Transcripts For CSPAN2 U.S. Senate U.S. Senate 20240713

Legacy energy source. Senator udall of new mexico and i have an amendment that will close a loophole in federal Energy Policy. I want my colleagues to know, and i think they do, of my long support for renewable and alternative sources of energy and so i agree with the aims of the murkowskimachin murkowskiy bill. The amendment that senator udall and i have introduced is the same as the bipartisan bill we introduced last week. The title of that bill is the fair return for public lands act. Mr. Grassley this bill was introduced 100 years to the date of the mineral leasing act of 1920. This amendment would increase the royalty rates on federal lands from 12. 5 to 18. 75 . Everybody here knows that a royalty is what the oil company will pay to a mineral owner. In this case the mineral owner is the american taxpayer, and that royalty is paid for the right to extract oil and natural gas from the lands of the United States. The legislation modernizes the public lands leasing system and it does this for the First Time Since royalty rates were set in 1920. The legislation increases both the share of royalties that taxpayers receive from public lands leasing as well as the rental rates. The new rental rate that we are offering in this amendment reflects the current fair market value while the bill also establishes minimum bidding standards to lease public lands that will stay in line with inflation. This bill is a simple fix by many by making federal leasing rates the same, whether youre on land or offshore. The royalty rate the bill offers is very comparable to of what current leases are for oilproducing states on their stateowned land. So we use state of texas as an example. Texas charges a 25 royalty on its state lands while states in the Rocky Mountain west charge royalties that are somewhere between 16 and twothirds percent and 18 and threefourths percent. The royalty rate on federal public lands is more than onethird lower at 12. 5 . Hence, our amendment, the same as our bill, updating this and bringing parity more parity between state and federal rates and of course absolute parity with offshore drilling. The current regulatory system allows companies to get a sweetheart deal on federal public lands. And so senator udall and i are asking our colleagues to fix this for the American People. According to studies done by the Congressional Budget Office and the Government Accountability office, modernizing public land royalty rates for oil and gas could increase federal revenues by as much as 200 million over the next decade. And do it with little to no impact on production. It is time then, hence our amendment, for my colleagues in congress to end this oil company loophole and bring oil leasing into the 21st century. I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call quorum call mr. Barrasso madam president. The presiding officer the senator from wyoming. Mr. Barrasso i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be vitiated. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Barrasso i come to the floor today as a senator as well as a physician. I want to do this to reassure the American People that we are doing Everything Possible to combat and contain the coronavirus. Madam president , according to Johns Hopkins university, a wellknown medical institution, we here in the United States are the most prepared nation on the face of the earth to protect ourselves in terms of preparation for something, an Infectious Disease like the coronavirus. Nevertheless, this virus is a global concern and is a pandemic potential and problem. The outbreak we know started in china. It goes without saying we are deeply saddened by the loss of life there as well as here and around the world. And were concerned about those currently suffering from the virus. Madam president , our focus continues to be on protecting the health and the wellbeing and the safety of the American People. Thats where we need to focus. Notably, President Trumps early travel restrictions on china have actually helped slow the spread of the virus. He has since expanded these restrictions. The president , i believe, has acted swiftly, boldly, decisively to contain the virus and to keep americans safe. Still, this country is not a hermetically sealed bubble, never will be, cant be, so were likely to see more cases here in the days and weax ahead. So we all must be prepared and we must stay vigilant. Be assured the Trump Administration is fully engaged in responding to this virus. The United States has the best Public Health system in the world, and we have a plan in place to combat the coronavirus. Our Public Health experts are working to identify and isolate the virus, as well as to produce a vaccine. The fastest you could ever produce a vaccine which is several years, we seem to be moving faster than that with respect to the coronavirus. The vaccine, even though its moving faster than ever, it will still take a number of months to actually have a vaccine that will help the population of the country. Its a new virus so a new vaccine needs to be developed. Now, the Vice President said over the weekend that we expect to have a vaccine available sometime next year, and i agree. Meanwhile, our strategy for testing, for isolation, for quarantine right now is helping to lower the risks. Years ago, we created an Infectious Disease Rapid Response team. The goal would be to make sure we were ready if the time would come, and the time has now come. Test kits are becoming more widely available for states and communities. We heard it today over the noon hour that they are expecting to have enough test kits available around the country to over the next week test a million people. Were going to continue to use every available tool we can in this fight. The white house has created a Coronavirus Task force led by Vice President pence. The efforts headed by top officials at the center for Disease Control, the National Institutes of health had a chance to visit with a number of them today and specifically the Infectious Disease group through the n. I. H. Weve had a number of briefings through the centers for Disease Control. Recently by dr. Ann suchak who is the head of the center for Disease Control in the area, helping with our efforts on coronavirus. As she has said, our aggressive containment strategy here in the United States has been working, she said, and is responsible for the low level of cases that weve had so far. Officials at the c. D. C. And the National Institutes of health are coordinating with other federal officials, and they intend to be working around the clock. The administration is making sure that state and local officials have all of the resources they need to respond. Dr. Suchak has said that our health care system, our businesses, our communities, and our schools all have action plans. Senators have had a number of briefings from officials at both the center for Disease Control and the National Institutes of health. They are working on ways to identify the virus, to test for the virus, ways to treat people who are infected by the virus. Theyre working on quarantines and on a vaccine. Thats what they should be doing. This is a massive nationwide undertaking. Now, at every meeting and i have been going to meetings on this since it was first noted around the beginning of the year, this issue in china, where as people now know that the doctor who tried to get the word out to the world, who was the first to notice this specific new virus, the coronavirus, he was reprimanded by the chinese for trying to do just what he learned to do as a doctor, which was to share medical knowledge and information to try to get ahead of a disease that is progressing. He was reprimanded by the chinese government, and he has subsequently died of the disease. But there are a number of us and it was bipartisan would go as senators to briefings we have been going to briefings since the time of the impeachment. We would have impeachment in the afternoon and discussions about coronavirus in the morning. So there has been a focus on this for probably longer than most Members Around the country had been focused on it. And at every meeting, we would ask the members from the center for Disease Control and the National Institutes of health do you right now have the funds you need for the things you need to do right now . And at all of those meetings, they said yes, we have what we need. Well, now things have changed. Now they say they need additional funds, and they are right, and we agree. They need funds for more testing, for more treatment, for more vaccine development. Its appropriate that congress appropriate that money. And i believe Congress Must act quickly and decisively to protect the public by passing a bipartisan emergency funding bill. Both parties agree this effort has to be fully funded. We know that the initial numbers that were being discussed were only a starting point. We dont know what the total number is going to be, but if the team is going to continue to have all of the funds that they need to deal with this disease. So i find it very disturbing, madam president , to see democrats, especially those running for president , politicizing the issue. The headline in yesterdays New York Times, democrats hit trump on virus. Talking about the president ial candidates, running for president , attacking President Trump on the virus. Madam president , the coronavirus is a deadly disease. Its not a Political Tool to try to tar and feather President Trump. We need to be working on this together. This should not be about democrat candidates trying to defeat President Trump but about defeating the coronavirus. Thats what we ought to be focusing on, madam president. And madam president , as a doctor, my focus is on the health of the American People. So my advice for those who may be watching is this. Its the same commonsense advice you would take if you were saying i want to avoid getting the flu during flu season, and it is flu season as well. Cover your mouth when you cough, wash your hands frequently, if youre sick, stay home. Those are the kind of commonsense things people can do at home, not just to prevent the flu but also to protect themselves against the coronavirus. There is no reason for lots of anxiety or for panic. As a nation, were in the right position to deal with the challenge that we face. And this administration will continue to do everything in its power to keep america and americans safe. But now its time for congress to do its part, to pass the emergency legislation and get it to the president s desk. Thankfully, we are the most prepared nation to face this challenge. We have harnessed all the American Energy and ingenuity and expertise that we need for this fight. The key is for all of us to remain engaged and remain vigilant. As a doctor, i am confident, madam president , that we will be able to succeed together. Thank you, madam president. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call quorum call quorum call quorum call quorum call a senator mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from idaho. A senator thank you. Mr. President , colleagues are we in a quorum call . The presiding officer we are. A senator i ask that it be vitiated. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Risch i could to the floor today to talk about the American Energy innovation act here before the senate which we are considering this week. Americas Energy Landscape has changed dramatically since the last major energy bill was enacted by congress more than a decade ago. Its time to update our outdated Energy Policy to reflect todays realities, goals, and challenges in the Energy Sector. The American Energy innovation act, the business before the senate today, is the accumulation of more than a year of hearings, business meetings, and negotiations in the energy and Natural Resources committee. I commend chairman murkowski and Ranking Member manchin for their leadership in bringing this strong bipartisan, all of the above Energy Package to the floor. Included in this legislation are a number of provisions that i have proposed that will benefit idaho and the nation. First, the bill appropriately recognizes the importance of having a strong Domestic Nuclear industry. I represent not just one of the department of energys National Laboratories but i represent the nations flagship Nuclear Energy laboratory, the Idaho National lab. Nuclear power is the nations largest source of reliable carbonfree energy. To date Nuclear Power plants have primarily served one purpose, to produce electricity. But were discovering through the work at the Idaho National lab that this is only the tip of the iceberg for the work that a Nuclear Reactor can do. The i. N. L. And department of energy are currently working to demonstrate that Nuclear Reactors can be adopted to produce other products like hydrogen, steam, and importantly heat. To accelerate this research, Ranking Member manchin and i introduced the integrated Energy Systems act to help improve the strong the longterm competitiveness of our Current Fleet of Nuclear Reactors. That bill is included in the larger bill we have before us. We must keep our existing fleet of reactors online and also must usher in the next generation of advanced Nuclear Reactor designs. This is particularly exciting at this point in time. The Bipartisan Nuclear leadership act will address key supply chain and other challenges associating with developing small, modular, micro, and other advanced designs. This act is also included in the larger bill before us today. Neila that is that bill will enable the federal government to partner with the private sector to demonstrate and commercialize these technologies and the i. N. L. s National Reactor Innovation Center will play a key role in making these designs a reality. When looking toward a clean, reliable and secure energy future, the importance of Rare Earth Minerals cannot be overstated. In idaho we have the nations only significant deposit, domestic deposit of cobalt, a mineral that is vital for electric vehicles, Wind Turbines and military hardware. Yet instead of mining and processing this mineral in the u. S. , we import our supply from china. Cobalt is just one of Many Minerals that u. S. Relies on for imports. We need to start prioritizing domestic supply and processing our Critical Minerals for our energy and domestic security future. And i appreciate that we have included this act also in the big bill that is in front of us. This is the american mineral security act and it prioritizes our energy independence. Im also pleased the key provisions of my bill, the enhancing geothermal production on federal lands act were also included. That act is included in the larger bill. Idaho has long been a world leader in the development of geothermal technologies. In fact, the idaho State Capitol building is the only State Capitol in the United States that is heated solely with geothermal energy. Theres significant potential to expand this Renewable Energy in idaho and indeed across the western United States. Most of this potential exists on federal managed lands. Unfortunately developers looking to harness this resource on federal lands must navigate a labyrinth of regulations. The provisions in this bill will unleash our nations vast geothermal resources by making the current permitting review process more efficient, cost effective, predictable, and importantly taking the shorter period of time. Lastly, im proud that this legislation contains language from the protect act that will modernize our electric grid and enhance cybersecurity efforts. I dont need to spend any time on the cybersecurity thats important for our electric grid. It is one of the favorite targets of terrorists around the world, usually through cybersecurity. The worldwide adoption of Digital Automation technology has created great benefits, but it also introduces significant cyber vulnerabilities to Critical Energy infrastructure. Im proud that the solutions to many of these challenges are being developed at the Idaho National laboratory who is the world leader in Critical Infrastructure and control systems and Security Research in those areas. Protecting our electric grid is one of the most pressing security challenges. And we must incentivize the Energy Sector to deploy the most advanced cybersecurity technologies. The additional authorities and tools in these bills are critical to both our energy and national security, and i am committed and hopefully committed along with all of my colleagues here in the United States senate to seeing those matters across matters cross the finish line in this important act which finally reaches us at this critical time. With that i will yield the floor to my distinguished colleague from new mexico. Mr. Udall mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from new mexico. Mr. Udall thank you, mr. President , for the recognition. And let me begin today by commending the efforts of senators murkowski and manchin for working across the aisle to bring an energy bill to the floor. This bill has positive initiatives promoting Energy Efficiency, modernizing the electric grid, and Research Funding for clean energy. But the full senate deserves a chance to be heard on the important issues at stake with this bill. Namely, energy. Most importantly, we must take real action on Climate Change and address a problematic provision in this bill to limit environmental reviews of massive, potentially toxic mining projects. Everywhere we look, were experiencing the devastating effects of Climate Change, whether its hurricanes along the southeastern coast, flooding in the midwest, drought in the southwest, or outofcontrol wildfires in california. And were careening too close to Climate Change tipping points that scientists warned will doom the planet. The bill before us does not set targets to reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions to the levels required to meet global targets or transition us to a Clean Energy Economy which is where we need to head and we need to be heading there fast. A few things would dramatically improve this bills climate impact. First, we need to add Clean Energy Tax incentives. Clean Energy Tax Incentives are one of the most effective tools we have in our toolbox to increase Renewable Power sources like wind and solar. And the Energy Storage technology that enables them to work as a base load power. Second, we should put commonsense limits on one of the worst Greenhouse Gases, methane. The u. S. Oil and gas boom means that we are emitting 13 Million Metric Tons of methane every year. Thats 60 more than e. P. A. Estimates and methane is 84 times more powerful than co2 as a Greenhouse Gas in the shortterm. Short term. The industry says they want to control methane pollution. They were prepared to live with limits on public lands in the 2016 rule from the bureau of land management, and in 2017 the senate rejected an attempt to repeal that rule on a bipartisan basis. But the Trump Administration eliminated the rule due to lobbying by the worst polluters in the industry. We should restore that rule and i have filed an amendment to do so immediately. We should also act to phase out hfcs and include a Strong Energy Efficiency Program for buildings. Then this bill could make a small but meaningful contribution to the Climate Change fight. And, mr. President , within the confines of this bill, there is a problematic and antienvironmental section that deserves serious scrutiny. Im talking about the controversial American Minerals security act, a bill that saw significant opposition in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee. Including this bill in this package is problematic because it would, quote, streamline the federal permitting process for hard rock mining, streamlining the approval process means arbitrary deadlines and reducing public input on massive mining projects that could cause further environmental destruction on public lands. Mining is a messy business. Surface mining ravages the earth. Heat bleach mining produces what is called acid mine drainage that spews a mix of acidic water and heavy metals into streams and contaminates ground water. An astounding 40 of western headwaters are contaminated by mine runoff. Those headwaters are where we get our drinking water. There are two controversial mine proposals in new mexico right now, the teraro mine and the Copper Flat Mine near hillsboro, new mexico. Both of these mines have significant concerns from local farmers, ranchers, tribes, and residents who are worried about water pollution. Under this provision almost anything can be labeled a critical mineral. Mining permits will get pushed through while limiting local community input. I am strongly supporting an amendment from the senate from senator stabenow to strike this provision. The proponents of this Critical Minerals bill have some valid points. Of course, we need certain metals for our economy, including a Clean Energy Economy. But we cannot forget that the Mining Industry has gotten one of the biggest free rides on the back of the taxpayer in american history. All the while leaving the taxpayer holding the bag for their toxic legacy. Hard rock mining on federal lands is governed by the general mining act of 1872. Thats right, 1872, a 148yearold law. President ulysses s. Grant signed it to help settle the west and to spur economic development. Still in effect today, the act allows Mining Companies to mine gold, silver, copper, uranium, and other Precious Metals on federal lands without paying one dime in royalties, not one dime. Thats in sharp contrast to coal and oil and Gas Companies that pay billions in royalties every year for the right to extract resources, resources owned by the public and which are coming off public lands. 12. 5 is the current rate paid by coal, oil, and gas. These same Mining Companies often pay royalties of similar payments when they operate overseas but not here in the United States. Since 1872, Mining Companies have taken 300 billion. Thats billion with a b from public lands. The u. S. Accountability office estimated that in 2010 alone hard rock mining earned 6. 4 billion from public lands. That would have yielded 800 million per year for the american taxpayer. If mining were treated the same as coal, oil, and gas. And the shocking fact is, foreignowned companies are often the beneficiaries. For example, 83 of the companies that mine or explore for uranium in the United States are foreignowned. 64 of the companies that produce gold are foreignowned. And the outofdate mining law not only shortchanges taxpayers, it shortchanges the environment. The same industry that seeks permitting relief from Congress Today does nothing to pay for cleanup at the tens of thousands of abandoned mines scarring our public lands. The g. A. O. Estimates that there are 33,000 abandoned mines across the west that are degrading the environment. One study found that 20,000 gallons per day of toxic water from 43 abandoned mine sites are polluting streams, ponds, and groundwater. Whats wrong with these numbers . The american taxpayer is stuck with the bill and the local and regional communities are stuck with the devastating environmental and Public Health impacts. Now, witness this. The Gold King Mine that gushed 3 million gallons 3 million gallons of this toxic yellow stew into the animas and san juan rivers, and across my home state of new mexico, utah, and the navajo nation. Its been four years since this spill and the states, tribes, and local communities have still not been fully reimbursed. This was a normal river in the west that looked clean and pristine. Here it is this toxic stew, this yellowish stocksic stew that ran for a number of days. The right to mine on federal lands royaltyfree maybe made sense 150 years ago. A free ride makes no sense now. Its a sweetheart deal for the Mining Companies that cant be justified by todays fiscal or environmental realities. The old joke in the west is that the Mining Company gets the gold and the American People get the shaft. And thats literally true. My amendment to reform the 1872 mining law that senators heinrich and bennet are mosquito sponsoring ends this free are cosponsoring ends this free ride by doing two simple things. Sets a royalty rate between 5 and 8 on mining on federal lands, the public lands. And it provides for cleanup of abandoned mines paid for by royalties and an abandon mine reclamation fee of 1 to 3 . The House Committee on Natural Resources approved broad mining reform legislation last year. This bill could be coming to the house floor soon and is probably headed in our direction over here at the senate. Mining reform is decades and decades overdue. Its only fair to address this injustice before we give Mining Companies new perks and even if they can be justified, enacting a royalty reclamation fee is a healthy start on that process. Thank you again, senators murkowski and manchin, for your work. I hope we can return to the regular order, to the idea that were going to have a bill on the floor and that we can have amendments and have the process work as it normally does, and improve the bill on these important points. If we cannot, i think the path for this bill becomes much harder. Now, mr. President , on another subject before i conclude, i want to voice my support for the remarks senator grassley grave earlier today on the oil and gas royalties. Weve filed an amendment together based on our bill to update those royalties and other leasing items