mr. merkley: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. merkley: i yield ten minutes of my postcloture time on the vote nomination to senator van hollen, and i yield 60 minutes of my postcloture debate time on the vote nomination to senator schatz. the presiding officer: the senator has that right. mr. merkley: thank you. mr. warnock: mr. president. mr. president, i rise today in strong opposition to the nomination of russell vought to be the head of the office of management and budget. his leadership will only continue the disruption that is hurting georgians in every corner of my state, even as i speak. over the past two and a half weeks, my state has been plagued by chaos, by confusion that has harmed georgia families and georgia workers and organizations serving their communities. we are witnessing right now a careless and heartless assault on federal investments and a freeze of government funding that has already, already been appropriated by congress. to help georgia seniors, veterans, students, and so many more. let's be clear, these

mr. merkley: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. merkley: our constituents, our country, and our constitution are under attack by donald trump and russell vought. democrats are fighting back. russell vought is the mastermind of project 2025 and all of the chaos and lawlessness that trump has unleashed across our country. today my republican colleagues are trying to jam through the confirmation of this man, russell vought, and it is our job to say stop because this man is incredibly dangerous to the foundations of our republic, the system of laws and the checks and balances of our constitution. and when you put into office of management and budget an individual who willfully avoids and rolls over the laws of the country and says he will not abide by the separation of powers, that is a fundamental danger that all of us, having taken an oath to the constitution, must stop. he is donald trump's most dangerous nominee. you may not have heard about him as much as you have heard of the nominee for the secretary of defense, mr. hegseth. you

mr. merkley. mrs. moody. mr. moran. mr. moreno. mr. mullin. ms. murkowski. mr. murphy. mrs. murray. mr.ossoff. mr. padilla. mr. paul. mr. peters. mr. reed. mr. ricketts. mr. risch. ms. rosen. mr. rounds. mr. sanders. mr. schatz. mr. schiff. mr. schmitt. mr. schumer. plan is to help the wealthy get wealthier tax giveaways families paying the bill. how massive giveaways going to be paid for? slashing services to families and families try to get on their feet so they can thrive and get to the middle-class. great betrayal. today we will consider russell the office of management and the budget really the place for this campaign is coordinated. we will hear very different ideas have to take our country forward. from my friends across the aisle will hear we need to continue to give massive tax giveaways to the wealthiest americans and we will hear how nonpartisan expertise that makes our country run smoothly should be replaced by those with political loyalty and how programs that assist the environment or unions organizing working people should be replaced by programs that serve big corporatio

mr. merkley. the presiding officer: pursuant to rule 12, no debate is towered during a vote. ermitted during a vote. the senator although suspend. the clerk: mrs. hoody. -- mrs. moody. mr. moran. mr. moreno. mr. mullin. ms. murkowski. mr. murphy. mrs. murray. the presiding officer: pursuant to rule 12, no debate issinged during a vote. the senator will suspend. the clerk: mr. ossoff. the presiding officer: pursuant to rule 12, no debate is permitted during a vote. the senator will suspend. the clerk: mr. padilla. the presiding officer: no debate is permitted during a vote. the clerk: mr. paul. mr. peters. the presiding officer: pursuant to too rule 12, no debate is permitted during a vote e the senator will suspend. the clerk: mr. reed. the presiding officer: no debate is permitted during a vote. the clerk: ricketts. mr. risch. mr. risch. ms. rosen. mr. rounds. the presiding officer: no debate is permit during a vote. the senator will suspend. the clerk: mr. rounds. mr. sanders. mr. schatz. the presiding officer: no debate is permitted during a vote. the senator will suspend.

merkley? sen. merkle: thank you very much, mr. chairman.n day one, president trump issued an executive order that requires agencies to cause a disbursement of funds that were authorized, the inflation reduction act and the infrastructure investment in jobs act. there is a legal mechanism for changing passed law called the rescission. it is an illegal way. will you send a rescission message to congress, or use the illegal impoundment strategy? mr. vought: thanks for the question. those were pauses to ensure that the funding that is in place is consistent and moves in a direction along the lines of what the president ran on, unleashing american energy away from the green new deal. sen. merkle: which strategy will you use? that is a simple question. mr. vought: there is a section in the eos that says the office of affairs will work with the management of the budget and work for rescissions. the language of the eo's required by law and it is meant to do a programmatic delay to figure out what are the best ways -- sen. merkle: ok. thank you i wi

mr. patel: thanks, senator. chair grassley: senator moody. sen. merkley: i am the most junior senator so i go last. ever since i got here, and it has been a whole week, i get told two things when i rush up to my fellow senators. number one,, are you senator britt? [laughter] and number two, you know the senate is a body that is deliberative and calm, and i am anything but. i don't know how the next couple of years will look but i hope they bear with me. i have been a lot of things that are these agencies i thought we would never see out of the united states. i know my fellow attorneys general who would agree with me in fact, some of them are here to support you. i would love to introduce them, the attorney general from south carolina, former utah attorney general as well, and little son and the louisiana ag. they joined me. thank you for being here. they joined me in signing onto a letter supporting your nomination. we did that while i was still attorney general over a week ago. they came here today to support you. mr. chairman, i know you have been referencing a lot of letters you have entered int