over 30 countries. three of w those were in the middle east number of ongoing discussions to expand that. but as a portable pulsing with those countries in middle east it helps us to have a better understanding of going on in space. and so that when we see potential bad actors acting, we can call out bad behavior. also builds a set of partnerships to deny those partnerships toen countries like russia and iran. so those are very important for us and we continued to grow them, senator. >> thank you. appreciate it. rosen.ks, senator senator schmitt. >> thank you, mr. chairman. so i think i believe this is if the most important committees mn the senate for a variety of reasons. certainly our role in advocating for the national defense is back home and talking to constituents and having those conversations about what are the threats come here from the but also explaining the things that we learnedp appear. so my two questions are related

to that here that would be more sort of conversation about maybe the question of it gets in some whom i would like both the to address first. -- >> we will leave this to take you live to the floor of the u. s. senate we are today lawmakers are considering the nomination of an assistant defense secretary. this week■ senators are expected to vote on the first the two federal spending packages to fund the government october 12 for a partial government shutdown possibly friday at0a midnight. arizona independent senator kyrsten sinema has announced she will not be seeking reelection and will be leaving the chamber at the end of this year. now live coverage of the senate here on c-span2. the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. the chaplain dr. barry black will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray.

who turns dark y into bright tomorrows. satisfy us with your mercy, grace, and peacee may receive your help for our time of need. lift the light of your countenance upon our lawmakers. calm every troubled thought and keep their feet on the path of peace. lord, perfect your strength in their empower them to serve you in a way that honorsour name. guide their debates to expose

truth, to produce creative compromise, and to bring solutions that will keep america strong. may they use their talents to renew peace in our nation and world. we your magnificent name. amen. the presiding officer: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to the flag. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for l. the presiding officer: the clead a communication to the senate. the clerk: washington d.c.,

march 5, 2024. to the senate: under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable peter welch, a senator from the of the chair. signed: patty murray, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership previous order, the leadership

organization. >> we are party action and citizens fund and we endorsed donald trump as

president. we are funded by mostly small donors but also larger donors. when we first started we were small donors. we are 15 years old beginning of our 15th year end of february and texting we anniversary of p. >> why did you start the organization? >> in 2009 we had the stimulus bill passing and of january and february of 2009 the bake sale happened in 2008 if you call during the presidential john

mccain ended his campaign and senator obama on the bill and people were very frustrated. the campaign chairman in my area the stimulus after obama became president obama, on the floor of the exchange had cnbc. they betrayed and we needed a tea party like our f did and ite out-of-control spending. we decided we heard that rent and decided we will have a party like our founding fathers did.

a conference call twitter organizing a conference call about 24 from the first conference call february 202009 and we had the first run of tea parties, 48 tea parties and ask weeks later on text 8850 ask tea parties with 1 million people across the country. >> today is tuesday, i know your organization endorse donald trump. want nikki haley to drop >> nikki haley should drop out, it's clear trump is going to be the nominee. to goad and have the larger

debatee to focus on the. >> what did you not like about nikki haley's platform? >> is less about what i did not like and much more about what supporters like the president trump routine cable of doing well president. an amazing economy, standard of living better for everyone across the country, foreign energy and the border was secure crime was under control across the country and its not what it was right now. in most elections what you normally see in our lifetimes

either to people who've never been president or an incumbent president bernie again somebody who's never been president. you have a proven track record in theory what the other person can do. what we will have year is the track record of two people who have been president, is not theoretical. reno what america was like based on what supporters want the grass worked endorsement they want those results again for america. >> if you like to join our conversation, make a comment. alice on our land by party.

the hill.com has your organization endorsing the headline grassroots endorsement. you are quoted in the article saying grassroots understanding the american experiment in most able to can you elaborate why you believe the american experiment is at risk next. >> we look at what's happening with the open border in the government for so many people, we look at the two-tiered system and government and one set of rules for supporters and a ruled to biden and supporters, then you add national but and there

is so much at stake for america. when you talk to people across the country, they feel america is track so the real career politics as it 23.6% -- it's on 24% to 66.7466.8%, 2y is on the right track. 67% think the countrys o something is not working with the country and we have to get it right because if we don't call it the future of the country is at stake. that means the american experiment is at stake itself. >> you mentioned national debt,

one of your organizations priorities the debt free teher. president trump added trillion to the national but. >> he did add to the national debt due to covid spending. i think america should have shut down the first place, we were one of the first organizations calling for the country to reopen in helping organize to reduce fear and alleviate the fears paralyzing because of covid. we saw under president trump is that the economy grew. and as a adult president@[ reagn

being present as an adult, i kid and a teen when he was president so economy grows and it's much bigger so even the same centage, it's a much bigger place. so if you have government spending both parties and republican party and democrat party, the desire spend a lot of money, you got to have the economy big enough he can pay down the debt reducing spending

which is what our organization calls for spending berow the ec. either way works, we just have to get to where we got a balance budget again. >> he debt is under control, about to have another spending bill no spend more and more money, republicans and democrats both vote for this and i just know it's not the right thing for the country. >> in addition to growing the economy, there is going revenue increasing taxesnd growing revenue decreased taxes because you have increased and economy. people making more money and

paying a slightly smaller percentage in taxes, they may pay more in taxes because they have increased their own well. >> let's talk to colors, russell first south carolina. >> a better economy biden has agents increasing revenue. he stated the economy is not doing well. not only is america having in the history of america but the economy is at an all-time high and republicans continue to paint in america downtrodden. rebl■f states believe

america. it never hit up tea party patriots that trump inherited from obama is why the economy was doing great. it didn't have anything to do with trump and it's amazing you continue to support someone who has sexual assault and someone inviting victor a conference is a dictator destroys the government and wishes to do the same to america. >> a lot there. each. >> thank you for calling and, it is important to understand one of the biggest things reno is the border, the border is wide open creating a situation where

there is more crime in the country and harming americans■ are but we can look at chicago. chicago is certainly not a conservative area yet voters in chicago and people in chicago understand services are impacted in schools are being impacted, the quality of education kids are getting is negatively impacted and they told kids to back to online which we do not think it was in the first organization. she and then you mentioned several different things.

>> you also mentioned the argument that trump inherited a really good economy from obama. >> a look at after the trump tax cuts passed, the economy grew, unemployment at historic lows across every single democrat including americans, women for every demographic at historic lows. people have the ability to go get jobs they want if they want getting the job they want, they were able to go negotiate a better salary or another job. it worked very well for americans across the country. it grew and flourished under trump until the world stopped with covid. one of the other things under

the economy, democrats to say that the fact is americans aren't feeling economically their own personal situation that they are betr off than they were four years ago so while you can look at statistics, you have to look at is a better the average american family? right now americans don't think it is and we know that because we can look at the right track, wrong track and americans think america is on the wrong track republican line in colorado. good morning. >> my comment toward the issue, isn't it true my fellow republicans recognize the money on the table by this administration regarding the ira and stimulate the economy to

where we have historic lowemplo? also, isn't it true biblical back and look at the 21st century for au trillion surplus deficit and obama came in with this economy and to move printing money, he5& left turnig that and trump ads on and eat trillion that and biden and four years brought to $34 trillion deficit. he four years ago end of last century we had a surplus so and

we recognize right the stimulus provided two and a half trillion dollars, it is putting the majority of country back to work, historic lows about 3% unemployment. that is my >> the problem with the stimulus causing inflation along the cost of everything with purchases more now than be in the coast to whether we by groceries or something that cost the same about what the amount you're getting in the packages a smaller academic price of cars and home prices right now and interest rates with prices. the economy makes feel that they are duck with a are and they

want a change in the. that's one of the big problems she and printing so much money. she of the turn-of-the-century speaker and clinton was president but got to a balanced budget and a surplus and we had completely blown through that. completely out of control and that is the fault of both republicans and t democrats. >> let's go to georgia on the independent line -- d the title. title of the bill for the second time. the clerk: s.3853, a bill to extend the period for filing claims under the radiation como forth. mr. schumer: in order to place the bill on the calendar 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: now, for my state. mr. presen come to the floor with good news -- hhs and cms has heeded my call from last friday to provide hospitals and providers immediate relief in the aftermath of a devastating cyberattack, asking for ransom. thecms today will get cash flowing to providers, while our health care system works to get fully back on line after this attack. it's an extremely encouraging first step, but the systems of the many providers are -- many). so i urge cms to be persistent and patient as they work to get all the providers on board and i will work with them, i will work with cms, to make sure that

happens. because, as you know, mr. president, across new york and america, tens of thousands of hospitals, pharmacies, doctors' offices and other health care providers are■ñ sti reeling from one of the worst cyber attacks ever launched on our health care system. the february 21 attack against change health care, which is responsible for processing billions of insurance and payment claims annually for health care providers, has thrown providers including hospitals and pharmacies, into a crisis. for nearly two weeks, they've been unable to submit medical claims, androviders are facing imminent insolvency as cash reserves are drying up. i was yesterday in ithaca, and health, who told me they're losing hundreds of thousands of dollars every day, with stacks of claims nearly two feet high that they can't file.

