and he sort of sitting there as you n waiting for trying to get a phone call from senator jack reeds office in the and he said, i'm still waiting for that call. i just be interested from your set, an oversight side of this has them has at, you know, i, r is the u. s. senate is the us house of representatives. part of the cover up i don't know if they're part of the cover of steve, but certainly they could do much better in digging into this. i think on the hill, of course we're, we're doing the incredibly polarized environment. just as we are, as a nation as a whole, and i think the committees are focused in much, much of their kind of routine business. and so when something like this comes along and the senate armed services committee did interview some of the sources. we talked to, but it is we reported they really haven't followed up very aggressively office. and so i think they are couple culpable in this because congress plays in essential role. not only in financing the defense department, but in providing oversight for incidents just like this. and if they can't follow up when

sending out an s o s to the white house in a letter to president biden, senator susan collins and jack reeded him to release funding from the weatherization assistance program to help families with their home heating bills. republicans warn, though, it's only going to get worse as it gets colder. what does that do to a a a. >> a senior that struggling on the $1200. social security check. not only are their food costs going to go up this thanksgiving. but again, their ability to keep warm lawmakers on both sides of the aisle say the president's move to tap into the strategic petroleum reserve is too little too late. senator joe manchin snub did as an important policy band-aid for rising gas prices. >> but does not solve for the self-inflicted wound that short-sighted energy policy is having on our nation calling on the president to reverse the course on the keystone xl pipeline and senate energy committee ranking member john barrasso call the release desperate. >> drought conditions have improved actually in parts of the bay area. that's the good news here. we're taking a look here at last w

. >> rhode island democratic senator jack reed said there's plenty of bipartisan support for the defensee're looking at. the dimensions warfare expanding into space into cyber senate democratic leader chuck schumer says republicans and democrats want to add a new manufacturing proposal to the nda relieve our overburdened supply chains. >> including ensuring a steady, steady supply of domestic made semiconductor chip so vital to our economy. but some republicans like missouri senator roy blunt worry about the final price of the defense bill. we need to get realistic about what has to be in the bill and then we have to get realistic about the top line numbers and move forward. democrats have not forgotten about the president's social spending plan and say they will work to get the build back better act passed. we aim to pass it before christmas. but senate republican leader mitch mcconnell warns about the negative side effect. if the president's bill is passed, it bbb passes. >> we will only exacerbate only make it worse. inflation. not only this year. but not sure. >> now house lawmakers

. >> rhode island democratic senator jack reed said there's plenty of bipartisan support for the defense bill. we're looking at. >> the dimensions warfare expanding into space into cyber senate democratic leader chuck schumer says republicans and democrats want to add a new manufacturing proposal to the nda relieve our overburdened supply chains. >> including ensuring a steady, steady supply of domestic made semiconductor chip so vital to our economy. but some republicans like missouri senator roy blunt worry about the final price of the defense bill. we need to get realistic about what has to be in the bill and then we have to get realistic about the top line numbers and move forward. democrats have noh forgotten about the president's social spending plan and say they will work to get the bill back better act passed. we aim to pass it before christmas. but senate republican leader mitch mcconnell warns about the negative side effect. if the president's bill is passed, it bbb passes. >> we will only exacerbate only make worse. inflation. not only this year. but next year. >> now house la

. >> rhode island democratic senator jack reed said there is plenty of bipartisan support for the defensel. we're looking at. the dimensions of warfare expanding into space into cyber senate democratic leader chuck schumer says republicans and democrats want to add a new manufacturing proposal to the nda relieve our overburdened supply chains. >> including ensuring a steady, steady supply of domestic made semiconductor chip so vital to our economy. but some republicans like missouri senator roy blunt worry about the final price of the defense bill. we need to get realistic about what has to be in the bill and then we have to get realistic about the top line numbers and move forward. democrats have not forgotten about the president's social spending plan and say they will work to get the bill back better act passed. we aim to pass it before christmas. but senate republican leader mitch mcconnell warns about the negative side effect. if the president's bill is passed, it bbb passes. >> we will only exacerbate only make it worse. inflation. not only this year. but next year. >> now, house la

. >> rhode island democratic senator jack reed said there is plenty of bipartisan support for the defense bill. we're looking at. the dimensions of warfare expanding into space into cyber senate democratic leader chuck schumer says republicans and democrats want to add a new manufacturing proposal to the nda. it will relieve our overburdened supply chains. >> including ensuring a steady, steady supply of domestic made semiconductor chip so vital to our economy. but some republicans like missouri senator roy blunt worry about the final price of the defense bill. we need to get realistic about what has to be in the bill and then we have to get realistic about the top line numbers and move forward. democrats have not forgotten about the president's social spending plan and say they will work to get the bill back better act passed. we aim to pass it before christmas. but senate republican leader mitch mcconnell warns about the negative side effect. if the president's bill is passed, it bbb passes. >> it will only exacerbate only make it worse. inflation. not only this year. but next year. >>

