platform to have a warning label, to be placed on it to ensure that users know about the potential adverse effects of these apps, and they must acknowledge that before proceeding to use them. while senator fetterman and i agree on the importance of these labels, we also recognize that we are not the experts here. our bill would not determine what the label would say. rather, we would leave that up to the surgeon general. the only requirement that this bill would create is that the warning label include a way to quickly access mental health resources, which in our mind would look like a link to 988, the suicide and crisis lifeline, or other resources, putting them quickly at the fingertips of those who need them most.

now, warning labels won't prevent the american people from using the app, just like warnings on tobacco or alcohol don't stop someone from purchasing them. the warning is a caution, so that consumers have their eyes open to the potential dangers ah ahead. it empowers them tore make -- empowers them to make informed decisions. it's similar to when a doctor tells a patient they need to limit their sugar intake, right? the doctor isn't going to force you to stop eating sugar, but the warning from the doctor will likely make the patient think tw twice, and in that situation the doctor will usually provide advice on how to reduce sugar in your diet. that's what the warning does, it makes sure consumers' eyes are open. it ensures that they acknowledge it before moving forward. and it provides direction to

access resources, if that user needs help. the stop the scroll act isn't a cure, it's a caution that will hopefully help promote healthier social media usage, while providing those in crisis with the resources they need to get help. it's important step forward in creating a safer digital age for all americans. so, i am grateful for the leadership of my colleague from pennsylvania, senator fetterman, in introducing this important legislation alongside me today. i want to thank senator fetterman and surgeon general murthy for their efforts to address the dangers of social media. i'm committed to continuing to work in a bipartisan fashion to help our kids have the kinds of childhood that we were blessed

to enjoy, and to ensure that they have access to the american dream, rather than social media nightmares that so many families are dealing with today. mr. president, thank you. i yield the floor. mr. tuberville: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from alabama. mr. tuberville: thank you, mr. president. i rise today to talk about the dire state of our american farm economy. and our farmers. american farmers and producers are the backbone of our nation's agriculture economy and food security. despite their critical role in our lives, to feed, clothe, and fuel not only the united states but the entire world, our farmers are struggling to survive. and that's an understatement. the current state of agriculture

economy is bleak and on the verge of collapse. we have problems all over the world. we have problems in our country. there's nothing more important we should be addressing than our food supply here in this country. costs for farmers are rising, commodity prices are falling. our farmers cannot break even, much less make a profit. according to the usda, net farm income this year is projected to decline 4.4% from 2023, decline. that is a disaster. the following -- this follows a shocking -- listen to this, a shocking 9.9 -- 9.5% decline in 2022. not one business in this country can survive with this kind of

decline, and our farmers and our farms are no different. this means producers' income has plummeted 23% in just two years, 23%. these figures represent only 40 billion, over $40 billion in lost revenue for america's hardworking producers. this is the largest two-year decline ever in our farm income. ever, in the history of this countries. right now, our row croppers especially are facing considerable financial hardship. according to the american farm bureau federation, row croppers had a $27.7 billion decline in cash receipts since last year. in alabama, my state, our producers are yielding bumper

crops of cotton, peanuts, corn, soybeans, and yet they can't profit due to rising costs of production. our catfish producers are in the same boat. rising input costs and falling fish prices are threatening to put them out of business. a multitude of factors that producers have no control over are impacting their bottom lines. and i want to talk about one of them. this miraculous, this world-saving inflation reduction act that we passed a few years ago was supposed to save our economy, supposed to save a lot of workers. you know what it's done to our farmers? it's almost put us out of business. inflation reduction act started a tax credit for imports and exports. unfortunately, all the tax credits are going to people and

countries and farmers from ove overseas, bras imand -- brazil and china. supposed to go to our farmers. no, it's not going to do that. for some reason, this administration has given all the tax credits to the farmers from other countries, and our farmers are struggling. the biden administration has control, has total control over our farm economy, but you hadn't heard a peep out of them, not one peep about our farmers. and this is a disastrous year coming up, and right now we are harvesting our crops, and they're bumper crops. the issues plaguing american producers are directly linked to the harmful policies from the biden-harris administration. this includes the lack of energy production, skyrocketing inflation which comes from the

