mr. schumer: madam president. the presiding officer: majority leader. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the senate consider the following nomination, calendar 650, martha williams, to be director of u.s. fish and wildlife service. that the senate vote on the nomination without inteeng action or debate, that no further motions be in order on the nomination, with no intervening action or debate, and the president be immediately notified on these actions, and the president will be immediately notified on the senate's actions. and the senate resume legislative session. the presiding officer: without objection. the question is on the nomination. all in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the nomination is confirmed. mr. schumer: madam president, i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of s. res. 519 submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 519, supporting an independent and democratic ukraine against any further russian military in

mr. schumer: finally, mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10:30 a.m. on thursday, february 17, that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be rereserved for their use later in the day and morning business be closed. upon conclusion of morning business, the senate resume consideration of the motion to proceed to calendar 267, h.r. 6617, the continuing resolution, that at 1:00 p.m., the cloture motion ripen. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: if there's no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until senate stands adjourned until >> today after wilensky does -- updated the state abandoned in dr. fauci will present the

mr. schumer: madam president. the presiding officer: mr. majority leader. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: now, at the beginning, before i speak on the business of the day, i would like to add, madam president, that yesterday we were all overjoyed, just thrilled to hear from our colleague, our dear friend senator bay -- ben ray lujan. he reiterated that his recovery is going well, that his office continues to work serving the citizens of new mexico. i got on the phone with him, and he sounds chipper and the same ben i remember. he's in good spirits. all of us in the senate miss him greatly. we're rooting for him. we can't wait for him to walk through the doors of this chamber once again to get back to work. now on senate business, on postal. last week, madam president, as you know, the house passed, with overwhelming bipartisan support, i believe a majority from each party, the most important update to the u.s. postal service in decades. the postal bill is the definitio

mr. schumer. mr. shuman -- prior to january 6, there was erected down in independence, a huge tower. as a like some type of cellular tower, and are you familiar with that. do you know what that tower was intended to do. >> i don't know. >> mr. boozman, what is the importance of department personnel understanding what intelligence is and how to act on information appropriately? what is the importance of understanding intelligent -- intelligence information? >> you need a well-trained force. to understand intelligence and to be able to compile that information in order to look at the potential threat assessment. given the fact that there are so many protect these --protectees. whenever you go off the campus, there is a gap in security because you will not have an individual detail on you. it is incumbent on the capitol police to reach out to their resources either at the local authorities or congressional staff and try to be able to assess what is the threat. if you look at some of the recent ones, the ballfield shooting and the arizona shooting, there were signs that were missed. ther

mr. schumer: i have seven -- mr. president, i have seven requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority leader and minority leaders. the presiding officer: duly noted. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today it adjourn until 10:00 a.m. wednesday, february 16, that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the journal of proceedings approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day and morning business be closed. that upon the conclusion of morning business, the senate proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the wallander nomination. a that at 11:30:00 a.m., the cloture motions filed yesterday ripen, the senate vote on the wallander and honey nominations consecutively and in the order listed. further, if cloture is invoked on either nomination, the votes occur at 3:30:00 p.m. in the order in which cloture was invoked. finally, if

mr. schumer: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: madam president, it's been a busy, productive, and truly bipartisan week here in the united states senate. after days -- sorry. madam president, to begin, it has been a busy, productive, and truly bipartisan week here in the united states senate. after days of fruitful cooperation from both sides, the senate is now a few moments away from approving one of the most significant changes to employment law in years, eliminating for good the awful practice of forcing victims of sexual harassment and assault into arbitration. an hour from now we'll be able to say this. the house has acted. the senate has acted, and we are sending bipartisan forced arbitration reform to the president's desk. it's a momentous reform bill and one that is painfully overdue. for decades arbitration clauses have been routinely tucked into the fine print of employment contracts. today they impact about 60 million americans, and many people may not even realize such clauses affect them until it is too late.

