[inaudible] and are you accounting standards boards from damascus and regional countries of the person with a former pre-fitting measures indication. >> what we ultimately believe is in the interest of all the countries in the region and stability in syria and stability in lebanon and producing stability in the broader region and we're trying to accomplish and encourage all the parties -- >> the first vote at 5:30 eastern on confirmation of

tiffany johnson to be u.s. court judge for joran georgia and if confirmed, senate approved 230 judges to lifetime appointments during the biden administration, that's four fewer than the number of judges confirmed during donald trump's first term as president. also today, democratic senators elect andy kim of new jersey and adam schiff from california will both be sworn in as senators following resignations from the house. live coverage of the senate now here on cspan2.

in to get -- [inaudible]

>> i'm not going to comment on those parties. what we want to see over the past few days of the republic of korea testing. the result peacefully. in new york committed this and we will continue to be.

[inaudible] >> i don't have that. the chaplain: let us pray. eternal god, in a turbulent world, our eyes look to you. today, give our senators your grace and wisdom.

because of your grace, may they find such inner peace that it will prompt them to reach out to one another and accomplish great things for your glory. because of your wisdom, may they face today's challenges with confidence, knowing that you order the steps of good people. lord, give all who work on capitol hill, a special discernment to know and do your will. remove their strain and stress, and let their ordered lives confess the beauty of your peace. we pray in your magnificent name. amen.

the presiding officer: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to our flag. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the clerk: washington, d.c, december 9, 2024. to the senate: under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable catherine cortez masto, a senator from the state of nevada, 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. tiffany rene johnson of georgia to be united states district judge for the northern district judge for the northern district basement to announce.

>> this goes to exactly what it is by their actions. what we want our the right of religious and ethnic minority. >> the economic sanctions and they are ordinary people. >> urging were friends by christmas. >> there are a number of

conflicts but russia and ukraine they have a right to defend itself so as long as ukraine is under attack probably, of course who want to conflict result. the parties to give up their we held rights.

mr. schumer: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: madam president, today two of our newest senate democratic colleagues will take the oath of office. the senator from california, adam schiff, and the senator from new york, andy kim. i congratulate and welcome

senators-elect schiff and kim to the senate. today the senate democrats add two high-ranking caliber leaders who have already had great reputations in the house, where they got a whole lot done. senator-elect schiff brings to the senate an impressive record as a leading voice among house democrats, where he was known for his piercing eloquence, his thoughtfulness, his unwaivingering support of democracy and his courage. as former chair of the house intelligence committee, he brings deep expertise and knowledge that will make him just a great senator. senator-elect kim is no different. he's one of the most respected and admired of the house democratic caucus, where his talent was only matched by his decency. he boasts an impressive record of service as a national security expert and diplomat, and spent every day in congress putting families first. and today will go down in history. senator-elect kim's parents came to america without knowing a

soul, and today their son becomes the first korean american senator ever. that makes you proud to be an american. so, to our new colleagues, we say welcome. we're excited to work with you. we're ready to help you. and as you find your bearings, we urge you to never lose sight of the great responsibility you carry as a member of this body. on judges, this week the senate will continue working on and off the floor to confirm more of president biden's judges. this afternoon we'll hold a confirmation vote on tiffani johnson to be a judge for the northern district of. we'll continue with additional vets for other nom fleece. we have more judges awaiting confirmation votes, and we're working to schedule their confirmation votes this week. we had a really good week last week, by confirming an aadditional eight judges. we want to keep that going as much as we can this week and

next. now, later this afternoon, madam president, senators will convene on the floor to hear farewell remarks of the beloved colleague. someone we will dearly, dearly miss. someone for all the days he served in this office, never forgot who he was, never forgot what he stood for. the senator, of course, is my dear friend, senator jon tester of montana. there are a lot of labels that come to mind when jon's name is mentioned. so many of them -- interesting, decent, good, fine, are these adjectives and labels. most people around here know jon as a third generation farmer. he still grows organic lentils, barley, and grain, even after all those years in offers. he lost three fingers working at a meat grinder as a 9-year-old, a turning point in his lifer.

i used to talk to jon when he was thinking of starting his organic farm in montana. he was so smart, able to see around the curve. he knew that organic types of grains and lentils were going to start selling, and it takes a long time before the field is eventually purely organic. but he does. and he loves farming so much that he's one of the rare people, i think senator grassley may be another, who goes home each weekend to tend to his farm. when i would call him up, i know his old phone number by heart, i know his new phone number by heart, he'd often be on his tractor. he would say hey, i'm on my tractor. he was a happy man on that farm. he will continue doing that farming as he goes home. most of us know how proud he is of montana, how he so often shared with us thoughts about what montanans think.

he embodies that state in every way. the way he talks, the way he thinks, the way he works. unless you're actually from montana, unless you've seen jon tester in his own backyard, would going the dirt, talking to his neighbors, butchering a cow or greasing a combine, it's difficult if not important -- it's not impossible to grasp how important home is to everything he's done. jon still lives and works on top of the very same soil his father and grandfather worked for over a century. it's never been an easy existence. jon says some years it was hard for him and his wife charla to make even $20,000. jon also taught music at the very same school he attended as a kid. you know, this this day when society, when things move so fast, we're almost rootless, here's a man with deep roots. those deep roots in montana and in the soil, even in the classroom where he taught

himself how to play the trumpet, showed through every day, and it made him one of the most effective members of this chamber. when he got up to speak, everyone listened, because they knew what was coming from the heart. they knew he had the background that very few senators have, and he was so persuasive in what he does. to show you the continuity, he actually owns the very same meat grinder that took three of his fingers off when he was young. on youtube there are videos of jon answering while grinding me. now, jon says he doesn't remember the moment his hand slipped on that dreadful day, but what he does remember is everything that happened after. the 13-mile drive in the family station wagon to the newerest rural hospital. he's been a defend ef er of -- defender of rural hospitals

since. that hospital saved his life. he remembers the pressure his parents felt, trying to keep the years together after the accident. so their son could heal and thrive and grow up like other kids his age. when he came to the senate in 2007, he brought every piece of home with him to washington. and he was one of the best champions of small farmers in the senate. he awakened this body to the idea that hurl areas of short of -- that rural areas are short of housing. he reminded us of why meat prices are so high, because of the beef cartels and the combination of the big companies creating even less and less competition. he brought memories of rural doctors and nurses who saved his life. he brought all these lessons, so much, instilled in him in his

roots. he's one of the most rooted people i have ever met. that's why even when adversity hits, whether as a child or now, he didn't went that election, and that's a shame, because he's such a fine person, and he served montana so well, but his rootedness i know will keep him strong, happy, and productsive through the years -- productive through the years. he's been, jon has always been, in all those years in washington, a montanan first, a senator second. that's why he's been so effective. one ever the other areas about jon, veterans. i don't know of a single voice there this chamber -- everyone talks about veterans, that's a good thing, we all love our veterans on both sides of the aisle, i don't know a single person who has done so much, who fought so hard for veterans than he did. jon moved heaven and earth to get the pact act done. every week he would get up in our caucus and talk about it.

he felt the pain of those ex poofsed to the push -- ex poofsed to the burn fits, and -- exposed to the burn pits. they were told by the v.a. unless they had undeniable proof that the exact harm from the pits went into their bodies, they wouldn't get funding, even though everyone knew that caused the cancers and other things they had. well, right now, there are millions of veterans who are much better off, who were exposed in iraq, afghanistan, to the burn pits, because of jon. and he's always looked out for other people. he knew my job was a tough one. he always said, i don't want your job. he was that smart to know that, of course. but he always asked me how i felt, how i was doing, what he could do to help. he was -- he had something that very few people have. he had enough strength, enough heart, enough soul that not only

could he work on the things he worked on, whether farm, the people of montana, working here in the senate, head of the veterans committee, now head of the defense subcommittee, one of the most powerful committees in the senate, but he always had enough time to care about everybody else. this is a deep, strong, wonderful man. even on the hardest days, he never let the pressures of washington get in the way of his humor and his decency. you know, everyone knows jon is a friend of the basist for the pearl band, john ammond. a line from their song goes like this, i changed by not changing at all. john, they could have been writing that song, your friends in pearl jam, about you. after all these years, all the things you've done, everything you accomplished, all the amoll yuments and -- amoluments and

praise, you haven't changed at all. rooted, strong, caring, effective, someone with all three, a great brain, great heart, great soul. we'll miss you. thank you for 18 wonderful years. years.

take credit. entrepreneurial spirit the junior senior elected barack obama, he helped firsthand on

foreign policy and national security. having immersed herself in these issues including the pulitzer prize the age of genocide. we worked together at the white house during the obama administration. i couldn't be more proud to have her here today. she's going to give remarks. we will have a conversation and then open up to questions. [applause]

>> good to see old friends. good to see everyone here at the council. i will not repeat the word tutor, i don't think that would go over well. i was tutored but i will say being in the trenches obama campaign to the obama years watching america's work overseas with such energy and impact, it's perfect you and the here in between. we got to work together trying to.

this will be. celery in ways we know. an incredible partner and out. i'm about to be reunited here with you today. i want to start by recognizing the momentous events syria the syrian people endured 24 years under all is not. torture, murder back by russia, iran, hezbollah and today syrians get a chance hopefully to start their own future. united states is a leading donor to syria and we and the united states are how we adjust to new

population returns to syria and the incredible set of needs in a country that's been through month of the civil war and still turmoil. we continue to all on parties take meaningful action to preserve the two leads. this will be critically important. major events will come up i want to focus today on the importance of the united states expanding toolkits and economic statecraft and on the hotlines of becoming nimble and responsive in this

complex progress. when i travel around the world and meet with foreign leaders where a is partnerships. i hear again and again the same thing about a radical or laconic community even thought the message is the same. we want trade, not aid. we want to grow our economies. we do not want to be dependent in any fashion on foreign support and that is the u.s. aid will as president entity put myself sustained growth where extraordinary outside of is not required. the last few years have been difficult.