inflation reduction act, and endless, endless environmental hurdles. let me say something about conservation and all the things that happen in our environment. there's nobody, and i mean nobody on the face of the earth that takes care and is more conscious of environmental problems than our farmers because they make a living off our land. but we're putting so many regulations on them, we're closing our farms down and running them overseas and we're going to have a national security threat because all of our food is going to come from foreign countries. farmers are experiencing rising high costs of labor increase, price of feeds, fertilizer and pesticides. and i'm not going to should go fwar coat it. america's agriculture producers are facing a very tough road ahead and it's something nobody, the media, this i would about --

here in congress, if we don't do something about it they're done. many fear their farm loans this year will not be renewed. they have to have farm loans to put a crop in the ground. they fear interest rates continuing to rise create an uncertain future for farming operations. although congress only has a few legislative days left to being the a -- to act we must stop adding fuel to the biden-harris administration fire. we've got to help the farmers. we need to pass a farm bill that helps our farmers. democrats are in control of that. they have been in control of it for the last eight years. a farm bill is for five years. four years ago or five years ago the farm bill was $870 billion

for a five-year period. it runs in a five-year period. so this past year we're supposed to be working on a farm bill. i'm on the ag committee. we go by the control of the democratic party. our democratic chairwoman has decided we won't do a farm bill this year. we're just throwing farmers underneath the bus. they need help. you would think by looking at everything going on, that my colleagues on the left would rather our food come from other countries, take over our farmland, control it, and to something else with it. producers need a strong safety net. we've got to have a safety net for our farmers. we cannot take a one-size-fits-all approach. remember we have a farm bill that covers livestock, hogs,

row croppers, forests, fish, a lot of things involved. farmers across the country have access to irrigation and variable input requirement. southern row croppers rely heavily on title 1 commodity programs, particularly the price loss program and agricultural risk program. yet midwest producers heavily utilize crop insurance. where there may be an overlap across regions on these programs, we mucht fix the -- must fix the entire farmer safety net, not just parts of it. take the reference prices and commodity program, for example. reference prices are how much prices are -- and their commodity sells for. our farmers are operating on

2012 revenues prices, 14 we, the undersigned senators later -- the cost of production make current reference prices completely inadequate for our farmers. we don't have time to waste. our farmers are facing an uphill battle to remain in business, and we're going to find out pretty quick the american people going to the grocery store are going to find out pretty quick what it is to be hungry if we don't wake up and smell the roses. even a farm bill passed today, producers wouldn't receive any commodity support from this farm bill until 2026. game set match before 2026 for our farmers in this country. that's help our farmers need now to survive. not two years late. senate republicans stand ready to act on a solid bipartisan

bill. the house agriculture bill passed earlier this year. yet senate democrats and the biden administration refuse to come to the table to find practical bipartisan solutions to the many problems our farmers are facing today. let's don't worry about our farmers. let's worry about ukraine. let's worry about people overseas, the 800 bases we have around the world. let's don't worry about eating. we can do without eating. that's what this administration is saying. this forces us to look to supplemental appropriations packages to help our producers if we're not going to do a farm bill, renew farm bills and help for next year's crops. they won't be pocketing this money if we come up with some money to help the farmers get a loan. they'll just be planting another crop. without immediate action to assist producers our nation's agricultural industry may never

ever make it back from the damage that we're doing to them today. america has lost, listen to this, america lost 150,000 farms and 25,000 farmers in our country over the last few years. what? 150,000 farms closed up. why? they can't make a profit. you've owned a farm for 100 years, you and your family, but you get to the point where you say i'm not passing something down to our kids that really want a farm but we're not going to put them in harm's way. we're going to sell. we're going to get out of the business and let somebody else worry about it. let's let the federal government worry about it. we do such a good job up here we'll do a great job raising our food. we can't afford ape more losses to -- any more losses to our farms. our farmers are hurting, hurting

