the debt. they're always talk about how much america owes, but yet america spends all this money to fund migrants. all this money in foreign aid. when it comes to reparations for black americans, all of a sudden they can't affordr it. how is it that americans all this money to foreign aid which is billions, and all this money to fund elon musk, you know? and yet they're complaining about debt. it seems to me if you are in debt you are not really come you don't have all this money to just spend to go about. please answer that. and don't gloss over it. >> host: debt, foreign aid. >> guest: into question we're all the time on capitol hill. certainly from oftentimes a lot of house republicans say we are $34 trillion in debt, why are we spending all this money abroad? that's an argument that is been

fenced by marjorie taylor greene frequently in the context of ukraine in israel funding. so that's an argument we have heard before. i think supporters would say it's a national security imperative, and that's why the u.s. continues to fund and support a lot of these efforts abroad -- >> we will leave this to take you live to capitol hill where the senate is about to gavel in. today lawmakers consider the nomination of a u.s. district court judge for nebraska. 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.

precious lord, we praise you with all our hearts because even when wrong seems to rule, you remain sovereign. you are our strength for today and our hope for tomorrow. as our lawmakers open their hearts to you, may they sense that your presence is as pervasive in statecraft as in religion. illuminate their finite minds with your eternal light, giving them wisdom beyond their own. lord, remind our senators that some problems you will not solve

until they are ready to be used by you in working out the solutions. we pray in your awesome name. amen. the presiding officer: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to our 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 all. the presiding officer: the clerk will read a communication to the senate. the clerk: washington, d.c., april 8, 2024.

to the senate: under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable tammy duckworth, a senator from the state of illinois, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: patty murray, president pro tempore. mr. schumer: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: i understand there are three joint resolutions due for be a second reading en bloc. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the title of the joint resolution for the second time en bloc. the clerk: s.j. res. 67, joint resolution to provide for related procedures concerning the articles of impeachment against alejandro nicholas mayorkas. s.j. res. 68 an issuance of a summons for a committee to receive and report evidence and establishing related procedures

concerning the articles of impeachment against alejandro nicholas mayorkas. s.j. res. 69, joint resolution to provide for related procedures concerning the articles of impeachment against alejandro nicholas mayorkas, second of homeland security. mr. schumer: madam president, in order to place the joint resolutions on the calendar under the provisions of rule 14, i would object to further proceeding en bloc. the presiding officer: objection having been heard, the joint resolution will be placed on the calendar. mr. schumer: now, madam president, as the senate gavels back into session today to pick up right where we left off in march confirming more of president biden's outstanding nominees and advancing legislation that protects and serves the american people. there is much the senate has to accomplish in the coming weeks and getting anything done, anything will require bipartisan cooperation. it's not easy, but nevertheless

essential. today the senate will commence by voting to invoke cloture on the nomination of susan bazis to be u.s. district judge for the district of nebraska, i have filed cloture motions for robert white and the nomination of an ma ri mciff allen to be united states district judge for the district of utah. congress has until april 19 to pass our next legislation. preventing foisa will take swif action. the house is currently working on the best passed forward on fisa and the senate stands ready to jump into action to prevent this security authority from lapsing, we must get fisa done this work period. i also urged speaker johnson and house republicans to snap out of their paralysis and pass the

senate's security supplemental. the situation in ukraine is desperate. speaker johnson has sat on his hands for 55 days as the national security supplemental has collected dust in the house. that's 55 days of america standing on the sidelines while our friends in ukraine fight and die on the battlefield with no support. 55 days of our european allies wondering when the u.s. will step up. with each passing day, ukraine continues to run out of more ammo, continues to run out of soldiers and continues to run out of hope that can expel the russians from their borders. the biggest ukraine is losing the war is because the hard right has paralyzed the united states from acting. that's it. that's the reason. speaker johnson has to decide for himself whether or not if he will do the right thing for ukraine, americas, or democracy,

or if he will allow vladimir putin to be handed a large victory. i'm certain if the supplemental gets to the floor it will pass. it is the best way to get ukraine the help it needs. there is a lot the senate must do in the coming weeks and months and to get anything done will require bipartisan cooperation. i thank my colleagues for their good work so far in 2024 and look forward to working with all of them to keep delivering for the american people. now on capital one and discover. nearly two months ago capital one and discovers announced plans for an unprecedented multi-million dollar merger that could risk higher costs for consumers and small businesses alike. capital one and discover are two of the largest credit card issuing institutions in america. if they merge, it will likely become the largest credit card

issuer in the united states. that could risk higher interest rates, bigger fees, diminished competition. even so most americans today have no idea this merger is coming. so yesterday i sent a letter to both -- to both capital one and discover asking that they share more with antitrust and consumer protections, i want to know about market shares. we've had plenty of of consolidation throughout the economy. i want to know about an increase in fees, and if workers will be laid off and if consumers are being made aware of this deal. one thing is certain about credit card companies, much of their bread and butter are fees and interest rates. that's why the merger of capital one and -- history is clear when big financial institutions get bigger, the american consumer usually gets the short end of

the stick. before a credit card merger takes a potential swipe at consumers, every question should be answered. now on student loan debt. since the day the president took office, i urged him to use every tool available to cancel as much student loan debt as possible. yesterday, president biden, to his credit, will provide student debt relief to nearly 30 million more americans. it will forgive interest accrued on existing student loans for 25 million borrowers, it will also automatically cancel the full amount of debt for 4.5 million americans who already qualified for forgiveness through a decade in a repayment program. it will provide more than ten million borrowers with $5,000 in debt relief. this announcement is a clear sign that the president is listening. he's listening to congress's call to take action, which i've

done for years, and he's listening to the pleas of millions of borrowers who want to get their lives back on track so today's announcement is good news. it's good news for everyone, particularly for young people and people of color and democrats will continue exploring every option under the sun to lower costs and make college more affordable. already the president's plan has removed the total debt burden for over four million americans. this plan goes much further. on the other hand, unfortunately, our republican colleagues continue to oppose student loan relief and have backed the maga decision to cancel debt for millions of americans and democrats will make sure the american people won't forget it. on the ryan corbin resolution. it has sadly been over 600 days, since ryan corbin, a new york

native has been unjustly detained by the taliban. he was taken without cause, without explanation or semblance of process. later this afternoon, i will meet with the corbin family to talk about our efforts to bring ryan home. his wife anna and three children have been so brave through this tragic situation and i am in constant awe of their strength and resolve. today i'm introducing a resolution alongside leader mcconnell calling for ryan's immediate and unconditional release. i urge the senate to pass this resolution before ryan's birthday, which is april 13. i have worked closely with the korbett family to make sure that ryan's safe return remains a top priority. we have made progress last september when he was designated

as wrongly detained by the state department, giving his case a higher diplomatic priority. i have spoken with ryan a few times and he is reportedly held in terrible conditions which has caused his health to deteriorate rapidly. time is of the essence to get him back. as long as ryan is held by the taliban, i will never stop fighting to bring him back home and reunite him with anna, his children, his family as quickly as possible. i want to thank leader mcconnell for joining me in in resolution and everyone on both sides who supported this resolution. on forum shopping. last month i wrote a letter to the chief judge of the northern district of texas asking to provide new reforms to limit the practice of judge shopping. i was disappointed to learn that the chief judge and his court have decided to ignore the

judicial conference reforms and allow judge shopping to run rampant in his district. the bottom line is this. it's simple. judge shopping jaundices the fairness of our legal system, no one should tolerate when interest groups cherry pick judges of their choice. if courts like the northern district of texas refuse to adopt commonsense reforms, congress should consider legislation to end this dangerous practice. on chips. well, this morning, another good announcement from president biden. he and commerce second raimondo announced an agreement with tsmc arizona to support more than $65 billion in investments for three leading-edge fabs in phoenix, arizona. just like the announcement of global foundries, intel and

others, today's announcement proves democrats are delivering in a big way on our promise to bring manufacturing back to the united states, strengthen national security and get ahead of rising costs from supply chain shortages. today's announcement is the kind of good news we worked for years in the senate. five years ago, i approached my friend senator young and told him we should work together on bipartisan legislation to boost manufacturing. i knew that if america wanted to remain number one in scientific might and industry, we had to be serious to get the federal government to invest. thanks to senators kelly, browne, wyden and warner and many more, with we passed chips into law and we will empower a new generation of american manufacturing. there is more to come.

with further investments and projects like micron's million dollar project in upstate new york. i'm thrilled to see that chips and science is delivering as intended and congratulate president biden and second raimondo on this tremendous effort. finally, i have these nases today, give -- these glasses, given to me by the president of fordham university. now, i'm going outside to my balcony to take a look at the ecl eclipse, which is reaching its peak at about 87% right now. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. morning business is closed. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session to consider the following nomination, which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary, susan m. bazis, of nebraska, to be united states district judge for the district of nebraska.

mr. mcconnell: madam president. the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: america's adversaries are working overtime

to undermine our interests and erode the alliances that protect them. and is easy -- it's easy to conceive of these challenges as playing out exclusively on the high seas of the indo-pacific or the border lands of europe or the middle east. but in reality the competition is not an away game. america's greatest strategic rival is threatening our security right here on u.s. soil in tens of millions of american ho homes. i'm speaking, of course, of ti tiktok. today, 170 million americans are a active users of a social media platform that the people's

republic of china treats as a tool of surveillance and of prop candiesa -- propaganda. ticktock officials like to -- tiktok officials like to insist that u.s. users' personal information, browsing histories, keys keystrokes, and other sensitive data are kept out of the reach of the prc's teams of sensors -- sensors and prop -- censors and propag propagandists. they claim what it shows young americans is what they want to see, not what the prc wants them to think. but the company's own words sha shatter this fantasy -- quote, everything is seen in china. that's the truth tiktok officials are willing to admit

in a leaked recording from behind closed doors, doors, and it shouldn't be all that surprising anyway. chinese law requires that t tiktok's beijing-based parent company coordinate closely where the prc. all sorts of social media platforms can be fountains of disinformation and propaganda. just look at last week's news about the prc's efforts to manipulate taiwan's elections, with twitter accounts driven by a.i. but with tiktok, we're not talking about meddling or h hijacking an american platform. in this case, prc influence and control has been baked in from the very beginning. with beijing's blessing, ti

tiktok's algorithm pours gasoline on alarming trends, from the glorification of hamas terrorists to a particularly outrageous fad that emerged last year where young people, quote, discovered, end quote, the wisdom of osama bin laden. madam president, i wish i was making this up. but let's be absolutely clear, this isn't a debate about restricting speech. after all, the prc does enough of that itself. chinese citizens are banned from accessing tiktok at all. no matter how loudly tiktok's apologists claim that reining in the influence violates the first

amendment, the question we'll face is about conduct, not con content. i take a backseat to no one when it comes to protecting first americans rights -- first amendment rights. i've firmly defended america's right to even the most noxious forms of free speech, like flag burning. but there's a serious difference between the views americans might express on tiktok and the actions taken by a platform that's beholden to our foremost strategic competitor. let me borrow an analogy from someone who's been relentless on this issue, fcc commissioner brendan carr. here's what he had to say -- you can use a pen to write salacious anti-american prop

can candiesa -- propaganda and the government can't censor that content, nor stop americans from seeking such messages out. but, if you use the same pen to pick a lock to steal somebody else's property, the government could prosecute you for illegal conduct. so, madam president, the prc has spent year trying to pick the lock of america's communications infrastructure, and the federal government has a long history of frustrating beijing's efforts. requiring the divestment of bei beijing-influenced entitlement from tiktok would land squarely within established constitutional precedent, and it would begin to turn back the tide of an enormous threat to america's children and to our

