and i think it's incumbent on both republicans and democrats to find those places, agree to disagree on some. if you go to immigration, if you start with, okay, here's the border right here and here's mass deportation of 20 million people, like somewhere between there you're not going to agree. that's not hard to see. but what about over here? right? let's go for example on this, and then we'll deal with this later. >> and we heard vice president trump can -- where would vice president -- why would president trump be? >> he's going to do what he's going to do. but my advice to the senate and the house, that's our job. let's go find those places. let's work together. i think my biggest us from thation is that those in the house and in the senate who are willing and who like to work together with other people, i tend to call us boring. we don't make the headlines, right? and we've got to find a better way to showne the american peope

that a there are more of those than not, and we are getting things done. and when we get things done, doing a better job with of bragging about it. d >> thank you so much for your time. absolutely. great to be with you. [applause] >> we take you live now to the u.s. capitol where the senate is gaveling in. today lawmakers are considering more of president trump's cabinet nominees including lee zeldin to be epa add a morer and doug burgum to be interior secretary. you're watching live coverage of the senate here on c-span2. the president pro tempore: the senate will come to order.

the chaplain, dr. black, will open the senate with prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. immortal god, your name is great throughout the earth. we thank you for the undeserved blessings you give us each day. lord, you bless us with life, health, faith, hope, and love. you give us your peace. great and marvelous are your works. today, guide the members of this body with your wisdom. help them to resolve to become part of the solutions to our

nation's problems. make clear to them the path of duty and lead them in the doing of your will. are provide them with counsel to deal with complex challenges and infuse them with divine discernment to accomplish your purposes. we pray in your strong name. amen. the president pro tempore: please join me in the pledge of allegiance. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. under the previous order, morning business is closed. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the following nomination, which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, environmental protection agency, lee zeldin of new york to be administrator.

>> yes, we were but the freeze

continues. or the fight against the freeze . okay. i'm proud to be joined by my colleague senator burr marie, ranked number, senator peters, ranking member of homeland security, and senator heinrich, ranking member of the energy committee. so in one instance in the blink of an eye in the dark of night donald trump who committed one of the cruelest actions that i've seen the federal government do in a very long time, cutting off, shutting off aliens may be trillions of dollars things that average american families need. everything was on the line. our police officers who keep us safe, our firefighters who keep us safe, hospitals particularly whirl hospitals that need the funding to help sick people. our cities, school from one end

of the cuts to the other cut off school funding. property taxes go up. people hate property taxes. and every corner te in a quorum ? the presiding officer: we're not in a quorum call. mr. thune: mr. president yesterday afternoon my democrat colleagues, and when i say my democrat colleagues, i mean all of my democratic colleagues, with one exception, chose to block legislation to sanction individuals at the international criminal court who participated in investigations or prosecutions of american or israeli citizens. in the wake of the vote, a number of my democrat colleagues put out a statement expressing their concern at the icc's decision to issue arrest warrants for israeli leaders. i suppose it's nice that they're concerned, mr. president. they should be concerned, but it would be even nicer if they had done something about it. it's hard for me to fathom how democrats could vote against this commonsense measure. in fact, they wouldn't even vote

to have a debate. i'm not sure if they're afraid of antagonizing the anti-israel wing of their that's right or they're too beholden to big tech which lodged tenuous concerns about this legislation. but whatever their reason, democrats chose to vote no. no to standing up for our ally israel, and even worse, no to standing up for our own citizens. apparently the america last playbook is alive and well in the democrat party. mr. president, republicans tried to the very end to accommodate democrats in hopes of finally getting this legislation over the finish line. nearly eight months after the republican-controlled house first passed the bill. but democrats kept moving the goalpost and republicans were not going to just gut the legislation to get democrat votes. if democrats decide that they want to take real action to address the targeting of our

allies and prevent future targeting of american citizens, republicans are here. until then, we'll continue to do what we can without democrats to defend our allies and our nation. mr. president, over the last four years the biden administration set our energy security on a dangerous path. administration policies created uncertainty foreign policy energy producers. the administration restricted oil and gas development. new government regulations threatened to close power plants even as our electric grid struggled to keep up with demand. the president attempted to enforce the widespread adoption of electric cars, again, despite the incredible strain that would place on our already shaky power grid. and the list goes on. mr. president, a recent report from the north american electric reliability corporation warns of, and i quote, mounting resource adequacy challenges, end quote, in the next decade. one reason is the retirement of conventional energy generators.

in some areas because, i should sab in some cases because of regulation. another is increased demand, like increasing demand for electricity being driven by artificial intelligence data centers. it takes roughly ten times as much electricity to run a chatgpt query as it takes to run a google search. imagine the energy demands of a.i. at scale. anyone who thinks we can be on the leading edge with new technology with less or less reliable energy should think again. we need more energy, and the good news is we have it. in fact, we have the resources to be energy dominant, but we need to start saying yes to american energy. mr. president, on his first day in office, president trump took the first steps toward restoring american energy dominance. he declared a national energy emergency which will allow him to cut through some of the red

tape that stifles energy production as we continue to work toward broader regulatory relief. he also reversed the biden administration's pause on new exports of liquefied natural gas, a decision that threatened american jobs and left our allies looking elsewhere for their energy. president trump also reopened parts of alaska to energy development that the biden administration k previously closed off. he spared the american people from the biden electric vehicle mandate and he put the brakes on spending from the democrats' so-called inflation reduction act, in reality a climate bill whose actual cost has skyrocketed since it passed. mr. president, energy is an asset, and producing our own energy means we don't have to rely on other nations for a critical resource, including countries that don't share our values. energy dominance is a deterrent to our adversaries. and it's literally the engine of our economy.

but if we want to restore energy dominance, we have to start saying yes to american energy. yes to an all of the above energy strategy that includes everything from oil and gas to hydropower and biofuels. everything. we need all of it. mr. president, i've come to the floor many times to discuss the negative effects of burdensome regulations. and for the last four years the epa has put forward some of the biden administration's most harmful regulations. there was the wotus rule that would have been a disaster for farmer and ranchers. the good neighbor rule that would have shuttered power plants in several states. the clean power plan 2.0, which would have jeopardized our future energy security. overly strict emission rules for vehicles that would have forced americans into electric vehicles that they don't want. and in most cases can't afford. costly standards for medium and heavy duty trucks that would

have harmed p small trucking operations. the list goes on. regulations like these drawn up in washington, d.c., have real world impacts, and i'm pleased that president trump is committed to giving americans relief from excessive regulations and that his epa nominee will help him implement that vision. lee zeldin whose nomination we will vote on today, as a former four term congressman representing a district almost completely surrounded by water. his record in congress speaks to this, but mr. zeldin also recognizes that the epa can't be a hammer in search of nails, and that epa rules have to be balanced with the needs of our economy, our national security, and the american people. he also understands the importance of collaboration with stakeholders, something that was too often lacking in the biden administration. i know farmers and ranchers in my state would have appreciated a seat at the table before the

biden administration resurrected the harmful wotus rule, and i'm pleased mr. zeldin is focused on bringing a collaborative approach to the epa. mr. president, i'm also grateful that mr. zeldin committed to timely release of the renewable volume obligations as is required by the renewable fuel standard. in years past, the biden administration epa has been late in releasing its renewable volume obligations, which were often below industry production le levels, creating instability for producers. biofuels are an important asset in america's energy portfolio. so i'm pleased mr. zeldin will ensure that biofuel producers have the certainty that has been lacking in recent years. and i'm encouraged that mr. zeldin is willing to work with congress on president trump's promise of yearround e-15 sales. restoring energy dominance will

require an all-of-the-above approach. it will require a smarmer approach from reg -- a semaphoreder approach from reg -- a smarter approach from regulators. i look forward to working with mr. zeldin in carrying out this important work. mr. president, i yield the floor. mr. grassley: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: i'm here to back the nomination of lee zeldin, of new york, to be administrator of the environmental protection ag agency. so, my vote will be yes in a few hours from now, when we vote on that nomination. the epa plays a very important regulatory role in the united states. not only does it regulate pollution like many americans already know, but it also regulates many areas that impact

americans every day. as many farmers in iowa know, the previous administration's epa put out a regulation that would overregulate what we know in this town as waters of the united states, or as the leader just put it, wotus. this would have regulated 96% of the land in the state of iowa, and that would subject that land to federal water regulations. it would almost be impossible to do the regular farming operations without wondering whether you were violating some

regulation. that's what the leader just said is regulation that is not commonsense. the epa also oversees issues critical to agriculture, such as the approval and labeling of pesticides and other important tools for farmers. the epa also oversees the renewable fuel standard, and protects its integrity. the renewable fuel standard provides an important framework for biofuels, which benefits farmers by sustaining an additional market for their commodities. and besides biofuels, or in iowa because we're number one in the production of ethanol, we like to say it's good for f

agriculture, it's good for good-paying jobs in rural america that we'd never have without the elle knoll industry -- without the ethanol industry, it's good for the environment because it is clean-burning, it's good for our national security, less reliance upon foreign sources of energy, and there's everything about biofuels that is good, good, good. there's not a negative that you can come up with about them. in our meeting earlier this month in my office, mr. zeldin came there, i impressed upon him the far-reaching impact that his agency has over the lives of farmers and all americans. mr. zeldin assured me that he would be responsive to congress, and that he would provide ample time to provide transparency and

market stability before regulations from his agency are promulgated. mr. zeldin's assurance about making decisions on time is important because previously the required volume obligations dealing with biofuels and the small refinery exemptions have not been finalized in time to make the rbo's whole. this leads to less ethanol blending, which goes against president trump's commitment to farmers and the ethanol industry, which mr. zeldin assured me that he supports. for the sake of iowa farmers, i'm hopeful that mr. zeldin stays true to his word. and just in case you wonder

whether or not we have anything to fear from epa and agri agriculture, i want to give you a little history that is now history but it just shows you how in this town, which i call an island surrounded by reality, the real americans outside of this island here, a few years ago they were going to promote a rule that you'd say is just unbelievable, you got to be telling us a story. they wouldn't be proposing this rule. it was called the fugitive dust rule. okay, the theory of the fugitive dust rule from epa is that if you're farming and you create dust in normal operations that

go into a farming operation, plowing, disking, planting, spraying, whatever it might be, combining the harvest, that you're supposed to keep that dust within your property lines. now, that's what epa tried to promulgate. in fact, i think one time we thought we had it killed, and a couple years later it came up again. now i think it's dead forever because it doesn't meet the commonsense test that a farmer working his fields must keep the dust within his property lines. so i tried to explain it to epa administrators this way in regard to the harvesting of soybeans, which leaves a lot of dust, i said, when soybeans are 13% moisture, it's very necessary that you very quickly harvest them, because at 13% is

the most ideal time with that amount of moisture in the soy soybeans. and do you know, to these administrators only god determines when the wind blows, and whether the wind's blowing or not your soybeans are 13%, you got to get in there and combine them and not worry where the dust goes, and you got about two weeks during harvest season to accomplish that goal. but no kidding, that's what epa was trying to do to agriculture a few years ago. i yield the floor.

mr. durbin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: mr. president, all of us can remember that when the biden administration took office one of the first issues facing them was the evacuation of american forces from afgh afghanistan. that effort had started under president trump and the previous administration, but it was up to joe biden to execute the plan for that to happen. the sad reality is, during the course of that evacuation,

american troops lost their lives. i'm sure that haunted president biden every day he served as president, that the moment when he was being tested he did not come through for those men in uniform who risked their lives and gave their lives in that effort. those deaths haunted him, i'm sure, during the four years of his presidency. i would say to the new president, donald trump, serving his second term, he has an issue that is going to haunt him, and i can't tell you for how long, and i don't know exactly how it will affect our country, but it's already started. it started when he decided about ten days ago to grant clemency to the january 6 offenders, those men who were engaged in an insur insurrectionist mob activity that overran the united states capitol on january 6. i know something about this

because i was here. i was in this chair when the mob that you've seen on television, in the videos over and over again, were taking control of this capitol, presiding over the united states senate we were all in our seats, was the vice president of the united states, vice president pence. we were counting the electoral votes in each state to decide who was the official winner of the presidential election. it was happening right after president trump had had his rally not far from here, and told his supporters and demonstrators come up to the capitol building, which they did in vast numbers. and they didn't just come here for a casual visit. they came to break down the doors and break down the windows and to invade this building. i'm not exaggerating. you've seen the videos. you know what happened. the net result is a lot of brave men and women, who were part of the capitol hill police force and the d.c. police force, stood

in their way and tried to stop them and were beaten back. over 140 of these officers were seriously injured by the demonstrate jurors and the insurrectionists coming into this building. several lost their lives. that was the reality of what happened. the net result was one of the largest prosecutions in the history of the united states, ultimately hundreds of them paid a price for that violent activity on january 6 and what they did to our policemen. the same policemen who are standing in the hamway now and pro -- in the hallway now and protecting you, they're the people assaulted on that day. on the floor at this moment, i notice across the way one of the officers who stood before us that day and gave us instructions as to what to do. after vice president pence was removed, this officer of the capitol police told us to stay in this chamber, stay in your seats, this is going to be a safe room. that lasted about ten minutes.

he came back in and said we've changed the plan. evacuate this room as fast as possible. we all went outside the door. it was a dangerous moment. it took hours before we could take the capitol back from these demonstrators and mar aweders. the men and -- marauders. the men and women did things that were desecrating, to the symbol of america, and they had to be stopped. a lot of brave men and women in uniform riskeded their lives and some gave their lives as a consequence of it. many went to jail after they had been charged with crimes that day of january 6. it wasn't until the first day of the trump presidency that they finally had a chance for a pardon. president trump gave them that opportunity by releasing them from jail. it's important to guess -- or to

know what happened afterwards. you would think these men, largely men, who had served time in jail, some of them for lengthy sentences, up to 20 years, when they were released with this pardon by president trump would go about their business and resume a normal, law-abiding life. that was not the fact. let me tell you what happened in the ten days since president trump granted these pardons. just so far as we know of those released from jail for their violence on the united states capitol on january 6, i'm going to do it by name, matthew huttle, released by president trump by pardon. shot and killed by the indiana state police earlier this week after a traffic stop when he resisted arrest while in possession of a firearm.

