Transcripts For CSPAN2 U.S. 20240702

The clerk mr. Schumer, no. The clerk mr. Rubio, aye. Mr. Warner, no. The clerk mr. Braun, aye. Mr. Rounds, aye. The clerk mr. Vance, aye. The clerk ms. Klobuchar, no. Mr. Scott of florida, aye. Mrs. Britt, aye. Mr. Budd, aye. The clerk mr. Tillis, aye. The clerk mr. Manchin, aye. Mr. Hawley, aye. Mr. Young, aye. Ms. Ernst, aye. The clerk ■mr. Romney, aye. The clerk mr. Johnson, aye. Mr. Lujan, no. The clerk mr. Manchin, no. The clerk mr. Blumenthal, no. The clerk mr. Sanders, no. Vote the clerk mr. Mcconnell, aye. The clerk mr. Hickenlooper, no. The presiding officer have all senators voted . Does any senator wish to change his or her vote . If not, the yeas are 47. The nays are 51. The amendment is not agreed to. Mr. Kennedy madam president. The presiding officer the junior senator from louisiana. Mr. Kennedy madam president , i ask unanimous consent that there be up to six minutes of debate equally divided prior to the scheduled roll call vote. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Kennedy thank you, madam president. Madam president , i call up my amendment 1354 and ask that it be reported by number. The presiding officer the senate will be in order. The clerk will report by number. The clerk the senator from louisiana mr. Kennedy proposes amendment number 1354 to amendment number 1092. Mr. Kennedy madam president , before i explain my amendment, i would like to yield 30 seconds to my good friend senator tester mr. Tester madam president , i rise in support of the kennedy amendment, in support of Second Amendment rights for veterans in montana and across the country. It is not right a d. C. R bureaucrat at the v. A. Could take away a veterans legal right to a firearm simply because they need assistance managing their finances. Ill tell you what a montana advocate told me. This threatens Constitutional Rights to ask for help managing affairs has been a barrier to veterans to receive help for years. Its time to end it so veterans can reach out for the financial help they need and the mental help theyve. I dont think anyone in this country should have a fiduciary to have to go to court to get back their rights. Mr. Kennedy madam president , there are 16 million veterans in our country. Sometimes some of them need help managing their financial affairs. When they do, they go to the Veterans Administration and the Veterans Administration appoints a phi fiduciary to help that veteran manage his or her financial affairs. But under current v. A. Policy could we have order, madam president. The presiding officer the senate will be in order. Mr. Kennedy under current v. A. Policy bet this. Under current v. A. Policy, if a veteran who defended this country has to go to the v. A. To ask for help managing his or her financial affairs, the v. A. Automatically reports that veteran to the Fbis National Instant Criminal Background Check system, we call it nics and that veteran loses his firearm. He loses his firearm automatically. No due process. No questions asked. This decision has not been made by a judge. Its being made by a bureaucrat. All our amendment would do would be to say the v. A. , just because youve asked for help with your money, cannot automatically take away your firearm or report you to nics unless a judge has ruled that that veteran is a danger to himself or to others. And i would like to reserve the balance of my time. The presiding officer the junior senator from connecticut. Mr. Murphy madam president , i thought one of the few things that we agreed on on firearms was that people with serious mental illness, people who are judged to be mentally incompetent shouldnt be able to buy guns. And thats what were talking about here today. We are not talking about people who just cant balance their checkbook. Were not talking about people who just need some assistance with their financial affairs. The standard that the v. A. Uses is the standard of mental incompetence. These are veterans who have been judged to be mentally incapacity. Let me put a finer point on it. Onethird of the veterans were talking about in this category are diagnosed schizophrenics. This amendment allows for every single one of them to have their gun rights restored. Some of the most mentally ill people in this nation, people to whom we owe a duty of care, people who are, frankly, more prone to suicide than the general population are now going to be able to get their hands on a weapon to kill themselves or others if we pass this. This is a death sentence for scores of deeply mentally ill veterans whavment it does not do is set up some process by which to have a court judge whether or not they should own a gun. In fact, there is no current cause of action for that to occur. We didnt have to be at this point where our only choice is to restore gun rights even to actively suicidal veterans. We made an offer to sit down and try to work out a compromise, a better appeals process, a mechanism for these veterans to go to court, but that did not happen. That offer was not accepted. And so instead, instead, madam president , we are voting on an amendment that gives gun rights back to every single seriously mentally ill veteran who had been judged to be mentally incompetent, even those that are actively suicidal. That is a death sentence, a death sentence for thousands of seniors, thousands of veterans all across this country if this becomes law. This is a terrible idea, and we should defeat it. Mr. Kennedy madam president. The presiding officer the junior senator from louisiana. Mr. Kennedy madam president , with all the respect i can muster, my colleague is what he has said is inaccurate. I understand this is america, you can believe what you want. There are some people that wish we didnt have a Second Amendment. I get that, but we do. And i agree with senator murphy. We both agree on this. Chris believes that love is the answer, and i do too, but i own a handgun just in case, and thats my right. And every veteran has that right. And we shouldnt take away a persons gun without a judge, not a bureaucrat at the v. A. , ruling that person mentally incompetent. The presiding officer the question is on the amendment. Mr. Kennedy i ask for the yeas and nays, madam president. The presiding officer is there a sufficient second . There is. The clerk will call the roll. Vote the clerk ms. Baldwin. The clerk mr. Barrasso. Mr. Bennet. Mrs. Blackburn. Mr. Blumenthal. Mr. Booker. Mr. Boozman. Mr. Braun. Mrs. Britt. Mr. Brown. Mr. Budd. Ms. Butler. Ms. Cantwell. Mrs. Capito. Mr. Cardin. Mr. Carper. Mr. Casey. Mr. Cassidy. Vote 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. 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. The presiding officer senators voting in the affirmative britt, budd, collins, cramer, crapo, ernst, grassley, hoeven, johnson, kennedy, lankford, manchin, mcconnell, mullin, romney, rosen, rubio, sinema, tester, tillis, tuberville, wicker. Mr. Thune, aye. Mr. Cassidy, aye. Senators voting in the negative baldwin, blumenthal, booker, cantwell, casey, coons, duckworth, durbin, hickenlooper, kaine, murphy, murray, sanders, schatz. Ms. Hirono, no. The clerk mr. Lujan, no. Mr. Kelly, no. Ms. Hassan, no. Mr. Marshall, aye. The clerk mr. Heinrich, no. Mr. Cruz, aye. Mrs. Gillibrand, no. The clerk mr. Hagerty, aye. Mr. Van hollen, no. Ms. Warren, no. The clerk mr. Paul, aye. Mr. Wyden, no. The clerk mr. Brown, no. The clerk mr. Peters, no. The clerk mr. Graham, aye. Mrs. Capito, aye. The clerk mrs. Fischer, aye. The clerk ms. Klobuchar, no. Mr. Rounds, aye. Ms. Murkowski, aye. Vote vote the clerk ms. Smith, no. Mr. Cardin, no. Mr. Whitehouse, no. Mr. Merkley, no. The clerk mr. Markey, no. Mr. Scott of florida, aye. The clerk mr. Braun, aye. Mr. Schumer, no. Mr. Menendez, no. The clerk mr. Risch, aye. Mr. Carper, no. Mr. Reed, no. Mrs. Blackburn, aye. The clerk mr. Well much, mr. The clerk mr. Welch, no. Mr. Ossoff, no. Mr. Warner, no. The clerk mrs. Hydesmith, aye. The clerk moran, aye. Mr. Boozman, aye. The clerk mr. Sullivan, aye. The clerk ms. Stabenow, no. The clerk ms. Butler, no. Mr. Hawley, aye. Are mr. King, aye. The clerk mr. King, aye. Mr. Young, aye. Vote lerk mr. King, aye. The clerk ms. Lummis, aye. The clerk mr. Cornyn, aye. Mr. Cotton, aye. The clerk mr. Fetterman, no. The clerk mr. Vance is aye. The clerk mr. Barrasso, aye. Mr. Lee, aye. Ms. Cortez masto, no. The clerk mr. Schmitt, aye. The clerk mr. Daines, aye. Mr. Ricketts, aye. The clerk mrs. Shaheen, no. The clerk mr. Warnock, no. The clerk mr. Bennet, no. Vote the presiding officer on this amendment the yeas are 53, the nays are 45. The amendment is agreed to. The presiding officer the senator from illinois. Mr. Durbin mr. President , i rise to discuss an urgent need. The confirmation of two pending United States attorney nominees. U. S. Attorneys across the United States represent the department of justice they are the leaders we turn to locally to deal with problems beyond lowell Law Enforcement local Law Enforcement control. Whether were fighting fentanyl epidemics, whether were fighting those who would undermine this country, many who would cheat and steal at the expense of others, we count on professional prosecutors to make those decisions. We go through a process here where a president will name a potential u. S. Attorney. Thats not the end of the story. The attorneys name is then submitted to the Senate Judiciary committee, which i chair, and then it goes through a rigorous bipartisan process, an investigation of each one of these nominees. Until they clear both sides of the table, democrats and republicans, the nominees dont move. Once having cleared, they are then put up for approval before the Senate Judiciary committee. Traditionally that was virtually the end of the story. The name would hit the calendar, the calendar nawm would be called shall approved, and the