nation's prospects in defining the competition of the 21st century. this is the matter that deserves congress' urgent attention, and i'll support commonsense bipartisan steps to take one of bei beijing's favorite tools of coercion and espionage off the table. now, on a related matter, america's national security depends on sustained investment in both cutting-edge capabilities and expanded defense industrial capacity. that's why i continue to insist on overdue steps like the full-year defense appropriations and national security supplemental, the senate passed earlier this year. as i've said repeatedry, our -- rep repeatedly, our outcompeting the

prc means projecting american strength far, far beyond the indo- indo-pacific. beijing continues to menace taiwan, the philippines and other asian partners, but it's also conducting influence campaigns across the developing world and deepening its partnership with moscow and tehran. our closest and strongest allies in china's backyard understand this reality, even as japan deals with chinese maritime incursions and predatory trade practices at home, its leaders continue to reblind us that the threats -- to remind us that the threats to western prosperity and security are all connected. prime minister kishida who will visit washington this week and address a joint session of congress said just last week,

quote, russia's aggression against ukraine shakes the foundation of the international order, and that, quote, japan will continue its cooperation with ukraine. critically, madam president, our allies' words are backed up by actions. over the past two years, since putin's escalation, japan has pledged $12 billion to ukraine's resistant -- resistance. prime minister kishida's trip to kiev last year made him the first japanese leader to visit a conflict zone since world war ii. just as importantly, japan's growing investments in its self-defense force, including in cutting-edge capabilities like long-range strike, have made japan an essential parter in in deterring -- partner in

deterring aggression in the indo-pacific. today, there's still room to work even more closely with committed allies like japan to protect our technology from chinese theft, leverage our advanced industries to improve collective security, and build more resilient supply chains. more and more, america's allies and partners understand both the gravity of the threats we face and the links between them. but if america intends to remain the primary guarantor of our own security, we need to lead by example and congress has an opportunity to do that this week. now, on another matter, the disastrous consequences of america's withdrawal from

afghanistan were both foreseeable and foreseen, and as taliban rule terrorizes the region and brutalizes the afghan people it also inflicted terrible pain on american families. i've worked closely with the family of ryan corbett, an american citizen detained in afghanistan by the taliban. for over a decade, prior to the fall of kabul, ryan and his family lived amongst the afghan people where they served the community and ran a business focused on providing afghans with education and training to start their own businesses. as the taliban returned to power, the corbett family was forced to flee. but ryan made the difficult decision to return, hoping to pay his staff and keep his

business afloat. and on august 10, 20ty, the taliban -- 2022,the taliban detained him without charge. for 607 days ryan has been confined to a 9x9 basement cell with scaaps f d. -- with scraps for food and little or no contact with his family. after nearly two years of wrongful detention, his hopes of ever returning to america are dimming. earlier this afternoon i had a chance to meet with ryan's wife anna, their three teenage children and his parents, dave and evelyn, from louisville. now more than ever they fear for ryan's life. today the democratic leader and

i have introduced a resolution calling for ryan's immediate release. it reaffirms america's commitments to freeing ryan and raising the international stakes for the taliban's wrongful detention of american citizens. while ryan languishes in captivity, the biden administration sends a different message. since his deattention, the government has spent roughly $1 billion to a country in the tight grip of medieval theocratic regime. it's time to put the taliban's violent rule on notice. it's time to share our enemy's -- time to show our enemies that the united states will not led american citizens

be used as bargaining chips. it's time to bring ryan corbett home. mr. durbin: madam president. the presiding officer: the senior senator from illinois. mr. durbin: last week we saw another tragedy in gaza, an attack that killed self many people drfrgs desperately-needed lifesaving aid. the victims were employees of world central kitchen, an amazing organization run by an extraordinary individual, jose andres. this started to feed people. andre's innovative and courageous team has been helping people in gaza sinses the crisis began in october, providing critical food to millions of

innocents caught in the conflict. i joined mr. andres in a meeting at our capitol just a few weeks ago with a few other senators. he told us his ambitious plans to increase food aid to gaza. i have always admired his ingenuity and tenacity in taking on these lifesaving actions for those truly in need. he is truly a hero. my heart goes out to him and those on his team who were recklessly killed last week adding to the number of aid workers killed in gaza. we have seen a cascading crisis in this conflict. the list keeps growing. october 7 the hamas attack object israel that killed 1,200 and took more than 200 people hostage. the widespread destruction and growing humanitarian crisis in gaza amid israel's response

lacks any long-term strategy, made worse by hamas hiding amongst civilians many much the continued holding of israeli hostages including one with ties to our home state of illinois. a mass's refusal -- hamas's refusal to accept a cease-fire. the refusal of israel to step up deconfliction mechanisms for adequate aid delivery and the failure to recognize a response by israel will never provide a long-term response to stability and end the violence. i have long said that i do not think the current israeli or palestinian leadership is really up to the challenge needed to bring hope, stability, or a viable two-state solution to the region. early in the conflict i cautions israelis not to be blinded by their pain from october 7 and make the same types of mistakes

we made after september 11, a warning that i believe they have failed to heed. but if unable to learn from our missteps, then perhaps they should listen to former mossad chief. tragically, i'm worried that that is the same case today. chef andres has made a similar point with which i agree, that israel's strategy in gaza is futile and indefensible with so much innocent loss of human life. i have long called for a cease-fire that calls for the railroads release of the remaining hostages as well as the sustained gaza relief operation. the inexcusable deaths of the world central kitchen staff in gaza are a reminder that these steps are needed now more than

ever. now on a separate issue, madam president, an issue of equal international interest, i want to address what can only be called hostage-taking of americans by the government of vladimir putin of russia. the list is troubling and growing. this month marks the one-year anniversary of "wall street journal" reporter evan he shall -- decker kovic. even during the heights of the cold war, the soviet police state didn't arrest and hold american journalists in such a brazen, transparently crude manner. the longest withes a "u.s. news & world report" who was released after 13 days. but it's not just he have advantage who vladimir putin is holding hostage. in 2018 russia arrested paul

whalen, sentencing him to 16 years in prison on fraudulent espionage charges. he spent four years in various high-security jails and labor camps, enduring sol tater confinement and forced labor. last year russia arrested american citizen and radio free europe journalist olsu for being a foreign agent. she is facing a five-year sentence. her conditions be being described as inhumane. in august 2021, russia arrested american citizen, international schoolteacher mark fogel for possessing medical marijuana prescribed by his physician. then they sentenced him to a 14-year sentence in russian labor camps. earlier this year, russia arrested american citizen kasiny after she donated, get this, $50 to a charity supporting humanitarian aid for ukraine. for that she's facing a 20-year

sentence at present. two years ago russia after rested vladimir kara-murza. these are some of the photographs of the individuals i have described. mr. kara-murza was a visitor in my office. i met with him a month before his arrest and despite two murder attempts, he was determined to go back to russia to fight for democracy. his wife is here for a bipartisan event on the anniversary of his arrest. let us not forget brittney griner whose arrest was cynically used to secure the release of a notorious russian arms merchant, victor bout. it is outrageous that russia is holding hostage american citizens. it is the act of a desperate

rogue regime similar to the criminal actions of countries like iran, north korea, and venezuela. today i'm introducing a resolution condemning russia's hos hostage-taking calling for the immediate release of these hostages and urging the administration to consider wrongfully detained status and to those detained and their families, i want you to know you are not forgotten. we will continue to advocate for your release. i yield the floor. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the clerk: ms. baldwin.

quorum call:

get anything done to require bipartisan cooperation, it's not easy but existential. voting to invoke cloture u.s. district court judge and in nebraska cloture on the nomination for the eastern district of maryland on april 19 the national security next major

deadline on the counter. the house is working on the best path forward in the senate and ready to jump in to action to prevent important national security, we must get done. i also urge house republicans and a situation in ukraine is desperate. johnson sat on his hands 55 days in the supplemental collecting trust in the house. fifty-five days of america standing on the sidelines biting the eye on the battlefield. fifty-five days of european allies in the u.s. will step up. each passing day ukraine run out

soldiers in front of to expel the russians. let's be blunt, ukraine is losing the war because hard right in congress catalyzed united states. that's it, that's the reason. speaker johnson cost to discern whether or not he will do the right thing for ukraine or allow. topic national security supplemental on the floor remain and help. again, there is a lot in the weeks and months and anything duffel require bipartisan cooperation. i think my colleagues so far in 2024, i look forward to working with all of them.

capital one discover, two months ago capital one rightly announced plans to unprecedented multibillion-dollar culture long run could risk higher cost consumers small businesses alike. capital one and discover are two of the largest institutions in america. the company would likely become the largest to incite dates with over 400 million customers. that could risk higher interest rate and diminish competition but even so, most americans today have no idea this merger has come. yesterday i sent a letter to both to share with my office more information for consumer protections and i want to know more about marketers in the industry already consolidation. increase in fees, ordinal

workers being laid off that like to hear about consumers being made aware of this deal. one thing is sure, the myriad and interest rates. that's why the proposed merger m-uppercase-letter and discover is such a concern clear big financial institutions that even figure american consumer usually gets the short end of the stick. credit card merger takes a swipe at consumers, every question should be answered. student loan debt sustained taking office, i urged him to take every tool to cancel student debt as much as possible. exciting news, president biden to his credit announced new executive action and 30 million more americans.

specifically the plan for forget interest accrued on existing student loans for $25 million. the president's plan will cancel the full amount that 4.5 million americans who already qualify for forgiveness through a decade in repayment program can provide moment to million followers in $5000. this announcement is a clear sign the president is listening, listening to the call to action and listening to millions of borrowers and get their lives back on track so today's announcement is good news for everyone but especially for young people and people of color and democrats will continue exploring every option of the sun. the presence plan removed the debt for 4 million americans and disposed much for the but on the

other hand, our colleagues continue to need that relief and lock their arms around supreme court block student debt cancellation for millions democrats will make sure the american people will forget. madam president, it's been over 600 face a new york native has been unjustly detained by the taliban. visa and global staff when he was taken without explanation without any semblance. later this afternoon i will meet with the family to talk about efforts. his wife and three children have met the already a few times through this situation and arming all of strength and result.

today i'm introducing the legislation along side leader mcconnell immediate and unconditional relief. i urge the senate to pass this resolution for october 13. working closely with the family of the white house, state department and other high-ranking officials to make sure the safe return remains a priority. we have made progress in ryan was designated promptly detained by the state department and giving his case a higher daemonic priority was to working. he's been purportedly held in terrible conditions which has deteriorated rapidly so time is of the essence to get him back. longest ryan is held by the taliban, i'll never stop fighting to bring him back home and reuniting with his children, his family as quickly as

possible. i want to thank leader mcconnell returning the in this resolution and everyone on both sides supporting this resolution. last month i wrote a letter to the chief judge of the northern district charging the district to apply new forms by the judiciary to limit the practice. i was disappointed to learn judge in his court decided on the reforms and allow just to continue to run rampant in this district. the bottom line is this, very simple. the fairness of our entire legal system, no one, regardless of ideology to tolerate judges of their choice get favorable outcome refusing to adopt commonsense reforms, congress should consider legislation and

this dangerous actress to restore trust. this morning another good announcement from president biden, preliminary agreement to provide billions in chips and science that support 65 billion investments in phoenix, arizona. just like the announcement global, intel and others the announcement proves democrats are delivering in a big way on a promise manufacturing back to the united states to strengthen national security and get ahead of rising costs from supply chain shortages. today's announcement is precisely the economic good news we worked for four years in the senate. five years ago i approach my friend senator young told him we should work together on bipartisan legislation to boost u.s. investment, advanced

manufacturing. i knew if america wanted to remain number one, we had to get serious about getting the federal government to invest. thanks to the efforts of people like senators kelly brown and cantwell and many more, with past dips in science into law and we are delivering historic investments to empower a new generation of manufacturing and there is more to come. i am thrilled to see chips in science is delivering as intended and present biden and secretary reminder on this. and finally, i have these glasses today were given to me by the president of the university, specialty clips glasses so now i'm going outside to my balcony to take a look at

the eclipse reaching its peak at about 87% right now. i yield the for america's adversaries are working overtime to undermine our interest. it is easy to conceive of business playing out exclusively on the ioc of the indo pacific and portland of europe and the middle east. in reality, competition is not an away game, america is the greatest rival in our security right here on u.s. soil. ...

