mr. cardin: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. din: madam president, i have the honor of being the chair of the small business and entrepreneurship committee here in the united states senate. there has been a lot of activity during the biden administration that deals with our economy. the biden administration has a proud record of getting legislative accomplishments from the american rescue plan to the joint, to the bipartisan infrastructure bill, to the safer communities act, to the inflation reduction act, to chips in science bill, and the list goes on and on and on. but i want to talk a little bit about the accomplishments under the combiement for small businesses -- under the biden administration for small businesses and i'm proud of what we've been able to do. we have 33.2 million small business owners in america. they are the drivers of our economy. we say they're the backbone of our economy. i think they are also the backbone of our communities. they create jobs and they do most of the innovation that we see that makes ameri

mr. cardin: thank you, mr. president. i rise to recognize the 36th annual women's history month. this year in maryland we have some special advancements to celebrate. in maryland voters chose brook leerman as the first woman independently elected to a statewide office as our new controller. maryland's also elected ms. miller as first female lieutenant governor and immigrant elected to statewide office in maryland. here in the united states congress, we have the highest percentage of women serving in history, 28% across both the house of representatives and here in the senate. they build on the legacy of pioneers like former maryland senator barbara mikulski. she was the first democratic woman to win a seat in the house and senate and recently held the record for longest serving female surpassed now by senator mikulski. as was said, women belong in all places where decisions are being made. i was proud to testify recently at the senate judiciary committee's hearing regarding the equal rights amendment, the era. at the most basic level, the era is a continuation of centuries-long p

cardin. thank you, president biden, for hosting us. and thank you, mr.dent, for your unwavering commitment to small businesses. in fact there's been a historic small business boom under your leadership. [cheers and applause] and that's because -- that's because from day one president biden has been a champion for american entrepreneurs. from the smallest of the small, initially left out of covid relief, who reopened and thrived, thanks to his american rescue plan. to the inventors, manufacturers, supply chain companies and contractors, seeing growth opportunities, thanks to his historic investments in american infrastructure and clean energy. and to our main street job creators who are benefiting from legislation that lowers the cost of health care and prescription drugs for their workers. and he sees us. he knows women are leading the way as they continue to grow. [cheers and applause] grow, innovate, compete and lift up neighborhoods and communities across the nation. which brings me to natalie king. natalie is the founder and c.e.o. of a multimillion

mr. chairman. >> thank you senator cardin.enator grassley. >> i am sure your family and everybody that knows you is proud of the responsibilities you assume. i'm going to follow up on the first question the senator asked you about spending the ed billion dollars and it deals with a bill senator thune and i introduced on the funding accountability act. you said that you would make public the report when you are done with it so this bill emphasizes doing that annually so we can compare one year with the previous year. if confirmed would you direct them to update suspending regardless of whether this bill passes were not? >> thank you for the question. i've worked a long time in government and have seen a lot of the initiatives that you've undertaken to increase transparency. it's so essential that we build trust and i think that by sharing whatever we can in the law about the going forward plan is going to help build the trust. i will work with this committee to figure out the best manner in which to make this public and the fre

cardin. >> thank you, mr. chairman. secretary becerra, welcome. good to see you. i want to underscore the transplant issues, the reform process will save lives. we lose 17 americans every day awaiting an orr began transplant, so -- organ transplant, so this is an urgent9 issue, and i thank you for your response u and the actions that you're taking. i want to turn to an issue of drug shortages. the wealthiest nation in the world that spends the most of any nation on drugs, yet we have important drugs that are in short supply here. according to the american societyy of health systems, pharmacists, 160 drugs were added in 2022 to the drug shortage list. 48% were inster jill injections --er the concern sterile injections making a total of 295 shortages, and these are drugs that are critically important to your health care, some in cancer treatments and other areas. so the president's budget deals with extending the expiration dates which i think is important. senator collins and i have introduced legislation on that to deal with disclosure. how do you intend to mitiga

senator cardin and i had a very positive comment, discussion with the deputy attorney general just a few weeks ago and sent a follow-up letter but mr. attorney general we desperately need additional resources for the attorney's office in maryland. i just want your assurance that you will do everything you can to work with us to try to find those resources. >> yes. as you know from the conversation with the deputy attorney general, we are currently reviewing the allocations from the fy '23 budget for use attorneys offices, and we will continue to work with you on this question. >> we appreciate that. i remember the previous year senator cardin and i had a similar conversation with the deputy attorney general she said because we had not provided enough resources to accommodate, we were unable to get that. so that's one of the recent we joined with our colleagues to makeke sure we upped that amount of resources. >> in the previous year we were completely flat. >> i understand and that was responsible got better response to getting the answer we worked very hard to increase the budget for these purposes. i do want to talk for a moment

senator cardin and i had a very positive comment, discussion with a deputy attorney general. just a few weeks ago and sent a follow-up letter. mr attorney general, we desperately need additional resources for the u.s. attorney's office in maryland. i just want your assurance that you will do everything you can to work with us to try to find those resources. >> yes, as you know from that conversation with the deputy attorney general, we are currently reviewing the allocations from the budget for the u.s. attorney's offices. and we will continue to work with you on this question. >> we appreciate that, the previous year we had a similar conversation with the deputy attorney general and she said that because we have not provided enough resources to accommodate, we were unable to get that. that is one of the reasons that we joined with our colleagues to make sure that we upped that amount of resources. >> that is true in the previous year, we were completely flat. >> it is true, i completely understand that, but that was the response that we got. in response to getting that answer, we worked very hard to increase the budget for the

mr. cardin: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. cardin: madam president, many cities and towns acros america have the story a segment of a highway or a railroad track that cuts ruthlessly throu neighborhoods. these neighborhoods may not have supported vibrant, tight-knit supportiveommunities with cherished homes, and small businesses. backed with federal funding these highways and other massive infrastructure projects tore these neighborhoods apart and left them an enduring legacy of clusion and diminished opportunity. to be sure, these infstructure projects were intended to serve a purse, and they did serve a purpose -- tnsportation of a particular sort. for families that could affora car and a housen the suburbs, highways were built to whk people in and out of our urban down to you, with regd to the people remaining in tse downtowns. in the most benign cases, these projects were designed whout care or sensitivity to the people the left behind and excluded in. worst cases, the outcome of suppression and exclusion of people of color