daniel ball has already been rearrested since he was released with the trump pardon on gun charges with domestic violence by strangulation and battery against a law enforcement officer. these two individuals not only assaulted the law enforcement officers protecting the capitol, when they were released by pardon by president trump, they did it again. andrew takke, assaulted the police at the capitol with bear spray now wanted in the state of texas for soliciting a minor for sex and a felony carrying a charge up to ten years in prison. enrique terro, the head of the proud boys organization, a domestic terrorist group which has been identified several

years. he was convicted of seditious conspiracy of the riot. he said of the release, quote, success is going to be retribution. now it's our turn. end of quote. stuart rhodes, head of the oath keepers, convicted of seditious conspiracy in his role in planning the riot, said of trump after the release, the people who did this, they need to feel the heat, put behind bars and protected. he said january 6 should be remembered as patriots day. he said he had no regrets because, quote, we did the right thing. close quote. jacob chansley, posted on x after his pardon, i have to leave some of his words out, now i'm going to buy some mf-guns

and everything in the dark will come to light. the pardons by president biden -- sadly for law enforcement officers across the country they are going to face many of these people again. mr. president, on an unrelayed issue -- unrelated issue. tomorrow the senate judiciary committee will hold a confirmation hearing for cash a -- kash patel. what is the federal bureau of investigation? we all have an age of it -- imagine of it. it is 30,000 of men and women, some of the best law enforcement professionals not just in the united states but in the world charged with keeping america safe. i witnessed 9/11 in this building, looking down the mall, looking at the billowing smoke from the plane that crashed into the pentagon and we thought who is doing this to the united states? who should we ask?

the federal bureau of investigation, and that's what we did. time and again we have gone to the fbi when the most serious law enforcement issues have come up and we still do. it is a critical agency. there are 400 offices around the world. the person who heads the fbi has an awesome responsibility and awesome authority. kash patel is the nominee of president trump to head up this agency. let me tell you about him. i met with him and reviewed his record. i'm deeply concerned about his fitness to serve on fbi director. he has neither the experience, the judgment, nor the temperament to head this critical agency. as the lead investigator of an agency of the federal government, the fbi plays a crucial role in keeping america safe from terrorism, violent crime and other major tlelts. our nation needs a director of the fbi who is ready on day one and who understand the

importance of maintaining the integrity and independence of the agency. unfortunately, mr. batelle's record -- patel's record shows the opposite. he pledged his loyalty to president trump and promised to weaponize the fbi on president trump's behalf. he has an enemy list of 60 people who he calls, quote, government gangsters, he told steve bannon, quote, these people need to go to prison. i'm not going to go through all the names, but mr. patel has published it in his book which i had an opportunity to read not once but twice, government gangsters. it speps out in detail his enemy list, his hit list that he would have. this list includes manying distinguished public -- many distinguished public servants who dedicated their lives to our nation. many of them are democrats and

republicans, including the secretary of defense esper. and then there's mr. patel's plan to shut down the hoover building and reopen it as deep state. for goodness sakes. mr. patel has peddled bunk conspiracy theories throughout his life that benefit president trump. he claims that january 6 was never an insurrection and the fbi, get this, this is what patel says, the fbi was planning january 6 for a year. can you imagine that? he has even coproduced and recordings of a song performed by january 6 rioters who assaulted the capitol police

officers. i will continue to press m mr. patel on his statements and positions. will he keep the public safe from terrorism, and violent crime or continue on his trail of grievances and president trump's agenda. i fear he has demonstrated the latter. president trump came into office promising to shake up the government. what he's done is wreak havoc. late monday, president trump, threw a bureaucratic i never heard of, matthew vaeth, the directing officer of office of management and budget, ordered a freeze on federal funding which was set to begin at 5:00 p.m. last night. thankfully a federal judge stepped in and stopped this unconstitutional order until february 3. should this order be allowed to take effect, it will have

devastating consequences, communities will not have disasters relief relief and will halt food assistance. i will speak about how this action will harm the national institutes of health. the national institutes of health is the premier medical research agency in the world with $38 billion they spend each year makes america and the world better by finding new drugs and cures for serious diseases. they support more than 400,000 jobs nationwide in medical research, jobs focused on conducting that research that leads to these cures and treatments that save lives. can you think of any more important federal responsibility other than perhaps national defense? because of the work funded by nih with taxpayer dollars, people with cancer are living

longer and even being cured. hiv-aids is no longer a death sentence, and groundbreaking treatments exist to slow the progression of neurological disorderses such as als. if you or a loved one takes any medication, you have nih to thank, because 9 the% of the drugs approved over the past decade was researched by nih. if you or a loved one get sick and wonder what options will save your life, your doctor will suggest a treatment developed by nih. late last week president trump ordered nih to stop all grant review and adversary council meetings which will allows them to decide what funding proposals -- their funding proposals. president trump ordered a stop to all federal grant funding,

including at the national institutes of health. i know this happened because the major universities in the chicagoland area, whom i respect so much, called me in a panic said that we are supposed to stop all of our research and we're in the middle of critical things and i had to say that is what this would do. there are nearly $38 billion in research grants to all states, they generate $92 billion in economic activity and facilitate lifesaving research. the number one cause of death in the united states is heart disease, but there are others, cancer, unintentional injury, drug overdose, stroke, respiratory disease and diabetes. nih researchers work every can day to find breakthroughs to

save lives from americans in the leading causes of death. when you freeze this agency's work, when you tell your researchers to stay home and not to spend a penny because it can't be compensated, it means you're putting a stop to the research that critically is trying to keep us alive. you handicap our nation's efforts to develop new cures and treatments that address the top causes of death. nih is considered the world's leader in biomedical research providing treatments that other countries dream of. his freeze on nih work is cruel and will have life or death consequences. if your parent has dementia, you want nih to continue, if your husband or wife has gleo blast toe toema or a child diagnosed with a rare cancer or heart condition, you are desperate for nih work to continue. this should not be a partisan

issue. over the past decade, congress has on a bipartisan basis increased the nih budget by 60%. we believe in their work. the federal freeze must not be allowed to take effect. i would hope my republican colleagues would join me in calling on president trump to reconsider this harmful policy. lives depend on it. mr. president, i yield. the presiding officer: the minority leader. mr. schumer: so, mr. president, two nights ago the trump administration committed a breathtaking act of economic sabotage. in the blink of an eye -- there was a halt on federal funding. it can be -- it is chaotic, careless, cruel. it is a gross overreach by republicans and it is no surprise that the american people are furious. last night a federal judge

issued an administrative stay of omb. president trump and russell vought will keep trying to make this freeze happening. today i will speak to democratic governors around the country to discuss how this freeze is hurting their states and talking about coordinating our responses against this gross abuse of presidential power. the blast radius of omb's announcement was seemingly limitless. states, cities, up tos, schools, small businesses, local law enforcement, nutrition services, elderly care, and so much more were impacted. it's as if omb designed their announcement to maximize chaos, confusion and suffering to the american people. make no mistake, this decision from omb is project 2025 in

action. project 2025 by another name. donald trump's lawless behavior fits a pattern. first he pardoned nuksist -- insurrectionests and now he's freezing congressionally approved funding. before our eyes donald trump is rigging the system and breaking the law to help his been air in friends at the expense of working families. i got calls yesterday from republican town supervisors and mayors in a panic about flood prevention and sewer projects who said they had soefl-ready projects to go that are in limbo, i got calls from food banks fearful they will not be able to make deliveries to hungry people. i got calls from rochester head start worried they will not be

able to pay rent or staff. i got a call from norwell -- northwell hospital asking if funding was going to vanish. how is this freezing going to help families pay for groceries or make neighborhoods safer or create new jobs? of course it won't. it will do the opposite. one week ago omb nominee russell vought refused to answer questions about the impoundment of congressional funds. now we know why. he did not want to alert congress about this freeze on funding. mr. vought withheld information that senators were entitled to know and needs to give us more answers. the senate budget committee should not proceed with mr. is vought's nomination until we get answers. i join fellow democrats in calling for a two week delay in

the markup. firings, yesterday president trump showed his true hostile colors to working people and union members in america. without cause the president took the unprecedented step of firing a duly appointed commissioner of the national labor relations board two years before her term was set to expire. then last night president trump fired two democratic members of the u.s. equal opportunity, equal cloiment opportunity commission -- employment commission. these unlawful firings are a direct assault on working people. the decision will worsen unfair hiring practices and erode workers' ability to push for better wages and safer working conditions. what these firings will do is stack the deck against employees trying to organize or join a union to get better benefits and better pay. donald trump, he says he wants to help working families. this is no way to do it. and these firings are clearly

unlawful. unlawful. these purges are another example of donald trump's lawless presidency, like illegally freezing congressional approved funding. everything donald trump is doing fits a pattern. he's abusing the office of the presidency, and breaking the law to rig the system to help his billionaire friends all at the expense of working families. today robert kennedy begins testifying before the senate finance committee to state the obvious, having a very wealthy anti-vaxxer running america's hub pelth would put every american in danger. he is a walking public health crisis waiting to happen. he's doing exactly what everyone thought he'd do in his hearing. he's claiming he was never

against vaccines or his words have been twisted. we need to look at kennedy's record. he spent years making millions peddling conspiracy theories and outright lies. his nomination should go no further. on mr. patel, tomorrow the senate judiciary committee will hear testimony from kash patel. he is not remotely prepared to serve as fbi director. he has a long history of spreading lies about the fbi and smearing public servants who work there to keep us safe. he's a conspiracy theorist, hard-right ideologue and openly hostile to the free press. during tomorrow's hearing the most important questions for senators is how on earth will mr. patel's confirmation make america safer? how will america be safer if america is led by a darling of the qanon movement?

how can americans trust that donald trump will drain swamp if he puts one of his most loyal political fixers as chief law officerer. it's written you can't serve two masters and that's true of mr. patel. he either serves the interest of the american people or serves the interest of donald trump. given patel's history it's very clear who he will choose -- donald trump. on tulsi gabbard. tomorrow the senate intelligence committee will hold a hearing for president trump's nominee for dni, tulsi gabbard. all the people president trump could have nominated few could be worse than tulsi gabbard. if confirmed ms. gabbard would be a walking liability to our intelligence community. she has a long and troubled history of spreading falsities and sympathizing with the likes of vladimir putin and assad.

given her history it's not unreasonable to ask if she would use the dni job for political ends. is this the best republicans have to offer for the job, someone who is known to make things up out of thin air? is this really who republicans want managing our intelligence community which is fact-based, intelligence agencies that people who work there rely on truthfulness and facts to keep our country safe. ms. gabbard is deficient in both qualities and does not merit elevation to the position of dni. finally officer mark gazell on his retirement, i want to honor a u.s. capitol police retiring after 34 years. he has carried out his duty to protect and p with defend this great citadel of democracy with supreme professionalism.

no matter his assignment, officer gazelle kept the capitol safe and was instrumental in making sure the body could carry out the work of the american people day in and day out. we owe him our deepest gratitude for his service to the capitol police, to the congress and the nation. we say to him thank you and wish his family the very best. thank you, mark. the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming mr. barrasso: thank you, mr. president. i ask unanimous consent to speak for up to six minutes followed by senator whitehouse for up to six minutes prior to the scheduled roll call vote. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. barrasso: mr. president, i strongly support congressman lee zeldin as the nominee to be the ambassador, i'm sorry, the administrator of the environmental protection agency. we are blessed in america with enormous natural resources.

i support using our resources responsibly. i support sensible environmental stewardship, and that's what we will have with mr. zeldin. americans deserve clean water and clean air. they deserve good jobs and economic strength. environmental protection and economic growth should go hand in hand. they are not mutually exclusive. as the head of the epa, lee will return the agency to its original mission of protecting america's air, water, and land without, as he puts it, suffocating the economy. nearly two weeks ago the senate committee on environment environment and public works held a hearing on lee zeldin. i have also honored to introduce him. he's highly qualified and his support is bipartisan. he's a lifelong public servant and he's a seasoned lawyer and has a sharp legal mind.

he has over 20 years of military service, currently serves as lieutenant colonel in our u.s. army reserves. lee also served eight years in congress in the house of representatives, as a representative from new york. and in that role, he worked to strengthen our economy as well as protect his district's unique ecosystem. he worked across party lines to accomplish his goals. for the last four years, the so-called experts at the environmental protection agency went on a reckless regulatory rampage. they saddled american families and businesses with higher costs and with heavy-handed restrictions. they bowed to climate extremism while ignoring common sense. in 2024, the epa introduced one of the most expensive regulations in american history. it's called the electric vehicle mandate. the e.v. mandate was truly left-wing lunacy at its worst.

according to the competitive enterprise institute, the total cost of compliance is over $760 billion, with a b, billion dollars. to put this in perspective, the cost of this one regulation coming out of the biden administration was equal to the entire price tag of eight years of regulations under the presidency of barack obama. the e.v. mandate would also cost hundreds of thousands of jobs. americans rejected the e.v. mandate and other costly climate policies this past november at the ballot box. president trump has revoked the e.v. mandate on his first day in office. here in the senate, repealing the biden e.v. subsidies is one of my top priorities. these subsidies alone are estimated to cost taxpayers more than{$}393 billion. $393 billion.

