senators wyden and cantwell and fernandez and brown are the chairs of the committee and because of their leadership we have a strong bill that is bipartisan support, two more votes last night, county absentees than from what we did on original passage. democrats are laser focused on passing legislation that lowers costs by fixing supply-chain problems that have driven up prices. last week senator wyden held a hearing on the finance committee for prescription drugs including insolence so we can get to conference in the commerce committee today had a markup partisan legislation for unfair sipping practices plugging up for going of the supply-chain yesterday chairman brown had a hearing in the banking committee to strengthen the supply-chain and three other committees as they help them today or will this week and the senate health committee had a hearing today on something democrats have pushed forward from what the cost of childcare and the senate committee on aging any pw zoning hearing tomorrow and clean energy combating climate change and increasing america's energy independence in the

senator klobuchar. >> thank you very much, chair cantwell.nk you for hosting the hearing and all of you it's a nice break from the judiciary with a little thing going on in the other hearing room. i wanted to start with you on the subject of workforce shortage. my state has a low unemployment rate which is a great problem to have, but we have. the answers are immigration reform with the caps, workforce permits. senator moran and i have a bill included in the competes act that would allow the workers to earn college credit for the completed apprenticeship with a pathway to gain the skills. on this single of the workforce shortages just last week we announced 100 million-dollar partnerships with nsf for job creation primarily in the midwest and the highest slight announcement. the strong investments i personally am a product of the community college system. a farm boy from pennsylvania leading one of the most iconic companies in history. i deeply believe in the principles. we have launched the program specifically aimed at community colleges. m

cantwell. dominate will be reported out of the committee. turn to senator wicker for a motion for. >> madam chair i move we end 15 toy the nomination of the district of columbia to be assistant secretary of commerce and director general of the united states and foreign commercial service. the nomination of virginia big assistant secretary of government affairs of transportation. grantee harris of california to the assistant secretary for industry analysis department of commerce. in 1540 the nomination of new york to be assistant secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere the nomination of christopher of georgia to be assistant secretary of transportation. and the nomination of maryland the under secretary of for standards and technology and the nomination of to be assistant secretary of transportation of aviation be favorably reported. is there a second's. all of those in favor say i. all opposed note. the motion is agreed to. that concludes the vote i want to thank up. >> madam chair. >> i will recognize any members who wishing to spea

senator cantwell of washington state started the committee hearing. t >> we will now go to the committee on commerce, science and transportation. ocean shipping reform act legislation cosponsored by a my colleague. i want to at the start welcomed the two nominees. i'm sorry, the two commissioners -- [laughter] the commissioners who are here this morning. we will evaluate the shipping reform act and cosponsored by 24 bipartisan members. during the pandemic they spend more on goods shipped from overseas than 2019 to 2020 we saw nearly 32% increase in e-commerce spending and from 2021 we saw another 14% increase s have led to record volumes in 2021 reports of los angeles and long beach move 19 million containers for the i'm 10 million containers for the first time ever. in the state of washington the northwest east alliance saw 15.4% increase in container volume over the last year. this unprecedented volume continues to cause massive backups of ships offshore and as of yesterday are anchored for loitering waiting to access ports los angeles and long beac

. >> thank you very much chair cantwell. thank you tore two witnesses. i was amused as you came in and saw 25 senators sitting here you thought this was going to be a very different hearing. there was a markup and all is good. i went to also thank my colleague, senator thune. we worked well together on many, many issues across the board in minnesota and south dakota this is certainly a very important one. as has been pointed out now by my colleagues the past two years have highlighted significant supply chain disruption vulnerabilities for u.s. exporters including many in my home state. whether it's a soybean farmer of minnesota or pointed out by the chairwoman of citrus producer in florida, whether it's a beefy producer in south dakota or a dairy farmer and wisconsin, people have felt this in a big, big way. doesn't just and there it ends up on the grocery store and people are trying to buy milk or people are trying to buy eggs or beef. we have seen this across the board. so while he it we have seen consumers and the producers of the goods socked by thi

senator cantwell is next. are you online? let's give this just a quick moment because i think she is. senator thune would be after senator cantwell. senator menendez. senator portman. senator carper. and for our guests, you should know that this is a particularly hectic day in the senate, so members will be coming in and out. senator carper? senator cassidy is here. senator cassidy, a very valued member with his expertise in health care as a physician. senator cassidy. >> thank you very much for that. by the way, i thought i had 15 or 20 more minutes to listen and everybody else is out. so anyway, thanks for going there. dr. hoover, i used to work with school-based clinics to do hepatitis b immunizations. very aware of how well they can function bringing care. now, first, i think we have to acknowledge if the child is not in school it's difficult for the child to be evaluated. but that said -- but now kids are back in school so there's some progress there. let me ask, and you may have covered this while i was in another commi

