mr. markey: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it recess until 3:00 p.m. on monday, april 4, and that the following -- and that following the prayer and pledge, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. markey: if there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it stand in recess until the previous order. the presiding officer: under the previous measure -- under the previous order, the senate stands in recess until 3:00 p.m. >> ms. mcconnell sent down a conversation with to capitol hill reporters to discuss the legislative agenda and 2022 elections . >> there we go. as somebody who's been chasing senator mcconnell around i'm happy to have him on this page, it's much more difficult to ignore me but not because i don't like it

mr. markey: madam president, i want to join with the senator from the sunshine state, letting him know that the senator from the bay state, the senator from the ocean state, we share a common agenda. we bridge ideological divisions, liberal, democrats from the northeast, conservative, republicans from florida coming together to show that this institution can work. and why is that? well, because we know that daylight savings time helps to turn the corner of people's mouths upwards into a smile. it's sunshine and smiles. we've only had daylight savings time so far for two days, but all across the country people are out in the evening with extra daylight. little league can start, people taking their walks feel more safe, people can walk down to the town square knowing that the daylight is out there. and so this is something that should be bipartisan. it should bring us all together and -- and i thank the senator from florida for his leadership on this issue and so many people are wondering, can the congress work? and i think here is something that does have a big impact on every american life.

mr. markey. mr. peters. ms. baldwin. ms. duckworth. mr. must sinema. ms. rosen. mr. lujan. mr.nlooper. mr. warnock. mr. wicker. mr. thune. mr. blunt. mr. cruz. missus fischer. mr. manahan. mr. sullivan. mrs. blackburn. mr. young. mr. lee. mr. johnson. mrs. capito. mr. scott. ms. lummis. ms. cantwell. dominate will be reported out of the committee. i now turn to senator wicker for a motion for. >> madam chair i move we end 15 toy the nomination of the district of columbia to be assistant secretary of commerce and director general of the united states and foreign commercial service. the nomination of virginia big assistant secretary of government affairs of transportation. grantee harris of california to the assistant secretary for industry analysis department of commerce. in 1540 the nomination of new york to be assistant secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere the nomination of christopher of georgia to be assistant secretary of transportation. and the nomination of maryland the under secretary of for standards and technology and the nomination of to be assistant secret

mr. markey: mr.sident, i rise today to decry once again putin's horrific actions against ukraine and the ukrainian people and as we wage war against this fossil fuel funded invasion, i stand here again to denounce our own addiction to fossil fuels, along with big oil's relentless attempts to sabotage clean and renewable energy with the support of the republican party. we can see that the corporate profiteering by big oil and the american petroleum institute has once again played a part in war and destruction. and all enabled by the g.o.p.'s addiction to oil and gas and the fallacy of american energy independence. it is a tale of republican hypocrisy, all funded by the fossil fuel industry. it would be absurdly comic if it weren't so horribly tragic. oil profits are the engine of russia's economy and natural gas is the geopolitical weapon it wields to threaten europe's energy security. nearly 40% of russia's entire revenue is derived from oil and gas exports. russia's tanks, armored vehicles and artil

mr. markey: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, as i speak here today on the united states postal service reform act, russian president vladimir putin is waging a cruel, unjust, and barbaric war of choice financed by a global addiction to fossil fuels, an addiction which russia is only too happy to exploit right now. and the most effective way to reduce the long-term security threat to ukraine and europe and the united states and the whole world is to say that we are going to empty vladimir putin's oil and gas-funded piggy bank setting ourselves and our allies on the course to a future powered by domestic clean energy. we can use the power of our federal government to not only apply sanctions but also destroy putin's dirty energy business model. the united states government had 700,000 vehicles in its fleet. 160,000 of the united states government's vehicles belong to the united states postal service. our postal service could play an important role in destroying the putin business model by committing to clean instead of

