mr. wyden: thank you very much, senator brown. i see in the chair another strong supporter of social security, the distinguished senator. the presiding officer: massachusetts. for colleagues who aren't aware, senator brown is our chair of the subcommittee on social security and the senate finance committee. this is a crucial subcommittee for all the reasons that senator brown just mentioned, and i'm just going to make a couple of points and if my colleague is still on the floor, maybe we can have a little bit of a colloquy. what senator brown -- the presiding officer: without objection. mr. wyden: thank you. what senator brown has illustrated again is the differences between the two parties on social security and medicare. and my colleague was kind enough to go back to my past as codirector of the oregon great pan -- gray panthers. ever since those days, the difference between the two parties has been that on our side of the aisle, we're very blunt when we get asked about social security and me

mr. wyden: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. wyden: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent to vacate the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. wyden: mr. president, i'm on the floor this afternoon with a request to confirm a highly l qualified nominee with bipartisan support, whose nomination was stalled for 210 days since it was approved by the finance committee. my understanding is there may be an objection to the unanimous consent that i would like to offer, and hopefully any senate republican who seeks to object will come to me. we'll be here, and i hope whatever concern they have, if in fact it is the case, that we can work it out in this very, very qualified individual can serve as commissioner of children, youth, and families within the department of health and human services. i'm talking about rebecca e. jones gaston. my view is this agency is a hugely underappreciated part of our government. its whole mission is to help vulnerable kids a

mr. wyden: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. wyden: i'd like to discuss the amendment that came up during the budget discussion. senate democrats made it very, very clear we were strongly against taxing those in our country with incomes under $400,000. the problem with the amendment that republicans offered is they used the word taxable income. so while we strongly oppose raising taxes on the middle-class people and others, under $400,000, the wording of the republican amendment, which talked about taxable income, could have immunized billionaires from being subject to an audit. that's because, mr. president, as you and i have talked about, billionaires often lives by this buy, borrow, and die philosophy, and they have little or no taxable income for years on end. my colleagues probably saw some of the stories, for example, about billionaires who were claiming the child tax credit because their taxable income was actually low, under the way it is defined. so, just to make sure the record is clear, we're all in on this effort of n

mr. wyden: mr. president, i note this has gone on longer than expected. i ask unanimous consent to move the vote until 1:50 so i can complete my remarks. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. wyden: the senate is several weeks on from passage of the inflation reduction act. this legislation is transform national and will transform the lives of millions. it is a big dose of affordable medicine, cheaper energy bills for homeowners and our businesses. the largest investment in fighting climate and a crackdown on tax cheats -- wealthy tax cheats who rip off the american people for billions of dollars every year and ensuring corporations pay a fair share. i'm proud to be able to say that a vast majority of this bill came from the senate finance committee majority. our team collectively spent thousands and thousands of hours developing these proposals, building support for them under zero margin for error and guaranteeing that they could pass under the challenging senate rules. senate democrats spent a full year debating what would go into the bill befo

hoover institution for many years, and was the ultimate compliment and some of the executives said mrs. wyden is so good but she still is a democrat. so we're very pleased that you are here. our first witness is benson buzz roberts, ceo of the -- and previously mr. roberts was a treasury official working in this area, considerable expertise, and so we appreciate his leadership. our fifth witness will be, miss dana white, chief production officer at walker and dunlap. ms. wade served as commissioner's federal housing commission in 2020. she has also extensive experience in the executive branch of management and budget. she also has roots in the senate committee on banking. we welcome her because we're gonna have so many senators participate, we will have to stick really closely to five minute rule. miss bell, you traveled the furthers, so start us off. >> wonderful. well, thank you, mister chairman, and ranking member crapo, and members of the committee. first off, i want to acknowledge and appreciate the opportunity to testify on the vital role of the tax incentives play in our nation's affor

