mr. kaine: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from virginia. mr. kaine: i rise to support the position of might have colleague. when you're unwilling to describe something accurately, it portrays a weakness in your position. i've heard my colleagues complain about the vaccine mandate. it's not a vaccine mandate. it is a vaccine or testing mandate. if you don't want to get a test, if you don't want to get a vaccine, don't get a vaccine. get a test so you can go to work each week without infecting your colleagues with the deadly disease. what my colleagues are asking is that people be protected so that they can go to work with a deadly disease, infect coworkers and still get a paycheck, and still get a paycheck. if you don't want to get a vaccine, get a test. if you're unwilling to protect your coworkers, don't demand a paycheck. i urge my colleagues to oppose this amendment. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from utah. mr. lee: if you don't want to get the virus, get the vaccine. but the answer to someone not agreeing with

mr. kaine: madam president -- mr. cruz: if senator kaine or the chair wants to silence me because you don't want to hear what is happening in ukraine, you can try to do that. mr. kaine: madam president, we have no interest in silencing senator cruz. in fact, the democrats agreed to allow senator cruz to be present his amendment on nord stream 2 last week and it was blocked by republican colleagues. i've made a request for unanimous consent about two ambassadors to the americas and about someone who needs to attend a nuclear nonproliferation conference and lead a delegation from the united states. it happens once every five years. it's coming up. the senator is allowed to speak about nord stream 2 as long as he wants but he shouldn't interrupt a u.c. for these three individuals for a speech that he has given many times and i'm sure he will give it many more times and i'm sure we will hear it many more times, i would like a ruling for unanimous consent on threes nominees. the presiding officer: is there an objection to t

mr. kaine: is it the case that a senator making a live u.c. on the floor to advance a nomination can be blocked from making a live u.c. by someone who will not even agree to appear on the floor of the senate?

mr. kaine: madam president, thank you. i'm -- i'm honored to join my colleagues today to speak about the child tax credit and do something similar to what they've done is just make it personal to families. today -- tomorrow, on december 15, more than 930,000 virginia families, who together have together 1.6 million kids, will receive a child care tax cut. those are big numbers. those are big numbers. 1.6 million children, 930,000 families. and i'm here joining my colleagues to ask that this payment to parents, this parents tax cut to help their children is not the last. because unless we act, the sixth payment that will go out tomorrow will be the last. now, the numbers are big, but sometimes the numbers can obscure data and statistics can obscure what's really at stake. so just a week ago i put out on my senate webpage a question, what has this tax cut meant to your family? and in one week we received more than 200 responses and i want to share a few with you. hannah is a full-time caretaker of her fiksly disabled child.

mr. kaine: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from virginia. mr. kaine: i rise to support the position of might have colleague. when you're unwilling to describe something accurately, it portrays a weakness in your position. i've heard my colleagues complain about the vaccine mandate. it's not a vaccine mandate. it is a vaccine or testing mandate. if you don't want to get a test, if you don't want to get a vaccine, don't get a vaccine. get a test so you can go to work each week without infecting your colleagues with the deadly disease. what my colleagues are asking is that people be protected so that they can go to work with a deadly disease, infect coworkers and still get a paycheck, and still get a paycheck. if you don't want to get a vaccine, get a test. if you're unwilling to protect your coworkers, don't demand a paycheck. i urge my colleagues to oppose this amendment. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from utah. mr. lee: if you don't want to get the virus, get the vaccine. but the answer to someone not agreeing with