mr. moran: mr. president, i oppose the nomination of california attorney general becerra to be the secretary of health and human services. our future h.h.s. secretary will be at the helm of rebuilding our country towards normalcy and preparing to address the weaknesses in our health care infrastructure brought to life by the pandemic. it will be no small task, and it's handling will have an impact on america for years to come. it will requires a leader at h.h.s. who has the trust of the public and the requisite health care experience. unfortunately, those two factors are missing from the nomination of attorney general becerra. in recovering from a once-in-a-century public health crisis, america needs to know that the secretary understands the future and protects future generations from experiencing similar pandemic situations. while attorney general becerra served on a health care-focused subcommittee as a united states representative, he has no further experience in public health or medicine. he al

. >> mr. moran? >> no. >> miss murkowski? >> miss murkowski? no. >> miss murkowski, no. >> mr. murphy, aye. >> mrs. murray? >> aye. >> mrs. murray, aye. >> mr. ossoff? >> aye. >> mr. ossoff, aye. mr. padilla? >> aye. >> mr. paul? >> no. >> mr. paul, no. >> mr. peters? >> aye. >> mr. peters, aye. mr. portman? mr. portman? no. mr. reed? mr. reed, aye. mr. risch? no. >> mr. risch, no. mr. romney? >> no. >> mr. romney, no. miss rosen? >> aye. >> mr. rounds? >> mr. rounds, no. >> mr. rubio? >> no. >> mr. rubio, no. mr. sanders? >> aye. >> mr. and sanders, aye. >> mr. sauj? >> no. mr. shots? aye. >> mr. schumer? >> aye. >> mr. schumer, aye. mr. scott of florida? >> no. >> mr. scott of florida, no. mr. scott of south carolina? >> no. >> mr. scott of south carolina, no. mrs. shaheen? >> mrs. shaheen, aye. mr. shelby? >> no. >> miss sinema? >> yes. >> miss sinema, aye. miss smith? >> aye. >> miss smith, aye. >> miss stabenow? >> aye. >> mr. tester? mr. tester aye. >> mr. thune? mr. thune no. mr. tillis? >> no. >> mr. tillis, no. mr. toomey? >> no. >> mr. toomey, no. >> mr. tuberville? >

mr. moran. >> i was going to ask for the same thing, item b. >> president maxwell: anyone else? then let us have public comment on item a. >> secretary: members of the public who wish to make two minutes of public comment on consent calendar item 18a dial 1-415-655-0001, 1463502017, pound pound. to raise your hand to speak, star three. please note you must limit your comments to the topics of the agenda item discussed and limit to the agenda item topic. we ask public comment be made in a civil and respectful manner and refrain from the use of profanity. address your remarks as a whole, not to individual commissioners. >> there are no callers in the queue. >> secretary: public comment on 18a is closed. >> president maxwell: may i have a motion and second on the item? >> i'll move it. >> second. >> president maxwell: moved and seconded. roll call vote please. [roll call vote taken] >> secretary: five aye. item b, approve amendment number one, efficiency program, replacement of inefficient toilets and other devices for high efficiency models for the san francisco puc retail service

. >> mr. moran is now recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i'm encouraged by commissioner clyburn's focus on retention. it reflects many of my concerns about a grade retention issue that we have across all branches of military among active-duty labor force. admittedly while i music committee and new to my time in congress, from early in my tenure some of that is anecdotal as i speak with fighter pilots in the off tempo that incentives to go to the private sector are great and it's growing in that regard. i have big concerns and hope to use my time in this committee to address that. and so with that same thought process, i want to make sure that we are not going down the same path, maybe as we talk about potential of an academy which with bipartisan support something i could very well be excited about. it is five years? this concept of just putting a time an audit what your expected to do, is that enough or going to see some of the same issues that assume is that five-year timeline kind of hits there's so much need in the private sector right

mr. moran. >> i was going to ask for the same thing, item b. >> president maxwell: anyone else?have public comment on item a. >> secretary: members of the public who wish to make two minutes of public comment on consent calendar item 18a dial 1-415-655-0001, 1463502017, pound pound. to raise your hand to speak, star three. please note you must limit your comments to the topics of the agenda item discussed and limit to the agenda item topic. we ask public comment be made in a civil and respectful manner and refrain from the use of profanity. address your remarks as a whole, not to individual commissioners. >> there are no callers in the queue. >> secretary: public comment on 18a is closed. >> president maxwell: may i have a motion and second on the item? >> i'll move it. >> second. >> president maxwell: moved and seconded. roll call vote please. [roll call vote taken] >> secretary: five aye. item b, approve amendment number one, efficiency program, replacement of inefficient toilets and other devices for high efficiency models for the san francisco puc retail service area and exe