threatening our security right here on u.s. soil and tens of millions of americans. i am speaking, of course, of tiktok. today 170 million americans are active users of a social media platform that the people's republic of china treats as a tool of surveillance and of propaganda. tiktok officials like to insist that u.s. users personal information browsing histories keystrokes and other sensitive data are kept out of the reach of the prc teams of sensors and

propagandists. what it shows young americans is what they want to see, not what the prc wants them to think. the company's own words shatter this fantasy. "everything seen in china, that is the truth tiktok officials are willing to admit in a leaked recording behind closed doors and it should not be all of that surprising anyway. chinese law requires tiktok beijing -based parent company coordinateid closely with the p. all sorts of social media platforms can be fountains of disinformation and propaganda.

just look at last week's news about the prc effort to manipulate taiwan's elections. record-breaking crisis at the southern border. during that time customs and border protection logged more than two previous administrations combined, and that was over a period of 12 years. in three years the biden administration has accomplished what took 12 years for the obama and trump administrations. law enforcement's focused response on migrant crossings caused security missions, including drug interdiction to take a hit. staffing shortages led the agency to temporarily close international bridges and ports,

which have had a severe and negative impact on texas border communities. cities across the country, including those located thousands of miles from the border, are being crushed by the weight of caring for migrants. well, that's hardly a positive reflection on secretary mayorkas's tenure as dhs secretary. tlouth the secretary's -- throughout the secretary's tenure rather than efforts to deal with it, he has tried to gloss it over or ignore it it. the american people have watched as he has repeatedly down played the severity of the border crisis using watered-down language like it's a challenge or a situation. they disputed his claims that the border is secure as they saw footage of migrants walking

virtually unimpeded across the border and filling shelters to capacity and beyond. the american people have raised their eyebrows as he tried to blame congress for the crisis, even though this are no new laws in effect or no less laws in effect than there were during the trump administration. certainly nothing that congress has done or did not do which have prompted the dramatic spike in illegal immigration. the truth is secretary mayorkas is bad at his job. but that's not news to anyone. but incompetence by it is is not an impeachable offense. we've had a number of inept cabinet secretaries throughout our country's history who ended their career without the stain

of impeachment. well, despite what some of our democratic colleagues have claimed, secretary mayorkas was not impeached because he is unpopular or just because he's incompetent. he was impeached for two serious offenses, in my opinion, the first of which is his willful and systematic refusal to enforce our immigration laws. secretary mayorkas consistently defied the laws that congress has passed and which have been signed into law by the president of the united states. he's defied the law and the will of congress by ignoring detention mandates. he said before the u.s. supreme court, his lawyer said the words shall detain are permissive. it really means may. earlier this year he told border

patrol agents in eagle pass, texas, that the current release rate for migrants caught crossing the border illegally was above 85%. so you had a 15% chance of not being detained even if you were caught. apparently he's proud of that. secretary mayorkas has made catch and release the de facto policy of the united states government, which is in direct contravention of our immigration laws. and we can't ignore the secretary's unprecedented abuse of a process known as parole. parole was designed to grant temporary entry to foreign nationals in rare and dire circumstances, such as someone experiencing a medical emergency at a port of entry or donating a kidney or being a witness at a

trial. it was never designed to be used categorically or more than on a case-by-case basis. congress has made clear that parole is intended for urgent circumstances, and should be only granted in extraordinary individual cases. but the secretary violated that law too and has used parole to wave broad classes of migrants into the united states. in less than two years the biden administration has used this case-by-case authority to grant parole for more than 1.6 million migrants. that's in clear and blatant violation of the law. but that's okay with secretary mayorkas apparently. the secretary's failures, though, extend far beyond policy decisions. as i noted, he was impeached for two offenses, the second of

which is breaching the public trust. the american people have watched as secretary mayorkas went on cable news programs or testified under oath before congressional committees repeatedly proclaiming that the border was secure. it was clearly a lie. it doesn't take an immigration policy expert to see that his claim has no basis in reality. day after day the american people have seen footage that shows how insecure america's southern border is. of the roughly 15,000 migrants who set up camp in del rio, texas, a few years ago to those who rushed hundreds of national guards in el paso last month, there's been no shortage of evidence about our insecure

border. it's not just the misleading and false statements on cable news networks. on more than one occasion secretary mayorkas lied under oath to congress. he told members of congress that the border was secure when clearly it was anything but. the united states will be dealing with the consequences of this crisis for years, maybe even decades, and secretary mayorkas must be held accou accountable. the house of representatives was completely correct to impeach secretary mayorkas, and now the senate has a duty under the constitution to hold a trial. unfortunately this has become a familiar process for a majority of our senate colleagues. in both 2019 and 202 is, the

democratic-controlled house impeached president trump. at the time my republican colleagues and i criticized the motivation and process behind these impeachment inquiries, but those concerns didn't impact the process on the senate floor. despite our personal views about the house's actions the republican-led senate still carried out our constitutional duty to convene a court of impeachment. in both cases senators were sworn as jurors. we listened patiently to both sides presented, as they presented their arguments, and in the end we had a fair guilty or not guilty vote. prior to the impeachment of secretary mayorkas, the house had send impeachment articles to the senate 21 times, and the senate has held a full trial in all but four instances. in three cases, all of whom were federal judges, the person

resigned before the senate could vote to convict or acquit. and in the final case, the impeached senator was expelled from this chamber before his trial. there has never ever in the u.s. history been a case in which the senate dismissed or tabled impeachment articles and moved on. not once. unfortunately, if reports in the news are correct, that's likely to change this week. the house is expected to transmit the articles of impeachment this wednesday. senators haven't received direct guidance, but according to the press, the majority leader is expected to take the completely unprecedented step of voting to table the impeachment articles and eliminate a trial entirely, in violation of the constitution. as i said, this would be the

first time in our nation's history that the senate failed to do its duty to consider evidence, hear witnesses, and allow senators to vote guilty or not guilty. this would be a dangerous precedent to set. it would give future senates carte blanche to dispense with serious charges against our nation's most senior officials. what goes around comes around. if secretary mayorkas's impeachment articles are tabled, that will become the common practice in the future. impeachment is one of the most solemn features in our democracy, and the majority leader must not brush these articles under the rug. i can understand why he may want to, because the evidence that will be aduesed at trial -- adduced at trial will be damning both for secretary mayorkas and

for the biden administration's policies which are essentially open border policies. but at least house impeachment managers and secretary mayorkas's defense team deserve the opportunity to present their best case before the senate. and the majority leader should not prevent that from happening. i'd like to remind the majority leader of some words he spoke himself back in 2019. at that point the balance of power in washington was completely the inverse of what it is today. we had a republican majority in the senate, a democratic majority in the house, and a republican in the white house. after house democrats impeached president trump, the majority leader, the senator from new york, came to the senate floor to talk about the process he would like to see in a republican-led senate.

he said, quote, to my republican colleagues, our message is a simp one. democrats want a fair trial that establish the relevant facts. the message from leader mcconnell at the moment is that he has no intention of conducting a fair trial, no intention of acting impartially, no intention of getting the facts. but contrary to what senator schumer predicted, the senate went -- away spent more than -- we spent more than two weeks before holding a vote at the conclusion of the presentation of the evidence. so now i would like to echo the senator's statement from a few years ago but with a full small changes. to my democratic colleagues, our message is a simple one.

republicans want a fair trial that exams the relevant facts. the message from leader schumer at the moment is that he has no intention of conducting a fair trial, no intention of acting impartially and no intention of getting to the facts. it would be completely unprecedented and unjustified for the senate to shirk its constitutional role as a court of impeachment. the house voted to impeach secretary mayorkas in the senate has a duty to hold a trial. the majority leader should perform his duty and should not impede or ignore that constitutional requirement. so i urge the majority leader to take his own advice from 2019 and to give the senate an opportunity to hold a thorough and fair people trial -- fair

impeachment trial and let the chips fall where they may. the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. cardin: madam president, on tuesday morning, march 26, i received a phone call early in the morning informing me of a major tragedy in our community. francis scott key bridge is a vital lincoln the i-95 corridor, it's a bridge that's about a mile and a half long, it goes across the channel that is for the port of baltimore, and it is

an incredibly important to our local economy and to our image. it's iconic to baltimore. i was shocked to see the image. there was a video that showed that this bridge, mile and a half long, came down in a matter of seconds. it was hit by a vessel, the dolly, that is a container vessel, it is about the size of the ifill eye fel tower. it lost power and when you lose power on this type of vessel you cannot steer and it hit the main support beam, and it collapsed almost immediately. within a minute it was down. it was a tragic sight to see. when we saw this sight, we recognized there was loss of

life. that was our first concern as to how many people were trapped on that bridge and how many people were at risk of losing their lives. i want to tell you there was an immediate federal response. i want to show you just a picture of what we saw in the morning when we woke up. you saw the bridge before. this is the bridge that came down in a matter of a minute. less than a minute. this is the dolly, fully loaded with containers. you can see that the bridge is actually lying apart on top of the dolly ship. actually entrapping some of the containers, and this is the main channel, the 50-foot main channel to the port of baltimore, completely blocking the port of baltimore. there was an immediate federal response. and i want to thank president biden. he initially said that the government would be there to do whatever it needed, whatever we called upon. he called each member of our -- of our stakeholders, the

governor, our mayor, senator van hollen, and pledged a full support of the federal government. in a matter of literally hours, the personnel and resources of the federal government were deployed to baltimore. so i just really want to tank the president first for this immediate response and let me just bring you up-to-date on some of the facts concerning this tragedy. we now know that six immigrant workers lost their life. they were trapped in the water and could not escape. they were on the bridge at the time that it collapsed. they were doing dangerous work, keeping our roads safer, building america. they went to work early that morning to work on the bridge or late at night and did not return home. i need to point out that the first responders saved lives. we looked at the recordings.

