there right when you need them. how do you know what is great internet? because it works. we're sparklight and we're always working for you. >> sparklight supports c-span as a public service, along with these oth television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> and a look at a live shot of the u.s. capitol this wednesday morning as the senate is about to gavel in for the day. senators are considering the nomination of jamieson greer to be the trump administration's u.s. trade representative. a final confirmation vote will be held today at noon eastern. we take you live now to the senate floor here on c-span2. ... the president pro tempore: the senate will come to order. our chaplain, dr. black, will open the senate with prayer. the chaplain: let us pray.

our father, thank you for your patience. you listen to our prayers even when we have insufficient faith. guide our steps particularly when we attempt to shape our own destiny. today, lead our lawmakers to the successful fulfillment of your purposes. as they strive to honor you, strengthen them with an that will keep them strong in the face of complex challenges. lord, make them grateful that you have given them the honor of serving you and country.

lord, bless senator kevin cramer with your healing hands, we pray in your mighty name amen. >> please join me in the pledge of allegiance. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the president pro tempore: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved.

mr. grassley: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from iowa.

mr. grassley: today i come to the senate floor to congratulate a legend in broadcasting business, ron steele is a longtime journalist from my hometown tv station, kwwl, waterloo, iowa. tomorrow will be his last day behind the anchor desk, after more than 50 years bringing news, weather, and sports to iowans. over the years he's interviewed news makers from around the world and across our state, spanning u.s. presidents, nobel laureates, olympic medallists, and hometown athletes. iowa's families in the cedar valley look forward to his weekly coverage of friday night

heroes. he also launched a public affairs program called "the steele report" where he interviewed more than 400 people, including this u.s. senator. as an avid news consumer, i hold ron's work in high regard. he's received recognition for his outstanding work, including the prestigious jack shelly award from the iowa broadcast news association, as well as multiple emmy awards. ron didn't let grass grow underneath his feet behind the anchor's desk. he leveraged his platform to become an invaluable civic leader across cedar valley, bringing particular focus to special needs kids.

ron's program called "-iowa ch child" series helped 200 children find their forever families. like my work in the united states senate on foster care, what i hear from foster care kids is they're shunned from one family to another over the course of a year. i'd like to have a mom and dad and a home, and that's what ron was helping these 200 children find. his leadership also was instrumental in raising enough money for the five sullivan brothers iowa veterans museum in waterloo. i don't expect people in washington to know about the sullivan brothers, but they are the five brothers that were on the same destroyer in 1942,

world war ii, and it sunk and they all lost their lives. there's some trees planted out here on the capitol complex in their memory. five japanese trees. so, from one small town kid to another, i appreciate ron's commitment to our community and to the people of iowa. he will certainly be missed behind the news desk. barbara, my wife, and i wish the entire steele family the very best in the years ahead. i yield the floor and i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the clerk: ms. alsobrooks.

elon musk is working with cabinet secretaries everyday to waste fraud and abuse of agencies so you see many of the cabinet secretaries all of the various take the advice and direction of doge piece 80% of spa staff are back in the office for the american taxpayer epa administrator seldom did he found $20 million that was pushed out the door by the blighted administration in the last few weeks $2 million went to a group that stacey abrams apparently runs they only had $100 in the bank that i got a $2 billion check very interesting so is looking at that stop all the cabinet secretaries are working alongside doge providing updates on their efforts in providing updates on what they are doing up there agencies in terms of policy on implementing the promises the president made on the campaign trail.

i haven't asked him but i certainly can. amy gleason has been the doge administrator for quite some time. several weeks maybe a month i'm not sure the specific timeline she's a career official stop she's doing her job as the administrator of this organization i know everybody is very interested in her name and she hasn't what she does there's a lot of work for the federal government they are just trying to do their job and that's what she's doing. you have to ask them they are

clearly unaware i don't know stop everybody knew and we said no she was all of you because you are in the media so obsessed with this for some reason so in the effort of transparency we told you that person is stuck there are so many bigger things in the world than who the doge administrator is but for some reason everybody in the press corps is so obsessed with this back you were incessantly asking so we thought okay we will be transparent now you know what is. any further questions? the critical minerals still in the it's absolutely pivotal we are very close to the finish line and getting the deal done and the president said yesterday he will welcome him to the white house to see if that's what he wants to do i

will check with nsc to see where it stands but that's where it stood the last time i checked. quorum call:

y'all want to talk eggs let's do it. first of all, thank you all so much, really great to be here to talk about this clearly the key issues facing america today are egg prices. the president has made it one of his priorities for minute one that we bring the prices down for consumers while protecting america's farmers and very quickly you can see here this chart the prices of egg dr. biden have skyrocketed under trump went down a little bit obama went up a little bit it's more than just the avian flu but certainly that's been the driver. just this morning. just this morning we announced a plan to attack the avian flu and how we pull it back out

over poultry producers but secondly, i would bring the cost of eggs down that plan has five parts the first part is bio security part that means how do we lack the poultry guards down ahead of me ensure that egg laying chickens aren't getting the disease mostly comes from wilde follow that flyover or get into the barn. the usda will produce at no charge an audit to every single egg farmers of the country and we will help them secure their farms 150 private projects on this exact project only one has gotten the avian flu since the usda came in and helped left the barn's down secondly, we will work to move much more quickly on repopulating the 160 million birds 11 pulled in just the last few months.

third is the regulation ever that's ensuring that the rules that have been layered on our producers our egg producers over the last four years we began to feel those back that will allow costs to come down it's a little bit more long-term we imprint their rules and play .cost the eggs to go up without the avian flu as part of it. the fourth is we are looking to import eggs in the short term this is just the cost piece already in discussions there has been if you dig around will figure out which countries but talking to three or four countries about getting between 70 million and 100 million eggs into the country in the next month or two. which of course will help with supply and demand. the final long-term is putting significant funds in vaccines and therapeutic research. our egg layers and boilers industry does not use vaccinations right now a lot of the history ãã night, almost every single house republican signed their names to what would be the largest

medicaid cuts in american history. the havoc, the damage that that would do to tens of millions of american families would be almost unprecedented when it comes to medicaid. why did republicans do it? so they could cut taxes for the billionaires club. the republican japans is quickly taking shape. under donald trump's republican pa party, billionaires win, american families lose. last night proved that senate democrats are right -- it doesn't matter if republicans go with one bill or two bills or 50 bills. the end game for republicans has always been the same, cutting taxes force billionaires and forcing american families to pick up the tab. now the attention returns to the republican senate. republican senators know these billionaire tax breaks are

unpopular, particularly because it will push deep, nasty cuts to medicaid. when i hear the republican leadership talk about the bills they propose, they never mention the tax cuts to billionaires, which is the crown jewel, in their minds, of what they're doing, but they're afraid to mention it because they know how unpopular it is with the american people. they know it's going to increase the deficit by up to $5 trillion. these deficit hawks on the other side of the aisle and the house are willing to increase the deficit by that much. so, what do republicans -- what are they doing about it, knowing how high they would increase the diff deficit, rise in interest rates, rise in costs, risk of economic d downturn? what do they do? instead of facing the problem head on, they resort -- they're resorting to budget gimmicks to hide the true cost of their billionaire tax cuts. they want to use something, some

of them, called a current policy bas baseline. in essence, current policy baseline is an attempt to magically turn $5 trillion of deficit spending into zero dollars on their balance sheets. the deficit would still be there. it would still go up by $5 trillion in actual terms, but this sleight of hand, this hocus-pocus says it's not going to appear on a balance sheet because beer calling it current -- because we're calling it current policy baseline. congress, democrat or republican, liberal or conservative, has never used a current policy baseline for reconciliation, and for good reason. any junior high school math student could tell you their current policy baseline gimmickry is utter nonsense. it's an attempt for senate republicans to hide the true cost of their billionaire tax

cuts from the american people. at least house republicans are being honest about the outrageous cost of their tax cuts in terms of the did he ever sit. in fact -- in terms of the deficit. in fact, the house freedom caucus is being far more honest about the deficit than our senate republican colleagues. maybe the freedom caucus should send those debt clocks that representative thomas massie wears on his lapel to the senate republicans. now, what happened in the house last night, and what happened last week in the senate, is only the beginning. democrats are going to fight these billionaire tax cuts tooth and nail. democrats are glad to have this debate, because the american people will be aghast when they learn what's really in the republican tax bill. and that is tax breaks, huge tax breaks, for their billionaire

buddies, who are all doing well, god bless them, but the last thing america needs is another tax break for them, who are so rich already. americans are worried that with these tax breaks, inflation is going to get worse. americans are worried that donald trump will start a trade war with our allies and make trips to the grocery store an utter nightmare. we learned yesterday, for instance, that consumer confidence saw its biggest drop last month in four years. in four years! so this idea that the republican can hide what they're doing to the american people is not working, and we democrats are going to make sure that americans know exactly what they're doing in terms of their tax breaks for billionaires hurting the average american. the issues that americans are actually worried about are costs, are inflation, are

getting decent health care. but what are the republicans spending their time on here in congress? cutting taxes for billionaires, and then hiding the true costs on the deficit with a sleight of hand. they're also slashing away at medicaid and snap and so many other services that bring down the cost of living. this is absolutely not what the american people signed up for, and republicans know it, because they don't talk about it. talk about how $2 trillion, close to $2 trillion in your plan goes to the very wealthiest in american. you can't talk about it. you know why? because you know how unpopular it is. yes, it's true that the small number of very wealthy people who have such a -- wealthy, greedy people, i might say, who want their taxes even lower, has a disproportionate hold on the republican party in the house and senate.

so they're doing it, but they're afraid to talk about it, and for sure, when it comes to these tax cuts, when it comes to the cuts in medicaid and so many other bad things that their budget does, democrats will fight tooth and nail to prevent them. doge -- day by day, americans are getting more alarmed by the slash-and-burn approach doge is taking to basic government programs. americans certainly want a more efficient government. but what doge and donald trump are doing is not efficiency. instead, it's chaos. americans did not sign up for chaos, that's for sure. americans did not sign up for doge to take a chainsaw, for instance, to aviation safety. there was another near miss, this time in chicago, in the air thank god no one was hurt. but this shows the immense importance of having a fully staffed faa. how on earth is it efficiency to

fire aviation safety assistance or maintenance mechanics or people who help with safety inspections or repairs? that's just what doge did. i can't imagine any american thinks that's efficiency. the only thing that's going to accomplish is making flying less safe. it's going to lead to delays and mix-ups at airports. and not even the 9/11 families who lost loved ones or were hurt as they rushed to the towers after, right after 9/11, not even these folks were save -- were safe from the doge buzz saw. doge tried to axe the workforce for the world trade center health program. i'm glad we pushed donald trump and doge to reverse. later today, i will join senator gillibrand, representatives goldman and gab reno to -- gaba

reno to reintroduce the 9/11 world trade center health program. two months after musk tanked the bipartisan bill in december. 9/11 families deserve to go treated with dignity, with respect, not with the contempt we see from doge. no good business operator would take the slash-and-burn approach doge is taking. people's social security benefits are also at risk. their ability to see a doctor is at stake. their ability to put kids in day care is at stake. the longer doge is allowed to rain chaos on the american people, the stronger the backlash will become. let's not forget, even by their most optimistic projections and they've had to reduce them, the amount of money doge will cut is far less than the amount of the deficit created by the huge

republican tax cut. so all this cut that they need to do this for deficit reduction is belied by their clinging to a deficit-creating, a whopping deficit creation by the tax cut. on the methane cra -- today, senate republicans will advance a measure undoing one of the most important tools we have to lower energy prices and hold big oil and gas accountable. the republicans, once again in obeisance to the oil and gas industry, are pushing a resolution to reverse the methane waste emissions charge, the methane waste emissions charge which democrats passed in the inflation reduction act. it makes big oil companies pay when they leak excessive and harmful levels of methane. typically, the more methane a company leaks during drilling, the more these companies will have to charge for the methane they do deliver, and the more gas prices will go up for families and businesses.

the oil companies, they don't believe in what our economists call externalities. they think they can just throw methane into the air and let everyone else pay the price, in terms of climate change and bad health for people, etc. and it will make gas prices what they want to do, our republican colleagues, gas prices will go up for families and businesses. our law was reasonable, commonsense, carefully tailored -- a carefully tailored safeguard to prevent consumers from footing the bill of big oil's methane waste, paired with federal funding to help oil companies reduce their waste. reducing methane, reducing methane waste in the atmosphere saves consumers money, it protects local communities from pollution, and methane, as you know, is a super potent greenhouse gas, and scientists

agree that reducing methane is one of the best things we can do to combat climate change. its dill tierious effects -- dill tierious effects -- why do republicans want to overturn it so badly? as typical, republicans are putting the needs of big oil and gas companies over the needs of the american people, over the health of the american people, over the health of our globe. americans don't want big oil and gas running the show. americans don't want higher gas prices, but that is what the republicans are doing with today's cra vote. today's vote will show the american people once again who's on your side and who's on the side of oil and gas -- big oil and gas. i hope everyone watches closely. i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

quorum call: the clerk: ms. alsobrooks.

today at noon the sun jamison greer's nomination of the chamber also made a resolution one of them aims to end the national energy the other would block the environmental protection agency from limiting a fee on excess methane nations established in the 2022 inflation when the vote happens you can watch them live here on c-span2.

congressman, will connect to the program >> let's start with the gop budget resolution that passed today you voted for it tell us why you voted for it. >> it really is the first step in reclaiming the kind of growth and vitality america has back in president trump's first term, if you remember back then we were looking at 3.2, 3.5 i think when he had 4.2 gdp growth. it can be very important if we are going to get out of this national debt we are looking at we have to not only cut were not cut our way to greatness we have to grow as well. it takes cutting and growing so this stuff last night bypassing the concurrent resolution bill the budget resolution when it

will allow us to do it gives instructions and sets the parameters for going forward with reconciliation bill it's kind of like instructions from the budget committee to all the other committees to go to their work to cut the floor of the cuts we are looking for is 1.5 trillion over 10 years. so all those committees will go out and develop their own bill each one individually for their area of authorization. and they will present them to the budget office and then the budget committee will take all of those bills roll them into one big beautiful bill.

