to serve in honor and dignity, respect and making sure that we do the job. so with that, let me say to all of you, thank you for the kindness you've shown me, the friendship and i'm not a big dog person so i need each one of you all to be my friend. [laughter] >> and i appreciate that so much, but before i forget, i want to ask unanimous consent that i can enter into the record a list of all of my staff for the last 14 years, into the record. >> without objection. >> and again, i say thank you. god bless you for the opportunity and experience of a lifetime and i love each and every one of you. >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government funded by these television companies and more, including comcast. >> do you think this is just a community center? no, it's way more than that. >> comcast is partnering with a thousand community centers to create wi-fi enabled listening, so students from low income families can get the tools they

need to be ready for anything. >> comcast supports c-span as a public service along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> the senate is gavelling in now to continue work on president biden's u.s. district court nominations, a vote whether to advance the nomination of former democratic congressman to be a judge in northern new york. it's set for 11:45 a.m. eastern today. more votes are expected later today. live coverage of the senate now here on c-span2. ... the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. the chaplain dr. barry black will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray.

eternal lord god, you inhabit all ages and all worlds, dwell among our senators today. tune their hearts to your purposes and open their lips to speak your wisdom. lord, infuse them with your spirit so that their work will make a positive impact on our nation and world. banish their anxieties, as you provide them with a faith strong enough to face whatever challenges they must confront. give them openness of mind in order that they might perceive your will more clearly,

sincerity of heart that they might love you more profoundly, and clarity of purpose that they might serve you more devotedly. we pray in your loving 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., december 4, 2024.

to the senate: under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable peter welch, a senator from the state of vermont, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: patty murray, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. morning business is closed. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the following nomination which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary, anthony j. brindisi of new york to be united states district judge for the northern district of new york.

>> please welcome punchbowl news founder and ceo anna palmer. [applause] >> good morning, everyone. welcome to our last editorial event of 2024. i am anna palmer, ceo and one of the founders of punchbowl news. thank you for joining us in person on live stream. hi to all our watches on c-span. we appreciate you as well. we are thrilled to have our last players conversation in partnership with arnold ventures. we're going to be joined by two senators elect john curtis republican of utah and elissa slotkin democrat for michigan to

talk about news of the day, what's happening in the view and bipartisanship from their time in house as well is how they're going to approach their new roles in the senate. as always if you like what you hear or yet interesting things to say please check on social media. you can find punchbowl news at punchbowl news on all social media platforms. after conversation with monica i will be joined by senior advisor to the arnold ventures and we will talk about the work they're doing in washington as well. as always thank you all so much for joining us. i'm glad welcome senators elect to the stage. [applause] >> thank you. thank you so much for joining us this morning. >> thanks for having us. >> we always do news for the day come topic people get into the

topic of the day a bipartisanship. i'm going to start with you mr. curtis. >> i know what's coming. >> easy. >> you want me to answer before you ask? >> i like it. you both of our roles for us. there's a lot of attention right now on president-elect trump and who he is looking to put into his administration. you have named by a lot of folks as somebody who could be a critical vote on some of these controversial more controversial nominations. we will not spend a ton of time on this by want to say do you have concerns when it comes to deity, kash patel and fbi, tulsi gabbard? >> i think -- by what of the pleased to be here with my colleague. were moving from the house together and good to be here with you. thanks all of you for joining us today. look, i think it's easy to forget is there's an amazing process in place and this

process evolves over time and there's a lot of look in the people backgrounds and things they've said. i'm trying to be very disciplined and let the process work. we saw with the first nomination for the attorney general that it solves itself. i think some of these things by the time it comes to me for a vote will have resulted themselves. those that have if not i wo much more information and i have now but i think it's smart to not get too caught up. let this thing play out and i think it will be far more natural than it feels right now. >> so not in no or a yes on anyy of the 350 support getting some of these fbi vetting and the process? >> the more information i have the decision i will make. i think that what doesn't come up in the process it's incumbent upon me to do my own research, to meet with them and talk with them and ask questions.

i think that's healthy. it's going to come if you look back at of the presidential who went to this that feels better at the invented at the beginning. that's that's a safe the will not be some really, really hard decisions but my guess is much more of those decision will be natural and it feels like now. >> we will come back to you. as the process unfolds i have no doubt. let's talk government funding, the question. how long are all of us going to be here this month. timing is murky, talk of a short-term continuing resolution that would allow president-elect trump to put a a stamp on whee capital funding goes. democrats are going to be needed to pass this. what needs to be included? farm bill, disaster relief, what are some of the must things that did be part of the? >> we've seen this movie in the house a few times and we know in order to pass it you're going to

be democrats to support it. to be a clean cr but doesn't try to get ahead a future president trump and all the thinks he's going to want and all the things you don't want to do. he will have plenty of time but a state extension for a month the ad committee so we do something for the farmers. we have to do something. disaster relief of course and then you think we we know what we have to do. i have a so who's been in the six years, i have watched like christmas, the sweat to the christmas holidays, does a profound amount to bring bipartisanship and to bring a quick efficient process. i'm looking forward to that stress being put upon people and living up to the very low bar challenge. >> mr. curtis come on that note there's been some discussion among republicans should a few short-term cr like speaker johnson messages should be longer cr? is there some concern is that

shorter this is going to my republicans for the first couple of months to be just focused on government funding and keeping the lights on instead of some of president trump's really? >> by the way i agree with quoru the presiding officer: no. a senator: thank you, mr. president. the biden harris administration will go down in history as arguably the most productive and consequential administration in the last 75 years. mr. durbin: they couldn't have done it without a good partnership in congress. i want to thank five democratic senators who played key roles in the historic claechlts of this congress and many others. they include chairs of four committees and one subcommittee and they will all be leaving when we finish up -- when they finish up their work this month. i have more words of thanks for other departing colleagues and will deliver those soon. collectively, these five senators have given nearly 135 years of service to the united states senate. they represent not only a good

deal of this body's institutional memory, but a large share of its heart and its conscience as well. senator ben cardin. he served 58 years in state and federal office. through it all, ben cardin has been a pillar of decency, modesty, civility, and g good-faith bipartisanship. as a longtime member, and now chair, of the senate foreign relations committee, ben cardin worked to place america's most fundamental values, including human rights, at the center of our foreign policy. in 2009, i traveled with ben cardin to bosnia, lithuania, and belarus. together, we saw the trem tremendousest eem which he -- the tree mendous esteem he is held in globally. he is a true statesman. in 2012, working with senator john mccain, ben offered his

most important achievement, the mcknitsky -- magnitsky rule of law accountabilities october. we passed -- rule of law accountability act. following america's lead, more than two dozen other nations have since passed their own magnitsky sanctions law. strubel, the nether reynolds -- recently, the nether reynolds honored -- the netherlands honored him with the anne frank award for human dignity and tolerance. in accepting that honor, ben said, and i quote, we need to keep hope alive that with patience and persistence, we can create a world that is safe and peaceful and prosperous. ben cardin's work in this senate shows us how we can create just such a world. tom carper. mr. president, it was late in the 1990's when a staffer handed

a letter to gare's then -- to delaware's nen governor -- then governor tom carper. the letter read, i'm writing to the governors of all 50 states to ask the same question -- what is the secret to happiness? dear melissa, the governor replied, serve others, sincerely, tom. that was it. for then governor, now senator tom carper, that simple, self less bit of advice, serve others, could serve up his entire political career and life. he is moderate, bipartisan, and relentless. as chair of the senate environment and public works committee, tom carper helped lead the fight to pass the inflation reduction act, the most significant investment ever, ever to tackle the climate crisis. the law also helped lower health care costs and energy costs and

strengthen america's energy security. what a combination. tom carper was a key author of the largest long-term infrastructure investment in the history of the united states, the bipartisan infrastructure investment and jobs acts. as the last vietnam veteran serving in the united states senate, and think about that for a moment, the last vietnam veteran serving in the united states senate, senator tom carper was a key force in passing many laws, including the agent orange act of 2009, the pact act to provide health care for veterans sick by exposure to burn pits and other toxic actions, and a measure that allows the v.a. to allow moodest compensation -- modest compensation to family members who are caretakers for veterans. tom also encouraged a generation of young people to enter public

service and run for office. next month, one of those people, one of those public servants who got her start as an intern in the congressional office tom carper headed, will take his place in this body. lisa blunt rochester will be the first woman and first person of color delawareans have ever sent to the united states 12345e9 senate -- to the united states senate. thanks, tom, for showing her and countless others the importance and dignity of public service. joe manchin. as chair of the senate energy and natural resources committee since 2021, senator joe manchin has been a decisive force on america's energy and environment ja agenda. he was a key player in passage of the inflation reduction act. independent analysis protect that law will reduce u.s. carbon emissions by 40% by the year 2030, compared with 2005.

if we give it a chance to work. joe manchin was elected to the senate in 2010 to fill a legendary vacancy created by the death of robert c. byrd. while he arrived here following the footsteps of a legend, he leaves behind some pretty big footprints himself. debbie stabenow. in the year 2000, senator debbie stabenow became the first woman ever elected to the senate from the state of michigan. but as she says, it doesn't matter if you're the first unless there's a second and a third. her leadership and example have undoubtedly persuaded more women to run for and win public office, including in the senate, and america is better for it, even if we still have a long way to go. as a longtime member, now chair of the senate agriculture, nutrition, and forestry committee, she wrote much of the bipartisan 2014 farm bill and co-authored the 2018 farm bill. there is no other senator on the

floor of this body who lass the -- who has the compe sense, skill, and track record of debbie stabenow in the field of agriculture, forestry and nutrition. she is simply the expert, and has taught herself an arcane body of law to a degree most of us just don't even comprehend. eight months ago, she unveiled the foundation for a strong, new farm bill, containing hundreds of bipartisan provisions. more than ever before, these farm bills that debbie has helped to write meet the needs of farmers in rural communities, while also protecting low-income seniors, moms with kids, and people with disabilities in need of affordable groceries. in addition, senator stabenow has been a leader in protecting one of our greatest natural resources. and i know this one as well -- the great lakes. including her pivotal role last year in advancing the brandon

road interbasin project, a project with a long name but a simple purpose -- stop the invasion of the carp into the great lakes, which would be devastating to the future of those great bodies of water. i know her oldsmobile dealer father would be proud of the way she fought to save the u.s. auto industry when others were ready to give up on it. debbie never gave up on the autofry and became our -- auto industry. i'm sorry debbie a few days ago lost her mother, an extraordinary woman herself, but her mother i'm sure was deeply proud of the time debbie spent and her entire career prodding government to work for everyone, not just those who are well connected. i'm proud to call debbie my friend and colleague. finally, senator laphonza butler. she was appointed just over a combreer ago to finish -- a year

ago to finish the term of the late senator dianne feinstein. she took the seat on the judiciary committee and i was honored to chair and work with her every time we met. thoughtful, collegial, hardworking, you could always find her ready to proceed forward, as much time as it may take. she sought to advance the ideals of our nation and give voice to america facing -- americans facing critical challenges, from access to reproductive health care to voter suppression. she's one of the youngest senators, third black woman and 12th black person to serve in this chamber, and the only black person ever to chair the constitution subcommittee. she's brought an important new voice to our debates. we're grateful for her new perspectives and distinguished service. mr. president, i'll have more to say about other departing senators. for now, i want to say to these senators it's been an honor to serve with you, to work with you

forks the good of our nation and the -- for the good of our nation and the good of the world. and i yield the floor.

mr. schumer: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: mr. president, today the senate will continue working to confirm more of president biden's well-qualified judicial nominees. on monday, i filed cloture on five more district court judges. we'll continue the process of confirming those judges later this morning. we'll begin with two -- with votes on two district court judges for the northern district of new york, anthony brindisi and elizabeth coombs. anthony i know well. he's the proud son of utica, a former member of congress, and i work closely with him on many issues for upstate new york, itly his hometown of utica where my dad was raise. i have a particular affinity

there. mr. president, excuse me. anyway, i have a particular affinity for utica and brindisi is a proud son of utica and an exceptionally qualified attorney whose legal acumen and deep care for the mohawk valley and all of central new york makes him an excellent addition to the northern district. beth coombe has been a trailblazing prosecutor for her entire career in albany and syracuse, the first woman to become the federal chief for the northern district. after we vote on these judges, we'll then vote to advance sarah davenport to be district court judge for the district of new mexico, and we'll keep moving forward with the remaining judges as soon as possible. democrats have made confirming president biden's well-qualified judges a top priority the last

few years. it will remain a priority until our very last day in the majority. finally, mr. president, let me close on a bittersweet but deeply grateful note. later this afternoon, senators will gather in the chamber to hear the farewell remarks of a beloved colleague, our dear friend, my dear friend, debbie stabenow of michigan. she'll leave the senate at the end of this year after 24 remarkable years in this chamber, and many, many more in public service. but today, i don't want to start my tribute by listing debbie's myriad of accomplishments, though they're great. nor do i want to focus on how much all of us in the democratic caucus love to work with her, but we certainly do. as leader, you can't do everything yourself. when you give debbie stabenow a job, she gets the job done. when i ask her to do this or

that i know it'll get done and get done well because of her phenomenal dedication and ability and energy and drive. and she does it all with a smile on her face. she's just great. but let me begin by focusing a couple of blocks down the street from debbie's alma mater, michigan state university, at an old bar called the coral gables. there, as a college student, debbie was a regular working, of all things, as a folksinger. yes, debby sang part-time on the side back in college and many years later once in the senate her love of folk music led her to achieve a lifelong goal of singing with peter, paul, and mary, all for raising money for antibullying causes. she was in a little singing group. it was debbie and dan or something like that. i hope she mentioned it on the

floor when she speaks. why do i mention this? simple, for debbie stabenow, the first woman to represent michigan in the u.s. senate, politics by itself has never been the end goal. for debbie, the end goal has always been her community and about building support foreworth -- for worthy causes, about being a constant presence in her hometown in lansing, or all over the state, getting to know everyone on a first-name basis. that's always been debbie hat a core. added to that a thirst for fairness, a love of complex problems, a knack and persistence for winning and you get the senior senator from michigan. saying goodbye is heart-wrenching. saying thank you is hardly sufficient. after two decades, there's no policy issue left that debbie hasn't shaped or progressed in