americans mine while are -- meanwhile are struggling toill provisions -- prescriptions, and are unable to use patient assistants programs they need it stay healthy. our had notes, particularly -- our hospitals could have laid off people and not providing services had cms not stepped up to the plate. i'm so glad they did. probably even worse, our small pharmacies, who he no financial cushion, could have shut down and would have told millions of patients, millions of can't provide the medicines these customers need, because they were not getting reimburse ed. this was a crisis, and last friday, i called upon hhs and cms to use their authority to accelerate payments to ourúg■ hospitals and impacted providers. hospitals and providers need help from the federal government

so they can focus on their main mission as much as possible, which is providing care for their patients. i warned that the longer this crisis persists, the harder it will be for hospitals and other providers to stay open. today, i am pleased to see that hhs and cms are heeding my call. this is shot in the arm, and will provide immediate relief to hospitals and providers just like we saw during covid. cms had the ability to do this, and during covid, when also providers were not being reimbursed, they filled the void. i'm glad they're doing it again. what they have -- what cms has done is an encouraging first step, but the work cant until every effective -- affected provider has the financial stability to weather this storm. we need cms to cut through the red tape to make sure these advance payments are done right. the systems of the different providers are varied, some are

very complicated. we need cms to be both persistent and flexible. and, of course, we have asked the fbi and other justice department agencies to find out who these awful perpetrators of this ransomware were, to put them out of business and see if they can seek punishment, depending on the country these providers came from. i thank the administration for its it to do more. i will work daily with the administration and providers alike, until the situation is resolved. now on government funding. well with it's the start of a busy and consequential week in congress. president biden will deliver his annual state of the union address to the american people where he will share the immense progress we've made as a country to bring down costs, strengthen our economy and protect our country from threats around the world. on friday, congress will then

face another funding deadline whereupon the government will begin shutting down unless both chambers work quickly and with bipartisan cooperation. 0en thatfront, we're -- on that front, we are thankfully off to a very good start. sunday evening, negotiatorslongl deal on the first six appropriations bills, and we did it, we passed these bills without devastating cuts or so i am -- or poison pill rider riders pushed by the right. it has not been easy in a divided government but after a lot of persistence, we now have six bills that will preserve significant investments for american families, for moms and children, for america's clean energy, for america's veterans and more. it took a lot of work to make happen. appropriators through the entire

weekend, so did my staff, so does it, in fact, and we've been working on this every day for months. the important thing now is for both chambers to move quickly. the house is set to take up these appropriations bills tomorrow where hopefully they'll pass. and as soon as the house sends the appropriations bills over to the senate, i will put these bills on the floor so we can have them on president biden's desk before friday's . but the clock is ticking. and because of the state of the union on thursday, we need to cooperate to fast to get these bills word. the watchwords for the senate will be cooperation and speed. now, mr. presiden moment to hig the ways these appropriations bills will make a difference for the american people. this appropriations process -- this appropriations agreement is a success in at least two ways. one, we protected almost all of

the good investments for the american peoand, two, we resist practically all of the nasty riders from the maga right. to moms and kids who rely on nutrition programs, you will be taken care of. despite immense opposition from the other side, this agreement fully funds the wic program, meaning no mom or kid will be denied the nutrition assistance they qualify exceedingly good nt in divided government we are able to keep wic whole and i thank senator as congress member d{l1}e{l0}lauro. you don't this agreement, we'll also protect funding americans, especially rural americans, keep a roof over their head and afford the rent. we will keep■ programs for veterans' health, school breakfast programs and other

programs remain fully funded. that means we'llide nearly five school lunches and two and a half billion breakfasts to kids acro america next year. america's roads, bridges, and highways will be get the funds they need for repairs and updates. we'll be able to hire more cont safety inspectors to keep americans safe. we will preserve pay raises for our federal firefighters and strengthen funding for . i'm also happy that we prevented the hard right from tainting these bills from devastating cuts and policy riders. again, we fought hard to protect funding, to build more affordab housing and provide nutrition assistance to low-income americans and defeated the hard-right's attempts to add even more restrictions to women's health care, and even though the hard right tried repeatedly to undermine democrats' clean energy agenda, we preserved practically all the probleming

we've made to -- progress we've made to fight climate change while protecting critical jobs at the epa. i am glad and proud we've been able to reach such an agreement under divided government. i thank speaker johnson, leader jeffries and all the staff who have dedicated so much work to get us to this point. this agreement gives us much-needed momentu to finish the next package of spending bills by the march 22 deadline. once again, it will only be bipartisanship, only bipartisan that will get us across the finish line as has proven in the past. we will keep working, keep working, until we finish the job. now, on over-the-counter birth control. as hard-right republicans continue their all-out assault on reproductive rights, the american people just received some very big news -- the

first-ever over-the-counter birth control bill is headeded to stores later this month. the introduction of a safe, effect over-the-counter birth control pill is is a promising step towards improving access to■. contraception. the bill will be available very soon at major stores and pharmacies and online for anyone to buy without needing a prescription. it will be a new avenue for americans to access reproductive care, so critical today as reproductive care comes under greater attack by the hard right. hard-right republicans have shown they ve restraint. whether it is pushing for a national abortion ban, as the hard retire has been doing for decades, or blocking motions of hundreds of military officers in protest of women in the military getting access to reproductive care, as one republican senator did relatedly last year, o

threatening access to ivf, republicans have made it beyond clear they have not yielded rad, anti-choice agenda. that's why this historic announcement of an control pill is so important. it lands a blow against those who are trying so desperately to limit access to reproductive care.ntinue fighting to make su everyone who needs birth control can get it and to improve women's health care -- women's access to health care and the affordability of health care. i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum will call the roll. quorum call:

the clerk: ms. baldwin. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to exece and, under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the following nomination, which the clerk will report.0b the clerk: nomination, department of defense. ronald t. keohane of new york to be an assistant secretary. mr. schumer: i would note that that is buffalo, new york, of which we are proud. now, mr. president, i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: question is on the motion. all those in favor, say aye.

the opposed, say n the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar 506. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all those in favor, say aye. those opposed, say no. the ayes appear to the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary. acree yen jennings noti of the district of columbia to be an associate judge of the superior court of the district of columbia. mr. schumer: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the clerk: the clerk will report. -- the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: 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-executive calendar number 506. adrienne jennings noti of the district of columbia to be an o.

associate judge of the superior court of the district of columbia. signed by 17 senators as follows -- mr. schumer: i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum call harass the cloture motion filed made, march 5, be waiv the pr the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the clerk: ms. baldwin.

the presiding officer: the minority leader -- the republican leader, pardon me. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent that further proceedings under the quorum call being dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: last week congress harmful and unnecessary government shutdown, and this week we'll take a major step forward on one of our most basic responsibilities of

government. our colleagues, senator collins and senator murray, have been working hard on fiscal year 202b propriations for the better part of a year. the appropriations committee advanced the bills we'll back june and july of last year, working in good faith through the regular order and in all but one case they received unanimous support. the first tranche of annual appropriations accounts for a serious portion of our overall discretionary funding responsibilities, and thanks to senator collins' leadership, the bills the appropriations committee cleared last summer secured important republican priorities up front. but all reasonable measures a, the conference with our house

colleague has made the legislation we'll take up this week even stronger. the senate has an opportunity t shrink the protections for america's farmland by tightening oversight over agrultural transactions and expand support for farmers, ranchers, and rural communities. we have a chance to strengthen protections for u.s. intellectual property and surge resources to state and local law enforcement agencies on the front linesthe fight to curb violent crime and to bring the fentanyl crisis under control. r v.a. rural health and opioid treatment, protect the second amendment rights of america's veterans and improve housing and facilities for active duty servicemembers and their■q ■m families, including thousands of

kentuckians stationed in harm's way. we can fund earth transportation and water infrastructure projects, support domestic enrichment of critical minerals and invest in the long-term safety, ri superiority of our nuclear arsenal. and we can do it all this week. i'm gratel to■ú our colleagues on the appropriations committee for pushing sensible annual funding legislation one step closer to the president's desk. i would certainly urge all of our colleagues to support it. on another matter,e repeatedly about president biden's attempt to give life tenure on the federal bench to an activist tied to an extremist group that unabashedly celebrates terrorism. i've senate should

not, should not confirm the nomination of adele mangi to th. but mr. mangi's alarming record does not stop at ties to terrorist sympathizers. it turns out he also has a history of support for anti-police activism. in fact, he serves on the advisory board of a group of apologists for convicted cop killers. the so-called alliance of families for justice, afg, was founded in part by a woman who actually pled guilty to the murder of a police officer and whose name has graced a fellowship that they fund. with mr. mangi on their advisory board, the afg celebrated her and other cop killers as -- listen to this -- freedom fighters. take,xecutive