>> part of the budget resolution is requiring the house energy and commerce committee to sign $880 billion in cuts stop part of the committee is medicaid. does that mean medicaid is on the table for cuts? >> not benefits. no one's benefits are going to be cut. if there is waste fraud and abuse we will collect about and we believe there is. >> the estimate was 50 billion there's a long way from 880 billing. >> the commitment has been we are not going to change, no one benefits are going to be impacted at all. so every committee, that's why passing this last night was so important because now we get to go do the work searching for

the cuts. all 12 committees. in addition to medicaid the children's health insurance program called chip will bill be cuts to those benefits? >> i don't know. we have to wait and see what the committee does. i can't talk about specific cuts because they have yet. so this resolution we passed last night simply sets the parameters for the cuts they need to go find. that's not the top line before they could cut more if they could find more than. in addition -- the presiding officer: without objection. mr. barrasso: mr. president, when it comes to american energy, the emergency siren is

blaring. after four years of reckless regulations and restrictions by the democrat administration, energy prices have jumped 31%. families are feeling it all across the country. to most americans this is the definition of an energy emergency. to senate democrats it's an inconvenient truth. today democrats are trying to reverse president trump's national energy emergency. they're bringing it right here to the floor of the united states senate. they are trying to block commonsense moyers that are -- measures that are going to address painfully high energy prices, under which american families have been suffering. this national energy emergency is part of president trump's swift actions, actions to unleash american energy. it's part of this broader vision of affordable, reliable, available american energy. democrats oppose all of that. they opposed it for the last

four years, they still oppose it. they have learned nothing from four years of failure. democrats remain the party of high energy prices. that's what they want. they think it is going to help the climate. democrats remain the party of painful and punishing regulations, they remain the party on never ending dependence on foreign dictators for energy that we have right here. democrats want to continue the war on american energy, and that's why they're going to line up and oppose what president trump is trying to do to bring energy prices down. republicans know that the best way to lower prices for the american people is to support more american energy production. we have it here, we ought to use it. we have the energy, not just that we have the energy, we have the workers, excellent, qualified, hardworking americans and they know how to produce

american energy responsibly. last week senate republicans here in this body passed a budget to secure the border, unleash american energy, to rebuild our military, and we are taking further action to address high-energy prices and cut red tape. the senate -- we're working today on two important resolutions, doing it this entire week, using something called the congressional review act. the first is from senator john kennedy of louisiana. this would roll back a midnight energy production in the gulf of america. the senate passed it yesterday. the second is from senator john hoeven of north dakota. his resolution cuts about $7 billion in new natural gas taxes on energy producers. $7 billion of new taxes, where did it come from? it came from the democrats. this tax on american energy hits

american families who use the energy to heat their homes. it was mandated by the democrats' reckless tax and spending bill. the democrat's tax penalizing american taxes in america. the golden age of american energy is the foundation of our golden age for america. it's linked directly to the prices that we pay, to the technology we use and the world we live in. republicans are not going to allow the sticky thorns of red tape to entangle american energy. republicans are reversing these pu punishing regulations. that's what we're doing today. we're taking the handcuffs off of american energy. we are paving the way for affordable, reliable american energy production. unleashing american energy means lower prices, it means more

innovation, it means more safety and stability in our communities and in our economy. america is an energy superpower and we need to act like it. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor.

i'm still scraping my jaw off the darn floor acting crazy ai generated video that shared. i want to know how you got what are we going to do take our troops clear out gaza and build trump towers and golan trump statues are you gonna stand up against this craziness? >> let's get a response.

>> i think some of those things you have to take what they are, i don't think that's trump's intentions little things is going to build all of that i think i think it's a bit of humor lord knows we could use some humor. also she asked about medicaid, no benefits are to be cut. the benefits are being protected no american is going to be thrown off medicaid but there are plenty of waste fraud and abuse demand system that we think we can certainly do a much better job than the previous restriction has done.

>> congressman, can you please clarify what you mean talk about 1.5 trillion over 10 years when i do the math on that it comes out to maybe $150 billion a year which is minimal and when you are running multi trillion dollar deficits where will the debt go except for up wax great point. when you look at it year-over-year it's not as tragic as some people think. $1.5 trillion, that is over 10 years. but there are substantial cuts because the projection national debt as well but that that's also why i say, it's not enough that and try to cut their way out of it we also have to grow in the growth that we saw, in

fact, this was an interesting number one trumps first term one percentage point of gdp growth the congressional budget office scored a back tax cut jobs bill with a 1.9% gdp growth over the next 10 years and i know this but i know if you allow people to keep $4.5 trillion more of their money you allow businesses to keep more of their money, giving families child tax cut, i know they are going to spend the money invested in the economy is going to grow and it.so we mentioned it was going up 3.23.5 4.2, i asked ways at

that time i said after people tell me what is one extra percentage growth work instead of 1.9 what if we were consistent at 2.9. that number was $274 billion. they score that bill is $1.2 trillion deficit. over 10 years but it was not because they incorrectly projected the gdp growth based on the cuts will make. so a lot of this does sound bigger you talk about 10 years but that's the way they do it appeared. >> congressman, you have repeated the talking point that tax cuts bring in more money,

my question would be, the trump tax cuts brought in money how do we increase the debt by $1 trillion, where did that money go. >> that money was in the ara, the hallway, a lot of the programs that came after president trump left office. the whole green new deal those programs. >> this is phil and marion genia, hi. >> i've got a question, do you believe businesses who need pay any ãthey get. >> any kind what? >> any kind of bailouts. >> for covid? or the.

>> anything like a bankruptcy or whatever. >> bailout for businesses. >> bailout for businesses i don't think any business is too big to fail i thought that was a mistake in 2008 wasn't here but i can tell you i would never vote for a bailout like that. >> here is still tennessee, independent, hi. >> how are you? i've been trying to get in touch with y'all, thank you all, i look at your program every morning the bin that has me upset now is donald trump elon musk with the video over in gaza he's telling everybody what they want to do. he said putting america first, how are you ready to invest all this money to get to a statute and i get sick of the republicans bending over backwards. there used to be strong i'm

independent i'm an american, period. that's what we need to start looking at. donald trump and elon musk have gone too far they said he's the president, okay, you're supposed to be a shining light an example, how are you an example when you keep breaking the law but keep talking about the wall. there is no way that you got the press secretary they want to decide who comes in so they can determine what question the person asked what they're supposed to report that's not free speech. that's dictatorship stop misinformation. the republicans, you don't work for donald trump you work for the american people. he could take you out i believe that's the biggest problem they all feared donald trump they've given him elon musk too much power donald trump talks about security, how is it secure when you have individuals going

through personal information that has not been cleared. i do want to ask about what he said about the fear of getting primary to, elon musk has been very clear if you go against trumps agenda we will primary you and he's got the money to do it are you afraid about congressman? no because i don't think he's going to ask me to do anything that i wouldn't want to do. number one. we have to remember, grant, the american public president trump into office. he is now doing exactly what he said he was going to do.in fact, his approval numbers are 53% stop 70% of folks polled says he's doing, including democrats, said he's doing exactly what he said he was, do. when he got elected.

so i don't know how you get mad at that. the video, take a breath, everybody needs to relax and enjoy some of the humor around you. >> subzero former law enforcement officer want to ask about the fbi. nbc news article about the number two, it says fbi agents express shock and dismay over naming of right-wing podcast or to the number two post that's dan bowens you know he had once called fbi review remotely corrupt and suggested office podcast money he was prepared to step out of his role as the maga warrior. what do you think were you shocked and dismayed? >> not really because i think we need those kinds of disruptions. i went through the fbi national academy to hundred and 71st session i was very proud of my

affiliation with the fbi the work that we did together not only during my time growing up in the agency in jacksonville but also lifetime in trenton i was on judiciary my first term i read the emails from peter strunk and lisa page andy mccabe. my blood ran cold it was scary. so and then look at the 702 violations. tens and tens of thousand 702 code violations. >> explained that. >> 702 is where you collect data on foreign soil but sometimes in the collection of the data they might be talking to someone in america but all that information is captured.

if you have a predicate act you can query it, let's say all the information goes into the soleimani inbox. can't read it all is it's coming and there's so much of it so it goes and like we will call it an inbox. i see happy birthday mimi from soleimani. i'm like soleimani and mimi are talking now i can go to my inbox and say i want to see all the conversations i've already legally collected i want to see all of those and see what other correspondence you got. then if i see "mimi, the bomb is on the way" then i know i have to go get a warrant to

further investigate. >> you are saying any of the queries on american is illegal. >> know that's the legal process. illegal is when i have no predicate act i just say i saw mimi on c-span i think i'm going to run her and soleimani box or maybe because she's in the soleimani inbox i'm going to run her in the maduro inbox. you can't do that. i'm deeply concerned about what's going on at the fbi. deeply. i believe the men and women in the field level the ones i work with they are great folks they like the constitution. but. >> i want to ask you about the

bill you reintroduced call with protect and serve act first tell us what it does and what you expect will happen in the senate. >> last year police officers were targeted by ambush 61 times. 79 officers were shot in the 61 ambush. 50 officers last year were killed by gunfire. so and it was even worse that's actually down some which is good news to us. but when i dropped the bill which flew through the house in 2010 because of all the anti-police rhetoric that was out there in the fact that ambushes were significantly, no i tell folks, if you want to target the police, i'm going to target you and we are going to come after you with federal

violation that's on top of whatever you might face within your state. but if you want to target the police and harm a police officer you're looking at a 10 year minimum mandatory. if you could not kill one it's life or if he dies or murdered them the death penalty. >> let's see if we can get a call from patrick naples florida democrat go-ahead. >> good morning i come from a long line of southern immigrants i spent half my life being brainwashed the other half making amends. i'm listening to the same thing over and over again. i want to know the difference between hillary's emails and trump stealing thousands of our pertinent documents the difference between the swamp and all the stuff the republicans complained about being in washington and now

letting elon and his little army take over our country you are a disgrace i'm sorry. thank you. listen patrick, i have to tell you, elon is not making any of these changes. he reports to the president and the president, being the executive of the executive branch, running all of these executive agencies, they make the decisions on what to do about what he has found.so you talk about the emails and i guess crossfire hurricane with hillary. that's absolutely no comparison

to the president who says that he waived the security clearance on the papers and took them to mar-a-lago. those two things are not even comparable. >> regarding elon musk, reuters is reporting that he will be attending trump's first cabinet meeting as workers brace for more uncertainty.

. the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. reed: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, initial, i want to make very brief comments on the legislation that my colleagues, senator heinrich and senator kaine, are advancing, and which will be voted upon later this afternoon. i am proud to be a cosponsor of the resolution which will o

overturn president trump's really sham energy emergency. at a time when the u.s. is already producing record amounts of oil and gas, the president wants to bypass laws and explore eminent domain to fast track more fossil fuel projects, not alternate energy, fossil fuel projects. really not to lower prices or create jobs, but to benefit his big oil donors, who president trump reportedly asked to donate $1 billion to his campaign. it sounds awfully like quid pro quo, which in the past was frowned upon by presidents. the truth is the president's executive orders on energy, including his unlawful pause on investments from the inflation reduction act, has threatened to raise prices, kill good-paying american jobs, and cede economic

opportunities to china. this is true in my home state of rhode island, where offshore wind companies work hand in hand with the local communities, labor leaders, local officials to invest in good-paying jobs for rhode island. in the president's actions threaten that progress. so i look forward to voting in favor of this resolution when it comes up later today. mr. president, my key topic this morning is to speak about the tremendous value that noaa, the national oceanic and atmospheric administration, provides to the american people. over the past few weeks, we've heard alarming reports that the trump administration wants to make good on its project 2025 promise to, quote, break up and d downsize and privatize portions of noaa, including the national

weather service. destroying noaa in this way would be an enormous blunder that would hurt our economy, hamper innovation, and increase the risks to american lives and property. the fact is that noaa accounts for just one-tent of 1% of the federal budget. yet it is delivering information and research absolutely vital to our economic prosperity. the reports we see on the local news, on the weather channel and all our smartphones are built on forecasts and information generated by the national weather service, and its array of scientists, satellites, and equipment. noaa's tornado and hurricane warning systems provide local emergency managers critical information to prepare and respond to storms, often up to a week in advance. noaa's aviation forecast helps

ensure planes can take off and land at their destination safely. noaa's seasonal forecasts help farmers plant and grow our food. on the seas noaa's nautical charting and mapping services are used by everyone from recreational boaters to international shipping companies. its exploration of uncharted portions of the ocean floor gives -- give us insights into parts of the planet that are maybe more mysterious than outer space. noaa works to protect our fishing industry and bring american seafood to kitchen tables around the world, supporting 1.7 million fishing jobs, a quarter trillion dollars in seafood industry sales, and