person would move into action. Under the previous president , donald trump, there was a lot of controversy, political controversy associated with all sorts of issues. You have to wonder out of the 85 u. S. Attorney nominees proposed by president donald trump, how many of them ran into an obstacle or being stopped on the senate floor by democrats for partisan reason . The answer none, not one. Despite all the controversy of the Trump Administration, the feeling was it was only fair to these men and women asking to serve our nation as representatives of the department of justice to give them that chance if they cleared the bipartisan background process. They did, we gave our approval, they served across the nation. But unfortunately weve come into a new era. U. S. Attorneys, Law Enforcement officers who lead our nation to prosecute violent criminals and protect our communities from drug traffickers, terrorism and other things are still essential to our system of justice. Ive emphasized that the u. S. Attorneys offices in the Northern District of ohio that would be cleveland and the Northern District of illinois that would be chicago undertake important investigations and prosecutions that keep our communities safe. The state of ohio, like many others, suffers from the scourge of fentanyl trafficking. We know about this deadly narcotic. Its a killer. It is the fourth in the nation for Drug Overdose deaths. The u. S. Attorney for the Northern District of ohio oversees the areas response to fatal overdoses from fentanyl to the u. S. Attorneys heroin and opioid task force. I would guess many ohioans would want to know why that task force now is waiting for senateconfirmed leadership. In my home state of illinois, over the last two years the Chicago Police department has recovered more than 10,000 firearms. 10,000 a year from various criminal investigations. The u. S. Attorney for the Northern District of illinois is responsible for coordinating efforts with all the Law Enforcement agencies in the Chicago Firearms Trafficking Strike force. My constituents cant understand why one senator from another state is blocking the confirmation of one u. S. Attorney candidate in illinois, april m. Perry, who has been found to be highly qualified not only by the white house but by a bipartisan Investigative Committee of the Senate Judiciary committee. April perry is well qualified for this job. She would like to be on the job and should have been weeks ago, making it safer to live in my state. Another point i made before is the irony that the senator who is blocking these two nominees is considering this a toughoncrime position. Tough on crime when you refuse to put a person in the role of prosecutor who is supposed to put these criminals behind bars . When he ran for the senate, my colleague from ohio pledged to, quote, fight the criminals, not the cops. Thats his quote. He argued that americans will not be safe if, quote, politicians keep attacking Police Officers instead of violent criminals. I just have to tell him, his strategy is stopping two leading u. S. Attorneys, one in his state and the state of illinois is the best news that criminals have had in a long time. The same man who pledged to fight the cops now proudly brags that he wants to, quote, grind the department of justice to a halt. Im not making that up and hes not denied it. He said his goal is to grind the u. S. Department of justice fo a halt. Listen to this headline from a recent article in news max, quote, senator vance to news max. Blocking d. O. J. Nominees makes a. G. s job harder. We want to make the attorney generals job harder when it comes to prosecuting drug criminals . Is that what this is all about . I said it before and say it again, senator vance needs to read a resolution he proposed in this body earlier this year and take his own advice. He should give Law Enforcement officers the support and resources they need rather than trying to score political points by making their jobs harder. Unlike me, senator vance doesnt need to worry about sounding like a broken record. Each time i come to the floor to ask for unanimous consent, he offers a different explanation for why hes blocking the confirmation of these highlyqualified nominees. First he claimed he was punishing the Justice Department for what he falsely called, quote, unprecedented political prosecution of former President Trump. As i pointed out, this is a weak excuse for hamstringing Law Enforcement, considering the former president has now been indicted four separate times on 91 different counts and continues to threaten judges, prosecutors, jurors, and witnesses. Senator vance also previously stated here on the senate floor, quote, and i quote, its in the congressional record, my objection is not specific to the qualifications of the particular individuals that have been nominated. He said i want to make it clear, in reference to both ms. Y in illinois, in response i offer the junior senator from ohio the opportunity to keep his promise to support Law Enforcement by allowing us to schedule confirmation votes on these pending u. S. Attorneys, exactly what he said he wanted on the record in the senate. He looked me in the eye and agreed with me. He released his objection to both ms. Lutzko and ms. Perry on the condition that we hold roll call votes on them, which i agreed to. And then seemingly overnight he decided that he actually does object to even Holding Confirmation votes on these nominees. He then claimed that, quote, expecting us to vote on cloture is not too much to ask. I was surprised to hear that. It was a new wrinkle in his argument, considering that just last month the junior senator from ohio was on the senate floor attempting to force the senate to skip a cloture vote on one of his bills. I look forward to hearing what his new argument may be today. If he is trying to punish those who are in the process of prosecuting the former president of the United States, what is his retribution when it comes to the state of georgia . We now have so many counts naming the former president for wrongdoing and we have four of the people who have been accused who have pled guilty so far in that process. Does he have a special agenda now when it comes to the state of georgia to determine whether or not theres going to be some retribution, going to grind to halt the system of justice in that state . So we reached a point where its hard to explain. Senator tuberville of alabama is stopping military promotions of deserving women and men who have risked their lives in service to america. Another republican senator is stopping ambassadorial positions being filled. And now this senator has decided we have enough criminal prosecutors in america to take care of crime, we dont need more. We certainly need these two and many more doing a professional job. And so, mr. President , i ask unanimous consent that at a time to be determined by the majority leader in consultation with the republican leader, the senate proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations calendar number 314 and 315, there be two minutes of debate divided in the usual form, that upon the use or yielding back of time the the senate proceed to vote on the nominations in the order listed, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate, that no further motions be in order, that the president be immediately notified of the senates action and the senate then resume legislative session. The presiding officer is there objection . A senator mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from ohio. Mr. Vance reserving the right to object, mr. President , with respect to my colleague from illinois. You know, ive heard a number of arguments that ive somehow changed my tune. And what i would say is i havent changed my tune. The senator from illinois keeps making different arguments and i keep needing to respond to each one of them. But to restate my fundamental problem here, i will note that one of the consistent criticisms of my hold on department of justice nominees is that this is unprecedented. That when donald trump was president , we let these nominees sail through, and now im holding up these nominations to the department of justice. I would counter that what is unprecedented is not the hold policy but the department of justice attempting to throw its political opponents in jail. Much is made about the political prosecution of donald trump. I think that is unjustified and it is, frankly, scary in the worlds greatest democracy to have the political Opposition Leader prosecuted by the sitting president. Thats pretty weird, not something that happens a whole lot in the United States of america, and thank god for that. But you dont even need to make it about the current president. You could run down any number of everyday conservatives, people who have been prosecuted, investigated, harassed, by this department of justice. It should be enforcing the law. It should leave the politics to this chamber and to the electoral i will continue to object so long as the department of justice continues to conduct its business in a highly politicized way. If merck garland is listening, get back to the business of enforcing law, and get out of politics and until then, i i i will not release my policy. The presiding officer the senator from chicago. Mr. Durbin a 6yearold palestinian boy answered the door and was stabbed over and over again until he died. The assailant went into the other room and tried to kill his mother. Is this a hate crime . Does it deserve an investigation . Does it sound in america like this is the sort of thing we want to answer to . Who would we turn to for that investigation . The u. S. Attorneys office in the Northern District of illinois. But the senator from ohio, because of his hurt feelings over the indictment of former President Trump by many others has decided