director of afg. she was counselled record on a brief to spring for a notorious cop killer. honoring criminals and punishing law enforcement is the exact opposite of justice. one county police association in new rk highlighted this irony by pointing out that mr. mangi's heroescuted our heroes who were protecting and serving the community. naturally law enforcement associations across country share this concern. they are concerned that a nominee who would be responsible for interpreting and upholding our laws is willing to make common cause with an organization that excuses the most heinous form of law

breaking. overwhelmingly defend blue line is worried mr. mangi's inability to distinguish between criminals and heroes renders him incapable of administering justice. as police organizations put it, quote, it is one thing to stand up for the rights of those shunned or society. it is a far different thing to exalt unrepentant killers who were legal trials in courts of law. mr. mangi is smart enough to know the difference,nal sheriff association said mangi's connection with afg raises concerns about a potential bias against victims and law enforcement which could impact his decision making as a lifetime-appointed judge. the state law enforcement group in new jersey put it this way,

we can respect a lawyer who represents criminal defendants to the best oft we can't respec never support a lawyer who so thatminals and tes the opinion the cop killers are the victims. he has disqualified himself as an impartial decider of facts where police are involved. as far away as■( arizona, the phoenix law association wrote mr. mangi's conscious work with afg shows an antivictim and antipolice bias that would certainly cloud his decision-making as a judge. now it's worth noting here who's not involved. even his law enforcement officers nationwide organized to sound the alarm, the police un

weigh in. each day police work gets more dangerous. thanks to theanticop activists like afj, but a member of their advisory board gets noeral appeals court, and so it's silenced from the fraternal order of police. i hope that the last thing our country need right now is another federal judge who thinks criminals are the real ct with the blood of pn their hands. american communities have been suffering for years under apaig to coddle criminals and neuter our criminal justice system. district attorneys in cities that put politics over prosecution and turn repeated violent offenders loose in the streets, and the biden administration continues to encourage this sort of bad

behavior. it's time to acknowledge who are the criminals andho the heroes, and it's certainly time to refuse a lifetime appointment to the judiciary to anyone who cannot tell them=■ difference. p mr. durbin: mr. president the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. durbin:ist a statement -- i have a statement i'm going to make on the voting rights act which i think is apropos considering it is super tuesday and the millions of americans who will participate. but first i would like to address the comments that were made by the republican senate leader. mr. president, you're a member

of the senate judiciary committee, and you were there the day when adeel mangi's nomination came before our committee. it's a unique nomination. it's never happened before, never in the history of e becaui is a muslim american, and he is being nominated to serve on the second-highest court in the land. when you read his biography -- and i don't have it before me. i'm going to come back when i do have all the information before me -- you cannot help but believe that this is an extraordinary individual and an extraordinary lawyer who is seeking this spot. the treatment he received in the senate judiciary committee, you'll remember it as well as i will, because he is a muslim american, was outrageous. outrageous. they believed that he must be a terrorist because he's muslim,

and it was suggested by a number of senators questioning him, hi. in fact, one republican senator went so far as to ask him on the record, do you celebrate 9/11 in your home? do you celebrate 9/11 in your home? he said of course not. it was a horrible thing. i condemn■5 all forms of violen and terrorism, he said. and those people, many have died, were from the same community i was in in the ste of new york and new jersey. then this was the suggestion that because he was a muslim american, he must be anti-semitic. i can't tell times that was ask of him, and he condemned anti-semitism on a wholesale basis with no qualifications and know equivocation. the questioning in that area was so outrageous against this individual, this muslim american, so outrageous that the

antidiscrimination league, a national organization, highly respected, that stands up for jewish americans and their rights and speaks out without hesitation when people are being critical and prejudicial to jewish americans, sent us on the senate judiciary committee unsolicited, a response to the questioning he faced. i read it into the record at the committee meeting. mr. president, i want to tell you, politics is a bean bag. and i know if you're seeking a lifetimeppment to the bench, you better be prepared to answer a lot of questions. some of them will be fair and some won't be fair, but be ready. it's going to happen. but what haen to mr. mangi in that committee was beyond anything acceptable by senate to argue that he is somehow a cop killer, my god, what more

are they going to throw to come senate on another day, maybe even tomorrow if i can do it, and tell the whole story about his nomination. but to listen to what was just said about this man is breathtaking. he is an extraordinary individual. he is overqualified for the job, if there is such a thing. he certainly has served his country and wants to do more. and the fact that he's a muslim american should not subject him to this type of beating in the committee and on the floor of the senate. and i'llcommittee and on the fl the senate. and i'll return to address that issue specifically at a later date. mr. president, it is super tuesday. millions of americans will vote in primaries in 16 different states. it's a day for americans from all walks of life to express their political opinion and vote for the candidate they deem best suited for the in the land. as americans, our most fundamental right is the right

to vote. my dear friend and colleague, the late c■r john lewis, called voting, and i quote, the most powerful nonviolate tool we have to create a more perfect l election, more than 158 million americans cast a ballot, the largest voter turnout in the history of the united states. but that record doesn't tell the whole story. over the weekend the center for justice released a report on the growing racial disparities on voting in america. they found, and i quote, the racial turnout gap, the difference in the e between white and nonwhite voters has consistently grown since 2012 and is growing most quickly in parts of the country that were previously covered under section 5 of the 1965 voting rights act, which the supreme court of the united states suspended in its 2013 decision in shelby county vs. f

americans are making their voices heard in elections, we're also witnessing an explosion of sinister efforts to discourage and silence many of these voices. unfortunately efforts to suppress the right to vote in this country are nothing new. congress took action in 1965 when the united states senate voted 77-19 to pass the voting rights act, finally outlawing state practices that had denied millions of americans, especially black americans, the right to vote. over the next almost 50 years, th rights act was reauthorized five times. always, always by large bipartisan majorities. each new version expanded the promise and protection of the voting rights act. the most recent was signed into law by republican president george w. bus■÷hx( in 2006. that all changed in 2013.

the supreme courte voting rights act in shelby county vs. holder. before the court's ruling in shelby county, the voting rights act required localities with a track record of disenfranchising voters of color to seek federal approval for any changes in law this requirement was known as preclearance, and it could have blocked many of the restrictive voting provisions seen since that supreme court provision in states like georgia and texas. in 2021, the supreme court weakened another critical section of the voting rights act with the decision in the case a discriminatory voting laws or court fueled state-led efforts to suppress voters particularly

voters of color. justice kagan wrote of her dissent in brnovich in the last decade this court treated no statute worst than the voting rights act of 19656789 this year's presidential election will be the first since a wave of restrictive voting laws were passed in the aftermath of the 2020 election. mr. president, did you ever take a look at the videos and reporting of people standing in line waiting to vote? did you ever notice coincidentally how many of the people standing in line were people of color, why there always seems to be a lack of voting spaces for people of color when it comes to voting. why is that? i don't think it's an accident. i think it's a conscious decision. and before the holder decision, shelby county holder decision, there was a requirement for preclearance for the practices that lead to that. voters in 27 states, more than half the country, will face

restrictions on the right to vote they never experienced before because of the supreme court decision.voting. state legislators and enacted 1 people of color to vote. we must defend our democracy from these coordinated attacks on the fundamental rights. last week we introduced a bill which will preserve the right to vote in america. this legislation would restore and strengthen the voting rights act. this bill honors the legacy john lewis and countless other americans who have fought and died for the right to vote. we tried to bring this legislation to the floor for a debate and vote, but our republican colleagues blocked it with a filibuster. this bill would unite senators across the aisle, not divide them. in 2006, 98 senators,

republicans and democrats alike, voted to reauthorize the voting rights act with no votes in opposition, 2006, not that long ago 98 senators voted tro reauthorize this bill. -- to reauthorize this bill. at the time senator mcconnell said, quote, this has served an important purpose over many, many years, that was the bipartisan spirit which greeted that bill in 2006, yet today senate republicans have no interest in the voting rights act. next week the senate judiciary committee will hold a hearing to examine the continued need to restore and expand the protections of the voting rights act. this hearing is an important step but we desperately need legislation, not just a hearing. every year that goes by without passing this critical law leaves voters vulnerable, particularly

voters of color, that's why i'm calling on my colleague to join me in supporting the john lewis voting rights act that we're reenter introducing, congress has the power to restore voting rights and we should do it. because as john lewis reminded us, democracy is not at state, it is an act a each generation must do its part to help build what we called a beloved community, a nation and a world society at peace with itself. mr. president,■s i yield the flo -- i yield the floor. é

.

it needs to be over the top. everyone kills innocent people why is it there? somebody explained that to me.

