inhofe: thank you very much. i think it was christmas -- i think with christmas right around the corner, i can't think of a more appropriate time to deliver a short message here. i've spoken several times about the situation in ethiopia. it is a nation close to my heart. if you're trying to understand the politics behind what's happening on the ground, it's very complicated. but what is not complicated is that human suffering happens and is heartbreaking. we're talking about women, children, the elderly, and they're dying every day. and it's totally unnecessary. i pray the violence stops very quickly and call on those who feel to join me if they agree with this. one of my big criticisms of our state department is that they tend to go around the world telling other countries what they need to do instead of focusing on building lasting friendships and alliances. this pushes countries away from us instead of bringing them toward us. and we can't afford to do that anymore with the rising problems that we're having ri

senator shelby, senator feinstein, senator murray, senator inhofe and senator also had the opportunity to serve with the kansas senator with the senator from kansas, bob dole. and a i cannot imagine that does not influence the way they viewed their work in the way they look at the united states senate. but to those who serve in his staff , and many of them have gone on through nominations and confirmations to become hugely important people and agencies, departments and bureaus across this government. his mentor ship lives on for another legacy of bob dole's all the kids who were interns. all the young men and women who work here for him, all the people who were influenced to have a little bit different approach to the rest of the world. a little bit different attitude toward people toward whom they might disagree with it. any chance to bring the values that bob dole exhibited in his public life to more people across the nation. i do not know how to sum up, but i assume i'll have a few more opportunities this week to express the life of a bob dole. to express the value of the life of bo

earlier this afternoon, senator grassley and mcconnell, senator shelby, senatorns feinstein, senator inhofe and senator wyden all had the opportunity to serve with the senator from kansas, bob dole. i can't imagine that doesn't influence the way they do their work and look at the united states senate. but to those that serve in his office as members of the staff, and many of them have gone on through nominations and confirmations to become hugely important people in agencies, departments and bureaus across the government. his mentor ship lives on and of all the kids i there were inter, all the young men and women that worked f here, all the people tt were influenced to have a different approach to the rest of the world, a little different attitude to people they might disagree with and a chance to bring the values that bob dole exhibited in his public life to more people across the nation. i don't know how to sum up but i'm sure i will have a few more opportunities this week to express the life of bob dole, to express the value of the life of bob dole. so, this afternoon, it's not a conclus

senator inhofe. and senator wyden. they all had the opportunity to serve with the kansas senator, with the senator from kansas bob dole. and i can't imagine that that doesn't influence the way they do their work and the way they look at the united states se senate. but those who served in his office as members of his staff and many of them have gone on through nominations and quon fir nations to -- confirmations to become hugely important people in agencies, departments, and bureaus across this government. his mentorship lives on, another legacy of bob dole is all the kids that were interns, all the young men and women who worked here, for him. all the people who were influenced to have a little bit different approach to the rest of the world, a little bit different attitude toward people who they might disagree with. and a chance to bring the values that bob dole exhibited in his public life to more people across the nation. i don't know how to sum up, but i assume i'll have a few more opportunities this week to expre

inhofe: i come to the floor today to join my republican colleagues in opposing president biden's vaccine mandates. last december, president-elect joe biden told the american people he would not issue a vaccine mandate. just a year ago, as president-elect, joe biden said, quote, i don't think they should be mandatory. he said, i wouldn't demand it to be mandatory. last october, as a president dential candidate, joe biden said you can't say everyone has to do it. and then this summer his press secretary said it's not a role for the federal government, she said it's not a role the federal government even has the power to make. not a role even the federal government has the power to make. in july, the director of the centers for disease control said, quote, there will be no nationwide vaccine mandate. and then in early september, with this nation in shock and reeling because of the disastrous collapse in afghanistan, suddenly and unexpectedly and completely opposite of everything this administration has promised, the biden administration broke the law and in doing so violated the rights of t

i want to thank chairman reed, ranking member inhofe and our colleagues on the armed services committee for all the work they've put into this bill so far. one of our most solemn responsibilities is to provide for the common defense, and this is the best way to ensure that our national defense is prepared to meet the challenges on the horizon. mr. president, i yield the floor. mr. cotton: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from arkansas. mr. cotton: jerome powell was a better choice for federal reserve chair. he has presided over a series of failures at the fed but the fed's actions during his tenure have harmed working-class americans and worsened inequality. the senate should not support his renomination. the core mission of the federal reserve from the very beginning has been to foster stable prices and ensure sound currency. no one -- no one -- can seriously argue that the fed has accomplished this mission under mr. powell's leadership. after years of reckless policy and months of obfuscation, inflation now exceeds 6%, the highest rate of inflation in 30 years. the hi

time ago hanukkah celebrated with a jewish spouse president or vice president second gentlemen doug inhofe viewer edward william buckley the fifth. he will be known as finn. he was born this morning 6:31 a.m. his mom is my long time assistant katie buckley she has put up with me since i took over the show from brit hume. finn weighs in 6 pounds 3 ounces. mom, dad and baby all doing great. i hear finn has great godfather, yours truly. i'm honored. congrats buckleys. tomorrow we will talk with dr. mehmet oz about his run in the u.s. senate seat in pennsylvania. look at the midterms ahead of time. thanks for inviting us into your home tonight that's it for this "special report," fair, balanced and still unafraid. "fox news primetime" hosted by pete hegseth starts right now, hey, pete. >> pete: bret baier the godfather. i like it. good evening, america it's 7:00 p.m. on the east coast and 6:00 p.m. in god's country which means it's time for "fox news primetime." i'm pete hegseth. now, tonight i'm going to do something a little bit different. there's plenty of news, big news. omicron hype, the