americans shouldn't have taxpayer dollars pay for vehicles most americans don't want, can't afford and don't work for them and their families. americans shouldn't be dependent on communist china like we are today with electric vehicles. lee zeldin will continue president trump's mission to roll back these punishing political regulations. the epa does important work. it does that work in states and in local communities. lee will be a fantastic partner to my home state of wyoming. he's not going to impose one size fits all mandates on american consumers and american businesses. instead he's going to cut red tape. we will see a new wave of creativity and innovation. lee knows that innovation, not government intervention, is the best solution to lower prices, to grow the economy, and to protect our environment. many americans are confident that lee will right the ship and restore the balance needed at the epa. one of these organizations is the national association of

clean water agencies. in a letter to the committee, the association said that lee has, quote, shown a willingness to engage with a broad spectrum of stakeholders to address pressing issues. lee impressed our colleagues here in the senate. that's why my democrat colleague from arizona said about lee, he's a qualified candidate for this job. i share america's confidence in lee. through three hours of tough questions, lee zeldin provided and proved, provided quality answers and he proved that he is well qualified. he showed he's committed to strong environmental protection and to energy production. he's the right nominee to lead the epa. the senate should confirm him quickly. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. mr. whitehouse: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: mr. president, i am a friend of the distinguished senator from wyoming, but on

this matter, we disagree quite a lot. i think clearly everybody likes clean air and clean water. my opposition to lee zeldin is founded on where he's likely to be on a different issue -- climate change. climate change is coming at us, and the context for lee zeldin's nomination, i believe, is this -- we went through a long period of science on climate change, starting with the early days of dr. hanson and nasa's work, work by exxon and other big oil majors themselves, lots of work in universities and in u.s. and state government. and the science pretty well nailed it. they pretty much got it right. and they warned what was going to happen, and it began to happen, and it has continued to happen. and based on those warnings, we moved into phase 2, which was the political era of climate,

where it was our job here in this building to listen to those warnings and figure out what the best and smartest thing was to do about them. the problem was that the fossil fuel industry got involved with citizens united climate money in the hundreds of millions behind it, and they squelched that conversation. and as a result, congress has failed to address the looming climate crisis, purely from sfum-funded republican -- from fossil fuel funded republican opposition. that takes us now into era three, the era of the forewarned but not prevented consequences. and the place in which those consequences are most saliently making themselves felt is in the homeowners insurance industry. homeowners insurance is in crisis in this country, and in

near meltdown in various states and counties in this country because the risk that the insurers have to bear is now unpredictable to them. so what we are seeing is homeowners insurance prices skyrocketing. we are seeing homeowners insurance companies going bankrupt leaving states firing their longtime clients because they don't want to provide coverage in these danger areas, which includes coastal areas -- florida as a result is kind of first and worst in the home insurance meltdown, and wildfire adjacent areas second, which puts california and a lot of other western states very much in harm's way. now the problem with that is it doesn't just end with an insurance crisis. when you get a sufficient number of properties that cannot get

affordable home insurance or cannot get home insurance at all, those properties become unmortgageable. and if you're a billionaire living in palm beach, you can find another billionaire to buy your property who can write a check, but if you're a real-life person, a plumber in orlando living in a development who paid for their home with a mortgage, you're going to want to sell that home to somebody who can get a mortgage. when your home can't be mortgaged any longer, that will crash its property values. in fact, if your homeowner's insurance goes from $4,000 to 16 thousand dal lores -- to $16,000, a case we heard of, that crashes your property values, too, because the care yearling cost knocks -- the carrying cost knocks its value way down. not from the greenies or environmental community, but freddedy mac, the mortgages

giant, we heard the warning that the insurance crash turns into a mortgage crash, turns into a coastal property values crash, which is serious enough that it redoes 2008. we have another national recession. it is in that context that we need to understand that we need an epa director, an epa administrator, who will take climate change seriously, treat the science honestly, and stand up where necessary to the political pressure that will be coming from the white house, where we have a president who actually thinks it's a hoax, and from the huge fossil fuel forces that propeled him into office with enormous amounts of political money, and who now think they own the place. the fossil fuel industry has done nothing but lie about this and use their power for evil. president trump is completely mistaken and under the thumb of

the fossil fuel industry, and against that will stand the epa administrator who has to be truthful and factual and support and defend our environment and our safety from climate change. in that context, i have nothing against lee zeldin personally, but the likelihood of him standing against that fossil fuel bulldozer that is coming at him is essentially zero, and that fossil fuel bulldozer is also going to be bulldozing their way into american homes in the form of an insurance crisis that is looming. so this is going to become very real very fast, and in that context this is very much the wrong guy. i yield the floor. mr. barrasso: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. barrasso: i ask unanimous consent the mandatory quorum call with respect to the zeldin nomination be waived. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been

wa waived. the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of zee zeldin, of new york, to be administrator of the environmental protection agency, signed by 17 senators. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived. the question is, is it the sense of the senate that debate on the nomination of lee zeldin, of new york, to be administrator of the environmental protection agency shall be brought to a close. the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. the clerk will call the roll. vote: the clerk: ms. alsobrooks. ms. baldwin. mr. banks. mr. barrasso. mr. bennet. mrs. blackburn.

mr. blumenthal. ms. blunt rochester. mr. booker. mr. boozman. mrs. britt. mr. budd. ms. cantwell. mrs. capito. mr. cassidy. ms. collins. mr. coons. mr. cornyn. ms. cortez masto. mr. cotton. mr. cramer. mr. crapo. mr. cruz.

mr. curtis. mr. daines. ms. duckworth. mr. durbin. ms. ernst. i humbly submit for you nominated to serve as the 17th administrator of the environmental protection agency. the american people made their voices heard in november giving president trump a mandate to lead our nation to prosperity. i am grateful that the president-elect is giving me the opportunity to lead the epa at this critical time. our mission is simple and essential to protect human health and the environment. we must do everything in our power to harness the greatness of the american innovation, but the greatness of american conservation and environmental

stewardship. we must ensure we are protecting the environment while also protecting our economy. throughout my life i've been privileged to hold such titles as congressman and state senator lieutenant colonel nunn has meant more more to me than husband's son and father. while one of my identical twin daughters arianna is now back in college i'm excited to be joined by my wife diana and our daughter mikaela. as well as my mother marilyn to the american people need leaders who can find common ground to solve the urgent issues we face. i want my daughters loved ones and every child across our country to thrive in a world with clean air clean water and boundless opportunities. if confirmed a pledge to enthusiastically uphold the epa's mission. i will foster a collaborative culture within the agency supporting career staff who have

dedicated themselves to this mission. i strongly believe we have a moral responsibility to be good stewards of our environment for generations to come. it's been so motivating to see the tremendous talent stepping up to serve the epa. i couldn't be more excited to partner with our epa team nationwide to exceptionally serve the american public. i had the honor of working with many of you when i representative new york's first congressional district. my district on the eastern end of long island was unique in that it was almost completely surrounded by water. my constituents to environmental issues very seriously and i developed a record in congress fighting hard and with great success advancing their local priorities. i worked across party lines to preserve the sound and plum island. legislation became historic

reporters in success story like the great american outdoors act and senator sullivan whitehouse to save save our seat at the cleanup plastics from our ocean. whether it was leading the fight for pfas and drinking water voting for the lautenberg chemical safety after supporting clean energy projects on long island i was proud to do my part to secure these environmental victories. georgetown university consistently ranked me one of the most bipartisan members of congress into that and i joined a bipartisan climate solutions caucus to focus on tackling the challenges of a changing climate. if confirmed they want to work with all of you to address the unique environmental issues facing our state. not only do i want to partner with you i want to learn from you. i ask you all what a former administrator asked a great chairman of this committee from my home state senator daniel patrick moynihan what advice would you give me a sander taped

to lead the epa? i look forward to having this discussion with each of you. the epa must be better stewards of tax dollars on her cooperative federalism can be transparent and accountable to congress and the public. the american people elected president trump last november in part due to serious concerns about upward economic mobility in their struggle to make ends meet. too many of our fellow americans are trapped in poverty and desperate for a whole of government approach to give them a hand up. we can and we must protect our precious environment without suffocating the economy. a big part of this will require building private-sector collaboration to promote common sense smart regulations that will allow american innovation to continue to lead the world. if confirmed under the epa with my leadership will prioritize compliance as much as possible are they believe in the rule of

law and i want to work with people to ensure they do their part to protect our environment. success is defined for many including me and the leaving this world better than we found it. i want every child in this nation including my daughters and her children to inherit a world with clean air clean water and a thriving economy. this mission must transcend politics and i look forward to working with all of you to achieve it. i think you chairman capito ranking member whitehouse and all the members of this committee eager to answer your questions and address the issues facing your constituents. >> thank you. we are now readyof to begin with the questioning portion for witness senator whitehouse and i have agreed to have two rounds of five minutes for questioning so we will try to keep our questions within a five-minute out of respect for iraqis time. to begin this committee has yesterday at questions that ask nominees to appear beforet ask the committee so i want to ask you three questions padilla

greve confirmed to appear before thisin committee for designated members of this committee and other appropriate communities of thisin congress to provide information such as appropriate and necessary securityah protections with respect to your responsibility? yes. >> to agree the documents electronic and other forms of communication of information are provided to this committee and its staff and other appropriate communities in a timely manner? >> yes. and finally do you know of any matters which you may or may not have disclosed that may place you in the conflict of interest if your confirmed >> now. >> thank you. all right well i will begin questioning and do not go to the ranking member. in my opening statement talk about reliability issues and affordability issues. during the last four years the epa issued a number of rules and numbers of rules including the

clean power plant 2.0 which is intentionally designed on reliable coal fire gas plants in the delivered effort to shut these plants down. unsurprising of the same. lack of time the cost of energy skyrocketed 23% over the last four years. now our nation's electric reliability experts in north america and electric reliability corp. forecast over half of the united states could face potential electrical shortages and blackouts in the next decade. this is a dire situation on reliability. this demand is driven by our on shoring up manufacturing empowering data centers to win the artificial intelligence race. congressman as you oversee and implement the epa statutory obligations to respect public health and the environment we also ensure the agency takes into account the electric reliability and energy

affordability impacts on businesses and american families needed to keep their lights on? yes, absolutely. what is your vision for fulfilling the epa statutory mission particular in the context of getting the agency reoriented back to the basics of protecting communities from air, water and chemical pollution and cleaning up contaminated sites? what ideas do you have moving forward? >> chairman it's important that the epa is honoring our obligations under the law fulfilling the historic landmark laws that are on the books like the clean air act, the clean water act and safe drinking water act. it's important the epa's accountable and transparent so all of you here on this committee. it's important we are working closely in collaboration with career staff at the epa and working closely with other

agencies where there's overlapping jurisdiction. to make sure we are following our new obligations under the laws congress enacts new laws moving forward, i made sure we are advising by the administrative procedures act and the administrators i'm not prejudging outcomes and i'm making sure our actions are durable that they are able to withstand scrutiny and at the end of the day i'm able to sit before you at further hearings to be able to account for my actions as administrator and our actions as an agency. i look forward to working with all of you in order to make sure that congress's intent and we honor the decision that was issued by the supreme court to make sure it is in fact congress's intent that is being implemented and it's not us as an agency filling in any gaps however we might see fit but it requires a close collaboration

with the agency and with each and everyone of you as well. said thank you and i should have welcomed your wife diana and mikaela and your mother merrill to do hope she's watching this from afar. i want to talk about pfas. west virginia has experienced with pizza sauce contamination and pollution and everybody does. we have had a little bit earlier, discovered it earlier. i want to continue and we tried last session to get leading legislative efforts to try to protect essential service providers and american taxpayers from popularization liability so it's a complicated issue as you know but it speaks to one of the core missions of the epa which is safe drinking water and clean water. understand your new york district has experienced a negative effects of pete foss solutions. if confirmed how do you plan to address the growing challenges of the epa's existing authority?

>> chairman when i was in the house i was a member of the pfas task force in voted for the pfas action act. epa has an important responsibility to make sure our obligations are implemented correctly. that is something that threw out where enforcement and compliance we have two ensure we are moving the needle across this entire country. their cleanup projects large and small across america where many americans have been waiting for decades, generations for that leadership and that action. so working with all of you to deal with these issues in your own states is something that will be a top priority of mine. >> thank you and i will turn it over at the ranking member. >> before he gets my questions if you'd be kind enough to entertain unanimous consent request to insert the document in the record.

i will be circulating it to your office. i'd like to put into the root record a cover article from economist magazine this april morning of the next housing disaster from the climate risk. >> without objection. >> we put a lot of work into this when i was chair of the budget committee made like to put in a report summarizing the budget committee on the same insurance crisis. >> without objection. >> i have a letter here from washington regarding the zelda nomination. >> without objection mimic of the letter dated january 15 to 2025 submitted by the climate action campaign signed by over 17 and beyer organizations concerning your nomination. >> without objection. >> thank you very much.

mr. zeldin welcome. when i met i told you i'd ask you basic questions on climate change. first is a matter of law is -- an outside pollutant >> thank you senator and i enjoy their meeting with your team as well and i look forward to work and with all of you. as far as carbon dioxide admitted from that question i would say no. as far as carbon dioxide that is emitted in larger masses that we hear concerned about from scientists as well as from congress that something certainly needs to be focused on are the epa. >> and is the matter of lots of dedicated pollutant, correct >> senator while carbon backside is not named as one of the six in the clean air act the epa has been treating it as such. >> the supreme court decision said so, correct >> correct sir.

>> in layman's terms and i know you're not a subject expert what effects is carbon fuel combustion having on the atmosphere >> senator while i feel strongly we support the scientists leaving the sides of the scientists and policymakers we all work together. i don't sit before you as a scientist. fortunately at epa we do have many talented scientist, who provide that research. they have that talent to be able to tell us exactly what the metrics are in their research. >> in layman's terms what effect do these carbon dioxide emissions have [inaudible] >> in here again briefly what does methane leakage from fossil fuel production and transport it back out on the atmosphere >> the same.

>> and what effect in him and ocean state select as this one would affect our carbon tax emissions from fossil fuel combustion and having on the ocean's? >> well the emissions of greenhouse gases trap heat senator and as far as you're concerned like you expressed on the onset of your testimony you showed the map of rhode island previously suggested and as i mentioned as they represent the district on long island rising sea levels are concerned. where i am from as well and it's one of the reasons the federal government after the army corps head to invest in an army corps of engineers project with fear that if we do not do that due to erosion it would be driven into the ocean. >> is a at the trap heat from carbon dockside emissions and methane in the atmosphere is heating up the ocean and 90% of the heat goes into the ocean so

that's what's producing the sealevel rise? that is what the scientist tell me. >> and the oceans absorb 30% of the carbon dockside itself and therefore chemically turning more acid and measurable in clear ways. >> senators bars any specific numbers i ask you differ to the research of the scientists. generally that's happening because there's a link between fossil fuel emissions and acidification of the oceans. >> guest yes senator i do understand there's litigation here that's a certain extent i won't be up to comment on its epa administration are but to the general question yes, sir. >> we have a 1.5-degree threshold and wise and important? >> senator as bars throughout today's hearing to be able to personally sighting confirms specific numbers that is something rachel to differ to

the talented scientist to be able to approve that advice on an ongoing basis whether or not the numbers are -- >> if you're confirmed what are the key under the climate or oceans tipping point that would concern you? >> the tipping point senator and she put up a map of your district in your state i could put up a map of mine and we could do this across the entire country. as long as that concern exists where there is in fact a rising sealevel and i hear from both sides of the aisle senator collins spoke about it. >> one last question before my time runs out, sorry. are we now on a pathway to climate safety or do we need to do more to reduce carbon emissions and are we on that

pathway >> senator united states emissions have been going down over the course of the last couple of decades and unfortunately their other countries where it is not going in the same direction. i would say that we have never done enough to ensure our water and our air is clean safe and healthy. whatever we do every day to achieve this objective would need to wake up the next day looking for ways to do more. >> yes, let me explain to the committee my first rodeo here. what we will do is when you hear the gavel according to questioning on the dais and after i gavel down you'll be placed in line for questions. people who need adjustments where looking at that but that's the jurisdiction of the committee that we agreed on so we will go to senator kramer. >> thank you madam chair and ranking member of the white

house congratulations for assuming these late leadership roles and congratulations to you as well my former colleague mr. mr. zeldin thank you for taking on this big challenge. dear capito talk a little bit about what is a really important issue and for me and i think a lot of us obviously that is appropriate cooperative federalism role between the state in the federal government. there is a lot of opportunity to do that the right way and a lot of opportunity to do it the right way. so i'm going to point to one specific case that i think you are probably familiar with and that's the waters in the united states. you are aware of what i call the legal fiasco surrounding the waters of united the united states. this is bad of litigation

ping-pong for a long time. the first question is a simple one. mr. zeldin when you read the decision offered by justice alito would you describe it as prescriptive or ambiguous when it comes to the definition of federal jurisdictional water >> it was clear. >> when the decision was issued the biden administration officials had told me that the direction from the supreme court was clear that they didn't leave a lot of ambiguity. there is one portion i wanted to chat with you out because i believe it's important should you be confirmed. quote finally it's instructive the clean water act expressly for text the primary responsibility and the rights of states to prevent, reduce and eliminate pollution and to plan the development and use of land and water resources.

