Transcripts For CSPAN2 U.S. 20240703

Senate continues for the day. Lawmakers vote whether to official work as a fiveyear Aviation Administration programs bill. Mo are than 80 amendments have been filed to the legislation, including policy riders unrelated to aviation. Current f. A. A. Programs expire on may 10th. Youre watching cspan2. The presiding officer the senate will come to order. The chaplain, dr. Barry black, will lead the senate in prayer. The chaplain let us pray. Holy god, be our rock of protection, for we place our confidence in you. Give the members of this body the power of your wisdom. In all their duties, strengthen them to be loyal to you, obedient to your precepts, and grateful for your loving providence. Lord, give our senators faith to believe that youre willing to help them solve the problems they face. Lead them into the paths of loving service, as they strive to honor you. Open their eyes to the many things they can accomplish for the glory of your name. And, lord, bring peace wherever there is conflict. We pray in your powerful name, amen. Amen. The presiding officer please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to our flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. The presiding officer the clerk will read a communication to the senate. The clerk washington, d. C, may 2, 2024. To the senate under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable raphael g. 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 leap time is reserved. Morning business is closed. Under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to h. R. 3935, which the clerk will report. The clerk calendar number 211, h. R. 3935, an act to amend title 49, United States code, to reauthorize and improve the federal Aviation Administration and for other Civil Aviation and for other Civil Aviation number one, National Security concern with the app a number to with the app. Specifically with its owner dance having too many types of the Chinese Government. This started a year ago shortly afterwards a bill was introduced and that is now we have law which directs the divestment orban protector. Host we use the term band that would be a technical band . Guest depends on the past. The authors are very adamant and clarifying this is not necessarily a bill to ban the app. It gives the tiktok the option of finding a different owner, a u. S. Owner that isnt a National Security threat. Because sl could be complicated and politically precarious, you could ask tiktok and they would say this is a band ultimately. Host what timeframe does a bill give tiktok to make this decision . Guest picket tiktok nine months in the president could extend that by three months. A year total. Host you set the Parent Company, what is it and what are the concerns about those ties to the Chinese Government . Guest the Parent Companies called bytedance and it has operations in china, and has engineers in china. The concern is if the Chinese Government ever wanted to have that comforting hand over u. S. Did it to do so. That is what his concern for u. S. Lawmakers. If you ask tiktok they will tell you all u. S. Data is housed in the United States and they would not be forced to return the data over to the Chinese Government. But that did not convince any lawmakers on capitol hill from either side of the aisle and thats why we are what are. Host use National Security concerns and data privacy. Where does the National Security coming . Guest National Security concern comes in with the idea you could do for an influence campaigns on this at. There are 170 million americans, Young Americans using this application. If the Chinese Government wanted to spread propaganda, the fear among u. S. Lawmakers is they could do so and influence american politics. Host arkestra to talk about the future of tiktok and the United States. If you want to ask you questions about it, democrats 2027488000. Republicans 2027488001. Independence 2027488002. 2027488002. If you want to text us, 2027488003 is how you do that. We just had political lines and partisan lines. Guest its one of the issues thats unified democrats and republicans. We saw that first during the hearing went tiktok ceo came. He was grilled by posts of the file. When it cleared the committee and was completely unanimous. When it cleared the house and assent it had broad support. This is something that is shared by both parties. Host speaking of that ceo, got on the platform after the passage of the legislation and respond to President Biden signing compares abortion what he had to say and then well get your response to it. That show here is mitford Congress Passed a bill that the president signed into law that is designed to ban tiktok in the United States. That will take to caulk away from you and 170 million americans who find community and connection on all platforms. Make no mistake, this is a ban on tiktok, a ban on you and your voice. Politicians basic otherwise but dont get confused. Many who sponsored the bill admit a tiktok man is your ultimate goal. Its obviously a disappointing moment as it does not mean to be defining one. Its ironic because of freedom of expression on tiktok reflects the same American Values that made the United States a beacon of freedom. Tiktok is Everyday Americans and powerful way to be seen and heard, and thats why so many people have made tiktok part of their daily life. Rest assured, we are not going anywhere. We are confident we will keep fighting for your rights in the court. The facts in the constitution are on our side we expect to prevail. Again, our community is filled with people who found acceptance and compassion of inspiration and encouragement to increase her awareness and brought up their perspectives ultimate adding more life and eventually to the license our community is filled with 7 million Business Owners. We have built their livelihoods on tiktok. While we make our case in court you can still enjoy tiktok like you always have. In fact, if you have a story about tiktok impact your life, we would love for you to shared to showcase exactly what we are fighting for. Meanwhile, we will continue to invest and innovate to keep our community vibrant, exciting, and safe. Through our u. S. Data security efforts we built safeguards that no other company has made. We have invested billions to secure your data and keep our platform free from outside manipulation. I cant say this enough. This extraordinarily Diverse Community its what makes tiktok so special. What makes it matter and what makes a meaningful. We will keep working to ensure you always have the opportunity for safety and the freedom to enjoy all tiktok has to offer. Thank you. Host and long response from the ceo of tiktok where not going away, very emphatic on his part. What does you base that on . Guest i think he is writing that confidence from the fact that this is a country with very strong First Amendment protections, and he certainly plans to bring this to court. It will probably end up in the Supreme Court and his main message and argument will probably be that this is a First Amendment violation on millions of users who use the app. Host use of the constitution is on our side. Guest correct. Host jeff is an arkansas democrats line for against maria curie of axios. Good morning. Go ahead. Caller good morning. House of reviewing today . Guest good, thank you. Caller a quick question. Since you talk about American Companies buying into tiktok, has been established in the list of companies that are lining up to buy tiktok . Guest thats a great question. Its a very expensive company and so that canada narrows down the pool of buyers present physically. Some potential companies that would be able to afford it are meta or google, but those Companies Already have major platforms like instagram, facebook for meta, and youtube for google and i could run into some monopoly concerns, too much social media power in the hands of just one Parent Company. Some other Companies Might be able to come in and purchase the app. Microsoft has been floated but no one has come out and said what interested in buying this app yet. Host the web decides it is an American Company what kind of scrutiny if a decision has an interest to buy it . Guest might run into some at address issues with the department of justice for the ftc but it will definitely be better than a chinesebased company for a lot of regulars in washington. Host early on former President Trumps treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin expressed interest possibly gather a collection of people who buy. I dont know if thats going anywhere. Guest i think that was a blip in the cycle and i havent heard from it again but who knows . Host you heard from the ceo but as far as influencers are those who use tiktok for business, what have they said not only on the platform but how have addressed this with legislators . Guest a lot of anger and disappointment. This is a platform that provided a lot of americans an opportunity not just to express themselves but to really build businesses and to make money off of products and businesses, and so a lot of people are upset right now. One of the tactics, because the bill sprung on the tiktok. Tiktok did not see it coming. One of the tactics the Companies Use was having popups show up on app when users would come on and he would say this is your congressman senator burr, directly call them. What we saw was a lot of users calling offices on capitol hill inundating these offices with requests to reject this bill and that had the opposite effect. Convince lawmakers to vote in favor of the bill because they saw it as evidence that this could really be used to mobilize large groups of people in politics in the u. S. Host we saw the president signed the bill but how much has seek express concerns congress has about this, the company a tiktok itself . Guest President Biden is supportive of this measure. He obviously signed into law but with so many other issues going on, it hasnt been the main focus for the white house but obviously there has been support and it went through. Host i read with the president still plans use platform for his Campaign Interest even invited his decision. Guest thats right thats right. They will be very adamant to say the presidency different from the campaign and so public officials, no one in the federal government or on the hill is allowed to use tiktok. That is only been banned for a while. For federal employees it already wasnt available. Theres a little bit of a a disconnect there in the present has faced criticism for his campaign using the app. Host again our viewers, 2027488000 democrats. 2027488001 republicans. 