mr. thune: mr. president. is the senate in a quorum call? the presiding officer: yes, we are. mr. thune: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be lifted . the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: mr. president, last fall there was a concern among many around the country and many republican voters that if elected, democrats in the house, the senate, and the white house, that they have the whole of government would try to implement massive change, transformative change as it was described. and there was a consistent view articulated by democrats at other places around the country, oh, that will never happen because joe biden is a moderate and these ideas are crazy ideas. nobody would ever do some of the things that are being talked about. well, mr. president, i have to say that pretty much everything that was predicted is now coming true at least as it pertains to legislation that is being advanced by democrats here in the congress and by the white house. starting, of course, with t

mr. thune: madam president, is the senate in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are. mr. thune: i would ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: madam president, i'm feeling a sense of deja vu this morning. in march, democrats used reconciliation to pass a massive partisan bill that served as a cover for a collection of payoff to democrat interest groups and democrat states. now just over a month later, we're facing the prospect of round two. democrats are once again looking at reconciliation to pass a massive partisan piece of legislation that serves to cover a long wish list of liberal priorities. the subject this time of course is infrastructure. like covid relief, a subject that republicans are very ready to tackle. but just like with their covid bill, democrats aren't showing a lot of interest in bipartisan cooperation. once again their message seems to be, go along with everything we want or be completely excluded from any part of the bill. madam president, as i said, republicans would be happy to take

mr. thune: is the senate in a quorum call? the presiding officer: yes. mr. thune: i would ask that the quorum call be limited. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: this evening, president biden will deliver his first address to congress. i've been asked, i think as most members have, by the need came what do you expect to hear, what do you want to hear. honestly, mr. president, i'm interested to hear the direction the president will set in his speech. the president's inaugural address leaned heavily into the theme of unity and bipartisanship. but unity and bipartisanship have not been a distinguishing feature of the biden presidency. the president's first major bill, a covid relief bill, broke the streak of bipartisanship on covid legislation, a streak that goes back to march of last year. since that time and we were the majority, we passed five bills, all of them with big bipartisan majorities. under president biden, democrats shoved through a totally partisan bill filled with noncovid-related liberal priorities. republicans are more than rea

mr. thune: mr. president. the presiding officer: the republican whip. mr. thune: is the senate in a quorum call? we're not. okay. mr. president, shortly before easter, i joined a number of my colleagues on a visit to the border to get a firsthand look at the crisis that we're facing. and make no mistake -- this is a crisis. customs and border protection apprehensions at our southern border last month were at their highest level in nearly 20 years. 20 years, mr. president. u.s. customs and border protection reported more than 172,000 encounters with individuals attempting to cross our southern border in march alone. and that's just the individuals they encountered. we don't know how many individuals came across without being identified and are currently residing illegally in our country. nearly 19,000 unaccompanied children crossed our southern border in march alone, the largest number ever recorded in a single month. that's 19,000 children making an incredibly dangerous journey without their parents at the mercy of smugglers, human traffickers, or any other

mr. thune: mr. president. the presiding officer: the republican whip. mr. thune: mr. president, i i ask unanimous consent to be able to complete my remarks before the vote. mr. president, it's another day and another manufacturing crisis. yesterday i came down to the floor to talk about the supposed crisis of confidence in the supreme court that requires us to immediately add four additional democrat-chosen justices. today i want to talk about another manufactured crisis, and that is the supposed election crisis that requires us to pass h.r. 1, a democrat piece of legislation designed to increase democrats' chances of maintaining their current tenuous hold on power. h.r. 1 is not new legislation, mr. president. democrats introduced a nearly identical of this bill in the last congress as well. back then we were told that we needed this bill to address profound electoral problems in our democracy. in other words, democrats didn't like the results of the 2016 elections. then, of course, last year we had an election with record voter turnout, highest voter turnout since 1

