>> senator barrasso: a couple things.s like the biden cabinet would be third term of the obama administration. that didn't sit really well in wyoming. we have a role to advise and consent on these nominees, which is why the election coming up in georgia is so critical in the control of the senate, why want to make sure that kelly loeffler and david perdue get elected there, because if you want accountability, and not just a rubber-stamp for joe biden cabinet, you need to have people like me as chairman of the energy committee. so we will have hearings, ask the tough questions, but we are not going to forget what happened with president trump's administration and the delayed process that went through it. so it's not going to be a garden party if the republicans are in the majority. these nominees are going to have to run. in terms of specific nominees you ask about, i'm from wyoming, it's an energy state, here's my concern. with regards to energy joe biden has repeatedly said he's against exploration for energy, a lot of e

senator barrasso, as you said in washington, what are you watching for?hat talks to you out of this scenario? >> when you hear reports like that what is happening in georgia, makes your blood boil. this sounds like fraud. it sounds like something that is a criminal element to this. this needs to be prosecuted and punished. people need to be arrested here. dead people can't vote. people living in new york can't vote in georgia. when chuck schumer said, first we take georgia. then we change america, he didn't say win in georgia, he said take georgia which is why i'm concerned about these dirty tricks. in terms of change america, we know what he wants to do. they were talking about defunding the police. they were talking about raising taxes significantly, the green new deal, gasoline at $10 a gallon. these two senate special elections coming up in terms of republicans winning those, david perdue and kelly loeffler, it is a firewall between america as we know and love it and where the far left wants to take this country. that is why it is so critical that we

so after squeaking a close primary victory over his now fellow senator from wyoming, tom barrasso, mike packed his bags for washington in late 1996 at that time it's only trade accountant. and mike knew that if he was going toproperly serve , he'd working alongside him. people who shared his no-nonsense perspective for careful planning and thrift in government. one of his best decisions was persuading a longtime collaborator, a one-time town manager flip mcconnaughhay to move to washington and be his chief of staff. mike says he initially had 500 applications for that job but none of them were the one he wanted. the experience salesman had to pitch his longtime friend on the opening and itworked . from gillette to the senate was mike's secret weapon not only as a staff or a true e partner in service for many years. when flip passed away w, this entire institution felt the loss. mike's staff likes to say he has a whole collection of useful anecdotes to approach that business, from the perspective of a mayor or a small business owner or a state legislator or an accountant, or a wyoming he

joining us now from capitol hill, the number three republican in the senate, john barrasso.enator, where do we stand on covid relief talks? i understand there's a lot of parliamentary rigamarole, but what are the chancing all sides will sign of onto an agreement today. >> this gets done today, no more delays. we are not leaving until we have relief for the american people. people are hurting. people need help. and there are two things we need to do to write this final chapter on coronavirus and the one is to get people vaccinated. we're doing that now. 20 million people will be vaccinated by the end of this -- by new year's eve. but we need to provide help for the american public. people who have been struggling, until we get enough people vaccinated that we can fully get the economy back on track and that means people back to work and kids back to school. so direct payment checks to the american people, $600 for people who are watching chris, if they got a check last time, they will get a check again this time. adults and children. for people who are out of work, through no

mike knew a lot about local business as mentioned on the floor by senator barrasso, his colleague. he was a small business owner in wyoming running enzi shoe store. he was mayor in age 30. a state representative, state senator. >> he was still always a small business man from gillette. in 1996 when he was recovering from open heart surgery, then senator alan simpson decided know the to run for reelection. local leaders tried to talked mike into running and he wanted more time to hunt and fish. in the end, he made an important decision, he ran and he won. his career has many legislation successes using his 80/20 rule. i'll never forget the days when ted kennedy would come to the floor and talk about the compromise and the bargain that he'd struck with you. i thought, what a political odd couple. but the two of you did some remarkable things. poles apart in terms of political philosophy they treated each other with respect and they had amazing successes to show for it. even when he had differing views, mike enzi has shown a willingness to come to the table and discuss the areas where