. >> mr. wyden, and i, say right? current law already waves certain provisions and prohibitions taken by doj against drones. this proposed bill waves all of title 18. why do you need to waive all of title 18 and why not keep the existing waivers in place? >> a couple of things d.o.d. and do we have a broad waiver. it helps us into robert with them. if we have the same authority. that is one. to, while you are correct that our current authority for dhs and doj only extends to certain provisions in title 18, we have been able to use that effectively thus far. we can't predict, this is a changing technology landscape, other statutes could come into play the future. we would be back in congress asking, again, if there's some new technology that's going to give the might a difference that you are not thinking. up we think the cleanest approach, given that we don't think that law enforcement officials using this technology, that you talk about here today to prevent threats from drones, it should not be criminal at all. vete

mr. brown: thank you, senator wyden. and i will yield back my time in 30 seconds. mr. t, thank you for your indulgence and senator leahy will be speaking in a moment, and senator wyden, the chair of the finance committee, we're just asking for cosponsors. we have a number of our colleagues that have cosponsored colleagues that have cosponsored we have a number of our colleagues have cosponsored this to make sure social security ish with us, strong good so security system as long as we are a nation. so yield the floor, thank you. >> 's senate today voted to advance a bill seeking to fund the federal government through december 16. current money runs out at midnight on september 30. today's vote followed an announcement by majority leader schumer offered by west virginia west virginia the temporary funding bill. mcconnell's decision to support momentarily more life senate coverage here on cspan2. x now available c-span shop, c-span's 2022 congressional directory. to order a copy of the congressional directory. the spiral-bound books as your guide to the federal government

they said, mrs. wyden is so good. but she still is a democrat. we are very pleased that you are here. our fourth witness is -- we welcome you. president and ceo of national association for affordable housing lenders. previously, mr. roberts was a treasury official working in this who. we appreciate his leadership. the fifth witness will be dana white. she is a chief production officer for walker and dunlap. she previously served as the commissioner for the housing administration in 2020. she's also got extensive experience in executive branch management and budget. she also worked for the senate committee on banking. we welcome her, because we're going to have so many senators participate. we're going to have to stick really closely to the five minute rule. miss bell, he traveled for this. you can started off. >> wonderful. well, thank you, mister chairman. and ranking member crepe, members of the committee. first off, i just want to acknowledge and appreciate the opportunity to testify on the vital role the tax incentives play in our nation's ho

chair wyden: thank you. mr. craig johnson. >> thank you for the opportunity to testify today regarding the south dakota versus wayfarer decision and allowing me to share what our member states have done to make implementation of the decision easier for remote sellers nationwide. i am executive director of the streamlined sales tax governing board, referred to as sst, make out -- made up of 24 states committed two simplification and uniformity. sst represents a collaboration between states, local governments and the business community to simplify taxes and level the playing field for sellers. the result is a streamlined sales and use tax agreement, a voluntary agreement that represents a blueprint for allstate to reduce the burden of tax compliance. in 2016, south dakota enacted legislation to require remote sellers who engaged in 200 or more transactions or who had one of the thousand dollars revenue in a calendar year, to collect and remit tax. the wayfarer decision determined remote sellers who exceeded south

mr. friedman? >> yes, senator wyden, i think there should be an independent board. i think the division of the responsibilities of the board, and by the inherent way that they are structured to post conflicts. it would be like if you had an organization there was as warning organization you would want to hold it accountable for its performance, and the current structure limits that opportunity. >> mr. friedman? >> chairman wyden, they actually changed, hrc, is requiring transplant individuals in the same thing can be employed here as well. as we make our location changes, people win, people lose, and what we have done in this country, through the efforts of this board, is really allowed individuals to express their opinion at the board level and the executive board level, that our base more towards individual needs. this has to change. that is why i continuously, at our region three meetings, continuously recommend that we separate that out and allow the membership of units. this is a membership driven organization, to bring us up to speed so that we have transparen

mr. wyden: i thank my colleague. let's see if i can get a podium. wonderful. thank you. i thank my colleague and i know senator van hollen is here as well. and i'm going to be brief. and i particularly want to thank our colleague from rhode island because he has been relentless in terms of making this case day after day. and i want to put this in very personal kind of terms because all of us who have the on honor of sesqui -- have the honor of serving -- the honoring of serving in the united states senate can relate to this issue, and senator whitehouse has added add reform to his proposal that's very personal to me, and i think it embodies the accountability and the transparency that oregonians and people in minnesota and michigan and maryland are calling for. and here's how i would start it. a number of years ago i authored legislation that millions of americans now understand is called stand by your ad. and stand by your ad stipulated that as an elected official or a candidate you would have to actually put your name behind these attack ads where you go after your opp

