mrs. blackburn: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mrs. blackburn: thank you, mr. president. begin i before my remarks, i do want to respond to my colleagues and his comments about the for the people act. which the democratic party is continuing to push. now, i will say that i am pleased to learn that many of my democratic colleagues are standing up against the jim crow era policies that their party put in place, the would, that their party did with the kkk and other ents

mrs. blackburn: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mrs. kburn: thank you, mr. president. begin i before my remarks, i do want to respond to my colleagues and his comments about the for the people act. which the democratic party is continuing to push. now, i will say that i am pleased to learn that many of my democratic colleagues are standing up against the jim crow era policies that their party put in place, the would, that their party did with the kkk and other entities to block and obstruct access to the voting booth. and i will remind him also that the 1965 voting rights act was a very solidly bipartisan effort that took place here in this chamber. and in regards to their s. 1, h.r. 1 for the people act, it is anything but the for the people act. what this would do is make it easier to cheat and harder to vote.. and we should be working to make it easier to vote and harder to cheat. that's what election integrity is all about, and that is what the american people would like to see. what this bill would do, their s.1, h.r. 1, would feder

mrs. blackburn: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mrs. blackburn: thank you, madam president. i ask that we suspend the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. blackburn: thank you. thank you, madam president. this weekend the people of cuba rose up in opposition to their repressive socialist government. i think it's important to be clear on that point because much of the mainstream media is reporting on these protests that makes it sound as if everything is pandemic related. but what's happening in cuba is not an economic fluke and every single person serving in this body working in the media and an losing the poll -- analyzing the policy implications knows better than to say otherwise. this isn't the pop socialism touted by the american left. it's not fashionable. there is no empowerment or equality in the socialist regime. there is just starvation shortages, violence, and failure for 62 years. 62 years. the ruling communists have bled the cuban people dry and now armed thugs have taken to the streets to repress the o

mrs. blackburn: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mrs. blackburn: thank you, madam president. my colleague said it so very well. the inflation bomb is exploding, and people in tennessee are incredibly concerned about that. i hear about this every single day from tennesseans. they are also concerned about the fact that it seems that the democratic majority has been unable to push forward a budget that would be bipartisan, that would have appropriate spending, that would prioritize the needs and the concerns of the american people. until just a few hours ago, we didn't have any insight into a infrastructure bill that would be bipartisan, and i applaud those that have worked so diligently to reach a bipartisan agreement. but the american people have started to lose a lot of their trust and a lot of their patience with washington, d.c., and i -- i think that we can say rightfully so. because they are watching the costs of government go up. they are watching the hesitancy to move forward on their concerns, and they are speaking out to us. and s

mrs. blackburn: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee is recognized. mrs. blackburn: thank you, mr. president. i am pleased to come and join my colleagues on the floor today and have a discussion about what is taking place here in this capitol building. now my colleague from utah just mentioned something that i think is so important. being able to disagree agreeably, having a difference of opinion and showing respect to other people. this nation has remained strong and vibrant and free because we believe in robust, respectful bipartisan debate. we do not lock up or silence or push or disappear people who disagree with us and our beliefs. and what we see happening in the house where the capitol police would have the ability to -- to haul staffers and visitors to jail for not wearing a mask. think about that. it would be not wearing a mask, a choice, making a choice to not wear a mask. so it is important for us to realize this is a difference of opinion. we have told the american people, get vaccinated. i've chosen to be vaccinated. get the vaccine. you don't

mr. blackburp. >> -- blackburn. >> the prime minister wrote these words himself. the over 80s were expendable. the prime minister is charged with protecting society, not putting folks at risk of an early death. such a glib attitude towards human life is indefensibling. the prime minister is simply, simply not fit for office. the clear pattern throughout this pandemic is there is one rule for them and another rule for the rest of us. the reality, mr. speaker, is that the only way to get to the full truth is for this cabal to be made to answer under oath. so will the prime minister confirm that in the interest of public health and confidence that the -- inquiry will begin immediately and commit for appearing under oath before any general election is called? >> prime minister. >> thank you, mr. speaker. and i, i appreciate why it's so important for this country to have a full public inquiry x that's why i made the announcement to the house that we would. and i also think he's right that it should go ahead as soon as is reasonable. i don't think that right now in the

mr. cruz. i would like to turn to senator blackburn for her questioning. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. charles, i just want to say i am so delighted to see you here today. >> thank you. >> i want to thank you for continuing to be a voice and to speak up. i think it's necessary and i think you have an important message and you're an important voice in this entire discussion. thank you very much for taking the time to be here today and you probably have found it's about as hot here as in nashville. welcome to this muggy weather. mr. garcia, i want to talk with you for just a moment, if i may. you were just talking about the impact of drugs and what you're seeing te border and, of course, you're right there in texas and in tennessee, i many times will say because of the open border situation that we're facing right now and have for the last several months, every town is becoming a border town in every state a border state. and certainly when i speak with law enforcement, they are living this out every day because of the impact of drugs on our city streets and in our communities. as i talk

mr. chairman. >> senator blackburn, you're recognized for five minutes. >> thank you so much, mr. chairman. and to our witnesses, we appreciate you all being with us. i represent tennessee and in 2020 tennesseeans really came to appreciate the resiliency of their networks. in 2020 we had tornados, we had storms, we had floods, we had other natural disasters, and then on christmas day we had the car bomb was detonated outside the at&t downtown building in nashville. and that is where the switching capabilities for much of the southeast is located. at that point, we had people in several states who were affected by that christmas day bombing. during my work here in congress, whether in the house or here in the senate, working on broadband infrastructure resiliency is something that has taken a good bit of my efforts. we have the internet exchange act, which recently passed the senate as part of a larger package and will help in building these resilient and redundant networks. right now in tennessee what we know is that we have 400,000 tennesseeans that are living in a census block that has no