it's hard to see how the states role would remain primary if the epa had jurisdictional for anything defined by the presence of water. now, i was tempted in previous definitions that gone back-and-forth there is one that was what that would be relevant to sack it. the entire state of north dakota was deemed a wetland. we are semiarid state with badlands and big prairies but should you be confirmed it would be really good if the administration took this decision and the legislative history behind it started rule-making process post act with the assumption that states have primacy and primary

responsibility for water within their states and not the federal government. how do you intend to approach that because this post sackitt definition will be very important. >> senator with any rule-making as you know i'm not allowed to prejudge outcomes going in and it's important the corners are cut where durability is sacrificed. laws are written by congress and there are cases that have come out from the supreme court that provide epa with clear guidance on how we must do our job under the law. it is important that when you go back to your home state and you are speaking to your farmers that you are able to with confidence be able to explain to them that the federal government is doing our part so that they can define what the borders of usr without go higher. and pay a lot of money to ensure

compliance. i will make sure i do my part that the epa is honoring the decision of sackett in the future loss to come out of congress. that's my commitment to you. that's important when senator o'sullivan was to speaking about alaska and the wetlands in so many people is committee so i look forward to that. >> it's a great answer and appreciate that very much. whenever in realizing with regard to load as you have two agency that can involve the permitting and the corps of engineers and the epa rule-making committee. one of the things in terms of the durable world that i've heard from some from the previous administration and the current administration when we include a durable rule the way to do that is to make sure while we recognize the definition is clear all you have do is seek a jurisdictional determination from us the almighty and then we will tell you whether your land

meets that definition or not. you don't put a police officer on every car. can we resume the very obvious simple cases that the landowner developer are ready now so and doesn't need to seek permission to do what they want to do >> unfortunately we face the reality where many farmers don't know whether or not their land not just farmers obviously but a lot of people don't know whether or not their land has waters of the u.s. on it and i would say that the failure on the part of the federal government. you should be able to go to your landowners and they should be able to with confidence be able to tell you without having to ask questions whether or not waters in the u.s. r. ra -- >> well thank you for that. our farmers are pretty great and they know what the bureaucrats

didn't. thank you. >> senator sanders. >> thank you and congratulations mr. zeldin thank you for coming to my office the other day and i enjoyed our chat. seldon 2024 as you know was the hottest year in recorded history. the past 10 years have been the hottest 10 years on record. we have seen in recent years unprecedented fires on the west coast in canada and within the situation in l.a. right now. we have seen unprecedented flooding in china displacing millions of people there an unprecedented drought in brazil africa and elsewhere in southern africa people are dying because of the drought and their inability to grow crops. billions of people have been sweltering in europe and elsewhere in unprecedented heatwaves.

the midst of all of that president-elect trump has said that climate change is a. if confirmed he will be one of the leading spokespeople in this country representing us throughout the entire world. do you agree with president-elect trump that climate change is a >> first off senator who is was great to meet with you as well. i believe climate change as i told you as far as president trump goes the context that i've heard him speak about it was with a criticism of policies that have been enacted because of climate change and i think he is concerned about the economic costs of some policies where there is a debate and a difference of opinion. >> i would respectfully disagree with you. i think he is called at a hoax time and time and time again. i would just say for the record

that and let me ask you this question. some of us have used the word existential threat but we are staying in l.a. right now is apocalyptic and the other weather disturbances weather in the midwest of this country in many states that are representative right here in my small state of vermont has been hit over and over again recent years and our state state capitl montpellier was underwater recently in a way that we have not seen. we do describe climate change as an existential threat -- would you describe climate change as an existential threat meaning it's urgent that we get our act together quick >> senator we must with the urgency be addressing these issues and today as we talk about at the epa it can do its part to make sure our air and

water -- >> epa has a norma's responsibility. i'm focusing on picking up what senator whitehouse said. do you have kids >> yes, sir. >> many of us have kids and grandchildren and this is serious stuff. this is the future of humanity and if we do not get our act together and that's not just the united states of america. it requires national corporation so let me ask you if tomorrow the united states congress did all of the right things that would not be enough. climate change is a global crisis. it includes the cooperation of china russia europe latin america and central america. are you prepared to represent the united states aggressively with your colleagues in reaching out to countries all over the world to cut carbon emissions >> senator is very important for

i as administrator of epa whether traveling to the g7 or the g20 or elsewhere to be reaching out to these other countries to make sure there is pressure on other nations to do their part as well hand it is my job to stay up at night and to lose sleep at night to make sure we are making our air and our water clean. >> i know it's fashionable to beat up on china with politics. they are now the major carbon polluter of the world and we historically have been number two copied will solve this crisis without working with china. you and hopefully her colleagues if confirmed are you prepared to work with china on lowering carbon emissions >> on many a pernicious it's important not just to work with age -- nations we have a strong alliance with but also to being communication and engage in dialogue with countries that might be considered competitors

so our greatest adversaries in right now china is the net for syrian many respects. >> as part of the eye or a -- ira we had a provision of $7 billion to lower electric bills are working-class people in this country by helping them to install solar panels on the roof. my wife and i did it in our house and their electric bill went down by 80%. the problem is working-class lower-income people can't afford the cost and that's what this bill does pick and i have your word that you will work with me to make sure the solar for all program is effectively implemented all over the country >> senator it's my obligation on this and every other law enacted by congress that i will follow my obligations under the loud when it comes to spending money

it's important that i have the ability to sit before you and account for every dollar that's being by the epa so i know this is an important priority to you, sorry. >> that was the fossil fuel industry. [laughter] >> i look forward to working with you on the senator. >> thank you and madam chair thank you. >> before again began a big thanks to all my colleagues on the committee madam chair mr. ranking member and my colleagues i look forward to working with you on this committee and am excited to be part of this. mr. zeldin i'm from utah ended in utah we are proud of our beauty our natural resources and it would be hard to find a more spectacular place in nine states everything from national parks and monuments in ski resorts and i think because of that utah has

this inherent desire to take care of it to leave it better than we found it, to make sure we are not polluting and i can find total agreement in utah that less emissions is better than more missions and we want to leave it better than we found and you and i have had the benefit of working together in the house. i just want to use this opportunity to thank you for your support of my work in talking about climate and talking about some of these issues that are being addressed this morning. i just want to emphasize how helpful you were talking about climate in dealing with the serious issues. i don't know if you want to comment on your thoughts on that. >> senator congratulations and i'm looking forward to serving with you in this new capacity and enjoyed our work together. i would say there's a lot that should unite republicans and democrats, conservative's and liberals as far as the

environment goes. i've represent a district where people who are conservative republicans would be able to unite the people who identify as more liberal democrats to focus on making our environment better. that type of work together, that common ground is what the american public are desperate for. they are looking for us to be able to find pragmatic common sense solutions and not to be able to represent their interest here. >> my experiences you are the person to do that. all of that said let me talk about problems in utah and some of that test to do with our geography. you and die when you were in my office we talked about the basin. 80% of the methane that's registered in the basin doesn't come from traditional fossil fuel sources. it comes from ground sources and the air that comes in the region and yet they are judged and measured on that full one of% am not the 20% that they had met. our geography surrounds us with

mountains. we like to call them rural mounts as opposed to the hills that we have these cousin that -- >> i'm from the mountain state. to you want to rephrase that? is that traps in the emissions that are caught in the area so part part of our discussion in my office like to talk about it today is asking your agency and acknowledge met that despite sometimes their best efforts in utah government, education business leaders civic leaders have come together to try to lower the emissions to meet these standards. because of this sometimes we can't but i look forward to working with your administration could you comment on that >> yes senator but i look forward to being able to work with you and every senator on this committee. i want to make sure teams are

working together. i sat on the other side of many of these hearings and one of my greatest frustrations as a member of the house of representatives was to send a letter, sent a follow-up letter, send another letter and at the hearing following up on your third letter in the person is testifying before you is acting as if they haven't received your first, second or third. that collaboration is important. when i'm sitting here before you that i'm able to be accountable to all of you and that when you need something from the epa and asking the question that we are built to provide answers. part of this is a relationship and understanding every important local priority of each of you and your home states. i want to be able to travel to your states to be able to see first-hand on the ground whatever are your top priorities and senator you have many priorities in utah but i look for to visiting utah myself.

>> thank you and i would love to have you here. also there's flexibility in things like technology being neck gnostic to the technology and more focused on the end result i think would help us get results. finally in my last two seconds your predecessor in the house had to deal with me every time he would come before us talking about his low approval rates i getting chemicals approved. there are 0% statutory requirements getting these chemicals approved. it's statistically impossible and you could stumble on approvals accidentally. i just want to warn you that i will be as tough on you as i was on him. a lot of these chemicals can replace these pfas chemicals and we can't get them prove it makes the difficult to get them off the market so i look forward to working with you on that and i look forward to seeing you in the mountains of utah. i yield my time. >> your seat has been relocated

over their senator moran. center merkley. >> thank you. i'm down with senator curtis' description of my daughter and i took my u-haul across the country study in the east coast and went to the east coast hills and by the morning of the third day she woke up and saw the mountains. we were in the middle of the rockies in her eyes got wide and she said now i understand what you said the real mountains or the west so let's just say it's a bipartisan fact right here. mr. zeldin you have made an emphasis on the science data and the foundation and one of the concerns that i have is with regard to the role of influencers in your recorded that you have been paged to various outfits. would you provide to the committee of the list of all of the payments you have received and who is paying you and a copy

of the op-ed so that we have a complete understanding of her background in that area. >> yes senator and i provided that as part of my financial disclosure and both ethics and epa and government ethics has reviewed all of those estimations in providing that letter to the committee. >> we do have your financials. sometimes it's obscured her example the 15 to $100,000 that you are paid for offense and speaking fees and so forth. if you could give the offense you rowe so we have a clear and transparent understanding of that piece because we want to have our folks serve the public interest and have that foundation of science that you are speaking to put the citizens

deserve to understand as we wrestle with this moment that background in the background. you pointed out your media studio multiple times and was after doing interviews and then you do interviews and asked to be paid for your interviews >> the first i have provided a breakdown of every individual as well as the publication and the date of the publication, any further -- if you need us to print up what was referenced we are happy to do that. as far as the studio i owned the media studio so networks could use that studio. >> thank you appreciate those details. we will take a look at that list. you have over the course of your career perceived a lot of campaign funding from the oil and gas industry and i believe

it's $270,000 but can you insure the citizens that the campaign support you receive from the oil and gas industry were not influencing your service to the united states >> there is no donation that anyone is provided me at any point of any amount that will influence any decision that i make in this position or beyond. >> i want to emphasize the point my colleagues have made about climate change. we are seeing a massive loss of insurance policies on the west coast and florida companies have gone bankrupt and 16 have stopped issuing policies. stay firm has withdrawn a massive number of policies from california. we had six towns burned to the ground of my home state of oregon and its well-publicized across the country. it is really a challenge, a huge number of folks in california are having to go to a different

program. they are extremely expensive and difficult and have limited coverage. so i want to continue on the last piece. i've been very concerned about plastics. this article i will submit for the record. the "washington post" about the threat between microplastics in cancer and it goes on to talk about colon cancer and the imbalance of antioxidants and lung cancer. we have had a whole series of articles about heart disease. we have this article with the chelation of microplastics in the human rain of new mexico. it's out for peer review right now but we are learning more and more. we have plastics and every organ of the body of plastics in our rain and the fact it turns out to according to the study if this turns out to be accurate the highest accumulation of plastics is in our brains and we also have the record of microplastics and nanoplastics

affecting human fertility. plastic is by its structure and endocrine disruptor. have you looked at the science and problems associated with plastics in the human body >> i enjoyed being able to meet with you and your team in your office where clearly this is an issue of great interest and passion of yours. i would look forward to an opportunity to be able to read what you're referencing specifically so i can become and to delay familiar with any detail that you are citing. >> i was hoping that's what you're going to do after meeting in your office. >> i look forward to continuing to read it even further. and there's an effort by the chemical industry to say don't worry we will just melt everything down in big pots to keep plastics out of this wake called chemical recycling basically thermal melting but it

has proven to only be usable in very limited basically manufacturing as opposed to postconsumer plastics but they are trying to sell it as an absolute cure, don't worry we can go from 8% recycling in america to a high%. are you familiar with the limited role that the chemical industry is trying to say don't worry and be happy on plastics >> i'm aware, yes sir. >> do you understand and have you made yourself knowledgeable of the inaccuracies that are being publicized about this thermal strategy? >> senator i am researching and reading all that's being provided on all sides of this issue in going back to my time in the house i advocated to clean up our waterways around my district and has decided my opening bipartisan work between senator whitehouse and senator

sobel and -- sullivan and should be a model to be followed to go even further. >> i see that i'm over my time and i will just close by saying plastics there's a big story trying to be sold about don't worry. it will be your responsibly to make sure you speak the truth to the american people. >> senator sullivan. >> thank you madam chair and i want to congratulate you and the ranking member and her new members. we have some differences but that's okay. mr. zelle than it was great meeting with you and congratulations to your family as well. the senator from nebraska. mrs. fischer: thank you, mr. president. 480. that is the number of days since terror shook the middle east. it's been 480 days since hamas' unprovoked attack. 480 days since hamas brought

brutal terror on israel and the citizens of more than 30 countries. 480 days since american family members and friends were kidnapped. last year the international criminal court issued an arrest warrant for israeli prime minister netanyahu and his former defense minister. the illegitimate court that acts as prosecutor, jury, and judge brought politically motivated charges for war crimes and crimes against humanity. since when did self-defense in the face of terrorist attacks and atrocities become a war crime? the icc has forgotten too quickly who started this war,

who is turned a music festival into a graveyard, who attacked unprovoked, bringing devastating carnage on defenseless victims. the icc has forgotten the seven americans still in gaza, our fellow countrymen and women. they have forgotten the remains of the innocent hamas victims that hamas keeps, the hostages, even in death. they have forgotten the corpses in the streets, the babies and the soldiers beheaded, the people burn the alive in their cars. they have forgotten the doors riddled with bullet holes, the ground stained with blood, the smell of decaying flesh. the icc has forgotten the hell

hamas inflicted on israel and many other nations, and instead it vilifies a nation seeking justice and the chance to live in peace. this is not surprising. from the beginning, the united states has rejected this body. from president clinton to president trump, every president, democrat and republican, has never recognized the icc's jurisdiction over our nation. in fact, no president has even submitted the rome statute establishing the icc to the senate for advice and consent. we have never ratified it. and why? because entrusting an international governing body with authority over u.s.