mr. schumer: first -- the presiding officer: the majority leader is recognized. mr. schumer: let me compliment my colleague from new york. her persistence, her intelligence, her determination and passion to change the law so these injustices, which occur so many times that we don't know about, will no longer be there, is so vital. so, thank you for a job well done. thanks to my colleague, senator graham, the lead republican sponsor, who when he gets hyped something it gets done. so, i want him behind more things with us in the future. and to senator ernst, who is not here, she's been a great leader on this as well. when we met in my office, senator graham, senator ernst, she was very amenable to getting this done. it is an outrage, just a outrage that women and men who are abused cannot seek justice, are forced to be quiet, are forced to keep the agony inside themselves. it's outrageous. for decades this forced arbitration has just deprived millions of people, almost all women, from basic rights to justice, and we need justice in so many areas. but when you can't seek

mr. schumer: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby bring to a close debate on of executive calendar number 498, douglas r. bush, of virginia to be assistant secretary of the army. the presiding officer: i ask unanimous consent that the reading of the names be waived. i move to proceed to executive session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all in favor say eye. all opposed, no. the motion is agreed to. mr. schumer: madam president, i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 362. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all in favor say aye. opposed, no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, department of agriculture, homer l. wilkes, of mississippi, to be under secretary for natural resources and environment. mr. s

mr. schumer: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: thank you. i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: before i get into my remarks, i have one bit of business. madam president, i understand that there is a bill at the desk that is due for a second reading. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the title of the bill for the second time. the clerk: h.r. 4521, an act to provide for coordinated federal research initiative to ensure continued united states leadership in engineering biology. mr. schumer: madam president, in order to place the bill on the calendar, and this is h.r. 4521, the competes act that came over from the house, i would, under the provisions of rule 14, i would object to further proceeding. the presiding officer: objection having been heard, the bill will be placed on the calendar. mr. schumer: for the benefits of the public, that is done so we can actually move forward on the bill in the arcane of the senate, that's what we have to do. o

mr. schumer: thank you, mr. president. now, in reference to some -- oh, excuse me. in order to place the bills on the calendar, under the provisions of rule 14, i'd object to further proceedings en bloc. the presiding officer: objection having been heard, the bills will be placed on the calendar. majority leader is recognized. mr. schumer: those are all bills that we hope to move forward, and so that's why i've rule 14'd them. okay. yesterday, mr. president, by a margin, a large margin of 342-92, congress took the first steps towards creating the most important upgrade to our post office in decades by passing a bipartisan reform package that's been years in the making. with an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote in the house, it is my intention for the senate to quickly take up and pass this bipartisan, bicameral postal reform bill. we hope to take action here on the floor and pass the bill before we go to the presidents' day recess. the post office is quite simply one of the most important institutions of american life. every day tens of millions of americans, veterans,

mr. schumer: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new york. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the order of the votes be as follows. lee, cruz, braun, upon disposition of the braun amendment the senate vote on passage of the bill with all previous provisions remaining in effect. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. cruz: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cruz: i call up my amendment number 4927 and ask it be reported by number. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the amendment by number. the clerk: the senator from texas mr. cruz proposes an amendment numbered 4927. mr. cruz: mr. president, i rise today to speak in opposition to the abuse of power we have seen with vaccine mandates. let me say i emphatically support senator lee's amendment about which he just spoke. president biden's vaccine mandates are illegal. they have in a significant part been struck down by the u.s. supreme court, and they are abusive. when this pandemic began senators on both sides of the aisle gav

mr. schumer: majority whip. mr. durbin: i have six committees to meet today. they have the approval of the majority leader and minority leader. i listened to my friend and colleague, senator sanders from vermont. i read his published article in "the guardian" newspaper yesterday, and it paralleled many of the things which he said on the floor today. we have a very positive starting point between us. i think my record on voting to go to war may be identical to yours, if not very close. neither of us want war. that is the last resort, and it is frightfully predictable that there will be innocent people killed, even in the best of times, in the best of military force. secondly, i couldn't agree with you more that we should be promoting all that we can in terms of diplomacy at this moment. the other night, i had the opportunity to be at a meeting with some senators with the new chancellor of germany, chancellor scholz. he was on his way soon to moscow. president macron of france has been there. others are encouraging. i encourage that dialogue as much as possible.