some meaningful way. she's authored hundreds of bills that have become law. her work has been ahead of the curve. look no further than her legacy on closing the gap on mental health policy. she so cared about people's mental health. she knew that the federal government had to step up to the placement it was a decade-long campaign. she never gave up. it didn't matter if it was a democratic president, republican president, democratic majority, republican majority. she kept at it. when the time came ripe to add significant dollars to mental health on several occasions, she did, most recently on our major gun bill in 2022 where over $14 billion was added for mental health. that wouldn't have happened how the debbie stabenow. she does amazing work. amazing work. her true love will always be the place she calls home. it will always be the people of michigan, from the rural farmers she has championed through the farm bill --

i'll never forget her devotion to the cherry farmers, and reminding us that michigan is the biggest sweet cherry state in the nation. she's always fiercely protected the farmers of michigan, to the great lakes, when the auto industry needed saving in a need moment of crisis, debbie came to the rescue. when hungry kids needed someone, debbie was their voice. there were a lot of people on the ag committee who didn't want to help hungry children. debbie knew they needed certain things as well for their row crops. she always was able to weave together a coalition that would pass the ag bill, help hungry children can and help the farmers. and when our caucus needed good leaders and team players, to guide us and organize us and help us achieve our goals,

debbie stepped up to the plate. just four years in her time into the senate, she became the third-ranking democrat in the caucus when she was named caucus secretary by the late-harry reid and for many years she has been an expert and skillful force as chair of the dpcc, our democratic policy and communications committee. organizing weekly lunches, providing messaging and strategy resources, and organizing our caucus' yearly retreat. at all of our tuesday lunches, debbie would get up and go over our strategy, every tuesday and everybody listened and everybody followed. she published a list. who's helped us, giving them credit and then expanding the list of who else would help us because they weren't on the list the previous week. and of course i want to thank debbie for her many, many years as leader of the ag committee and on the farm bill. it's a cause she dedicated herself to. together we worked on getting

help for our specialty crops, our fruits and vegetables, which michigan and new york have so much produce from. she was a champion of this legislation, all ag legislation, and i commend her for her recent work in releasing a strong bill. so to lose debbie -- i begged her to stay when she told me a year and a half that she wasn't going to run. although true to her commitment, debbie said, don't worry. we'll have a great new senator to take my place and i'll make sure she wins. and now we have elissa slotkin coming. finally, what's incredible about debbie's legacy is that things could have turned out very, very differently. in fact, debbie's preference growing up with as to serve in a different -- was to serve in a different capacity, perhaps criminal justice, perhaps social justice, which she studied in college. political life may not have been

in the cards at all if not for an incident in graduate school. while she was studying at michigan state, a local county commissioner announced he was shutting down the only nursing home in town that served low-income seniors. it lit a fire in debbie. what this official did was simply unfair. it was mean-spirited. so debbie, then just 24 years old, with no political experience, decided to run against him. the incumbent wasn't exactly respectable about a younger woman challenging his seat. she won. she won in a landslide and of course her goal was not to win the election but to save the nursing home and she did. she ran for office because she loved people. she has a friendly, all-embracing look and she would meet people, she'd shake hands, get to know the entire town ton a first-name basis and most of all listening to what her

neighbors were thinking, as she met them. so from then on debbie never looked back. thank god for that, too, because now that time has come for us to say goodbye. debbie's mom, who instilled in her a belief -- who just passed away but made sure she mailed her absentee ballot. debbie always talks glowingly about her mom. her mom knows, we all know, that debbie stabenow leaves our country a better, stronger, healthier place. debbie, thank you, thank you, thank you. we will miss you. i certainly will miss you. you were one of my best friends and one of my best members of the team. but we are happy for you and your family, and we know you're going to continue to do great things for our country and for michigan in the years to come.

debbie, godspeed.

>> these investments will yield great customer experience, elevate our brand and this benefits or business overall. i would like to clear up another important point about united christ the second report concluded united does not pay federal taxes on cp spirit barely based on its review of

the booking path on their website. in fact, united has always paid the 7.5% transportation tax on all seat fees but is not displayed in the booking path because united paces directly to the treasury. we are proud to provide safe on time affordable air travel options the federal government is an important partner in that endeavor. as the operator of the air traffic control system. the single most consequential thing anyone can do to improve the expense for our customers is to fully staff the faa. thank you again and i like to, i would be pleased to answer any questions you may have. >> thank you very much. i'll begin the questioning. we will have seven minute rounds and we're going to try to stick to the seven minutes and then have a second round, if our members want to do so. i'm not going to go into all of the specific statements that you made. i suspect we will be hearing from airline passengers who say

they've heard you testify here and their experience has been different. we will incorporate their versions of their experiences in our next report but i want to begin with the easy questions because i think you of all made representations about family seedings. american airlines and frontier duterte family seating without an extra fee. mr. carter, you said delta charges no fee for family seating. my understanding is that your ca the presiding officer: no. mr. thune: the past four years have been marked by increasing instability on the world stage. over the course of the biden administration, we've seen an unprovoked invasion by russia. china flexing its power in the indo-pacific and beyond and

increasingly threatening the philippines and taiwan. iran continuing to foment terror in the miltdz east. the worst terror attack in israel's history. and itself list goes on. while the biden administration cannot be held responsible for all of these events, the lack of clear american leadership under president biden has undoubtedly contributed to the unrest we've seen internationally. the president often seems incapable of staking out a firm policy position. again and again, he seems to want to have things both ways, whether he's ordering attacks on iran-backed terrorists while simultaneously declaring his unwillingness to escalate or drawing red lines for israel while proclaiming u.s. support. or take the war in ukraine where president biden has advocated for the u.s. providing defense assistance while simultaneously

slow walking approval for critical combat resources which is unquestionably contributed to the present situation. i don't know whether the president is trying to keep all his interest groups happy or is simply afraid to fully commit. but his indecisiveness telegraphs weakness to our enemies and allies alike. just as his disastrous withdrawal from afghanistan did. or his policy toward iran. the biden administration began relationswith iran on a note of appeasement with an attempt to reinstate the obama administration's flawed nuclear deal and then follow that up by unfreezing $6 billion in iranian assets as part of a deal to free american prisoners. thankfully the administration ultimately refroze those funds in the wake of hamas october 72023 attack -- 2023 attack. but unfreezing them in the first place was a serious mistake. as were things like the biden

administration's decision to restart funding for the united nations relief, unra, despite long held suspicions since confirmed that there were staffers with ties to islamist militant groups. these types of decisions convey a message to our adversaries. a lack of firm resolve and a willingness to compromise and accommodate. and in the face of this kind of message, it's little wonder that terrorists throughout the middle east have been emboldened and have been attacking not just our ally israel but american assets and american soldiers in the region. and i have to wonder whether bodies like the international criminal court which recently attempted to put israeli leaders in the same class as hamas terrorists by unlawfully issuing warrants for their arrest have also been emboldened by the

biden administration's waffling. mr. president, as china flexes its muscle, iran continues its proxy war on israel and north korean soldiers join russia's war on ukraine, it's time for a return to clear american leadership on the world stage. and that doesn't mean an america that intervenes in every conflict or dictates terms to everyone. we either can nor should attempt to become the world's policemen but it does mean an america that speaks clearly and doesn't ekwafsh indicate, that condemns evil and doesn't accommodate it of the. and an america that projects and can deliver strength. the kind of strength that will make our adversaries think twice before tangling with us or our

allies. president trump has made an excellent choice for secretary of state with our colleague marco rubio. he's one of our strongest and clearest voices on national security. and between him and president trump and other future members of the trump administration, america's adversaries should be on notice. i think there's already been something of a shift in the air, and i'm hopeful in the weeks to come we'll finally see movement on freeing the remaining americans and other host averages who were captured by hamas in its october 7, 2023 attack. it is incredible that these individuals are facing their second, second winter in gaza and in president trump's statement monday about his commitment to freeing these hostages immediately should be a warning to hamas the united states will no longer tolerate the captivity of the her

citizens. mr. president, the last few years have shown us what a world without clear american leadership looks like. i'm confident that the next four years will show us what the world looks like with it. mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the clerk: ms. baldwin.

>> around bag fees is one in .2.5 million passengers. as a pertains to what we have in place as well, again we are about attracting customers back ensuring they have great customer experience. we do have rules in place if a gate agent has high level of complaints. we have the ability to remove them -- >> i'm going to finish my first set of questions by playing a seven-second video. this is at a frontier airlines gate. [inaudible] the bag fits, ma'am.

>> you cannot force it. >> i'm not forcing anything. it fits, thank you. >> you are not boarding the flight. >> it clearly fits. >> you're making the line waiting. >> out is close by saying, you know, the frustration in that passengers voice is felt every day by countless passengers arriving at the gate with basically no choice. their flight is leading in minutes. they have no appeal, and it's the gate agent whether it's that kind of fee or another who is the final arbiter. senator marshall. >> thank you, mr. chairman. you mention in your opening remarks that seems to be a lack of fair competition among airlines and want to focus on incestuous relationship between the legacy airlines and the credit card industry where there's also a lack of competition. i'll start with ned airlines. how much money did you all

gross? how much did united grows from your rewards program last your? >> fund the entire award program i don't come i didn't reprint that number for today. >> our giving to come over $3 billion. mr. johnson for american airlines how much did you all gross from your rewards program? >> 2023 about $5 billion. >> correct. when a make sure i understand this the american public understands how these reward programs work and i'll stick with united airlines and american. mr. johnson, american airlines come are you the bank in this or do you have a bank in which bank do you? >> thanks for the question. thanks for bringing up the topic. we have to make really good partner banks in barclays and citi, and a great partner in -- >> great. united are you all the bank or do you have a bank relationship? >> thanks, senator. we use jp morgan chase and a

partner with visa okay. one of your customers has your credit card, united airlines credit card american airlines credit card, they go to the retailer and the use your credit card. do you have any idea how much the retailer is being charged for that swipe fee? either american airlines or united? >> i do not. it's around 3%. seven times times more than what most get charged in the european union. you make 3 billion, $5 million off off of this. is this a kickback from the swipe fee or did the banks give you money in addition to that? how does that part of this work? >> we don't make $3 billion off of it. we taken 3 billion in revenue but our costs associated transported passengers. in this case passenger spends money, they earn miles and the later reading those mile for travel on united airlines. >> so you gross $3 billion from this. that's not cash?

>> we taken $3 billion in revenue. it does represent the prophet. >> i understand that. he taken $3 billion. is that a kickback from the swipe fee or is a bank giving you extra money in order to entice people with the voodoo miles you are giving them? >> it's not a kickback and they are not voodoo miles. miles are used to travel all over the world. >> you just come up with a percentage fee you're going to get in order to have this relationship with them? >> senator, with a long-standing relationship with jpmorgan chase on this and this relationship that governs how miles are awarded to passengers and what jpmorgan chase pays and we travel as fast as all over the world wherever they like to go with those must. >> mr. johnson, is it a a reb, a kickback? how to get money back from this relationship? >> senator, baby let me help you by framing the question will get.

>> i don't need the question reframed. i think i asked it very simply. >> virtually, well, credit cards used in the states is ubiquitous. expenditures made by credit cards. iqs majority of the credit cards in the united states are associate with a rewards program. the rewards programs were talked about here are like those. we are extremely proud of the benefits we provide to our customers who choose to hold the american airlines credit card. they are very excited about and find great value in those benefits. >> i have to stop and interrupt see ants my question. he heard from customers is this a constant change and they were promised one thing on this rewards and they're being given another, that there's a constant change going on with your rewards program and no one can seem to understand. you opened this door from spirit

airlines. how did his legacy airlines uses credit card system to box you out and maximize their monopoly? >> thank you for the question, senator marshall. what is up happening is if you look at the operating statements, financial statements of any of the legacy carriers you will see the renumeration they receive from their banks on these programs is more than the actual operating profit in any given year. they use his programs very effectively to compete and what the end of doing this is be able to basically operate the airlines bosses and then they make their profit all of these relationships. it affects competition and it all starts really from the way they dominate thereof and the control of the real estate in the hubs and because they can do that then they have such large dominance with the passenger base, , the public that is ther. that's how the programs work. it's a circle and i think they compete very effectively by

using the rules of these games this way and that's how it affects competition. >> i want to emphasize one thing you said and come back to that. you said these legacy airlines operate at a loss of the use the profits from the credit card programs to really fund their stockholders. get it understandably? >> yes. in fact, fact just a couple weeks ago delta plainly laid out their operating profit is $5.16 and also proudly announced have received over $7 billion from american express in the same presentation. i'm not faulting them for doing it by the way. they are just plain by the rules of the game that are out there today but there are very effective at doing it. ..

