security council -- [inaudible] secure these weapons? >> a few things about that. number one, it is the responsibility of those who are taking the reins of power inside syria first and foremost to secure and destroy any chemical weapons that they find in areas that they control. that's the first entry to the question. obviously using hts sees territory and it certainly is quite possible that in the territory they seize their chemical weapons, they might not have full inventory yet, they've only been a controls masses a couple days but that is the first answer this question. the second answer is there is an emergency session of the organisation for the prohibition of chemical weapons executive council that has been called the will meet this thursday to address the recent filament on the ground -- >> with the senate family back in we believe this program here. one vote this afternoon,

3:45 p.m. on the u.s. district judge for the central district of california. live senate coverage on c-span2. 8 years as speaker of the house, 20 years in the house of representatives, and 18 years in the united states senate, including now chairing the senate foreign relations committee. let me start by thanking marylanders for giving me your trust to represent you in this august body. you have supported me in 18 elections. the hebrew letter for 18 is hai, which also means life, 58 years of my life. my grandparents came to this country over 100 years ago to escape in europe. they settled in baltimore and built a life for their family. their grandson now serves in the united states senate. this is a great country. marylanders have allowed me to pursue my ambition of public

service to help others whose voices and needs are often ignored in the halls of power. in my family, i was taught from a young age that it's our responsibility to make the world a better place. repair the world. and help those that are less fortunate and are in need. saduka, charity. these were demonstrated to me by the communal activities of my parents. these values have been my north star that guided my public service as a legislator. of course the work of a legislator is not always easy. it requires perseverance, patience, a sense of humor and optimism that can make the world a better place, even in the face of often horrible seemingly insurmountable challenges. but as i look back at my time here, it's the hardest battles that were some of the most rewarding. each one reflects the values i

cherish and collective will to help make the world around us and our communities a better place to live. on the senate finance committee, i've had a front seat advancing health policy. i was fortunate to serve with the champion of health care, senator ted kennedy. he was a mentor to me, as the steps we can take so all americans have access to affordable quality health care. health care should be a right for everyone in this country and not a privilege only for those who can afford it. i was proud to be part of the congress that passed the affordable care act. that law included my legislation that elevated the national institute for minority health and health disparities at nih. as much progress this has brought, the struggle for health care equality continues. today medicare coverage includes legislation i authored for screening and preventive care, saving lives and dollars. and all health insurance now

covers pediatric dental care which was legislation i authored after the tragic death of deamonte driver, a 12-year-old in maryland whose life could have been saved with a simple tooth extraction. i partnered with senator rob portman in both the house and in the senate to expand retirement security particularly for lower-wage workers. thanks to legislation we coauthored and has been enacted into law, more employers are providing opportunities for their employees to participate in retirement plans. our legislation included a saver's credit for lower-wage workers and automatic enrollment provisions that have dramatically increased participation by employees. in the last ten years, participation in retirement savings for the lowest-income quintile of americans has increased by 135%. and in affordable housing and

economic development in underserved communities, i've worked with senator cantwell on improvements to the low-income housing tax credit. i have authored successful legislation to expand the new market tax credits and historic tax credits which have been used for economic development of p affordable housing opportunities across maryland and our nation. examples of the use of these tools in maryland include the justice thurgood marshall center in baltimore, the wally bates legacy center in annapolis. and just yesterday senator van hollen and i were at the southern stream health and wellness center that used tax credits with bishop hickman which is energizing and revitalizing communities in east baltimore. on the environment and works community itched opportunities.

the recently enacted law included funding for reconnecting communities that have been divided and disadvantaged through ill-conceived transportation projects. the poster child for this initiative is the franklin mull bury carter in baltimore. it is not surprising that baltimore received funding in the first round of federal grants. i'm equally proud of the expansion of the transportation alternative program, t.a.p. i was the author of the t.a.p. program that allows governments to make their own priority decisions on the use of part of the federal highway funds. that has been a favored source of funds to provide trails for local communities that connect neighborhoods for walkers and bikers, including, for example, the rehabilitation of the c&o path in washington, frederick and montgomery counties. myrna and i take advantage of these paths to absorb the beauty of our communities that are now connected through paths and

trails. older communities still have lead pipes bringing drinking water into their homes, and schools threatening the health of our children. bipartisan infrastructure law provides significant help to eliminate this public health threat, including $82 million in federal grants for maryland. it also provides unprecedented increases in transit funding, a priority of mine, which is particularly important to traditionally underserved and underrepresented communities. this law allows maryland to move forward again with the transit red line in baltimore. funding for amtrak enabled baltimore to begin construction of the frederick douglass tunnel to expedite travel along the northeast corridor. one of my top priorities as a maryland senator has been to promote the health of the chesapeake bay and the federal partnership has been essential in this cause. the bay is a national treasure, the largest estuary in our

hemisphere and iconic to maryland. it is in our dna, particularly important to our economy and our way of life. our first -- i first started fighting for the bay in the maryland general assembly. when i was speaker of the house, i partnered with governor hughes to establish the multistate effort to save the bay. it led to the partnership with six states and the district of columbia and the federal bay program. maryland senators have taken the federal lead. starting with senator mathias, then-senator paul sarbanes and barbara mikulski and now senator chris van hollen and myself. during my years in the senate i worked with my colleagues to increase funds for the bay including the epa, noaa, army corps of engineers, wastewater treatment funds, watershed grant funds, oyster restoration funds, removal of invasive species to the blue catfish and many, many

more. i particularly want to note with pride funding for popular and midbay. location for dredging disposals that have been used for environmental restoration and noncontroversial locations necessary to keep our channels commercially competitive. our work on the chesapeake bay is working and has become a global model, a multijurisdictional cooperation. the environment and public works committee helps each region of our country that suffers from a catastrophic event, that destroys infrastructure. i thank the leadership of the committee for reaching out to maryland after the tragic loss of the francis scott key bridge. the biden administration has been there every step of the way to help maryland, and i am confident that congress will provide the resources and authority to move forward on the construction of the new bridge as quickly as possible. i have been both the chair and ranking member on the small

business and entrepreneurship committee. i am so proud of the bipartisan work of the committee, working with senator rubio particularly during covid. the historic relief packages we designed not only saved many small businesses, but truly helped to save our economy during the pandemic. i am particularly proud of the focus i brought to help traditionally underserved communities. senator warner and i worked to provide support for the cdfi's, so financing options were available in underbanked communities, including nonprofits and returning citizens to the program, once again provided help and services to often forgotten neighborhoods. during my chairmanship maried expanded from one to four business centers. two are located at hcbu's. because of these programs, small businesses are thriving in maryland, especially those led by women, particularly women of color.

my service in congress built on my record of inclusion started with my service in the maryland general assembly. as a baltimore city legislator, i fought for equalizeization of state educational funds to favor poor property wealth jurisdiction such as baltimore city. i helped develop the maryland hospital all payer rate system for equal health care access regardless of economic circumstances. under this system maryland avoided having charity hospitals. as a member of the house of representatives and the united states senate, i helped preserve and strengthen the maryland hospital rate system. i was the leader in the state of maryland for the development of the circuit breaker property tax credit program that allows seniors to remain in their homes. and as speaker of the house, i appointed the first woman, the first african american to chair a standing committee. one of my proudest accomplishments as a legislator came in the united states senate.

it was the passage and enactment of the sergei magnitsky rule of law accountability act. this law was inspired by the death of sergei magnitsky, a russian tax attorney who was murdered 15 years ago last month for uncovering corruption. the story has been told to the world by p his client bill browder and came to my attention as the chair of the helsinki commission. when i was first elected to congress in 1987, my family was involved in the cause of getting soviet jews out of the soviet union. my wife myrna was leader of the maryland committee for soviet jewry. my friend representative hoyer chaired the u.s. helsinki commission that took up the cause of soviet jews and gave me the opportunity to become involved. steny and i traveled together to several countries behind the iron curtain to give hope to those who were living in countries where their leader

denied their citizens basic human rights. when sergei magnitsky was killed it was clear to me that those who violated their human rights needed to be held accountable. the magnitsky rule of law accountability act targeted individuals who were complicit in his jailing and murder. it blocked these individuals from enjoying the benefits of america, from traveling to our country or using our banking system. it put their reputation, ability to travel and access to their assets at risk. these policies were influenced by senator scoop jackson's legislation, the jackson-vanik law that denied trade privileges to countries that blocked their citizens from emigrating. when jackson-vanik was repealed, because its purpose had been accomplished, it was appropriate that that legislation was used as the vehicle to replace jackson-vanik with magnitsky.

the original magnitsky law focused on human rights abuses in russia and in 2016 i authored the global magnitsky human rights act which expanded legislation around the world. these laws have given birth to a new international legal framework for upholding human rights and deterring corrupt actors. the european union and other governments around the world have replicated the magnitsky system. as of this year the u.s. program sanctioned more than 650 foreign persons and entities. i have to underline a really important point. these laws were not easy to pass. the push-back from russia alone was historic and continues to this day. but it was the bipartisan support that allowed these bills to make it through the process. i want to acknowledge senator dick lugar, john mccain, and roger wicker, my partners in getting the magnitsky laws

enacted. as a result, they have been, not only been enacted but they have been very effective. despite setbacks and opposition, we never gave up hope, and today corrupt leader fear the magnitsky sanctions. the safety of human rights defenders have benefited from these laws. over and over again my work as a legislator, i have seen the importance of never giving up. i've seen the soviet jews liberated from the former soviet union. the berlin wall torn down, former communist-control countries now nato allies and political prisoners released to freedom. it's great to see my friend vladimir khara mrsa --sthis only

one thing i will not concede that it might be meaningless to strive in a good cause. each of us can make a difference. never give up hope. dr. martin luther king jr. said everybody can be great because everybody can serve. as my friend and classmate in the house of representatives along with my house mate representative mfume, as the famous philosopher from baltimore babe ruth associated, never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game. i often speak about the need of value-based approach to policiesy making, this has run through in health care, creating economic opportunities for all. perhaps nowhere has this been more fundamental than when it

comes to foreign policy and national security. president biden got it right when he spoke about our international engagement. he said we must start in america's most cherished democratic values, defending freedom, upholding universal rights, respecting the rule of law and treating every person with dignity. as chair of the senate foreign relations committee i made promoting value-based foreign policies decisions is i am proud of my work with senator tom young on -- that legislation requires each of our embassies around the world to evaluate how effective the country in which our embassy is located is fighting corruption. the model used for this is similar to the tear rangings and reports with countries not making progress in their

rankings against human trafficking, leading globally against human trafficening and corruption ask an american based foreign policy at its finest, america's strength is in our values. we need to lead globally with our strength. my ability to uphold core universal values was made possible because of my incredible partners, because of their deep values and commitment, there is no way i could have achieved what i've been able to achieve if it weren't for my incredible staff. their loyalty, dedication to public service and their talent made the cardin team. in 38 years in congress, i've only had two chiefs, dave and chris lynch. both led by example and recruited the very best to public service. for over 25 years, debbie amtta

has managed -- attempted to manage the impossible, me. i would like to incorporate in the record my staff i've been blessed to have in my years in the united states senate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cardin: our staff works for less hours than they would make in the private sector. to my staff, you have made team cardin a championship team. i also want to salute the people who make this institution work. my heartfelt thanks to the floor staff, committee staff, and all those who worked behind-the-scenes to make the senate work. i recognize and salute your dedication, as i said in the beginning, i don't want to say good-bye. this is especially truf of my colleagues -- true of my colleagues, my senate family, and you are family. these past 18 years it has been my entire life, you have my

undying gratitude. i started in the senate in 2007 with a class of ten new senators, webb, mccaskill are no hoerng in the senate. -- longer in the senate. to the remaining three, senators klobuchar, sanders, and whitehouse, we count on you to carry on our class traditions, i was blessed to have two seat mates during my 18 years in the senate who are trusted friends, senator barbara mikulski who made my transition so productive and senator chris van hollen and i have worked in unity for the people of maryland many i know that he will continue to serve the people well as the senior senator along with newly elected angela alsobrooks. with the partners who made it possible for me are my family. myrna and i met in elementary school and last month we

celebrated our 60th wedding anniversary. amising she put up -- amazing that she put up with me all these years. i could not have had the career i had without her unconditional support and confidence. she shares my commitment of giving back to the community and she keeps me properly grounded. when i became speaker of the house, she sent me a card to remind me of this. the card read, to the rest of the world you may be a roaring lion, but in this house you're just a pussycat. i put that card on my desk in annapolis as a constant reminder, my son a blessed memory and my daughter deborah supported my public career and never complained about the family sacrifices they had to make and i know there were many. finally, some parting advice. i know many people across the country and around the world are concerned about the direction of

the united states, but i'm optimistic we will get through these challenges. now some people might say optimistic, how can that be? they read the news and say what about the rule of law, what about the justice system and threats of autocracies around the world and here at home, what about the threats of our politics. i'm not naive to the dangers and challenges. there are many challenges, but we must not give up hope. the senate, this body of 100 members, and a nation -- in a nation of 335 million americans sustains my hope. with a six-year term representing constituents across the entire state, you have the time and resources to engage each other. we have the time to constructively work across the aisle to find areas of common agreement.

there's no institution like this in the world. it's a great honeckeror to be a senator, but it comes with responsibilities, to debate and vote on certain issues. over the last 18 years, i've seen first hand how the senate works best when we work together. we have successful efforts to work across the aisle on pension reforms, advancing value-based foreign policy and many more. we be don't have to dwrooe o'agree on every -- we don't have to agree on every issue, but when we defend the constitutional values of this institution, we create positive results for the country. the senate is where the rubber meets the road. it's the line between democracy and autocracy, to my colleagues in the senate, you play an important role in our democrat check and balance system. never has it been more important for us to fight and protect our

democracy, to defend the rule of law and to stand up for our common values, as senators we need to demonstrate to the american public by your actions that you can practice civility, that differences can be resolved constructively without harsh terms. we need to remember that compromise is how this nation was formed. it can be a good thing and bring people together. compromise on policy but never on principles or values, treat people with respect even when you disfwrooe. i -- disagree. i have made that the guiding principle in my office. finally, let us all make it a priority to promote better knowledge and understanding of history, civic engagement and civility. whether investing in domestic priorities here at home, i ask you to let your values guide you to lead our world and community in a better place, a healthier

place, a more prosperous place for all to benefit. let that be our north star. with that, mr. president, i yield the floor.

mr. van hollen: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. van hollen: mr. president, it is with great pride that on behalf of the maryland congressional delegation, i pay tribute to our incredible senior senator and thank him for his service to our state and our country and, in fact, all he has done around the world. and i want to recognize the fact that steny hoyer is with us on the floor as well. thank you, mr. leader, for being here. for those of you who don't know when ben cardin was speaker of the maryland house, steny hoyer

was president of the maryland senate. so they've gone way back together and thank you for being here. so e-- so colleagues, i think al of us here know ben cardin for his many, many achievements and accomplishments. and the fact that he is a wonderful cheeg to work with. -- colleague to work with. he has gone over some of those major highlights and so i'm not going to repeat them all, but i do just want to flag a number of them. because the magnitsky act is the legislation that said the united states not only says we're going to stand up and protect fighters for human rights around the world but we're going to create an enforcement mechanism to do exactly that. we had a hearing just the other day in the senate foreign relations committee reviewing that legislation. that legislation would not exist but for the fact that ben cardin made it happen.

first, the original sergei magnitsky act and then the global magnitsky act as a champion of human rights. so this is why senator cardin is known not only for his accomplishments in maryland and in the united states, but, indeed, around the world. as true with his service on the helsinki commission, his partner now senator roger wicker which has opinion standing up for human rights, fighting against hate and anti-semitism around the world and here at home to fight against discrimination. i want to thank him for his global reach but also for all he's done here in the united states when it comes to health care, he recounted the story of a marylander whose name was deamonte driver who died because he did not get the dental care he needed.

