mr. durbin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: mr. president, the strongest military alliance in the world is the nato alliance. president joe biden has made that alliance stronger than ever since its creation. countries like finland now want to be part of that alliance for their own safety. and because they share our values. countries like sweden feel the same way. they want to be part of this alliance which president biden has supported completely. it has never been stronger since its creation. and the contributions made by the alliance members to the war in ukraine are unprecedented. it's never happened before. nations from all over europe, nations that share our values, are standing behind the nato alliance. to hear the suggestion on the floor of the senate that somehow there's a weakness in the biden administration when it comes to nato is belied by the facts and the truth. and the fact of the matter is as well that when you look back at the previous pre

mr. durbin. the senator from minnesota, ms. klobuchar. the senator from virginia, mr. warner. the senator from new jersey, mr. the senator from kentucky, mr. mcconnell. the senator from west virginia, mrs. capito. the senator from iowa, ms. ernst. the senator from montana, mr. danes. and the senator from idaho, mr. risch. the speaker: the members of the he is court committee will exit the chamber through the lobby doors -- escort committee will exit the chamber through the lobby doors. h >> mr. speaker, the acting dean of the diplomatic corps. >> mr. speaker, the president's cabinet. >> mr. speaker, the prime minister of the republic of india. the speaker: members of congress i have the high privilege and distinct honor of presenting to you his excellency, narendra modi, the prime minister of the republic of india. mr. speaker , madam vice president, distinguished members of the u.s. congress, ladies and gentlemen. it is with a great honor to address the united states congress. it is an exceptional privilege to do so twice. for this honor, i extend my deepest gratitude on beha

mr. durbin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. durbin: mr. president, i want to follow the remarks of the majority leader. last saturday night, there was a juneteenth celebration in willowbrook,il. there was music, people gathered in the parking lot of a strip mall. they were having a generally good time. then gunfire erupted. at the end of just a few minutes, one person was dead, 22 had been wounded. saturday night. that wasn't the only gun violence in the region over that weekend. we estimate at least nine were killed and another 55 injured from gunfire. it's a common occurrence, sadly, across america. we felt it in illinois. some estimate we've had over 50 mass shootings so far this month, and we're only at june 22. what is going on in america? it's a serious question. but what has happened every weekend in most of the major cities in this country is a reminder that americans cannot gather to celebrate a holiday, a graduation, or even a funeral without the ever-present threat of gun violence. mr. president, it goes without saying, but i'm

mr. durbin: thank you, mr. president -- the presiding officer: i advise the majority whip we're in a quorum. mr. durbin: i ask that the quorum calling be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: in june our nation celebrates national immigrant heritage month, with the exception of native americans and the descendants of enslaved people, every one of us share something in common with the families arriving in america today and that is the fact that our own ancestors once traveled far and wide to reach this land of liberty and opportunity. in my case it was my grandmother. the year was 1911, she was forced to flee her home in lithuania. she boarded a ship in germany, bound for america, carrying two things in her arms, her catholic prayer book and my infant mother had she arrived in this country with the same hopes as every immigrant who comes to america, from the communities in illinois to all of the immigrant farm workers who keep food on our tables. today the month of june is not only a c

mr. durbin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. durbin: mr. president, this is an historic day in the annals of the united states senate because we are faced with a critical vote as to whether we can pass the bipartisan compromise on spending or default on our debt for the first time in history, whether we will fail as a nation for the first time ever, ever to pay our bills. there is a strange construction in the law where we can vote in the senate and in the house for spending, send it to the president who signs it into law, go back to our states and districts and announce in press conferences that we have millions of dollars coming home, federal dollars back home to our states and districts, and take credit for it, and then not face the reality that the money that we've appropriated actually adds to our national debt. the debt ceiling is the mortgage of the united states, which needs to be expanded as we spend money. so we reached a point where we had a deadline, first june 1, now june 5, of doing something in congress to extend the nation's

mr. durbin: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. bin: madam president, let me first salute my colleague from the state of washington. she has shown extraordinary leadership on this and so many other issues. she asked us to gather today, the first anniversary of the dobbs decision, to really reflect on what's happened to america in 12 months. i would say, madam president, that two months ago the senate judiciary committee which i chair held a hearing on the devastating consequences of the dobbs decision, on the women and doctors who are feaked by -- are affected by them. we did it two months ago because the news was pouring in of incidents which had to be told and shared with the american people. growing reports of chaos and harm caused by that decision were so alarming that we decided to move up our fact finding to two months ago. there was one witness i'll never forget. one of the people we heard from that day was amanda zurowski. she shared some of the most heartbreaking testimony i've ever heard and i've heard a lot. last august i