citizens risks undermining the very freedoms and sovereignty that define this nation. the icc has repeatedly sought to impose its authority over the u.s. and over our allies, and now it has alleged that israel has committed war crimes. meanwhile, the tribunal conveniently turns a blind eye to atrocities in china, hiding behind the excuse of nonmembership, despite the fact that neither the united states nor israel are members. the hypocrisy of the icc is breathtaking. well, enough is enough. earlier this month, the house passed the illegitimate court counteraction act on a

bipartisan basis, and i'm deeply, deeply disappointed that my democratic colleagues who voted against moving forward on this legislation did that here in the united states senate. i sincerely hope that they reconsider. our sovereignty is nonnegotiable. allowing the icc to operate unchecked and without consequence grants them authority where they should have none. worse, it sets a standard that encourages repetition. we have a responsibility to protect the sovereignty of our nation and our allies. this moment, it demands courage and it demands conviction, and we must rise to meet it. thank you, mr. president.

i yield the floor. mr. ricketts: mr. president. the presiding officer: the other senator from nebraska. mr. ricketts: thank you, mr. president. i rise today to talk about the illegitimate court counteraction act that we voted on earlier in this chamber. the international criminal court was created to hold accountable war criminals, for example, in countries that did not have a system of justice, did not have the rule of law, and were incapable of holding those people accountable. in 2020, the international criminal court started investigating american soldiers' actions. this, despite the fact that we have a system of justice. we are governed by the rule. law -- rule of law. as my senior senator from nebraska just pointed out, we're not a signatory to the icc.

we're not a part of that international organization. last year the international criminal court indicted israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. israel has the rule of law. israel has a system of justice, and israel is not a signatory to the icc. and yet they indicted him. the international criminal court is out of control. it's a rogue international organization. and when they indicted prime minister netanyahu, what they did is they put a moral equivalency between israel's actions to defend itself and the barbaric attacks hamas perpetrated on october 7. let's be clear here.

when hamas launched their terror tac on israel, they were -- terror attack on israel, they were targeting civilians. that is a war crime. when israel responds back to defend itself, civilians are going to get hurt in war, but that's not who israel was targeting. they were targeting the terrorists who attacked them. that's legitimate. the international criminal court destroyed whatever shred of credibility they had when they made that indictment. and if they are coming after the israeli prime minister, it won't be long before they start coming after american troops. in fact, "the wall street journal" had an article that said, if the international criminal court issues arrest warrants for israelis, americans are likely to follow. this organization is a failure.

despite its $187 million budget, it is not -- it has not been able to bring to justice dictators around the world. they have done very little. and my senior senator mentioned china. well, they haven't done anything to stop vladimir putin. they haven't done anything against iran's ayatollah khomeini. they haven't done anything against north korea's kim jong-un. and yet they are targeting countries that have a system of justice and rule of law. that is not why this organization was supposed to have been created. the icc is a lawless, politicized international organization that is threatening our sovereignty. this requires a strong response on our part.

the illegitimate court counteraction act was that strong response. it would have directed the president within 60 days to launch sanctions against foreign nationals who are involved with the maligned activities of the icc, to target our american troops or our allies, for example. we need to have a strong response back to protect our sovereignty. when we're talking about, for example, sanctions, we're talking about assets, freezing assets of those foreign nationals, or travel bans. it would have sent a strong message to all of those foreigners who were trying to target us or our allies.

sadly, the democrats voted down this important bill that would have sent a strong message. their arguments were specious, frivolous, meaningless. the democrats said, well, this bill targets our allies. no, what this bill did was target people who were outside of the united states trying to target our soldiers or those of our allies. it was targeting individuals. democrats say this targets draconian sanctions. actually, if you look at the sanctions that this bill was poping, the same sort of sanctions were done under both obama and biden 49 times. they said, oh, well, some companies could be held responsible. again, no, this was about individuals. it was not about companies. and they said, well, the bill

was poorly written. poorly drafted. yet it has passed the same -- the same bill had passed the house of representatives twice. the first time with 42 democrats voting for it. the second time with 45 democrats voting for it, including two of our colleagues that are in the chamber now that voted for it when they were in the house except when they came to the senate, they voted against it. this was important legislation. now, when the minority leader got up, he talked about the icc and being anti-semitic, and he's right. the u.n. in general is another one of those international organizations that's anti-semitic. he said they stand with israel against the icc. but his actions speak louder than words. when he had the opportunity, he

stood on this floor earlier and said that israel should have new elections to replace the prime minister. well, folks, that action was in the same logic that the icc is using when they indicted israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. it seems hypocritical that he could stand up here and say i stand with israel, yet they should have new elections. and somehow have the moral authority to defend israel against the icc. in blocking this bill, democrats were voting to not protect our soldiers. they were voting to not stand up for our allies, not stand up for

our sovereignty. they were not supporting specifically israel. the appeasement first policy of the biden administration is alive and well. the democrats and u.s. senate today, americans take note. mr. president, i yield back. -- i yield back.

the presiding officer: the senator from alaska sullivan thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i want to add to what my colleagues have been saying here. dig disappointment from us on this side of the aisle that our democratic colleagues blocked this bill to do what needs to happen with regard to the icc. senator ricketts was just making a really good point with regard to the blatant anti-semitism that that organize -- of that organization. and it's not new, mr. president. we all know it's happening which

is why it was a disappointment we couldn't move forward. it's also something we know has been happening at the u.n. mr. president, i had a "wall street journal" op-ed a couple of months ago when president biden was getting ready to make his last major speech at the u.n. and i strongly but respectfully request the president to make his speech about focusing on the systemic anti-semitism that has existed at the united nations for years and to call out the true terrorists in the world, which is iran. president biden didn't make that speech. i had a meeting with the u.n. secretary-general and now former president -- or former senator ben cardin, chairman of the foreign relations committee. it was a bipartisan meeting with the u.n. secretary-general. you know, we pressed him.

we pressed him hard on his leadership of the u.n. and the systemic anti-semitism that exists in these international bodies, these international organizations. the u.n. is going to have a wake-up call with our new ambassador, elise stefan nick. i think she's really going to raise these issues, press these issues. she's going to be a modern day jeane kirkpatrick who in my view is the best u.n. ambassador under president reagan. she's going to bring it. so the u.n., the secretary-general, stand by. you're going to hear a lot more of this from our incoming u.n. ambassador. she's going to do a great job. finally, mr. president, i just want to mention where folks on the icc, folks on the u.n. appropriately, this bill should have moved forward. disa disappointed. but you know what? we also need to focus at home. and since the october 7 attacs

in 2023, the explosion of anti-semitism that we have seen at our so-called elite universities -- i don't call them elite. i just call them expensive universities -- on the campuses of the top universities in america has been nothing short of astonishing, disgusting. i don't know what other adjective i could use, mr. president. horrifying. these are the statistics from the antidefamation league. 2023 to 2024, their annual report on anti-israel activism on u.s. campuses tallied over 2,000 incidents and anti-israel incidents of assault, vaned rich, harassment, protest

actions, divest resolutions between june of to 23 and may 2024 increased a staggering 477%, mr. president. 477%. at the top universities in america. this marks the highest number ever documented by the adl. so eyewitnesses at my alma m mater, harvard. my wife and i went there. i don't always talk about it because i'm not proud of it. this university has huge problems. and i was there about a little over a year ago walking the campus. i went to wydnor library, the big famous library in the middle of harvard yard. i went to the reading room during finals and there was a giant anti-israel protest in this reading real. shocking, mr. president what was going on at harvard.

and as i wrote then, i couldn't believe this was happening. i took a picture. that's a picture from my camera. this giant anti-israel protest in the middle of the biggest library at one of the biggest libraries in america, the reading room at harvard, pure anti-semitism protests. and i wrote then in another op-ed in "the wall street journal" talking about my experience. my thoughts then turned to harvard undergrads. imagine if you are an 18-year-old jewish or israeli student or even a pro-israel catholic like me and you wanted to study for your chemistry final in the widener library reading room on a sunday morning. this was on a sunday morning. imagine being confronted by this

protest. obviously condoned by harvard's leadership and commandeered by the palestinian solidarity committee, the anti-semitic group behind the notorious statement that held israel entirely responsible for all the unfolding violence in the immediate aftermath of october 7. would you feel welcome in harvard's most famous library? would you feel rattled and intimidated and harassed by the anti-israel banner screaming stop the genocide in gaza? as jason riley has written, if accusing israel genocide isn't defamation of the jewish people, i don't know what is. if you were that 18-year-old student, would you believe the vacuous statements that had been put out a couple of days before by the harvard corporation after it decided not to fire claudine gay, harvard's president that, quote, disruptions of the classroom experience will not be tolerated? that was a giant disruption.

so, mr. president, i ended that op-ed by saying this. not all university leadership is so craven, morally bankrupt and afraid of the most radical vocal sex of their own student bodies. as a member of the naval academy board, that university couldn't contrast -- the contrast with the naval academy and harvard couldn't be starker on issues like civil discourse, so-called space -- safe spaces, trigger warnings, american history and our unique, and, yes, exceptional place in the world. mr. president, i know we're talking about the icc and we should be, but our universities and our great nation need a huge wake-up call because if we look at anti-semitism at the icc and the u.n., we need to be staring at in in places like harvard and other universities where it has

reached disturbing and sickening levels, and i think it's this body's responsibility to do something about it. i yield the floor. mr. lankford: the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma mr. lankford: we observe the remembrance of the hole cast, six million jews whose lives were lost during the hole cast, their families and the scar that has left on the world.

the term we will never forget still rings eight decades later. the end of that atrocity did not bring the end of anti-semitism, unfortunately. on october 7 of 2023, hamas terrorists brutally attacked israel with the intent to wipe israel off the map. they killed 1200 people simply because they're jewish. people marched through the streets even in sections of america on university campuses screaming from the river to the s sea, meaning the obliteration of the jewish people and the jewish nation. a few months ago, i stood at the nova music festival site

literally within sight of gaza. i walked through that area with a family. i talked to one of the survivors that was there that day. she is still reliving the emotion of being there just doing an all-night music festival and as the sun came up, terrorists came in to kill as many people as possible at that music festival. in the immediate aftermath of that attack, it was clarifying for the united states, we need to continue to stand with israel. terrorism is not done. anti-semitism has not ended in the world. we should continue to be able to speak out. in my state of oklahoma, it's extremely personal. we have a lot of oklahomans who are very pro-israel because they love freedom. they love a functions democracy

and as israel being the only democracy in all the middle east and a thriving economy, we have a lot of economic connections to israel. we have a lot of family connections. we have a lot of individuals that travel to israel for both vacation and for moments to be able to reflect on their own faith. it's a common connection. in fact, after october 7, my office and i were personally connected with trying to be able to help some families and individuals who were touring in israel at that time find a way to be able to escape from the fighting and to be able to get out. this is a very difficult moment and it continues to be a very difficult moment for the people of israel. all they want to do is to be able to live in peace with the people around them. within days, israel is not just facing a war with gaza, hezbollah began-to-a tack --

began to attack them from the north from lebanon. within a few months, iran itself began to fire missiles and rockets and one-way attack drones towards israel, literally facing a war with individuals attacking them from the north, south, east, and west. israel just wants to live in peace. in the middle of a war, when a group of terrorists cross the border and begin to slaughter israelis, the international criminal court determined it was p going to jump in and make a clear statement. great, make a clear statement about terrorism. call out those that are attacking civilians and slaughterering people as they sleep on that morning. but instead the international criminal court released arrest warrants for benjamin netanyahu,

the prime minister of israel, and forrio gallant -- and for yoav gallant for trying to defend they are country from terrorism. myself, my other colleagues remember it immediately, that during the with aer in afghanistan this same -- that during the war in afghanistan this same international court was filing charges against american soldiers trying to defend the united states while they were fighting in afghanistan. this is the very definition of a rogue court. by the way, they're in the process of trying to be able to figure out how to fix their image. and so just within the past few days, the international criminal court has filed an arrest warrant for some of the taliban leaders. well, welcome to the 2000's. the international criminal court has now figured out that the taliban are bad, something the rest of the world has known and

recognized for more than two decades. this body had the opportunity to do something pretty common sense -- speak out and say, we're not a party to the international criminal court. the united states has never participated in that. in fact, no president has ever even requested -- republican or democrat -- to join that agreement for the international criminal court. no one wants to be a part of that in the united states. i know of no oklahoman that would say, we want our troops to be under the authority of an international court. we're not going to do that. israel, by the way, has also not joined the international criminal court. they have no desire to also be under the authority of a foreign court. they have seen full well the anti-semitism and they have no right in international bodies trying to tell them right from wrong. but the international criminal court has seen fit to try to

challenge and call out american soldiers and the leaders of israel, even after they've been attacked. so is this body had an opportunity yesterday to be able to speak out on that. and to actually sanction and to allow further sanctions for individuals from the international criminal court and entities that cooperate with them to say you cannot come after the united states or after our allies. it is a very simple, straightforward bill. it was a bill that passed with a very large bipartisan majority through the house of representatives. in fact, it's passed twice now with a large bipartisan majority in the house of representatives. though when it came here to the united states senate, my democratic colleagues shrugged and said no. the trump administration, i'm confident, will speak out with sanctions against the international criminal court. they did during the first trump

presidency. i'm confident they will again. what i'm not confident of is every future president after president trump, if they will hold the same high standard to be able to protect american citizens, our soldiers, and to be able to stand alongside with israel. now, i've come in this body over and over and over again and i've said, we should speak out on these areas, we should speak out on anti-semitism. for instance, the international holocaust remembrance alliance, that definition of what anti-semitism is, that's a definition that the united states was a party to more than three decades ago. our state department still recognizes what it means to be anti-semitic and makes it very clear on that. but this body has failed to actually impose that same definition of anti-semitism on our department of defense, for instance with the fbi, or the department of education. and some may say, well, why is that even an issue? well, ask the jewish students at

columbia university and they'll tell you why that's important. this week at columbia university masked students burst into a modern history of israel class chanting antis-semitic tropes ad asking to crush zionism in their class at columbia university this week, during holocaust remember prance week. -- remembrance week. calling out universities that would allow that kind of oppression on their own students i think is important. i think for to body to be able to speak out with one voice to say we're not going to allow american soldiers nor our allies to be called in by a kangaroo international court i think is important to us. and this week, of all weeks, on

holocaust remembrance week, we should speaks with one voice to say never again means never again, and we will continue to stand with our friends and allies in israel, and we'll continue to stand with anti-semitism here, there, anywhere. with that, i'd yield the floor. mr. tillis: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from north carolina. mr. tillis: thank you, mr. president. i come to the floor today to share a little bit of maybe reflection on the pardons of last week. part of the reason why i did it, after the president issued the pardons for all of the january 6 protesters, i had a friend of mine call me up because i had said that some of the protesters probably got swept up into the events of the day, but some of those protesters harmed police

officers, and i can't support that. i said, when i say i wear this pin almost every day, and when i say i back the blue, i back the blue, period. i back them when they're beaten by people who came into this capitol on january 6. i back the blue because i am endlessly over the last ten years, i've been to this floor numerous times to mourn the loss of more than 80 police officers in north carolina alone to died in the line of duty. i do this time after time after time. the republican party is the party that stands for law and order and law enforcement, in my opinion. i have seen people excuse the protests in kenosha and portland

as just mostly peaceful protests. and what the amazing thing was, when you see this on tv or you see it in the papers, they're saying, mostly peaceful protests in portland and kenosha. and there is hale a building on fire in the -- and there's a building on fire in the back ground in and around a police precinct. and in washington, federal agents were injured by officials during the biden administration. and every single one of us said that's inappropriate and every single of one said that those people need to be brought to justice. now you on january 6 -- now, on january 6 of 2021, i was standing right over there in the middle of that aisle. i had originally -- my seat was right there. so when we were doing the certification of the election, you could -- people had breached the building. they were running around the capitol.

