Transcripts For CSPAN2 U.S. 20240703

Bipartisan basis so we would have bipartisanship as the start. And a lot of people because the Senate Bipartisan solution in the Senate Majority and it doesnt happen very often. Senator murray of washington working with public and senator Susan Collins of maine and the continuing resolution spelled out what we think needs to be done to keep the government open for about six or seven weeks. It includes six and a half billion dollars to maintain a commitment to ukraine and 6 billion to help them respond to federally declared disasters including one of my states where they are working to recover from the impact of summer storms. It would prevent election funding for Critical Healthcare and like the Community Health care centers. Im sure presiding officers visited see centers in the state have in my state. Its one of the more Amazing Products out of the Affordable Care act. I can remember 17 just met last minute and demanded we fund Community Health care as part of the bill. Admit that people of limited flames would have access to quality medical care and its not political, if i were seriously ill, i would visit one of these clinics and seek treatment. Also special Nutrition Program for women, infants and children, its one thing to give a speech about families and mothers and mothers surviving, pregnancy in about children, Young Children a strong start in life and its another thing to put bread on the table. The week program puts bread on the table and we keep the light on what that agency in the right thing to do. We would extend authorization through his first. How important is safety and Airline Travel . Critically important. The last time theres a threat of shutting down the government, it was keeping planes saved and can no longer that came. I hope we dont have to go through that again. Seventyseven senators this week bipartisanship was the solution to avoid shutdown. That includes leaders of both parties, democratic chair of the Senate Appropriations committee and Ranking Member as noted. Unfortunately, its just an exercise in chaos. Speaker mccarthy declared Bipartisan Senate resolution is dead on arrival. Program that looks like we designed it on purpose. What we have now does not look like that. To call it imperfect is an understatement. But the only thing worse than having what we have right now is to not have a National Flood Insurance Program at all. The fact of the matter is that for all practical purposes people who are at risk for flooding cannot buy Flood Insurance from the private markets, which means they cant buy a home, which means their mortgages would be foreclosed upon. Thats why we have a National Flood Insurance Program. Should we improve it . Yes. Ive been trying for seven years. We need to keep trying. But were not going to get it done over the next couple of days. I believe governments going to shut down tomorrow, or at least saturday, rather. I hope not, but i believe it is. And if it does, the National Flood Insurance Program will be shut down. I dont want to scare people half to death. It doesnt mean that fema will stop which runs the nifp, will stop paying claims, but it will shut down commerce, if nothing else, because fema cant issue new policies. Again, i realize its not perfect. But we are in Hurricane Season. Let me say that again. We are in Hurricane Season. Is this important to my state . You bet. But its not just important to my state. Its important to every single coastal state, and thats why i would like to see us extend this program for a very, very short period of time. My bill is a clean extension. It doesnt make any changes to the program. I wish i had the authority to make changes, but i dont. This bill will just extend what we have now, imperfect as it may be, and lord knows its imperfect, through december 31, 2023. That will give us some additional time to design a program that looks like somebody designed it on purpose. So mr. President , for that reason, i ask unanimous consent consent did i mention, mr. President , that my state is in the middle of Hurricane Season . Let me say that again. And so is every coastal state, and were going to shut down the National Flood Insurance Program, in the middle of Hurricane Season, the United States senate . What planet did we just pair chute in from what planet did we just parachute in from . For that reason, mr. President , i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of my bill, s. 2968. Its at the desk. I further ask that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. The presiding officer is there objection . Mr. Paul mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from kentucky. Mr. Paul reserving the right to object. We can, today, renew the National Flood program and reform it. All it takes is for the senators assembled here not to reject to on to the reforms. I think Flood Insurance provided by the taxpayer, subsidized by the taxpayer, shouldnt, for rich people and shouldnt be for their Vacation Home and beach homes. The governments got no business ensuring rich people and their second homes. I have some proposals to reform the system. Were being asked, though, to extend the Flood Program without any reforms, without any reforms to protect the taxpayers. Like many federal programs, the Flood Insurance is well intentioned, but it very well may be the best reallife example of a moral hazard. The Program Covers over five million policyholders and provides over a trillion dollars in coverage. Were told that the program is funded through insurance premiums, but charging well below the market price of insurance and capping how much these rates can rise inevitably leads to shortfalls. A 2014 report by the Government Accountability office found that the Flood Program collected as much as 17 billion fewer in premiums than what the market would have dictated. When the program inevitably found itself in need of money, in theory it borrowed that from the taxpayers. Not that the taxpayers had any choice in the matter. They took it as they often are, on the hook, regardless whether they wanted to be or not. A few years ago, the program owed over 30 billion to the taxpayers. Congress canceled 16 billion in debt, but the Flood Program has not made any further repayment to the taxpayers, and now stands at over 20 billion in debt. In short, its a subsubsidy, its a gift, its the taxpayer gift people with homes along the coast subsidized rates and we all have to pate, pay for it to pay for it. You might say poor people have no place to go, the government has a role in that. A lot of these homes are peoples second homes. I say we should limit the insurance to houses under a certain amount, people with modest homes. Some guys got a 5 million mansion on the coast of florida should not get his insurance through the government. We shouldnt all have to pay for the insurance for somebody with a 5 million home. The taxpayers are expected to cough up money when the Program Needs it, but the program doesnt seem in a hurry to pay the taxpayer back. Perhaps the greatest insult to the taxpayer is the lack of true limits on the delinquent program. There are no limits how many claims can be filed and how much money received by a policyholder. Rather than encourage people to leave floodprone areas, it encourages people to stay and rebuild. In thousands of instances, the Program Encourages people to rebuild and rebuild and rebuild. According to the Pugh Charitable trust, over 150,000 properties have been rebuilt over and over again. In fact, 25 to 30 of Flood Program claims are made by policyholders whose property flood time and again. Theres no learning curve here. The government provides you something for a subsidy, you got your beach home, it keeps getting flooded, you keep building it if the government pays for it. Have uncle sam pay for it, or your neighbors. Over 2,000 properties have flooded more than ten times. They dont move, they just keep rebuilding in an area thats a flood zone. One home in bachelor, louisiana, flooded 40 times. Received a total of 428,000 in flood payments. It would have been cheaper to buy them a new home in a neighborhood that doesnt flood. Can you imagine having to withstand the ordeal of your Home Flooding 10, 20, 40 times . Well, the taxpayer doesnt have to imagine paying for it because theyre stuck with the bill. Adding insult to injury, the Congressional Budget Office found the Flood Program tends to benefit the wealthy, and 23 of subsidized Coastal Properties were not even the policyowners first house. Were talking about vacation houses that average, ordinary people, suffering to go to the Grocery Store or paying for insurance for some guys Vacation Home. Its true, the Government Forces the taxpayer to rebuild the summer homes of the rich. In fact, sometimes it seems the Flood Program caters directly to the wealthy. Nearly 80 of these flood policies are located in counties that rank with the top 20 of income. Enough is enough. It is an insult to rob from the taxpayer to give to the wealthy. That is why i offered an amendment that would require the Flood Program to cover only primary residences, no vacation houses, and establish a cap so only modestly priced houses would be in it. I agree that theres a disruption. If it ends immediately, there will be a disruption. We can have an interim. My offer today, if accepted, if not objected to, would be today we fix this. We can stand here today and fix this if theres no objection. We continue the program only for primary residences only under a certain amount and it would continue, wed finally reform it. Long awaited reform, that people wanted for years, could happen today if no objection. So therefore, i ask the senator to modify his request so the paul amendment at the desk be considered and agreed to, the bill as amended be considered read a third time and passed and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. The presiding officer does the senator from louisiana so modify his request . Mr. Kennedy reserving the right to object, mr. President. Maybe the homes that my good friend, senator paul, is describing are homes in kentucky, but theyre not homes in louisiana. The homes in louisiana that need Flood Insurance are not mansions. These are homes of working people. These are modest homes being paid for by people who get up every day, go to work, obey the law, pay their taxes, and try to do the right thing by their kids. I dont know about the millionaires