the number of people and not back to 29 level. the first instance subsequently compounded historic drought in africa invasion of ukraine and the middle east crises that snarled supply chains, places soaring control governments to take on more debt they could respond. to simply blame the theory of crises is to overlook deeper structural issues that have begun to stall progress. iding o republican leader. mr. mcconnell: in a matter of weeks, president biden will hand off his authority to a new

commander in chief, and his administration will submit its stewardship of u.s. foreign and national security policy to the judgment of posterity. already the contours of history are coming into focus on this administration's watch and frequently at its tacit invitation. the gravest threats to america, our allies, and our global interests have grown and aligned more close ly. senior administration officials insist that the exact opposite is true and that they're pretending, prepared to hand off a world that is safer and more stable than they found it. this sort of spin isn't

surprising. it's just profoundly untrue. and nowhere is the administration's revisionist gaslighting more blatant or bizarre than in its account of events in the middle east. yesterday's collapse of the assad regime in syria was a stunning close to a half a century of authoritarian rule and 13 years of senseless slaughter, torture, and innocent suffering. bashar assad is an agent of iran, an ally of russia, and a butcher whose hands are stained with so much innocent blood that the death toll defies precise counting. the destination of this butcher's flight from damascus

over the weekend is telling. fellow dictators still find a warm welcome in putin's moscow. and i might add, so do unrepentant traitors like edward snowden. it's quite -- that the recent lightning success of recent rebel groups is due in part to the distraction of the assad's regime's essential patron annual. for more than a decade, assistance from russia and iran has shored up the twin pillars of assad's rule -- oppression and fear.

but today russian attention and resources are tied up in a projected war, protracted war of aggression over in ukraine, and iran is busy propping up a network of terrorist proxies that israel has dealt savage blows. if you asked the biden administration, this was all part of the plan. the president himself said as much yesterday. he noted that the assad regime's -- russia, iran, and hezbollah are weaker today than they were four years ago, as if

to suggest that it was his administration's policy that made these events possible. but my colleagues, and for that matter, america's allies and partners, know a lot better than that. we know that to the extent our adversary are weaker today than they were when the president took office, in spite of his chronic hesitation and half measures in the conduct of american foreign policy. ukraine has blunted russian military power, in spite of this administration's unfounded fear of escalation and repeated withholding of lethal assistance. israel has put iran and its

proxies on the back foot, in spite, in spite of this administration's repeated efforts to dictate the terms of israel's military operations and its ongoing freeze on transfers of essential precision munitions. if the assad regime's brutality was an abiding concern for the president or if the ongoing plight of the syrian people factored meaningfully into his administration's policy, then his national security advisors' description of the middle east last fall, quote, quieter than it has been for decades, end quote, is even more in congress than the horrors of october 7 already made it. if the president now intends to claim credit for bringing a

potential end to syria's civil war, it begs the question why as vice president did he agree with president obama's decision on assad's use of chemical weapons. the last democratic administration's approach to syria helped iran turn it into a sustainabling ground for its terrorist proxy's war on israel. the current democratic administration's scold ing of te jewish state has made defending against this war more difficult. the commander in chief's record will speak for itself. history will reflect that if this administration wanted to heed the urgings of both leader

in congress, deliver the sort of lethal capabilities and permissions ukraine needed to defend against russian aggression at the speed of relevance, it was fully empowered to do so. and had this president even once expressed a willingness to take a serious bipartisan approach to the middle east primary agents of chaos in tehran and its proxies and vassals from yemen to syria, it would have found willing partners on this side of the aisle. i made this much crystal clear from the first days of his administration. at best, the biden administration has been a passive, passive observer. at worst it restrained america's

friends from defending themselves and hampered the otherwise transformational success of israel's operation against the ep miss who actual -- enemies who actually started the war. in spite of the administration's fixation on de-escalation, israel decimated hezbollah, the crown jewel of iran's terror web. while the administration obsessed over the illusion of returning to the stable status quo ante, israel turned the tables on iran and its proxies. today there's no longer such a status quo in syria. after years of war stoked by russia and iran, the prospects of a beleagured syrian people are certainly complicated and uncertain. but the fall of the assad regime

is an opportunity for our partners to unleash and chart a new future and to press the advantage earned by israel's decisive operations and uproot iran's remaining influence throughout the region. mr. durbin: madam president. the presiding officer: majority whip. mr. durbin: madam president, i ask unanimous consent the following staffers in senator jon tester's office be granted floor privileges until december 10, 2024. eli cousin. brittany adams, and elizabeth hague. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: thank you, madam president.

tomorrow the senate judiciary committee will hold a hearing on president-elect trump's planned mass deportation of undocumented immigrants in the united states. millions, some 13 million, undocumented immigrants live in this country and many have been here for a decade or longer. these immigrants have become our nation's health care workers, teachers, farm workers, entrepreneurs, police, you name it. and many of them dpru up alongside our own kids with the same hopes and dreams of their first job, getting a driver's license, a college acceptance letter. 12 years ago, in response to a bipartisan request from myself and the late senator from indiana, richard lugar, president obama established the deferred action for childhood program known as daca. daca was a program where if you

were brought to this country under the age of 18 as a child and you lived here, you had an opportunity to apply for a two-year period of grace and not be fearful of deportation through the daca program. more than 830,000 young people came forward to sign up for daca, all of whom were brought here as children, some as young as a few months old. and they became known as the dreamers. the dream act, a legislation which would have made this law, and made it unnecessary for an executive order, was a bill i introduced 23 years ago. you have to be patient in the united states senate, but 23 years is a long, long time. long for me as sponsor, but even longer for those affected by it. these young dreamers, part of our country, daca and otherwise,

earned $27.9 billion and contributed $2.1 billion to social security and medicare in the year 2022. they're a big part of america, a big part of our economy. one of those daca recipients i'm going to highlight today, this gentleman's name is foday toure. he is current a father and a husband and he will testify tomorrow. he is the 148th dreamer whose story i shared on the senate floor. he came from the united states from sierra leon when he was 7 years old. he didn't know he was undocumented until much later in life. he decided to apply for a

driver's license and they said you're not a citizen, you can't apply. he was devastated. he dreamed of going to law school and becoming an attorney, and now everything seemed utterly impossible because of his citizenship status. but he never wavered in his faith and hope to make it in america. he said the day daca was announced was the best day of his life. thanks to president obama's daca, he received his jurist doctorate drae. he -- degree. he worked full time for the district attorney's office in philadelphia. he helps crime victims nav gate a complex legal system. growing up in the united states since he was 7 years old, he has put down deep roots. he met and married his wived and

is a proud homeowner and a father to an 18-month-old baby boy. he was able to become a lawyer, husband, father, but his life is still in limbo. why? consider what happened to daca the last time president-elect trump was in office. in 2017, president trump shut down the program. thankfully the supreme court blocked his effort, but he also encouraged maga republicans to file lawsuits against daca, endangering the program's future. i was listening closely, and many americans were yesterday, to the interview of president-elect trump on "meet the press." president-elect trump stated in an interview yesterday that he now wants to work something out to help dreamers. my ears perked up. after 23 years, i'm ready.

then he went on to say that democrats made it a very, very difficult thing to do. i want to say to president-elect trump and i will say it again, any time, anywhere, let's sit down. let's start talking about these hundreds of thousands of young people who are doing their best to lead a good life and to help america and just want a chance for a future. i'm ready and willing to negotiate in good faith with my republican colleagues in the senate and the president-elect to finally provide dreamers with a pathway to citizenship, which they deserve. but there's reason to be skeptical, if not cynical. in the last term, president-elect trump walked away from four different bipartisan compromises with democrats to solve the daca crisis. democrats were willing to provide thousands of dollars for the unpopular border wall in exchange for a bipartisan dream

act, but we just couldn't seem to reach a positive answer. i'm not giving up on this quest because i'm not going to give up on these daca students. madam president, you know them too. you've met them in your state. we all have. they're wonderful people waiting patiently, hoping the day will come when they get a chance to prove their commitment to this country. just this year, the president-elect trump demanded congressional republicans to reject a border deal that was bipartisan. i thought it was a good bill, and when the bill finally came to a vote, the vast majority of republicans voted against it. so president trump has in his power the ability to bring around many republicans on the issue of immigration. i hope daca and the dreamers become the exception to some of the rhetoric we've heard. the president-elect has pledged to pursue mass deportation on

day one. he has threatened to use the military for that purpose. he's announced the appointment of some hard-liners in his cap net. -- cabinet. we can only agree that any undocumented immigrant found guilty of a serious crime should not be allowed to stay here. i'm a democrat and i just said that and i think i speak for my caucus, virtually all of them agree with what i just said. if you are a danger to this country, we don't want you here and we don't want you to find entry into our country to find claim to citizenship. that's very basic. but the last time the president-elect was in office, it wasn't just criminals who were deported. we saw parents separated from young children causing permanent trauma. amazingly, sadly, some of those kids have never been reunited with their families. we saw meat-packing plants and other workplaces raided.

this was a raid not targeted at criminals or even those without citizenship status. in some of these raids we saw u.s. citizens detained for hours. we saw dreams deported, immigrants pillars of their community. so once again i come to the floor and say, would america really be better off without an outstanding public servant like foda from this country? would we be better without farm workers who contributed to the nation for decades or if hardworking immigrants were rounded up with no criminal backgrounds? the answer is no. nearly 65% of americans, regardless of party support a pathway to citizenship for long-time undocumented immigrants and a majority oppose

the military to conduct mass deportations. tomorrow we will look at protecting hardworking measures like foda, and we will look at the chaos that will inevitably result from mass deportation. they deserve certainty, not fair. i will work on a bipartisan basis to provide them with the security they deserve. madam president, i'm not sure if you were in the senate when we considered comprehensive immigration reform. it was a bipartisan effort. we brought it to the floor and the bill passed with 68 votes. and what it basically said is if you're undocumented in america, we want to hold you accountable. you've got to come forward and identify yourself, where you lived, where you worked to our government so there a record of who you are and where you are. as i said earlier, if you have a serious crime that you've committed or committed once you're here, you're ineligible

as far as i'm concerned. if you're a danger to this country, we don't want you and you should know better than to try to become a citizen of america. but the vast majority we're talking about don't have a criminal record. they go about their lives every day, they are the same people in the nursing home taking care of your mom, they're at the day care center taking care of baby boys and girls every day. we see them at banks and grocery stores. they're ever where. they sit next to us in church and they are undocumented. should they be departed simply because of this? i think not. i think the reality is they can make a great contribution to this country. i think the starting point should be the comprehensive immigration bill we passed on the floor. i stand ready to talk to president trump or any party to solve this problem.

solve this problem.