.. george remarked that the great luxury of a columnist is assuming that the mental pantries of one's readers are well stocked with baseline knowledge, with the mental pantries of george's local readers in fact overflowing, in no small part thanks to his persistent deposits of ernest prose. as always, we'll look forward to reading what he has to say next.

on an entirely different matter, it's been a week since israel and hezbollah agreed to a ceas ceasefire. war is hell, and i hope sincerely that this makes a durable end to the immediate conflict. ah, but hope is not a strategy, and i know better than to expect honest dealings from hardened terrorists. i'd be naive a year and a half ago to believe iran and its proxies had suddenly decided to accept israel's right to exist. but in light of the horrors of october 7 and the assistance campaign of terror since then, it's more likely that iran and its proxies meant to alleviate the pressure of israel's successful operations and give

hezbollah the a-team of international terrorism and the vanguard of iran's axis of anti-semitic violence simply a chance to catch its breath. in the weeks and months to come, the strength of this ceasefire will be tested repeatedly. will it prevent iran from resupplying and regenerating hezbollah's capacity to wage terror? will it enable lebanon's political leaders to chart a new path out of hezbollah's stranglehold of their country? will it allow residents of northern israel to feel safe enough to return home? it's important to remember why israel faced this terror in the first place. despite chapter 7u.n. security council's demand of compliance, the ceasefire that ended hostilities in 2006 was never

enforced. even with lebanese armed formses and u.n. peacekeepers on the ground, hezbollah rearmed and arranged an influence that reached deeper into lebanon. such a tragic farce must not be allowed to repeat itself. the ceasefire is not a solution. if regional powers want peace, they need to act. first, israel's neighbors must decide whether they want to be peaceful in sovereign countries or vasils of war. this applies to syria and iraq's fractured governments. the u.s. must ensure israel has the freedom to maneuver to target and destroy iran's military and logistical lifeline, and america should move quickly to restore israel's munitions stockpile. as i expect, the coming

administration already knows, this means removing restrictions on the sale of needed weapons like 2,000-pound smart bombs. there's a more fundamental lesson i hope will be be taken away from this campaign against hezbollah. it's about the credibility of threats. it was israel's bold and decidive operations -- decisive operations, not the overly cautious calls for restraint from washington, that made a cessation of hostilities possible. if the jewish state has left iran with no reason to doubt israel's capacities and willingness to protect its citizens and restore its sovereignty by force. america ought to apply this lesson to our own approach to the iran-backed groups that continue to attack american forces across the region, and to

ukraine as well. too many in washington still believe that the path to peace lies in restraining our friends. the evidence and coordination between our adversaries, china, russia, iran, north korea, is incontrovertible. it's high time america support our friends and carried real weight ourselves. on one final matter, at the end of the year the senate will bid farewell to a number of distinguished colleagues who are started well-deserved next chapters. in the coming weeks, i will single out a few for particular praise. it seems fitting to begin with someone whose retirement is a departure not just from the senate but from a long and honorable career on the national political stage. on the bingo cards of american pol

politics, the governor of massachusetts, senator from utah combination isn't known to be hit very often, but myth romney's -- mitt romromney's his part of his appeal. as it turns out, uncompromising honesty, earnest humility, and evident devotion to faith and family are as compelling in cedar city as they are in concord. of course, a certain telegenic quality, dare i say a presidential aura, doesn't hurt, either. by the time our friend assumed the title of junior senator from utah, his approach to life in the public eye, combined with the polished instupidities of a -- instincts with a

professional who played to win at the highest level, and self-assurance that come from only unshakeable convictions. for mitt, the senate was no the a waiting room or a stepping stone. it was a capstone to a life in pluck service. with the wisdom to discern where to devote his attention, he managed to cram more into six years than many colleagues fit in in 12 or 18. he made himself a linchpin for bipartisan negotiations and wound up at the center of the effort that delivered major infrastructure legislation. he poured himself into worthy fights on behalf of his constituents, navigating everything from tribal politics to state department bureaucracy with characteristic diplomacy. he called the senate's attention more closely to the state of

america's competition with china. and the worthy demands of american global leadership. and he's met moments of enormous gravity with a careful contemplation and utmost grace. the past six years will not be remembered as the senate's quietest. observers might have wondered what more distinguished pluck servants like mitt romney who to prove in coming to washington and putting up with the demands of this body. but that would be a misunderstanding of the way our friend has ordered his life. it wasn't about what he had left to prove, but what he had left to give. with that outlook, mitt's been able to put even the most consequential business of pluck life in perspective. he reminds young visitors to the capitol that the true currency of life is the people you love and spend your time with.

he's quick to explain that his life isn't defined by the outcome of elections, and that his deepest meaning comes from his faith and his relationship with his family. it doesn't take much to recognize how earnestly he means that. for one thing, we know that joining the senate was, at best, a different second on the list of mitt's most significant events of the year 2019. by celebrating 50 years of marriage to his sweetheart anne. when you factors in the birthdays of the 25 children, it's bound to fall off the list. frankly, throughout mitt's senate staff, if i were there, i wouldn't worry too much about lining up my next job.

full-time grandpa to a brood as big as the rom anies' is -- the romneys' is bound to need extra hands. mitt and anne's partnership is one for the history books. it's a reminder that when you spend your life with the right people, success in business or politics is just icing on the cake. when you ground yourself in firm bel beliefs, the winds of politics are easier to weather. as particularly moving hymn in mitt's church instructs, do what is right, let the consequences fall, battle for freedom and spirit and might, and with stout hearts took you forth till tomorrow. god will protect you, then do

what is right. so mitt, i want to thank you for devoting yourself to service and letting the consequences fall. may god protect your and your family as you write the next chapters. mr. romney: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from utah. mr. romney: i rise today to first thank the leader for those generous comments and to mark for my colleagues the departure soon from my service here in the senate. during my life, i have rarely been truly alone, maybe taking tests at school or running

cross-country or on my uncle's tractor cultivating corn. but i'm impressed with people who've achieved great things largely on their own -- washington commanding the continental army, lincoln guiding the civil war, emerson and his laboratory, edison, rather, in his laboratory. not me. i've consistently been surrounded by others. usually smarter, often more experienced, always becoming friends. in business i chose partners with skills that exceeded mine. proof of which is their stunning success after i left. as governor, my team helped craft the health plan that ensured nearly every citizen in massachusetts. my wing man, bob white, counseled me in olympics and politics. my counselor, beth myers managed

multiple campaigns and administrations. my senate chiefs he have staff, matt waldrip led our team and with our policy directors crafted and negotiated more legislation that became law than could possibly have been expected for a freshman senator. mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the names of my excellent current and former staff members be included in the record as submitted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. romney: so my life's work has been a group affair. at its center is my wife ann, she is my most trusted advisor, my indefatigable ally, the love of my life for 54 years. my five sons are just as loyal and are the source of profound

pride, joy, and 25 grandchildren. during my first months in the senate, i was mostly on my own and, thus, mostly unproductive. and then lisa murkowski invited five democrats to join with five republicans in her home for takeout dinner. with covid then active, we were spaced far apart with windows open despite the winter cold. our conjecture on how to bridge the impasse between the president and congress on covid relief led us over the next several weeks to dig in, negotiate, draft, and eventually see our work become the basis of law. i was fortunate to also be a part of what this team worked on that followed -- the bipartisan infrastructure law, electoral count act reform, gun safety legislation, marriage legislation that included religious protections. our group was rob portman, s

kirsten sinema, jon tester, bill cassidy, jeanne shaheen and lisa murkowski. we'd each come to washington to enact law that would help people, and that's just what we did. we accomplished together what we could have never done alone. so i will leave this chamber with a sense of achievement, but in truth i will also leave with the recognition that i have not achieved everything i had hoped. among other things, the scourge of partisan politics has frustrated repeated efforts to stabilize our national debt. without the burden of the interest on that debt, we would be able to spend three times as much as we do on military procurement. three times as many aircraft, three times as many ships, three times as many drones, spacecraft, cyber defenses.

or alternatively we could spend double the amount we spend on social security benefits every month. our national credit card is almost maxed out, and america risks becoming debt poor. now, my biggest surprise in the senate has been how much i enjoy the other senators, on both sides of the aisle. and the truth is that while i may not miss the senate itself terribly much, the 10-minute votes that last an hour, the unknowable schedule of votes, the myriad meaningless votes, the absurd passion about inconsequential votes, i will very much miss you, my fell will he senators. -- my fellow senators. for among you are some brilliant, senator from entertaining, some kind and generous and all patriotic. it's an honor to have been able

to serve with you. it's also been an honor to represent the people of utah, the state of my family heritage. what sets utah apart is not just its beauty and vibrant economy; it is the admirable character of its people. now, it's customary to end remarks with these words -- god bless america. that has never seemed jarring or out of place to me because americans have always been fundamentally good. from our earliest days we have rushed to help neighbors in need, as de tocqueville noted. we welcome the poor,ed huddled ma masses yearning to breathe free. we've respected different faiths, as our first president confirmed in muslims and jews. united we stand is a fitting

refrain. as the leader of the free world, our sons and daughters have fought time and again for liberty, and our treasure has bouyed free fighters around the globe. like all, we've made mistakes, but often they've come from misguided understanding. god has blessed america because america is good. there are some today who would tear at our unity, who would replace love with hate, who deride our foundation of virtue, or who debase the values upon which the blessings of heaven depend. now, i've been in public service for 25 years. i have learned that politics alone cannot measure up to the challenges we face. our country's character is a reflection not just of its

elected officials but also of its people. i leave washington to return to be one among them and hope to be a voice of unity and virtue. for it is only if the american people merit his benevolence that god will continue to bless america. may he do so is my prayer. the presiding officer: the senator from west virginia. mr. manchin: i rise to speak of my dear friend who is departing too early. i'm going it to wait until he

gets done with all of the congratulatetories that he deserved. the presiding officer: the senator from west virginia. mr. manchin: i rise to

congratulate my dear friend, mitt romney, who i've gotten to know very well and became a very close friend to, with his wife ann and gayle and i have come very close to and enjoyed their company. i have followed from afar for a long time, watching the success he has had as he came up the business ranks very succ successfully. i watched that. i observed the olympics that was going to be embarrassing to the united states of america if someone didn't step forward and take care of the mess that it got itself into. and lo and behold, mitt romney did that. and i was so thankful pass an american and also admiring his skills to pull all this together because i know it is a difficult task working with the olympic

committee. watching his campaigns, which i thought were electrifying. i could see in his heart, public service was what it was all about. my first encounter with mitt was as former governor. i was coming in. he was going out in 2006. i did -- he did this unbelievable thing about giving health care to everybody in his state. i called. governor have a certain bond. doesn't matter if you've met in person. there is a bond. mitt, tell me about this health care plan you have. joe, i was able to do this, this, this, because he mention some of the good people that were smart and were able to put it together. i know one thing -- anybody who sits in a position when you have good people around, someone has to assemble all of that material and put it in force. and mitt was able to do that. and i told him this. i said, mitt, i don't have the

economy you have in massachusetts. i'd love to do something in my state. i don't know if you remember this. he said, joe, there might be a way to let the small businesses buy in for a group. we were able to do something that helped an awful lot of small businesses and people. i remember this vividly. then he comes to the senate and that's when my personal relationship -- i've admired him from afar for a long time. we just clicked. i have to say this -- he was involved from day one. day one he hit the ground running. mitt brought so much institutional knowledge and so much basically support that he could bring to any conversation, he could bring you the contents, he could bring you the graphs, he could bring you anything you wanted and even a lot more that you didn't want. and he just engulfed us with all of this. i'm thinking, one day we're -- in the bipartisan infrastructure bill, mitt, i don't know if you

recall, you kept telling us what didn't work because you had better facts than we had. and you were right. but we were trying to take your facts and put it in the situation we were in, back a understand -- back-and-forth, and here's mitt. here's what needs to be done. he would explain everything us to. and i would think, we're just not going to get through this. one day we made the decision, we're going to do this. he came in, i like it. he just beat the living crap out of us for 30 days, showing us the road map of how to do something and thinking he wasn't going agree with this. his basic comment was this -- this is better than what we got. we moved the ball forward. that to me is the clarity of purpose, the clarity of what he came for is to move the ball forward, make it better, try to make a more perfect union.

we know we couldn't be perfect. rob was in there working in back-and-forth and everybody was moving. when we got to the end, mitt says, this is good. let's go. and that was the signal we needed. and it moved from there. mitt, being a freshman six years, i've been here longer -- maybe i should have left six years ago, but i'm just telling you, you've made my life so much better in the senate. i enjoyed my relationship of course on both sides of the aisle, working together and bringing people together, but it has been just an absolute pleasure and joy having you as a member of the united states senate, the most deliberate body in the world, the strongest body in the world, the body that's supposed to make common sense out of things that sometimes don't make reason. and this body is much better off, this country is much better off because of your service

here, and i.t. going to be missed -- and it's going to be missed. most importantly, i am a better person. i know that gayle and i are much more enriched because of your and ann's friendship. i wish you only the best in the future. i wish you the best as far as what you are going to do. god bless, my friend. enjoy. ms. collins: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from maine. ms. collins: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, it is with a combination of pride and sadness that i rise to pay tribute to a truly extraordinary senator and a good friend, senator mitt romney. i rise to praise his

intelligence, imagination, and most of all his integrity. that is what has marked and characterized his service throughout his life, but particularly here in the senate. it's a day of sadness because i can't imagine the senate without mitt romney. as a senator and as a governor, as a presidential candidate, as the founder of a successful business, as the savior of the 2002 winter olympics, and as a pillar of his faith, mitt romney has brought intelligence, knowledge, experience, and, once again, integrity to every task

he has undertaken. he meets eve challenge with determination and a talent for bringing opposing sides together to forge solutions. he is always focused on getting to yes, on using common sense, and on achieving a result. i've had the pleasure of teaming up with mitt on so many important issues, many of which he has mentioned. he was among the group of ten senators who negotiated the infrastructure and jobs act of 2021. from transportation to broadband, the most significant investment in infrastructure since the interstate highway system in the 1950's is bringing

lasting benefits to our nation. mitt was also key in crafting the bipartisan safer communities act, landmark, commonsense gun safety legislation that helps to protect america's children, keep our schools safer, and reduce the threat of violence across our country while preserving the second amendment rights of law-abiding gun owners. mitt's unshakeable belief that the american people must have faith in our elections and that they are free and fair was evident in his countless contributions to the electoral count reform act, which ensures an orderly transition of

presidential power. perhaps most impressive, his support for the respect for marriage act demonstrated his fundamental fairness by helping to ensure that millions of loving couples in same-sex marriages will continue to enjoy the freedom, rights, and responsibilities afforded to all other marriages while strongly protecting religious liberty. and i give mitt so much credit for forging the religious liberty protections that combined with the protections for same-sex marriages, enable the enactment of the respect for

marriage act. he was the one who drafted the religious liberty provisions that were so key. there are other areas where mitt has been a key player and ahead of his time. from identifying the threat posed by russia more than a decade ago to pushing congress and the administration to develop a strategy to better counter the challenge presented by china, mitt has worked extensively on american foreign policy and national security. he has been a champion for ukraine and a strong supporter of supplying aid to that brave country in its time of peril. most of all, mitt has reminded

us over and over again of our $36 trillion national debt and the need to put our trust funds on solid ground. in fact, i think that a great post senate responsibility that mission could take on is that commission to look at all of those trust funds. he has proposed legislation to do just that. i can't think of a better person to head that commission. mitt announced his decision to step down from the senate with these words -- well, i'm not running for reelection, i'm not retiring from the fight. as he and his wonderful wife ann move on to this next phase of