real bad. but have you heard anybody talk about it? no. you're going to hear a lot of people complaining about it and there's going to be an uproar in the next few years when prices double and triple from where they are today because we're not going to have sources. it's going to come from brazil and china and vietnam. we're doing severe damage to the farmers across this country and nobody cares. i'll continue to be the voice of our southern l agriculture producers in the senate and assure that we have a seat at the table on this farm bill upcoming. if we do a farm bill today, we're going to lose at least half of our farmers in this country this year, this year, if they don't get some help. mr. president, i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. barrasso: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i rise today to discuss the crisis that we are facing today in america at our southern border.

joe biden and kamala harris have created the worst illegal immigrant crisis in american history. kamala harris and joe biden removed every successful policy that was in place during the trump administration. kamala harris and joe biden replaced them with policies that released millions upon millions of illegal immigrants into our country. the crisis, the chaos, the crime, they're all a direct result of the terrible policies by kamala harris and joe biden. here are the facts. more than ten million, ten million illegal immigrants have flooded into our country. they've done that in just the last four years with kamala harris and joe biden in the white house. at the same time deadly drugs like fentanyl flowing into our communities each year tens of

thousands of americans are poisoned by fentanyl that comes across our southern border. our communities in every state are being overrun and overwhelmed by this flood of illegal immigrants. let's look at the horrible scenes that are developing now in aurora, colorado, just to the south of my home state of wyoming. this is a city where members of violent venezuelan gangs have turned apartment complexes into hell holes. that's exactly what they've done. one resident said it's been a nightmare. so how did these gangs find themselves in that situation, in that location? and how do the people living in those communities find themselves in this terrorizing situation? well, according to one report,

the harris-biden administration along with the city of denver provided the incentives. what are the incentives? denver offered illegal immigrants two months of subsidized rent. the source of the rent money came from democrats' march 2021 reckless tax-and-spending spree, $1.9 trillion. so stop and think about that for just a second. the same law that fueled 40-year high inflation, that caused prices to go up for families all across the country by 20% since joe biden and kamala harris came into office, that same bill has now incentivized the worst border crisis in american history. it was vice president harris who came and sat in that chair and cast the critical tie-breaking vote right here in the senate

for that reckless spending bill. her one single vote as vice president, as president of this institution, the u.s. senate, brought record-high prices and a record-breaking border disaster. these problems spill over from the sanctuary cities like those in colorado, and they hit neighboring states like my home state of wyoming. in laramie county, wyoming, law enforcement officials say that the number of illegal immigrants in their jails has more than doubled. one of those jailed fwleel immigrants is a suspected member of that violent venezuelan gang that took over the apartment complex in colorado. a gang has been described as ms-13 on steroids. make no mistake, vice president harris is complicit in all of

this border disaster. now, i think today vice president harris says she want to secure the border. new language for her. well, let me tell you, hasn't done it yet. for the past four years, kamala harris has been the most, the second-most powerful p person in the world, and she was appointed by the president to be the border czar. he said she knew how, he had full confidence in her. she knew how to handle the problem. well, as the border are, she has the power to secure the southern border and has that power still today. not doing it. so let me ask again why hasn't it been done? let me tell you why, mr. president. like joe biden, vice president harris wants to smooth of flow of illegal immigrants. doesn't want to stop it.