that senator paul is talking about. Again, maybe theyre in kentucky, but theyre not in louisiana. My coast is a working coast. Point two, what senator paul proposes is to limit Flood Insurance to 250,000. The median sales price of a home in America Today is 430,300. Now, there are a lot of reasons for that. With unof the reasons for that is President Bidens one of the reasons for that is President Bidens inflation. But those are the facts. In louisville, kentucky, the median sales price is 271,000. And dallas, texas, is 389,000. And miami its 605,000. Why do you want to fool the American People . Why do you want to reform a Flood Insurance program that is going to deny Flood Insurance . Do some people own second homes . Yes. I thought republicans werent supposed to penalize success in america. I thought our position was that if you worked hard and accumulated wealth, first you should get to keep most of it. Why . Because you earned it. And second, we should applaud success in america. If you earn enough to buy a second home, we shouldnt discourage that. The third reason i cannot agree to my friend, senator pauls suggestion is because he knows as well as i do that many of us have worked together to try to reform the Flood Insurance program. We havent reached consensus yet. Were going to keep working. But if i agree to senator pauls suggestion today, both he and i will be selling out our colleagues who would not agree to these changes. And theyre not here right now. Now, the easy thing for me to do is to accept rands proposal. But i dont play that way. Im mott going to do it without giving every member of this senate which would like input into senator pauls suggestions the chant to object as the chance to object as well. I dont play it that way. And for that reason i object. The presiding officer the objection is heard. Is there objection to the original request . Mr. Paul reserving the right to object. The statistics really do tell the story. 23 of all homes that are insured under this program, whether theyre in louisiana or any other coastal state are second homes or Vacation Homes. I would be perfectly willing to negotiate what the actual price of the home is that can be in this situation. And i would offer to modify the amendment from 250 to 350 to allow more homes to be in. But saying the median is 433, well, the limit right now is infinite. There is no limit. Can you have a 5 million Vacation Home and the government is going to subsidize it. If we dont subsidize someones house, does that mean were discouraging people who have wealth or second homes . No, this has nothing to do with it. Its just saying the taxpayer shouldnt subsidize rich people. But the thing is the reform will be object to today, and there will not be any reform to this program. And the program will go on year after year because no one will bring to light what is actually happening here. If you were to ask the American People today do you think we should be subsidizing Flood Insurance for peoples beach house, i think theyd say no. Buy your own damn insurance if you have a beach house. The government shouldnt be paying for it. I object. The presiding officer the objection is heard. Mr. Kennedy mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from louisiana. Mr. Kennedy mr. President , i appreciate my colleague, senator paul, and his comments. And i like him would like to continue to work with our colleagues to reform this program. But when reality calls, you shouldnt hang up. And thats what weve done here today. Because this government is going to shut down. I hope im wrong. God i hope im wrong. But i think this government is going to shut down midnight sunday night, and the National Flood Insurance Program is going to shut down with it. Right smack dab in the middle of Hurricane Season. I thought the first role of government, i thought this is what republicans believe, i thought this is what libertarians believe, the first role of government is to protect people and property. And all the United States senate has done today is expose ordinary americans, not millionaires, ordinary americans who live in modest homes, who get up every day im going to say it again and go to work and obey the law and pay their taxes and try to do the right thing by their kids and whose home is their biggest asset, and were going to tell them its okay. Even though you cant get the Flood Insurance from a private provider, the government is going to prevent you from getting it from a national program, right in the middle of Hurricane Season. Thats not what this country is all about. All my bill would have done and ill be back just like the terminator. Ill be back all my bill would do would be to take the Current Program i know it looks like the Current Program, i will concede, i agree with rand, the current Program Looks Like someone knocked over a urine sample, its that bad. But we need to work to improve it. But in the meantime we do not need to allow it to expire. I yield, mr. President. The presiding officer under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of the veto message with respect to s. J. Res. 9 which the clerk will report. The clerk veto message to accompany s. J. Res. 9, disapproving the final rule entitled endangered and threatened wildlife and plants, lesser prairiechicken, threatened status with section 4d, rule for the Northern District population segment, and endangered status for the Southern District population segment. The presiding officer there will now be 20 minutes of debate equally divided between the two leaders or their designees. A senator mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from can sasse. Mr. Marshall today i rise in support of s. J. Resolution 9 providing for congressional disapproval of the United States fish and Wildlife Services rule regarding the lesser prairiechicken under the Congressional Review Act over the objections of President Biden. This week the white house continued their war on american agriculture with its latest veto on our bipartisan lesser prairiechicken resolution, s. J. Res. 9. The white house has shown time and time again how truly out of touch they are with grassroot farmers and ranchers and our commitment to the environment. Recently the white house made the bold claim that the prairiechicken population serves as an indicator for healthy grasslands and prairies. To start with, i want to personally invite the United States fish and wildlife folks to the great plains of kansas to see firsthand the many conservation efforts of our local land owners. The comment from the white house suggests that prairies of kansas are unhealthy, that our ranchers are the problem and not the solution. It seems obvious that once again the agencies no little to nothing about the blood, sweat and trees and the pride land owners poor into their land to make sure its cleaner, safer, and healthier for future generations. Furthermore, the white house suggests our efforts in congress to list the bird, and i quote them, create uncertainty for land owners and industries who have been working for years to forge the durable locallyled conservation strategies, end quote. Mr. President , all the industries impacted by this listing who are supporters of our resolution would strongly disagree with your statement. However, the white house is right on one thing. Its right on the count. For over 20 years federal, state, and private land owners have voluntarily collaborated with the fish and Wildlife Service to conserve the lesser prairiechicken and its habitat. These partnerships have already resulted in conservation agreements covering roughly 15 million acres of potential habitat for the species. In fact, these efforts have been so successful that the lesser prairiechicken species is now considered stable in kansas. On the other hand, make no mistake about it, this veto creates uncertainty. Now, i have to ask the white house what message does listing the bird now after all the good conservation work send to those of us who have successfully labored to improve the lands handed us from previous generations . Ill tell you the message it sends, that the hammer will stale fall regardless of these successful efforts, and the government will step in and regulate our industry out of existence despite successful conservation efforts. The federal government thinks it knows best when it comes to conservation. I rise to say that this assumption is wrong. Despite billions of dollars spent in the name of the endangered species act, the law continues to fail at its underlying mission of recovering listing species. Less than 2 of listed species have been removed from protection since 1973. Its clear it is merely another tool weaponized by this administration to attack those of us in rural america. This is unsurprising coming from a white house that vetoes the bipartisan resolution striking down the waters of the u. S. Rule. Through a combination of public and private efforts, the lesser prairiechicken is now better protected than at any previous time. A listing as threatened or endangered will not provide any additional conservation benefits above what already exists. While the numbers of the pleaser prairiechicken tend to follow rainfall, numbers range wide have been growing since the Obama Administration attempted to list the bird in 2014. Now, no one in this body wants to see this bird go extinct. No oil producer, rancher, farmer, wind, energy producer, none of us wants the demise of the prairiechicken. Thats why voluntary partnerships have worked. A listing now will only push oil and gas developments to countries who have long track records of violating human rights or extract these Important Energy sources in a manner which is more harmful to the environment than american producers. Now, whether its gas, diesel, wind or solar energy, a listing now will only increase the cost of energy for kansans. A listing now will federalize millions of acres of ranch land, increasing the Regulatory Burden for our farmers and ranchers, ultimately increasing the cost of food. And i ask you for what purpose. An attempt to protect a species by an agency which is only successfully recovered 2 of species its listed. I know and believe in the local communities who have and will continue to do whats best for the land which is what will be best for the lesser prairiechicken. This administration continues to ignore the impact that overregulation has on american industries. This administrations