their lives, i'm sure that this outstanding leader will continue to fight for the core values that have made america great. thank you, mr. president. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from north carolina. did i miss that? the senator from new jersey. mr. booker: we look soech alike -- we look so much alike. would the senator yield? a senator: yes mr. booker: i rise to object. i would ask unanimous consent to force him to stay in the senate but like all my unanimous consent requests over the last ten years, none of them have ever passed. a senator: i object to that. mr. booker: case in point. i didn't necessarily expect to speak, but i found myself sitting there getting sad and

angry that we are losing mitt romney, first of all, because we have obviously to the naked eye so much in common. i am black and mitt romney is black adjacent. mitt romney is a man of great personal net worth and i am a man of great personal net girth. but the reality is the more i served with mitt romney, the more i found myself hoping to have more in common with him. i watched somebody from this seat for years now give a master's class in what i believe america needs most. i ran for president because of this drive and this feeling that our nation was becoming too tribalistic. and i watched time and time again from this seat a person that put aside the desires for partisan adoration for a deeper

conviction to stand up for our nation. i watched a man not confuse tribal celebrity with leadership significance. i watched time and time and saw with my own eyes, him being harassed at airports and being scorned for taking principle stands thaep saup as the best -- that he saw as the best way to try to hold our country together. i disagree with him even though i see him now and from one of his colleagues getting great approbation from a moment i remember when i was a mayor running for president when he was asked what the great national security threat was and he said russia. people made fun of him but i have been in briefings with him when he was asked were his wisdom seeing a threat -- i saw

people applaud the man. but i disagree with him now. i disagree with him because to me the greatest threat to america including other comments made here, including one of our esteemed colleagues said was our national debt, i think the greatest threat to america is coming together as a country. when americans are united there is nothing we can do, beat the nazis, send a man to the moon. i've sat here for years now and i've watched perhaps someone show with clarity of purpose that i have got to be what his faith and mind call for -- blessed are the peacemakers. blessed are the people who stand in the breach. blessed are the people who heal, who try to weave together the

torn threads of our great nation back into a mighty hole. this body is lesser, is lesser with this loss. when i heard the news that he wasn't running again, i wasn't happy for him and his family, and i know his values start with that core of faith and family. but i do worry about this body. i do worry about our nation. and the one thing that gives me hope is because the light that he has shined into this place will endure and perhaps many of us, as he departs, will try our best, despite the forces that pull us apart, to try our best to pick up the work that he has left behind to do more to affirm a principle that he clearly has kept centered in his eyes, as is in the center of the aisle of this great institution, which is

those words from a dead language, e pluribus unum. mitt romney, thank you for being my friend. thank you for being someone who has inspired me to be better. and thank you for being a great american patriot. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from north carolina. mr. t mr. tillis: thank you, mr. president. my folks are wondering why i'm sitting so close to mitt romney. he and i are seat mates. these are our assigned seats. i told mitt i did not prepare comment but i did want to say something about him. here's a question we can all talk about and thank him for the incredible work that he's done and to his staff, the problems he has caused for you by being so honest, so forthright, and so direct. right? how many times, mitt, you can't answer it because i think it's

against the rules. but how many times has your staff gone, boss, we wish sometimes you weren't so forthright and honest. but that is who this guy is. i've seen him, we've been battle buddies in a lot of the bipartisan efforts that have gone along. he's the reason why some of them of passed, quite honestly. without his support and the support of a handful of others, stuff that has enduring generational value would have never happened. so i would ask everybody here who is thinking mitt romney for his role model behavior in the times he's been in the senate, in the times that i've known him -- the first time i met him was in the december before his election when i was a fairly newly minted legislator. there was no reason why he would have known me. but i've been impressed with him from that moment in charlotte, north carolina, when he was running for president. let us go forward and hopefully

ask ourselves as we come together as a nation, as we solve problems that can only be solved by people on both sides of the aisle coming together and taking the heat that comes along with that, let's ask ourselves over the next two or four years, what would mitt romney do and let that be a guiding post for those of us who are going to be here who may be put in those situations to do right by this country. we're going to have one less person in mitt here, but i believe it is in all of us to emulate what mitt has done. i hope that is a part of the legacy that we will honor as he's gone. now, finally, if you don't know about mitt, i'm going to miss him for those reasons -- those are legitimate reasons to miss mitt -- but i'm going to miss his fast wit and his ability to call things quickly. having a seat mate like that when you're in the middle of vote-a-rama is gold, folks. nobody is going to know that except for the conversations

we've had back here in the middle of the night. he's a good man, a good father, a great-grandfather. i know i'm not supposed to do this either but by a show of hands who shares dna with mitt romney up there in the gallery? congratulations to all of you and the dozens of other family members who have to be hugely proud of mitt romney. i am. thank you. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from montana. mr. tester: we've got a vote coming up quick so i'm going to be brief. we're losing good ones this time around but you're at the top of the list. my father was born and raised in utah, the state that you represent. my father and mother were both really good democrats, but i'm going to tell you that they would have loved mitt romney. and the reason they would have loved mitt romney is because mitt romney is a realist, not an idealist, somebody who looks at issues and tries to solve them,

tries to get to yes, not to get to no. without giving up his principles. and your time here in the united states senate, the gift that the good lord gave to me to work with you and eight other folks besides us on that infrastructure bill is something that i will never forget in this body. and you stood up time and time again and talked realism to all of us. vote-a-rama. and as you go out, just know that there's not a soul in here that doesn't know you are a man of faith. and i appreciate that because you exhibit that faith. you don't preach, you walk the walk, and i just want to say, as others have said before, because it's true, the united states senate will be diminished because of your absence. and appreciate the opportunity to get to know with you and work with you and get some stuff

done. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from wisconsin. ms. smith: i ask unanimous consent -- ms. baldwin: i ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum call be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. 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 842, anthony j. brindisi, of new york, to be united states district judge for the northern district of new york, 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 anthony j. brindisi, of new york, to be united states district judge for

the northern district of new york shall be brought 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. the clerk: 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.

the clerk: 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, booker, butler, durbin, heinrich, hickenlooper, ossoff, stabenow, and tester. senators voting in the negative -- boozman, braun, collins, kennedy, romney,

>> working hard to set the stage for unified republican government next year. first, when we go through our swearing in and then the inauguration. americans can expect significant results if from a pro-growth and pro-family policy. that's going to be the focus that we have. we've had that focus at every stage of the last several years, and we've seen from the work that we did in 2017 that it has been extremely successful for those two concepts, to have a pro-growth and pro-family policy set in place, addressing wasteful government spending and looking out for our main street businesses to crafting tack policies that we know work better for hard working families and americans from coast to coast. i'm excited about the work that the we are accomplishing at the end of the 118th congress and what we will achieve when we

work with president trump and the senate to hit the ground running in the 119th. with that, i'll hand it over to our majority whip, from tom emmer. pleasure. >> thanks. many of us are counting down to january 20th because it marks president trump's triumphant return to the white house. but i am also counting down because it's the day that sec chairman gary gensler will finally meet the american people's demands and resign. chairman gensler's tenure at the sec has been marred by regulatory hypocrisy, crippling american competitiveness. his approach to our capital marks was lawless, self-interested and and objectively destructive. he's been an incompetent cop on the beat pushing american firm into the hands of the -- firms into the hands of the chinese communist party and will undoubtedly go down as the worst sec chair in the history of this country. under his leadership, the sec

abandoned its core mission to to protect the opportunities of every american who wants to participate in the greatest capital markets in the world. he wasted a large part of the sec's resources to wage war on the crypto industry, a strategy that has proven unsuccessful for him as the sec continues to lose again and again in the courts. corruption under gary gensler ran so deep that a federal judge took the unprecedented step of imposing sanctions on the sec for misrepresenting key facts in the debt box case, ultimately costing taxpayers $2 million in legal fees. in 47 days america will no longer be embarrassed by the mockery chairman gensler has made of the sec. president trump will fulfill his mandate for change. with our first pro-crypto commander in chief, the sec will work for the american people again, not against them. a new day is coming, and i look a forward to working with

president trump and his new sec chair to the deliver on our america first agenda for the digital asset community. with that, i turn turn the it over to the ragen cajun, steve scalise. >> thank you, whip. i hope y'all had a good thanksgiving. good to see you all here. we had a really, really good meeting with our members and members-elect upstairs, and you see if 31 members coming in a lot of energy, a lot of excitement about what's ahead, what we can do to get this country back with on track. this morning i also unveiled the schedule for next year and laid out the new calendar. and you see many that calendar -- in that calendar a very am bitter agenda -- ambitious aa general da, ability to get a lot of things done for the american people that we talked about during the campaign. we're already working very closely, the speaker, our leadership team, with the trump transition team so that we can hit the ground running and be on the same page, focused on

delivering lower energy costs for families who are struggling, border security that so many people are counting on, the ability for us to stabilize our tax code so we can prevent a multitrillion dollar tax increase on families all across this country, getting rules and regulations under control so that the massive alphabet soup of federal agencies up here don't wake up every day trying to figure out how to shut down american manufacturers, but, in fact, how they can help enforce the rules fairly so that america can be dominant again many job creation against our competitorn against our competitors around the world. that's what this republican agenda is going to look like to deliver relief for those hard working families who have been struggling for far too long. and we cannot wait to get to work, working on and delivering on those promises with president trump. and, again, that work has already begun, those meetings are already taking place between

our leadership, house and senate, as well as president trump's transition team. they're not waiting until inauguration a day. we are already working on those things now so we can hit the ground running day one, is and we have a calendar built out so that we have the opportunity to deliver for those families who are counting on us and to deliver this mandate to the american people so that we can actually go and get those things done. .. the capitol christmas tree last night and if all it up and everybody started. with a great meeting with all the house republicans. there is great energy. people are excited about we're able to achieve and electing another republican house majority keeping the majority

and ensuring we have a majority in the senate now president trump returning to the waters. unified republican government gives us an excellent opportunity to save this country turn things around. our members are excited about that, excited about the work we have yet to complete in this congress and then all the things we will be doing early beginning january. we're looking forward to that. president trump still has 47 more days before he returns to the oval office but he is already making dramatic change and is bringing that change that we knew and expected when he got elected would happen. stock market is surging. i ran called off a retaliatory attack on israel. foreign leaders are making their way to mar-a-lago to sit down with the new president and get on his good side. mexico has pledged to take immediate action to stop the flow of illegal immigration and human trafficking and fentanyl into our borders. those are all good starts. that's much more good news ahead. this is the beginning. the air of promises made and

promises kept will return in january. let me say word about hunter biden. a lot has been said and written about the pardon president biden is led his time off the hook for the federal crimes he committed. this week and, of course, he pardoned hunter, and it's important to point out and everyone has been given many democrats are not expressing their great disappointment and their dismay because the president promised as over and over and over repeatedly unequivocally he told the american people he would not issue a pardon for his son and though he did. it was more than ten occasions we have received this all on video they made formal official declarations to that point. the white house said he wouldn't do it but he did. he misled the american people and a lot has been recounted over the last couple of days since that happened that is just like when you said the border was secure. it's just like we said bidenomics is working great for the american people. it's just like when he denied or tried to cover up his obvious mental acuity and decline and

it's just like when he insisted the catastrophic afghanistan withdrawal was somehow a success. this pardon is a perversion of justice and an utter disregard for the rule of law and it undermines further undermines peoples faith in our system of justice. we have we formed on the way. it cannot happen soon enough. you for the save many times as a former constitutional law attorney litigator at this is one of the greatest concerns i have when the people believe there are two mixtures of justice. the current occupant of the white house emphasizes that it makes a very difficult. they have done in my view the biden family almost irreparable damage to our system of justice. we have a lot to repair but i encourage and excited we had that opportunity beginning early next year. we need real reform and this is why president trump is appointing nominees who will shake up the status quo and get us back to the fundamentals. i think that's really important. let me just make a word about

something that is happening overseas that should be getting all of our attention. just the point personal privilege. last friday was a sad and shameful day for the english speaking world wide. the uk parliament voted to legalize euthanasia in their whole nation. it's an ancient truth that medicine should always heal and never harm. the uk just join canada twisting that definition of medicine and codifying the orwellian language of assisted death into law. i want to say this americans always stood out as a beacon as a shining city on a hill. we stood out in this regard. our declaration makes the bold proclamation the acknowledgment that life is a gift from our creator. our founders called it a a self-evident truth that all of us are made equally by our creator and that he's the one who gives us our rights. in any society that rejects that truth about life as a gift from our creator and adopts a culture of death is a society that is in

the process of crumbling. so-called assisted death endangers the week and marginalized in society and a corrupt medicine and it erodes our obligations to family. i hope and pray the people of the united kingdom will work through democratic means to reverse that legislation. as speaker of the south in the u.s. i want to say house republicans are committed to rejecting socialized medicine and the nanny state and we will promote and respect every life the matter how old or sick or weak those persons may be. the last thing, the bomb threats. i want to address this last weeks threats against multiple members of this body. it is outrageous that even happen on thanksgiving day of all days we have members of caucus facing bomb threats in their homes in their district. republican or democrat i am personally committed to the safety of all members of this body and working with capitol police to keep everyone safe. this is a dangerous and insane

behavior we are seeing across the country and it has no place in our country and aid what needs to understand this. we need to state the obvious. your political opponents are not your enemies, okay? we are all fellow americans. so whoever is doing this you will be found out. you will be punished and you will be imprisoned and we will see to that. we have to treat one another with dignity and respect. treat one another as though americans because we are. i think that's an appropriate message here at the holidays,, every day throughout the year. take your questions if you have any. >> with the california race thing called -- [inaudible] >> how do you plan to keep -- [inaudible] well, just like we do every day. we have developed an expertise between a how to work with small majority, that's our customer. the final number when it comes

out there still some recounts taking place but it looks like the final number will be 220 republicans-215 democrats. when three of our colleagues depart in the early part of your joining the administration or one reside, it will be 217-to 15. so yes do the math. we have nothing to spare. all of our members of that. we talked about that today as he do constantly, this is a team effort where we have to ae same direction. i spent time yesterday with the senate republicans, at the working lunch and the session they had come and talk to them frankly about that. unified government we are all in exact same team. this is an varsity, junior varsity. this is the varsity team together. send it and house republicans. you will see that. you'll see great cooperation bicameral cooperation between of the bodies and we will deal with the one seat majority just like we when we fill those of the seats three or four whatever the final number is will get those

failed i think late spring and we will proceed. the first 100 days agenda will be very aggressive. we have a lot to fix and as we've been saying we could be the most consequential caucus in the modern era because me to fix everything. we're working closely with president trump and hiswh 18 tht he's assembled for policy legislation and excited about that. i can tell you a republican in the room is excited about that. everybody wants to be a part of the great reform and we can't wait to get started in january. we look forward to that. yes. [inaudible question] >> i'm not planning to do that. there are developments by the hour in ukraine. as we predicted and is essayed to all of you, weeks before the election, that if they'll trump is elected it the dynamic of the russian war in ukraine and we're

seeing that happen. it is not the place of joe biden to make the decision of the we have newly elected president and we're going to wait and take the new commander-in-chief's direction all of that. i don't expect any ukraine funding. [inaudible question] >> like we do doing everythie disastrous supplemental everybody understands the necessity. helene and that were historic storms, the scope of the disaster would across at least six states and the swap and the path of the storm was massive. i saw it myself. i went to florida where helene made landfall and saw the disaster and then was in western north carolina where it was like a bomb went off. it's serious, serious damage.