for the first time in 100 years. Its a long overdue topic, and i hope to see increasing bipartisan support in the near future. We have an historic oil boom in this country, much of which is using public lands, and the public has a right to see a fair value for those resources. We also have a large and growing budget deficit and a major Climate Change problem. Bringing oil and gas royalties into the 21st century would be a bipartisan win on all of those fronts. Mr. President , i yield the floor, and i see my good friend, the senator from tennessee, is here. Mr. Alexander mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from tennessee. Mr. Alexander thank you, mr. President. Mr. President , im on the floor to speak about the coronavirus, but first let me express to the families in tennessee my heartfelt concern for them as a result of a tornado that swept through middle tennessee last night while people were sleeping. The number of deaths is 22 so far in nashville and in a wilson and in putnam and in benton counties. Ive seen floods, and ive seen fires, and the damage they cause is terrible. But theres nothing quite like seeing what a tornado can do. It can arrive in 30 seconds or one minute and be gone and leave behind death and buildings laid flat to the ground. And i cant imagine what it must be like for that to happen at 1 00 in the morning when nobody knows its coming. Ill be in tennessee on friday when the senate concludes its business this week and be visiting those areas. Our office has been in touch with mayors in all the counties and the communities affected. Senator blackburn and i are working together along with the rest of the tennessee delegation in the house to make certain that we give full federal support to governor lee. The president talked to governor lee today and as a result of that call the white house put out a statement indicating the president may be in tennessee on friday. That would be welcome as well. Now, mr. President , let me speak for a moment about the coronavirus. The country was transfixed by the impeachment process for about a month, and now theyre transfixed by the coronavirus. But this is different. This is personal. This could affect each of us, and so when im home and im sure when the presiding officer is home, there are lots of questions about the coronavirus. I want to speak this morning about a hearing that we had in the Senates Health committee that was reassuring to me and i think to the democrats as well as the republicans there. It was reassuring because we had respected professionals from the government with broad experience in dealing with epidemics, whether its anthrax, ebola twice, or coronavirus. Weve had all of that in the past years and weve dealt with that. And at the end of the hearing, senator murray and i she is the ranking democrat on the committee and i and our democrats arent bashful and our republicans arent bashful. And i think i can speak for them in saying that those four professionals, many of whom have worked for 25 or 30 years in terms of helping our country deal with health crises, continue to e our respect. We believe what they tell us. And they promise to tell us the truth. And when i saw the Vice President earlier today, i said to him, mr. Vice president , im glad that youve been placed in charge of this. As a former governor, i think it makes sense to place a Vice President and a former governor, someone who is accustomed to working the states and local governments, in charge of a problem thats going to be solved primarily by our exceptional state and local health system. So i think youre exactly the right person to be in charges but my advice was, let the professionals do the talking because people believe them. If the president and the Vice President give their view, theyre entitled to do it, but someone will think theyre justifying what theyre doing. And if the democrats, on the other hand, Say Something about it, someone will say, well theyre just criticizing President Trump. But if dr. Fauci, for example, since 1984, which is a long time, working for president reagan and president h. W. Bush and president george w. Bush and president obama and President Trump, working with hivaids, working with anthrax, working with the ebola epidemic twice, if dr. Fauci answers a question and tells using is, i think we believe that. And what we need is Accurate Information for the American People about exactly where we stand with this crisis and what do we need to do in congress that weve not already that weve not already done. So in the next few minutes, id like to talk about what we heard this morning and to compliment those four who were there, dr. Anshuka, Deputy Director for Disease Control. Shes had 30 years working with Infectious Diseases, most of that time with the c. D. C. Dr. Fauci, i just described working with six president s. I believe he has virtual universal respect here for truthtelling and competence. Dr. Robert cadley, assistant secretary for preparedness and response at the department of health and human services. He used to advise the f. B. I. And the department of defense. Then he helped senator burr write the legislation that set up the agency, that helps us be better prepared to deal with such epidemics as we might experience here. And then dr. Steven hahn, the newest within of the four in terms the newest one of the four in terms of coming to the president. But he is been at the m. D. Anderson Cancer Center in texas. Those are the professionals we heard this morning. Now what did we hear . We heard that the coronavirus is alarming in terms of whats happening around the world. There are 90,000 cases or more, 3,000 deaths, all of this has happened in the last two, two and a half months as far as we know. Whats happened at home . Whats happened at home here in the United States is that we have slightly more than 100 cases that are detected, about half of those are americans who were traveling and had to be brought home and were repatriated, as we say, and the other half have been detected here. And, unfortunately, weve had six deaths. Its fair to say that citizens in the United States are at low risk from infection from the coronavirus. But you dont have to take my word for it. Take the word of the professionals who testified this morning before the Senates Health, education, labor, and Pensions Committee or take the words of what the New York Times said a couple days ago on its front page of the sunday newspaper in describing the situation in the United States two days ago. Heres what the times said. Quote, much about the coronavirus remains unclear. Its far from certain that the outbreak will reach severe proportions in the United States or affect many regions at once. Continuing the New York Times with its topnotch scientists, modern hospitals, and sprawling Public Health infrastructure, most experts agree the United States is among the countries best prepared to prevent or manage such an epidemic. Thats the New York Times frontpage assessment two days ago. Now, in addition to the possible effect on lives of americans, this problem can disrupt our economy. 20 of what we import, according to our trade representatives, comes from china. So were not just talking about medicines or masks. Were talking about parts for cars or chemicals for Eastman Chemical in east tennessee, which employs thousands of people. It can cause our economy to slow down and the rest of the world to slow down. The purpose of our hearing this morning was, first, to get an idea of what americans needed to know about the coronavirus. And we learned some things. We learned that based on the data that we have and that has been received just in the last couple days from china, children mostly arent infected by the coronavirus. They may be, but most of the people who seem to be infected by it are over 50 and the people who get the sickest are people who are already sick. Second thing weve learned seems so simple, it doesnt seem to be true. But what can we do about the coronavirus . How can we keep from getting it . Wash your hands. Wash your hands. I find myself doing it a few times day, and i didnt used to do that. But what we do as individuals, our hands pick up from our cell phones or from the rails we touch or from the hands we shake or from the seats in front of us in the airplane, they pick up germs. And then what do we do . We put our hands on our face many more times an hour than most people are aware. And thats the single biggest way that this spreads. So wash your hands. Thats what dr. Fauchi says, the fellow who has been working on these epidemics for decades. Heres Something Else we learned. To put into context, this is just past the pee peak of the fu season. Most of us know about the flu. We have a vaccine for the flu, not for the coronavirus but for the flu. And most of us take it but there are hundreds tens of millions of us who have the flu right now, this year. 50,000 americans on average die from the flu each year. 50,000 americans. That might be 30,000 one year, might be 70,000 in a very bad year but thats a lot of people dying from the flu. The flu is a respiratory disease just like the coronavirus is a respiratory disease. Its a different respiratory disease but the both are much the same. In fact the symptoms are much the same, fever and cough. We also learned this morning from the professionals who told us this that for 80 of the people who are infected with the coronavirus, its a fairly mild experience. 20 , mainly older people, are sicker. And theyre the ones who need the attention. Those are some of the things learned this morning from the professionals who have been working with these epidemics or potential epidemics for a long time. Now, what should we do about it . Well, lets start with what we have done about it. Because i think its important for the American People to know that. Starting with congress. This is not our first rodeo, so to speak. We faced Public Health threats for the last 20 years. There are members of congress and staff who were here with the anthrax aincrease in attack in 2001, 2001, nearly 20 years ago. 2003 we saw sars. That was another type of coronavirus. Then 2009 flu pandemic. That killed more than 150,000 people around the world. And then there were the Ebola Outbreaks in 2014 and 2018. After every one of those incidents, Congress Working with democratic and republican president s began to try to prepare our federal government to be better prepared for the next problem. After anthrax, we created project bioshield to develop and stockpile new treatments and vaccines. After the sars outbreak in 2006, congress created the pandemic all hazards preparedness act. Senator byrd of North Carolina was the principal author. It guides the government on how to respond to public emergencies. And it creates funds that the government can use to respond quickly to problems that come up. Last Year Congress provided more than 4 billion for Public Health and preparedness programs. When a crisis occurs like this one. All this has happened since the first of the year. Maybe a little bit in december but mostly since the first of the year. Money is often needed quickly so congress has created a couple of funds that the agencies can take money from. One of them is the Rapid Response fund and secretary azar has already taken 105 million from that for this for this health care issue. And then weve given him the authority to take another 136 million which hes done and then the president has recommended 2. 