$117 billion in value-added impacts. and the list goes on and on and on. a study by the american meteorological society found every dollar invested in the national weather service produces 73 $in value -- $73 in value to the american people. and noaa isn't a creature of washington, d.c.. it's in norman, oklahoma, where noaa's storm prediction center tracks severe weather and tornado warnings. it's in florida, where noaa's national hurricane center monitors incoming storms to save lives and mitigate properly loss. it's in alaska, where scientists at noaa's fisheries science center work to maintain healthy fish populations to support local fishermen. and it's in my home state of rhode island, the ocean state, where noaa is building atlantic marine operations center, which

will centralize its operations and take advantage of the expertise found in rhode island and our nearby states. we have an incredible concentration of oceanographic and marine scientists. we have the naval underwater center in newport. they are the leaders in research for underseas vessels, issues critical to our national security. the university of rhode island, just across the bay, has a nationally recognized school of oceanography. and they've just voted millions of dollars to upgrade and improve that. they will receive a new research vessel shortly. we have partnerships with wood's hole, in massachusetts, just probably 45 minutes away. this is where the scientific

center on oceanography is gradually emerging. and so noaa's arrival will be beneficial, but it won't be a result of simply their efforts. it will be the combination of what we've already put in place. noaa is, as i said, situated in an area where the blue economy, which includes our graduate school of oceanography, the university of rhode island, the naval warfare center, small shipyards, and one of the most important fishing ports on the east coast, they will become an integral part of that. so they will be sustained and supported at the same time they sustain and support our current efforts. as we face new and ever-growing challenges, including those driven by climate change and extreme weather, pntrs work is

more -- noaa's work is more vital than ever. the president and mr. musk's reckless threats to noaa's workforce, budget and scientist research will make us less prepared, cost more money and indeed lives. craig mclean, who served as noaa's top scientist during the first trump administration said as the threats posed by the president and elon musk, quote, it's dire. the way that this is being handled is with ignorance and a sledgehammer, rather than the appropriate discretion that's necessary. protecting noaa and its workforce is an investment in our future, an investment in our ability to predicts and prepare for natural disasters, and in the resilience of our planet, and i urge the president and my colleagues to protect noaa and ensure it can continue to carry out its mission and provide valuable service to the american people that, mr. president, i thank

you, and i will yield the floor. the presiding officer: morning business is closed. under the previous order, the committee on energy and natural resources is discharged from further consideration of s.j. resolution 10 and the senate will proceed to the consideration of the joint resolution, which the clerk will report. the clerk: s.j. res. 10, terminating the national emergency declared with respect to energy. the presiding officer: under the previous order, there will be up to six hours for debate only, with the time equally divided between the leaders or their designees. mr. cornyn: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: mr. president, i know there's a lot going on in washington, d.c. these days, given the speed and the aggressiveness with which president trump and his administration have attacked his agenda, and i use that in a very positive way. it gets a little confusing to

figure out what's important and what's maybe not quite so important. but i'd like to talk about one thing that's been very top of mind for a lot of us here in the house and the senate, and that of course is the process to implement president trump's america first agenda. this is what the election was about, just on november 5, and of course a lot of ink has been spilled on the mechanics of the process, talking about budget resolutions, reconciliation instructions, and things that are jibberish to most americans, but this is the process by which we do the job of implementing president trump's american first agenda. last week, my senate colleagues and i were here late into the night and into the early morning voting on amendments to the budget passed out of the senate budget committee, on which i

serve. our colleagues in the house voted to pass their version last night. so, now we find ourselves at a critical juncture with a different budget resolution in the house from that passed by the senate. as i said, we're we've been spending a lot of time and energy talking about procedural questions up to this point, questions over whether the republicans will enact president trump's agenda in one bill or two, whether the bill that eventually reaches the president's desk would originate in the house or the senate. a great deal of discussion and debate has been ongoing about all these details and more. but what is most important is to keep our eye on the prize, what we're actually trying to accomplish. as i mentioned at the beginning,

last november millions of americans went to the poll and elected president trump, and to turn the page on the last four years of the biden administration's disastrous inflationary policies. we finally reached the point where, as admiral mullen, when asked what the biggest threat to our national security was, he said it was the debt. at the time, i think many of us, me included, thought, well, that's kind of an interesting take. we've finally come to the point where admiral mullen's statement and reality have con vernaled, where we're now -- converged. where we're now paying more interest on the national debt than on defense of our nation. in a dangerous world, which seems to be getting more dangerous all the time. we spend about 2.8% of our gross domestic product on national

domestic, and there's no question in my mind that we're going to have to up that figure substantially. but we can't do it by continuing to borrow against our nation's credit card and to crowd out other investment and to pass that debt on to our children and grandchildren. that's just flat immoral. so now the task at hand is to enact the policies that the american people voted for, and what are those policies? well, first and foremost, we have to secure the southern border. i represent a state of about 31 million people, with 1200-mile common border between the united states and mexico. we know in texas what the price that we've had to pay, not just at the border, not just in texas, but throughout the nation for the open border policies of the biden administration. customs and border protection

encounters with illegal migrants increased more than 40%, from fiscal year to 21 to fiscal 2023, totaling more than ten million encounters nationwide. when we say this is an encounter, this is people showing up, claim asylum, only to be released into the interior of the united states, and given a court date that may be ten years off, or simply paroled, which means released into the united states, given a work permit. in other words, in the words of the border patrol when i asked them what do you think the best solution is to deal with this flood of humanity coming across the border, they use one word, they said consequences. there have to be consequences to coming to the united states outside of legal immigration channels. and during the biden

administration, there simply were no consequences. it was like having a big green traffic light on the border, telling people from anywhere around the world, come on in. of course, the people who facilitated that are these criminal organizations, the cartels that have now been designated as foreign terrorist organizations by the trump administration, and oh, by the way, not only did they traffic in human beings for all sorts of purposes, including human trafficking of children, young girls, young -- young girls and boys, they facilitated drugs across the body that took the lives of more than 100,000 americans last year alone. many of those were from fentanyl, a word that has become more common lately because it's ubiquitous, it's in states like montana, states like texas, and

many of my colleagues said as a result of the disastrous border policies of the biden policy, every state is a border state. well, on top of all the people that were simply released, basically enriching the cartels, who charge by the head and making it easier for them to smuggle drugs into the united states, more than 1.7 million got-aways evaded border patrol. what that means is that they were seen on a camera or some sort of censor, but -- sensor, but by the time the border patrol showed up, they were gone. and these are, frankly, people who are up to no good, whether they had criminal records, carrying drugs, or some other reason to avoid law enforcement. these are not honest, hardworking people that just simply wanted a better way of life.

1.7 million got-aways. the human and drug trafficking facilitated by the biden administration's open border policies have caused immeasurable suffering to the people of texas and the people of the nation. the chinese fentanyl manufactured with chinese precursors smuggled through the open border, has taken tens of thousands of american lives. it is a shocking statistic to me that out of the 70,000 or so young people mainly who died as a result of ingesting fentanyl, unbeknownst to them, they thought they were actually consuming something else, a percocet, found out that it was fentanyl, a deadly drug, which is now the leading cause of death for young people between the age of 18 and 45. we know where it comes from. the chemicals come from china.

we know where it goes to be manufactured and made to look like relatively innocuous pills to be taken by young people, it comes from across mexico. yet the biden administration's border policies made it easier, not harder, for that to happen and the results, as i said, have been disastrous. now it's up to us to right the ship by enacting president trump's border security agenda. but we also have other work to do. we have to extend the expiring tax provisions of the tax cuts and jobs act, a bill that we passed in 2017 and after five years many provisions of that tax bill expire. if congress fails to extend the tax cuts championed by president trump in his first

term and passed by republican majorities in the house and senate, americans will face the highest tax increase in recent history. a family of four making around $80,000 a year will see a $$1,700 a year tax hike if these provisions expire. let me say that again. a family of four making around $80,000 a year will see a tax increase of $1,700 next year if these provisions expire. the reason i emphasize that because to listen to our democratic colleagues, you would think it's all about billionaires and millionaires. but, no, 62% of american taxpayers would pay more taxes if we experience a multitrillion-dollar tax increase as a result of the expiration of these provisions in 2025.

well, after four years of the highest inflation we've had in the last 40 years, families have struggled to keep up. in fact, many of them have been struck -- stuck with an effective pay cut and a reduction in their standard of living because the same dollars in their pocket have had less purchasing power than they used to as a result of this insidious secret or invisible tax known as inflation. so now is not the time to slap these american families with a tax increase. that would be insult to injury. after washington democrats eroded the purchasing power of american families, it would only add insult to injury to go back to those same families in texas and elsewhere and insist that the government needs to take even more of their hard-earned

paycheck come tax day. i was proud to work with president trump in 2017, along with all of my colleagues. i happen to be the chief vote counter back then as majority whip when we passed the tax cuts and jobs act and made sure that it had the necessary support to get across the finish line. it wasn't easy, but it was important and it had a huge impact on the quality of life and standard of living of millions and millions of americans. and so i look forward to working with my colleagues here in the senate to extend those expiring provisions now during president trump's second term. but last -- last but not least, we have to begin the process of getting our spending and debt under control in order to get a grip on the historic runaway inflation caused by president

biden and washington democrats' reckless spending sprees, and i also mentioned the impact it has on our ability to provide the common defense and national security. ronald reagan famously said peace, which is something we all aspire to, peace comes through strength. weakness is a provocation and an invitation to the world's tyrants and bullies, people like vladimir putin, people like president xi in china. if they sense weakness, they will take advantage of it. and what we need to do in america and with our allies is re-establish deterrence. that's what peace through strength means and we can't do it by continuing to spend borrowed money and racking up debt on our nation's credit card. we have a once in a generation opportunity to address not only

discretionary spending, which is what we do on an annual basis, which is about 28% of what the federal government spends, but mandatory spending. the federal government spends an enormous amount of money each year. it's in excess of $6.5 trillion. now, i don't have the brain capacity to conceive what $6.5 trillion is, and i doubt anybody does, but it's a lot of money. and there's no way we're going to be able to get our spending problem and our debt problem under control by addressing 28% of what the federal government spends. so we need to look not only at the discretion ri spending, we need to discretionary spending, we need to look at the spending on autopilot and, yes, social security and medicare is off the table. we're not going to talk about those. we need to talk about those at

some opponent, but we can only -- some opponent, but we can only address that with bipartisan support. and then there are things like the tax code which is more than deductions and krukt. our democrat -- have turned it into a welfare scheme. the child tax credit and earned income tax credit are refundable a tax credits which means it's not a credit against income, it's not a deduction, it's a check that's handed out. and there are $200 billion worth of refundable tax credits paid out on an annual basis by the federal government. $200 billion. we need to get ahold of that. we need to get that under control. we also need to return to commonsense requirements that were bipartisan back in the days of bill clinton, which is meaningful work requirements for

means tested programs. we need to help people who need help, but if people are able to work and they don't need to be a burden on the taxpayers, then -- then they should be contributing like everybody else and not living off the american taxpayer. americans across the country voted to end the reckless policies of the biden administration and so now it's up to us to deliver. we've kicked the can down the road so far we've run out of road. and now we have a generation -- a once in a generation opportunity with president trump and republican majorities in both houses to do something about it. the house and the senate have the same goal. the american people have given this administration a mandate

and the clock is ticking. at the end of the day what matters is not whether the talking heads in the media or people across the country see this as a senate bill or a house bill. that's inconsequential. what matters is that it is president trump's agenda that we are implementing as mandated by the american people last november 5. we need to get this across the finish line to secure the border, to provide for the common defense, to avoid a massive tax increase on middle class families and get our national debt under control once and for all. that's what texans voted for on november 5, and i believe that's what americans vowed for -- voted for on november 5.

that's our mandate and we have no option but to get that job done. mr. president, i yield the floor. i would note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the clerk: ms. alsobrooks.

thank you for having me. tell me about the

vote that went down. >> we thought when they moved the line-up of the vote and -- that they weren't going to vote on this. we thought we had two votes. people were clearing out. we were on our way and got panic calls to come back immediately because republicans, i guess that found the one or two votes they needed to pass this off of budget. you know, it was one of those unnecessary things and dramatic things they took us through. we all got here. the budget bill was carried by two votes. two hard votes to get because we spent an hour waiting between the first and second vote. now we are trying to get this particular vote that suggests to me that republican colleagues, alocal allot ofthem didn't want to

vote for the bill. the reason why, what's contained in it. this bill choses to create a requirement of over $2 trillion in savings at this same time. these are spending cuts. at the same time, it's giving instructions to one committee, ways an way and means to create 4 trillion in new taxes. this is robbing the poor and give to the rich. this budget cut $880 billion out of energy and commerce. that's where you have mid cade and you have the affordable care act and supplemental that helps people

and stay healthy. you have access to things of that nature. probability of taxes that break for the wealthiest corporations. >> congresswoman, i mean, republicans say democrats are fear mongering. the president promised not to cut social security and medicare or medicaid. >> so, the one thing we know about donald trump is that he's a convicted felon and liar. you don't have to believe anything he says nor do you have to believe the things that republican colleagues in the house and senate are saying because they are scared of this dictator. while you have constituents to make sure they have medicaid coverage, if if they have insulin or other

prescriptions they could affordably get them. republicans at this stage of the game says anything donald trump tells them to say. since donald trump is incapable of telling the truth any time he opens his mouth and breathe we shouldn't have any expectation of his minions with the majority of the house and senate to tell the truth either. at the end of the day we could tell them something and he will turn on them. >> i'll tell you what speaker johnson said at a press conference yesterday about the gop budget and cuts to medicaid. >> yeah, look, let me clarify what we are talking about with medicaid. medicaid is usually problematic because it has a lot of fraud, waste, and abuse. no one in here would disagree.

we had a hearing just last week. it's fraud alone in medicaid. they preserve medicare benefits for those who desperately need it and qualify for it. we are talking about rooting out the fraud, waste, and abuse. it preserves the programs. that's what you will see and want to make sure illegal aliens that don't qualify are not on the rolls. we know they are in many places. we can achieve a lot of savings. we can achieve a lot of is aings. you are suring up the program and making sure the people who rely upon that have it and make sure it's a better program. you heard the president say that

and house say that. do a word search for yourself, it doesn't mention medicaid in the bill. >> what do you make of that. he said there is 50 billion in the fraud and getting out all of the illegal alliance off the road. >> in the sen nature and in the house of representatives. they don't care about accountability. they don'tcare about facts. they care about creating a perception in the minds of people that's not accurate. let me talk a bit about medicaid in particular medicaid covers something like happen hundred thousand new jerseyans alone. there are over