some bad white man killed 10, 20 , 50 people. i never heard anybody mention thank you. >> independent. >> let's get something straight about this. he joined in 24 teen. there was a prosecutor from■i february 2015 to march 2016 who was not prosecuting the whole european union international money fund. they all knew he was not doing

the prosecuting for the corruption including burisma. there was a billion dollars that were going to be going there. biden went over there and said or burisma and the other. february 2016 letter. bipartisan. mark kirk of illinois. in addition dick durbin of illinois. of ohio and chris murphy of connecticut. they wrote a letter. all they have to do is look under house.love. the house committee on oversight

in countability. the firing of ukraine prosecutor general. >> paula. we are going to have to ended there. we are out of time. i want to thank everyone that called in. thank you to everyone that watched. we will be back again tomorrow morning 7:00 p.m. easte time. don't forget to watch our coverage starting at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. tn■] ■ñ ■a - ■m7 ■h ■

oversight committee chair james komar from last week after hunter biden's closed door testimony defending the investigation. >> this is about public corruption. the american people do not want their public officials failings to pedal access to their readers to the tune of tens of millions of dollars. you may think that's okay but i can assure you the american people do not. i've traveled from arizona to nnecticut campaigning for members of congress seeking reelection of running for election. everywhere i go, the same thing. thank you for trying to find out thek you for trying to stop this cottage industry of influence peddling. the purpose of this investigat, if you go back to the very first press conference was to get the truth to the american people because the american people didot have the truth. the media narrative was the laptop was russian disinformation. the bidens had legitimate

business.hr■ joe never talked any of the people that send in money and none of this happened. all of that we have proven is false. we have been very effective in getting t truth to the american people. my job is to prevent influence peddling from happening in the future. that is always been the purpose of this investigation to create legislation, hopefully it will be bipartisan.■ we need to stop them and then dez and the bidens from continuing to enrich themselves in our public offices. thank you all very much. >> what do you thi o that? >> i think if you look at who is trying to use their position of power to influence or get money, you have to look at the trump family. that is a big unspoken elephant in the room when james komar is speaking. when ivanka trump went to china and received patents for some of the businesses that she now

tried to execute there. it came right after the interview. you notice he said nothing about finding any evidence of what hunter biden said about joe biden imagining himself. let's read through the lines here about what■ isctually going on. >> let's talk to callers now. good morning. >> good morning. i am regarding the trump with a dictator. at no time did mr. trump ever say he was going to be addicted. i don't know if you know what that means but what was to be done. he never said, never did he say.

thank you for taking my call. what he plans to do in the future. donald trump, was behind the multipronged democracy. this was also in the months leading up to it. we also heard what donald trump said since then where he said he is going to come in and implement policies that are antidemocratic. we need to make sure we call out those statements about what he says he will d in the future as well as what is done in the past to know what we will get when he is in office. >> i want to ask you quickly about january 6. we sometimes get callers who say look what happened there. but not of been an insurrection. there were no weapons. you don't do this without

weapons. what do you say of the witnessee called, one of the most prominent ones was actually wha. one of the reasons why she was so big was because of what we heard from herhat donald trump w that there were weapons in the crowd. when he was giving the speech beforehe january 6 assault on the capital, he was looking at the monitors behind the screen and said let's bring more people in. he was told that they could not because people had weapons in the crowd so they had to stand beyond that. trump said they will not hurt me , they are my people, let them in. that shows that there were weapons in the crowd. >> let's talk to tom in illinois democrat.

good what is the status of the molar report. i think that would give a lot of information out if we could read it. >> the molar report? it is public. >> i think it is public. what we remember from that was that t came out and bill barr specifically came out and tried to give a summary. al than what they actually said. >> let's talk to joseph next in michigan. independent. >> good morning. i am just curious what element of the biden corruption russian disinformation. hunter had a job. he was not qualified for. biden bragged about firg

prosecutor leveraged against a billion dollars. you may not like the conclusion, but that does not take any russian input to come to the conclusion that it is corrupt. >> the russian disinformation, where it comes in is this an informant. arrested and indicted for lying the ei about the specific facts. joe biden took $5 million to marie's mama. he told the fbi that he was lying. that part is what we are talking this is the biggest piece of corroborating evidence. when it comes to why republicans are trying to impeach the

president, they are just not true. we know that specifically because of what we learned in the past few weeks. >> let's talk to jamie in garden city missouri. good morning. >> good morning. i want to are you doing this? who is paying you. they do link to the big guy. a billion dollars given to fire the prosecutor in ukraine. we all know that. january 6, over 200 feds. if people were going to take over that government, they are the dumbest people. no weapons. you know it and you are sitting here lying to me, little girl. i am old enough to be your mom. >> we will not make a personal attack on the guest. go ahead and talk about the firing of the prosecutor in

ukraine. then that january 6 question as well. >> the reason why i am sitting here and doing this and the reason why the congressional integrity project is looking into this is because we want to make sure the truth is out there basing his attempted insurrection on the big lie. a big lie about what happened in the 2020 election. continuing to live through his teeth. through over one year of investigation. we laid out the facts for the american people. i think it's important we keep laying out those facts. i think we need to try to save the democracy through facts, through true investigations and working in congress for the american people. not for some bogus stunt investigations. >> 200 feds and the crowd in january 6. >> that is not true

they investigated that. it is not true. >> dorothy in baltimore. good morning. >> good morning. ladies. please give me a chance to say this. i do want her to answer this. this is very important. the democrats and their real true patriots of america be at republicans or democrats, they need to know this and you will need to push us further. every witness that was about trump in the january 6 were not one democrat that was administration. theyad witnesses telling what trump did. they did not. it was republicans who are doing this. and, number two, i do not understand why they want to take something. first of all, a vice president

cannot do anything without the approval of the president. congress also has to prove president does.that the what he said to ukraine, biden cannot control no money. only the congress can. they never said anything about it or was against it because they approved it before biden got it. anything. it can only come from the president and congress in congress has control of the money. if biden said anything, he had to have the approval from them. >> you're talking about the firing of the ukraine prosecutor >> exactly. congress and the president already knew. they approved they would not get the money unless congress approved that. biden said do nothing. vice president does not have that much power. >> got it

>> i think that that is exactly right. one of the points that was made right up top is that the republic w ones saying these things. you mentioned republican witnesses are the only ones that came forward on this committee. that is true. ev they say. the other thing i will mention with this current investigation, the biden impeachment investigation is that you see te wing media hosts on fox or newsmax come out and talk about how this investigation is over. at least now in the house against president biden is losing support from republicans even those in the media landscape. >> let's talk to nancy next in florida. >> good morning. very interesting conveatny she d

fox news. i was calling specifically. two documentaries, one was called chain of the. the other was state of outrage. it would be very good for viewers to get a different perspective by looking at these. thank you. >> let's talk to fans. >> thank you for taking my call. i am engineer so i have daytime engineers. the investigation of a false premise.

i am really not sure where the investigation is going. ukraine and russia chinese influence. what do you know about that? >> what part specifically? presiden and things like that. >> a lot of claims made over this investigation. one was that there was money from china that came in to president biden. none of that was true. james, the head of oversight made the what found was any money that exchange hands between president biden and his family members was loan

repayment very normal within families and they happened when president biden was not even in office. it may not be substantiated. they continue to be pushed by some of these republicans. when they really should be over. >> let's talk to leona in new york. republican. good morning. >> good morning. the clip where representative asked christopher wray the director in the crowd on januar. he knows that there were. i want you to pay the full clip and please do it so that the truth will be told. when speaking to congress.

we found no evidence of that. a multipronged plan to overturn the results of the 2020 election he fanned the flames that led to january 26 and then we saw the attack on our capital. a lot of those had been prosecuted by the justice department. they are still continuing to do so. that is what we know about the january 6 insurrection■m. >> i know that it focuses on congress but i want you to weigh in on the supreme court. we just had the announcement of the colorado ballot case and also the immunity case that will be heard in april. >> a lot of legal interpretations of justices wrote different opinions. i will leave that up to the lawyers. what i want to remind everybody

