Transcripts For CSPAN2 U.S. 20240703

You rescue us from lifes deep waters, restoring us when we feel powerless. Continue to show yourself faithful, as our lawmakers seek to accomplish your purposes. Lord, be a shield for them as they place their trust in you. When they lose their courage, continue to be the god of their salvation. When they cry to you for help, answer their requests. When they feel the pains of despair, fill them with your hope, peace, and love. May they always remember that yu will never forsake them. We pray in your precious name. Amen. The presiding officer please join me in reciting the pledge f allegiance to our flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. 123450l the presiding officer the clerk will read a communication to the senate. The clerk washington, d. C. , october 24, 2023. To the senate under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable raphael warnock, a senator from the state of georgia, to perform the duties of the chair. Signed patty murray, president pro tempore. The presiding officer under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. Morning business is closed. Under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the to resume consideration of the following nomination, which the clerk will report. The clerk nomination, department of transportation, michael g. Whitaker of vermont to be administrator of the federal aviation administration. Some that is with us today. I want to turn this over to Ranking Member fisher for her opening comments. Good morning and thank you, for holding this hearing. The persistent issue of the legal robocalls has been longstanding concern of mine. Nationwide, illegal and spoke robocalls continued to be the number one consumer complaint. I want to ensure that we have the right tools in place to protect consumers from these calls that prey on them. As we all know our phones give us connection to the world around us, whether its calling family, friends or colleagues, scheduling appointments or summoning emergency services. They are integrated into our daily lives. Our phone numbers are every personal part of our identities as well. We use them to verify who we are, and we hold onto them for decades, sometimes for a lifetime. But as we know too well this allows scammers to reach directly into our homes and into our pockets. Bad actors are increasingly savvy in the technologies used to defraud consumers. This can result in devastating financial losses. Criminals are engaging in more targeted calls and of her sitting businesses like banks to steal personal data or commit financial fraud. Phone scams are still yielding the highest reported fraud losses per person, despite the rapid growth of scammers on social media platforms. In fact, fraud losses due to phone scams are higher than ever. According to a recent report, over 68 million americans lost approximately 40 billion to phone scams in 2021 alone. In many ways it feels like weve had this conversation so many times over so many years but crucially in 2019 Congress Passed the trace act to put wide ranging solutions in motion that would reduce the legal robocalls. I commend my colleagues senator thune, for leading this legislation and i was glad to be a cosponsor of it. Previously i also led the spoofing prevention act with store bill nelson which passed into law in 2018. 2018. This law was a foundational effort to increase penalties and boost enforcement tools that fight illegal spoofing. Deterrence through fines for illegal robocall activities is a key part of cracking down on distance calls that endanger consumers. On this front federal agencies, particularly the Justice Department, must improve how they Work Together to ensure that unpaid fines are collected. There are no silver bullets to e oval office to affirm that america will stand with their friends and allies in the face of authoritarians like china, russia, and iran, who seek to annihilate democracy. The future of democracy around the world, the future of democracy around the world faces the greatest threat since the end of the cold war. At this Pivotal Moment in history, america is once again called upon to rise to the occasion and to lead the way. President biden has now sent congress a supplemental funding request with aid for our ally and partner, israel; aid for our friends in ukraine; and funding to outcompete the Chinese Government and secure our southern border from threats like fentanyl. We must pass this supplemental as soon as we can, with bipartisan support, for a simple and important reason it will make the world safer for the United States, for our allies, and for our democratic values. In europe, Vladimir Putin continues his onslaught against the ukrainian people and its foolish to think hell stop there. In the middle east, hamas brutal terrorism murdered the most jewish people in a single day since the holocaust and threatens our strongest ally in the middle east. Democrats and republicans alike know that if putin, hamas, or other adversaries succeed, it would endanger americans around the world. Now that congress has received the president s request, i will make it a top priority for the senate to act quickly, decisively and most importantly, with strong bipartisan conviction. Bipartisanship must lead the way as we take up the president s supplemental request. To my republican colleagues, lets Work Together to ensure that this process remains bipartisan, because only things that win support from both sides will make it to the president s desk. Democrats and republicans agree we must stand with israel, so lets pass this supplemental with humanitarian aid to help civilians in gaza and elsewhere as soon as we can. Democrats and republicans also agree we must stand with ukraine. After all, over 70 members voted for ukraine funding last month in our c. R. So lets pass this supplemental as soon as we can. Both sides want to outcompete the Chinese Government, security the border from threats like fentanyl and provide humanitarian aid to minimize if civilian casualties in both israel and gaza. All of these priorities are bipartisan. All of these are in the president s request. Lets get to work in the coming weeks to pass this supplemental package quickly and with strong bipartisan support. Mr. President , with the house of representatives in paralysis, the senate will not wait to act. We will step into the breech and major sure the business of legislating continues. If we act with in your opinion bipartisan conviction, i believe it will go a long way to pushing the house to get its act together, following suit. The world will watch very close what actions we take in congress over the next coming week. We must send an unmistakable message to the country, to our allies, and our adversaries, that america will always spring to the defense of our allies in their hour of need. Thats why we must pass this supplemental as soon as we can. Now, on appropriations, democrat and republican appropriators continue making progress on an agreement to move forward on three bipartisan funding bills here on the floor. We worked all last week to clear the objections from some of our republican colleagues, and we kept talking over the weekend, in good faith. We are not there yet, but it is my hope we can reach an agreement to begin voting on amendments very soon, in all likelihood by tomorrow morning. But again, we need a little more time to keep working. Here in the senate, unlike the chaos of the house, most members on both sides want to see bipartisanship, because we know that is the only way things move forward in divided government. A clean Senate Appropriations process, without poison pills or dilatory tactics, is one of the best ways we can show our desire for bipartisanship is serious, and im optimistic we are nearly, nearly there. I thank the senate appropriators, chairman murray, vice chairman collins and all the members on both sides for bringing us close to an agreement. I hope to see one very soon. Now, on our second day a. I. Insight forum, mr. President , later this afternoon, the senate will hold our second bipartisan a. I. Insight forum focusing on our north star for a. I. , innovation. Our forum begins at 3 00 today in the kennedy caucus room, and i encourage my colleagues from both sides of the aisle to attend. Which we had a we had a strong bipartisan turnout for our inaugust ral a. I. Insight forum. I hope to see the same today. Its important to show how bipartisan and seriously were taking a. I. In the senate. Todays a. I. Insight forum includes some of the nations leading voices in labor, academia, business, tech, civil rights and others, coming together to hold an unvarnished, candid, and urgent debate on a. I. If the topic today will be how congress and the private sector can foster innovation. Well talk about the need for transformative innovation, the times of a. I. Systems that will create new vistas, unlock new cures, improve education, protect national security, preserve the global food supply and more. But well also talk about the need for sustainable innovation, innovations that can solve the deep challenges of a. I. , like increasing transparency and security and reducing bias and risk. This means supporting effective guardrails, because k agreed at our last forum, one of the one end of the spectrum to the other, if the federal government doesnt impose impose some guardrails, and the whole invention of a. I. Could tumble down. We need to prioritize transformative and sustainable innovation. We must find a balance between innovation and guardrails, without going too far in one direction, hurting the other. I want to ask i want to thank my colleagues in our bipartisan a. I. Little gang, senator rounds, heinrich and young, for helping organize and run foods a. I. Insight todays a. I. Insight forum. For the information of senators, our forum begins at 3 00 p. M. Today in the kennedy caucus room. I hope to see you all there. Now, on tech mubs, mr. Presiden, kwredz was yesterday was a really exciting day thanks to tech hubs. I traveled across jub state new york, sharing the upstate news, sharing the news that that region just won prestigious tech hub locations that i created. This means more goodpaying, longlasting jobs are coming to upstate new york, an area that has seen so Many Companies leave over the last three, four decades. Yesterday was something ive been working hard towards for a very long time. When i was writing the Tech Hubs Program with senator young in our into our bipartisan endless frontiers act, then into the chips and science act, i had upstate new york in mind. Now, thanks to this new designation, communities and cities across upstate face an awakening. The region is primed to become a global hub for workforce innovation, training and semiconductor mchg. Its not just up manufacturing. Its not just upstate new york, its a metaphor for the