they were banging on doors. and finally my chair being right next to that door, we heard a loud crash and i saw police officers say, secure that building and run up there to protect the members that were in the chamber, and we were all here. now, i saw some people immediately go to the capitol police so that they could take them to safe refuge, and they're the same people who had fund raised on a web side that's called -- website that's called black the blue. it's been taken down. they had a run for justice 13.12. the alphabetic analog is acab which translates into their slogan, all cops are bastards. why does this relate? they raised money on it. in fact, they even encouraged people to do their 13-mile run around police stations to

disrupt and intimidate police officers. now, how does this relate to everything that's going on here? i was the last member out of the u.s. -- i was the last senate member out of this chamber on that day. in fact, it was one of the vice president's details that i happen to know that came back to me and said, now you've really got to go. i walked through that hallway, down the stairwell that's over there into the train tunnel, and what i saw were police officers who were bleeding, they were bruised, and they were beaten down. now or, the people that did that were pardoned last week. to those people -- and i will give the president the benefit of the doubt. i support pardons for people that should have never come into the building. i don't know if i were president if i would have pardoned them, but i would at least you understand the rationale for

those. but i think if you back the blue, there can be no equivocation on any exception for someone who assaults or murders a police officer. the funny thing -- the tragic thing is, i've just filed two bills that would increase the penalties for assaulting a police officer and increase the penalty for murdering a player up to as -- a police officer up to, as a federal crime, up to and including the death penalty. i want to send the message to those folks in blue that i as an elected official, a member of the senate, never equivocate when it comes to backing the blue. and i would argue that if anybody has a problem with them, then call 911 and tell them you never want them to show up to your door when you are in trouble. because most people know that the police officers that serve us and protect us in this building are great people. and i have this asked to those

who have been pardoned. the qanon shaman, you know what his social media tweet was when president trump gave him a chance and gave him a pardon? now i'm going to go buy me some effing guns. for the others who have been pardoned, be like a handful of some who have refused the pardon because they felt like they deserved the punishment. for those who have received a pardon, view it as the gift that it is. apologize to these police officers for what you did to them, and if you do that, then i'll feel like maybe president trump gave you a chance to redeem yourself. but if you come and spike a football in this capitol building and you pretend like

what you did was right, righteous or justified, please do not come anywhere near me. mr. president, it's important for the past week i've told the police officers when i enter the building, i thought the pardons -- i thought the pardons of those a assaulted police officers were wrong. i've told every one of them, i know you shouldn't react to it because you have to be apolitical, but i am a political person. i can say whatever i want to and then answer to the people of north carolina. but i thought it was important for me to come to the floor and record this in the federal record, particularly to the challenge of the people who assaulted police officers. show that you're remorseful. demonstrate that you were wrong. don't pretend that that pardon means that what you did was right. and for that reason, i felt compelled to come to the floor and make this statement, mr. president. because where i come from and where i've been my entire public service career, i will never

stop backing the blue. a senator: mr. president. :

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. reed: thank you, mr. president. first, i would ask unanimous consent that justin procheeko, a fellow in my office be granted privileges of the floor for the remainder of the 119th congress. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reed: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i rise today because over the last two days i have been hearing from officials

in organizations throughout rhode island who have been concerned about losing access to essential federal funding. in fact, rhode island officials told my office that for several hours yesterday they could not access the federal portal that allows them to draw down funding for the medicaid program. why is this? well, monday night the office of management and budget, omb, issued a memorandum instructing federal agencies to freeze funding that had been authorized and appropriated by congress until it can be determined that the program comports with president trump's ideological views as judged by the white house. just a little over an hour ago

omb rescinded this memo. but then the white house press secretary has tweeted that the freeze is still in effect. this illustrates the uncertainty and the lack of calculation that went into this process. now, as my colleague, senator murray, the ranking member on the appropriations committee, has noted, the list of programs being put under the microscope was dramatic. grants for law enforcement, veterans care, disaster relief and mitigation, funding for the 988 suicide prevention lifeline, homelessness and housing funding, child care, public schools including idea funding, community health centers, food access programs, including meals on wheels and school lunch programs; funding for preventing violence against women, and much

more. and all these programs affect families throughout my state of rhode island. working families, in particular. because in many respects, we all depend upon some support at some time. the trump administration a little over a week on the job decided to violate the law to withhold that funding previously approved by congress on a bipartisan basis and has sowed chaos and fear throughout the nation in the process. last night the federal district court issued a one-week stay on the administration's memorandum regarding not-for-profit agencies receiving federal funds. but we again are in this dilemma

because the president apparently has rescinded the order, but his press secretary is still tweeting something different. it demonstrates how, frankly, incompetent the administration is, putting out directives with little or no thought or coordination, without ant anticipating or, more importantly, caring about the negative ramifications that an order like this would have on families throughout this country. what president trump was really doing, i believe, is testing how far he can go before he stopped. when president trump tries to ignore the law, ignore the congress, and there is no response, what is the point of checks and balances? why are we here in the senate if we pass, along with the house, authorizations and

appropriations, and the president of the united states can ignore our actions, we have to speak up. indeed, my republican colleagues were excoriating the biden administration for executive overreach, but now are relatively mute when it comes to a defiance of law, and indeed i believe a defiance of the constitution. this attack should be alarming to all my colleagues who consider congress a coequal branch of government, and it will be instructive to the american people to see how all of my colleagues in the majority and in the minority choose to respond to president trump's continued attack on this institution as well as the constitution, and most damaging, families throughout this

country. one of the programs that was shut off yesterday is medicaid. and now a lot of people think medicaid is just something for those poor people who can't afford health care. but indeed it is a major source of funding for nursing homes throughout this country. and many of the recipients come from working families, come from families that have worked their entire lives, and now they have a senior, a mother or father, who needs the kind of care a nursing home provides, but they could not afford it without med medicaid. that, i think, is one of the most graphic examples of the

indifference or the ignorance of the administration when it comes to what they're doing. but let me return finally to the point. we have a role to do in the constitution. we advise and consent our nominees, and we're doing that as we go forward. but also we have to act as a check on the president. we have to act as a force for good that supports the const constitution, and that's a role, i believe, we have to take much more seriously today than at any other time in my tenure in the united states senate. and with that, mr. president, i would yield the floor, and i would note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

quorum call: the clerk: ms. alsobrooks.

donald trump rescinded the omb order. now he should resend the nomination of russell vought. when the trump administration announced this awful directive on monday night, we knew immediately it was shortsighted, disasters, cruel and dumb. it was clear then as it is now that the director, that the directive was given without any comprehension of what it actually called for, let alone the ramifications upon literally hundreds of millions of americans. and the american people are outraged from one end of the country to the other, and it is clear that president trump and his minions are feeling the heat. to print -- did president trump know he was knee capping police officers and firefighters from

five saving equipment? did president trump know he was destroying puerto rico's assistance program leaving 1 million americans hungry? did president trump know he was essentially shattering community health centers, real hospitals, food pantries? if he didn't call democrats made sure he learned it real quick. i told all of you this week the proposal is best described with the three c's, chaotic, careless, cruel. and senate democrats responded with three letters of her own. in fw. this should be a lesson to president trump that following russell vought and project 2025 is a loser, russell vought with the architect of 2025, he was the architect of the omb memo. you'll be the architect of more losses for president trump if he

keeps russell vought on the team. there's no doubt about it this memo was a catastrophe. and i assume president trump will hold those behind this memo accountable or is going to get into more and more trouble if he follows their dictates. if donald trump is actually decided and find with the put the needs of america's first he must resent the nomination of russell vought immediately. though the trump administration failed in its tactic it's no secret they will come back again and again and again. the trump administration feeling the heat rescinded this heartless memo but it's also clear by their intent they still plan to freeze funding in this way or another way. whatever hoops and they tried to jump through, we know they will come back at this again and again and again. because their billionaire buddies want to implement project 2025 and they will try

any which way they can to get it done. but whenever they do, i promise you that senate democrats will be there to call it out, to fight back, to defend american families. senator murray. >> never in my time in the senate have i seen a president caused so much chaos and panic in damage in such a short amount of time. as president trump as has cad with his brazen and illegal moves to freeze federal grants across the government and across the country, the trump administration's through a combination of sheer incompetence, cruel intentions, and willful disregard of the law caused real harm in chaos for millions over the span of just 48 hours. but we learn learned someg important. when the american people speak out with one voice, when regular people stand up, it makes a difference. this victory belonged to a village to voice.

but make no mistake, the fight is far from over. my phone was ringing off the hook and it still is. everyday americans actually understand this would hurt them, concerts problems in the lives and make their lives worse. homeless shelter kicking out kids, clinical trials getting catholic child care providers laying people off, roads and bridges not getting built, cops not getting hired. people like elon musk may not feel the pain of a a single of those cuts for delays, everyday americans who work hard every day expect a fair shake and expect the government to be there when it counts. they knew this would be catastrophic but again and please understand this, the fight is not over because even though after the intense outcry from the american people, trump has now admitted this is a colossal mistake by rescinding the guidance. the threat, the cask of the panic can't just be wiped away. we have a lot of work to do now

to make sure all the funding now does get moving again. this is not like turning on a light switch. as we just saw to the chaotic rollout, it's complicated stuff. we will all be watching closely to make sure the funds get to where they belong asap. even afterwards no one is forgetting what the judge tried to do and what they are still doing. make no mistake, the trump administration is still illegally holding up billions of dollars across the federal government through their day went executive orders. you don't have to take my word for it. the white house press secretary just said and i quote, this is not a rescission of the federal funding freeze. the president's executive orders on funding remain full force and effect and will be rigorously implemented. that means they are still blocking investments congress passed into law to help our communities. they are still blocking things like international aid, clean air and water projects,

investment in new clean energy jobs and a lot of other projects funded by the bipartisan infrastructure law which trump is stopping with his illegal executive orders. aside from the fact that they have not stopped blocking this funding illegally, their late attempt this week to illegally freeze trillions more in one fell swoop is, mark my words, a clear sign of what is to come. more lawless cuts, more chaos, or paying for our families. trump has made it clear he's not going to stop in less, unless congress and the american people make clear we are not going to stand for this. we have an opportunity to make that clear when the vote on vought's nomination to be budget director. he is a chief architect of project 2025 which left his single digit of been all ovee illegal omb guidance that was issued. this is an anytime and again has refused to say he will follow the law, including to me and to

many others directly. every lawmaker who doesn't want to see funds that they were to secure further state, funds thing of the films are counting on ripped away must vote no and that's a start. as long as a trump administration is illegally holding back fund and harming families, this fight is not over. i and all of my colleagues will keep working to hold this administration accountable, make sure our communities get the resources they are owed and make certain president trump follows the law as intended by congress. >> is a curious and all the money -- [inaudible] >> correct. they are still trying to do this. now, they felt the heat from the american people. we help to explain to the american people how bad this

was. but they're going to keep at it. the executive orders are still there. vought still there nominate for the head of omb, and they're going to try to find every which way to get this done but we're going to stand there and stop them. they felt lead on this, they will feel the heat any other time. they will go in a different route to try and do the same thing. but we don't have any illusion that this is still going to happen unless they resent everything. executive order, they fire vought and get, make a commitment to not going to illegally freeze funds anywhere. >> i would just admit one thing senator schumer said. that is our understanding that this man at the second of the state. very clearly their changing things constantly every single day. so i wouldn't be surprised in the next hour if we are something else from the press secretary, , from own become frm whoever you're what we're telling is what we know right now today.

i'll tell you what that causes, is all people of and calling us are still sitting in chaos. what's good to be the next thing that comes down? is this real or something else? to me that is truly frightened. >> those executive orders are still in effect. that's the danger and they are still trying to do this. they are just feeling the heat, trying to throw out likable fighter a red cape. were not falling for it. >> just to be clear, -- [inaudible question] there's a suit the attorneys general have filed in rhode island court right now. yes, ma'am. [inaudible question] >> look, that's a great question. but bannon has this idea of flooding the zone. he's trying to follows. their view is throw solely bad

things up that we won't pay enough attention to any of them but we are being focused. we are being pointed. when this executive order and this funding freeze came out we focus all our fire on that. even though there are many other bad things being done and we will return to this bad things but we're not letting them trick us with his flood the zone strategy. yes. [inaudible question] the worst ones and there are a lot of them are with a lot of energy and we have a lot of talent in our caucus can you go in to see as focusing on a whole bunch of different things. it just so happened that this funding freeze was so broad and so cruel that we knew we could arouse american people. the american people can see that we will win. we haven't won despite don't get around to see that we can have some real impact, let me put it that way. so we can have real impact on this trump administration which

would like it wonderfully they are impervious to public sentiment. they are not and we showed that with this what we have done. >> our caucus is going to focus on anything that -- >> with the plaintiff energy and plenty of time to do all of that. yes. >> if it's a victory for you all, -- >> it's a long war. this may be a small victory but it's a long were and we have to continue to fight. [inaudible question] let me make it very clear. vought is going to be voted on tomorrow in the budget committee. committee. he will go to the floor for confirmation. if republican supporting to be there omb director and confirming to do that, he has made it clear from across the board that he believes he has a power we believe it's illegal. in fact, we know it's illegal to abscond funds and send it any

other way. as long as he is willing to do that and willing to follow through on it then it makes it virtually impossible for us to reach a bipartisan compromise on appropriation. >> last question. young lady over there. >> senator murray, since you called on senator graham -- have you heard anything? what have you heard from the republican colleagues? >> senator merkley is ranking member on budget and do not believe we've heard from him yet. [inaudible question] >> yes, absolutely. let me tell you i think are members of our committee to did a very good job in showing so many of the problems with the rfk nomination. the are a number of nominees, him, dni nominee who we are going very strongly after. and we hope our republican colleagues will join us. thank you, everybody.