the initial request was when hundred $16.5 billion and what we're doing is the important methodical job the house has to go through line by line and assess those request and make sure that all are tied to disaster and not superfluous items and issues that are included. thus with a discussion with freedom caucus was about and with other members because we had to be good stewards with the resources. we have a national debt and we have obligation to take care of but we have to do that in a fiscally responsible manner. that's the discussion going on. i don't know what the final package looks like but we have to make those decisions quick and those discussions will continue. [inaudible question]

>> well, i can tell you the action in uk brings it to the forefront and is something we've been watching developments for years. i suspect we will have conversations about that but we don't have any legislation planned at the moment that i know of but it's going to have to be part of the dialogue going forward because that trend continues a think we need to stand out for the respect for life and that's an important to me and to a lot of my colleagues. thank you all so much for being here, and wish you a blessed holiday season. we will talk again before we leave. thank you.

the clerk: mr. hagerty, no. >> can reflect using influential voices on what we're seeing now after the election and as we

turn to the next session of the u.s. senate. so that keep both for being here. steve scalise who i will be handing it over to now is our moderator. he's a host of sirius xm the briefing picky serves as senior fellow as former members of congress association, a senior strategic advisor to the bipartisan policy center and if you're like me he recognized him from c-span where he was a senior executive producer and political editor for three decades. selfishly i think his most impressive credential on his resident is that he was once a staffer for senator ted kennedy. steve, overview. >> thank you very much, adam. senators, welcome to boston. welcome to the institute. do you feel at home? >> when i walked in earlier before al-qaeda i had a chance to come in and look around. it's stunningly like the senate.

and i went over and stood at my desk right there in the middle of the second row where i was sitting by lindsey graham on one side and senator cornyn on the other. but every senator who's got the most senators move every two years and everything is done by seniority. if you're the 100 senator you get to sit in the desk that's left when everybody else has the desk. it's a great accomplishment and a great way to have a sense of what the senate is like and what happens there. >> senator heitkamp. >> the interesting thing is i was the 100 senator. so whatever was left, which was way back in that corner over there, the 99th i think at the time was days in toronto. elected at the same time and we became fast friends -- she was my family in hawaiian, and we

decided we would never part. we would always sit next to each other. so limited options when we were looking at moving, but sad over their pick of fact i think sat behind us. kamala harris sat behind us. so the backbench was actually better than the middle seats. i had the little kids seats. why was she 99 and you wonder? >> because north dakota is a smaller state than hawaii. it goes first by seniority and you get right fashion i'm bitter about because i'm a former attorney general but if you were governor you get extra points of seniority when you look at how seniority rankings went. and so when you're a former attorney general, tax commission from a state, that is one of the small states in the union, you get to be 100. i have have a license plate that says 100. there some bragging rights to that. >> some bragging rights, and if

you're a house member you get to count, that counts as well but if you're a former senator, so when i came to the senate, then coach was coming back to the senate and so he ranked, outranked all of us. he was a former senator and then jerry moran and-kansas had gone to the house together so we had the same amount of service and jerry had to draw an envelope and he drew the wrong number so i was always senior to jerry all the time were in the senate together. he's still there so you senior to me now. >> we were in early and the most important desk is right over there, correct? >> they can be desk. >> the candy desk. it started by come unity candy desk on your side as well? never allowed to get close to that desk. >> welcome. >> you can come over anytime. >> we will talk about the elections in a moment but senator blunt i want to begin

with you. the role of the senate is advise and consent. we are now in the middle of some pretty fierce confirmation debate. you have a new senate republican leader someone you work with john fetterman. how does he navigate a trump presidency 2.0, some nominees that would be contentious, and ensuring the senate does it's a duty to advise and consent? >> i do think the consent part is an important part of that and sometimes just give advice and the advice normally turns ugly we really don't think this person is up to the job. if that doesn't happen -- but that doesn't happen very often. usually that person doesn't get to the senate floor, for whatever reason. something comes up, their name is withdrawn seldom does it happen. my rule normally, steve, i think this will be the rule for most republicans if not most people in the senate, my rule was that a president gets a lot of leeway

here. and if it's somebody that's coming in and leaving when the president leaves, i tried my best to be for the person with was a democrat or republican president. if someone would come in for life like a judge or for a ten year term on the commissioner or something, i looked at them in a different way than i did the people that were going to be literally there only went the president wasn't there. generally, the people i would have opposed never actually made it, either didn't get out of the committee to come to the floor for they often somebody like that winds up having withdrawing their name or being asked to withdraw the bank by the president or he withdraws them before you ever have a chance to make that vote. i think the senate wants the committee to look at the nominees closely. i think they will do that. there is a process that goes on where you are look at by usually

the fbi. there's a little controversy on that right now but i think the senate will look at these members and look at these nominees, and all of them for various reasons will not be nominated but normally i think the president does get a lot of leeway here who he wants to be part of his administration. >> senator heitkamp, , the other part of this debate, the possibility of recess appointments, we saw that in the early after the election. you could come to the forefront with the new congress takes office in january. what are your concerns? >> i think when you look at the nomination process, i'm with roy. they have to give me a reason, a really, really strong reason to oppose a nominee for a cabinet posi the president got elected. he's entitled to his team. that doesn't mean that there are not disqualifying candidates.

so i think that a lot of the recess appointments talk went away with the gates. i think there was enough pushback from members of the republican party that it was questionable even if john thune had tried to take it to recess, he needed a majority and his party to recess the senate. i'm not sure he would have gotten that. and so i think that that is been a calibrating moment. you don't hear the president-elect former president trump talking right now about recess appointments but you do see a push to shorten the kind of scrutiny that may have ordinarily come. now you might think that an fbi background check is somehow magically in the books that this has to be done. that's again a a norm that wet for a lot of years that looks like now may go by the wayside. the question is whether the committee chairs or whether the

minority asked for kind of background checks. obviously the fbi not be an agency during that time period. that would be controlled by chris wray. likely that will come even if he doesn't get confirmation of his fbi person, he could, in fact, terminate the tenure of christopher wray. and so i think that there's a lot of what gifts. this is a big job for john thune, which assigned to figure out how he is going to support his president which quite honestly every senator or leader in a majority party that has a president in your party, they have to consider supporting their president. but you also have to consider the prerogatives of article one, advice and consent. and what does it mean if you

simply rubberstamp and don't go through the process? these nominees. the one thing that roy may disagree with me on is this is a process that if you approve someone who later on something comes out about them, that you didn't know, that has peril for the senator that voted for confirmation. now with that i would tell you i voted for every one of trump's original cabinet members, most of which we knew, whether it was jeff sessions or whether it was rex tillerson who i knew from his work in the oil and gas industry. the only one i didn't vote for was betsy devos. i didn't think she of the background a think education is so critical. she still got confirmed. i think all of his nominees got confirmed. i don't think they withdrew anyone in the first go around.

we've already seen one withdrawal. >> let me go back to the question what advice to give john thune? he has a really delicate balancing act of being loyal to donald trump but also i would say he is somebody who really adheres to the institution and wants to preserve the role of the senate. >> i think that's the advice. you need to preserve the role of the senate. there's a reason the senate, congress is article one in the constitution, and you need to honor that preeminence that the constitution gives to congress. we have lost a lot of that in the last 50 years, but there's more and more interest i think in restoring the job of the congress to the congress of the congress has to be willing to do its job. but i would just say, the explanation here was really pretty good.

you have an obligation to the senate but you also have an obligation to the president of your party, if you're the majority leader and the president is of your party. >> because we're here in the public of the senate which is magnificent and beautiful and really a testament to the u.s. senate, i want to get into some the policy areas and the procedures including regular order. this is something you have been very fervent on, , returning to committee process, returning to regular order, not letting to or for house and senate leaders dictate the budget which is happened. congress has not passed the budget on time since 1996 when bill clinton was in the white house and newt gingrich was a speaker. how do we get back to regular order? >> let me tell you that is one of the primary reasons why the capabilities of the united states congress are in may be double digits, maybe. our friend john mccain would say why so high?

why so high? the bottom line is, and i will just tell it from my perspective. perspective. when i got to the united states senate, i assume i would be voting. you would assume i would be voting. american assumes the senate votes. and yet in, mean harry reid was the majority leader, and we were not voting on anything,, literally. i mean, and it was, finally, finally claire mccaskill told us the haiti insurrection. finally, i just said this, i came to vote. i came to do stuff. i didn't come to just sit in the chair and have people, you know, whatever, glorify this job setting in this chair done it if we're not legislating, if were not debating, if are not talked about the issues of the day which honestly everybody criticizes c-span because they say it's when the cameras came and things didn't get done.

i don't think that's true. i think when the cameras came in that's when congress, with the institution plummeted in terms of favorability. not because they were doing too much. because all they saw was an empty chamber. all they saw was nothing. quorum call. i went to harry and i said can we just vote? he said you know, heidi, there's a lot of issues people don't want to take a vote on. i said you know what, harry? on the most vulnerable democrat in this entire chamber and if i say i'll though, and everybody should be voting. right? one of the problems when you look at leadership in the senate is they do two things. number one, my office, actually three. myopically focus on protecting the executive if the executive is of their political party. number two, protecting their

majority at the risk of not giving after getting anything done because any time you get things done, guess what, you've got 51% of the people happy and 45% unhappy. i think the last thing and i think most important part of this is there was a time when the leaders of the senate led the senate. they were not political leaders. they represented the institution that got things done. i think ted kennedy come from that tradition. somebody who said fine, i didn't get to be president, guess what? i would to take maximum advantage to get things done in the united states senate. john mccain on of the second didn't get to be president. maximum advantage the getting things done. when the leadership is myopically focused on protecting their majority as opposed to getting things done, nothing gets done. the public is not served and article one parishes, withers on the pie because executive authority will move right into

that void and understandably so. >> senator blunt speaking of nothing getting done as you will know because you served in the house and in the senate, the biggest dividing washington is often not between the white house and the the presidentn democrats and republicans. it is between the house and the senate. how do you fix that? >> i think you fix it a lot by just letting people be part of the system. the whole idea of regular order is what you learn in civics class about how congress is supposed to work. you have committees that know more about the topic of their committee, hopefully, than anybody else in the congress does. they pass a bill. they try to amend the bill. they have a vigorous debate on the bill. they have a chance to take that bill to the floor, and defendant again to the other members. houston is the same thing. you have a conference committee. i was in the house for 14 years

and the senate for 12, so in the 26 years i was there, really even the first couple of years in the senate, the senate still functioned largely like it had in the past. and then the leaders frankly in my view took over and i said this publicly. i said to everyone of them. i i extended to every, too many press conferences that if you don't let the members the part of the work, then they don't honor the work. they honor the fight. too many people now run for the fight rather than the job. frankly when they get there all they could to do is be part of the fight. for for a long time, for 220 o years the principal job of the caucus was to set the priorities of the country by determine how we spend our money. that's how you set your priority at a very tight set your priority in the government. we would take those 12 appropriation bills, all of them

to the floor, occasionally a couple at a time, but the labor health and education bills the biggest besides defense commits the most controversial and we would spend two and sometimes three weeks on the house floor when i was the whip of the house debating that one bill. the rule at the time was any member could bring any amendment they wanted to as long as they pay for it by taking the money from something else in that bill or not spend a come just taking the money away. by the time you got a couple weeks into that bill, one, people understood it. two, they have more appreciation for how hard it was to bring that to the floor. and three, they had a chance to do whatever they wanted to do and find out how many people agree with you. when you've got 100 senators, you've got 435 house members and

only ten of them agree with you, you've got to think maybe that wasn't such a good amendment after all. i see why it didn't get out of the committee because nobody was willing to agree that was what we ought to do. so buying into the process, honoring the committee work, giving the members something to do that is part of what they are supposed to do would benefit the house, the senate and the country in a significant way. the leaders need to figure that out. too many times now the two senate leaders, the the houe leaders and about a dozen staffers get in this star chamber and come up with one big bill that never gets debated, and nobody knows what's in it until it is passed. but it is essential to fund the government so if you're a member in part of it, barely the majority usually pass that bill and thus would takes government

functioning. >> senator heitkamp the filibuster sought in the constitution and dates back to 1806 1806 and we've come a long way from jimmy stewart, mr. smith goes to washington for strom thurmond and a marathon of 24, 25 hour debate he had in the filibuster in the 1950s. some have said it's a relic of the past. of the say it protects the minority. should it stay? should it be mixed? what is your view? >> my view that i've made my view pretty woman when i signed the letter after, i forget desha maybe after harry change the rules on court nominations that we signed a letter saying on substantive bills we were not going to change the filibuster. that quickly a lot of people signed that letter they didn't position. i am a big believer that on final passage in particular the

60-vote majority, it hasn't been necessary across history. and the filibuster now is a a weapon, has been weaponized by a lot of people to try and have their say or to try and stop thanks. that shouldn't happen. that's the norm that has been violated. but at the end of the day when you pass the bill with 60 votes, it has a lot more staying power. one of the things you are going to see especially since we've been governing by executive order, whether it is on health care premiums issues are whether it's on student loan forgiveness, whatever it might be. because those things have made their way through. there's no permanency. so 60-vote majority on really important bills like reforming dodd-frank which is one that we did when i was there.