125,000 people on medicaid and about 15% of them or so are in need of nursing home and other kind of care. so, i haven't seen this $50 billion they are talking about. i don't know that any democrat has seen this waste, fraud, and abuse. the waste fraud and abuse we do see is elon musk. they are giving him some problems with regards to the things he choses to sell and kind of welfare he's gotten from the federal government to become the richest man in the world. so, what i have to say about the speaker is that he's a mimic of donald trump and elon musk. it shows hisself in

ways he's sickening as a leader of the house of representatives and take the needs of constituents. let me say one thing about the constituents. he's absolutely right, the instructions to these respective committees doesn't tell you where are cuts are. we know based upon the 2025 plans and based upon the things they say, medicaid is one of the things that they are trying their hardest to change. they will try to prioritize and they will try to diminish any kind of support, service, supplementation that goes to the neediest in our communities. that's so they can put more money into

their pockets. this is a bill narrow. if they pay their fair share. if corporations pay their fair share. we wouldn't have a discussion about whether or not we have enough money to pay for public educations verses private education. we wouldn't worry about paying medicaid and medicare and social security for those who have the knee. we wouldn't be worried about making sure our children have healthy food and that food stamps are available and any other supplementation of the needy and working families. we wouldn't be worried about people having to live-in this country in the world with the richest men in the world living in a world that make it

necessary. it doesn't meet their need. healthcare, shelter work, opportunity, and public education. government has the responsibility here and this administration and this doge and this elon musk immigrant white supremist is doing everything they can to reduce the services that are so important to the well-being of the country by cutting significant programs and departments and eliminating departments. it's the biggest betrayal we have experienced from a candidate who lied his way through a campaign and come and done as much andation quickly as

possible several things designed to distantial, takeaway, and make more venerable the people in need. >> our phone lines are open you can call in now. we'll tart will william. good morning, william,. >> thank you for taking my call congresswoman. >> good morning. >> i agree with everything you are saying. there is a bigger issue. 2025. of course, you did. you just saw the blueprint of the 2025. that's what the

republicans did. that's what they want to do. they keep calling this and look and real. some of the books they want to ban. the dei thing is silly. you look at the constitution itself and it's dei. i can't stand when they say alien. you vote with the democrats right now and they don't have the majority. i understand that. i know exsexive executive orders are just proximations. i know he wishes they were orders. what is it you can do to sure up some sort of strong

defense against the guy. he's given us nothing from the moment he was elected. he's not working on the economy at all. you takeaway from the people who can't afford to because they are worried about everything else. the larger -- in my opinion, the plan is larger than just hurting us short-term. he wants to make us a communist nation. >> let's get a response for you. >> thank you, william. i don't disagree with a thing you said, first of all. you have a dictator. he said he would be on the first day and he has shown us. clearly, the members of congress are trying to soften

things. this government is for and by the people. your disstain for what's happening has to be manifested in what you do and what you do to other folks. whether it's on internet platforms or do it by a demonstration. this is the time where this must be manifested.

>> we did an amazing job. that's on other things. you know, we are in for probably $350 billion. europe is in for $100 billion. we are in for three times as much. europe is close. big ocean is separating us. i hope they will step-up and do more than they are doing.

they make a deal where we get our money back and get a lot of money in the future. it is appropriate. we have taxpayers that shouldn't be fitting the bill. it's been worked out. we are happy about it. i think very importantly we will make a deal. most importantly, we'll make a deal with russia and ukraine to stop killing people. they will stop killing young soldiers and other people in the towns and cities. we will consider that an important thing and big accomplishment. it was going nowhere until the administration came in. they hadn't spoken to president putin in two years. a few people say a few things.

where are you? this is the gentleman that's going places. you will say grace. >> thank you, mr. president. thank you for this privilege for us to be in your presence. i thank you you allow us to be here every morning. we give you the glory and honor. father god as they lead i pray for colleagues here around the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. wyden: mr. president, i rise in opposition to the nomination of jamieson greer to serve as united states trade representative. if confirmed, he'd be the top official on one of the

president's signature issues -- trade and tariffs. donald trump was elected president largely on the promise of lowering prices for american families and remaking the global economy to america's benefit. six weeks into his presidency, what he has shown a willingness to impose staggering costs on our families, workers, and businesses in order to settle scores on issues that have nothing to do with trade or the economy. he gets headlines. his wealthy friends get tax breaks and american families get stuck with higher prices and bigger bills. i oppose this nomination, and i certainly have nothing against mr. greer personally. i just believe in this position -- he'll be a rubber stamp for the trump tax. the knee-jerk decision to slap tariffs on nearly everything americans buy and make high prices even higher.

mr. greer has embraced the trump chaos strategy, which is a slap in the face to farmers, manufacturers, and communities across the country. they are sounding the alarm about how the trump program is already costing them sales overseas and jobs here at home. our country needs a u.s. trade representative who will be the point person on trade for this administration, and i just don't have the confidence in mr. greer for that job. met me start with -- let me start with the first key point. the trump administration's across-the-board tariffs are going to cost americans big time, up to $2,600 a year according to one estimate. that could devastate american jobs. one appraisal is destroy 344,000 american jobs. donald trump has already ordered tariffs on canada, mexico, and china. the china tariffs went into effect last month.

now he's promising 25% tariffs on everything americans buy from mexico and canada would go into effect next week. get ready for gas prices to go up, power prices to spike, auto supply chains to be thrown out of whack, and fresh fruit and vegetables getting more expensive. and there's more. donald trump has promised new tariffs on steel and alum unanimous which go into everything from soda cans to cars. yesterday he proposed tariffs on copper, which is used in everything from housing to medical devices and cars. they largely come from chile and canada. and he's pushing something called reciry cal -- reciprocal tariffs on, maybe, everything. they're going to hit working americans the hard -- hardest. donald trump and his billionaire friends are barely going to

notice the price spikes. if you ask people in charlotte or kalamazoo, they don't need an economist to know that donald trump isn't helping prices. less than a third of americans approve of the job donald trump is doing on inflation, according to a poll released this week. consumer sentiment, a particularly important measure, fell by 10% this month. more and more americans are rightly worried that tariffs are going to drive more inflation. if this trade war continues, there's no doubt many u.s. workers, farmers, and ranchers are going to lose their jobs when our trading partners retaliate and slap tariffs on made in the usa products. that's what happened the last time donald trump was in office. american producers of everything from rice to bourbon to motorcycles got hammered. they sold less overseas, made less money and workers paid the

price. mr. president, there is a right way to approach tariffs that punishes bad actors like china and targets the products that will change other country's -- countries' behavior while minimizing the cost to american families. the trump administration is doing the opposite. he's maximizing price spikes for regular americans with no plan or strategy. so one other point with respect to trade chaos. mr. greer has endorsed this and it's already hurting families and small businesses. i had four town hall meetings in my state recently and talked about lots of small businesses and farmers. i'm hearing one message over and over again -- they're already losing sales and losing markets to donald trump's bluster. last year our state exported $34 billion in blueberries, hazelnuts and other goods overseas, almost an all-time high. now instead of building on that success, our producers and innovators prepare for the

worst. and this story comes up again and again. "the washington post" quoted an i iowa farmer who's seen prices of seeders fertilizer and equipment increase while prices for soybeans are flat. our goal is to make iowa and u.s. soybean farms profitable, said this iowa farmer, and to do that, weeds we need the -- we need the international markets. we need to keep growing demand. the state economist in georgia said this month that the greatest for that state's economy -- and i'll repeat, the greatest threat to the economy is trump's trade threats. tariffs mean higher prices for consumers while trade wars mean other countries buy less of what georgia makes, including aerospace spokens, pulp and paper machinery and all the owe parts. pittsburgh-based manufacturer alcoa said tougher's tariffs will -- trump's tariffs will

cost is 00,000 jobs in the united states and won't lead to more production here. this is bad for the alum number industry in the united states. it is bad for american workers. not according to some member of the senate but that's what the alcoa president said. there are similar reports of communities in wisconsin, north carolina, and across the land. one final reason i oppose the greer nomination, and it's not clear to me as my concern in this area that he'll be the final voice in the room with donald trump on trade. there are an awful lot of trade cooks in that kitchen. peter navarro, treasury secretary bessent, commerce secretary lutnick -- all have claimed responsibility for trade. it is reminds me of an old saying that gets attributed to john madden. if you've got two quarterbacks, you have none. if you have four trade chief officials, you have none. unfortunately, mr. greer did

little in his confirmation process to build confirmed that the buck stops with him on trade. he said it's not a trade matter when donald trump uses tariffs to settle scores about the border, immigration, and diplomatic issues. so, mr. greer said, these decisions aren't something he would expect to be involved with if confirmed. if u.s. trade representative isn't going to be in the room when tariff decisions are at stake, it's not clear to me what influence or critical trade decisions mr. greer will have in the trump administration. mr. president, americans need a trade policy that puts workers and families first and a chief trade official who has the authority to deliver actual results for our workers and families. unfortunately, neither of those is on offer today. that's why i oppose the nomination. i yield the floor.

my colleague is going to speak. mr. crapo: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from idaho. mr. crapo: thank you, mr. president. i rise today to urge my colleagues to vote in favor of the nomination of mr. jamieson greer, nominated to serve as the united states trade representative. i think i ought to probably just set a couple of facts straight about president trump's use -- utilization of the various policies that he has in the past term when he was president the first time. it was said that wages went up, prices went up -- wages went down, prices went up and that people were going to face terrible, dire consequences if he's able to follow his trade policies again in this term. the reality is that under president trump, wages went up, jobs went up, unemployment went

down, benefits went up, the economy grew dramatically, and we had the strongest economy in our lifetimes. because of the policies president trump pursued. so i don't think people should let these politics of fear saying that everything that president trump does is going to hurt people make -- convince them otherwise. the office of the u.s. trade representative, created in 1962 by congress, develops and coordinates u.s. international trade policy and overseas trade negotiations with other countries. the u.s. trade representative, the role for which mr. greer is nominated, historically and statutorily serves at the united states' principal advisor and spokesperson on trade issues. mr. greer is well-suited for these roles as demonstrated during his previous tenure as ustr chief of staff, when he

worked with both sides of the aisle in negotiating and securing congressional approval of the united states-mexico-canada agreement, which passed the senate 89-10. and i would note that the previous u.s. trade representative, who is now being replaced by mr. greer, and president biden himself for the past four years refused to actually negotiate any bilateral trade agreements with other nations. none. throughout the nomination process, mr. greer demonstrated his strong hicommitment to work with the congress to advance the interests of our farmers, ranchers, fishers, and workers. in particular, i applaud mr. greer's commitment to change that pattern of the last four years and to negotiate and work on opening markets for our farmers and manufacturers around the globe, negotiating new

bilateral trade agreements and enforcing existing ones. something we have not seen for four years. i fully welcome a return to the ustr that perform its statutory obligation of creating new opportunities for americans. and i look forward to the ustr's forthcoming reviews of foreign trade barriers that stymie u.s. investments and imports. i urge my colleagues to join me now to advance mr. greer's nomination. it is critical that the united states have a ustr at the helm of these negotiations and for support the administration's return to an active and robust trade agenda that prioritizes america's farmers, ranchers, workers, and businesses. thank you, mr. president. and i yield the floor.

the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the clerk: ms. alsobrooks. >> we wish to keep everyone that's essential. >> i'd like to add that those million people that haven't responded they are

bubble. . . . the presiding officer: the senator from idaho. without objection. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session to -- i'm sorry. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the following nomination which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, executive office of the president, jamieson greer of maryland to be united states trade representative. the presiding officer: the question is on the nomination.

is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote: the clerk: ms. alsobrooks. ms. baldwin. mr. banks. mr. barrasso. mr. bennet. mrs. blackburn. mr. blumenthal. ms. blunt rochester. mr. booker. mr. boozman. mrs. britt. mr. budd. ms. cantwell. mrs. capito. mr. cassidy. ms. collins. mr. coons. mr. cornyn. ms. cortez masto. mr. cotton. mr. cramer. mr. cramer. >> doing their job they were just obstructionist and a lot of people lived to exist a lot of empty spots people weren't there.

who didn't exist -- and i think education is going to be one of those going around in washington you see all these in department of education we want to move education back to the states where it belongs. we should -- have their own education you're going see education go way up. right now we're ranked at the very bottom of the list. but we're at the top of the list in one thing, for people we spend more money for people than any other country in the world and yet denmark and norway, souid sweden hate to say this and get along very well with china -- but it is a competitor. they're at the top of the list. they're among the top ten they're a very big country so we can use that as an excuse because we're a very big country and we were ranked 40 out of 40 to the 40 certain nations that they've done for a long time it

seems to be 40 for whatever reason. and we're rarnged ranked number 40 a year 39 and we hit 40. and so we're last and first for cost for people so i would say that's unacceptable. largely -- [inaudible conversations] >> i noted earlier which department are you mess impressed with -- [laughter] which department have you received the most resistance from? >> both of those questions are a little bit -- controversial. right now i think i'm impressed with everybody so far because i wasn't in the first month some of them just got here and just got approved two days ago. but i think i'm very impressed with perve so far and happy with all of the sources. i think that elon has done incredibly with some groups and

some groups are much easier than others it is true. we're in a difficult situation right now negotiating very successfully i think with russia and with ukraine. and a lot of countries involved and we have to be a little bit careful what we do and who we're terminating but during that very -- going to be precise -- cutting down government cutting down the sites of government. we have to. we'll load it. we're sloppy. we have a lot of people that aren't doing their job we have a lot of people that don't exist. you look at social security as an example, i mean, you have so many people on social security where -- if you believe it they're 200 years old finding out checks going out and somebody cashing those checks. who is maybe 35 years old -- okay. so there's a lot of dishonesty a lot of fraud, but i think at this moment i'll take elon on the spot i think he's impressed he said it very well. better than i can say but

impressed with the people in this room very impressed i am too and too early to say but i think even is onboard they know we want to balance budget we want a balanced budget within a reasonably short period of time maybe by next year or the year after but maybe -- even sooner than that. >> your number one issue was -- we got new information that federal agents including their personal information out there, these activist and operations so you've got running -- [inaudible conversations] what going to do about -- >> activists are acting illegally we'll give that to our attorney general she'll take a look at that very strongly but we also have a tremendous support from border patrol, from i.c.e., the i.c.e. agents have been unbelievable border patrol, their leadership that border patrol has been incredible. and they're working very well, and as you know, i saw you reporting it this morning

actually we set records on the least number of illegal aliens coming in migrants coming into the country than we've had in 50 years we did this all within a period of weeks because we took over a mess. the world was pouring -- and remember they were coming in from jails and prisons and mental institutions. and insane asylum and gang members drug dealers, anybody wanted to come in they could and for not just from south america from all over the world so it is amazing what they've done and christine -- and tom homan job they've done has been absolutely amazing. we set records and we want people to come into our country by the way but they want to come in nef to come in legally. i want that to be you understand they have to come in legally. >> can i follow-up on that about the trump -- enrolled yesterday -- i await more information but the question is, does this reflect a

view on your part that the american immigration system has never been properly monetized as you feel it should be? >> not so much monetized but it hasn't been properly run. i had calls from as an example companies where they want to hire the number one student at the school comes from india, china, japan, lots of different places, and they go to wharton school of finance c go to yale l great schools ab they graduate number one in their class. and made job offers, but the offer is immediately resended because you have no idea whether or not that person can stay in the country i want that person to stay in the country. these companies can go and buy a card and use it as a matter of recruitment at the same time, the company is using that money to pay down debt. we're goingan to pay down a lotf debt with that.