in a letter to president biden, senator susan collins and jack reed urged him to release funding fromeatherization assistance program to help families with their home heating bills. republicans warn though it's only going to get worse as it gets colder. >> what does that do to a senior that's struggling on a $1,200 social security check. not only are their food costs going to go up this thanksgiving but, again, their ability to keep warm. >> lawmakers on both sides of the aisle say the president's move to tap into the strategic petroleum reserve is too little too late. >> senator joe manchin snubbed it as an important policy band-aid for rising gas prices but does not solve for self-inflicted wound that shortsighted energy policy has on our nation. calling on the president to reverse the course on the keystone xl pipeline and senate energy committee ranking member john barrasso called the release desperate. and, bret, despite releasing more oil, president biden warning americans they will not feel the relief at the pump any time soon. definitely not overnight. so, that trip to grandma

in fact senator susan collins and jack reed sent over a bipartisan letter urging him to release funding from the weatherization assistance program to help families with home heating bills as republicans blast the administration for not taking swift action. >> this thanks giving in colder areas they will endure 30% increase in heating costs. it will be a colder thanksgiving than it was last year. what does that do to people on fixed incomes? what does it do to people living on 1200-dollar social security checks? reporter: gas prices also hitting the wallet hard. trip you pill a says the average price of unlidded at pump is higher than this time last year. amid mounting pressure from republicans president releasing barrels of oil, millions of barrels of oil from the strategic petroleum reserve. the question though will it bring enough relief in time for families driving for the thanksgiving holiday? we shall see. senator dan sullivan accusing the administration trying to transition to renewable energy. >> this is purposeful policy. the white house isn't a bun. of dummies. they are purpose

senator susan collins and jack reed sent a letter to the president urging him to release funding fromance program as federal funding to help families with home heating bills. as republicans worn this is only going to get worse as it gets colder. >> what does that do to a senior that struggling on a $1200 social security check. not only are there food costs going to go up this thanksgiving but again, their ability to keep warm. >> we have been talking about gas prices, aaa says the average price of unleaded at the pump, a dollar and $0.29 higher than this time last year. the president is you heard finally releasing 50 million barrels of oil from the strategic petroleum reserve. lawmakers on both sides they say it's too little, too late. senate energy ranking member senator john barrasso calling the move desperate while senator joe manchin nothing it is an important policy band-aid for rising gas prices that does not solve for the self-inflicted wound that shortsighted energy policy is having on our nation. he's calling on the president to reverse the course on the keystone xl pipeline,

senator susan collins and jack reed just sent a bipartisan letter to president biden urging him to releaseram to help families out with home heating bills. as republicans blast the administration for not taking swift action. >> for many of our seniors this thanksgiving in the colder areas will endure a 30% increase in their heating cost. a colder thanksgiving than it was last year. what does that do to people on fixed incomes? what does it do to the people that are living on $1200 social security checks? >> meantime gas prices also hitting the wallet hard. aaa says the average price of unleaded is $1.29 higher than this time last year amid mounting pressure from republicans the president releasing 50 million oil from the strategic petroleum reserve. will it bring enough relief in time for families driving for the holiday? ranking member john barrasso calling the move a quote, desperate attempt to address the christis. >> this is a purposeful policy from this administration to drive up the prices of energy on americans. ask them that. is this your intention? i think the answer is yes. >> de

i mean, jack reed is always there for the troops, is always there for our national security, and i join my colleagues in showing our appreciation. i know the presiding officer from new mexico thinks the same thing. mr. president, this weekend we celebrated small business saturday. for ohioans and people around the country show their support for people in their local communities by shopping local for holiday gifts. small business, their workers drive this economy. there's always talk on this floor about small business, but the focus is rarely in this body actually on small business and their workers. they create jobs and economic growth in our communities and the heartland, in small towns and overlooked neighborhoods, places that often data get a lot of -- often don't get a lot of outside investment. they're our neighbors, family members, the people you see at church and the grocery store. they are vital to our economic recovery. it's why we passed the bipartisan paycheck protection program last year. it's why democrats and president biden expanded the american rescue plan. last week i a

and let me just say my partner, jack reed, we have been doing this a long time. and i have often said how fortunate i am. you know, we hear all year out there in the real world how everybody hates everybody in washington. we don't like -- we want to compete with each other. but you know, every year when we do the ndaa -- and that means the national defense authorization act -- this is the biggest and the most important bill of the year. even though people think it's all happening inside of this two or three-day period, it's not. it's something that goes on all year long. we have gotten to know each other very well. we know areas -- some areas where we have differences, but very rarely do we have differences that would impair our mission, and our mission is the most important mission that we have year-round. so i appreciate very much chairman reed, what he has been doing, along with me together, what we have done together. the ndaa has a long history of bipartisanship, and senator reed and i have worked together to get this bill through the committee with an overw

so last week i called on the senate armed services committee chairman jack reed to schedule a hearing on this issue. i want to hear straight from the small business owners who are struggling to figure out how to comply. we need to know just how disruptions and how disruptive in their ability to complete their work may impact the defense supply chain. i also want to hear from expert witnesses within the department of defense. we need to have a full picture of the current state of the vaccine compliance. if the senate were to take action on a solution, it is critical that we have all the facts. i've also sent a letter to the president urging him to reverse course on his federal contract vaccine mandate. on monday, the white house backed down from their arbitrary deadline of december 8 with the announcement of new flexibilities in their guidance. while this step is in the right direction, they haven't gone far enough. the vaccine mandate is still a compliance burden on small contractors no matter how flexible the white house tries to make them. our workforce will -- still will be unneces