country. There are two tech hubs in new york and 30 others around the country, from coast to coast, in red states and blue states, and when i talked about tech hubs for cities like rochester, buffalo, syracuse, and binghamton, my colleague and friend on the republican side, todd young was talking about tech hubs in indiana, in indianapolis and south bend and fort wayne. The whole idea is this, mr. President the Tech Industry has gravitated to a few large cities, my own city of new york, which is greatly benefiting, san francisco, boston, austin, los angeles, but theres a load of talent in the rest of the country. Its just that no one paid attention to these places. Thats the idea of tech hubles. There were 4 tech hubs. There were 400 applications across the country. The department of commerce, i salute secretary raimondo, was very careful in pirvegging the places where it picking the places where it could work. Thats why there are 30. So, this is a great thing, and it will spread, it will take advantage of the talent that already exists in the companies, and universities, and individuals and schools, in the heartland of the country, not just the coasts. And give them a real chance to take part and create tens of thousands, millions of goodpaying jobs in every part of the country. I was really proud of the tech hubs proposals, and its going to continue. Were going to put more funding into it and do everything to help deck hubs grow and tech hubs grow and had been america grow and stay number one in the world. When we invest in highend in science and highend manufacturing and research, everybody, everybody benefits. So, this is good news, in red states, in blue states, secretary raimondo didnt look around and just say oh, we can only do blue states, like donald trump might have done. Shes put them in all the places that there can be new help. So, lets look at the contrast here, folks. While the house of representatives strug the House Republicans struggle to even select a speaker, these tech hubs show President Biden and democrats are delivering, putting tens of thousands of people to work in goodpaying jobs, opening new plants, factories, and security American Leadership in the technologies of tomorrow. Not in a very long time has the contrast between the parties been as glaring as today. When democrats lead the way, americans see more jobs, more manufacturing, lower costs. When republicans are in charge, rightwing republicans, not all of them but the right wing seems to be running the show, these maga republicans, it leads to paralysis, chaos and extremism. No matser how the no matter how the gop impasse in the mowfs is resolved, we will not change our focus as democrats. We will create more jobs, lowers costs and do it on a bipartisan basis wherever we can. I yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call the clerk ms. Baldwin. Mr. Mcconnell mr. President. The presiding officer the republican leader. Mr. Mcconnell i ask unanimous consent that further proceedings under the quorum be dispensed with. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Mcconnell over the weekend, the southern border crisis set a sobering new record. In the past year, cbp conducted more Border Apprehensions than in any year on record. Officials reported more than 2. 2. 4 million apprehensions since last october, and this number doesnt even count the illegal entries that actually evaded authorities. Most alarming, this news isnt actually new. Last year was the Third Straight year we set an alltime record for Border Apprehensions. In other words, every year that President Biden has been in charge of Border Security, his administration hasnt simply failed, it has failed to a historic and catastrophic degree. America has had functionally open borders for years. Along with millions of illegal aliens, weve allowed chinese fentanyl and other lethal drugs to literally pour into our country, kill thousands of americans every year. So democrats border crisis isnt new. What is new is their supposed desire to finally do something. Now that blue state mayors and governors are starting to feel the consequences of this catastrophic policy, the Biden Administration says it now wants to take action. Of course, the administrations the administration mostly just wants to throw money at the problem and at its friends in local government. Apparently, the preferred response to a border crisis is a blue state bailout. Meanwhile, a particularly dangerous consequence of the president s border crisis is making history of its own. Inst past in the past year, southern Border Apprehensions of individuals on the terror watch list broke an alltime record, a record that was just set the year before. Even President Bidens department of Homeland Security has admitted in its 2024 homeland threat assessment that, quote, record encounters of migrants arriving from a growing number of countries have complicated border and immigration security. The American People have watched the Biden Administration spin their way into plenty of problems, but they havent managed to spin their way out of a single one yet. Our country deserves real Law Enforcement and real borders, Border Security is national security. And on that front, the senate has a lot work to do. On a belated matter, in the coming days and weeks the senate will work urgently to address several major related threats to the American People, to our allies, and our interests at home and abroad. Ach russias escalation after russias escalation against ukraine last year, the savage attacks on israel once again reminded the civilized world of the persistent evil that demands our attention and our action. The United States must stand with our ally israel for as long as it takes to restore its security, and we have a responsibility not to look away from the brutality and inhumanity the terrorists inflicted on innocent israeli men, women, and children. Unfortunately our own western media havent made that task any easier. Some of the most disturbing firsthand accounts reported the savages responsible for the october 7 attacks had beheaded israeli infants and committed other in unspeakable atrocities. Some in the press love to express skepticism and even discredit the reports of eyewitnesses. But these sickening accounts were proven to be true. In an especially reckless example, americas paper of record took the word of gaza terrorists overlords and actually an announced to the world that an apparent explosion at a hospital had been an israeli strike that killed hundreds of people. We know now it was the terrorists themselves white house l trifs terrorists themselves who struck an israeli target. As the saying goes, this lie traveled around the world before truth literally laced up its shoes. Perhaps the Corporate Media organizations that have spent years warning about dis information should exercise a bit more caution with the claims of a terrorist organization that uses civilians as human shields. So lets get a few things straight. Theres a humanitarian crisis in gaza, people are suffering. But the blame for their suffering belongs solely to the terrorists who divert humanitarian and economic assistance and build terror tunnels and rocket launchers instead. And the solution is not to use the same corrupted mechanisms to allow mams to hamas to further exploit this crisis of its own making. The israelis government intention is to destroy hamas capacity, to wage war and end the stranglehold of gaza. And the west has every reason to expect that israel will hold itself, as it always does, to the highest standards of human conduct. But make no mistake, war is hell. This will be a difficult, bloody, and costly fight, and we know the hamas Propaganda Machine will do Everything Possible to exploit every inadvertent civilian casualty. There can be no moral equivalence between terrorism and selfdefense. The president must give israel the time and space it needs to achieve its military objectives in gaza. America should assist israel with any intelligence planning and resources their military requires. This includes coordinating closely with israel to ensure new channels for International Humanitarian assistance, prevent hamas from again expropriating it. But its clear iran proxies in syria and lebanon are towing up to the line. Israel has responded quickly and decisively for repeated attacks in lebanon in recent weeks, and the United States and other israeli partners should make clear that hezbollah and iran will face devastating consequences if they escalate the situation. Unfortunately terrorists have also escalated their attacks on American Forces in the region. Reports indicate multiple attacks in recent days in iraq and in syria. As one u. S. Official put it, there are, quote, red lights flashing everywhere. Deterrence has failed, and the United States must restore it before iranbacked terrorists kill americans. We must strike back hard at anyone who targets u. S. Personnel. More broadly, its time for President Biden to close the book on his failed iran policy. Its past time to work with republicans to craft a bipartisan iran strategy that will actually outlive this administration, unite americas allies, and counter the full range of threats iran poses to the region and to the world. This has to include confronting irans role as the worlds most active state sponsor of terror. If we ignore this growing threat at our own peril. Mr. Mcconnell i suggest the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. The clerk ms. Baldwin. Quorum call first and foremost though i think we need to ensure that our laws and rules that are on the books are being enforced to the fullest extent. Since 2020 the sec has issued 700 million in forfeiture orders for tcpa violations however, any dash a hearty entities have been collected also due to the Justice Departments failure to pursue these cases in court. And in its obligations under the trace act the doj seems to miss the opportunity to submit report with meaningful recommendations. Ms. Brown, they believe that the Justice Department is doing enough to ensure that bad actors carrying out illegal telemarketing and robocall schemes a the penalties that the fcc assesses . Thank you for the question and in my written testimony we explain all, i dont believe the department of justice is doing enough. You can sense that frustration from the fcc chairwoman. They certainly as the department have a lot of tools that they can use both to enforce fcc orders but on their own, to bring righteous mail fraud and wire fraud cases and enforce the laws you all have passed. So yes, we believe the United States department of justice should do more. As a former doj official it is a missed opportunity for the. What can congress do to make sure that you do enforce those rules . As you said they have the tools. How do we get them to use them . One challenge is its hard for