stabenow: i want to give a shout-out to senator cantwell. i don't know if this is a record, but monday this -- moved this so fast through the committee, it's amazing. building on the great work of the committee with the innovation and competition act. again, on behalf of all the farmers in michigan and across the country, this is a really important legislation. and madam president, as the pandemic began, congress, on a bipartisan basis, made sure our schools and summer meal programs had easy-to-use flexibilities, so they could continue to feed hungry children who are no longer physically in school or no longer able to go to a meal site in the summer because of covid. now, all across america now, because of a lot of hard work and a lot of -- on a lot of people's part, our kids are back in school, which is great. but 90% of our schools are still struggling to provide children healthy food as a result of higher food prices, less available staff, and more supply chain delays and shortages that we know about all the time. in fact, part of that re

thank you very much, chair cantwell and thank you for holding this hearing.nk you to all of you. it's a nice break from judiciary honestly. it's just a little thing going on any other hearing room. i wanted to start with you, mr. gelsinger, and mr. archer, on the subject of workforce shortage. i've obsessed with this. my state has a really low unemployment rate which is a great problem to have but, and we have 18 fortune 500 500 companies, some in that range, and i believe the answers are brought. the answers are of course immigration reform, lifting visa caps, workforce permits but also apprenticeships and one into your degrees. senator moran and i have a bill which was included actually in the americas competes act over in the house which would allow workers to earn college credit for completed apprenticeship creating a pathway for workers to gain skills. can you talk to the role public-private sector working together on this angle of workforce shortages? >> we are extremely proud to be partnering and the fact that just last week we announced $100 million o

senator maria cantwell of washington state chair the senate commerce committee hearing. >> the u.s. senate committee on commerce science and transportation for ocean shipping, cosponsored by my colleague, senator clover char and senator thune. i want to welcome our two commissioners. our two maritime commissioners who are here this morning to join us and testify. we will evaluate bipartisan ozone shipping formats, which was cosponsored by 24 bipartisan members during the covid 19 pandemic consumers spend more on e-commerce goods than 2019 to 2020, we saw nearly 32% increase in e-commerce spending in 2020-2021 another 14% increase. this leads to record volumes that us ports which in 2021, the ports moved 19 containers. in the state of washington, 15.4 volumes over the last year. this volume causes massive backups offshore and 30 vessels are anchored to access ports of los angeles and long beach. as the economy has come back ocean shipping has struggled to keep with the demand and freight costs, pandemic shipping rates about $1300 by 2021. the cost jumped to $11,000. that the 746% inc

and that's when you know, sometimes i want to do interviews and read cop adoptive cantwell, but it's too hot and sometimes they, there's another show going on and she doesn't want to read capital interview. she wants to walk in the next showed that she doesn't understand that it does what them, why, you know, so that's had as well. so people see her on the catwalk having this amazing time, but i don't see the pressure. i don't see the person who's gonna be like we're on vacation. don't worry if i can't understand or i try, they might put something in a sentence with. he always says that she allows me. she's awesome. but some days he gets grumpy bad. she gets angry but she's maddie. ready on a dilemma level by a 1321321 level boyfriend is quite high functioning. any rates or any rides, any census messages on facebook been in our organizing holidays and things that i've been viable delighted about. but they always tell them with this disability, the worries about what people think about was madeline doesn't say what they told me to her. she just thinks she's bright. so she's perfectly

cantwell: i thank you for that con advice recognition of what the f.t.c. is all about, it's about fighting for crushes on issues. we need the f.t.c. more than ever. we needed their muscle during the covid pandemic as opportunistic scammers stole $ 5.9 billion out of the pockets of americans. that doesn't include people who never knew they were scammed or were too embarrassed to report what happened. so congress, on a bipartisan basis, pumped up the f.t.c.'s power, and at the end of 2020 we passed the covid-19 consumer protection act to help root out promoters of dangerous, fake treatments and cures. second, we gave the f.t.c. $30 million in the if american rescue plan to promote and protect americans against scams that targeted their covid stimulus package. last year, we confirmed that the f.t.c. chair, elena kahn, was supported by 21 republicans from this body. today, we're talking about the next important step in protecting consumers, moving to confirm mr. bedoya to fill the last seat on the federal trade commission. mr. bedoya has the right experience t