mr. durbin: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority whip is recognized. mr. durbin: madam president, over the last 17 years a lot has changed in the senate. back in 2006 we counted two future presidents in our ranks -- barack obama and joe biden. the chairman of the judiciary committee in the senate was the late-arlen specter, back when he was a republican. and i was the most junior member of that judiciary committee. well, today i want to tell you about one thing that has not changed since those days, and that is the dedicated, diligent public service of a man who has stood by missive every step of the way. -- by my side every step of the way. as i have gone to serve as chair of the committee, that man's name is dan swanson. dan is the embodiment of wisdom, patience, kindness, dedication, and selfless public service. sadly you this is his last week as general counsel for the senate judiciary committee. while dan would never say it himself, he's just too humble, the truth is he's made an indelible mark -- indelible historic hark on the history 6 this nation. h

mr. durbin said that yesterday when he came here to testify. so it is important for the united states to try and address that. unfortunately, chairman jordan, mr. gaetz and some others engaged, i think, in disinformation in some of the comments they made about the panel that was set up at the department of homeland security , and that included the personal attacks on news -- personal attacks on miss jankowicz, which undermined our ability to respond to some of these sorts of disinformation . with respect to disinformation, the government can't and should not be the business of determining what is true or not. we do have to be careful especially when it comes to political positions. but there are also points where we clearly need the government to be involved and it has really made a difference. just a couple of quick ones, information about tobacco, when i was a kid i lived in north carolina and tobacco is everywhere. it wasn't known that tobacco was killing people. public efforts and public campaigns to address that and provide accurate informa

mr. durbin: madam president, on an issue that you know so well, let me say this.ast week the white house launched a new website, invest.gov. it shows the historic investments that have been announced across america since president biden took office. we should not forget that under the previous president, there were four years of promises and four years where they failed to produce. under president biden, we have a bipartisan infrastructure bill that is changing the nation of america preparing our economy for the 21st century. invest.gov shows the historic investments that have been announced across america under president biden and provides a state-by-state overview of those investments. in a little more than for years illinois, our state, has received more than $9 billion in infrastructure funding, more than $1 billion to support the creation of clean energy jobs, and we are creating thousands of new manufacturing jobs at this very moment. today i want to tell you about one particular project near and dear to us in illinois. it is a project our leaders have been

chair durbin: mr. carr, i want to give you a chance to respond about practices at your farm. >> she was referring to non-h-2a workers and undocumented workers. this is one of the reasons i joined the h-2a program. i've the oversight of the department of labor investigating me every time. my payroll records are published. they look at those, every employee gets a separate paycheck. so participating in the h-2a program is a way we can make sure that there is not farm labor abuse. chair durbin: thank you. senator graham. does anybody -- >> does everybody agreed that 40% of people working in agriculture or cure illegally? is that accurate. >> that is probably a low number and farm labor, that is probably a low percentage. >> the data from the labor department says it is about 44% that are undocumented. >> nearly half. some consensus there. senator graham: let us assume that it is half. half of the people in the food supply chain are here illegally. if they are left tomorrow, what would happen to the agricu

mr. chairman. >> threw, senator durbin. senator blumenthal. >> thanks senator ossoff for having this hearing, as one of the authors of the foster bill, i have been veryroud of it. and the consequences that you've described for the sex workers have to be addressed. but that's not a reason to try to protect the victims of trafficking or the victims of c-sam, or the victims of fentanyl, or the victims of a variety of -- a plethora of other evi that the tech atforms know they are enabling and propagating and empowering. an as somebody who has written a variety of legislation and enforced it, lislation can never be wholly good. we have to accept that there will be other consequences intended or unintended, that we need to safeguard against, but let me just come right to the point here. we've had a number of hearings. one of them involving sam altman, you referred to it, in that hearing and in the subsequent hearing held in the committee on intellectual property and copyright involving another four or five witnesses. everybody ag

mr. durbin is that what you call sobering. with the happy sobering to you? >> sobering to me in connection to this investigation is the fbi, people involved in the crossfire, and investigation. ignoring exculpatory information discarding information inconsistent with the investigative narrative. who is using information in instances from the steele dossier to establish probable cause, to electronically surveil united states citizens, who happen to be a naval academy graduate. those things are sobering. >> i would agree with that. did the fbi ever fail to take or delay taking investigation involving hillary clinton. >> that was not, there is a portion of the report where it relates to the district treatment. did the fbi delay? ? there are three instances that are identified in the report. where the fbi investigated efforts were considered considerably more disciplined, then was the case with respect to mr. trump. >> more discipline than you mean -- did the fbi give clinton campaign a repeat? >> they gave in a particular manner, the fbi gave mrs. clinton legal