congress to direct the department of justice to take specific action due to separation of powers but you have a lot of power to nudge, cajole, and shape expectations. In my written testimony we offer a few examples. In the trace act, for example, you impose some very robust reporting obligations on the federal Communications Commission we think similarly you could impose those kinds of updates, mandate on dojs to let you all know what they are doing. We also suggest doj should prioritize funds for investigations and enforcement and you all can direct some of that. And then requiring doj, for example, to establish a robocall enforcement and education office. Right now at the the departh of the robocall effort is housed under an Elder Justice Initiative and i think its really important obviously but they can do more and i think congress can really look into that and impress upon them it is a priority. To me this focus on enforcement really is twopronged. We want to make sure the government is going after the bad actors, and we want to avoid opening up legitimate actors to frivolous lawsuits. Abusive litigation against businesses acting in good faith does nothing to stop criminals. Ms. Brown, would you provide some examples of tcp a filings that you view as litigation abuse . Certainly thank you and, unfortunately, there are a lot and i would commend to anyones attention to work the Chamber Institute for legal reform has done that the effects of reports that give examples but one example stuck out to me recently custody of albuquerque was sued after sending Text Messages to local residents during the covid19 pandemic to notify them of the opportunity to participate in socially distance town halls. Ultimately, senator, i believe the city was able to get out of the lawsuit but not after burdensome litigation and thats just one example of many that seems to go after beneficial communications or at least not the bad actors that he think we are mostly to talk about. You know, we have many members on this committee who represent very rural states. Theres a lot of vastness in our states. We want to make sure real americans receive services, Governmental Services but also services from private industry. And many of Rural America is still connected with copper lines. And they are vulnerable. When you look at these fraudulent schemes that are out there. Mr. Bercu, what are the challenges that remain for these copperbased Voice Service network in terms of stopping the legal robocalls and their telemarketing schemes . And does this lack of fiber that we see in rural areas, does it have an outsized effort on most of our rural constituents that we have . Thank you. I think there are challenges. I know the industry is very committed to moving to ip, and that work is ongoing. Yes, when information cant be passed to the Legacy Networks but what i would say is that the protections in place are helping all consumer. When we traced back calls those called hitting people in new york, hitting people in Rural America as well. When we get them off the network thats helping edwin. Its helping infuse accountability that benefits everyone whether they are getting the calls or not. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you very much. Senator markey you are recognized for question. Thank you, mr. Chairman. In 2019, i was proud to partner with senator thune to pass the telephone robocall abuse criminal enforcement and deterrence act, the traced act, which directed the federal Communications Commission to issue critical new rules to crack down on Illegal Robocalls. The trace act has helped stop some of the worst practices by robocallers but robocalls remain a plate on our telephone system. My constituents in massachusetts received over 623 million robocalls last year, nearly 20 robocalls per second. This you massachusetts residents are on pace to receive 800 million robocalls. Across the country americans are on pace to receive 54 billion robocalls this year. Some robocalls are lawful but, of course, the numbers of unlawful calls are astonishing. To each of the witnesses starting with ms. Saunders. You agree that robocalls remains a serious problem for consumers . Yes or no . Yes. Mr. Brown . [inaudible] mr. Bercu . Yes Illegal Robocalls remained remain a public. Yes, absolutely. Thank you. These fraudulent robocalls cost consumers tens of billions of dollars every year and under my trust in a telephone system. That is a serious problem, period. I want to turn to one particular element of the traced act. The law directed the fcc to require a telephone providers adopt a technical standard to verify that call id information was accurate. Senator thune and i drafted this provision to stop bad actors from falsifying, id information, a practice known as spoofing. Robocallers often spoof calls to make the call id indicate that a call is coming from a local number. I am pleased that the fcc has worked expeditiously to implement this provision but im also deeply alarmed by the sheer number of fraudulent robocalls and scams. Robocallers seem to be changing the methods faster than we can adjust. Ms. Saunders, do you agree the traced act has been helpful in reducing the number of spoof calls but the robocallers have fun ways to circumvent these rules . Yes, sir ideal. And i do. And mr. Rudolph do you agree with ms. Saunders assessment . Absolutely. I knew we cms spoof spoof numbers than ever before. We see the threat actors especially those in person in banks getting real active phone numbers, and also jumping when a bank branch closes down grabbing that number and then using that number to contact people. Its unbelievable. Targeting robocallers is like an endless game of whackamole, and so far the moles are winning by an astonishing margin in this battle. If the robocallers have abated the caller id system by exploiting avoided by distribute them we may to adapt our regulations as well. And i want to say one final word about the fccs robocall mitigation database. Every telephone provider must register with the database at the federal Communications Commission. And companies that are not yet implemented the caller id verification system must submit a plan for addressing Illegal Robocalls. Last week the fcc took an important step to begin removing 20 noncompliant companies from the robocall mitigation database. Some of the companies filings were laughable. Heres one. Heres one of the filings right here. Pretty simple to see. Its a blank piece of paper. That is what they have submitted in terms of their compliance with the law. Another filing was a picture of the companies logo. Another provider submitted a document that said nothing in capital letters on the sheet of paper, on the website. Nothing. Im glad the fcc has launched enforcement proceedings against these obviously problematic filings. And i appreciate the ideas that ms. Saunders has suggested further strengthening the robocall mitigation database. I look forward to continuing to work with the commission and my colleagues on this issue. It goes right to the heart of the issue that just drives every american crazy every single day. The unwanted robocalls coming in to their lives all day long, at the most inconvenient times, almost knowing that your home and you are having dinner with your family would be the perfect time to get the whole family angry at these companies. So we thank you, mr. Chairman, for having this hearing, and we just have to keep our focus on this issue. Thank you all so much for everything that you do. Senator markey thank you very much and especially ringing attention to the filings at the end of your testimony. I am reminded some of those filings also include then you some restaurants as many as official documents is also thank you very much on bringing more and more attention to the enforcement side of this. Thank thank you very much sd to work on this. Senator budd you are recognized. Thank you, mr. Chairman and i thank the witnesses are being here today. When i talk to folks in North Carolina, they ask me about this topic a lot. They talk about robocalls and express their frustrations. Some of them they dont want to download the app and help screen these things up a few extra dollars for that. So theyre frustrated. They want some solutions. When i was in the u. S. House a year ago, i was proud to be an original cosponsor of the traced act which i think its making a difference. According to youmail scam robocall boltons have declined about 55 since a peak a peak in october of 2019. Tools like industry traced back group and deployed authentication technologies like mr. Shaikh rating by the way they better detect spoofing practicing to be working as i think were all still agree however that there still a lot of work to do. So mr. Bercu, your written testimony noted that quote government and brandt imposter calls predominately originate abroad. These are scams where someone claims to be calling from the irs regarding back taxes or from the local power company. These scams are particularly dangerous because they pretend to be comedic asian from important institutions like government agencies, utilities or from banks. In your working with the traced back group have you i didnt buy any caps to prevent illegal scam robocalls that make going after this foreign colors difficult . Thank you. Yes, it is difficult because they feel theyre not going to face justice because they are not based year. They use shell companies. They get kicked off the network and find a new one. So absolutely, weve been very effective at disrupting them. We seem some of the Impact Special on the robocall side that theres scam volume is way down but its when the reason i quit with my colleague here that criminal enforcement against these individuals these groups, organize crime abroad is doing this is critical because the only way theyre going to stop trying to defraud americans if they are taken off the board. We think thats very important. Thank you picky mentioned the enforcement agencies. What could some of them do to improve the success rate of stopping these Foreign Place robocalls . Again, i think criminal enforcement is key. A few years ago when the department of justice fbi, Central Bureau of intelligence in india to read some of these concepts, government impersonation scams went down almost overnight. So that is key. Its really working with those partners abroad and bring people to justice. I think is the key. Thank you. Ms. Brown in your testimony you discussed how the department of justice doesnt that sit sufficiently prioritize prosecuting bad actors who break robocall laws and attempt to defraud americans. How does lack of enforcement action influence efforts to shut down scams and make the cost of a legally robocall in significant enough to dissuade criminal . Thank you for the question, senator. The lack of doj enforcement kind of shows that the