joint resolution providing for the issuance of a committee to establishing related procedures concerning the articles of impeachment against alejandro nicholas mayorkas. joint resolution to provide for related procedures concerning thert impeachment against alejandro nicholas mayorkas, secretary of homeland security. mr. schumer: i ask for a second reading and i object to my en b the presiding officer: objection is heard. the joint resolutions will be read for the second time on the next legislative day. mr. schumer: mr. president, i ask unanim■ desk appear separately in the record as if made by the chair. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding the upcoming adjournment of the senate, the president of the senate, the president pro tem and the majority and minority leaders be authorized appointments to commissions,

authorized by law by concurrent of by order of the senate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: finally, i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it adjourn to then convene for pro forma sessions with no business conducted on the following dates and t adjou the next pro forma session, toouz march 26, thursday march 28, monday, april 1, thursday, april 4, further, that when the senate adjourns on thursday april 4, tr stand adjourned until 3:00 p.m. on monday, april 8, that on mon, followinghe prayer and pledge, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and that the senate resume to consideration of thebazis nomination, further, that the

cloture motions filed during today's session ripen at 5:30 p.m. on monday. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: if there it is no further business to come before order. ate, i ask that it stand the presiding officer: the senate stands a the times especially these past few months have been anything but normal. people value strength9= talk soi will put it to you straight. we've had a rough couple of months. time again.n tested time and

we have some pretty serious stuff to talk about. in late october a gunman took the lives of 18 innocent civilian citizens from ages 14 to 76 and injured many more physically and act ofenss and unconscionable violence that demonstrated. the worst mass shooting in history and tenth worst in the nation's history then in december another traumatic event

hit and heavy rain and powerful wind massive flooding and destroyed roads and bridges into four people lost their lives. and iné

in the future of our state and ability to prepare for and overcome whatever challenges the future has in store. what gives me such optimism in the face of such hardship look no further than the simple acts inn and generosity demonstrated by people in the wake of these recent storms when the dairy barn was destroyed by powerful

wind, his calls to safety and s. when the fishing boats ran aground at the height of the■) s twice in the middle of the night to people on board and when the storms threatened to toss the boatyard into the sea, the fixture that has withstood the storms 1855, this whole community stepped up to save it, young and old, friends and family and when it receded, there stood the strong and tall owner that said

it worked because the whole town turned out for us. that's what people do. we take care of each other. we roll up our sleeves and rebuild. with help from the federal government and the supportf legy and great that are the hallmarks, we will rebuild stronger than ever like other states feeling t brunt of weather events maine is not safe from climate change. we know more storms will come and make no mistake about it, it is climate change causing storms to be more frequent, more winters of yesterday because

when we burn fossilh" fuels, we expel into the atmosphere and the gases envelop our truck moisture that melt glaciers and raise sea levels and increase global temperatures. scientists know this and meteorologist snow this. farmers, fishermen, foresters,

our sportsmen, our kids. we all know this now. it will address climate change by investing in clean energy and whether arising homes and businesses and expanding the states network and advancing cleaner more efficient technologies while also creating good paying jobs and informative by the main counsel where science, citizens, business leaders in the ste local officials we lead the nation in many of these respects. in fact we have received the original goal of installing the

heat pumps and set a new ambitious g

we are seeing significant capital investments in the state that are creating new jobs and businesses. we have the fastest economy in all of new england have taken

part in this voluntary program and we rewarded more than $6 million to them. a city that was hard-hit by the recent storms as you know recognized that its waterfront years in a seawall order deteriorating and need of repairs even before the storm. these resiliency funds used not only to plan for result to make improvements to public spaces and infrastructure. that gives a clear path to obtaining other available funds and to protecting and strengthening its downtown

waterfront. thiss ior the front lines of climate change and the recent storms underscore the importance of fortifying them in the longity e partnership to allow cities, towns and governments to identify the vulnerabilities of extreme weather events and to be ready for the next storm, the next flood, the next washout, the next threat to the and home. let's give them the tools to continue this desperately needed work and let's turn those plans into actions. in 2021 we created the infrastructure adaptation fund that provides grants to municipalities, tribal governments and others to improve infrastructure that is vulnerable to■n flooding and rising sea levels and other evee

of upgrades that will withstand the kind of storms we are seeing now. for example, in kennebunkport the town is using a grant and utilities it and to prevent road closures, reduce disruption from commercial fishermen and the need for costly repairs. replacing stormwater with those that would handle more water to reduce the risk of flooding and property damage.

