mr. menendez: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from new jersey. mr. menendez: i ask consent that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, that no further motions be in relation to the nomination that the president be needly notified of the senate's action. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. menendez: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from new jersey. mr. menendez: i clearly don't share my colleague from texas' views, but for the sake of the senate's work, i will respond to it at another time. i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the consideration of calendar number 150, brett m. holmgren to secretary of state, and that the senate vote on the nomination without intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. cruz: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cruz: reserving the right to object it for the same reasons i just articulated. that this position is directly related to trying to clean up the mess, the di

mr. menendez: mr. president, we heard over the course of many hours last week and indeed over the many nonts that foreign affairs nominees have been languishing on the senate floor. the concerns of the junior senator from texas related to the nord stream 2 pipeline. we have also heard from members of this body about the humanitarian situation in afghanistan, the junior senator from missouri. as i have said publicly and repeatedly, i share my colleagues' concerns about the nord stream 2 pipeline. he put up a series of my quotes. they're all true. i'm still of that view. but i'm not of the view that you stop the national security apparatus in order to pursue a policy difference and create a whole host of other serious risks for the united states. i believe and have said that the evacuation from afghanistan was fatally flawed. in fact, the foreign relations committee held a hearing and heard from secretary blinken about the situation in afghanistan. the foreign relations committee is holding a briefing to

menendez: mr. secretary, the secretary has agreed to stay with us until each member has the opportunity to get answers to their questions. as such, i have agreed -- sec. blinken: thank you very much. to all members, i appreciate the opportunity to be with all of you today to discuss our policy on afghanistan, including where we are, how we got here, and where we are going in the weeks and months ahead. for 20 years, congress has conducted oversight and provided funding for the mission in afghanistan. and i know, from my own time as a staff member here in this room, for then senator biden, just how invaluable a partner congress is. as i said when i was nominated, i believe strongly in congress' traditional role as a partner in foreign policymaking. i am committed to working with you on the path forward in afghanistan and to advance the interests of the american people. on this 20th anniversary of 9/11, as we honor nearly 3000 men, women, and children who lost their lives, we are reminded of why we w

mr. menendez: it was my intention to come to the floor to ask unanimous consent for a $1 billion replenishmentr iron dome. we democrats believe this is incredibly important for the state of israel, our ally, unfortunately, senator paul, who has an amendment to my unanimous consent request could not be here tonight and as a courtesy to him, we are postponing until monday. but on monday i intend to come to the floor and ask for that unanimous consent. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: mr. president, so a few moments ago, the senate voted to proceed to going to the house message on the debt ceiling suspension until december of 2022. for the information of all, this vote will only require a majority threshold and is a necessary procedural step before cloture can be filed on the house-passed legislation. now, despite republicans' twisted logic for wanting the debt limit to be addressed while blocking that from happening, the basic facts have changed. the debt must be addressed, it will be addressed and america cannot default. we ar

. >> there was criticism from both sides of political aisle, including from bob menendez. >> mr..s. withdrawal was clearly and fatally flawed this committee expects to receive a full explanation of the administration's decisions on afghanistan since coming into office last january. there has to be accountability >> secretary blinken testified that the u.s. urged the afghan government to bring in and consolidate its security forces around kabul, in an effort to protect the capitol from a taliban take over, but they refused. some members of al qaeda are already back in afghanistan. that's according to david cohen, the deputy director of the cia he and other intelligence officials now say they believe the terror group is poised to rebuild within afghanistan the director of the defense intelligence agency said just today the current assessment probably conservatively is one to two years for al qaeda to build some capability to at least threaten the homeland. the taliban harbored osama bin laden and al qaeda before, during and after the attacks of 9/11 and to this day, the taliban mai

senator menendez: thank you. >> thank you, mr. chairman. let me say something on behalf of the people i represent in wyoming. this is not pointed to either party, this is pointed to the congress of the united states. it is absolutely irresponsible that we are $28 trillion in debt and both parties sit here and blame each other for what they both did, irresponsibly, it's absolutely unconscionable what we have done to the people of this country. it's both party's fault, it's the congress' fault. we need to address it. but we are so busy making each other look like the rat's rear end that we won't address the real problems in this country that led us to be $28 trillion plus in debt. mrs. lummis: now asking to get further in debt. i'm horrified. my constituents are horrified. this is -- has got to stop. that said now i'll turn my attention to the secretary. secretary yellen, speaking of horrified, my constituents cannot believe that you support a proposal to require banks and credit unions to report customer data to the internal revenue service

chair menendez: senator markey. sen. markey: mr. secretary, thank you for all of your work and all your colleagues as well. president biden was right to end the united states longest war. if leaving afghanistan was ever going to be clean and easy, one of the president three predecessors would have done so. if we have learned anything from our 20 year war in afghanistan, it is that it is easier to get into a war than to get out of one. however, given the amount of second-guessing and armchair quarterbacking i've seen over the last month, i fear we haven't learned anything. we must reimagine a national security policy that prioritizes diplomacy and stops endless, undefined military engagements before they can begin. i want to be sure americans at home understand the position president biden was placed in. president trump's deal with taliban exchanged a halt in taliban offensives against our troops for a commitment we would leave the country by may of this year. president trump, with the support of his national security team and many r