those give it a gravitas that they wouldn't otherwise have and the permanency of the wouldn't otherwise have. i think they are better bills. i know it's frustrating to the public but what you ought to be concerned about is people who have weaponized the filibuster. filibuster everything. the reaction from leadership, again because they have more control, if that bill doesn't come to the fore they can to the back room deal. they don't have any real need to burn up the clock to do any of this legislation so there's never any push because you can filibuster a motion to proceed and everything about the bill again. that shouldn't happen. we should be able to filibuster reform that gives the american public the idea of what is being debated, what is being talked about but on final passage i would not change the filibuster. >> when you on the senate floor

when harry reid invoked the nuclear option when it came to judicial nominees he basically said look, your party was blocking everything, he didn't do something to move this senate through. was that a mistake. >> was of course. it was a mistake and what he really wanted to do was pack the d.c. circuit court. there were no supreme court vacancies. that court had a lot of vacancies. harry wanted to fill in and fill them with 51 votes instead of 60. on the filibuster generally i chaired the rules committee a majority of the time i was in the senate, i think, think about six of the 12 years, maybe eight. i propose some changes when we would get to the bills easier, debate the bill with 50 windows but i agree totally with heidi unimportance of 60 votes is you do wind up with legislation that is more in the middle.

there have never been 60 hockley elected republicans. i think 56 as a highest number ever. therefore lick and 60 democrats a handful of times and that goes all the way back to the great depression when we had those big numbers of democrats for a long time. if you have to get 60 people at almost always bing chat that somebody on the other side, on your side, and it changes the character of the debate. if somebody on the other side is for for a bill that makes it hard for the entire opposite side to attack everybody who voted for the bill, for instance. it creates great permanency in the house that passes a lot of things with the majority that never become law. the next congress comes in and they passed the opposite bills. that's what would happen to the wall itself if you didn't have

the safeguard of the senate of almost insisting there be some element of bipartisan cooperation before he would have a built the goes to the present his desk and that's a good thing. >> let's talk about supreme court nominees and ted kennedy was franson with robert bork confirmation which was contentious public to justice scalia was appointed by ronald reagan. as you both know when he passed away, and almost 11 months timeframe between his death and nomination that was held up by republican leader mitch mcconnell and, of course, for use later a very different situation because amy coney barrett was fast forward with four or five or six weeks. mitch mcconnell has the democrats would've done the same thing but looking at it in terms of the institution, let me begin with you, senator blunt. your thoughts on how that impacted the politics of the senate and the supreme court. >> well, in the end of the first

two years of the bush administration, i think once you get to year three, democrats are in control of the senate. senator schumer was not the majority leader is that this particular fight and he announced thus not a supreme court vacancy get but if there is just tell you we're not going to fill it until after this residential election. so there's no question that both sides would look at those late things that way if they're in the majority. if you're in the majority and there's an opportunity to fill a vacancy, they would both try to do that as well. you could argue changing the rules to wear 51 could do that clearly made a difference. once those rules could change they don't get changed back which was why on that, when senator reed change the rules to 51, senator mcconnell at the time said you will be sorry you

did this at you may be sorry sooner than you think. and within 18 months republicans are in the majority and they had the tool that had been used against them now that they could use on their own, and he did. >> what about the delay with the merrick garland appointment and the lightning speed of amy coney barrett? >> that's what either majority would do. if you didn't do that and you in the majority, you essentially would've failed to do what your expected to if you're in the majority. >> i think if anyone thought that in november on that site october there was a death in the supreme court that there would not have been a nomination pushed to the democratic senate, you are not living in political reality. i think the real challenge here and the real shame of all of this change even for the doubt about which i voted for, when

you are given a lifetime appointment to someone, there should be more scrutiny and a four-year political appointment. and i which i that to fix this problem you need to get rid of lifetime appointments for judges including the supreme court? >> i totally agree. i think they should be term limited. because i think that, no, i do. [applause] i checked the constitutionality. that's a dubious constitutional, but i would want to advance the argument. i will tell you this. because once you get someone a lifetime appointment, what's been happening? the nominees are younger and younger and younger. and you end up with judges that don't know much. that may be not even trying to case another sitting on the federal bench because they fill a political slot. so to me rather than worrying about this appointment stuff

because you can't have a system where the senate is controlled by one party and the president by another and you don't appoint any judges. that's where we are heading. if you had, if there wasn't permanency in this decision i think there would be alike, the appointment process would be easier. i will tell you come this was a personal story. i got a lot of criticism back over to voting for justice kavanaugh. when people ask me, you voted for a lot of political appointees that you didn't agree with. succumb but none of them have a lifetime appointment. i was that decision for today. wasn't even making it four years from now. i was making it for 34 years. to me, that person has to be above reproach in order for me to give the good housekeeping seal of approval. >> we could be going through this next year, pretty good chance donald trump love one

perhaps to more supreme court nominees in his term in the white house. what about the idea of having term limits for age limits for supreme court justices? >> well, age there is person-to-person. i don't think i'm for either term limits or age limits. the constitution tried to remove the judges from the political pressure of terms or election, either one. i think that has served us pretty well. >> i think if you sit 20 20 s and out, that's plenty. you've had your time on the bench, and this is, the other thing about the supreme court and i will say this, it's always bothered me, the arno ethical responsibility they set their own ethics. i think you have to have a sense of taking a look at what's happened, taking a look at the kind of latitude that supreme

court justices have towards deciding cases, compared to what a senator can do under ethics is like day and night the chief justice would say three separate but equal branches of government and we will monitor our judges and you speedy do a better job of marketing judges. [applause] that's the point, that when institution fails to respond to legitimate concerns about ethical issues then all of a sudden people look for workarounds. but i was it is that's fine, and do your job sure when people stemmed from the court believed that when they come and justicee is blind, the equal opportunity to present the case. when someone is on a junket with the corporation with an individual that may have a personal stake in that case, there isn't any state court that would allow that, that i know of.

certainly wouldn't be allowed in the state of north dakota. >> let's talk about the election. kamala harris, what happened? >> me? she didn't get enough votes. [laughing] >> but the popular vote was not tired the people expected. >> you know, i think those of us who are democrats were delusional. we thought she could win with a 70-30 wrong track right track number for the country. right? the only reason without that is we thought donald trump was so where does as a choice that of course she could go in with a record that people didn't believe reflected their opportunity needs, their economic needs and she could overcome it. she also did have a lot of time. let's just admit that. we could go way to sugarcoat it.

the more important thing for me to say is two things here. -- would've could've should've. number one, i'm glad it was bigger than what we expected because when they are this close there is always that kind of rancor, and you don't see it ths time because people say okay, the country voted, it's clear that they may be wanted a different direction. those of us who are democrats can say look, we lost. and so how do we recalibrate? how do we really message? how to become indifferent to get a majority back of the american people? those are really to make important general political responses that you should always have. the one thing i will say is this idea that you just carpet bombed everything that trump wants to do or that the administration wants to do because that might

look good on c-span or it might look good to constituencies, that is the wrong strategy. there may be some things he wants to do that we agree with and we should say we agree with that. the american public wants to see people who are willing to listen, people are willing to government together and then fight when it's important, not fight everything. to me when the country thanks 70% of the country thinks you're on the wrong track and represent that administration, you come as close as what she did is pretty remarkable quite honestly. >> senator blunt you're a republican public yet as someone who understands politics and the process, you can't go back in time. but had joe biden dropped out perhaps this time last year or even earlier announcing he would not run, and allowing a primary process for the democrats to go through the process to select nami preps it still would've been kamala harris.

if that it happened i realize it's a big if, with data changed anything? >> i think it would've changed a lot. i think that's what president biden should've done. i think it's what everybody expected them to do in 2020, that he would be a bridge to the next generation of leadership. i think he made an unfortunate decision for his own legacy conference opener i have known him a long time. i like him. he's a guy the wants, he wants to like you and he wants you to like him and it works most of the time. there was a case where 80 is not the same for everybody. it was an unfortunate and to his own incredible career of service that he leaves with this since somebody who wasn't up to the job. if he had announced two years

ago, if he, i could give a speech, many of you expected and i hope for, i ran to get the country back in what i thought was a better place and i won't be running again, then you would had an open primary process, unlikely it would've been the vice president. possible but there's a a reasn why we don't elect vice presidents. one, they're seen as as second-rate features. two, that almost almost all of the negatives of the the prt they're serving with an end of the positive. with the exception of george h.w. bush in 1988, the last time we elected a vice president, president was martin van buren in 1836. >> joe biden was vice president. >> a sitting vice president. i mean richard nixon was vice president, too. we have not had a history of this for a reason. if she had been the nominee she would've had much more time to

think about how you really express your position on issues different from the president you are serving with. clearly, the issues were in president trump's paper. the border, the economy, public safety. and he spent not much time talking about the issues. he spent time talking about lots of different things. but the issues were to his advantage and i think the vice president was never able to really frame those issues in the way she would like to get i served with her for two years on the intel committee, and unlike her. i think she is a talented and smart person. but faced a huge obstacle that at the end of the day was insurmountable. >> uscirf with her, when she is able to define herself who she was? even as four years as vice

president most americans didn't know her story. >> i have known kamala said she was the attorney general of california. i'm a former attorney general. we used to all get together. she's incredibly smart and very, very talented. it's kind of like the majority. your job as vice president isn't eco-and openly criticize what you don't agree with with the te president. it's to be the loyal spokesperson to get out there and promote the message. when you represent and administration that the country thinks is that doing a good job, leading the country in the wrong direction, that's a big lift even if you can define yourself. i have republican friends who say that the short time span worked in her favor. who knows? i believe in competition. this is going to sound mean. if you're a democrat from a

state like north dakota you have been in a few political fights. you've had some tough elections. you've had to walk in a room with people don't like you much and always get a couple of them nodding their heads that they agree with you. you have a certain level of political skill that you may not have coming from a deep blue state. if you are running in a primary, your argument is usually your further to the right or further to the left of your opponent. all of that drives your positions that far over. she was in that spot when she ran for president in 2000, 2020. and so it was hard to recover from some of the things that were said. the capabilities of people who knew her were not high. fact she was able, unlike your question, she was able to build a resume pictures able to talk about but she didn't --

>> there wasn't an narrative to her life story. >> that's right but at the end of the day, the obligatory position she had to defend the administration and the thin the sitting president did not serve her well. that's why the democrats may have gone with somebody who could have distanced themselves from that administration say yeah, joe did a good job but i would have done this differently, i would've handled this differently, and have a lot more credibility like maybe senator from north dakota? >> no, not her. she done. i want to summarize. a number of question really to the debt and deficit. next year raising the debt limit will be priority one. dede with the trump tax cuts. 836 national trade dollar debt. to both parties finally come together and say were going to work to solve the problem

republicans have house-senate white house see of the trifecta. will it happen? >> we've shown very little interest about the national debt. there's no question. you take the big spending programs off the table and every political campaign as it starts. you have to look at social security, medicare, medicaid, the structure of all of those if you hope to balance the budget and do something about the debt is ridiculous right now. it's going to catch up with us and has already. we spent more on interest on the debt in his last year that we did to defend the country, which is the single biggest discretionary priority is defending the country. it's i think the number one priority of the federal government more important just in spending, it's about half of all the discretionary spending and we spent more on debt servicing the debt that we did on that.

something has to be done about it but you have to have leadership who is willing to say we're going to deal with these big issues if you're going to do something about the debt. >> i wrote an op-ed in the title was if you want to fix the debt make it political. when i'm in north dakota, people say this debt and deficit. then a vote for people who will raise it, including me, right? we all have to look in the mirror. the point is until debt and deficit become political, but that i mean a voting issue, until the voters really get upset about it, there's really no incentive for anyone to fix it. you are going to get a lot more mileage out of handing out goodies, right? you need this, need that. i always pick on general aviation because it's amazing how much power they have. that's your little small airport and people fly their own planes,

they have a lot of money and have a lot of clout. you could point out, this is what i'm really interested in watching, this administration to see how they deal with the so-called doge for clips you with the come up with. it will at least start the conversation about how we need to be spending money. but this is, there's a ministry to what needs to be done. i will say this, roy knows this but an idea because he's so many years in healthcare expert. you look at the demographics of this country and you look at the aging of this country. the single fastest problem growing problem you have is medical. and how to deal with the high cost of serving more and more posts post 65-year-old citizens in this country with quality

healthcare that's affordable for the country? this is going, if you think it's bad now, and we got addicted to cheap money. america was addicted to cheap money. when i was there, might it was free. what did he mean by that? the interest rate was lower than inflation. to me that's free money. it's not free anymore and it shouldn't be free. until it becomes a voting issue, that the deficit will not be solved. >> you would hope it wouldn't take a crisis but the crisis is cleared out there is a first major crisis could be that you in 32 or 34 we no longer can honor the social security obligations you doesn't mean you wouldn't get your check but it might mean you got 80% of your check. sadly this is a real issue to lots of people. you would hate to think that's what it would take for us to get serious about the deficit in the debt issue but it's not, it will

be here quicker than you think and we should be ready for it. >> and quicker if we don't pass social security income tax because all that money goes into the trust fund. it will shorten the time frame, i think it is 2030, take away the tax, income tax per our maybe raise the cap. now -- >> this is a mathematical problem. you can solve social security. there's a mystery to how to do this. when i was, i did, institute of politics over the university at harvard, and we had a hackathon had a bunch of really smart kids put together a plan. we had these brilliant plans that students came up with a test it's not that hard to solve. what's hard is finding the political will to solve. >> we're going to get questions an audience. are you my last question are so you can think about it. senator blunt if you could give one piece of advice to the

incoming president and/or senate republican leaders, , what would that be? the questions you, your advice to senate democratic leaders. that's for the end of the conversation. let's get to questions from the audience. we will turn to -- where are the mics? who has a question? yes. [inaudible] >> raise your hand. nobody has a question? with answer all -- right over here. thank you so much. i would have like 100 of them. >> we were referring to the population aging on medicare -- the year 2032. mr. tuberville: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from alabama. mr. tuberville: madam president, i rise today to highlight some of the major victories that were

included in the senate version of the ndaa, military budget, that passed out of the senate armed services committee almost six months ago. the senate's version of this year's ndaa includes some excellent provisions, including a 4.5% pay raise for america's military servicemembers. this is a pay raise for the boots on the ground, not the top brass at the pentagon. we secured powerful new security initiatives in the indo-pacific. we secured provisions that advance our unmanned aircraft systems. -- systems, technologies. among the senate's ndaa vick truckers i also count my -- victories, i also count my amendments that will help to deter war and ensure our nation's security.