as mentioned on the floor by senator barrasso, his colleague, he was a small business owner iny e let, wyoming, running nz's shoe store. even as he went on to become mayor ofy e let at age 30, became a staff sergeant in the guard, air national state representative and a state senator, he was still always a small businessman from gillette. in 1996 when he was recovering from open heart surgery, then-senator al an simpson decided not to run for re-election. local leaders kept trying to talk mike into running when he really just wanted to have more time to hunt and fish. in the end, he ran and he won. husband career has many legislative successes using his 80/20 rule. i'll never forget the days when ted kennedy would come to the floor and talk about the compromise and the bargain he'd struck with you. i thought what a political odd couple. but the two of you did some remarkable things. poles apart in terms of politicallo philosophy. they treated each other with respect, they had amazing successes to show for it. even when he had differing views on the t best way to resolve issues, mike e

after seeking out a close victory his now fellow senator from wyomingen john barrasso, me packed his bags for washington in late 1996 and this body gained at that time is only trained accountant. mike knew if he was going to properly serve his beloved estate he would need fellow wyoming nights working alongside him. people who shared his no-nonsense affection for careful planning and thrift in government. one of his best decisions was persuading his longtime collaborator the one-time town manager gillette philip mcconnaughhay to move to washington and be his chief of staff. mike says he initially had 500 applications from that job but none of them was the one that he wanted. the experienced salesman had to pitch his longtime friend on the opening and it worked. from gillette to the senate flip was mike's secret weapon not just a staffer but as mike tells a true partner in service for many years. when he passed away much too soon in 2016 the entire institution felt the loss. mike like to say he has a whole collection of useful have taken where to approach senate business the perspecti

chris: senator barrasso, thank you. thanks for joining us. good luck coming up with that deal. you promised for today on covid relief. and happy holidays, sir. >> we're going to get it done. merry christmas, chris. chris: up next we bring in the sunday panel to break down the hack in the u u u u u to me, the most important thing about being in the human race isn't winning. it's participating, living life to the fullest... emphasis on living. this is what makes life, life. yet how much of life are we willing to miss out on? untreated hearing loss affects our mobility; it increases the risk of falls by 50%. good hearing health is essential to staying engaged... and doing what we love. hear well and stay vital. get a hearing health check every year. >>> this is nothing short of a virtual invasion by the russians into critical accounts of our federal government. chris: democratic senator dick durbin assigning blame directly to russia for the massive cyber hack of u.s. agencies. and it's time for our sunday group. co-founder of the federalist, ben come niche domenech, susan d juan w

barrasso: thank you, madam president. a little reflection on tom udall and the work we did together on the indian affairs committee as i chaired and he was the ranking member. i will tell you, madam president, i will miss my friend, tom udall. bobbi and i will miss your life partner jill as well. we're so grateful for your friendship and your leadership in this body. when you started today on the floor, you mentioned that you were son of the west and mentioned that it's something that runs in the family. because, madam president, tom's father stuart udall was secretary of the interior of the united states. if you go to the interior department office, you will see it is the udall name on the building because of this ongoing commitment and love that the senator has spoken about today. what many don't know is the relationship between wyoming and the udall family because it was stuart udall, secretary of interior, who came to wyoming with a young president a number of years ago, and that president was john f. kennedy. it was

senator john barrasso calls the topic of whether biden is president-elect a gotcha question.nly a gotcha question if you think the job of reporters is to participate in the alternate reality that senator barrasso is currently navigating in. senator lindsey graham said it is a very, very narrow path for the president. i don't see how he gets there given what the supreme court did, but having said that, i think we'll let those legal challenges play out, end quote. narrow path? there's no path for trump. it is a brick wall made of more than 7 million votes and 74 electoral votes. but the one that takes the cake is north dakota senator kevin kramers. and bear with me. this is a long trip through a river. he said well, it seems to me being elected by the electoral college is a threshold where a title like that is probably most appropriate and i suppose you can say official if there's such a thing as official president-elect or anything else-elect, an inauguration that will swear somebody in, that person will be the president of the united states, but whether you call it that or no