5 million more and then congress with many different suggestions having been made is likely this week to enact additional funding to do whatever our professionals tell us need to be done to keep us safe and to help protect our economy. Now, in addition what congress has done, our various president s have done even more. For example, president obama if youll remember sent our military to africa to deal with the Ebola Outbreak before it came here. That was quite an extraordinary action. President george w. Bush sent c. D. C. Scientists center for Disease Control scientists around the world to help with the sars epidemic and in the same way President Trump has done something that hasnt been done in this country for 50 years hasnt been done for 50 years. At the time when there were only six confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United States, this administration announced they would quarantine americans who may have been exposed to the virus while in china and impose travel restrictions on foreign nationals who traveled to china in the last 14 days. And warned americans not to travel to china and more recently not to travel to italy or south korea and said that foreign nationals who have traveled to china in the last 14 days cant reenter the United States. This the president added iran to this more recently. Dr. Fauci, the National Institutes of Health Professional who we heard from this morning said without those executive actions wed have many more cases right now. The third thing the administration has done is to develop a test to diagnose whether youve got the coronavirus. Now, we didnt have that before because this is a new virus. So theyre rapidly working on that, not as fast as everyone would like but fast so far as i can tell and the f. D. A. Is working with 65 privatesector developers in addition to the 46 labs in 38 states who are developing tests. The goal is to have in place kits that will allow a million tests to be made shortly. And then as far as a vaccine, were working on a vaccine. The professionals are. More rapidly than any vaccine ever before. But it still takes more than a year. However, the president met with drug manufacturers to see if existing treatments might be used earlier in our National Laboratories and our National Laboratories have gotten involved as well. So madam president , as we look at the coronavirus, we think mostly about our own health. But we also see other issues and thats the effect on our economy and the 13 of the facilities that make active ingredients for drugs are in china. We need to take a look at that. But i would like to conclude where i started. People ask me what can we do about the coronavirus. The answer is as simple as wash your hands, drink a lot of water, isolate yourself if you feel sick, and if youve got a fever and a cough, call your doctor. Stay home and dont infect your neighbors. Are we going to be able to contain the coronavirus in the United States . I go back to what the New York Times said on its front page on sunday. We have experience dealing with epidemics in the United States. We have professionals who for several decades through several administrations both democratic and republican have been successful in doing that. We have administration president s, both democratic and republican who have taken strong executive action, including this one, to protect the American People. In short, while this is an alarming problem around the world and surely more americans will become infected, most experts agree that we are fortunate that the United States is the country in the world with the scientists, with the resources, and with the experience to do the best possible job of containing the spread of this virus. I thank the president. I yield the floor. The presiding officer the senator from vermont. Mr. Leahy madam president , before i begin i would like to ask tbhawct that debra flesher, a detailee on my Judiciary Committee staff be granted floor privileges for the remainder of the 116th congress. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Leahy i thank the chair. Madam president , 55 years ago a courageous band, civil rights activists including the fearless john lewis began a march for what many of us considered a sacred right to vote. The march they marched to montgomery and marched in the face of unspeakable violence. They shed their blood for access to the ballot. Now, much has changed in the last 55 years, but this struggle for voting equality and this march for progress continues. On sunday i was inspired yet again by my hero, my dear friend now congressman john lewis who leads thousands in commemorating the anniversary of bloody sunday. This was not merely a commemoration. This was a clarion call to action. Those of us who know the congressman, he has been very seriously ill but has not given up the fight. Congressman lewis voice booming over the crowd reminds us reminded us all to continue to fight. Now more than ever. Im not going to give up, he thundered. Im not going to give in. Im proud to stand with my dear friend congressman john lewis. In the past several years a number of states have done all they could to disenfranchise tens of thousands of minority voters. The tactics were often brazen and transparent. While these Voter Suppression schemes took many forms from sweeping purges of voter rolls to arbitrary new identification requirements, they all shared one purpose and one purpose alone. Making voting more difficult for minorities and the marginalized. As a federal judge observed when he struck down one such states voter i. D. Law, it sought to disenfranchise, quote, African Americans with almost surgical precision. Close quote. Well, today were seeing a reprise of these efforts ahead of one of the most consequential elections in the history of our democracy. And those doing the suppressions dont even pretend to hide their intent. In november a Senior Advisor to President Trumps Reelection Campaign came right out and said the quiet part but he said it out loud. He observed that traditionally republicans suppress votes and then he predicted the Voter Suppression is going to be a much bigger program, a much more Aggressive Program in 2020. Now, may 2019 tennessee enacted a draconian law imposing criminal penalties against Voter Registration groups who submitted socalled deficient registration forms. In october 2019 floridas state legislature tried to undo a constitutional amendment overwhelmingly approved a vote by floridians to restore Voting Rights to former felons. Something we take for granted in vermont that they can vote. Now these efforts have faithfully been halted, at least temporarily in the courts but there will be other states that will attempt what tennessee and florida tried or even worse. And those who value the sanctity of the vote will be engaged in an endless war of really whacamole in the courts who sought these unamerican efforts to suppress the right to vote. And why have states been given such free rein to suppress the minority vote . Its because of the disastrous 2013 Supreme Court decision Shelby County versus holder. That gutted section 5 of the Voting Rights act. Voting right act that had been voted on by both republicans and democrats. It gutted it. It crippled the federal governments ability to proactively prevent discriminatory changes to state voting laws. In the wake of Shelby County, states unleashed Voter Suppression schemes almost immediately after the decision came down knowing full well that the federal government can no longer serve as a shield against disenfranchisement. Our democracy depends on this changing and changing now. The proliferation of threats to the right to vote in the wake of Shelby County makes it unmistakably clear we need the full protections of the Voting Rights act. Thats why for years i championed, ive authored, reintroduced the Voting Rights advancement act. I reintroduced this legislation in 2019. I would note, madam president , it is a bipartisan bill. I should repeat that. It is a bipartisan bill to restore section 5 of the Voting Rights action, improve and modernize that landmark legislation. And provide the federal government with other critical tools to combat this fullfledge assault on the franchise. A total of 47 senators have publicly stated they support this commonsense effort to protect the right to vote why dont we bring it to a vote . If people want to continue the suppression, let them vote that way. But if they want to allow people to vote, let them vote that. If the majority leader would simply let it come to a vote right now right now it is being stopped by one person. If the majority leader would simply let it come to a vote, it would pass. And the house has already passed its companion version of my legislation. I find it offensive for those who claim that this bipartisan, bicameral legislation is some kind of partisan power grab. In america, its the governed who possess power. Restoring the power is what it means to be a democracy. So id say to my friend, the majority leader, to senator mcconnell, all eyes are on him will he release the Voting Rights advancement act from this legislative graveyard and do it before the elections . Will he simply allow an upordown vote on this legislation to restore the bipartisan Voting Rights act of 1965 . History is watching. As my hero and friend john lewis powerfully stated this past sunday, weve got to make america better for all people. Were all people, were one family. I agree. A right to vote for all americans is the beating heart of our former government. Its the very right that gives democracy its name. Let us show the world that were deserving of that name. Let us show the world the conscience of the senate is that well go forward and vote vote for it or vote against it but vote. Dont just keep it from coming to a vote. Unfortunately, if you keep it from coming to a vote, it looks like too much what were trying to do to a lot of people, especially minorities in this country, keeping them from voting. We have republicans and democrats in this body. Let us vote up or down on this. Most importantly, as we do in my state of vermont, we fight to make sure every vermonter gets to vote, no matter what their party is, no matter where they live, no matter who they are. Lets see if week do that for the lets see if we can do that for the rest of the country. Wed be a better country for it. Madam president , i yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call quorum call ms. Collins mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from maine. Ms. Collins mr. President , i ask unanimous consent that proceedings under the call be dispensed with. The presiding officer without objection. Ms. Collins thank you, mr. President. Mr. President , i rise today in support of the American Energy innovation act, a compilation of the energyrelated measures reported by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee with bipartisan support. Let me start by recognizing the tremendous efforts of the very committed and dedicated chairman of that committee, Lisa Murkowski and the Ranking Member, joe manchin, for their work in bringing this comprehensive Energy Package to the senate floor. Under that leadership, the committee has worked very hard to craft a bipartisan package that seeks to Lower Energy Costs for consumers, diversify our energy portfolio, and facilitate and encourage the use of cleaner Energy Sources. Mr. President , the American Energy innovation act includes several bills that i authored or cosponsored, including the better Energy Storage technology act, known as the best act, that supports Energy Storage, research and development. The weatherization enhancement and local Energy Efficiency investment and accountability act that reauthorizes the weatherization assistance programs. The Wind Energy Research and Development Act that supports targeted investments in wind energy. And the Energy Savings and industrial competitiveness act as well as the streamlining Energy Efficiency for schools act that both promote Energy Efficiency. Mr. President , im particularly pleased that this agreement includes legislation i authored with senator heinrich, what is known as the best act, the better Energy Storage technology. This bipartisan bill will support Energy Storage research and development which will in turn advance the deployment of Renewable Energy. Federal investments in the research, development, and deployment of Energy Storage technologies will enable the expansion of Renewable Energy sources that are essential to combat Climate Change. Energy Storage Systems actually provide a wide range of benefits. First, these technologies increase the reliability and resiliency of our electric grid by limiting potential disruptions. Energy storage allows for better management of supply and demand for our nations power grid. Second, this type of technology can decrease energy costs in the state of maine, the price of energy and electricity can rise steeply during the coldest days of the year. In late 2017 into early 2018, very cold temperatures in new england led to Higher Energy costs that amounted to more than 1 billion spent in the wholesale Energy Market in only 15 days. The next generation of Energy Storage technologies could also help transform our grid, meaning that we would no longer need to generate more expensive power to meet demand during the hottest and coldest days of the year. Instead, we could use more affordable sources of energy that have been stored for later use. Finally, mr. President , Energy Storage systems can allow for more intermittent renewable sources such as wind or solar power to be placed on the grid and used precisely when they are needed. Think of that, mr. President. Right now if the wind isnt blowing, obviously were not producing wind energy. If the sun is not shining, we are not producing solargenerated energy. But if during those windy periods and those sunny days we could figure out how to store the energy that is produced to be released later for electricity on the grid, what a difference it would make. Off the coast of