mr. leahy: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: mr. president, before i begin, i want to acknowledge this morning countless floridians woke up to a world turned upside down in the wake of hurricane ian. hundreds of thousands in puerto rico remain without power more than ten days after the storm that ravaged the island. i want them to know that vermonters will stand by your side as you rebuild your communities and your lives, and so will republicans and democrats in this chamber. i said that to a couple of dear friends of mine in florida who are suffering from lack of power right almost in the eye of the storm. now, the continuing resolution we're about to consider contains $18.8 billion for the fema disaster relief fund. it would bring available resources to approximately $35 billion to respond to these and other disasters. we're likely not going to know the extent of the damage for several days. so every time you -- certainly every time you watch the news, you hear of more damage. but i remind my colleagues that we are the united stat

mr. leahy: mr. president, i understand the vote is going to be soon. i ask consent that it be after i finish my remarks. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. leahy: mr. president, listening to senator wyden and senator brown about social security, i would tell my colleagues that the first recipient of social security was a vermonter, and vermont was at that time i believe the most republican state in the nation. i remember growing up as a child hearing so many people say, well, i may disagree with a whole lot of things franklin roosevelt and the democrats did, but social security, i'm all for that. and i learned that as a child, and it's been part of my mantra ever since, along with senator brown and senator wyden. social security is a contract, and we should follow it. now, on another matter, mr. president, today the senate will vote to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to h.r. 6833. what that means, we take up a substitute amendment containing a continuing resolution to fund the fed

mr. president, thank you for your indulgence and senator leahy will be speaking in a moment, and senatorthe chair of the finance committee, we're just asking for cosponsors. we have a number of our colleagues that have cosponsored colleagues that have cosponsored we have a number of our colleagues have cosponsored this to make sure social security ish with us, strong good so security system as long as we are a nation. so yield the floor, thank you. >> 's senate today voted to advance a bill seeking to fund the federal government through december 16. current money runs out at midnight on september 30. today's vote followed an announcement by majority leader schumer offered by west virginia west virginia the temporary funding bill. mcconnell's decision to support momentarily more life senate coverage here on cspan2. x now available c-span shop, c-span's 2022 congressional directory. to order a copy of the congressional directory. the spiral-bound books as your guide to the federal government with contact information for every member of congress. including bios and committee assignments. al

chairman of the appropriationsmmun committe, senator leahy and republican vice chair senator shelby. it stated publicly that this poison excuse me mrident i've got a misplaced page here. as i was saying both sides want to continue time is sensitive support for ukraine. but unfortunately her democratic colleagues decided to put in extraneous artisan language. in fact a poison pill. this extraneous poison pills not related related to keep the government open. it was not negotiated across the aisle. publican vice president this poison pill should not be much too difficult to build things in america. a huge part of our problem. our republicans are the leaders on the issue. that is on my colleague cap first topic toe has introduced a strong, robust package that would actually move the ball forward. her democratic colleagues a have produced is a phony fig leaf that would actually set back the cause of real permitting reform. this is an issue or should be very easy to improve on the status quo. but amazingly our democratic colleagues have managed to write language that would actually, listen to this, make things even worse. senator mansio

would like to begin by thanking chairman leahy for his decades of advocacy towards the constitutional mission of promoting the progress of science and useful arts. mr. chairman, you have been a champion of copyright throughout your career, and your role in shapingin today's copyright sysm as well as your steadfast support for the copyright office are greatly appreciated. since our last hearing before the subcommittee the office has accomplished a lot. we begin the issue by issuing a new strategic plan aimed at making the copyright system more accessible and up to date. in june we launched the groundbreaking small claims tribunal established by the case act. as of today nearly 150 claims have been filed and the copyright claims aboard iss moving efficiently to process them. it's still too early to know how heavy the caseload will turn out to be, but meanwhile we are actively reaching out to the public with information about the existence and operations of this new tribunal. at the same time the office has been busy responding to congressional inquiries. we completed studies on press publishes rights, on state sovereign immunity, and on deferred exam

mr. rosenbaum, i lead a bipartisan bill. the former chairman's graham and leahyas well as others, to ensure we have jurisdiction to prosecute foreign war criminals who hide here. often, the united states will have the option to extradite someone who commits war crimes in a foreign country back to the scene of the crime. is this always the case? or are there some instances where we need a domestic prosecution option? >> thank, you senator. and we're glad that you and the chairman share of the justice department's commitment to ensuring that the united states is not a safe haven for the perpetrators of a war crimes and other atrocity crimes. and also that we have the tools that we need to bring such persons to justice if they do get into the night of states. extradition is sometimes an option, and the department of justice has pursued that. i think for example, the case of solomon -- who was investigated by my section, the human rights section, along with our partners outreach its own. we got him indicted with our partners in the u.s. attorney's office for the dist

mrs. spartz. we are pleased today to take up passage of the senate version of the bill, championed by senators leahy and tillis, so the bill will pass both chambers and become law. we in this chamber know how important intellectual property rights are to our country and our economy. studies show that awareness of intellectual property is lacking among the country's students even if they pursue fields that are i.p. intensive. the arts act helps close this gap early on and allows state of the unions to participate in the intellectual property system without a financial burden. what it also does is help build the farm team for all those who will be protecting intellectual property in the future. it gives them a sense of ownership and ties them to the constitution because intellectual property certainly is part of the constitutional privilege and constitutional rights and protections. property rights are very important and that is what intellectual property is. it builds on congress' work to encourage the creativity of our nation's youth with the establishment of the congressional art competition and co

leahy, president pro tempore. mr. schumer: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: i understand there is a bill at the desk that is due for a second reading. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the title of the bill for a second time. the clerk: s. 4822, to provide for additional disclosure requirements. mr. schumer: in order to place the bill on the calendar under the provisions of rule 14, i would object to further proceeding. the presiding officer: objection having been heard, the bill will be placed on the calendar. mr. schumer: thank you, mr. president. now, mr. president, shortly after the news leaked that the u.s. supreme court was ready to overturn roe v. wade, leader mcconnell acknowledged that a federal ban on abortion was now, quote, possible, unquote. his words. well, later today the senior senator from south carolina is going to make good on leader mcconnell's warning by introducing a radical bill to institute a nationwide restriction on abortions. mr. president, proposals like the one toda

leahy, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: under the previous order, leadership time is reserved. mr. schumer: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: now, mr. president, four words are inscribed in the stone above the united states supreme court -- equal justice under law. equal justice under law. in many ways the story of america has been about making those words true for all americans. sometimes we take bold steps forward. other times, unfortunately, we take disturbing steps backward. we all know when the constitution was written there was not equal justice under law. that's pretty obvious. so many people were excluded from voting and other rights. but we have tried to move forward, and that's one of the beautiful things about america. we keep moving forward. we push. but unfortunately today america finds it's in one of those frightening moments of regregs. of regression. months ago tens of millions of women saw their fundamental rights taken away before their very eyes. justice thomas in a concurring opinion suggested that other rights, like the freedom to marry