costs of rules and regulations already outpace the last two administrations combined. From january 21, 2021 through august 4 of this year, final rules from the Current Administration imposed roughly 400 billion in total costs with more than 232 232 million hours of annual paperwork. In summary our resolution is one of the many important steps the senate gop is taking to unburden the economy from the bureaucratic harassment being deployed by the Biden Administration. I urge you to join me in applauding rather than punishing good voluntary conservation efforts and support the joint resolution for congressional disapproval of the lesser prairiechicken listing over the objections of the president. I yield back. A senator mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from new mexico. A senator i yield back all time on our side. The presiding officer is there further debate . Hearing none, under the previous order, the question is on the passage of s. J. Res. 9. The objections of the president to the contrary notwithstanding. The yeas and nays have been requested. Is there a sufficient second . There is. The clerk will call the roll. The clerk ms. Baldwin. Mr. Barrasso. Mr. Bennet. Mrs. Blackburn. Mr. Blumenthal. Mr. Booker. Mr. Boozman. Mr. Braun. Mrs. Britt. Mr. Brown. Mr. Budd. Ms. Cantwell. Mrs. Capito. Mr. Cardin. Mr. Carper. Mr. Casey. Mr. Cassidy. Ms. Collins. Mr. Coons. Mr. Cornyn. Ms. Cortez masto. Mr. Cotton. Mr. Cramer. Mr. Crapo. Mr. Cruz. Mr. Daines. Ms. Duckworth. Mr. Durbin. Ms. Ernst. Mrs. Feinstein. Mrs. Feinstein. Mr. Fetterman. Mrs. Fischer. Mrs. Gillibrand. Mr. Graham. Mr. Grassley. Mr. Hagerty. Ms. Hassan. Mr. Hawley. Mr. Heinrich. Mr. Hickenlooper. Ms. Hirono. Mr. Hoeven. Mrs. Hydesmith. Mr. Johnson. Mr. Kaine. Mr. Kelly. Mr. Kennedy. Mr. King. Ms. Klobuchar. Mr. Lankford. Mr. Lee. Mr. Lujan. Ms. Lummis. Mr. Manchin. Mr. Markey. Mr. Marshall. Mr. Mcconnell. Mr. Menendez. Mr. Merkley. Mr. Moran. Mr. Mullin. Ms. Murkowski. Mr. Murphy. Mrs. Murray. Mr. Ossoff. Mr. Padilla. Mr. Paul. Mr. Peters. Mr. Reed. Mr. Ricketts. Mr. Risch. Mr. Romney. Ms. Rosen. Mr. Rounds. Mr. Rubio. Mr. Sanders. Mr. Schatz. Mr. Schmitt. Mr. Schumer. Mr. Scott of florida. Mr. Scott of south carolina. Mrs. Shaheen. Ms. Sinema. Ms. Smith. Ms. Stabenow. Mr. Sullivan. Mr. Tester. Mr. Thune. Mr. Tillis. Mr. Tuberville. Mr. Van hollen. Mr. Vance. Mr. Warner. Mr. Warnock. Ms. Warren. Mr. Welch. Mr. Whitehouse. Mr. Wicker. Mr. Wyden. Mr. Young. Senators voting in the affirmative blackburn, cotton, graham, hagerty, hydesmith, kennedy, marshall, moran, paul, ricketts, rounds, rubio, schmitt, and vance. Senators voting in the negative cardin, coons, hassan, heinrich, murray, schatz, sinema, and welch. Ms. Lummis, aye. The clerk mr. Cramer, aye. The clerk mr. Crapo, aye. Mr. Risch, aye. Mr. Carper, no. Mr. Hoeven, aye. Ms. Collins, aye. Mr. Cruz, aye. Mr. Merkley, no. The clerk mr. Van hollen, no. The clerk ms. Ernst, aye. The clerk mr. Barrasso, aye. The clerk mr. Fetterman, no. The clerk mr. Thune, aye. The clerk mr. Schumer, no. Mr. Reed, no. The clerk mr. Budd, aye. Mrs. Capito. Aye. Mr. Mullin, aye. The clerk mrs. Fischer, aye. The clerk mr. Sanders, no. The clerk mr. Casey, no. Vote the clerk mrs. Cornyn, aye. Ms. Klobuchar, no. Mr. Durbin, no. The clerk mr. Tillis, aye. The clerk mr. Murphy, no. The clerk ms. Duckworth, no. . The clerk ms. Murkowski, aye. Mrs. Shaheen, no. Mr. Young, aye. The clerk ms. Cantwell, no. The clerk mr. Wyden, no. The clerk ms. Warren, no. The clerk mr. Mcconnell, aye. Mr. Wicker, aye. The clerk ms. Hirono, no. The clerk mr. Ossoff, no. Ms. Cortez masto, no. The clerk mr. Lankford, aye. The clerk mr. Johnson, aye. The clerk mr. King, no. The clerk mr. Markey, no. Vote the clerk ms. Baldwin, no. Mr. Boozman, aye. Mr. Tuberville, aye. The clerk mr. Booker, no. Mr. Sullivan, aye. Mr. Peters, no. Mr. Kelly, no. The clerk mr. Manchin, aye. The clerk mr. Grassley, aye. Mr. Warnock, no. Mr. Warner, no. Mr. Kaine, no. The clerk mr. Scott of florida, aye. The clerk mr. Whitehouse, no. The clerk mr. Tester, no. Ms. Rosen, no. Mr. Blumenthal, no. Mr. Daines the clerk mr. Daines, aye. Mrs. Britt, aye. Mr. Lujan, no. The clerk mrs. Gillibrand, aye. Mrs. Gillibrand, no. Mr. R the clerk mr. Lee, aye. Vote the clerk mr. Braun, aye. The clerk mr. Hickenlooper, no. Mr. Menendez, no. The clerk mr. Hawley, aye. The clerk mr. Bennet, no. The clerk mr. Padilla, no. The presiding officer on this vote, the yeas are 47, the nays are 46. Twothirds of the senators voting having not voted in the affirmative, the resolution, the joint resolution on reconsideration fails to pass over the president s veto. Under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of the veto message with respect to s. J. Res. 2a, which the clerk will report. The clerk veto message to accompany s. J. Res. 24, a joint resolution that would dills approve the final rule, entitled endangered and threatened wildlife and plants endangered species status for the northern longeared bat. The presiding officer under the previous order, the question is on the passage of s. J. Res. 24. The objections of the president to the contrary notwithstanding. Yeas and nays are mandatory, i think. Under the constitution, they are mandatory. And the clerk will call the roll. The clerk ms. Baldwin. Mr. Barrasso. The clerk mr. Bennet. Mrs. Blackburn. Mr. Blumenthal. Mr. Booker. Mr. Boozman. Mr. Braun. Mrs. Britt. Mr. Brown. Mr. Budd. Ms. Cantwell. Mrs. Capito. Mr. Cardin. Mr. Carper. The clerk mr. Casey. Mr. Cassidy. Ms. Collins. Mr. Coons. Mr. Cornyn. Ms. Cortez masto. Mr. Cotton. Mr. Cramer. Mr. Crapo. Mr. Cruz. Mr. Daines. Ms. Duckworth. Mr. Durbin. Ms. Ernst. Mrs. Feinstein. Mr. Fetterman. Mrs. Fischer. Mrs. Gillibrand. Mr. Graham. Mr. Grassley. Mr. Hagerty. Ms. Hassan. Mr. Hawley. Mr. Heinrich. Mr. Hickenlooper. Ms. Hirono. Mr. Hoeven. Mrs. Hydesmith. Mr. Johnson. Mr. Kaine. Mr. Kelly. Mr. Kennedy. Mr. King. Ms. Klobuchar. Mr. Lankford. Mr. Lee. Mr. Lujan. Ms. Lummis. Mr. Manchin. Mr. Markey. Mr. Marshall. Mr. Mcconnell. Mr. Menendez. Mr. Merkley. Mr. Moran. Mr. Mullin. Ms. Murkowski. Mr. Murphy. Mrs. Murray. Mr. Ossoff. Mr. Padilla. Mr. Paul. Mr. Peters. Mr. Reed. Mr. Ricketts. Mr. Risch. Mr. Romney. Ms. Rosen. Mr. Rounds. Mr. Rubio. Mr. Sanders. Mr. Schatz. Mr. Schmitt. Mr. Schumer. Mr. Scott of florida. Mr. Scott of south carolina. Mrs. Shaheen. Ms. Sinema. Ms. Smith. Ms. Stabenow. Mr. Sullivan. Mr. Tester. Mr. Thune. Mr. Tillis. Mr. Tuberville. Mr. Van hollen. Mr. Vance. Mr. Warner. Mr. Warnock. Ms. Warren. Mr. Welch. Mr. Whitehouse. Mr. Wicker. Mr. Wyden. Mr. Young. Vote the clerk senators voting in the affirmative barrasso, braun, britt, budd, capito, cornyn, cotton, kramer, daines, fisher, grassley, hawley, kennedy, lankford, lummis, manchin, moran, mullin, ricketts, rubio, tillis, tuberville. Mr. Marshall, aye. Senators voting in the negative bennet, blumenthal, booker, carper, cortez masto, durbin, gillibrand, heinrich, hickenlooper, hirono, king, lujan, menendez, merkley, padilla, reed, sanders, schatz, sinema, tester, welch, wyden. The clerk mrs. Shaheen, no. The clerk mr. Murphy, no. Mr. Paul, aye. Mr. Wicker, aye. Mr. Crapo, aye. Mrs. Hydesmith, aye. Mr. Shiewn, mr. Thune, aye. Mr. Scott of florida, aye. The clerk mrs. Murray, no. The clerk mr. Hagerty, aye. Mr. Cruz, aye. Mr. Lee, aye. Mr. Sullivan, aye. The clerk ms. Klobuchar, aye. The clerk mr. Johnson, aye. The clerk ms. Hassan, no. The clerk mr. Graham, aye. The clerk ms. Murkowski, aye. Mr. Casey, no. The clerk mrs. Blackburn, aye. Mr. Young, aye. Ms. Collins, aye. The clerk mr. Kelly, no. Mr. Ossoff, no. Ms. Warren, no. Vote the clerk mr. Cardin, no. The clerk mr. Boozman, aye. The clerk mr. Markey, no. The clerk ms. Rosen, no. The clerk mr. Schmitt, aye. The clerk mr. Coons, no. The clerk mr. Warner, no. The clerk ms. Duckworth, no. Ms. Ernst, aye. The clerk mr. Warnock, aye. Mr. Warnock, no. The clerk mr. Risch, aye. The clerk ms. Baldwin, no. The clerk mr. Peters, no. The clerk mr. Fetterman, no. Vote the clerk mr. Hoeven, aye. Vote the clerk mr. Rounds, aye. Mr. Van hollen, no. Mr. Schumer, no. The clerk mr. Kaine, no. The clerk mr. Mcconnell, aye. The clerk mr. Whitehouse, no. The clerk ms. Cantwell, no. The presiding officer on this vote, the yeas are 47 and the nays are 45. Twothirds of the senators voting have not voted in the affirmative. The joint resolution on reconsideration fails to pass over the president s veto. A senator mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from delaware. Mr. Carper i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations en bloc. Calendar numbers 300 and 324. That the senate vote on the nominations en bloc without intervening action or debate. The motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table that the president be immediately notified of the senates action and the senate resume legislative session. The presiding officer is there objection . Without objection. The question occurs on the nominations en bloc. All those in favor say aye. All those opposed, say no. The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it. The nominations are confirmed en bloc. Mr. Carper mr. President , thank you very much. Mr. Lee mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from utah. Mr. Lee year after year whenever anyone does a survey to discover the most popular and least popular parts of the federal government, the answers tend to be the same. The least popular focus on the irs for understandable reasons, for similarly understand reasons, the most popular are the National Parks system. When the government shuts down, a lot of attention turns to them, as it should. The closed sign that at r its a palpable consequence of a government bereft of funds, and a dysfunctional process in congress that leads to that moment. This issue is close to the heart of a lot of people in a lot of parts of the country, but its especially close to the hearts of the people in my home state of utah. Every state in this great union, especially every state thats for the fortunate enough to be home to one or more of our nations National Parks is to deal with these issues in one way or the other. To be clear, i abhor the notion of Government Shutdowns, they are neither my wish or aspiration, however as the close of fq2023 approaches, a shutdown looms laj on the horizon. Utah finds its identity intertwined with its magnificent landscapes, bryce canyon, capital reef, they are not just names, they are proud