2027488002 independent thought asked the question. Texas, will hear from roy, republican line. Caller good morning. The statement i would like to make is the fact that we keep hearing about everybody sing the First Amendment right is being violated. The problem with that is that if tiktok was the only show in town they may be spending decades pushing for a National Abortion ban, packing our courts with right wing extreme judges, and annihilating roe v. Wade, hardright republicans have created a race to the bottom when it comes to reproductive rights. This week, florida outlawed abortion after just six weeks. Before many women even know theyre pregnant. The arizona Supreme Court recently upheld a civil war era law from 1864, banning abortion almost entirely without exception for rape or incest. And 19 other states across america now have neartotal bans or severe restrictions on abortion. Beyond the standard set by roe. Lets not forget how we got here, because the extreme abortion bans in florida and arizona didnt happen in a being have yum in a vacuum. They are the result of maga republicans decadesLong Campaign to annihilate roe and plunge our country into chaos. Remember, donald trump boasted he was, quote, proudly the person responsible, those are his words, for the disastrous decision to end roe. The extreme abortion bans are also a direct consequence of the Senate Republican agenda to install rightwing antiabortion judges at every level of the federal court system, including the hardright Supreme Court justices who voted to end roe. Remember, most of the same republicans are on record supporting a National Abortion ban. The bottom line is that the extreme abortion bans are a direct consequence of republicans getting into power. Thats precisely what republicans will do given the chance to govern, they will try to take us back to 1864 with draconian abortion bans and attacks on americans personal freedoms. And make no mistake, republicans in arizona will have to answer for their antiabortion record in november. Republicans in florida will have to answer for their antiabortion record in november. Republicans across america will still have to answer for their antiabortion record in november. Now, on the faa today the senate will continue to move forward on faa reauthorization. We just have eight days to go before the current faa authorization expires, so it will take bipartisan cooperation to get this done before the deadline. Both parties have every reason in the world to get faa done as quickly as possible and as smoothly as possible, to keep our skies safe, our airports safe, our federal employees taken care of. I hope the senate can come together to get this important legislation finished. On judge shopping mr. President , the central principle of americas Justice System can be boiled down to four words we all know well equal justice under law. When you go to court, a judges personal preferences should make no difference in the outcome, but recently the hard right has turned equal justice under law on its head, with the gross practice of judge shopping. Ideologues from across the country bring their cases to courts of their choosing to pick and choose judges they know are friendly to their cause. Judge shopping is how the hard right successfully revoked the fda approval of mifepristone nationwide a year ago. Yesterday, maga republicans took aim at President Bidens new background check rules by flocking again yet to their favorite maga judge in the country, judge Matthew Kazmaryk who has not even been a judge for five years, not five years, and already he has heard cases with nationwide implications on things like reproductive care and federal lgbtq protections and the aca. Theres a very clear reason why this single texas judge hears so many controversial cases. He is a living, breathing, rubber stamp for the hard rights agenda, and maga extremists know hes friendly to their cause. As ive said before, and i will say it again, judge shopping jaundices our legal system like few other abuses do. Picking and choosing a judge to get a predetermined outcome is the definition of unfairness, and congress should fix this abuse with appropriate legislation. Even the chief justice of the Supreme Court, hardly a liberal, has acknowledged that judge shopping is a problem that ought to be addressed. A few ekes ago, i a few weeks ago, i led a group of who senators introducing a bill to curtail judge shopping and restore fairness to the judicial system. I would hope both sides can Work Together on this bill to ensure nobody gets an unfair advantage in a court of law simply based on a judges personal preferences. Some of my colleagues on the other side have suggested that congress shouldnt do anything to improve how our courts work. Thats plainly ridiculous. When the federal judiciary is exploited by practices like judge shopping, it is both proper and appropriate for congress to exercise its o oversight authority. Congress has Clear Authority under the constitution to exercise oversight of the courts. So well continue weighing legislative options to ensure the federal judiciary is committed to equal justice under law. On the farm bill again, id like to applaud my good friend and colleague, chairwoman stabenow, of the Senate Agriculture committee, who yesterday released the substance of her farm bill. Chair stabenows farm bill supports our farmers, feeds our families, aled bowlsters our and bowlsters our communities. Rather than playing partisan games with farmers and families, like house republicans, the bill she put together, the rural prosperity and Food Security act, holds the Broad Coalition needed to pass a farm bill. Im proud of the chairwomans dogged work on this legislation. The bill includes more than 100 bipartisan pieces of legislation, from improving Rural Health Care and education to Foreign Ownership of fa farmland. It ensures that snap reflects the reality of how americans buy and prepare food. And keeps kids fed by making significant investments to end childhood hunger. It defends the historic climatesmart agriculture investments that i fought so hard to secure in the Inflation Reduction Act last summer. The bill, we all know about 10 of the carbon emitted into the atmosphere comes from agriculture, and the bill does a good job by reducing that amount, but still making sure farmers, particularly Small Farmers, dont pay the price. Finally, mr. President , i want to close my remarks with one of my least favorite words, but one which i say with immense gratitude, farewell. I am sad, grateful, verklempt, happy, moved, all of the above, to pay tribute this morning to one of the best staffers ive ever had, mike hiken, who has been my National Security advisor for over five years. Hes been invaluable advisor, extremely gifting thinker and straight shooter for all the years hes been part of my team. I want to say thank you. Members from around the senate, democrat and republican alike, have come to rely on his knowledge and his judgment, and in many ways hes made the world a better and safer place, made america a better and safer place, by his dedication to this field, to intelligence and the military. Hes done a great job. Ill so badly miss him. But, like when many of my staffers leave, when theyre going on to bigger and better things, i rejoice as well. So it is with mixed emotions that i say goodbye to mike and an enormous thank you from me, the people of new york, and the people of america, for being so strong and firm in protecting americas interests with balance, with care, with intelligence. Mike leaves the senate with a legacy he can truly be proud of. If he did nothing else in his life, he can rest assured hell do plenty more, i know but he can rest assured hes been a great, great contributor to this society. Hes been on the forefront of every major National Security event america has experienced in two decades. He joined karl reverbins staffer karl levins staff a few months before 9 11, played a hand in legislation protecting our troops during deployment in the middle east, expanning sanctions against iran, responding to the arab spring, strengthening counterterrorism efforts, resisting russian interference in the elections. Whether in a war zone or inside the scif where he spends a lot of time learning all about classified information, hes been invaluable. Without mike, i can say, we never would have gotten the chips and science act done. He, with several other staffers, shepherded this back to the days when i first called it the endless frontier act. Without mike, we wouldnt have gotten the ndaa done for so many years. Without mike, we would be nowhere in preparing for the future of a. I. In the sphere of National Security. So for sure, as i said, he can be really proud of what hes done. But anyone who knows him well knows all these incredible things are secondary to what matters most to him, his two kids. The number of times i called him and he was pat a swim meet or a track meet or some event for one of his kids, revelling in their successes, i cant count. Hes always there. His wife emily and his children, im sure theyre excited theyll be able to see a little more of him around the house, at least for now. So mike, thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you so very much. And my best wishes on the road ahead. You will always have a place here in the senate and in what we call the schumer family. Youre part of our family and always will be. I yield the floor. Hes not here. Hes probably in the scif or at a swim meet for one of his kids. mr. Mcconnell mr. President. The presiding officer the republican leader. Mr. Mcconnell last thursday the pentagon an announced for the second time in as many weeks that u. S. Military personnel would withdraw from years of work on Security Cooperation with major nations in north af africa. America has now effectively been pushed out of chad, niger, mali, and burkina faso, making more room for russia and china. Here at home, appropriators are parsing President Bidens fourth straight proposal to cut defense spending in real dollar terms, and theyre discovering, among other glaring red flags, that he intends to meet chinas surging spending on shipbuilding with the smallest request for navy ships in 15 years. The Biden Administrations National Security strategy and National Defense strategy explicitly, explicitly prioritized great power competition. But does it sound like america is effectively engaged in that competition . Does any of this look like the behavior of a super power that intends to maintain its influence and defend its interest . It certainly doesnt to me. The administration behaves more like an ostrich than a super power. For two years russias war in ukraine has called urgent attention to shortcomings in western stockpiles and Production Capacity for critical munitions. For months, months defending against attacks from iran and its proxies has forced the United States to incur a significant unplanned cost and expend major stores of cuttingedge missiles and air defenses, interceptor. But despite the surging demand, the president s request leaves the budget for munitions stagnant. Ive said repeatedly that growing our Production Capacity and munitions stockpiles in a Sustainable Way will require more in urgent supplemental investments. It will take building these requirements into our base budget. Were facing growing interconnected threats from russia, china, north korea, iran, and a host of terrorist pro proxies, an axis bent on eroding american influence, dominating our friends, and killing our service this is not