economic state. the 19th administrator u.s. representative the united nations take credit for her professional success making

international affairs and the entrepreneurial spirit to ask for your center recently elected, barack obama and firsthand tutor on foreign policy herself in those issues where she won a pulitzer prize for her book. we work together at the white house obama administration. more proud to have her today. she's going to get remarks on economic and then open up.

that might good old friends. thank you so much and everyone here the council. with no each other long time. i don't think that would go over well, i was tutored but i will say in the trenches obama years watching america's work overseas such energy and impact perfect

in the here in between. got together trying to expand access to finance in low income middle east the private sector to do that is going to be mission-critical. accelerate in the ways we been an incredible partner inside government handout. glad reunited here today. i wanted to start recognizing years of dictatorship under assad. as everyone knows that i russia, iran has a lot and today syrians

get a chance to turn their own future. the united states donor and we and the united states are looking at how adjust populations and of course the incredible set of needs for our country is centered so much still so much turmoil. we need to call on all parties refrain from further violence especially against civilians and legal action preserve critically important so perhaps this will come up i want to focus today on

the importance of the united states expanding toolkits very specifically in the area of economic craft eight is on the front line becoming more responsive in this complex world of ours. when i travel around the world and meet with foreign leaders where u.s. aid has partnership, i hear again and again the same thing no matter where i go, no matter what continent or community. ... the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: wore not in a quorum call to -- we're not in a quorum call to eviscerate. thanks for help -- mr. tester: thanks for helping me out. i often don't do things that are

the smartest at my age. my bald lded chief of staff and legislative director fulls ooh m who i have no comments for, if i shed a tear while i'm up here today, it won't be because i'm emotional, it's because my back is killing me right now. look, i've seen a number of these exit speeches. to be honest with you, they remind me a bit of an obituary. and the truth is this is the end of this moment in time. this last 18 years that i've spent in the united states senate. but the truth is, there's been other periods of time very similar to that throughout my life. when i went to high school, grade school, high school and college for example, about an 18-year period. when that time period was over with, we moved on. my wife and i cut meat for almost exactly 18 years on the

farm, a butcher shop. we shut that down when i got in the legislature, that period of time in our lives was over. and now my time in the senate is over. by the way, every one of those time periods were wrapped around by my family and i, my wife and i in particular, doing production agriculture on the family farm. i will tell you that i expected to serve 12 years in this body when i got here. i jumped in feet first but i realized in short order that this is a seniority-driven body. the longer you're here, the more ability you have to get done for your state and your cup. i very much -- country. i very much appreciate the time the montanans have allowed me to serve as their representative in the united states senate. in the end i was able to chair two major committees that have an incredibly large -- in fact the biggest impact on the united states' budget. the senate appropriations

defense subcommittee and the senate veterans affairs committee. these are the two largest agencies from a funding standpoint in the united states senate. and those committees and the united states senate as a whole i've been able to do some good things, some long lasting things for montana and the united states of america. and i want to visit for a moment about why i was deemed one of the most effective senators by a nonpartisan group from a policy perspective. i am the product of my grandparents, fred and christine pierson, both who were homesteaders in north central montana. my grandfather fred pierson passed away when i was 6 years old. so my memories of him are dim. but i do remember him smoking cigars, white alls and roy tans, a family tradition. and i remember him being pretty daf. i remember riding in his 53

chevy pickup and the motor just jeeping before he shifted gears because it -- he was deaf and hearing aids didn't work so good in those years. he also was missing an index finger on his hand. but what i found out since his passing is that he loved to work and was literally outworked by no one. whether it was pitching bundles into a threshing machine or picking rock, this was a man who knew how to work and he knew how to work hard. then there was my grandmother christine pierson, immigrated from sweden to this country when she was 16 years of age. and never went back to sweden. she passed when i was 16 years old. my memories are clearer of her. she believed in strong public education. in fact, all three of her daughters were teachers. she talked politics with my mother regularly, and always had a copy of the nation on her end

table. my parents, dave and helen tester who were socially liberal and fiscally conservative. they were fdr democrats. they were children of the 1930's depression. they were both alive when i started my state legislative endeavor, and my mother was alive when i started my endeavors in the united states senate. david o. tester, my father was born in utah, a son of a miner and sheeper, raised in the mountains by salt lake city. he met my mother after the ccc's brought into montana. he was a horse map. he knew horses from the inside out, how they fought and how to train them. he loved the outdoors and he said the finest cathedral he ever saw was god's cathedral in the bob marshall wilderness. he had a fiery but forgiving personality. in that vane he was like john

mccain. one hand he was mad at you and then shortly thereafter forgot all about it and way yours friend. he said life ain't worth living if you can't have fun. he was a hardworking free conspiracy rit. hill listen m. tester was the daughter of homesteaders, raised on the farm that charla and i operate today. she loved the land and she loved farming. she like her dad would taste the soil and tell you if it was ready to plant. she also loved politics. absolutely loved john kennedy and the kennedy family. in fact, she was here for my first swearing in and said it was the greatest day of her life. of course she was proud of my swearing in. but she also got to meet ted and ethel kennedy. she was proud of her three boys and took a back seat to no one. she also believed strongly in public education. so what do these ancestors instill in me? they instill montana values,

like telling the truth, like the word is your bond, like your handshake means something. and that you respect people and absolutely never never sasse your elders. but most importantly, they taught me hard work creates -- and hard work is essential for success. and finally from a governmental ag perspective, they told me don't depend on farm subsidies to cash flow the farm and don't borrow money if you don't have the money, don't buy it. my two older brothers, i emphasize older, dave and bob. dave is a retired veterinarian. bob is a retired chief masters sergeant. they taught me by example to always work to make your community a better place. they both, by the way, are political animals, even though most of the time they don't care to admit it. my wife charla of 47 years, my soul mate, put up with me, kempt

me grounded whether it was teaching or processing meat or farming. we took the farm over when i was 21 years of age and charla was 19. for the first basic 20 years of our marriage, we spent 180 days a year processing beef and pork. that meant every other day of the year our workplace put us across from one another with knives, very sharp, very sharp knives in our hands. that taught us to choose our arguments carefully. she's always been my right hand man or my right hand person. charla has always been there whether working together to seed or to hay or harvest or butch beef in miserably cold weather. in the end she always supported my many public service endeavors, even when she didn't think it was a good idea. our kids chris taken, sean -- christine, sean and later mel

day, very proud of what they've done. christine in health care and sean in fixing up classic cars, melody in education. all three of them work every day to make their community a better place. they're not coffee drinkers, they're doers. then there's my public service influences. i guess i first got started when i was elected student body president in high school. then after college i spent the next 20 years doing community service before i got elected to the state legislature. those boards included the conservation board, the big sandy school board which was the hardest public service job ied ha, the farm county service agency, executive board of the international organic certification association, and then the montana state legislature which was the funniest job i ever had. if not for term limits, i'd probably still endeavor to be a state legislator. i had my share of successes and

failures but all these commitments taught me most importantly that you have two ears and you have twun mouth -- have one mouth, act accordingly. you they ever are right all the time and you are never wrong all the time. so listen to what people are saying. these public influencers taught me how to get stuff done. in other words, how to go to work and be a workhorse, not a show horse. then there were influences outside of politics. of course our family farm. it didn't take long for me to understand democracies don't work when you have hungry people. and over the 47 years that sharla and i have been on the farm, we witnessed consolidation and land and marks and inputs, and an increased dependence by farmers on government subsidies. public education, the great foundation of our democracy, the great equalizer, the ability for us to have the american dream

taught me a lot. both as a student and as a teacher. but it was what the teachers taught me. i learned so much from them. the ones i liked i learned a lot from and in receipt tre expect the one -- retrospect the ones i didn't like i probably learned more from. when you want to know what's wrong with public education today, you have to look no further than what we're paying our teachers. and infrastructure, something that we use every day, it is a foundation of our economy. for those folks that brought themselves up by their bootstrap, their boots would have no straps without good infrastructure. valuing our natural resources, especially water. water needs to be respected, not abused. the well on sharla and my farm is 450 feet deep and it's saltwater. it's not drinkable. so good water is scarce. so we ought to work to protect it because work is life.

the importance of a strong accountable military and the folks who serve to deter our enemies. i was a first grader during the cuban missile crisis. i remember the teacher talking about the bomb shelters and where they were and instructing us to get under our desk if we were attacked. as a 6-year-old kid, that kind of stuff stays with you. and then there was the influence from the folks, the giants that i served with. of course, robert c. byrd who always called me the mountain man. now, robert c. byrd was not at the top of his game when i came here, but he was still pretty damn good, i will tell you that, and did some amazing things during the years i served with him. there was teddy kennedy, the perpetual worker, the guy who went to montana to campaign for john kennedy and during the bucking horse sale in mile city walked up to the crow's nest and said could you announce that i'm here and that john kennedy is

running for president. the announcer said the only way we get the name kennedy announced here is if you get on the back of one of those horses and he did it. danny inouye, true american hero. i can't say enough about this dude. he was the best. and i got to play taps at his funeral at the punch bowl, something i will never forget as long as i'm alive. johnny isakson, the senator from georgia, the vet's chair, a more quality man you will never ever meet. this guy had my back even when times were tough. he didn't go run to the press and trash me. he had my back and he explained what was going on. i will be eternally grateful to johnny isakson. richard shelby, the character, who understood how to get things done in the united states senate. an amazing guy and when he talked with that southern drawl,

it was good that you paid attention because he had information to relay that would be helpful. and then finally jay rockefeller, the man who stood at this desk right here who for the first time i saw him when i got to washington, d.c., walked up to me, big man, put his arm around me. i felt like a midgit. and he said, you know, jon, we started out in different spots but ended up in the same place. no truer statement could ever be said. which leads me to some of my lishmentes. -- lishmentes -- comlishmentes. robert c. byrd helped me. every disabled veteran in this country got a benefit from that mileage reimbursement that was long overdue to be increased. we did other bills in the veterans space, the mental health care bill, critically important for our veterans. the debra sanson woman health care bill, the largest growing

group of people in our v.a. is wep. getting that done was important. and the last major v.a. bill and we had many in between was the pack act. veterans, they all got together and made this the highest priority. some would -- some could remember the veterans being on the swamp in july. hotter than hot. and we got it passed because of their influence. democracy worked. this resulted in a million americans and 35,000 montanans being screened. in the area of conservation, you know, i believe in gold mining but mining gold on the doorstep of yellowstone national park isn't the place to do it. there was a proposal to do that. we got it stopped. we also got the rocky mountain front and the north work watershed protected for generations. and we got the land and water conservation fully funded, our best conservation tool in this country. in bank, for community banks and