senator cardin worked to make sure that never happens again. whether it's housing or protecting the chesapeake bay or many other areas so important to our national life, ben cardin has been a leader. now, in maryland we're very proud of all those achievements, but in maryland senator cardin is known as our friend ben. if you look at his tv commercials when he runs for reelection, you can find every day people, whether it's a waterman on the chesapeake bay or a construction worker near the port of baltimore and others saying thank you to my friend ben. and because of his gre d quality of service, many people around the state of maryland have had a chance to meet their friend ben. and he began to serve the state of maryland when he was 22 years old. when he ran for the state

delegate, he was still a law student as the university of maryland baltimore. and for 58 consecutive years, he has served the people of our state. and he didn't just dream of winning elections. that was not the goal. that was the means to achieve his efforts in public service. and that ethic, as he has said, began in the cardin family long before he first ran for office. as the son of dora, a schoolteacher, and mier, a state legislator and judge, his wife and his late cousin show shanna, made their names as champions. the cardin family believes in america as a beacon of liberty and human rights, a beacon that first inspired ben's grandparents to immigrate here from russia at the turn of the last century. so i think it's fair to say that

ben cardin did not fall far from the cardin tree of public service, but he has taken that family's commitment to public service to new heights. becoming at 35 years old the youngest ever speaker of the maryland house of delegates. and i want to talk a little bit about his role here in the united states senate on behalf of team maryland. because he is a dear friend. there are many congressional delegations that don't have the spirit of unity that we have in the state of maryland. and that's a tribute to ben cardin's leadership. he has been the quarterback for team maryland, bringing us together to make sure that we work on behalf of the priorities of the people of our state, all parts of our state, from the baltimore area to the washington suburbs, eastern shore, and western maryland. i could not ask for a better

partner and a better friend in the united states senate, somebody who welcomed me here after i served in the house of representatives. i do want to relay briefly to our colleagues in the democratic caucus something that is not as well known, but when ben cardin first arrived in the senate from the house, having served previously as the speaker of the house of delegates in maryland, he was interested in what the rules are of the democratic caucus. it turns out at the time that the rules were not publicized among the democratic members of the caucus. former democratic leaders clearly viewed it as in their interest to keep them secret, to keep the members of the caucus in the dark. and so when ben cardin asked for the rules, it took a little search to find them. but it is an indication both of his attention to detail but also

his understanding of his responsibility to his colleagues and to the body that every member, whether they're a long-serving member, a new member, has a chance to participate in the process. and we have since used the good work of senator cardin as rules as the chairman of the senate caucus rules committee to help expand democracy, little d, in the democratic caucus. finally, i just want to say that while much has changed over those 58 years that senator cardin has served our state, one thing has remained constant, bedrock. and that is the character of ben cardin. you will not find a person of greater decency, a person of greater integrity than ben cardin. and whether you agree or

disagree with him on any particular issue, you always know that the position he's taken is one that is based in values and principles that he brings to the debate. and for that we should all be eternally grateful. so i know that he will be leaving this body. i have said, as i've traveled arp the state and just been -- around the state and just been marvelling at the fact that when senator cardin announced he is not running for election again, he is running hard for the finish line. it's hard to keep up with him. we just mentioned at one of the baptist churches in baltimore -- and we've been on the eastern shore in western maryland all over the state, so i want to thank him for his deep commitment to our state and the country. i want to thank his beloved partner and wife myrna cardin

for giving him all that strength over many years. and while he will be leaving the senate both myself and our incoming senator angela alsobrooks know that he's only a phone call away. so don't turn off your phone too often, ben cardin. to my colleagues, thank you all for being here to celebrate an incredible united states senator, someone we're so proud of in the state of maryland. our friend, my friend ben cardin. ms. collins: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from maine. ms. collins: thank you, mr. president. after senator ben cardin announced his retirement in the spring of 2023, he and his wonderful wife myrna recorded an extraordinary video reflecting

on a life in public service nearly as long as their 60 years of marriage. touching on the highlights of a career that ranged from enacting the magnitsky sanctions about which we've heard so much today, to protecting maryland's precious chesapeake bay, ben said the unifying force behind his work has always been sedaka, the jewish tradition of helping where ever and whenever help is needed. observing ben for the past 18 years, i have seen a statesman of keen intellect and profound decency. he is always guided by the ideals of america, his service

to maryland, and by his faith. he consistently has demonstrated the character that earned him the trust of the people of maryland from the house of delegates to the third congressional district to the united states senate. ben's hometown newspaper, the baltimore sun, described him this way. he is a man of substance who under understands complicated issues and art of compromise. having partnered with ben on initiatives to move our nation forward, i heartily agree with that description. for example, following the tumsous aftermath -- tumultuous aftermath of the 2020 elshgs, ben -- election, ben was an essential lead near a bipartisan working group that crafted the

electoral count reform and presidential transition act to better ensure smooth transfers of power between presidential administrations. i remember, for example, in one meeting ben bringing up a legal question that was absolutely essential that we resolve. it was indicative of the kind of careful legislating in which he engages. as members of the small business task force, we coauthored the paycheck protection program that helped so many businesses and employees survive the covid pandemic. from expanding medicare access to improving home health care services to addressing provided use -- opioid use disorder, ben

has been a strong and effective leader in health care. one of ben's most enduring legacies will be the example of his leadership as the champion of human rights arp the world -- around the world and his fearless persistent dedication to fighting anti-semitism. and one of my most enduring memories of ben will be standing by his side in tel aviv last october following the horrific hamas attack on israel. in the aftermath of that incomprehensible evil, ben offered words of consolation and peace as he made crystal clear that the united states will

always stand shoulder to shoulder with the state of israel. it is significant that just before our bipartisan delegation traveled to israel, ben was presented with the ann frank award for human dignity and tolerance from the kingdom of the netherlands. well deserved. mr. president, it has been such an honor to serve with senator ben cardin, a leader of integrity, intelligence, and civility. i am so grateful for his efforts to strengthen our institutions, to elevate our national discourse, and to bring people together to find common ground

and solve problems. i wish ben and myrna much happiness in the years to come. you will be missed, ben. thank you, mr. president. mr. booker: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from new jersey. mr. booker: i would like to rise and join some of my colleagues in speaking about ben cardin, but i perhaps want to take a little bit more of a personal approach to sharing my thoughts about my departing colleague. i don't know if he remembers this, but i was elected in a special election, and i came here plopping down, sworn in on the auspicious day of halloween, and i knew i had to meet my colleague so i started the process of going to their offices. they took me to meet everybody from john mccain sitting in his office, obviously to harry reid who was here then. but my journey to go see ben cardin was different than any of

my other meetings because we sat down and he asked me about myself. before i knew it, we were talking about judaism. now, it was an amazing conversation to me, because i did not realize how deep his faith was, how knowledgeable he was of the torah, something i've been studying for decades as a non-jew. i found this incredible connection to him around the principles that he spoke about at the top of his speech, p prince -- this idea of living a good and moral life. but what was amazing to me over the last 11 years that i've been in the senate is that maybe some joking from time to time about jutism, but we -- judaism but we haven't had much of a discussion the torah than that day. he's never invited me to a minion, never prayed together, i traveled around the whole world but that first conversation was

the most we ever talked about his religion and his faithfulness. but what's amazing to me is even though we haven't spoken about it, as someone who knows and loves the religion, i will say i have seen it in him every single day. in my faith there's a theologian that says everywhere you go, preach the gospel but only sometimes use words. i'm a big believer that before you tell me about your religion, first show it to me in how you treat other people. before you preach to me how much you love your god, show it to me and how you love all of god's children. before you tell me about your passion for your faith, show it to me in your compassion for other people. this has been the beauty of serving with my colleague, ben cardin. is because i have seen through the work and the dedication and the labors and the attention to

detail and the leadership how deep his integrity is and his alignment between his beliefs and how he conducts himself in the world. so in honor of that, ben, i'm growing to try to do something take i'm sure has never been done in the history of the senate is i am going to say goodbye to you in a debar torah. i'm confident in the history of america that's never been on the senate floor a debar torah been given by a big black boy. so here it is. there's a moment in the torah where moses, this great leader, has been given the ten commandments but the jewish people are worshipping a golden calf. we all know the story of him smashing the tablets but what i didn't know until i started studying judaism, i didn't know

there was a moment where god said okay, i'll destroy these people and give you new people to lead. and what was amazings to me about this story is that you would think this devotion, this fealty to god, that whatever god says goes, but judaism struck me that all of these figures get into fights with god, whether it was the incredible story of abraham arguing with angels about defending a city, but in this moment, what moses said to god is, if you destroy these people, then erase me from your book. i want no part of you, god. i've watched you for 11 years, and like that ideal of moses, despite all of the imperfections of humanity, despite our faults

and our foibles, despite the tragedies we have wrought unto ourselves, you have shown that leadership of moses -- not accepting the world's happenings as god's will but standing up and standing in the breach. you have, through your work, both here in america and across the globe, you have been one of those people who has defended ■ the weak, who has protected the vulnerable, and who has championed the best of humanity. yes, you have preached the gospel, my friend, but you have more profoundly dedicated your life to its work. there's an ideal in judaism that we should all be dedicated towards, to healing this world. i believe there is a god in heaven. i share your sense of faith. and i believe at the end of this chapter of your life, god is

saying, well done, my good and faithful servant. i know god is not done with you yet. so as us go on into the world, i simply say as your brother, yaha kolath. [applause] mr. wicker: mr. president, i'm tempted to simply say amen and amen and to yield back, but i didn't want to -- i didn't want this moment to pass without rising on behalf of my wife gail and me to say how much we have appreciated the friendship of ben and myrna cardin and the leadership that they have shown to us as we have represented the united states of america to citizens around the world, and

particularly to our friends in europe. myrna has been a wonderful friend to gail. she is deserving of all of the ac accolades that she has received and will receive. i've had an opportunity in this city several times in the last few weeks to make remarks on behalf of ben cardin. he suggested to me almost that he was -- that he had heard enough and that i needn't say anymore. but i do want to say how much i appreciate his leadership, and the list of accomplishments that he has listed, and to say how grateful i will always be for ben allowing me to be a part of the magnitsky struggle and getting the magnitsky act passed and global magnitsky, which is renowned around the world as an

effective tool against totalitarianism and corruption. and so i would simply say that people in the audience may have happened by -- i know a number of people here came for this particular purpose. but if you happened simply to be in the gallery at this particular time, you have been -- these people, mr. president, have been subject to the testimony of a magnificent public servant. and if i serve decades more, which i do not feel that i will -- if i live to be 100, i will not see a finer leader in

terms of intellect, talent, in terms of savvy, in terms of accomplishment, in terms of leadership and statesmanship than i have known in the person of ben cardin, and i am grateful to have been his colleague and his friend. and i yield. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. cardin: first, i'm incredibly grateful for the kind comments that my senate family has said. i said that my colleagues are my family, and they were certainly a lot less objective than my real family has been about some of my legislative actions. so, first, to senator van hollen, he pointed out that we worked together, we trust

each other, and we've been able to get more done because of it. that trust has never been broken. the two of us have been able to share information. we share a common vision of what we want for maryland and this nation, and it has made my service in the united states senate so much more rewarding, knowing that my colleague is a person who shares the burdens of our office of representing the people of maryland and takes equal responsibility to make sure we get things done in a unified way. so, senator van hollen, thank you for those very kind comments. and it's mutual. your leadership here has made it much -- has benefitted our state to an incredible degree. and to senator collins, i've been at several bipartisan groups with senator collins. she has a way of just reaching out and bringing people together. and i must tell you, she sort of

glossed over what we did in response to january 6 and the passage of the electoral college reforms. that was not an easy task to get that to the finish line. and senator collins was the leader on that effort and allowed me to have input where it was needed in order to bring people together. but that's what she does all the time. she always looks for common ways. it's the reason why our appropriators seem to be able to get along, through the leadership of senator murray and senator collins. i think it is an example for all of us. and then to rabbi booker. i want to know when he's going to start synagogue because i'm going to join that synagogue. i just want everybody to know. his dvar torah. i'll follow him anywhere.

to senator wicker, you know, what we've been able to do together, it's been an incredible run. i've been with you around the world. we've stood up to dictators and we've helped friends. we've stood by people who have had no other help around so that their rights could be heard, and we've gotten a lot done together. there is no question that we would not have had the victories on the magnitsky bills without your personal involvement, working within your caucus to make sure that it was not politicized that we got it the to the final line. and you took a lot of arrows for us, and i very much appreciate that. more importantly, human rights defenders appreciate your gallantry in the united states senate to get those bills to the finish line. and bills that don't have your name on it. i mentioned that you were responsible to we have vehicles to get them completed. so i thank you for your friendship.

i thank you for gail. and it's been, as i said, a real pleasure to have that type of relationship. i'm often asked by my colleagues, do you ever talk to republicans? and they think that we're so divided here. and this is a family, and that's why i said in my parting comments, i really see the hope of our future in the relationships that have been developed here in the united states senate. we can work together. we can resolve these issues. we know what our responsibilities are about. we know we have challenges in this country, but we also know we need to listen to each other, and that's what i think we do here in the senate. we got to do it in a more effective way, and my colleagues that are with me today have been champions in listening to each other to get the work done for the american people. mr. president, i'm deeply honored to serve in this body, and i thank you for your ache tension. i yield -- for a your attention. i yield the floor.

the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the clerk: ms. baldwin.

of knowing fashion week that down and talked.

being westernized, and decisions the russian political and what was going on hunter's laptop. if you're going to clean up and get focus on the mission and putting america first doing her job. mike what you mean by that. >> maybe we should ask biden administration nine d.o.j. was advised. there's no question, not a camp in here like donald trump wants

to do, and doing the job again but american people first. but the crimes and going after the terrorist organizations. >> we didn't discuss this we didn't discuss yet the cash a and it's a gag before. understand what the is.

>> a target? no. no around don't go late. [inaudible] >> out imagine you saw what came out of the committee.

i think there will be continued work. we want to hear about and i will be part of the process the fbi turnaround. it's interesting everybody coming forth is a reason why we can't. he tried to call her a russian agent. the same time they are to follow. was really qualified

questionable on their. [inaudible] met some of the issues around the country drug trafficking and human trafficking on in the account is better. but the other agencies are focused on.

because of the conversations we discussed. >> we didn't discuss that. i think a lot of these agencies can about the fbi of the regency there's a reason out of these. washington? it is well say that will find

out. stuart: the going to be politicized from over one" with american people. exactly what we need to be doing. the. >> other agent. that will those two cases along will tell you the fbi is compliant.

[inaudible] >> he -- i will back to the same thing exposing what was happening and in the headquarters. but the dossier report. it was cash to expose that. an president trump did not do

that first term so what makes you think this time? [inaudible] [inaudible] >> i do think the investigation will go on long. we can go through the process pretty quick. as far as local, the only one i was concerned about was matt gaetz. camp is going to go through fine, cash will go to find. posey, all of these individuals have to come up and burn the

boat. has done a phenomenal job taking the fight straight to the office. it's not decided in the media, it's decided in the one-on-one media. there's not one single republican proposal these nominations are political. >> keeping the nose off the board. doing that. >> is the house like those. >> some of these are not as

known so it's taken a little longer. look at white walz and the people in the capital. marco rubio is known and there is no issue there. there is not familiar with them most of these nominations i know you said. we do well in the oversight of taking that money like they should. >> it wasn't clear that will happen and will now will one

uniting uniting. making new variant you you and have it done and timely manner and the regular on it. and individuals. and they start dragging me it. and if we cannot come to and treat them like the rest, there's no problem. agencies.

>> just to bring them you hope. education reform. >> dismantling know but reforming the agencies but they are designed to do and what their mission was originally, i think all of these. they were very clear about that and they get the republicans the mandate to work for them and not a party.