wants to smooth the flow. this is an extreme position and out of touch with the american people. like joe biden, kamala harris opposes the border wall. she actually called the wall a, quote, stupid waste of money." that's what we hear from the vice president of the united states. that is an extreme position compared to what the american people would like to see happen today. kamala harris also said that building the wall to prevent terrorists from entering the country, she said was the height of irresponsibility. the height of irresponsibility to try to keep terrorists out of the country. no. come on in, she wants. this again, a kamala harris, san francisco liberal, extreme position. remember, terror suspects are exploiting our vulnerability. the number of terror suspects that we've caught crossing the border has risen by 3,000% since

joe biden and kamala harris took over the presidency and the vice presidency. this administration promises amnesty for illegal immigrants. this is an invitation. they're inviting millions upon millions of illegal immigrants into this country. this is an extreme position compared to what the american people wantterrorist. and expect from this their conscious from their elected officials. what we're seeing across the country is kamala harris, democrats across the board providing free health care for illegal immigrants. another extreme position of the democrats in the white house -- and the white house. they demand that our hard-earned taxpayer dollars pay for free housing, free preloaded debt

cards, precell phones for illegal immigrants. the american public hates this. this is their taxpayer dollars. democrats open-border policies have cost the taxpayers plenty. the numbers are jaw dropping. $451 billion so far and the number keeps going up like president biden, caras wants to -- kamala harris wants to stop deporting criminals who are in this country illegally. she wants to stop it. in the past she said illegal immigration should not be a crime. well, once again, out of touch with the american people. it's an extreme position. this is the truth. kamala harris' policies are no

different than the dangerous policies of joe biden who signed 94 executive orders in his first 100 days in office. this is the problem that our country faces today. joe biden and kamala harris threw open the borders, 10 million illegal immigrants have come on through. when this administration stopped building the wall and ended remain in mexico, vice president harris was right there cheering on joe biden. when joe biden brought back the failed policy of catch and release, vice president harris had his back. when joe biden wanted to send stimulus checks to illegal immigrants, what happened? vice president harris came in

here and cast the tie-breaking vote to pass the policy. giving them more and more free stuff funded by the american taxpayers. to add insult to injury, kamala harris has said then, well, the border's secure. nobody believes that. i don't even think she believes it. she should know better. if she does not, that should disqualify her from being a candidate for being president or from being president. september 22, vice president harris claimed, we have a secure border. who is she listening to? why didn't she go and look for herself? three days earlier, the illegal immigrant who murdered linken riley entered. it is time to end this dangerous

bothered policy. it is time to get serious about securing the border and making our communities safer. senate republicans have real solutions, let's finish the wall, let's end catch and release, let's keep the remain in mexico policy, a policy that worked. our policy also clufdz deporting -- includes stopping illegal immigrants and to stop them from voting. if kamala harris wants to secure the border, why hasn't she done so yet? thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. mrs. blackburn: mr. president. the presiding officer: the president from tennessee. mrs. blackburn: thank you, mr. president. here's a number for everyone to

think about today. 35.3 trillion. 35.3 trillion. that is our nation's debt number. as you can see, we've gotten there because of years of deficit spending. right now this massive sum, which is our national debt represents more than $100,000 of indebtedness for every man, woman, and child in this country. while this number shalmost impossible to comprehend, it poses one of our greatest threats to our nation's security and survival. to put this issue in pers perspective -- to put this issue in perspective, our

debt-to-g.d.p. ratio is 121%. meaning our nation's debt is a fifth larger than our nation's annual economic output. think about that. the debt is larger than our output. by comparison, our debt-to-g.d.p. ratio at the end of world war ii was 106%. that was the record high before we got to the covid-19 pandemic. as our debt ballooned, the annual cost of interest payment on the debt continues to rise and this crowds out vital services that ought to be going to people that need them. in fact, through the first six months of fiscal year 2024, our country spent more taxpayer

money servicing the debt than we spent on our military. we spent $440 billion on interest payments on our debt. when faced with this reality, tennesseans and americans will probably wonder, well, how did we get on this path to fiscal disaster? and of course $35.3 trillion in debt didn't appear just over night. each year the federal deficit, and i have a chart that goes back to 2005 and it shows you what the deficit was every year. and this deficit, the annual difference between government spending and taxpayer money that's collected and coming into the federal government all gets tacked on to our national debt.