credit europeans access to capital for rural america is critically important and they're the ones that do at the. we got the regulations to fit the risk. in infrastructure, it's been talked about by a number of people who are no longer going to be in this body next year. but i got to serve with ten senators, some i knew pretty well, others i didn't know that well. and i can tell you, after those negotiations for the infrastructure bill, which resulted in the largest investment in infrastructure since the year i was born, in the middle of the eisenhower administration, you wouldn't have known which one of us was a democrat, which one of us was a republican. i remember arguing with warner and shaheen and agreeing cassidy and romney. i mean, i'm telling you, when we got done, we had turned everything inside out and downside down and ended up with roads and ridges and broadband, the list goes on. it was an incredible experience,

opportunity, and something that i will cherish after i leave this body. there was a chips and science act. you know, we've been outsourcing jobs forever. but we finally passed a bill that will start bringing those jobs back home. that's what the chips and science act did. it was also -- it also resulted in a tech hub for montana which allow our university system to be an important leader when it comes to he can it. for our native americans, and we cannot forecast about our native american -- forget about our native americans, we have trust responsibilities to them that are exclusive to them e so go came to -- so when it came to water settlements, sovereigntained self-determination, i maded it a high prior at this moment we ended up getting the little shell tribe he can recognized, something they had worked on for generation after generation after generation. i can't talk enough about the important work. i took credit for all this, but the senators sitting on this

floor know that the staff really are the ones that do the work. my d.c. staff was outstanding and it is outstanding and i appreciate them a lot. i also appreciate the work of my staff state who do constituency work. i think some of the best in the country. and i appreciate them. and i'd ask for unanimous consent that the names of those folks be put in record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. tester: i also want to thank the committee staff, especially all the committee staff, but especially the vets committee staff and the staff on the defense subcommittee on appropriations. these guys are the energy that keeps the wheels of democracy moving. and i would ask unanimous consent to put their names in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. tester: so you may ask, what do i see as my greatest accomplishment? i see my greatest accomplishment as being a united states senator as a citizen legislator. having a real full-time job outside this body, in my case,

as a farmer, this is what our forefathers had in mind. trips home every weekend, not only preparing the seed bed until sometimes 3:00 in the morning or plowing down peas, getting the equipment readiers but also -- equipment ready, but also travelling the state, doing my job as a senator. i loved every minute of it, most days. i was asked to go on codels and almost always declined because i went on a codel every weekend back to montana. i'd ask this body to please focus on public education. it is the great equalizer. it is the foundation for our economy and democracy. health care that everybody can afford when they need it. and work to put more competition in the marketplace. this is ultimately what will result in less reliance on farm subsidies. work for a fair tax code. work for equity.

stop these damn carve-outs of our tax code. continue to address the funding challenges in defense, in climate, in hunger, education, and housing, and capitalism works if there is competition. so address the consolidation, the best you can, in agriculture, energy, and finance. armed work to grow the -- and work to grow the middle class. the problems with income disparity with real. address the defense budget in ways that keeps us safe while holding our military and our contractors accountable. china, russia, iran, north korea -- those threats are real. they are doing some god awful stuff and we need to make sure we have a military that will deter and hopefully never have to use it. but if we do, we win. put some sideboards on a.i., protecting privacy and freedom while stopping a.i.'s potential to ruin humanity.

and last but not least, and please listen to me. i've just been through this meat grinder. we need to do some campaign finance reform. because of our campaign finance system in this country today, we have more division than ever, we are more paralyzed as a body to do policy than we ever have before, campaign finance reform would be good for democracy and let me tell you something, it has to be solved with bipartisan solutions. it needs to happen. one of the frustrating things that happened, whether it is citizens united or mccutcheon, whatever it is, i despise these rules. i think it allows candidates to stay underground and not go out and talk to people. but i'll follow the rules and then i get criticized by the same people who voted to put those folks on the supreme court. crazy. now for the staffs that we take

for granted, i want to thank the folks that are on the roster. whether it is the parliamentarian, the bill clerks, the reading clerks -- did i forget anybody? the truth is the work you guys do is absolutely amazing, and sometimes way, way, way, way too late at night. the sergeant at arms and the employees under you, thank you very much for keeping us safe in this building. and for the policemen out on the street, man, i've never been around a police department that does a job as well as them. to the cloakrooms, thank you for keeping us on task. some things we don't think about like the woodshop and the metal shop and the parent paint -- painters, these folks are artisans, they do amazing work. these chairs, they're handpavement most of the furniture is handbuilt.

but some of the best people you could imagine. to the january text thank you very much for keeping this place clean. you guys are keep this place operating. i spent two days a week for 18 years on airplanes. i was served by united and delta, so i am going to thank them, too. and the press -- my god, the press. look, your job is to hold us accountable. do it. and if any of these folks don't like it and occasionally they won't, just remember that democracy and accountability go hand in hand. you need to be able to do your job, and thank you for doing the job you're doing. as i close, i would say this -- this democracy has resulted in the greatest country that's ever existed. it is because of our forefathers' ability to compromise and think clearly about the challenges ahead and set the rules that will address these challenges, the usa exists

as the greatest country ever because of previous generations, the senators and public officials. exhibiting the ability to make sound decisions based on facts and reality. not decisions promoting political power but realistic decisions promoting a strong future for our country and for future generations. to say that i'm worried about this country's ability to maintain the strongest economy and the most powerful military in the world would be an understatement. however, i know that a majority of people that serve in this u.s. senate today are real legislators who want to do real legislating. to those senators, you need to make sure your voices are a majority of this body. if not, this country will change in a way that our children will not thank us for. god bless you all, and tally ho!

mr. booker: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from new jersey. mr. booker: i appreciate being recognized right now, but i would be remiss if i let jon tester leave the floor without telling some of the truth about this guy. all the niceties here are making me a little nauseous, and i want to set the record straight and

say for the record, for the rest of the history of this country going forward that i want it to be known that i do not like jon tester. so i want need a rebuttal. i want to clear the record. he's had his pies. i want my piece. i gave to the senate as this kind of naive guy. i got here very earnest. my idea of who a senator was was very set? stope i saw "mr. smith goes to washington." then i met john it ever. who is more like a combination of jon belushi and john wick go to washington. i didn't know senators cursed until i got here and met jon tester. and i think if i remember the exact first quote that jon at

the time said to me was, booker, i didn't think you were much. i think you were a big hole -- and there was a word in between that. but now i realize you're not a big-hole. you're really not that big. this was the beginning of a relationship, and i have to say, i was as guy that played college football. i have some scars still from running into the likes of junior sao. but i physically wear scars because of my hitting jon tester. my mom said, i think you finally got an answer to the question of what happens when the unstoppable force meets the unmovable object. literally he invited me to play

basketball with him once. and i've played some rough-and-tumble hoops here before. there is a court 00 he on the ground. what i did to me on that basketball court is illegal in six states. i have video evidence that i was planning -- he has cited that the debate clause protects senators in what they say an do. but now that he is leaving the senate, i will be filing charges again this washability jon tester is meevenlt he is cantankerous. he is onery. he is rough. he is truly a son of a gun. now despite the fact that, again, i do not like jon tester, i have learn add heck of a lot from him. i was i was mayor of a city. i hadn't gotten to know farmers in my state yet but i came here and met a farmer. despite our issues and the

tension between the two of us, he was willing to sit down with me and perhaps more than any senator in my experience here, taked the time to help me learn the urgencies about america's farm system. what i learned about jon is he doesn't give a damn about who you are. will you work with him to advance the causes of his state. i realized that despite the fact that i to not like jon tester, he loves the people of montana. i hear him complain about this place, complain about how it works, but i watched him and learned from him about how you fight here to get things done. that it's not about people or personalities. it's about fighting for causes and the communities that you care about. and so jon tester taught me a heck of a lot. in fact, some of the things i feel most passionate about, about the american food system were things he taught me. and what he showed me was that we in this nation, whether you live in rural montana or urban

new jersey, we share common cause. jon tester showed me that we still have a common american fight and that this place still needs people who don't care about partisanship, who don't care about camaraderie, that don't care about the formalities, but just care about fighting for people. and so i am grateful for that, but i still don't like jon tester. i used to come by his office, and i just want to look at his staff right now and tell them, god bless you. i mean, the h.r. claims you could have probably filed against this guy are stwoerd, and -- extraordinary and it shows me your loyalty to him because sometimes i would walk in there and there was full combat staff games being played. i couldn't believe it. what was being tossed around that office sometimes was extraordinary.

but the fact that somehow he breeded extraordinary loyalty from his staff members, dedication, work ethic, and people that delivered real results in this place that's often hard to get things done is a testimony to you and how much in his office he breeded this sense of commitment to country. and so i thank you all for that. and being now that there's no limit on what i can say and getting off my chest, i want to thank his chief of staff, dylan, because unbeknownst to you, we would break into your house often, sir. when you were back in montana, yes, i have been in your home and done things in that home that will be in my next book. dylan, i can't get you fired because you're leaving anyway now at this point. i want to end by saying this -- i have stories to tell about jon tester. i have charges to file about jon

tester. i have a lot of language that has been expanded in my vocabulary because of jon tester. and i thought that i would come down tonight and write an original poem. i was very excited about the chance to rhyme jon tester with uncle fester. i thought it would be great. i had this incredible poem that i wanted to read, but i instead want to end with this poem. i watched jon tester do something that was extraordinary. he chose to run again, like a guy that i knew how he felt about washington, but decided to do asking recklessly audacious. most senators when they see the odds are against them and their chances of winning are slim, they decide to retire. jon didn't go quietly into the night. he ran an election, and so many people on both sides of the aisle actually believed if anybody could win in a state

that donald trump won by 20 points, where there's probably as many vegans in montana as there are democrats, he chose, because of the love of his state to run again, run an election. and, by golly, the people i saw pouring their heart into this fight, it was extraordinary. it was a lesson to me in talking to dylan on so many days on some of the more exciting once ones bau i felt like he was running one of the most extraordinary fights in this place. becaus world believed that jon tester could pull off the greatest upset in american politics, he drew fire into that state. you talk about campaign finance reform, literally tens if not well over $100 million that would have probably gone to wisconsin, michigan, arizona, everybody was pouring into this fight. he drew so much fire.

