mr. cruz: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. ruz: i ask unanimous consent that the senate resume consideration of the motion to proceed to calendar number 18, s. 331. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cruz: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent for the following detailees in my office to be granted floor privileges. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: motion to proceed to calendar number 18, s. 331, a bill to amend the controlled substances act related to fentanyl-related substances and for other purposes. the presiding officer: i recognize the senator from texas. mr. cruz: i ask unanimous consent for the following detail east in my office to be granted floor privileges until the end of this congress, joe, dean and thomas hastings. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cruz: the united states coast guard is essential to protecting our nation's maritime borders from threats like illegal immigration and transnational crime. the coast guard saves american lives and ensures that co

chair cruz: thank you. mr. pearl. mr. pearl: chairman cruz, ranking member cantwell, distinguished members of the committee, it's an honor to appear before you to discuss spectrum policy. the center for strategic and international studies does not take policy positions, so the views expressed here are my own. in my testimony, i will explain the importance of establishing u.s. leadership and spectrum policy, draw attention to recent developments that undermine such leadership, and urge congress and the administration to act to improve the u.s.'s position. u.s. leadership in spectrum is critical because the people's republic of china is spending tens of billions of dollars to subsidize huawei in an effort to control the future of this strategically vital technology. the u.s. is not and should not take the prc's approach of massively subsidizing a single company. however, the u.s. should make available its other policy levers to counter the prc, and spectrum is particularly critical. until recently, our country was at the for

mr. cruz, aye. the clerk: mr. young, aye. the clerk: ms. klobuchar, no. the clerk: mr.onnell, aye. the clerk: mr. hickenlooper, no. the clerk: mr. sullivan, aye. the presiding officer: the yeas are 51. the nays are 45. the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered madeland upon the table, and the president will be immediately notified of the senate's action. mr. barrasso: mr. president. the presiding officer: senator wyoming. mr. barrasso: i i ask unanimous consent that waive the mandatory quark with respect to the motion to proceed to calendar number 2, s. 9. the presiding officer: without objection. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to legislative session and resume consideration of the following motion, which the clerk will report. t the clerk: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the motion to proceed to calendar number 2, s. $, a bill to provide for purposes of determining compliance

senator cruz: i appreciate you being here and getting this passed into law to protect these victims and prevent further victims. mr. scalise: i thank senator cruz and congresswoman salazar for your leadership. we came close last year to getting this across the finish line but i think with the leadership and the voice of the first lady, i want to applaud melania trump and the strength of your office to this because i have no doubt this is going to be the year that we actually get the take it down act signed into law. and as you have heard from the young ladies, the horrible stories, you could have walked away and didn't. and had somebody else pick tup the mantle to do this but you said no. nobody else should have to go through what i have been through. i am going to lend my voice and experience so we can stop from this happening again. it's going to take an act of congress to fix this. you probably get concerned and say i know how long it takes and it could take ag long time. and this time, i think you have the right coalition, the right leaders, bipartisan and i thank representative khanna and senator clop char be

mr. cruz. mr. curtis. what we are seeing real-time to default on the veterans of america. it's an assault that is part of a campaign by elon musk who has been empowered by president trump totally to eliminate waste in our federal government. instead of eliminating waste elon musk is laying waste to the department of veterans affairs and it is unfolding in real time and with the real-life impact on our veterans. not only is he firing veterans at the va, many of the 2400 already terminated our veterans one third of them but across agencies in the united states government where 30,000 members of the federal workforce have been indiscriminately terminated , 30% of them are veterans as well turned almost 50% of everybody in the department of defense who has been fired, they are veterans and they may be probationary employees, promoted to a position where they are in that status because they done such a great job. they are being fired. younger members of the federal workforce who are there for up to two years for the future of our civil servants are fired in so many of them are

cruz. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i am proud to introduce my friend. aaron has been nominated to be the assistant attorney general at the department of justice as chairman grassley observed he is currently my chief of staff and has virtually impossible job of keeping me out of trouble. in that regard, he has failed spectacularly. [laughter] but it may not be possible to succeed. he is fleeing instead to the department of justice where i have absolute confidence that he will diligently and vigilantly defend the rule of law at the department of justice. before i get in there, a professional background, i want to note that he is here with his beautiful wife meredith, with two of his four kids. william and caroline are both sitting behind their dad. and at home they are watching i'm sure on tv. unless they have fallen asleep or doing something else that has distracted them. excelling in everything he has put his hand to. he went to texas a&m. his wife meredith went to the university of texas. divided households. he went on to serve as an officer in the mar