maine, offshore Wind Turbines could produce electricity, can produce electricity almost 50 of the time due to our relatively persistent offshore winds. But with nextgeneration Energy Storage technology, we could utilize this wind power closer to 100 of the time by storing the electricity produced to use when the wind isnt blowing. That is why i am so excited about the potential for improving our Energy Storage technologies. We all think of batteries, and certainly coming up with better, more efficient batteries to store electricity is part of the answer. But there are other technologies that are going to be available if we make a concerted effort to devote resources to research and development and deployment. So for these reasons, mr. President , i am especially delighted that the best act was included in this package, and i hope that it will be enacted swiftly. Next i would like to turn to a program that is so important to many lowincome families and seniors in the state of maine, and that is the weatherization program. I would like to thank senators murkowski and manchin for including a bill that i will authored with senators coons, reed and shaheen to reauthorize the weatherization assistance program. Through my position on the Appropriations Committee, ive worked with my colleagues to secure an increase of 51 million for weatherization assistance for fiscal year 2020. In fact, virtually every year this is something that the senators that i mentioned and i have worked together to achieve. Oftentimes regrettably the president s budget eliminates the funding for the weatherization program, but with bipartisan support the members of the Appropriations Committee work hard to include it until the funding bill. And one reason we do so is because weatherizing our houses, whether its insulating them or replacing windows or installing heat pumps pays off. In fact, weatherization on average returns a four to one on the investment. Since 2010, the state of maine has received a little more than 22 million in funding and has been able to weatherize successfully nearly 2,500 homes and rental units across the state. And what a difference that has made to the families living in those homes, to the seniors who once were living in drafty homes where their energy costs were much higher than they needed to be because their homes were not well insulated. It also makes those homes a lot more comfortable for our seniors and lowincome families. Encouraging the adoption of Energy Efficiency measures is one of the easiest yet most effective mechanisms for reducing energy consumption, lessening pollution, and ultimately saving money for families, businesses, communities, and governments at all levels. In addition to weatherization, this comprehensive package supports crucial investments in Renewable Energy, including the Wind Energy Research and Development Act that i introduced with senator smith. This bill would reauthorize the department of energys office of wind energy. It would support grants to improve efficiency, reliability and capacity of wind energy generation. The aqua ventis program, the first floating offshore deep Water Project in the United States, has been under development by the university of maine and a consortium of both public and private partners for many years now, and that consortium in the university of maine in particular could benefit from these targeted investments in offshore wind energy. Finally, another important component of this comprehensive bill is Energy Efficiency. Im pleased that the Energy Savings and industrial competitiveness act is included in this package. As an original cosponsor of this bill, which is also known as the portmanshaheen Energy Efficiency legislation, i recognize that it can kick start the use of Energy Efficiency technologies that are commercially available right now and can be deployed by residential, commercial, and Industrial Energy users. It will also improve the Energy Efficiency of the federal government, which happens to be our nations Largest Consumer of energy. I would like to congratulate the bills sponsors, senators shaheen and portman, for crafting this commonsense bill and for their relentless efforts to get it across the finish line. Again, i want to express my appreciation to chairman murkowski and Ranking Member manchin. I would also like to highlight another Energy Efficiency bill included in this package, and that is the streamlining Energy Efficiency for schools act that i sponsored with senator mark warner. In maine, our schools have made tremendous progress on Energy Efficiency, but it can be challenging for schools to take full advantage of programs that Lower Energy Costs, in part because School Officials may not know where to start. A lot of these programs are scattered in different agencies across the federal government. Our bipartisan bill would create a coordinating structure within the department of energy that would streamline available federal Energy Efficiency programs, assist School Administrators with navigating available federal financing and thus reduce School Buildings energy cost. Again, i want to thank the Committee Leaders for their excellent work on this package of Energy Legislation and i would urge all of my colleagues to join me in supporting the adoption of the American Energy innovation act. Mr. President , this is an area where we can truly make a difference for our constituents, our communities, our states, our levels of government, and for our country. Lets get on with the adoption of this very worthwhile package of energy bills. Thank you, mr. President. I would yield the floor and sut the be a and suggest the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk should call the roll. Quorum call quorum call quorum call mr. Brown mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from ohio. Mr. Brown i ask unanimous consent to dispense with the quorum call. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Brown the United States senate used to be called the greatest deliberative body in the world. Its the senate where hugo black wrote labor law reform and essentially he and another senator created the United States senate. This is the desk in the Senate Chamber where senator mcgovern frl south dakota passed legislation with senator dole across the aisle for feeding programs, both for hungry people in the United States. I just met with a number of people from the Cleveland Food Bank and the Midohio Food Bank and Second Harvest food bank, and also senator mcgovern, the mcgoverndole legislation fed hungry kids around the world. This is the body that used to do those kinds of things, the greatest deliberative body in the world. But under leader mcconnell, whose office is down the hall, we see something different. This body, the focus of this body has pretty much been one job. That is confirming young 38, 42, 45yearold judges, extreme judges that always put their thumbs on the scale of support, corporation over workers, to support wall street over consumers and put their thumb on the scale to support Insurance Companies over patients and Drug Companies over patients. But even by the low standards and my gosh, they are low the low standards weve come to expect from senator mcconnell and the majority in always supporting the rich, always fighting for the largest corporations, always fighting for the people that have privilege against struggling families, against workers, 40 of people in this country dont have 400 to their name if they have an emergency to meet. Instead of dealing with that issue, its more tax cuts to the rich, more cuts to medicaid, the food program or snap. But even by the low standards weve come to expect from leader mcconnell and President Trump, this nomination im going to talk about today, Steven Schwartz, even by low standards his nomination is appalling. In one sentence, he wants to abolish Social Security. Not not scale back the cost of living. Not throw a few people off the Social Security disability, not eliminate survivors benefits. He wants to eliminate Social Security. President trump promised to protect Social Security but now he puts Steven Schwartz on the bench, a judge who wants to abolish it. Steven schwartz wrote that Social Security benefits were intended to prevent outright starvation. He wasnt sitting at this desk, to be sure, in the 1930s when Social Security was started. He had nothing obviously he didnt understand that Social Security was was one of three legs of a school, Social Security, private pension, we dont have too many of those anymore, and then savings that workers were able to accrue. He he says Social Security was there to, quote, to prevent outright starvation. Social securitys become a standard component of most retirement programs. Thats kind of the point, to make sure that every single american who works her whole life and pays into the system can have a decent retirement. But for this man, Stephen Schwartz, the man President Trump and leader mcconnell want to put on a federal court with jurisdiction this isnt one of those lifetime judges that thats in one district that can do a little bit of damage in the Northern District of ohio or the Southern District of alabama. They can do plenty of damage. But this is a man that President Trump and leader mcconnell want to put on a federal court with jurisdiction over the whole country as long as people arent literally starving to death in retirement thats enough he seems to think. Id like mr. Schwartz to come to ohio i would like him to come to Garfield Heights. My wife and i live in the city of cleveland. I would like him to go to Garfield Heights to a barber shop there. I would love to hear him listen to the retired machinists or retired teacher and listen, say to them this gentleman wants to serve in the federal government appointed by the president of the United States and thinks that Social Security should be eliminated. I want him to talk to the nurses and bar bers and teachers. I want him to talk to americans who paid into Social Security for their whole lives. Social security is something that will its called its called social insurance. Its like unemployment benefits. Its like its like medicare. Social security you pay in every paycheck, unless youre really rich then pu pay in for a then you pay in for a few months. Its insurance, its social insurance. You pay in, when you retire or get disabled or you die, your children get the survivors benefits. You pay in paycheck after paycheck after paycheck and then when you need it, thats the whole point of insurance, when you need it for disability, when you need it for survivors benefits if the breadwinner in the family dies, or you need it for retirement, then you get it. Its one more its one more broken promise to workers by President Trump, one more betrayal. Remember at the beginning of the year President Trump went to davos. While he was hobnobbing with the global elite, he let slip his plan. He changed his mind, but it was clear what he wanted. President trump said he wants to pay for tax cuts. Remember, 70 of the trump tax cuts went to the richest 1 . Thats why you saw the lobbyists going out in and out of the Leaders Office saying i want this tax cut for this company and that company. He wants to pay for all of that. The president says he wants to pay for it by cutting Social Security and medicare. Think about that. All of these people pay into Social Security and medicare every day, people starting at 16, 15, or 17, pay that throughout their working lives and then the president says he wants to cut medicare and Social Security in order to pay for tax cuts for rich people. He sold his giveaway to the wealthy as a tax cut for working people and it wasnt. He sold his tax cut to the wealthy by saying it would raise it would raise wages, it didnt. People see trumps tax scam for what it really was, a giveaway for corporations and the wealthiest sliver for the 1 in this country. He said over and over it would mean raises for workers, he promised that these massive tax cuts would end up in workers pockets. He heard him college to did i heard him pledge to those in the cabinet room, i heard him say they would get a raise. He told workers a month after he signed the law, you will see money in your paycheck. He did say after signing the bill when he went to florida and hung around with his millionaire, billionaire friends, he said, i made you richer today he did live up to that promise when he made them richer. It didnt trickle down, shall we say, to people making 30,000 to 80,000 a year. These corporations brought back trillions of dollars of their own stocks to line investors pockets. Meanwhile, the deficit exploded. You come into office, you cut taxes on rich people, the deficit goes up to over 1 trillion. What do you do . The deficits up, we have