and went down in an election to me that was a testimony to his char character. and so instead of reading an original poem, i just thought i'd read a poem by a man that i've known all my life and now i have to say this poem most describes the man i don't like, jon tester. it's by a guy named rudyard kipling, entitled "if." if you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you if you can trust yourself when all men doubt you but make allowances for their doubting too. if you can wait and not be tired of waiting or be lied about but never deal in lies. or being hated, don't give way

to hating. and yet don't look too good nor talk too wise. if you can dream and not make dreams your master, if you can think and not make thoughts your aim, if you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two impostors just the same, if you can hear the truth you've spoken twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools or watch the things that you gave your life to broken and stoop and build them up again with warn out tools, if you can make a heap of all your winnings and risk it on one turn of pitch and toss and lose and start again at your beginnings and never breathe a word about your loss, if you can force your heart and

nerve and sinew to serve your term long after they are fwon and so hold on when there's nothing within you except that which says to them hold on, if you can talk with cowards and keep your virtue or walk with kings and not lose your common touch, if neither foes nor loving friends canal ultimately hurt you, if all men count on you but none too much, if you can fill every unforgiving minute with 60 seconds worth of distance run, yours, yours, jon tester, yours is the earth and everything in it. and which is more, you will be a man, my son. mr. president, i served with a lot of people in a lot of levels of government.

jon tester is a man and one of the greatest ones i've known. i do not like jon tester, but god, i love the man. thank you. [applause] a senator: mr. president, no one wants to follow that -- the presiding officer: the senator from mp. ms. klobuchar: but i felt i should say a few words as the classmate. coming in together, many of us sitting in this back row for so long, back, the class of 2006, 17 years. i'm going to miss jon tester. i'm going to miss the bubble gum in his desk that i always steal. i'm going to miss when his name shows up when he's calling, how it makes me smooil because i know -- smile because i know he's going to say something

funny no matter what's going on and we're all going to miss him. i remember jon and i sitting kind of here, but i think we were over there in one of our first speeches in the u.s. senate. and trent lott, remember this, was talking about ethics reform. jon and i had run on ethics reform. and trent lott was saying if this stuff passes we're going to be left with nothing but our bath robes in the russell courtyard. that was exactly what he said. and jon and i were sitting in the back, and at the time they had us in trailers in the russell courtyard. and i remember we looked at each other and said, well, so what, it couldn't get any worse than where we are now. that's what we're doing now. that was the old days, when rules passed it was really hard. what senator booker was saying about you being brave and ahead of your time, from the moment you got here, you were ahead of your time in what this job meant. then i remember sharla -- i'm looking for her up there, right

up there. there she is. the very first official big event i ever did with jon, i was following him up on the podium, and i remember ep got up there and he said you know what, i've been traveling all over the country, and i'm going to win this race. this was 2006. i'm going to win this race. i know i am. but right now i haven't seen my wife, sharla, for three weeks, and i have a beer sitting at the table, and i'm going to go back and sit with my wife and have that beer. thank you. sxep got a standing -- and he got a standing ovation for that speak. it was an example of jon to the point all the time. my favorite note that i'm going to save forever in my desk, it was during the impeachment hearing. many of you remember. sherrod would be talking out of turn. but we would have a lot of mentions -- i see our friends down there remembering this -- of the founding fathers at that time. so i have a note that i wrote to bob casey that said as it

approaches midnight and we keep hearing about the founding fathers, i start to think that you look like a founding father, bob. your hair looks like a lg founding father. but tester, not so much. we are going to miss your barber, wherever he is, and he's back in montana i'm sure. but i remember some of jon's first ads where he had his barber in those ads. and it just was him. and it's him now and he looks exactly the same with his haircut that he did when he first started running. a lot of talk about his incredible leadership. many things he's done, worked with us on competition issues, trying to make sure that we still have small farms in this country and it means something. but for me, the most meaningful thing, jon, was that pact act and how when our veterans signed up to serve there shouldn't be a waiting line, and when they come home to this country and they

have a health care problem and they want to get in and get health care at a v.a. or have coverage, there should never be a waiting line in the united states of america. jon did that. jon's leadership working across the aisle, like he's done on so many other things. we're going to miss his montana rural work ethic, his sense of humor, his 40-pound suitcases of meat that he butchered himself. and, yes, even his musical talents, because in addition to us losing a tireless champion for montana, we're also going to lose the senate's only trumpet player, and certainly the senate's only seven-fingered trumpet player. so, mr. president, i join my colleagues from both sides of the aisle to celebrate jon tester and to know he's not going to be far away. the flat-top dirt farmer who went from haver, montana, to the u.s. senate and never forgot where he came from.

mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from virginia. mr. warner: mr. president, i'll be brief, but i just want to add a word. a lot of us in this body sometimes complain about this job. whether it's the schedule or whether it's lack of resources, the amount of time. and what's always struck me about jon tester, a lot of us in this business, we wonder about authenticity. is there any senator, no matter either side of the aisle, that is more authentic and more true to who he has been, will be, and will always be than jon tester. the fact that we have also to echo what kory said. i've not invaded dylan's house but i've invaded jon and

sharla's house a number of times. whenever i would think about challenges in this job, bitch and moan, i always came back and talked to other senators about this and talked to others around this country, when i think about somebody who defines public service in the 21st century, there's one person who comes to mind, somebody who was a tea teacher, a musician, a farmer, somebody who had to get up at 3:00 in the morning to drive a couple hours to get on not one plane, but two, to come back for sometimes nothing but a week -- for a week of nothing votes and to get back object that flight and still maintain that farm, i can't say that that is a guy who lives 20

minutes away. i can't say that in terms of somebody who doesn't have the kind of personal financial resources, but never raised a word of xrant through -- complaint through her years of service. so echoing what others said and will continue to say. any time i doubt my commitment or any of our commitment, i ask you all, think who defines public service. i think that person is jon tester. mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from utah. mr. romney: mr. president, i know something about failed presidential campaigns, and i made an assessment that president biden was not going to go the distance, and so i approached three democrats and suggested that they ought to run for president. now you just heard from them. one was corie booker -- cory

booker, one was jon tester and one was john warner, not because i agreed with them, i disagreed with them on almost every issue. i happen to find these three men and jon tester is the one i'm look at right now to be one of character, of integrity, of honesty, of purpose, who hold fast to the values that made america the hope of the earth. i know that over the years policy comes and goes and sometime i read history, i find we were on one side of the policy and then it changes. heaven knows there's been times when your party's been in charge and we suffered through it. i know you would say the same is true of mine, but that is the case. but what we have not suffered is the lack of character, we've had

men of great character. and some day we'll have women of character as well in that great office. i wanted jon tester to be the next president of the united states because he's a man of such extraordinary character. he's as honest as his hair is short. and as strong as his physique is imposing. i -- i learned something about that character when we worked together. he mentioned the infrastructure bill that i had the privilege of joining him to help negotiate. there was a time towards the very, very end when i made a beginner's mistake. i'm just a freshman senator, after all. i was about to do something which would be harmful for my political career and my welcome back home and might even be helpful to the opposition forces. and sh was -- was telling me about this, we can paper it

over, don't worry. jon tester said, no, it's going to hurt mitt, it's not fair, we've got to fix this. he stood up for me and convinced the other members of the group to do something not in their interest, not in his interest, but in my interest because he is a man of character and a friend. i'm not going to be here, jon's not going to be here, we may see each other some time in the hills of montana. he's a man who one couldn't have a better friend than jon tester, the people of montana could not have had a better friend. a man who loves the land, the people, and the people of montana. i'm proud to have been able to serve with jon tester and wish him godspeed. god bless america and glod bless jon -- god bless jon tester and his family.

i yield the floor. mr. bennet: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from colorado. mr. bennet: i'm trying to figure if i'm upset because senator romney didn't ask me to run for president. i appreciated so much his sentiment today that i wanted to get up. i heard the word virtue used twice in the past week on this floor, once in the rupyard kip kipling poem and out of 's speech. it made s-- it fits the people o

well we're talking about, whether it's senator romney or senator tester. i want to say an it uple of words about senator tester before he kicks us out of here which i know he's going to do soon. first of all, i came here a little bit to demand an polling. jon knows about this, but not everybody does. when i first came back here and i was appointed to the job. i was coming over from the hart building to the senate to get sworn in. my daughters were 9, 7, and 4, and susan was with us, ann was with us, she was 4 and she was sucking her thumb from the hart office build toing the capitol -- building to the capitol. i was panicked because she was about to meet the president, i was worried about her meeting the vice president, but she was sucking her thumb. ann, stop sucking your thumb, you're in this beautiful dress,

ann please stop sucking your thumb, i'll do anything. i didn't realize that jon tester was on the subway car. he watched all of this happen. we had not met before. we got off this subway car and jon tester, who is the size that he is, and ann bennet, who is this size at the time and looking up at jon tester, he said, you know what happens if you keep sucking your thumb. she said no, and he whipped out his left hand and he showed it to her. she is 20 years old and she has not recovered from that moment ever. cries herself to sleep every night because of what jon tester did on that very first day that we were together. i'll never forget it because it made me, you know, realize what

an extraordinarily genuine person he is. who else would take the risk of not ever having met somebody around this place and do that to their 4-year-old daughter, but jon tester would and that's why he's a legend in our house. one of the many reasons. we have a chance, one of the things i'm going to miss most about jon is that for years and years and years, we've traveled back and forth from the west to be on this floor together with a number of senators from the western united states who have had to stop in denver on their way to where ever they go. i have been very fortunate because i get to denver and i'm a half-hour from my home. jon, if he makes his flight, if he makes his connection, is hours away from landing in montana and then he's another hour and a half away from home

at least depending on where he's going. and then, as he said today, and as all of us know, there are many nights when he's been working on the combine doing other things around the shop that kept him up until 3 o'clock in the morning with charla working on things as he does with his real job on the farm. when the people in this chamber barely can hold on to the one job they have here, jon and charla have been working two jobs, maybe three jobs in the time that he's been in the u.s. senate. and as mark warner said, never a word of complaint. jon doesn't fit all that well into the plane seats going back and forth to montana and yet i've never heard him complain about being on that flight ever. never heard him complain about being on a second flight ever or the fact that he worked at 3 o'clock in the morning.