to say in my region of the country we will have no u. S. Attorney. Well leave the position vacant. Not because the person isnt qualified to take it over but because he is hurt and wants to protest over the idea of holding a former president accountable. Obviously in his mind former president s are above the law. Not in mine and not in any democracy. I dont know if President Trump is guilty of any charges. We have a system of law and Law Enforcement to reach that conclusion. But in the meantime, whether its a hate crime in a suburb of chicago or drug crimes claiming lives every single night in every single neighborhood in our nation, how can we stand here in good conscientious and say we want to grind the Justice Department department of justice to a halt. Thats what he said over and over again, grind the department of justice to a halt. To prove what . To prove what about this nation . We deserve to people who have volunteered to serve that purpose. I wish i could say this is a unique experience. It has become a pattern. The house of representatives, which goes for 21, 22 days trying to find a leader on the republican side of the aisle, military appointments, hundreds of them men and women, qualified to serve the military risking their lives, whose nominations are held up by one United States senator. The idea that were holding back ambassadors in parts of the world where war is imminent or under way. To take that position we want to stop government whether its the department of defense, whether its the department of state and its representatives around the world or whether its the department of justice is shameful. This is not public service. This is a political air end, be and i wish the senator would think twice about if this is how he if this is what he wants. I yield the floor. Whatever residual equipment there was to form liquid on the move away from the week. You can still see the liquid that formed, apparently the week site. The best way possible. But secure it facing down because that will allow it to move quickly. Later on in the meantime. Lets do it. Then he will move it toward me. You are looking at residual external radiator, model that initially developed promote the liquid that formed into a bubble and the bubble moved into a series of flights that transported themselves away from the leak site. Some of the cool it got on a tether and the tether has been removed and put into a bag. I tried as close as possible so maybe we will see. Okay, i see. Just looking. It is smaller right now, huge. The security. Can you reattach it to the father and . Can you reach it . Im not sure, im about to give it i translated to the services here. Can you secure something to it . Secure it. It secures the radiator, maybe we should run the tether under it and rotate and then i will see what we can secure. But you may not be able to run it down retain it. Thirtysix minutes into the spacewalk, youre looking at the site only external radiator the thermal cooling system providing cooling capability. Some of the liquid supplementing itself and was liberated to form cliques that marked away from the radiator self. The documentation of it on a later date. Detailed analysis of any contamination risk following the leak. This resulted in teams a grain to implement procedures to reduce any traces of coolant from entering the space station at the conclusion of todays spacewalk. They put tools and towels in the bag. Twentyfour hours to cleanse the atmosphere. It is back into International Space station. Its exactly how. Just secure if there. I did. Now you are perpendicular its perpendicular to the whole and you rotated. It is away from you. Right now there is support, now moved to the whole. Move it down with this operation. Thats it. Mr. President. On august 30, nebraska made history, thousands of spectators went the first between the university of nebraska and Wayne State College and the second between the university of nebraska lincoln and the university of nebraska omaha. On volleyball day in nebraska, we broke a world record. Our Nebraska Team set the new record for attendance at a womens sporting event. 93,000 fans. It took months of preparation to pull off but the university of nebraska did it successfully. Our nebraska colleges planned and worked hard in anticipation of this new record. Its a picture of nebraska. We are a state that is defined by dedication, drive, and most of all, by community. Nebraskans showcased that dedication and drive as they came together to get as many people as possible in the stands. And when they got there, they supported and encouraged players and fans alike. Whether the spectator, were husker, maverick, lopers or wildcat fans, they showed sportsmanship and goodwill. In response to nebraskas exciting new record, we are passing a resolution today that would celebrate womens collegiate athletics in our home state. This resolution will recognize the historic volleyball day in nebraska on a federal level. In addition to attendance at a womens volleyball event, other records were broken. It exceeded the previous attendance record for ncaa womens volleyball. The new womens volleyball record of 92003 fans in attendance is almost five times more than the old record of 18,755. The august 30 match also exceeded the attendance record for umls Memorial Stadium. Our resolution specifically honors nebraskas former coach pat sullivan who started the university of nebraska Volleyball Program in 1975. It also honors former coach terry pettit who built the Volleyball Program from 1977 to 1999. And current coach john cook who has sustained excellence in this Program Since the year 2000. And the team has sustained excellence ever since volleyball day in nebraska. Our womens Volleyball Team won the battle of the undefeated against wisconsin this past weekend and our team is now ranked number one. This Senate Resolution celebrates a special day for women, for volleyball players, and for all nebraskans. I am proud to bring well deserved recognition to this unique accomplishment. As we often say, there is no place like nebraska. Thank you, mr. President. And i would yield the floor to my colleague from nebraska senator ricketts. A senator mr. President. The presiding officer the junior senator from nebraska. Mr. Ricketts thank you, mr. President. I am here to join my senior senator to celebrate this historic achievement for our state of nebraska and womensatlet issues. Nebraskans, we love our sports. And were particularly proud of the university of nebraska lincoln corn huskers. Today i especially want to point out our pride in the unl womens Volleyball Program. As my senior senator just recognized they are the Number One Team in the nation. Weve had five National Championships in volleyball in the state of nebraska. Its the third most in the ncaa. Thats also as many National Championships as weve had for our College Football team. The Volleyball Program has nine former olympians. The husker women have also played on the u. S. National team. In fact, three of them are on that team right now. They are also pioneers in name, image, and likeness. As my senior senator pointed out, we just beat the previous number one, undefeated university of Wisconsin Badgers on saturday night in a 5set thriller that lived up to its billing of the match of the century. In 2022 our Volleyball Team led the nation with an average attendance of 8,190 fans per day. Weve had 314 consecutive sellouts in the regular season and for the last nine consecutive seasons, we have led the nation in attendance. But earlier this year, nebraskans helped the womens Volleyball Program reach a new height, a world record. It was volleyball day in nebraska. 92,003 of the best fans in sports jammed into Memorial Stadium to watch four womens Volleyball Programs highlight their talent. The Wayne State College wildcats took on the university of nebraska carney lopers and the omaha mavericks took on the lynn can, nebraska corn huskers. The eyes of the entire world were focused on Memorial Stadium. Right in my home state of nebraska, we had the most highly attended womens sporting event in the world ever. As omaha world herald tom wrote, volleyball day in member neck may be the biggest title 9 statement of all time. Volleyball day demonstrated just how much progress we have made in providing equal opportunity to our daughters, granddaughters, and sisters in sports. Title 9 was about leveling the Playing Field for womens athletics and for over 50 years it has done just that. And of course this is more than just about sports for many of these women. Athletics has been a pathway for scholarships, educational opportunities, and career pathways. The university of nebraska also prides itself in instilling life skills into its student athletes. The huskers womens Volleyball Program has been filled with remarkable student athletes in the truest sense of the word. They lead the nation with 40 volleyball all academic all americans. As part of a nation league, 351 academic all americans in all sports. They also have three ncaa volleyball elite 90 award winners. The players are the stars. But of course you cant have a good team without a good coach. The nebraska womens Volleyball Program has a great one in coach john cook. Coach cook has been a part of the nebraska volleyball family for 23 years. During that time the team has made the ncaa playoffs every single year. Under his eye the womens Volleyball Team has won four National Championships and in september of 2022, coach cook celebrated his 800th Career Coaching win. The huskers tag line is in our grit, our glory. Volleyball day in nebraska and a new world record in attendance at a womens sporting event is the epitome of this motto. Congratulations to everyone at the university of nebraska lincoln whose great made volleyball day possible and to all the other programs who participated. I