number two, something that senator cantwell has made so clear is the -- is semiconductors and all ofthe things that we should be making in america. number three is infrastructure. we're so proud of the bipartisan infrastructure bill that we worked so hard on and the money going to improve our ports, including the port in duluth, the busiest port on lake superior, and then, finally, something i'm going to address today, the ocean shipping and reform act, a bipartisan bill that i lead with senator thune, unanimously passed the commerce committee yesterday and i want to thank senators cantwell for her help on the bill. senator thune and i are in the middle of the country, and we know that american farmers feed the world and consumers and businesses look to them for in-demand ag goods from dairy to poultry to pork to beef, to name just a few. we have tons of small and big manufacturers in the middle of the country. and it's not just minnesota or colorado or south dakota that's been seeing the delays in shipping. it's everywhere in this nation. the past two years have hield significant su

and republicans on the committee have not gotten back to us braided and others have not commented cantwellside of the republican committee that they are thinking about heavily boycotting it and delaying it more and what would that achieve pretty kick the can down the road and maybe biden says okay forget it and this is gone too r but we will know more next couple of hours back to you. neil: thank you very much and wrapping up in the bbc is now reporting that one of the rich russian oligarchs obviously feeling the financial pinch, sanctions and he is indeed selling it the stock - and it proceed is to a charitable foundation to help victims of war in ukraine at the represents a significant oligarch departure from vladimir putin and olive garden's own rights. in their jumping ship. new projects means new project managers. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. when you sponsor a job, you immediately get your shortlist of quality candidates, whose resumes on indeed match your job criteria. [ kimberly ] before clearchoice, my dental health visit indeed.com/hire and get started today. w

bill are just getting underway i spoke with the chairman of the committee, maria cantwell and she told. >> we got to get on the production end of it we're sending the signal to the market that we want to see this investment we want to help grow this sector but we also want the united states of america to be a leader in this type of next generation technology and now we're falling behind >> well, guys, this hearing expected to last about another hour, hour and a half. i'll hop back in the room and let you know what else they say. >> elon man in washington. thank you. >>> a big show coming up on tech check. don't miss hn interview with global foundries and dow trying to shave some of the early morning losses we're down 216 ♪ ♪ opportunity is using data to create a competitive advantage. ♪ ♪ it's raising capital that helps companies change the world. it's making complicated financial concepts seem simple. opportunity is making the dream of home ownership a reality... ♪ ♪ ...writing new rules and redefining the game... ...and driving the world forward to a greener energy future. (applause)

cantwell i come to the floor to support john chun and i know we will vote later tonight on that nomination. i was proud to nominate him to president biden -- i was proud to recommend judge chun and my colleague, senator murray and i, know what a qualified individual he is to serve our country. he has spent his entire legal career practicing law in the western district of washington, making him deeply knowledgeable of the district he will serve. he is well prepared for the western district and as served as a superior court judge for four years and before joining the court of appeals in 2018 as well as his tenure in private practice. through his extensive courtroom experience as a former trial judge and current appellate judge, he has had much time as a trial litigator. he will be ready on day one two serve effectively on the federal district court bench. he has received profound support. not only did his nomination receive bipartisan support from the senate judiciary committee, it also received support from the american bar association, which unanimously rated him well qualified to serve th

. >> senator cantwell you are next. are you online? >> senator through? senator menendez?ator portman? senator barbara? for our guest you should know this is a particularly hectic day in the senate the members are coming in. senator cassidy. a very valued member with his expertise on healthcare as a position. >> thank you very much for that. i thought i i had 15 or 21 minutes to listen but everybody else's out. i used to work with school-based clinics with hepatitisoi b immunization and how well they can function bringing care. 's new have to acknowledge the child is not school it's difficult to be evaluated. so now kids are back in school. so let me ask so my understanding is that the school system would benefit with updated guidance from that venue. any comments. >> that is exactly right. i appreciate the correction. you are right it is easier to get school-based care when they are in school. we are hoping congress can support is to urge to modernize w existing school. this guidance has not been updated since 2003. it is critical for states and state medicaid agencies to

ports that came in last in terms of readiness was the port of tacoma and port of alaska and senator cantwell and i have been working on getting a focus both on these two ports which are interconnected in terms of commerce between our two states. we are working on a meeting with you and the commander. can i get your commitment to get that done soon? secretary buttigieg: you will get my commitment. senator sullivan: but two months ago, there has been a lot of litigation going back 20 years between more add and city of anf claims decided in favor of the municipality of the city of anchorage in this way too long litigation and they announced just last week and here's the commitment i need from you mr. secretary, notwithstanding this court decision i would like your assurance that this award is not treated as an award in lieu of any of the future grants for which the municipality is interested in applying that relate to this port. we think that would be unfair. and they are probably going to appeal it and fills the hole that was created with these breach of contract, part of the problem there tha

