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 of emissions like big

manufacturer. might make sense in some parts of the country, certainly in more industrialized areas, the rust belt, the east coast. it doesn't make sense in phoenix. the reason is we are a young state and don't have a history of this heavy manufacturing. manufacturing, by the way, is not the source of our air quality challenges. epa's own modeling shows 80% of the ozone forming pollutants in the phoenix area come from natural sources like wildfires or sources outside the region like california and mexico. ..

to ask for your commitment working with us. by the region nine office. if confirmed, we you commit to enjoying the permits are prioritized for review? >> your priorities will be mine and we will make sure we follow the law to make inflation it is top of the list. >> and second, maricopa county has submitted to local rules which 204205, we spoke about those in my office that would

provide alternative pathways generating data for new permits for new manufacturing facilities. we don't have heavy and matching the list of them to the rules have other ways to do that. both goals are pending final approval although i understand maricopa county meeting weekly on this. what you commit to ensuring coordination between epa and county continues with the goal of having both rules approved us soon as possible? >> i can't prejudge the outcome as far as approval on anything. you mentioned yuma and you come

from a state in a place like maricopa or you don't have a lot of sites from shutting down, you have more coming in which is a good problem to have in one way but you need a partnership. >> is challenging in the other way. we are still trying to understand long-term reasons air quality is getting worse. what you commit to better models to understand why air quality is getting worse help us find solutions to address this long-term? in the same thing we know missions from mexico are a serious contributor air quality challenges throughout arizona, what you commit to region nine and office of transportation and air quality work with local officials? to ensure attainment plans account for process border

solution? >> i've heard this from both as it relates to tijuana and the southern border of california, clearly an issue across states and look forward to working with you on this issue. >> what you commit to working to find solutions to ensure regions throughout the western united states are penalized for the missions created by wildfire smoke? >> yes. >> thank you, senator. >> congratulations on your new roles and he mentioned our new number. we have new members in the been waiting for them to assemble. >> i didn't want to let him out. >> knowledgeable. excited to work with the team here in regard to the upcoming

session. good to see you again, thank you for being here. appreciate your family and sacrifices in the past and your continued willingness to sacrifice and serve our country. rule of law binds america's trust to government. all too often we see the biden administration rule of law has been supported trying to appease radical left-wing environmentalist and it undermines faith in government and rule of law so thank you for your commitment amendment to the laws is intended to go back protecting our environment. restore a proper balance

environment directed congress. follow law to restore faith in government institutions so an area you have an opportunity to do that this renewable fuel standard and filed but we will, they are set below production levels and they are chronically late. for 2026, required by law published november 1 by 2024. that did not happen and not likely to happen until you 25. 2023 and 24 will like behind

production three to 4 billion-gallon, thus the actual capacity today. do you commit to give producers in the industry certainty in the marketplace? they want to know the rules so they can plan for it. can you give the certainty following the law as it relates to appropriate rule? >> another issue for nebraskans want to thank senator fisher and former colleague for their leadership on the issue and that my enthusiastic support, the solution is a decade in the making and close in last congress and helping to build on that momentum although the issue not be held entirely by epa, we

rely on your part for agricultural producers and all you can to ensure americans have access all year round? >> while i can't prejudge outcome to follow across the board, i know how important this is to you and president trump. the president has expressed this time and again. i understand how much of a priority it is. as far as establishing certainty, hopefully it's something congress is able to resolve to the extent you are relying on epa and i look forward to doing my part and want to continue to achieve the outcomes we've begun. >> in one of the things is i

think it's important we get away from what the biden administration was doing in regard to trying to tip the scales toward their solution. that's how i interpret renewable fuels. renewable fuels are one way to do that. they wanted to push their solution with electric vehicles and they can be part of the solution but what we should focus on is american innovation. american innovation is how we solve our problems in this country so allow americans to innovate and find ways to reduce our impact. last year or two years ago a hybrid vehicle $600 kit was

equipped to burn 85% and it was getting 35 miles to the gallon so that the innovation that can reduce our impact on the environment. if they actually innovate rather than top-down government one-size-fits-all whether it works or not. i look forward to a second round of questions. >> thank you. in 2016 in a congressional debate you said there are many different ways we can be better stewards of our environment. the key is to reduce reliance on fossil fuels to become more environmentally friendly in pursuit clean and green energy. do you still believe it's our

job to reduce reliance on fossil fuels? >> ideally -- i support all of the above -- democratic do you believe it is imperative we reduce reliance on fossil fuels? >> considering all factors we be able to pursue cleanest glynis energy sources possible. >> i'm not saying hearing you say you agree so we are in a completely different context. did you see the fires, the storms rippled through?

the threat of climate change has not gone away. >> in 2016, i'm just worried now the change of tone is politics and not the science apparently you didn't believe that the time. you also except under the supreme court's ruling in 2007 in massachusetts and three subsequent cases the epa is obligated to regulate greenhouse gases as pollutants as the supreme court said reasonably anticipated to endanger public health. you accept that is a mandate? >> yes. authorized to.

you don't then accept the requirement that how to deal with the endangerment fossil fuels close almost on a yearly basis. >> i just want to be accurate. it does not require epa -- >> they are obligated to regulate. >> it doesn't say you are obligated -- there are steps epa would have to take to be created. >> you think we are a danger and l.a.?

>> for people having their homes burned down -- >> then you have the obligation to do something. you see our job is doing something. >> we are watching firefighters -- epa is required to keep the fiery embers under control. are you going to fight the dangers? or are you going to fan the flames? you now refuse to responsible.

>> there's a few things there. as far as the supreme court case, it if there was a fire in 2025 in california, if the fire creates a danger to people with the homes burned down and it triggers the epa to regulate carbon dioxide -- >> it's pretty simple. it says the epa is supposed to be the environmental watch dog. >> it doesn't actually say that. >> families being able to sleep at night knowing the water is safe and their futures productive and it should not keep people up at night wondering if they are going to have danger come into their

families existence. between 2016 and today something has happened. the central culprit that has created and a responsibility to reduce. >> thank you and congratulations to you. you are going to be a great example for congress. we appreciate your willingness to serve and i want to compliment you on the fact that you've made yourself available.

you talked about the frustration and maybe a situation like dan talked about on both sides of the aisle, he just can't get through to anybody. can you talk about how important that is in you will be available and answer the phone and get the information we need to go forward. >> i want every member to have the ability to contact me and share directly your concerns and ideas and be responsive to the members of the committee and they want to work closely with your office and i want to know your priorities at any given

time and make sure i am accountable and transparent to this committee. i spent eight years in the house of representatives and the opportunity to see people come before committees and they were very responsive. it is important with your chair, she has a great team, to make sure the committee on both sides of the aisle, i want to make sure there's a strong relationship between this committee and the epa. >> the direct oversight and a good working relationship.

i found farmers and ranchers are fast on the epa and department of agriculture working together. can you tell us how you envision epa usda working together were predictable regulatory system and what they depend on to produce the most affordable food supply. >> that must be our goal that should be the relationship between all agencies in a way that you are able to go back to your constituents and talk about the progress achieved as a result of the agencies working

together. >> think it is true of whatever administration empowered. we work with industries collectively to ensure their concerns are addressed while maintaining an approach to environmental protection? >> first off, it is important the epa is always fulfilling obligations under the law that we are abiding by the rule of law and following our commitment to congress to follow procedures and ensure all actions are durable well into the future.

as far as engagement, it's important to hear from people who have good informed feedback that allows epa to do a better job and make better decisions. that might involve me speaking to people might agree with or disagree with on any given day but the worst thing i could do is turn a blind eye to great feedback that will better inform our decisions so we are responsive and transparent to the american people. >> i should address the mountains versus hills controversy. i am inclined to agree with senator curtis. he or the chair so let me say a

cop friends on both sides and i stand with my friends. [laughter] as you are well aware the fires have displaced thousands of people in the loss of more than two dozen lives in cease-fire distress in californians homes and so much more water scarcity. when you are a state senator in new york who applauded the

package that included relief for properties damaged by the storm and expansion to receive funds and work closely with agencies to assess damage and respond to environmental concerns and assist in the collection of debris and hazardous waste. the same strong recovery from pa

after hurricane sandy. i look forward to working with you on this committee and we all have been watching going on with your constituents and many of us know who have been impacted. it's impossible to put ourselves in the shoes of your constituents right now. i, if confirmed, but want to not only know everything in my power to assist you fighting for your situate devastated by these wildfires that i would want to do everything in my power to be able to assist and make sure their recovery is as speedy as possible and i like to come to california to those on the ground here take back to

washington and pray for the constituents who lost everything you commit to prioritizing similar assistance california to ensure water supply because it treated and restored to safe drinking water standards just as epa stepped in after the horrific valley flyers? >> i will do everything in my power to assist with that as well. >> i assume your response will

not depend on whether they are a red state or blue state, illegally speak relief. >> it does not matter what state you're from, all 50 states and going to be the highest importance regardless of what disaster strikes anywhere in america. >> personnel reported suffering.

we were able to secure 250 million dollars in relief in decembero. deny request to investigate. the presiding officer: the yeas are 56, the nays are 42. the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table and the president will be immediately notified of the senate's action.

the majority leader. than you thune i ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum call with respect to the burgum nomination be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby bring to a close debate on the nomination of douglas burgum of north dakota to be secretary of the interior. 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 douglas burgum, of north dakota, to be secretary of the interior, shall be brought to a close? the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rules. the clerk will call the roll. vote: the clerk: ms. alsobrooks. ms. baldwin. mr. banks. mr. barrasso.

the clerk: mr. bennet. the clerk: about a love for the outdoors.

every job i had required showering at the end of the day, not the beginning of the day and worked my way through undergrad which i loved because you could move up fast and stay in the black perfect career. had an opportunity nose working in chicago and i saw my first apple computer and that was the moment i said i need to get into the software business. i got the software started up. we grew to global to 1000 members, serving 140,000

businesses in 140 countries around the world. i spent my career in north dakota we share geography with five sovereign tribal nations. the current partnership strong. sincere willingness to listen. i'm grateful to many revelations expressing their support for my nomination.

the goal of yielding a return on public education including energy research and overseeing billions of dollars in these are parallel to interior and modern conservation. badlands first significant we've

got great prairies, amazing hunting and fishing. the lowest unemployment in the nation and the highest gdp growth one of the oldest dates to one of the youngest. our success was underpinned by the understanding tremendous abundance and we can access that as americans by prioritizing innovation overregulation given

the opportunity, i will bring the experiences. this brings us to president trump division for the future we can achieve together the foundation of american prosperity and affordability for american families and unrivaled national community. america produces energy safer than anywhere in the world. it doesn't reduce demand, ships production from other countries. they not only don't care about the environment that they use the revenue to fund wars against us and our allies. his vision will and does and

make life more affordable for every family in america driving down inflation. championing the air, clean water and protecting our beautiful land. thank you for inviting me here today. we get our first round up next

questions. a back-and-forth between republicans and democrats. we will go in order of your date and arrival here. this gives the president our national monument. occupied numeral land. this is political in the country especially my state president clinton designated the national monument in 2016 before leaving office. both of these are made over the objection of the people of utah

and president trump later reduce the size he was elected more requirement. in 2021 president biden exceeded the scope of the law disregarding local input. the line was drawn so big and the monument made so expensive because local leaders were not included. i'd like to invite you to hear

the voices of those who were ignored. make sure the antiquities act designated monument see the restriction. >> thank you for that important question. it was signed into law by roosevelt himself in the states clearly is a small area to protect those objects in the original intention was to protect integrity areas like indiana jones type protection but i look forward to working with you particularly on local consultation because when the

federal government overreaches a state like yours already has 60% public land there is tremendous impact and i look forward to working with you on this. the resulting shortages and makes it difficult for the impacts all kinds of things.

utah and nevada and others find ourselves floating islands of tennessee of federal land. how can the department of interior address housing crisis? >> one of the great challenges is housing affordability and

it's a high priority for them in the state and we are in a time of abundance and we have other areas that may need protected and sometimes was done land swaps and we have a you will use scenario i believe there are ways we can find that 50, 60% or more of the land the federal government we can find and i look forward to working with you on the. >> thank you, my time has

expired. >> i want to do on the. i have a very long detailed question the heart of the issue which i think people are concerned about, this is a very hot issue this year because his actions in wholesale way talk about how we can hold true to conservation of the things we do on public land or not especially economically, recreationally and state like mine supported while making smart decisions.