mr. schumer: thank you, mr. president. now, mr. president, last night, and this is relevant to what we just did, putting the new bill on the calendar for a second reading, last night, we had a chance to continue progress on a bipartisan, long overdue postal reform bill when i moved to expeditiously fix a few technical errors to the legislation sense to us by the house. sadly, my request was blocked by the junior senator from florida. without much in the way of clear explanation. for instance, he says he wants to stand up for postal workers, but all the organizations representing postal workers strongly support this bill. they are eager for it. he says he wants to protect and strengthen medicare. but postal already pays into medicare, and the c.b.o. says that this proposal, this bill will save the government money. so, i hope, for the sake of our postal workers, our postal service, and for the millions, tens of millions, even hundreds of plls of americans who depend on postal service, that this is not obstruction for obstruction sak

mr. schumer: now, mr.nt, over the last 12 monthses, the economy has rebounded at levels we have not seen in decades. a 5.7% g.d.p. growth rate, 6.6 million new jobs. this is the fastest our economy has grown since perhaps 1984 and the new jobs we added to the economy were the most ever for a president's first year. after former president trump botched our national response to covid, america is now on the right track under president biden. but we face serious challenges that demand action from congress. the cost of living has come up for families across the country and around the world as well. destruction unleashed by covid has decimated supply chains, strained the labor supply, and the effects of a global pandemic that began two years ago still reverberate today. these challenges demand action and democrats remain laser focused on lowering costs for american families. yesterday our caucus met for our weekly lunch where we held a spirited and enthusiastic discussion about ideas from our members of how we c

mr. schumer: thank you to the majority whip as chair of the judiciary and for your talk on this issue, and i thank the senator from minnesota, who has been passionate about getting this done as well. i rise to join with my democratic colleagues in support of these u.s. attorneys and marshals who have single-handedly been delayed for weeks by one senator, the junior senator from arkansas. for decades, decades, democrats and republicans have regularly cooperated to swiftly confirm the many, many individuals selected by each president to serve in their administration. regardless of the party in the white house, both sides have long agreed that a president deserves to have his or her administration in place quickly. that doesn't mean we don't disagree, but it does mean when nominees are held up, opposed, or blocked, it's for a legitimate purpose, not for leverage and partisan games, to score political points at the expense of public safety. most of us still believe that -- in that principle. but, sadly, not all of us. on the other side of the aisle, a small group of obstructionist republicans

mr. harmon, last week senator chuck schumer announced he expect to, in april, unveil his bill to federallyat if anything might national legalization do to alleviate the problem that black entrepreneurs are facing in breaking into cannabis? briefly. i think dr. king said, just do what you put on paper. i think our ability to articulate one thing, execute it in another matter is another -- and i think in this is falling short. so intentions without outcomes leaves us in a bad situation. we encouraged him to move forward with it. >> jaw harmon, thank you for coming on tonight. just ahead, mixed messages. the cdc still reformed masks, some governors are doing away with the mandates. the white house could be switching things up, too. we'll be right back. e white houe e white houe switchinl working. in the kind of work that i do, you are surrounded by people who are all younger than you. we'll be right back. to stay competitive. i discovered prevagen. i started taking it and after a period of time, my memory improved. it was a game-changer for me. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. what hap

[applause] senator schumer good morning. first, thank you, mr. president, madam vice president.n stevenson, for those amazingly powerful and inspiring words, and a special shout out to senator brown and my dear colleague, senator gillibrand, who i know put her heart, soul, and mind into revitalizing this breakfast. thank you both for your hard work. a reading from deuteronomy. you are to love your god with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your resources. these words, which i command you today, are to be on your heart, and you shall teach them diligently to your children. you are to talk about them when you sit at home, when you travel on the road, when you lieth down and when you get up." a reading from leviticus 19:8. "don't take vengeance on or bear a grudge against any of your people. rather, love your neighbor as yourself." senator mcconnell: the gospel according to matthew. "hearing that jesus has silenced the [indiscernible] the pharisees got together. one of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question -- teacher, which is the greatest command

mr. president, madame vice president, we are so blessed to have you with us, and looking forward to your remarks this morning. leader schumeral prayer breakfast. it's a blessing to be back together in person. as a fighter with you this pendant with both hope and prayer. bryan stevenson has dedicated his life to representing criminal defense come through his equal justice initiative which provides free legal services to the unjustly convicted. thanks to its were, at least 125 americans have been spared the death penalty. if you haven't read his book, just mercy, or seen the movie, they start his work, you're in for a powerful experience this morning. brian was born in milton delaware where his parents raised him and his siblings to be deeply rooted in their faith and taught them at an early age the power of prayer. his father, howard, and still his children the conviction that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen. his upbringing and that faith that his determination to see injustices undone. when i first met with bryan a decade ago in montgomery, our first conversation, yes, was about his

mr. president, for this extraordinary honor. [applause] pres. biden: i forgot to introduce the first lady dr. jill biden and the second gentleman douglas emhoff. thank you for being here. [applause] announcement, chuck schumer weighed in on the nomination and the russian invasion of ukraine.