and under the biden-harris administration, this deficit spending has exploded. you can see these numbers. last fiscal year, the federal deficit was nearly $1.7 trillion. it was up more than 21% from $1.4 trillion in 2022. if you'll recall the biden-harris inflation reduction act, the green new deal giveaway that vice president harris sat right up there and cast the tiebreaking vote for was supposed to somehow miraculously reduce the debt. still, so many tennesseans say, how can you say you're going to spend more and that is going to reduce what you spend? it is void of common sense.

in fiscal year 2021, meanwhile, the federal deficit reached more than $2.7 trillion. now, we know some of that overland with the final couple of months of the trump administration, but the spending occurred primarily under the biden administration and under that $1.9 trillion american rescue plan. it was the driving force of this administration's four-decade high inflation right. indeed, if you go back and you look at inflation, it was 1.4% the day that president biden and vice president harris took office. today the latest number is 20.3%. in fact, sclufg the --

excludeing the managing -- the covid spending, the spending of the biden administration is at its highest point in american history. as i said, 121% of gross domestic product. and previously after world war ii, it was at 106%. the only other administration that has come even close to these numbers under biden-harris is the obama-biden administration. before congressional republicans fought for and secured serious spending cuts, that administration ran annual deficits as high as $1.4 trillion between fiscal years 2009 and 2012 with deficits soaring again, our country needs another serious course correction. yet, under their 2025 budget

proposal, the biden-harris administration has called for -- and i want you to get this number -- their 2025 budget proposal calls for $86 trillion in spending over the next ten years. $86 trillion. it would increase our national debt that $35.3 trillion number, it would increase it by $18 trillion. now, bear in mind, this is spending they are putting on the books. they're claiming it. they're out here shouting for it. bidenomics, it is working. but, again, mr. president, we look at this and say, how can you spend more and then say

you're reducing the deficit? it is void of common sense. instead of fiscal recklessness, our country needs fiscal responsibility. every year i have legislation that would slash federal spending. and i do these bills every year. by 1%, 2%, 5% for discretionary spending, secluding defense, homeland security and veterans' affairs. i dare anyone to find a way to save one penny, two pennies, or a nickel out of what they're given to spend. at a time when government hiring is outpacing private sector hiring, government must look at

the government, it is time to start freezing salaries and freezing federal hiring. while there are many more steps that need to be taken to put america on a better fiscal trajectory, these moves would begin to tackle the threat that is posed to our nation and to our freedoms because of overspending. if we don't get busy with this and find some ways to wrestle with this debt and with this out-of-control spending, it's our children and grandchildren that will suffer by having to pay that bill. mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the next portion of my remarks be placed separately in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. blackburn: thank you, mr. president. each year since 1961, the country music association has inducted the legendary performers, song writers and

artists of this uniquely american musical tradition into the musical hall of fame with names like hank williams, chet at kins, dolly parton, among others. next month three new names will join this -- legendary group, john anderson, a force for traditionalism in country music who achieved 20 top 10 country singles across a five-decade long career. james burton, who is considered one of the greatest guitarists in all of music performing with the likes of elvis, on -- john denver and amy lou harris and toby keith, someone who brought joy to millions around the world

through his music. while each artist has their own distinct sound and style, they share a music tradition that reminds every american of the things that truly matter, faith, family, freedom, hope, opportunity, and patriotism. to honor this incredibt genre, am going to make october 2024 as country music month. there's a reason the grand ole opry is known as the home of american music. now is the perfect time for congress to honor the contributions of country music and its legendary performers and artists to the story and the history of the united states. i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

quorum call: the clerk: ms. baldwin.