, the justices made no comment on whether this was an insurrection or not. no judgment on the facts of the case. the facts of this case are a lot of what the january 6 committee presented to the public through our hearings. those facts, the facts of januy 6 are still there. with this next case still coming up looking at presidential immunity, i believe it will be in easy dried. the president does not have immunity for this. that is what the lower courts have said. but, this, i think, is a distraction of what we have going on with donald trump. we have to make sure this is the person that has 91 counts against him. impeached twice. this is a man who has serious crimes that he is going to be held hopefully accountable for in the courts this year. no matter what happens with different rulings, we have to remember those facts and we have

to remember who he is and who he says he will be if we have another term in office. >> one more call. escondido california. democrat. >> donald trump stole my property for $1000 when i paid $1 million. i found out that he took over my property with only $1000. he did not put his name on his deed. i only had the deutsche bank to sue i sued the deutsche bank and i am very good at expressing myself and you know kind of a hard sale.d. he used my words in his 2016 campaign. he did not mention it was a

lawsuit. >> a little bit off the subject. we do have a subject for you on organization.en >> our organization is funded by folks interested in holding republicans in congressaccounta. i do not personally know the specifics behind that. but it is people who are interested in holding republicans accountable through the work that we d right. senior communication advisor for the congressional integrity projects. find out more about them at congressional integrity.org. thank you for joining us today h both interested in politics, and the two of us hit it off. hal long enjoyed a successful career as premier political consultants. but before that, he went to milsap college. he practiced law for a bit in

jackson, mississippi, but hal's real passion was never the s po. in fact, when young aspiring lawyers would come to his office to get advice about following him into the law, hal was known to reach into his big, impressive wooden desk and pull out his latest rental car contract with hertz. he'd say, see that contract. he would ask the would-bent surpring you go to law school, you'll spend the rest of your career writing those kind of deals. so after a few years as a bond attorney i mississippi, hal turned his attention to politics. he took on three different candidates as a campaign manager and managed to l uose all three races. undaunted, in 1984, hal took on a new challenge. there was an up and coming young congressman from tennessee with a pretty good resume and a

well-known family name, who was thinking about running for the senate. and unimpressive track record so far, hal managed to get an interview. so al gore said to him, i've go. if i hire you to be my campaign manager, how am i supposed to explain it to my supporters? the way hal tells it, he looked gore in the eye and said everyone in tennessee thinks you're a lock for this them yo taking nothing for granted because you've hired the hungriest . needless to say, hal got the job and al gore went on to the senate that year. soon hal moved to d.c. starting at his kitchen table in a small one-room apartment, he managed to build the nation's largest photo contact firm pioneering the use of advanced

data analytics to revolutionize political targeting. launching experiments to measurd revolutionizing direct mail and fundraising. he brought the notion of money ball approach to politics a decade before anyone else was doing t. that would be one of hal's greatest legacy to the democratic party and american politics, the idea that spending decisions should be driven by dait. he wanted■6 to hold campaign consultants like himself accountable for being wise stewards of donor dollars. he measured success in effectiveness, hard proof that spending motivated voters one way or the other. hal worked on every one of my campaigns, and at one point or another i suspect hal has worked with at least half of my colleagues on the democratic side. hal wasconsultant. he's also my friend.

i know him not only for his brilliant strategic mind but someone who is honest, loyal and extraordinarily creative. my wife lisa and i look forward to receiving his hilarious christmas cards where he create different approach every holiday season. in addition to writing a series of political books on moving and motivating voters, hal is also an accomplished fiction writer. his writing career began when his then-8-year-old son approaed him with an idea. two years later they completed the first draft of the sword of darrow, a fantaqm novel. in 2018 he published a sequence, a sequel, "the dragon and the firefly" before pending political thrillers including "-42 million to 1, a finalist for national book awards. as that story illustrates, hal is also a devoted father to his son alex.

for many years he served on the board of trustees at alma mater, the lab school. after his son was diagnosed with dyslexia, h dived into the challenge facing other children like alex becoming a member of the national hal is a cheese head. hal is proud of the fact, even though he grew up in mississippi, the fact that his andf one of the original owners of the green bay packers n. gone to green bay to watch the packers play. i was able to join him in november for what turned out to be hal's final football season. now struggling with alzheimer's, he's approaching his illness with the same approached life, no bitterness. he said i'm the luckiest guy in

the world with the life i've led. he said he has no rets. lisa and i will continue to keep hal and his family, including ann, alex, and close to our hearts during this difficult season. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor.

mr. welch: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. welch: mr. president, every day we are reminded of the worsening humanitarian catastrophe in gaza, most of the infrastructure in the territory has been destroyed. thousands of apartment buildings, schools, mosques, honts and markets have been reduced to twisted metal and ru which the bodies of unknown people are buried.

of the world's humanitarian crises, the situation in gaza is the worst. this is due to the large part of the netanyahu to the delivery of sufficient food, water, medi medicines, shelter and fuel. getting aid to those who are suffering andventing starvation should be our most immediate and highest priority, along with obtaining the release of the hostages. as i said when i spoke out for a ceasefire in november, an immediate ceasefire is the only way to achieve these goals. i'm disheartened by vice president harris goal to get aid in and hostages out. because the reality is lifesaving aid has dwindled to a trickle. last week, the depsdz of

humanitarian emergency in gaza exploded with the deaths of thousands of palestinian civilians as they tried to reach food supplies guarded by israeli soldiers. people were trampled, run over by trucks and shot. horrifying direct result of the netanyahu's government failure to put in place workable procedures for the delivery of sufficient aid to starving people. as others have said, there is no legal or security justification for restricting humanitarian aid to civilians who are caught in the middle of an armed conflict. the most desperate people become, the more chaotic and precarious the security situation, the more likely there will be otherenseless tragedies just like this. mr. president, i recently introduced a resolution, along

with 15 of my colleagues, calling for delivery of sufficient humanitarian aid. and the banks has repeated -- biden administration has repeatedly called for greater access for more aid trucks to get thro gaza, i am encouraged nevertheless that president biden has directed the united states to begin airdropping aid in. the decision made with the understanding that while not en means, it could save lives. mr. president, israel now occupies gaza. it has an obligation under international law, not to mention a moral responsibility, to feed and shelter palestinians you under -- palestinians under its occupation. beyond the immortal level, it would -- to the palestinian

people whose fate is imperiled. as we saw last week, that's not happening. the netanyahu government's rejeion of and international appeals to meet the basic needs of innocent palestinians trapped in gaza and the resulting loss of innocen pattern that we've seen for years. mr. president,a> long supported united states always will support israel as a free and jewish and democratic state. but, mr. president, candor requires acknowledging that we have an ongoing serious difference with israeli leadership. it's the long-standing u.s. policy that the middle east conflict can only be solved through negotiations to create

two independent states of israel and palestinian. president biden has reaffirmed this. but prime minister netanyahu has publicly r a two-state solution, and he's even credited himself for actively working to prevent the creation of a palestinian state. i'll use his words. he couldn't have been more clear. he said, quote, i will not compse on full israeli security control over the entire area in the west of jordan, and this is contrary to a palestinian state. unquote. mr. president, the united states imposes settlements and the destruction of palestinian homes, and other infrastructure in the west bank. it violates international law and is a severe obstacle to peace. secretary of state blinken has reaffirmed this.

yet, prime minister netanyahu embraces settlements. in 2017 he said, quote, we will deepen our roots, build, stngthen and settle. in 2019, he said with god's help, we will extend jewish sovereignty to all the of the land of israel, as part of the state of israel. unquote. under his leadership, settlement expanded exponentially, settlements bring extremist settler violence, some of it)! with first time finance by american taxpayers. shootings of west bank palestinians, threats laced with hateful messages that if they don't leave their homes, they will be killed, and the destruction of land and other property have suffraged in recent month -- surged in recent

months, with some israeli soldiers standing by and watching. it is the u.s. policy codified by the leahy law that human tarns rights are violated, they are not to get assistance and that law has not been applied to the israeli defense forces despite numerous cases of shootings of palestinian civilians. mr. president, we must face the contradiction of what we are doing. we are air dropping food to fame in- -- famine stricken gaza today and supplying bombs to drop on gaza tomorrow. we call for humanitarian relief meaningful when aide workers are killed in their effort to deliver it and palestinians are

killed in theiror retrieve it? it is time for all of us to acknowledge what the entire world knows. it's impossible to deliver humanitarian aid in a very active war zone. mr. president, israel is a great cou country, jewish and democratic. israel has been and remains our closest ally in the middle east. for decades israel has been under attack by those who have sought to destroy itn, and so m us, understand the history of israel and the history of the jewish people. october 7 was the worst attack on the jewish people since the holocaust and we cannot ever let that happen again. but both of our countries right now on -- right now are on a wrong path. israel must stop its

indiscriminate attacks killing so many innocent palestinian civilians, women and children, the majority among tshed. and the united states must end its unconditional support when israeli policies are wrong, that are are causing so much suffering. and that, in the view of many of us, are doomed fail in the goal of achieving lasting peace. mr. president, how many times do we have to be refute eighted by refuted by prime minister netanyahu on the recklessness of expanding west bank settlements, on impeding the deliver rif aid, on advocating an israeli post conflict of gaza, how long? and how long will netanyahu reject our policies and take our money before we say enough?

how many more than the 30,000 palestinians already killed and the 70,000 wounded before we say to prime minister netanyahue ho and schools, and child care centers and hospitals must be destroyed before we say to prime minister netanyahu enough? mr. president, israel must and israel always its own decisions as to who will be its political of leaders. and israel must and israel always will make its own decisions as to when and how to defend itself. it's their right. but the united states, too, must make its own decisions. consistent with our values, with our judgment, and with what we believe to be in our national interest. the biden administration has taken important steps to bring

accountability through diplomacy by issuing a national security memorandum that builds on the leahy law. but it is time for us, and i include all of us in the united states congress, to stop accommodating the netanyahu government. it is -- it has consistently shown it does not share our goal of achieving peaceful coexist tense between the israeli and palestinian people. our failure to act damages the authority, credibility, and reputation of the united states, not to mention our foreign policy and security interests. in my view it underminesecurity which is increasingly isolated in the international community. opposition to the disproportionate use of force in our own country. so, too, regrettably is the rise

of anti-semitism which we must always condemn and islam phobia likewise which we must always condemn. it has been said many times before u.s. aid is not a blank government, it has for many years across democratic and republican administrations been a blank check. it's long past time for the united states to stop supporting by commission and omission, actions that are inconsistent with our principles and our policies which make peace between israelis and palestinians e illusive, ever more difficult to achieve. thank you, mr. president. i yield back.