mr. president, for this extraordinary honor. [applause] pres. biden: i forgot to introduce the first lady dr. jill biden and the second gentleman douglas emhoff. thank you for being here. [applause] >> following the president's announcement, chuck schumer weighed in on the nomination and the russian invasion of ukraine. sen. schumer: good afternoon, everyone. i am excited about the president's pick for the supreme court. with her exceptional qualifications, a record of evenhandedness, judge ketanji brown jackson will be a justice who will uphold the constitution, protect the rights of all americans, including the voiceless and the vulnerable. she is a true public servant and a model jurist. judge jackson has demonstrate

mr. mayor. we are starting to get audience questions pouring in. there's so much that we want you to pick up on and that requires your expertise. both president schumer and mcgarvey talked about the intricate relationship that exists between federal, state, local on these issues that are present but we know we can find our way to opportunity if we don't have deep expertise of the local level that can help us to ensure the kind we are talking about here we know that there are regrettably still with deep pockets coming to the federal level to give our first or last best chance to speed through all of that. >> absolutely. thank you so much for the question. really happy to be here today with such it is esteemed panel. i think i will begin with a metaphor that i think one of the in terms of resiliency and for there to be sustainability, i look at this as a pipeline so in terms of that pipeline, it requires a lot of partners to be involved in a lot of money coming from the federal government for infrastructure investment but included it's its it'sbifurcated to the state ando the local municipals. i think at the state level what we can do here in maryland

schumer: the senate is now ready to vote on the article of impeachment. clerk: mr. mcconnell?dent of the united states, by one article of impeachment... jamie raskin: i've had every possible emotion about it. i think i was crestfallen at the moment i first heard it. leahy: the acting sergeant at arms will escort the house managers out of the senate chamber. jamie raskin: i really thought we might have a 100 to zero verdict. i really thought that we had created such an overwhelming cascade of facts that the wiser republicans might say, this is our chance to save our party, this is our chance to get out from under the thumb of donald trump. and seven of them did the right thing. we needed 10 more. and so we might see a replay in 2024 of the 2020 election. (crowd chattering) i think we convicted him in the court of public opinion, and i think we convicted him in the eyes of history. so he's been turned into a pariah, i think, in national politics, and yet trump has tightened his control over the republican party. right now you've got majorities of republicans in both houses who a

mr. eastman and he essentially said the vice president is not going to do this? >> we wanted to get back in and complete the work we were assigned for the day. mccarthy and schumerback in tonight? >> was the vice president present that day, january 6? >> yes, he was in the capitol. >> was he communicating with anyone in that period? >> i think he was communicating to keith kellogg who cmeadows. >> communicated what? >> stay safe and secure in the area we were in. from the moment the president was evacuated, i came back to his office on the senate floor, and at that point secret service had tried to move him twice. the vice president was resolute and said, i'm not going to let the united states see us flee the capitol and i'm staying. but at the same time head of security said, there is glass here. i can't protect you. at that point they evacuated us to a secure location in the back of the capitol. they wanted to attempt to put the vice president in a motorcade. but he said, that's not a visual i want the world to see at the capitol. then we got back together and completed the work for the night. >> did you see that from vice president pence? >> i heard it in ts

schumer who i understand will gladly accept it. thank you, madamthank you, mada. i yield the floor. mr. durbin: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: madam president, our history books are filled with the names of great men and women who devoted their lives to others. one that may not be as recognizable as others is norman borelog. he was an american biologist, he successfully created a grain of wheat. his work has been credited with saving a billion lives worldwide. madam ma marie recure had developed a treatment for cancer. edward jenner, the smallpox vaccine, louie pastor, rabies, lela denmark, al -- albin sabin, he came up with the oral version so we didn't have to get a shot. they improved and saved lives with breakthroughs in agriculture and science. i want to remember another person to be remembered in that same light. his name is anthony fauci grew up a yankees fan and was the captain of his high school basketball team and worked construction jobs duri