>> we can't find a balance is what we hate to acknowledge the number two oil and gas should

the national monuments that are not controversial and not veterans for the department makes wholesale changes to conservation if you would and help with this in the first place. >> absolutely look forward to those discussions with you. in senator in other states, there incidents in total opposition. working with tribes and local

communities and associations and county sinners rural residents, consultation is key. connections to those places i am excited the senate and this body cost. the first legislation, senator is incredibly involved in the. the big economic driver of our public land doesn't get the same attention others get outdoor

recreation is responsible for something like nine. on a national scale is over $1 trillion economy so talk about how we can balance. >> this is an important topic in the passion of mine as an avid outdoorsman and represents the trillion dollar industry represents these different aspects and in most states

recognizes the office of outdoor recreation while was evident and invest with access land, without a number of things going on that was done has been really helpful all requirements in our state and landowners been able to find together landowners and sportsmen private land as well as the band and make sure the

outdoor economy rolling. in these departments part of the government it is only fitting if i might submit a letter from the record the support that on with

the complex difficult issues over many years. and endorsement. lastly fish and wildlife service denied montana in the greater ecosystem grizzly bears because populations recovery targets by so much no longer believe

celebrate the fact that they have example that has recovered across ecosystems for family this ruling should punishes grizzly bear recovery efforts. it is completely backwards. we should celebrate recovery but instead we know how to sacrifice to adjust the losses as well as human safety. so the people back home this very seriously.

in the goalposts returning these two state management like we've done with the wolves. the recovery of these two populations and commit working with me. in keep them on the list and the

other thing you mentioned state having been a governor i understand how dedicated the fish and wildlife representatives are as the chair of western governors understand how dedicated they are and all the other species in the state by the locals so i pledge to work with. >> critical permits in montana and the rosebud mine is, in desperate need the biden's

refused. whenk: confirmed, prioritize completing the permit so montana families to lose their jobs? >> it's part of a larger crisis our nation is facing around electricity and a shortage of baseload. we have the technology in north dakota that is we have university sinkhole in the baseload for this country should we want to work with you on this issue critical to national security.

and that has a direct impact on national security in this country. >> i want to highlight the importance of the bill, we cochair the subcommittee and are proud know much no matter which way it goes, the goes back and forth and we worked together on behalf of national parks reauthorize national parks and public land restoration fund. president trump science the greatest in 50 years and thank you for getting that across the finish line and working with the

national park and deferred maintenance we have an even greater across the system and investcl. >> it is our responsibility in the physical side.

and president homes energy and vision look into wars abroad. oil and gas on a massive bail which will lead to increased and fossil fuel. burning fossil fuel the primary cause of climate change. climate changes impacting areas of the world where they are operating climate change threat

multiplier. were you aware they testify before the services committee and burning fossil fuel does not result work. were you aware of this testimony? >> i'm not aware of that specific testimony but i do know within fossil fuels, the concern is about the mission and we have the technology to do things and eliminate in the issue and take a position.

>> secretary of the interior on this package. if you are ordered by the president to act in a manner that is counter to theer departments mission for the constitution you do as the president asked. >> as part of my duty, i'll follow the law and the constitution still can count on that. i have not heard anything about

resolution of wanting to do anything other than advancing for the benefit of the american people. >> we all know the president wants to drill baby drill. in your facility is and going forward. as can't nude on the purview of carrier violence. i'd like to get your commitment

to implement association in accordance with the bipartisan law. >> in addition to the three you mentioned in the others are all medically important for the united states of america. all have important military implications and all over the sailors are during the world war ii. it's more important that we support the more than ever. ...

that we have a problem along the way. for many it's totally outrageous and absolutely we all want it to be fair and proper and not endanger our environment. we all share and not. absolutely i ask you governor, i ask you please tell us your thoughts on how we are going to approach this. how were we going to approach the issues with fish and wildlife and on and on and on, please tell us. for me i should say governor now senator it's so great that you're here in the senate and what a fantastic you did as governor was a pleasure serving alongside you is another energy state. you got everything, you get this. we are in an energy crisis in our country in the first place related to electricity. electricity is at the brink for

the grid is out of point where it could go unstable it could be months away from having skyrocketing prices for americans and the course as we talked about in the ai arms race we need electricity for manufacturing. ai is manufactured intelligence and if we don't manufacture more intelligence than our adversaries it affects every job every company in every industry is in you understand this and we have to get to work. the permitting right now and some of the cues and frk for electricity is seven years or longer and it's a completely that q. and frk is 95% intermittent sources and only 5% baseload. we need baseload to be able to allow the renewable to be part of the system. we have that have the balance between the two on the grid which is like a giant machine that just doesn't work so we to get to work and permitting

reform and permitting right now we have stacked the deck where we are creating roadblocks for people that want to do baseload hand we have massive tax incentives for people the presiding officer: on this vote the yeas are 78, the noes are 20, and the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: department of the interior, douglas burgum to be secretary. the presiding officer: i know the senator from virginia. i now recognize the senator from virginia. mr. kaine: mr. president, thank you very much. i rise briefly to just draw my colleagues' attention to two items that though seemingly unconnected that happened last week, i think are deeply connected. on inauguration day, january 20, president trump declared a

national emergency at the southern border of the united states, and i just want to read two sentences from that declaration. january 20, 2025. hundreds of thousands of americans have tragically died from drug overdoses because of the illicit narcotics that have flowed across the southern border. i think 100 people in this chamber would acknowledge that to be true. and the second sentence in the same order as commander in chief i have no more solemn duty than to protect the american people. i think 100 people in this chamber would agree that is the most solemn duty of the commander in chief. those two sentences are why i was so surprised at an action the president took the next day, january 21, 2025. the pardon of drug kingpin ross ulbricht. i want to read a summary of the crimes for which mr. ulbricht was imprisoned and raise the

question of why the president, who had expressed concern about drug running and said that his top goal was to protect the american people would choose to do this on the second day of his presidency. mr. ulbricht launched silk road in 2011 and turned it into one of the most popular outposts of the so-called dark web, a hidden corner of the internet that people can access only through a special browser. silk road facilitated over 1.5 million transactions, generating more than $200 million in revenue from the sale of heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine, and other drugs. $200 million. users transacted with bitcoin and post amazon style product ratings. in 2013 the fbi arrested ulbricht at a san francisco

library and charged him with running silk road. in court, prosecutors presented evidence that mr. ulbricht did also solicit the murders of people he considered threats to his business, though he was never tried on the murder for hire charges and there was no indication that any killings took place. at least six deaths were attributed to drugs bought on silk road, prosecutors said in court. a federal judge in the southern district of new york, where the case was tried, called mr. ulbricht, quote, the kingpin of a worldwide digital drug trafficking enterprise whose actions were, quote, terribly destructive to our social fabric. in 2015 he received a life sentence for drug distribution, money laundering and other charges and was eventually moved to a federal prison in arizona. that account is from one of the many news articles describing

the prosecution of mr. ulbricht and the pardon that was issued by president trump on january 21. and i just want to raise the obvious question. if illicit narcotics trafficking is sufficient to declare a national emergency, then why one day later was it a justifiable, appropriate laudable use of presidential power to give a pardon to somebody who had set up an online digital drug trafficking network that generated $200 million in revenue, 1.5 million transactions of sales of illicit drugs, 6 overdose deaths of individuals and other challenges? one of the problems with the surplus of executive orders in the first few days is that sometimes the sheer number can cause you to lose sight of some

of what's happening. and i would assert that the pardon of mr. ulbricht undercuts the legitimacy of the claim that what mr. trump is worried about is drug trafficking because if drug trafficking is bad it's not only bad at the southern border, it's bad when somebody sets up a drug trafficking market, leading to overdose deaths of individuals. and this is an action that is water under the bridge. there's nothing that can be done about it now. but if the only thing that can be done is to put it on the public record so that people can be aware less than 24 hours after this emergency declaration this drug trafficker was pardoned, i feel like that's an important thing that needs to be made visible to the american public. and with that, mr. president, i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president.

the presiding officer: i now recognize the senator from vermont. mr. welch: thank you. like all of us, i was enormously relieved by the announcement of a cease-fire in gaza. the gradual release of hostages, and a surge in humanitarian aid for the two million desperate palestinians who are trapped inside gaza. and despite the daunting challenges ahead and the many factors that could derail negotiations to implement stage 2 of the agreement, i'm cautiously hopeful that this could be the beginning of the end of a war that has traumatized millions of palestinians and israelis for more than 16 months. there will come a time for the accounting of the conduct of the war, which has caused such appalling loss of palestinian and israeli lives, including tens of thousands of children, of health workers, aid workers

and journalists and massive destruction of property, including practically every hospital, every school and university in gaza. these things must not be forgotten. and that means investigating and holding people accountable under the laws of war. but today i want to speak briefly on an issue that is key to the lasting peace between palestinians and israelis that we seek, and that is the creation of a viable, secure, independent, and demilitarized palestinian state. the war in gaza was triggered, of course, by the merciless slaughter on october 7, 2023 of 1,# 200 innocent israelis, americans and others and the abduction of some 250 hostages, many of whom have died. but as we all know, the middle east conflict began many decades

earlier, and some would say centuries ago. ethnic hatred and religious intolerance passed down from one generation to the next have fueled seemingly endless violence perpetrated by extremists on both sides, and it's created a chronic state of insecurity for israelis and insecurity and humiliation, poverty, and hopelessness for palestinians. in the west bank, israel's ever expanding settlement construction in violation of u.n. resolutions and contrary to u.s. policy has created a patchwork of separate and unequal enclaves and illegal outposts, provoking frequent acts of l deadly violence by israeli settlers and palestinian extremists. gaza, with the overt support of the netanyahu government, became an open air prison for two

million impoverished palestinians dependent on international aid under the ruthless control of hamas. and throughout this period the wealthy arab states have called for a palestinian state, but they have expended minimal political capital or resources in furtherance of that goal. a lot of talk, very little action. successive palestinian leaders have squandered opportunities to make necessary political and economic reforms while mr. netanyahu has worked to create conditions on the ground that would actually make a palestinian state impossible. and despite this grim reality -- and it is a grim reality -- the attention focused on the remarkable life of president jimmy carter after his death on december 29 reminded us that even in the most difficult circumstances, peace is possible

between long-standing enemies. it happened. but that possibility depends on the quality of the leadership. and if there were ever a time when the leaders of israel, the palestinian authority, their arab neighbors and the united states should put the interest of regional peace and economic cooperation and development, including an independent palestinian state, over personal and political ambition, it is now. it is now. gaza is in ruins. hamas and hezbollah still a threat, pose less of a threat than at any time in recent history. and the horrific assad regime is gone. iran is also weaker. most israelis, palestinians, lebanese, syrians want peace. but given the absence of visionary and courageous leaders

in israel and the palestinian authority, the possibility that a path to a palestinian state will emerge really does depend on the trump administration. using its diplomatic influence far more forcefully and effectively than previous u.s. administrations, including the first trump administration were willing to do. we've got to act. it will require the same of congress, which in the past has restricted itself to enacting tighter and tighter sanctions on the palestinians, causing increasing desperation and resentment for innocent palestinians, while at the same time opposing any incentives on israel to stop settlement construction and settle their violence. there are those who believe that because of israel's construction of settlements, walls, fences, separate highways, factories and farms in the west bank, that the west bank and gaza can never be

recop figured into a viable palestinian -- reconfigured into a weibel -- into a viable palestinian state. others see this as incompatible with israel's security, without proposing any alternative that would preserve israel as a democracy in which all its citizens, regardless of ethn ethnicity, religion have equal rights. given hamas' horrific attack on october 7, i can also easily understand that. then on january 25, president trump called for the, quote, cleaning out of gaza, suggesting that a million and a half palestinians should be resettled in jordan and egypt. seriously, there's so many things wrong and unrealistic with that reprehensible and unworkable idea that it barely

deserves a response, beyond the predictable and immediate repeatiation beyond all those impacted. it's not serious. to me, as elusive as it may seem, there really is no solution that offers lasting peace and continued u.s. support other than two independent states, israel and palestine, side by side. the palestinian state will only be possible if both sides are pressured to make the difficult compromises both sides have so far refused to make. in only the united states, in our heretofore reluctant arab allies can exert the kind of pressure necessary to bring people to an agreement. mr. president, there have been far too many missed opportunities and disappointments since the oslo and camp david accords, and far too much needless death and destruction resulting from the

unchecked ambitions of leaders motivated by their worst instincts. history will judge us, whether we seize this moment to finally chart a different course, a course that does enable israelis and palestinians to finally accept that there is no turning back the clock, that both are here to stay, and that as many palestinian and israeli neighbors have shown throughout the years of conflict and loss, they have far more in common than their differences. mr. president, i yield back.

mr. van hollen: mr. president. the presiding officer: i now recognize the senior senator from maryland. mr. van hollen: thank you, mr. president. are we in a quorum call?