in a matter of just a couple of minutes, there was a baft sos -- there was a loss of a vessel. miraculously, they closed the bridge within those couple of minutes so that there were no passenger cars on the bridge when it collapsed. they were able to rescue two of the workers. one was able to escape the bridge by being called off the bridge, the other went into the water and was rescued and had basically minor injuries, but we lost six souls after this tragedy. and our prayers, our thoughts are with those families. we have not yet brought closure to those families. you see, madam president, we're still in a recovery mission to locate the remains so the families can bring full closure. the port of baltimore is so

critical to our economy. the 50-foot channel that is 700 feet long, which is totally blocked by the bridge collapse basically shut down the port of baltimore. now, the port of baltimore has been a port of commerce since the 1700's, it's the third largest port in the united states. it's the largest port for roll on, roll off of automobiles, farm equipment and construction equipment. it moves about $80 billion -- $80 billion of import-export products a year. it's estimated that there's between $100 million to $200 million of cargo moving every day thousand the port of baltimore. it moves 1.1 million containers

a year through the port of baltimore. so as you can see, this catastrophic event, yes, it affected the people of baltimore and our workers, but it also affected the entire nation. 20,000 workers are directly dependent on the port of baltimore, and their jobs have been put at risk. but the supply chains of autos affect auto dealers throughout our nation. the farm equipment that comes through the port of baltimore affects farmers throughout the nation. the raw material, the coal, the steel, the aluminum, the iron and the list goes on and on affects our entire country. 20% of the exported coal from the united states is exported through the port of baltimore. so, yes, we have workers who are t of work, and one of our top

priorities is to help them during this period of time i. met, for -- time. i met, for example, with a truck driver. he has two employees -- this is typical. moving 1.1s of containers, in a small business, we are concerned about small businesses during these types of events. i'm very pleased that we were able to get the small business administrator to baltimore and an emergency declaration was made. but, madam president, it not only affects small businesses in baltimore with this emergency, but also in pennsylvania, also in virginia, also in delaware, also in west virginia, also in d.c. this is a national issue. our next priority is to reopen the channel.

this is a vessel that is almost 1,000 feet long and is fully loaded. i want to show you a photo that shows you the challenges that we have. this is the doli, as you can clearly see. this is the bridge that is lying on top of the doli. it's actually trapping a lot of the containers. this is part of what came down. this is a 4,000 ton piece of the bridge that's on the bow of the ship that's going to have to be removed. we've looked at underground photos of what's underneath the channel from the collapsed bridge and we see a real mess. we see a -- concrete, rebar, steel, all mixed together. and here's the challenge -- and i'm going to give a shoutout to the army corps and to the divers

who have been under dangerous conditions and taking a look at what's in the channel. once they remove a piece of the bridge, they have to cut it into smaller pieces to remove it, we don't know if that will cause a shift in the debris. our first priority is the safety of the people performing this work. it's like cutting a spring. you could have a reaction and we have to do surveys against after each one of the removals. this is very difficult work and it's being done by true professionals. and, again, i thank the federal government for providing the experts who are all now in baltimore figuring out how to get that channel open. and we're going to need a replacement bridge. madam president, this was a main corridor along the i-95 east coast of the united states. 30,000 vehicles travel through it a day. so we need to replace that bridge. the bridge was built in 1977,

1.6 miles. it is an engineering marvel of its time for a suspension bridge, and it took five years to build. so we have an enormous challenge. i had the chance to personally visit the site -- i was -- i think i actually took this photo from a coast guard vessel. you see it, it's just a horrific sight to see the work that's being done. but i want to give a shut out to the unified command headed by the coast guard. they started the day of the tragedy and they've been every day 24-7, leading a unified command, that includes the army corps of engineers that will do most of the val van hollening work -- salvage work wirn twithn

the -- within the channel. we have the department of defense, it includes the department of transportation. secretary buttigieg was there the day of the incident. i talked to him early in the morning and i was with him a few hours later at the sight and he's been there every day. i want to thank him for giving us the emergency relief funds immediately approved so we could start doing the work with regard to the traffic problems we had and starting to plan for the replacement of the bridge, the emergency funds of $60 million were desperately needed and we got it immediately thanks to the commitment of the biden administration. i want to thank administrator guzman. i talked to her the day or two

after the episode. i had a roundtable discussion to talk to small businesses to find out what they need, they have idle loans and they set up recovery centers so the businesses can get the help they need on site. i was there and met with a lot of small business owners, they have lots of questions. they impressed upon me the urgency of their needs and than we need to coordinate our response. i want to give a shutout also to the department of labor that have provided us with replaced worker grants so we can deal with those directly impacted. mayor scott of baltimore has been one of our great leaders, johnny o'shefskey and others have all been involved with this along with senator van hollen and i want to thank our

colleagues, senator schumer who said he was there to help, i want to thank senator mcconnell for his comments. he said in situations like this, whether it's a hurricane in florida or accident like this, the federal government will step up. now, the results of this has been, we have provided support for the families, the victims that have lost their lives. we met with the worker, l.a. workers and we're trying to mrashg sure they -- and trying to medicare sure they can get through -- make through they can get through this period of time. the engineers here have been unbelievable. the army corps has been here 24-7, there are two channels that get a minimal amount of traffic through, but they are working on the northern part of the channel not where the dali is, the other side of the channel to open a 35-foot channel by the end of this

month. that will return 35% of the business to baltimore. by itself end of may they believe they can have the entire channel open. we have approved trade point atlantic, not affected by the bridge. we weren to secure a grant for trade point atlantic in 2020 to help repair -- prepare it as a port facility. that fund -- funds were reallocated in a matter of days from the accident so they could use it to pave 10 acres of property for roll on-roll off cargo that would normally go to a port inside the bridge that will be now offloaded and can be done immediately. the bridge, we already started with the design of the bridge. may take some time. remember, it took five years to build this originally. may take some more time before we can get that done.

we need your support. we're going to need our colleagues to help us through this. in minnesota, the full cost legislation was passed in a matter of days. we are going to be coming to congress asking for some help in regards to the funding to make sure that a hundred percent of did is paid for by the federal government. we recognize that when we have a catastrophic event like this, that we come together as a nation. we've done it in the past. and we're going to be asking for help this time. i know that there's going to be third-party liabilities. we hope there's moneys that can be recovered from those responsible for this tragedy, insurance proceeds, et cetera. those funds will go to reimburse the taxpayers. and we're going to be aggressive in getting every dollar we can. but it cannot delay the opening of the channel or the rebuilding of the bridge. we've got to make sure that's done as promptly as possible. right now traffic is detoured. it's a mess through that area. we've got to get that bridge

replaced. the story of the francis scott key bridge does not end here. we will rebuild the bridge, madam president. in the 70 years that bridge has been open, the capacity has grown, cargo capacity has grown in our region by 3,000%. the port of baltimore is -- will remain strong, and we will as governor said be maryland tough and baltimore strong. i want to thank my colleagues for their understanding of this tragedy and their support as we move forward to open the baltimore channel and to rebuild the bridge. with that, madam president, i would suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the clerk: ms. baldwin.

borderlands of europe or the middle east. but, in reality, the competition is not an away game, america's greatest strategic rival is threatening our security right here on u.s. soil and tends of millions of american homes. i am speaking, of course, of tiktok. today, 170 million americans are active users of a social media platform with the people's republic of china treating as a tool of surveillance and propaganda. the officials like to insist that users browsing, keystrokes and other sensitive data are cap

out of the reach of the prc teams of sensors and propagandists. they claim that what it shows young americans is what they want to see, not what the prc wants them to think. but, the company's own words shatter this fantasy. everything seen in china that is the truth tiktok officials are willing to admit in a leaked recording from behind closed doors and it should not be all that surprising anyway. chinese law requires that to talk beijing -based parent company coordinates closely with the prc. social media platforms can be fountains of disinformation and

propaganda. just look at last week's news about the prc effort to manipulate taiwan's elections. with twitter account driven. with tiktok, we are not talking about meddling or hijacking it, an american platform. in this case influence and control has been baked in from the very beginning. the terrorist for the fed that americans last year where young people "discovered" the wisdom of osama bin laden.

madam president, i wish that i was making this up but let's be absolutely clear, this is not a debate about restricting speech. after all, the prc does enough of that itself. chinese citizens are banned from accessing to talk at all. no matter how they claim that reining in prc influence violates the first amendment, the question is about conduct, not content. i will take a backseat to no one when it comes to protecting americans rights, first amendment right, ascended america's right to even the most obnoxious free speech. but there is a serious

difference between the views americans might express on tiktok in the actions taken by a platform that is beholden to our strategic competitor. let me borrow an analogy someone has been relentless on this issue. fcc commissioner brandon carr. here is what he had to say. you could use a pen to write propaganda and the government cannot censor that content. nor can it stop americans from seeking these messages out, but, if you use the same pin to pick a lock to steal somebody else's property, the government could prosecute you for illegal conduct.

so, madam president, the prc has spent years trying to pick the lock of america's communication infrastructure in the federal government has a long history of frustrating beijing's efforts. requiring the investment of beijing influenced entitlement from tiktok would land squarely within the established constitutional president and it would begin to turn back the tide of an enormous threat to america's children and to our nation's prospects. in defining the competition of the 21st century. this is a matter that deserves congress urgent attention. and i will support common sense bipartisan steps to pick one of beijing's favorite pools of course and espionage off the

table. on a related matter of national security depends on a sustained investment in both cutting-edge capabilities. administrations and congressional terms. it has been bipartisan. president eisenhower continued president truman's promise to stand with israel. establishing a bipartisan tradition submitted by presidents from kennedy to reagan, from clinton to trump. in america voters regularly select new parties to lead our country. administrations come and go. congresses come and go. that volatility makes it all the more profound that we've always kept our solemn promise to stand with our allies. it has now been 75 years since

president truman made this vow. for those many decades, israel's position has always been and will be to live peacefully in its ancestral land along with its arab and largely muslim neighbors. slowly, often grudgingly, other nations in that region have come around to that position. egypt agreed to peace with israel in 1979. jordan has been a long-up time u.s. partner and has lived in peace with israel since 1994. recently the united arab emirates agreed to partner with israel in the abraham accords. but one regime that has continually rejected the international consensus about israel is the islamic republic of iran. three decades into this, the 21st century, iran and its

proxies continue to pursue israel's absolute annihilation. coexistence has never been the policy of iran or its terrorist proxy group, hamas. we find adherence of that here at home. last week in michigan, protesters chanted death to israel and death to america, rejecting either country's right to even exist. this is one example of the rise of anti-israel and anti-semitic incidents we've seen since october 7. they show us what our jewish friends and allies fight against every day a of course, the protests and chants remind us of a pivotal event. yesterday we marked the six-month anniversary of the october 7 attacks.

hamas, backed by iran, demonstrated both its goal, the annihilation of israel is and its strategy, the murder and hostage-taking of civilians. october 7 was one of the worst attacks on the jewish people since the holocaust. it was a nightmare scenario that eight decades of israeli citizens have had to guard against. in light of those atrocities, our task is clear -- we need to reaffirm israel's right to self-defense e self-defense. hamas has continued to pursue its goal by the same strategies. it single mindedly seeks to wipe israel off the map and does not care how many innocent people are lost on the way, how many families are burned alive. hamas's entire operation is a violation of international law.