mr. schumer: mr. president? the president pro tempore: the majority leader. could we have order in the senate, please. mr. schumer: mr. president? the president pro tempore: the majority leader is recognized. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the vote on -- the senate vote on confirmation of the stark and mcbride nominations. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. the president pro tempore: under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of the following nomination, which the clerk will report. the clerk: the judiciary, leonard phillip stark of delaware to be a united states circuit judge for the federal circuit. the president pro tempore: question is on the nomination. a senator: i ask for the yeas and nays. the president pro tempore: is there a sufficient second? there is a sufficient second. the clerk will call the roll. vote: the president pro tempore: on this vote, on this vote the yeas are 61, the nays are 35. the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order

mr. schumer: mr. president, i have two cloture motions and i will make a brief statement about the -- do the statement first. well, mr. president, it's been a busy and productive work period in the senate. first, the good news is that we have kept the government open. it took some work, especially when the senate rules lend themselves to delay and obstruction. still, i thank senators leahy and shelby as well as leader mcconnell for helping us get this done. to have allowed the government to close would have caused undue hardship for millions of blameless americans. we've gotten other things done too in this work period. we passed forced arbitration former, made progress to fix our post office and confirmed more of the president's nominees. next session we're picking up where we left off to pass postal reform so we can send it to the president's desk. i've taken the first procedural step for the senate to consider the women's health protection act. across the country, the assault on women's health care

mr. schumer: i know of no further debate on the resolution. the presiding officer: is there further debate? hearing none, all those in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the resolution is agreed to. mr. schumer: it's cop sent that the preamble be agreed to, the motions to be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: just a word, this was a very significant resolution that we passed. it was led by senators shaheen and portman and sends a very strong message to mr. putin that the united states senate, democrats and republicans of all different ideologies are united in defending ukraine in the ways that the administration sees

mr. schumer: and mr.resident, i'm asking the members to stay here in the chamber or in close proximity of the chamber so we can get these votes done expeditiously and in that regard, i ask unanimous consent that we move the remaining votes from 15 minutes down to to 10. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. schumer: thank you, mr. president. the presiding officer: 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 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of executive calendar number 644, amy gutmann of pennsylvania to be ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the united states of america to the federal republic of germany, signed by 19 senators. the presiding officer: unanimous consent. the mandatory quorum call has been waived. the question is, is it the sense of the senate that debate on the nomination of amy g

mr. schumer: thank you, mr. president. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. reed: mr. president, last week i came to the floor to warn that we are moving closer to a yearlong continuing resolution, or a c.r. that would have devastating implications for every federal agency, particularly the department of defense. we are five months into the fiscal year. soon the house will send over another stopgap measure so we can avoid a shutdown for a few more weeks. when the short-term funding bill expires, the fiscal year will be halfway over. we need to get this work done. as i outlined last week, democrats put a deal on the table months ago that gave p republicans what they wanted, more funding for defense than the $22 billion increase that president biden sought and less money for nondefense programs than he requested. this should have been an easy deal for them to accept. indeed, the defense funding number that democrats are willing to agree to is the number the republicans on the armed services committee pro

mr. schumer: so, mr. president, yesterday our colleagues in the house introduced legislation that will provide a temporary extension of government funding until march 11. the continuing resolution is expected to be taken up as soon as today, and once it is passed by the house, i intend to have the house take it up quickly and in time for the february 18 deadline. while the -- we will avoid a costly shutdown. this c.r. provides more time to reach a deal for a spending package. it is the responsible path forward that eliminates the risk of a shutdown. my colleagues have made good progress and i'm optimistic that democrats and republicans can soon arrive at a topline deal for an oab. i'm -- i am more confident fofer an agreement that we can reach agreement by march 11, far more preferable to the alternative, a c.r. for the rest of the year. on nominations, today the senate will continue focusing our responsibility to confirm more of president biden's nominees. by the end of today we expect to finish the conf

right now remarks by majority leader chuck schumer from this morning. >> now, mr. president, last night, this is relevant to what we just did with the new bill on the calendar, for a second reading, last night we had a chance to continue progress on a bipartisan, long overdue postal reform bill when i moved to fix a few technical errors to the legislation sent to us by the house. sadly my request was blocked by the junior senator from florida. without much in a way of clear explanation. for instance, he says he wants to stand up for postal workers but all the organizations representing postal workers strongly support this bill. they are eager for it. he says he wants to protect and strengthen medicare but postal already paste into medicare, and the cbo says that this proposal, this bill will say the government money. so i hope for the sake of our postal workers, are postal service and for the millions, tens of millions even hundreds of millions of americans who depend on postal service, that this is not obstruction for obstruction sake. this is textbook example, mr