the presiding officer: we are not. mr. van hollen: thank you, mr. president. i think that americans following what's happening over the last 48 hours recognize that we're seeing a great deal of chaos and turmoil around the country, and it's having a harmful impact across communities, across my state of maryland, across the country. on monday night the trump administration issued an order to all federal agencies to freeze the disbursement of federal funds until there was a review period, with the threat that much of those funds would be withheld. and what that did was trigger a lot of understandable panic across the country. in my office, we heard from firefighters in many different parts of our state. these are firefighters who

receive grants to help purchase equipment that they need to run into burning buildings, to help save people in emergency circumstances, and to hire more staff. we heard from people who work in head start programs to try to make sure that kids get an early help and lift up in life. we heard from folks in law enforcement, including people who are involved in preventing human trafficking and sex trafficking of minors. we heard from small businesses worried about their grants. we heard from people in all different walks of life and different communities who were very worried that the important federal initiatives that they rely on to help provide support for people in their communities were being turned off.

and i want to make something crystal clear -- this was avoidable, this did not happen by accident. i did see comments by the president's deputy policy director, steve miller, saying this was a very clear directive, and there's been a lot of fake news about it. mr. president, i would just urge people to take a look at that directive. it's extremely broad, and it's very ambiguous, and it was very foreseeable that federal agencies would essentially put an immediate halt to funds going to everybody from firefighters to those who were fighting sex trafficking. so, how did this happen? it happened because this is an administration, this trump

administration, that believes that it has the power to cherry-pick the law, to decide what parts of laws that have been duly enacted by this congress they like and want to implement and which ones they want to reject. that is an unconstitutional power grab, pure and simple. because, under article 1, the congress has the power of the purse, and when we pass a law, including an appropriations bill, to provide funding for important national and local priorities, and that's signed into law, that becomes the law of the land. and presidents can't treat that like an a la carte menu. they can't say, well, i'm going to implement this priority, because i like that one, and i'm going to reject this provision

of the law, because i don't like it. that's not how it works. the framers created checks and balances in our system to prevent presidents from acting like kings and ignoring laws they don't like and only implementing the ones that they do. this all came to a head many, many decades ago when president nixon exercised what was called the line-item veto. so congress passes legislation, the product of back and forth and negotiation and compromise, signed by the president of the united states. that makes it law. that's the law of the land. so what president nixon said was, well, i'm going to sign this, but there are certain provisions here that i don't like. i don't want to be spending any money on head start, for example, or i don't want to

spend money on law enforcement and police, for example, and so i'm going to veto those provisions, but i'm going to accept the rest of the law, even though congress passed all of it in totality. and the supreme court said you can't do that. presidents are not kings. they don't have the power to selectively implement parts of the law they like and reject the others. and then congress passed what's known as the impoundment control act. this is legislation that says presidents cannot impound, in other words, they can't withdraw or put aside funds that have been duly enacted by congress just because they don't like the purposes for which congress passed those provisions. but this president and this administration believes that the impoundment control act doesn't apply to them, and we don't have

to guess at this question. all we have to do is look at the testimony of somebody called russ vought. so who is russ vought? russ vought is president trump's nominee to head the office of management and budget. what's the office of management and budget? it's an office within the white house that directs the budget control over all the other federal agencies.vought. they're like the central command center for all other agencies, whether it's health and human services or the epa, whatever federal agency it is, they filter it through office of management and budget, the executive office of the president. and russ vought was nominated to head that position. in fact, tomorrow, in the senate budget subcommittee, we'll have a vote on russ vought.

we had his hearing a little while ago. and at that hearing i asked him pointblank, as did senator murray, whether he and the trump administration would comply with the impoundment control act. and you have to look at the videotape. he refused to confirm that he would apply the law. he wouldn't say yes. in fact, what he said was that president trump has issues with the impoundment control act. he doesn't think it's constitutional. so he refused to commit to comply with the law here. he said they may want to change that. so the obvious answer is, okay, president trump, if you want to change the impoundment control act, let's seek an amendment to it, it will go through the congressional process and you can try to amend the law.

but for now the law is as it's written and you can't ignore it. and, yet, russ vought said we refuse to comply with this thing. and we've actually seen this movie before in the first trump administration because russ vought was in charge of omb for part of that first trump term. and people may recall that we had, you know, quite a discussion when president trump in his first term wanted to withhold military assistance from ukraine even though congress, the house and the senate, had passed that into law and it had been signed into law, but president trump just decided he didn't want to implement that policy and so they withheld funds. i wrote to the gao, that's congress's watchdog, and i asked

them a very simple question. i asked them whether this withholding of military assistance to ukraine k -- ukraine constituted an illegal withholding. in other words could president trump hold on to and not disburse those funds that had been enacted by congress and not send to the people of ukraine. gao looked into it and they sent me back a letter crystal clear that the trump administration had violated the impoundment control act and russ vought, as the head of omb at the time, violated the impoundment control act. so now we are here today, russ vought is up again, nominated to be in charge of omb. at the hearing the other day, as i said, he refused to commit to complying with the impoundment control act. and that's what we're seeing

here, mr. president in this freeze on the funds and the claim that they can look at these and decide, eh, congress may have passed this, it may have been signed into law, but we're notingif to dis -- not going to disburse them because we disagree with the purposes. you can't do that. now the president is going to submit the president's budget to congress and we will have an opportunity to look at his proposals and we will act on it, but the president can't take a law that's already been put into effect and decide, i'm only going to help the people i want and not the other people that i don't want to help. and the real concern just, what, ten days into this administration is this part and parcel of a much larger effort and strategy. i can tell you for certain this

is not about making the federal government more efficient. if my colleagues on the other side of the aisle want to sit down and seriously find ways to make the federal government more efficient, i'm all in. but that's not what this doge committee, headed by elon musk is all about, at least none of the early indications suggest that's what it's about. and the reason we know that is pause one of the main initiatives being taken on by this new administration is called something called schedule f. schedule f, that's a sort of innocuous sowning thing -- sounding thing. what could that mean? schedule f is an effort to throw out the merit-based civil service structure we have in this country. the system where people are hired based on their

qualifications and experience and knowledge and replace it with a political cronyism-based system. and i want to pause here for a moment just to make sure everybody understands the way things work now. obviously when you have a new president elected, the president can bring in a lot of new people. we're doing it now, advice and consent on cabinet official. the president can also hire the top echelon of people in agencies across the federal government. in fact, there are about 4,000 political appointees today, people that the president puts into these positions. that's fine. but what schedule f would do and what president trump and his nominee to be head of omb want to do is to take about 50,000 to

60,000 additional federal positions and convert them from merit-based systems to political cronyism systems. so instead of being hired on the merits, instead of being hired based on your qualifications and your experience and what you know, they want you to be hired based on who you know, a political test. and you can see, mr. president, if you place about 50,000 to 60,000 political cronies across the federal government in these positions, you can get them to overlook the law like the impoundment control act, you can get them to overlook the constitution, and i dare say the

american people don't want political hacks to be the people who are doing food safety inspections or responsible for the air traffic control system or really any other part of our government where we rely on experience and qualifications, not a political test. so this is a really important moment because the trump administration is claiming this power, not only to violate the impoundment control act and withhold funds from whatever they don't like and reward those who do, but they want to create a whole structure within the federal government to replace these merit-based civil servants with political cronies. what's another thing you would do if you were president to try to make sure you knock down all

the provisions we have for accountability? hey, you would fire all the inspectors general -- inspectors general. they are people whose job it is to root out fraud, waste, and abuse. their job is to being -- is to make sure people in these agencies don't ignore the law, don't waste taxpayers' money. yet, president trump fired the inspectors general in these agencies. in other words, he fired the people who were supposed to protect the public against waste, fraud and abuse. don't tell me you're for more government efficiency when you

fire people whose job it is to look out to fraud, waste, and abuse. what is really happening is you're firing the people who would be responsible for calling out any wrongdoing by these 60,000 additional political cronies that the president wants to put in place in these departments to do his bidding. i would hope -- i would hope colleagues on both sides of the aisle would see that this is really fraught with danger because when you open the door to this kind of political cronyism, you also open the door to corruption. and when you get rid of the inspectors general, that means more people think they can get away with that kind of corruption. now, schedule f is not the only ongoing effort apparently the president has to get rid of

merit-based federal employees. they just sent out this note within the last couple of days offering, quote, early retirement to federal employees. i think the agreement is that if you agree to retire in the next couple of weeks, you can continue to get your paycheck through september or something without working. i have no idea if that's even legal. what we do know is that the memo that was sent out to these federal employees was remarkably similar to something that elon musk sent out to employees in his company at one point. in fact, the title of the memo, a fork in the road, is exactly what was on elon musk's memo. in fact, apparently elon musk is bringing in some computer systems and some other things to the executive office building over there at the white house. i would caution federal employees we don't even know if

this is legal and don't count on you getting the benefit of whatever bargain the president's apparently promising you because what this really is is an effort just to clear out more people from the merit-based system to create vacancies to bring in political cronies. that is what this is about. you implement a hiring freeze, which is what had they've done, then you get current federal employees to retire early through something that could end up being a scam, i don't know, and then you implement schedule f and bring in 50,000 to 60,000 people. so this is a really important and conventional moment for all of us who care about a merit-based civil service. by the way, we've had a merit-based system since the

late 1800's. we adopted this merit-based system after president james garfield was assassinated by a sis appointed job -- by a disappointed job seeker, and at that point the american people said this boil system, where people get jobs based on who they know, not what they know, this is not delivering quality service to the american people. so they passed the pendleton act. what is happening now is a direct attack on that merit-based civil service. so what's the ultimate goal here? the ultimate goal is for president trump to put in place these political loyalists who will do his bidding. so bidding for who? now, in the last campaign, i think many people who supported candidate trump believed that he

was there to look out for working people, to look out for the forgotten americans, that was sort of what he said on the campaign. but on inauguration day just down the hall here a little bit, i think we got a better idea of exactly who it was and who it is that president trump is looking out for because he gave a speech talking about the new golden age for america. and the people who had the best seats in the house, better than his cabinet nominees, were the billionaire tech titans, elon musk and others, they were right there, right behind the president. we also know that one of the president's major goals is to put in place another big tax cut. tax cut for who?

a tax cut for the very wealthiest people in the country who will get a disproportionate share of any proposed tax cuts? we can expect to see that in round two because we saw that in trump administration round one. and big tax breaks for corporations who promised they would use the proceeds, by the way, to expand plant and equipment, to raise wages of their employees, that's not what happened. they used the extra money for stock buybacks that benefited very wealthy stockholders disproportionately and the ceo's got bonuses, we don't see wages for other employees. it's not just the tax plan will benefit the very wealthy. it's that it will do that at the expense of working americans. i just took a peek at some of

the proposals being put forth in the house republican committee. they're coming after very important programs that benefit the american people. whether in health care or nutrition. we'll have to see when it finally comes out of there, but we know that most of the cuts they're proposing are going to be harmful to working americans, to the people that candidate trump claimed he wanted to help. so this is a moment where everybody needs to focus very clearly on what their expectations were because it's shaping up to be a great betrayal. it's shaping up to be a situation where this new administration wants to get rid of merit-based civil servants, bring in a lot of political cronies, and then implement these hunl tax cuts for -- huge

tax cuts for very wealthy americans and the biggest corporations at the expense of everybody else in america. and that is not -- i don't think that's what the people bargained for in this last election. so i come to the floor today because we're seeing the trump administration put in place some of these pieces that would be necessary to achieving these big tax breaks and benefits to the very wealthy. whenever a president decides that he gets to cherry-pick the law and just provide resources to his political benefactors and ignore the rest of the law, that's a big danger signal. when the nominee to be the head of omb refuses to commit to follow the law, that's a big

danger signal. so i would just ask all of our colleagues to do our jobs as members of congress and the article 1 branch and make sure that we don't see this flagrant attack on the constitution be successful. and, mr. president, with that i will yield the floor. i note the absence of a quorum of a quorum call. the presiding officer: the clerk which call the roll. quorum call:

the clerk: ms. alsobrooks. ♪♪ ladies and gentlemen the president of united states. ♪♪ ♪♪

♪♪ [applause] thank you very much. thank you very much. before you begin to want to provide a brief report on the success of our country has been witnessing in recent weeks. since even before the election and we have been making extraordinary progress. the american people gave us a clear mandate to save their country and we won all seven swing states by large margins, and very importantly we won the popular vote by millions and millions of votes. also all 50 states as you know shifted toward the republican

party and that has never happened before. all 50 every single one of them. in our first week in office we set records taking over 350 executive actions and that has not been done before and it has reportedly been the single most effective opening week of any presidency in history and we want to keep it that way. [applause] we want to keep it going and we have broken from decades of failed washington policies and restore common sense and sanity to our government. with unleashed american energy and bacardi achieved record low illegal immigration. there's nobody trying to get an impasse we've been waiting for for a long time and got woken ideologies out of our government and out of our military. the waters have begun flowing in california as we continued to increase the flow in the coming

days. nobody is seen anything like that and i've taken action to regain control of the washington bureaucracy. just for clarification purposes because it was incorrectly reported yesterday, we have informed the federal workforce which they have looked to do for many years that his they are working for the federal government they must show up to the office on time and on schedule. [applause] we don't want them to work from home business everyone knows most of the time they are not working. they are not very productive and it's unfair to the millions of people in the united states who are in fact working hard at job sites and not from their home. as federal employees they must meet a high standard. they are representing our government in representing our country. if they don't agree by february

february 6 show up back to work in their office they will be terminated and we will therefore be downscaling our government which is something that the last 10 precedence have tried very hard to do but failed. most of the people we are talking about have not been going to their federal offices in many, many years from even before covid. but they have nevertheless been paid to some of work and some have not worked and most of the studies say some have just gone through the motions. we may ask these people to prove that they didn't have another job during their so-called employment with united states of america, because if they did that would be on lawful. a lot of people are getting paychecks but they are working other jobs of the half to prove that to us that they weren't. in any event we are requiring them to show up to work or be terminated.