mr. wyden: reserving the right to object, madam president -- the presiding officer: the senior senator from oregon. mr. wyden: mr. president, i just went over to our colleague from kansas and told him i would much rather be on the floor this afternoon working in a bipartisan way on something like this, and i hope that can be part of senate proceedings in the future. here's what i think is important for the public to know about this proposal. it is in the real world, the marshal proposal is a prescription for less flexibility and more red tape in american health care, and i want to be very specific. every member of this body understands that america has a serious shortage of nurses and health care providers. every single time we go home -- i'm sure this is the case for our colleague from kansas, a physician. he hears from physicians and providers. every time we're home, we hear from health care providers -- i see the president of the senate who's been a very strong advocate for health care impro

mr. wyden: madam president, i come to the floor to discuss the new graham legislation to create a national abortion ban. now, the centerpiece of the senator's argument is that senator graham wants our country to believe that his national abortion ban is a moderate proposal. his words. wrong, wrong, wrong. a moderate bill would not institute criminal penalties for doctors providing lifesaving medical care. that's what this so-called moderate bill does. a moderate bill would not take rights away from american women, no matter where they live. that's what this so-called moderate bill does. a moderate bill would not create a presumption of women's guilt by requiring them to report a rape or seek counseling before they get an abortion. this so-called moderate bill does that too. so just think about that last point. if you're trying to assess our colleague from south carolina's argument that his bill is, quote, moderate. under senator graham's new restrictions, a 12-year-old rape victim, regardless o

mr. barry friedman. >> chairman wyden, senator grassley, members of the committee, i'm behalf of -- i am honored to talk about transplant policy in the night states. my testimony reflects 30 years of health care and transplant experience might direct involvement in the united network for organ sharing in the organ procurement transplant network. i service the executive director of the adventhealth transplant institute, having performed nearly 5000 transplant. i take very seriously our sacred duty to the families and those who interest us with the gift of life to provide with organ transplants. it is our duty is to be good stewards of these organs and the fate of our families in our communities. families are needs of lifesaving organs have no other option but to trust the organ transplantation system that is in place. this system has failed many people did to the lack of oversight and accountability. 23% of kidneys from deceased owners are discarded resulting in preventable deaths. it is our responsibility to address this issue. organ transportation is a process left to federally designat

mr. craig johnson. >> chairman wyden, ranking member, crapo, members of the senate finance committee, thank you for this opportunity to testify today and allowing me to show what our member states have done to make implementation of this decision easier for sailors nationwide. i'm craig johnson, executive governor streamlined sales tax. s s t is made up of 24 member states committed to simplification and uniformity. it represents a long term and successful collaboration between the states, local governments, and the business community, to simplify the sales tax systems throughout the country and level the playing field for all types of sellers. the result of this current collaboration is a streamlined sales tax agreement. a voluntary agreement to represent the blueprint for all states to follow to a substantially reduce the burden of tax compliance. in 2016, south dakota enacted legislation to require remote sellers who engage in 200 or more transactions or had $100,000 or more a gross revenue in the calendar year to collect and remit its tax. in 2018, the supreme court in the wayfair decis

mr. roberts. we will have questions in a moment, chairman wyden, ranking member, thank you for your bipartisan leadership on this issue. i am a chief production officer at walker and dunlap. a former assistant secretary of the department of housing and urban development. as you mentioned i also a former senate staffer so it's an honor for me to be on the other side of the dais. where i am is one of the largest providers of capital to the multifamily industry and the fourth-largest lender for all commercial real estate. we employed 1400 people across the country as a top affordable housing lender. this panel has already talked about the data that is for pretty clear. they spend more than half of the income on rent. they spend more time getting to work. transit in their cars and buses and trains the lead with their families. so there are definite and very real hardships that are presented by the lack of affordable housing. that is why the conversation on increasing the housing supply is so important. the affordable housing credit act is a very important step forward. i will go over very briefly i know mr.

mr. lewis. i introduced legislation a couple of days ago with senator wyden and some of our colleagues on, and the marketplace that allows every voice to be heard and every competitor to compete. >> net neutral is important to prevent harmful gate keepers to the internet. for years now we've had providers committing to adhere to those principles, but we still have a number of examples over the years while we've not had clear net neutrality rules that should be looked at, that should be investigated by an expert agency like the fcc and unfortunately, they don't have the authority to do so right now so restoring the rules and that authority, i think, is essential. >> i agree with you. i think that net neutrality, it just means ondiscrimination, another way of saying it and we just can't allow discrimination on the net and that's going net neutrality and i'm going to continue with senator wyden with so many more of my colleagues. thank you, mr. chairman, the opportunity to be here. >> next, we'll hear from senator cap capito. >> i know this was asked earlier, but i would like to can, imposing 15% boo