simples of symbols of our state and many parts of utah depend on them and depend on the traffic that comes in and out of those National Parks. Visiting these parks isnt just about tourism, its about livelihoods, our families and our economic lifeblood. A grim reality is our communities will bear the brunt of these parks closing, if in fact they close their gates due do a shutdown, with no means to recuperate the loss. With two days left, my frustration mounts knowing the department of interior has not updated their contingency plan for a shutdown since 2016. How can the Biden Administration expect our communities prepare without a blueprint for such eventualities. With my communication with secretary hollen, numerous tools lie at her disposal during a shutdown, using the enhancement act to han hes nonappropriate fees revenues is a clear path and one that should be pursued here. After all these same funds ensured many parks remained open during the december 2018 to january 2019 shutdown. The department of interior should also designate as essential as many park and Land Management employees as possible. Yet, it seems interior would instead echo past mistakes, like those made in 2013 under the Obama Administration, bending to radical environmental pressures and closing the parks under the pretense of resource conservation. This is not just unfortunate, it is inexcusable. Its forrable and it is completely avoidable. Several states were forced to dig into their own pork cets to ensure their parks remained open in 2013. When the shutdown concluded, there was no repayment. States like utah, new york, tennessee, south dakota, colorado, and arizona were left holding the bill. Now, look, 1. 6 million might seem like a drop in the bucket in the vast sea of overall federal spending. But for states like utah with a lot less money running through the State Government than runs through our government every single year and where our elected officials value prudent Financial Management to help keep their own citizens in a good position, every single dollar matters. So this is not something that we should force upon the states. We know at the outset people are going to continue to visit National Parks. Theres no legitimate reason knowing they are the single most popular feature of the federal government arbitrarily to decide at the outset that were going to close those. In many instances they had to erect barriers to keep people out, sort of the opposite of what you would expect to occur during a shutdown. So lets keep them open. We know in any event that any furloughed staff within the park service will be repaid along the rest of government workers once a shutdown ends. Knowing that as we do and knowing that these states and their communities are so dependent as they are on revenue related to visitors going to National Parks and that those states being that dependent are going to cover the tab, the federal government shouldnt be in the position of riding on these states generosity, on their dependence on the National Parks simply by saying, yeah, you know what . Were going to furlough these workers, allow it to shutdown. Allow the states to run the parks at great expense to those states and not pay them back. No, mr. President , this is unacceptable. This is a pretty unique circumstance in which the risk of a free rider action calls out for precautionary action on our part. So, mr. President , my bill on this subject is very simple. It just mandates that the secretary of the interior must repay states that spend their own funds to maintain National Parks in the event of a shutdown. Its about responsibility, accountability, and most importantly doing whats right. Our National Parks must remain open, not just for the enjoyment of our citizens but for the survival of the communities that are near them and whose economies revolve around them. To that end, mr. President , i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of s. 2972 which is at the desk. Further, that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. The presiding officer is there objection . Mrs. Murray mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from washington. Mrs. Murray thank you, mr. President. Mr. President , reserving the right to object. I share my colleagues concern about making sure our National Parks stay open. In fact, i dont want any federal facilities to close their doors, any federal workers to miss a paycheck, or any programs families rely on be undermined by a completely unnecessary shutdown. Which is why i am working around the clock to make sure we do pass this bipartisan c. R. Package which we released yesterday. So i hope the senior senator from utah will reconsider his recent vote against moving forward on that c. R. And start working with us to get this straightforward c. R. Across the finish line so we can avoid this shutdown and get back to passing our 12 batch appropriations 12 bipartisan Appropriations Bills. Because that is the only serious solution here. That is the best way to make sure families are able to keep enjoying our National Parks, park rangers, and all of our Public Servants can do the work the American People are counting on and get the paycheck they deserve. There are a lot of programs that we all care about that would be hurt by a shutdown. So were not going to solve this problem one by one, carveout by carveout. And as i said earlier, you dont stop a flood one drop at a time. You build a dam. We have got a straightforward bipartisan c. R. Package to avoid a shutdown and keep our National Parks open. Lets get our jobs done and get that passed. So i object. Mr. Lee mr. President. The presiding officer the objection is heard. The senator from utah. Mr. Lee mr. President , im disappointed that we werent able to get this done today. Its hard for me to conceive of a legitimate reason why we wouldnt home harmless those states bold enough, brave enough, conscientious enough to protect their own citizenry and accessibility to National Parks within their boundaries. There are a lot of blessings that come from having these mighty five National Parks in the state of utah. I love each and every one of them. I can tell you things about every one of them that are unique and that i love. Were always told how lucky we are and we indeed are to have these beautiful features in our state and to have National Parks. But its insulting to the citizens of a state when the federal government owns twothirds of the landmass in our state. Most of that landmass is of course not National Park land. Most of it doesnt even look like National Park land. Most of it is not terribly remarkable, one way or another. When you add up all that land and its 67 of the state of utah, that means we cant tax that land. That means we cant access that land except with a massive mother may i from the federal government which is very often far too dingt to get. Because difficult to get. Because we cant collect property tax because of its federal ownership, it impoverishes our schools and impeding everything from First Responders, schools, you name it, its hard for us to fund. There are counties in the state of utah where the federal government owns 90plus percent of the land. Makes it will him impossible for us to operate. To add to all of this, mr. President , to add to all of this to say during a Government Shutdown, were going to shut down the single most popular feature, the only part the American People really like right now just because we can and then were going to pay our own employees to not work for however many days or works the government remains shut down and sure, well let you run all of that, states, if youre concerned about it, if your economy and your people depend on it, but even though well pay back our own employees, were not going to pay back you. This is wrong. And if this is how theyre going to treat us, we need to have a really long, hard, overdue discussion about the question how much land should the federal government own in any particular state. At the time of statehood, there was an understanding made at least implicitly if not explicitly in utahs enabling act. Consistent with language inserted into the enabling acts of nearly every state added into the union since the Louisiana Purchase, it was our understanding that we, could, would have this opportunity to have unincorporated federal land within our state boundaries eventually sold. Most of it would be sold if it were not dedicated to another federal purpose. And with the sale of that land would come a percentage that would flow into a trust fund dedicated for the benefit of the states Public Education system. That language inserted into the enabling legislation of nearly every state added since the Louisiana Purchase has been honored, was honored throughout the southeast, throughout the midwest. But they stopped honoring it when they got to the rocky mountains. Im not sure exactly why. This is exactly the kind of reason why we need to have this discussion. Were told that we cant tax that land. That improvishes us, causes all other kinds of problems. They tried to jofer set that with a program called pilt. The lost tax revenue is just the beginning of the problem if were looking at property taxes. Its not just the lost tax revenue from what they would get for taxing that land at the lowest rate. Its the lost Economic Activity that could and would otherwise apply there if they didnt own so much land. Look, think about this for a minute. If any private employer, individual, or Corporation Owned more than i dont know 5 or 10 of the landmass in your state, people would get nervous and justifiably so. We understandably fear the excessive accumulation of power whether economic or political in the hands of the few. Somebody who owns that much of any states land has the ability to determine that states destiny. It gets even worse if that landowner is not a corporation or a nonprofit or an individual or a family but instead a sovereign government that declares itself exempt from taxation and disallows the people from doing anything on that land without its permission. Growing more per nearious by the day and who they allow on the land and to do what. This conversation is long overdue. Its situations like this where the senator from washington tragically was unable, unwilling, even to allow these tiny crumbs to drop from the table of the large federal trough. This is wrong. Her arguments are indefensible subjecting that somehow