when asked whether biden is president-elect, barrasso said that was a "gotcha question." yeah, classic gotcha question, like "who's the president?" and "what's your name?" and "what year is it?" and if you don't give the answers they like, all of a sudden, they gotcha in five- point restraints for your own safety. but the award for dumbest reply has to go to north dakota senator and man caught looking at porn on his ipad, kevin cramer. cramer responded to the very straightforward question of whether biden had won with this... answer? "well, it seems to me that being elected by the electoral college is a threshold where a title like that is probably most appropriate. and it's-- i suppose you can say "official," if there is such a thing as official president-elect, or anything else-elect. and there's an inauguration that will swear somebody in, and that person will be the president of the united states. but whether you can call it that or not, you know, there are legal challenges that are ongoing-- not very many-- probably not a remedy that would change the outcome but, so,

i think my chairman, senator holden and barrasso before him for their partnership. we've worked together as a committee for better healthcare, education, and urgently needed resources for our native communities, especially as they battle this pandemic. the federal government's obligation to uphold its trust and treaty obligations is sacred. some of my proudest achievements have been the result of working with tribal leaders to advance indian country's priorities to support new mexico's 23 tribes. recently a bipartisan coalition passed legislation to strengthen the principles of tribal self-governance. provide native entrepreneurs critical resources to secure investments in native language revitalization. the achievements i remember most fondly are ones like these: those we did together. indeed, those are the only kinds of achievements that are possible in this body. take frank loud chemical safety for the 21st century act, our resource on the toxic substances control act. it was the biggest environmental reform in a generation. i was proud to lead that effort to pro

john barrassoator who is a fantastic doctor also by the way. when i need info on that subject, call of john and thank you very much. senator steve daines, .ongratulations on a great win that was easier than you thought it turned out. great going. congressman greg walden, thank you very much. strepngressman brad when -- when strep. thank you very much and many others. my administration provided a total of $14 billion to accelerate vaccine development and manufacture all of the top candidates in advance. as the result of this unprecedented investment, we are exceedingly proud that both pfizer and moderna have announced their vaccines are approximately 95% effective which is a number that nobody expected to be able to get to. it far exceeds anything that anybody thought. we went out and said what do you think a maximum would be and i think the doctors came to the conclusion that something like that would be incredible. we have other candidates right now. we have some big ones we will announce very soon. we have some great companies out there. you

coming up, hear from wyoming senator john barrasso, marsha blackburn and katherine harris coming up.ce again, house speaker nancy pelosi has rejected a $916 billion proposal from the white house, calling it unacceptable without unemployment benefits. we discuss how americans can get the help they need this morning, even in the face of all of this poll of ticking -- politicking. markets are mixed. take a look at futures as we begin in record territory. the dow industrials are up 76, nasdaq is lower by 6, the s&p 500 is higher by 6 points after yesterday's day where the s&p 500 and nasdaq notched record closes, both indices will begin a new day in record territory after the dow was up 104, the nasdaq was up 62. a big week for the ipo market, door dash and airbnb are poised to go public today and tomorrow. everything you need to know about these companies coming up ahead of the open. this morning, a "mornings with maria" exclusive, retired lieutenant general michael flynn is here after the case against him is finally dropped, two weeks after president trump granted him a full pardon. ge