. by contrast, israel has essentially been striving to administer civilian aid while uprooting terrorist whose hide behind those civilians, all in dense urban settings. madam president, international friends and allies can and should give advice and counsel to each other on issues of mutual security and diplomacy. that has always been the practice between israel and the united states. on the other hand, it is wrong to make demands of an ally and to suggest that vital aid to them will be withheld unless those demands are met. this is especially true when those conditions are ones which we ourselves could never accept. war is always a tragedy. on top of that, it also carries

accidental sorrows in its wake. the killing of seven world central kitchen aid workers was an avoidable and unmitigated tragedy. our hearts break for their loves ones, their colleagues, and other delivering humanitarian assistance around the world. and this is personal to me. teams from world central kitchen have come to the aid of my state of mississippi. world central kitchen was there on the ground during the recent jackson water crisis. they answered the call in the wake of the 2023 tornadoes. i am an advocate and friend of jose andres. i have worn the world central kitchen cap in poland when i spent time with a group staff serving meals to the refugees from the brutal russian invasion. i believe that israel takes the workers' deaths seriously you

too. the israeli defense forces assumed responsibility right away. its leaders promptly launch understand an investigation. the israel government has sid -- has said that the israeli military made serious mistakes. they fired two officers and disciplined three others for mishandling information and breaking the israeli defense force rules of engagement. that is more than the biden administration can say about themselves. in the chaos of our disastrous afghanistan withdrawal, our military shelled a car in kabul. leaders initially feared the vehicle carried explosives destined for american servicemembers, but it turned out to be a civilian vehicle. and ten innocent people, including seven children,s died

at our hands. the biden administration took far longer than israel to own up to that mistake. i'm glad our country did eventually acknowledge our fault. this shows that the free world holds ourselves to exacting standards of care for the innocent caught in harm's way, including the thousands that have died in gaza since october 7. time and again israeli combatants have published warnings before taking a building. they regularly give evacuation notices to civilians, and in so protecting the innocent they risk giving the enemy a heads up. but the they do this -- but they do this. and yet it has become fashionable to hold israel to unachievable standards,

benchmarks to which we do not hold ours -- ourselves or/er in ally. hamas did not place itself under any such handicaps. hamas has no regards for the standards of civil protection. one of many examples, look to further than the hostages taken october 7 and their often brutal treatment. unfortunately our president's recent call for a cease-fire plays directly into hamas' hands. . our chief priority to be release of hostages and victory for our ally. but instead of displaying american resolve, our president seems to be mollifying the left wing of his party. calling four a cease-fire -- calling for a cease-fire instead of hostage release and unconditional victory creates a false equivalence between israel

and hamas. after pearl harbor, no one asked us about a cease-fire. after 9/11, in a no one asked the united states about a cease-firement. we need to remember that israel is fighting terrorists bent only on the destruction refuse jewish state. hamas' leadership has viewed to commit repeats of the october 7 massacres. if this terrorist group is not totally eradicated, it will continue killing and kidnapping. to paraphrase former israeli prime minister, if hamas put down their weapons today, there would be no more violence. if israel put down their weapons today, there would be no more israel. hamas started this conflict, and

they could end it today. hamas could let hostages without objection out of the tunnels and into the sunshine. its militants could stop using women and children and health aid workers as human shields. we need to give our steadfast ally what this needs to win this battle. victory has to be our position. i believe we should keep our promises to our friends. our commander in chief threatens to break that promise to israel today. the president's call for an immediate cease-fire is tantamount to a call for hamas to remain in business, to reestablish itself for future atrocities. that is not something israel will allow, nor should they. and it is not something we should ask of israel or any

other partner or ally. a world in which a terrorist organization can win by committing mass murder is a more dangerous world for us all. the allies who have stood by us for seven and a half decades and have stood by us after 9/11 understood that then, and we should not forget that now. thank you, madam president. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. barrasso. the clerk: ms. baldwin w -- ms. baldwin.

quorum call:

wednesday in the real thing whether democrats led by chuck schumer make a motion.

>> are there any democrat who want to see trial go through? they have the moment to do that? think they probably devote and even the moderate republicans who basically said is a policy disagreement with secretary mayorkas but the case is not been made to commit beautiful offenses so in the house and that's happened. the house impeachment managers

trial but it doesn't seem to be much appetite to play out a lengthy occupation on the floor. >> as we would expect, it's been fairly practical and acknowledge their likely to do away with this. >> over the weekend we saw a bipartisan legislation and personal data online, what we know about that process. >> was drafted by lawmakers, catholic mcmorris rodgers, it's an area for a long time big breakthroughs in the fact that lawmakers in bipartisan way developing this legislation in a

serious effort. >> the house and senate or anything yet? >> i'm not aware of any yet. >> foreign policy front, where are we as we been watching funding for ukraine in israel, what is said happened this week next. >> all eyes on speaker johnson, this idea of innovation is what he's called them. he's yet to lay out a concrete plan for what the package will look like, a lot of competing priorities whether it ukraine, israel, taiwan and events last week and it may further complicate here in the coalition so we will see what the speaker

wants to do. >> and one more on the to do list we are hearing about rapidly approaching authorization deadline for section 702 and the surveillance act, reminder of what that is first. >> approved after 9/11, it allows agencies to conduct collection and the usual affiliation doesn't necessarily break down easily and freedom caucus members team up with liberal democrats with concerns here, does like the version that will be considered by house intelligence committee mike turner back by the biden administration and we will see how it goes on the floor but it's an unusual party breakdown.

>> what is the drop that date? >> april 19 so leader schumer in the senate sent a letter last week they will have to be prepared quickly. a lot of senators on this issue so not sure who will get super consideration for little get out of the house. >> the week ahead in congress is our usual topic when congress is in session monday 8:00 a.m. eastern on the "washington journal". congressional reporter, he's always happy to chat with you, our viewers. the next 15 or 20 minutes on the "washington journal", regional

news with news around the country what happened, baltimore bridge collapsed and an effort federal funding to rebuild the bridge, what is the latest? >> still waiting to see the latest statement from the delegation as they believe they will have the funds in the short term to respond but i would expect congress to get involved here. we have the house freedom caucus conditions they would need to support additional funds to rebuild the bridge in the port of baltimore so we are waiting to see the administration for 100% rebuilding cost check last week and they didn't put a dollar figure but still waiting to seek an estimate of how much it costs before congress but i think we are already seeing signs and hurdles along the way. >> as if that wasn't enough, what else are you want watching

for? >> there's no shortage of anything else will have to see folks getting involved. i do think people will start testifying before congress twice this week as the trial is about to play out so much of dynamics. >> he doesn't have to attend the trial, correct? what dates is he testifying from is he going to be on capitol hill wednesday? >> i forget which chamber testifying before their. >> it's been considered on the floor? >> pretty extraordinary. >> are there any other topics?

this is alan in brooklyn, plan for democrats, good morning. >> good morning. i recall the book mentioned many republicans were leaning toward teaching the impeachment trial for him did not because they feared personal safety and it seems likely the same reason applies to impeach mayorkas without merit. i have a question about law and policy people who are approached and legally obligated to report, why aren't people required to announce? as a matter of obligation, not just a matter of choice to let the public know when elected officials are having their positions and actions influenced by threats, it's something the public should be aware of, not just happenstance.

>> reporting threats. >> but not heard it that way before. capital police threats closely, probably for security reasons these are not disclosed in real time but in the aftermath january 6 we seen unprecedented levels and dipping into campaign events and personal security, no question is an issue, front of mine and they are speaking openly to get into public service threats families are facing some no question we are in a dangerous time. >> members have to report, where are we on members reporting back sales talked about in the past before,.

>> this is an unusual coalition of folks in the same place and feels like every year or two years there is a push i haven't heard much recently says one thing where does hard to energy behind legislations are not aware of a new push there but high among many members. >> how long have you been hovering capitol hill? where are you know? >> about ten years, started energy and environmental space but pushed over to the general congressional matters the last couple years. >> what is going on right now on capitol hill? the big here we watch when it comes to the issue of ukraine funding is the idea of trying to on paul's gas exports something

exploded as innovations i've alluded to before. basically set support of the funding. in our site to watch why is this important? >> obviously it's important based on the huge producer of financial death and climate consideration and interesting to see in more momentum behind that with young voters about climate change, certainly that's one reason the biden administration will not support.

>> you mentioned young voters and should note biden is headed to wisconsin today and expected announcement on student loans debt relief, what we know? >> i just saw a headline, 23 million people -- >> don't cover all of it? certainly an issue and others have been fired up, maybe the biden a administration to everything in their power to cancel as much debt as possible and continuing to see the administration role is out. thank you. i rise today to recognize -- we're in a quorum call. i therefore ask that it be by unanimous agreement lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. moran: thank you. madam president, i rise today to recognize what coexecutive chairman rick webb who recently was inducted into the american

short line and regional railroad associations short line hall of fame. it is a transportation and supply chain service company headquartered in pittsburgh, kansas, with a 40-year legacy of excellence in transportation. rick webb continues to be an integral part of that legacy. rick's father dick web founded the company in 1983 and rick began working on the watco team while finishing his degree. he joined the family business full time after graduating in 1984, taking on a diverse portfolio of responsibilities including operations, marketing, hiring personnel and raising capital. he could they have the own real car repair shot. in 1998, webb became the chief executive officer.

after two decades of services, rick turned over leadership to dan smith and took on the role of executive chairman where -- he has been with watco from the beginning and during his tenure with the company it has grown from one facility, operating in four countries, and that growth is in no small part due to rick webb's leadership. rick is the kind of person you want to follow. he is the kind of person you can always take at his word. when i think of a kansan, a person of good character, authenticity, rick is that person. but i cannot talk about rick's character without talking about the person who played a role in shaping him, kaylin is an am

amazing woman and an intergral part of the webb family. i was pleased to learn he was irn be ducted in the shortline hall of fame on march 25, 2024. an article in the pittsburgh morning sun notes that the short line regional rail association established this role to acknowledge visionaries and stars through dedication, commitment and achievement exemplify invasion, entrepreneurial that advanced the shortline industry. he has met and continued to exceed this standard. dan smith's praise of rick, and the article included the following description of rick by smith. quote, he's a truly great man and i would say the best

teammate i ever had, he's the best coach i've ever had and best friend i've had. watco has built the best team possible in order to serve customers in the best manner. rick has learned that if you want to grow a top line, you listen to your customer. if you want to learn how to grow the bottom line, you listen to your team. rick's work ethics has earned him the 2010 ernst and young worker of the year and the railroad innovator award from progressive railroading magazine. in addition to the shortline regional railroad association, has honored him for his veteran recruitment.

i want to congratulate rick and the entire watco team on their successful accomplishments and achievements. it's certainly nice to have a great businessman and great business in kansas called watco, even better it's great to have a person of rick's kal better, of -- caliber, of his interest in the community. many towns the size of pittsburgh, kansas, and many towns in kansas has a set of people involved in whatever good happens in the community and they have been consistent in their support of the pittsburgh and southeast kansas communities and for their support of pittsburgh state university. i look forward to seeing their mission flourish as they serve and elevate the standard of shortline railroads for kansas.

i especially thank him for the kind of person he is and for the difference he's made in pittsburgh, kansas, in the country, and in the world. country, and in the world.

the senate impeachment trial for home and security alejandro mayorkas. how do we know how this will play out in the senate this week? a couple months ago the house voted to approve -- clerk will n

to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby bring to a close debate on the nomination of executive calendar number 534, susan m. bazis, of nebraska, to be united states district judge for the district of nebraska, signed by 17 senators. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived. the question is, is it the sense of the senate that debate on the nomination of susan m. bazis, of nebraska, to be united states district judge for the district of nebraska, shall be wrobrougho a close? the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rules. the clerk he will call the roll -- 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.

the clerk: mr. cornyn. ms. cortez masto. mr. cotton. mr. cramer. mr. crapo. mr. cruz. mr. daines. ms. duckworth. mr. durbin. ms. ernst. mr. fetterman. mrs. fischer. mrs. gillibrand. mr. graham. mr. grassley. mr. hagerty. ms. hassan. mr. hawley. mr. heinrich. mr. hickenlooper.