also want to thank vice chancellor and Athletic Director alberts for his team and their efforts. Thanks also to coach cook and his staff and most especially thank you to the women of the university of nebraska Volleyball Program. You have given us something very special to be proud of. Truly, there is no place like nebraska. Nebraska is what america is supposed to be. And finally, thank you to the senior senator from nebraska for introducing this resolution. I am proud to join you in recognizing this great achievement. Mr. President , i yield back. A senator i would like to thank my colleague senator rickets for his great comments in recognizing the womens Volleyball Team, the state of nebraska and the great people that we have. Mrs. Fischer and with that, mr. President , i would ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the consideration of s. Res. 428 submitted earlier today. The presiding officer the clerk will report. The clerk s. Res. 428, a resolution recognizing womens collegiate athletics and the recordsetting volleyball day in nebraska event on august 30, 2023. The presiding officer without objection, the senate will proceed to the measure. Mrs. Fischer mr. President , i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. The presiding officer is there objection . Without objection, so ordered. Mrs. Fischer thank you, mr. President. I yield. Ms. Stabenow mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from michigan. Ms. Stabenow thank you, mr. President. First i would ask unanimous consent that john schmitt, a detailee in my office be granted floor privileges until december 31 of this year. The presiding officer without objection. Ms. Stabenow mr. President , i rise today to speak about Rural Communities like my hometown of claire, michigan. It was a great place to grow up. My gad dad and my grandpa ran the local oldsmobile dealership on main street and my mom was director of nursing at the local hospital. And my relatives were dairy farmers. And i saw how hard they worked every single day rarely taking a day off. In fact, on thanksgiving or christmas, they were not there most of the time. They had to run back and milk the cows. So i so pressure appreciated how hard they i so appreciated how hard they worked. I had many jobs growing up but my first job was filling a cone with soft ice cream. It wasnt a big town. Still isnt. But there was a real sense of community there. People shopped at local businesses, attended local events, cheered for the local High School Sports teams, and rallied around local families whether they needed help. Places like claire still exist, of course. In fact, in august i was there to celebrate the dairy field 70th anniversary but small towns and Rural Communities have seen a lot of changes over the years, and not not all of them have been good. When i graduated from high school in 1968, about one in four people lived in Rural Communities. Today only one in seven call Rural America home. There are fewer people and a lot fewer farms. Among other things, trade wars started by the Trump Administration helped fuel this consolidation causing dramatic drops in crop prices and billions in ad hoc inequitable federal trade assistance payments. As people have left and as our economy has changed, many small town main streets have a lot more empty store fronts. Other towns have lost their schools and more than 190 rural hospitals have closed since 2005. Our small towns and Rural Communities are under a lot of pressure, and thats something that we all should care about. These communities are important. Theyre a crucial part of the fabric of our nation, and im so proud of the investments weve made over the last few years to strengthen that fabric. We invested in health care in rural hospitals during the pandemic. And the American Rescue plan we invested in telehealth to Bring Health Care providers to people where they were when they needed health care. In fact, telehealth visits by people in rural areas skyrocketed from 9,000 visits in 2019 to more than 830,000 visits in 2020. And we invested in keeping critical rural hospitals open like where my mom worked as a nurse. We also know that health care above the neck is as important as health care below the neck. Farmers and ranchers have always been a stoic group, more likely to tough it out than to talk about it. That can make anxiety and depression and other Mental Health issues worse. In fact, farming is one of the occupations with the highest risk for suicide today. We took big steps toward getting folks the help they needed by investing in our bipartisan Certified Community Behavioral Health clinics. I so appreciate the president s support in this. There are now more than 500 of these clinics operating across the country, many of them in Rural Communities. Its the largest investment in Behavioral Health care in our nations history. Our Rural Communities have also been pummeled by the climate thats changing right before their eyes. Last year our country saw 18 separate billiondollar disasters. 18, costing 47 costing 474 americans their lives and over 175 billion in damages. This year weve already seen 24 separate billiondollar disasters so far. But it doesnt take a 1 billion disaster to destroy a family farm. Think about the cherry farmer who loses an entire crop when warm weather causes the trees to bloom early, only to be wiped out in a cold snap a few weeks later. Or a wheat farmer whose hard work is leveled when a violent summer storm pummels her fields with hail. Or a family that has to slaughter their entire population of turkeys when their farm is struck by avian flu. Farming has always been a tough way to make a living, but the Climate Crisis is getting even tougher. Thats why it was so important that we invested almost 20 billion in new funding for voluntary conservation programs to support our farmers and ranchers as they worked to mitigate their risks from violent, unpredictable weather events and as they lead in our countrys efforts to tackle the Climate Crisis. During the covid19 pandemic, we also learned how important highspeed internet is. All of a sudden the lack of good Internet Connection meant our kids couldnt make it to class. Maybe they would sit in the parking lot at a fastfood restaurant to try to get wifi. And folks couldnt see a doctor. It approved the point it proved the point that ive been making for years, that highspeed internet is infrastructure, and im so proud we came together in a bipartisan way to address this. In our bipartisan infrastructure law, we invested 65 billion to help ensure that all americans, whether they live in a big city or 30 miles from the closest highway, have access to highspeed internet. We also remember how hard it was to get basic food staples when supply chains broke down in a pandemic. It was harder in small towns and Rural Communities, and thats why we invested in strengthening Food Supply Chains that build connections between local farmers, communities, and businesses. Small and regional processing operations also bring jobs back into the community instead of shipping them off to large, consolidated centers hundreds of miles away. Our food system should be at the heart of our communities, and thats this is about how we get local products from local farmers and producers on to local tables. Its also important to note that when we invest in Rural America, we arent just investing in families who live there. Its important to do, of course. But were investing in all of us because each and every one of us depends on our farmers and local communities. Why am i saying all this . First of all, we have multiple needs in small towns and Rural Communities, and we have spent the last two and a half years and i want to thank the Biden Administration for investing in so many ways to support our small towns and Rural Communities. And they need it. They need our support. But right now we have the opportunity and responsibility to come together to build on those investments, those things that relate to quality of life and economic opportunity. And thats called, mr. President , the farm bill. The farm bill is our next opportunity to truly revitalize Rural America. Im committed to passing a strong bipartisan farm bill as soon as possible. This is actually the sixth one, mr. President , that ive been involved in, the sixth farm bill since coming to congress, the third one that i have been leading. Our committee is unique. We dont just sit at a raised dais facing witnesses. Instead we sit around a table, much like families do after a long day of work, and we face each other. That is part of our bipartisan tradition, and to get a farm bill done it needs to be bipartisan. It must hold together the Broad Coalition of support thats been a cornerstone of this process for decades. Since Ranking Member boozman and i started working on a bipartisan farm bill in april of 2022, the senate, agriculture, nutrition and Forestry Committee and its subcommittees have held more than 20 hearings. Theres also been countless farm bill listening sessions around the country. And i appreciate so much the Community Input and the bipartisan work of our committee members. The success of a farm bill is always based on finding Bipartisan Solutions to the problems we need to address and bipartisan ways to address funding priorities. In this farm bill, that means protecting our critically needed conservation funding for our farmers. It means keeping nutrition funding in the nutrition title for our families. Having said that, im committed to finding ways to bring Additional Resources to meet other needs in the farm bill that are so important to producers. I am very grateful that leader schumer has committed to find several billion dollars in Additional Resources through bipartisan offsets outside the farm bill to help us achieve that goal. I have to tell you its almost unheard of because i remember not that long ago when the Senate Leadership was telling us to cut 23 billion from the farm bill. So im grateful for this unified commitment to get this done. Theres a lot of people counting on us to get this done. More than 21 million americans depend on the food and agriculture industry for their jobs. In michigan, mr. President , thats one out of four people that are in agriculture, the food economy. And another 4. 