mr. costa: absolutely not. what we saw for the workers that actually have that right, there were 33 lawsuits nationwide last year out of the entire farm workforce. chairman durbin mr. carr, i hope the only reasons you appear on cnn will be for the quality of your peaches. several kennedy: -- sen. cassidy: -- sen. kaine: eddie it seems to me, america was born on a farm. you cannot operate a farm without workers. we cannot feed ourselves or our worlds's neighbors without farmworkers. sometimes we need help from neighbors who live in foreign countries. is that a fair statement for mr. costa? mr. costa: yes, i believe immigrants play an important role. senator kennedy: do you believe illegal immigration is illegal? mr. costa: yes. senator kennedy mr. sequeira do you agree with that? mr. sequeira: yes, sir. senator kennedy: what grade would you give the biden administration on combating illegal immigration? mr. sequeira: i do not know what grade i would put. i think they have made some useful improvements. but, you know, i think there is so much money going to the border that the border is mostly secure. people are mostly turning themselves in, not really crossing t

mr. chairman. >> thank you senator durbin.enator blumenthal. >> thank you senator ossoff for having this hearing. as one of the authors of the sesta fosta bill, i am proud of that legislation. what you are talking about needs to be addressed but that is not a reason not to address the victims of a plethora of people's that tech platforms no they are enabling and propagating and empowering. as somebody who has written a variety of legislation and enforced it, legislation can never be wholly good. we have to accept there will be other consequences intended or unintended that we need to safeguard against. let me just come right to the point here. we have had a number of hearings. one of them involving sam altman. you referred to it. in that hearing and in the subsequent hearing in the committee on intellectual property and copyright, everybody agreed section 230 does not apply to ai. do members of this panel disagree? and if so please -- >> i do not agree or disagree, i do not know. now, how do we interpret it from the legal pers

mr. jeffries: senate democrats under the leadership of dick durbin and others in the senate democratic conference are working hard to bring some accountability to an out-of-control right wing supreme court. exhibit a, clarence thomas. but there are others who clearly are engaging in problematic, ethically questionable behavior. and on the house democratic side, under the leadership of chairman nadler, the once and future chairman of the house judiciary committee, jerry nadler and others, it's my expectation that we'll explore all avenues for making sure that the supreme court conducts itself in an equitable way. because at the end of the day, if the final arbiter of the rule of law, the supreme court of the united states, is undermining or behaving in a manner consistent with the rule of law, thank then that is problematic for the country. not a democratic issue or a republican issue. it's an american issue. so i think that exploration will continue. but we're not holding our breath in terms of whether the extreme maga republican notice house are going to do anything to hold -- republicans in the

and you know, to answer a little bit more the question that chairman durbin asked of mr. sample, professor sample, you know, the supreme court has a mistake. you may regard it as a mystique not justified in fact, but it is a credibility. a trust. a confidence that is so necessary for a court composed of nine people, unelected, presiding for life, and able to strike down the will of a democratically elected congress, it is extraordinary and democracy. and so, i am really just baffled by chief justice, roberts. because he should know better. and this controversy could be defused, if he were willing to lead. and obviously, we have asked him to lead. again and again and again. and the failure to take the reins here, which could easily supplant these kinds of measures, if he were to voluntarily impose some code of ethics, and there would be enforcement questions. but at least there would be a code of ethics and the judicial conflict, someone could enforce it. you know, i don't want to be unfair to any particular justice, because i recognize these questions can be asked of any

mr. durbin is that what you call sobering. with the happy sobering to you? >> sobering to me in connection to this investigation is the fbi, people involved in the crossfire, and investigation. ignoring exculpatory information discarding information inconsistent with the investigative narrative. who is using information in instances from the steele dossier to establish probable cause, to electronically surveil united states citizens, who happen to be a naval academy graduate. those things are sobering. >> i would agree with that. did the fbi ever fail to take or delay taking investigation involving hillary clinton. >> that was not, there is a portion of the report where it relates to the district treatment. did the fbi delay? ? there are three instances that are identified in the report. where the fbi investigated efforts were considered considerably more disciplined, then was the case with respect to mr. trump. >> more discipline than you mean -- did the fbi give clinton campaign a repeat? >> they gave in a particular manner, the fbi gave mrs. clinton legal