in fact he knew it was a privilege to be able to have the chance to do both. that he had a chance to be able to serve here and a chance to be able to contribute to his family by working on his farm and all of us should have that level of connection to the people that we represent, to the place that we represent. that's why in my view jon's loss is not just a loss for democrats, it's not a loss particularly for democrats and it's not his loss. in many ways it's a loss for the u.s. senate because we're the ones that are poorer for jon not being here. jon's life, i think, will be enriched by not being here. our lives are going to be poorer because he's not here, and that's because i think when you think about what the founders had in mind when they set up this form of representative government, they knew a lot about the worst parts of human

nature. they did. they worried about it. they wrote about it. they talked about what humans could do to one another and they worried what despots could do in a republican form of government, they worried about what self-interested legislators could do, they worried about what parties could do, but one of the things they counted on, what they said we would be sunk if we didn't have was public virtue, was virtue that the elected leaders would have and that the american people would have. to be the glue that held together the set of rules that they were writing. that held together the aspirations that we're making, that held together the assumptions they had about what it might be like to live in place where there was no king or tyrant to tell you what to think, where you lived in a

place where you actually had the freedom to think for yourself and the freedom to disagree with other people and out of those disagreements, we wouldn't create shabby compromises but we would create more imaginative solutions than any king or tyrant could come up with on their own. that was the whole idea, but the whole thing relied on something you couldn't legislate across the ages which was public virtue, the virtue of somebody who can bring his life experience to this place and inform his colleagues about that, the perspectives of his state, the perspectives of rural montana, the perspectives of the west and never proceeded on an idea that he had a monopoly on

wisdom or that he couldn't learn something from somebody else. and that's what we're going to miss because i think he has set the standard, a standard that the founders of this country imagined we would be at our very best, not just as senators, much more important than that, as citizens of this country. and so i'm going to miss him terribly for all of that. because i think underneath his tough exterior was somebody who had a huge heart for the people of montana, for the people of his hometown, big sandy, for the american west, but also for what this democracy can actually be, and that's an example we can never let go of. so, thank you, jon, for setting that example while you've been here. i yield the floor.

the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. brown: i just arrived from the airport. i hurried because i wanted to be here for jon tester. i love the guy. no one takes his job for seriously and has more time doing this job than jon tester. that laughter, that commitment, that idealism was eneffectus. we worked on two committees together. one i chaired, one he chairs, or chairs still, the veterans' committee, be look what we did for veterans, i got the honor of being the wingman. and with people like tina smith and jeff merkley was once on that committee, how we worked to deliver on housing. when i say how seriously jon took this job, i think about how

hard it was for him to get here every week. two years ago, he decided to run for election, he knew the pressure and the challenge, it takes me a few hours, it takes him nine hours, he goes home every weekend to look out for his constituents and to represent them. as i said, no one takes his job more seriously and has more fun doing it. he will be missed by everybody. this body will miss him for that infectious spirit that really is what this country is all about and it's -- it was just such an honor for 18 years, we were sworn in the same day and such an honor to serve with jon tester of montana. thank you. . a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from maine king mr.

president, i'll be belief because i'm about to relieve you in the chair so my time is very limited. there are two aspects to john's life i would like to comment on. i experienced both. one was as a legislator and a senator. the other was as a friend. and he was a master legislator. the pact act would not have happened without jon tester. that's just a fact. there are thousands, millions of veterans across the country here who are going to benefit from that act of legislative work that it took to get that across the finish line. i remember being here and there were some procedural votes. we fell back. jon stayed at it and we got it done. all that many of the comments today have been about jon as a legislator. as a senator, as a model senator, but i also want to comment on jon as a friend. jon is one of the best human beings i've ever met. not necessarily one of the best -- i'm not saying legislator, public servant,

schoolteacher. i'm talking human being. i'm talking about a person who is real. my wife is jewish. she would call him a mensch, somebody who steps up. he's been a friend to me throughout. we've had innumerable dinners together. i don't think he's ever paid for one. but we have spent so much time together and i have learned so much from jon about commitment, about honesty, about integrity, about serving the public, and i just want to say we're losing a great human being here as well as a great legislator. and i want to echo cory booker. i love you, man. we're going to miss you. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor.

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from montana. mr. tester: thank you and i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the clerk: ms. baldwin.

injustice and save the world. john f. she will not. [cheering] [cheering] >> good afternoon. [cheering] welcome. welcome back to the state department. welcome to one of our favorite

places. i'm always inside in this room. our first ever, secure our independence. pioneer electricity give ourselves self-government virtually none of this while sober so that is all of us on behalf of myself, from to have you here. welcome home. once having this quality through, look back. one virtual moment after another

john kerry. we see him as a 12-year-old son an american in his place to points around soviet control volunteering to fight. years later the u.s. government will relations committee and a few more decades there he is on the other side as his chair. years later the same man state what's up to the podium at the assembly like you so in with his daughter in his lap signs that. support on behalf of the united states, now for the rest of us

here world, anyone of these experiences have been dividing. he enabled his contribution childhood years living abroad as it did me the eyes of others and stereotypes and when turned from the large the same been. his father passed on about the

policy. but make sure done everything possible to set the policy burning sense of purpose conference every hour. energizer bunny.

he go anywhere, indoor exhaustion, physical pain the mission the iran deal the rare. he decided to exercise the fox around and crashed rush back for surgery. ready for tomorrow.

what happened. normally people would take weeks for. one iota and days later part of the table the door and they worked. one reason was so affected not just in policy but in politics.

whether would take to overcome. the senate will come to order.

the vice president: the chair lays before the senate communications regarding the resignations from the senate of senator butler and senator helmy. without objection, the communications will be printed in the record. the chair lays before the senate a certificate of appointment to fill the unexpired term created by the resignation of bob menendez, former senator from new jersey, a certificate of election to fill the unexpired term caused by the resignation

of ben sasse, former senator from nebraska, and a certificate of appointment to fill the unexpired term created by the death of the late-senator dianne feinstein of the state of the california. the certificates, the chair is advised, are in the form suggested by the senate. hearing no objection, the reading of the certificates will be waived and they will be printed in full in the record. if the senator-elect and senators-designate will now present themselves at the desk, the chair will administer the oath of office.

the vice president: please raise your right hand. do you solemnly swear that you will support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that you will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that you take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which you are about to enter, so help you god? the senators: i do. the vice president: congratulations, senators.

. mr. durbin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent --

the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent that the scheduled roll call vote start immediately. the presiding officer: without objection. the question occurs on the nomination. mr. durbin: i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. there will a sufficient second. the clerk will call the roll. vote: the clerk: ms. baldwin.

the clerk: mr. barrasso. mr. bennet. mrs. blackburn. mr. blumenthal. mr. booker. mr. boozman. mr. braun. mrs. britt. mr. brown. mr. budd.

ms. butler. ms. cantwell. mrs. capito. mr. cardin. the clerk: 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. the clerk: mr. hoeven.

mr. hoeven. mrs. hyde-smith. mr. johnson. mr. kaine. mr. kelly. mr. kennedy. mr. king. ms. klobuchar. mr. lankford. mr. lee.

the clerk: mr. lankford. mr. lee. mr. lujan. ms. lummis. mr. manchin. mr. markey. mr. marshall. mr. mcconnell. mr. merkley. mr. moran. mr. mullin. ms. murkowski. mr. murphy. mrs. murray. mr. ossoff. mr. padilla. mr. paul. mr. peters. mr. reed. mr. ricketts. mr. risch. mr. romney. ms. rosen. mr. rounds. mr. rubio. mr. sanders. mr. schatz. mr. schiff. 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.

vote:

swearingen here. [inaudible] >> okay. [inaudible] [inaudible]

[inaudible] [inaudible]

[inaudible] >> i have taken it. >> okay. raise your right hand. will support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies, foreign and,hi domestic. you will take this obligation freely without any mental reservation you will well and faithfully upon which you are about to enter so help you god. congratulations. family members here.

>> we have to properly meet. i've talked to your dad about you guys. who is this. >> august. >> very nice to meet you. >> who is this? kamala harris. [laughter] >> i was one of the united states senator and i thank you giving permission for your whole family. thank you all. >> one -- two -- three.

>> take care. >> bye, guys. i'll see you next time. >> every two years. [laughter] good to see you again. you solemnly swear you were defend united states since all enemies, foreign and domestic in faith and allegiance to the same and take this obligation freely without any mental observation and will well and faithfully

discharge the duty the office upon which you are about to enter, so help you got it. congratulations. >> there you go ready. one -- two -- 30 -- okay. >> have a good holiday. >> merry christmas.

work it out all family.

he will well and faithfully discharge the duty of what you are about to enter. so help you god. it is now done. [inaudible]

>> enjoy. and thank you.

the clerk: mrs. gillibrand, aye.

the clerk: ms. stabenow, aye. the clerk: ms. stabenow, aye. repeat in detail everything you said but i want to emphasize these.

come home his family and special envoy in beirut present all these in the region to support this effort. the secretary of lincoln has had directly to the family including the past few days not rest until. a peaceful transition of power accountable here during syria the spirit of un council resolution 254. action and participation in the population including members of minorities.

the 2011 to engage in the political process as well as lines, on partners such as russia, iran and groups like hezbollah suppression that led to his own collapse. it is critical these are the ones to find the path forward. a brighter future. terry for eastern affairs location. we will read out all the conversations as they happened. the u.s. will continue to support neighbors including jordan, lebanon, iraq and israel should any threats arise during this transition and maintain

concise assent effect forces against any rents and military ranks. >> it only took 12 years. 4430 days. >> the biden administration. >> in terms of beirut. >> i'm not going to get into exact details happening but i'll talk about what this approaches.

the rogers approach when it comes to returning home who are unjustly detained to do everything possible no stone unturned to gather information wherever you can and anyone willing to take action to get american citizens home talk with people and parties in the region and collect information and find out where this and get him home as soon as possible. >> where are they let's.

>> there's a lot of speculation that there should be or may be or could be in it strongly denied. and what i will say all of our sanctions are imposed in response action. they are designed to be an incentive of organization in countries.

we want to see groups we have sanctioned take a different path forward and that is true here. we have heard hopeful statements and we have heard them saying great things about inclusion in our policy response will be determined by that. >> out of the way right now as it relates to what happens. >> that said, we are always reviewing based on their reaction. of course that can be a change but we have nothing to do right now.