ted cruz pointed out when joe biden was introduced mr. speaker the president of the united states, they stood up. >> i've been to 18 of these. i've been to more democrat them republican of these and i tell people this is the closest thing to pageantry we have in america. it's a good thing for our country. and we should be there and respect the office of the presidency. >> i've had to suck it up after elections that didn't go my way. >> it's part of our great country. but tonight we saw a leader who is more than any person i've ever seen in politics, he's doing what he told the american people he was going to do. i say this all the time, we make this job to complicated. if you get elected go do it. and for 40 some days no one has done it with the intensity of this guy and then further laying out the vision where he wants to take the country, that's what presidents are supposed to do. that's what leaders of great nations like ours, the greatest ... >> it has to because again we have to help president trump deliver on the message he ran on ,

cruz. >> thank you mr. chairman prayed i want to focus on iran's push to build nuclear weapons, which i believe presents one of the most immediate and acute threats to american national security. under the first trump administration, president trump maximum pressure. first by denying the ayatollah oil revenue, then rescinding civil nuclear waivers and ultimately by invoking you and snapback sanctions. the biden administration dismantled that pressure as the iranian regime new that they would. so the regime began rushing to a nuclear weapon immediately after the november election. we know the result. today, the ayatollah has achieved a nuclear breakout time of nearly zero. we now face the very real possibility of an iranian nuclear arsenal. i don't believe it is a threat the u.s. can tolerate, and i'm glad the trump administration is taking action. we've already seen the trump administration restore parts of the maximum pressure campaign with the goal of cutting their oil exports completely to zero. next, we

ted cruz rightly pointed out when, when joe biden was introduced, mr. speaker, the president of the united states, they stood up. >> yeah, i stood up. i've been to 18, 18 of these. i've been, you know, more more, more democrats than than republican of these. and i tell people this is the closest thing to pageantry we have in america, and it's a good thing for our country, and we should be there and respect the office of the president. >> i've had to suck it up after. >> of course, you. >> have a few elections that i didn't go my way. >> of course it's part of part of our great country. but tonight we saw a leader. we saw a leader who is more than any person i've ever seen in politics. he is doing what he told the american people he was going to do. i say this all the time. we make this job too complicated. it's simple. what did you tell the voters you were going to do? if you get elected, go do it. and for 40 some days, no one has done it with the intensity of this guy. and then further laying out the vision where he wants to take the country. that's wh

cruz. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i am proud to introduce my friend. aaron has been nominated to be the assistant attorney general at the department of justice as chairman grassley observed he is currently my chief of staff and has virtually impossible job of keeping me out of trouble. in that regard, he has failed spectacularly. [laughter] but it may not be possible to succeed. he is fleeing instead to the department of justice where i have absolute confidence that he will diligently and vigilantly defend the rule of law at the department of justice. before i get in there, a professional background, i want to note that he is here with his beautiful wife meredith, with two of his four kids. william and caroline are both sitting behind their dad. and at home they are watching i'm sure on tv. unless they have fallen asleep or doing something else that has distracted them. excelling in everything he has put his hand to. he went to texas a&m. his wife meredith went to the university of texas. divided households. he went on to serve as an officer in the mar

mr. speaker, i appreciate you being here and i appreciate your leadership getting this passed into law so that we can protect these victims and prevent further victims. majority leader scalise. >> i want to thank senator cruz and congresswoman salazar for your leadership. we came incredibly close last year to getting this across the finish line but i think with the leadership and the voice of the first lady, i just want to applaud first lady melania trump for lending your voice and the strength of your office to this because for i have no doubt this is going to be the year that we actually get to take it down act signed into law and i think as you heard from eliston and francesca, breeze, the horrible stories you could have easily just walked away and hidden had somebody else pick up the man it will to do this but you said, no, nobody else should have to do and go through what i've been through so i'm going to lend my voice and my experience so that we can stop anybody else from having this happen again and when you then hear, okay, it's going to take act of congress to fix this, you probably really get concerned and say, well, i've heard how long that takes and believe me, it can take a long time unless y