the presiding officer: the senator from alaska. ms. murkowski: mr. president rshgs we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: yes, we are. ms. murkowski: i request the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. murkowski: i come to speak about the nomination of dr. mike

sfraga, an alaskan. he's been nominated to be our nation's very first ambassador at large for the arctic. we're going to have this vote very shortly, and my hope is that colleagues will see not only the imperative for an arctic ambassador at this moment in time but also to recognize that this nominee, dr. sfraga, is absolutely impeccable in terms of his qualifications for this position. he is -- he is one that is known widely throughout arctic circles as our arctic expert. and the expert in everything from research to policy to national security. we are, mr. president, the only arctic nation that lacks an arctic ambassador. so i think colleagues are at

that point in time where they recognize it is past time that we have that representation in the room when issues are as contentious as they are. and let me just share with you a few reminders about what is happening in the far north. we were all made aware july 24 russian and chinese bombers flew a joint patrol for the first time off the coast of alaska. what was unusual was not the fact that russia and china were flying together but it was the fact that it was the first time they had done it jointly in the arctic. we see the russians regularly fly into our air defense accident indication zone or adai z. this was the first time seeing the chinese fly into this area with a joint mission. and we have just seen events continue to unfold throughout

the summer. gist a couple of weeks ago, september 10, russia began a massive week long worldwide 24 exercise. hundreds of war ships, nearly 100,000 troops. this exercise is the largest since the fall of the soviet union, but it also had chinese participation. between its start and end, norad tracked and intercepted four different russian incursions into our alaska aadaiz. we expect incursions. in just five days our air defenses were tested as much as they tend to be tested in any given year. so we're now way ahead on publicly reported intercepts this year, up to ten. we've got three months left. but there's also been an

unprecedented level of naval activity off the coast. we saw the u.s. coast guard detect four russian navals west of point hope. just take it back a couple of years when russian war ships chased alaskan fishermen out of the area back in august of 2020 and those are not isolated incidents either. last august the coast guard shadowed a russian intelligence ship operating off the aleutians. they shadowed a chinese surface action group within our eez within the bering sea. remember the surveillance balloons that transited above alaska and the arctic. just last night i received notification from north com of -- northcomm of intercepts of four russian aircraft.

i hope that we can all agree that this is an unprecedented time for the region. normally we think of the arctic as high north, low tension, but right now it is high north and it is rising tension. one thing that is missing, mr. president, is a senate-confirmed diplomat who will spend his or her time focused on the issues, working with our allies, engaging and sending these clear messages that we will protect america's interest in the arctic. i had a chance to talk to dr. sfraga just literally hours ago. we were talking about this very intercept and what we are seeing. he wanted to issue a statement as to his concern regarding what we are seeing with these air incursions into our adi z and into our eez off alaska shores.

he says as follows, if confirmed as the u.s. ambassador at large for arctic affairs, i commit to do everything in my power to relentlessly push back against these malign actors in this new era of authoritarian aggression and press for more military assets and infrastructure in the arctic region to protect america's economic and security interests. so, mr. president, it is clear we need an arctic ambassador. and we need this individual, dr. mike sfraga to be that arctic ambassador. he was nominated in february of last year. his nomination was reported out of the foreign relations committee in march, and today we've got an opportunity to confirm him. so i've mentioned that i think his qualifications are second to none. and all you need to do is look

at this gentleman's background. 30 years focused on the arctic, a career of service in this area. he's an accomplished geographer, researcher, teacher with a ph.d. from the university of alaska. he helped establish the university of the arctic, cocreated, coled the state department's arctic initiative. he -- established the polar institute which has become the arctic public square for shy-level conversations about the far north. he chairs the u.s. arctic research commission which advises us in congress and the president on international research in the arctic. when i spoke to him, he is in helsinki and he's going to be attending the helsinki security conference next week. it's going to be the warsaw conference. this man is in every conversation, every conversation that surrounds the arctic. he has the respect of those within the military, within the academic community, within the

policy. he is the person that knows the arctic best. and his vast experiences means that he knows how to handle our adversaries, like russia and china. across this interagency process with allies and partners and doing it through a position of strength. now, some have argued that perhaps his past interactions with regional players disqualify him from serving in this role. mr. president, he's an alaskan. we share a maritime border with russia. we used to have regular nonstop air service to russia, believe it or not. that's part of the time when obviously relations were better and putin hadn't decided to invade ukraine. but it wasn't uncommon for alaskans to visit and work and know people who live there. he's also been criticized for