the clerk: ms. hirono. mr. hoeven. mrs. hyde-smith. mr. johnson. mr. kaine. mr. kelly. mr. kennedy. mr. king. ms. klobuchar. mr. lankford. mr. lee. mr. lujan. ms. lummis. mr. manchin. mr. markey. mr. marshall. mr. mcconnell. mr. menendez. mr. merkley. mr. moran. mr. mullin. ms. murkowski. mr. murphy. mrs. murray. mr. ossoff. 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 florida. mr. scott of south carolina. mrs. shaheen. ms. sinema. ms. smith. ms. stabenow. mr. sullivan. 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.

the clerk: senators voting in the affirmative -- butler, cantwell, cardin, crapo, duckworth, graham, grassley, manchin, markey, moran, murkowski, ossoff, ricketts, risch, shaheen, sinema, tester, warnock. senators voting in the negative -- marshall, tuberville.

the clerk: mr. cotton, no.

mr. hickenlooper, aye.

the clerk: mr. merkley, aye.

the clerk: ms. hirono, aye.

the clerk: mrs. gillibrand, aye. mr. mullin, no.

the clerk: mr. heinrich, aye. the clerk: mr. reed, aye. mr. casey, aye.

the clerk: ms. collins, aye.

the clerk: mr. coons, aye.

the clerk: ms. rosen, aye. vote:

the clerk: mr. bennet, aye. mr. cornyn, aye.

mrs. blackburn, aye. the clerk: mr. scott of south carolina, no.

the clerk: mr. kennedy, aye.

the clerk: mr. hagerty, no. mr. peters, aye. mr. carper, aye. mr. sullivan, no.

mr. barasso, aye. the clerk: mr. rounds, aye. mr. booker, aye.

the clerk: mrs. britt, no. mr. wicker, aye. mrs. hyde-smith, aye.

the clerk: mrs. fischer, aye. mr. lee, aye. mr. thune, aye.

the clerk: mr. wyden, aye. mrs. capito, aye.

the clerk: mr. paul, aye. mr. padilla, aye. mr. daines, no.

the clerk: mr. tillis, aye.

the clerk: mr. budd, no.

the clerk: mr. scott of florida, no.

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

vote:

the clerk: mr. schatz, aye.

the clerk: mr. kaine, aye. ms. lummis, aye.

the clerk: mr. menendez, aye. mr. blumenthal, aye. mr. schmitt, no.

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

the clerk: mr. braun, no.

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

the clerk: ms. cortez masto, aye. mr. durbin, aye. ms. warren, aye. ms. baldwin, aye.

the clerk: mr. warner, aye. mr. sanders, aye. ms. stabenow, aye.

the clerk: mr. schumer, aye.

vote:

the clerk: mr. boozman, no. the clerk: mr. hoeven, no.

the clerk: mr. cruz, no.

the clerk: mr. young, aye. mr. hawley, no.

the clerk: mr. mcconnell, aye.

the clerk: mr. whitehouse, aye.

the presiding officer: on this vote, the yeas are 68, the nays are 18. the motion is agreed to.

mr. braun: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from indiana. mr. braun: i come to the floor this evening because we've got some serious business ahead of us soon. for laken riley, ruby garcia, and the countless americans who have died from fentanyl, the senate must hold a full impeachment trial of secretary alejandro mayorkas. secretary mayorkas is breaking the law every day he releases illegal immigrants into the united states. the department of homeland security is required under law to detain these immigrants. biden and mayorkas'

catch-and-release policy releases illegal aliens into the u.s. without even issuing a notice to appear for immigration proceedings. secretary mayorkas is the most important player in president biden 's open border agenda. but we must first remember it's the president that's calling the shots. president biden took the actions that opened our border. on day one, he personally stopped construction of the wall. he alone signed the executive order to allow illegals to be counted in the sense us to decide how large congressional districts are. this is a direct attack on our most important democratic institution. president biden end the remain in mexico policy, leading to millions released into our communities. it was a criminal coward who

killed laken riley, but it was president biden and secretary mayorkas who welcomed him into the country. it was sanctuary city policies that kept him here. laken riley's death was a complete failure of our government to protect our own citizens. yet, not one person has lost a job due to it. it's no wonder president biden's allies want to sweep this impeachment under the rug and break the rules of the senate by failing to hold an impeachment trial. every senator must stand up for the american people and vote down the motion to kill the impeachment trial. the american people deserve to hear the truth about how president joe biden opened their country's borders to the world and the american lives lost because of it. i will be vote something to hold

a full impeachment trial of secretary alejandro mayorkas. if a full trial does not happen, he has clearly lost the faith of the american people to protect our borders, and he should resign immediately. and president biden should be held accountable by the american public this november. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from missouri. mr. schmitt: thank you it mr. president. i rise to speak about a subject of grave importance. we are going to be delivered articles of impeachment to this

chamber, a very important role that the senate plays in our constitutional order. all of us are sworn in as jurors. this as solemn act. you know, we swear when we take our oath that we will abide by the constitution, we will protect the constitution. this is something we're supposed to do. now, politically speaking, secretary mayorkas has been a disaster. if you could have a mt. rushmore of worst cabinet members in the history of the united states of america, he would be on that mt. rushmore. legally speaking, he's undermined the laws of the united states. but before we get there, we actually have to have a trial. in no instance in the history of this great republic in 240-plus years has this body, this -- the world's greatest deliberative

body, ever in the history of our country dismissed or tabled articles of impeachment for someone who still is still serve in office or alive. let me repeat that. it's never happened. and to quote my colleague from new york, who often says this, history is watching. chuck schumer, history is watching. because 200 years from now, god willing, this republic, people will be in our chairs, we don't know their names, they will be referring back to the precedent that is set in this chamber to go down a road we've never gone down. vote how you want to vote, based on the evidence, your point of view. vote how you want to vote. but the idea that we would be setting this very dangerous precedent because chuck schumer doesn't want it in the news cycle for a couple of days is

ridiculous. for my friends on both sides of the aisle that care about this place, this is perhaps the most dangerous act you could inflict upon it, short of blowing up the filibuster, to shea that we're not going -- to say that we're not going to hear the evidence, that we're not going to vote as senators because we're afraid of a news cycle which, by the way you would highlight the total and utter disaster that happens at our border. nine million people have come across illegally. and i rise to point out just one aspect of that that is incredible bring dangerous for this country -- the number of chinese nationals that are coming here. there have been 22,233 encounters of chinese nationals crossing illegally at the northern and southern borders so far in fiscal year 20246789 -- 2024.

there were 24,1259 encounters last year. to put that in perspective, there were just 342 apprehensions of chinese nationals in 1987, in fy 2022. that is a dramatic increase. they're our greatest adversary. the 21st century will be defined by who wins this great power struggle. and if you don't think there have been documented cases that some of these folks are coming here to spy on us, including military installlations, i've got some oceanfront property in missouri i'd like to sell you. secretary mayorkas in his own memo, advocated for ignoring united states law. this is a big deal. again, regardless of how you feel about how you're going to vote on this, my point of view is, there's a lot of evidence that could be presented and will

be presented to show that he has purposely undermined the sovereignty of the united states of america. that's a serious charge. the house of representatives has voted to send that here. let's hear it out. let's do our constitutional duty. let's not be afraid to do our jobs. with that, mr. president, i yield the floor. mr. marshall: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from kansas. mr. marshall: mr. president,

make no mistake about it, a vote to block the impeachment trial of secretary mayorkas is a vote to continue the deadly track of lawlessness. it's a vote that tells laken riley's family and all those that have been victims of violent and gruesome crimes at the hands of illegal lay aliens as well as the over 250,000 people who have died from fentanyl poisoning. what it says is that the democrats don't care. ask any american and they'll tell you that every state is now a border state. we don't feel safe in our own communities, from inner cities to suburbs and throughout rural america we're living in the consequences of this wide-open southern border. so it should come as no surprise to my colleagues across the aisle that americans are demanding accountability. they want to know why the cartel has more control of our border than dhs does. disgracefully this week we will

witness a complete political charade that undermines this chamber's responsibilities and the oath we swore to protect this great nation. skirting justice, accountability and the very fabric of our democracy, the senate democrat leader has taken a historic measure to hide from the deadly border crisis that his party has created and embraced. and why, you might ask, why would they do this? they're so a frayed if americans -- afraid if americans witnessed arch open trial, it would reveal the democratic party. they're very clearly worried about the next election and not the national security threat our wide-open borders pose to the sovereignty of of our nation. my hope here today is that america is watching. they will see the senate democrats line up to block the impeachment of secretary mayorkas and prevent his ford

ever enduring -- -- and prevent his record from ever enduring a public trial. but make mo mistake, come november the good people from montana and ohio,er from michigan and wisconsin will make their voices heard and hold their senators accountable. these democrats have the opportunity this week to address the border crisis and send a clear message to the white house to address our most immediate national security threat and close the border now. unfortunately, they won't stand up. they'll not allow the american people to see the true lawlessness that's been a direct result of the abject failures of secretary mayorkas. and their silence will send a clear message to the thousands of families who have been torn apart by the consequences of our wide-open border. they simply don't care. my colleagues across the aisle don't want answers. they want to shield secretary mayorkas and the white house from any accountability and spare the party from the backlash in the press when senate republicans outline how

dire the situation at our nation's border is. in orchestrating this cover-up, they're willing to undermine our constitution and disrespect the honor and integrity of the impeachment process that has been held fast for over 200 years. in our nation's history, the senate has never tabled an impeachment trial. that alone should tell every american how scared senate democrats are to share the true realities of the lawlessness happening right now at our border across the united states. secretary mayorkas has failed his duty to protect our borders and uphold our laws. we have 11 million reasons to hold him accountable and impeach him. that's the 11 million encounters, including nearly 2 million got-aways that have shown up here on our soil under mayorkas' watch. he's not just derelict in his duties, he's complicit in endangering the safety of every

american. and, yes, we understand the democratic majority has the votes to table this hearing. but know this -- history will not be so forgiving of this decision. the american people will not forget the betrayal of this chamber and their families' safety. come november, we, the people, will speak loudly. the people, the citizens of this great republic, they are the true judges and the final jury. so please, to my colleagues across the aisle, there is still time to do the right thing, to vote in support of holding secretary mayorkas accountable. the american people will be watching. we must impeachment secretary mayorkas for his failure to uphold his oath. if this chamber skirts its responsibility, we shall know every one of the senators that blocked this and hold them accountable at the ballot box. thank you, i yield back.

mr. mr. budd: madam president, in order to have a strong makers we have to have strong borders. right now we don't have that. we haven't had that for three years. i've talked with sheriffs from all over north carolina's 100 counties and many of them tell me the same things over and over. every single county is now a border county because of joe biden's policies. and those policies have been

implemented by his secretary of homeland security, alejandro mayorkas. from the very beginning of his tenure at dhs, secretary mayorkas has intentionally undermined security at the southern border again and again and again many. i have a list right here. i know i have limited time, but let's try and run through some of the worst examples. on february 1, 2021, dh implemented a policy requiring -- and i quote -- alternatives to removal including but not limited to staying or reopening cases, affirmative forms of detention, custodial detenths, whether to grant temporary deferred action or the other deferred action. this telegraph, the department's complete unwillingness to enforce the law and to detain illegal aliens. on march 20,2021,mayorkas' dhs began issuing illegal border

crossings a notice to report to u.s. immigration and customs enforcement as opposed to the standard notice to appear. the notice to report policy allows illegal aliens to simply be released into the u.s. and it relies on them to self-report to ice at a later date. now this, ladies and gentlemen, marked the return of catch and release. in july of 2021, the mayorkas dhs released at least 50,000 aliens without giving them a notice to appear at all. they were advised to self-report to ice on their own. to the shock of no one, 87% of them didn't even report. on august 17, 12021 -- 2021,ers the mayorkas dls announced the

expansion of taxpayer-funded services to illegal aliens in a removal proceedings. this further supercharged the policy of catch and release. on august 31, 2021, the biden administration disclosed that they released over 100,000 aliens into the united states without giving them a notice to appear. again, they were asked to self-report to ice on their own. nearly half of them didn't check in with ice within the 60-day deadline. on september 30, 2021, secretary york i don't care issued a memo state being that the fact that an individual is a removable alien should not be the full basis of enforcement action. this effectively -- this effective gave deportable aliens a path to stay in the united states.