senator cantwell will hold a markup on bipartisan legislation introduced by senators thune and klobuchar one of the many ways democrats are continuing our focus on lowering costs for american families. these are concrete steps we're taking. you're going to hear about many more as democrats focus keenly, laser-like on the higher costs for the american people, which we know must, must come down. i yield the floor. i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: mr. mcconnell: mr. president. the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: this morning members of congress received an update on the situation in ukraine directly from president volodymyr zelenskyy. it reinforced our sympathy, our outrage and our resolve. president volodymyr zelenskyy courage and leadership has earned the attention and admiration of the entire free world. he's marshaled ukraine's brave and defiant resis

i want to thank the chairwoman, chairwoman cantwell and the committee for their leadership. secondly, i introduced the gas prices relief act with a number of my democratic colleagues. this gas tax holiday is immediate relieve, yes, short term, but it would save michigan drivers nearly $650 million at the pump this year. i also think it's about time we stop subsidizing these oil companies who are doing just fine on their own. they don't need our tax dollars to subsidize them anymore. for more than 100 years, congress has given major permanent tax benefits to the fossil fuel industry. this decade they have received $35 billion in fossil fuel related tax breaks. do the american people really need to keep subsidizing an industry whose pollution is responsible for creating the global climate crisis, all the while enjoying record profits and picking people's pockets? the answer's no. and yet, our republican colleagues stand with the oil companies over and over again. i just came from an environmental and public works committee meeting on this very topic and heard over and over aga

momentum the ceos will testify before the congress committee today i spoke with the chairwoman maria cantwellshortages today, but that shortage could be prolonged into the future if we don't get busy here. >> but this is part of a broader innovation agenda. there are versions of the bill that need to be worked out like the research priorities, trade provisions, and $10 billion for a moon landing program that could benefit blue origin. vermont senator bernie sanders tweeted this, quote, at a time of unprecedented greed, the u.s. senate is right now debating giving $53 billion to the highly profitable microchip industry and a $10 billion bailout to jeff bezos so that he can launch a rocket ship to the moon. lawmakers on both sides of the i'll say they're determining to reach a resolution the old-fashioned way and willing to compromise, but that takes time. back to you. >> what do you think we're going to hear from pat today what's his response to those pushing back by the way, is anybody going to be pushing back? >> that's the interesting thing. a lot of times lawmakers call them in to put them

cantwell: thank you. madam president, i come to the floor tonight happy that the senate is going to move forward on substituting what is originally the senate-passed schumer-young bill on the u.s. innovation and competition act. that's what we're going to be voting on. and then sending that over to the house of representatives to basically convey that that is our desire here in the senate and hopefully get this process of going to conference in a -- in a response back from the house of representatives so we can move forward on reinvigorating america's supply chain. madam president, i know you know how important this is, but the senate bill, again brought to us by senators schumer and young, i think was quite press yents on the problems we were going to face as it relates to supply chains, but i don't think that everybody really understands the senate position is really about the fact that we need to have technology transfer happen at a faster rate, that other countries, because the united states has been

i would remind everyone that through the heroic efforts of senator schatz and senator cantwell in which i played a small part that we forced our f.c.c. not to give away the c-band in our telecommunication industry and instead auctioned it out, in which case it brought in $81 billion. and inside think we can spare a little bit of that for people who lost their homes and businesses through no fault of their own. i yield. mr. cassidy: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. mr. cassidy: i'll add to what my colleague, john kennedy said. if you fly over louisiana, you see blue tarps. they don't have the prone to replace their roofs. the plights neighborhoods, people have moved, criminals have entered and those left are now prey to criminals. as they've left, the businesses have closed. madam president, we do so much in this country for those who have been injured. and we appreciate in south louisiana all that that is already been done. but there is a little bit more needed to particularly benefit those who are less well off. so i join my colleague, senator kennedy

cantwell, aye. mr. lanford, no. >> mr. young no. >> mr. warnock, aye. >> mr. murphy, aye. ms. klobuchar, aye. >> mr. leahy, aye. ing. >> mr. heinrich, aye, mr. scatz, aye. >> mr. cotton, aye. >> ms. feinstein, aye. >> mr. chester, aye. mr. kasey, aye. mr. graham, aye. >> mr. moran, aye. >> mr. durbin, aye. >> ms. smith, aye. vote: vote: the presiding officer: the yeas are 69, the nays are 30, and the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table, and the president will be immediately notified of the senate's actions. the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture, 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 nomination of executive calendar number 764, january contreras of arizona, to be assistant secretary for family support, department of health and human services, signed by 16 senators. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been