anyone who doesnt vote for this continuing resolution negotiated in secret by exactly two senators, she knows darn well cant pass. Otherwise theyd be passing it right away. It cant pa pass because its got deep flaws in it. For her to blame the few of us who voted against it because of the Serious Problems and the way it was written and the fact were now being told that the leaders filling the tree which means were not going to have any effective opportunity even to amend the bill, this is the same bill that was released to us about 30 minutes before we were called to vote on it. About 80 pages of dense reading material that includes countless crossreferences, takes at least 48 hours even with trained staff who are trained to look for these things to really understand whats in them. Shame on all of us if we think this is a legitimate process and shame on this institution if it thinks its okay to treat western states where most of the land is federal this badly. Ill be back. Thank you. The presiding officer the senator from mississippi. Mr. Wicker thank you, mr. President. I rise this afternoon to address the crisis on our southern border and to say that we have a Good Opportunity with the senateapproved National Defense authorization act. It is a remarkable opportunity for this body to strengthen Homeland Security by increasing Border Security. Mr. President , bad actors continue to exploit our poorest southern border and to funnel criminals, fentanyl, and even suspected terrorists into our country. Just this week customs and Border Patrol released staggering figures. In this fiscal year Border Patrol has handled nearly three million border encounters, nearly three million border encounters. Of urgent concern is the fact that more and more of those who cross our borders are terror threats. In this fiscal year, 160 migrants were found to be on the terror watch list, up from 100 in 2022. A smuggler with ties to isis shepherded a dozen migrants from uzbekistan across the border. This alarming incident raises questions about terrorists gaining access to our country. It also highlights the increasing number of Asylum Seekers from central asia. Mr. President , the situation is clearly out of control. The Senate Armed Services committee has received testimony suggesting that our adversaries see our broken border as a strategic advantage. Russia certainly does. The former Northern Command chief reports that there are more kremlin agents in mexico than in any other country. Theyre there because of the open border policies of this administration. The Chinese Communist party is also aware of this vulnerability, constantly looking the other way as chinese criminal elements sell fentanyl cop points fentanyl components to cartels helping fuel our National Drug crisis. President biden refuses to act but congress will. The good news is that weve already taken steps to do so. This summer the Senate Passed our version of the ndaa. We did so on an overwhelming bipartisan basis, mr. President. In my role as the Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services committee, i led my colleagues as we crafted a defense bill that aligns with our current National Defense needs. The bill supports our troops and enhances our war fighting capabilities. The bill also recognizes the border crisis as the National Security challenge it is. And i note that more and more people in the Mainstream Media on network news on television, not just the cable shows, our newscasters are calling this what it is a border crisis. In an impressive display of bipartisanship earlier this year, we passed our legislation with an overwhelming margin of 8611. This sweeping endorsement puts the senate in a strong negotiating position as the house and senate reconcile the two defense bills in conference, and i certainly hope we can do that and get that to the president soon. As we move through the conference process, we must retain the border provisions we fought so hard to include. One such measure is the finish it act. We say finish it, i mean the border wall. The legislation, which i authored and which is in the bill, would continue construction of the border wall. The Previous Administration purchased highquality steel wall panels, but when President Biden took office, he chose to spend 130,000 per day to store these materials rather than using them to secure the border. The highquality sealed panels are there. Our president is spending money to store them rather than using them for the intended purpose. Taxpayers have already paid for them. That amounts to tens of millions of dollars spent to do absolutely nothing, all the while cartels continue to traffic drugs and people across our southwest border. The fact that were spending taxpayer money to tort these to store these sections of the border wall rather than erect them is uncontested. That is admitted and it is a fact, and its one of the reasons senators visit the border, to find out things like this. We on the Armed Services committee quired about this waste inquired about this waste. We found the administration to be hastily auctioning off panels and doing so for pennies on the dollar. This is quite obviously an effort to circumvent congressional intent. The administration seized this legislation sees this legislation coming. They see the overthewhelming 6611 vote, and he want to get many of these sections of the wall auctioned off as government surplus before the legislation takes effect. In one instance the government sold 4. 4 million worth of materials for a mere 156,000, again, this is uncontested. This is a fact that no one disputes. The administration is still unable to account for 255 million worth of materials. The finish it act, which is in the ndaa passed by the senate, would compel the Biden Administration either to use the existing border panels or sell them to states capable of building the wall themselves. Border states grasp the severity of this crisis in ways that the president somehow ignores. Senate republicans successfully shepherded this through the democratled committee and secured wide bipartisan support from the senate. Again, the bill passed by a final vote of 8611. It is not difficult to discern why under this administration, really every state is a border state. Just ask the mayor of new york city, which used to be used to like to be called a sanctuary city. The mayor of new york suddenly is sounds almost as concerned about the border crisis as the governor of texas. The finish it act represents just the first of several Border Security provisions in this years defense legislation. Other measures address the threat posed by cartels. These criminal gangs bribe Law Enforcement officials and terrorize the innocent. These cartels have militarygrade tools, and they use them. Our bill unlocks resources that empower the department of defense to take the fight to these dangerous organizations. We passed a provision which would help strengthen Mexican Security forces. It would establish a Pilot Program designed to provide toptier u. S. Military training to Law Enforcement in mexican. This would enhance bilateral cooperation against threats, including cartels. Another provision, mr. President , helps confront cartels in cyberspace, and another improves coordination between defense, intelligence, and Homeland Security officials. These harness the technological and logistical capabilities to target work we can do from our side of the border. The border crisis shows no sign of abating. Illegal crossings continue to surge, and fentanyls devastating effects reach into more and more american neighborhoods and into every state. What affects the border affects us all. Im sure therell be strong discussion as the house and senate move to a conference. There will, of course, be disagreements and yet i remain hopeful that the integrity of the our borders can remain an area of agreement. We must take this opportunity to protect the homeland. We must pass this years National Defense authorization act with these hardwon Border Security measures. Thank you, mr. President , and before i yield the floor, on a personal note, mr. President , let me say that youre looking particularly good this afternoon, and i appreciate your courtesy. Courtesy. As put together, come up with a deal with a bill that mentioned november 17. It has enough support to pass through the upper chamber, but it is going through a lot of procedural hurdles right now. Some senators, including brand all are making sure they will slow down the process is much as they can so there wont be a speedy vote on that sending it to the house. The house has another problem in that it does not see eye to eye on the senate. Kevin mccarthy plans over in the house to introduce acr and bring it to the floor. He says by friday but that would be a conservative package, shortterm funding bill that would not include the ukraine money that the senate put in with 6 billion that you mentioned. It would include Border Security package that i think the senate would have a really hard time still making and i think they would have a hard time sending that into law. The two chambers are not seeing eye to eye on any shortterm funding wall which is why so many of us on capitol hill think this is really heading towards a shut down this weekend, at least a short term shut down perhaps an even longer shut down. Now, separately i mentioned this other tracking. That is the appropriations bill that the house is moving through their chamber. They went through a series of moments yesterday. Trying to pass a package of the single subject appropriation bills today thousands of families will never be the same. On october 1 is 201 is at the route 91 harvest Music Festival in las vegas, tens of thousands of people were listening to music, they were dancing, and they were enjoying the festivities. That was until the gunfire started. In a matter of minutes, the gunman fired over 1,000 bullets into the crowd, leaving 58 dead and hundreds wounded. Two more concertgoers died from their injuries in the aftermath. The shock, the horror, the pain all come flooding back, even now. I will never forget sitting with families at the Reunification Center in las vegas that day after, praying that along with the families they would hear good news for their lost loved ones. But not all of them did. Too many lives were taken that night and far too soon. If not for the heroes of that day who put their lives on the line to save others, even more