on october 8, 20 it 1, the mayorkas dhs canceled another large group of border wall contracts related to the laredo and rio grande valley border sectors. on october 27, 2021, secretary mayorkas issued another memo prohibiting enforcement of immigration laws in the following areas. now listen to these. schools, health care facilities, recreational areas, social service facilities, ceremonial locations, as well as at demonstrations and at political rallies. on october 29, 2021, secretary mayorkas formally terminated the remain in mexico policy, inviting illegal aliens to america's doorstep. i could go on, but the bottom line is that this is nothing short of a dereliction of duty on the part of secretary mayorkas. he must be held accountable, and that's why he was the second

cabinet secretary in american history ever to be impeached by the house of representatives. the u.s. senate has a constitutional duty to take these charges seriously and to conduct a full trial on the merits. to do anything less would be an insult to the victims of these open border policies. we can't wait. too many people are suffering. too many people are dying. we must say enough. this administration must face accountability for causing the worst border crisis in american history. now is the time to act. i yield the floor.

mr. kennedy: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. mr. kennedy: thank you, madam president. madam president, a lot of history has unfolded in this room. the united states senate has been home to some of the most formative debates in our nation's tenure. these are fierce arguments among passionate, intelligent people. it's not all that different from the debates today. the senate has always welcomed these sometimes tense disagreements by respecting the rules and the traditions of the institution. it's how a senator like me, who is a member of the minority party, can stand here and speak

freely about the issues that matter to the american people and to the people of louisiana. now, my democratic colleagues in the senate today may be about to make some new history in this room. apparently they think it's a brave new world, and they want to set a dangerous new precedent. for the very first time senate democrats are seeking to table, maybe even dismiss an impeachment of a sitting cabinet official without even holding a trial. they are summoning spirits they won't be able to control. please, my colleagues, don't do it. i fear, though, that senate democrats are going to try to take the articles of impeachment

that our colleagues in the united states house of representatives thoughtfully crafted and passed with a majority vote and toss them into the trash without hearing from either side. they don't want to let the house impeachment managers make their case. they don't want to let secretary mayorkas make his case. they just want to ignore the house's evidence summarily, sweep it under the rug, and move on, and that is wrong. the senate has never in its history tabled an impeachment. never. in the more than 200 years that this body has existed, the house of representatives has impeached an official 21 times and we have never once tabled the

impeachment. not once. now senator schumer may also try to dismiss these charges instead of tabling them. but that's never been done before either. if the senate dismisses these charges without a trial, it will be the first time in the senate's long history that it has dismissed impeachment charges against an official it has jurisdiction over without that official first resigning, and that's a fact. i want you to consider this. the united states house of representatives has voted to impeach an official 21 times. only 21 times in our long history. the united states senate has only dismissed three of those cases. three out of 21. now why did they dismiss them? in two of those cases the impeached official chose to resign instead of facing a

trial. as a result, the senate dismissed the charges. in this case secretary mayorkas has not resigned. in one of those dismissed cases the impeached official was a united states senator. and the senate concluded that the constitution did not give it jurisdiction to remove a u.s. senator through the impeachment process. here everyone agrees that the constitution gives congress the power to impeach and remove a sitting cabinet secretary. now, madam president, listen to me carefully on this. the united states senate has the right and the responsibility to hold this trial. yet, senate democrats want to ignore our chamber's history and forfeit our constitutional authority by tabling or

dismissing these charges without even considering the evidence. without even considering the evidence. americans need to hear what i'm about to say, even if my democratic colleagues won't listen. let me say it again. a majority of the duly elected members of the united states house of representatives who represent all of the communities across america spent months investigating the allegations against secretary mayorkas. they spent months drafting the articles of impeachment. and a majority of the house then voted yes to bring two very serious charges. the senate democrats are now treating those charges, those articles of impeachment, like spam that landed in their in

box. americans, however, are not nearly so sanguine about the border crisis that has brought death, drugs, violence, chaos, criminals, and mayhem into their neighborhoods. the biden administration's border crisis is as unprecedented as the majority leader's move to bury the evidence of who could be to blame here. i for one want to hear the house's evidence, and so do the american people. the majority leader's move is unprecedented. it's un-democratic. and i am confident that my democratic colleagues, if they do this, please don't, but if they do it will regret this new precedent when they find themselves in the minority.

just as they regretted breaking the senate precedent for confirming judicial nominees. you see, republicans do not like to break precedent when we're in the majority. we respect the traditions of this chamber because we respect the voters who sent all 100 of us here. if my democratic colleagues set a new precedent that tramples the rights of the minority party and silences the voices of the americans who elected them, if they do that, senate democrats will have to own that decision and bear its consequences. now, madam president, i've listened to the loon wing of the democratic party spend the better part of the past decade making passionate speeches about how important it is to protect

democracy, to uphold the rule of law. and they're right. president biden even ran his campaign on the idea of restoring our norms as he called them and defending democracy. apparently, though, the rules of the loon wing were of the for this and not for me variety. whenever protecting democracy and upholding the rule of law becomes politically challenging, the loon wing has been happy to ignore the rule of law and the will of the people. isn't that special. their political expedience is in full view today. but it's not the first time that their cynicism has reared its ugly democratic head. i'm sure, madam president, you will remember -- i'll give you

just two examples -- the loon wing spent several years promoting a conspiracy that the trump campaign was an arm of the kremlin, despite no objective evidence to tie president trump to russia. democrats and several members of the national security community rushed to dismiss any information found on mr. hunter biden's latop as, quote, russian misinformation, despite not having any objective evidence we now know to make that claim. and those are just two of many examples that i could give. p secretary mayorkas's impeachment may be the best example of this hypocrisy to date. the same senate democrats who have shouted for years about

defending democracy and upholding the rule of law seem ready to disregard serious impeachment charges without so much as a second glance. these senators, if they do that, won't just be silencing the house of representatives, madam president. they'll be silencing the american people. the american people who want their borders security back. you can pick any poll, any one you want, and you'll find president biden's approval rate on the issue of immigration and border security it on a journey to the center of the earth. a recent associated press poll, for example, found that more than two-thirds of americans, 69% of americans, disapprove of how the biden administration is handling border security.

i can't imagine that these same americans will approve of democrats' refusal to even hear the evidence that americans see play out in their communities every day. this poll is only surprising if you peaked in high school. under president biden and secretary mayorkas, the southern border has become an open, bleeding wound. it's become a cesspool of misery, drug trafficking, human trafficking, sexual abuse of women, sexual abuse of children, drowning, dehydration, widespread illnesses, death, all have become commonplace. in total, border patrol has encountered illegal immigrants

at the southern border more than nine million times since president biden took office. that's four nebraskas. the biden administration failed to disapprove. the backlog of immigrant cases has doubled under the biden administration's watch. these foreign nationals overwhelmed american cities. instead of investing in american citizens, scities throughout th country are raising taxes, they're cutting programs to fund prepaid debit cards for migrants. american children have to stay home from school because democratic officials turned their classrooms into housing units. democratic leaders in new york city, chicago, denver, houston, los angeles have begged the biden administration to do

something to curb the flow of unveted people into their cities. of course, it's not just people flowing illegally over that border, madam president. cartels that flooded the united states with poisonous fentanyl over that border too. customs and border protection seized nearly 53 pounds of fentanyl from 2021 to 2023. not 53,000 grams. 53,000 pounds. that's enough to kill the entire population of our planet. this poise -- this poison did kill more than 70,000 americans in 2022. it's now the leading cause of death among americans 18 to 40. the biden administration's border policies bring americans nothing but suffering. if you hate america, however,

the biden border strategy has been a blessing. cartel smuggling operations saw revenues increase from $500 million in 2012 to $12 billion, that's b as in billon, in 2022. the policies that president biden and secretary mayorkas have implemented are directly responsible for this disaster at our southern border. at every turn, the biden administration has ignored the laws of this land and this congress and the will of the american people to facilitate their own broken border security policies. now, the house has detailed several examples in their articles of impeachment. and we ought to hair their -- we ought to hear their evidence. to start, the law requires all

foreign nationals not clearly admissible must be, quote, retained for a removal proceeding. instead, secretary mayorkas established a catch and release. catch, release, repeat. a catch-and-release scheme that incentivized illegal aliens to flood our country. the law also requires that law enforcement take an illegal immigrant who commits a crime or has ties to terrorism, or both, into federal custody. that's the law. yet secretary mayorkas told his department not to follow that law regarding the, quote, mandatory arrest and detention, closed quote, of criminal aliens. our law also says law enforcement must detain illegal immigrants. instead, secretary m. has -- secretary mayorkas has paroled

them wholesale into our country, where they catch can bus or plane into any unsuspecting community they stared. not only that -- they desired. not only that, secretary mayorkas gave them the money to do it. secretary mayorkas killed the remain in mexico program, squashed contracts to build a border wall, ended the safe third country agreement that allowed america to work with other countries to find protection for migrants in need. by tabling or dismissing the kralths of impeachment -- the articles of impeachment without so much as a trial, my senate democratic colleagues will be endorsing the biden administration's lawless approach to the southern border. they will be setting a precedent that the next administration can ignore the laws of congress and the will of the american people too. impeachment matters, madam

president. it's an important check we have on the executive branch. and we have an obligation to take it seriously. we have an obligation to give any charges brought the full trial they deserve. i'm going to have a resolution, if i'm allowed to present it, madam president, that will give the procedures we need to conduct this trial fairly and efficiently. and i will be bringing that at the appropriate time. it will be efficient, it will be fair, it will be honest, it won't uproot the long-standing precedent we have given to articles of impeachment in the past. if the majority leader and my democratic colleagues table or dismiss these charges and destroy senate precedent, precedent that we've established to conduct full and fair impeachment trials, they will regret it.

they will regret it. senate democrats, if they do that, will show the world that their proclamations about rule of law and protecting democracy are just tools of their own political experience and arrogance. senate democrats will let the american people know that they endorse the lawlessness and the misery the biden administration's broken border has brought to this country. i don't think america's future should be beholden to the politics of the moment, and that's why i want the senate to do its job and hear this evidence. madam president, i yield the floor. mr. scott: madam president.