a substantial amount of people will not show up to work and therefore our government will get smaller and more efficient and that's what we have been looking to do for many, many decades frankly. [applause] thank you. in addition there is a short-term pause or funding freeze on certain discretionary >> payments such as government grants, only for us to quickly look at the scams, dishonesty and abuse that is taking place in our government for too long as was explicitly stated this in no way affected social security, medicare, medicaid or other entitlements that americans depend on. i made it abundantly clear from the very first day that i've ran for office, that's a long time ago now, 2015 if you think about it. i announced in 2015 and we won in 2016. we did very well in 2020 and we

did really well just recently. to correct any confusion i'm stating the media has purposely somehow for whatever reason created social security and medicare and medicaid have not been affected by any action we are t. taken in any way, shape or form. we are merely looking at parts of the big bureaucracy where there has been tremendous and fraud and abuse. in that process we identified and stopped $50 million being sent to gaza to buy for hamas, 50 million. and as a method of making bombs. how about that? we stopped an attempt to make an illicit payment for illegal alien resettlement. the canceled $181 million in dei training contracts for training

the people in dei. we's $1.7 billion in non-authorized payment to positions including stopping more than $40 million that was on its way out the door to the very corrupt world health organization which has not done its job job and has not done it properly. [applause] we also blocked $45 billion for diversity scholarships in burma. that's a lot of money. you can imagine where that money went. these were the types of payments and many i could stand here all day and tell you things that we found. we wanted the money to flow to the proper places but these were the payments and types of payments.

it's a temporary freeze in american strongly support these efforts. they voted for us in record numbers but every single day we are putting america first in fighting to get the most out of every single tax dollar for great citizens. we gather this afternoon to take another historic action however. in a few moments the laken riley act will become the first bill that i've signed into law as the 47th president of united states. [applause] laken riley was a brilliant and beautiful 22-year-old nursing student from georgia, the best in her class. she was always the best. they would say howdy do this and

what do you do and they were asking her questions and even arrest -- the teachers respected her so much from the time she was in first grade. she knew she wanted to spend her time caring for us and that's what she did. to her friends and classmates she was allied of warmth and kindness and every single room in to her parents and family she was everything in the world. they have had a miserable period of time. just after 9:00 a.m. she went out for a job on the campus of the university of georgia and she never came back. her parents are here and her sister and her relatives. laken was attacked viciously and brutalized and murdered by an illegal alien gang member who we elect in our country by the last administration and we are deeply

honored to be joined today by laken's parents allison and john and her sister lauren. thank you very much. [applause] it's so sad. we were together right after that happened and it's a tremendous tribute to your daughter that has taken place today. that's all i can say that so sad we had to be doing it at all. thank you very much for being here. to laken's family we will keep laken's every alive in our hearts in everyone's hearts. with today's action her name will live forever in the laws of our country and this is a very important law. this is something that has brought democrats and republicans together. that's not easy to do and laken did it. america will never ever forget laken hope riley.

the dishes criminal who murdered laken is the illegal member of the barbaric prison gang. he trespassed across our southern border and 2022 and was apprehended by border patrol. under the policies of the last administration instead of being deported, as he should have been, he was released into the united states, as were millions of other people, many of them very dangerous people. you see what we are doing, we are getting him out of here. [applause] he was soon arrested again in new york city on charges of endangering a child. because of new york city's deadly sanctuary policies as we have in california and many other places which we are ending and we will end he was released

again to reoffend. the biden administration had provided -- we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are. mr. warner: mr. president, i would ask that the proceedings of the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. warner: mr. president, it is good to see you signature up there -- sitting up there. as a recent -- former governor -- i say that that is a former governor myself, i won't ask you what you're hearing in west virginia, but i got to tell you, i rise to the floor today amongst a huge amount of confusion. two days ago, the trump administration, without warning to assassinates, any governors -- to any states, to any governors, late at night put out an order freezing all federal spending for 90 days. earlier today, less than 48

hours later, that order was formally rescinded. but, hold it... the good news, entirely good news, lasted 30 minutes, 45 minutes, because 45 minutes later the press secretary in the white house says, no, the freeze will actually stay in place and be rigorously enforced. so, i don't know, as a former governor, which one do you follow? because as the presiding officer knows, an awful lot of our state programs are actually passed through -- federal dollars passion through our capitals in these programs. so i ask, which one is it? unfortunately, i'm not the only one asking the question. and i've got an awful lot of stressed virginians to prove it. in virginia, as in west

virginia, any other state, federal funding supports countless programs that serve kids, seniors, community infrastructure, and a whole lot more. yesterday alone my office was literally flooded with outreach from organizations and local governors. i had firefighters from southwest virginia -- they're worried they won't be able to replace their tanker truck with federal funding that was supposed to be coming pretty soon. i heard from an affordable housing organization in northern virginia that if they go 90 days without federal dollars, they might have to shut down their organization. people have to find different jobs. that organization -- you can't turn on and off the flow of these resources. i heard from law enforcement in the shenandoah valley and from the greater richmond area that a lot of these localities depend on the federal dollars to play -- 0 pay police officers --

to pay police officers. they don't have those funds for the next 90 days, this will take cops off the street. i heard from a number -- not just one, a number of domestic violence shelters across the commonwealth that without this funding -- because they don't have huge reserves -- they'll have to leave women and children without housing support. i heard from a -- listen to this one. we have a little town called westpoint, virginia. it is an old mill town. they have a very good hard start program. head start gets funded. theired funding runs out -- their funding runs out an friday, january 31. they've been told -- they can't get any answer -- that their next round of funding was in

action. what do the moms and dads do starting next monday? we had -- senator kaine and i had probably eight to ten head start programs here -- as a matter of fact, there is a gag order put in place right now so people can talk about these things inside the administration, and the head start directors were trying to call their contact -- kind of their resource person, and they got no response. so whether you care about meals for low-income seniors, whether you care about head start for vulnerable kids, if you care about teens who need that mental health support, oftentimes coming from federal dollars, that all is up in the air at this point. what do we tell these folks?

many of these folks voted for president trump because they thought they were going to bring grocery prices down. like the presiding officer, i've not only been a governor, but i was a business guy. can claim still longer in business than in politics. this is not the way you run an operation. the truth is, this is unbelievable. i was so proud when i was governor of virginia, we got named best managed state. this is management malpractice 101. the most important enterprise in the world is the american government, not only in terms of safety and security but in terms of how we treat our people. and truth is, rescinded or not, these chaotic antics have real consequences. i know of an organization in virginia that had to call an

emergency board meeting yesterday to see, should they go out of business? i've hired from folks who were worried about they'll have to lay off their employees. without this federal funding, they're just not going to be ail to make payroll. one virginia wrote in to me and said, you know, the mental and physical damage is already a mess. it's not right to play with people's lives. in such a grossly irresponsible way. i have a been doing this for a while. i've never heard of some kind of arbitrary freeze on all federal spending. it was bad enough -- and i want to thank what happened when they put a freeze on federal assistance to folks around the world. i commend secretary rubio. one of the reasons why i was proud to support him, he's actually tried to back off of that order making sure

humanitarian aid is not going to disappear. i've been very interested in the conflict in sudan. there is a ship in port sudan right now with american medicine on it that the aid group that was going to take that out, the medicine to save people's lives, that medicine was going to rot if those funds are not flowing. so it would be bad enough on this issue of how we are treating americans' lives who depend upon this federal funding. these are real programs with real people. you take that and layer on the other whammy -- and in virginia we have a disproportionate number of federal workers. you got quite a few in west virginia, i know, as well, due to the great west virginia, former west virginia senators. suddenly, unprecedenced -- and i

believe potentially illegal move -- they're being offered the chance to quit and get paid until september 30 if you quit. now, nothing like this has ever been done before. maybe this is the way you do business in the tech world. i used to be in the tech world. but you don't go out and say basically to all your workers, quit. of course the problem is -- and i urge my federal workers to think about this. unfortunately, this president has a record of not only sticking it to federal workers but he has a record of sticking it to all the business contractors who he did business with by not paying the bills. so i worry -- because not only is there very much a legal question whether the president can offer in buyout offer to all

these senators, but i can assure you there's nothing in the budget, there's nothing in the budget that we still haven't negotiated for the balance of this fiscal year that's got this "x" billion-dollar number next to it that's going to pay for all these buyouts. now, we know where this comes from. it comes from the fellow that's being put up to be head of the omb, russell vought, who wrote in project 2025, the very project that president trump as a candidate said, don't worry, i don't read it, i don't know a thing about it. but in that document, it goes on at length about how the goal of project 2025 -- and mr. vought who wants to be head of omb, which controls the budget of the federal government -- that he wanted to traumatize federal workers. he wanted not to go to work -- he wanted to classify them as villians, his words, not mine. i can tell you this -- for a

whole lot of federal workers, they've already hit that goal. they are traumatized. and i worry like heck -- they say, gosh, i don't know what i should do. maybe i'll take the offer. but before you sign that and send it back in what may be an illegal offer that's not funded that chances are you're not going to get paid, think a little bit about t -- it. if this becomes one other kind of passing fad where there's not any enforcement and not a payment, if you sign that and send it back, chances are you have put an indication that you're going to be the first person that gets riffed. maybe without that six-month severance. i also got to wonder, you know, we're a couple thousand air traffic controllers short right now. if air traffic controllers -- by the way, take about a year to

get trained -- if 5,000 of them say, you know what? i'm going to take that offer. what happens to air traffic safety? we don't have a fallback. we don't have a reserve of air traffic controllers to make sure that when you climb on an airplane it's safe. and yet we've made that offer -- my understanding -- to all the air traffic controllers in america. sign here. we're going to pay. you don't have to work for the next six months. again, how many americans are grandkid to be happy we're -- again, how many americans are going to be happy we're paying folks, you don't have to work for the next six months. are we going to say to all the folks who do bird flu, researching bird flu, we've got a lot of turkeys and chickens both in the shenandoah valley

and in eastern virginia -- people are experiencing the high cost of eggs. if suddenly all the folks working on bird flu quit, maybe people won't buy eggs. i actually think it will drive up the already high cost of eggs two, three time. s i thought president trump was hired to try to bring down grocery prices. what happens as well on people who are the grocery inspectors. you going to feel all right going to the grocery store and buying something if a whole lot of folks have taken this buyout offer? it's not a way to run an operation. i questioned mr. kennedy who wants to be head of hhs. he told me in his earlier comments in my office he wanted to get rid of 200 people in hhs.

i asked him, what's your plan? who are those 2200? no answer. i know he's got strong feelings about nih, but candidly, we have the best researchers in the world that have taken years for us to recruit. if he suddenly -- or if based on president trump's offer all these nih researchers quit because they can make two, three, four, five times as much in the private sector, but all that basic research is done at nih, who are you going to fill those back in? not with as qualified a people? and the list goes on and on and on. and i'd say this is management malpractice 101. you want to change your workforce, you want to make them

more effective, more efficient, you don't try to traumatize them but that's what's happening so far. and to americans across the country and my fellow virginians, if there's ways to find more efficiency, if there's ways to logically businessminded think through the efficiency of our federal departments and maybe save money and cut back staff in a rational way, sign me up. but don't sign me up for something that looks like a flimflam con job, where people are potentially suckered in to sending an e-mail back when there's no assurance that e-mail or offer is legal in the first place, there's no money in the till, and if you look at the president's record in the private sector, did anybody get paid a hundred cents on the

dollar? so, i know other senators are coming up, but i just think that in many ways president trump got hired because we thought we could bring down consumer prices, bring down grocery prices. none of this is bringing down grocery prices. none of this is bringing down consumer prices. none of this, i think, is going to make our federal government more efficient or effective, or in the long term save money if our most talented people quit. it's going to cost more to rehire them. anybody knows that, that's been in the private sector. we're not going to get people with the same experience. what it feels like, and i know what i've been thinking, is one of the things that was the most troubling about the first trump administration was this sense of chaos that people kind of got

exhausted with. my goodness gracious, this is day ten, day ten of the trump admini administration. we have chaos on steroids. what i would hope is that my republican colleagues, in virginia, the legislature, statewide elected office, i would hope my republican colleagues in the senate and house would say, hey, better efficiency, count me in. across the board freezes of programs, without regard for people's lives that are going to be changed or affected? that doesn't make sense. state budgets, a lot of state legislatures are in now, doing their budget. how do you plan, if you don't have those federal governments that are maybe going to be suspended for 90 days or maybe

arbitrarily forever? how do you plan that? to the federal workforce, i tell you, the idea of what potentially is illegal, n nonfunded buyout offer, with no guarantee, and if anything the opposite being true, i'd urge people to think long and hard and not take this offer, not set you up for being fired, riffed or eliminated. and i would appeal again. there's a better way to do all this, and i say this as somebody who's now voted for five of president trump's nominees for cabinet positions, i've gotten a lot of grief for that already, somebody who was a chief executive, i feel like the governor, the president, ought to get most of their choice. this will be people that i think fall outside the norm, that

don't have the credibility or judgment, and i'll make those decisions. i've got a very important hearing tomorrow as former chairman of the intelligence committee, now vice chairman, on tulsi gabbard. but i want to reach out and work with this administration. let's get back to lowering costs. let's get back to driving grocery prices down. let's not put people in fear, not just for their jobs but for their lives, a fear that if you're that victim of domestic abuse or that kid that needs head start, if you're that senior dependent upon meals on wheels, those programs don't last for 90 days. if they suddenly shut down, around we decide after 90 days, we want to start them again, the cost is going to be double or triple. there's a better way to do this. so, i appeal to my republican friends, maybe we need a gang on this, to try to think about this in a more bipartisan way, but in

the meantime, i implore the administration, get your act together. don't put out two separate statements, totally contradicting each other, on the same day, about your intentions. two totally opposite. it just makes chaos and the stress go up, and ultimately, later on this week, the services disappear. with that, mr. president, i yield the floor, and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. thank you, sir. quorum call: the clerk: ms. alsobrooks.

