mr. cardin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. cardin: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cardin: mr. president, i rise todays to urge swift passage of the p.p.p. extension act, which will extend the marce paycheck protection program two months to may 31 and give the s.b.a. an additional month through june 30 to process any backlogged applications. this saturday, march 27, will be the one-year date since the cares act was enacted. in that time, s.b.a. has approved 8.2 million p.p.p. loans worth more than $715 billion. these loans have saved small businesses throughout our nation. they would not be here today but for this program. it also saved the stress on our unemployment insurance system by keeping small business employees on the payroll, and as i'm sure the presiding officer knows, for a small business, it's difficult to find a workforce and to keep a workforce, and the paycheck protection program allowed small businesses to maintain their workforce so t

mr. cardin: thank you, mr. president. i rise today to voice my strong support for isabella guzman's nomination to serve as administrator of the small business administration. our nation passed the one-year mark of covid-19 being declared a national emergency last saturday, march 13. and thankfully the american people can now see the light at the end of the tunnel. already more than 20% of all americans have received at least one covid-19 vaccine dose with an average of more than 2.39 million additional doses being administered each day. we can see the light at the end of the-- of the tunnel but we're not there yet. the covid-19 pandemic has decimated small businesses. the worst effects have been felt by the most vulnerable small businesses, especially those in black, latino, native, and rural communities. so s.b.a. must continue to be a lifeline in the coming months. that's why it's important that we confirm ms. guzman's nomination so they can provide the permanent steady leadership s.b.a. needs right now. when we passed

mr. cardin? mr. carper? mr. carper, aye. mr. casey? >> aye. >> mr. casey, aye. mr. cassidy? >> no. >> mr. cassidy, no. miss collins? no. mr. koontz -- >> aye. >> mr. koontz, aye. mr. corn cornyn? >> no. >> miss cortez masto? >> it aye. >> mr. crapo? mr. crapo, no. mr. cruz? >> no. >> mr. cruz, no. mr. danes? >> mr. danes, no. miss duckworth? miss duckworth aye. mr. durbin? >> aye. >> mr. durbin, aye. >> miss ernest? miss ernest? no. mrs. feinstein aye. mrs. fisher? no. mrs. gillibrand? >> aye. >> mrs. gillibrand, aye. mr. graham? >> no. mr. graham, no. mr. grassley? mr. grassley, no. mr. haggardy? >> no. >> mr. haggerty, no. miss hassan? >> aye. >> mr. hawley? >> know. >> mr. hawley, no. mr. heinrich? >>aye. >> mr. heinrich, aye. mr. lick enhooper? aye. mr. hovan? >> no. >> mr. hovan, no. >> mrs. hyde-smith? no. mr. innoff? >> no. >> mr. johnson. >> no. >> mr. johnson, no. >> mr. kane? mr. kane, aye. mr. kelly? >> aye. >> mr. kelly, aye. >> mr. kennedy? >> no. >> mr. kennedy, no. mr. king? >> aye. >> mr. king, aye. miss kwloeb klobuchar? >> aye. >> mr. langford? >> no. >> mr

cardin: thank, mr. kelly. mr. rivera? mr. rivera: good afternoon, chairman cardin, ranking member paul, and members. thank you for inviting me to discuss sba's disaster assistance loan program. my name is james rivera, i'm the associate administrator in the offer -- the office of disaster assistance. on behalf of the administrator and the entire agency, i want to start by thanking you for your strong support for the agency's disaster assistance mission and your leadership to ensure that as a country we can meet the challenges of multiple disaster events and the pandemic affecting the united states. let me take this opportunity to outline the work sba is doing and report our progress regarding the eidl program. since 1953 the leadership -- since 1953 and leading up to covid, sba has approved over 2.2 million disaster loans for 60 $7 billion to disaster survivors. the two largest disasters were hurricanes katrina and wilma. we approved over $11 billion. for hurricanes in 2017 we approved $7.4 billion. as of yesterday we have app

cardin. >> well, mr. chairman, thank you very much. and ranking member risch, thank you for the opportunity for me to introduce a fellow marylander, a person i deeply admire, a seasoned diplomat, and i think a person imminently qualified to take on the responsibilities as deputy secretary of state, and that is wendy sherman. on a personal note, i have known wendy sherman and her family for my entire adult life. her family represents the values of giving back to the community, and wendy has chosen a career in public service for all the right reasons. to make our nation and world safer and to enhance opportunities for all. so, first, mr. chairman, i want to thank wendy sherman and her family for their willingness to continue in public life. we recognize the sacrifices and we thank you for being willing to serve our country. ambassador sherman is extraordinarily qualified to be the deputy secretary of state. deputy secretary of state. she started as a social worker and rose to become the chief of staff for senator murkowski. she knows how