>> the discussion about oklahoma. >> he wasn't really familiar to the extent if you look at this is and they and leg. there's a lot of right on on. that jurisdiction and focus on heinous crimes and there's still a lot of crime going to the rules and obama when it comes to

marijuana legalizing merit marijuana, we have organized crime. we have an in-depth and we need help. i'm not saying fbi has not done what they could but they have with the resources they have. >> was the president, coming to the end of the legislative session and another congress and before this congressman congratulate on finishing legislative work next week. i must come back into this war and reminded my colleagues hundreds of thousands of americans are still waiting for this congress act waiting for justice be done in their cases, hundreds of thousands of

americans poisoned by nuclear radiation by their own government. the people of st. louis, missouri, original processing by dating back to 50, 60 years ago. they did their duty to radically but they didn't do right by them. what did the government do? into groundwater is allowed disputed across the region in the greater st. charles area, thousands upon thousands of fence post to radiation for decades. the radiation continues.

engineers discovered radio serial resident homes in suburban st. louis still not fully remediated no one missouri received a dime compensation the federal government for decades of radioactive exposure this government forced upon them missouri are not alone. the same stories over and over in places like new mexico and arizona and idaho. exposed through no fault of their own. and the second.

veterans, layman what has the government done for them? nothing, it's expose them to nuclear radiation than nothing, mr. president. as in with a huge bipartisan majority legislation that would finally compensate and honor those americans. for this country's national security part of our nuclear program. at the end of this legislative session. radiation exposure compensation program fully expired so no

american, no veteran known across the country exposed by the government to this radioactive waste, not a single person has been compensated for the cancers they contracted. nobody is completely dark or getting anything. fairly compensate these americans. in short americans get the justice they deserve at this 11th hour. that would select counties in

one state, the state of utah everyone else. what offense this would be. but with house leadership negotiated with them and many here engaged in this effort to find a way to compensate these americans. now preparing as reports indicate they are shut down comes across the country deal that excludes almost all of them not only unacceptable, it is offensive. it is wrong and reagan used to say this but speak direct.

it is wrong well thought out wrong. noah nuance needed and that. who will suffer if house leadership to deal rick for only a few insiders. who will suffer? i will tell you. people like the young children of janet university. in elementary school i had a close over a year ago because of continuing radioactive dissemination in the san luis area near the creek donated.

and done will ability including the transplant group this body and thousands will be underrecognized. it is from. from missouri diagnosed with the lives in therapy a child.

consider state of missouri. you never had a chance. his mother looked around for border week still to this day related. none of these people none of them have been helped by their government with expenses and losses for the pain the government forced on them. it is time to act and i want to be crystal clear about this

special interest bill that excludes will. i will object to come asking for a publishing end of this session to pass the package i will object. there's no weight forward for this deal. i will stand in the way we have of every one of these americans until justice done. this body was active in the fall of the house to not. asked what god has already and generate compensation that will honor and recognize these americans who deserve it.

this is justice. what does the christian feeling of? loving this and walking with -- that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reed: i ask consent that the scheduled vote occur immediately. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of the following nomination, which the clerk will report.

the clerk: nomination, the judiciary. cynthia valenzuela dixon of california to be united states district judge for the central district of california. the presiding officer: the question is on the nomination. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote: the clerk: ms. baldwin. mr. barrasso. mr. bennet. mrs. blackburn. mr. blumenthal. mr. booker. mr. boozman. mr. braun. mrs. britt. mr. brown. mr. budd. ms. butler. ms. cantwell. mrs. capito. mr. cardin. mr. carper. mr. casey. mr. cassidy. ms. collins. mr. coons. mr. cornyn. ms. cortez masto. mr. cotton. mr. cramer. mr. crapo.

the clerk: mr. cruz. the clerk: mr. daines. ms. duckworth. mr. durbin. mr. durbin.

pete hague says i've known for more than ten years. on capitol hill he's been a leader fighting for fellow veterans in the halls of congress and leading and organization. the thing i am concerned about is we are not deterring the very threats are country peace and 30 that we need to pay attention to. it is a dangerous situation.

what they do is prioritize of the ground and deterrence. the way you do that is strength. confirmation process anticipating and confirmation hearings and supreme court justices out with act can be but he and his wife made their financial sacrifice to serve the country and i respect that the allegations against

mismanagement people accused him of? >> a lot of this has been anonymous through background checks for the hearing itself. what i learned is there are a lot of people who make anonymous claims but will not be accountable for that. the process to get all the facts out before we make our decisions. >> you think senator considerably people ultimately votes i know senator ernst and others they want to see the process through and upholding

their defense the constitution. this is part of the. they never believed there would be a rubberstamp that she will support them through the process see how it turns out. >> did he clarify his remarks he felt the standard ought to be the same and they ought to be. >> is a helpful or counterproductive? >> it's coming from a lot of people who may or may not have had the capability.

every election we will have opponents to set up primaries and a lot of other issues between now and then were i think you will see senators supporting the president and his priorities. >> spend more but it's important and how much we spent so much was spent government her to change and revives are essential in the and take technological

advantages we have. basics and these are the ways we have advantages. >> for a set. >> i will support except. any unforeseen circumstances but i've known him a long time. i was satisfied with his answers and i think it will be a hard process and some enormously unfair. give up his job at fox and a large percentage.

>> is unlike with other republican senators. >> is admitted back from deployment young service members who enjoy and partying. i don't find that unusual. obviously that can be currently has a problem on capitol hill. >> he currently does or does not. >> does not. >> thank you guys to come to the

floor today to pay by is difficult may be. eight years because of the house years in the house of representatives and 18 years united states senate including senate foreign relations committee. let me start by thank you for giving me your trust. you have supported me and 18 elections. the hebrew letter, 58 years of my life.

marylanders have allowed me to pursue my ambition to help others. voice is often ignored in the halls of power. but those less fortunate need of charity. these tools were demonstrated by the activities of my parents. these guys guided my publix is a legislature. it's not always easy requires perseverance and optimism the world a better place insurmountable challenges.

advancing policy. in the steps you can take all american's have access to affordable healthcare. it should be right for everyone in our privilege. only for those who can afford it. that included my legislation that elevated minority health and health disparities. the decision offered preventive

care. simple extraction. enacted into law and participate in retirement plans. legislation included workers and enrollment provision. the last ten years participation and garment savings for the lowest and increased by 135%.

the affordable housing and economic development underserved communities. robert says the legislation will housing opportunities across our nation. examples include justice center. justna yesterday throughout the seven health and wellness center energizing and revitalizing communities baltimore. you have the opportunity to expand our infrastructure.

my priorities reconnecting is divided advantage dissertation projects. not surprising they received funding in the first round of federal routes. the alternative program. and this is his for local police bikers including the rehabilitation unit ticket for each of these.

these significant health. federal grants and again redline and and expedite travel the world. and it has been essential.

it is iconic. it is in our dna. in the state effort and led to the partnership in the district of columbia and the program. it has taken the federal leave. the nearest over fund removal of

invasive be the one who cap is in the more polemical noncontroversial locations it is working in the jurisdictional will appreciate and the committee's each region that suffers from a catastrophic in this infrastructure. thank you for reaching out tragic loss of the ridge. the biden administration has been there every step away. and that instruction about

bridge those possible. the chair and ranking member of the committee. i am so proud of the committee working joy. many will is help save the economy during the pandemic. help the communities. what she's more available in the services brought. the business centers and locations. these programs and small

businesses by especially women, particularly women of color. and the record of inclusion and legislative and the educational fund and the city and access in the circumstances and of preserve and strengthen. on this program. one of the first women in the committee.

don't stop a and it was the passage and enactment of the rule of law. this was inspired by the death of tax attorney last month for uncovering the russian. the story was told and came to my attention as the chair of the helsinki. then in 1987. my wife was leader the maryland committee. my close friend shared and gave me the opportunity and we traveled together to several

countries for those who denied humans basic rights. it was clear to me basic rights, they needed to be held accountable even the russian government refused act. the rule of law accountability act target those individuals who were visit. block these individuals from traveling to our country and putting their reputation and ability to travel risk. these policies were influences i legislation they deny those who flock their citizens from. when repealed, the purpose have been accomplished.

it was appropriate the vehicle to replace. this had given birth to a whole new framework holding human rights and deterring actors. they have replicated the system. the u.s. program sanctioned for the 6150 foreign persons of entities. these laws were not easy to pass.

we never gave up hope and the day prepped leaders fear of magnitsky sanctions. the sticky human rights defenders have benefited from these laws. over and over again my work as a legislator has seen the importance of never giving up. seen what i thought would be a dream come true. i've seen the soviet jews liberator from this former soviet union. the berlin wall torn down. former communist controlled countries now nato allies. and political prisoners released to freedom. it's great to see my friend free

from being imprisoned in russia. the former leader of the czech republic said there's only one thing i will not concede, that it might be meaningless to describe in a good cause. each of us can make a difference, never give up hope. dr. martin luther king, jr. said, everybody can be great because everybody and serve. as my friend and classmate in the house of representatives along with my classmate mr. mfume, john lewis said we should all be willing to get into good trouble. and as a famous philosopher from baltimore, babe ruth stated, never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game. i often speak about the need for value-based approach to policymaking. this has rung true in health care and the environment, promoting a dignified retirement

and creating economic opportunities for all. perhaps nowhere has this been more fundamental than when it comes to foreign policy and national security. president biden got it right when he spoke about our international engagement picky said we must start with the policy rooted in america's most cherished democratic values, defending freedom, championing opportunity, upholding universal rights, respecting the rule of law and treating every person with dignity. as chair of the senate foreign relations committee i made promoting value-based foreign policy decisions a top priority. in addition to the magnitsky act i am especially proud of that work with senator todd young on combating global corruption that was enacted in 2023. that legislation requires each of our embassies around the world to evaluate how effective the country which our embassy is located fighting corruption. it's similar to the trafficking of persons rankings and reports

with consequences against countries that not making acceptable progress to improve their rankings against human trafficking. leading global verbally against human trafficking and corruption is an american value-based foreign policy at its finest. america's strength is in our values. you need to lead globally with our strength. my ability to promote legislation of policies that appalled core universal values was made possible because of my incredible partners. because of their deep values and commitment, there is no way i could have achieved what i've been able to achieve if it were not for my incredible staff. their loyalty, dedication to public service and their talent made the card team. in 38 years in congress, i've only had two chiefs, dave and chris. both lead by example and recruited the very best while in

service. for over 25 years debbie has attempted to manage the impossible, me. mr. president, i ask consent i incorporate into the record a complete list of the staff that i'm blessed to have during my terms and the united states senate. >> without objection. >> our staff works long hours for less compensation for many of them to make in the private sector because of their commitment to service. to my staff you made team cardin a championship team. i also want to salute the people who make this institution work. my heartfelt thanks to the doorstep, committee stuff, security staff and all those who work behind the scenes to make the senate work. i recognize and salute your dedication. as i said at the beginning i don't want to say goodbye. this is especially true of my colleagues. my senate family, and you are family. these past 18 years it's been honor of my life.

you have my undying gratitude for partnering with me to serve our country. i started innocent in 2007 with the class of ten new senators. store web, mccaskill corker are no longer in the senate. i regret senators tester, brown and case of believing with me at the end of this term. to the remaining three, senator klobuchar, sanders and white house, we count on you to carry on our class traditions. i was blessed to have two seatmates during my 18 years in the senate who are trusted friends. senator barbara mikulski who welcomed me to the senate and made my transition so productive. and senator chris van hollen and i have worked in unity for the people of maryland. i know he will continue to serve the people well as the senior senator along with newly elected angela alsobrooks. with the partners that may public service possible for me, my family.

myrna and i met in elementary school. last month we celebrated our 60th wedding anniversary. amazing that she is put up with all those years. she's my strongest -- could not of had the queer without her support in congress. she shares my commitment of giving back to the community and she keeps me properly grounded. when i became speaker of the house, she sent me a card to remind me of this. the card read, to the rest of the world you may be a roaring lion, but in this house you are just a pussycat. i put that card on my desk in an apples as a constant reminder. mice son and daughter supported my public career, never complaining about the family sacrifices and make and i know there were many.

finally, some parting advice by know many people across this country and around the world are concerned about the direction of the united states. but i'm optimistic we will get to these challenges. some people might say optimistic, how can that be? they read the news and say what about our justice system, the rule of law, one of our democracy, what about the threats of autocracies around the world and here at home? what about the resurgence of corrupt blatantly transactional politics? i recognize these threats and i'm not naïve to the dangers and challenges as we all look ahead. there are many challenges ahead of us but we must not give up hope. the standard, this body of 100 members and the nation of 335 million americans sustains my hope. the six your term representing constituents across entire state here the time and resources to engage each other in we had the

time to constructively work across the aisle to find areas ofsa common agreement. there is no institution like this in the world. it's a great honor to be a center but becomes with responsibilities, to debate and vote on important issues of our times. over the last 18 years i've seen firsthand how the senate works best when we work together. i cited many of these examples and successful efforts in just that, working across the aisle with pension reforms, small business covertly, advancing value-based foreign policy and many more. we don't have to agree on every single issue and we never will, but when we defend the constitutional powers of this institution, the prerogatives of the alleged that a branch together we positive results for the country. the senate is where the rubber meets the road. it's the dividing line between democracy and autocracy. to my colleagues in the senate you played an important role in our democratic check and balance

system. never has been more important for us to fight to protect our democracy. to defend the rule of law and to stand up for our common values. as senators we need to demonstrate to the american public why your actions that you can practice civility, that differences can be resolved constructively without harsh terms. we need remember that compromise without the station was formed and it can be a thing to bring people together. compromise on policy but never on principles or values, treat people with respect even when you disagree. i've made the defecating principal of my office. my staff calls it cardin ask. finally let's all make it a priority to promote better knowledge and understanding of history, sit engagement and again civility. whether promoting american values or investing in domestic priorities here at home i ask you to let your values guide you

to lead our world and our community and a better place, a fair place, healthier place, and more peaceful place, a more prosperous place for all to benefit. let that be on north star. with that, mr. president, i yield the floor. [applause]

>> mr. president? >> mr. president, it is with great pride that on behalf of the maryland congressional delegation i pay tribute to our incredible senior senator, and thank him for his service to our state and our country and, in fact, all he's done around the world. and i want to recognize the fact that a steny hoyer, congressman hoyer, is with us on the floor as well.

thank you, mr. leader, for being here. for those of you who don't know, when ben cardin was speaker of the maryland house, steny hoyer was president of the maryland senate. so they have gone way back together. thank you, steny, for being here. so colleagues, i think all of us here know ben cardin for his many, many achievements and accomplishments. and the fact that he is a wonderful colleague to work with. he has gone over some of those major highlights as are not going to repeat them all but i do just want to flag a number of them. because the magnitsky act is a legislation that said the united states not only says were going to stand up and protect fighters human rights around the world but we are going to an enforcement mechanism to do exactly that. we had hearing the other day and the senate foreign relations committee reviewing that

legislation. that legislation would not exist but for the fact that ben cardin made it happen. first the original sergei magnitsky act and then the global magnitsky act, as a champion of human rights. so this is why senator cardin is no not only force a compliment in maryland and in the united states but indeed around the world. as true with the service on the helsinki commission, commission, roger wicker which is incentive for human rights fighting against hate and anti-semitism around the world and doing more here at home to fight against discrimination. some want to thank him for his global reach but also for all he's done here in the united states when it comes to healthcare. he recounted the story of a maryland or whose name was the

monte driver who died because he did not get the dental care he needed. senator cardin were to make sure that never happens again. and whether it's housing or protecting the chesapeake bay or many other areas that are so important national life ben cardin has been a leader. now in maryland we're very all those achievements but in maryland senator cardin is known as our friend ben. if you look at his tv commercials would rush reelection, you can find everyday people whether it's a watermelon chesapeake bay, whether it's a construction worker near the port of baltimore, and others saying thank you to my friend ben. and because of his great length and quality of service, many people around the state of maryland have had a chance to meet their friend, ben.