news and unfortunately neither is this willful blindness from democratic administrators when it comes to growing threats. After all, it was president obama who decided to let a budget number dictate National Security priorities rather than letting strategy inform spending. It was the obama and Biden Administration that abandoned the two war planning construct that long guided how we structure and resource our armed forces. The risk that america and our allies will have to fight simultaneously in two regions is real. Its growing, and its time to start taking the risk seriously. It is absurd to pretend that we can outcompete the threat from china let alone simultaneous conflicts when the president wont even submit Defense Budgets that keep up with inflation. Were spending half as much on defense as a percentage of gdp as we did during president reagans buildup, but were facing even more serious threats than he did back then. Show me your budget, and ill tell you what you value. Those are the words of President Biden. I had hoped that the chaos of the worlds events would lead our friends on the other side of the aisle to see the value in addressing grave and growing threats to our National Security, but the president s budget request actually suggests otherwise, and so does the latest suggestion from the chair of the Appropriations Committee that she would pare any pair increases in defense spending with more domestic spending. So, mr. President , the game is up. We cannot afford to pretend it is business as usual around here. We cant let partisan Spending Priorities hold the common defense hostage. Its time to acknowledge that the growing threats to our peace and prosperity deserve our utmost attention. But if neither our commander in chief nor our Congress Take investments in American Leadership and american strength seriously, how on earth can we expect our adversaries to . On another matter, last week the Biden Administrations epa finalized new regulations targeting producers of affordable and reliable american energy. The socalled Clean Power Plan 2. 0 is just the latest front in washington democrats long and disastrous war on coal. These regulations would effectively force many power plants to close, endanger more goodpaying jobs in my home state of kentucky and burden working americans around the country with higher electricity bills. It would put already steep emission standards even further out of reach for existing producers and shrink the supply of baseload power as demand rises in an already trained, strained electric grid nears the breaking point. As an industry advocate in kentucky put it recently, the Biden Administration has again shown its disconnected from reality. Just last week the midcontinent independent system operator released its latest report on electricity cost. The report showed that capacity prices in its region have nearly tripled and that the increase was due primarily to retiring coal plants. So, mr. President , this isnt just profoundly bad policy. Its also illegal. The Supreme Court overturned president obamas original Clean Power Plan in West Virginia vs. Epa, and the courts decision left no room for doubt that epa requires clear, clear authorization from congress to implement such regulations once again. Needless to say, congress was given no such authorization. In fact, the law couldnt have been clearer in saying the opposite. Back in 2015 i introduced a cra disapproving of the original Clean Power Plan which passed the senate with bipartisan support. Last august i joined senator capito and 37 of our colleagues in urging the epa to withdraw the proposed rule. And last week i was very proud to join a resolution senator capito introduced disapproving of the epas latest power grab. Im grateful for our colleagues leadership and ill continue to stand firmly behind the kentuckians and workers across coal country who need to keep the lights on. I suggest the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call the clerk ms. Baldwin. Quorum call the presiding officer the majority whip. Mr. Durbin are we in a quorum call . The presiding officer we are. Mr. Durbin i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be suspended. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Durbin as you well know, the senate has confirmed 194 of President Bidens judicial nominees to lifetime appointments. Each of these nominees have been questioned about their qualifications and credentials and as the senate provided advice and consent on their nominations, they move forward. But adeel mangi has faced unprecedent the attacks. Bigoted and false claims have been made about mr. Mangi. Rather than focusing on mr. Mangis qualifications for credentials during the hearing that he was subjected to in december, republicans subjected him to irrelevant, combative lines of questioning about the israelhamas war. They even asked they even asked whether he celebrated september 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Can you imagine . With no basis on his life experience, the fact that he was muslim gave them license to ask whether or not in his home they celebrated september 11. Throughout his confirmation process, mr. Mangi has unequivocally condemned antisemitism and acts of terrorism. Republican senators have tried to scapegoat mr. Mangi for events he didnt attend and wasnt even aware of. That is guilt by association and it is wrong. Any claim that he is antisemitic is simply false. Yet just this week the republican leader falsely claimed that mr. Mangis confirmation would lead to, quote, radicalism on the federal bench. The fact that this man will be the first Muslim American allows these wild accusations to take place, and its unfair. To claim that mr. Mangi is, quote, radical ignores his record. For more than two decades he has focused on commercial litigation at a toptier law firm. He has served as counsel of record on more than 30 matters of Appellate Courts as well as eight amicus briefs submitted to the Supreme Court. He has dedicated more than 4,000 hours to his pro bono clients representing employees on religious discrimination cases. I urge my colleagues to dismiss the Smear Campaign against him and support his nomination. Mr. President , on another matter, id like to discuss a matter that has been personal to me. The young immigrants known as dreamers. It was a little over 20 years ago that i introduced the first dream act. Before that, people discussed the dreamers in terms of a rock roll group from great britain. Now the dreamers are known as young people who were brought to the United States as children, with no decision on their own part, grew up in this country, pledged allegiance to the American Flag in their classrooms and simply want to be part of the future of mechanic. Of america. Thats what this is all about. Many have gone on to serve our nation as First Responders, nurses and members of the armed forgeses. They are members of the armed forces. They are american in every way, except under law. And without congressional action, they still spend each day in fear of deportation. I first introduced the dream act 23 years ago. I have reintroduced it for the last several congresses, with my friend, the senior senator from South Carolina, lindsey graham. The dream act would provide a pathway to citizenship for dreamers. On several occasions a bipartisan majority of senators have voted for the dream act on the floor of the senate, but its been blocked by filibuster each time. 12 years ago in response to a bipartisan request from myself and the latesenator richard lugar, republican of indiana, president obama established daca, the deferred action for childhood arrivals program. Since 2012, daca has protected from deportation more than 830,000 young people, all of whom arrived in our country as children, some as young as a few months old. Today i want to share the story of one of those impressive individuals who has received daca protection. This is the 142nd story of a dreamer that i have shared on the senate floor. Ryan Garcia Valdez came to it the United States from mexico when he was ten years old. He grew up in south texas. He graduated from high school with honors in the top 10 of his class. Because of his immigration status, he is wasnt eligible for Financial Aid to go to college, so he worked jobs, multiple jobs waiter, washing cars, construction all to support his tuition costs at texas a m. After four years of hard work, he graduated with a bachelors degree in biology in 2017. He is now a medical student at Loyola Stritch school of medicine in illinois. I want to give a shout out to the school. Loyola school of medicine was the first in the nation to open up the competition for the limited number of slots they have to daca students. They have had over 30 so far. There is no quota, no allotment of a certain number. These students just have to compete with everybody else and show that they are ready to excel at medicine. In addition to a busy academic schedule, brian as worked as a clinic coordinator in a health cl clinic assisting medicalically underserved communities. He also received a scholarship for academic excellence. He will graduate next week. He plans to attend the university of Rochester Medical Center for his medical residency. After completing his training, he hopes to return to south texas to serve medically underserved areas. Daca allowed brian to pursue his dream of being a doctor. But his life is still in limbo because of the inaction of congress. Since president obama established the daca program, republicans many republicans have waged a Relentless Campaign to end daca and deport the dreamers to the countries they dont remember being part of. A Lower Court Decision has prevented many dreamers from registering for the program. This means without congressional action, thousands of dreamers who already serve our country as doctors, teachers, First Responders may never have that opportunity. Next week ill hold a hearing in the Senate Judiciary committee on the urgent need to protect these inspiring young people. Its time for congress to grant them the stability and certainty in their lives that they so richly deserve. When you look at this individual, brian Garcia Valdez, ask yourself the question, now that he is on his way to become ago medical doctor in the United States and he wants to serve underserved people in south texas who dont have access to a good doctor, is our message from congress to him to go back to where you came from . Thats basically the issue before us. Is america a better country with dr. Brian Garcia Valdez in its ranks . You bet it is. Lets not lose this opportunity to bring these quality individuals into full citizenship. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call the clerk ms. Baldwin. Quorum call the presiding officer the republican whip. Mr. Thune mr. President , is the senate in a quorum call . The presiding officer we are. Mr. Thune i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be lifted. