mr. cardin: i would be glad to yield the floor. mr. wicker: if i might add, people in narva, estonia and people in the city across the river have access to each other across the bridge there. and it is clear to the people on the russian side that their cousins and friends in narva, estonia live a better life and have a better standard of living in this free country, this native ally called estonia than the russian cousins and friends have on the other side. i just thought i would add that to the discourse before senator cardin moves on to discussing norway and bulgaria. thank you. mr. cardin: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. cardin: let me move on to bulgaria just very briefly. senator wicker did cover bulgaria. the three c's initiative, i wasn't that familiar with it before traveling to bulgaria. it's an initiative by 12 states that are basically part of the eastern european coalition, states that are developing democratic institutions and democratic economies after the fall of the soviet union. a

mr. cardin. >> welcome. and thank you, mr.chairman, and i was in bulgaria last week, and as you know the biden administration imposed the magnitski sanctions, and i thought that we were not going to be greeted with a positive greeting, but we were. your administration has passed legislation to build up the strength of the missions, and so we so much that they represent the united states with tools to help deal with the corruption in these countries. so my question to you is that you talk about rapid response in your statement. and when there is an opportunity, we have to be able to move quickly. can you share with me your strategies on how you are going to use the tools that you have at your disposal to deal with the widespread corruptions that we are finding in so many countries that is really fueling the autocratic regimes and attacks against our own country. >> thank you, senator. in president biden, you have found a true partner in combatting crime and corruption insofar as he is the first american president to have issued

mr. chairman. >> i thank my colleague. senator cardin is next. >> thank you, mr. chairman, secretary yellen, thank you very much for your service. i want to get your view as to how we can use the tax code more effectively to deal with investment of resources, the -- to build wealth and equity for people across the country that have been underserved. i want to talk about two that are in the president's budget and get your view as to how you intend to use these tools to deal with the lack of housing opportunities in underserved communities. the new market tax credit, which i have sought to be made permanent is made permanent under the president's budget. so that's one tool that has been very effective in maryland and throughout the country. so i'm interested in your views as to how you would utilize the new market tax credits. and then there is a new program, the neighborhood home investment act, which i'm a proud sponsor along with senator portman, that deals with the tax credit to deal with the appraisal gap between the value and needs in underserved communities.

mr. chair. >> thank you, senator cardin. >> thank you, mr. chairman. ambassador power, welcome. nice to have you here. thank you for what you're doing. last week i was in bulgaria, and as you are aware the biden administration recently imposed magnitsky sanctions in bulgaria against former corrupt officials. i thought i would be attacked on the use of those sanctions when i visited. instead we were heroes. the bulgarian government and people look at this as an opportunity to really deal with a systemic corruption problem that they have. you indicated in your statement that corruption is the achilles' heel of many a liberal regimes. and i agree completely with you on those statements. our committee has passed legislation that would build up the strength of our missions and understanding the circumstances of the countries in which they represent the united states with tools to help deal with the corruption in these countries. so my question to you is you talk about rapid response in your statement, and when there's an opportunity we have to be able to move quickly. can you just sh

mr. kennedy and others when asked to explain what is racism and critical race theory, they cannot they violate the cardinalle that you never define a word by using that again and again, in the definition and that's what they do because they they can't articulate it because there is no data and no evidence requires a leap of faith and that's why they're so zealous they want to hunt people out that are disbelievers they cancel them out and find them and destroy their careers and search back the records to see if they've ever said one word in the manner that the spanish inquisitors did in the 1950s. gerry: where does this go from here, you've seen the movements are history, as you say one of the interesting things these people control the institutions but they don't control the people and there seems to be a rising popular backlash, is that how this ends, tell us how you think this unfold. >> all of these movements i don't popular support as if they do have popular support, and they give you the impression that you're on the sidelines with your finger in the air you better join or were going to get you and yo

cardinals? no question that >> the president of the united states, mr. trump, was literally unhinged, certainly during the last year and of office. and following his defeat in the election. he's a very dangerous situation. mark milley, i've since i've known him since he was a colonel, he is one tough customer. most of his life was deployed in combat. former chief of staff, 30 years in uniform, princeton and columbia educated, a very bright, capable officer. he doesn't command any soldiers, any airmen, any marines, any sailors. the 11 combatant commanders are under the control of the secretary of defense and the president of the united states. so we really have a dilemma. they have open access to the presidents national security council, members of congress, and he holds a lot of influence. but when trump appointed a retired lieutenant colonel acolyte as secretary, if i've been a foreign intelligence officer looking at the united states, i would've concluded, this guy is about to lead a coup against the government. and i think that's what he was noodling

cardinal sins of prosecutors. neil: so in other words, by making it grand larceny and i guess up to 15 years in prison comes with that, you're trying to get mreems to be a bit extreme here. so on that aspect i'd like to you comment and on the second one being whether he would. >> the first is, you betcha. that's what prosecutors do try to do, work your way up the organization. so you put pressure on one person and that's the cfo, mr. weisselberg, and you hope that the pressure is such that at his tender age in his 70's, he'll then say prosecutors, what do you want? and we're here to deal. now, thus far there's been no indication of that, but it's early. so, that's a classic prosecutorial technique and to work your way up through the organization or horizontally. the indictment, as you know, neil, talks about and others, so it's as if that this was a corporate practice, this is an allegation, it's got to be proved, of the trump organization and even a reference in one of the paragraphs, paragraph nine, to a check being signed by the former president himself. so he's not been indicted. no member of the family has been indicted but it looks as

mr. womack, the ranking member, who is a friend, a gentleman, very easy to work with, had a complicated time, his apparent insistence on being a cardinals fan he just raised, he doesn't seem to mind when i bring up the st. louis professional football and basketball teams but we'll leave that to another day. as to the bill, the bill recommends $29 billion. this is an increase of $4. # billion over the comparable year of 2021. it includes $13.6 billion for the i.r.s., an increase of $1. # billion, over fiscal year 2021 a first step in restoring the cuts this agency has suffered. the increase will improve enforcement activity and support better customer service. notably the bill includes $330 million for community development financial institution which is is $60 million above the fiscal 2021 level to provide critical resources to underserved communities. the bill provides $324 million for the small business administration, and includes significant funding for the general services administration including for a new electric vehicles fund, $100 million to manage climate change risk and over $1 knoll improve the real property portfolio, redu