6 million americans work in the growing biobase Manufacturing Industry that i think is so exciting. But the farm bill isnt just about jobs. It isnt just about our economy. The farm bill has three goals in my mind. Were going to keep farmers farming. Were going to keep families fed. And we want to keep Rural Communities strong and build on the investments that weve done in the last two and a half years. The farm bill is the foundation of the farm safety net. During our oversight hearings this year every single Group Representing farmers told us that protecting and strengthening Crop Insurance was their numberone priority. And they asked for more options to make it affordable. And i support that request. Crop insurance covers over 130 binch crops, large and small, and is continuing to expand to more crops and regions. Coming from michigan where we grow more than 300 different crops, im proud that i have been known as the specialty crop champion. During my time in the senate, ive led the effort to expand Crop Insurance protections, especially for my states fruit and vegetable growers. Im continuing to work on ways to expand farm insurance for specialty across the boards crops and other crops. Time and time again like small groups to National Groups like the American Farm bureau, we all hear from farmers across the country that we must protect and enhance Crop Insurance. I agree. Its the numberone Risk Management tool for farmers. It can be tailored and evolved to meet the individual needs of farmers. And most importantly, farmers will see the benefits of any changes that we make to Crop Insurance immediately. Any changes we make to reference prices in the commodity title, for instance, will not have any impact until the fall of 2025 at the earliest. This is why im currently exploring a proposal that would make Crop Insurance premiums more affordable on areabase Crop Insurance plans. No mandates, just no options to support our producers. The Agricultural Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage programs are very important to many of our farmers as well. And we built a solid base on combiewfg those programs in the 2008 farm bill 2018 farm bill. Theres good news here. In 2022, farmers record the highest farm income in history. In 2023, its projected to be the 7th heist in the hast 21 years. But we know that farmers have also experienced a lot of challenges and that not everyone has benefited from the recent high prices. And we know input costs are high. And though the cost of diesel fuel and fertilizer are declining, we need to ensure farmers have effective tools to address their costs so they can keep farming. Fortunately, usda is oo using its authority to help farmers long term by supporting the development of lower costs, americanmade fertilizer, and implementing innovative fertilizer technologies. This will create more jobs, provide more choices for farmers, and make us less reliant on foreign supplies of fertilizer. In many ways the farm bill already helps farmers address higher input costs. The dairy safety net is structured around the difference between the cost of feed and the price of milk. Crop insurance can also expand and adjust to provide similar policies for a broad group of farmers. And this other good news. In the 2018 farm bill, we were able to improve the plc program by including what was called an escalator, an escalator provision thats projected to increase reference prices for most commodities. There are 20 commodities in the commodity title, and most will see a 10 to 15 increase by the 2025 crop year. Under existing law, without any changes. So because of this escalator, were going to see reference prices for many commodities increase by 10 to 15 by 2025. I cant claim credit for this provision. It was a bipartisan idea actually championed by the former House Republican chairman mike conway of texas. But i know its important to find other ways to improve our plc for the 22 crops that benefit from the program as well. As we do, its important to find the best ways to help all of our farmers, both beginning farmers who are crucial for our future, as well as medium and large established operations. But we cant lose sight of the fact that the farm safety net sound far beyond title 1, the commodity title; title 11, the Crop Insurance title. The farm does not need to be put back into the farm bill. Its on every page. The farm safety net is support for research. Its access to Affordable Credit and loans. Especially block grants and dairy and sugar programs and Disaster Assistance and trade. Its protecting our livestock and its conservation programs. I strongly believe, and i know, i have colleagues on both sides of the aisle who agree, that conservation programs are a vital part of Risk Management for our farmers today. As i said earlier, you dont need to explain to a farmer what the Climate Crisis is. They see it in their orchards and their pastures and their fields every day. Farmers want to make their farms more resilient in the face of Climate Crisis, they want healthier soil by keeping carbon in the ground. Thats why were seeing record demand for popular voluntary conservation programs that we have passed. And the good news is we now have more funding to meet their needs. The farm safety net is also about building markets, and we received some great news on that front this week. This week it was announced 2. 3 billion in investments from the Commodity Credit Corporation to invest in trade promotion, markets. Thats what our farmers are saying, top two things, cop insurance and markets, they Crop Insurance and markets. They want to be able to trade. Secretary mill sac has millsack has announced an investment. This will support American Farmers and help people in need around the world. I very much appreciate secretary vilsack. I appreciate him responding to my request, the request i sent with senator boozman. I very much appreciate that he responded and said yes to what senator boozman and i had asked. Secretary vilsacks continued commitment to meet the needs of our Agricultural Community as well as his partnership with us to get a bipartisan farm bill done is so important. This new ccc funding doubles the amount available for trade promotion for the next five years. Weve never seen that, and were able to do that now. It also creates an opportunity to spread the money out more evenly over ten years, and this would allow us to grow permanent baseline funding for permanent trade promotion programs in this farm bill and every subsequent farm bill, something that has not happened since 2006. Our farmers are looking to sell their products across the ocean, but theyre also looking to sell their products across the country, across the state, across the street. When our growers can get their apples on lunch trays at the local Elementary School or sell tomatoes to their neighbors at the saturday morning Farmers Market, that puts money in their pockets and keeps our local economy going. Farm bill trade promotion programs, International Food assistance, economy programs, local food programs, all of these increase Market Opportunity for our nations farmers to be successful. And we all want farmers to be successful, not just those who are already doing well, but those who are new or who are struggling. Thats why im laser focused on ensuring that the farm bill includes targeted support for beginning farmers, for our organic farmers, or by bipot farmers and urban growers. While the farm bill is the backbone of the safety net, the nutrition programs are the backbone of the safety program. We want to make sure we keep farmers farming, but we want to make sure we keep families fed as well. I believe that no parent should have to worry about whether or not their child is going to be able to eat. And no american senior should have to go hungry because their food budget simply wont stretch far enough. It would be unconscionable to further cut the modest assistance of 6 a day that helps millions of americans put food on the table and make ends meet. I also reject the premise that we must choose between supporting farmers and supporting families. The needs of farmers and families are interconnected. Farmers benefit when families can afford to buy the food they produce, and the economy benefits as well. In fact, every dollar in snap, every dollar in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program generates 1. 