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator blackburn.the hearing in the area of shameless self-promotion, i'm not going to send you a qfr, but i would like to send you a copy of my domestic terrorism prevention act and ask for your reaction to it. you may suggest changes to make it more effective and i would appreciate that. it's been a while since you've been before the committee and we certainly tried your patience today. you've been excellent in your presentation. i just want to thank you and the men and women of the fbi for the sacrifices they make to keep us safe. this meeting will stand adjourned. >> thank you, mr. chairman.

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator blackburn.the hearing in the area of shameless self-promotion, i'm not going to send you a qfr, but i would like to send you a copy of my domestic terrorism prevention act and ask for your reaction to it. you may suggest changes to make it more effective and i would appreciate that. it's been a while since you've been before the committee and we certainly tried your patience today. you've been excellent in your presentation. i just want to thank you and the men and women of the fbi for the sacrifices they make to keep us safe. this meeting will stand adjourned. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> night, we are showing congressional hearings that occurred in the aftermath of january 6. on thursday, a senate hearing from march with homeland security officials and major general william walker, who served as bc national guard commander at the time of the attack. on friday, former trump administration officials and d.c. police chief robert contee appeared before the house oversight committee to testify ab

mr. chairmanments thank you so much, senator blackburn. >> thank you, chairman, i appreciate you holdinge hearing, and witnesses i appreciate you being here. a little something building on what senator peters said and everyone is talking about network resilience, but i just want to add my few cents about the wildfires and network ability to address wildfires. the chair knows all too well, the wildfires have become an ever present threat to the southwest and 90% of the west coast is under extreme drought all across california, oregon, nevada, new mexico, arizona lake mead in nevada hit its lowest water level object record last week since the inception, i believe, of the dam. 46% of my state is living in elevated risk of wildfires so it's imperative in my communities, across the west, across the country have access to reliable and resilient community caigs-- communication networks. i won't go on, but that because others have, but resilience is important. i want to talk about what we're calling the middle mile. in some of the rural and underserved parts of nevada and across the country, the

mrs. blackburn: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mrs. blackburn: thank you, mr. president. begin i before my remarks, i do want to respond to my colleagues and his comments about the for the people act. which the democratic party is continuing to push. now, i will say that i am pleased to learn that many of my democratic colleagues are standing up against the jim crow era policies that their party put in place, the would, that their party did with the kkk and other entities to block and obstruct access to the voting booth. and i will remind him also that the 1965 voting rights act was a very solidly bipartisan effort that took place here in this chamber. and in regards to their s. 1, h.r. 1 for the people act, it is anything but the for the people act. what this would do is make it easier to cheat and harder to vote.. and we should be working to make it easier to vote and harder to cheat. that's what election integrity is all about, and that is what the american people would like to see. what this bill would do, their s.1, h.r. 1, would f

mrs. blackburn: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mrs. blackburn: this has already been a -- the presiding officer: the senate is in a quorum. mrs. blackburn: i ask that we u.s.s. spend the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. blackburn: thank you, madam president. this has already been a big week in tokyo for team u.s.a., and i hope all of my colleagues have the opportunity to watch a few minutes of the olympic games over the next few weeks. every year, we hear so much from come men eightors and athletes about how the games are an opportunity for the world to come together. and that's exactly how it once was. unfortunately, the olympics are also a target-rich environment for people in regimes that want to use these rare moments of unity to trick the world into ignoring evil. before we were able to enjoy any of this year's double pike vaults or 400-meter freestyle swims, we were already worrying about the impending havoc casting a shadow over the 2022 beijing winter olympics. late last year, the chinese government be

mrs. blackburn: thank you, madam president. there was such an interesting occurrence that happened down the street a bit at 1600 pennsylvania avenue last weekend, and it is when white house press secretary jen sokey unveiled the scheme that they worked out with big tech. well, what they are setting about to do is remove -- and i'm quoting her -- problematic content from facebook and other digital platforms. that is right. they, the white house team, have decided that they are going to work with big tech and they are going to remove problematic, their term, content from facebook and other digital platforms. now, i am certain that the white house was very confident that the press would treat this rather bizarre administration like they have treated other blatant oversteps coming out of this administration. after all, they, the press, have provided reliable cover for this white house since inauguration day, but here is the problem. it is no longer inauguration day. there is now a record to consider, and i'll tell you what, no matt