this morning, speaker nancy pelosi says it will be done by christmas, we will hear from former nyc barrasso and mick mulvaney. marks are lower. we will start the week in the red, dow industrials down 145 points, nasdaq lower by 15 and s&p 500 weaker by 16 and 3 quarters. all three major indices up out of the last 5 weeks, last week we are up 1% on the dow and 2% on the nasdaq. mornings with maria right now. ♪ ♪ maria: european markets look like this, dax index in germany lower by 63. in asia overnight, markets finish mostly shower. we had economic data, that is the fastest pace of exports since february 2018. the growth also helping to generate a 75.4 surplus. the data, of course, coming from the chinese communist party and this has been the big fight between china and the u.s., the fact that we are buying more products than china is buying from the united states. now some of the top stories that we are watching this morning. president trump's personal attorney giuliani says, quote, he's feeling good after testing positive for covid-19, he tweeted yesterday, thank you to all my friends and

still ahead, steve forbes, john barrasso, rick scott, and jon tapper. tax again. not an income tax. no, this is the seizure of your wealth. that is the theme of "my take" right after this. ♪. system, your body needs routine. centrum helps your immune defenses every day, with vitamin c, d and zinc. season, after season. ace your immune support, with centrum. ... >> people get back to work as vaccines roll out and more people are spending more money in the u.s. economy and you won't see higher stock prices. >> they are trying to cancel the human condition and it's just not working for lockdowns are lazy and will take longer than we think to get back to normal but the vaccine is the answer but it's not the answer for your health. it is the answer for your mind. >> there will be a lot of people out of work and it could not have come at a worse time spent they don't have a closer beating down and what alternative are they giving restaurant owners? you can see the light at the end of the tunnel and let's get this entire population back so you can return to no

. >> and i want to share what senator barrasso had to say on fox news. >> a couple things.et would be third term of the obama administration. and that didn't sit well in bio mink. so we'll have hearings, ask the tough question, but we won't forget what happened with trump administration's administration and the delayed process that went through it. so it won't be a garden party if the republicans are in the majority. >> and responding to what senator barrasso said, how likely is it that president-elect biden's nominees are going to sail through the confirmation process do you think? >> i don't think anything is going to sail through easily. deb hey land aaland is a recent announcement and has bipartisan support. but there are a lot of people who have been announced that republicans and some democrats are taking issue with. and really pushing biden to either reconsider or look deeply in their background. and both parties have not aen able to get around so i don'tt just because joe biden is president. >> i wish i could say you are wrong, but i can't. so thank you all for bein

>> we do senator john kennedy and senator john barrasso, unfortunately.to >>they are good guys but in this case they are carrying the water of the air industry and it will cost everybody more money. it will get a snarled in u.n. regulations. decline will remain the same, the weather will remain the same. there is no benefit to any of this.gu just all more cost all paid by for us. t >> jesse: you are paying off donors who got you in the office. and you are making life more expensive for regular, g hardworking americans that will be paying more for gas, more for home utilities and all that stuff. and the claimant doesn't change at all. what is it, a billion years we have been here. it gets warmer, it i gets colde, and all of a sudden, the democrats come along with a crisis. high taxes, more regulation and just kind of a sway for guilt and all of the success that this country has had to. it is unbelievable. we could talk about this all day, but again it will cost all of us a lot more money. gentlemen, thank you guys very much. >> thank you, jesse. >> jesse: joe biden's environmental poli

on the other hand when we asked ri -- wyoming senator john barrasso called it a gotcha question. when did you stop beating your wife, that's a gotcha question. who won the election? that's not. i believe that would be a gimme. just ask the republican trump supporting fish who overawe is election in georgia. a state which counted the ballot three times and certified joe biden. >> if you look at all the of the republican congressman, the -- senator david perdue got 19,000 more votes than president trump did. he really had some challenges in those areas. the job of a political party, in this case the republican party, is to raise money and get out the vote. they got outworked. >> they got outworked, he said. the other side one. not easy, but it's what people from both parties have been doing when their side loses. that is unless you speak for a loser that's grifting his donors out of hundreds of millions of dollars out of the promise the money is going for paying for his legal challenges. >> now that the electoral college voted, does the president acknowledge joe biden as the presid