50 in economic activity. Someones buying food. Theyre going to the grocery store, its the farmers, the transportation, its the grocery store. Its one of the quickest ways to create economic opportunity. Just like the farm safety net, these nutrition programs expand during times of need and contract during times of plenty. Weve already seen participation in snap decline as the country continues to recover from the covid19 pandemic. Just like the programs designed to do. Nutrition assistance is also much more than snap. Its what we call double up bucks, which started in michigan. The idea of being able to support families to be able to go to the local Farmers Market and buy fresh fruits and vegetables that are more expensive by giving double the value of their snap dollar. And this has been so successful that we are now expanding it to grocery stores, and its widely successful across the country. This is also about the wonderful work of our local food banks. Its getting fresh local foods to children in school. Its ensuring that those same children arent going hungry during the summer or when school isnt in session. Im extremely proud that in december senator boozman and i led the successful effort to establish the First Permanent investment in child nutrition in over a decade, which will provide summer meals to 29 million children 29 children every summer. And its providing support for Farmers Markets which strengthen connection between growers and the communities they feed. So our goal, keep tbearms farming, keep farmers farming, keep families fed, and finally, keep Rural Communities strong. A strong farm safety net and a Strong Family safety net build strong small towns. Every american, no matter where they live, deserves a great quality of life and a chance to be successful, and thats why we have put money into highspeed internet. Thats why we have supported rural hospitals, thats why we are supported telehealth, thats why in the last two and a half years we have invested in Rural Communities. The truth is, we need is strong small towns, we need thriving Rural Communities, we need young folks to go off to college and want to come home, work on the tbarm, farm, start a Small Business in ways in the community where they grew up. We need small towns to have strong schools and Quality Health care, highspeed internet and vibrant mainstreams and we need the dairy farm to teach people the art of creating the perfect softserve ice cream cone, and so many of other lifes lessons. We need to do that for another 70 years. Madam president , getting the farm bill done is not easy, it never is. But i am committed to doing so. Unfortunately, it looks like this is going to take a little longer than i would like, but it would be irresponsible to allow vital programs in the farm safety net to lapse and revert to depressionera policy in january. With we cannot allow that to happen. Given the we cannot allow that to happen. And given the chaos in the house, i know we will need an extension. But lets be clear, it would be equally irresponsible to take our focus off of a fiveyear farm bill that provides stability and certainty for our farmers and communities. Im laser focused on delivering a bipartisan farm bill that keeps farmers farming, families fed and Rural Communities strong and getting it done in the coming months. Its critical that we give Rural America and agriculture the certainty of a fiveyear farm bill. The unifying principle behind the farm bill is that its a safety net for farmers and families. When crops fail or when disaster strikes, the farm safety net steps in to provide stability and security. When a pandemic hits or the economy takes a turn for the worse, its the Family Safety net that steps in. The farm bill is designed to, and it must, support both. Senator boozman and i have a strong working relationship and we have already accomplished so much together. I know that we can come together with colleagues on both sides of the aisle and agree on a bipartisan farm bill that addresses the important needs of agriculture and Rural America. Together and with the bedrock support of the broad farm bill coalition, everyone from farmers to climate to nutrition advocates, we can get this done. Communities, farmers, and families are counting on us. Thank you. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call the clerk ms. Baldwin. Im holding a bundle in the wing is normal. We are there and im going to we need to turn around. Im holding it. You were holding it. Make sure that the ring is secured. I will tether it in the second. We just dont have as many hands and not that much room here as well. Have transferred it . Yes. This is 100. Theres there is one attached to the handrail already. Ive got this one. Now where is it . Here it is. Handrail for 100 attached to the rail. Is the ring secured . Yes. The ring is tethered. Make sure it doesnt float away. Are you holding a . I need the second tether. Do you you have that . Whats second tether . All right so let me move forward and going to get the bundle from you. This is Mission Control houston three hours and 25 minutes into the spacewalk is nikolai and ali work on preparing to install a miniradar system with theirs and fedex aperture scientific payload, Multipurpose Laboratory modules. That will be followed by the installation of a deployment mechanism in which is a solar nanosatellite. The russian word for sale. It will be spring ejected from that deployment mechanism once again a scientific investigation. Worked to isolate the external radiator on the module is completed but not before some residual cooling was liberated from from the side on that radiator. That initially leaked on october october 9. The additional leakage during a spacewalk came right after they configured a series about to isolate that external radiator from the rest of the cooling system. The main cooling is regulated by abbadi radiator on the surface of the capsule itself is functioning perfectly at this point. I did not copy. This is moscow. I heard a question, are you getting media from my camera . Yes, we are. Call. Mr. Sanders i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. The presiding officer without objection. Searnz sanders i wanted to mr. Sanders i wanted to talk about gaza. On october 7, Hamas Terrorists waged a barbarous attack against israeli israel killing over 1400 people. People at a Music Festival were gunned down and over 200 israelis and americans as hostages. Some describe it as the equivalent of the 9 11 terrorist attack against the United States. That is wrong. Israel is a small kung with under country with under ten million people. The number killed would be the equivalent of over 40,000 americans killed if israel had the same size population as we do. 40,000. On 9 11 as everybody recalls, we lost 3,000 people. Madam president , let us be clear. Israel suffered a major attack and has, as do all other countries under similar circumstances, the absolute right to defend itself. But having the right to defend your country against a terrorist attack and a terrorist organization like hamas does not mean having the right to violate International Law and wage indiscriminate warfare against innocent men, women, and children in gaza. The people of israel have gone through a horrific and traumatic shock. It is understandable that they are furious and want to strike back forcefully. Revenge, however, is not a useful policy. Killing innocent palestinian women and children in gaza will not bring back to life the innocent israeli women and children who have been killed. It will only make a terrible situation even worse and more intractable. Let us be clear. The Palestinian People today are experiencing nothing less than a humanitarian disaster. Thousands are already dead, including many children, perhaps thousands of children and far more have been wounded. Hundreds of thousands have been forced out of their homes. These people deeply impoverished before this war began now lack food, water, fuel, shelter, and medicine and other basic necessities. Unbelievably, more than 400,000 palestinians driven from their homes are now sheltering in densely crowded u. N. Run schools. 400,000 people in u. N. Run schools. Dozens of medical facilities have been damaged and made inoperable and 35 United Nations aid workers have been killed. The aid trickling into gaza is just a fraction, small amount of what is needed. In a few days, hospitals will run out of fuel and ventilators and ink baiters will shut incubators will shut off. This is a desperate, desperate humanitarian crisis. I echo senator ec secretary o secretary blinks call for the release of all hostages and humanitarian pause by all parties. A pause is essential for the protection of civilians as required by the laws of war as well as for the provision of robust supplies of food, water, and medical aid to address the growing humanitarian catastrophe. I know that senator merkley and others are working hard to gain support here in the senate for that position. And i agree with it. Israel suffered a terrible attack but the response must be carefully thought through and be carried out in line with International Law. When the United States was attacked on 9 11, we allowed anger and rage to drive our response. This resulted in making grave mistakes in terms of the wars in afghanistan and iraq which cost us thousands of members of the u. S. Military and in fact the lives of hundreds of thousands of innocent people in those countries. Israel has a right to defend itself and go after hamas. But innocent palestinians also have a right to life, security, and peace. Please remember that the last election held in gaza was in 2006 when a majority of people in gaza today were not yet born or could not vote. Even then, back in 2006, a minority voted for hamas. Hamas is an authoritarian organization that does not necessarily represent a broad swath of the Palestinian People, and we must not conflate all palestinians with this terrorist organization. Further, and of much concern to me and i think many others, israel is apparently contemplating an invasion and occupation of gaza. I have very serious concerns about what this could mean in terms of the longterm security of israel, the well be be of the the wellbeing of the palestinian residents of gaza, half of whom are children, and the hope that peace, security, and justice will at some point come to that region. In congress we will soon be voting and debating a package which includes billions of dollars to israel above and beyond the 3. 