my democratic colleagues and a semi-democrat colleagues i mean all of my democratic colleagues with one exception chose to

block legislation to sanction individuals at the international criminal court who participate in investigations or prosecutions of american or israeli citizens. in the wake of the vote a number of my colleagues put out a statement expressing their concern at the icc decision to its you arrest for israeli leaders. i suppose it's nice that they're concerned, mr. president. they should be concerned but it would be even nicer if they've done something about it. it's hard for me to fathom how democrats could vote against this commonsense measure. in fact, they wouldn't even vote to have a debate. i'm not sure if they're afraid of antagonizing the at the israel wing other party or if there simply to baldwin to big tech which launched some tenuous concerned about this legislation. but whatever the reason, democrats chose to vote no. no first any up for ally israel. and even worse, known to stand up for our own citizens.

apparently the america last playbook is alive and well in the democrat party. mr. president, republicans tried to figure in to accommodate democrats in hopes of finally getting this legislation over the finish line. nearly eight months after republican controlled house first passed the bill. the democrats kept moving the goalposts and republicans were not going to just get the legislation to get democrat votes. it democrat decide that they want to take real action to address the targeting of our allies and prevent future targeting of american citizens, republicans are here. until then we will continue to do what we can with that democrats to defend our allies and our nation. mr. president, over the past four years the biden administration setter energy security on a dangerous path. administration policies created uncertainty for energy producers. the administration sharply

restricted oil and gas development, new government regulations threaten to close existing power plants even as our electric grid struggle to keep up. the president attempted to force the widespread adoption of electric cars again despite the incredible strain that would place on our already shaky power grid. and the list goes on. mr. president, a recent report from the north american electric reliability corporation warns of and i quote mounting resource adequacy challenges, end quote, in the next decade. one reason is retirement of conventional energy generators. in some areas because in some cases because of regulation. another is increased demand like increasing demand for electricity and driven by artificial intelligence data centers. it takes roughly ten times as much electricity to run a chatgpt query as it takes to run a google search. think about that. imagine the energy demands of ai

at scale. anyone who thinks we can be on the leading edge of the technology with less or less reliable energy should think again. we need more energy, and the good news is we have it. in fact, we have the resources to be energy dominant but we need to start saying yes to american energy. mr. president, on his first the office president trump took the first steps towards restoring american energy dominance. a national emergency which will allow him to cut through some of the red tape that stifles into production as we continue to work toward broader regulatory relief. he reversed the biden administration paws on new exports of liquefied natural gas, a decision that threatened american jobs and left our allies looking elsewhere for their energy. ..

you mister zelman recognizes the epa can't be a hammer in search of nails and epa rules have to be balanced with the economy, national security and the american people. he understands the importance of collaboration with stakeholders, something too often lacking in the biden administration. farmers and ranchers in my state appreciate a seat at the table before the biden administration are resurrected the rule and i'm pleased mr. zeldin is focused on bringing a collaborative approach to the epa and he committed to timely release of the renewable volume obligations as required by the renewable fuel standards. the biden epa was late releasing

obligations which were often below industry production levels, creating instability for producers. biofuels are an important asset in america's energy portfolio. i am pleased mr. zeldin will ensure that biofuel producers have a certainty that has been lacking in recent years and i'm encouraged that he's willing to work on donald trump's promise of year-round a 15 sales, restoring energy dominance will require and all of the above approach, a smarter approach from regulators and i look forward to working with mister zeldin in carrying out this important work. i yield the floor. >> i'm here to back the nomination of lee zeldin of new

york, administrator of environmental protection agency, my vote will be yes when they pulled on that nomination. the epa plays an important regulatory role in the united states. not only does it regulate pollution like many americans already know but also regulates many areas that impact americans every day. as many farmers in iowa no, the previous administration's epa put out a regulation that would overregulate what we know in this town as waters in the united states or as a leader just put it, waters.

this would have regulated 96% of the land in the state of iowa. that would subject that land to federal water regulations. it would almost be impossible to do the regular farming operations without wondering whether you were violating some regulation. that is what the leader just said is regulation that is not common sense. and issues critical to agriculture such as the approval of important tools for farmers. the epa oversees the renewable fuel standard and protect its integrity.

the skills standard provides an important framework for biofuels which benefit farmers sustaining a digital market for the commodities. besides biofuels, number one in the production of ethanol, we like to say it is good for agriculture, for good paying jobs of rural america that we never had, the ethanol industry, good for the environment because it is cleanburning, good for national security, less reliance on foreign sources of energy, it is good good good. there is not a negative you can come up with.

in my office, mr. zeldin came there, i impressed upon him the impact his agency has over the lives of farmers and all americans. mr. zeldin assured me he would be responsive to congress and provide ample time to provide transparency and market stability for regulations from his agency. mr. zeldin's assurance about making decisions on time is important, because previously it required volume obligations dealing with biofuels and small refinery exemptions have not been finalized in time to make it whole.

this leads to less ethanol blending which goes against donald trump's commitment to farmers and the ethanol industry which mr. zeldin assured me that he supports. for the sake of iowa farmers i'm hoping that mr. zeldin stays true to his word and just in case you wonder whether or not we have anything to fear from epa in agriculture i want to give you a little history that is history, shows you in this town which i call an island surrounded by reality, the real americans outside this island here, a few years ago they were going to promote a

rule that says it is unbelievable. they wouldn't be proposing this rule. it's called the fugitive dust rule. the theory of the fugitive dust rule for me from epa is if you are farming and you create dust in normal operations that go into farming operations, planning, spraying, whatever it might be, what you are supposed to keep that dust within your property line, that is what epa tried to promulgate. one time, we thought we had it killed and a couple years later, it doesn't meet the common sense test that a farmer working his

fields to keep the dust in property lines. i tried to explain it this way in regard to harvesting soybeans which leaves a lot of dust, when soybeans are 13% moisture, very necessary you quickly harvest something, the most ideal time with that amount of moisture in soybeans, these administrators, only god determines when the wind blows and whether the wind is blowing or not, your soybeans are 13%, you've got to combine them and not worry where the dust goes and you've got about two weeks during harvest season to accomplish that goal but no kidding, that's what epa was

trying to do to agriculture a few years ago. >> mr. president, two nights ago the trump administration committed a breathtaking act of economic sabotage. in the blink of an eye, with guttural federal grant funding. donald trump's actions can be summarized with chaotic, careless, cool. is a gross overreach for republicans and no surprise the american people are furious. the danger is not over by any means. donald trump and his ultra-right puppet will keep trying to make this freeze happen. i will speak to democratic governors around the country to

discuss how this freeze is hurting their states and talking about coordinating our responses against this gross abuse of presidential power. the blast radius of this announcement was seemingly limitless, states, cities, towns, small businesses, local law enforcement, nutrition services, elderly care and so much more impacted as if omb designed their announcement to maximize chaos and confusion and suffering to the american people. make no mistake, this decision from omb is project 2025 in action, project 2025 by another name. donald trump's lawless behavior fits a pattern. first he pardoned insurrectionist, then he fired independent watchdogs and labor commission is. now he is freezing

congressionally approved funding. before our eyes, donald trump is working the system and breaking the law at the expense of working families. from republican town supervisors and mayors in a panic about flood prevention who told me they -- those projects were in limbo. i got calls from food banks like western new york fearful they wouldn't make deliveries to hungry people. calls from groups like rochester head start, worried they would not pay rent or pay their staff. i got calls from roswell park cancer center at buffalo and long island. how is freezing this funding going to help families pay for groceries and make neighborhoods

safer. it is going to do the opposite. they refuse to answer in testimony about the impoundment of congressional firms. we did not want to alert congress about this freeze on funding. information senators were entitled to know, he needs to give us more answers. the senate budget committee should not proceed with the confirmation, i call for a 2 week delay of the markup. donald trump showed his true hostile colors to working people and union members in america. without cause, the president took the unprecedented step firing a duly appointed commissioner of the national labor relations board two years before the term was set to expire. last night donald trump fired

two democratic members of the equal opportunity equal employment opportunity commission, leaving that frozen without a quorum. let's be clear, these unlawful filings are a direct assault on working people. it will increase workplace discrimination worse than unfair hiring practices and worker's ability to push for federal wages and safer working conditions. this will stack the deck against employees trying to organize or join a union to get better benefits and better pay. this is no way to do it. these firings are unlawful. these purges are another example of donald trump's lawless presidency like his pardon of insurrectionist, eliminating independent watchdogs and illegally freezing congressionally approved funding. everything donald trump is doing fits a pattern. he is abusing the office of the

presidency, breaking the law to ring the system to help his billionaire friends at the expense of working families. robert kennedy begins testifying before the senate finance committee to state the obvious, having a very wealthy anti-vaxer running america's public health what every american in danger. mister kennedy is a walking public health crisis waiting to happen. of course he is doing exactly what everyone thought he would do in his hearing, saying what people want to hear about vaccines. he is claiming he was never against vaccines or that his words have been twisted. we need to look at kennedy's record. he spent years making millions peddling conspiracy theories and outright lies. has nomination should go no further. on kash patel. the senate judiciary committee will be hearing testimony from kash patel, donald trump's nominee to be the next fbi director.

kash patel is not remotely prepared to serve as fbi director. he has a long history of spreading lies about the fbi, smearing public servants who work there to keep us safe. he is a conspiracy theorist, hard right ideologue and openly hostile to the free press. and tomorrow's hearing the most important question for senators is how on earth will kash patel's confirmation make americans safer? how will americans be safer if the fbi is led by a darling of the qnaon movement and january 6th simple pfizer to the highest level of law enforcement in the land, how can americans trust the donald trump will drain the swamp if he puts one of his most loyal political fixers as chief law enforcement, chief law enforcer. it is true of kash patel. he serves the interest of the

american people or serve the interest of donald trump, given kash patel's history it is clear who he will choose, donald trump. tulsi gabbard, donald trump's nominee for director of national intelligence. of all the people donald trump could have nominated for the job of eni, few could be worse for our national security. if confirmed, miss gabbard would be a walking liability to our intelligence community and national security. she has a long and troubled history of spreading falsities and sympathizing with the likes of vladimir putin and bashar al-assad. it is not unreasonable to ask if she would use the dni job to push false intelligence for political ends. is miss gabbard the best they can offer for the job? someone known to make things up out of thin air. is that what we want for the intelligence community that is fact-based.

relying untruthfulness in fact keep the country safe. and does not merit elevation to the position. on his retirement, the longtime capitol police retiring after this month after 34 years. officer bussell carried out his duty to protect the citadel of democracy. with supreme excellence, no matter his assignment from first responder specialty to the mountain biking to the senate chambers. he was instrumental as officers in making sure the body could carry out the work of the american people day in and day out.

we offer the deepest gratitude for the capital police to congress and the nation who say to him thank you and wish his family the best. is it you? >> all of us can remember when the biden ministration took office, the issues facing them, the evacuation of american forces from afghanistan, that effort started under donald trump in the previous administration but was up to president biden to execute the plan. the sad reality is in the course of that evacuation american troops lost their lives. i'm sure that haunted president biden every day he served as president. the moment he was being tested, did not come through for those men and women in uniform who gave their lives in that effort.

those debts haunted him, i am sure, during four years of his presidency. i would say to the new president, donald trump, serving his second term, he has an issue that is going to hunt him, can't tell you for how long and don't know how it will affect our country but it has already started. it started when he decided ten days ago to grant clemency to the january 6th offenders. those men who were engaged in an insurrectionist mob activity that overran the united states capital on january 6th, i know something about this because i was here. i was in this chair when the mob that you have seen on television and videos over and over again, presiding over the united states senate, we were all in our seats, the vice president of the united states, vice president

pence, we were counting the electoral votes to decide who was the official winner of the presidential election. it was happening right after donald trump had his rally not far from here and told his supporters and demonstrators come up to the capital building, which they did invest numbers. they didn't just come for a casual visit. they came to break down the doors and windows and invade this building. i'm not exaggerating. you see the videos, you know what happened. the net result is a lot of brave men and women who were part of the capitol hill police force and dc police force stood in their way and tried to stop them and were beaten back. 140 of these officers were seriously injured by the demonstrators and insurrectionist, several lost their lives. that was the reality of what happened.

the net result was one of the largest prosecutions in the history of the united states. ultimately hundreds of them paid a price for that violent activity on january 6th and what they did to our policeman, the same policeman standing in the hallway now protecting you. the other people assault on that day on the floor at this moment, across the way, what of our officers who stood before us that day and gave us instructions after vice president pence was removed, this officer of the capital police told us to stay in this chamber, stay in your seats, this is going to be safer. it lasted ten minutes and came back and said change in plan. evacuate as fast as possible. we were outside the door. it was a dangerous moment. it took hours before we could take the capital back from these demonstrators and marauders.