>> russia of course. and whether they will. >> we don't have any information on the regime, but they may or may not do. russia has a lot to answer for. you seem russia about on strike targeting civilian inside.

the brutal parent responsible that they have a lot to answer for individuals across europe and the russian facilities that remain inside. with respect to the united states position is ultimately a decision for the material people to make but i don't think you can look at the influence russia has had inside syria.

>> the actions you are taking and what we judge them by and ideals 2254. >> the aftermath across this.

and what happened that led up to this event. in the buffer zone which creates a vacuum and said israel and these are not permanent actions. between israel and security and that means support all of holdings in the engagement

agreement. >> in response to actions to withdraw from that area. and right now there's a vacuum. not just for israel security and potentially to the people of syria.

>> and it is temporary. >> six months or a year? >> , going to get into the diplomatic conversation. >> going back to u.s. engagement. yesterday the officials reporters and said some of them.

>> you might remember the previous administration engaged with the telegram. and with this organization communicate by talking with people not one of them. intermediaries you will live

well yes all within my voice right now that you and moving forward with organization taking advantage of the situation to improve their standing in the political catholic of syria people not anyone a close active terribly. >> trying to engage back going to get a little to not read out one by one. actors but i can tell you the

have the ability to communicate directly or indirectly. the interest i outlined will make clear of those and what we believe. >> or the last four years we didn't have a whole lot about syria. clearly an issue on the back burner. it is simply a fact. do you feel undercutting our efforts right now you have? >> most of what i talk about is

not my choice, it's yours. >> i response to the question from reporters in this room and i don't think it's fair to judge my lack of responding to lack of questions about it as an indication of the work going on and set the department and station. i look like of course he was the public work around matters that require little engagement from the senior leaders of this department but the policy developed during the latter stages is largely carried

through to this day ultimately led to the situation we are in today and combined with the policy this administration pursued begins russia, iran has a lot so does the sanctions imposed on the regime, international coalition to hold us out accountable and then when he found himself in a moment of weakness the past ten days, the fact that they were weakened by the dramatic military efforts, the had a major role and what

happens to the site oftentimes lack of public conversation about syria when you look at the policies we pursued to take on iran and russia and combined with any political engagement, that's what got us here today to make it sound like we are. >> a rule of engagement and the

ability to have conversations. >> the ability to engage with these different groups. the person who arguably led this? >> i don't think it's a good idea for me to discuss that with groups inside syria directly or indirectly want to make clear the same points made publicly. we want to gauge with an organization that might have information about the whereabouts of austin heise.

i am not going to talk about what travels roger may or may not. >> he went in 2020 and met with the syrians and for what we understand there is no proof of life offered. can you see if there's been a proof of life since the video? >> and think where i will leave it where it's appropriate to leave it back up and say it's a matter we discussed directly with the family on friday. we believe we assess a lot. were working to try to get them home. i think the details that lead us to that conclusion and i will not speak too publicly. >> just the last thing, they decided they have new information that he is alive and being treated well is there

anything new is far as you understand? as i'm going to leave it with my previous example. we have reason to believe he is alive. we are working to bring them home. when it comes to the details we need to keep those discussions privately with him and not eric publicly here. >> the u.s. would send a team in our american date detainee to come out of about have that not able to access and similes present locations with their a scenario where the u.s. could help with that? was his job to get into hypotheticals. obviously we want to see those but also syrians who have been unjustly detained it's important if they be released not going to

do what if any assistance the u.s. might offer at this stage. >> report their striking. >> look, we believe it is important the chemical weapons stockpiles may be destroyed. we plan to work with our partners in the region to that effect we will continue to make clear to the incoming government, then coming a regime that is important. now we have seen the public's statements that they do not want to use chemical weapons. they have no interest in using chemical weapons. that's a productive statement but we won't see the chemical weapons stockpiled secure in ultimate destroyed.

>> what we say on syria tom go-ahead. >> did the administration. [inaudible] >> we did not directly see the fall of assad we certainly saw his regime was incredibly weak. look, this is what i said a minute ago we have been very clear going back to 2014 that the path forward was to the implementation of un security council resolution 2254. the most relevant portion of that security council resolution is for assad to do something to engage with a zone of public comments own people about a political path forward and saw him do nothing. not only do nothing but continue to approve he oppresses people. and so you have a dictator who engages in that type of behavior the regime is going to be weak. it's going to be brittle.

and that's true not just for assad it's true for other authoritarian regimes around the world. and so you take that and combine it with the weakening of russia's military capabilities and the weakening of our ron's capability and hezbollah capabilities and ultimately we played a part in that get you to where we are today. that's not to say we foresaw the lot of an offense of 10 or so days ago but we certainly saw how weak the assad regime was. i will note it was about a year or so ago we had a conversation in here about other countries in the region re- admitting syria to the arab league. what you heard me say at the time the position of the united states as assad has done none of the things that the international community collectively asked him to do.

every country has to make their own decisions about how to respond to that refusal on his part but we, the united states decided we were not ready to restore relations with him as usual but we were not ready to lift the sanctions on that we are not ready to lift the pressure on them because we had seen him take none of those steps. it's the combination of his refusal to engage with the zone public and the pressure we and other countries around the world put on him that ultimately asked we are today. sorry for the long-winded answer. >> asked the question your input u.s. administration is taking the credit for the decision created the condition that hezbollah is on russia. and therefore if you kind of break it you own it which has been your planning for

neutrality what leverage you have? what influence you have their wrong control in damascus? what do you say now? >> that you not want to totally reject the premise of the question that really is the wrong way to look at the question. leverage or influence the united states have. ultimately this is a process that needs to be led by syrians. not by the united states. not by any other country in the region. what we can do is make clear that we will support the syrian people. on this path toward a better future. we are going to protect our own interest what we do that were going to make sure isis does not reemerge. it's not for the united states to try to use its influence or leverage to dictate any path forward for them.

we went to see them make those decisions on their own. now, we are going to be clear on engaging with all the relevant parties inside syria and elsewhere in the region there are a few core fundamental that we want to see respected and that moves forward. but ultimately these are decisions for the syrian people to make. not for us. >> if you are thinking about the way ahead there was a direction you want to take and when you don't want to take. i am asking about what you can do. >> for question. fair question. there are sanctions the united states has imposed on syria. there are various forms of diplomatic relations that we spend with others. all of those things are the tools that the united states has in its toolbox when it comes to responding to the situation. when i say we will judge by

their actions we will respond to our own that is a kind of thing i am talking about. i want to make that sort of statement. >> syrian people with is what trust they have in the u.s. i desperately wanted more support consumer complaints in the sky than what it air defenses for hospitals and homes.

what do we say it now? >> now? >> let me say this. first of always send her the syrian people we have always stood with the syrian people on stood against the brutal tyranny of bashar al-assad we have to make difficult decisions would t comes to direct military intervention. we know often times the consequences of direct u.s. military either in the short term or the long term outweigh the benefit that intervention can provide for those of the difficult decisions that we have to make. i know i stand in this briefing room all of the time and asked very hard questions about the results of u.s. supplying a weapons to parties in the middle east. they are difficult decisions we have to make. i will say we have always stood by the syrian people we have

taken actions to hold assad accountable and put pressure on the regime. it's those actions and combinations of the other factors are gone through today that ultimately led to the events of the past 48 or 72 hours. >> have a couple of questions. is it assad's frame you want to the behavior? today there is meeting with the former prime minister of the regime. doing certain things for the people of syria. because of their talk about weeks and months that will take us to the next administration. >> i cannot give you a timeframe today. i do think we all ought to take a beat and recognize we are not

even 48 hours now since the assad regime felt. fell.we are in the very early sg what actions are taken and other parties inside syria. so we are going to make ongoing assessments based on their actions and we will respond based on those actions. we cannot give you any kind of timetable for how that will unfold going forward. >> the regime should be held accountable. what do you support to stand in for the icc with crimes against humanity? >> we support the work of the icc obviously have disagreed hold on hold on. we do support let me answer the question. let me answer the question. i was addressing that before he interrupted me we have a jurisdictional dispute with them as it relates to cases against

israel. that's it long dispute with that said we have made it clear we support broadly their work despite this jurisdictional dispute when it comes to israel. with that said, when it comes to assad i suspect before you ever get to the icc the people of syria will want him to return home and stand judgment for his crime in syria. [inaudible] >> i doubt he's going to -- --mickey's not going to return home from russia i doubt he's going to transfer himself to the hague at leaving the russian protection. my point being, should he ever decide to face accountability or should the russians decide they do not want to harbor a war criminal there may be a whole range of people in line to hold him accountable for his actions.

do you think there's undermining the trust in organizations like the icg by making an exception for israel when trying to convince us it takes too narrow of a view of the ways he could be held accountable for his crimes by just focusing on the idc. whatever comes out of the wake of the past 48 hours you will see a demand by the syrian people that he returned to syria and face justice for his crimes. thus the court of first jurisdiction before he gets dicey. comes the overall question i know we have a disagreement with other countries around the world. this has been a long-standing, good faith disagreement where

the icc has jurisdiction and where it does not based on the facts there is no recognize a palestinian state. >> this is what happened with rwanda, et cetera. another question, the tensions. [inaudible] is going to expired do you think this should be applied now question. >> i do not have any announcements on that act today. we are going to continue watch what happened to make our decisions moving forward. syria? ahead. >> yes. u.s. alliance how does the u.s. support. [inaudible] >> is been no change and our posture with respect to support. they continue to be a vital part of the fight against isis. they will continue to be so.

[inaudible] is it fair to say this or change? >> there has been a change with respect anything forward-looking old differ to my colleagues from the pentagon for that question. >> not ask you to give a prediction or not but has anyone checked in on the status of the embassy? >> oh yes. >> has been a long time since to them. >> a couple of things with respect to that question they are or were still protecting power but they have left their embassy in damascus. [inaudible] that is beyond my grasp unfortunately. that said, we have taken steps to secure our embassy we believe our embassy which we are not staffing at the time, but our embassy is still secure. >> what steps?

>> it is a security matter so i don't think i should get into it from here. >> are there u.s. question. >> know they're not u.s. personnel there are no u.s. forces there. we are at times able to engage with other parties to maintain the security of our embassy. to make sure it's not breached and we have taken the steps. >> on syria on monday the fight are you coordinating. [inaudible] >> our stance on this with all of the relevant parties has been clear. we do not want to see an escalation. we do not want to see anyone take advantage of this period of instability to try in further their own position inside syria. we are making that clear to all the concerned parties in the region. when you look at the important

work done to prosecute the fight against isis, to secure prisons were isis fighters are held, we do not want to see them distracted from that important duty in any way possible. we will continue to make that clear to parties in the region. are you working on this? >> i do not have anything to announce from here beyond what i just said. were they able to control in seven days without international in your view? >> well, the united states was not supporting them a let other countries speak for themselves. >> finally with tehran what are you concerned will. [inaudible] the nuclear bomb?