8 billion in military aid the United States sends there every year. The American People have a right to know if that money will be used to defend israel or whether it will be used for an invasion and occupation. Israels proposed invasion will likely bring difficult streetbystreet fighting against entrenched hamas fighters in a dense urban environment still populated by many civilians. Hamas will continue to use human shields and its extensive Tunnel Network and will likely resort to insurgent tactics. As two experts on this subject recently wrote, and i quote, the battle will not end when israel has reoccupied the territory. There is no palestinian entity that israel trusts to govern gaza in hamas stead. As a result a military victory could mean israel has to administer the territory for the foreseeable future. Israeli officials, in other words, will have to govern an emiss rated people who see them as their enemy and who may wage a guerrilla war, end of quote. I have serious concerns about what this invasion and potential occupation of gaza will mean both in terms of the longterm security of israel and the wellbeing of the palestinian residents of gaza. In congress as we consider a package including billions of dollars to israel that could fund this invasion and occupation, we clearly need much more information about israels longterm plans and goals as well as the united United States governments assessment of those prospects. Some, some of the questions that need to be answered are how many innocent men, women, and children will be killed or wounded if israel engages in an invasion and an occupation . How many Israeli Soldiers will be killed or wowjthed in or wounded in an operation of that kind . How will many hundreds of thousands of civilians receive the food, water, fuel, and medical care they need in the midst of what could be extremely heavy urban warfare in a very densely populated area. How long will it take to establish military control of gaza and what level of insurgent activity is anticipated from that point. In other words, controlling gaza is not the end of that process. How will the success of the operation be measured. Are there alternative approaches to a Ground Invasion that would be effective in assuring israels longterm security . What will this operation mean for the hostages still being held in gaza . What Political Force will administer gaza after an israeli operation. Will the hundreds of thousands of palestinians who have been driven from their homes theyve been pushed out of their homes now, no place to go will they be guaranteed safe return to their homes . Importantly, what impact will the invasion and occupation of gaza have on the International Community support . How will the whole world feel about a powerful nation occupying a very impoverished part of the world . How will the International Community address the ongoing needs in gaza and the rest of palestine when the shooting and bombs stop . What political process will follow this conflict and what is the desired end state in gaza . These are some of the questions that have to be asked. As Congress Considers the administrations emergency funding request, we need answers to these questions. This is tragically the fifth conflict between israel and hamas in 15 years. Fifth war in 15 years. Clearly a terrorist like hamas t be the answer to the very Serious Problems facing the people of gaza. Just a few months ago, thousands of people defied hamas authoritarian rule to protest on the streets of gaza. They stood up with great courage against hamas authoritarian rule. Their voices are silenced now, but there can be no longterm solution to this ongoing crisis without a serious effort to address palestinian demands for peace, legitimate political representation, and a vibrant economy. I would just mention one fact, and that is before this war, some 75 of the young people were unemployed. So you have, aside from everything else, an Economic Disaster in gaza. And in my view, the United States must take a leading role in charting out a future that respects the lives of palestinians and israelis alike. We can start by answering the questions laid out above, and i very much look forward to receiving from the administration a briefing, a classified setting, if necessary, in order for members of congress to understand what an occupation and invasion will look like. So,madam president , we are living in a horrifically difficult moment in the middle east, and i can understand the outrage that many people in israel feel in terms of the attack to killed 1,400 of their people. But now is the time in israel and in the United States for us to not allow revenge and rage to dictate our policy, but to really think this issue through. Thank you, madam president. You saw a view of the synthetic greater aperture system that will be installed. There is at the top of your screen and will be installed in the payload attachment device. Okay thats exactly what im trying to do. I secured it. We can rest. Whatever you say. You can rest while Still Holding it. Let me route it first. Im holding it now im completely yes. I was giving it to 4137. It can be attached to the same handrail. Hold it for a moment and i will reconnect it, okay. Let me pull it back a bit. A bit higher. Now its a different story. The pipe remains on the airlock. Sergey the recommendation is for you to rest. We are doing nothing. Now panel 13, right . Three, four and six. Let me just look at it first. Which connectors do we need . Three, four, six and i can see two, three, four and everything except for number five. Okay i see two and three and we are at rest. Just keep looking at it. Okay rest. We are not working. We are resting. But the view here would just knock you off your feet. There is only one handrail. All right guys, rest and enjoy the view. Thats exactly what we are doing. Sending three hours and 40 minutes into the spacewalk two cosmonauts are going to take a breather here. You can see the miniradar system that will be unfurled once its installed on the payload adapter into the right of your screen in the experiment airlock that they launched along with external radiator on the sts132 mission in 2010. That airlock and the radiator or installed on two consecutive russian spacewalks in may of this year. You seem to be quite active right now. We cannot copy you. What are you saying . Right now we are looking at the eye of the hurricane. Actually we see the eye forming. It has already formed. We are above the islands. Oh okay. Can you see the volcano . Its right there. Yes, really. Thats what it is. I cannot turn around. Because you have that together with you. Now you can. I see the ocean. Yes and i see those circles and they see the volcano. Its huge. And now i see the volcanoes there. Have you had enough rest yet . No guys, keep resting. Let me grab onto something. Im holding it. Its that working . Sting the cover. Here is the handle now we can untie it. It looks like its on the retainer. Big step today, that the entire country would pause and go, finally we have the opportunity to end government shutdowns forever and say thats off the table. We as a nation dont do government shutdowns. Government shutdowns havent always been in our system as a nation. They started in the 1980s. The American People and folks in my state in oklahoma say, how do we make it stop this stop . Well, this is our we take this stop. Senator hassan and i sat down five years ago and said, Everyone Wants to stop it but weve never figured out a way. Whats a nonpartisan way to end government shutdowns . So we sat down appeared worked on some and worked on some lang to try to figure out how to be able to do this. We took input from members on both sides of the aisle. We actually sat down years ago with the Trump Administration and worked with their office of management and budget and then have since sat down with the Biden Administration with their office of management and budget to make sure that the process would actually work, would actually be effective. We were interested in actually ending government shutdowns. That it would work. The idea is really very simple. If Congress Gets to the end of the fiscal year and the appropriations work is not done by the end of the year, we stay in session seven days a week. We cant move to any bill other than appropriations until we actually finish appropriations. If i can just make it just this simple if we dont finish our classwork, we have to stay after class. Thats all it is. In the meantime, the government continues to run at the previous years levels. That way federal workers are held harmless, the American People are held harmless, the pressure is on the people that it should be on us. Now, ive heard from some folks that this wont work because the house is crazy and they wont care about staying here seven days a week because theyre crazy. Well, i would respectfully say that house members, though definitely crazy at times, still love their families, still have responsibilities back in their home districts. They also want to be able to get back home. Theyre not going to stay here seven days a week forever. We do have other bills to pass, the National Defense authorization and thousands of other things we still have to do. So the thought that wed be in continual c. R. s, both the house and senate seven days a week and never leave and never do other bills is just not realistic. Ive already heard that if we take away the threat of a government shutdown, we would lose the Pressure Point to be able to do appropriations. Well, again, respectfully, i disagree. I dont think federal Law Enforcement and Border Patrol agents, air traffic controllers, hud staff and millions of other federal workers and their families are leverage. Theyre not leverage to be able to get appropriations work done. Theyre families. Theyre families that want to serve their neighbors and be able to get a paycheck for it. Right now, right now there are thousands of marines, sailors, and airmen that are currently in the mediterranean on high alert. They should not have to make contingency plans for their family not to get a paycheck at the end of this month. Right now in fort sill, oklahoma, there