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. reed: thank you, mr. president. i rise in support of tonight's vote to move forward with the nomination of mr. ronald to be assistant secretary of defense for man power and reserve affairs. i need not remind my colleagues with the instability throughout the world right now how critical it is to ensure that strong civilian leadership is in place across the department and the military services. as the commissioner of the national defense strategy concluded, the implementation

the national defense strategy must feature empowered civilians fulfilling their statutory responsibilities, particularly issues of forced management. strong civilian oversight is the essential hallmark of u.s. civil military relations codified in the constitution and embraced throughout the nation's history. mr. keohane was reported out of the committee not once but twice. the first time on march 23, 2023, and then again this congress on february 8, 2024. both times he was reported out g to be recorded as a no. to my knowledge, no one has raised any objections to h qualifications. the assistant secretary of defense for manpower and reserve affairs is the principal adviser

te and the under secretary of defense personnel and readiness on all matters relating to civilian and military personnel policies, reserve integration, military community and family policy, and total force planning and additionally, the assistant secretary exercises day-to-day supervision of the department of defense education activity the defense commissary agency and provides oversight of the armed forces retirement homes. confirming mr. keohane is critical. the military's greatest asset is its people and filling this leadership void w help the department navigate the challenges with managing the total force, military and civilian work forces, to feefld the most lethal military in the world, especially considering unprecedented recruiting challenges at the moment.

mr. keohane is being held not by reason of his qualifications which are extensive but/■ becau of the position for which he's been nominated has oversight over some matters that few of my republican colleagues find objectionable. mr. keohane has previously served in the department of defense and other federal agencies making him eminently qualified for this position. notably, he previously served as the deputy assistant secretary of defense, military community and family policy, in the obama administration where he was awarded the defense medal for exceptioservice. i urge my colleagues to vote yes to move this well-■ywall identified individual with extensive experience, to move this nomination forward so we can do more to assist our men and women in the field by

providing the kind of policy and direction that an experienced and already recognized talented individual can lend to the department of defense. and with that, mr. president, i would yield the floor. i would also note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the clerk: ms. baldwin. ■0 ■!

quorum call:

the presiding officer: the senator from -- oh, the senate is in a quorum call. that the q vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. the senator from idaho. the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: 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 518, ronald t. keohane of new york to be an assistant secretary of defense, signed by 17 senators.

the presiding officer: by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived.ione of the senate that debate on the nomination of ronald t. keohane of new york to be an assistant secretary of defense shall be brought to a close. the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. the clerk will call the roll. vote: the clerk: ms. baldwin. mr. barrasso. mr. bennet. mrs. blackburn. mr. blumenthal. mr. booker. mr. boozman. mr. braun. mrs. britt. mr. brown. mr. budd. ms. butler. ms. cantwell. mrs. capito. mr. cardin. mr. carper. mr. casey. mr. cassidy. ms. collins. mr. coons. mr. cornyn. ms. cortez masto. mr. cotton.

mr. cramer. the clerk: mr. crapo. mr. cruz. mr. daines. ms. duckworth. mr. durbin. ms. ernst. mr. fe mrs. fischer. mrs. gillibrand.

mr. graham. mr. grassley. mr. hagerty.■ the clerk: ms. hassan. mr. hawley. mr. heinrich. mr. hickenloer ms. hirono. mr. hoeven.

mrs. hyde-smith. mr. johnson. the clerk: mr. kaine. mr. kelly.o mr. kennedy. mr. king. ms. klobuchar. mr. lankford. mr. lee. mr. lujan. ms. mmis. mr. manchin. mr. markey. mr. marshall.

mr. mcconnell. mr. menendez. mr. merkley. mr. moran. mr. mullin. ms. murkowski. mr. murphy. mrs. murray. mr. ossoff. the clerk: mr. padilla. mr. paul. mr. peters. mr. reed. mr. ricketts. mr. risch. mr. romney.

ms. rosen. mr. rounds. mr. rubio. mr. sanders. mr. schatz. mr. schmitt. mr. schumer. mr. scott of south carolina. mrs. shaheen. ms. sinema. ms. smith. ms. stabenow. mr. sullivan. the clerk: mr. tester.

mr. thune. mr. tillis. mr. tuberville. mr. van hollen. mr. vance. mr. warner. mr. warnock. ms. warren. mr. welch. mr. whitehouse. mr. wicker. mr. wyden. mr. young. ,f

vote:

the presiding officer: senators voting in the affirmative -- cardin, coons, cotton, duckworth, kaine, manchin, markey, menendez, reed, ricketts, shaheen, sinema, tester, warner, welch. senators voting in the negative -- crapo, grassley, kennedy, mullin, rubio, scott of florida, vance. the clerk: mr. merkley, aye. mr. heinrich, aye.

mr. casey, aye. mr. cantwell, aye.n ms. cantwell. aye. the clerk: mr. tuberville, no.

the clerk: mr. carper, aye.

the clerk: mrs. blackburn, no.

the clerk: mrs. gillibrand, aye.

the clerk: mr. tillis, no. mr. schatz, aye. mr. graham, aye.

the clerk: mr. cornyn, aye.fisc. ms. butler, aye. the clerk: mr. daines, no.

the clerk: mr. van hollen, aye. the clerk: mr. thune, no.

the clerk: ms. cortez masto, aye. mr. durbin, aye. mrs. murray, aye. mr. no. mr. johnson, no. mr. lee, no. ms. baldwin, aye.

ms. hirono, aye. the clerk: ms. ■dwarren, aye. mr. murphy, aye.

the clerk: mrs. capito, aye. mr. scott of south carolina, nob the clerk: ms. stabenow, aye.

mr. hagerty, no. mr. blumenthal, aye. ms. ernst, aye. mr. hickenlooper, aye.

the clerk: mr. wyden, aye. ms. klobuchar, aye. mr. cramer, aye. mr. peters, aye.

the clerk: mr. marshall, no.■ñ mr. budd, no. mr. paul, no. mr. lankford, no.■>

the clerk: mr. warnock, aye.

the clerk: mr. hawley, no. mr. king, aye. mr.■ schmitt, no. the clerk: mr. padilla, aye.qx■r

the clerk: mr. schumer, aye.

the clerk: mr. brown, aye.

the clerk: mr. boozman, aye. ms. collins, aye.

the clerk: ms. smith, aye. the clerk: mr. kelly, aye.

the clerk: mr. ossoff, aye. ms. lummis, no. mr. barrasso, no o -- no.

the clerk: mr. cassidy, no.÷

vote:

th the clerk: ms. rosen, aye.

mr. lujan, aye. the clerk: mr. young, aye.

the clerk: mr. mcconnell, aye. 0

the clerk: ms. hassan, aye.

the clerk: mr. sullivan, no.

the clerk: mr. whitehouse, aye. mr. braun, no.

the clerk: ms. murkowski, aye.

the clerk: mr. cruz, no.

vote: ■m ■t

the clerk: mr. bennet, aye. ■s

the clerk: mr. fetterman, aye.

the clerk: mr.booker, aye. ul

vote the yeas are 65, the nays are 29. the motion is agreed to.