mr. chairman. >> thank you. i understand that senator cardin is with us virtually. senator cardin? >> testing, testing. >> is that mr. lau? >> yes, yes. i'm so sorry. i don't know the problems, technical problems. >> well, we'll recognize you now. your full statement will be in the record, and if you can summarize your remarks. i read your statement. it's excellent. >> thank you so much, chairman menendez and the distinguished members of the committee. it's really my honor to be able to testify in front of the senate foreign relations committee. the state of democracy around the world is grim. the 2020 democracy report found that 2020 was the first year since 2001 that there are more autocratic institutions than democratic ones in the world. the latest freedom in the world 2021 lord produced by freedom house also recognized this worsening democracy decline. we're all in the 50th consecutive year of global freedom. what hong kong people have suffered the past few years are a clear example. the hong kong people, scenes of millions of people marching down the street captured eyeballs o

mr. chairman, thank you. >> we can't hear you. >> senator cardin. >> let me thank the witnesses. this has been an incredible panel. thank you mr. chairman for conducting the hearing. manufacturing is important to maryland and the nation and we have over 4100 companies that over 112,000 jobs and in the auto industry we have over 1500 people, so this hearing is very important and i was going to be supportive of the changes on the tax code to make domestic manufacturing more competitive, whether it is to deal with innovation and research development, those provisions or whether it is industry specific. but i just want to make one observation. you talk about having the competitive tax structure and it is virtually impossible for us to have that if we do not harmonize with the rest of the world. what, i mean, by that is we raise most of the revenue from income tax, not for consumption tax which is what the rest of the world does and consumption tax is border adjusted making u.s. manufacturers at a distinct disadvantage. we talked about having predictability but to be reasonable about t

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator blumenthal and senator cardin both for being guests on this committee. let's move on to the nominees, mr. guentzler and mr. chopra, if you'd please stand, you can adjust your cameras or not, it's up to you. stand and raise your right hand. do you swear or affirm the testimony you're about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you god? >> i do. >> do you agree to appear and testify before any duly constituted committee of the senate? >> i do. >> thank you. you may be seated. mr. guentzler, you're now recognized for five minutes to provide your opening statement. both of you, i know isabelle's been introduced four types now, but both of you feel free to introduce family members that are watching or nearby or sitting over your shoulder in your maryland home. mr. guentzler, if you would begin first for five minutes, thank you. >> chairman, ranking member toomey, members of this committee, it is an honor to appear before you. two decades ago i served on this committee's staff under chairman paul sorbanes who we sadly lost

mr. chairman. >> thank you senator inhofe. i think we have senator cardin,f my neighbor in delmarva. if you're there, take it away, please. thank you. >> thank you, mr. chairman.havee thank you very much. the testimony off thi our witnesses.ink thank you for holding this at u hearing. i think it'ss critically important. as we look at building back better, how do we have an two electric grid that meets the challenges we have, meet climate change and meets carbon emissions? that's our goal. i want to try to cover two points, if i can, during my ger time.e. 20% of our total electricity is generated by nuclear power, but it's over 55% of the carbon free electric a productions. nu talking about . building back better, wewe have a to veryy old nuclear fleet.east any specific suggestions as to the importance of at least maintaining our capacity for nuclear generated electricity?l and how can we go about doing ded in that? what type of additional federal policies arepower? needed in or be able to maintain our capacity for nuclear power? mr. fowke, you're in the energy business, so -- >> yeah.

cardin, senator rosen. followed by senator stephanie. >> thank you, mr. chairman. to mr. mcnulty, everyone talked about workforce development and the needs of the systems to replenish their workforce. i worked in 2018 with senator booker establishing an epa workforce development -- that is in high demand. ms. powell thanked me here in person, but mr. mcnulty, what are the chief challenges facing your workforce? is it retirement, attention, that of interest, qualified candidates? can you expand on that for me? mr. mcnulty: i'm getting used to this new way of having meetings. i think the best answer would be all of the above. retirement is certainly upon us. it is a chance to recruit good candidates. we do struggle with that here in west virginia. let's not forget that many rule communities -- rural communities struggle with follow -- finding good candidates that don't have substance abuse issues. we appreciate all of congress' work in helping with that problem. we are working towards the apprenticeship program and i think it is going to be very successful. west virginia ro

mr. chairman. rng yep thanks very much senator capto has another hear and go next and following the current order could always change. given today what's happened already probably change. but senator followed by senator cardin -- followed by senator rose man who is here welcome. and followed by senator by webbex. >> thank you mr. chairman. i would like direct my first question to mr. mcnulty it talked about work force development and needs of the systems to replenish their work force. i worked in 2018 with senator booker on this committee to draft and enact our legislation actually establishing a epa work force development excuse me, epa work force development that is in high demand i understand it is over subscribed and thanked me here in person. but mike if you could or mr. mcnulty what are chief challenges facing your work force is it retirement, retention, lack f of interest, lack of qualified candidates, can you exfound on that for me please? >> senator i'm sorry about that i'm getting used to this new way of -- senator i think the best answer qowb b, all of the above. retirements are certainly upon us. it is a task to require to recruit good candidates, so we're -- we do struggle with that here especi