>> you people like jim inhofe, republican on thsenate arms services committee, who said we need to spend 3% to 5% more per year in perpetuity, which would push the budget over a trillion dollars within five years to six years. he is always tatum reports of the national defense strategy which was put together primarily by people who are from the arms industry, think tanks funded by the arms industry. basically, it was kind of a special interest collection. mike rogers from alabama, key player, he has huntsville in his state and that sort of visceral capital in america. army missile, missile defense system. hundreds of thousands of dollars the weapons industry for his reelection. there's a strong porkbarrel special interest push by the military-industrial complex to help bring about this resolved step amy: the senate voted down a bipartisan bid by senators bernie sanders, rand paul, and mike lee to halt $650 million in u.s. arms sales to saudi arabia amid the devastating ongoing war on yemen. i want to play a clip of senators paul and sanders addressing the senate on tuesday. >> the u.s. s

. >>> first lady jill biden and second gentleman doug inhofe laying a wreath and visiting the victimsle and injured more than 60. cnn's kate bennett joins me now. you had a chance to speak with them. >> reporter: i did, john. this was a really difficult day, and part of what's going on in the country, we had the president visiting tornado victims, the first lady and the second gentleman in waukesha, new covid variant coming, there are lots of things affecting the country, i asked them how does the country heal if so much is going on and here's what the first lady said. >> and joe was showing up today in kentucky, doug and i are showing up here in waukesha, you know. these are terrible tragedies that have happened and we need to heal our country. people, they're not only hurt physically, but also emotionally and that's why we came to waukesha. >> yeah, i think what we saw here today and in the face of this unspeakable tragedy, this community coming together, and you can really feel it and nothing to do about politics or anything, only had to do about this community coming together to h

fashion and commend their opt parts in the united states senate, chairman reed and ranking member inhofe for cooperating and bringing this important measure before us and i hope we can pass it and move forward from there. today's rule unfortunately also advances a measure to address medicaid's sequestration. this is a bill that could and should have been bipartisan. but instead must be used to address the democratic leadership's failure to resolve the debt ceiling vote. that's sad. democratic leadership have chosen to divide us when they could have chosen a different course that would have united us in a bipartisan agreement. hopefully they'll learn from that lesson. finally this bill also -- this rule also advances a highly partisan and unnecessary collection of purported government reformsmark of which are duplicative of measures that have previously passed the house. i urge the majority to rethink these measures. mr. speaker, i urge my colleagues to vote no on the previous question, no on the rule, and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from ok

last thursday, i, along with armed services committee ranking member inhofe, and homeland security ranking member portman, sent a letter to the inspectors general of state, d.o.d., d.h.s., and usaid requesting a joint audit on the botched evacuation and the failure to deliver on the special immigrant visa program. as i mentioned, at secretary blinken's hearing, the secretary of defense has a lot to answer for on s.i.v.'s and more. -- as well. the bungled afghanistan evacuation was a failure not only of the interagency but also at leadership at the top. we will not accept separate audits from each agency just pointing fingers at the others. we've seen a dramatic uptick in terrorist activity in afghanistan. it demonstrates the taliban lacks the will and capability to prevent terrorists from using afghanistan as a safe haven or governing in the most basic sense. coordination with afghanistan's neighbors to address terror threats is critical, and i look forward to hearing an update from you today. i'm not surprised, but i'm disappointed to hear that the taliban is blocking women and girls from

this is even more amendments than chairman reed and ranking member inhofe offered a few weeks ago. to put this proposal in historical context, in the first year under president trump, the senate held votes on 22 amendments on all legislation. not only that, our latest vote includes votes on the items senator mcconnell said just yesterday were, quote, the only reason that republicans pushed the pause button on this bill. well, it's time for republicans to hit the play button. democrats have been exceedingly with ample input from the other side of the aisle. let me repeat. we have more amendments on the floor that we've offered on this ndaa bill than the total amount of amendments for four years under leader mcconnell on the ndaa bill, more here now. people say we're moving too quickly. you know what we did on those bills? we sat on the floor for days without doing anything. we sat on the floor the last few weeks getting nominations through, even as some others are making it. so to sit on the floor and do nothing, makes no sense. here we have 21 amendments that we're willing to do to