i think the gold card is going to be used by not only for that but by company. i can see apple i've spoken with tim, by the way 500 billion dollar investment in the country. only because of the results of the election. and i think because of tariffs he's going to want to be in the country because of tariffs because if you're in the country there's no tariff if you're out of country you have to think tariffs that's a great investment i know it is a great investment. but we have to be able to get people in the country, and we want people productive people i'll tell you, the people that can pay 5 million they're going create jobs they're going to spend a lot of money on jobs they're going to have to pay taxes on that too so they're hiring people. they're going to be bringing people in and companies in. and i don't know. maybe it will sell like crazy. gong to sell like crazy it is a bargain. but -- >> i think --

howard and scott few of you really are responsible for it. howard if you wanted to discuss that for a couple of minutes i think i would like to have you. i think it is going to be a very successful program. >> sure. >> commerce. >> so eb5 program which has been around for many years. had investments of a million dollars into projects in america. and those projects were often suspect, they didn't really work out. there wasn't any oversight of it. and so for a million dollar investment, you got a visa and then you came into the country and ended up with a green card so it was poorly overseen, poorly executed then you have a border open where millions of people came through. so the idf is we will have a proper business. we will modify ev35 we're working on it together 5 million dollars they'll get a license from the department of commerce. then they'll make a proper investment on eb5, right, and we

think scott and i will design eb5 investment model because scott and i are the best people together to do that so this is joint, exactly the trump administration we all work together, we work it out to be the best if we sell -- just remember 200,000 there's a line for ev5 of 250,000 right now. 200,000 of these gold green cards is one trillion dollars. to pay down our debt, and that's why the president is doing it. because we are going to balance this budget and pay off the debt under president trump. >> qualified -- you promise and make commitments to create jobs here in the u.s. >> not all of these people are going to be jobs filled but successful people there will be people that were hired for colleges, like sort of like paying an athlete a bonus. apple or whatever companies will go out and they'll spend 5 --

buy 5 of them and going to get five people i've had a complaint from a lot of company where is they hire people and can't hire them at colleges you know what hay do they go back to india or back to the country where they came and open up -- a company and they become billionaires. they become and they're employed thousands and thousands and a lot of examples there's some really big examples where they were forced out of the country out of -- they graduated top in the class at a great school. and they weren't able to stay. this is all of the timing here. and the biggest i get from companies other than overregulation which we took care of because a lot of that was put back on by biden. but the biggest complaint is the fact they can't have any longevity with pretty much unlimited longevity. also with the five million you know that's a path to citizenship. so that's going to be sort of a green card plus. and it is a path to citizenship.

we're going call it the gold card, and i think it is going to be a treasure it is going to do well and start selling hopefully in about two weeks. now just so you understand, if we sell a million, right, a million -- that's 5 trillion more. howard is using different number but that's 5 trillion dollars. if we sell 10 million which is possible, 10 million highly productive people coming in or -- people that we're going to make productive they'll be young but talented like a talented athlete. that's 15 trillion dollars. that means our debt is totally paid off so we have 15 trillion dollars above that. and i don't know that we're going sell that many maybe we won't at all but i think we're going sell a lot because i think -- there really is a thirst. no other country can do this because people don't want to go to other countries they want to come here everybody comes to come here especially since november 5th.

[laughter] [inaudible conversations] >> all of these people will be vetted okay. >> can you tell a little bit about what type of security guarantees you're going to make? >> well i'm not going to make security guarantees beyond very much we're going to have europe do that. because it's in we're talking about europe is the next door neighbor but we're going to make sure everything goes well as you know weal be making -- we'll be partnering with ukraine. in terms if we can very much need rare earth they have great rare earth -- we'll be working with secretary and with chris, and you'll be working on that together. and we're going to be able to have tremendous this gives us -- because we don't have that much of it here we don't have that much but we need a lot more. to really propel us to the next level of -- lead in every way we're leading right now with a.i. we're leading with everything right now. but we have to -- we need resources.

we have to double our electric capacity we have to do many things we have to really cripple if you think of it -- the electricity capacity from what we have right now if you can believe it. so -- i'll say this, so -- the deal we're making gets us -- it brings us great wealth. we get back the money that we spent, and we hope that we're going to be able to settle this up. we want to settle it. we want to stop i tell you what i'm doing it for two reasons but the number one reason by far is to watch -- all of these people being killed i see pictures every week -- for i see satellite pictures mostly but some pictures on site of thousands of soldiers that are being killed that they decimated because equipment today military equipment is so powerful. and so devastating -- and number one i want to see people stop and from here they're from primarily two other countries and then by the way, let's talk about the middle east we have to solve that problem too that's come a long way we're doing well also a lot of things

are happenings on that. but i'm watching soldiers being kilted. ukrainian and russian soldiers killed. my number one thing if you get that stopped number two thing is yopght to pay anymore money because we bsh biden has spent $350 billion without any chance of getting it back. now, we're going to be getting all of that money back plus a lot more. we provided something very important we'll be working with ukraine -- and because we'll be taking debt we're taking what we're entitled to take. now, they spent 350 billion dollars and europe spent 1 billion and not so long ago few months ago i found out that money they spent they get back. money we spent we don't get back i said we're going get it back and we'll be able to make a deal

and again, president zelenskyy and a great deal for ukraine too because they get us over there we're working over there and we'll be on the land in that way it is automatic security because nobody is going to be messing around with our people when we're there. so we'll be there in that way. but europe will be watching it very closely i know that u.k. has said and france has said that they want to put, they volunteered to put so-called peacekeepers on the site i think that's a good thing. [inaudible conversations] >> high cost of eggs -- and consumer confidence as we have a sharp drop from last month biggest dip in three is that -- why is that the case? >> confidence if you look at confidence in the nation it had biggest increase in the history of the chart. 42 points, and a period of like days -- after the election. since the electioning. so since the election, the

confidence in our nation including right track, wrong track first time it's ever happened where we're on the right track because this country has been on the wrong track for a long time. so the confidence in business, confidence in the country is reaching all time high. we have never reached levels like we are right now. >> okay. >> you've been very clear in saying that as long as you're president, iran will never get a nuclear weapon is it also your policy as long as you're president china will never take time on by force? >> i never comment on that i don't comment because i don't to put myself in that position. and if i said it i certainly wouldn't be saying it to you but to other people making people around this table. [laughter] around this table -- so i don't to put myself in that position. but i can tell you what, i have a great relationship with president xi i've had a great relationship with him.

we want them to come in and so many things saying that we don't want china in this country that's not right. we want them to invest in the united states that's good a lot of money coming in, and we'll invest in china we'll do things with china. the relationship we'll have with china will be a very good one. i see all of these phony reports that we don't want their money or anything to do with them that's wrong we're going to have a good relationship with china. it won't be able to take advantage of what you say they did to biden was -- he didn't know what was happening and what he was doing administration didn't know what they were doing it was very sad to watch. but we're going to have a good relationship with china and russia and ukraine, and the middle east. we're doing things when i left we had no words we had defeated isis totally and had no inflation. we didn't have the afghanistan withdrawal i think that's one of the reasons that president putin looked at that, he said wow these guys are a patriot tiger --

and again, we get rid of isis in three weeks people say it will take five years when i came in, i let them do what they had to do and man that head that had operation is now going to be your chairman. chairman of the joint chiefs king i liked him from the beginning i said that's my guy. and -- [inaudible conversations] >> decreases in crossings at the border for you to continue pause on tariffs against mexico and canada, and -- >> i'm not stopping tariffs. no. millions of people have died because of the fentanyl that comes over the border. >> 90% of drop in border crossings -- about a year ago. >> they've been good because that's also due to us mostly due to us -- [inaudible conversations] >> right now very hard to come through the border. but look, the damage has been done. we've lost millions of people due to fentanyl comes mostly from china but it comes through

mexico and comes through canada. and i have to tell you that, you know, april 2nd i was going to be april 1st but i'm superstitious i made it april 2nd tariffs go on. not all of them but a lot of them. and i think you're going see something that's going to be amazing we've been taken advantage of for a long period of time and we've been tariffed -- but we didn't now i did when i was here. we took in 700 billion dollars from china. 700 billion -- not one president in this history of our country took in 10 cents of china at the same time china respected us. when covid came in that was a different deal. i used to call it the china virus i guess i can call it the china virus again but it was accurate term but i won't out of respect to china. >> on gaza i wanted to fit progress to the second phase of the cease-fire.

>> well i'm disappointed when i see four bodies came in today these are young people, young people don't die. young people don't die these are young people four bodies came in today. they think they're doing us a favor by sending us bodies. so -- look, that's a decision has to be made by israel. bb, but israel has to make that decision. we've got a lot of hostages back. that is very sad what happened to those people. we had a young lady with a hand literally blown off. you know why it was blown up she tried to stop a bullet that was coming her way and it hit her hand and blew off her fingers big apartment of her hand this is a vicious group of people, and israel is going to have to decide what they're doing -- phase one is going to be ending. think of it today they sent in four bodies, bodies -- and i will say one thing, i've

spoken to a lot of parents and a lot of people involved. they want those bodies almost as many and maybe even just as much as they want their son or their daughter. amazing -- please my son is dead but they have his body please can you get it for us it is the biggest thing it is incredible the level they want the bodies of the people. they're dead. they're dead, and you know when i saw ones that came in two weeks ago they look like they got out of a concentration camp and following week a group came in and they weren't as bad of shape but they're going to have a make a decision you're right phase one and phase two now started today we've got -- some, you know, very, very -- we knew they were dead. by the way we knew there were going to be bodies opposed to people that were living. but very sad situation. at some point somebody is going to say we've got to do something about this.

[inaudible conversations] >> bouts withdrawal, have all of the generals command staff there involved -- hired or relieved of duty? >> that's a great idea -- i'm not going to tell this man what to do but i will say that if i had his place i would fire every single one of them -- that's a very good question. >> a lot about -- >> we're doing a review of every single aspect of what happened with the through afghanistan and plan to have full accountability first thing -- certainly, got his way in he was not a part of that. instead part of leading the effort against isis by untying hands of war fight ergs finishing the job properly and bring our troops home so we're taking a very different view out of the previous administration and there will be -- >> big commotions in that group -- [laughter] >> very large and i know the man on my left i think they're going

to be largely done that was a horrible display, and you know, i dealt with the parents and the family of the 13 that were killed but nobody ever talks the 40 that were so badly hurt with the arms and legs and face, and whole thing. missing arms and leg. it was -- so terrible the way that was handled and it should have been gone through baghdad we have those with no one can get in and hundreds of acres instead of a little local airport where the whole place went crazy. it was so badly handled i would think most of the people are going to be gone. >> going to take back -- >> so i'll tell you what -- what has bothered me very much, have, very much. we did billions of dollars to afghanistan. nobody knows that. nobody knew that. did you knew we gave billions of dollars to afghanistan, yet we left behind all of that equipment which wouldn't have happened we were getting out -- i'm the one that got it down to

5,000 people going to keep -- not because of afghanistan. but because of china because -- it's exactly one hour away from where china makes its nuclear missiles. so they were going to keep -- keep a small force and have air base one of the biggest air bases in the world one of the biggest runways one of the most powerful runways in the sense that it was very heavy concrete, and you can carrying anything and land anything on those runways. we gave it up and you know who is occupying it right now, china. china -- biden gave it up. so we're going keep that and we're going to have a withdrawal and we're going take our equipment and do it prop orally we're going to do it -- keep the equipment while they ran out, it was what happened there was just, in fact, you know, to putin when he saw that he said well, this is our time to go and -- go into ukraine i guess. because it was the timing seem to be at that but we sengsd out billions of dollars in aid.