fccs efforts really went out of steam if the department is not there to get them across the finish line to actually collect on some of those forfeitures. Similarly, there are open and notorious scammers that seem to be very clearly violating the wire fraud in the mail fraud statutes. I think sending a message as josh was just saying as to whether its overseas scams or domestic scammers, some of the folksy fcc has brought Enforcement Actions are right here in the United States and the the department has taken if your actions to bring some cases but i think they could do far more to send that message that we are not going to tolerate these scans and the fraud that margo discussed. Thank you. How would Small Businesses themselves can be victims of these robocalls and illegal scam calls, how would be Small Businesses benefit from increased doj enforcement of existing laws . Is that to me . I think it would benefit in the same way that consumers would, if theyre being victimized and itll have the resources to deploy sophisticated antifraud, then send that message to take as josh at some of these bad actors on the board, i think would be really helpful to them in much the same way consumers. Anyone else . First i like to commend your attorney general, North Carolina is one of the top leaders in robocall enforcement. I would say that Small Businesses with that data that show some of the threat actors understand they have got deeper pockets i suppose as a targeted victim so we are seeing a rise in specific with the robocalls and robotexts that are trying to hit small and convince them to engage in their campaigns. Thank you. My time is expired. Senator tester youre recognized for question. I want to thank you for holding this hearing, you in the Ranking Member. I appreciated very much and the folks are testifying today. We got murders, we got child molesters, we cut rate this got we got drug peddlers, we got people who commit Armed Robbery and then we have robocalle . And it distresses me a lot when i hear that there are 700 million of fine sediment levied and no collections. Ms. Brown, when you were you with the u. S. Attorneys office of 1. . At the main justice off. Thats good enough. So look, they got all the stuff. Another use attorney in montana for example, is very, very busy running down people who are doing horrific crimes. By the way i could make a claim that this is nearly as horrific as any of those once and mentioned before. Why . Because i got a business. I was on top of a combine this year. The focus ring, im expecting a call from a wife. I post off the combine, dammit break by lake i get to the call and the guys asking me if i paid my loan for when i was in school. I havent been in college in 45 years and it didnt have a loan when he went there because of different time, okay . These guys are bad, bad people. The question i have is the doj has 11 these fines and investment connected. Theres an effort here in this body to defund the department f justice. To the have enough people . For you, ms. Brown. Well, having been at main justice i i know them a lot of priorities. They have a lot of people. I do think the department can probably walk and chew gum at the same time and prioritize a few more of these cases. I would love it because we can pass all the laws we want here and we can take credit for passing these laws, but in less somebody drops the hammer on these clowns and makes them pay a price couplets and out of jail or better yet even puts them in jail and i would pay more taxes to put these people in jail. I think its when you continue to happen. And its going to happen when i was in the state legislature 20 years ago we passed the do not call list. I have signed up for multiple do not call list and i get more robocalls today than they did back in 2003, for example, what years ago years ago. So the question is, is god does Congress Need to do anymore . Or is this all about enforcemen enforcement . Ms. Tsongas, ill let you go. Ms. Brown at the last one. Your turn. The testimony i submitted is the incentives need to be changed. Whatever way its done. I understand if you hit somebody in the want that kind of hurts. Right, right. And what we proposed is that the fcc adopt a methodology such as is permitted under the federal rules of civil procedure to get the temperate do they have that done . No. So that once a particular Voice Service provider is found to be a repeat offender, continue to process illegal calls, after its been notified previously, the fcc should suspend immediately its ability to the rest of the people on the panel agreed with that perspective . Ms. Brown . I havent reviewed closely our proposal but i am not so when you need to sure that we need new authorities at the fcc did his account suspension shes talking about. I think they get the tools. But you think the suspicions would suspension to be okay . Im not sure if the with the unintended consequences but they can do more but theres notices and order. I think when were talking up fraud when of the themes is the fraud actors change a behavior. Theyve moved from robocalls to more targeted calls. The tools we have built for robocalls dont work as well for live call. Theres a big difference marlette summit on my network but you know what . I very seldom get life calls. I get a call from a dam can get that a live person that then if i stay along the coastal live person when asked what of the get a real job because of plenty of jobs within society instead of being a crook. Why is there a difference here . What we can do to stop these anybody have Anything Congress can do to stop them . You received a loan. Sometimes call for my neighbors this is crazy stuff this country doesnt need in this economy. Thats an area i would call a great area. Right now track thousands of active campaigns a week through enforcement efforts working at the highest william and prioritize campaigns. If you can get your state or fcc to put it on the priority list, you got the tools, theres just not enough manpower that goes more than ten or 15 campaigns deep. The fcc has showed the way. We need to stop. Go get a job. Thank you very much, senator tester. Thank you, mr. Chair. The thing i struggle with for this hearing, i mom a couple weeks ago called me and gave me a particular scam that targeted her and it seems like we are teaching around the edges only the slowdown but we are allowing prey on these people, People Living on fixed incomes and so forth, i am just wondering, if we were willing to do something big, one of the few things you can get bipartisan majority in the house, if we were to do Something Like really dig here, will quickly stop us . The example doctor earlier, you ban rubble colors from calling a particular number but lets say an individual goes and signs of online and dont read 75 pages, one signs are number of and opens up the floodgates. Im just wondering what we can do to stop this thing. Thank you for the question. I think one of the challenges is a series of interconnected Networks Providing service to office, all they know is your mailman with no the address, they dont know whats inside so that is the fundamental challenge and we hit five or six or seven or eight with legal challenges so what is the biggest criminal enforcement, even if we stopped every single rubble call, the criminals who do this, they will just find a new version so the only way is criminal enforcement. Versus how many are overseas . s. Brought. Before one of the reasons against them is they have a new shell companys. Care about eastern,. India is a big portion. It is that any effort to interface with the country where brought is most common used to leverage the United States has to bring these folks justice or is there an attitude where wants another country, its relative to other focuses . Its not small for those affected by it. There has been collaboration and when there is collaboration when fbi works with the special bureau of intelligence in india, we see the impact and it will show it dropped so that is a testament to prioritize. Shield data or tools elaborate things like that. Happy to work with you, im not sure from the social media site but one thing i will say right now robo calls to cell phones, they are making calls with artificial voice so that is one thing. Thinks, i healed. Thank you, mr. Chair. We know after the acted 2019 of roles were declined by almost half, we have new issues and you noticed noted in your testimony there is collaboration, how can we make sure tracy calls to the origin will be enforcement action . We have seen with this, i think it is highly effective, they drop off the face of the earth so i think we are making great progress, know your provider, i think is a process in overtime is going to keep going the right direction and we have done a lot of work. Fly do you think these telemarketing calls are so high . 221 million registered on the do not call list and we see a number of people call about violations, what should we prioritize here . The number of scam calls reduced many of the calls identified as scams have been identified. Should adopt acting methodology and wants they are bound to have they should be suspended immediately. A. I. Voice cloning, i have someone i know who got a call, his son serving in the marines, they get a call and they scrape displays on the internet, i had to other military families tommy, this is unbelievable to me so what are sellers providers, what are they doing to get ahead of these robo calls, these are targeted with the persons voice and all things that happened, what can we do to negate this . Protecting their services seriously. They have analytics running on the efforts so it will figure out how to identify those and one thing with our trace back effort, we can trace those back and find out whos making them and put on the network so that will be really important stopping is going forward. Specific case is targeted attack. The investigations done so far, those are actors on the personal phone and a personal phone is like anybody going into a store to get a device so those are hard. I am just using it as an example, famous commander, anything. It would go to people, it turns into a robo calls what adds to the danger. Robo text, there were over ten 12 billion Americans Last month, i think i got half of them and they often include links that involve spyware and the fcc adopted rules for whatever measures they should consider. We have recommended it adopt special security rules because of this significant damage. Congress provide protection for consumers with their money stolen from the bank account that would be a big help as well. Thank you very much, your hearing incredible frustration all of us have. It is driving our constituents crazy, three and have small states because last month like calls from from a, it is really unsettling especially to older people who think