mr. faulk, i want to align myself with everything senator cardin said. the regulation overseeing all of that, we have to streamline it. there is no reason not to, so i associate myself with everything that he said. i want to take it back a little bit on something you said, that senator inhofe quoted, and that's when you said some type of nuclear and gas don't have to stand in the way. in fact, they are part of the solution. i would submit to you that there is not a better fuel in the world the nuclear for accomplishing the goals that you want to accomplish. i say that because it's not parochial to me. we don't have any nuclear in north dakota, xl has little generation at all in north dakota even though you are our largest utility, but we benefit tremendously from your nuclear plants in prairie island and monticello. i once got trapped there because my polyester pants put out too much radiation. [laughter] i will disassociate myself with what he asked then your answer, and thank you very much. but you also raised a question for me that gets to the point -

mr. chairman and thank you, ambassador power and your willingness again and let me follow up on what senator cardin talked to you about, we spent billions in northern triangle country, el salvador, honduras, and it's not -- natural hurricanes added to this. but i got the number 550 kids per day came into the united states, mostly from the northern triangle countries, which is five or six times more than in january when there was less than 100 families and 300 in february so we're going up and up and up. there's a family, 1500 per day last week as compared to a thousand in february, on average less than 1,000 in january, 15 times increase. so, the push factors are not being addressed effectively. people are coming. the pull factors are that the changes were made in policies to allow people to come and they're responding and the traffickers are responding. so, i guess what i would ask you, how you would do it differently? senator cardin rightly asked you about corruption and i think insisting on transparency and rule of law and tying our aid is important. of the 3.6 billion, much was sent through the

mr. cardin: mr. president, i have been advised by the administration there is an excess of $50 billion available at the end of this month for the extension. pursuant to section 904 of the congressional budget act of 1974, the waiver provisions of applicable budget resolutions in section 4-g-3 of the statutory pay as you go act of 2010, i move to waive all applicable sections of those acts and applicable budget resolutions for purposes of the pending measure and ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: vote: the presiding officer: on this vote the yeas are 464, the nays -- 64, the nays are 36, three-fifths of the senators duly sworn, the motion is agreed to. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the title of the bill for the third time. the clerk: calendar number number 11, h.r. 1799, an act to amend the small business act and the cares act to extend the covered period for the paycheck protection

mr. cardin: mr. president, i oppose this amendment. this is a matter of basic fairness. when we passed the paycheck protection program, we included nonprofits. we didn't have the cost estimates for all to -- c's. we added the c-6's during the omnibus. this adds the other c's other than c-4's with protection against lobbying activities. the standards are the same as they are for the other nonprofits. this is just a matter of fairness. let me just point out, according to -- the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. mr. cardin: according to information we have received from a johns hopkins university study, we have lost over a million jobs in the nonprofit sector as a result of covid-19. this bill is needed and we need to be fair to all the nonprofits. i urge all my colleagues to reject the amendment. the presiding officer: the question is on the amendment. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

mr. cardin: thank you, mr. president. similar to senator cantwell, i want to talk a little bit about the small business provisions in the american rescue plan and the urgency of passing the recovery act as soon as possible. we need to act in order to deal with the recovery of covid-19 for our nation. and as chair of the small business and entrepreneurship committee, it's critically important to the health of small businesses that we act on the american rescue plan. small businesses are critically important to our economy. i think the members of this body understand that. two out of every three jobs in the prief sector is create -- in the private sector is created through small companies. innovation takes place in a much larger amount in small companies. just look at how small companies have adjusted to covid-19. we've seen curbside pickup. we've seen the use of the online deliveries. we've seen ways in which small businesses have shown that they can figure out ways to try to stay alive under any circumstances. but there's

mr. cardin: this moves us in the wrong direction. we had bipartisan support recognizing that those convicted of crime, once they paid their price, should be able to participate in our society. the motion to recommit would suggest that someone who may have participated in a -- in a rally while they were in college 15 years ago and has a perfectly clear record could be prevented from participating in the s.b.a. programs. that's moving in the wrong destruction. i would -- direction. i would hope we would have strong rejection of this. i would like to clarify the record for senator lang lankford, there was a small amount $70 million put into the s.b.a., that's additional funds. the idle loan program issued $2 billion worth of funds. that was additional funds put into the program. mr. kennedy: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator has six seconds. mr. kennedy: mr. president, it's a felony for rioting. we shouldn't be giving them money. the presiding officer: all time has expired. the question is on the motion. is there a suffi

mr. bennet: i wanted to rise on behalf of senator cardin who is a democrat from the state of maryland and the original cosponsor with senator wicker of this bill to say that what he would have said if he were here today which is that alexei navalny is a russian patriot, that he is a prisoner of conscience and that we need to stand up to russia's human rights violations. thank you, madam president. mr. wicker: i'm reclaiming my time. i appreciate the work of my friend senator cardin, senator coons of delaware also was here, but unfortunately had to leave. but they also wanted to make it clear that on a bipartisan basis on both sides of the aisle, the united states senate stands for freedom-loving people in russia and for their spokesman alexei navalny. and we intend to shine the light of public opinion on the actions of the russian kleptocracy and dictatorship with regard to prisoners and patriots like alexei navalny. thank you, madam president. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from ohio is recognized. mr. brown: before we hear from senator booker and senator bennet an