to cut spending. Go after medicare, medicaid, go after snap. Go after in my state the manufacturing extension partnership, the m. E. P. Go after that, which helps local businesses create jobs. He cut that to zero. Hes cut programs, all kinds of things that matter, working class, middle class, Small Business america all to pay for that tax cut. So much of what he does now is to pay for that tax cut that blew a hole in the deficit. Do you stand where corporations or workers, do you fight with wall street or care about the dignity of work and live the dignity of work. We know who Stephen Schwartz fights for. He spent his whole career trying to block protections for students. He argued against the retirement securities workers paid into their whole lives and this, madam president , this is his reward. Hes fought Voting Rights, he has worked to weaken he worked to put Social Security out of business. He always stood with the most privileged and the richest and this is his reward from the president of the United States and his reward from senator mcconnell who sits in the front of this room. Thats why he doesnt belong on the federal bench. If you love this country, you fight for the people that make it work. President trump promised to fight for American Workers but again, madam president , this president betrayed American Workers again and again and again. I note the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call ms. Murkowski madam president. The presiding officer the senator from alaska. Ms. Murkowski madam president , i request the proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. The presiding officer without objection. Ms. Murkowski thank you, madam president. As i mentioned yesterday, as we were preparing to vote to the motion to proceed to proceed to the American Energy innovation act, there is much to much to like, much to support in this Energy Reform legislation that we have proposed. So were in the early stages here of legislating, and i think its probably fair to say that perhaps were a little rusty here. As we have told members we hoped to have a process that allows for amendments from both sides that gives us an opportunity to debate these important and timely issues. But as we as we legitimate and as legislate and move through each step, it does require a level of cooperation. And, again, as i mentioned, we havent been doing legislating on a weekly basis, when it comes to the process of proceeding as to how all of this comes together, maybe were still a little bit in a learning curve, but ive had an opportunity in previous congresses to be that first legislative vehicle we have taken on in a period of time. We have worked through some of them successfully before. One famously unsuccessful. I dont want this to fall into the famously unsuccessful category. Im encouraging members to look critically at the bill we have introduced, the American Energy innovation act, and work with us through this amendment process. We have received a number of what i would put in the noncontroversial bucket category that i am hoping that we will be able to accept and im hoping that we can work toct to in together to incorporate those into our underlying measure. I wanted to take just a few minutes this afternoon to highlight why the innovation title within the American Energy innovation act is so important and what and what this bill will do to help support and increase innovation in america. When you think about who we are as americans, what were built on, were built on a foundation of ingenuity and innovation. We pioneered the electric grid system. We pioneered Nuclear Energy, we pioneered horizontal drilling. These are many of the life economy world changing technologies that you think of in this energy space and the United States has led in these areas. But the policies underlying federal energy r d have not been updated now in more than 12 years, a dozen years since we have last updated, refreshed, modernized. And so the question is is whether or not theyle fully reflect or not they fully reflect the range of opportunities and reality we have . And i suggest they do not when we kept pace with everything that is around us, it is incumbent on us to look to our policies. Modernizing our energy laws will support the scientific work undertaken by the department of energy, by our National Laboratories, by our universities. It will also support the men and the women who dedicate their careers to scientific pursuits, individuals who truly form the backbone of american r d and our tremendous asset to our country. Now, as i mentioned yesterday, those of us on the energy and Natural Resources committee have spent the last year putting together this innovation package, and throughout that process what we heard in committee from the experts was that three of the most promising technologies for clean energy are Energy Storage, advanced nuclear, and Carbon Capture utilization and storage. These three areas, were told, this is where the promise really is if you want to focus on clean energy solutions. Our composite bill prioritizes all three technologies as well as Renewable Energy and industrial and vehicle technologies. Ccus, Carbon Capture utilization and technologies will allow coal and gas plants to avoid Greenhouse Gas emissions and make useful products from Carbon Dioxide. Ive had an opportunity to go to some of these laboratories, not only in this country but overseas where we where we are taking that carbon, that waste product and we are turning it into value. In other words, building materials, whether it is a sheetrock type of a type of a process or whether it is its the equivalent of cinder blocks made out of carbon, that waste. So when we can when we can change this so that we are taking a waste product and converting it to value, talk about technologies that can really change how we operate. The again, the Carbon Capture utilization and Storage Technologies will really allow us to advance in that direction. The bill also includes demonstration and deployment programs that focus on industrial emissions and direct air capture which will similarly reduce emissions. When you think about the prospects and the possibilities for us with direct air capture, it was not too many years ago that it was it was a dream concept. Now its no longer a dream concept. We are we are truly in these process of evaluating and piloting some of these technologies. I mentioned Nuclear Energy as one of the three. Nuclear energy is our nations largest and most reliable source of zero emission electricity, and within this subtitle of this bill, we have included the legislation that i have been working on, the Nuclear Energy leadership act, which would demonstrate advanced reactors to help restore our National Leadership and keep our domestic industry competitive with the likes of russia and china. So you have got the ccus, you have got Nuclear Energy, and the third area the third really transformative area is storage. This is without a doubt probably the most popular topic within our bill. We have included the best act from senator collins which creates a crosscutting Energy Storage r d program at the department of energy. Its focus is on longduration Energy Storage that can smooth out variable Renewable Energy generation. So this is a very significant part of our bill. With regards to Industrial Energy, our innovation package includes language that senator whitehouse had authored to create a crosscutting r d program to reduce emissions in seven areas, including chemical production, steel and aluminum, hightemperature process heat generation, and industrial Carbon Capture. I think you will see from that provision that, again, making inroads into those areas where we see the highest emissions within our industrial Energy Sector, so as we see consumers demanding consumer products, know that our bill helps ensure that American Industries are going to be prepared to deliver on that. Another area where we are pushing forward of course is Renewable Energy, which we look at and say has the opportunity to provide nearly limitless power across america. The cost of many of these technologies we have already seen come down significantly, and we take reasonable steps within this bill to move wind, solar, geothermal, marine and hydrokin particular to other renewables and thermalization. So it gives some specifics in this space. In geothermal energy, we provide opportunities to responsibly develop more of the resource with new techniques and to coproduce Critical Minerals along with it. In my state of alaska, we have got enormous potential within the geothermal space. So knowing that within within this title, we have an opportunity to really really, really help move out some of the new techniques that are out there is significant. For solar energy, we are working on new applications like solar paint, addressing Grid Integration challenges and improving recycling. For marine energy, marine hydrokin particular, were developing offshore Testing Centers to scale up new concepts. I remind colleagues i come from a state where we have got more coastline than the entire United States, but together of all the coastal states there, so there is an area that i have long looked to and said why are we not doing more when it comes to to tapping into our marine Energy Sources . Our Wind Energy Provisions include offshore and Floating Wind development and demonstration activities. So we are working to push out in the renewable sector some of these areas where were still pioneering in many of these ways. We have demonstrated wind on land with great efficiency. How are we doing with offshore . What more can we be doing there . So by providing the department of energy with new tools and direction, we are helping to ensure that the United States remains the world leader in Innovative Energy technologies. Now, one of the challenges that we hear about as we discuss these cool things in the Energy Committee is how you get these great ideas, how you get these cutting edge ideas from the lab to the market. And to address that, our bill reauthorizes the advanced Research Projects agency energy. This is arpae. This is the entity that helps these naysient technologies nascent technologies bridge the socalled technologies of innovation. Arpahe has achieved significant results with nearly 5 billion in followup financing for its projects. We had the deputy excuse me. We had the secretary for the department of energy, secretary briette, before the Committee Just today on a budget hearing, and he heard repeatedly from members on both sides of the aisle the value that arms from arpae. Of course, developing new and cleaner and more affordable technologies doesnt benefit us just here at home. It can also make a meaningful impact around the world. We shouldnt just develop and deploy new technologies here at home. We should also we should also sell them to other countries around the world. This is an Incredible Opportunity for economic growth. We know that it will simultaneously lower global Greenhouse Gas emissions and help to cement geopolitical relationships that can span generations. So we will we will be discussing more of the component pieces within the American Energy innovation act. Youre going to continue to hear me say that this is good legislation, this is important legislation, this is timely legislation after 12 years, but you dont necessarily have to take my word for it. Consider the work of the American Energy innovation council, which is led by noted individuals, luminaries like norm augustine and bill gates. They have found that at least 50 of the u. S. Annual g. D. P. Growth can be traced to increases in innovation, and that innovation has been the predominant driver of u. S. Economic growth over the last century. So when we say that this energy bill focuses on that innovation, recognize the value that innovation brings to us in the Energy Sector. The Councils Members have also observed that advances in Energy Technology deserve particular attention since energy underlies virtually every facet of modern life and without a physician, reliable, and affordable source of energy, the u. S. Economy could grind to a halt. Well, theyre exactly right in their words, and yet, and yet, the United States continues to allocate less than. 1 of its annual federal outlays to energy r d. So lets kind of put that into context. This is an afterthought in our budget, and unfortunately in real life for too many americans, we we take for granted that when you pull up to the gas station, theyre going to have fuel there. We take for granted that when you flip the light switch, the lights are going to come on. But the reality is it takes a tremendous amount of work to make that happen, and its innovation that brings this all to us. Innovation is worth it. The proof is literally around us with everything that we do. Given our history, given our people, given our institutions, i know that this country can continue to lead the way on new technologies. What we need to do is make sure that we have policies that help further incent them, that do not drag down that opportunity to meet those challenges. So im confident that we have got a good bill in front of us, a strong bill in front of us. I appreciate the support that the senate has shown for our bill thus far. I look forward to working on amendments as the week continues. I would urge colleagues to provide us with those matters that you have been working on. We cant to try to accommodate, but we also recognize that we havent we havent been in this process before where we have had the opportunity for open amendments, so we want to try to do it right, we want to try to be efficient, as we do in the Energy Committee, and we want to be fair to our colleagues. So with that, madam president , i look forward to the input and the cooperation from fellow senators as we proceed with the discussion about the American Energy innovation act. With that, i yield the floor and i note the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call quorum call the presiding officer the senator from rhode island. Mr. Whitehouse if the senate is . A quorum call, may i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be vitiated. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Whitehouse thank you, im here today for the 267th time to call this chamber to wake up to the threat of Climate Change. Its getting a little dogeared with use, my chart here. Let me dive right in with a report from over 30 years ago that was presented to a major conference here in washington, d. C. , on the very first page of this report it says, and ill quote it here, increases in atmospheric concentration of Carbon Dioxide and other key gases that are opaque to portions of the infrared spectrum result in the greenhouse effect, or Global Warming. When shortwave length infrared radiation from the sun warms the earths surface and this heat is later radiated from the earth, some gases in the atmosphere are not transparent to the longer wavelength reradiation. The heat does not escape and the atmosphere becomes warmer, much as does the interior of a greenhouse, end quote. That is a flawless description of Climate Change, madam president. I wonder who wrote it . Well, let me continue. After some hedging about the state of the science and the uncertainty surrounding how much Climate Change could be attributed to humans at that point in time, this same report delves into the expected effects of Climate Change on our planet. It reads, quote, there is qualitative agreement among prognosticators that sea levels will rise, wetlands will flood, saltwater will infuse fresh Water Supplies, and there will be changes in the distribution of tree and crop species and agricultural productivity. End quote. Wow thats really accurate. Thats all the constitute were actually seeing happening right now. Thats all the stuff were actually seeing happening right now. I wonder who wrote that. Let continue on. I quote it again, a significant rise in sea levels will flood nowhabitable land in some countries, developed countries may be able to protect their cities, at least for some years, by building levees and dikes at a considerable cost to avoid major displacements of people and their economic basis. We are also seeing that. Impressive. Whoever wrote this report really got this quite accurately 30 years ago. They go on with the report. Quote, these same actions will affect wetlands, and it may not be possible to protect both coastal and wetland areas. Once youve built year dikes, it pushes water out and into wetland areas. Flooding, the report says, will intrude into Water Supplies, such as coastal cities, e. G. Miami and new orleans. Wow. Who wrote it . This is good. Continue quoting again, changes in temperature patterns will affect natural ecosystems. By altering the distributions of species and affecting forestry and culture. Under various scenarios commonly harvested species will move north and try to grow in different soil types. Ranges of particular species are likely to change because trees in the southern part of the present range may die off, much more quickly than they can propagate further north. This is all stuff were seeing now. All predicted 30 years ago in this report. Wow i wonder who wrote it . Ill continue quoting the report. Similarly, croplands will change. In present farm areas, there will be greater reliance on irrigation. The stress will depend on changes in precipitation patterns, which is now difficult at best to predict. Grain production will move north and productivity may fall because of differing soil types. Global warming could expand the Northern Range of livestock and pests. Still quoting from this report, Global Warming will affect snowfall patterns, hence melt, and affect Water Supplies. Most of californias Water Supplies are from snow melt and if snow is reduced to rain or melts quickly during the winter, Water Supplies in the summer will be less than now. Wow 30 years ago they predicted all of that. Thats really impressive. Fast h. R. Forward to today and thats fastforward to today and what were seeing. Already underway. Sea level rise is already hatching the tide gauge in naval station newport in my home state of rhode island shows over 10 inches of Sea Level Rise over the last century. Temperatures are up globally with some areas measuring increases well above two degrees celsius. Wildlife and plants are shifting away from the equators like the maple tree that is creeping away towards canada. And of course we have seen water tables continue to drop as temperatures rise and snowpack dwindles. Wow this report was so accurate. Who wrote it . Well, lets look for a minute at the prescriptions that the report lays out. What should we do about this problem it describes so accurately . Those prescriptions are pretty good for 30 years ago, too. Here is what its authors reckon typical, sensible governments would do in response to Climate Change. One, reduce the emissions of co2 by reducing the use or mix of fossil fuels. Two, reduce the emissions of potential pollutants. Three, improve Energy Efficiency. Four, ban or restrict the manufacture of certain chemicals. And, five, seek to affect the natural emissions of key chemical compounds. End quote. Wow. Indeed, governments around the world have adopted these policies. There are dozens of Carbon Pricing regimes in place, including in some of our biggest global competitors like the Program China is rolling out this year. There are comprehensive Energy Efficiency programs and bans on climatedamaging chemicals like hfcs and global efforts to harness natural processes like growing trees to sequester carbon. Thats really good prescription, whoever wrote it. This rigorous analysis was so good that its authors eagerly thrust it into the hands of political leaders in the United States. Not only did the authors present it to the symposium on Industrial Development and Climate Change in may 1989, they submitted it to the u. S. House of representatives at a hearing on the same day. In the hearing, the authors condemned the House Committee on climaterelated legislation and expressed support for, and i quote them here, coordinating federal research and National Global Climate Change policy efforts, end quote. So who was it . Who was the sensible, forwardthinking group lauding a smart bill 30 years ago designed to prepare us for Climate Change . Who was it over 30 years presenting all of these sound findings and recommendations to International Business leaders and to members of congress . Who was it . Hold your breath. It was the u. S. Chamber of commerce, the biggest, most powerful trade group in washington, and one of the biggest obstructors of Climate Action in washington today, according to the nonpartisan watchdog influence map. Heres a chart showing the big corporate players in washington on climate. The good guys are over here on the green side. The bad guys are over here on the red side. The worst is that climate miscreant Marathon Petroleum that is busy messing around with electronic vehicle taxes and messing around with vehicle fuel efficiency standards. But right here lined up with phillips 66, the southern company, and marathon, right here, boom, the u. S. Chamber of commerce, way over, way over on the far side of climate obstruction and denial. As influence maps dylan tanner testified last fall, the u. S. Chamber of commerce is likely the most authoritative voice of American Business, and it has been one of the most ardent opponents of Climate Action. Its just gross. The chamber knew about this problem early on. It took its own sound climate report to Business Leaders and the u. S. Congress in the 1980s. They described then what were seeing now. They described then what they have denied since then. They made recommendations that we are still pushing for now. It was poised back then in the 1980s to be a part of the solution to Climate Change, to get on to this problem early before it me taft me tass sized into the Climate Crisis we experience today. But instead here is what the chamber did. It opposed one comprehensive climate bill after another. Opposed them all. The bipartisan cap and cap and trade bill in 2005, the Energy Policy act. The chamber sent out a key vote alert signal that whoever voted in favor of the bill could face an onslaught of political attacks in the next election. Thats another feature of the chambers climate obstruction. They run tv ads against candidates who might do something about climate. Here are some hot moments from some of their climate attack ads. If we were to do anything about Climate Change, obviously youd be freezing in your bed in a sleeping bag and a coat on top of your, with your covers. Clearly youd have to cook your breakfast over candles in a tin can. And youd have to walk to work. Thats their crooked political electioneering image of what doing something about Climate Change would mean for americans. And theres their logo, proudly on that whole pack of lies. In 2007 the chamber ran political tv ads against climate legislation, making all those threats. People would be prevented from heating their homes. People wouldnt be able to drive to work. People would cook on candles. Then in 2009, the chamber led the charges against the waxmanmarkey bill. The chamber tanked waxmanmarkey and since then republicans in congress have refused to hold hearings on, to mark up, to debate, or to vote on any legislation proposing a policy framework for economywide reductions in Carbon Pollution. We have a lost decade in significant respects thanks to the misbehavior of the chamber of commerce, the largest, most powerful lobbying force in our country. The chamber doesnt just try to beat Climate Action in congress. The chamber also has fought Climate Action in the courts, and its fought Climate Action in the agencies of the executive branch. Here are some low lights of chamber mischief. In 2010, the chamber sued the e. P. A. Seeking to overturn the finding that dpreen house gas emission that Greenhouse Gas emissions endanger Public Health and welfare. Disabling the endangerment finding would cripple e. P. A. s ability to regulate carbon under the clean air act. When courts rejected the chambers lawsuit, the chamber became Central Command for corporate lawyers, coal lobbyists, and republican political strategists who devised the legal schemes to fight climate regulations. This produced another Chamber Lawsuit to block the clean power plan, to reduce Carbon Pollution from power plants. Of course once President Trump took office, the chamber switched from defense and obstruction to offense, to begin attacking Obama Administration rules that limited Carbon Pollution. The chamber even funded the phony report that President Trump used as his justification for leaving the paris accord. Thats the contribution to this of the u. S. Chamber of commerce. They will authored that report that i read from 30 years ago. They made the recommendations about fixing this problem 30 years ago, and then they turned into this climate obstruction political monster. Worst of all, the chamber has been fighting science itself. It actually proposed putting the evidence of Climate Change on trial in what its own officials branded the scopes monkey trial of the 21st century. The chamber said the trial, and i quote them here, would be evolution versus creationism. And of course the chamber has been the 800pound gorilla in elections that every member in congress and candidate for Congress Knows all too well. The 2010 Citizens United decision allowed what we call outside groups, anonymous groups to spend unlimited sums on electioneering activities. In the wake of that decision, the chamber has funneled roughly 150 million into congressional races. 