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota. ms. klobuchar: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i'm here■ú to ta about a provision in the appropriations bills that were un yesterday. i thank my colleagues for their work on these bills. it's been incredible, and the bipartisan effort in the senate and the house, and i know how tough these negotiations can be. and there are so many good things in it that i'm sure i'll be talking about myself over the weeks. but i want to focus on that i hope we can still clarify and change. i don't think it was the outcome that people thought when they voted on the for a year ago on something.

this sort of seemingly technica this appropriations bill on our antifrustrate division of the department of justice basically upends the work that senator grassley and i have done, and many others joining us, to the think it is over 20 years. and we worked very hard on this over a five-year period, got buy-in from the judiciary committee. we worked with senator lee and had afuj amendment that got significant support in this body, well over 80 votes, that focused on senator lee's venue amendment that lee and i had to make sure that cases in the tec arena stayed in the states, antitrust cases stayed in the states where they were brought.

and then, secondly, that we actually funded a division that has been underfunded by many measures with lust employees -- 300-plus employees less than they had in 1979 and that is the antitrust divio it may not be the first thing on everyone's mind but if you're someone wondering why does something cost so much or whye got to look at the consolidation going on in this country. if you wonder why do i have to pay this much for a concert ticket, you might want to look at the fact that ticket masters got a 90% monopoly on big event pro-sports events, and a 70% monopoly on all so it's an issue that matters to people. and this chamber, unfortunately -- i see senator

kennedy here who worked with me news organizations and the monopoly tech companies. we have many good ideas here, some of which, including the bill i have with senator kennedy, that have come through the judiciary committee, but we haven't been able to get the political support on both sides of the aisle t pass these bills. so that leaves us with one shining light when it comes to consolidation, and that's the work that's been going on in bringing theseses. and for the tech cases, could i say, several of them were initiated during the trump administration's justice department and have continued into the biden administration's justice department. but to do that, to take on the biggest companies t world has ever known, to take on google with a 90% market share, you have to have resources. you can't hav$é■xe a justice department antifrustrate division that has, say, one-fourth, one-third of the

staff of just one of thesework, guess what? they know it. so that is why senator grassley and i put together this merger fee bill. and today he and i are sending letter to the appropriations committee leaders asking them to take out some of this language that actually upends the bill that we passed in this chamber. it wasn't one of those things tucked in a bill. we had to have an amendment vote in this chamber and 80 of our colleagues voted on it. and now it's being implemented. we have less money that they have to pay for smaller mergers, which a lot of companies like. and bigger fees for mergers. let's say it's a drop in the we've seen about $46 million more come in, and somehow through the magical

appropriations committee process, that money has now vanished. i have faith that the people in the appropriations committee did not mean to upend an act of congress and take t away from the antitrust enforcers. so this is what i came here to talk about today. monopoly companies are starting reign over our economic and family lives, particularly in the tech area. and of course we have passed no updated competition laws since the invention of the internet, while other countries of course have. other countries, including, as i see senator this in the area of news organizations, singapore just passed a law. canada has passed a law. australia has passed a law. hundreds of millions of dollars is being used to pay for news consent. released are in direct contradiction of the work

that was done in this chamber. the bipartisan merger fee modernization act passed 15 months ago. it passed in the senate on an 88-8 vote, and then the bill passed the full senate, the other provisions included unrelated to this vote of 28-69. the congressional budget office found this would generate $1.4 billion in revenue split between the ftc and the department of justice that is $140 million in fee collections per year. for 2024, the cbo estimated that the department of justice antitrust division would earn $278 million, an increase of $88 million from a year prior. yet the budget released this

ye $228 million, that is an estimated $45 million in fees diverted away from antitrust enforcers. but that's not all. the appropriation reverses decades of precedent. 25 years itd the overage of fees would go to the antitrust division. it they generate the fees, then they get to have those fees to help hire the lawyers to take on the big companies. that's how it's always worked. one pen and they changed it. we wer'thead of time.we worked with them after some language came out in july, unbeknownst to us they took the moneynd ran. they took the money and put it in other parts of the government budget. this appropriation, as i said, revs. how this has been done. so let's just get this straight. senator grassley and i changed the law with 88 votes to get

more moneynt that division, and instead going forward they're not going to get any of the money. so it almost makes it ridiculous that we tried to help by passing the law because if we hadn't done anything then maybe no one would have noticed it and the appropriations committee wouldn't have taken the money. when congress acts to increase merger fees or makes a policy decision, i think the appropriations committee's job is to follow that policy -- there is an increase, but enforcers at the doj get to see only $13 million of that increase with no opportunity to collect more fees if merger and acquisition exceeds what appropriators predict. on top of this, unlikeyears, itd the antitrust division nonfee

work, like monopolization cases, last year $35 million was given to fund the efforts. this year they gave zero. this may put the antitrust division in the position of deciding of whether to block an anticompetitive merger or serve an anticompetitive monopolist. they should have the resources to do both. they actually bring money into the government. ind the difficult choices that appropriation and members face every year, there are always tradeoffs in budgeting. i have been told the reduction in the appropriations was driven by lower than expected fee collections in the first quarter, but it doesn't justify diverting these away from the antitrust division if that purported shortfall is made up later in the year. as currently traftd, the antitrust division will not have the resources to do its job if merger activity increases later this year as we he already

observed during the second quarter. this is not an appropriations decision, it is a policy against antitrust enforce undermines a bipartisan law. the clear intent of our legislation that received 88 votes out of u.s. senate, actual votes, was to provide antitrust enforcers with more resources. no one, when voting for this bill, believed the goal was to pay for anything but increased antitrust enforcement. it says it right i the preampble to the bill, it is to promote antitrust enforcent protect competition and increasing enforcement resources. the administration said the law would, quote, support its critical mission, end quote, and to, quote, enforce the antitrust laws to combat the excessiveind

abuses of market power and the harmful effects of monopoly and senator grassley said, and i'm so pleased he joined me in a letter, said, please,lethis, yo when you did it, you have a lot going on, you try to make compromises. get . but it is one thing when you have -- it's another to take the fees that we as a chamber decided to gourpose and then decide that, well, we're going to take away their merger fees that they generated. grassley said this, it is important that these government agencies have the resources needed to protect consumers and taxpayers. i'm proud to coauthor this bipartisan bill which will pr the fee schedules for proposed mergers and strengthen the ability of these agencies to challenge tra

now is not the time to it kneecap the ability to enforce our antitrust laws. over 75% of u.s. industries have become more concentrated since the late 1990's. ■3 since 2008, american farms have engaged in more than $10 trillion in acquisitions, that's trillion with a t and the five most powerful tech companies have combined 500 acquisition companies. some sf that is great. some of that is good. we all know when you have google with the market share of 90% in the search market and you have these companies are putting their own products at the top of the search engine and pushing down small businesses, which is from the federation of independent businesses have made it another priority to put some rules of the road in seeing an

we're not just seeing it in tech. we are seeing it in everything from agriculture to ticketing, from cat food to caskets. this is why the administration put forward the executive order, this is why we repeatedly seen something about know noplys -- monopolies, as adam smith, the godfather of capitalism, someone who influenced our founding fathers, he said beware the unbridled power of monopolies. today antitrust enforcers, the cops on the beat are being asked to do more with way too little. between 2008 and 2020, the economy grew twice as fast as antitrust appropriations increased. for example, in 2010, the antitrust division received $163 million. in 2020 the number had increased merger filings

increased 80%, with 3,152 reportable mergers in 2022 alone, in the fall of 2022, the employees than it did in 1979. r think about the power that we see out there with these companies. do we not playing field for sma businesses and some rules of the road. that is why some of my most conservative colleagues have joined me and some of our liberal kcolleagues and some people in the middle saying we need some r. if we're not going to do that let antitrust enforcers do their job. it's no wonder we have the competition don't have enough resources to take on multibillion }dollar, much less multitrillion-dollar companies.

monopolies are spending millions to hold on to their power. last congress i got to see how big tech companies are willing to fight to maintain theirdom -- dominance. i look at the platforms, i have an i spoken, i -- iphone. i get it, you can have strong companies and make sure that we have competition in these areas. after an unprecedented lobbying effort by the dominant platforms,: critical/c■n antitr bills did not get a vote on the senate floor, including ones that had come through the judiciary committee. it was reported that -f more th $120 million in advertising against these bills and $90 million on lobbying over an 18-month period. that's more than $200 million really on one bill, the bill that senator grassley and i have, not the merger fee bill w

supported until it was upended mysteriously this week, but on our other bill about self-pr self-preferencing. while that one sector spent that much, one sector of our competent on one bill, the appropriators took $1 million in potential fees and hid themr a federal government. one week last may, a single industry group spent $22 million on tv ads añogainst the legislation i just mentioned, $22 million against one bill in one week on tv in ads all over the country. that's more than four times the amount allocated to the antitrust division per i remember scrolling through the news and seeing internet popup ads that displayed in washington, d.c., from industry groups they would say things like,

senator klobuchar could break google maps, the lawyers make them put in hardly read it. senator klobuchar could destroy facetime. senator klobuchar could break up amazon basics and take away amazon basics. they just put that could in the smallest font possible but the lawyers made them do it because they knew it wasn't true. that is what we are up against. and now but i thought, i know it's hard to get the bills done now, i thought at least the antitrust division has brought very significant actinvolving - actions involving googles dominance with ads. that ist÷ important. the fcc has brought in ad fees against trump --