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Thune mr. President , over the past couple weeks, we witnessed a wave of antisemitism sweep College Campuses across our country. Under the guise of protest an old hatred has made an ugly return. Not in some far corner of the world, which would be bad enough, but here in the United States in 2024. Intimidation of jewish students, support for terrorists, calls for violence against fellow americans. Weve seen it all and more on College Campuses over the past few weeks. Too often, this repugnant rebehavior has been abetted by the action or inaction of campus faculty and administrators. Jewish students simply Walking Around their campuses have heard things like hamas, we love you, burn tel aviv to the ground, from the river to the sea, we are hamas. Every one of those slogans has been used at protests. A cbs article from a few days ago reported, and i quote, near Columbia University, antisemitic slogans, including go back to poland, were heard among the protestors chants. In one video, a demonstrator can be seen holding a sign that reads al qassams next targets. That, of course, is the military wing of hamas. Mr. President , go back to poland . Al qassams next targets . Anyone hearing this could be forgiven for thinking were in the 1930s germany instead of the United States of america, where i had hoped antisemitism was a thing of the past. But apparently, it is a thing of the present. And i have to wonder how we as a society have failed our young people when they are incapable of opposing israels policies without attacking the jewish people. When they think that any means are justified in pursuit of their goal, including the deliberate targeting and slaughtering of the innocent. How have we gotten to a point where apparently substantial numbers of young people are identifying with terrorists, with an organization that mere months ago conducted a deadly rampage that left hundreds of israeli civilians, including children, dead, and saw more than 200 individuals, including children, taken into captivity . How have we got ton a point gotten to a point where we have jewish students afraid to walk across their own campuses, and in some instances being prevented from entering campus buildings . Because, mr. President , that is where we are. Jewish students on too many campuses right now are living in fear as intimidation and harassment of jewish students becomes increasingly commonplace. One jewish student at the university of washington, which has also seen a protest encampment, had this to say, and i quote, when that, the protest, starts up, i do feel my heart pounding, and im very anxious to be here. This is olivia feldman, a senior at university of washington, and copresident of students supporting israel. She goes on to say, no, i do not feel safe on campus. Ive been called names. Ive been spit at. Feldman is a great granddaughter of holocaust survivors. She goes on to say, as a very visceral feeling in me when someone tells me to go back to the gas chambers, she said. Another jewish student, this one at Columbia University said in february, and i quote, we have been attacked by sticks outside our library. We have been attacked by angry m mobs. And we have been threatened to keep fing running, end quote. Mr. President , this is sic sickening. The fact that this kind of behavior has become widespread on some of these College Campuses should be prompting some serious soulsearching, as to how we have let things get to this point. And an immediate reckoning for students engaged in harassment, assault, or other unlawful behavior. In addition to action from universities and local Law Enforcement, the Biden Department of education and federal Law Enforcement should immediately step in to investigate and prosecute federal offenses. Protest is one thing. Colleges should be forums for debate and discussion, and every american, every american has a right to free speech, but we are a long way beyond mere lawful protests. Were talking about the harassment of and assaults on jewish students, and it is time for immediate action, including Law Enforcement action where warranted to protect these people and ensure that they can attend school in safety. Mr. President , it is hard to believe that here in the United States im having to Say Something about ensuring jewish students can attend school in safety, and i hope that in addition to swift action from School Administrations and from Law Enforcement we spend some time thinking about what has gone wrong, what has gone wrong with education in this country, that we are facing a situation where jewish students are scared to go to class because of the actions of their fellow students. Something has gone seriously wrong when we have students at some of our top schools embracing the actions of, and identifying with, terrorists. That should be an unthinkable position. And i hope it will become again. Finally, mr. President , where is President Biden . The president has barely managed to summon up a word on this most recent wave of antisemitism. I understand that he was preparing for the white house correspondents dinner. But perhaps he could have taken a moment away from practicing his jokes to address the fact that there are jewish students right now in the United States of america who are afraid to walk across their campuses. Im also waiting to hear the attorney general and the secretary of educations response to a letter i sent with a number of my republican colleagues regarding the administrations plans for enforcing federal law in relation to the antisemitism and protests on our College Campuses. No, i do not feel safe on campus. Ive been called names. Ive been spit at. It is a very visceral feeling in in me when someone tells me to go back to the gas chambers. Something i repeat that olivia feldman, a student, has said. Mr. President , it is time to take action, to close this disgraceful chapter, and to ensure that there are no more stories like olivia feldmans. Mr. President , i yield the floor. Ms. St ms. Stabenow mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from michigan. Ms. Stabenow thank you, mr. President. Yesterday, i announced the rural prosperity and Food Security act put together by distinguished colleagues on the agriculture committee, including the presiding officer, and we thank you so much for all of your leadership on so many provisions here that both affect georgia and our entire country. So thank you for that. This is a serious bill that reflects bipartisan priorities to keep farmers farming, to keep families fed, and to keep are your communities strong. I hope those are values and priorities that we all share together. The foundation of every successful farm bill is built on a broad bipartisan coalition. Thats how we get it done, mr. President , as you know. We get it done because we bring everybody together. We dont put forward things that lose votes. We put forward things that gain votes so that we can do what we did in the last fiveyear farm bill, 2018, where we had 87 members of the United States senate come together, which was extraordinary at that time. Because we built the coalition. We respected each other. And we did not look for policies that would divide. So, its important that farmers and ranchers, Rural Communities, foresters, nutrition and hunger advocates, conservationists, bioenergy advocates, local gover governments, and climate advocates come together. Thats a Broad Coalition, and so many more i could list on and on, to come together to be able to address a fiveyear bill that addresses Rural America, our economy, feeding americans, being there when they need help, protecting our land and water and air resources that are so important, and investing in a rural quality of life like where i grew up in Northern Michigan in clare. The bill is a bill that i put together with my democratic colleagues on the committee, but it includes 100, actually over 100 bipartisan bills, over 100 bipartisan bills introduced this congress through the hard work of republicans and democrats on the committee as well as off the committee and the input of a broad farm bill coalition. I would hope at this point i would be in a situation where we would be bringing forward a bipartisan bill, but we are not there yet. But its my responsibility as the leader of the committee to put forward, i believe, is the vision and the policies that can get us there, and thats what this is talking about. There are many things in here i will many things in here. I will not go through all of them. But i will say this, we are strengthening the important farm safety net by making meaningful investments that focus our tax dollars, our American Resources on American Farmers with dirt under their finger nails. Not billionaire wall street or Foreign Investors who, by the way, we ban from receiving commodity payments in this bill. This bill makes support for beginning farmers a priority. We need more people that want to go into farming. Either starting from scratch or going home to their family farm. We need them. We need the people willing to do the critical work and they are a priority. Our bill would provide farmers and ranchers with more choices that provide timely and flexible assistance that meets their needs. Lower cost crop insurance, more effective commodity title, more opportunities for Affordable Credit to operate the farm as input costs go up. And the list goes on and on. We importantly permanently authorize the Disaster Assistance program, which unfortunately is having to be used more and more and more, and i want that to be clear that thats a permanent part of agriculture policy. And this bill makes it a priority to help our farmers and ranchers address the emerging risks that we know they all face. We also ensure that farmers are planting to meet market demand, not to receive a government payment. We made major reforms in the 2014 bill to emphasize that and then again in 2018, and its important to keep it going. Farming has always been one of the riskiest ways to make a living. Ive said its the riskiest business around. Nobody else has to monitor the weather all day and night to figure out whats going on as to whether or not their business is going to be okay. And the Climate Crisis is making it even tougher. Think about the michigan cherry farmer who loses an entire crop due to an early warming and then a cold snap. And this has happened in michigan. Or the wheat farmer whose hard work is leveled when a violent summer storm pummels their fields with hail. Conservation programs are a vital part of our Risk Management for farmers today. Im proud that they are voluntary, that they are popular, that they are used, that farmers think they make a difference. And its important that we continue to invest and protect those dollars. This bill builds on our historic investment in those popular voluntary conservation programs by making the title, the conservation title a permanent investment and we invest to make sure we are confronting the Climate Crisis today and in the future by taking the dollars that we have allocated for Climate Smart agriculture, putting it into the farm bill and supporting these important voluntary climatesmart efforts. This will put resources into farmers