lives would have been lost. And one of those heroes is erick silva. Eric was from las vegas. He a attended las vegas high school, the same high school that my parents ahe tended. And after he graduated, he planned to be a police officer. In august 2017 he celebrated his 21st birthday. He would never celebrate another. Less than two months later on october 1, eric was working as a Security Guard at the festival. When the gunfire started, eric ran into the crowd, did he not run away, he ran into the crowd to help, boosting concert goers over barricades so they could exit the rain of bullets coming down. In that effort to save lives, eric lost his. He gave his lifesaving others. Now, i remember speaking with erics mother, angelica at her funeral. Of course her whole world had been turned upside down, but she knew her son died a hero. Eric would have been 27 this year and every year angelica celebrates erics birsdz birthday. His mother is making sure that her son and his heroism is never forgotten and i can promise we will never forget. We will not forget eric and the others who lost their lives to gun violence that night and in this country. We will never forget those people who put other peoples lives over their own that day and well never forget the concert goers who are dealing with those issues and those coping with the trauma they witnessed that night. And we will never forget the First Responders and Health Care Workers and every day nevadans who dropped everything to help save lives in the aftermad. Because even in our dash aftermath. Because even in our darkest hour, we are vegas strong, we are resilient and together we will make sure this kind of tragedy never happens again. In nevada, weve taken action to do that, passing comprehensive background checks and red flag laws as well as banning the bump stocks used in the route 29 shooting. Thats at the state level. We can do more. We can do that for the country as a whole if congress is willing to work together. We can outlaw bump stocks that turn guns into highcapacity machines. They are only used to commit mass violence. Working together in congress, we can pass comprehensive background checks to make sure that criminals cant exploit loopholes to buy dangerous weapons. The vast majority of americans support this. Im proud of the work that we have done to pass the bipartisan Safer Communities act last year. That was historic legislation to curb gun violence and find Mental Health programs. We did that working together across the aisle so we can and we must do more. We owe it to eric, to his family, to the families of the fallen, and to americans across the country. So lets come together in a bipartisan way and put action behind those words, never forget. Until we do, we are at risk of history repeating itself. Thank you, mr. President. I yield the floor and i note the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call people of limited means would have access to quality care. I said it is not political puffery that if i were seriously ill, i would gladly visit one of these clinics. I think that they are that good. Also, the special nutrition for infants and children. Mother surviving pregnancy and children, Young Children getting off to a strong start in life. It is another thing to put bread on the table. The wic program puts it right on the table. We keep the lights on at that agency. We would also extend the authorization of the federal Aviation Administration through december 31. How important is safety and Airline Travel appeared critically important. The last time there was a threat of shutting down the government. It was the people responsible for regulating and keeping our planes safe. We can no longer play that game. I hope that we dont have to go through that experience again. Seventyseven senators recognize the bipartisanship was the solution for avoiding the shutdown. The democratic chair and Ranking Member who voted. Over in the house, it was just chaos. House Speaker Mccarthy has declared the Bipartisan Senate continuing resolution is dead on arrival. The bipartisan bill worked out with both sides of the aisle that 177 votes he is dismissed as unacceptable. For reasons beyond my understanding, he has chosen the far right rebellion of a few mega House Republicans over the continuing function of our government. He has chosen to put partisanship and politics about the American People. For however long it takes to speak and gain control of this party, the social services will be slowed, federal employees and military Service Members will go without paychecks for the families. This group is intent on slashing millions of social programs, attaching their political agenda for their border and before they will even begin to discuss keeping the government open. The American People deserve better. Senator graham raised the legitimate concern about what is happening at our border. People seeking entry into the United States. This is not unusual if you look around the world, that is happening in many places. So many people now that have been dislocated from their homes that the refugee experts tell us there is no record of such a number in the modern history of the world. No surprise that the United States is a prize destination feeling that pressure appeared why would it make sense i would say to Speaker Mccarthy to shut down the government and take the men and women who are among the border now trying to keep us safe and make a dramatic budget cut in their agency. Just the opposite of what we need. We need the resources and personnel to have an orderly process on our border shutting down the government fails to me that opportunity. The group of extreme and attaching their political agendas to the border say they want to discuss these issues before any serious major is considered. The American People deserve better. We are not a bargaining chip. I shut down the arm to every american that relies on Government Services. Halt business loans, stall and jeopardize nutrition assistance for low income women, infants and children. It would delay food safety and inspection and deprive children and access to headstart. It would likely cause travel delays because 13,000 air Traffic Controllers and 13,000 tsa officers would be forced to work without pay. It would also furlough 1000 air Traffic Controllers who are now being detained for fulfilling the vacancies critically important that the agency. Shutdowns are slowing down the economic progress and jeopardizing jobs in future economic growth. They also tell the world that in america, politics can rule. They can get on the way of paying our bills, providing service to our people and conducting daytoday business that keep our nation of flow. The urge my colleagues in both chambers to choose bipartisanship bipartisanship and pass the Senate Continuing Resolution so we can continue the important process of funding the government had grown up and responsible way. Mr. President i yield the floor a senator mr. President , i ask unanimous consent that the following interns in my office be granted floor privileges until october 31, 2023. Quorum call first. Sorry. Mr. President , i ask unanimous consent to suspend the quorum call. The presiding officer without objection. A senator mr. President , i ask unanimous consent that the following interns in my office be granted floor privileges until october. Jonathan smith. The presiding officer without objection. A senator thank you, mr. President. Im hearing a lot from nebraskans about the chaos this week that is going on around here as we debate the legislation to continue funding our government. We should be debating the reckless Big Government spending that has left us with National Debt of 33 trillion. Mr. Ricketts thats 251,000 for every american household. Thats about the average price of a house in nebraska. Its like having another mortgage in National Debt. The consequences of this crippling debt means that consumers see higher costs and interest rates. It slows the economy. And it stifles opportunities for American Families. With stubbornly high inflation, families across this nation, including those on fixed incomes are tightening their belts to stretch their budgets farther. This past week ive heard from many angry nebraskans that the congress refuses to do the same. We need to fund our National Defense, to secure our National Security, and that includes closing our open border. We need to provide essential Government Services that americans expect and deserve. What we dont need is to throw more money at partisan projects or wasteful and unnecessary Government Spending. The time to have these important conversations about how we do all that is right now as we discuss these funding bills. Now, there is a process to do that without coming to the brink of a Government Shutdown. It starts with the president giving us his budget by february 6. However, this year President Biden gave us his budget over a month late. Then Congress Must pass 12 Appropriations Bills by september 30 to avoid a Government Shutdown. The Senate Appropriations committee passed two Appropriations Bills on june 22 and the other 10 in july. That means for nearly two months the majority leader could have brought up these bills to the senate floor. We could have had the votes right here on them. We could have debated them. We could have amended them. Ultimately we could have passed final versions of them. However, the majority leader chose not to do that. Instead hes played games and created the shutdown faceoff. He has squeezed the calendar to force his and President Bidens plan to spend trillions of dollars we dont have. For example, this week senators were given only 40 minutes, just 40 minutes to read and analyze a 79page bill to continue the funding of government unlike nancy pelosi, im not going to vote to pass something so i can find out whats in it. Nebraskans deserve better. Americans deserve better. The bill the senate is now considering ultimately does nothing to address President Bidens wasteful and unnecessary spending. It does nothing to secure our borders which is being overrun by cartels trafficking migrants and drugs, dangerous drugs, like fentanyl that is killing americans every day. We should have an open government and a closed border. The bill we are considering right now keeps federal Government Spending at its inflated postpandemic levels. The federal Government Spending is up 40 in just the last four years, 40 in just four years. Thats unacceptable. The majority leader is forcing a vote with a false choice. Between a bloated, wasteful omnibus bill or a Government Shutdown. Its manipulative. Its wrong. And i wont stand for it. We cannot keep giving President Biden and the majority leader a blank check to spend american taxpayer dollars however they want. A broken process will always result in a broken product. We have to do better. During my time as governor, we kept the size and scope of government small. It wasnt always easy. Sometimes required tough conversations. But our state was better off for it. We ran government more like a business. We improved the level of services for families in need. We invested in infrastructure, like roads and broadband. And we were able to deliver 12. 