nobody knows if they knew it they know it now and if we're doing that they should give our equipment back and i told teeth to study that. tens of billions of dollars worth of equipment behind brand new trucks you see them display it every year over there roadway where they have a road -- and they drive, you know, waving the flag and talking about america. beautiful equipment that's all brand new stuff now it is getting older but you know what we're going get a lot of that equipment back. you know, that afghanistan is one of the biggest sellers of military equipment in the world. you know what selling the equipment -- it was second to third can you believe it selling 777,000 rifles -- 70,000 plated many of them armor plated trks and vehicles. 70,000 -- if you think of a used car lot,

that big etion one in the country if i would say jd if somebody had 500 cars that would be a lot, this is 70,000 vehicles we had over there. and we left it for them. i think we should get it back. aimed to cut 2 trillion can you guarantee that medicaid, social security will not be touched? >> i have said it so many times it shouldn't be asking me that question. okay. this will not be, read my lips, it won't be read my lips anymore. we're not going to touch it now we're going look for fraud i'm sure you're okay with that like people that shouldn't be harmed people that are illegal alien criminals in many cases. and that's with social security, a lot of people you see that immediately when you see people that are 200 years old that are -- being sent checks with social security. some of them are actually being sent checks so we're tracing that down and i have a feeling

that pam is going to have a good job with that but you have a lot of fraud and now we're not doing anything -- >> thank you i'm sorry part of your mission have been to restore executive control over the executive branch. is it your view of your authority that you have the power to any one or all of the people seated at this table and issue roareds that they're down -- >> yeah. they'll follow the orders. yes. let's see let me think -- >> she'll have an exception. [laughter] >> of course no exceptions you know that. >> can you clarify you put that 30 day but referred to -- >> i wanted to go into effect, sir? >> april 2nd. for everything. s >> we have related is a pause

if we can prove to the president they've done an excellent job, that's what they first do with 30 days. overall is april 2nd but other related things working on them at the border at the end of that 30 days they have to prove to the president that they satisfied him to that regard they have -- or he won't. >> if we lose 300,000 people a year it is to fentanyl not 95 not 60 like you have been reading for years. we lost in my opinion over the last couple of years -- on average maybe close to 300,000 people. dead. and the families are ruined what they lose a daughter or son families are never the same and never going to be the same you're talking about a million people. when the daughters i see it daughters and sons die because of fentanyl, and in some cases

they don't know they're taking it they're buying something else and laced with pepghtal and they end up dying. and i know many people who have lost children -- to fentanyl for other reasons such a big killer those people are never the same people. i've seen people that -- for the rest of their lives are not the same people. they're so different it is not even believable. dynamic people, happy people that are -- dying a miserable death because of the crap that comes in through china, and through mexico. and through canada comes a lot of it comes through canada they counted it look -- we support canada. 200ow billion dollars a year -- in subsidies one way or the other. we ought to make millions of cars. we let them sending us lumber we don't need their lumber we're going to free up our lumber going to do that head of environmental we're going to free up our lumber we have the best we don't need their lumber

what do we need theirs for? when you look at the -- we subsidize them 200 billion dollars a year. without us canada can't make it canada rely on us 95%. we rely on them 4%. big difference. and i say should be 51st state no tariffs no nothing. and i say that we give them military protection they have a very small military they spend little money and nato they're just about last. in terms of payment -- because they say why should we spend on military that's a tremendous across most nations can't afford to think about it. why should we spend on military? the united states protects us? and i would say that's largely true. we protect canada. but it is not fair. it is not fair that they're not paying their way. and if they had to pay their way they couldn't exist when i -- spoke to the prime minister

rather than m the governor -- when i spoke to him, i said why are we giving you 200 billion dollars a year he was unable to answer this question. i said why are we letting him make millions of cars sending them in? he was uniable to answer 9 question justin trudeau he's a very good guy i call him governor trudeau he should be because the fact is that if we aren't give them cars, we don't have to give them cars tariffs are making them imabl to sell cars into the united states. the tariffs will make it impossible for them to sell lumber or anything else into the united states. all i'm asked to do is break even or lose a little bit but not 200 million and we love canada i love krngd i love the people's canada, and honestly it is it is not to support and they don't exist as nation.

>> did you make a decision on what level you seek on tariffs in the european union? >> we have no decision announcing it very soon. and it will be 25% generally speaking and that will be on cars. all of it -- and european union is a different case from canada case they've taken advantage of us in a different way. they don't accept our cars. they don't accept essentially our foreign products they use all sorts of reasons why not. and we accept everything of them and we have about a 300 billion dollar deficit with european union. now i love countries of europe i guess from there at some point long time ago, right? but indirectly. pretty directly too i guess. but i love the countries of europe. i love all countries all different european union it was formed in order to screw the united states look let's be honest. the european union was formed in

order to screw the united states. that's the purpose of it. and they've done a good job of it but now -- [inaudible conversations] >> countries where you retaliate? >> they can try. but they can't. [inaudible conversations] >> went in to affect china retaliatory -- [inaudible conversations] >> that's right they can do it, and they can try. but the numbers can never equal what ours because we can go off -- we are the pot of gold we're the one that everybody wants they can retaliate but it cannot be a successful retaliation because we go cold turkey we don't buy anymore and if that happens we win. >> are you talking about deportations? >> no. i haven't. >> litigation with edf is it the case to go to trial or open to -- [inaudible conversations] >> well, cbs did something that was amazing kamala was unable to

answer a question properly. and they took the question that they asked and they inserted an answer they gave her an answer. this was two days before the election right before the sunday night before the election. and they wrote out a -- they put her words from another question that was asked about half an hour later and put that into the question nobody ever heard before. nobody ever heard of anything like this before they then did it, they say numerous occasions. and the fc cc is looking at it strongly everybody is looking at it and nobody has ever seen it think of it they took her answers and changed them. and i don't mean they changed a word or two or cut off half a sentence or cut off words. i mean, i've had that happen too but that's saying well we want brevity. you know, we want -- they took out her answer.

flb and they inserted entirely different answer that made her sound confident they did this and i thought i've heard of everything when it comes to that stuff. i've never heard of it nobody has ever seen it -- so we are in discussions -- [inaudible conversations] number -- >> a lot. [applause] probably did affect the election we won by a lot as i said too big to rig but probably did affect the election probably could have won by more. but i could have lost the election because of the -- we have to get to honest elections. we have to go back to paper ballots we have to go back to voter id. one day short-term not 48 day and 61 day elections where boxes are put in a room and let's move the bockings because we're

putting in a new air-conditioning system. and you see the boxings move and then you say well where are all of the boxes? no what happened to the boxes that never came back? no all elections are -- dishonest only country in the world hats that has mail-in voting and different things that we put in no other country in the world has it. you know, france went to, they have some the things that we had and they went to same day voting. or paper and paper is sophisticated now it is a very sophisticated -- very sophisticated form of voting right now it is a safe form of voting. other thing is for governors only should governors do it because the paper ballots were 9% of the machines. and 100.you know they're -- nothing is foolproof but as close as you get so we'll see what happens. but under 60 minute thing nobody has ever seen anything like it. >> motivation and --

>> i don't think it is flaked but probably the lord is looking at it because i know it is going -- fcc headed by a very confident person. and very confident people on the board so i think they're looking at it very seriously. >> in your life all of the people you've sat across from and negotiated with is president putin distinct in any way? >> he's a very smart guy a cunning person. but i've dealt with some people that i've dealt with some really bad people. but i will tell you as far as this is concerned, he was, he had no intention in my opinion of settling this war. i think he wanted the whole thing. when i got electioned, we spoke, and i think we're going to have a deal i can't guarantee you that deal is a deal lots of crazy things happen in deals right but i think we're going to have a deal.

if biden didn't get elected he would have continued to go through ukraine and over a period of time -- a lot of people, a lot of people would have been killed. for a period of time and the reason that -- ukraine and i give great respect for the ukraine as fighters great fight ergs. but without our equipment that war would have been over in a very short period of time. if you remember i gave the javelins those things knocked out the flags at the beginning of the war they said that -- obama at the time gave sheets and trump gave javelins i did that, and i want to see it come to an end. >> will he have to make -- >> yeah. he will. have to. and i think -- i believe that because we got elected, that it will come to an end i also believe if we didn't get elected this administration didn't win the election, by a lot --

that that war would go on for a long time, and he would want to take the whole thing. [inaudible conversations] >> big question i have is does he want to take the whole thing? but the reason and the ukrainians are good fighters i have to say but without the equipment without our equipment, best equipment in the world best military equipment in the world without our equipment, that would have been over really quick. >> what confessions would you like to see? >> i don't to say it right now. but i can tell you that -- nato you can forget about. it's been i think that's probably the reason whole thing started. and i think jd we can say that -- do you have a statement on that? [laughter] >> give him the beauty -- >> hardest question, sir. look, as president said we're not going to do negotiation in public with the american media but private with the president of russia. with the president of ukraine, and with other leaders, and i think that's how it has to do i

think i want to push back the criticism only the administration on this because every single time the president engages in diplomacy you accuse him conceding to russia he hasn't to anyone and he's doing the job of a diplomat and he's, of course, the diplomat and chief of the president of the united states. >> sir can you talk about the vetting process? >> vetting process is being -- worked out right now err we're going to be really careful. >> china nationals -- >> probably not restricting too much in terms of countries but maybe in terms of individuals we want to make sure we have people that love our country and are capable of loving the country. >> unusual outbreak in texas -- reporting, and do you have consent about that and lost secretary kennedy to looking into that? >> why don't we bobby do you want to speak on that?

[inaudible conversations] >> every day -- i think there's 124 people who have contracted these in texas -- mainly we're told there are two people -- there are about 20 people for quarantine -- [inaudible conversations] we're not unopposed for yesterday and continue to -- >> outbreaks this year and last year 16 -- so it's not unusual outbreaks have to go. >> you sound under the weather yourself? >> permanently bad throat. >> to support --

would you do any sort of -- >> support here. >> how do you? >> we have a great relationship with europe. you could ask -- talk about france you can talk about any of them we have a great relationship with europe. >> how will the united states do that? >> you're asking me a question. i hope we have that problem where we can worry about peace keeping we have to get that sort of -- i hope we have the problem of worry about peace keeping that will be the easiest problem jd that we've ever had. [inaudible conversations] >> at the time but peace keeping very easy it is making the deal it is very tough, and again, nobody was speaking to russia at all. and you know, probably a million and a half soldiers have been killed close to a million and a half. soldiers not to mention a tremendous -- i will tell you, the thing with that horrible war that should have neversh started never stard

if i were president and it didn't start for you are years it was not even thought about starting -- but the thing with that war is that you're highly underestimating number of people that have been killed far more people have been killed in that war than you talk about. because you like to talk about numbers like a million people. well they had much more than a million soldiers killed. but you have a lot of cities that have been knocked to the ground demolition sites literally every single building knocked to the ground and a lot of people were killed in those buildings and you'll hear a report two people were minorly injured just injured a little bit. no. no people kilted by the thousands. and you know a lot more people killed in that war than the media wants to talk about. because biden did a horrible, horrible job he should have prevented that war. he is could have prevented that war putin would have never got in. i'll tell you one thing never would have got in and war would have never taken place if i were

president. >> how would the united states what would you be willing to do to support this european peace keeping effort whether it be -- >> asking me the same question. how many times do you have to answer it? >> you're talking about after we make peace -- let me make peace first. once we make peace, i'll give you all of the answers you want but how many times you ask the same question? [laughter] >> middle east -- >> listing sanctionings on russia a potential option as part -- >> no. sanctions on russia, no i want to see if we can make a deal first but i think we will. i've been very good conversations with president putin. i've had very good conversations with president zelenskyy, and until four weeks ago nobody had conversations with anybody it wasn't a consideration nobody thought you could make peace i think you can. >> but iran that was claimed by force. it was the russians get to keep the territory that they claim by force, it does not sending a

dangerous message let's say to china? >> you try to take it away. we're going do the best we can -- [laughter] we're going to do the best we can for both sides but for ukraine -- we're going to try very hard to make good deal so that -- we can get as much back as possible. ipts i want to get back as much as possible. we'll cut it out after this question. go ahead. >> [inaudible conversations] go ahead -- like to finish on a good one. [laughter] >> a question -- peacekeepers -- >> you have a lot of confidence in those because they assume it is going to be peace. it is possible if it doesn't work out there's a possibility. but i hope it does -- for the sake of humanity. because if you look at pictures i've looked at you don't want to look at it. >> back on the federal work force you mention you're interested in doing another rowngsd round of this e-mail

and -- >> elon once and i think it is a good idea because those people as i said before they run the bubble. you've got a lot of people that have not responded do they exist -- who are they? and it is possible that a lot of those people will be actually fired. and if that happened, that's okay. because that's what we're trying to do. this country has gotten bloated fat and disgusting, and incompetently run. i think we have the worst president in the history of our country. he just left office. i think he's a disgrace. what he's done to our country allowing millions to come into the country like that. and all of the other things inflation which he caused because of energy and -- stupid spending. has spent hundreds of millions, trillions and trillions of dollars on green new scam total scam, best energy people, the best environmental people in the world around this table. and they can't even believe they got away with it and in leaving

office to send 20 billion dollars here and 20 million dollars there. and ten million and 5 million they couldn't spengsd the money fast enough and let's get it out before trump gets in. let's just get it out to anybody. this is a disgrace to our nation and you don't write the fair thing. but look you know, good news people see it that's why we won the election by so much. thank you very much everybody. >> thank you president -- [inaudible conversations]

mr. coons, no. the presiding officer: the ayes are 56, the nays are 43. 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.

mr. co kaine: mr. president, thk you for the recognition. i rise to begin a discussion that will take place today about senate joint resolution 10, a resolution my colleague, senator heinrich, and i filed to challenge president trump's day-one declaration of a u.s. energy emergency. you'll hear from a number of our colleagues today expressing the basic point that the declaration is a sham. there is, in fact, no emergency, but it has been declared so as to gut various environmental laws passed by congress, still part of u.s. statutory law, in order to advantage certain kinds of energy, i.e., oil, gas, and coal, and punish other forms of energy, wind, solar, etc. i'm very, very happy to have the

support of my colleague, senator heinrich, who is the energy expert on the democratic side in this body, and very, very happy to have so many colleagues who will speak on this matter today on the senate floor. president trump took a number of actions on his first day in office, and many of them got a lot of attention. one that didn't get so much attention was his decision on day one, on day one to declare that the united states was in an energy emergency, and therefore we needed to bypass environmental laws. i want to dig into the sham nature of the emergency declaration, and then explore why president trump actually has done it, and finally conclude with a request to my colleagues that the article one branch should not just roll over and play dead when a president declares an emergency that does not actually exist.

so let's first talk about the claim that president trump has raised that the united states is in an energy emergency. this is a chart that shows u.s. energy production from 1950 until essentially today. the chart goes through about 2023 and does not include the 2024 numbers. but i am proud to stand here and tell you, especially as one who has supported many of the policies that has led to this growth in american energy, that america is producing more energy today than at any point in the history of this nation. america is the leader in the world in energy production. and for the last few years, we've been an energy surplus nation, producing more than we consume. you will see that the chart includes different kinds of energy -- oil, gas, coal, renewable -- but the direction of the chart

shows steady increase in production. let's go into the kinds of energy we're talking about here. in 2024, america produced more natural gas than at any time in the history of this country. in 2024, america produced more petroleum than at any time in the history of this country. and in 2024, america deployed more renewable energy than at any time in the history of this country. in fact, in 2024, more than 90% of the energy added to the nation's energy grid was from renewable sources, wind, solar and battery storage. the united states recently, in the past few years became -- there may be a technical term for this, mr. president, but i call it an energy surplus nation. we produce more than we consume. that moment happened in 2019, where our production started to

outpace consumption, and in every year since 2019 that surplus has grown. the surplus in 2024 was at record levels, and it's a good thing to produce significantly more than we consume. why is it a good thing? because we're able to sell energy to others, reducing our trade deficit. i participated with senators in lifting the ban on export of crude petroleum a few years ago, and that plus exports of liquid natural gas have helped us with our trade deficit. but more directly related to this moment in time, the export of american energy has also helped us help other nations who are reliant on energy from petro dictators. the nations in europe that had to rely on vladimir putin. nations in other parts of the world that have had to rely on iran or venezuela, now increasingly are able to access u.s. energy.