they may be getting a call from a grandchild or a son or daughter and they have to pick up and figure out what is going on. I know you are trying to do that but its not working the way it needs to. I joined senator gutmann and senator markey asking the fcc to the registry as well as prohibit telemarketers from calling consumers without explicit consent. Do you believe these what benefit consumers . What additional steps can Congress Take bush the fcc can better protect consumers from robo calls . Thank you for the call. We have pushing the fcc for months to reiterate language in current regulation means what it says and instead fcc proposed will reduce production from the current relation we have been afraid of this. Are they doing that . We are not sure whether it is understanding or lead generators from these telemarketing calls but proposed regulation is very dangerous. Fcc issued regulation 20 years ago explicitly requiring every telemarketing call is only legal prerecorded if the consumer provided and signed written consent allowing the caller to make calls to the consumer and proposed regulation what allow more calls for consent would not have friday so i cant tell you why but i can say if you can encourage the fcc not to proceed, it would be beneficial. Let me move on to a question from mr. Google, through generative a. I. , there is some argument that could push back on scammers but also its been abused by scammers. Can you tell me how the evolving landscape impacts the ongoing efforts to combat fraudulent communication and protect consumers . I like to recognize your state title, there are operations that refuse that it too much and attorneys general looked in that regard. Degenerative a. I. , clearly actors allow them to do hundreds. Ethics are questions about what it is doing on the good guys side to defend whats going on industry and generative a. I. Can through medication and understand or lacking control great place to apply the technology. How can the fcc incentivize providers is available to block calls . The fcc has done a good job in the problem is not particular technology, its not it is this or other method for robo callers to use borrowed numbers, rotating numbers for a minute or particular call and the ability to use the resources and completely undermine so now it is time to drill down on resources. Thank you and i yield back. Senator hickenlooper. Thank you, mr. Chair and thank all of you, what a fascinating issue. You look at the issues around the world, relatively small yet we talk to constituents and receipt this type of mind, they cant function. The functioning is consent, tricking consumers into a website signing on as consent to receive robo calls. My question, do you believe some cybersecurity will clear online disclosures would be sufficient, successful protection from consumers who dont want to get the calls . No, sir, i do not. Disclosures are unfortunately uniformly ineffective at predicting consumers. The rules need to be sufficiently clear that the sellers using the telemarketers benefiting from these calls will be more careful the action. Unfortunately although i understand the frustration with appropriate action, the danger is one of the prime ways that incentivizes callers to comply with the law. We want the lock to be clear and create incentives. Staff will guide me later but it seems like there is a market there. Block an individual number and is not officially in the bookmarking the number youre walking. Great if we could require companies to say is that one number, at least it was the one number you can control collars and revoke the consent so if we can change the policies when you got an entity and how many members tried to rotate through to debate, the level medications using number that dispatches the medicaid. In your testimony, you describe how businesses use automated messages so when these bad actors but an individual with global calls, they lose the trust. The best example, it doesnt give my support whether for right or wrong reason, sometimes journalists gets a hold of me frequently. Caller id block. They dont want to take michael a sense text because they think it will always be a robo call. How would you think Small Businesses would benefit . I think Small Businesses fraudulent and illegal calls the same way for consumers, i do think preventing caller id to clean up the ecosystem and the work is important to try to protect confidence in the growing ecosystem people do want to pick up the forms. They think everyone has benefited calling who it reports to be, not an overseas scammer. There coming in. Taking time out of your busy schedule. Senator rosen, your recognize. We cannot hear you right now. Can you hear me now . Direct yes we can. All right. Sometimes technology is not so great taking all these phone calls all at once, thank you everybody for being here today and im going to get into. According to the ftc, 2022 alone, third highest rate and the fifth is Identity Theft so millions of americans every year including many of my decisions are monetary robo calls. They say they are a government agency. Russell identified information so nathan, one of my constrictions that is the u. S. Air force and went to my Office Sharing about a scam call he received in a onetime who is receiving ten to 15 calls a day. Thankfully he recognized the scam as many others dont commence they should not be targeted calls. We have to do more to protect all of our constituents so what advice would you give, to gillooly for more vulnerable communities targeted by scammers . Thank you for the question. We have one clear it is good to see you up there. I ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be vitiated. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Schatz thank you, madam president. A quick note about the business pending before the senate. Leadership at the faa, federal aviation administration, it has been more than 18 months since the frch faa had a Senate Confirmed leader. We have seen a number of close calls on runways and operational challenges, including the critical notice to air mission system. Compounding this is a shortage of air Traffic Controllers that has led to flight delays and cancellations. The faa needs a permanent leader to address these concurrent challenges and guarantee the safety of travelers. Michael whitaker is the leader for that challenge and im glad the senate will confirm him. Next i would like to turn to a different topic. Seeing is believing, we often say. But thats not really true anymore. Because thanks to artificial intelligence, we are encountering fake videos and manipulated audio, whether it is watching tv or scrolling through social media feeds, it is harder and harder to trust our own eyes and ears. The boundaries of reality are becoming blurrier every day. We are under the assumption that what were seeing and hearing is from the source they says it its says its from. It is often taken for granted. But right now that assumption is under threat. Deception is not new. Fraud is not new. Misinformation is not new. These are ageold problems, of course. What is new, though, is how quickly and easily someone can deceive or defraud and do it at a staggering scale with powerful jen trivial a. I. Tools at jen with tools at their fingertips. Doctored images falsely claiming that there was an explosion at the pentagon, fake advertisements using the likeness of selects like tom hanks, phone calls that replicate the voice of family members purporting to need money. Elected officials saying things they did not see. These are some of the examples of misuse we have already seen. This is not a parade of rocials. Were scratching the surface of a. I. Because the possibilities are so vast, much of it to be discovered, its easy to feel overwhelmed by it all. To think its so complex, you dont even know where to start. But we do know where to start. This issue of distinguishing whether content is made by a human or made by a machine actually has a very straightforward solution. Content made by a. I. Should be clearly labeled as such so the people know what theyre looking at. Thats exactly what the bipartisan a. I. Labeling act that senator kennedy and i introduced calls for. It puts the onerous where it belongs on the companies and not the consumers. Very straightforward. Because people shouldnt have to double or triple check through thick lines of code to find out whether something was made by a. I. It should be right there in the open, clearly marked with a label. Labels will help people to be informed. Theyll also help Companies Using a. I. Build trust in their content. We have a crisis of trust in our Information Sources in large part due to polarization and misinformation. But if the Current Situation seems bad without guardrails, the coming onslaught of a. I. Generated content will make the problem much, much worse. Misinformation will multiply. Scams will skyrocket. Labels are an important antidote to these problems in the age of a. I. Whether were ready or not, a. I. Is here and in the not too distant future, it will reshape virtually every facet of our lives, how we work, how our kids learn in school, how we get health care, to name a few. So the way to take action or worse, to do nothing at all, is not a good option. Weve seen that movie before with foreign interference in our elections, with medical misinformation that claims so many lives, with data breaches that left americans exposed and vulnerable. This moment requires us to get serious about legislating pro actively, not belatedly reacting to the latest innovation. Yes, congress has a lot more to learn about a. I. , both opportunities and threats. And, yes, theres no simple answer or single solution for a very, very complex challenge and set of opportunities. But theres one thing we know to be true right now. People deserve to know if the content theyre encountering was made by a human or not. This isnt a radical, new idea. Its common sense. Theres a long road ahead for regulating a. I. And in the policymaking space, but that should not prevent us from doing this good and sensible thing as soon as we can. Thank you, madam speaker. I yield the floor. Ii suggest the absence of a quorum. The presiding i suggest the absence of a quorum call. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. The clerk ms. Baldwin. Quorum call the cost of doing business is paying a fine. Smart people created these holes well intentioned but there loopholes and people take advantage of them. What i hope is we can all agree, i remarked on this committee had a hearing on derailment will intentioned testimony about people working together for the rulemaking it started and all kinds of stuff submitted a lot of holes loopholes can lead to problems or whoever is submitting. I hope you can peel back the curtain on this tuesday this you can take this outback wherever he goes. Digital, you can follow. Why is it so hard . If it is a small area, but work with them to create technical capabilities for small carriers to have the capabilities for the whole industry is a you are the problem, you need to stop this because if a small carrier has an agreement knowingly doing this on a look at 12 of the traffic from bigger names in the country, stop it. Im hoping we get there so i appreciate that. I will close with this but to go question around a. I. Generative scam calls. We know there is a risk and establish guardrails around a. I. And we see many examples scammers cloning people and childrens voices and we have heard from veterans or active military whose voices are being spoofed to steal Financial Resources from families. Yes or no, to current laws and regulations around robo calls cover these a. I. Generated scam calls . The Telephone Consumer Protection Act has been found to cover robo generated scam calls and telemarketing calls the liquid anyone respond to that . Wellsuited to adapt to that and i will recommend with the chamber, i think theres a lot to learn to do think it reaches voice clone concerns. I think anybody who cares, they would ignore it. The problem is its effective, it is effective against telemarketing calls and the only way to stop scam is to deal with the providers providing access to the Communications Network we dont have a wall applies to Voice Service providers. So you dont need to worry but what we are recommending is encouraged or enabled, whatever is appropriate to act quickly against those providers that are putting that calls into the network. Im concerned it does not, i think it handles a format but i am concerned in another space as well i understand what was written technology to exist. Many pieces of legislation, technology has accelerated a generation or two ahead of the proposal but that is where the rulemaking bodies are supposed to keep up and also industry when something bad is happening, ask for help, how do we stop the nonsense . 39 billion in a year, that should rise any prosecution, how we find of the partners willing . I will say if there is a small number of entities responsible for the majority of traffic and it continues, something needs to be done there is a cost of business, revenue and 100 million, some people are willing to deal and its not right, whos at the end of this . Will congress could be doing. I think i have articulated it already, the ftc is uniquely poised for this. What i want to explain this will all agree with these calls should not be processed. The reason they cant block them, they are mixed with legal calls so impossible to identify them i am a form of public utility commissioner so while calls may be mixing, they can tell where the call originates and i know investigators are doing their job, mr. John and what location in the United States or will the part of the world, like you carry this . Im not sure they can identify them all they see is calls from intermediate providers encourage all providers in the network only. Legal calls or it will cost them. We provided in our testimony an example of how legal colors can use their power in the marketplace to encourage providers to only. Her old. Ask unanimous consent that at a time to be determined by the majority leader in consultation with the republican leader, the senate resume consideration of calendar 198, h. R. 4366, that during the consideration of calendar 198 h. R. 4366, murraycollins substitute amendment number 1092 be considered and Appropriations Committee amendment for purposes of rule 16 with no other rule 16 points of order waived by this agreement, that h. R. 4366, h. R. 4368 as reported by the house of representatives on june 27, 2023, and h. R. 4820 as reported by the house of representatives on july 24, 2023, serve as the basis for defense of germaneness under rule 16 for any floor amendments and that it may be in order for floor amendments to amend the substitute in more than one place. Further, that only amendments in order to the murraycollins substitute amendment number 1029 be the following amendment. If offered. And at a time to be determined by the majority leader in consultation with the minority leader, the senate vote on amendments moran 1250, daines 1185, sullivan 1216, sullivan 12 1221, cornynpeters, rosen, shats, bookertuberville, reed 1202, brit 1270. Hironomoran, warnockcornyn, smithricketts 1134, rosencrapo 1230, padilla 1140, shaheen 1131. Klobuchar moran 1203, padilla 1139, ossoffbraun 1255, ernst, 117. Vance 1210, rubio, kennedy 1354, braun, 1182, hawley 1200, cruz 1296, blackburn 1349, budd 1243, cramer is it 41, paul 1217, paul 1347, cruz 1249, lankford 1232, lee 1121. Further, that 60 affirmative votes be required for cramer 1231, paul 1217, paul 1348, cruz 1249, lankford 1232, lee 1121. Further, upon disposition of the amendments listed above, the senate vote on adoption of the substitute amendment, as amended, if amended, with a 60vote threshold required. The the senate vote on passage of the bill, as amended, if amended, with 60vote affirmative threshold for passage. Upon disposition of the bill, the committee on appropriations be discharged from further consideration and the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of h. R. 662, the scottrubio substitute amendment at the desk be considered and agreed to, the bill, as amended, be read a third time, and the senate vote on passage of the bill, as amended, with a 60affirmative vote threshold required for passage, without intervening action or debate. The presiding officer is there objection . Without objection, so ordered. Mr. Schumer now, madam president , we are now moving forward after many weeks delay on the omnibus not the omnibus but the three appropriations bills, agriculture, milcon and thud as one package, as one minibus. We have pledged, as democrats, to try and go through regular order. Its been a long and arduous process, as you can see, there are 46 amendments here. And in fact even though there was a pledge that there be no poison pills, there were many poison pills that were offered by the other side. However, we instead of just saying, well, we didnt have an agreement, let the bill go down the drain, we want to get this bill done. Its important to the appropriations bills, so we worked long and hard it took a while to work through the vague us are and negotiations on many poisonpip amendments that in my judgment shouldnt been offered to begin with. But here we are. Were moving forward. I want to thank appropriations chair murray. Shes done an amazing, amazing job here. I want to thank leader collins, i want to thank all of our colleagues for working this out. Under the old day, regular order would be a lot different than it is today. But were still moving forward and im glad for it. I yield the floor i yield to the distinguished and hard 46 working chair of the and hardworking chair of the Appropriations Committee, senator murray. Mrs. Murray madam president. The presiding officer the senator from washington. Mrs. Murray thank you, madam president. After many discussions with members on both sides of the aisle about ensuring a robust amendment process and a final vote on this strong bipartisan package of appropriations bills, i am pleased to say we have reached an agreement to finally get voting on the amendments and passage of this minibus. I with aens to the thank everyone who has worked with me and the senior senator from maine so we can get this process moving again to show the American People this place can actually work. This is so important, especially right now, because over the last few weeks the American People have seen a lot of chaos and dysfunction in congress. And it has come at a time when the world needs to see that u. S. Leadership is still strong because, madam president , it is not just the American People who are watching congress right now, our allies are watching. Our adversaries are watching. We need to show them that we are still able to Work Together and solve problems and respond effectively to the pressing challenges of this moment. And this is an important opportunity to do just that a by passing this package, we can continue moving on our appropriations process, and we can show that by working together in a bipartisan way, you can actually get things done in a divided congress. And thats important because theres a lot we absolutely have to get done. There is this first package of appropriations bills. Theres the rest of our appropriations bills. And the pressing need to address all sorts of urgent priorities, including supplemental funding to support our allies in ukraine, israel, and taiwan, to deliver additional Disaster Relief, address the worsening child care crisis, and more. And getting all of this done is going to require us to put aside our differences and Work Together. By passing this minibus, he can show that congress is still capable of doing that. Because this spending package is a prime example of what it looks like when democrats and republicans come together and focus on solving problems and helping people. It follows the bipartisan debt limit deal. It includes input from members across the country and across the political spectrum. And the bills in this package passed the Appropriations Committee unanimously. In other words, this is a serious Bipartisan Legislation that will can be signed into law. And it provides crucial resources to care for our veterans, to Fund Military construction, to keep our food supply safe, to support our farmers, keep our travelers safe, invest in infrastructure and a lot more. We should passion this bill we should pass this bill, show we can still focus on solutions, find Common Ground and help people like we were all sent here to do. And we can get our appropriations process back on track and continue our return to regular order, which i know so many senators across the aisle and on this side have asked for. To every one of my colleagues who has said we need to move away from massive endofyear omnibuses, i agree. This is your chance. If we dont get this passed, were passing up an opportunity to make sure the senate has its voice heard on our nations priorities. Madam president , just a few weeks ago, we were on the brink of a completely unnecessary government shutdown, before cooling cooling heads prevailed. The message should be clear letting the loudest voices on the far right push for damaging cuts, extreme partisan policies is a road to disaster. Bipartisanship is the only way to get the job done in a divided government. Now, we need to remember the lessons as we continue working to pass our full appropriations bills, support our allies in ukraine, israel, and the indopacific region, shore up our Disaster Relief funds and address the child care crisis and more. So, lets send a message that congress can actually work. And that we can actually Work Together. Lets get things on track so we can avoid an omnibus, address the urgent challenges we face. The American People are watching. The world is watching. And lets be clear our adversaries are clearing for dysfunction. Lets show them unity. Lets show them the strength of our democracy. Lets get this done and then lets Work Together and get absolutely vital aid to our allies. Thank you, madam president. I yield the floor. Mr. Cornyn madam president. The presiding officer the senator from texas. Mr. Cornyn madam president , we all know by now, last friday President Biden submitted an emergency funding request to congress. As we all expected, it calls for funding to support israel, as it defends itself against the terrorist organization known as hamas, a proxy for iran. It also asks for funding for ukraine, which continues its heroic defense against a russian invasion. It requests funding to strengthen security in the indopacific to help our friends and allies combat increasing lay aggressive threats from china. And notably, President Biden has also called for emergency funding to help address the crisis at the southern border. At face value, this shouldnt be surprising. After all, the biden border crisis has been raging for nearly three years, and somehow it continues to get worse every day. Last month, customs and Border Protection logged nearly 270,000 270,000 migrant crossings at the southern border, making it the busiest month on record. In total, nearly 2. 