these are commonsense projects that will strengthen the resiliency in the long run and tonight i propose that we bolster this infrastructure fund with $50 million from the record high rainy day fund t remain and rebuild infrastructure, working waterfronts, stormwater systems make them tough enough to withstand the impact and climate change. essentially i'm talking about taking from the rny day fund to respond to the rainy days we've had some pretty rainy days ahead. [applause]

as soon a sweep as the supplemental budget and we get contractors and fishermen and towns to get things up and running back again before the height of fishing season, it's urgent and as we recover and rebuild from past storms as we prepare for those to come, so will we recover and prepare from those shocking events that have threatened our personal security, our community safety, the very character of the state. it's time to have a conversation about violence, violence in the media that pervades our

subconscious. violence in homes, streets, towns and schools, violence inh america, violence abroad, violence that has been all too common and wrong way to resolve differences. violence that we know all too well this past year on a scale previously unknown us. on monday october 203rd, we boasted that we were the fest state in the nation with the lowest violent crime rate in the country according to the fbi. we relished the brand that attracts people to the state along with the

national beauty and community un other parts of the country.■b eg changed. recreation doing what many people do all the time, bowling with their kids enjoying a cold beer after work spending time with family friends. those people had their lives

shattered by. eighteen people lost their lives to a senseless act of violence and many others injured. the tens ofhoe for several days. restaurants, shops, retailers, public buildings college students locked themselves in libraries and dorms and classrooms. the streets emptied and silence. but those moments of darkness were punctuated by great heroism. they each rushed the shooter in

an attempt to stop him and lost their lives. [applause] or when he ushered a group of children out the back door of that bowling alley getting shot himself. or someone still

far go reeling from theoss in their own moment of grief to ensure that crucial information was delivered to those that are deaf and hard of hearing. and so many more. [applause] ■0

he was the state champion in 2022. [applause] tonight we acknowledge all of them, recognizing their heroism and that of their loved ones and honoring the memory of those we lost. please know people are standing side, offering what comfort we can in a moment of immeasurable pain, that we know that the pain and the hardship of the strategy will last a lifetime. and the recnition to create a fund is similar to the one created in virginia last year to cover the medical needs, the

health needs of those injured last october long into the future. i propose that we capitalize it within an initial investment of $5 million. we know the road to healing will be long, but we will help you walk. [applause] some may prefer to consider the shooting an aberration, the operation, theproduct of one une individual on a rampage that is unlikely to recur.

but many people felt it was unlikely to occur before. it is of littleom children, the wives, the partners and parents who in an instant lost a child, a spouse, a breadwinner, stable of the community and who now facing an uncertain future without them. to all the businesses, schools, shops and homes where a shooter on shelter in place before he ate long hours. while they were simply driving down the highway minding this ay killed his parents and two other people in their home.

it gives no comfort to the families who lost loved ones to the tragedyf suicide, of domestic violence. yes we are different than other states. but violence is here and does exist here in the state of maine and its right to the heart of who we are and everything we hold spirit david capricious place we call home.

it creates a cynical attitude that certain things are inevitable and we can't do anything about it. refuse to gia and refuse to let us stop it from takingyxto action. as some have said it's really just a mental health issue and we need to fix the behavioral health system and the violence will end. certainly there may be people with mental health issues that commit violent crimes. but e with those issues do not commit violent crimes and it would be wrong to stereotype anyone that ha health problems as a potentially violent individual. i've heard others say we shouldn't do anything until the independent commission finishes its work. they are right the findings of the commission may result in

conclusions that n a policy remedy and we will welcome the commission's conclusions when they are ready. about fixing the wall to address a single attack does nothing to anticipate those other acts of violence which we actions preve. actions which might also restore our sense of perso whose time is communities, individuals and the families now suffering immeasurable pain for the sake of our state, doing nothing is not an option. [applause]

throughout my time in office i tried to bring people together, lawmakers and law enforcement, public health to achieve enduring reforms that strengthen public safety and that protect our constitutiona e long-standing outdoor traditions. and you have agreed. together we've enacted laws that allow judges to remove weapons from people under domestic violence orders, to ensure that survivors of domestic violence are notified that the abuser tried to buy a firearm, pe of firearms. incentives for the safe storage of firearms, schools safe and an

extreme protection law that remove weapons from someone that is a danger to themselves or others with appropriate due process protections. these commonsense measures wer a product of discussions, but together we got them done and to me they are the type of pragmatic and responsible solution that we can also achieve this session. in recent months, my office has talked with republican and democratic lawmakers and people with organizations listening to ideas and concerns and trying to develop a balanced approach to this issue. what i heard from folks all across the state as they recognize the problem of gun violence.