i was in finland over the weekend visiting virginia guard troops exercising with the finnish army. finland is importing liquid natural gas from the united states and using it for their own energy needs, and also for the energy needs of other european nations. so, where's the emergency? more oil than ever, more natural gas than ever, more renewables than ever, and a record surplus of production over consumption. where is the energy? the energy is not in the energy sector. the energy is donald trump self-creating an emergency. because donald trump and other in other actions in the first week of his administration has gone full tilt to challenge energy projects that are creating jobs and lowering prices all across this country. donald trump and his administration are attacking wind projects. they're attacking solar

projects. they're attacking clean energy projects that aren't oil, coal, natural gas, and nuclear, and by doing so they're reducing supply and likely raising prices on american consumers. there are a number of projects in virginia, as an example, that benefited from tax breaks included either in the inflation reduction act for clean energy projects or the bipartisan infrastructure law, for rollout of electric vehicle charging, for example. president trump's administration has attacked those projects, has put them on hold, and the virginians who were intending to invest billions of dollars hiring people to build these projects are now uncertain about what they can do. why would a president declare an energy emergency and then attack

homegrown clean energy projects in my state and elsewhere? and that's exactly what president trump is doing. why would he do that? well, we don't have to speculate about the answer. we know the answer. in the summer of 2024, president trump held a meeting at mar-a-lago with the ceo's of major oil and gas companies, and they reported upon the substance of that meeting, and here is a headline from "the guardian" -- other publications carried the same news. trump promised to scrap climate laws if u.s. oil bosses donated a billion to his campaign. one of the oil executives at the meeting quoted donald trump saying you'll get it on the first day. oil and gas will get preferential treatment on the

first day, with end runs around environmental laws passed by congress that are still part of the statutes we take an oath to implement in our jobs. and in fact, mr. president, the oil and gas guys did get it on the first day. what did the trump fake energy emergency deliver to those he had promised to support? here is what was delivered in the emergency order. the president said there's an emergency, so we need to bypass laws passed by congress. we need to bypass the clean air act. we need to bypass the clean water act. we need to bypass the endangered species act, the marine mammal protection act, the national historic preservation act, the national environmental policy

a act. because of this fake emergency that he has created out of thin air, we need to take all these laws that congress has passed, many of which have been in statute, like the clean water act, more than 50 years, and we need to give energy producers and transmitters the ability to bypass these laws in order to produce and transmit energy. it's interesting, though, when you read the executive order, it talks about energy production, but you have to go to the last section of the order to read what energy means. and president trump is calling for a national emergency and by passing all of these laws if you want to produce using oil or gas or coal or nuclear or hydro, but not for wind, not for solar, not

for clean battery storage. if you're homegrown american low-cost energy is wind, solar, and battery storage, you don't get to bypass environmental laws, you have to apply with the letter of the law as congress intends. we're only giving a break to the guys who supported donald trump, the fossil fuel industry. donald trump is so willing to give away the farm to big oil and gas, that he even in the first provision in the emergency order said we also need to bypass property rights. he encouraged federal agencies to make aggressive use of eminent domain to produce fossil fuel energy, those watching understand what this means. eminent domain is the government taking the land from private

appropriate owners and there's a set of rules in the federal code about when you can use eminent domain for energy projects, but donald trump said if you want to do oil and gas coal, you don't have to follow the rules, you can even take people's private property by passing the rules for oil, gas, and coal, but not for wind, solar and battery, the clean energy that has been 95% of the power that has been added to the grid just last year. so we know what the game is. you'll get it on the first day, big oil, and they did and drum is now -- donald trump is now giving them an easy pass lane to speed by energy cost projects that are lower costs and cleaner because he told them he would do

it if they supported his campaign. this was no emergency. it was declared for a corrupt purpose, and it is an una unacceptable effort to undermine laws passed by the article 1 branch. and so i am on the floor with my colleague senator heinrich, and i'm going to yield to him in a second, to just ask, be congress. be the article 1 branch. if a president can just stand up and make up an emergency and then gut laws that congress passed, what's to stop president trump from making up another emergency and gutting other laws? what's to stop any president, republican or democrat, from fabricating a complete emergency and using it to gut laws that congress has passed. you know, if president trump

doesn't like the clean water act -- i happen to like it, i don't think it's perfect. but the clean water act helped us to restore the james water in the city where i lived which had a river prize, a river that was a sewer that was closed off to fishing for 50 years now has fishing, swimming, rafting, kayaking, bald eagles, that had been extinct it is now one of the most dense areas of bald eagles in the united states. i like the clean water act. i think it has been valuable for the past 50 years. but president trump, who was elected has decided that the clean air act and clean act and prochty protections -- property protections have outlived their use fullness.

and he could introduce a bill to repeal the clean air act or repeal the clean water act. that would be the right way to do this, not invent a bogus, fake emergency and united lat ri cut these laws, but the president's got a problem. if he introduced the bill to repeal the clean air bill and clean water act, not republicans -- some republicans would, not even republicans would support it. he would have zero laws in repealing these laws that protected the public health and environment. so his attitude is i can benefit my big oil cronies by repealing this, why don't i kick the article 1 branch to the side, create a fake emergency, end run them and that's how i benefit my cronies. congress should stand up against this and vote for senate joint resolution 10 because it's the

right policy and we shouldn't gut these provisions except by doing it in the course of ordinary legislative business should that be the will of the appropriate majority of both bodies. that would be the way to do this. so i'm asking my colleagues to stand up and support senate joint resolution 11. this would set a precedent that a president of any party can invent a sham emergency and then grab away powers that congress has under article 1. let's not be sheep in this place. let's not have this be the "silence of the lambs" with donald trump doing whatever he wants to do without the article branch saying a word, not showing a backbone, not showing a voice. we've got a backbone, we've got a voice, but more importantly we

took an oath to a constitution that gives congress certain powers, we should not let the president trample on those powers. with that, mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from new mexico. mr. heinrich: mr. president, i want to thank my colleague from virginia for bringing this resolution to the floor. it was a little less than a year ago i met with workers at several manufacturing facilities in new mexico. these are the manufacturing facilities making solar and wind technology that is making clean, affordable american made energy. and at a groundbreaking ceremony at ray factory, they told me about the impact of our investments on their lives, their ability to support their families. i talked with folks like ramon romedo, who started as a

machinist, and worked his way up to have a career as a production manager. i met with daniel beltron, who explained how ray expansion has created job opportunities for himself and many others in the community. he told me the company's growth has been life changing for him. and i met with ray utelari, who talked about how important ray has been in supporting her growth as a professional and supporting her community. here's what they have in common. they were able to create better lives for themselves and their families because of the jobs that were available for them. this is what i mean when i say these industries, these clean industries are creating careers that new mexicans and other americans can build their families around in their home communities. thanks to the investments that democrats made in the last few years, we have seen record

growth in new american manufacturing facilities. more than 400,000 new jobs have been nounsed across the country -- announced across the country as part of this made in america clean, affordable energy manufacturing boom. in new mexico, we celebrated the first wind towers coming across the line from our new factory in berlin. it was a shuttered factory, and now they are creating huge steel towers and heading the wind project, a 3 and a half dpiga watt -- 3.5 gigawatt are project. it has brought jobs and capital. it will generate more clean power with its wind turbines than the hoover dam. it is the largest ever built

clean energy project built in the western hemisphere. america is actually building big things again. these projects have enormous scope, but affordable energy-made energy boon is under threat because of the uncertainty that president trump has foisted on the energy sector. if you're thinking about opening a new factory like ray or acota did in my state, you don't know what the tax rate will be after the new tax bill. if you are trying to build a new transmission line, the ephemeral agencies and the staff they worked with just had their expert staff sacked, making it hard to get a permit when no one is on the other end of the phone. that's to president trump's so-called national energy emergency, many of the lowest costs, 100% clean additions to our grid can't get permits. make no mistake, americans electric bills are going to go

up. i'm going to say that again. americans' electric bills are going to go up because trump and his loyal republicans are picking winners and losers on the power grid. that's why i'm joining my friend and colleague senator kaine to force a vote to put and an -- to put an end to all of this before anymore damage is done. i want to be clear about something, and certainly senator kaine raised this point, but america is the world's leading energy producer. and before trump injected all of this uncertainty, our country was producing record quantities of both conventional and clean energy. there is no energy emergency. it was made up to skirt the law. it was made up to favor some sources and not others. but if trump gets his way, his faux declaration may very well

reet a real -- create a real emergency. i want to be clear to my colleagues across the aisle that this clean energy phenomenon has created 400,000 jobs, but most are in republican-led state. this is not a red state or blue states issue. this is about good-paying, blue collar skilled jobs in all of our states. what's at risk because of all of this? let's take a look. in north carolina, there is a new nearly 13 billion, with a b, toyota battery plant which will employ 5,000 workers. where are we getting batteries now? china. this is progress. in louisiana, first solar nounsed $1 billion for a new solar energy project that will

make 700 jobs. in kentucky, ford is building a new battery plant which will employ another 5,000 workers and manufacturing batteries here instead of china. in georgia, an estimated billion dollars in projects to modernize the power grid and our power grid needs a heck of a lot of modernization. we're going to have more and more demands on this grid in coming years, especially with the growth of data centers and a.i., a billion dollars si sidelined to upgrade that power grid in georgia. do we really want all of these jobs to disappear because president trump wants to create a war on affordable american-made clean energy? do we want to import more batteries from china? i don't. because that's what's going to happen if we turn our backs on these factories and these energy sources. and among other things, trump's

so-called national energy emergency declaration would allow his administration to use eminent domain, one of the most controversial powers that a government can have to take private land for oil and gas infrastructure at the expense of our american jobs and livelihoods. as we speak, president trump's chaos and incompetence are jeopardizing and fueling the real energy emergency in our country. trump's plans to ee limb nature dozens of advanced energy tax credits. those have unleashed more than $165 billion in private sector capital, moving into over 1000 factories and expansions across the country. the president halted many of the loan guarantees that will jeopardize the u.s. energy manufacturing expansion and lead to higher energy bills for

millions of americans. this is blatant hypocrisy as trump's favorite billionaire bro elon musk took a federal loan guarantee from the same department that saved tesla from banking ruptsy. and -- bankruptcy. when this stalls, it is not trump's billionaire friends who suffer, it's every day americans who work in these factories. it's all the families who will be stuck with higher electric bills. i want to emphasize something that my colleague from virginia raised. more than 90% of the electricity generation project currently in line to connect to the grid all across this nation in red states and in blue states, are clean energy projects.

they are wind, solar, nuclear. just last year 93%, 93% of new electric generation was carbon free. that is a record. we added 52 gigawatts, 50 nuclear-powered generating station quantities worth of solar, wind, and storage to the grid in the last year alone. and there's a reason for that. in addition to being clean and carbon free and many of the big companies that procure energy care about that, these power sources are cheaper. they're faster. they're less capital intensive than older technologies like cold-fired plants or gas turbines. put simply, clean energy is the cheapest electricity on the grid. you can see it right here. onshore wind and solar by far the cheapest. we've got combined cycle snal

gas. guess what? you can't get a gas turbine these days. if you order one today, you're going to wait three, four, five years before that's actually delivered without permitting. nuclear is great. i hope we build more of it. but we've got to get the cost down. it's 18 cents a kilowatt hour, average. so if we don't plug these clean sources into the grid, especially in a time of surging demand, the outcome is obvious. prices will go up. and it's not physically possible to stand up enough costly gas plants to keep growing our power demands and keep prices down. as i said, the wait times to just get a turbine is four or five years. if trump has his way and keeps blocking american made clean energy projects, we know that significantly higher energy and electricity costs are on the

way. is that what we want to do? is it really -- we want to impose on working families that are already struggling to pay for eggs or if they haven't crossed that off their grocery list already, the rising cost of milk, groceries going through the roof, rent payments going up, and we're going to increase their electric rates because that's what this fake emergency is going to do. you know, a couple of weeks ago in alabama utility company sent a letter to customers saying sorry, you owe us another hundred bucks because what we credited you based on the law is no longer valid. trump's e.o. took that away. pony up. write us another hundred bucks in your electric bill this month. and that's just the tip of the iceberg. advanced groups who do the analysis, folks like the rodium group have looked as what it

will mean regarding energy investments and electricity costs. on average american families' electricity bills could go up by nearly $500 a year as a result of these actions. trump's war on american-made clean energy is going to kill thousands of jobs in the skilled trades, huge construction projects are going to get stalled, the biggest winner in all of this is going to be china. china wants to become even more dominant in the global renewable energy marketplace. they will happily take the private investment that could have gone to the united states and take those jobs back overseas. the biggest loser from this is our economic competitiveness, our national security, our families. trump has claimed his so-called national emergency order is needed to unleash more fossil

fuel development. he's also wrong about that. not only is our production, 13 million barrels a day on average, a little over that, is not only that record -- is that not a record-producing number, but oil and gas executives will tell you the truth. look at what conoco phillips ceo said in a question about this. would he increase production with, the gloves coming off. he said not really. why is that? it's because american oil and gas production is already at a record high and it's not economically advantageous to push production further. i know this first mandt because we're producing -- firsthand because we're producing more oil and gas in new mexico than most other states combined with the exception of one. clearly we need to put an end to this stunt that will fuel a real energy emergency, kill thousands

of jobs, and raise electricity costs on american families. the most important decision of our energy future worth hundreds of billions of dollars in private sector investment factories, thousand, of high-quality jobs remains in the hands of our senate republican colleagues. if you want to have an all-of-the-above approach, if you want to continue to bring down energy costs, if you want to protect jobs for hardworking americans in our states and to help america remain the global leader in energy production, i would urge you to vote in support of this resolution and against higher electricity bills.