let's bring in republican senator john barrasso, of my wyoming. all the wyoming people out today. i'm a little biased, as you kn know. lloyd austin, very accomplished person, do you think he's qualified to be the defense chief? >> the hearings will determine that. as you just had to report, joe biden once a very diversified it cabinet. i want a competent cabinet. joe biden is up for a very rocky start at this point. you may have seen the front page of "the washington post" today that talks about what's happened with a couple of cabinet positions that have been nominated, health and human services, department of homeland security, issues of money, the headline is amazing. it cabinet picks play role in clemency scandal when "the washington post" nominated and endorsed joe biden because it is scandal, that's telling you something. >> dana: also you have -- there's also an issue of the democrats -- even when president trump wanted general matters to be his defense chief, there were 17 of them who voted against that waiver. now, they might've also just

i think senator barrasso is correct. but i would say is we are not going to be arbitrary.republicans, when they heat the majority, are going to exercise extreme scrutiny against incoming president-elect biden's. i would say a longtime activist for a far left organization who is being put up as the head of the office of management and budget, an extremely important position, we are going to exercise serious scrutiny there and asked the question if this is representative of all of america and what we deserve and the highest levels of our government. another one i would raise some concern about, as well, his former obama chief of staff denis mcdonough, who has been appointed an to head the veteras affairs committee. we saw massive delays at the veteran affairs administration. we had over 100,000 veterans die waiting in line, and under president trump we were able to fix the va and get it to a place where it's got a 90% approval rating, we have choice, access to care, so i would be concerned about having that individual leading the va. definitely senate republicans need to kee

as well as senator john barrasso who is a fantastic doctor also by the way i have to say.applause] when i need info on that subject i call upjohn. thank you, john. very much. senator steve daines, congratulations on a great win. a great win. [applause] that was easier than you thought it turned out, right? it was a little easier than you thought. we're proud of you. congressman greg walden, thank you very much. thank you very much. [applause] and congressman brad wenstrup, thank you, brad. [applause] great job. and many, many others. my administration provided a total of $14 billion to accelerate vaccine development and to manufacture all of the top candidates in advance, long in advance. as a result of this unprecedented investment we are exceedingly proud that both pfizer and moderna have announced that their vaccines are approximately 95% effective which is a number that nobody expected to be able to get to, far exceeding anything really we, that anybody thought. we went out thought what do you think a maximum would be, doctors, we all came up to the conclusion somethin

barrasso: i come in support of the national defense authorization act.and i come to speak to that and i'm so grateful to the senator from oklahoma for his ongoing determined leadership in making sure that our nation remains safe and secure and free and it's because of the work done by senator inhofe and his committee and this body and this legislation that we'll be voting on that i've been so grateful for the leadership of the chairman and want to talk specifically about the reason why i think it's important that we do pass the legislation that the committee has worked so hard on. so, madam president, you know as a member of that committee that this critical national security legislation lays out america's defense and national security priorities as the senator from oklahoma just made up for the years to come. it sets the policies to defend our nation. and it supports america's service men and women here at home as well as those abroad. i was honored to spend thanksgiving again this year with wyoming national guard troops, members of our air national gua

stuart: john barrasso, republican from wyoming. we appreciate it. >> thank you, stuart.tions is not only hurting the stores it is hurting charities as well. grady trimble has that story. he is at a salvation army red kettle in chicago. what do you have, grady? reporter: statute i think you can see the problem here. this is a macy's in chicago. we have a bell ringer out front. there are not very many people walking by here. the salvation army collects 40 to 70% of their donation this is time of year during the holidays, depending on the city. major clara braddock with the salvation army as we see a bell ringer in the background. your donations are way down where they should be. >> this time last year our donations are 50% more than we received for this year. reporter: you have fewer kettles out, there are fewer large gatherings. we know people spend on cyber monday. what is the message to those who are watching this. >> the acceleration army we have kettle locations in various locations but we also have tex kettle, then 91999. rescue christmas.org and go online and if you