>> okay good afternoon. we are back here again because of new circumstances that we can't appreciate coming at her and shorter. today we saw what happens when americans fight back against policies. americans made their voices heard. donald trump rescinded the omb order and now he should resend the nomination of russell "vogue." the russell vought. when they administration announces directive on monday night we knew knew knew immediately was short-sighted disaster is and. it was clear then as it is now the director -- the direct of is given without any comprehension of what it called for let alone

the ramifications. 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 president trump and his minions are feeling the heat. did president know he was knee capping cops and firefighters from purchasing literally lifesaving equipment to invest in breathing gear and did president trump know he was destroying puerto rico's assistance program leaving 1 million americans hungry like did president trump know he was essentially shuttering community health centers, food pantry's. if he didn't democrats made sure he learned it really quick. i told all of you this week the proposal is best described with a the 3c's chaotic, careless and

and then democrats responded with three letters of their own nsw. they should be a lesson to president trump the following russell vought he was the architect of 2025 -- project 2025 in and the architect of the one b. memo and he will be the architect of more losses for president trump if he keeps vought on the team. there's no doubt about it the quorum call be suspended. the the presiding officer: without objection, sir. mr. durbin: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, on monday night, president trump threw america into chaos when he abruptly announced a freeze on trillions of dollars in federal grants and loans that so many communities, states, and americans depend on. the reaction across the nation has been uniform. we had our phone ringing off the hook, computers busy and

buzzing, everybody wants to know what does this mean, what has happened. even members of the mrs. were confused -- mrs. of the press were confused, members of congress were confused, members of the american people were confused and the president's own administration confused about the intent and scope of the freeze. rightly so, americans from across the country took to calling our offices and offices of congressmen and asked what was going on. they needed clarity and they wanted to know what the freeze on funds would mean to them. agency after agency across the state of illinois and the nation. tony is a woman from woodstock, illinois. she shared with my office that her brother has downs syndrome and the care he receives is funded by a federal grant. his health and safety would be at risk if this freeze is allowed to be implemented. or take dr. kay, a professor and

scientist at the university of chicago. her work depends on funding from the national institute of health and other federal grants. she shared the freeze would, quote, interrupt crucial biomedical research, stopping progress, sometimes destroying years worth of research that cannot be undone. and it would hurt the retention of our nation's future scientists. or sarah, a supporter of community-based organizations that serve youth experiencing homelessness in the city of chicago. if this freeze, in fact, takes place, the organization will not be able to access the federal funding it needs to provide services for youth, help them escape violence, or help to unify their families. yesterday, americans across the country faced disruptions in accessing critical funds and services in popular programs like head start, medicaid, and so many more.

these are just a few of the many messages my office and others have received from americans confused, outraged, and impacted by this freeze. then last night, a federal judge in d.c. ordered the freeze to be paused from going into effect until monday, february 3. in response to the backlash from the american public, the organized efforts of many democrat lawmakers, and the court ruling, president trump's office of manag office of management and budgeting today rescinded the memo outlining the funding freeze. but that isn't the end of the story. the president's press secretary now claims that while the memo ordering the freeze has been rescinded, the freeze itself still stands. who's on first? how does this make sense, you're asking? the honest answer is it doesn't. the policy is as poorly thought out and communicated as can be.

in true trump fashion, his administration has made clear that it doesn't intend to abide by the will of the american people, the letter of the law, or the constitution. it will do whatever it takes to push through this policy, even if it means hurting americans across the country. let me be clear -- we're going to continue to fight this unconstitutional, devastating, and grossly unpopular freeze in federal spending. i want every american to know that your voice and participation in our democracy means more now than ever. the president is betting that you won't notice when he abuses power or breaks the law, that amidst the chaos that surrounds him you will be too confused, jaded, or just too tired to fight back. but i urge america to continue monitoring the actions of this new administration, particularly when they touch you and your family personally. and to report to our offices,

both political parties, any federal funding that your communities and organizations are unable to access. this will not be the last time, i'm afraid, that this administration defies our nation's laws, to show a position of power, and we'll be watching closely, ready to stop him if he tries again. some think this freeze was a mistake, a blunder by the new president's team. others think this was exactly what they wanted. chaos, confusion, a show of force. today we even don't know exactly what the motive is or what the status is. the courts have to sort it out because the administration can't even explain it. the best thing now at this point is to watch closely because programs that mean a lot are at stake. i have a particular affection for the national institutes of

health. the premier medical research agency in the world. for their researchers to call in a panic over this decision is to me the litmus test of why it is the wrong thing to do for america. i want -- want to make america great again? hook your star to one of the greatest agencies in our government, the national institutes of health. don't suspend their funding. don't stop their research. i watch closely as the story unfolded this afternoon and with a lot of my friends, i thought, well, the trump administration is realizing they just made a mistake. and they put everything back on track. and then karoline leavitt who is the new press secretary to the president issued a statement. and she said, quote, this is not a recision of the federal funding freeze. it is simply a recision of the omb memo. why? to end any confusion created by

the court's injunction. the president's executive orders on federal funding remain in full force and effect will be rigorously implemented. that was her quote to try to clarify the situation. she couldn't have made it worse. at this point america doesn't know what the future will hold. the judge in the case that's pending is the one that may have the last word, the important word, on where this is headed. i want to commend those who are in the courtroom trying to sort out the mess that's been created here in washington for the good of this country, to make it great again. we certainly need to have some understanding of what the policy of our government is. mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

quorum call: the clerk: ms. alsobrooks. we have a lot of town or caucus

producers focusing on a whole we bunch of different things. it just so happened this funding frees so, so abroad and so cruel and one other good thing happens. the american people see that we can win. with not won this fight, do not get me wrong. but see we can have real impact, it let me put it that way. we can have a real impact on this trump administration that would like everyone to believe they are impervious to public sentiments. they are not and we showed that with what we have done. what's our caucus is going to focus on anything that hurts our constituents. quick to plenty of energy and plenty of time to do all of that. yes? no one quick that is a long war. this may be a small victory but it's a long war with god to continue to fight it. yes? >> earlier today you were saying this would have a negative effect.

>> only make it very clear. the vote is going to be voted on tomorrow and the budget committee. he'll go to the floor for confirmation. if republicans supported to be their omb director and confirm him to do that, we will make it clear from across the board that he believes he has the power. we believe it's illegal in fact we know it is illegal when she is do it any other way. as long as he is willing to do that, is willing to follow through on it that it makes it virtually impossible for us to reach a bipartisan compromise on appropriations. >> yes question young lady over there. cook senator murray. since you call on senator graham to halt this, have you heard anything? what if you heard few republican colleagues as their movement? click senator merkley, ranking member on budget i don't believe is heard from anyone yet.

[inaudible] >> other past companies question. >> just absolute. members of our committee today did a very good job in showing so many of the proms of the rfk nomination. there are a number of nominees him, dni nominee who we are going very strongly at. we have our republican colleagues will join us. thank you everybody. >> thank you.

to thank you all for being here pregnant stuff when it's sunny and 80 degrees. i hope you found these past couple days informative, helpful, and again i just want to say i do appreciate you for being here and doing what you do. so, let's start off with the news of the day. i think it is interesting that we should compare and contrast

democrats and republicans and look at what they are focused on this afternoon for it republicans, we are focused on the america first agenda. securing the border, making america more fiscally responsible. democrats on the other hand are having an emergency call today on how to fear mongering president trump and republicans efforts to save our country and restore fiscal responsibility for i don't know if you all know this but america has a spending problem. almost $37 trillion in debt. they are going to fear mongering the american people, why? that's all they know how to do. this afternoon, compare and contrast president trump will sign into law the lakin riley active. mike collins a bill is the first step toward fixing our illegal

immigration system. emphasis on that word illegal. the illegal immigration crisis that we have. republicans are making community safer by getting the illegal criminals off the streets. while democrats side with violent illegals over the american people. they just have not learned their lesson or maybe that's just to the democrats are. democrats continue to put criminals, illegals, and radical special interest groups above and ahead of the americans. in my home state, michigan, the mayor of grand rapids said this and i quote, i'm going to read this. i quote.

police are not in the business of enforcing immigration law. i'm just gonna say that will more time because it's so crazy to me. the mayor of grand rapids said the local police are not in the business of enforcing immigration law. okay. he should tell that to the family of lakin riley. i would challenge him to say that. and, just out of curiosity i am wondering what he thanks the police from the business are doing? that is their job. it's absolutely disgusting to me and i'm going to continue to point out the differences between the republicans and the democrats. i assure you i'm going have the democrats own their policy. they put illegal and violent criminals over american citizens. i do not get that. i think the 77 american people

don't get that either. house republicans will continue to pass more common sense legislation that the american people demanded. and i can assure you this, we are just getting started. at this point i'm going to turn it over too kevin who is our policy director. doing an amazing job. who will continue to put common sense america first policy forward. thank you. >> that's all right. >> i briefly went to thank you chair when forgetting forgivened in such a short time in her new role. this is a gop issues conference for her talk about issues and i know you've been reporting on many of the issues that are here about how were going through the reconciliation process but how we are looking at normal cuts in spending the president talked about two days ago the vice president talked about yesterday. that's what this is about to get everybody in the room by 75% of

the conference here to talk about the issues. they are still being debated. getting clarity on things like that. you'll be hearing more about it as we go forward with this is an important opportunity to look at this. to move quickly on the 100 days of the president and the vice president's agenda and the policies that are important in securing our border, restoring economic security of this country. you are seeing a lot of this charwoman said with lakin riley act being signed today at 2:00 p.m. is the first step in restoring the sovereignty of this great nation by securing our southern border. so it's great to be with it's great to have the opportunity to be together the last three days and more to come. appreciate being here. >> thank you. i'll echo thanks. i want to reiterate something that is really on my mind right now.