the presiding officer: the senator from virginia. mr. warner: mr. president, i rise today in support of my colleagues, senator heinrich and senator kaine's resolution. i appreciate on the part of -- i appreciate the presentations but i strongly support this resolution. i also want to acknowledge one of the many reasons we vote for this resolution is because it's also senator kaine's birthday. and i think nothing would be a better birthday present for my friend of 40 years, 45 years than having this body make a firm statement about being against rising utility costs. the resolution, i know they've spoke on it both extensively, would repeal president trump's flawed and misguided national emergency declaration.

we all know on the first day in the midst of signing lord knows how many executive orders, president trump declared a, quote, national energy emergency. and issued an executive order titled unleashing american energy. now, let me be clear. i frankly have some fights on this side of the aisle, mr. president, because i actually support all of the above in terms of our energy mix. part of this does mean lng and national security -- to make sure we ship it to our partners in europe. it also means we need to bring more of these energy jobs back here to america. had a fascinating presentation yesterday with the ceo of commonwealth fusion. commonwealth fusion is a company out of massachusetts but are making a major development in virginia. we've been talking about fusion since the 70's. those kind of jobs ought to be

here in america. they can provide an abundance of energy. but if you actually read the president's executive order, you'll see he's not really about promoting energy security. he's interested in, frankly, only favoring certain parts of the energy sector. and i think that's a huge mistake i had the honor of been the chair of the intelligence committee. i'm now the vice chair of the intelligence committee. and i think one of the tiengz we try -- things we try to do the intelligence committee is redefine national security so it's not mostly tanks and guns but who wins the battle for technology? if we're going to win the technology -- the battle for tech knowing, particularly a.i., that's going tore require enormous amounts of energy in the until. it's terribly important that the united states remain in its role now as being the world's energy

leader. but the truth is, china has also made this kind of commitment. and in certain ways, china, although they're still using many times coal-based power, they've made massive investments in renewable energy. today china is the world's top supplier of long duration energy storage batteries, solar panels, and wind turbines. just last year china added 357 gigawatts of solar and wind generation. that's nearly 100 more gigawatts of renewable energy than the u.s. added. that's why congress said we've got to catch up and in a very bipartisan way with both the infrastructure investment and jobs act and the inflation reduction act, made a record set of investments to incentivize the build-out of a 21st century

energy economy here in the united states so we can actually beat china in these fields. unfortunately, through the president through his quote, unquote, unleashing energy executive order is attempting to rein in or potentially reverse much of the progress that's been made. his executive order actually calls for the pause of any disbursement of funds lawfully appropriated and obligated by the inflation reduction act or the infrastructure investment and jobs act. now, that unlawful withholding of funds which already has been rejected by the courts -- i know my colleague from virginia has already said this -- really jeep dietzes a whole -- jeopardizes a whole lot of large-scale productions across the country. a number of those projects are in virginia. we've worked years with our republican governor to try to

get these projects funded. and they include things in solar, in wind that are extraordinarily important. and that were funded because they would support this growth of american energy. now -- they printed this on both sides of the paper. i will cut to the chase, though. the fact is what president trump did on that first day by putting out this executive order which denies the fact that america is already the energy leader in the word, we need to make additional investments in cutting edge additional energies where china is making these investments, solar, wind, battery.

i'm a big advocate for small modular nukes. a lot of that comes from funding from the infrastructure bill and the ira. why in the heck would we put a halt on all of that? why in the heck would we cut back on cutting-edge energy investments in the united states? why would we cut back on american energy jobs? i'm all for the natural gas jobs that are coming out of the presiding officer's state. i'm all for all of the above. why restrain us, though, in areas where we've got some catching up to do? i think about fusion again. we're going to spend about 800 million hopefully in some of this legislation. china is spending about twice that amount. so if we want to truly create the ample sources of energy that is needed in the united states, if we want those jobs to be in

america, if we want to think about a national security regime where we are the leader in the world in cutting-edge energy, then we have to support senator kaine and senator heinrich's resolution to overturn this phony national energy emergency. in we don't and we give up on these projects that have been vetted, some for years, then we frankly are going to allow our national security to fall behind china because i can assure you, i get classified briefs on a regular basis. china is not giving up in investment in all these new domains. china is pedal to the metal on the all-of-the-above energy strategy. that should be our strategy as well. and i urge all my colleagues to support senator kaine and senator heinrich's resolution and i look forward to that vote later today. with that, mr. president, i

yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the clerk: ms. alsobrooks.

>> thank you, mr. president. i asked ewe non-maws consent when it comes to american energy, the emergency siren is families are feeling it all across the country.

to most americans, this is definition of energy emergency. to senate democrats it's an incon convenient truth. today democrats are trying to reverse president trump's national energy emergency and they'll address painfully high energy prices under which american families have been suffering. this national energy emergency is part of president trump's swift actions and actions to unleash american energy. and it's part of a broader vision of affordable, reliable, available american energy. democrats oppose all that and opposed for last four years and still oppose it. they have learned nothing for four years of failure. they're going to help the

climate. democrats remain the party of painful and punishing regulations. they remain the party of never ending dependents on foreign dictators for energy that we have right here. democrats want to continue the war on american energy and lineup and oppose what president trump is trying to do to bring energy prices down. republicans know the best way to lower prices for the american people is to support more american energy production. we have it here, we out to use it. we have the -- ought to use it. we have the workers. ex-pleasant, qualified, hard working americans, and they know how to produce american energy responsibly. last week senate republicans here in this body passed a budget to secure the border, to unleash american energy and rebuild our military, and we're taking further action to address high energy prices and cut red

tape. the senate -- we're working today on two important resolutions doing it this entire week using something called the congressional review act. first from senator john kennedy from louisiana. his resolution rolls back biden midnight regulation on energy production in the gulf of america. the senate passed it yesterday and second is john hogan using energy to heat their homes and mandated by the reckless tax spending bill.

in doing so, it punishes american families and golden age of american energy is the foundation of our golden age of america. it's linked directly to the prices we pay to technology we use and world we live in. we're paving the way for affordable, row liable, american energy production. unleashing american energy means lower prices and means more innovation and means more safety and stability in our community and in our economy.

tones of millions of american families would be unprecedented coming to medicaid. why did heps do it? so they could cut taxes for the billionaires club. the republican agenda is quickly taking shape. under donald trump's republican party, billionaires win, american families lose. last night proved that senate democrats are right. it doesn't matter if republicans go with one bill or two bills or 50 bills. end game for republicans have always been the same, cutting

taxes for billionaires and forcing american families to pick up the tab.

risk of economic downturn. what do they do? instead of facing the problem head on, they resort -- they're resorting to budget gimmicks to hide the trauma-specific cost of billionaire tax cuts. they want to use something, some of them. called a current policy baseline. innocence, current policy baseline is an attempt to turn 5 trillion in deficit spending and on the balance sheet. going for the natural term.

going for the debate and going

for that and it's on the line and americans are worried to be with theed tax break and. americans are worried about the trade war and make trips to the grocery store and might mare.

>> they're doing it but they're afraid to talk about it. and for sure when it comes to the tax cuts and cuts of medicaid and so many other bad things that their budget does, democrats will fight to americans certainly want a more efficient government and what doge and donald trump are doing is not efficiency and it's chaos and americans did not sign up for chaos and that's for sure. aviation safety and there's

another near miss and this time in chicago in the air. thank god no one was hurt and this shows you the immense importance of having a fully staffed faa. how on earth is it efficiency to fire aviation safety assistance or maintenance mccan icks or people who help with safety inspections and repairs but that's just what doge did. i can't imagine any american thinks that's efficient. the only thing that's going to accomplish of course is making flying less safe. not even 9/11 families were rushed to the towers or safe from the doge buzz saw.

treated with dig any ty, respect, and not with -- dignity and respect and contempt with doge. no good business operator would take the slash and burn approach doge is taking and people's social security benefits are also at risk. their ability to see a doctor is at stake and their ability to put kids in day care is at stake.

the amount of money doge will cut is far less than the deficit of the tax cut. all the talk about doing this for the deficit reduction. is belied about their deficit creating and whopping deficit creation by the tax cut. on the cra, today senate republicans will advance a measure on doing one of the most important tools we have to lower energy prices and hold big oil and gas accountable. republicans once again in

reducing me that i know and was- . mr. hoeven: are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are. mr. hoeven: i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. hoeven: thank you. mr. president, i come to the floor today to discuss our continued efforts to reverse the biden administration's regulatory overreach, specifically as it relates to energy. this includes our efforts to work with president trump to unleash america's full energy potential and truly make our nation energy dominant. not just energy secure, but energy dominant. energy security is national security. and so it's vitally important for our country. we worked diligently in the senate to swiftly concern president trump's cabinet officials and continue to do that. we made it a firefighter to make sure the -- we made it a priority to make sure he got its

department heads. key to this effort, i was confirming dougburg ---ing dougburg hum to be interior security and lee zeldin to be serve as administrator of the epa. we look forward to working with president trump's newly established national energy dominance council chaired by secr secretary burgum and vice secretary wright. soon the senate will vote on my resolution to nullify the democrats' natural gas tax rule using the congressional review act. we'll be voting on that today. this new tax was mandated by the democrats in their so-called inflation reduction act.

it should have been called the inflation acceleration act. not only did it increase spending for their green new deal, it also put taxes on things like natural gas. no wonder under their watch inflation went up to 9%. and that's, that hits low-income, hardworking americans the hardest of all. so we're going to change that. this tax, this actually puts a fee on emissions from facilities that produce natural gas. it starts at $900 a ton, goes up from there, eventually up to $1,500 per ton. essentially what you're looking at is putting a 5%-plus added tax on natural gas. now think about that. everybody uses natural gas to heat their homes or to cook their meals and for many other purposes as well. so it's a tax on every consumer and it's regressive. it hits low-income individuals

the hardest. and this of course has a disproportionate effect on small oil and gas producers in states like mine, in north dakota, montana and other states. it hits small businesses the hardest and of course ultimately is paid by consumers. it will impact the energy bill of consumers across the country who, as i said, are already struggling with high inflation because of the biden administration. today the united states is the world's largest oil and gas producer, and at the same time we've led the world in emission reductions. here's a stat i'm going to talk about for a minute, and it's important to focus on this because at the very same time that the biden administration is putting additional taxes and fees on natural gas, we are reducing emissions from natural gas. so, since 1990 we have reduced emissions from methane by 20%. that sounds pretty good, right?

20% reduction in methane emissions since 1990. but think about this, in that same time we've doubled how much natural gas we produce. so we've doubled the amount of natural gas we produced and still reduced overall emissions by 20%. remarkable. remarkable. the biden and the democrats' response to this is, well, gee whiz, let's raise taxes on everybody that uses natural gas. obviously not only does that drive up prices, it curtails production. instead what we need to do is support the innovation and empower the technology development that have enabled us to reduce emissions while producing more natural gas. that's the answer. that's the solution. that's exactly what president trump and republicans have done and will continue to do, and that is an important part of, again, making our country truly

energy dominant. we're also working with the trump administration to replace the biden administration's rules that closed off access to vast areas of taxpayer-owned energy resources. that includes both offshore and onshore. for example, in my state the bureau of land management, blm's public lands rule essentially enables environmental groups to lock away federal coal, oil, and gas reserves under the argument that they're somehow undertaking conservation. the reality is in north dakota, for example, this biden administration, what they call their resource management plan closes off leasing to 45% of the federal oil and gas acreage in our state and nearly 99% of federal coal. but it doesn't just end there.

when they close off that, those federal lands from development, they also impact everybody else because federal minerals are often colocated in our state and other states with privately owned minerals under nonfederal surface acreage, their resource management plan prevents other mineral holders and owners, private owners from exercising their private property rights and limits the ability to develop minerals that are owned by the state, by the tribes, and by private individuals. that's why i'm working with senator cramer and secretary burgum to overturn the blm's resource management plan and maximize access to north dakota's energy resources. and that approach is not just important to my state. it is vital for energy producing states across the country. this truly is about taking the handcuffs off our energy producers and empowering them to increase supply and help bring

down prices for american families and businesses. there is an energy component in every product and service that we consume. and when we make energy more plentiful and bring down that price, that helps reduce inflation. when we bring down energy and make it more plentiful, that helps us grow our economy, create more jobs and opportunities. and in fact not only provide for national security through energy security but help our allies as well so they are not dependent on russia or on opec, on venezuela or anyone else, any of those bad actors for their energy because they can get it from the united states. all these things go with producing more energy. all those benefits, all those things go with truly making america energy dominant. that's absolutely what president trump, that is absolutely what

republicans intend to do. with that, mr. president, i yield the floor.

mr. lankford: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. mr. lankford: mr. president, president biden liked to be able to say over and over again that we're producing record amounts of oil and gas. some of my democratic colleagues have even come to this floor in the last couple of days and have said we don't have an energy emergency. those two things together are kind of a message going out to the american people, there's nothing to see here, move along, everything is fine on energy. but if you talk to electricity generation companies, regional distribution networks and ask them, how are things going with electricity generation? how are we doing with capacity? they will give you a very different story. the feeling is when you walk into your own house and flick on the lights and the lights turn on, you're like, yeah, the lights are fine, there is no emergency. but if you talk to the electric

company behind it in, say, two years from now, what does it look like for capacity for you, they will probably shake their head and say, we have a problem coming. we can either deal with that frob two years from -- from now when we're having brownouts and don't have enough electricity or we can deal with it now. i would rather deal with it now so we don't have the challenges ahead. how do you do that? continue to be energy dominant, and actually the energy we're producing here in the united states and to be able to make sure we're producing all of the above energy but actually producing energy at a price americans can afford at the amount americans need. if we're going to be the world leader in a.i., data centers and innovation, you can't be that if you don't have the power behind it. you can't be that if the price continues to go up, up, up, up, up for continued subsidies. under the biden administti