5 million migrants have entered the United States since last fiscal year, or during last fiscal year. Thats another record. We dont have the resources or the personnel to deal with this influx, and what we all should hope would be an efficient, fair, and humane way. And that needs to change. First of all, we need to wrest immigration out of the hands of the cartels who care nothing about the people who struggle individuals into the United States for money, a lot of money. Its a very profitable business. And also there are affiliated cartels that are smuggling drugs into the United States that killed thousands of Americans Last year. Thats also the source of a lot of money for these criminal organizations who care nothing about the life or welfare of individuals, either the migrants or people in the United States. And thats what happens when you outsource immigration control to criminal organizations, as the Biden Administration has done. The president s funding request does include a few items that are definitely needed starting with Additional Border patrol agents. Personnel shortages have impacted all of our missions at the border, including those that have nothing to do with migration. More Border Patrol agents would help fill the gaps and alleviate the strain on frontline Law Enforcement. But this change is meaningless unless we address the polygraph examination, which is a major barrier for hiring. Just to be clear, the policy on passing a polygraph varies so much from agency to agency, but currently the policy employed by the Border Patrol is basically has basically made it impossible to fill the quota of Border Patrol agents that we seek to hire. The administration has also asked for 375 new immigration judge teams. Theres no doubt that our immigration courts are drowning under a rapidly growing case backlog. In 2020, before President Biden took office, there were just under 1. 3 million cases pending in the immigration courts. But thanks to the administrations current policies, the backlog has now doubled to 2. 6 million cases. Simply adding more judges will be an exercise in futility unless we also address the pull factors or the policies that are causing the backlog to grow at such an alarming pace. Im reminded of something the former chief of the Border Patrol aid admits to another migration surge. Border crossings were on the rise although they paled in compareston son to what were seeing now. But then chief provost testified before the committee and talked about what it would take to fix the situation. She said, we cannot fix this crisis by shifting more resources. It is like holding a bucket under a faucet, and it doesnt matter how many buckets you have if you dont turn the water off. The president s request for emergency funding is a bucket, a relatively small one, but it does nothing to stop the flow. The only way to do that is by deterrence, and the only way to achieve deterrence is by delivering consequences for entering the country illegally. We need to send a message to the people who have no legitimate reason to remain in the United States, and if they come, they will not be able to stay. President biden does not seem to understand that, and his emergency funding request, he asked congress to provide for noncustodial housing for migrants in expedited removal proceedings. This is a process that allows Law Enforcement to quickly remove migrants who have no legitimate reason to remain in the United States. Im talking about expedited removal now. The idea that we would release migrants who are on the verge of being deported is patently absurd. And it just shows the chaos and confusion and the lacks of any logical coherence in the biden border policy. Anyone who believes that these individuals would come back for their removal hearing is living in an alternate reality. Attracting people to make that journey to the border. President biden also called in congress to expand the socalled lawful pathways his administration created, but to be clear, theres nothing lawful about these pathways. The administration once again has usurped congress authority in paroling entire classes of migrants into the United States. Parole is a technical term. Basically remeans to release them, even if theyre not claiming asylum, which the Biden Administration continues to do on a massive scale. Simply release people into the United States. This is unsurprisingly a violation of the immigration and nationality act. And any effort to expand these socalled pathways is a nonstarter in congress. We will not legitimatize these unauthorized programs and provide an even bigger incentive for migrants to make the dangerous journey to the border. We need to discourage people who have no legitimate claim to come to the United States this way, not bolster an incentive package. In my view there are two broad goals that need to be met in order to address this crisis in a meaningful way. First, we need to end catch and release. So far the administration has sent a message to people around the world that if you enter the United States illegally, theres a good chance youll be able to stay which in turn only encourages more people to come. Just show up at the border, say the magic words, and then disappear into the Great American heartland. We need to revise this message and make it clear that only those with a legitimate claim can remain in the United States. Ending catch and release is the most effective way to do that. Number two, the Administration Must remove people who are determined who have been determined to have no legal right to enter or remain in the United States. The Biden Administration has proven it does not take this responsibility seriously. Last year or in 2021 arrests and deportation by i. C. E. Known as immigration and Customs Enforcement reached an alltime low. So not only are more people coming into the country than weve ever seen before, but fewer people are going out who have no legitimate basis to stay here. In 2021 the agency carried out fewer than 60,000 deportations that year, the lowest number on record by a long shot. The following year the number of deportations increased slightly but not nearly enough to make an impact and certainly not enough to discourage people from continuing to come illegally to enter the United States. Apprehensions are at record highs. Deportations are at historic lows. And its clear that this is all part of somebodys plan. Despite having every tool at its disposal, the administration is trying to move a mountain with a teaspoon. Its doing just enough to make some people think theyre doing something meaningful without having any real impact. While im glad President Biden seems to have awakened to the fact that the status quo at the border is unsustainable, his emergency funding request shows hes still absolutely disinterested in solving this crisis. Hes proven once again that he doesnt care about deterring illegal immigration. He doesnt care about delivering consequences to individuals who break our laws. And es doesnt and he doesnt care about solving this crisis. He merely wants to manage the flow, not stop it. This is not a serious proposal. Some of the proposed spending is actually harmful, and the positive aspects are just window dressing. The president needs to get serious about the border and what he sent us is not serious. One thing is certain, the senate will not rubber stamp his paltry border request. You can be certain of that. This emergency funding bill will absolutely will absolutely include more funding to address the border crisis, but this is about more than funding. Its about the appropriate policies. We need real changes which produce real consequences, real ways to turn off the flow of illegal immigration, and continuing to enrich the criminal organizations that smuggle people and drugs across our border. Later this week im eager to talk with some of the true experts on the border crisis about the current challenges theyre facing. Senator cruz and i are leading a crift another visit another visit to the Rio Grande Valley and im glad that senator rickets, senator lee, and senator barrasso will join us. Well spend some time talking to the Border Patrol agents who actually work on the ground as well as the customs officers who deal with the consequences of the administrations failed policies day in and day out. Well tour the border to see how virtually anyone from vulnerable Migrant Children to Dangerous Drug Cartel members to people on the terrorist watch list are able to enter the United States. And well hear from state officials, local Law Enforcement, and land owners about the broader impact of the border crisis in communities across our state. Its going to be a busy two be two busy and informative days. And as always, im grateful to the men and women who take the time to meet with us who are doing the hard job. It would be nice if they knew that this administration had their back, but they are demoralized despite the fact that they continue to do their job day in and day out because they realize that the biden border policies are designed to fail. Their insight, however, is invaluable to my work here in the senate, and there couldnt be a more important time to hear from the frontline experts who know about this crisis and how to solve it better than anyone else. I especially commend my colleagues from wyoming, utah, and nebraska for taking the time to make this important trip and their willingness to hear from senator cruz and my constituents on the front lines of this issue. Mr. President , i yield the floor. A senator mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from washington Cantwell Cantwell mr. President , i rise today in support of the nomination of Michael Whitaker to be at md ootion administrator of the federal aviation administration. Last week the Commerce Committee unanimously advanced mr. Whitaker to the senate floor and this resounding bipartisan approval is in addition to the broad support that mr. Whitaker has received from the private sector. He has the support of the aviation workforce, pilots, flight attendants, machinists, air Traffic Controllers, and Safety Specialists at the faa. Aviation Safety Advocates like the 737 max crash families have called mr. Whitaker a strong leader for the faa with the ability to, quote, restore public trust and confidence in the oversight and safety standards. End quote. The conclusion is clear. Mr. Whitaker is the right person to lead the faa and americas chief aviation regulator has a critical mission. Protect the safety of the protect the safety of the fliefg public. Flying public. Each day 44,000 faa employees oversee the safety of 25,000 daily commercial flights, 2. 