whether you're talking about john thune or john barrasso or liz cheney. >> mitt romney. >> obviously, susan collins. lisa murkowski. you could go down the list. i could name an awful lot of people i served with that were sane and actually spoke out w n when -- when terrible things were said about public officials or private parties on either side. but the question is whether they will regain their courage and regain their public virtue in the period after donald trump leaves office. that doesn't mean going along with the democrats on anything. that's up to them. that's between them and their voters. what it does mean though is standing up for constitutional norms. and yes, defending political norms when it's in the best interest of this country. >> and in a moment we'll bring in the newly elected chairman of the democratic congressional campaign committee, congressman shawn patrick moloney of new york to talk about this and also the democrats' poor showing in the house, questions they have to face. but first, we have a must read opinion piece for you. susan glasser's latest for the n

and senator john barrasso of wyoming said he would quote, respect the results of the electoral collegey. even if he was disappointed. all right. joining us now nbc news capitol hill correspondent and host of "way too early," kasie hunt. also with us "new york times" reporter jeremy peters. >> kasie hunt, so it looks like a lot of these members are at least hinting at -- >> they're there. >> they're there. what they have been saying to you and me and other people privately for some time. it seems like the dam really broke yesterday. >> three cheers for democracy, right? this was too obvious i think for any of them to decide that they were going to continue to keep this up and, you know, thune i think had my favorite quote which was a message directed straight at president trump. he said, in the end, at some point, you have to face the music. and that is something that all of us in our day to day lives have had to deal with, figure out how to, you know, live with those kinds of disappointments. we have clearly seen the president is not very good at it, but republicans are finally at the

thank our ke to senate colleagues, committee on works, ment and public chairman john barrasso, who has pushed very hard for this bill, member tom carper collaboration. this builds on the success of as i said, hich, passed the house of representatives earlier this unanimously. it authorizes construction of 46 reports by the chief of the corps of engineers. number of chief reports. surpassing in 2016 and 2018. by the be made possible ull utilization of the hashon maintenance and trust fund. since -- harbor maintenance and trust fund. we have added tax on the value of goods in containers flowing the ports in the united states of america. pressing despite the need to dredge our harbors to depths, for many years congress refused to spend that full amount of money. now around $10 billion collected in taxes from the people for a specific purpose for which it has not spent. i started working on this with but bud er, not bill, 1996 r, his dad, back in to access the full amount of the maintenance trust fund. i got out of that committee twice under chairman shuster. was quite amazed it came out u

barrasso: thank you, mr. president. i have just recently been talking about a number of pieces of legislation that have come through the environment and public works committee, the water resources act, the use it act, the act called deera to eliminate and reduce emissions from diesels, as well as additional legislation on h.f.c.'s. my partner in all of those is here on the floor now. i would just like to ask him, if he wouldn't mind, since he has been such a great partner for the last four years that i chaired the committee, to talk about this as an accomplishment for the environment, for the committee, and for the senate and for the country. so i am just kind of curious from your standpoint where you see things as a sign of success. mr. carper: if my colleague will yield. before the senate leaves, i think your point about the longest night and every day that follows will be brighter. some of the provisions that senator barrasso and i along with john neely kennedy have quoted in this major, major budget piece of legisla

barrasso: reserving the right to object, mr. president. i do appreciate the work of the senator from oregon, the work that he has done on this public lands bill. i know that the amount of effort that has gone into this legislation is significant. locally driven public land bills take an incredible amount of time to get right. this legislation has gone through intensive local stakeholder involvement, very similar to what we've done in wyoming with the wyoming public lands initiative in my home state. the public lands -- the wyoming public lands initiative was are spearheaded by our wyoming county commissioners association. this initiative was started in order to resolve through local negotiations the status of temporary so-called -- so-called temporary wilderness study areas in wyoming that have now seemingly become permanent. i rig and understand -- recognize and understand public lands negotiations often result in compromise. this give and take is a good thing and let's people closer to the issue have a significant voice. i appreciate the