mr. thune: mr.nt, i would echo what my colleague from delaware has said about the chaplain's bible study on a weekly basis. that i think is the highlight for many of us throughout the week. i would also say that the senator from delaware also has a very -- very good command of the holy scriptures. i appreciate the opportunity he and i and others have on a weekly basis to participate in that study and would encourage other members to join us. it is truly an inspirational time and something i think we all need in our -- in the business that we have here on a -- busy-ness we have here on a weekly basis in the senate. last week, the green new deal resolution was introduced. i think most americans remember this socialist fantasy from when these members introduced it two years ago. it would be hard to forget a proposal with that price tag. there was one think tank that analyzed the initial proposal and released a first estimate that found that the green new deal would cost between $51 trillion and $93 tri

mr. chairman. >> thanks, senator thune. and now senator markey. >> thanks, very much, mr. chairman.hanks for holding this very important hearing. i year ago i sent a letter to the federal trade commission urging it to develop a comprehensive plan to stop bad actors from preying on innocent consumers with covid related scams and price gouging. since then the commission has taken a number of important steps to stop this type of behavior including issuing warning letters and charging a scammer who deceptively marketed a fake covid treatment. but there is so much more that needs to be done. the commission also needs to address consumer protection threats that have indirectly arisen as a result of the pandemic. specifically we need to stop websites that are taking advantage of kids who are online and on their devices more than ever during the period of distance learning. i recently sent a letter to the federal trade commission urging it to investigate whether google violated section 5 of the federal trade commission act by misleadingly marketing childrens apps as compliant with the child

thune. >> thank you chairman. mr. coffin, following the enactment of the curates act in december of 2019, the ftc have sent a drop in complaints, could you elaborate on some of the sec's recent robocalls enforcement actions? >> sure, we are engaging in the federal communications -- with the sec and doj on a number of robocalls issues, we've got several cases in mitigation and we have a lot of cases in the pipeline but will be challenging more that robocall conduct. so it's an area we are very actively involved in. >> could you speak to the ftc's efforts on engaging on that issue with initiating initiatives like rubble calls trace and whether this partnership has been successful and identifying the robocallers? >> absolutely, it's been a very successful partnership, it's been a robust -- and helpful information to allow us to build successful law enforcement actions. highly successful. >> good. just as prior to -- the ftc's authority to seek equitable relief cited the safest data act, which is comprehensive progressive

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator cardin. the next, and i believe he is on the web, would be senator soon. -- senator thune. is he out there in cyberspace? then senator brown is next, also on the web. >> make you mr. chairman. i want to thank senator cardin for always briefing us on dental health and that is so important. that is especially important for medicaid and the work that he is done. thank you for that. thanks to both of the witnesses. you are willing to serve to reduce health disparities. the history of institutional racism within our health care system continues to affect health outcomes for communities of color. i chair the banking and housing committee which yesterday discussed the black codes, to jim crow, to redlining in the trumpet missed ration locking and discriminatory housing practices and what that is meant to health care and wealth cumulation and inequality. what you're doing in health care so important. my question first frio, -- first for you, that it cares a powerful tool to advance health care access and improve outcomes. will you commit to working with my staff and others on this c

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator menendez. next in the queue, senator thune asked if we wait, , it would be senator carper on the web. [inaudible] >> excuse me. in person, and then he will be followed by senator portman. i didn't see you, , senator carr nicu our next. >> good morning, mr. chairman. did you see you all. >> good morning. >> commissioner, last time you will be forced i think your wife was with us. she's a native of south vietnam, place where i served in southeast asia in the vietnam war. however we say thanks for sharing with us especially during trying times. >> just better to major. repress. >> the navy salutes the army. >> thank you so. >> we've been talking, colleagues, about the need at the irs for resources that include people, click technology, include money. we have heard several colleagues who said for every dollar that we provide additional resources to the irs, the payback to the treasure something like seven bucks. when i was elected to the house of representatives 1 million years ago i think chuck rousey just been elected to the u.s

mr. chairman. >> and our next questioner will be senator thune. are you out there? senator menendez. senator portland. senator cardin. senator toomey. senator brown. and i see senator cassidy. >> am i up? >> yep. >> let me ask this because when i speak with providers i'll probably go first with you, mr. gifford. i spoke to folks back home who ran nursing homes. they're having an incredible problem with staffing here in the pandemic. and what they've told me is that the initial stimulus checks that as generous as they were as we know about 80% of folks were making more money on stimulus checks than working killed his about to recruit staffing. it does beg the question of whether or not the increase or the decrease in staffing associated with the pandemic could have been associated with government policies, which in effect paid more to folks not to work than to work. mr. gifford, any thoughts on that and then i'll probably come back to you. >> thank you, senator cassidy. you know as we've heard i think from all of us that work forces are challenged and exacerbated with this a lot of he