are soldiers that are packing equipment to leave and head to the middle east. Right now. They should not have to look at their loved ones before they leave and say in case checks dont get deposited at the end of next month, heres what to do. They should be able to go serve. So as simple as i can say it, we shouldnt say to them maybe we wont have a shutdown or probably we wont have a shutdown. We should say definitely were not going to have a shutdown. Thank you for serving our country. Thats what we should do. The hardest thing in this body to change is status quo. Its the hardest thing to change. Today we have an opportunity to change the status quo and to begin the process of ending government shutdowns forever. I encourage my colleagues to join senator hassan and i and so many other folks from both sides of the aisle to say lets take a step forward and lets actually do our business. With that, i y. With that, i yield the floor. Madam president. The presiding officer the senator from oklahoma. Mr. Lankford id like to call amendment 1232 and ask that it be reported by number. The presiding officer the clerk will report by number. The clerk the senator from oklahoma, mr. Lankford, proposes an amendment numbered 1232 to amendment number 1092. The presiding officer the senator from washington. Mrs. Murray madam president , this amendment would create an automatic c. R. Which would make it way harder for congress to actually get its job done and fund our government. It would allow members, particularly those who are fine at obstructing, to ignore their responsibility to fund our government and deliver for the communities that they represent. It will hurt agencies and programs people count on by freezing funding levels. It will weaken our ability to deliver funding for ukraine or israel, for chie and so much for child care and so much else. It will allow critical laws to lapse and potentially create chaos on this floor. Lets be clear, no one wants to avoid a shutdown more than i do, but the way that we avoid a shutdown is by members of Congress Sitting down and working together to prevent one responsibly by funding our government. Not by abdicating Congress Responsibility to control the powers of the purse and avoiding the hard work of compromise by putting funding on perpetual auto pilot. But im afraid thats exactly what this amendment would do, and it would create a new unproven fasttrack process allowing six senators to completely ignore our committee process, completely ignore regular order, and take over the floor and force the senate to consider appropriations vehicles of any and all sizes with little or no scrutiny or input. We need to get our jobs done. We need to pass our appropriations bills. That is what were working on, not set ourselves on a path to endlessly kick the can down the road. I strongly urge my colleagues to vote no on this amendment. I yield the floor. The presiding officer the question is on the amendment. Is there a sufficient second . There appears to be. The clerk will call the roll. Vote the clerk ms. Baldwin. Mr. Barrasso. Mr. Bennet. Mrs. Blackburn. Mr. Blumenthal. Mr. Booker. Mr. Boozman. Mr. Braun. Mrs. Britt. Mr. Brown. Mr. Budd. Ms. Butler. Ms. Cantwell. Mrs. Capito. Mr. Cardin. Mr. Carper. 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. 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. The clerk senators voting in the affirmative barrasso, blackburn, britt, cornyn, crapo, grassley, hawley, johnson, kaine, lankford, risch, rubio, sinema, thune, tillis, tuberville, warner, young. Senators voting in the negative blumenthal, carper, casey, cortez masto, duckworth, gillibrand, klobuchar, merkley, murray, paul, sanders, schatz, schumer, smith, tester, warnock, wyden. Mr. Peters, no. Mr. Lujan, no. The clerk mr. Whitehouse, aye. Mr. Budd, aye. Ms. Collins, aye. Mr. Graham, aye. The clerk mr. Romney, aye. Mrs. Hydesmith, aye. The clerk mrs. Capito, aye. Mr. Ossoff, no. The clerk mr. Fetterman, no. Mr. Brown, no. Mr. Sullivan, aye. The clerk mr. Mcconnell, aye. Mr. Cramer, aye. Mr. Coons, no. The clerk mr. Cardin, no. Mr. Moran, aye. Ms. Lummis, aye. Mr. Durbin, no. Mr. Markey, no. The clerk mr. Heinrich, no. The clerk mrs. Fischer, aye. Ms. Butler, no. Ms. Hassan, aye. Mrs. Shaheen, no. The clerk mr. Ricketts, aye. The clerk mr. Marshall, no. The clerk mr. Cotton, aye. The clerk mr. Daines, aye. Ms. Baldwin, no. The clerk mr. Boozman, aye. Vote the clerk mr. Hagerty, aye. The clerk mr. Cruz, aye. The clerk mr. Marshall, aye. , the clerk mr. Wicker, aye. Mr. Rounds, aye. Miss ernst, aye. The clerk mr. Booker, no. Mr. Murphy, no. Mr. Cassidy, aye. Ms. Warren, no. Ms. Hirono, no. The clerk mr. Vance, aye. The clerk mr. Schmitt, aye. The clerk mr. Lee, aye. Mr. Scott of florida, aye. Ms. Murkowski, aye. The clerk mr. Kennedy, aye. The clerk mr. Bennet, no. Mr. Welch, no. The clerk ms. Cantwell, no. The clerk ms. Stabenow, no. The clerk mr. King, aye. Mr. Mullin, aye. Mr. Reed, no. The clerk ms. Rosen, aye. The clerk mr. Menendez, aye. The clerk mr. Kelly, aye. The clerk mr. Van hollen, no. The clerk mr. Hoeven, aye. Mr. Braun, aye. Vote the presiding officer is the yeas are 56, the nays are 42. Under the previous order, the amendment is not agreed to. Mr. Manchin mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from west virginia. Mr. Manchin i have 10 requests for committees to meet during todays session of the senate. They have thate approval the majority and minority leaders. The presiding officer duly noted. Mr. Manchin i understand there there is a bill at the desk and i ask for the first reading. The presiding officer the clerk the read the title of the bill for the first time. The clerk s. 3135, a bill making emergency supplemental appropriations and so forth. Mr. Manchin i now ask for its second reading and in order to place the bill on the calendar under the provisions of rule 14, i object to my own request. The presiding officer officer the objection is heard. The bill will receive its next reading on the next legislative day. Mr. Manchin i ask consent that the senate proceed to en bloc consideration of the following Senate Resolutions Senate Resolution 430, Senate Resolution 431, and Senate Resolution 42. 432. The presiding officer the senate will proceed en bloc. Mr. Manchin i ask that the resolution be agreed to, the preambles be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, all en bloc o. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Manchin i suggest the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call the clerk ms. Baldwin. Many things are easy here easier theresnot that much res. But in other ways. I am yes, it is fine. I am moving over. And is right here. We are recognizing now, sure. Saturday if he gets ready i see the windows open, close, open it. But i do not see constantine. Sergey, please call constantine to make sure he is ready for photography. Should i go around. Yes, nikolai. [background noises] [background noises] with the work with the many radar aperture mr. Manchin mr. President , i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its the presiding officer the senate is in a quorum call. Mr. Manchin i ask that we vitiate the quorum call. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Manchin mr. President , i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its Business Today it stand adjourned until 10 00 a. M. On thursday, october 26, that following the prayer and pledge, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning approved to date, the morning the town for two leaders be used for later in the day and morning business be closed. That upon the conclusion of morning business senator resume consideration of calendar number 198hr4366 as provide in the order of a october 24th. Ports that paul make motion to discharge sj resolution 44 from the committee on Foreign Relations senate on the motion at 11 30 a. M. Further the motion to discharge is not agreed to and amendment number 1182 to hr4366. Finally upon deposition of the Amendment Senate move to consideration of sj resolution 42 that there be up to 30 minute for debate equally divided between two leaders and following use of yielding back of time joint resolution be considered with a third time in the senate vote on passage of the joint resolution. Without objection. No further business before theof senate i ask stand adjourd under previous order. Senate stands adjourned until 10 a. M. Tomorrow. An senate gaveled out today members are working on a 2024 appropriations spending package and on the nomination of jessica lumen to the Labor Department wage and hour division. Follow live Senate Coverage here on cspan2. Tonight at 11 erin President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden host a state dinner in honor of the australian Prime Minister anthony watch as the bidens welcome the Prime Minister to the white house guest arrivals dinner toasts and more. Watch the white house state dinner topght at 11 eastern on cspan cspan now or free mobile video app online at cspan. Org. Monday watch cspan series and partnership with the library of Congress Books that shaped america, feature willas novel published in 1918 novelist part of willa prairie trilogy tells story of the friendship of an orphan boy from virginia and elder father of bohemian known for bringing American West to life the book addresses immigrant experience and womens issues of the time. Melissa english professor at the university of nebraska lincoln has taught about willa and her book for many years and will join us on the program. Watch books that shaped america features my antania monday live 9 p. M. Eastern cspan cspan now free mobile app, or online at cspan. Org and scan the qr code to listen to our companion podcast you can learn more about the authors of the books featured. 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