durbin. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i chair the senate judiciary committee and just happen to adjourn in time for me to make this hearing. i'm glad to be here. i would like to say to all the witnesses the gao noted last year the pentagon is facing the most challengingin recruitment environment in 50 years. the army has especially struggled to meet the current goals. the service missed its end strength number by 15,000, or 25% in fiscal year 2022. i'm glad to see this budget request increases competitive compensation and funding for recruitment marketing program as well as improving qualityas of life for s current servicemembe. i would like to ask you if you would tell me what the impact has been on the guard and reserve in this recruiting challenge. open. >> i'll start with a national guard. when you look at where we are today, our recruiters particularly on the arm inside having able to adjust to the current environment and we seen a steadyin increase in our recruiting abilities. we've been over 100% the last three mon

mr. attorney general, i will say to, it's a disgrace. >> okay. >> senator cruz? >> thank you, chairman durbin. thank you attorney general merrick garland fruit of the ship of testifying here today. i appreciate all you are doing to restore to your order -- excuse me, to restore to your office, it's critical role and our constitutional order. violent crime is a concern of many members that both parties have first today at this oversight hearing. or the share with you that my hometown of wilmington, delaware, which had a long-standing challenge with violent crime and in particular murder, saw significant decreases over the last few years. murders were down 58% in the past year to a 15-year low. shootings were down 30%. robberies are down 20% and a meeting with the mayor and chief of police recently when i spoke with him, they credited federal and local law enforcement partnerships, including in particular, group violence intervention strategies as being central to the strategies. congress and the biden administration together i've given $2 million to fund these programs for the first time. why

mr. attorney general, i'll just say to you this is a disgrace. >> senator coons? >> thank you, chairman durbin. thank you attorney general garland. for your leadership in the department, for testifying here today, i appreciate all you are doing to restore to order, to restore to your office, a credible role in our constitution. violent crime is a concern, and many members of both parties have raised that today on this oversight hearing. i want to share with you that that my hometown of wilmington, delaware, we had a long-standing challenge a violent crime and particularly murders, saw significant decreases over the last few years. murders were down 58%. in the past year. to a 15-year low. shootings were down 30%. robberies were down 20%. and a meeting with the mayor and chief of police, recently when i spoke with them they credited federal and local law enforcement partnerships including in particular group violence intervention strategies, as being central to their successful efforts. congress and the biden ministration of together given 240 billion dollars to fund these programs for the firs

mr. durbin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. urbin: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to legislative session and be in a period of morning business, with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to en bloc consideration of the following senate resolutions -- 248, 249, and 250. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed to the resolutions en bloc. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent the resolutions be agreed to, preambles be agreed to, motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, all en bloc. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent the banking, housing, urban affairs committee be discharged from and the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of s. 305. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. 305, a bill to require the secretary of the treasury to mint coins in commemoration of the 250th anniversary of

mr. durbin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. durbin: i ask consent the call of the quorum be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: mr. president, earlier this week apple unveiled its latest innovation, the vision pro. it is a mixed reality headset that the company claims will blend together our virtual and physical worlds. now if you've seen this device, you may think it looks like an overpriced pair of ski goggles. but the implications for this technology are remarkable. think about how far we've come in a few short decades. 30 years ago hardly anyone owned a cell phone, and even fewer were familiar with the concept of the worldwide web. but since then everything has changed. we've gone from clunky desktop computers to smart phones and smart watches and now a headset that will transform your living room into a virtual playground. a virtual playground, think about that. you can share it with just about anyone in the world. anyone, even potential sexual predators. and therein lies the problem. in the fac

mr. durbin: we had a hearing this week in the judiciary committee. we had a grower from south carolina as a guest of senator graham, he professed to be the second largest peach grower in america. i asked him if you had e-verify on your form to you and the growers who need workers. he said we'd be out of business tomorrow. that's what your amendment does. it imposes e-verify on farmers in illinois and across the united states. we're not ready for this. you're going to put them out of business. secondly it strips away protections for children at the border. we do not want kids in cages anymore at the border. please vote against this amendment. the president pro tempore: the question is on the amendment. is there a sufficient second? there is a sufficient second. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: the president pro tempore: on this vote, the yeas are 46, the nays are 51. under the previous order, requiring 60 votes for the adoption of this amendment, the amendment is not agreed to. mr. schumer: madam president. the president pro tempore: the majo