attending international forums. remember, he's not the only american or u.s. government official in attendance at these meetings. i can't count the number of times i have gone as the u.s. representative to these meetings and mike sfraga is there in the room leading the conversation. and another area of criticism is that he failed to disclose fully before the senate foreign relations committee when his application came forward. keep in mind he is at every conference on the arctic happening out there. i'm told -- i'm told that attendance on panels or conferences are not required for inclusion in the senate foreign relations committee questionnaire. when the committee came back and said we know that there are other conferences you have attended. you have failed to disclose these, he went back and he fully, fully amended his

disclosure to make sure that there were no -- there were no omissions. and so he then when he submitted that to the committee realized through looking at his airline records that he had failed to disclose yet another conference. so he went back voluntarily to do it. he has made sure that everything that has been asked has been provided. i tell you, mr. president, the criticisms that dr. sfraga has faced i think are great way to ensure that the united states never has an arctic ambassador or that we ultimately have to confirm an individual who has never ever been there and knows very little about it and won't do anything to protect or vance our strategic interests. and that would be a loss because the arctic is no longer this isolated distant region. it is the place of strategic importance, economic potential, and growing competition. and the united states must be

prepared to lead. we have to be sitting at the table. we have to have that representation that we have lacked, that we have lacked, mr. president. personnel policy and dr. sfraga is ready to take this on. i urge the senate to see through the challenges, the attacks i think on dr. sfraga. there is nothing in his past or in his file that is disqualifying. we know exactly what we're getting. he's been a public figure. he's shared his views on the arctic for years. and he it ins to this day to do just that. so i urge all of my colleagues in joining me in voting yes to confirm dr. sfraga. i yield the floor.

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from idaho. a senator: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent for per meetings to speak up to four minutes prior to the scheduled vote. the presiding officer: without objection. a senator: i rise today in opposition to the nomination of michael sfraga to be ambassador at large for arctic fairs, not because i don't think we need an ambassador. we do. not because i don't think mr. sfraga has the knowledge and expertise to do this. i think he does. mr. risch: and not because he's not a nice person.

i've met him. he's very engaging. i think he is a nice person generally. the arctic is a critical region. an arctic ambassador should help advance u.s. leadership but this person must demonstrate experience and sound judgment not just in science but also in matters of national security. dr. sfraga is not qualified in that regard as far as i'm concerned. in fact, i believe he makes the situation worse. based on his evasiveness during his vetting by the foreign relations committee, i believe dr. sfraga could pose a cou counterintelligence and foreign malign influence threat to our nation. i don't say that lightly. dr. sfraga was asked repeatedly to provide foreign travel, his foreign contact bes and his -- contacts and his appearances on panels to the vetting personnel. and he failed to be open and transparent. he

he opened his order only after being confronted with additional information he tried to conceal. for instance at the university of alaska fairbanks, dr. sfraga had no less of 27mou's that was tied to china's intelligence services. only after con fronting him, did he admit to negotiating these mou's, it had ties to the chinese intelligence service and it was given access to the university's i.t. systems. on russia, dr. sfraga failed to disclose a panel he spoke on in november of 2021, transneft, a state-owned energy firm sponsored this conference, he did not reveal that he was -- as required by the sfrc's

questionnaire, there is no question that engagement is necessary. i really think he is naif, at best, as far as -- as dealing with russia and china. and -- and in his defense, the entire academic community, for that matter, shares this naifty when -- naivety. in may 2023, i took the unusual step of formerly requesting the fbi to conduct a supplementary background check, in the 16 years i've been here as a senator, i have never asked the fbi or any kind of investigation. i ask this be summited. the -- supplemented. the fbi stated that it could not conduct this investigation without white house permission, which the white house would not grant. this means the senate does not have a complete picture of the counterintelligence or other risks posed to us.