it echoes an op-ed that i wrote in october 2022 it was published in the washington examiner. the title of it is republicans are ready to pick up where we we reluctant to thousand 17. the premise of the entire article was to juxtapose what we did in 2017 versus what democrats did in 2020 when you all right understand it reconciliation better than all americans basically. you get the nuance between 2017 option in the 2021 option when you have the white house senate switch parties who is now in control burnout the point again to show the american people the difference between what we are doing what democrats do and hand that white house house and senate. the american rescue plan was all focused on spending, spending, spending, flood the market with monetary support is only one equation happens when you flood the market monetary supply is massive inflation we saw the worst we've seen in 40 years. did we see that type of inflation from 2017? no we did not we south's

economic growth. he saw across-the-board tax cuts to be able to energize the economy. revenues continue to be strong. doesn't cover all of our deficits? no it's been treated for 25 years. even more beyond them. so what we are doing here at this conference is trying to replicate the positive work done in 2017 do in the most physical responsible way as possible but that's why it's tough. when on the top line in number every second we may try to get to that's why we all come together and hash this out everybody is sharing their perspective we have districts abiding one by 10 points and indistricts trump one by 40. that's the makeup of the republican conference were trying to find the sweet spot it's very, very difficult. democrats on a tough time fighting the sweet spot they come to an agreement really quick for the put up the american rescue plan, haphazardly but we all line up on it but there's plenty of democrats that thought actually

greet with people like larry summers that say this is going to be, this is going to be what causes inflation. we are trying to the most responsible way possible not waver magic wand from leadership say members this is where you have to vote and you're going to get with it. that's we see from the other side you've got a very thoughtful process i am excited about the work we've done on this week and where we are going to continue to go. i first saw this opportunity a few years ago thinking okay accompanist might meet where wee are in 2025 deb white house and senate being under control been a budget the ways and means are most exciting thing in the world world's report is i'm looking forward to with more tenured folks on the committee comment we are trying to drive this to the best thing we can for the american people but that's an open focus on. haphazardly doing this compared to what we are doing and being extremely thoughtful in that section of the hard work but we are going to keep driving toward it i hope you will be able to go

along that journey with us and watch this play out. thank you very much. >> thank you guys. thanks for being here and covering this. i'm the conference secretary. people in washington talk a lot about change. but for the last week we seen a president who delivers. from day one president trump has led with strength and urgency. he signed over 300 executive actions to secure the border, unleashed american entry resorte law and order. house republicans are moving just as fast to advance its america first agenda. last week the past that lakin riley act to ensure violent criminals are deported before they can harm another innocent american. one or 59 democrats voted against it. but, president trump will sign into law today. because of his leadership illegal crossings are already down by 93% in january. we are in the beginning week of

a new golden age in america, restoring common sense. no more week policies. no more excuses. we are securing the border cutting biden's radical dei policies and restoring transparency in government. the american people are finally free of the radical left agenda. house republicans are fighting every single day alongside president trump to get this country back on track as chairwoman mclean said we are just getting started. we are leaving this retreat energized and united and ready to continue delivering for the american people. with that alternate back over torture woman. >> thank you everyone. i think will open it up for a few questions right now. [inaudible] cook's unit take that, kevin

censure the balls which are? cook's of the short answer is no break that will be released by the committee chairs. but you have to understand the reconciliation policy gives you arranging have to be certain of what those ranges are because you have to vet those with parliamentarian on the senate side which controls all of this. their work into that process. still having conversations and asking questions in the room next door. but as soon as those are veiled by the committee chairs ogaden forwards you all can see you then. >> thank you. [inaudible] [inaudible]

cook's we have slave members from california that are left leaning districts all the way to some of our districts in texas. so, we have to be unanimous but we have to get to that point where we are unanimous. there is a process that gets their pages that have to be at budget committee we can pass it at work to get to the point words on the floor. we probably have a larger majority in budget committee than house floor if we are going to a partisan or simple majority bill. we note democrats are not going to support it. if you look at what is in it, double the standard deduction doubling the child tax credit, opportunity zones are no different with nuance but they are no different than low income tax credits incredibly bipartisan work. there is an enormous meta- bipartisan nature to all the tax work we actually do. but, democrats are not going to

line up they're not going to show up to help avoid the largest tax increase in american history for go this rec insulation route. we do need to have all support for the conference two or three votes we might be able to spare. it got to get to that point. i think you'll see the budget committee take all of the input we did for this week, get the information over to the chairman the chairman will work with us on the committee to talk about next steps and over the next couple of weeks we've got to drive it forward. beautiful diversity of thought we have in their publican conference is such we are going to have to make a play called some point and move forward and that is what, for going to make the time line we are trying to meet will have to get the resolution done by that middle of february but we are going to make a call, move forward see if we can galvanize the conference to get behind it. thank you.

[inaudible] cook's anybody would take that? are you me too take that? >> go ahead. >> everything is on the table. we listen to chairman rogers today and our last session. we are at an 85 year low in defense spending. it was the number he used. we need to increase our defense spending, from his perspective. there's a lot of people in the cover to agree with him. that is absolutely, we need to beef up our military. we need to modernize our military what you will see his every things on the table right now. >> yes, sir?

[inaudible] negotiating with members. [inaudible] regards want me too take that? go ahead. though i would say this is in the very bottom up approach from the beginning on purpose press blake mentioned in his comments, sometimes things get railroaded through on the democrat side without a lot of input from the bottom. up. house republicans are such a broad array of individuals from across the country and burying districts to get to a place we get 218 votes that has to be bottom up to the extent we have members that have not engaged, there will become a point where they are engaged will be talking to people in districts joe biden one bite 10 points and districts donald trump won by 30 or 40 points. we are trying to figure out a path to 218 and this reconciliation package. we're all hands on deck trying to do that to the extent people

have it engage, i'm sure they will we will begin to tackle those issues as they come. >> again, i just want to say thank you all so much for your participation. you have a story to tell. we have a story to tell again i look forward to working with you all in the future. have a great day, enjoy some sunshine.

2024 as a whole, gdp looks to risen above 2% bolstered by resilient consumer spending. investment in equipment and intangibles appeared to have slowed in the fourth quarter it was strong for the year overall.

violent weakness in the middle of last year activity in the housing sector seems to have stabilized. in the labor market conditions remained solid. payroll job gains averaged 170,000 per month over the past three months. following earlier increases the unemployment rate has stabilized since the middle of last year. at 4.1% in december it remains low. nominal wage growth has eased over the past year the jobs to workers gap has narrowed. overall a wide set of indicators suggest conditions in the labor market are broadly imbalanced. the labor market is not a source of significant inflationary pressures. inflation is ease significantly over the past two years but remained somewhat out of elevated relative to the 2% longer run goal. estimates based on consumer price index and other data indicate total pce prices rose 2.6% of the 12 months ending in

december and excluding the volatile food and energy categories, court prices rose 2.8%. longer-term inflation expectations appear to remain well anchored. as reflected in a broad range of service of houses, businesses and forecasters as well as measures from financial markets. monetary policy actions are guided by dual mandate to promote maximum employment and stable prices for the american people. we see that risks to achieving employment inflation goals as being roughly in balance we are attentive to the risks on both sides of her mandate. over the course of three previous meetings we lowered our policy rate by a full percentage point from its peak that recalibration of her policy stance was appropriate with the progress on inflation and that and thereit balancing in the lar market. with our policy stance significantly less restricted than it had been the economy

remaining strong, we do not need to be in a hurry to adjust our policy stance. at today's meeting the committee decided to maintain the target range for federal funds rate at four and a quarter to four and a half percent. we note reducing policy restraint too fast or too much could hinder progress on inflation. at the same time reducing policy restraint too slowly or too little could unduly weaken economic activity and employment. considering the extent and timing of additional adjustments to the target range with the federal funds rate, the committee will assess incoming data, involving outlook and the balance of risk. we are not on any preset corset. mr. president, my state -- i'm sorry. are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are, yes. ms. rosen: we are. i ask the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. rosen: thank you, mr. president.

my state of nevada is unique. we're big if physical size but relatively small in population. we're independent people but have a strong alleyians to our nation. -- allegiance to our nation. after all, we are the battle borne state, born during the civil war and while we don't like washington telling us what to do, nevadans depend on federal resources to help our communities. it's simple. by coming together to form our union and paying taxes, nevadans deserve to receive our fair share of funding from the federal government. it's hard not to be affected by what goes on in washington when more than 80% of your state of our land is owned by the federal government, more than any other state. think about that. 80% of nevada is owned by the

federal government. and that's why i take my responsibility as representative of the people of nevada incredibly seriously. it's why i rise today to speak on behalf of the reckless, cruel, and illegal action that president trump took to freeze virtually all federal grants and loans. while his administration has now rescinded the memo from the office of management and budget that announced the free, they have been clear that the funding freeze continues, adding to the chaos and confusion. a lack of clarity as to which programs would be affected and which ones would not be, while it's been having devastating effects in states like my own and so many others. in fact, more than 30% of the governor's budget for the next

two years relies on federal funding, which is why this issue is critical for our state. since president trump's administration issued the guidance on monday night, my office has received hundreds of calls and e-mails from nevadans who are rightfully concerned just about what this would mean for them, for their families, for their jobs. we also received additional e-mails and calls from nonprofits, from service providers, from community stakeholders who depend on this funding to support nevadans. one of the messages my office received was from the nevada partnership for homeless youth. this partnership, they help get young people -- kids, kids -- off the streets. and while many in this chamber disagree about a lot of things, i think all of us agree that helping homeless kids is important work.

and so i want to read part of their letter because i think it encapsulates what a lot of organizations that provide critical services, well, just what they have been feeling. and so the letter said this, and i quote, this decision will have an immediate and severe impact on organizations like ours as well as countless others in nevada and across the country. much of this fund has already been allocated and committed through contracts and a sudden halt creates chaos and uncertainty for agencies that provide critical services. many organizations in our community simply do not have the financial reserves to operate for more than a few months without these funds. end quote. and it's not just the nevada partnership for homeless youth that we heard from, my office also heard from northern nevada

hopes, a community health center based in reno, nevada. northern nevada hopes provides affordable, high-quality health care services to people in our community, those who need it the most. 56% of their patients live at or below the federal poverty level, and 10% experienced homelessness. and this is what northern nevada hopes told my office, and i'm going to quote again. at northern nevada hopes, this pause has significant implications for the services we provide to over 17,000 patients, many of whom are children, families. we assess the situation, we've been forced to take immediate actions including implementing a hiring freeze and preparing to limit care for patients who already rely on our sliding fee scale, including those who are

uninsured or underinsured. end quote. think about that. think about these children, think about these families. president trump's chaos and reckless actions have put the health of nevada's families in jeopardy. that means kids who need to go see a doctor, women who need to get a cancer screening -- take a point off the script here. my mom passed away from cancer. no one should miss their cancer screenings. it's even impacting older people who need lifesaving medication, and all of them could be affected by this terrible, terrible action. many seniors also rely on other vital programs like meals on wheels to access the nutrition they need to live independently and with dignity. i've seen this critical work up close. a few years ago i joined an

organization to deliver meals to seniors in boulder city, nevada. i've seen the joy on the faces of the seniors we visited. it's something i won't forget. they know the folks who come on their route to deliver to them. it's not just a meal for them, meals on wheels. it's a lifeline. they don't just provide nutritious food to seniors who are house bound, isolated on a fixed income. these people become their friends, their lifeline. and for thousands of seniors in nevada, this program is also their primary source of nutrition. in one year alone federal funding allowed meals on wheels to serve more than 2.5 million meals to seniors across nevada. in nevada, i'm sure in your state too, mr. president, we take care of our seniors. and president trump's proposed freeze on federal funding

threatens them all. threatens them all. pausing the funding to this critical program means denying our seniors, our elderly their access to something so essential, so comforting -- a meal. a meal. and the possibility of an interruption to this service even temporarily means seniors in nevada and across the country lose the certainty of knowing where their next meal will come from and the comfort of the visit of the person who brings it to them and oftentimes sits with them, listens to them and gives them that comfort care that's so important to all of us. so i just want everyone to think about that. is this who we are, taking meals away from seniors, meals on wheels? i hope not.

another essential service under threat of this trump funding freeze was public safety, something everybody worries about. and this action will make our communities less safe and stop critically needed federal funding from reaching, well, law enforcement officers, firefighters, other first responders who look out for our communities each and every day. these heroic men and women depend on funding for federal programs to do their job safely and to protect our communities effectively. and here's just a few examples of how this freeze will impact them. nevada, unfortunately, no stranger to thing horrific impact of wildfires, fires in general, whether it's raging wildfires or the standard fire emergencies that happen in communities, well, they happen every day across our state. and the men, the women who make up our fire departments, well, they rely in part on federal

grants to purchase that equipment needed to do their job safely and effectively. equipment like emergency vehicles they travel in, the protective suits they put on, the helmets they wear, the oxygen tanks that they carry so they can breathe fresh air while they save someone's life, and the tools they wield to stop those fires from destroying people's lives, homes and livelihoods. each and every part of this gear is critical for our firefighters and for their safety. and our firefighters also rely on federal funding in order to make sure they have the staffing levels they need. firefighting, like much of the work of our first responders, goes 24/7, 365 days a year. you never know when the next emergency will happen. it just will. you must always be ready, you

must always be prepared. you don't know when it's going to happen, but our firefighters, our first responders stand ready at a moment's notice to run in to save the rest of us. and let me tell you, when there's a fire in our state, our firefighters aren't clocking in at 9:00 and clocking out at 5:00. they keep working around the clock until the fire is out, the job is done, until everyone is safe and the emergency is passed. and when we don't have the proper staffing levels, when our communities don't have the numbers of firefighters they need, our states suffer, our communities suffer, families suffer. the damage is real. like i said, not just lives, lives, livelihoods and communities, it's devastating. and thankfully there's federal funding through the safer program to address this issue, to increase and maintain the