one of these amendments includes slashing all funding for the woke diversity, equity, and conclusion policies at the dod. another amendment prohibits the use of taxpayer dollars for any costs associated with funding gender transition surgeries. we need a military that is 100% focused on protecting our country and enhancing our national security, not implementing a woke agenda. our military is not a social experiment. it should be a lethal fighting force feared by our enemies and made up of our best and brightest in this country. this is why i applaud the work of the senate armed services committee and ranking member wicker's leadership for putting together this excellent piece of legislation. the senate version of the ndaa

received bipartisan support in committee, getting 22 of the 25 votes. you seldom see republicans and democrats come together like this. so i asked, why has senator schumer not brought this to the floor for the past six months? why is the senator from new york -- why has the senator from new york put a to many to good-faith efforts for setting our military up for success in the future? if he really cared about our military, he would have brought the ndaa up for a vote six months a but instead we have been prioritizing federal judges for the remaining weeks. senate democrats are more interested in burning taxpayer dollars on an unwinnable war in ukraine than passing our military budget. sadly, we've seen this time and time again. leadership that would rather cater to the woke administration

than ensuring our military is a lethal fightal force. -- fighting force. but putting a woke agenda over our national computer is nothing new to this administration. sad did i -- sadly, sadly, no one is safe from being taken over by the biden regime's radical woke policies. immediately after taking the white house, president biden began to weaponize the dod using it as another tool in the administration's arsenal to further its progressive agenda. one of the biden administration's first moves was to mandate divisive diversity, equity, and inclusion training in the dod. picking up right where barack obama left off four years earlier. on day one, the biden administration announced that the military would begin

conducting knowledge of systemic and institutional racism and bias against underserved communities. this hateful ideology has no place in the united states, let alone the united states military. this is supposed to be the number-one fighting force in the world. it is dangerous and insulting to waste our troops' valuable time on political income to trib nation such as -- indoctrination such as this. we need a lethal killing machine to deter aggression from our adversaries. i want our military focused on protecting americans and our national security in an increasingly dangerous world, not on all these woke die initiatives. there's no place for it. and americans want to fund the military to be aachieve this objective. that's what our taxpayers pay money for. which is why on november 5,

nearly 77 million americans joined me taking a stand to say, enough of this nonsense. the american people gave president trump a mandate to get washington working for the people again. why choose president trump because he doesn't interested in the same ol' same ol' in this town. a breath of fresh air. nowhere business as usual. -- no more business as usual. president trump has nominated pete hegseth to serve as secretary of defense, and i just met with pete on monday, known him for a long time. he's the man that we need leading our military. pete is smart. he's battle-he tested and prepared to lead. pete has actually had a real job in the military, on the battlefield, not pushing papers

in some stuffy room in the pentagon. just this morning pete posted on x that he is in this for the war fighters and not for the warmongers. excellent quote. that's exactly why the military industrial complex is losing their mind. if confirmed, pete will focus on rebuilding peace through strength, putting america first, and prioritizing america's military readiness. he will focus on leaning that will and maintaining our competitive edge, not to mention getting our recruitment problem straightened out. and boy do we have problems. with military recruitment tanking, what better way to inspire young men and women to join the most lethal fighting force in the world than by nominating a decorated veteran who served in two wars and is closer to their age.

pete is the someone who relates to them and looks like them. who is more likely to inspire confidence in 18 to 12-year-olds in the military -- old, out of touch and arrogant military higher-ups, or a younger guy who has been on the battle field shoulder to shoulder in the mud with infantry? i'm willing to bet young people would rather sign up for the fellow and the second man in that list. we need a drill sergeant, someone who has been in the trenches. that man is pete hegseth. this is perfectly in line with president trump's effort to get the federal government's house in order. pete will prioritize building an effective, streamlined pentagon that can actually pass an audit, which they haven't done in seven years. he will target waste, fraud,

abuse, and refocus the dod workforce on its core mission, and this can't come soon enough. under this administration, russia has invaded ukraine, iran-backed hamas brutally attacked israel, sere why faces a revolution, and china is threatening to evade taiwan and spread its influence across africa and south america. we live in a dangerous world. america can't afford this outdated type of leadership at the dod to continue any longer. it could result in even more devastating consequences, especially as the outgoing administration has the united states teetering -- teetering -- on the brink of world war iii. i look forward to beginning a new chapter in january of next

year. we'll finally turn the page on one of the most criminally bad administrations in the history of our country. but, importantly, we will be entering into a new era, a new golden age of america. but, in the meantime, i will continue to demand that senator schumer prioritize our troops and national security over partisan judges and funding foreign wars. i yield the floor. mrs. hyde-smith: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from mississippi. mrs. hyde-smith: madam president, i rise today with a deep sense of respect, admiration, and sadness to honor the remarkable life of jenny

lucky. her legacy of service, strength, and compassion will leave a lasting impact on mississippi, our nation, and beyond. a proud daughter of belockscy, mississippi, jenny was a woman of administered character, dedicated to her family, her community, and her country. she was a tireless leader and key figure in mississippi's republican party, serving in the roles such as president of the mississippi federation of republican women, cochair of the state republican party, and republican national committee woman. her voice and influence over the decades shaped the party at the state and national levels, and her work touched the lives of countless individuals across our state. she faced extraordinary challenges with unmatched grace, even after a car accident left her in a wheelchair just days

after hurricane katrina reshaped the coast of mississippi. jenny didn't stop. she kept working. she continued her work with an unwavering commitment to the values she held dear, always find waying to move forward. jenny's influence went far beyond politics. jenny cared deeply about education and the people of mississippi. as a member of the board of trustees for the institutions of higher learning, she worked tirelessly to make mississippi's universities stronger and more inclusive, especially those with disabilities. always focused on serving others, her contributions will be felt for generations. what truly defined jenny was her strength of character. she was a woman who made others better. her husband said it best -- she made me a better person than i otherwise would have been.

those of us who had the privilege of knowing her can attest to that. her wisdom, her kindness, and her ability to bring people together left a permanent mark on everyone she met. jenny leaves behind a lasting legacy that will continue to inspire those whose lives she's touched. my heart goes out to her husband, alwin, and her children and grandchildren. mississippi has lost an amazing woman and true leader. but jenny's spirit, her passion for life, and her commitment to making our state and country a better place will endure. madam president, i now ask unanimous consent that my remarks appear separate in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. hyde-smith: madam president, today i'm also pleased to commend and buddfarewell to my long time -- and bid farewell to my long time

budget director who has served the great state of mississippi for more than 15 years. tim has not only been a trusted member of my staff but a dear friend. born an raised in mississippi, tim attended mississippi state university where he began his political career, winning an election to serve as student body president. apparently tim enjoyed being an elect the official so much that he decided to move to the one place in the country where elected officials are everywhere -- washington, d.c. it was here that tim interned for one of his home state senators, the late-great senator thad cochran. if tim hadn't caught the bug that summer, he definitely had it now. he moved to the capital a year later and accepted a job in senator cochran's office after grad waiting. tim started his career as many of our autists do fresh out of

college, wide-eyed and ready to make a dips. under the leadership of senator cochran, tim quickly rose through the ranks and grew from an eager young staffer to an effective legislative aide and invaluable member of senator cochran's office. throughout that time, tim continued his study, completing a program from the air command and staff college and earning his masters from the u.s. naval war college. when senator cochran's career was coming to an end and i was appointed to the difficult task of carrying forward his legacy and representing all the people of mississippi, i made the smart choice of asking tim wolferton to stay on. i am forever grateful that he said yes. even now, seven years later, i couldn't imagine having anyone else guiding the legislative priorities of my office with as much skill, dedication, and integrity as tim wolferton.

his steady hand and deep understanding of the legislative process have been instrumental in advancing policies that matter most to mississippi and to our nation. tim approached every challenge with the same unwavering commitment to help create a better mississippi, whether it was working to secure disaster funds for storm-ravaged areas of the state, advancing military installations to provide we will-paying jobs and security for for my constituents or championing infrastructure projects to expand economic opportunity. his ability to navigate complex issues and do so with humility and grace speaks volumes about his character. beyond tim's many professional accomplishments, he has been a volunteer in his community and a mentor to younger staff members in the office. although this is just one of the many examples of tim's generosity, he coached a boys

basketball team from their third grade all the way to their senior year. tim dedicates his time and energy for the betterment of others. in the office, tim is no different. he always keeps his door open to staff and listens, gives good advice and passes on his many years worth of knowledge and experience to others. they have save a true leader's legacy is not measured by their achievements but by the achievements of those who he prepared to lead after he's gone. by any measure tim wolverton stands out among the best. while his coworkers and i regret to see tim move on we're equally excited about the opportunities that await him, the skills he's honed, the relationships he's built and the impact he made will serve him and whoever is fortunate enough to work with him next extraordinarily well. to tim, thank you for your years of dedicated service. thank you for your unwavering commitment to mississippi and to

the united states. most importantly, thank you for your good counsel and your friendship which have undoubtedly helped me serve mississippi and our nation in the best way possible over the past seven years. now i wish you every success in all of your future endeavors. thank you, madam president. i yield the floor. a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from vermont.

mr. welch: if the 118th congress was a baseball game we would be nearing the bottom of the ninth. as every senator is aware our to-do list is long. there are very important issues we need to resolve before the last vote of the year. we need to keep government open. we need to extend the farm bill and vote on ndaa. and critically for vermont and for so many states around the nation, we must pass a comprehensive disaster aid package. legislating is a team sport. if we work together and find common ground, we can send a bill to the president's desk before the end of congress and deliver for those communities that desperately, desperately need action from the united states senate. despite our differences, whether they're political or geographic, communities from vermont in

montpelier to mankato, mississippi, from houston to asheville, north carolina, to maui, hawaii, are asking for congress to help with the devastation that happened in those communities. bipartisan members of congress from states that have been affected by floods, fires, hurricanes, and tornadoes have approached our colleagues in time of our need, and we've asked publicly and privately for the assistance and financial support that our homeowners need, our farmers need, businesses and towns and local governments urgently need. because when it becomes, when it comes to these extreme weather events, we all know that if it's not us now, it may be us tomorrow, because there but for the grace of god go i when the extreme weather events decide to descend upon any community. and i found that the conversations i've had with my

colleagues, republican and democrat, about vermont's recovery needs, there's an unspoken acknowledgment that they're not in the vermont situation or in the asheville, north carolina, situation. but it could change. the climate change that we're experiencing all around the country requires that, number one, we be ready to respond. two, we be more resilient and prepare. and, three, that we have better-funded responses to recovery so it can be faster and locally driven and more efficient. madam president, in july of 2023, vermont experienced torrential rains and severe storms. for a week the rain didn't stop. that rain quickly led to catastrophic flooding and landslides. many homes, many of our farms and businesses and communities

were absolutely destroyed, and the damage to infrastructure was fierce. roads, rail lines, dams, bridges, wastewater plants, the capital city's post office which finally after 14 months finally reopened, those were destroyed. nine states around vermont came to our aid, and we're grateful. they sent personnel, they sent resources. but a year after that flood in july to the same date in july, we had round of flooding and many of those same homes, businesses and farms were impacted. the last time congress passed a comprehensive disaster aid package was december of 2022. and since then we have had more than 50 climate disasters around our country that each caused more than $1 billion in damages, a total of $155 billion in

damages and rising. and we know that that number is only going to grow when we have the final losses from hurricane milton and hurricane helene, and they are continuing to be calculated. this is an environmental and an economic disaster. and these disasters have impacted communities from vermont to north carolina to minnesota to texas and hawaii and more than 40 states and territories total. and as we all know, extreme weather does not discriminate based on state lines or political preferences. in a crisis, we are all neighbors in need. and since congress last passed a comprehensive disaster aid bill, this is just to give a sense of how repetitive this is and how what had been an outlier event is now becoming a common event in different places around our country, these are disasters

that have happened. flooding in north dakota between april and may of 2023. flooding near west point in the hudson valley area of new york in 2023. hurricane helene caused damage across georgia and south carolina in september of 2024. flooding in 2023 in central california, enormous damage to the central valley. hurricane milton slammed florida in october 2024. southeastern iowa saw devastating tornadoes in 2024. tornadoes and severe storms hit nebraska in april and june of this year. 110 tornadoes ripped across missouri, arkansas, texas, oklahoma, illinois, and kentucky in may, killing 16. and more than 40 tornadoes caused damage across mississippi, alabama, georgia, tennessee in march of 2023.

these events are all too common, and they're going to accelerate, not diminish. so we do need to fund fema's disaster relief fund, and we need to do that for the benefit of all americans. and we need to provide those farmers and producers and ranchers with dedicated recovery assistance to help them with their losses so they can farm and ranch again. we need to get our communities the flexible funding. and i emphasize flexible and locally driven funding that they need through programs like the community development mrok grant disaster recovery funding, something that senator schatz from hawaii has been leading on. and we need to rebuild our infrastructure and we have to reimburse our states whose budgets have been hammered, and reimburse our communities that have spent big to get folks back on safe roads. and we need to fix our

wastewater and drinking water systems for the health and well-being of our citizens. and we have to help those small businesses. that aid has to come sooner rather than later. the delay has already been really brutal on their ability to keep the lights on. the longer we wait to help disaster victims, the more disaster victims we will have. the list of needs will only grow. delay hurts. it doesn't help. that's why i am asking my colleagues in the senate and in the house to act now and act quickly for vermont and for every state hit by a disaster since we last passed a disaster bill so many storms ago. madam president, we cannot wait. and as i said, we have common ground in our common crisis. we must send a disaster bill to president biden's desk. i yield back.