>> that is obviously an issue that we have been concerned about for some time and some we have been watching for some time we coordinate our departments. and without making an assessment i will were people we have always made clear which is that president invited will not allow iran to obtain a nuclear weapon. >> thank you. [inaudible] if that accountable especially refuses makes it complicit. >> and russia's arctic implicit in assad's nine crimes. we don't need any further action to their complicity with respect international law i'm not able to respond to that. [inaudible]

ukraine is fighting back with russia. what further signify. >> i cannot speak for years ahead obvious i'm a spokesperson for an administration that will be in an office for a little over one month. i can type as long as president biden is in office we will continue to support ukraine i would point to the broad support for ukraine in the united states congress and the american public that i cannot speak about any decisions administration will make. >> a move on to gaza. >> the rest of the room might get angry again but fine with me. >> majeski very quickly on syria [inaudible] i would have to take that back. as a factual question do not to.

>> i will move on to gaza. issued a situation report that really drove it home a dismal situation that has happened. it's updated between november 26 and. [inaudible] i was wondering what is the aid situation since the 12th of november israel can you update us and it figures what's happening to aid to gaza? with respect to actual figures opted take that back i can speak to the broad pattern. we did after the secretary secretary often sent that letter we did see israel take a number of steps now. the actual delivery of aid inside gaza continues to be incredibly challenging because of the security situation of the primary impediment continues to be that looting of convoys and tried to deliver the aid that make it to gaza.

actually to that last mile so it can be distributed to people that is something we can continue to work with united nations partners for government of israel. >> what effort have you taken to ensure going into gaza what measures have you taken? >> i can type secretary blinken met with the ford minister of israel on thursday of last week made it very clear to him the tt israel taken important steps to improve the humanitarian situation continue i need to do more. we want to see more provision of aid to the palestinian people we want to see the aid get distributed and everywhere inside gaza. >> one more question. is there any likelihood this president, before he departs office could take any emergency measures to re- infuse aid? >> we do not have the ability

tolock to do that for as you knw congress barred the humanity and assistance and we are bound by that law extends until march i fed them next year which is past the president's time in office. i will say despite that ban on funding the united states is a program make nearly one point to billion dollars in humanitarian assistance to assist the palestinians refugees and others in gaza, west bank and neighboring countries through other human organizations. in a couple more questions. [inaudible] two van the use of the term a west bank she have any comment on that? >> i do not have any comment on the legislation we will continue to refer to the west bank as the west bank because that is what it is. >> and finally i know we spoke last week about amnesty.

we refuse to acknowledge what israel is doing. ajority leader recognized. mr. schumer: mr. president, i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all in favor, aye. nays? the ayes have. the motion is agreed to. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar 783. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all those in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, national labor relations board, laryn mcgarity mcferran of the district of columbia to be a member. mr. schumer: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules

of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of executive calendar 783, lauren mcgarry mcferran, of the district of columbia, to be a member of the national labor relations board. signed by 19 senators as follows. mr. schumer: i ask consent the reading the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i monday to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all those in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. schumer: i send a cloture motion to the desk. oh, i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar 784. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all those in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, national labor relations board, joshua l. di ditleberg of illinois to be a

member. mr. schumer: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of executive calendar number 784, joshua l. ditelberg of illinois to be a member of the national labor relations board signed by 18 senators as follows. mr. schumer: i ask the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask the senate be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today it stand adjourned until 10:00 a.m. on tuesday, december 10. following the prayer and pledge, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour deemed expired, the time for the two leaders reserved for

use later in the day, morning business be closed. following conclusion of morning business, the senate resume consideration of the mcferran nomination further at 11:30 a.m., the vote on confirmation of the neary nomination provided understand the order of december 4. further, the senate recess following confirmation vote until 215 for the weekly caucus meetings. if any nominations are confirmed tuesday, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, and the president be immediately notified of the president's action. mr. s the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: if there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order following the remarks of senator cramer. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. the junior senator from north dakota is recognized. mr. cramer: thank you, mr. president. . mr. president, it's good for me to speak tonight about my good friend and fellow north dakotan governor doug burgum.

on november 15, president trump chose doug burgum as secretary of the department of interior and to chair the national energy council. he is the perfect canned date for this job, and i urge this body to take up his nomination swiftly. to my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, i encourage you to engage with him throughout the confirmation process. you will find the same inquisitive, engaging executive north dakotans know very well. doug burgum does things differently than most, i warn you. it is his name. he is, after all, a risk taker. he mortgaged, literally, his family farm to get $250,000 in seed capital that he needed to buy into his first company, a small business solutions start-up in fargo, called great plains software. great plains grew from a dozen or so to over 2200 employees before it was sold to microsort

in 2001 for $1.1 billion. now fargo, north dakota, is home to one of the largest microsoft campuses in the country. doug burgum, ever the entrepreneur, became a venture capitalist, and much like president trump turned to real estate development. he found the the kilborn group, revitalizing downtown fargo. in 2016, he burst into the north dakota political scene during his first run for governor, without any prior political experience, catching the party and the state by surprise, overwhelmingly, overwhelmingly winning. as governor, doug led like a ceo and guided our state to one of the highest rates of gdp per capita. under his probusiness leadership, we also have one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation. agriculture, infrastructure, energy and technology make our

state a commodity powerhouse that feeds and fuels the world. mr. president, north dakota is also where our nation's 26th president theodore roosevelt came to live and ranch. the badlands were where he learned and built his legacy of natural resource management, and where he recognized, quote, the right and duty of this generation to develop and use the natural resources of our land. he said i do not recognize the right to waste them nor to rob by wasteful use, the generations that come after us. governor burgum embodies the t.r. spirit. he understands the difference between energy development and stewardship better than anyone i know and more importantly, mr. president, he's committed to that delicate balance. teddy roosevelt's ethos will be

a model for his service as secretary of the interior. mr. president, no doubt part of the recent president trump chose doug burgum is they're both successful entrepreneurs and political outsiders. just as importantly, both are unafraid to disrupt the status quo. by definition and tradition, a cabinet secretary's role is limited to the confines of the agency that they lead, the constitution and the laws of the united states. but when president trump announced governor burgum to serve as secretary of the interior, he also announced the formation, the establishment of a national energy council with doug serving as its very first chair. this will include every agency involved in the development, and production of american-made energy. this coordination is a radically commonsense solution to an

overb overb overbearing bureaucracy. proof that president trump understands that energy security is in fact national security. mr. president, doug burgum is a global talent agency would recommend to be chair of the national energy council if you paid them a million dollars to hunt for the perfect candidate. his leadership on energy and natural resource development is far greater than an individual cabinet post. the pick of governor burgum and the creation of the council are brilliant moves by a president who made energy dominance a central pillar of his second administration. and like every other cabinet secretary nominee, doug burgum will come before the senate first in committee and then on the floor for a senate-wide vote. we will fulfill constitutional duty and obligation to provide our advice and consent to the president's nominee.

a senate-confirmed cabinet nominee also serving as chair of the national energy council adds to the post. his confirmation by this body makes him for more than a czar or powerful bureaucrat. the council will provide accountability that the biden so-called climate advisors never had. instead of lackeys dumping policies, the agencies will craft the policy in coordination with one another in congress. the federal government is sprawling contradictory and just plain inefficient and ineffective. it needs a visionary at the helm to make plans that are coordinated and complementary working toward a common goal. unfortunately the current administration's energy policy has been anything but cohesive. let's look at carbon capture and sequestration as an example.

the administration's climate and energy strategies said it was critical to keep electricity reliable and affordable, they offered billions of dollars of incentives from the department of energy and treasury to develop and get ccus off the ground. another agency, the epa fanlized its -- finalized its clean power plan mandating ccs while it was still in development and set the requirements so high, nobody no matter how much money they had to complete them. making it mandatory to meet the climate objectives. multiple agencies in the same administration working against each other seemingly on purpose. mr. president, it makes no sense and it is just one example of many of the need for coordinated energy policy.

we need -- we need these dedicated outsiders like president trump and governor burgum to even begin to clean up the mess of the past four years and make energy policy make sebs again. undoing the mountain of biden administration regulations is the first step to unleashing our energy potential. but if will take deliberate, thoughtful coordination between the department of interior, department of energy, the environmental protection agency, department of agriculture and, yes, the department of justice and others encouraging american energy development requires making producers interactions with the federal government as seamless as possible and we must have a justice department committed to the laws and policies they're responsible for defending. there are lots of examples where arrogant doj attorneys overrule lawyers. can you imagine having an attorney disagree with you and so they if to court and litigate

against your position. that happens all the time in our doj. as chair of the national energy council, doug burgum will be at the forefront of slashing red tape to make american energy great again. i congratulate president trump and governor burgum, january 20, can't get here too soon. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the senate stands adjourned until stands adjourned until the senate is considering more of president biden's judicial nominees including u.s. district court judge for northern georgia. he said it has approved 230 judges to lifetime appointments from the biden administration. for fewer than the number of judges confirmed during donald trump's first term as president. also today democratic senator elect andy kim of new jersey and adam schiff of california were sworn in as centers following

their resignations from the house. senator pete ricketts was sworn back into the senate. he was appointed to replace ben's when resigned of a special election in november to serve out the remaining term which ends in 2027. c-span is your unfiltered view of government. funded by these television companies and more including charter communication. >> charter is proud to be recognized as one of the best internet providers we are just getting started. building one of the thousand miles of new infrastructure to those who need it most. support c-span as a public service giving you a front row seat to democracy on tuesday at u.s. postmaster general luis does joy testifies on efforts to modernize and improve efficiency

at u.s. post offices but watch the house oversight and accountability committee hearing live at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span three. pour online at c-span.org u.s. deputy secretary of state kurt campbell u.s. foreign relations as part of an aspen strategy group discussion she foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell is the moderator of this event is about 30 minutes. >> thank you very much it's not as though are a few things going on in the world right now to take your time. so let's start with south korea. the fact the president is now facing the party to control the national assembly.