the men and women who were dedicated to their cause did things that were outrageous in terms of desecrating this building, the united states capital building, the symbol of america, they desecrated it and had to be stopped. a lot of brave men and women in uniform risked their lives, some gave their lives as a consequence of it. many of them went to jail after they had been charged with crimes and it wasn't until the first day of the trump presidency than they finally had a chance for a pardon, and trump gave them that opportunity by releasing them from jail. it is important to know what happened "after words". you would think these men, largely men, who served time in jail, some of them for lengthy sentences up to 20 years when they were released with this pardon by donald trump would go

about their business and resume a normal law-abiding life. that is not the fact. let me tell you what happened, ten days since donald trump granted these partners, just so far of what we know of those who were released from jail for their violence on the united states capital january 6th. matthew hubbell released by donald trump by pardon, shot and killed by the indiana state police after -- utah. mr. lee: i ask unanimous consent to suspend the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. lee: and, mr. president, i have five requests for 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. lee: mr. president, americans are paying more and getting less for just about everything. more for energy, more for housing, more for the most basic

necessities. frankly, they're tired of it. across the country, businesses are struggling with higher costs. families are burdened by rising prices. and entire industries are stalling under the weight of heavy-handed regulations handed down from unelected bureaucrats in washington, d.c. the department of the interior could and should be part of the problem. instead it -- come and should be part of the solution. instead it's been part of the problem. in fact, in many instances in countless respects, it is the problem. the worst part, it didn't have to be this way. under secretary deb haaland, the biden administration had a choice. they had the tools at their disposal to alleviate the struggles of millions of americans and ensure affordable, reliable energy. instead it chose to abandon

them. instead it chose to surrender to ideological zealotry and foreign powers that do not have our best interests at heart. now americans are paying the price. mr. president, the department of the interior is not an agency of limited consequence. it governs nearly one-fifth of the landmass of the entire united states. it wields the power to dictate the fate of energy production, water right, wildlife conservation and the livelihoods of millions of americans, especially in public land rich states like my home state of utah. and yet for the last four years, secretary hall lad stood idly -- ha lad stood idly by doubling down on production while begging foreign adversaries to fill the gap. governor dougburg gum updzs what secretary haaland apparently forget. abundant, affordable energy is a

fundamental pillar of our national security as americans. but secretary haaland's failures don't stop at energy. the department of the dwor touches nearly every aspect of life in the west from land management to water rights, often to the detriment of those who depend on them. now, for states like utah where two-thirds of the land is owned by the federal government, washington's mismanagement is not an abstract or a theoretical debate. the consequences that we face as a result of decisions made at interior affect us in a real and profound way. expanding national monuments without local input and contrary to what local input was given, imposing suffocating land use restrictions and burying quite deliberately resource development under an avalanche of red tape are not the actions

of a government that serves them. they are the actions of a government that rules and lords over them. the consequences of that mismanagement stretch higher than elevated prices at the pump. as wildfires ravage the west, reducing homes to ash and livelihoods to memory, secretary haaland and president biden condescendingly lectured the american people that climate change is to blame. unfortunately for them, the reality is far less convenient. decades of federal neglect have transformed our forests into kindling. the refusal to engage in responsible forest management to clear the dead wood, to thin the overgrowth has created a tinderbox of catastrophic proportions. and still they offered nothing but platitudes it and punitive regulations that all but ensure the cycle of destruction would continue.

the west faces another government-made crisis -- housing. entire generations are locked out of homeownership, as federal mismanagement hoards vast swaths of land that could be used to alleviate the crisis. the department of the interior could be an instrument of relief identifying underutilized federal land and unlocking them for development. my bill, the houses act, shows how we can do this. but for the past four years the government has lamented housing shortages while ensuring their permanence. it's drawn near to the plight of the american people with its lips, but its heart has been shown to be far from they're supposed to serve. and then, of course, there's water. the colorado river, a lifeline

of the west, is withering. states plead for coordination to create a strategy to preserve this resource for millions. what they receive instead are dithering from an administration more interested in virtue signaling than problem solving. doi desperately needs a leader who will act. governor burgum is that leader. we need a leader -- drawing millions and sustaining in many cases entire communities. yet infrastructure crumbles, visitor access is restricted, and the federal government's response is as lethargic as it is incompetent. governor burgum understands what's at stake. he spent his entire career bringing people together to

solve problems. he's earned the trust of tribes, of businesses, conservist conservation -- conservationists and working people alike. he understands that we cannot regulate our way into prosperity, nor can we regulate our way into abundance. he understands that it's not just numbers on a balance sheet or reports gathering dust in washington. it is real. and for many of us, it's deeply, deeply personal. a rancher in utah who's watching his grazing rights disappear under arbitrary federal decrees, a miner in west virginia sees his livelihood strangled by regulations written by people who have never even set foot in a coal town, a small business owner in arizona is struggling with energy costs that make it harder to keep the lights on, a farmer in wyoming is fighting for water that once flowed

freely but is now trapped. these are the people who suffer when the department of the interior forgets its mission. these are the families who pay the price when washington prioritizes leftist ideology over reality. governor doug burgum's leadership offers a clear alternative, a future where the department of the interior serves the people rather than ruling over them, a future where energy abundance strengthens our economy and our national security, a future where public lands are managed with the input of those who depend on them, not dictated by unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats far off in washington, d.c., a future where housing is within reach, water is safeguarded, and natural resources are used responsibly to support the communities that rely on them, a

future where americans can depend on more than just sarin dip tay -- certificate endipty. they can rely on policies designed to benefit them. americans should be getting more for their dollar. governor burgum understands that and has the ability to make it happen. it is time for us, mr. president, to confirm governor doug burgum as the next secretary of the interior. it is time for us to move forward. it is time for us to understand that freedom is the birthright of the american people. the government exists to serve us, not the the other way around. i urge my colleagues with all the urgency i'm capable of communicating to swiftly and resoundingly confirm governor doug burgum. thank you, mr. president.

i strongly support congressman lee zeldin to be administrator of the environmental protection agency. we are blessed in america with enormous natural resources. i support using our resources responsibly. i support sensible environmental stewardship and that is what we will have with lee zeldin. americans deserve clean water

and clean air. they deserve good jobs and economic strength. environmental protection and economic growth should go hand-in-hand. they are not mutually exclusive. the head of the epa, we will return the agency to its original mission of protecting americans air, water and land without, as he puts it, suffocating the economy. two weeks ago, the public works held a hearing on lee zeldin. as former chairman of the committee i was honored to introduce him. he is highly qualified and his support is bipartisan. he is a lifelong public servant and seasoned lawyer and has a sharp legal mind. military service, serves as lieutenant colonel after the u.s. army reserves. we also serve 8 years in congress and the house of representatives, representative

from new york. in that role he worked to strengthen the economy and protect his district's unique ecosystem. he worked across party lines to accomplish his goals. the so-called experts at the environmental protection agency went on a reckless regulatory rampage saddling american families and businesses with higher costs and heavy-handed restrictions. they bowed to climate extremism while ignoring common sense. in 2024, the most expensive regulations in american history called the electric vehicle mandate. the ev mandate was truly left-wing lunacy at its worst. according to the competitive enterprise institute, the total cost of compliance was over

$760 billion. to put this in perspective, the cost of this one regulation coming out of the biden administration was equal to the and higher priced tag of 8 years of regulations under the presidency of barack obama. the mandate would cost hundreds of thousands of jobs. americans rejected the ev mandate and other climate policies this past november at the ballot box. donald trump revoked the ev mandate his first day in office. in the senate, repealing the biden subsidies, one of my top priorities. these subsidies alone are estimated to cost taxpayers more than $393 billion. americans shouldn't have their taxpayer dollars pay for vehicles most americans don't want, can't afford and don't work for them and their families. americans shouldn't be dependent on communist china like we are today with electric vehicles.

lee zeldin will continue donald trump's mission to rollback these punishing political regulations. the epa does important work. it does that work in state and local communities. lee will be a fantastic partner to my home state of wyoming. it is not going to impose 1-size-fits-all mandates on american consumers and american businesses. he is going to cut red tape. we will see a new wave of creativity and innovation. lee knows innovation, not government intervention, is the best solution to lower prices, grow the economy and protect our environment. many americans are confidently will write the ship and restore the balance needed at the epa. one of these organizations is clean water agencies. in a letter to the committee the association said that lee has shown a willingness to engage with a broad spectrum of

stakeholders to address pressing issues and impressed colleagues in the senate, that is why my democratic colleague from arizona, a qualified candidate for this job. i share america's confident in lee through three hours of tough questions, leesville and provided quality answers as he proved he is well-qualified, shows he's committed to strong environmental protection and energy production. he is the right nominee to lead the epa, the senate should confirm him quickly. thank you. i yield the floor. >> senator from atlanta. >> i am a friend of the distinguished senator from wyoming but on this matter, we disagree quite a lot. everybody likes clean air and clean water.

their opposition to lee zeldin is found that i where he is likely to be on a different issue, climate change. climate change is coming at us. the context is this. we went through a long period of science on climate change starting with the early days of doctor hansen's work by exxon and other oil majors themselves, lots of work in universities and state government and the science pretty well nailed it. they got it right. and they warned what was going to happen and it began to happen and has continued to happen. based on those warnings week moved into phase 2 which is the political era of climate where it was our job to listen to those warnings and figure out the best and smartest thing to do about that. the problem is the fossil fuel

industry got involved with climate money in the hundreds of millions behind it and squelched that conversation. congress has failed to address the looming climate crisis. surely from fossil fuel funded republican opposition. that takes us into era 3. the aero of the forewarned but not prevented consequences. the place in which those consequences are most salient lee making themselves felt is in the homeowners insurance industry. homeowners insurance is in crisis in this country. in near meltdown in various states and counties in this country, because the risk that

the insurers have to bear his unpredictable to them. what we are seeing is homeowners insurance prices skyrocketing. we are seeing homeowners insurance companies going bankrupt, leaving states, firing their long-term clients because they don't want to provide coverage in these danger areas which includes coastal areas, florida, as a result is first and worst in the home insurance meltdown, and wildfire adjacent areas in western states that very much in harms way. it doesn't end with an insurance crisis. when you get sufficient properties that cannot get affordable home insurance or cannot get home insurance at all, those properties become unmarketable. if you are a billionaire living

in palm beach, find another billionaire, you can write a check, and living in a development to pay for their home with a mortgage, you are going to want to sell that home to someone who can get a mortgage and if your home can't be mortgaged any longer that will crash its property values. if your homeowners insurance goes from $4000-$16,000, a case we heard of, that crashes your property values too because $16,000 carrying cost on a piece of property knocks its value way down. not from the environmental community but from freddie mac, the mortgage giant, we heard the warning that an insurance crash turns into a mortgage crash turned into a coastal property value crash which is serious enough that it redoes 2008.

we have another national recession. there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote: the clerk: ms. alsobrooks. ms. baldwin. mr. banks. the clerk: mr. barrasso. mr. bennet. mrs. blackburn. mr. blumenthal. ms. blunt rochester. mr. booker. mr. boozman. mrs. britt.

mr. budd. ms. cantwell. mrs. capito. mr. cassidy. ms. collins. mr. coons. mr. cornyn. ms. cortez masto. mr. cotton. mr. cramer. mr. crapo. mr. cruz. mr. curtis. mr. daines. ms. duckworth.

mr. durbin. ms. ernst. mr. fetterman. mrs. fischer. mr. gallego. mrs. gillibrand. mr. graham. mr. grassley. mr. hagerty. ms. hassan. mr. hawley. >> i want to congratulate you and the ranking member. we got a lot of things done here, usually very bipartisan, we have some differences but that's okay. mr. zeldin, great meeting with you.

congratulations to your family, thanks for your service, not always easy we know. alaska, we love our clean water and clean air. we don't think, we know we have the cleanest air and water in the world, we are proud of that. we don't always think the epa has helped in that regard. it is more state action so i want to begin by getting you to commit to me to come up to alaska with me, bring your family, we can do some fishing after you see the important elements of alaska. big mountains, no offense to utah but real big mountains. we have a little fun on state size in this committee but can i get your commitment to do that? >> yes and unlike predecessors of mine who attempt to negotiate an august trip i would want to go when it is as cold and dark as possible.

>> happening right now. we have communities hitting 30, 40 below zero. we would love to have you in the winter and summer. >> senator ricketts wants to come with me. >> i appreciate the shout out to me and senator whitehouse, the most comprehensive ocean cleanup legislation in the history of the country. both signed by donald trump. you might ask senator whitehouse about the signing ceremony we had in the oval office, save our seas 1.0, commerce secretary wilbur ross and others. it was great. can you commit to me to work with this committee, we have donald trump's commitment to continue the progress we've made on ocean cleanup, plastics

cleanup, good bipartisan work, the trump administration and the president himself very committed and so are we and we are working on 3.0. we have to focus on the implementation. your commitment on that. >> yes. >> i want to go back to senator kramer's issue on honoring cooperative federalism and our clean air act, clean water act laws from congress contemplate a scheme of federalism that provides an active in some case primary role for states on these laws. will you commit to that? it's an important issue. >> yes, senator. >> one area we haven't seen cooperative federalism at all is the way in which the epa in my state has a history of enforcing the laws, this is always with

democrat administrations. the obama administration said come in with giant, heavy, armed agents, body armor, helicopters, it is shocking. we had a raid on some plaster minors under president obama. over 30 armed agents, body armors, they didn't find one violation. scared the minors. then, not to be outdone the biden administration done raids on small mechanic shops in alaska, bring epa agents from all over the country, 30 armed agents kicking in doors in mechanic shops in alaska. my state believes in the second amendment. most of my state is armed.

this is very dangerous. some of these agents project get shot when coming in. what happened, we don't have cooperative federalism but a rogue epa agents who are going to enforcement before they talk about compliance. on any of these issues they could have gone to these mechanic shops, we think you may be violating the clean water act, can you work with us? no. these guys come, they had 40 agents. all of them armed. rating these mechanic shops. it is an outrage. can i get your commitment to focus on compliance rather than jumping to armed enforcement. i believe in an armed citizenry. i be leaving the second amendment, i don't believe in an armed bureaucracy, the epa is a swat team.

do you believe the epa should have armed agents? when they go into places they can have local police or local state trooper is. you got these guys out of control in alaska and it is dangerous and current epa administrator didn't answer me. someone is going to get hurt. can i get your commitment to focus on compliance, civil compliance as opposed to kicking in doors with body armor, assault rifles, helicopters, it is crazy. it is really outrageous and it happens under democrats, not donald trump, democrats. >> it is outrageous, with regards to chicken alaska, as someone going through this transition to be asking questions, who signs off on it, what is the standard that needs

to be met to say yes to an operation like that? >> from all over america, they came to raid a mechanic shop, small businesses, 8 guys who owned it, national guard guys, great alaskans. can i get your commitment to work with me, do you think the epa should be armed? >> i don't. if something requires an enforcement action on a prosecutorial front, working with the department of justice, congress has enacted laws where enforcement is part of the effort on the compliance front, there are people and entities owning property where there is mitigation that needs to happen. where they want to work with the government, working with them to make it happen.

>> thank you, madam chair. congratulations on your nomination and thanks for coming by my office. as we discussed arizona has some unique challenges. we need some help from epa leadership and need to work with you as a collaborative partner to help us address specific air quality and water quality challenges we are facing and to do this in a way that does not disrupt our state's growth, a rapidly growing state. let's start with air quality. as we discussed, maricopa county which is phoenix, half the population of the state is in nonattainment for ground-level ozone pollution. under the clean air act, the way the law assumes air quality can be improved is by reducing emissions from stationary sources