and he began to serve the state of maryland when he was 22 years old. when he ran for the state delicate he was still a law student at the university of maryland baltimore. and for 58 consecutive years he has served the people of our state. and he didn't just dream of winning elections. that was not the goal. that was the means to achieve his efforts in public service, and that ethic sds it began in the cardin family long before he first ran for office. he's of the son of fedora, schoolteacher, and meyer, a state legislator and judge. his wife myrna and is late cousin shoshana made their names champions of soviet jewelry. his family believed that america is a beacon of liberty and human rights, a beacon at first

inspired ben's grandparents to immigrate here from russia at the turn of the last century. so i think it's fair to say that ben cardin did not fall far from the cardin. public service but he has taken that families commitment to public service to new heights, becoming at 35 years old the youngest ever speak of the maryland house of delegates pick at it want to talk a little bit about his role here and the united states senate on behalf of team maryland. it has he is a dear friend. there are many congressional delegations that don't have the spirit of unity that we have in the state of maryland. that's a tribute to ben cardin once leadership. he's been the quarterback for team maryland bring us together to make sure that we work on behalf of the priorities of the people of our state, all parts

of our state, from the baltimore area to the washington suburbs, eastern shore and western maryland. i could not ask for a better partner and a better friend in the united states senate got somebody to welcome today here at restaurant in the house of representatives. i do want to relate briefly to our colleagues in the democratic caucus something that's not as well-known, but when ben cardin first right in the senate from the house, having served previously as the speaker of the house of delegates in maryland he was interested in what the world rules are of the democratic caucus. it turns out at the time that the rules were not publicized among the democratic members of the caucus. former democratic leaders clearly you did as an interest to keep them secret, to keep the members of the caucus in the dark. and so when ben cardin asked for

the rules, it took a little search to find them, but it is an indication both of his attention to detail but also his understanding of his responsibility to his colleagues, and to the body, that every member, whether they are long serving member, a new member, has a chance to participate in the process. and we have since used the good work of senator cardin as rules as the chairman of the senate caucus rules committee to help expand democracy little be in the democratic caucus. finally i just want to say that while much is change over those 58 years that senator cardin has served our state, one thing has remained constant, bedrock. and that is the character of ben cardin. you will not find a person of greater decency, a person of

greater integrity than ben cardin. and whether you agree or disagree with him on any particular issue, you always know that the position he's taken is one that is based in values and principles that he brings to the debate. and for that we should all be eternally grateful. so i know that he will be leaving this body. i assent as i've traveled traveled around the state and just been marveling in fact, while the fact he announced he was run for reelection over a year ago, he is running so hard to the finish line. it's hard to keep up with them. in fact, he just mentioned we were at one of the baptist churches in baltimore the other day. we've been on the eastern shore, western maryland, all over the state. so i want to thank him for the deep commitment he has to our

country and to the state of maryland. i want to thank his beloved partner and wife myrna cardin for giving him all that strength over many years. and while he will be leaving the senate both myself and her incoming sender angela alsobrooks no sees only a phone call away so don't turn off your phone too often, ben cardin. to my colleagues thank you all for being here to celebrate. he's an incredible united states senator. someone we're so proud of in the state of maryland. our friend, my friend, ben cardin. [applause] >> thank you, mr. president. after senator ben cardin announced his retirement in the spring of 2023, he and his

wonderful wife a myrna recorded an extraordinary video reflecting on a life in public service nearly as long as their 60 years of marriage. touching on the highlights of a career that range from enacting the magnitsky sanctions about which we have heard so much today, to protecting marilyn's precious chesapeake bay, ben said the unifying force behind his work has always been the jewish tradition of helping wherever and whenever help is needed. serving for the past 18 years, i have seen a statesman of team intellect and profound decency.

he is always guided by the ideals of america, his service to maryland, and by his faith. he consistently has demonstrated the character that earned him the trust of the people of maryland from the house of delegates to the third congressional district to the united states senate. ben's hometown newspaper "the baltimore sun" described him this way. he is a man of substance who understands complicated issues and the art of compromise. having partnered with ben on initiatives to move our nation forward, i heartily agree with that description. for example, following the tumultuous act after the 120

election, ben was an essential leader in a bipartisan working group that crafted the electoral count reform and presidential transition act to better ensure smooth transfers of power between presidential administrations. i remember, for example, in one meeting ben bringing up a legal question that was absolutely essential that we resolve. it was indicative of the kind of careful legislating in which he engages. as members of the small business task force, we co-authored the paycheck protection program that help so many businesses and employees survive the covert pandemic. from expanding medicare, access

to improving home healthcare services, to addressing opioid use disorders, ben has been a strong and effective leader in healthcare. one of ben's most enduring legacies would be the example of his leadership as the champion of human rights around the world and his fearless persistent dedication to fighting anti-semitism. and one of my most enduring memories of ben will be standing by his side in tel aviv last october following the horrific hamas attack on israel. in the aftermath of that incomprehensible evil, ben

offered words of consolation and peace as he made crystal clear that the united states will always stand shoulder to shoulder with the state of israel. it is significant that just before our bipartisan delegation traveled israel, ben was presented with the anne frank award for human dignity and tolerance from the kingdom of the netherlands. well deserved. mr. president, it is been such an honor to serve with senator ben cardin, a leader of integrity, intelligence and civility. i am so grateful for his efforts to strengthen our institution,

to elevate our national discourse, and to bring people together to find common ground and solve problems. i wish ben and myrna much happiness in the years to come. you will be missed, ben. thank you, mr. president. >> mr. president? >> the senator from new jersey. >> i would like to rise and join some of my colleagues in speaking about ben cardin but i press want to take ample a bit more of a personal approach to sharing my thoughts about my departing colleague. i don't know if remembers this but i was elected in a special election and and i came to g down swart an on the auspicious day of halloween. and then do i had to meet my colleagues are started the process of going to their offices. it took me to meet a buddy from

john mccain sitting in his office obviously to harry reid he was here then, that my journey to go see ben cardin was different than any of my other meetings because we sat down and he asked me about myself. and before i knew it we were talking about judaism now, it was an amazing conversation to me because i did not realize how deep his faith was, how knowledgeable he was of the torah, something i've been studying for decades as in niger and i found this incredible connection to him around the principles that he spoke about at the top of the speech, the principles of -- this idea of living a good and moral life. what was amazing to me over these last 11 years i've been in the senate is may be some joke from time to time about judaism but we really haven't had as much of a torah discussion as a did on that very first day. he has never invited me to a

minyon. he has come here and i've never prayed together. he never talked to me about religion. i have traveled round whole world but that first conversation was a most we ever talked about his religion and his faithfulness. but what's amazing to me is even though we haven't spoken about it, somebody knows and loves the religion, i will say i have seen it in him every single day. and my faith as as a theologn says everywhere you go preach the gospel but only sometimes use words. i'm a big believer before you tell me about your religion first show what you need and that you treat other people. before you preach to me how much you love your god, show it to me in how you love all of god's children before you tell me about your passion for your faith show to me in your compassion for other people. this has been the beauty of serving with my colleague, ben

cardin. is because i have seen through the work and dedication and the labors, the attention to detail and the leadership how deep his integrity is in his alignment between his beliefs and how he conducts himself in the world. and so in honor of that, ben, i'm going to try to do something that i'm sure has never been done in the history of the senate, is i am going to say goodbye to you in a the bar tour. tour. i'm a beta has been on the center for but i'm confident in history of america has never been on the senate floor given by a big black boy. [laughing] so here it is. there's a moment in the torah where moses this great leader has been given the ten commandments for the jewish people are worshiping a golden calf. we all know the story of them

crumbling come smashing the tablets of what i did know until i started studying judaism and doing torah study on fridays, i did know if there was moment where god said okay, i will destroy these people and give you new people to lead. what was amazing to me, astonishing me about this story from the torah is you would think that devotion this fealty to gather whatever god would say go, but judaism struck the westar to study the torah constraints constraint faith that all these major figures get into fights with god whether it was the incredible story of abraham arguing with angels about defending the city sodom and gomorrah but in this moment what moses said to god was -- if you destroy these people, then the race me from your book. i want no part of you. god. i've watched you for 11 years, and like that ideal of moses,

despite all of the imperfections of humanity, despite our faults and her foibles, despite the tragedies we have brought unto ourselves you have shown that leadership of moses not accepting the world's happenings at god's will but standing up and standing in the breach. you have through your work both her and america and across the globe you have been one of those people who has defended the week, who has protected the vulnerable, and who has championed the best of humanity. yes, you have preached the gospel, my friend, but you have more profoundly dedicated your life to its work. there's an ideal in judaism that we should all be dedicated towards, to healing this world.

i believe there is a god in heaven. i share your sense of faith and i believe at the end of this chapter of your life god is saying well done, , my good and faithful servant. and i know god is not done with you yet so as you go on into the world, , i simply say as your brother, -- thank you. [applause] >> mr. president? >> the senator for mississippi. >> mr. president, i'm tempted to simply say amen and amen and to yield back. but i didn't want to, i did want this moment to pass without rising on behalf of my wife gail and me, to say how much we have appreciated the friendship of ben and myrna cardin, and the leadership they us shown to us

as we have represented the united states of america, to citizens around the world and particularly to our friends in europe. myrna has been a wonderful friend to gail and she is deserving of all of the accolades that she has received and will receive. i've had an opportunity in this city several times in the last few weeks to make remarks on behalf of an carton. he suggested to me almost that he was, that he'd heard enough and that i'd needn't say anymore but i do want to say how much i appreciate his leadership and the list of accomplishments that he has listed, and to say how grateful i will always be for ben allowing me to be a part of the magnitsky struggle and

getting the magnitsky act passed and global magnitsky, which is renowned around the world as an effective tool against totalitarianism and corruption. and so i would simply say that people in the audience, may have happened by, i know a number of people came forward with this particular purpose but if you happen simply to be in the gallery at this particular time, you have been, these people, mr. president, have been subject to the testimony of a magnificent public servant. and if i serve decades more, which i do not feel that i will come if i live to be 100, i will

not see a finer leader in terms of intellect, talent, in terms of savvy, in terms of accomplishment, in terms of leadership and statesmanship than i have known as the person of ben cardin. and i'm grateful to to have n your colleagues and your friend. i yield. >> mr. president? >> the senator from maryland. >> first, incredibly grateful for the kind comments that might senate them has said. i sent said my colleagues y family, and they were certainly a lot less objective than my real family has been with some

of my legislative actions. so first, to senator van hollen, he pointed out that we worked together and trust each other and we been able to get work done because of it. that trust has never been broken. and the two of us have been able to share information. we shared a common vision of t we want or marilyn and this nation, and it has made my service in the united states senate so much more rewarding knowing that my colleague is a person who shares the burdens of our office of representing the people of maryland and takes equal responsibility to make sure we get things done in a unified way. so senator van hollen thank you for the very kind comments, and it's mutual. your leadership here has made it much, has benefited our state to an incredible degree. and to senator collins, i have been at several parts agrees

with senator collins. she has a way of just reaching out and bringing people together. and i must tell you she sort of cost over what we did in response to january 6 and the passage of the electoral college reforms. that was not an easy task to get that to the finish line. senator collins was the leader on that effort, and allowed me to have input where it was needed in order to bring people together. but that's what she does all the time. she always looks for common ways. that's the reason why are appropriators seem duplicate a long is with the leadership of senator collins and senator murray. a real exam for all this. and then to rabbi booker. what you know when he's going to start synagogue bees i'm going to join that synagogue. isolate everybody to know. it's a lot better than a lot of rabbis so he says incredible

addition to our senate family and i will follow him anywhere. and you senator wicker, you know, what we been able to do together, it's been an incredible run. i've been with you around the world. we stood up to dictators and we have helped friends. france. we stood by people who have no other help around so that the rights could be heard and we've got a lot done together. there is no question that we would not have had the victories on the magnitsky bills without your personal involvement, working within your carcass to make sure that it was not politicize, that we got it to the final line and you took a lot of arrows for us and i very much appreciate that. more important, human rights defenders appreciate your gallantry in the united states senate to get those bills to the finish line.

and bills that don't have your name on it. i mention you will responsible make sure we had vehicles to get them completed, so i thank you for your friendship. i thank you for gayle. it's been as i said a said in my parting comment really see the hope of our future in the relationships that have been developed. in the united states senate. we can work together. we can resolve these issues. w responsibilities are about. we know we have challenges in this country w also know we need to lisn to each other and that what i think we do here in the senate. we've got to do it moreffectivee that are w me tod have been pions in listening each heet the work done for the american people. mr. president, i'm deeply honored to have served in this body and i thank you for your attention. i yield the floor.

>> good morning, everyone. thanks for being here today. this week we are bringing to the floor with the servicemember quality of life improvement and national defense authorization act otherwise known of course as the ndaa, still invest and qualify for service members and families and strengthen our national security capability. those aspects of what drove the negotiations and effort for this entire bill. the quality of life of our service members and our national security capability. aba supports the plymouth national guard to our southern border, deters china, support issue, cutting official programs and bureaucracy and got smoked

policy in the deity. it cares for service members and seeks to improve the quality of life by providing housing upgrades, pay raises, low health care wait times, but access to child care, employment support for spouses and much more. house republicans take response but provide to serve members and families and the mission seriously, look forward to working with president trump and his demonstration to secure our border to bolster nasa's good and support our military. comprehensive bill ensures america can make the most powerful in the world and i think the house and senate armed services committees for the work on this. i think for all those involved in getting to this point to be able to complete that this week and with that i will hand it over to our whip mr. tom emmer. >> america is back. that was a message heard round the world following president-elect donald trump's successful trip to paris over the weekend. watching american reassert its leadership on the global stage was both refreshing and

reassuring. it's clear the world has been anticipating the return of a u.s. president who can at the very least stay fully engaged during important discussions. already the impact president trump leadership is being felt. 41 days before he is set to be inaugurated he has restored respect for our country on the world stage. this comes in stark contrast to the weak-kneed leadership americans a americans of been forced to endure under the harris biden administration over the last four years. from their disastrous afghanistan withdrawal to russia's invasion of ukraine to iran and its proxies attacks against israel. we have seen what happens when we have leaders in the white house whose foreign policy strategy is to appease our adversaries and undermined our allies. thankfully on november 4, on november 5 the voter said enough is enough if the past at a path forward under trump is quite clear. he will usher in a new era of

peace through strength and i'm eager to hit the ground running on day one to enact his america first agenda. i congratulate president trump on a successful trip to paris and i look forward to watching him restore our country dominance on the world stage. steve scalise. >> thank you, whip. this week our members have been working for months on bringing to the floor wednesday the national defense authorization act. as blake pointed out this is a bill that's focused on improving the quality of life for our servicemen and women. we've seen under the last three and half years of the biden-harris administration it's been hard to recruit and keep good service members in part because of the bad will policies, loss of focus by this administration on what the mission is and we start addressing that by rooting out more than will policies over at

the dod and, of course, that ultimately is going to get 61 president trump takes office next month and he talked about those things during the campaign what he would do to re-strengthen and reinvigorate our military. but at least we get president trump some really good tools important tools to recruit and retain a strong military by improving the quality of life in this bill. something else we have been continuing to work on as a take of the legislative process is to focus on what we will do they want to hit the ground running to go to work delivering the promises that were made during the campaign to help those families who are struggling under the weight of the failed biden-harris policies. we talked during the campaign about securing america's border, strengthening our energy security, lowering costs at the grocery store, at the pump for families. who have been paying way too much under the failed biden-harris policies. but we also talked about what we

would do to stabilize tax policy to prevent a massive $4.5 trillion tax increase which, there's one or two of those. she campaigned bragging that she would allow tax cuts to expire putting a massive tax increase on families. and so we are already working on what we will do in those first few months to deliver on those promises and get our economy back on track to help provide real relief for families were struggling and the stalks are going really well out of amongst house republicans, house and senate, senate republicans also the trump administration and trump officials in the transition team have been part of those conversations because we want to make sure that they we starting january president trump's policies are going to be front and center. the things we all campaigned on, it wasn't just president trump and talked about those things and he did. we talked about those, too, and the good news is we got elected

and we got a mandate from the american people who want to see a secure border, lower cost, finally confront those problems that biden-harris created and we're going to do just that. the work is all restarted we cannot wait until january to not only take office but as we are preparing where doing that work already today here leading the effort for us as a speaker mike johnson. >> thank you, steve, leader. good morning. i was here until late last night about 13 hours ago all the seats were filled with midshipmen about 40 from the u.s. naval academy when you're on a visit and we came into the room the end of the capital to my son bought some classmates for so many of them had been to the capital and its head and i thank them often one is to serve and he thanked me and he said sir, how do you take on these hostile questions from the president we? i said they're a bunch of teddy bears, no big deal. they had a good time good time.

i'm encouraged. this weekend is the army-navy game world of before today. i guess i do say go navy because my son is there. president trump is coming to the game and others will all be there together and a lot of fun. speaking at president trump we have 41 days until his office is taken and whip emmer said there's a palpable sense that this is a new day in america. it's not just a catchphrase. we feel it, since it ever we go. american families are ready to see an america first agenda. we are excited about that but you get a lot of talk about the agenda and how we come to get right out of the gate in early january. working on that right now. in fact, house republicans are working to enact that agenda. we met last week, we brought elon musk and the vivek ramaswamy to discuss how we can't waste, fraud, and abuse from the federal government and it was a productive series of

meetings. it's got a small group discussion and a larger one in the congressional auditorium. we we're continuing to lay the groundwork for our aggressive first 100 days agenda that we've all been planning for for a long time in talking about for a while. in the waning days of this congress and until president trump this one and we are still actively advancing conservative priorities. he wrote about the ndaa, brown this product release over the weekend and includes critical wins for our troops and our country at a very important i do what you think chairman rogers of the house armed services committee at all community members and staff with a really hard work on the bill. spent a lot of time and effort working on it because our service members and a families deserve our best efforts. that's what with the landmark investment in quality of life as you heard with 14.5% pay raise for junior service members, important right now and approved housing for military families and other benefits. it's also why we stopped funds

from going to crt and a military academies. we banned tricare from prescribing treatments that would sterilize her kids and we get in the dei bureaucracy and because we believe in peace through strength with lots of vitamin c and reduce the number of use special forces we supported the diploma of a national guard at the border. we expanded use of joint military exercises to israel and we increase funding for use defense initiatives in the indo-pacific and that includes taiwan. at the same time while we plus of those other accounts we cut $31 billion in bloated pentagon bureaucracy, absolutely inefficient programs. a lot of that will continue in the new year and some very important innovation. safety and security of the american people as her top priority. this year's ndaa enters our military has the resources and capabilities needed to remain the most powerful fighting force on the planet.