. >> senator menendez from new jersey. . >> thank you, mr. chairman. ms.cgee, are our don -- undocumented immigrants contribute into the safety and recovery as essential workers during the covid-19 pandemic? >> disproportionately so. there are probably 5 million undocumented workers who are essential including one million. >> about 74% of undocumented immigrants are essential workers. during the pandemic, undocumented immigrants harvested and served their food for children and elderly, treated our patients and when we told them to stay home in order to avoid being affected at the virus, they were on the front lines. if that is the case, shouldn't congress include undocumented essential workers as part of our effort to end the pandemic? >> i think it's essential not only to those families, their loved ones and communities they serve but to our broader economy. you cannot ask the most out of people who serve this country and then give them the least. you infect fact make them invisible. the american people of sacrifice so much during this pandemic and died d

menendez of new jersey. he's the chair of the senate foreign relations committee. secretary blinken will testify before his committee tomorrow. secretary -- i mean, mr. chairman, thank you so much. i want to start with secretary blinken talking about counterterrorism in afghanistan going forward. take a listen to this. >> the taliban is committed to prevent terrorist groups from using afghanistan as base for external operations, including al qaeda and isis-k. we'll hold them accountable for that. that does not mean that we will rely on them. >> so secretary blinken later acknowledged that the u.s. obviously lost intelligence capacity by withdrawing. can the united states hold the taliban accountable? do counterterrorism in afghanistan with no troops there? >> reporter: well, i believe that there is able to do over the horizon efforts that can help us in our counterterrorism efforts. and we believe that they will be sufficient enough to protect the homeland. there's no question that when you're not on the ground in any country for which there is conflict or potential, that you lose some element of it. i think it would be naive to suggest that you're n

mr. menendez: mr. president i ask unanimous consent that after the first cloture vote on the medina nomination, that the other three be ten minute votes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. menendez: mr. president, i know of no other debate before the senate. the presiding officer: if there is no further debate, the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22, do hereby bring to a close debate on the nomination of executive calendar number 324, monica p. medina, of maryland, to be assistant secretary of state for oceans and international and environmental and scientific affairs. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived. the question is, is it the sense of the senate that debate on the debate of monica p. medina to be assistant secretary of state for oceans and international environmental and scientific affairs shall be brought to a close? the

mr. menendez: thank you, mr. president. you know, we are here at this normally thursday at night. we wouldn't be here under normal circumstances but we're here because one member of the senate has determined to impede the entire national security infrastructure as it relates to the foreign policy of the united states. what we do in the state department and that which comes to the committee on foreign relations has to do with the essential security of the united states. it is the senate foreign relations committee that has jurisdiction over global arms sales. it is the senate foreign relations committee that has jurisdiction over the authorization of the use of force. it is the senate foreign relations committee that deals with treaties across the globe. it is the senate foreign relations committee that deals with the question of nuclear arms and proliferation. and so much more. and it is the state department that perpetuates the national interest and security of the united states in its positions across the globe, both at home in the first place but across the globe. now, i've had

mr. president? senator murphy was right, senator schumer was right, senator menendez was right, senator durbin was right. that's why congress came together to pass caatsa, tough legislation, to prevent a president from doing what joe biden is doing right now -- surrendering to putin, surrendering to russia, ignoring u.s. law, and giving putin a multibillion-dollar gift. and when my democratic colleagues didn't believe the trump administration was implementing the full breadth of mandatory sanctions under caatsa, it made the purpose of caatsa even clearer. on january 30, 2018, senator cardin led a letter about caatsa to then-secretary of state rex tiller son, cosigned by 21 other democrats, almost half of the caucus. they said that the trump administration's failure to impose mandatory sanctions, quote, do not fully reflect the clear congressional intent described in the legislation. we expect the administration to provide a full explanation as to why it is not imposed mandatory sanctions under several provisions of caatsa. then on may 18, 2018, senator menendez led a letter about caatsa to several inspe