mr. moran? >> i want to say thank you. put this together under the guidelines of the city, and as commissioner ajami has stated, we're trying to put this together in the confines of other cities, how they're doing it, and we're going to fight very hard to make sure this stays in the budget as we go through the board of supervisors because without the resources, it's a hollow gesture. we need to have the resources to make it real, so thank you for what you're all doing to make this real. >> thank you to your team for your commitment to this important issue. it'll make us a stronger, better business entity. thank you. >> next -- next issue -- yes, q. >> actually, call public comment for this item? >> yes, public comment. thank you. >> members of the public wishing to make public comment on this item, 7-e, racial services equity plan, dial 415-655-0001, meeting i.d., 146-747-9255, pound, pound. to enter the public comment queue, press star, three. we ask that public comments be made in a respectful manner and please refrain f

mr. chairman. >> thank you come senator moran. senator daines come have you voted already? >> i have come yes. >> i will call on you and go vote, and i apologize to the chair into the secretary. we're going to take this up because there are two or three more people to who want to sm going to both call on you and we will recess after your question until about 12:30. so if secretary yellen and chair pai how can a little longer so senator daines will go for five minutes now. we will just recess after your five minutes and then come back about 12:30 for two or three other senators. >> thanks, mr. chairman. appreciate that. let me start off by express my utter shock at the provision that was buried within the recent $1.9 trillion package that prohibits states from directly or indirectly cutting taxes. this provision was snuck in the bill at the very end of the more than 24 hour period of continuous voting. process the side, this astonishing level of meddling by congress in state fiscal affairs should be troubling to anyone. a republican, democrat, independent who believes fundam

mr. chairman. >> thank you. senator moran i believe is not here. senator cramer arrived yesterday? has senator daines arrived yet? and senator cinema-- >> senator daines. >> you're recognized. >> great. thanks, mr. chairman. appreciate it much. so i want to talk about the issue of this proxy advisor due oplies, and as you know, proxies provide for shareholders and at shareholder meetings, typically publicly traded companies. there are two proxy firms, international, iss and glass lewis and they control about 95% of the proxy advisory industry, but constitutes a duopoly. and with any meaningful input for issuers. this is an area attracted by attention in the past and the house passage corporate governance and reform and transparency act. a similar version was responsed by senator reed and others, including tillis and kennedy. this is a question for mr. gensler. are you concerned about this lack of competition in the market for proxy services and concern that some proxy advisory firm may have significant conflicts of interest which may impact objectivity of the voter recommendation? >

mr. president, i further ask that the tester-moran substitute amendment be considered and agreed to. e presiding officer: without objection. mr. padilla: i ask that the bill be considered read a third time. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. padilla: i know of no further debate on the bill as amended. the presiding officer: if there is no further debate, the question is on passage of the bill as amended. all those in favor say aye. all opposed no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the bill as amended is passed. mr. padilla: mr. president, i further ask that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. padilla: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today it adjourn until 10:00 a.m. thursday, march 18, that following the prayer and pledge the morning hour deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business

mr. moran: i call up my amendment 1342. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from kansas, mr. moran, for himself and others proposes an amendment numbered 1324 to amendment 891. mr. moran: i ask for two minutes of debate, equally divided. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. moran: my colleagues, i rise here at a request of many veteran service organizations an veterans across the country who have called for a long time for us to protect our military an veteran students and close the 9010 loophole. what was once a partisan discussion is becoming bipartisan, while this closes the 9010 hoop hole, we need to -- loophole, we need to mick the changes in the correct way and make sure we put the policy back in the perspective of not politics but the right answer. i'm thankful to senators carper, lankford, working on this amendment with me and i thank chairman murray and ranking member burr and their staff for their help in crafting this amendment by providing a

mr. moran: i call up my amendment 1154. the presiding officer: the clerk will report by number. the clerk: senator kansas mr. more ran proposes amendment 1154. mr. moran: i ask unanimous consent for two minutes of debate equally divided. the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. moran: amendment 1154 is on community care funding within the department of veterans affairs. the v.a. has estimated that it needs $13.4 billion for medical care. this will bill provides $14.4 billion in care, but it currently limits that how much money can be spent within that care for community care. so we generally have all the cares within the v.a. but sometimes people are referred out to the community. sometimes there's telehealth and sometimes the care occurs in a v.a. facility. this would eliminate that cap of $4 billion and replace it with spending $5 billion on community care, the amount that is expected the v.a. will need. mr. president, again, this amendment removes this arbitrary funding barrier and it also includes additional dollars for maintenance at our v.a. medical centers. i retain

mr. moranmadam president, i'm here -- the presiding officer: the senate is in a quorum call. mr. moran: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. moran: madam president, i am here this afternoon to speak in opposition of the so-called for the people act. every american, no american should be fooled by the wholesome title of h.r. 1. it is an affront of the united states constitution and how it would affect free speech and accelerating the divide between the country, between left an right, rural and urban, red states and blue states. it would be terribly damaging to our nation. we often year elections have consequences. in 2020 americans voted for a congress that is nearly a 50-50 split in the house and nearly a 50-50 split in the united unites senate. the consequence voters may have had in mind is to put aside partisan differences and do their job on their behalf. they did not give free rain to nationalize elections and to strip power f