mike knew a lot about local business as mentioned on the floor by senator barrasso, his colleague.he was a small business owner in gillette, wyoming running enzi shoe store. even as he went on to become mayor of gillette at age 30, became a staff sergeant in the wyoming air national guard, a state representative, then a state senator, he was still always the small businessman from gillette. in 1996 when he was recovering from open-heart surgery, then-senator alan simpson decided not to run for reelection. local leaders kept trying to tell mike to run when he wanted more time to hunt and fish. in the end he made an important decision. he ran and won. his career has many legislative successes using his 80-20 rule. i will never forget the days when ted kennedy would come to the floor and talk about the compromise and bargain he struck with up. i thought what a political odd couple but the two of you did some remarkable things. poles apart in terms of political philosophy. they treated each other with respect and they had amazing successes to show for it. even when he had differing vie

barrasso: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i come to the floor today to ask our democrat colleagues to join us, the republicans, in providing immediate relief, relief in the fight against coronavirus and relief, economic relief, for the people of this country. you know, americans don't ask much of their government, but they are asking us for something right now. number one, they are asking to help control the spread of the coronavirus. and number two, they are asking to help with an economic recovery. america and americans shouldn't have to choose between staying open and staying healthy. we need both, and congress needs to provide a path beyond the pandemic. now, a path forward, as you know, mr. president, is something republicans have been proposing now for a long time. and we've done it, first with the cares act, and we need to do it right now with additional coronavirus and economic relief legislation. our bill is practical, it supports our neighborhoods, the men and women working on main street in our small tow

the environment and public works committee, chairman barrasso and senator carper were very supportive. things don't get done without a lot of people pulling together and i want to make sure i thanked all of them as i close out here on this subject. thank you. a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: as we approach the holiday season, many of us will be celebrating differently. covid-19 may be limiting travel travel, family members we see in person or other holiday traditions. yet, there's much to be grateful for. for me, i'm thankful for my health, my family, my country, and my staff. i'm also grateful to serve iowans and work in the senate to tackle legislation, conduct oversight, and work for the best interest of the people of iowa. i'm also thankful to reflect upon previous accomplishments. this time of year coincides with the milestone achievement, that being the anniversary of the passage of the first step act. and remember that criminal justice reform bill we call the first step act is the most be comprehensive overhaul of criminal

i want to thank senators carper, kennedy, and barrasso. they've worked very diligently and very hard t craft a and finally, a we all know, it's imperative we pass another round of emergency federal relief from the continued impac of the cid-19 pandemic. today the bipartisan group of senators who have been diligently working towards an agreemen will announce the results o their work. package of over $900 billion at includes an agreement on assistance to state and local government. notably, there is no agreement on corrate immunity. we look forward to seeing tir work. democrats remain committed to getting another round of emergency relief to the american people before the end of the year and in a robust, bold way because america needs i so badly. no a year that was full of bad news for the country is coming to an end with some very good news. over the past eht to nine months, american scientists, biochemists and researchers rushed to produce a safe and effective vaccine t the covid-19 pandemi and they've succeeded in extraordinary fashion. w

barrasso: mr. president, i come to the floor today to discuss critical parts of today's government funding bill that's before us this week. these are the result of a bipartisan work that we've done. you're, mr. president, a member of the environment and public works committee, a valued member that contributed significantly to the legislation before us. as chairman of the committee, i'm grateful for your participation. i'm going to talk about things we've been able to do on the environment and public works committee together and in a bipartisan way. you've done such a remarkable job with the save our seas legislation and we've continued to support that. now i'm going to talk about a couple of additional things that is part of the end-of-the year legislation we'll be voting on later this evening. the first is historic bipartisan climate innovation legislation. the second is comprehensive legislation to upgrade america's water infrastructure. i want to talk about two different things. one is the clima