they see it in acts of domestic violence, suicide and mass shootings. and each person had ideas about who address the problem and each of those ideas was different. what was not different, what wan overarching belief that violence prevention is mental health system and that dangerous people should not have access to firearms. out of those discussions, tonight i'm announcing that i will be filing legislation to address these three major areas. protections that would honor the rights afforded bytion to safe l gun ownership and that will uphold the states long-standing

heritage. first let's talk about prevention. many states have approached the issue through the broad lens of public health in order to understand and address long-term trends. maine is not one of those stateg to change that. right now data has kept separately and police reports id meca examiner files, vital records, emergency department records those things are not easy to understand and analyze. but tonight i propose we establish a prevention program at the cdc as a central hub to bring together all this information already collected by diverse entities like healthcare, education, social services, criminal justice agencies bringing together the data that will allow us to identify patterns of public

to reduce suicide and homicide in maine. let's do a better job of preventing violence and make maine a safer state. as i m■"entioned earlier, maine was almost unanimous bipartisan support enacted in extreme from an individual determined by a mental health professional to be a risk to themselves or others. law enforcement first must take a person as protective custody at which point they undergo a mental health evaluation and a judge issued a decision on whether to temporarily remove their weapons. it's come under some scrutiny since the shooting which is appropriate. it's always right to question whether they are adequately

serving their intended purpose and whether more if anything can be done to change or strengthen th example, some question the necessity of a mental health assessment, so it only makes the removal of weapons more] difficult. but it protects due process rights and makes it less subject to being struck down as anyone were to challenge it. it's been used 94 times in thesh about once a day since the

shooting. about 15 times more often than it was used two and a half obeft implemented. the law is being used and it is working. it's not to say we shouldn't strengthen the law. access to the services can still be a serious struggle. i want to eand behavioral health services particularly for those in crisis. so i propose that we establish a network of crisis centers across maine so that any person suffering a mental health crisis can get prompt and appropriate care instead of b languishing in an emergency department over jail as is too often the case and i want to ce.

[applause] and we will find it in the forthcoming supplemental budget. my bill will direct the department of health and human services to expand these receiving centers over time into a broad network to provide greater access to services for people. we know they work. my admistration support opened the first center in portland in february, 2022. in 20 months after that, nearly 3,000 people visited the center to get help and resolve a crisis. since then we announced plans to create a hybrid crisis receivin. crisis centers work. let's build on them.

now let's talk about how to keep weapons out of the hands of people that shouldn't hav case a lewiston shooter, law enforcement offices were not able to take them into protective custody to initiate the extreme risk protection law to remove the weapons. whether they could have or should have done something different is a question that is heavily scrutinizedjt. it also reveals a gap that must be addressed. what happens in this circumstance when a law enforcement officer knows where a person is, knows they are in trouble, causing trouble but is not able to take them into protective custody and still believe they pose a likelihood of serious harm to themselves and others. my proposal will close that gap by allowing law enforcement to seek the approval of the judge in unusual circumstances to take

a person that's protected custody and is deemed dangerous by a medical practitioner and judge remove their weapons pending a full court hearing. what about preventing dangerous people from getting a weapon in the first place? i think w can address this. when a person is subject to our extreme risk protection law, their name is entered into a national dab having firearms that includes people subject to a domestic violence order among other things in other words

people we all agree shouldn't of a dangerous weapon. this is a process that w well if the individual attempts to buy a gun and is federally licensed firearms dealer the local gun shop or l.l. bean for example they are the dealers required through the national instant criminal background check system. if that person is in and prohibited a t flags them, the sale was denied but it's not you process that works well and that the same person can walk out of a gun shop and go to the facebook marketplace and buy through privateu■u commercial sales the same weapon they were just denied that they are not legally allowed to have. in universal background checks was

put through the referendum it's whether they wanted to close the so-called private sale loophole. at the time people rejected and that food has framed my approace aftermath of the violence we have seen, i've asked myself whether this approach is still the correct one. i've arrived at the conclusion i don't know how we can all have guns to buy them through a private sale and pose a risk to themselves or the public and i do not know how we can hold commercial sellers to a higher standard while allowing the private commercial sellers to for sale without any restrictions. [applause]■

in my conversations with people i believe they agreed people who can't legally owned guns shouldn't have such easy access to them and i believe the time has come to address the issue of private gun sales so i propose two things. one, that we require any sale of a firearm that is advertised through facebook, craigslist, the gun show or other means require them to be checked against the system used by licensed firearms dealers and in doing so ensure that when a gun is sold through the advertised sale it can't be at sold to someone prohibited from having a firearm. secondly, you are probably wondering what about sales tha d

question and that's when i thought about a these are the kind of transfers that are most often from one family member to another, from one no another. in other words, the type of sale. we have to acknowledge someone could sell a weapon privately and unadvertised without knowing whether they are allowed to own a weapon. so i want to eou make sure if they are selling a firearm to someone they don't know, they should know that person is allowed to own a we co in a way that respects our long-standing tradition of passing down family firearms from one generation to the next or one law-abiding gun owner to