i do for two voting for later this week and i think you have a large vote on the house floor. also we will be voted on the judges act in truth there sufficient number of federal judgeships for our growing population. republicans believe in the rule of law and we got to uphold the principle. we can't overburden the court and her judges with excessive caseloads and that's what's been happening. it's been 35 years since congress is authorized and act like this and a population and caseloads have grown and we just have to address this for the judicial branch to keep peace. more judges means more americans can access equal and impartial justice without waiting years to get it. i'm excited to see was the past i used to be a litigator and i can tell you we need it. i can it's a fun time of year, lots of holiday celebrations, christmas parties and all in and around capitol hill. i've seen some of you at these events. this is a good time to be thankful and remember what an extra drink unto religion and what great promise we have in the new year ahead of us. so with that will take a few

questions. >> i wanted to ask about the generalized system of preferences for january 1 that should have been gone for four years it something leadership still wants to bring back? if so, will it go on the suspension calendar early next year i will need to wait for all the big bills, immigration and tax form? >> we have not had a chance to address so stay tuned on it when you get back to you. second row. >> the kids online safety act i'm curious -- if not, what is your message to parents who say the government needs to do more to protect the kids? >> it's really important issue. as a parent i'm very passionate about protecting children online. online. as a professional, as a lawyer,, émigrés legislator i've made this a big part of my work, my

lights commit is to protect children and we been doing that. look, we have to take some initiative on this. there's been great work done on kosa. there still some concern about the free speech components of that, whether it might lead to further censorship by the government, a proud conservative voices for example. we are working through that. i'm grateful for the hard work this been done and for the support behind. i think all of us when her% of us support the principles behind it but you've got to get this one right when you're dealing s . under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table, and the president will be immediately notified of the senate's action. mr. schumer: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. first, could we have order, madam president.

the presiding officer: come to order. mr. schumer: thank you. i thank my friend, senator wyden, for coming to the floor to champion something i've been very supportive of, and he has carried the bipartisan press act, a bill every person in this room, whether they be senators, journalists, citizens should want to see become law. no democracy can survive without a free and open and thriving press. the free press keeps governments accountable to the people, exposes abuse and informs people about what's happening in government. but if government can unduly harass the press or when leaders smear journalists as enemies of the people and when there are too few protections for journalists, our democracy is at the very real risk of eroding away. we've seen in some countries -- in hungary, orban, a dictator,

tells his friends to buy the press so there can be no real freedom and no real counterargument, and they do. they buy newspapers, television, et cetera. and so we have to protect the press. it's sacred -- sacred in america. the press act is a commonsense and strongly bipartisan bill to ensure journalists can do their job without facing undue harassment. i'm so proud to support this act. senate democrats all support in bill, and the bill has already passed the house unanimously. i hope every single senate republican joins us to pass it today. i know many of them are ready to do the right thing. i think it has a majority support in both parties. this bill, again, is common sense and balanced. it would prohibit the federal government from using subpoenas or search warrants or other measures to force journalists or

third parties to reveal confidential information without their knowledge. it has exceptions carefully tailored to address matters of national security, and it would ensure that the decision to seize journalists' records and compel them to reveal sources falls to the federal courts, not to the department of justice. now -- more important now than ever before when we've heard some in the previous administration talk about going after the press in one way or another. 99% of the work to enact the press act into law is already done. all we need is for no senator to stand in the way today. so, thank you, senator wyden, for champ onning this bill. thank you to the many reporters, news organizations, press associations for championing this bill. being a journalist is a hard job. it is hard enough. journalists shouldn't have to fear baseless government harassment on top of that for just doing their jobs.

so let's pass the bipartisan press act and send it to the president's desk. mr. wyden: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. wyden: madam president, before he leaves the floor, let me just thank the senate majority leader. we've talked about this often, and i'm particularly struck by the readings of the founding fathers because several of the founding fathers seemed to think that a free press was at least as important as government. so the case that you're making today, mr. leader, is well-stated. mr. schumer: i thank the senator from or for his -- from oregon for his leadership. thank you. mr. wyden: madam president, in a few minutes i'm going to ask unanimous consent to pass my bipartisan bill. the press act. and this legislation, madam president, is deeply personal to me. i'm very proud to be the son of peter wyden, who was an award-winning journalists. my dad fled the nazis in the 1930's and members of his family

died at the hands of the nazis. in the united states, my dad became such a good writer, he became part of our army's elite group, the ritchie boys, that wrote the propaganda pamphlets that we dropped on the nazis. growing up, my dad always mentioned that several of our founding fathers, as i indicated to the majority leader here, stressed how important the free press was to our country. and my dad emphasized how important it is that american journalists can do their jobs without unneeded government interference. so our bipartisan bill shields journalists from being forced by the courts to disclose their sources or information provided by their sources with, as the majority leader and i have emphasized, key exceptions exist in our legislation for national

security and other critical matters. and our bill also does not otherwise limit the government's ability to pursue leakers. so this is so common sense, madam president, that nearly every state in the country has some form of reporter shield on the books. democratic and republican state legislators alike have found value in preserving the free flow of information in codifying these fundamental freedoms. my bill with senator lee, and i want to thank my colleague on the other side of the aisle with all his good counsel here, our bill would ensure these protections make it to the federal level. this is a bill -- and i note this. my colleague, the president of the senate, knows that sometimes it's pretty hard around the congress to be able to get folks to agree to a 7-up or something.

this bill passed this house unanimously and has the support of both the chair of the judiciary committee and ranking member, senator graham. not only that, but our bill has been endorsed by people from across the political spectrum. i say to my friend from nevada, tucker carlson is on board. fox news is on board. this is about as bipartisan as you can get. past administrations both democratic and republican have exploited the lack of a federal shield law to curtail the freedom of the press and in some case jailed journalists who refused to reveal their sources. it is long overdue that these abuses be stopped. so my substitute amendment that i put together with senator lee addresses feedback that we heard on this senate floor and elsewhere. my colleague from arkansas, a member of the intelligence committee, spoke about this before, and we heard feedback

from the department of justice that they wanted some key national security exceptions for section 702 and threats to critical infrastructure and ensuring that the federal government can still respond to cases that require exigency. so i want it understood that between the time this came up on the floor previously and today, we have reached out for feedback that addresses a number of the concerns that i heard from my colleague from arkansas, a member on the intelligence committee that i work with, that i hope addresses his concerns. so as if in legislative session, i ask unanimous consent that the committee on the judiciary be discharged from further consideration of h.r. 4250 and the senate proceed to its immediate consideration. further, that the wyden substitute amendment at the desk be agreed to, the bill as amended be considered a third time and passed and that the motions to reconsider be

considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: is there objection? a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from arkansas. mr. cotton: reserving the right to object. this bill is a threat to u.s. national security and an insult to basic fairness and the principle of equality before the law. it's the biggest give away to the american press in american history. it would turn reporters to a protected class free to hold, share, and publish highly classified and dangerous information that no other american is allowed to possess. passage of this bill would turn the united states senate into the active accomplice of deep state leakers, traitors and criminals along with the america hating and fame hungry journalists who help them out. this legislation would make it all but impossible to ever compel a reporter to reveal their sources or compel them to return classified information in their possession. reporters would become the only

class of people legally permitted to possess classified information in an unsecure and unmonitored environment. it gives reporters rights that no other american possesses. no senator even has these protections. in fact, if the senator from oregon was given unsecured classified information and refused to turn it over, he could be censored, prosecuted and possibly put in jail. we wouldn't want that to happen. we would miss him dearly. even former presidents don't have the right this legislation provides to liberal journalists. just remember, the fbi raided president trump's house on the mere accusation that he held unsecured classified information. and unlike president trump, president biden actually committed this crime and only escaped prosecution because the prosecutor concluded he was t

too -- to be convicted. cnn, and "the new york times" would have more rights and privileges than former presidents and vice presidents. this bill would embolden every leaker and would-be traitor in the federal government with classified and damaging information. leakers could reveal anything from the placement of american troops in foreign countries to the location of nuclear weapons with only the thinnest and hardest-to-prove exceptions. they could release embarrassing or incriminating information from fbi background checks. they could also release information provided by allied nation, endangering america's alliances around the world. if this bill became law every leaker would sleep well at night knowing their accomplices in the media would never have to turn them in. leakers could also release phone records of discussions between the president of the united states and foreign leaders.

and this bill p would protect any reporter who released or possessed the content of those calls. maybe it should be called the alexander vinman protection act. not surprisingly president trump recently wrote republicans must kill this bill. and for the benefit of those who missed it, he wrote it in all capital letters with an exclamation point at the end. so please type that into the record as well. the bill's advocates often say too much stuff is classified. i agree. on the intelligence committee, i often ask why is this classified. but some information ought to be classified. and the solution to overclassification is to classify less stuff, not to enable liberal deep staters to leak to liberal journalists. another argument i hear is government employees often violate the law and abuse our citizens. i agree, especially when democrats are in office.

but whistleblowers have plenty of legal and effective avenues to raise those concerns. if their superiors refuse to listen to them they can contact their department's inspector general or ombudsman. they can also contact congressional oversight committees or federal law enforcement. what they shouldn't do, what the law in fact forbids them from doing is running off to the liberal media. and even with its present protections which i think are excessive, the liberal media has a long record of endangering our troops and our interests around the world. the liberal media doesn't deserve more privileges, protections, and perks. releasing classified information is a serious crime and it should be punished seriously. and contrary to what members of the press may think, a press badge doesn't make you better than the rest of america or put you above the law. for several years the media has conducted itself in a

disgraceful manner and destroyed its reputation with the american people. yet some in congress, maybe the only institution less popular than the press, now want to give it more privileges? i don't think so. my message is simple -- no one is entitled to the privileges provided in this bill. certainly not the press. therefore, i object. the presiding officer: objection is heard. the senator from oregon. mr. wyden: just to be brief here, this legislation that we have been discussing passed the house of representatives early this year, and it was unanimous. so for people who are following the debate, every single republican, every one in the other body in effect approved this legislation. why did they do that? because it clearly is sensitive

to these national security concerns. we put in expressed exceptions for national security including an area my colleague and i know a lot about, section 702 of fisa. so my colleague was very kind to me. he said, gosh, if i wasn't here, he'd miss me. well, that's very kind and thoughtful. but what we're really missing is the overwhelming support from republicans for this legislation. i spoke about the members in the other body. no one else is objecting here. and i just think that if we look at the writings of the founding fathers and their importance of a free press, what we ought to be saying is, yes, we should be listening to each other. that's why i made those changes since the last time my colleague from arkansas objected.

this is going to also -- and i think my colleague and i would agree on this -- protect citizens, journalists who don't have the legal budget to fight subpoenas the way big newspapers can. that's why my bill has been endorsed by independent journalists like catherine herage. i understand that we don't have unanimous consent today. i think it's unfortunate. i think america would be stronger and freer if we were passing this legislation today. but we'll be back, and my hope is that we can work with the senator from arkansas to get his support. and i want it understood from the standpoint of good faith that i listened the last time my colleague and i were here on the floor in the united states senate, and i thought he made good arguments. i'm not here to say he is without good arguments. that's why i went out and i told

our staff and all the folks on the intel committee and the people who work with us on it, make these changes to see if we can come aboard. so i realize we don't have unanimous consent this afternoon, but i just say to my colleagues, this is about as important as it gets. free speech is fundamental to what makes our country so special. i've had more than 1,100 town hall meetings at home, and people always come and say i don't agree with you about this or i don't agree with you about that, but we're using our first amendment. we're making sure we can always be heard. so i will tell my colleague, my door is open and we'll be talking to your folks to see if we can get this resolved. as i say, i made those changes since the last time we were on the floor for the expressed purpose of our being able to see if we could find agreement. so, madam president, i respect

my colleague's right to dissent, in spite of the fact that every single house republican voted for it. and i'm going to be coming back and seeing if we can find ways to work it out, and i yield the floor. mr. cotton: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from arkansas. mr. cotton: i appreciate the remarks of the senator from oregon. the founding fathers designed the senate to be the sober second thought to the house of representatives, or even transient and fleeting public opinion. the senator from oregon cited a unanimous vote in the house. sometimes that's an indication of widespread support for a sound and wise policy. but on occasion it's an indication that the rash, impetuous, hasty, impulsive decision by the house deserves a sober second thought in the united states senate. and not for the first time i'm pleased to provide the sober second thought on this and other issues.

i yield the floor.

promise to bring semi-conductor manufacturing back to our shores to strengthen our national security to shore up our domestic supply. today that promise is coming to version in the state of new york. micron just finalized this morning early this morning a 6.1 billion that's billion, $6.1 billion award that is made possible by bipartisanship design flaw to bring advanced memory chip manufacturing to upstate new york and to america.

most importantly the chip award is now locked in. it's signed sealed and ready to deliver to central new york all of upstate new york and for america. the chips award is more than just a once in a generation investment of the state of new york based investment that will multiple generations create over 50,000 jobs and spur historic amounts of private investment in the region. and the chips micron will make our essential america's future is critical for our national security, for ai, for our smartphones cars computers and so much else and the benefits go beyond new york. this award is fueling expansion of micron in idaho and today the commerce department has struck yet another deal with micron to

expand their virginia for silicate we're not in a quorum call. mr. durbin: periodically i come to the senate floor to raise the issue of political prisoners languishing in jails around the world. you may wonder why i do this. there came to my attention that there is real injustice. it also came to my attention that when i make a speech on the floor sometimes people hear it and it makes a difference. thanks to the good work of my chief staffer on this project, we have been a party to and assisting of many prisoners around the world. some have come to visit me in my office here in the capitol saying they were languishing in prison and nobody knew they were alive. i gave a speech, talked to the ambassador, and next thing you know they're home. so on the off chance that good

fortune may come through again, i'm going to make -- take a chance this evening. this there -- there are journalists and every day citizens who are often victims of petty regimes for exercising basic freedoms we take for granted in this country. over the years many of those released have come to see me in d.c. they have said that their jailers cruelly tried to make them think they were forgotten. so i'll raise a few more cases today and i'm glad to be joined by my friend, the junior senator from vermont, senator welch, who is also taking up this effort. i would like to start with the country of aratria -- eritrea. an abysmal human rights report in that country. it has the nickname, the

distinction of being the north korea of africa. it has been ruled since its independence three decades ago by president aforky, whose regime has a history of arresting thousands of political prisoners in secret detention centers known for appalling conditions without a trial or sentencing. in september of 2001, he abandoned all independent media and arrested anyone for criticism of the government. let me highlight those who have been jailed for more than two decades. dawit isaak, an award winning journalist. amanuel asrat, a distinguished

poet. seyoum tshaye, and tem temegen gebreyus, they are held in prison with no end in sight. i urge president af wsh werki to release them. next saudi arabia. a country with which we've shared many interests but also in which unacceptable political oppression bes continues -- oppression continues to

complicate our relationship. i have talked about raif badawi who was released in 2022 after spending ten years in saudi prison for exercising his right to free speech. yet to this day he remains subject to a cruel travel ban preventing him from reuniting with his family in kennedy. waleed abu-al-khair, a women's right active. waleed has been in prison for his women's rights work and salma was given a 34-year prison sentence for the crime of using twitter. that was it. for too long the saudi crowned prince has imprised people.