number of trained firefighters who are serving on the front lines and available to respond in our communities when an emergency happens. the bad news -- not just bad. the sad news, the cruel news is that this kind of funding is the kind that president trump's order could freeze. this doesn't make us safer, it doesn't save us money. it just puts us and our families, those we love, our communities in greater danger. like i said, it's not just firefighters who could feel the effect of this freeze. our law enforcement officers in nevada could also be affected. and that's going to have a direct impact on public safety. so make no mistake, like all 50 states, my state relies on funding from the department of justice's office of community oriented policing services, also known as the cops program. at a time when we're facing a national police shortage, this

program allows nevada to hire more officers to serve in our communities and take part in community policing efforts. building trust, engaging with nevadans, combatting crime, who would oppose that? well, due to the president's federal freeze, this money could now be in jeopardy. and as nevada and the rest of the nation continue to deal with the deadly impact of the fentanyl crisis, this freeze could rob us of critical tools to combat this dangerous and deadly drug. over the last few years fentanyl has fueled a crisis in nevada. families across our state, they've seen loved ones face addiction and overdose. hundreds of nevadans are losing their lives each and every year from fentanyl. this isn't a red state problem

or a blue state problem. it's a national problem. and it's a crisis in nevada. the state's opioid response programs which do depend on federal grant funding are critical to reducing harm and preventing overdoses in our communities. i've spoken with law enforcement officers in nevada. i've spoken with parents and family members and friends who have lost loved ones to fentanyl. the it's clear that we need to be doing more to tackle this issue. and this freeze, this cruel freeze does nothing to help. it's quite to the contrary. if this funding were impacted, again, it would hurt our communities, it would hurt our family, our friends, our neighbors, those we love. and as long as we're talking about programs that are vital to community safety and well-being, we can't forget about the potential impact on our

veterans. in nevada, our veterans have always been a top priority. and i can tell you i'm so worried about how this funding freeze would jeopardize programs that support veterans transition back to civilian life, provide their critical services, is preserving the legacy of those who served, and so much more. so take, for example, if you will, it's a program, the homeless veterans reintegration pro program. it's provided $17 million to nevada to help homeless women veterans and veterans with children find secure and stable housing and employment. the l homeless veterans reintegration program, helping women veterans. for many of these veterans, this program provides them with the resources that they need to rebuild their lives. it's men and women, they signed

on the dotted line and they fought to protect our freedoms, and the very least we can do is make sure they have the resources and support when they return home. there's also the veterans legacy grant program which provided more than $2 million to nevada to help preserve the history of our men and women in uniform so that we can honor their service, show them how grateful and thankful we are to them, to their families. the veterans legacy grant program -- would threaten a key resource for future generations about the legacy and sacrifice of our veterans. the history of our veterans matters. and a pause in this money would be a slap in the face to those who literally, like i said, put their lives on the line to protect all of us, you, me, all of us every single day. now, the trump administration

has said that their pause won't impact programs for the v.a., that all of the agencies' programs have passed their so-called review. but the administration also said it was rescinding the memo that started the pause, and then not an hour later they sowed confusion by saying the funding freeze is back on. what is it? it's one thing until it's not. it's another thing until it's not. it's chaos, why would we trust them now, our critical funding for our veterans, why would we risk that? well, mr. president, i could keep going on and on about all the ways president trump's freeze would hurt my state of nevada. i could talk about how this freeze led to a disruption in the medicaid website, which was down for hours, affecting

nevadans who use this program to literally stay alive in many cases, and this is precisely -- precisely the problem. the can chaos and dis -- the chaos and disruption this reckless action has called is unnecessary and harmful. it's helping no one. so i want to ask everyone at home, i want to ask you at home to think about this. how is any of this actually helping you? is it helping you at the grocery store? is it helping you at the gas pump? is it helping you get an affordable home? it's not. that's why i call on president trump to fully and permanently rescind this harmful executive order to freeze federal funds now. nevada families are watching.

nevada families are waiting to see if president trump thinks that they really matter. mr. president, i yield the floor. i notice the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. the clerk: ms. alsobrooks. quorum call:

>> i think this way beyond a plausible mandated so the rules i've said many times, i think that the activities are not fit for the fed given her current mandate. cimino i just think that it was time to acknowledging that the process it dates back a couple of years in the make the decision to bring this to the board, you know some months ago in the process just took time to

get here this is when we have voted on it. , and it was driven by disconnect between the mandate another bit different mandates and we have no criticism but it's just not right. [inaudible]. >> thank you with the washington post and wonder if you could talk more by the further progress what it would look like for the consumers. >> well, 2 percent inflation down to 2 percent sustainably is what we are trying to achieve. we are somewhat above that his you know and you we want to see serial readings that suggest that we are making for the progress on inflation is what we want the consumers will pick that up of course the think that by the grocery store and at the

store. >> the other thing that i wanted to ask is how far away that you think you are from neutral. >> yes well you cannot know with any precision of course is like to say that you know initial rate by the works and so i think that at 4.3 percent, we are above pretty much everybody in the committee estimates the longer run neutral. i think your eyes are telling us that our policy setting the effects on the economy is really a question we have seen consult empirical models that read theoretical models you have to look at them and seahawks policy rate is affecting the economy i think we see. quorum call? the presiding officer: we are. mrs. shaheen: i ask that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. shaheen: thank you. i come to the floor to evening to join my colleagues to express

my deep concerns about the truments's -- trump administration's extreme decision to take away services that millions of families and small businesses rely on. this is a decision that does not lower costs, it does not create jobs, it does not enhance public safety or keep our communities safe. it's a decision that actually will hurt people in my state of new hampshire and too many across the country who rely on services that are now in jcpoaed. on monday -- jeopardy. on monday night more than 2600 federal programs were ordered to cease activities with less than 24 hours notice. they were given little guidance with how it should be carried out. across the country confusion and panic among too many people followed. since that order, i've heard from countless granite staters

who are worried about what this means for them and their families, from health care providers to nonprofit organization to so many who are doing essential lifesaving work. many of these organization are waiting on promised funding for projects that they've already completed, funding that they went through the process, they were guaranteed they were going to get these awards and now they're in jeopardy. the trump administration claims it wants to lower costs for folks. well, let me be clear, this unprecedented decision does nothing to bring down the price of food, the price of housing, the price of child care, the price of medications or other lifesaving needs that families have. so what we saw this afternoon is that the administration tried to

walk back their order. they rescinded the memo, but sadly uncertainty and confusion remains because the white house says that they rescinded the memo but the freeze wasn't rescinded. so, like a lot of people in new hampshire, i'm concerned and i'm frustrated. in my state and across much of the country there's an affordable housing crisis. because of the administration's action, housing organization across new hampshire are not able to use federal funds. i heard from the executive director of the housing authoritied in the -- authority in the city of rochester, they said they have 130 families at risk of being homeless if they can't get their operating funding. that's just one housing authority. despite what the administration

said about rental assistance not being affected, at no point would the department of housing and urban development say this would continue to be available. housing funding that keeps all of these families and hundreds more across new hampshire in their homes is at risk of being cut off. yesterday we also heard from the mortgage bankers association. they were asking for clarity because they couldn't be sure if they could help families complete the purchase of their homes. the person we talked to said, and i quote, americans are going to the closing table tomorrow and deserve to know that their loan will close on their home purchase. without this clear assurance that the federal government will insure new loans or pay claims under these programs, there will severe harm to borrowers and

disruption to the mortgage market. they gave that for single family insurance but not for multifamily prompts. that -- appropriates. that -- properties. that affects 20% of the multifamily housing construction that's happening right now. we're talking about 130,000 apartments nationally that are jeopardized by this administration's actions. now, we know we need to build more housing. we're already millions of units short of what we need. in new hampshire last year for the first time the average price of a house was over $500,000. and our rental vacancy rate in a healthy rental market, the vacancy rate is about 5%.

in new hampshire it's.6%. and this means higher rents and home prices in the future. our housing shortage is much of why the most recent point in time count for homelessness bounded up 18% across the country. we have far too many people in this country who don't have a roof over their heads and that's especially dangerous during these winter months. meanwhile, even though two weeks ago new hampshire nonprofits and state and local governments were awarded more than $14 million to help shelter people and support them. today they couldn't access that money. that means they won't have the funding they need for rent or to get reimbursed for supportive services. and i want to be clear. even after a judge stayed the

order, my constituents still could not access their funding. the presiding officer is a former governor, he knows what that means. people in our states can't get the housing that they're counting on. if they can't get their funding, that means more people are forced to live in their cars, on the streets, it means more people can't get the help they need with substance use disorders or finding work, it means more people are stuck without permanent housing. these are veterans, families, victims of domestic violence, they are all placed at risk because of this order. i heard from one person from the u.s. department of agriculture. she's owned her home for 20 years now she's almost amount the point where she's paid off that mortgage. but without the mortgage assistance that she gets from usda, she's worried she might lose her home entirely. another of my constituents,

kathleen, lives in housing for seniors. she has debilitating medical issues that make it hard for her to leave her home. she gets all of her food from a local food bank. she called my office because she's worried if this funding stops, she'll be on the street and she doesn't know where her meals will come from. that's what this order and these cuts are threatening, leaving seniors without a roof over their head not knowingwhere theg from. it's not just in housing people are concerned. the effects on communities are significant. the chaos of this order is hurting communities that have been promised funding for improvements they've made to their water infrastructure, to their energy use, and even to city parks. so we heard from the town of conway, which is in the heart of the mount washington valley, and the white mountains. with help from the environmental

protection agency, conway has fixed an aging sewer pipe, their sewer main, to keep sewage from leaking into the ground water. new hampshire's really good at working at the local, state, and federal level to address critical infrastructure. this week conway received word that, at least for now, they can't get paid, thanks to this order from the trump administration. conway's already done the work. they've already paid the contractors. and as of today, they're waiting for reimbursement of about $400,000 from the federal government, and that's a big deal for a town in a rural area that has fewer than 10,000 people. it affects their tax base, and if the federal government doesn't come through with the money it's been -- that's been promised, then taxpayers in conway are going to have to make up that difference. it is unacceptable for the

administration to suggest that it won't pay this bill, leaving families on the hook for unaffordable rate hikes. i've also heard from one town administrator who's not yet sure how broad the scope of the administration's order is, and how it's going to affect their ongoing wastewater infrastructure project that's using a mix of federal and n nonfederal funds. their pump station relies on tarps to keep out the elements. the structure and equipment that keep the sewer system functioning face imminent failure, and without the federal funding, which just to be clear again has already been committed, there is no way that this town could complete this project, and that the whims of an unconfirmed budget director can create this degree of uncertainty is maddening. i heard from kristin murphy, who is with the town of exeter.

she's very concerned about the pause and the impact it will have on energy efficiency funding. the energy efficiency community block grant program was poiseded to host a presentation in february for resident-owned manufactured housing, on funding opportunities for energy efficiency, and that's particularly important for those people who lived in manufactured housing. i did when my husband and i were in graduate school. we lived in what we called the mobile home. now it's manufactured housing. i know how challenging it is to keep them heated and warm and comfortable for the people who live there. as kristin pointed out, support for these manufactured housing communities is essential, because a greater percentage of their annual income goes to home heating costs than it does for most people. the administration's actions also threaten other projects in exeter, like a landfill solar

array currently under construction, improvements to critical stormwater infrastructure, and funding for a movementy generational community center -- a multigenerational community center. and a dozen other tonalities -- other towns, gorham to keene along vermont, who made improvements to their parks and community spaces to the land and water conservation funds. these towns have matched federal funding dollar for dollar, to improve quality of life in their communities. as of today, because of the uncertainty and the way this order is being interpreted, taxpayers are left holding the bag. in the area of child care and nutrition, the chaos and confusion from the white house over the past two days has created significant uncertainty for early education programs, and it risks further fueling the child care crisis.