5 million travelers, and over 5,500 airports. These agents set the safety standard for arrow space Manufacturing Aerospace manufacturing and safety starts at the top with the administrator. Americas Aviation System is under stress given the changes to faa and the innovation that we are seeing in new technology. We have challenges in the post pandemic rebound of air travel in making sure we have a workforce and the faas workforce, i know that mr. Whitaker in his confirmation hearing committed to making this a number one priority. Build a strong safety culture, attract new talent, and keep pace with technology transformation. Mr. Whrit kerr must build an organize whitaker must build an organization that meets the challenges like drones and advanced air mobility, electric propulsion and commercial space and just the continued growth of the busy Aviation Aerospace around the globe. Among the most pressing problems is addressing the air Traffic Controller hiring and training, and mr. Whitaker has stated this will also be a top priority. Finally, the faa must be among the Global Leaders in aviation safety. Mr. Whitaker must work internationally at the International Aviation organization and through bilateral partnerships to lift the baseline for aviation safety regulation throughout the world. This work of rebuilding leadership starts here at the faa and hes committed to implementing the critical safety reforms that were part of the aircraft certification safety and accountability act. These are strong challenges but no doubt this Administration Administrator can meet those challenges and live up to these commitments. Im confident that mr. Whitakers abilities will make sure that this legislation is fully implemented. In addition, mr. President , yesterday the president of the United States and the secretary of commerce announced a series of tech hubs in response to the legislation that we passed, the chips and science act. I know the presiding officer i think is pretty happy about that because i think one of those tech hubs was in his state and certainly there was one in washington that is really about the next generation of advanced materials in aviation. The designation made possible by chips and science is to think about labtomarket test beds on thermal plastic composite fabrication equipment and help the United States stay in a leadership position in the next generation of aerospace workforce. The u. S. Leads in ideas but we dont always lead in the implementation of the innovation, particularly at a time where now everyone in an internet age is reading about our innovations and trying to implement the same things. The tech hub idea can leverage a lot of ideas across the United States and help translate the science faster into real application and real competitiveness for our nation and grow jobs and help grow actually rising incomes in various parts of our country as well. The tech hub in this instance in the Aerospace Ecosystem where we have millions of people employed nationally and we have leading institutions that are doing aviation research, we need to show that innovation can move beyond just where we are today on composite but on next Generation Research that then gets translated to the workforce in the skilling of the workforce. This means creating more patents, translating discoveries, and keeping u. S. Manufacturing competitive. I know that many of my colleagues here in the senate were very pleased to hear this announcement by the president and the secretary of commerce. With over 30 years of diverse experience in these issues, like aviation, mr. Whitaker will be able to help, i think, in this next generation aviation Technologies Technology thermal plastics. This is also important for our Space Companies who want to get into a more rapid production of thermal plastic piece part production, and i think this kind of r d alliance will help for the future. So, mr. President , i thank our colleagues for the time today. I hope they will support mr. Whitaker. I hope that we will move quickly on this nomination, and i hope that it will give us a chance to have an faa administrator who will also help us move quickly to resolve the faa authorization issues and get that authorization before both bodies before the end of the year. I thank the president and i yield the floor. The presiding officer the senator from minnesota. Ms. Smith thank you, mr. President. I rise today in support of Jessica Looman and i want my Senate Colleagues to know a little bit about jessica, whom ive had the opportunity to know well and to work with since 2011. Jessica is from st. Paul, minnesota. She has worked as an attorney and advocate, as a labor leader heading the minnesota build being trades, as a Public Sector leader and an as a lifelong leader. She is thoughtful, innovative and fair. Shes respected for her skill leading larges, complex organizations and getting results and working productively with diverse groups of people to find Good Solutions and Common Ground. Before i was minnesotas senator and lieutenant governor, i served as chief of staff for the governor of minnesota, mark dayton. When we need add person who was trusted to lead the Minnesota Department of labor and industry, we selected jessica, who served both as assistant commissioner and also as deputy competitioner. And just can a impressed me and everyone with her leadership, her competence, and her compliment to fairly and diligently enforcing the law. She led minnesotas efforts to ensure safe, fair, and healthy. Jessica was respected by business and labor alike for her commitment to establishing reasonable, effective workplace rules and regulations. A couple of years later when we needed a strong leader to take on minnesotas department of commerce, jessica was our first pick. In that role, she again showed her skill as an executive leader, leading successful statewide initiatives and growing minnesotas clean energy jobs. So i have no doubt that jessica will be a fair and pragmatic administrator which. As administrator, jessica will have direct impact protecting the interests of hardworking americans, like the waitress whose boss is stealing her tips or the building trade carpenter who has the right to earn the prevailing wage so they can support their families or the worker who isnt being paid for the overtime hours that theyve worked. Ms. Loomans one of the this inks that ive learned in my time in Public Service is that if you understand both sides of an argument and you really listen, you can usually find a solution that works. Jessica exemplifies this approach. In all of the years that ive worked closely with her, she always approaches issues with that keen desire to understand what both sides need and what they want and then to find a solution that both sides can agree is fair. Lets be honest. Sometimes regulations can seem subjective and hard to understand. And jessica gets this and so she is always looking for passage that is reasonable, that protects peoples rights and follows the law but that is reasonable p. I think that this is why she is respected both by employers and by labor, first in minnesota and now at the u. S. Department of labor. And its why she will make a strong, respected, and trusted administrator of the wage and hour division. I urge my colleagues to support her confirmation. Her reputation as a respected, effective leader has been built over years of hard work, fighting for working people and she has a track record of successfully building coalitions and consensus, even when there are real and difficult challenges to bridge. Thank you, mr. President. I yield the floor. Ms. Smith mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from minnesota. Ms. Smith i ask consent that the Senate Recess until 12 15 p. M. 2 15 p. M. I ask that would be 2 15 p. M. The presiding officer without objection, the Senate Stands . The senate now in recess so senators can attend the weekly party caucus meetings. Today theyre considering the nomination of Michael Whitaker the administrator of the federal aviation administration. A procedural vote to move his nomination forward is expected when the they gavel back int 2 15 p. M. Eastern. Follow live coverage of the senate here on cspan2. Wednesday night and 11, President Biden First Lady Jill Biden host a state dinner in honor of this drug in Prime Minister Anthony Ullman ease. Watched as the bidens welcomed the Prime Minister to the house. Guest arrivals, dinner toasts and more. Watch the white house state dinner wednesday night at 11 eastern on cspan, cspan or free mobile video app or online at cspan. Org. If you miss in the cspans coverage you can find it any time online at cspan. Org. Videos of key hearings, debates and other events feature markers that guide you to interesting and his were the highlights. These points of interest markers appear on the right inside of your screen when you play on select videos. A timeline toll makes it easy to quickly get an idea what was debated and decided in washington. Scroll through and spend a few minutes on cspans points of interest. Cspan as your unfiltered view of government. We are funded by the Television Companies and more including media,. At mediacom we believe whether you live here or right here, or where in the middle of anywhere you should have access to fast reliable internet. Thats why we are leading the way to taking you to genji. Mediacom supports cspan is a Public Service along with his other Television Providers giving you a frontrow seat to democracy. The u. S. Senate is expected to vote on federal aviation administrator nominee Michael Whitaker this afterno