he should allow raif to meet with his family and other prisoners -- and release other prisoners without delay. next tajikistan, which wants to increase cooperation with the united states. as i said -- this is critical for countries that want a closer relationship with the united states, i urge the release of human rights lawyer yorov, who represented tajikistan's option in court. lastly, i want to focus on the nation of vietnam with whom despite china's pulleying in the

region, the u.s. has built a good relation, in 2024, vietnam ranked 174th out of 180 nations, the vietnamese government restricts free speech, with too many journalists facing harassment, detention under so-called antistate propaganda laws. this includes pham t -- phamdung, he created the associated journalist of vietnam and pham trang has served four years of a nine-year prison sentence. she was awarded pan america's

b award. in 2020 just before her arrest she wrote moving, i don't want freedom for just myself. i want freedom for vietnam. that's an amazing show of courage. i've seen the same from other political prisoners around the world, willing to go to prison for their freedom. before i turn the floor over to senator welch, i want to remind these individuals that you are not forgotten. away will continue -- we will continue to advocate for your well-being and speak your names to the world. when you are free, please come visit me here at the capitol. i'll be waiting to shake your hand. madam president, i yield the floor. mr. welch: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. welch: i want to thank senator durbin for his ongoing commitment to highlighting the

plights of people who have been abandoned for doing nothing more than exercising free speech, for doing more than speaking up on behalf of oppressed in their own country, for speaking up on behalf of human rights and justice. and what senator durbin said inspires me, and that is we don't know what the outcome will be. is anyone paying attention? we don't know. but what we do know and we have seen is that this does help and make a difference and get some attention on people who were unjustly imprisoned for doing something that's noble. and our goal here is not always to have everything be instrumental immediately, but it is to reassert the commitment

that this united states senate has to do what is within our power. sometimes it's very limited, as in this case, of advocacy and attention, to highlight and hopefully result in the highlighting of the oppressive situation to have the release of a person who has been unjustly detained. so i just want to express my gratitude to senator durbin and over the years i've met people who used to be political prisoners and were shaking the hand of senator durbin and his advocacy made a difference. the advocacy of other hems of the -- of other members of the senate makes a difference. the most compelling thing for me, just think about what it is like to be a person who has made a statement, who used twitter, you're suddenly arrested. you're suddenly cut off from your family. you're suddenly cut off from

ania visitation. you have no idea whether you have a future and you have to feel day in and day out in that captivity that people have completely forgotten who you are. you've become invisible. so the act of trying to make visible people who as a result of the use of state power have been made invisible is something that each and every one of us should do our best using this office that we have and this forum we have to stand up and remember people who have been made forgotten because they've done decent things. i'm really greatful to work -- grateful to work with you, senator durbin on this, and i want to focus on other political prisoners. and the first is maria.

she is a professional musician. think about that. a gifted musician. think of the discipline that goes into becoming a professional discipline. she was admired throughout belarus for her talents and leading member of the political opposition, she left just to speak out on behalf of her people. she called for free and fair elections. arrest follows. after every leading opposition candidate had either been jailed in belarus or fled the country, maria was apprehended in 2020 by federals driving an un -- officials driving an unmarked vehicle and taken to the belarus border where they attempted to forcibly deport her to ukraine. shortly after that, she wouldn't allow herself to be forcibly deported. think about that. she had to risk coming back when

she was in the custody of unknown people who had no good intention for her. they put her on trial and she was tried and sentenced to 11 years in a penal colony for the crime of calling for free and fair elections. her situation is obviously concerning for many reasons, not the least of which between february of 2023 and november of 2024, a year and nine months, she was not allowed any visits by her family. just think about that. your son or your daughter is cut off from you and you have no idea how they're doing, whether they're alive, are they suffering? only after nearly 600 days was maria's father finally permitted to visit her last month. i'm speaking about this with some passion because i met her sister recently, her sister

tatiana came to my office and she has been out and about telling her sister's story. she was joined in my office by two human rights defenders who are working to secure the release of maria and other belarus political prisoners. there have been a small number of belarus political prisoners who have been released, and i'm hopeful that maria will also be released. while belarus and russia have -- i believe officials of both governments should speak respectfully towards each other and seek opportunities to work together to address issues of common interest and my hope is that her release will be one of them. madam president, second i want to speak about michael castillo.

michael is a musician and writer who won a latin grammy award while imprisoned in a cuban jail. how do you do that? he won a latin grammy while in jail. he wrote a hit pro-democracy anthem that won song of the year at the latin grammies. one of the things extraordinary about folks like this who are wrongly imprisoned is that it doesn't quell their spirit to express themselves and their joy of life. maykel is definitely one of them. he was arrested in may 2021. intensive surveillance, movement restrictions and preventive detention and was sentenced a year later on politically

motivated charges of evading police custody and sharing social media critical of the government. maykel is one of the many who have been unjustly imprisoned. and i urge the cuban government to release him. i also hope the incoming trump administration will not do what many fear, which is to tighten really a lot of further sanctions on cuba even more. finally, i want to mention dr. salah soltan. he is a 65-year-old u.s. permanent resident, academic scholar and prisoner of conscience in egypt. dr. salah has quite a smile, as you can see. he's a husband, father, grandfather to 11 grandchildren, american citizens, by the way,

with deep roots in michigan and in the midwest. he's been unjustly imprisoned for 12 years and is in fragile health. in recent years, there's been a growing bicameral, bipartisan domestic regional and international support for his release on medical and on humanitarian grounds. president cece has taken modest steps including removing egyptians with ties to opposition political parties from domestic terrorism lists. that's good what he did. we want him and urge him to release salah on humanitarian grounds so he can rejoin his family in the united states. madam president, these are only three of the tens and probably hundreds of thousands of prisoners of conscience in the world. the arrest and imprisonment of individuals for nothing more than peacefully expressing views

in support of democracy, in support of freedom of expression and other human rights is abhorrent. these folks are accused of all sorts of fabricated charges, and it's really a misuse of the awesome power of a state to oppress people who are critical of the state. these folks are apprehended, they're subject oftentimes to inhumane conditions, often solitary confinement in decrepit prisons without access to lawyers or families. they're erased. they become invisible, as senator durbin was discussing. and some of these folks die in prison from torture or untreated medical conditions. so any time we can raise the possibility of their getting some attention so their case can be heard, so they have some possibility of release is a good use of our time.

the question about why we do it kind of surprises me actually because the answer is simple. you know, americans care about people whose fundamental rights are denied. and whoever and wherever they are, we should continue to express that concern. and i'm proud to say that that certainly is a legacy of my predecessor, senator patrick leahy who served in this body for 48 years. in fact, that right is every person's responsibility under the universal declaration of human rights, which no country voted against when it was adopted on december 10, 1948, 66 years ago today. i want to finish where i started by thanking my colleague from illinois but not just for his advocacy but for his inspiration to all of us to do what we can with this office that we hold for whatever period of time

we've beenest trusted to speak out -- been entrusted to speak out on behalf of wonderful people, like the people that i mentioned and senator durbin mentioned. madam president, i yield back to my colleague, senator durbin. mr. durbin: madam president, i want to thank my colleague, senator welch from vermont. he's a great partner in this effort and i know his heart is at the same place mine is. one of the things that just struck me and some of the prisoners have said to me when they came home and made it to the united states, to my office, one of them said you don't realize that you're mentioning my name on the floor of the united states senate could have saved my life. many of the jailers and oppressive governments that have these people in prison beat them, torture them, starve them, and believe no one knows or no one cares, but if all of a sudden the name of that prisoner

becomes conversation at the embassy or at the state department or even in some of the halls of leadership and governments around the nation, they think twice before they hurt them or kill them. it's hard to imagine that our simple speech on the floor could have that impact, but it has. and i thank you for joining me in this effort. i hope my colleagues will join us as well. i yield the floor, the madam president, and suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the clerk: ms. baldwin.

today that promise is coming to

fruition in upstate new york. micron just finalized this morning early this morning a 6.1 billion, that's billion, $6.1 billion award was made possible by the bipartisan chips and science law to bring advanced memory chip manufacturing to upstate new york and to america. most importantly microns award is now locked in. signed sealed and ready to deliver to central new york upstate new york and to america. microns chips award is more than just a once in a generation destination upstate new york it's an investment that will multiple generations create over 50,000 jobs and spur historic amounts of private investment in the region. and the chips micron will make

essential for america's future that critical for national security, for ai, our smartphones our cars and our computers and so much else in the benefits go beyond new york. this award is fueling expansion of micron in idaho and today the commerce department has struck yet another deal with micron to expand their virginia facility. so micron is investing and expanding from coast to coast prep this is just the latest good news showing the chip production is expanding in america from new hampshire and new york to arizona and two ohio. that's what chips and science is all about making sure america harnesses all of our potential in chip manufacturing. when we conceived the chips and science bill i had new york

state in mind. the new manufacturing has left there and we wanted it to return. that is now coming to fruition from one end of the state to the other and the i-90 corridor from buffalo to albany will be known as the semi-conductor superhighway where a quarter of all chips will be made. it's great not only for this generation but for future generations senate business we l continue the work of confirming more nominations this week. last night the nominations of lauren mccarran and joshua eagleburger to sit on the national labor relations board. her term will soon expire at what she's reconfirmed for another five years to the senate will take the first book to advance these mrp nominees on

wednesday. if you truly care about working families than you should be in favor of advancing the nominees. the nlrb is essential to protecting workers rights so employees can speak up for better pay, stronger protections rights to organize without retaliation. if we are worried about income inequality and too much of a gap if the working people and those who are very wealthy the nlrb is a great, great way to deal with that problem. because again it strengthens the workers hands so anyone who says she care immensely about getting these nlrb nominations through. on senator rubio, on the topic of nominees today i will later sit down with the president-elect nominee for secretary of state or long-time

colleague senator marco rubio. i've known senator rubio for many years and have worked with him on numerous issues to high since we will have a good and productive conversation. i look forward to giving him the same fair chance to make his case that all nominees regardless of party deserve. on disaster aid come in 2024 mr. president at least 24 major disasters have battered communities across the united states killing over 400 americans costing over $60 billion in damages. the true cost is certainly higher for these disasters and disasters in recent years have left the federal government's emergency resources dries on the last month i worked with my colleagues to try and get a comprehensive disaster aid package done before the end of the year. i believe we must try as much as

possible to get it done and we on the democratic side have persisted in getting as many dollars as possible to help blue and red states affected by the disaster. i remain hopeful and determined that we can reach a deal regarding a republican counterparts but the only way will get a disaster package done is with a serious show of bipartisan cooperation. disaster aid is not a democratic or republican issue. mother nature comes for us all as we have seen in every part of the country time and time again. on artificial intelligence, for more than a year i've worked relentlessly with senators on both sides of the aisle to find a way forward on strong bipartisan ai legislation. i created a bipartisan working group of senators heinrich and young with the help of our committee chair the ranking member who organized a never

before seen bipartisan ai inside forum. many forms, 9 of them to bring top experts from across the country. democrats and republicans are also working together on writing built into hard work we came to significant compromises that will let lead to meaningful legislation and kept america number one on ai both in keeping innovation powered northstar and making sure we are the safeguards of the worst could not happen. in fact speaker johnson and i believe all of our committee should keep working together to figure out a way to get ai legislation done before the end of the year. we were feeling quite good about it until unfortunately the november elections occurred in following those elections senate republicans chose to walk away from the bipartisan negotiations

, abandoning over a year of good faith hard work. this is deeply unfortunate because if we want america to remain the technological leader of the 24th century can't turn a blind eye to the changes ai will bring nor can we let ai become a partisan issue. that's why i will never walk away from ai talks. i remain committed to working with both sides to to make ai a top priority here in the senate. as i said speaker johnson and i have had productive talks on ai for months and glad to say we are still having those talks with the hope of finding opportunities for action in the future. it's not going to be easy and it's a difficult issue but we have some opportunities to mold forward on ai next year. i know that many of my republican colleagues here in this chamber are just as committed as i am to finish the job.

their two senators is like to thank in particular on the republican side senators young war and rounds who have been excellent bipartisan with senator heinrich and myself for over a year. i thank them for their hard work and i think their staff for their hard work. we cannot let a handful few of those senate republicans cite stop us from moving forward on ai. again no matter how difficult it may be my commitment to members in both chambers remain steadfast. i will work with anyone regardless of party, to get meaningful sustainable and transformational ai done. transformational because of what ai could do secure and educate young people around the globe to deal with our climate crisis and sustainable so that we have guardrails that prevent ai from some bad force whether it's a

country or a rogue group get ahold of it. we prevent them from doing bad things to keep ai sustainable. we must get both done. our outline and her work are good step in that direction we must continue to move forward. and finally saying goodbye to senator ben cardin. today one of the most beloved members of their caucus in this chamber the near and dear friend of mine will deliver his farewell address on the floor and that senior senator from maryland senator cardin. everyone knows benn humble and modest and expects his speech will reflect that. make no mistake about it his legacy has left an indelible mark on this institution on his home state of maryland and on america. it's no surprise that benn and i became so close and our wives have become very close friends. because we are cut from the same cloth. they both began our careers the

state assembly before coming to congress and then i believe he was elected when he was 23 years old, as i was and we both have strong jewish values and we are both known for showing up to any of the big or small and we both married up. and another thing we took great inspiration from our fathers. when benn was just 23 years old and newly-elected member his father told him something that ben draws upon to this day quote he has something he's worked for a lifetime for forth the opportunity to make a difference. he has made an immense difference in maryland where they were enjoying the beautiful views of the chesapeake bay which he's fought so hard to preserve or the many roads and bridges and trails and rails

across maryland ben help secure federal funding for. we are talking millions of marylanders who have access to better health and dental care because of man's efforts he has been at difference maker but he chairs the foreign relations committee he's made a huge difference of human rights in foreign policy. when i asked ben last year to serve as chair he and he said he'd be up to the task and he sure was. despite the many challenges facing america home and abroad. ben is one of the reasons america has the power today to hold accountable the worst violators of human rights even when their home country fails to act. we worked closely with senator john mccain on it and the act in so many ramifications that inspired ben to move forward on this legislation in that regard. he made a difference from main street businesses especially in

the pandemic. i work closely with him to make sure our small businesses got the money that they needed. because of his leadership the small business economy and we work together to get nonprofit for churches and synagogues and mosques in theaters in our museums that needed help as well and ben joined me and they were saved. he made a difference on many other issues, leading legislation to affirm the ramifications of the era equal rights amendment is cochair of the helsinki commission. the recent ben was able to accomplish so much he took the road less traveled here. he put substance over flesh. he dug deeply into issues got to their roots and worked across the aisle. he was all about details and to close the problem and who was affecting and who can i find common ground with where the questions he asked. that's what he did the first day of office and it will be until his last, a staunch decent

humble lawyer when hard-working. a great man a great senator and a great friend. we will miss him deeply. irs and i continued every year for myrna and ben to come to new york. ben and myrna that tradition will continue as will our friendship. i yield the floor. >> on january 202021 president biden broke with logs the ending president inspired the general counsel of the national labor relations board. i guess if you campaign on establishing the most pro union administration in american history and replacing duly appointed accolades it's certainly a day when a priority. and in our -- in ellerbe member

who's executed on the biden labor agenda laura: veron is up for confirmation. if public actions over the years haven't told enough by kerger college to consider the mismanagement of her watch that took an independent inspector general report serious violations in electoral procedures and cover-up attempts needless to say nothing of the fact that her confirmation would give a lame-duck president control of the independent board well into his successors term. in this case there any number of reasons not to reward bad

behavior in whichever our colleagues choose the hope they will join me in opposing the nomination tomorrow. on another matter regarding the federal judiciary, its membership, its independence and its ethics i have often found myself increasingly at start with many of my democratic colleagues. it's unfortunate that i don't intend to stop policing the separation of powers any sooner than the left stops trying to undermine it. over the last year one corner of the judiciary's operation where the senate rightly holds sway has become the site of where bipartisan agreement and that is federal courts capacity in cases in a timely manner.

across the country federal district courts case base backlog that prevent them from rendering swift justice. this past spring the judiciary's own data recorded a uptick in civil filings before district courts of 22%. the solution to this clear challenge for district judgeships has earned wide support. in april the senior senator from indiana introduced legislation that would steadily apportion larger pensions to districts across the country over the next decade. in august that judges act passed the senate by unanimous consent proving the right to speech still enjoys overwhelming popularity. i was pretty encouraged by the vocal endorsement of my friend the democratic leader who

recognizes the measure of quote very responsible bipartisan and a prudent deal that leads to a better functioning judiciary. soon we expect to take up and pass the judges act with similar overwhelming support and normally we could rest assured that such popular actions would be signed into law without further ado. but maybe not this time. last week the white house came to suggest through anonymous comments that president biden has concerns with the bill. i for one would be curious to hear the president's rationale. it's hard to imagine a justification for blocking the judges act that doesn't. >> of nascent partisanship. it's almost inconceivable that a lame-duck president would consider vetoing such an obviously credentialed step for

any reason other than spite. they deserve their day in court and they deserve to know the federal judiciary has the bandwidth to carefully and thoroughly consider their cases. the present and former chairman of the senate judiciary committee is well-equipped to appreciate this fact and i hope he acts accordingly. mr. president 10 million between official u.s. customs and border protection encounters and no one got-a-ways roughly 10 million migrant encounters that in our southern border during the biden/harris administration. to put that number into perspective that's roughly 10 times the population of my home state of south dakota. 10 million is larger than the population of colorado. it's larger than the population of tennessee.