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a senator: the senator from west virginia. mrs. capito: thank you, madam president. today i rise to really talk about a source of great concern for me, and i think the american people, and that is the dangerous world that president biden and his administration are leaving behind. we see a world engulfed in flames in europe, the middle east and teeterring on the brink -- on the brink in the south china sea and the taiwan strait. our adversaries are testing us as measures, our resolve in ways that we haven't seen in decades, and that incident stability puts us, i believe, the american people at risk.

we see what i believe president biden has been a weak commander in chief who sort of slept through this whole global order and led us into some chaos. joe biden may be temporarily tasked with steering the ship of state through these crises, but he did not inherit this world, he has created it. joe biden's foreign policy, he doesn't really have one that is consistent that i can see aside from some flip-flops, some half measures and weak conciliations in place of strong deterrence, where was we look at the incoming president, president-elect donald trump, we have seen someone who led and will lead with strength, someone who paved the way for peace ps in the middle east with the abraham accords and got tough on

china. and he's still talking in the same voice that he had four years now later. president biden's weakness has fueled violence and aggression the globe hasn't experienced in decades. on january 20, president-elect trump is set to take the oath of office and once again assume the mantle of commander in chief. the task ahead of him and for all of us is monumental. joe biden is leaving us a messy world here and it's up to the incoming administration and this congress to be able to clean it up. let's look at china. over the last four years china has aggressively expanded its military xablths, including -- capabilities including a massive increase in nuclear weapons. in 2020 the defense intelligence agencies assessed that china had

about 200 nuclear weapons which would reach about 400 by the year 2030. that was the protections. now -- projections, now four years later, what do we see? the same agency counts 500 weapons in china and predicts it will be more than 1,000 in 2030. chinese military spending has surged with 2024 being the third year in a row where the military saw a growth of more than 7%. at the same time, president biden's department of defense requested four consecutive military budget that actually cut defense if you look at it in light of inflation. while china continues to build the biggest navy in the world, biden's defense budget called for us to shrink our navy from

290 ships in 2024 to 224 ships in 2030. china knows these investments have consequences, president xi knows our inability to invest affects us abroad. china increased its assertiveness in the south china sea and escalated its excursions into taiwan's airspace. china's cyber capabilities are emboldened. attacks like salt typhoon reveal an attempt and intention to borough deep in our infrastructure and threaten the american people, and, yet, the biden administration has appeared more focused on meetings and chasing down

diplomacy with china. china recognizes hard power and that will be a day one project for the trump administration. let's pivot to the middle east and our adversary iran, which has also ceased on the openings from president biden's leadership. under joe biden, iran has been able to supercharge its support for terrorist proxy groups by increasing its lucrative oil exports without consequence. under biden's watch, iran has used these billions of dollars to arm hezbollah, to ship advanced weapons like ballistic missles to the houthis who are attacking our american ships, and we see these attacks orchestrated across the region. let me repeat, iran sponsored attacks on our own american forces. our troops have faced hundreds of assaults on the ground and on the sea. iran-backed aggression has

killed u.s. servicemembers in jordan and in the red sea. and let's not forget that there are still american hostages remain held in gaza thanks to iran's support of hamas. all this should be completely unacceptable. what's more, iran is closer to a nuclear weapon today than it was under president trump. in 2020 iran's so-called brakout time to produce -- breakout time to produce enough fuel for a nuclear weapon was three months, now it's under a week. and what -- and what -- and when israel was thrusted to war for its survival, not of its own choosing, joe biden publicly requested and damaged one of our most vital alliances. president biden should know that

u.s. support for israel is a valuable deterrent. this undermining of the u.s.-israel relationship would never take place under president trump. he understood that peace through strength and our alliance with israel is unshakeable. it is not a conditional agreement. and, finally, as we stand here today, there is a still a large-scale ground war in europe perpetrated by russia and vladimir putin. when donald trump assumes office, the war will be entering its third year with an appalling toll in lives anding suffering, more than one millions ukrainians have been killed. there have been a ballistic missle capability and deployed incredibly in my view north korean troops for his offensive

measures. donald trump represents the offramp that america needs. looking to current american leadership it's no wonder this conflict was escalated. this bloody war, especially with iran and north korea as russian partners is a stark reminder of what happens when america is perceived as weak. president biden's foreign policy missteps such as lifting sanctions on the nord stream 2 pipeline emboldened vladimir putin and his suggestion that a minor incursion into ukraine, and i put that in quotes from the president, would receive a muted response. well, that certainly did not deter this catastrophic invasion. then the biden administration failed to push the whole of europe to invest adequately in its own military and industrial complex. and for those of us who support military assistance for ukraine, this administration has made it

unnecessarily difficult for them to actually win this war. by slow walking payments, stalling authorities, many of which they eventually agreed to, sometimes years later, the biden administration failed to give full support to a sovereign nation who was unlawfully invaded. donald trump understands that nord stream 2 was a threat and he sanctioned it. donald trump understood and understands that sticks work as well as carrots to boost europe's defensive spending and munition production. he used that leverage and we saw their investments go up. president trump and his cabinet when get to work on day one to push our nato allies to meet their commitments and bring peace to the european continent where they live. the bottom line is this, there's

a mess and there's a mess to be cleaned up by the incoming president. america may not be at war, but this instability certainly threatens our national peace and prosperity and i would go even further and say that it really weighs heavily on the american public. to put it simply, failing to deter conflict makes it more likely that some of our young americans, young west virginians will one day have to fight and that, again, belies the philosophy and underpinnings that weakness can be very dangerous. my state of west virginia are very proud that west virginians disproportionately have answered the call to service. i believe that president trump and his team are ready to get back to the peace through strength philosophy. they will restore our

deterrence, the deterrence that ensures that we don't have to send our men and women into harm's way. deterrence is much cheaper in many ways than war. the good news is that we don't have to wait long because january is coming and that will be the time we get to work. congress must take up the ndaa immediately. it's been floundering, the leader has been refusing to bring it up for at least six months so we can put our national defense policies in place as in next administration takes office, something that we should have done, as i said, many months earlier. as for the executive, i'm confident president-elect trump has the record and resolve to clean up the mess and i look forward to working with my colleagues and the president to secure our country's rightful, respected and preeminent role on the world stage. thank you, and i yield the

>> we are talking about presidents and pardon power with samuel morrison, a former staff attorney for the department of justice in the office of the pardon attorney. sam, welcome to the program. >> thank you. thanks for having me. >> host: so what was your reaction to president biden's pardoning of his son, hunter.

>> guest: i actually wasn't surprised at all. i know he said he wouldn't do it, but i expected that the he would just because the impulse of a father to help his son was going to prove to be too much, and he had the authority to do it. so i understand that people find it somewhat disquieting, i get that. but it certainly wasn't invalid. it was the an entirely lawful, constitutional exercise of the pardon power. so we can debate about whether it was a good idea or wise use of the power, but it certainly wasn't illegal. it's also not -- it's very broad, and many that sense it's unusual. the only modern grant that even comes close would have been ford's pardon of nixon, and that seems to have been the model that they used. >> host: well, we'll talk about that, but i want to, first, show a portionover of president biden's statement on his pardoning of his son. it says no reasonable person who looks at the facts of hunter's case, cases can reach any ore conclusion that hunter was

singled out only because he is my son, and that is wrong. i believe in the justice system, but as i have wrestled with, i also believe raw politics has infected this process, and it led to a miscarriage of justice. and once i made the decision this weekend, there was no sense in delaying it further. i hope americans will understand why a father and a president would come to this decision. what i want to ask you about is his line are, raw politics infected the process. that that singled out hunter biden for this harsher treatment, according to the president. what was your reaction to that? >> guest: i thought the statement was unnecessary and that it adds to the controversy. he didn't have to sort of attack the justice system in doing this. he could just do it. he doesn't have to explain it at all. and i think people would have understood that a father's going to help his son. so was hunter singled out? maybe so. he did plead guilty to the tax

charge, and he was convicted of the country charge -- gun charge, and there's no issue or dispute that he got due process in that proceeding. so in that sense, sure, he came to the attention of the authorities because he came from a prominent family. that also comes with lots of advantages that other people don't have. and a lot of people get targeted by the federal government. they have a conviction rate of 98%. so the problem with what he said is that, is he going to to extend that same consideration to anyone else? one hopes that he will. because it doesn't only apply to hunter. >> host: you said before that only one other person has received a presidential pardon that was so sweeping, which was richard nixon by gerald ford in '74. explain the similarities there and the differences. >> guest: is so if i could just step back for a second, people need to understand that the

president's authority to pardon people for committing a federal crime is very broad. it applies to any offense that's been committed. it doesn't have to be reduced to a charge or a conviction. so anytime the president wants to pardon somebody for an uncharged offense, there's always going to be a problem of how do you frame that grant so that we know what charge you're talking about. and in ford's pardon of nixon, he kid it in terms of a candidate range. he didn't say any offense related to watergate, he said any offense from 1969-1974. now, the purpose was to to get watergate behind the country. he wanted to get past that. but on its face, that would have pardoned any crime, even crimes we didn't know about that occurred within that date range. well, that's what president biden did with his son. he said hunter was pardoned not only for the two convictions this that we know about a, but

for any offense that occurred from a date in 2014 to 2024. >> host: and why do you think he did that? >> guest: well, i think it's obvious that there are other potential crimes out there, and he was afraid that the trump justice department was going to continue investigating hunter for other potential criminal violations, and he wanted -- yom president, if you conduct a quick survey of global events over the past four years, it's impossible, impossible to argue that the world is more secure today than it was when the biden administration began. events began to spiral downward in the summer of 2021 when the taliban retook control of afghanistan. the biden administration's botched withdrawal cost the lives of 13, 13 brave, patriotic american servicemembers.

left american citizens behind and it left afghans desperately clinging to the sides of aircraft departing kabul. we shouldn't forgot this -- forget this. it conveyed a message of american weakness to the world, a message that was heard loud and clear in places like moscow, tehran, and beijing. just six months after the debacle in afghanistan, russian tanks rolled across the ukrainian border. vladimir putin launched the largest conflict in europe since world war ii. the united states has stood with the ukrainian people rhetorically. we've provided some critical assistance to ensure that ukraine did not lose against the russian onslaught. i have to say, madam president, it has not put the ukrainians in

a position to win. the biden administration has too often slow-walked deliveries of weapons or they've imposed other restrictions on the ukrainian forces. this foot dragging, this obstructionism, this bureaucrat ic leather ji -- legislator ji, this timidity has undermined our ability to convincingly deter putin's ambitions or deter a broadening conflict. so here we are today, the war drags on with no strategy and no defined end goal for american support of ukraine. of course the american people are understandably exasperated. additional conflicts developed in other regions as if that wasn't enough. determined to revive the iran thuk yar deal, the biden

administration repeated the mistakes of the obama years. they loosened sanctions on the iranian regime, and the results predictably have been nothing short of disastrous. on october 7, 2023, hamas, the iran-backed terror group, controlling gaza, carried out the worst attacks against the jewish people since the holocaust. iran-backed hezbollah has attacked israel from the north and forced the evacuation of israeli civilians. and in recent months, president biden has sadly undone much of the goodwill he initially created, when he stood with israel after october 7. in the process, president biden has caved to misguided or hostile voices from within his own administration who demand that israel defend itself with

one arm tied behind its back. for four years the biden team has failed to formulate a strategy for restoring deterrence and stopping iran's campaign of terror and chaos leaving our ally israel and the entire middle east less safe and roll willing back the diplomatic progress of the abraham accords of the trump years. across the pacific the chinese communist party continues to build up its military, threaten taiwan, wage economic warfare against our businesses and our supply chains, pursue economic coercion against american partners and allies, and undermine security and stability in the broader indo-pacific. other than that, things are placid. we saw these developments play out most visibly when china launched a surveillance balloon over north america last year.

traveled over the united states. here again president biden failed to provide answers to the american people about that situation or to restore deterrence so that the chinese communist party updzs it -- understands it cannot spy on our schools, on our military bases, on our homes, on our farms, on the american people. today our strategic competition with china continues on as it must. with the ccp's global power and influence largely unchecked over the past four years. whether it be in afghanistan, the middle east or the indo-pacific, the world that president biden is leaving behind, there is no two ways about it. let us not be mealymouth, it is a world full of chaos, a band of

malevolent nations. china, russia, north korea, iran, venezuela, and others. that band is redrawing borders, threatening neighbors, stealing intellectual property, threatening chaos and threatening the global stability. unchecked, their aggression emboldens other foes of freedom and it triggers ever more destabilizing conflicts. so what is to be done? i know there's a natural tendency to withdraw from the wo world, to give up on our leadership responsibilities, to give up even on what i would characterize as our own security interests. and understandably right now, there's a natural impulse to withdraw certainly from our global leadership role.

it just all seems so daunting right now. we have domestic problems, of course. but we cannot ignore the costs of such a divestment. costs which are manifesting themselves at this very moment. abandoning our allies and partners will empower and embolden authoritarian powers such as china, russia, and iran, and others around the world. leadership comes with a price. it also comes with rewards as we have learned throughout our history. i look forward to working with president trump and many talented members of his incoming administration to reverse years, years of disastrous policies, to restore deterre everywhere. we must be smart. we must be economizing in our

global engagement. and i believe president trump and the team he's building understand that. we must continue to rebuild our defense industrial base across the country. restoring our military readiness from artillery and submarines to semiconductors is critical, not to promoting war but instead to deterring conflict and furthering america's global interests. many as they are. and we must continue to persuade our allies to increase real investment in their own defense. the american people can do a lot, but we can't do it all. our partnerships with european and indo-pacific nations must remain firm. but our allies also must understand that we can't bear the burden of defending the entire globe alone. we need to use our diplomatic leverage, maintain a strong

military and stand with our allies and partners. a final piece is economic innovation here at home, something i've been working a lot on in my capacity as the u.s. senator for indiana. and a time of technological transformation, the united states cannot just be resilient. no, we must continue to lead. all of these pieces are critical to american foreign policy as we move forward. it is time to turn the page on the last four years. time to restore deterrence and time to get back to peace through strength. thank you, madam president. a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from nebraska. a senator: i ask unanimous consent that the following interns in my office