pockets to continue the practices they are already doing and that they want to do more of on the farm and the ranches around the country. And while the farm bill is the backbone of the farm safety net, its also the backbone of the Family Safety net through our nutrition title. And i want to thank our subcommittee chair who is presiding now, who chairs our subcommittee on nutrition, for your leadership. Thank you very much. The world prosperity and Food Security act reflects our shared belief, republicans and democrats, that no american parent should have to worry about whether or not they will be able to feed their children. No american senior should have to choose between buying food and paying for their medications. No american servicemember should experience hunger while serving their country. This bill will help millions of hardworking americans make ends meet in a time when they really need it, a time of crisis. By continuing the fiveyear update to the snap thrifty food plan, to ensure that snaps reflects the realities of how americans buy food and prepare food. It improves security measures and cracks down on bad actors to strengthen the integrity of nutrition assistance. The bill invests in snap employment and training to help people improve their job skills and excludes subsidized income earned through employment and training and counting as income for snap so that people will participate in these services, and they can finish their training. In Rural Development, this is such an important part of the farm bill. This is about jobs. Its about quality of life. We have such an exciting bioeconomy today. In the farm bill, a number of years ago i put in a whole program called make it here, grow it here, where we focused on biomanufacturing as well as our biofuels and what we can do to add opportunities for farmers and income and jobs, and we build on that in this bill, whether its biofuels, Sustainable Aviation fuel, biomanufacturing, lifting up biopreferred labels so people know and feel confident in looking for those labels, american labels. We lift this up. We also strengthen our efforts with farmers and ranchers on clean energy, both Clean Energy Efforts to lower costs for citizens in Rural America to bring down their utility costs, but also to help our farmers through the Rural Energy Assistance Program which we strengthen. And for the first time we put not just authorizations but actually mandatory farm bill resources, money into the Rural Development title to lift up really important qualityoflife issues that determine whether or not people can actually stay and live in Rural Communities. For instance, child care, access to Mental Health and Addiction Treatment facilities. Rural housing, which is such a challenge. So many things we need to be doing to create opportunities. Now im proud that we have already made Rural Communities a priority through highspeed internet in Rural Communities, and what we did in the infrastructure bill. And we also have made Wastewater Treatment and other infrastructure issues in Rural Communities a part of what we have done in other areas. But we need to do more as it relates to the quality of life for families in Rural Communities, and the farm bill puts forward a vision to do that. The rural prosperity and Food Security act is the product of a lot of work. Senator boozman and i, our ranking member, started this process two years ago at my alma mater, Michigan State university, with our first field hearing to hear from all those impacted. We have both, as well as other colleagues, traveled the country to hear ideas and to hear what is important to do. But were beyond that now. Its time to get it done. It is time to get it done. I, mr. President , have been around here long enough to have participated in six farm bills. Its the third one ive had the honor to lead. I know what it takes. Im so honored and proud to have i may be biased, but i believe the smartest Farm Bill Team there is, talented people who have put this together. But we know how to do it. We know how to do it. And i know that the only path forward is to hold together a broad bipartisan farm bill coalition. When you break the coalition up, it never works. It never works. It fails time after time. In some ways the discussion, the attacks right now on nutrition make me feel like its groundhog day. We saw this in 2012 when the house could not pass a bill because of the fights on nutrition. We saw it again in 2018, when they couldnt pass a bill, voted down again because of a fight on nutrition. Breaking up the coalition, pitting the farmer safety net against the Family Safety net will not get us a farm bill. It just wont. Im so grateful that in doing our past farm bills weve been able to come together and understand its about recognizing broadly the needs of farmers and food and jobs and all the other issues that are so important to our Rural Communities and, frankly, urban communities as well. And thats what im committed to do now, because thats the way we get a bill. Our farmers, our families, our Rural Communities deserve the certainty of a fiveyear farm bill. Theres no reason we cant do this. Theres no reason that we cant do this if we take the lessons of the past, if we creatively Work Together to meet the needs that we know need to be addressed as more and more volatility affects our farmers and ranchers across the country. We can do that. We can do that. And im committed to doing everything in my power, mr. President , as chair of the agriculture, nutrition and forestry committee, to make that happen. Thank you. I yield the floor. I would suggest the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call the clerk ms. Baldwin. Quorum call political points but this is not for politics so let me be clear from peaceful tests in america, violent protests not protected against the law in a peaceful protest. Its against the law. Vandalism, trespassing, making windows, shoving on campuses, insulation up grasses and graduation. This is a peaceful protest. Its against the law. It never its basically a matter of fairness whats right. The right to protest but not the right to cause chaos. A right to walk across campus safely without fear of being attacked. Clear, there should be no place on any campus, no space in america for antisemitism and violence against his. No place for hate speech or violence of any kind for antisemitism, homophobia or discrimination americans oppose the muniment is no place for racism in america. I understand people have from feelings of deep convictions in america, we the right to protect the right to express that. He needs to be done without violence. Without hate in the lock. Make no mistake, ill always defend free speech and just a strong standing up for the rule of law. Its my responsibility to you my application you very much. Do think National Guard should intervene . No. Assessment rather than medicare, medicaid so i really encourage you, the past in the but it would require your part to do it did it would try care but you can see on a twoyear basis reluctance to change the policy and that we another elevator arent these Different Things so i ask you to take a look at that. The last one is when you and i talked. Mental health care. Telemedicine is helped by any and all initiatives you have is really important. Notwithstanding that growth the course of this year and Mental Health workers. The authorities and investment to increase cooperation for local communities and resting them are, we are investing, not fighting hundred and the way i see it recovering facts helping other veterans early in their and its making those investments improving health. Theyre trying to go every doctor. We are going to stay up with us. Thank you. Appreciate it. Argent think center for chronic on Mental Health. Incredible challenge and states like mine. Welcome back, its always good to see you. Want to ask you about the claim program and when that ended stabilizing for veterans and new mexico. Granted different environment than we were at the beginning of the pandemic. What steps is the va taking make sure that will be included . We are reaching out to Veterans Data shows are struggling, communicating to make sure they are aware that we are standing up a new support program when the moratorium expires at the end of the month and as a general matter we are attracting on pa backed mortgages and a whole series of programs and we want to make sure it is true the debt management. We are trying to communicate the program which we have kept the committee up to date on develop and allow us to make sure veterans do not lose their homes. Senator collins raised a grant i was pleased to include some additional funding for that. You may have referenced legislative proposal in the area. We like to you are the first person to raised this with me and we talked about private recently. New mexico and maine are equally poorly positioned based on the definition of highly rural, people a square mile. We would like to change that and we have some proposals on that and we would couple with that increase because we have to feel to participate. Im sure who the board to working with you. Substance use treatment or disorders, one of the challenges we see this folks who want to treat their disorder charges getting access prescribed by the doctors particularly literally people cant get their prescriptions filled, there are a number of reasons but i love for you to look into and enjoy those who work treatment for can get them prescribed. Definitely begin. Theres no reason a veteran struggling wants to make sure we are there for them. We have had changes and we can expand on why that is clear out of these so that should not be relied on those. You got my attention on this. Thank you for being here today and i want to thank you for the great work we are seeing the va do especially this last year. Last year during this hearing we talked about investing in the Cemetery Grant Program and the cemetery is now on its way. In your most recent budget i was pleased to see a new Medical Center in omaha is number two so thank you for that, nearly 75 years old and renovations want credit anymore so we are excited to see that movie had. I appreciated your comments in the care program. I remain concerned about the future of the program. We have 40 of nebraska veterans who live in rural areas and care program is vital. In recent months ive heard colleagues called tightening or scaling back on the Community Care program. Of course i want to va to work on improving wait times but that doesnt change the reality we face in rural areas so does the va Company Plans to modify care program bugs. Statute sprinkler. We hope nebraska and vision seven which is not South Carolina and bettering their are referral qualified so its an access opportunity for veterans in rural areas and updating to reflect the fact that overwhelming care through telehealth so the standards should reflect on so ideally we would get that done quickly. Then we have issues with appointment so partially operated areas from i think thats a big issue. We are not going to give that and say knowing get into that