it's larger than the population of maryland, of massachusetts, of indiana and i could keep going. 10 million is larger than the population of the vast majority of u.s. states. mr. president needless to say the crisis of this size has had consequences. shelters have been overwhelmed, border cities have been overwhelmed, blue cities far from the border have been overwhelmed. border patrol agents are exhausted as was noted in an interview last week. i haven't even mentioned the national security implications. there is no question that the chaos at our southern border represents a serious security risk for our country. and you don't have the take my word for it. the department of homeland security's 2025 threat

assessment note and i quote over the next year we expect some individuals of terrorism ties and some criminal actors will continue their efforts to exploit, migration flows in the complex border security environment to enter the united states and quote. that is to presence from the biden department of homeland security's 2025 threat assessment. june arrest of eight to shake his van nationals with suspected ties to isis ueda legally enter the country as well as the identification of more than 400 migrant who used a nice is affiliated smuggling network to enter the united states are just two examples of the kind of threats we face and then there's the fact that chaos at the border creates opportunities for cross-border illegal to be like the deadly trade of fentanyl which affects communities around

our country. my state of south dakota is about as far away from the southern borders you can get that law enforcement officials tell me that the illegal drugs they are doing with have entered the country across our southern border. mr. president four years of record-breaking illegal immigration on our southern border under the biden/harris administration, 10 million encounters and those are the migrants that we know of. it has been a dangerous for years. the end is in sight. president trump and and republicans take -- take central in january stemming the flow of illegal immigration will be our first party. and republicans national security here at home at our borders and in our communities will be just as important as taking care of our national security priorities abroad.

we are going to start right away with a once in a generation investment of border security and immigration enforcement here in congress. among other things that package will include substantial resources to increase the number of immigration and customs enforcement -- enforcement officers and border patrol agents detention space and provide the barriers and technologies we need to fully secure the border. there's a lot of work to do and a big mess to clean up. a recent article reported that are abound 1.4 million individuals who have been ordered to be deported and are still here in the united states. most of them are not in immigration custody. that's just one small corner of the problem. at least said we have a lot of work to do. republicans are committed for

the sake of our national security and for the sake of our rule of law. four years of record-breaking illegal immigration mr. president at the end is in sight. mr. president i yield the floor and i suggest the absence of a quorum. static mr. president joseph stalin was rumored to have once said we will hang the capitalists with the rope they sell us. unfortunately the state has been selling the chinese communist party a lot of rope in recent years. at this very moment american entities are fueling china's aggression by funneling huge amounts of capital and the capabilities that could eventually be used against united states and our allies from advance semi-conductors to computing to artificial

intelligence. it's high time the united states become serious about limiting the flow of u.s. dollars into the arsenal of art against strategic adversaries. by some estimates u.s. investments in chinese companies totaled more than $2.3 trillion in market value in 2020. that's american investments in chinese companies $2.3 trillion in market value at the end of 2020. that includes $21 billion in semiconductors, 51 -- $54 billion in military companies and a whopping $221 billion in artificial intelligence. according to her part from the west china economic and security review commission united states is the most important foreign source of investment of

semiconductors, quantum computing and ai in china. because of china's strategy of military civil fusion these investments are not simply benefiting china's economy. they are directly bolstering china's military. china is the greatest national security threat of our time and i think we all understand that. it's incomprehensible to me that american investors are continuing to bankroll its rise and we are essentially blind to what that scale and the focus of those investments really are. the chinese communist party has become increasingly aggressive in its efforts to gain power and influence and a bracing illicit tactics like intellectual property theft, force technology

transfer and lending. according to findings of the house select committee on strategic competition between united states and the chinese communist party, china subsidizes the sale of fentanyl and illicit narcotics abroad and has fueled addiction and death in the united states. the drug enforcement administration reports that fentanyl is delete the -- leading cause of death of americans between the age of 18 and 45. we know were the precursors are coming from and we know where they go, to mexico and then they are combined and then to look like normal pharmaceutical drugs much to the chagrin and death of so many of our young people. then two years ago the united

states intercepted a surveillance blimp from china to travel across our country. meanwhile the chinese communist party continues to assert excessive and illegal maritime value claims in the south china see a times using force against our treaty ally the philippines when they have attempted to resupply their ship near the thomas scholl. president xi has ordered the chinese military to be readying capable of taking taiwan by force in 2027 just two years from now. so it should go without saying that the nights they should exercise caution before continuing to sell the chinese communist party the rope in the form of 10th sensitive technology in the form of advance semiconductors. i've been working with my college to address legislation that would provide transparency

for this outbound investment from the united states to the prc. last year we made good progress on the issue by including a provision to include outbound transplants in the passed national defense authorization act. the senate voted 91-6 to include my amendment in the ndaa last year showing overwhelming bipartisan consensus on the need to address this issue. we all know how hard it is to find agreement around here a 60 vote threshold can be hard to come by on many important issues. upwards of 90 votes should send a clear message that this issue is one that we deem of utmost importance on a bipartisan basis. we all are acutely aware of their competition with china and

their need to counter some of china's aggression including prohibitions on certain outbound investment which are critical step to that and. i must say we had great partners in the house and i want to thank in particular john mullen are chair of the defense select committee on chinese communist party chinese communist party and the housing congressman michael mccaul chair of the foreign relations committee and the speaker of the house mike johnson who have all contributed to our efforts to advance this issue. but this isn't where the story ends. the senate had another opportunity to include these provisions in the defense authorization act this year to house minority leader hakeem jeffries chose to block it. one person is standing in the way. it is simply unconscionable that anyone who claims to care about the china threat would be

opposed to outbound investment transparency and it's unacceptable to play political games with such an essential national security provision. i understand over the last day leader jeff reese has listened to the voice of reason and come back to the negotiating table and i'm hopeful that these conversations will continue to be productive and yield a positive outcome. the national security of our country depends on it. and they must not squander this opportunity to confront the chinese communist party what time is running out. we all know that we are living in the most dangerous time since world war ii. our adversaries are not shy about the fact that they are working together. this year china and russia pledged to deepen their trusted cooperation and while they

continue to conduct joint military exercises. north korea has sent 10,000 troops to russia and some intelligence estimate suggests they may be willing to provide up to 100,000 soldiers in the coming months from north korea to russia to fight in ukraine. meanwhile iran and proxies have been attacking u.s. shipments in the red sea and have launched a terrorist attack against our greatest strategic ally in the middle east. which is israel. it's no secret and it's well-known that china, russia iran and north korea are working in concert to undermine american interests that threatens the stability of global world order. though we should not add our name to the list by helping them the gift of unrestrained

non-transparent american investment. i would urge all of our colleagues did not let politics stand in the way of our national security. we cannot stand by and continue selling the in china the rope they will use to hang the united states of america. mr. president i have the floor. >> mr. president we have come to the end now with 2024 to the end of another legislative session indeed to the end of another congress and before this congress congratulates itself on finishing its legislative work next week i must come again here to this war and remind my colleagues that hundreds of thousands of good americans are still waiting for this congress to act, waiting for justice to be done in their cases. i'm talking about the hundreds of thousands of americans who have been poisoned by nuclear

radiation by their own government. i'm talking about the people of st. louis missouri and iranians -- uranium processing site that dates back 50 or 60 years ago. the people of st. louis did their duty prowling patriotically but the government didn't do right by them. what did the government do when the manhattan project was shut down? the government took that nuclear waste that radioactive material and dumped it into a public landfill. they allowed it to seep into our groundwater. they allowed it to be distributed across the region so that now in the greater st. st. louis area and the greater st. charles area thousands upon thousands of missourians have been exposed to nuclear waste and radiation for decades and even as i stand here today to radiation continues. the groundwater still in doubt and the creek is still contaminated. bridges to few weeks ago ago the army corps of engineers

discovered additional radioactive material under residents homes in suburban st. louis. the spring is not fully remediated and no one and i emphasize no one in the state of missouri has received a dime in compensation from the federal government for the decades of radioactive exposure that this government forced upon them and the people of missouri are not alone. the same story is repeated over and over in places like new mexico in arizona and in idaho and in colorado and in wyoming and montana and i could go on, hundreds of thousands of americans exposed through no fault of her own, many of them veteran, many of the minors who went to work in uranium mines to provide the critical material that allowed us to support our nuclear programs and allowed us to win the second world war and the cold war and what is united

states government done for these good americans, that trend, lehman won in all, what has the government done with them? nothing but expose them to nuclear radiation and done nothing mr. president. that is why this body finally acted this year, acting with the huge bipartisan majority, legislation that would finally compensate an honor those americans who served their country who gave their help in many cases gave their lives for this country's national security as part of their nuclear program. mr. president wealth is body has acted the house is not in here we are now at the end of this calendar year at the end of this legislative session and because the house has waded in because the house is stalled and failed to act the radiation ex-boucher compensation program is fully expired so that no american, no veteran, no one across the

country was been exposed by the government of his radioactive waste not a single person has been compensated for the cancers that they have contracted compensated for the loved ones that they have lost to radioactive related diseases. nobody. it's completely dark and know when it's given anything and now we are told mr. president at this 11th hour after this body has passed legislation not once but twice to fairly compensate these good americans, after this body has acted to ensure that these good americans get the justice that they deserve now at this 11th hour after after the houses allow the program to expire we are told now the house leadership is considering a backroom deal, backroom deal to be shoved into an entity or package that would select just the few counties in one state the state of utah a few counties to compensate and exclude

everybody else. i can't emphasize too enough mr. president when an offense this would be. for months now victims have met with house leadership and negotiated with them and i've negotiated with house leadership and many care to engage in this effort to find a way to get the house to act in compensate these good americans who have been employed in out this last minute for house leadership to be preparing as reports indicate that they are, to shut shoved down the throats of these victims across the country a backroom deal that excludes almost all of them, almost all of them is not only unacceptable mr. president it's unjust. it's wrong. president reagan used to say sometimes there really are simple answers but just not easy ones. let's be direct about this.

what house leadership is considering here there's a simple way to describe it. it's flat out wrong. does no more nuanced they did and that too will suffer -- if house leadership puts a backroom deal riggs for only a few insiders excluding most of the country who will suffer? i will tell you who will suffer it will be people like the young children of the elementary school in my home state that had to close over year ago because of continuing radioactive contamination right there in the st. louis area. this elementary school is near the creek and is still contaminated. the entire school had to shut down who knows how many children have been exposed before that happened at the entire school is closed and it is still close and it will remain close and every travel remained uncompensated and exposed until the house chooses to act but think about the member of the novel

donation. no one could you put it more to this country than the proud members of the navajo nation in the second world war in the cold war and still today. their rates of volunteer service in the military are higher than any community in the entire country and nobody has suffered more than the fallout of the nuclear program the novel donation including a double lung transplant. the house forces a backroom deal through this body and thousands of others like him will be uncompensated and unrecognized. it's wrong mr. president and to declare a young girl from -- diagnosed with a radiation related illness when she was born goes to chemotherapy and she was just a child aged two considered unique gutierrez from the great state of new mexico every member of her had

cancer and multiple radiation related illnesses because they were downwind of the original oppenheimer test they carried that radioactive nuclear cloud over so much of our country and didn't consider the state of missouri born with cancer died at the age of two and he never had a chance mr. president. why? because his mother did drew a lot of cold water creek in the st. louis area of missouri that is still to this day contaminated. none of these people, none of them have been helped by their government with the expenses with the losses with the pain that the government forced on them not one of them. mr. president is time to act and i want to be crystal clear about this. if house prices if house leadership persist in attempts to force into a cr package, a

partial backroom special interest deal that excludes these good people i will object and if they come to this body asking for a time agreement at the end of the session to pass that package i will object. i want to be clear about this. there is no way forward for partial backroom deal, no way. i will stand in the way on behalf of every one of these americans as long as it takes until justice is done. this is the time mr. president. this body has acted; the house to pass" we should do instead of their backroom deal just pass with this body has already passed generous compensation they are just compensation was >> that will clearly honor, recognize and help these good americans who deserve it. this is in the handout

mr. president this is just a synthesis recognition of what these good americans have done. we are near upon christmas now. used to be around christmastime sometimes we talk about the christian feeling or the christmas feeling. what does that christian feeling consist of if not in the words of mike doing justice, loving kindness and walking humbly with our god. we have the chance to do justice to show kindness to fulfill our duty to our fellow americans but the scripture demolishes this to not be just hears the doers. let's be doers of justice. justice. let's be demonstrators of kindness. let's do what's right by our fellow americans about the honor our countrymen for what they have done. let's right this wrong finally a

50 year wrong let's ride it and end the year in and the congress with this historic riding of a wrong and then we can say to her constituents and their fellow americans merry christmas and then we can say we have truly done our jobs. until that time mr. president i will be here and i will be standing and i will be advocating on their behalf. i yield back. joining us now is john greenspan he is a political history curator for the smithsonian museum in american history than also the author of the age of acra money how americans fought to secure democracy. thank you for being with us. >> we'll be talking about your book for the next 45 minutes or so. why don't you start by telling us why you have chosen to write about this particular topic in this time period? >> i was living in two different worlds. in our era we see democracy and

threats that have been going on in a growing sense of partisanship back her money and political violence tribalism and the smithsonian have these collections and go back to the founding of american democracy and maybe in the middle of that period the civil war in the 1900 b.c. that tribalism and that acra money and partisanship and people started saying this is not normal but we do have a precedent that's not normal and there's a continuum of political aggression and this was the era we grew up in. i wanted to try to get these worlds together. we will look at the examples and some of the quotes meant to show that. who should be reading your book and what mindset should they have when they open it up? everyone should read it, right? what mindset should they have?

when people look at history they have the resistant mindsets on the back of their minds they are trying to prove that our error is bigger and more significant and more impressive than in the past and in the comment sections of the op-ed sometimes there's a resistance to giving the past the same view we get the presents. the president has for the worse better or bigger. i would like people to empathize with someone who lived in 1860 or 1880 and these unfolding events felt and their lives were as big as our lives feel today so empathy. what do you want them to take away from it once they finish its? thee there a couple of takeaways. if not here before we've been somewhere else before. this is not the profession of normal, normal, normal men

abnormal. a lot of the things we see today we have seen in the past even in their form more violence or aggression but the best take away would be that it's fixable and i don't know how we will fix it. to have people identify problems in their democracy and organize reform especially cultural reforms and change how we use democracy and change our level of civility and restraint and partisanship and build a new political culture. we are just headed towards an apocalypse. people have agency to change as they have in the past and we will somehow, history does change some certain we are not headed towards that and history can help us see see the whale. going to share this quote from the practice in your book it says americans claim we are more divided than we have been since the civil war that forget the lifetime civil wars of the

loudest political campaigns in our history from the 1860s through the early 1900s. presidential elections drew the highest turnouts and they were decided by the closest margins to witness the most political violence during reconstruction and regimes that operated as organized crime syndicates in the brutal suppression of labor movement made this the deadliest era in american political history and we have experience one impeachment to presidential elections won by the of the popular vote and three a presidential assassination, control of congress but in either party seems capable of tackling the systematic issue affecting american life and the tribal partisanship that has captivated the public holding ethnic and religious identities and critics came to consider

this era of democracy in the wilderness when america's political politics threatened america's promise. if you were to pick out the date from that, there is a lot of similarities to what we are seeing today and women talk about where we go from here how did they move past them what happened after this period? it's trickier to show how they fixed it then how they got into that mess. you can show the political violence and the low turnout. what you see is a build of this culture based on restraint. if their key values for 19th century politics it's public and its but you are in a tribe in your partisan and doing this in the public square and your builds into american politics whether you're a voter not yet can't avoid american elections

in late 19th century. visitors to america complained if you sit on the streetcar someone will come by and critique you on how you would vote on the straw poll in the elections in its passion. it's really heated elections in high levels of aggression and participation both good and bad. there's the violence but there's also high levels of engagement and participation. 20 centuries about the culture that values independence and not supposed to be partisan and you don't talk about politics at the dinner table and restraint but the main goal is to control your political emotions to maintain this calm or extreme civility and those are the norm to talk about. these were norms that were built in the 1900s or the 1890s and a lot of them were not invented by the founding fathers. they were created to stop the last period of democratic crisis so they get it before it took some changes in how we vote to

make a big difference but a lot of it is built-in to the culture and how we use our democracy how we talk to each other in that slow when it's not dramatic but it made a huge change in how americans engaged in numerically you can qualitatively and quantitatively show the changes based on culture. >> our guest is jon grinspan the author of the book the age back her money how americans fought for democracy and if you have a question or comment you can start calling in now the line republicans (202)748-8001 democrats (202)748-8002. some people look at your book that came out in 2021 hoping it would be happy or optimistic but you were really trying to show that our political system has

never been fully functional. do you think that dose of reality can help put into perspective how we feel about our political current system? thee we think everything was going on just my normal politics until 2016 in something one of the rails in autzen everall that democracy will crumble. if you study american democracy there then rises and falls and not theirs a good time or in bad series is that we keep -- the 19th century model is high engagement and hypercetacean for voters and nonvoters. people feel passionate reading the newspapers. in the 20th century did rebuild the model that's more simple more peaceable. turn out by poor people and less educated people, people of color in younger people crashes in the

good old normal 20th century democracy. i think it's naïve and unrealistic to expect we are going to get it right. we'll probably reform the era into a new model that has its strengths and weaknesses and that's life. we should accept these trade-offs and not expect it to be perfect. if we look at our history we can see how these things swing back and forth over time. they >> something you talk about in the book there's an idea that the next election coming up next will decide the future but in reality we are in a loop and there has yet to be a resolution ..