mr. chairman. >> thank you senator menendez. next in the queue senator thune and then senator carper on the web. excuse me in person and he will be followed i senator porter and senator carper. >> commissioner the last time you were here think your wife was with us and she's a native of south vietnam. thank you finding -- or finding the time for your colleagues. [inaudible] we've been talking with colleagues about the need of irs resources that include people and include technology and we have heard several colleagues say for every dollar of financial resources we apply to the irs of the paybacks is something like seven bucks. when i was elected chuck grassley had just been elected to the u.s. senate and senator wyden and i served many years in the house and the federal deficit was in terms of tens of billions of dollars a year. today it's in terms of a trillion dollars a year. when you tell us and you have and the president has said this so well for every dollar of resources we provide to the irs we get an extra six or seven bucks of revenue. the thing we los

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator menendez. next in the queue, senator thune asked if we wait, with the senator carper on the web. [inaudible] >> excuse me. in person. and then he will be followed by senator portman. i didn't see you, senator carper. you are next. >> good morning, mr. chairman. the ranking member and my colleagues who deceive you. commissioner, last time you were forced, i think you're -- before us i think your wife was with us. she's a native of south vietnam, told her we say thanks for sharing you with us. especially during trying times. colleagues, an army doctor think is on his way to fort benning. >> just promoted to major. we are very proud. >> tell him we say navy salutes the army. >> thank you, sir. >> we been talking colleagues about the need at the irs for resources. they include people, technology, money. we've heard several of my colleagues have said for every dollar we provide in additional resources to the irs, a payback to the treasury is something like seven dollars. when i was elected to the house of representatives and buildi

mr. thune: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, a few weeks ago president biden introduced an infrastructure plan or at least that's what democrats are calling it. in fact, a substantial portion of this bill goes to democrat priorities that have nothing to do with infrastructure. from support, for big labor to a new civilian climate corps to advance environmental justice. mr. president, president biden's infrastructure proposal would cost a lot of money, well north of $2 trillion. so how does the president plan to pay for this legislation? unsurprisingly, the president is proposing tax hikes. notably, a substantial hike in the corporate tax rate. mr. president, there are two sources democrats like to go to when it comes to paying for their spending. corporations and prosperous americans. in fact, democrats tend to speak about corporations and well-off americans as if they are a bottomless source of funding for government programs. and as if democrats can endlessly hike taxes on these individuals and businesses without co

mr. thune: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from south dakota. mr. thune: is the senate in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are. mr. thune: i would ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: mr. president, on good friday, another capitol police officer lost his life qendzing -- defending this building and all those in it. officer billy evans was killed when an individual rammed officer evans at the barricade he was manning. another capital police officer, officer ken shaver was injured in the attack. mr. president, we talk about how police officers leave their homes each day not knowing what they will face. good friday's attack was a reminder of how true that s. we can only be thankful that despite the ever present risk that they will not make it back to their homes, men and women like officer evans and officer shaver still choose to serve. to put themselves on the front lines facing evil and danger so that the

mr. thune: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from south dakota. mr. thune: today we are wrapping up consideration of the covid-19 hate crimes act. next week, the majority leader has indicated the senate will take up the drinking water and waste water infrastructure act of 2021. these are both bipartisan pieces of legislation. the covid-19 hate crimes act was an initially partisan bill that has now been improved by input from republicans and i expect will receive strong bipartisan support on final passage. the drinking water and waste water infrastructure act has been 100% bipartisan from the very beginning. senators duckworth and capito developed this legislation along with democrat senators carper and cardin and republican senators lummis and cramer. the legislation went through regular committee consideration, was reported out of the environment and public works committee with the full senate with a unanimous vote. it's a model of how we should work here in the senate. mr. president, after a very partisan start to this congress, the democrats and the