the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. scott: madam president, i want to make one thing clear to my democrat colleagues, your attempt to brush secretary mayorkas's impeachment trial under the rug is disgusting and unacceptable. it is truly unprecedented to violate senate rules and is possibly unconstitutional. the house of representatives adopted two articles of impeachment against secretary mayorkas. let me quote for you -- throughout his at the presenture as secretary of homeland -- tenure as secretary of homeland security, he violated laws enacted by congress regarding immigration and border security. in large part because of his unlawful conduct, millions of aliens have illegally entered the united states on an annual basis with many unlawfully remaining in the united states. alejandro mayorkas knowingly mayse made false statements and

unlawfully -- principally too obfuscate the rules smarlt of his systemic refusal to comply with the law. now, it is the constitutional duty of the u.s. senate to conduct an impeachment trial to determine if secretary mayorkas should be removed from office based on those articles of impeachment. i want to stress again, never in the history of the u.s. senate has such a procedural move been attempted to completely avoid an impeachment trial. senate democrats' efforts to avoid fulfilling their constitutional duty to conduct this trial are just the latest attack by the left against our democratic process and institution. senate democrats want to eliminate the filibuster. they want to radically change the u.s. supreme court. now they want to trash the impeachment process. this is a disturbing series of direct attacks on our democratic

institutions. my colleagues and i have called on senate leadership to conduct a thorough trial. i've also personally called on vice president kamala harris, urging her to fulfill her constitutional duty to serve as presiding officer of secretary mayorkas's trial. her appointment as president biden's, quote, border czar, only makes her role in the mayorkas impeachment trial more critical. president biden and his administration created a crisis at our southern border. secretary mayorkas, a completely puppet for this lawless administration, has the audacity to come falsely testify before senate and house committees that the border is secure. not just once, but multiple times. mayorkas has lied under oath in committee that our border is secure. he's lying to the american public. he's not taking the action needed to defend the homeland by securing the border or upholding the law. that's his job, and he simply is

not doing it. our nation is reeling from the consequences of mayorkas' failures. our nation is more dangerous because secretary mayorkas and his failures. he's allowing criminals, drugs, terrorists, others into our communities. these are real consequences and each victim has a name. real americans. here to live their dream are being killed. american families are being torn apart by vicious crimes and deadly drugs because we have a wide-open border. when biden administration and mayorkas refuse to enforce federal law to secure the border, and innocent americans like laken riley pay the ultimate price for his failure. ten million people have illegally crosses, and sex million let into our country. there have been sexual assaults, murders committed by imlegal

ill -- illegal aliens. even in florida, with, a young man has killed, the man charged is an illegal alien. i don't get it. i do not understand why my democratic colleagues don't care. they don't care about 60,000 people -- 170,000 -- 270,000 people -- 70,000 people dying the fentanyls. innocent democrats do not care. they're using every power to ignore this eyes is while innocents meants -- innocent americans die, and keep congress from holding mayorkas accountable. the proof is not just in this disgraceful effort to dismiss. let's remember what democrats voted again. democrats voted against a bill to stop illegal aliens from getting on a commercial flight with no verifiable i.d. think about that. you have to have an idaho, they don't -- you have to have an i.d., they don't. democrats voted against

supporting police. the people here taking care of united states. democrats voted against the laken riley act, which simply requires, it's a simple act, requires ice to take illegal aliens who commit crimes into custody before tragedies strike. does biden hope millions of immigrants will vote for him? they've voted to allow the census to keep counting illegal aliens. it's because they want sanctuary cities and states to have more electoral votes and representation in congress. not from americans, but from illegal aliens. that's the future democrats want. biden has dismantled, he's intentionally dismantled every ounce of border security trump put in place, and completely undermined our immigration system. and mayorkas has done absolutely nothing to stop it.

mayorkas has clearly been derelict in his duties. he's neglected to protect the homeland, his job. he's allowed criminals to come into our country, each and all of our communities, drugs to flow into our country. when i talk to floridians, they're terrified, concerned about their family safety because of who and what is coming across the southern border into our communities. mayorkas might simply be a puppet for the administration, but he is fully responsible for his negligence and failure to do his job. mayorkas needs to either resign or have the full and thorough trial we are constitutionally obligated to conduct. as the american people through their representatives voted for. we must have an administration and dhs secretary willing to secure the border, not ignore failure that is killing our citizens. madam president, i yield the

floor. mr. lee: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from utah. mr. lee: madam president, invasion is taking place on american soil. over eight million people have crossed our border illegally since mayorkas became secretary, and the numbers keep rising. they're not going away. this unprecedented, lawless influx includes gang members, it includes drug traffickers, and dangerous individuals from every country in the world, including many thousands of military-age males from china. what could go wrong? in december alone, the department of homeland security reported 302,000 encounters. in one month. this is the highest month ever on record. to be clear, secretary mayorkas has the tools to stop the invasion today. he could do it right now if he wanted it. it's almost turnkey,

abracadabra. if he decided, we could have a secure border, and we would. not only does he have the tools, but he has an obligation and a responsibility, an affirmative duty under the law, under the laws of the united states, laws that he agreed he would faithfully enforce. let me say that again, to be very clear. just by enforcing the laws currently on the books, he could bring our state of utter lawlessness on the border to a state of order. mayorkas could bring a complete stop to the crisis. he doesn't need legislatesive -- legislative action from congress. this isn't a policy disagreement. no, it's a blatant defiance of the laws that have been on the books for years. if you're so confident that the charges against secretary mayorkas are baseless, then why not hold a trial? why try to just sweep this under

the rug? you realize, don't you, that when you do that, all that does is just make you look more conscious of what's going on, of what's being done that's so very, very wrong, especially where, as here, it's such a departure from nearly two and a half centuries of this institution operating faithfully as a court of impeachment. nearly two and a half centuries in which, you know, we've had 21 articles of impeachment that were destined for the senate. at least 20 of those arrived. in 18 of those total of 21 cases during the senate's existence, 18 of those 21 culminated in a trial, resulting in a verdict of guilty or not guilty. those other three involved cases that were rendered moot, in between the time that the house

of representatives had adopted the articles of impeachment and the time they were prersented over here. either because of a death or a new vacancy in the office that had been occupied by the impeached official. so this isn't just an ordinary act of sweeping it under the rug. it is an act of sweeping it under the rug under circumstances where sweeping under the rug isn't an option of. it never has been. we haven't done it. this isn't just some invisible casper the friendly ghost coming in to get rid of it. they're actively doing it and they're doing it under the full view of the american people. the american people should be really upset about this because article i of the constitution gives the house of representatives the power to impeach and the senate the power to try all impeachments. remember, the senate has only three states of being, exactly three states of being -- legislative calendar, where we do a lot of of our work, where we consider laws; executive

calendar, where we do things like confirm presidential nominees and consider treaties for ratification; and the third state of being for the senate is as a court of impeachment. we're always in one of those three states of being. and yet we have never operated in that third state of being, unless the case has been rendered moot, where the senate doesn't hold a trial, as it's required to do under the constitution, culminating in a verdict of guilty or not guilty. now, if you trust that secretary mayorkas didn't authorize millions of individuals to enter illegally into our country for swift and precursory release, then let's hold a trial. if you're certain that secretary mayorkas hasn't increased the pull factors incentivizing parents across the glow ebb to

send -- globe to send 430,000 unaccompanied children illegal little into the united states, in many cases to have them end up in the hands of traffickers, drug traffickers, sex trafficksers and otherwise, then let's hold a trial. if you're confident that secretary mayorkas hasn't created at least 13 illegal immigration parole programs designed to increase the flow of people in that country by the hundreds of thousands, then let's hold a trial. if you're so sure that secretary mayorkas, under secretary mayorkas' leadership customs and border protection hasn't dramatically decreased its vetting process for allowing chinese immigrants to cross our border, including military-aged chinese males, then let's hold a trial. if you believe that we haven't seen a dramatic increase in the known terrorist encounters at our border, then let's hold a

trial. if you're confident that secretary mayorkas hasn't allowed enough fentanyl to flow across the southern border to kill every man, woman, and child in this country, then let's hold a freaking trial. madam president, these are not victimless crimes. the tragic case of laken rile reilly you a life cut short by an illegal alien. secretary mayorkas allowed to enter our country illegal lay, unchecked, unveted is, is an abdication of his duty. laken isn't alone. her case represents hundreds of thousands of families across the nation -- across this nation whose lives have been upended by the invasion that our leaders allowed to happen.

think about that for a minute. they allowed it to happen, not by negligence, oversight, carelessness, inattentiveness. no, no, no. they encouraged it to happen. should secretary mayorkas be found guilty, these are crimes of the highest order. this is the sort of thing that doesn't happen very often in this country, the sort of thing that i hope we'll never have to experience again. the sort of thing that could otherwise result in a toby keith song, may he rest in peace. the american people understand something is terribly wrong and we expect us to act, madam president. in all briefs impeachments sent to the senate, we held a trial.

saved those rare circumstances where the case was rendered moot by death or vacancy of the office, not facts present here. we held a trial and that trial cull minute in a -- culminated in a verdict of guilty or not guilty. but, majority leader chuck schumer now seems to want a take the radical step, the unprecedented step is the lawless step, the counter-anti- -- the anti-constitutional step of trying to table these articles of impeachment without even letting us examine the evidence. this begs the question -- what would he do, what would he do if he were confident, if the majority leader were confident

that secretary mayorkas had acted lawfully, honorably in this office? what would he do if he were confident that the american people weren't turning on his party because of this act of lawlessness, this interminable obsession of object surdties by the logic of their own border nonenforcement strategy. this is exactly what it looks like, madam president, when someone is aware that there is a problem and wants to sweep the problem under the rug. there is no rug here. you can't hide this. there's no rug big enough to accommodate that and shame on us if we play into that strategy. so, look, to colleagues on my side of the aisle and on the other, i implore you -- i know many of us are institutionists, whether where you a republican or democrat, no matter how far

toward the left wing or the right wing or somewhere in between you are, i appeal to your sense that we have an obligation to take seriously our oaths to the constitution, that we have an obligation that must be honored to look out for the institutional interests of the senate and the role that this plays in the sacred order created by the united states constitution. when the articles of impeachment arrive, they have a job to do. to ignore the evidence before us is to betray the trust of those who sent us here. there's no doubt at this point that the invasion at the southern border has inflicted indescribable, incalculable, intolerable pain and suffering on far too many americans. we're obligated to figure out

who's responsible and hold them accountable, beginning with secretary mayorkas. i urge each of my colleagues to oppose this shameless effort to sidestep our constitutional duty and by so doing subvert the constitutional order. thank you, madam president. i yield the floor.

. mr. schumer: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to legislative session, be in a beard of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: and madam president, a very short one tonight -- i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today it stand adjourned until 10:00 a.m. on tuesday, april 9. that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day and morning business be closed. that upon the conclusion of morning business, the senate proceed to executive session to

resume consideration of the bazis nomination postcloture. further, that all time on the bazis nomination be considered expired at 11:30 a.m. and that following the cloture vote on the white nomination, the senate recess until 2:15 p.m. to allow for the weekly caucus meetings, with all time during recess counting postcloture. finally, that if any nominations are confirmed during tuesday's session, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, and the president be immediately notified of the senate's actions. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. schumer: if there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until senate stands adjourned until today in the senate lawmakers advance the nomination to the u.s. district court judge for nebraska. later this week house impeachment managers deliver

articles of impeachment against homeland security secretary mayorkas to the senate. that will happen on wednesday to officially mark the start of the impeachment trial. you can watch live coverage here on cspan2. >> on wednesday president biden first lady jill biden host a state dinner honoring japanese prime minister. watch guest arrivals life beginning at 5:30 eastern on our website c-span.org or he spent now are free mobile video app. later at 11:00 p.m. eastern on c-span we will feature highlights from the evening including the prime minister's white house arrival toast given at the dinner. watch the white house state dinner wednesday on c-span networks. ♪ c-span as your unfiltered view of government. funded by these television companies and more including cox.