in vote should not have been scheduled until a full vetting was complete or until this body had all of the information that it needed. it doesn't. despite the due diligence on this nominee, the poor due diligence on this nominee, there is still time for the senate to do the right thing. i know it -- this is going to be -- essentially going to be a party line vote. the democrats want this person, they're going to get him. if we truly care about advancing u.s. leadership, and tackling the what is posed to our adversaries, we must do better than deliberately putting personnel in place that can pose a risk to national security. this appointment is such an

appointment. this is not some mill person going into a place where they can't do any harm. this is a person who is going to be at the crossroads of national security dealing with people from china, for instance, every one of whom is an agent of the chinese communist party because every chinese national is an agent of the chinese national party and they have no ability to conduct themselves. i urge a no vote on michael sfraga for ambassador-at-large. mr. bennet: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the cloture motion with respect to the motion to proceed to calendar number 457, h.r. 1555, ripen at a time with consultation with the republican leader no later than september 26, 2024. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered.

the clerk will rrt the motion -- report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22, do hereby bring to a close debate on the nomination of executive calendar number 550, michael sfraga, of alaska, to be ambassador-at-large. 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 michael sfraga, of -- of alaska to be brafd at large for -- ambassador-at-large for artic affairs shall be because to a close? 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. mrs. fischer.

mrs. gillibrand. mr. graham. mr. grassley. mr. hagerty. 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 -- bennet, cramer, hassan, murkowski, padilla, and schumer. senators voting in the negative -- cruz, kennedy, lummis, and risch. mr. hickenlooper, aye.

the clerk: mr. schatz, aye. mr. helmy, aye.

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

the clerk: mr. scott of florida, no.

ms. collins, aye.

vote:

the clerk: mr. young, no.

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

the clerk: ms. klobuchar, aye.

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

the clerk: ms. sinema, aye.

the clerk: mrs. murray, aye. the clerk: mr. booker, aye.

the clerk: mr. graham, no. the clerk: --

the clerk: mr. merkley, aye.

the clerk: mr. fetterman, aye. mr. durbin, aye. ms. hirono, aye.

the clerk: mr. tester, aye. the clerk: mr. hoeven, no.

the clerk: mrs. capito, aye. mr. boozman, no.

the clerk: mr. mullin, no. the clerk: mr. cornyn, aye.

mr. whitehouse, aye. the clerk: mr. marshall, no.

the clerk: mr. warner, aye. mr. thune, no.

the clerk: mrs. britt, no.

the clerk: mr. manchin, aye.

the clerk: mr. mullin, aye.

the clerk: ms. smith, aye. mr. sanders, aye. mrs. fischer, no. the clerk: mr. paul, no.

the clerk: mr. romney, no.

the clerk: ms. ernst, no.

the clerk: mr. tuberville, no.

the clerk: ms. duckworth, aye. the clerk: ms. cantwell, aye. mr. wyden, aye.

the clerk: ms. cortez masto, aye. mr. markey, aye.

the clerk: mr. barrasso, no. mr. crapo, no. mr. carper, aye.

vote:

the clerk: mr. rubio, no.

mr. reed, aye.

the clerk: mrs. blackburn, no. mr. ricketts, no. mr. schmitt, no.

mr. blumenthal, aye.

the clerk: mr. wicker, no. mr. grassley, no. mr. scott of south carolina, no. mr. ossoff, aye.

the clerk: mr. daines, no.

the clerk: mr. murphy, aye.

the clerk: mr. lee, no. mr. lankford, no.

ms. rosen, aye. mr. welch, aye.

mr. casey, aye. mr. brown, aye. mr. peters, aye. mr. warnock, aye.

mr. rounds, no.

the clerk: mr. johnson, no.

the clerk: mr. budd, no.

the clerk: ms. warren, aye.

the clerk: mr. hagerty, no. the clerk: mr. lujan, aye.

mr. van hollen, aye.

the clerk: ms. baldwin, aye.

the clerk: mr. cassidy, aye.

the clerk: mr. heinrich, aye.

vote:: vote:

the clerk: mr. hawley, no.

the presiding officer: the yeas are 56, the nays are 36. the motion is agreed to. under the previous order, the senate stands in recess until 2:15 p.m. recess:

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