150 million. This makes the u. S. Chamber of commerce the largest spender of undisclosed donations on congressional races. The largest spender of what we call dark money on congressional races. If you dare cross the chamber or dont subscribe to their climate denial, climate obstruction point of view, you risk them running an ad against you like this ad which was run against a u. S. Senate candidate in pennsylvania in 2016. This is towards the end of the ad, and the theory of the ad is that the candidate was so determined to tax energy that she was going to tax the energy of these womens children running around on a playground. These are two moms at a playground watching their children run around. The setup is how energetic johnny and billy are. Dont you know . Senate candidate is going to tax their energy. Run, jimmy, run, is the punch line. Classy. So what gives . How did the chamber go from sensible climate realist to hardened climate obstructor . The answer is pretty simple. Fossil fuel money. As influence maps dylan tanner told us at our hearing big trade groups like the chamber tend to adopt the lowest common denominator positions on climate of their most oppositional members. For the chamber, that lowest common denominator is big oil and other fossil fuel giants. Fossil fuel uses the chamber as its tool to defend at all costs what the International Monetary fund estimates as a 650 billion subsidy in the u. S. That was the number estimated by the i. M. F. For 2015. 650 billion subsidy to fossil fuel for getting away with what economists call negative externalities, shoving their costs on to other people. If you believe in market economics, those negative externalities should be baked into the cost of the product but they dont want that. They want the public to bear the cost so they can sell their product cheaper. That is a subsidy, and its a 650 billion subsidy every year. So to give the chamber, lets say, 150 to spend, chump change against 650 million. Thats what the chamber does. It lets itself be used by fuel interests to deliver this message. What about the rest of the chambers members . Not everybody in the chamber is a fossil fuel company. Big tech, what about you guys . Youve got companies in your ranks who claim to care a lot about climate. Google, for instance, has a company, motto, dont be evil. Google warns its investors that Climate Change threatens its operations, that its, quote, systems are vulnerable to damage or interruption from natural disasters and the effects of Climate Change such as Sea Level Rise, drought, flooding, wildfires, and increased storm severity. End quote. Google also tells investors, and i quote him again, Climate Change is one of the most significant global challenges of our time. One of the most significant global challenges of our time, and that it has a goal to reach 100 Renewable Energy for our operations. Google even signed the corporate Renewable Energy buyers principles and the American Business act on climate pledge. Yet, google also funds the chambers anticlimate crusade. And i dont know about my colleagues, but google does not come to my office saying you need to do something good on climate. They got a million issues they lobby us on but its not Climate Change. On Climate Change, they support the chamber of commerce, and the chamber of commerce is our adversary. Look at the big food and Beverage Companies. Theyve got crops, a supply chain of grain and fruit, vegetables, crops that the chamber report 30 years ago told us would be affected by Climate Change. Those crops are the bread and butter, the supply chain of these big food and Beverage Companies. Where are they . Many food and Beverage Companies say they understand the threat of Climate Change. Pepsi signed a series climate declaration and the prince of whales Corporate Leaders group trillionton communique, both important commitments to Climate Action. Pepsis rival cokecola. Coke says it plans to reduce co2 emissions by 25 and that to do so it will work to reduce the Greenhouse Gas emissions across its value chain making comprehensive Carbon Footprint productions across its manufacturing process, packaging formats, delivery fleet, refrigeration equipment and ingredient sourcing. Yet both coke and pep sip fund coke and pepsi fund the chamber of commerce denial and obstruction operation. And they fund the american beverage association. Their little beverage trade association which in turn runs more money to the u. S. Chamber of commerce. Whats the net result here in congress of all of that . Youve got two companies that are actively reducing their carbon emissions, and enthusiastically publicly supporting good climate policy, but in congress they take the position through their funding of the chamber of opposing Climate Action here in washington, a place where it really, really counts. Madam president , decades ago one of the most powerful Political Forces in washington, the u. S. Chamber of commerce, new Climate Change was coming. It wrotes that report. It described how Global Warming happened. It described what the consequences were going to be in the oceans, in the agricultural sector, across our country. It made recommendations as to how to head it off. It understood the risks. It knew. It knew what we needed to do to head off the worst consequences, and even back then supports legislation supported legislation to help us prepare. Then then came the fossil fuel industry. The chamber wont tell us how theyre funded. I could tell you right now how this all worked, except that the chamber Wont Disclose how its funded. But it sure looks like floods of fossil fuel money came in and bought the chamber, caused it to change its position on the facts of Climate Change, caused it to change its position on the consequences of Climate Change, caused it to change its position on what we needed to do to head off Climate Change. The u. S. Chamber of commerce let itself be bought by the fossil fuel industry. And thanks to the greed of that one member industry, the fossil fuel folks, and thanks to the indifference of the others, thanks to the indifference of the tech sector, the indifference of the ag sector, we still have yet to act 30 years later. At the close of the chambers report is a really telling quote from the satirical comic strip pogo. Pogo, in a legendary cartoon from when i was about as young as the pages here, says, we have met the enemy, and it is us. The chamber quotes that at the end of its report. We have met the enemy, and it is us. Well, that was an observation about what was going wrong with the planet and how it was our emissions that were causing it. We have met the enemy. We see this danger. We understand it, and were the cause of it. It is us. But at the same time its also like a preconfession by the chamber. We have met the enemy, and it is us. And for 30 years the chamber has been the enemy. Since Citizens United, its been an impracticable enemy. They have been implacable enemy. They have been wrong on climate. They knew it 30 years ago. They know it now. We need to fix this, and we need Corporate America to extract itself from the thrall of the evildoers in its midst, and we need to solve at last this problem. So its time to wake up. With that, i yield the floor. Ms. Murkowski madam president . The presiding officer the senator from alaska. Ms. Murkowski i ask unanimous consent that the senate be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. The presiding officer without objection. Ms. Murkowski madam president , i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar number 196, s. 1869. The presiding officer the clerk will report. The clerk calendar number 196, s. 1869, a bill to require the disclosure of ownership of highsecurity space leased to accommodate a federal agency and for other purposes. The presiding officer is there objection to proceeding to the measure . Without objection. The senate will proceed. Ms. Murkowski i ask unanimous consent that the committeereported substitute amendment be withdrawn, the peters substitute amendment, which is at theesque did, be considered and agreed to, the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. The presiding officer without objection. Ms. Murkowski i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of h. R. 5214. The presiding officer the clerk will report. The clerk h. R. 5214, an act to amend title 5, United States code, to prevent fraud by representative payees. The presiding officer is there objection to proceeding to the measure . Without objection, the senate will proceed to. Ms. Murkowski i ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time. The presiding officer without objection. Ms. Murkowski i know of no further debate on the bill. The presiding officer is there further debate . If not, all those in favor, say aye. Those opposed, say no. The ayes do have it. The bill spaed. Ms. Murkowski i ask unanimous consent that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. The presiding officer without objection. Ms. Murkowski i ask unanimous consent that the Foreign Relations committee be discharged from further consideration and the senate now proceed to s. Res. 497. The presiding officer the clerk will report. The clerk s. Res. 497, commemorating the life of dr. Welin n n wingling and callg for corporation from the peoples republic of china. The presiding officer is there objection to proceeding to the measure . Without objection, the committee is discharged and the senate la proceed. Ms. Murkowski i ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the cotton amendment at the desk to the preamble be considered and agreed to, the preamble, as amended, be agreed and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. The presiding officer without objection. Ms. Murkowski madam president , i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar number 280, h. R. 4334. The presiding officer the clerk will report. The clerk calendar number 28 280, h. R. 433 had, arch act to authorize appropriations for fiscal years 20 through 2024 and for other purposes. The presiding officer is there objection to proceeding to the measure . Without objection, the senate will proceed. Ms. Murkowski i ask unanimous consent that the collins substitute amendment at the desk be agreed to and that the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time. The presiding officer without objection. Ms. Murkowski i know of no further debate on the bill, as amended. Officerster is it will further debate . If not, all in favor say aye. Those opposed, say no. The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it. The bill, as amended, is passed. Ms. Murkowski i ask unanimous consent that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. The presiding officer without objection. Ms. Murkowski madam president , i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10 00 a. M. Wednesday, march 4. Further, 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. Finally, following leaders remarks, the senate resume consideration of the motion to proceed to s. 2657 and that notwithstanding rule 22, all postcloture time on the motion to proceed to s. 2657 be considered expired at 10 30 a. M. The presiding officer without objection. Ms. Murkowski if there is to further business to come before the senate, i ask it stand journeyed under the previous order. The presiding officer the and environmental policyhe combining more than 50 bills over this year by democrats and republicans including Energy Efficiency measures, battery storage, Carbon Capture, electric grid security, Building Code and a new generation of Nuclear Reactors with estate returns, you can watch live coverage here in cspan two. Also today in the senate the federal response to the corrado Virus Outbreak and here are some of their remarks. Over the weekend, cases of coronavirus has been confirmed in new york, rhode island, florida, washington state, theyve also reported now six americans have died from coronavirus. The first fatalities from the coronavirus in the u. S. At this critical moment, we need an administration that acts with persistence and unrelenting transparency. Decisiveness and lanes on the accuracy of our sciences and doctors. But this administration unfortunately has spent years hollowing out the domestic and Global Health security teams in the executive branch. It is both from cutting funding from the response fund, the imagine account, the Public Health preparedness and response onprograms. Undoubtedly, the Trump Administration wouldve been better prepared to respond to the coronavirus if the president had prioritize these programs rather than urge them to be cut