mr. markey: there is no press ebbs of a quorum. the presiding officer: -- presence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: >> yesterday i said i hopethe second day of judge jackson's responses would provide more clarity on some vital questions. unfortunately the nominees answers trended the other way . regarding the core institution, the nominee continued to reject the examples of justice ginsburg and breyer . she refused to denounce partisan court packing. on judicial philosophy, the judge continued to deflect actually basic questions. the lack of candor is troubling since the nominee has no meaningful written record unconstitutional matters . for more than eight of judge jackson's nine years on the federal bench she was a trial judge on the district court . as the nominee herself explained on tuesday that rolled neither requires a particular talent for constitutional interpretation nor gives judges much of a chance to exhibit 1. she deflected a question about judicial philosophy by explaining that such a question should not often occur to

mr. markey: thank you, mr. president. and i reserve the right to object and to explain why to my colleagues here in the senate. this is an unfortunate, terrible exploitation of a crisis in russia by the oil and natural gas industry of the united states of america. they have no shame. they have no conscience. they have no sense of decency. this industry, this unscrupulous industry led by the american petroleum institute, really the american prevarication ?iewt which is what we're -- institute which is what we're hearing -- hearing today and hearing on the airwaves, millions of dollars of television ads saying we've just got to drill, baby, drill here in the united states. that's the answer to the invasion of ukraine by the russians. well, a few facts might be helpful so the american people can understand once again that all the american petroleum institute is about is tipping consumers upside down at the pump and shaking money out of their pockets. that's who they are. so just for a few facts here, the oil industry in the

mr. markey: madam president, i want to join with the senator from the sunshine state, letting him know thathe senator from the bay state, the senator from the ocean state, we share a common agenda. we bridge ideological divisions, liberal, democrats from the northeast, conservative, republicans from florida coming together to show that this institution can work. and why is that? well, because we know that daylight savings time helps to turn the corner of people's mouths upwards into a smile. it's sunshine and smiles. we've only had daylight savings time so far for two days, but all across the country people are out in the evening with extra daylight. little league can start, people taking their walks feel more safe, people can walk down to the town square knowing that the daylight is out there. and so this is something that should be bipartisan. it should bring us all together and -- and i thank the senator from florida for his leadership on this issue and so many people are wondering, can the congress work? and i think here is something that does have a big impact on every american life. a

mr. secretary. secretary buttigieg: you have my commitment. senator carper: senator markey, i believe you are next and then senator er nmp st. >> we are subject to all of the same threats that rhode island is subject to and again, the most important environmental case thus far in our history, massachusetts versus the epa is based on the erosion of the massachusetts coastline and rhode island. and they voted 5-# that they made it. that is already been done and this is happening and we have the absolute responsibility to ensure we put in place the protective measures. so last year, chairman carper and i, we introduced the green streets act, which would set goals to cut emissions from the national highway system and help states protect the systems from unavoidable climate impacts and we have money for that already in the bill back better and we have to work hard to get that pass #-d, but there are steps that you can and should in the bipartisan bill that senator whitehouse was referring to. so could you talk about those funds and the actions which you can take in order to sure

markey. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you for your great work, madam secretary. as you may remember, you and i discussed in a hearing before this committee in december the fact that the united states can't preach temperance from a bar stool when it comes to russian energy at the same time as many voices were railing against europe for their reliance on russian natural gas, american fossil fuel companies were importing nearly $20 billion of russian oil just last year. at that hearing we discussed the fact that american consumers were unwittingly financing the ill-gotten gains of putin and his inner circle, the same oligarchs responsible for enabling putin's human rights abuses in russia and now the unjustified invasion of ukraine. president biden made the right decision today, and i applaud him for that. now we need to make it a permanent ban to build on the steps that the president announced today. we have to permanently wean ourselves off of corrupt foreign oil and gas by investing in a clean energy revolution. i introduced legislation, the spigot act last week,

mr. markey: -- the presiding officer: the senator from massachusetts. mr. markey: i ask that the senate consider the following nomination, calendar i'm 643 -- item 643, laura s.h. holgate to the atomic energy agency with the rank of ambassador, that the nomination be confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate, that no further motions be in order to the nomination, that any related statements be printed in the record, that the president be immediately notified of the senate's action. the presiding officer: is there objection? a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. scott: reserving the right to object, the biden administration has failed to properly oversee the pan american health organization, or paho. president biden and secretary blinken know that paho has cooperated with the communist regime in cuba to traffic doctors overseas, and they know cuban doctors are trying to sue paho and hold traffickers accountable. in july 2013, the cuban ministry