mr. ossoff: mr.president. the presiding officer: the senior senator from georgia's recognized. mr. ossoff: thank you, mr. president. i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. ossoff: i ask unanimous consent that the senate consider the following nominations en bloc, calendar numbers 505 and 506, that the senate vote on the nominees en bloc, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and any statements related to the nominations be printed in the record and the president be immediately notified of the senate's actions. the presiding officer: without objection, it is so ordered. the question occurs on the nominations en bloc. all those in favor say aye. opposed, no. the ayes appear have -- to have it, the nominations are confirmed. mr. ossoff: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding rule 22, if applicable in consultation with the republican leader that the senate proceed to calendar number 491, jonathan canter of

mr. ossoff is recognized from georgia for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. dr. omarova, congratulations on your nomination. and thank you for meeting with me several weeks ago to discuss your worldview and your priorities should you be confirmed. my first question for you is, can you please comment on the implications for fiat currencies for the proliferation and evolution of cryptocurrency technology? >> yes. thank you, senator, for asking this very complex and very important question. i believe that now we are in the midst of a transformational period when the new technology has allowed the rise of digital currencies, particularly privately issued currencies, that offer a lot of potential benefits from the perspective of efficiency of payments, for example, efficiency of transactions in the financial system, potentially increasing the level of financial inclusion because it's so easy and much cheaper now to transact in digital assets, in digital currencies. all of that aside, it does raise a lot of issues with respect to the ability of our nation to maintain t

ossoff: thank you chair powell, thank you mr. chairman. sen. brown: senator gaines of montana is recognized for five minutes. >>. graduations, chairman powell, on your renomination. i was vocal last august supported your renomination. you have my support. i'd like to start by expressing my concern with the inflation we are seeing into the economy, my concern with the administration and my democrat colleagues are continuing to plow ahead with what i believe is very reckless tax and spending proposal as if inflation does not exist. to go back to where we were early this year, senator scott made the comment about elections having consequences. the consequences are that we have policy outcomes that have consequences. even though we have $1 trillion of unspent covid relief dollars coming into 2021, the democrats march forward with a $1.9 trillion per -- purely partisan spending package that my colleagues refer to as cash cannons shooting across the economy. we inject borrow money into the economy. now the democrats are looking at jamming through thi

able to explain how you're going to get pillar one implemented. >> senator ossoff is recognized from his office. >> thank you, mr. chair. the comprehensive sections review the treasury has undertaken in the first six months of the administration, appreciate the details that have been referred to the committee. you highlighted a number of what you have have said to be success stories in that document. could you please identify for the community one or two high profile instances where u.s. sanctions have been ineffective, have not achieved their objectives or where the costs of the sanctions have exceeded the benefit from treasury's perspective? >> senator, as we say in the sanctions review we did not conduct a comprehensive review of each one of the 37 sanctions programs that are authorized by the executive branch or congress. rather this review was focused on forward looking assessment of what we can do to make sure this remains an effective tool. what we learned, though, is that the places where we can improve sanctions going forward speak to some of the things we could have done better in the past, for example

ossoff: thank you chair powell. mr.hairman. >> senator daines of montana is recognized for five minutes. >> thank you for being here as well. congratulations chairman powell for your renomination. we spoke last august and congratulations you will have my support. i would like to start by expressing my concern with inflation we are seeing in the economy. my concern with the administration and democratic colleagues continuing to plow ahead with the very reckless tax and spending proposal as if inflation did not exist. back to where we were earlier this year, senator scott made the comments about elections having consequences. the consequences are we have policy outcomes with consequences. even though we had nearly a trillion dollars in unspent covid relief dollars coming in 2021, the democrats march forward with $1.9 trillion purely partisan spending package. this is cash canons shooting across the economy. so we created demand by injecting borrowed money in the economy. now the democrats are looking at jamming through th

ossoff:. thank you. my first question is for you, mr. hooks. i've been consistently focused on necessary invest as and preparations to improve coastal resilience in coastal georgia to prepare communities in and around savannah, georgia for the anticipated storm surge, coastal flooding and high wind event associated with more intense tropical storms. will you commit if confirmed to traveling to coastal georgia, sitting down with the mayor and other leaders in and around savannah, georgia as well as the rural communities across from and around cumberland island to discuss what can be done to improve coordination between local government and fema in preparation of the next storm system? mr. hooks: thank you for the question. storm surge and other issues that impact our coast are certainly very problematic both in georgia as they are in north carolina. i do commit to visiting wherever i can and talking with you and community leaders as i can through this process to get a greater understanding of what challenges they may have and to ensure fema is n

we have a number of people who are on virtually, senator ossoff, you're next, i believe, if you are with us. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you, inspects general, for your work. appreciate this discussion of the legislation pending before the committee. i also want to drill down on a couple of specific issues within your respective areas of respondent that you've identified as -- responsibility that you've identified as possible targets for reform legislation or change of practice in the executive branch. mr. horowitz, thank you for your collaboration and communication where with -- with my office as we've developed bipartisan legislation to reform the secured camera systems in bureau of prisons facilities. i'd note that that legislation passed the senate last night. you have also made recommendations with respect to single-cell confinement for incarcerated persons with mental illness and recommendations with respect to pharmaceutical purposes by facilities and cost of outside medical care. could you briefly outline those recommendations to the committee? >> certainly, senator, and i also noted that the b

mr. chair. >> thank you. we're going to recognize senator blackburn and then take a five-minute break, return, and we have senator ossoff, senator hawley, senator cruz. and i just say to the two or three members who have said they might be interested in a three-minute round, please be here. you have to be physically present because this has been a long day for all of us who stayed here most of the time, particularly for the attorney general. so senator blackburn and then a five-minute break. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and general garland, thank you for being with us today. i have to tell you that it is with much disappointment that i have watched the doj be so politicized. and the way things have been carried out when you look at the memo to parents, you heard a lot about that today, and it's because we're hearing a lot about that. and i just have to ask you, knowing that you really helped bring to justice those that caused the oklahoma city bombings, would you really, honestly put parents in the same category as a terry nichols or a timothy mcveigh? >> my god, absolutely not. >> then why -- why would you ever release

mr. brown: thank you. i also ask that senator ossoff be added to s. 3736, the federal reserve act. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: i note that joining me on the floor today is ben ashman, for whom we've given consent to be on the floor, a fellow officer. i urge my colleagues to join me in supporting graham steele, the president's nominee for assistant secretary for financial institutions, the department of treasury. graham is my friend. he is a former staff member of the banking, housing and urban affairs committee and was and is a stellar public servant. i know from personal experience how ready mr. steele is for the job. he spent several years in my personal senate office and on the banking and housing committee staff when i became ranking member. he was he worked on the staff of so many of my colleagues in both parties. that's why in a senate that's, frankly, too divided and a senate that is too rigid in its partisanship, five in the banking committee joined in voting for graham steele and that's because of his relationships an honesty. he has extensive exper