7 billion in tax cuts. In nebraska we kept the growth r growth of government to just 2. 8 a year and contrast that to the 40 Government Spending is up at the federal level in just four years. 40 in just four years. Now, heres the crazy part. President biden is actually going to declare some Term Employees nonessential. If theres a shutdown, hes going to send them home. Then hes going to bring them back and pay them backpay. Now, if theyre essential workers, they should continue to stay at their jobs during a shutdown. And if theyre unessential, why do we have them . Our federal government must be more effective and efficient, not bigger and worse. In nebraska we proved its possible. Bringing that success to washington is one of the reasons why i want to be why i wanted to be a senator. I will continue fighting to get our fiscal house in order, to make sure we continue to provide essential services that americans deserve and expect. My colleagues and i will continue to have serious conversations about how to do that. I hope President Biden and the majority leader will do the same. Thank you very much, mr. President. The u. S. Senate will continue its pursuit of a bipartisan cr to avoid a Government Shutdown. An little over an hour we will vote on the motion to proceed to the faa reauthorization which will serve as a vehicle for the cr i announced with leader mcconnell two days ago. Once we are on the bill i will be introducing the substitute amendment which will contain the legislative text of the bipartisan bridge cr which the Appropriations Committee work so and again i salute senators murray and collins for the good good job theyve been part of file cloture and necessitate an underlying bill so members can expect to vote for cloture on saturday if not sooner. Things are coming down to the wire. As i have said for Months Congress has only one option, one option to avoid a shutdown, bipartisanship. It was true yesterday and it is true today and it will be true tomorrow. With bipartisanship we can responsibly fund the government and avoid the unnecessary pain to the American People that the economy that shutdown will bring. With bipartisanship we can come to an agreement on amendments and allow the senate to work its will in a timely fashion. With bipartisanship we can make good on the deal reached earlier this summer to avoid default. Remember mr. President , remember bipartisan majorities agree funding levels back in june. The leaders of the house, the senate and in the white house we all shook hands on the steel but now the speaker and only the speaker is going back on his word. He is the only one of the five to go back on his word. What he is saying by being the only one to go back on his word Speaker Mccarthy is saying he cares more about the whims of the hard right, the hard, hard right than avoiding a shutdown. We cannot have that. We need bipartisanship. If we can persist in partisanship which he is doing now and always looking over his right shoulder he will create a shutdown. Every move the speaker has taken since the bipartisanship deal in june has been to shred any prospect of bipartisanship. Life focusing on the use of the radical few instead of the many, Speaker Mccarthy is made a schardt shut down far more likely. Let me say that again. Let me say that again but by focusing on abuse of the radical few instead of the many, Speaker Mccarthy is made to shut down far more likely. Despite the fact that many on both sides want to work together, despite the fact that here in the senate we are pursuing bipartisanship. The speaker is chosen to elevate the whims and desires of a handful of hard right extremists and have nothing to show for it. We saw glaring examples last night. Last night on the floor of the house, the house voted twice with overwhelming bipartisan majorities to keep ukraine funding in the house defense appropriations bill. Each time with over 330 votes, the majority of democratic and republican members and get after the vote the house leader, the Republican Leadership in the house subverted the will of the house like going to the rules committee and cut aid to ukraine anyway. Can you believe that . Extremists who dont care about governing about preserving democracy or americas strength in the world, holds more sway in Speaker Mccarthys mind than the majority of his party and the vast majority of the house of representatives which he leads. We need to be showing strength against putin, not weakness. We need to be defending democracy, not abandoning our friends abroad. Speaker mccarthy is laying a small band of very extreme members to override the views of everyone else. Its the tail wagging the dog. The entire shutdown mess as Speaker Mccarthy continues it will have consequences for years to come. If we are forced to abandon ukraine by a handful of extreme people who seem to have no sense of reality in the world, we will pay a price for years to come. How can Speaker Mccarthy let that happen . How can he let that happen . A divided government demands compromise. By ignoring this speaker Mary Mccarthy is driving the country straight to a shutdown. The longer he raises bipartisanship, the greater the damage of a shutdown to the American People. Its been alarming over the last few days to listen to some of my house colleagues on the hard right talk so casually about shutting the government down. Some of them seem proud to do it and sort of brag about it. Its incredible. They seem unbothered that a shutdown over 1 million active duty military members wont get their pay. A shutdown would be devastating to our southern border, something our friends on the other side who care about Border Security conveniently ignore the Small Business would lose access to kick n. Homebuyers would be unable to secure loans in our supply chain would be imperiled and cost American Families would go upandup. All because of a needless shutdown caused by if you extremists in Speaker Mccarthy obedience to them. If this will all become a reality unfortunately in less than three days unless Speaker Mccarthy abandons his mission of succumbing to the radicals. Its the only way once again ill keep repeating it because maybe it will sink in over there the only way we can stop the Government Shutdown is by voting on legislation for bipartisan support but thats a work on the senate today. As ive i have said the bill before us is a bridge not the final destination. I urge my colleagues to continue to work to advance this bipartisan bridge cr to avoid reckless and devastating Government Shutdown. The senate once again is called on to lead by example to leave the house in the speaker. Test. Congress has three days left to past shortterm legislation to prevent the government from shutting down but thats three more days to provide essential resources for current rate of operations before critical government functions come to a screeching hault. Lets be clear about whats at stake. Shutting down the government is not like pressing pause, its not an interlude that lets us pick up where we left off. Isnt actively harmful proposition. Instead of producing leading quality outcomes it would take the important progress we have made on a number of key issues and drag it backwards. Back in 2019 or colleagues on the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee Found over the previous five years Government Shutdowns have cost the taxpayer nearly 4 billion, 4 billion. The American People 03. 7 billion in backpay for federal workers. Some went to servicemembers, Law Enforcement officers and other frontline personnel. Those who ask the state on duty that some went to cover the equivalent of nearly 57,000 in work that federal employees had been about to complete and thats not to mention hundreds of millions of dollars in extra administrative costs. America cannot afford for congress to take a Government Shutdown lightly or thats especially true of the crisis at our nations southern border. The Biden Administrations utter failure to secure the borderrecordbreaking in the worst of possible ways. Fortunately are set led to an alltime high migration for Security Resources stretching it literally to the breaking point. Meanwhile deadly drugs have made every state actually a border state. In fact the patrol reported recently that in the past year they seized an offense not want to kill the entire population of the United States. In time and again Government Shutdowns have made essential work for the Border Patrol and i. C. E. Even harder. Many of her colleagues have pointed out how Border Security personnel like the armed forces would work for a shutdown without pay. Consequences go beyond financial hardship. As our colleagues in 2019 report found the shutdowns delayed import repair work end quote endangers the lives of Law Enforcement officers and created significant Border Security vulnerabilities. They have forced officials to cancel tens of thousands of immigration and taken the department of Homeland Securitys employee system completely offline. Mr. President shutting down the government has a choice in the choice that would lead to crisis that our southern border even worse. Im encouraged that many of our colleagues who share my concerns are working to ensure the shortterm funding measure is passed this week. Guess the men and women of Border Patrol and i. C. E. The resources while we continue our work to clean up washington democrats mess. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] before we get started i want to take a brief point of personal privilege. And the cardinal mrs. Mike is an article about the connection with hawaii and its history. Some of which is good and some of which is not that the congressman from the ninth district of virginia the district that i represent a democrat by the name that jennings was the only virginia to vote for hawaii statehood so we are proud of that. Our section of the state is so different than the rest of the states. Sometimes good and sometimes bad. Mostly good. If guests would please take their seats. The committee on oversight and investigation will not come to order and to order nine to order nine or recognize myself for five minutes for an opening statement. On august 7 and 8th a series of fires broke out on the island of maui in the island of hawaii including one that devastated the town of lahaina on the west coast. While the Hawaiian Electric company and accounted mylie dispute facts surrounding these events one thing is certain, this series of fires were catastrophic to the state of hawaii and we must make every effort to be vigilant and try to prevent a similar disaster from striking again. The lahaina fire ticket lease 97 lives burned thousands of acres caused billions of dollars in damage and destroyed multiple hawaiian cultural and historical landmarks that im deeply saddened to hear the stories of those who survived and awaiting news of their loved ones who still remain unaccounted for. We are still searching with those and wrestling with how they will survive after the fire consumed businesses and erased the islands tourism industry. While many continue to debate and circumstances contributing to the catastrophic scale of the maui fires it is not too early to start examining what can be done better. For examples on wildfires dance flammable nonnative grasses have multiplied across the island in recent years with the deadly spread of recent buyers with airports that cited utility law experts to maintain the wind electric way too long to pursue important upgrades to martin ikes the wildfire risk. Still others have argued that maui Electric Company was particularly slow in replacing outdated and deteriorating polls, supporting its power lines. There were many decisionmakers involved along the way and there is still much to sort out. To that in end chair rodgers chair duncan and i probe some of the concerns in some of these concerns in our august 30, 2023 letter to each of our invited witnesses requesting information on the efforts to address the wildfire problems. We think are witnesses for their responses to our request and look forward to your response further today. Now that you take a moment to introduce each of our witnesses from our first panel. We are joined today by ms. Shelly kamara chief executive officer of Hawaiian Electric company, Hawaiian Electric Subsidiary Corporation maui Electric Company to provide service on maui for Hawaiian Electric and its corporations that provide service for 95 of the wise residence. We will also hear from, its in here somewhere. We will also hear from mark glick Energy Officer of why state energy of support state Energy Policy goals. We also welcome the chairman of the hawaiian utilities commission. He served as a commissioner since april of 2019 and is chaired since july 2022 but the commission amongst other things regulates electricity rates and powers and parameters of the Public Utility Companies operating in the state. Immediately after we will convene a second panel consisting of testimony from our colleagues from the hawaii congressional delegation representing poways First District will testify and we will hear testimony from representative jill to coup to his Second District of hawaii includes the maya the island of maui. Theres speculation around the days which the fire spread about whats been done or has not been done in years prior. Congress has a responsibility to pursue a Safe National Energy Policy which includes hardening electric infrastructure and prepare for events like wildfires and a hurricane. Congress had portion of that responsibility and along with state regulators and the privatesector partners. Accordingly its extremely important that we can being to begin to ask the hard questions. Given this committees role in protecting our electric utility infrastructure in its general jurisdiction over power utilities we will focus today on that aspect of the disaster. I hope we have learned here today what we learn today will form efforts of the federal state local and utility level to protect constituents in ratepayers and reduce the chances of preventable losses of life and property and wildfires in the future. That said i will also tell you we have another hearing going on downstairs where we are looking at the electric grid so you will see members moving in and out and some members on both subcommittees but i think the witnesses for being here and participating in to prevent similar at problems from happening. Without any guilt that kind of recognize the Ranking Member of the subcommittee ms. Castor for fiveminute opening statement. Thank you mr. Chairman a good morning everyone. Just over seven weeks ago power for wildfires devastated the town of lahaina on the island of maui in hawaii. This was a sudden and tragedy and not the half of the democratic side we extend our sincere condolences. Nearly 100 people died and many more lost their homes businesses the firsthand accounts of how quick we the fires spread in the chaos and confusion. Many hawaiian neighbors in military service and coast guard members rescued people that day. They worked through the smoke flames and pollution to save lives. They are heroes. Many others responded in the immediate aftermath and more are on the ground now dedicated to recovery and relief. Understand that over 27 federal partners including fema the u. S. Army the Small Business administration or helping the people of maui get back on their feet. I appreciate the handson approach of representative coda and senators hirono and how they are supporting and advocating for their neighbors. Top of mind at the threat of a Government Shutdown must it be to ensure that the recovery work continues uninterrupted for the people of maui. Today i hope you can learn more about the conditions that caused the fire and wood of congress can do. They are things that we do know already. We know the strong winds from nearby hurricane combined with drug conditions and dry vegetation led to advance warnings of a fire on maui. We know the fire started on the edge of town in lahaina on mauis west coast and quickly grew out of control. Ultimately it devastated the town and claimed the lives of too many neighbors. Fire crews for dealing with another fire miles away. We know people there are still suffering from the losses of their friends, family and homes and firefighters are still working to contain wildfires elsewhere. What we do not know is the exact cause of the fire and what more if anything could have been done to prevent it from starting or spreading. Hawaii, Hawaiian Electric said one of its power lines ignited an earlier fire and lahaina the morning of august date for the Maui Fire Department said it has extinguished that fire but then fire was reported again in the same location in a quickly spread. While the National Weather service in honolulu began issuing alerts days before the fire began important questions. Were not in a quorum call . In that case, mr. President , i seek recognition. The presiding officer the senator from rhode island. Mr. Reed thank you, mr. President. First, i would indicate that there are committee requests. Mr. President , i have five requests for committees to meet during todays session of the senate. They have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. The presiding officer duly noted. Mr. Reed thank you, mr. President. Mr. President , i rise today to talk about the humanitarian crisis happening right now in a region in the south caucuses. It is a tragedy unfolding before our eyes, with the high commissioner for refugees stating that over 65,000 Ethnic Armenians fled from armenia since september 23. I suspect a number of refugees will continue to arrive rapidly in the coming days. They need immediate humanitarian aid, food, water, shelter, and clothing. Sadly, this is not the first time in history that armenian people have faced this kind of violence, aggression, and worse. The ngora region has a complicated region. Armenia and azerbaijan were a part of the soviet union. After conflict broke out, there was a bloody war in the early 1908s and early 1990s, the legal status of nagora was influx. Ed up the rule of a de facto government, violence starred in 1994, however deep tensions remain. I may be one of the only members of this chamber that visited them. I met with local leaders and civilians impacted by the conflict and saw first han the impact of the fighting. Today we are witnessing a new tragic chapter for the people of this region as the government of azerbaijan is not only to move to control the territory, but to drive out the Ethnic Armenian population from the refugee nonthe process. I have serious i have serious concerns that this may not be the end, that the aggressors may subject this region to ethnic cleansing and cultural genocide on the Ethnic Armenians that remain. Or decide they have future territory aspirations in the region. After years of uneasy peace, the government of azerbaijan began a 40gay war dr 40day war in 2020. This left nagorno further isolated. The peacekeepers would supposed to secure the humanitarian supplyline between armenia and nagornokarabakh. They set up a military checkpoint and stopped the flow of goods of food and medicine, the stage was set for the final set of hostilities that we saw on september 19. And the complete defeat and surrender of local Security Forces of naronokarabakh. It is important to know that the actions of the government were dlib raid and deliberate and calculated and now tens of thousands of armenians are fleeing the area. The United States cannot sit by and tolerate atrocities by either side in armed conflict. That cannot be the way to move forward because it does nothing to resolve cincheses and will cincheses and will never differences and will never allow people and families to have closure after decades of conflict. In light of azerbaijans renewed aggression, the u. S. Government must respond. I was relieved to the see the state department and usaid announce 11. 5 million for the humanitarian response needed in armenia, i fear, however, this is only a small portion of the actual need so i urge additional funds be ready to support the refuge