again, like housing, we have a child care crisis in new hampshire. the cost of child care for the average family, if they have a toddler and infant, is over $30,000 a year. while the administration claimed yesterday afternoon head start programs wouldn't be affected, head start programs have been frozen out of their payment system. while hopefully that should be -- should have been made available again, my office is still hearing reports of system delays and reduced availability that's harming programs. now, fortunately the timing of this uncertainty has not disrupted services in new hampshire so far, but i'm hearing stories of programs in other states that had to temporarily stop serving families because they were not able to access the funds they needed. it's unclear what the impacts of these shifting policies will be on child care and development

block grants, which working families rely on to be able to afford care for their children while parents are at work. my office has heard from the child care network collaborative in new hampshire, with significant concerns that child care providers may be prevented from accessing community development block grant funding they've already been awarded. these funds are intended for the purchase of a building that will prevent huge rent increases for child care providers and help fuel an expansion of child care in the rural parts of northern new hampshire. child care programs are also concerned about the potential impact on other federal programs that the families they serve rely on. for example, while the administration eventually said yesterday that snap payments wouldn't be affected, programs are finding it hard to reassure families about whether they were actually -- will actually get

their monthly payments on time, given the disruptions we've already seen to programs that were not supposed to be affected, according to the administration's own words. so, more chaos and uncertainty. it's why so many of my constituents are telling me they simply do not trust what they're hearing from the white house. families relying on programs like snap for food and wic for women, infants, and children, to keep from going hungry already struggle to make their benefits last till the beginning of the next month. any payment delays, even if just a few days, will cause needless suffering for hungry children. it's cruel to be putting struggling families through this unnecessary anxiety. and when it comes to law and order, the president often speaks about his commitment to law and order. in 2020 he criticized democrats

who supposedly wanted to defund and abolish the police. yet here we are, with the president stopping federal funds from going to police and law enforcement agencies. and make no mistake, this s stoppage could place lives and livelihoods in jeopardy. i heard from stafford county sheriff katherine mone about how the cutoff of funds will affect them. i live in strafford county, so i know the sheriff there very well. strafford county was awarded a 715 thousand cops technology grant to buy interoperable and mobile radios for first responders. the u.s. department of just notified the county on monday that they're going to withhold these funds, forcing the county to place a hold on the order of new updated radios. this may not sound like a big deal to some, but this equipment

helped strafford county first responders protect granite staters. if first responders can't communicate effectively, by definition they can't respond to emergencies and crimes. when i was governor, we had a horrible shooting in northern new hampshire. two state troopers, a judge, and a newspaper editor were killed. as they were trying to get the perp perpetrator our state police couldn't talk to local police, they couldn't talk to the vermont law enforcement, they couldn't talk to the canadians, we couldn't talk to maine, all of whom were involved in trying to catch the perpetrator. because they didn't have the communication, the radios they needed to keep people safe. the same vein, the town of newington on the seacoast was awarded $80,000 to replace 20-year-old radios.

the town was on the verge of submitting its invoices to be reimbursed for buying this crucial public safety equipment when the trump administration stopped the flow of federal funds. if there were an emergency, like a natural disaster or mass shooter, newington's police and fire department would not be able to communicate on the current radio equipment to coordinate an effective response with federal, state, and local partners. this lack of coordination among first responders could result in newington's police or fire department not arriving in time to fight a fire or rescue people. the lack of modern radio communications could result in people not getting medical care quickly enough. again, this is much-needed equipment that allows officers to communicate quickly and effectively, to not only protect the people they serve but to protect each other. thanks to president trump,

newington is forced to pause its upgrade of 20-year-old equipment. it should also be noted that the white house payment freeze means that the businesses who sold newington the radios and associated equipment are not going to get paid in a timely fashion. so, let's call it what it is, stopping funds to law enforcement and first responders puts lives and businesses in jeopardy. it also affects defense contractors. new hampshire has a strong defense industrial base. we have a lot of companies that do great work to protect our men and women who are serving. the federal funding freeze is hitting those small businesses and manufacturers who rely on defense contracts to pay their workforce, which is critical to maintaining our national security. for example, the new hampshire apex accelerators program relies on grants from the department of

defense to help small businesses navigate federal contracting. in new hampshire, government contracts and subcontracts total $4 billion last year. now, that's not just some number that helps fuel our economy, and for people from big states maybe that doesn't sound like a lot of money in your economy, but in new hampshire's economy that's a lot of money, and it's an investment in our national defense, and a manufacturing workers' ability to support their families. so let's not lose sight of what and who we're talking about here. the freeze blocks funding under the defense production act, which expands the defense industrial base under national security emergencies. right now, we have a lot of businesses in new hampshire who are receiving funding under the defense production act to support their operations. these grants strengthen military readiness and capacity.

in the area of health, this pause will also cause real harm to health care providers and patients across our state. everyone, from our largest hospitals down to individual patients, is reaching out to my office. they're confused and they're scared. the most immediate consequences will be felt by safety net providers like community health centers. they are vital to caring for our most vulnerable populations. their patients are often uninsured for health care, sometimes they're homeless, some suffer from substance use disorders or mental illness, and they rely on their community health centers just to get through the day. as much as 50% of community health center funding comes from federal grants, and their operating margins are slim. lampre health care in new market, in the southern part of

new hampshire, tried and failed to draw down federal funds yesterday. they have another scheduled drawdown for early next week. this means that lampre has a lim limited number of days before the trump administration's order limits the services they can provide to the community. amoskeag health, another one of our community health centers, provides services in manchester, our largest city. it would also suffer from a funding pause. 35% of their funding comes from federal grants, and they only have 19 case of -- days of cash on hand, which would cover one peek of payroll. they're scheduled to get funding on monday, and that's now in the lurch. federal funding to train the health care workforce is also being threatened. new hampshire struggles to retain and recruit health care providers, and federal funding is critical to ensure we have enough providers in rural and

underserved areas. last week elliott hospital, one of the largest hospitals in the largest city in manchester, received notice that $3 million in funding for its nursing expansion grant program was put on hold. there are currently 80 potential students enrolled in this program. the program is designed to address the acute nursing workforce shortage by attracting local applicants in the greater manchester community. the funding freeze now puts that effort in jeopardy. in cost the county, the northern most county up along the canadian border, is another community health center where access to health care can be extremely limited. patients frequently have to drive hours to get access to some of the most basic services.

cause county family health received a planning grant through the health resources and services administration, hrsa, to establish a rural medical residency program. just this week they received their accreditation, which is so exciting. they were so excited, and now the process begins to recruit and retain future doctors. the sole purpose of this program is to train health providers in the county, an area that struggles to attract talent. when we train these doctors in rural areas, they are more likely to stay after residency and become core members of the community. any other week this would be great news. more doctors to treat patients in need. but today their future funding through hrsa is at risk thanks to the uncertainty created by these executive orders. training doctors to treat sick or injured patients shouldn't be a controversial issue, but

according to this administration, it is. coos county family health uses federal funding to support victims of domestic violence that come into their practice. specialized staff offer the victims counseling and support services, things like access to shelter. the staff connects victims with law enforcement and even offers prevention programs in local schools. without federal funding, they'll be forced to lay off these staff members. i don't know, does the administration think that domestic violence survivors are unworthy of our support and causing chaos is more important than protecting our most vulnerable? maybe this is what president trump meant when he said he wanted disrupters. i don't believe this is what the public wanted. mental health programs are also at risk. new hampshire's suicide rate is

higher than the national average, and we need every available resource to help address this issue. northern human services and the national alliance mental illness uses fund from the garrett lee for students experiencing suicide identify education or those -- ideation. we are talking about taking away services from children who are thinking about committing suicide. i heard from the folks at name, the alliance, new hampshire alliance on mental illness. they were almost in tears when they talked about what was going to happen if they couldn't serve these kids who need help. and there's also navigating recovery, offering around the clock substance abuse disorder services in laconia. they are a small nonprofit and

they make use of every dollar they get by offering 24/7 support for individuals that have just overdosed and that includes literally going into the hospital to be with the patient as they recover. they offer wrap around services like connecting individuals to housing, job opportunities and child care so they can find stability as they go through recovery. 53% of navigating recovery's funding comes from federal sources, including the state opioid response grant program. i've worked for years to get dollars to the state under that sor program, including last year when new hampshire was awarded nearly $30 million. and i have to say in the first term of the trump administration, president trump was very supportive of these dollars. we worked with his administration to get additional funding to address the fact that new hampshire was one of the hardest hit states.

so i don't know why suddenly that funding, they're willing to put that funding at risk by this freeze, because it's done more to prevent fatal overdoses and support recovery services than any other federal program. navigating recovery uses those dollars on the ground. without it, they would only have weeks before they start laying off staff and stop offering services. despite what this administration claims, it's the individuals who will pay the price of this uncertainty and chaos. the spending freeze is yet another example of the administration ignoring how their policies affect individuals' peace of minds, their livelihoods and the health of americans at risk. then we're seeing broader attacks by the office of management and budget on federal employees. the trump administration didn't stop at ripping funding away

from vulnerable americans this week. while much of the public's focus has been held by that order, they've continued their relentless attack on federal employees. over two million civil servants working in thousands of essential fields from health care to law enforcement to national security, who keep our country running, they are under attack. and listen, i think we need to be more efficient and more effective, and we may have people who are not doing their jobs the way we want them to, but what this order has done has created confusion over the spending freeze, the hiring freeze instituted by the president's executive order. the administration claims this is temporary, but thousands of americans who had job offers on the table saw those offers revoked. even those who were ready to fill some of our most urgent vacancies, like at the v.a. even though the department of veterans affairs said it would

not apply this hiring freeze to many v.a. positions dedicated to providing veterans health care and benefits, many crucial programs that veterans depend on will not be able to hire staff to serve our veterans. for example, the v.a. will not be hiring case workers who help veterans get into permanent housing and related support. they won't be able to hire the personnel that literally keep lights on banaleding running such as fire protection, housekeeping, plumbing, boiler plant operation, laundry services and other essential roles. and we should remember that year after year the v.a. has had challenges in addressing these critical gaps. last year the v.a. reported almost 3,000 severe occupational staffing shortages, but that didn't stop this administration from pulling every pending job offer the day they took office. and while some have been reinstated, others are still in

limbo. just one example, v.a. employees at a facility focused on research and care for veterans with late-stage cancer were told their jobs were under review and they may be terminated altogether. now i know everybody in this chamber believes that we made a commitment to those who have served this country in uniform, and we don't want to fail our veterans when they return home and enter civilian life. so how does this firing the people who take care of them help us fulfill that commitment? and then if we want to talk about jobs that keep americans safe, let's talk about keeping planes from falling out of the sky or colliding on runways. i work closely with the national air traffic control union and the faa's collaborative resource workforce group to adopt a new

staffing model in last year's authorization bill. we have a significant number of air traffic controllers in new hampshire. they do a great job of keeping people and the flying public safe as they enter north america down to new york in some of the most congested airspaces in the country. the faa made p good progress in hiring last year as a result. there's still more than 3, 500 controllers who are short of their staffing target and the controllers we have work six-day week, ten hour days on a good week. they're exhausted and face severe mental health challenges as a result. the faa estimated that 10% of the federal air traffic controller workforce would depart last year as a result of this, these conditions. and despite this, air traffic

controllers, they still haven't been told conclusively whether or not air traffic controllers are exempt from the hiring freeze. preventing us from filling shortages and taking care of some of our most vulnerable wasn't enough, omb is actively trying to get rid of the civil servants we do have. this week millions of federal employees received e-mails offering to pay their salaries for the rest of the fiscal year in exchange for resigning now. and that included every single air traffic controller in the country. now you might be asking yourself why when we're short more than 3,500 air traffic controllers did we offer to pay the ones we have not to work. like the hiring freeze, this order is an irresponsible, reckless, nontargeted effort that could have devastating consequences for critical positions.

what's more, they're trying to convince us that this will save money, making it clear that even if we lose thousands of employees with no plans to replace them, we'll be better off. well, that's bad news for tourism in new hampshire, for those who work closely with u.s. forest service personnel and depend on sound management of the white mountain national forest. and it's bad news for people who value clean air and clean water. this message was also sent to more than 780,000 civilian employees who work for the department of defense. in new hampshire, we have almost 8,000 civilians who work at the portsmouth naval shipyard that we share with the state of maine. there are four public shipyards in the united states. our employees in portsmouth have the best on-time, on-budget

record of any of the public shipyards. these employees contribute to the maintenance of nuclear submarines an essential tenet of our national security and a crucial capability to deter conflict. any impact to their workforce will strain a shipbuilding industrial base that is already saturated with demand to meet the requirements of our navy. the bottom line, if the shipyard can't get boats to the fleet on time, our nation is less safe. the freeze on federal assistance also affects critical programs that support men and women in uniform, including dod's financial assistance and grant programs that support servicemembers and their families. this administration has said repeatedly that it wants to restore the warrior ethos at the pentagon. i don't know about you, but slashing our defense workforce doesn't help me sleep any better at night. i don't think that restores the warrior ethos.

so, in conclusion, i see my other colleagues here, and i know they're waiting to speak. but the actions this week have only created confusion, chaos, and stress. that's the best case scenario if it ends right now. but if not, if the trump administration and elon musk get their way and cut these programs, working americans will be the ones to suffer the most. the need for housing, sewers and child care doesn't go away when this administration says they don't want to pay the bills. these costs just get pushed and end up coming out of people's paychecks, ends up being paid on the backed of our local taxpayers. again, the administration tried to walk this back by rescinding monday's memo, but then they

added confusion by claiming that the underlying funding freeze was still in place. and they're unable to answer basic questions about who and what will be affected. maybe it's just me and the hundreds of granite staters i've heard from, but if you're going to stom all the critical funding that helps seniors, children and families across this country, you need a better answer than we're hearing from this white house. instead what we heard during the white house briefing when asked one of the basic questions americans were told we'll check on that and we'll get back to you. so the granite staters who have called my office in distress, wondering what this far-reaching, unprecedented move means for their lives and their livelihoods, don't worry, the white house is going to get back to you. that's outrageous, and this despite not one, but two federal judges who have ordered the white house to stop holding these funds.