apple so that is probably the biggest change was spent six years so was enacted. We have the pandemic and act act. Any one of those be a seismic impact. Im proud that the team has managed them. If we anticipate changes will come back. We have a tight budget and given which i was proud to support, i believe its important for the va to assure staff in place to meet the needs of access to assist veterans and we have 200 employees this past years with the departments budget request your envisioning overall reduction of approximately 10000 healthcare workers. Can you talk about the Department Plans to reduce the workforce as well as equally spread across the eight facilities . We envisioned at the end of 2025 so september 2025 to 10000 fewer when all is said and done a few major, its not much different than traditional however because tension is so high and generous, we have historically high retention. It might be a little tough. We are not going to make those decisions. These are decisions made by leaders. We need people as recently as texas looking for experts the limited capabilities those will be based. Pump market for veterans. The truck month by month and they can follow along with us. I think one of our great strengths this facility leadership having the relationship they would so my guess is this will be a well debated effort. Good to hear. Thank you, senator fisher. I have the opportunity yesterday but i know youre going to make a tremendous difference. Excellent staff to make a better. The secret to success. We appreciate you and your staff. I agree what you said about your staff. That was wise of you. Thank you for being here today on behalf of veterans all across our nation. We are very lucky to have a subcommittee with senators who care deeply and veterans who serve our country so well. Apple computer hearing today and think you to secretary and our colleagues. Working together on appropriations bill for writing veterans and families the best care and support they need. I will keep the hearing record open for one week. Committee members who would write statement by 5 00 p. M. Thursday may 9 agree appreciate it. With that, we stand adjourned. A race to the bottom of reproductive rights. This week florida outlawed abortion after just six weeks. For many women that are even know their pregnant got. A civil war law from 1864 banning abortion almost entirely. Nineteen other states across america of near total bans or restrictions on abortion. Beyond standards lets not forget how we got here because extreme abortion vance in florida and arizona about the resort of decades Long Campaign to annihilate growth and quench our country into chaos. Donald trump boasted he was probably the person responsible is disastrous decision to enroll me with. Extreme abortion vance are direct consequence of the Senate Republican agenda install rightwing antiabortion judges every of the federal court system including hard right Supreme Court justices voted to end roe v. Wade remember most of the same privileges on record a national apportionment. The bottom line is extreme abortion vance on a consequence of remote it into power imprecisely what republicans will do given the chance to govern they will try to take us back to 1864 with abortion vance and attacks in americas personal freedoms. Make no mistake about republicans and it is will have to answer for their antiabortion record in november. In florida they will have to answer. Republicans across america. To answer for their antiabortion remedy november 3 on the faa today the senate the reauthorization days devote report the current authorization expires so bipartisan cooperation to get it done before the deadline. Both parties have every reason to get it done as quickly and smoothly as possible our skies safe and airports and federal employees. I hope the Senate Contempt together get this finished. The central principle of americas Justice System be boiled down to four words we all know about. What justice under law judges personal preferences make no difference but recently the hard right has turned equal justice under law on its head with the gross practice. Ideologues bring their cases to courts of choosing that they can choose judges. The towel over hard right revokes the fda approval and yesterday maga republicans took aim at bidens background check rules by flocking to their favorite judge in the country. Judge matthew in the Northern District of texas. Not even going to judge for five years and already has hurt cases with nationwide implications on things like reproductive care and lgbtq protections of aca. Theres no clear reason why this judge hears so many controversial cases. The living breathing rubberstamp park right and barbara extremist know their cause. As i said before and will say again, its our legal system like few other abuses do. Picking and choosing a judge to get predetermined outcome is the definition of unfairness and congress should fix this abuse. Even if chief justice of the Supreme Court acknowledged the problem ought to be addressed. I let a group of senators introducing about to restore fairness to the judicial system. I would hope both sides could Work Together to ensure nobody gets an unfair advantage simply based on the judges personal preference. Some of my colleagues in the other side of suggested congress shouldnt do anything to improve how courts work. Thats ridiculous. When the federal judiciary is exploited are practices, it is appropriate to exercise oversight authority. The exercise of the ports anyway legislative options to ensure they are committed to People Justice under law. Farmville. I like to applaud my good friend and colleague of the Senate Agriculture committee who releases absence of her farmville. Her farmville ports are farmers and feeds our families and vultures are Rural Communities by focusing on bipartisanship rather than playing partisan games with flowers and families like house republicans. The bill she put together the role of prosperity and good security act. I am proud of her work on this legislation. The bill includes 100 bipartisan priority pieces of legislation improving rural healthcare and education reform ownership of farmland. It ensures snap reflects the reality of how americans buy and prepare food. He keeps kids fed and ends childhood hunger and defense the historic Climate Smart act culture investments i fought so hard to secure. But still making sure farmers typically Small Farmers dont pay the price. Finally, mr. President , i want to close my remarks with one of my least favorite words, one which i say with image gratitude, farewell. I am sad, grateful, happy, moved, all of the above to pay tribute this morning to one of the best staffers ive ever had was in my National Security adviser for over five years. Hes been an invaluable advisor, actually gifted thinker and a straight shooter. For all the years hes been part of my team. I want to say thank you. Members from around the senate, democrat and republican alike, have come to rely on his knowledge and his judgment. And in many ways he has made the world a better and safer place, made america a better and safer place like his dedication to this field to intelligence and the military. Hes done a great job. I will so badly missing. Like when me and my staffers leave when the going on to bigger and better things, i rejoice as well. So it is with mixed emotions that i save goodbye to mike, and an enormous thank you from me, the people of new york and people of america for being so strong and firm in protecting americas interests with balance, with care, with intelligence. Mike leaves the senate with a legacy he between big pot of if he did nothing else in his life, he can rest assured he will do plenty more i know, that he can rest assured that hes been a great, great contributor to this society. Hes been on the forefront of every major National Security event america has experienced an two decades. He joined carls staff a few months before 9 11. Played a hand in legislating, and legislation protecting our troops during the deployment in the middle east. Expanding sanctions against iran, responded to the arab spring, strengthening counterterrorism methods, resisting russian interference in the 2016 elections, outcompeting the Chinese Government and so much more. Whether in war zone or inside the scif where he spent a lot of time learning all about classified information, hes been invaluable. Without mike i can say we never would wouldve gotten the chips and science act done. He and several other of my staffers with the shepherding this bill on the way back to the days when i first called it the endless frontier act. Without mike would not have gotten the ndaa done for so many years. Without mike we would be nowhere in preparing for the future ai in the sphere of National Security. So for sure is a city can be really proud of what hes done. But anyone who knows him well knows that all these incredible things are secondary to what matters most to them, his two kids. Number of times i called him in he was at a swim meet or track meet or something then for one of his kids, just reveling in their successes. I cant count. Hes always there. His wife emily and his children im sure theyre excited they will be able to see a little more of them around the house, at least for now. So mike thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you so very much. And my best wishes on the road had. You will always have a place here in the senate and in what we call the schumer family, youre part of her family and always will be. I yield the floor. Hes not here. Is probably in scif or at a swim meet for one of his kids. Pentagon announced for the second time in as many weeks that u. S. Military personnel would withdraw from years of work on Security Cooperation with major nations in north africa. America has now effectively pushed out of chad, niger, mali, making more room for russia and china. Here at home, appropriators are parsing President Bidens fourth straight proposal to cut defense spending in real dollar terms. In discovering among other glaring red flags that he intends to meet chinas surging spending on shipbuilding with this most request for navy ships in 15 years. The Biden Administrations National Security strategy and National Defense strategy explicitly, explicitly prioritized great power competition. But does it sound like america is effectively engaged in that competition . Does any of this look like the behavior of a superpower that intends to maintain its influence and defends its interests . It certainly doesnt to me. The administration behaves more like an ostrich than a superpower. For two years, russians were in ukraine has called urgent attention to shortcomings in western stockpiles and Production Capacity for critical munitions. For months, months, defending against attacks from iran and its proxies has forced the United States to incur significant unplanned costs and expand major stores of cutting edge missile and air defense than scepters. Interceptors. But despite this surging demand, the president request leads in the budget for munitions stagnant. I