doesn't look we're going to get anything done here. it takes time, it takes talent and it takes money to even the playing field. for example, the doj's case seeking to break up google's search monopoly started in won' heard until may of this year. and that case only confronts one of the monopolies. the trying these cases while simultaneously reviewing and challenging antitrust mergers. the doj -- anyone that travels knows you want to have choice. you want to be able to look at i'm looking at the pages. they know what i mean. you look and try to find the cheapest air fair you can fi, you can't do that if there are no low-cost carriers and you aren't able to choose. in the last three years the antitrust division protected

consumers by investigating and challenging mergers between penguin and random house, adobe and visas and plaid among others. recent reports indicate that the doj is wrapping up investigations that could lead involving apple, involving live nation ticket master while public information about these potential cases is obviously not out there, it shouldn't be, one thing we absolutely know is that litigating against these companies will take significa resources. that's what this is about. well, i agree -- will i agree with every case theyno? i believe in the principle of competition. i believe in the principle that when the senates takes a vote onon something and decides we're going to put more resources into an agencies generated by merger fees that we designated to go to

that agency, we mean it. a little group in a committee behind closed doors can't change that decision. allowed to change that decision even if they don't like some of the cases that are brought. and next time someone complains a taylor swift ticker or bad bunny ticket and how much it costs and why it was never investigated the■ey thought it should, i guess we'll have to say, well, there was a group of a committee that made a decision even though the whole senate voted to put the funding into a division of the justice to do its job and then a a group of us decided we don't want to do that, we want to take that money and help somebody■c else. it is against and up-i understand the in -- upends the intend of the senate to doing t

underfunded for years and decades. senator grassley knows this. that's why he did the bill with me and we join together in a letter to the appropriators asking them, this can't have been your intent. i don't believe it was their intent to, when we actually passed a law to add funding through these mergers fees, their intent can't have been to say we're going to take away an work and get more fees in, we're going to take away the upside that you always had for 25 years. the budget by 8 million, 10 million, whatever it was? yes. yes, is it a hard budget year to make decisions? it is. but the point is sometimes, like we did with semiconductor chips, or with other things that congress makes a decision through the process, a long, tenuous process, that we're going to take one area of the government and not pudon, o

budget a little bit, but we're going to do a game changing thing.?qthat's why grassley andd on it so long. we were tired of the 3 million, 4 million to hire the lawyers and still be one fourth the size of the legal department. we were tired of 350 less employees this that division than in 1979. we made a decision as the senate to vote for that and do that. i don't think we should be upending tha i got involved in this a long time ago in the private sector. i represented mci, i did a lot of work in telcom and saw what happened when you got competition. when you actually took apart a mon op limit what happened? long distance rates w down. we had burgeoning cell phone industry that before that was like the cell phones were the size of a gordon g movie "wall .

they were like a brick. competition brought us that. capitalism brought us ■hthat. capitalism in america has always had the guardrails around it, which is antitrust enforcement, as unsexy as it sounds. it made a difference there this country and is one of the reasons we have this economy that can thrive. wee got too make sure there's competition. we can't do that here anymore. the senate is not going to start deciding to break up this or that. our antitrust enforcers do it. our antitrust enforcers say hey, you have got to divest these areas of the country where you too you companies that want to merge will become one and you will be the only game in town. incredibly complex.work for it isn't always maybe a sympathetic case to make for having lawyers so they can take

companies, but it is a sympathetic case to make that we have too much consolidation and we have to bring prices down, that you shouldn't have to pay all this money for concert tickets and fees. that you shouldn't hav with so consolidation in the grocery area, or agriculture. that's what the antitrust division does. i'm hopeful. imurray, such an incredible leader on the floor, i am hopeful we'll be able to do something, a technicalchange, either this week or we have another bill next week, to at least bring back this part of the bill to the original int thank you, and i yield the floor. mrs. murray: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent to print and include in the "congressional record" of the appropriate place the joint explanatory statement to accompany h.r. 4366, the consolidated appropriations act

2024 with the technical and conforming edits made in the copy at the desk, including the removal of a houseject and senate project, both at the request of members. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. murray:sc mrs. murray: i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today it stand adjourned until 10:00 a.m., wednesday, march 6. i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its mrs. murray:postcloture, further all time be considered expired at 11:30 a.m. and following the cloture vote on the marvit qonomination,

nomination the senate recess until 2:15 p.m. for the weekly caucus meetings. that at 2:15 p.m., if cloture has been invoked on the marvit nomination, the senate vote on confirmation of the nomination, and that if cloture is invoked on the harris nomination, all time be considered expired at 5:45 p.m. finally, that if any are confirmed during wednesday's session the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the president be immediately notified of the senate's the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. murray: if there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it stand adjourned under following the remarks of senator kennedy. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. kennedy: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from ■%louisiana. mr. kennedy: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i'd like to begin with a quotation. let me tell you something, new new yorkers. never in my life have i had a problem that i did not see an

ending to. but i don't see an ending to this. this issue will destroy new york city. this destroy new york city. that's new york mayor eric adpresident. he was responding to the crisis at our border. mayor adams is the mayor of our country's largest city. now, new york city is 2,000 miles from eagle pass, texas, but the breathtaking -- l immigrants into our country and the secretary of homeland security 's refusal to detain or deport them has brought new york

city to its knees. to its knees. mayor adams now knows what secrety alejandro mayorkas won't admit. when reality calls, you can onl. secretary mayorkas' actions have had consequences, and time's up. time's up. i'm only going to say a brief word about the open bleeding wound that is our southern bo border, which has been wide to unknown people, to criminals, to cartels, and yes, to

terrorists. number one, i know you know, mr. president, that fentanyl is now the number one killer of americ ages of 18 and 45, and that fentanyl is coming across our open southern bord two, we know that under secretary mayorkas' watch, human traffickers have built a $13 billion, not $13 million, $13 billion business trafficking human beings across our border. number three, we also know that roughly 450,000 children, unaccompanied, have shown up at the border. and most of them have been released into our country. many of them, we don't know how

many, many of them have ended u dangerous, evil people. and finally, ast we can tell, since president biden has been president and secretary mayorkas has been secretary of the department of homeland security, we have had 8.6 million people, 8.6 million people come into our country ille illegally. that's four nebraskas. that's four nebraskas. and we don't have the slightest idea who they are. now, the united states house of representativesestigated this crisis, and it has found

that some of the blame for this crisis lies with secretary mayorkas. and the united states house of representatives has impeached secretary mayorkas for it. in its first article of allege that secretary mayorkas has, quote, willfully and syst systematically refused to comply with federal immigration law. the house says that secretary mayorkas has refused to detain some illegalh= immigrants, as t law requires him to do, and has instead embraced his own catch-and-release scheme in which he has released huge numbers. i think anyuld call 8.6 million huge.

huge numbers of illegal immigrants into the united states. the house says that secretary mayorkas has refused to follow unambiguous and clear federal laws that require him ton illegal immigrants who are subject to deportation for engaging in crimilrrorism-relat. the house says that secretary mayorkas has failed to make pa determinations, which the law clearly requires, clearly, and instead he has, on his own, he has paroled millions of illegally into the united states en masse. in its second article of alleg that secretary mayorkas has

breached the public trust in two respects -- by knowingly making false statements to congress that the border is, quote, secure and that the department ofomeland security has, quote, operational control of the border, and by failing to comply with subpoenas issued by congress nal committees speaking to -- congressional committees seeking to exercise oversight over dhs activities. any fair minded person can see that these are serious they dem. let me say that again, mr. president. they demand a full trial. the senate must let the house present its case, and then we must do our job and give that case careful consideration.

if the dismisses these charges without a trial, as if it's just a being fixed by some politician, it will be the first time, the ver in the senate's long history that it has dismissed impeachment charges against an offial jurisdiction over, without that official first resigning. the very first time. mr. president, the house of representatives of the united states congress has voted to impeach 21 21 times in the his this country. the senate has only dismissed those casestimes. three times. and two of the cases that the senate dismissed, the impea chod

of facing a trial in the senate. as a result, the senate dismissed the charges. secretary mayorkas has not res resigned. inne of those cases, the last remaining case, the impeached official was a united states senator. perhaps some remember it. and theoncluded that the constitution did not give it jurisdiction to remove a u.s. senator through its impeachment process. now, in this case everyone agrees the power gives congress the power to impeach a cabinet secretary. i repeat, the united states senate cannot and should not turn a deaf ear to the

democratically elected members of the united states house of representatives by dismissing their charges against secretary mayorkas without a full and fair trial. precedent demands a trial, mr. president. respect for the house of representatives demands a trial, mr. president. respect for the president, dema. and the american people demand a trial. and they deserve it. the united states senate should do its job. mr. prest, the presiding officer: under the previous order, the senate stands adjou■

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>> two years ago democracy faced the war and today it unbroken.