senator inhofe. and senator wyden. they all had the opportunity to serve with the kansas senator, with the senator from kansas bob dole. and i can't imagine that that doesn't influence the way they do their work and the way they look at the united states se senate. but those who served in his office as members of his staff and many of them have gone on through nominations and quon fir nations to -- confirmations to become hugely important people in agencies, departments, and bureaus across this government. his mentorship lives on, another legacy of bob dole is all the kids that were interns, all the young men and women who worked here, for him. all the people who were influenced to have a little bit different approach to the rest of the world, a little bit different attitude toward people who they might disagree with. and a chance to bring the values that bob dole exhibited in his public life to more people across the nation. i don't know how to sum up, but i assume i'll have a few more opportunities this week to expre

inhofe: i come to the floor today to join my republican colleagues in opposing president biden's vaccine mandates. last december, president-elect joe biden told the american people he would not issue a vaccine mandate. just a year ago, as president-elect, joe biden said, quote, i don't think they should be mandatory. he said, i wouldn't demand it to be mandatory. last october, as a president dential candidate, joe biden said you can't say everyone has to do it. and then this summer his press secretary said it's not a role for the federal government, she said it's not a role the federal government even has the power to make. not a role even the federal government has the power to make. in july, the director of the centers for disease control said, quote, there will be no nationwide vaccine mandate. and then in early september, with this nation in shock and reeling because of the disastrous collapse in afghanistan, suddenly and unexpectedly and completely opposite of everything this administration has promised, the biden administration broke the law and in doing so violated the rights of t

what senator inhofe and reed have done i think makes a lot of sense. we've added to the list of crimes that would get special scrutiny -- i think it's murder, kidnapping and one other beyond the sexual assault crimes, so when there's an allegation of sexual assault, there will be a new process that goes into whether or not the case goes to trial. one of the issues is who should pick the jury. the prosecutor should pick the jury. the special prosecutor. you can't have the prosecutor piking the jury, the convening authority, commander in question will be picking the jury, but the lawyers can strike members of the jury for cause and peremptory challenges. so at the end of the day i think we've made a lot of progress. senator gillibrand's bill goes well beyond the stated purpose of what got us talking about all of this. i think it would destroy the military justice system as we know it, destroy the role of the commander. again, our commanders are the ones who decide who takes the most risk. our commanders are given a lot of responsibility. they need to hav

i ask unanimous consent that it be in order to call up the following amendments to the reed-inhofe substitute amendment number 3867 as modified in the order listed and that these be the only remaining amendments in order -- 1 cruz 4656, two king 4133. three, peters-portman 4799. four, scott of florida 4831. five, marshal 4093. six, king and rounds 4784. seven, hawley 4140. eight, hassan-cornyn 4255. nine, paul 43 95. 10, sanders 4655. 11 daines, 12 menendez. 13 lujan-crapo, 4260. 15, sanders, 4722. 16, portman-sha mean, 4540. 17, menendez, 4860. 18, rish, 4859. 19, dur ban-lee, 3939. 20, shaheen collins, 4584. 21, kennedy, 4660. 22, osoff-tillis, 4802. 23, lankford, 4100. 24, cardin-wicker, 3980. that the senate vote at 10:00 a.m. on thursday, december 2, in relation to any first-degree amendment offered in the order listed above, with 60 affirmative votes required for adoption of the above amendments in this agreement. further, that upon disposition of the above amendments, the senate vote on cloture on amendment number 3867 as modified upon reconsideration and the motion to invoke cloture o

and i and senator inhofe has identified his minority staff. i want to commend them all.they're talented and thoughtful men and women. i appreciate it. but let me specifically recognize my democratic staff. first elizabeth king, my staff director. and i would be remiss if i didn't recognize john wasson who is the republican staff director. and they led their staffs admirably and with bipartisanship, diligence, and utmost professionalism. i would also like to thank the members of the armed services committee staff, jodi bennet, carolyn, john clark, jenny dave scris, von nan epstein, jerry feldman, creighton green, gary leland, kirk mcconnell, maggie, bill monahan, mike, john, andy scott, cole stevens, sollie psyches, carolyn, haley becker, patrick shiloh, allison warner, debbie, joe gallow, leslie ashton, tammy, brittany, griffin canyon, brendan, sophia, tom, and once again my staff director elizabeth king. thank you, elizabeth. from my personal office let me also thank neil campbell and elise walsh who have done so much to get us going. and as the senator from oklahoma po

i want to thank my colleagues, especially senator reed and ranking member inhofe, and all of my colleagues who worked to shape this legislation for helping us make sure we pass a bipartisan defense bill this year. as we have done for decades. the second bill they sent us will enable the chamber to swiftly address the debt limit, sparing our country from the calamity and a calamity it would have been, of a first-ever default on our national debt. if this fast-track process was included in a bill that will also provide critical protections for medicare funding and preventing slashes in that very important funding to so many seniors, and waive the paygo rule-to-a void harmful cuts, last night i took the first procedural step to advance this legislation, setting up a cloture vote to take place as soon as thursday. once our proposal is approved by the senate, we'll be able to address the debt limit in this chamber with a simple majority vote, which is exactly what democrats have been seeking for months, what i've been asking for at this podium time after time after time. i want to thank the rep