said repeatedly that growing up Production Capacity ammunition stockpiles in a Sustainable Way were required more than urgent supplemental request went. It will take Building Code requirements into our base budget. Were facing growing, interconnected threats from russia, china, north korea, iran, and a host of terrorist proxies, annexes bent on eroding american influence, dominating our friends, and killing our service members. This is not news. And, unfortunately, neither is the sort of willful blindness of democratic administrators when you come to growing threats. After all, it was president obama who decided to let a budget number dictate National Security priorities rather than letting strategy inform spending. The was the obamaBiden Administration that abandon the two war planning construct that is long guided how we structure and resource our armed forces. The risk that america and our allies will have to fight simultaneously into regions is real. In two regions is real. Its a growing. And its time to start taking this risk seriously. It is absurd to pretend that we can outcompete the pacing threat from china, let alone simultaneous conflicts, when the president wont even submit Defense Budgets that keep up with inflation. We are spending half as much on defense as a percentage of gdp as we did during president reagans buildup. But were facing even more serious threats than he did back then. Show me your budget, and ill tell you what you value. Those are the words of President Biden. I had hoped that the tennessee. Mr. Hagerty i ask consent to call off the quorum call. The presiding officer without objection. T mr. Hagerty in 2021 President Biden signed an order for voers to engage in Voter Mobilization, using taxpayer resources and it requires they submit a plan to the white house. This includes vote by mail materials and finding thirdparty organizations for votingrelated activity on federal appropriate. There is no clear thauthority t work with certain voters to complete mail and ballot forms and bring in outside organizations to help. And theres no authority for spending funds on thft activity raising the question of whether it violates the antideficiency act. This executive order blatantly violates by having agencies provide votingrelated services on agency premises. There is the question of whether the Biden Administration is implementing this order in a manner that violates the hatch act. It limits political activity by federal employees. It is a federal law enacted to prevent this sort of government activity. It was enacted after the Roosevelt Administration was accused of using federal employees to boost democrat candidates. Does this sound familiar . Think about v. P. Harriss recent announcement that federal funds will be used to Hire College Students as, quote, nonpartisan poll workers this summer. It turns out her example she used was a committed partisan. Back to executive order 14019 and the Biden Administrations pledge to be the most Transparent Administration ever. Surely the Biden Administration is going to go above and beyond to be transparent and explain exactly how this order is being implemented, right . Wrong. In fact, in the three years since this order was issued, the Biden Administration has done the exact opposite. The white house has stonewalled congressional requests to see the agency plans required under the order. Despite the fact that congressionally appropriated resources are being spent on these plans. Theyve gone to court to fight open records requests to see the plans. Last may, along with several colleagues, i wrote to the white house asking for basic information on these plans. I never received a response. We wrote again in november and again were iing were ignored by the white house. Now ive introduced legislation that would simply require that the agencies disclose their plans and provide an update on their implementation. Thats it. They just have to explain what theyre doing. Will they . Ill note that im not alone in seeking transparency harding this regarding this executive order, several of my democratic colleagues requested its plan. My legislation broadens this request by seeking transparency from all agencies. The white houses continued and deliberate secrecy begs the question, what are they hiding . What do they fear . I think we can surmise that these plans take our nation right back to the 1930s. Weaponizing government yet again. This time to recruit and to harvest democrat voters. The facts that have slipped out seem to confirm just as much. The Biden White House tasked a farleft Organization Called demos which describes its mission as, quote, pioneering bold, progressive ideas. This organization has been used by the white house to help implement this executive order. Demos recommended this mobilization strategy to the incoming Biden Administration in december of 2020. Interestingly, demos former president was brought into work in the white house which dutifully issued this order implementing the plan during President Bidens first year in office. The department of health and Human Services has acknowledged that its working with groups like the aclu and demos to implement this executive order. A request also revealed that demos is also working with the department of agriculture. It seems that the idea is to use federal agencies to provide point of sale Voter Mobilization. Provide a federal benefit and then use that exchange of federal benefits to mobilize the voter. Theres a reason why the hatch act and other laws prevent federal employees from engaging in because federal employees are paid to serve all american taxpayers, not use government benefits to activate voters. This sort of activity is fraught with potential impact even if framed as nonpartisan. Setting across the clear policy and ethical concerns, all my legislation requires is transparency. The Biden Administration has taken extraordinary steps to hide this basic information from the American People. Not only does President Biden owe taxpayers this information regarding how their hardearned dollars are being spent on voter mobile stakes, but its mobilization, but its a basic duty of this body to oversee how congressionally appropriated funds are being spent, especially on activities for which they were never appropriated. In just a few months, tens of millions of americans will cast their vote for president. The American People deserve to know whether the incumbent president is attempting to tip the scales in favor of his own reelection using taxpayer dollars. We all agree that free and Fair Elections are a foundational pillar of the United States. The founders of the United States rightfully left that responsibility of carrying out federal elections to the states. Not to the incumbent federal president. This was to help ensure the integrity of and ensure the confidence in our election system. This executive order is an extreme departure from the american model. The president using the vast federal bureaucracy to carry out a secret Voter Mobilization operation months before the election is a dangerous precedent and it should alarm every one of us here in congress and, frankly, it should alarm every american. Thats why im requesting that the senate pass legislation requiring that the Biden Administration disclose these plans and provide the transparency thats necessary to address rightful concerns about using taxpayer dollars in an unlawful and in a deeply disturbing manner. So, mr. President , i ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding rule 22, the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of s. 4239 which is at the desk. I further ask that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. The presiding officer is there objection . A senator reserving the right to object. The presiding officer the senator from california. Mr. Padilla mr. President , i believe that our democracy works best when as many eligible people as possible participate in our democracy. Thats not a controversial stance or a partisan talking point. Its actually the bedrock of our democracy. And something that i assume we all learned in High School Civics class. Thats why in march of 2021, President Biden issued executive order 14019 directing federal agencies to take commonsense steps to promote nonpartisan Voter Registration and participation, including by partnering with state Voter Registration offices. Voter registration offices, by the way, are recognized and charged by federal law. We have the National Voter motor law as one example from 1994. Im very familiar with this because prior to joining the senate, i served as california secretary of state where i in that lens from that perspective, i enthusiastically support the administrations efforts to ensure that all eligible americans are able to participate in our elections. Nobody should be afraid of encouraging more eligible americans to register to vote and to cast their ballot. Nobody should be afraid of increasing turnout. Certainly not United States senators. But at the same time, i also strongly support Congress Oversight role. Thats why ive already engaged in conversations with the administration on the steps that theyre taking to implement the executive order and help more eligible americans vote. Because thats what this straightforward executive order does. It simply directs federal agencies to take appropriate steps mindful of the law within their existing authorities, not asking to do anything they havent done before, to help eligible americans to vote. Nowhere in the order does it say help democrats or help republicans. Any eligible american. So if my colleague is interested in joining me to receive these updates from the administration on their implementation, i would be more than happy to facilitate such a meeting and conversation. But this bill, colleagues, the bill before us now is simply the latest republican attempt to undermine the Biden Administrations efforts to expanding voting to all eligible americans. Earlier this year i voted alongside my democratic colleagues against efforts that would have blocked funding to implement this executive order. And ill continue to work with my colleagues to protect the right to vote and efforts to promote voter access. And again im more than happy to work with my colleague, any of my colleagues, to have productive conversations with the administration, but this bill, this bill will only serve to undermine the work being done to promote Voter Registration and participation. So, therefore, mr. President , i object. The presiding officer the objection is heard. Mr. Hagerty mr. President , i appreciate any colleagues outreach to Work Together and i look forward to, working with him on a number of issues. He has great expertise in this arena. But i have a very basic question to ask. And that is, what is this administration afraid of . Because all im asking for is transparency. Im just asking to see the plans that are commanded by this executive order. Yet the administration stonewalls us on this. We talk about having conversations, but why not just show the plans . I fear that this is a return back to