another. now please forgive me in advance. right now it's a crime, a misdemeanor for someone to intentionally or knowingly sell a firearm to someone who's a prohibited person intentionally orr or not you actually know. i don't think that is quite the ghri because the bottom line is you should know and most would want to the law t that. i am proposing that we expand the law and in adding the term recklessly to intentionally or knowingly making it a stronger standard and easier to successfully+a prosecute someone to someone

that's prohibited, not allowed to have a gun and on top of that that we toughen wall to make it a felony, not just a misdemeanor. what does all this man and mean impracca means if you are transg a firearm to a relative or friend you know is allowed to own one, you heworry about, not. the long-standing tradition remains the same. it also means if you are selling to a■ stranger, you should havea licensed firearms dealer to make sure because i'm sorry i just didn't know. it isn't going to fly like it used to and you wouldn't want a felony charge and possible prison time that comes along with it nor the one to make a sale to someone that then goes out and does something terrible. now i know it's quite a bit of

stuff so let me recap. let's strengthen by estabshing an injury and violence prevention program. let's expand our crisis mental he system and keep weapons out of the hands of people by strengthening the extreme risk protection law and by requiring those that advertise for sale check the system and by toughening the law that already makes■,9gt illegal to transfer a firearm to a prohibited person. prevention, mental health, keeping weapons away from danger that's what my proposal boils down to. i recognize that on the one hand this legislation may be too little to those that believe that more is needed while on the other hand it may be too much to those that believe the opposite. violence is problem. and the remedy is not a simple

single measure into these proposals i believe represent progress and they do not trample on anybody's rights. they are practical, commonsense measures. they are not extreme or unusual. they are not a cookie-cutter version of some other state law. they are true to the cultured and long-standing traditions while meeting today's needs. if you are a law-abiding citizen, you have nothing to fear. if you arearms in maine you have nothing to fear. if you like to hunt deer, bear, duck, pheasants, coyotes, you have nothing to fear. and if you are a 14-year-old boy bowling with your dad on a weeknight, you should have nothing to fearm:.

if you are a 35-year-old father of two that got his bachelor's degree out from a bite to eat with friends you should have nothing tohe past few months, ie been to too many funerals expressing of too many lost too

soon and upset with myself and my own conscience reflecting upon what is right to remain in the wake of lewiston and the tragedy of the suicide and domestic violence that are all too prevalent in our society. reflecting on not only what you may think is right or best, what those that disagree believe is best as well. the issue of guns i often marred with acrimony and divisiveness to polarize peopler uncharitable opinions of one another and widening a great

divide that only seeks to immobilize and obscure reasonable solutions. let us not lose our way and the rhetoric that too much th company is the debates. let us have respectful vigorous discussions. it's worth doing for the victims of today and the vulnerable of■p tomorrow. it's worth doing for peyton mcf, joe walker, max hathaway, thomas ryan conrad, michael delorean

the second, jason walker, tr william young, bob violet, lucy violet, billy bracket. for cynthia and david for the people that took their own lives into those who were killed by an abuser for the family and friends who now have to live with an unimaginable that comes to violence and those that survive the violence but those■" that can never fully heal.

as i close, i cannot escape the troubling fact that violence has become all too common in our culture. acts of brutality, anger, glorified and normalized in video games, tv shows, films and social media. a bitter and angry towards one another, acts that are part of a culture that too often promotes violence as a way to address but never really resolved differences. as a society, we've got to consider how we can reject the vitriol that consumes us and how we can tune out the rhetoric and recognize the humanity and dignity of others and lead with grace, compassion and

understanding in our own private and public lives. we can't legislate off of this. instead i think the true our he. and the lessons we in part to our childre and our daily interactions with each other, in our spiritual faith and people who despite many differencese we know, we walk the same roof, breathe the same air striving for purpose, happiness, the chance to love and be loved and perhaps to make a small positive difference in our short time on this earth. my friends, we cannot this month, this spring alone heal

every damaged heart or broken life and protect nor can we prepare every broken bridge and replace. neither will we let it define us and to believe in e other every day we are still a civil, safe and welcoming state with a backbone strong. we are who we always have been. he people with a deep and abiding sense of right and wrong determined to look out for one anotherucky we are to live in this beautiful state.

so we willepr this violence on our communal soul just as we rebuild withohesive will and consciousness in the future and the states with unpredictable storms and unpredictability of climate change with of the security and principles of the golden rule, protecting others as we would protect ourselves and in the end the nation and fundamentally we would continue to look within ourselves and to each other for the confidence, courage and compassion to face theuture to whether things we've never done before and defeat the dangers of today and prevent the disasters of

tomorrow as we replenish our souls aenew our indomitable sense of hope. one people made up of m broad vision to be the best we can. i know that we can because we are, all of us the people in the great state of maine and the state of our people is good is strong and as always is a privilege to serve as your governor. thyoé■.

this is 45 minutes. [applause]