as if it is a gigantic game changing a mandate. the election before it was a 4% when but not that significant is a 2% when in 2016. these are not landslides but these are not game changers. we keep saying this and that after words people think this will change everything. at the end of the year we see how stuck in the same group we are. there's a quote from the 1890s that i like or somebody said speak of congressional elections every two years one party is obliterated two years later the other party is obliterated. think how many times in the last decade we've declared democrats or republicans a dying a party that just cannot get it together and loses an election. they're both in the same group together. until we can set back, take a breath, have some perspective and look at our past, we are not going to be able to see what is significant and what is continuing the same path. callers waiting to talk with

they will start with joe. west plains, missouri line for republicans good morning joe. >> caller: hi. i've got two or three things. first of all i do not care that the country is divided. that is fine with me. second, i do not believe that joe biden got 81 million votes legitimately but he got more votes than the popular obama? he got more votes than hilary clinton? no. the electronic nonsense from google or some high-tech company added votes. and third, california just got done counting their votes a couple days ago? a month after the election? that is baloney. we should cut california out of the union. put up a fence or wall around them and get rid of them because a month later they're still counting votes? that does not seem right to me. thank you. >> guest: i can try to respond to the historian. i'm not going to argue in any of your points. there were no questions anyway.

looking back at our history that's how elections work and often takes weeks, months to figure out the results of an election. often during these diaries of people who vote in or out in the field to weeks later in spite of the result of the election. it's a big dispersant complicates is tempered over the last 200 years, it often takes quite some time it often surprises us. it is not surprising to me at all it takes time to count the votes. i would also say compared to the 19th century receipt rampant fraud it's really exposed and obvious how many elections are stolen in this era, the evidence is not there. it's not in the courts, it's not out there is just wishful thinking on a sleeper that the best i can say to that. color brought up the fact he does not care that america is it divided it. it's fine with them i want to share this quote from your book will be done with partisanship he left the democrats over slavery and now imagine a future

to expect their views americans would dig deeper than simply naming a party, political machine had empowered leaders, use or his intellectual vision comes in the back of their head in time duster is time to reimagine politics entirely kelly told congress in his speech calling for black voters rights ours is a new age we are unfolding a new page in national life americans unleashed democracy with destructive possibilities. invention of the steam while or of the printing press no need to cling to old parties or identities that past is gone forever. but first explain who will kelly was and also the fact we haven't

moved past this. cooks so much it seems the same. william derek kelly also has a pig iron kelly was a politician, a congressman from the 19th century actively involved on the forefront of every big movement of the 19th century. he's a supporter of andrew jackson, of abraham lincoln, he writes the language for the 15th amendment that gives african-americans the right to vote pretty pushes for women's suffrage, labor reform, he's one of these guys who's always on the forefront. but, he is very independent because he's so independent he moves from party to part you can see him getting squeezed over his life. he is really admirable he's fighting for causes that really are what we have politics for trying to make lives better for working people for discriminating against minorities. because he's stuck in this world of squeezing parties you can see his isolation and him losing his independence over his lifetime and losing his agency.

he's raising his daughter to be an activist as well, florence kelley who in her era finds new tools for engagement. cooks can i say one thing about being up divided cosmic there is an argument we could make. we are all very doom and gloom about politics today. but the turnout is higher, the engagement is higher. far higher than the previous area. if you look at the 1990s basically half the americans did not vote. most people cannot distinguish distinguishable between the parties. you could say we are divided, it's terrible what we feel better not politics you could also say democracies based on the attention of the citizenry. really the people engaging in government we are engaging a government now more than we were in the quiet boring 90s or 80s or whatever. there is a this is a good thing argument to make up or i don't think most people would agree but we should be able to make bookcases. exit next, keith in athens, alabama life for independence. >> hello, how are you, happy holidays.

basically what i was wanting to say is the country is divided. you could do a bell curve on when it started to happen and i think it probably started during the obama administration. it was driven by social media not x, but twitter. it has divided the people to the point it's like it is just driven back and forth like a little ping-pong ball back and forth. i believe the only thing is going to cure it is going to be a really good war or some kind of catastrophe to bring everybody together again. that divided. i think people were a lot closer think a lot more alike than what they are given credit for if you get down to it. thank you very much and have a great day.

he went your response? >> guest: yes two things. i think were not as divided as we think we are, i kind of agree with that i think there's rhetoric and talk about how divided we are and how hostile we are. honestly it is to the benefit of extreme in both parties and people in the news media who get attention, get eyeballs, get votes. that's a whole system is getting us worked out. i think over the last decade we spent so much time telling ourselves how angry we are the course of your anger if you keep saying you're angry. i do think if you bear down a lot of these fights they are more than they are fundamental to the american people if you look back we went to the rnc come at dnc to go to rallies, we go to primaries even six months after you collect an object if you look at it sent what was that fight over? what is this referenced on the poster because some of the stuff feels like a ginned up by people who want to have an argument.

so they picked that argument. now the weed on fundamental issues it's in the interest of many actors to keep us divided and angry. you talk about when this all started. people talk to social media iphone sometimes i talk to the early 20001 if you like pop culture got more cruel in a way a meanness that grew in. the fundamental force in our own era's social disruption the reason the politics pretty similar to the way they did in 1880s or 1890s is because americans feel shaken. if you think about life in the gilded age highschooler college history classes there's high level of immigration but there's lots of urbanization, mobilization people moving into industry think about the life of someone who grew up in a small town or village and ends up in a factory on the other side of the world they felt really shaken. the find there churches there

left behind their culture a lot of these people back then lien and to the party they say don't live in a small town in germany anymore but i'm a democrat i drink at a democratic sun or i'm a republican and a march in the republican marches something similar happen. mr. schumer: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: mr. president, i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all those in favor say aye. all those opposed, no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to.

mr. schumer: thank you, mr. president. okay. i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 835. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all those in favor say aye. opposed, 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, nuclear regulatory commission, matthew james marzano, of illinois to be a member of the nuclear regulatory commission. mr. schumer: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby bring to a close debate on the nomination of executive calendar number 835, matthew james marazano, of illinois, to be a member of the nuclear regulatory commission. mr. schumer: i ask consent the reading of the names be waived.

the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to legislative session and be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to consideration of s. res. 926, which was submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 926, to constitute the majority party's membership for committees for the 118th congress or until their successors are chosen. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar number 505, s. 4776.

the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: of calendar number 505, s. 4776, a bill to amend the older americans act of 1965 and so forth and for other purposes. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the committee-reported substitute amendment be withdrawn, the sanders substitute amendment at the desk be considered and agreed to the bill, as amended be considered read a third time. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i know of no further debate on the bill, as amended. the presiding officer: is there further debate? if not, all those in favor say aye. opposed, no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the bill, as amended, is passed. the presiding officer: i ask unanimous consent that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar number 557, h h.r. 3254. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 557, h.r. 3254, an act to amend the

homeland security act of 2002. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the bill be considered read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the committee on health, education, labor and pensions be discharged from further consideration of h.r. 6829, and the senate proceed to its immediate consideration. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: h.r. 6829, an act to amend the public health service act and so forth and for other are purposes. the presiding officer: without objection, the committee is discharged, and the senate will proceed. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the bill be considered read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: now, mr. president, i have great, great, and

wonderful news. just now, after so much work, we have finally reached the end zone and are sending the heart's act to the president's desk. we scored a touchdown for america area children. today the senate unanimously passed the heart's act and with it we are giving schools across america the tools they need to save lives. just yesterday i was in buffalo, new york with damar hamlin and members of the community for this very cause. making sure that every school has aed's and the ability to teach cpr. it's a powerful reminder that in cardiac, every minute counts. he learned that when he had his cardiac arrest on the football field and all americans learned that all the time. and it's especially true when it

comes to our children. over the past few months, damar and i have worked tirelessly on the hearts act. so when -- so we can increase funding for schools to purchase more aed's and ensure students and staff know how to use them. many members in both chambers have likewise worked relentless on this bill. it's a commonsense bill and a lifesaving bill. mr. president, this bill will save lives. when our young athletes have a cardiac arrest or need some other form of cpr, there will be the aed equipment at the school and there will be train person -- trained personnel who know how to apply the aed's and cpr. it's going to save lives. it's a beautiful thing. and i have to salute damar hamlin. after his bout with cardiac arrest, he went forward and said i have to change this and get

the aed's available to everybody. he came and visited me in washington. i said i want to help. and together we've been a great team. i told damar that passing this legislation which has just happened is his super bowl ring. winning the super bowl which i believe the bills will do will be his second super bowl ring. with the passage of the hearts act, we're putting aed's within the reach of more schools and children. studies show that schools with aed's and cpr trained staff are seven times, seven times more likely to save a life during a cardiac emergency. that's -- that statistic is now a promise we're making to every parent, every teacher, every student in america that they'll have the resources they need. i want to thank damar hamlin for his courage, his partnership, his dedication. he is both a strong man and a humble and modest man, a beautiful person. i count him as a friend.

he turned a personal tragedy into a mission to save others. again and again damar would tell me, quote, let's make history on this bill. and today history is being made. i'd like to thank the nfl for their support. i'd like to thank the buffalo bills for their support. and i'd like to thank all of those who worked to make this possible. to every colleague here in this chamber who helped get this bill across the finish line and to the staff who worked so hard on this bill, especially gunner habriel, a proud member of the bill's mafia and we went to the high school, his father is a p.e. teacher there and i met him yesterday as well. and i can tell you, he is so proud of what gunner has done. he's right here. not mr. habriel. gunner. gunner, as i said, is a proud member of the bill's mafia who doggedly worked on this piece of legislation.

so today is a good day. because of the hearts act, more lives will be saved. more families will be whole. more communities will be prepared. let me say that again without interruption from one of my anxious colleagues. so today is a good day. because of the hearts act, more lives will be saved. more families will be whole. and more communities will be prepared. and of course go bills. on to the second super bowl ring for damar. and now, mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the committee on banking, housing and urban affairs be discharged from further consideration of h.r. 1097 and the senate proceed to its immediate consideration. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: h.r. 1097, an act to award a congressional gold medal to every receipt alvarez jr., in recognition of his service to

the nation. the presiding officer: without objection, the committee is discharged and the senate will proceed. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the bill be considered read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the committee on finance be further discharged from consideration of h.r. 3797 and the senate proceed to its immediate consideration. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: h.r. 3797, an act to amend the internal revenue code of 1986 and so forth. the presiding officer: without objection, the committee is discharged. and the senate will proceed. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the -- the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the committee op finance be discharged from further consideration of h.r. 3801 and the senate to proceed to its immediate consideration. the presiding officer: the clerk will report.

the clerk: an act to amend the internal revenue code of 1986 and so forth. the presiding officer: without objection, the committee is discharmed and the senate will proceed. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the bill be considered read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the committee on health, education, labor and pensions be discharged from further consideration of h.r. 696 to and -- 69670 and the -- 6960. the clerk: an act to amend the public health service act and so forth. the presiding officer: without objection, the committee is discharged and the senate will proceed. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the bill be considered read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of h.r. 7872, which was received from the house and is at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk

will report. the clerk: h.r. 7872, an act to amend the colorado river basin sallinity control act and so forth and for other purposes. the presiding officer: the senate will proceed. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the be considered read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the committee on judiciary be discharged from further consideration and the senate now proceed to s. con. res. 43. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. con. res. 43, concurrent resolution expressing support for the designation of september 29, 2024 as veterans of foreign wars of the united states day. the presiding officer: without objection, the committee is discharged and the senate will proceed. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the current resolution be agreed to, the carper amendment at the desk to the preamble be agreed to, the

preamble as amended be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the committee on judiciary be discharged from further consideration, the senate proceed to s. res. 836. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 836, recognizing hispanic restaurant week and so forth. the presiding officer: without objection, the committee is discharged and the senate will proceed. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to consideration of s. 924. which is at the desk. s. res. 924, which is at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 924, designating december 14, 2024 as national wreaths across america day. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous

consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of s. res. 925, which is at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the presiding officer: senate resolution, 925, relating to the death of the honorable fred r. harris, former senator for the state of oklahoma. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed. the presiding officer: i ask unanimous consent the resolution -- mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i understand there's a bill at the desk. i ask for its first reading. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the title of the bill for the first time. the clerk: h.r. 82, an act to amend title 2 of the social security act to repeal the government pension offset and windfall elimination provisions.

mr. schumer: i now ask for a second reading and in order to place the bill on the calendar under the provisions of rule 14, i object to my own request. the presiding officer: objection is heard. the bill will be read for the second time on the next legislative day. mr. schumer: for the office of congressional workplace rights be printed in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i have requests for two committees to meet during today's session of the senate, they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. the presiding officer: duly noted. mr. schumer: and finally, mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today it stand adjourn under the provisions of s. res. 925 until 11:00 a.m., wednesday, november 11 -- december 11, the the time

for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day and the morning hour be deemed expired. following the conclusion of morning business, the senate proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the mcfarren nomination, if any nominations are confirmed during the senate's session, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the president be immediately notified of the senate's action. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: if there's no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order. the presiding officer: under the previous order and pursuant to s. res. 925, the senate stands adjourned until 11:00 a.m. on wednesday, december 11, 2024, and does so as a further mark of respect to the late fred r. harris, former senator from harris, former senator from the senate has gaveled out for the day-to-day members of an on a pair of judicial nominations

they also debated nination to the national labor relations bod. lawmakers are also continuin work on a government funding measure ahead of the december shut down deadline. live coverage of the u.s. senate when lawmakers return here on cspan2. cooks you insert cannot give yourself that grade. cook suggested. >> you canton. can't.you cannot grade on paper. i've been to medical school you cannot i'm sorry. you are created by the united states people they do not use your service anymore. quickset is not true pay. >> you bankrupt or your reputation only. through your reputation you are responsible for the fall of the postal service. >> congress is responsible. i am trying to fix. >> on your watch with all of. >> audit might watch the same stuff happen for. >> all the ai with all the computer systems.

>> you picked up the mail and delivered it to miles on the road. that is you. i hope you got that on camera. this is the response the postmaster just gave congress when he does not like what he hears. literally covered his ears and gave himself the grade of eight with that sir i rest. >> good. >> postmaster general louis dejoy in exchange and house oversight committee hearing earlier tod. you can watch theull hearing tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span now are free mobile video app or online at c-span.org. >> are you a nonfiction book lover looking for a new podcast? this holiday season trite listening to her that many podcasts c-span has to offer. on q&a you were listening to interesting interviews with people and authors writing books on history and subjects that matter might learn something new on book notes a plus through conversation with non- fiction

authors and historians after words brings together best-selling nonfiction authors with influential interviewers wide reaching our long conversations. and on about books we talk about the business of books with news and interviews about the publishing industry and nonfiction authors. find all of our podcast by downloading the free c-span now app or wherever you get your podcast. ♪ >> the house of an order. >> this year it c-span celebrates 45 years of covering congress like no other. since 1979 we have been your primary source for capitol hill providing balance unfiltered coverage of government. taking you to where the policy is debated and decided all with the support of america's cable company. c-span, 45 years and counting powered by cable. senate