the 1930s, a return back to the weaponization of government delivering a point of sale benefit and at the same time bringing along a Voter Registration package and an encouragement of voting for the incumbent administration. Lets see the plans. Lets allay the concerns that i raise. This administration is not doing that. This administration is stonewalling us. In fact, my colleague, senator padilla, has also requested transparency of the gsa to find out what theyre doing with respect to implementing this executive order. Lets expand this to all agencies. Lets let the American Public see what the Biden Administration is up to with this executive order. But the real motivation of this executive order was the fact that the Biden Administration was disappointed that they werent able to federalize our election system. After the failure of h. R. 1 and s. 1 here in the senate, this is the result, executive order 14019. This is the command to weaponize the federal system for electioneering activities. I think americans deserve to see what these plans are and i would look forward to the transparency that im asking for. Thank you, mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from california. Mr. Padilla i note the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call the clerk ms. Baldwin. Quorum call what was the issue . This all started about a year ago when energy and Commerce Committee chair Cathy Mcmorris rodgers rot tiktok ceo to capitol hill to testify and really what you should highlight a, number one, a National Security concern with the app and number two there are data privacy concerns with app. Specifically with its owner bytedance having too many ties to the Chinese Government. This started about a year ago. Shortly afterwards a bill was introduced and that is now we have a law which directs the development or band tiktok. Host we use the term and that will be a technical ban . Guest depends on the ask. The bill authors are very adamant in clarifying this is not necessarily a bill to ban the app. It gets tiktok the option of finding a different owner, a u. S. Owner that isnt a National Security threat. But because that sale could be complicated and politically precarious, you could actually ask tiktok and they would say this is a ban. Host what timeframe does the bill gets tiktok to make these decisions . Guest it gets tiktok nine months and then the president could extend that by three months, so in your total. Host of water used to understand, the Parent Company, what is it and what are the concerns about those . Guest the Parent Company is called bytedance and it does have some operations in china. It also has engineers in china. The concern is if the Chinese Government ever wanted to have that company hand over yesterday to pick a do so. That is what is concern for u. S. Lawmakers. If you asked tiktok it will tell you all u. S. Data is housed in the United States and he wouldnt be forced to current date over to the Chinese Government. But that did not convince any lawmakers on capitol hill from either side of the aisle. Host he said National Security concerns were part of legislators and the data privacy. Wheres the National Security come in . Guest nasas agouti concern comes in with the idea you could do for influence campaigns on this app. There are 107 million americans, Young Americans Young Americans using the application. If the Chinese Government wanted to spread propaganda, that fear among u. S. Lawmakers is they could do so and influence american politics. Host are gaster to talk about the future tiktok in the United States, in light of this legislation if you want ask questions about it, democrats 2027488000. Republicans 2027488001. Independents 2027488002. And if you want to text us your thoughts, 2027488003 is how you do that. Witches we just have polid partisan lines. This is not of partisan issue. Guest it is not. We saw the first during the hearing when the tiktok ceo came he was grilled by both sides of the aisle. When a clear the committee was completely unanimous. When it cleared the house and the senate it had broad support. This is something that is shared by both parties. Host speaking of that ceo, the tiktok ceo got on the platform after the passage of the legislation and respond to President Biden signing it. Heres a portion of what he had to say and then well get your response. Congress passed a bill that the president signed into law that is designed to band tiktok in the United States. That will take tiktok away from you and 170 million americans who find community and connection in all platform. Make no mistake, this is a man, abandoned tiktok and the ban on you and your voice. Politicians may say otherwise but dont get confused. Many who sponsored the bill admit the tiktok ban is the ultimate goal. Its a disappointing moment but it does not mean to be a defining what. Its ironic because of freedom of expression on tiktok reflects the same American Values the makes the United States a beacon of freedom. Tiktok gives Everyday Americans appalled for way to be seen and heard. Thats why so many people have made tiktok part of their daily lives. Rest assured, we are not going anywhere. Were confident and we will keep fighting for your rights in the courts. The facts and the constitution are on our side. We expect to prevail again. Our community is filled with people who found acceptance and compassion of inspiration and encouragement, increase our awareness and broader prospectus. Hopefully adding more delight and joy to their lives. Our community is also filled with 79 Business Owners who built their likelihoods on tiktok. While we make a case in court youll still get to enjoy tiktok like you always have. In fact, if you have a story about tiktok impacts your life, we would love for you to share it to show exactly what we are fighting for. Meanwhile we will continue to invest and inability keep opportunity our community vibrant, exciting and safe. Through our u. S. Data security efforts we have built safeguards that other company has made. We have invested billions of dollars to secure your data and keep our platform free from outside manipulation. I cant say this enough. This extraordinary Diverse Community is what makes tiktok so special. What makes a matter and what makes it meaningful. And we will keep working to ensure you always have the opportunity, the safety and te freedom to enjoy all tiktok has to offer. Thank you. Host a long response from the ceo of tiktok. We are not going away. Very emphatic on his part. What does he base at from . Guest i think he is driving that confidence from the fact that this is a country with very strong First Amendment protections, and he certainly plans to bring this to court. It will probably end up in the Supreme Court and his main message main argument will probably be this is a First Amendment violation upon millions of users that use at. Host he said the constitution is on our side. Guest correct. Host lets hear from jeff in arkansas, a democrats line for our guest maria curate of axios. Good morning. Go ahead. Caller good morning. Hows everybody doing today . Guest good, thank you, a quick question. Since you are talked about American Companies buying into tiktok. Has a been established in the list of companies that are lining up to buy tiktok . Guest thats a great question. So its a very expensive company and so that kind of narrows down buyers precynically. Some potential companies would be able to afford it are metaor google, but those those Companies Already have major platforms like instagram, facebook for meta, and you do for google and i could run into some monopoly concerns, too much social media power in the hands of just one Parent Company. Some other Companies Might be able to come in and purchase the app. Microsoft has been floated but no one has come out and said where interested in buying this app yet. Host whoever decides come what scrutiny by the federal government if the decision or at least an interest to buy it . Guest right. My run it to some antitrust issues with the department of justice for the ftc, but it will definitely be better than a chinesebased company for a lot of regulators in washington. Host early on President Trumps treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin expressed interest possibly in gathering a collection of people to buy it. Guest i dont think its gone anyway. That was it that the new cycle and i havent heard from it again but who knows . Host you heard from the ceo but as far as influencers, those who use tiktok for business, white and they said natalie on on a platform buth legislators in d. C. . Guest a lot of anger and disappointment. This is a platform that really provided a lot of americans an opportunity not just to express themselves but to build businesses and to make money off of products and businesses. A lot of people are upset now. One of the tact is because the bill was kind of sprung on tiktok. Tiktok do not see it coming. One of the tactics the company used was having these little popup show up on the app when users would come on and he would say this is your congressman to number, dreck we call the people we saw was a lot of users calling offices on capitol hill inundating the offices with request to reject this bill and that actually had a opposite effect which gave lawmakers in favor of the bill because they thought as a means this could be used to mobilize large groups of people in politics videos. Host we saw the president signed the bill but how much expressed concerns over concerns congress has about this, the company in tiktok itself . Guest President Biden is deathly supportive of this measure. He obviously signed into law with so many other issues going on it hasnt been the main focus for the white house but obviously it has been support, the president still plans to use platform for his campaigning, even in light of his decision. Guest thats right, thats right. There will be very adamant to say that the the presidencys different from the campaign and so public officials, no one in a focus on the hill is allowed to use tiktok. That is been banned for a while. For federal employees and wasnt available and so there is a little bit of a disconnect the bear and the president has faced criticism for its campaigns using the app. Host again our viewers, 2027488000 democrats. Republicans 2027488001. Independents 2027488002. If you want to ask questions about this potential band tiktok and the United States. Austin, texas, will hear from roy republican line. Good morning. Caller good morning. The statement id like to make is the fact that we keep hearing about everybody sing First Amendment right is being violated. The problem with that is that it tiktok was he only show in town they may be right. But since it tiktok is not the only show in town, there are other apps out there that do the same exact thing. They can easily migrate to those apps. Nobody is nobodys rights are being violated. I dont know why the keep that hype. Guest i hear you and one of the concerns from First Amendment scholars might raise that this might set a precedent for other apps to be banned. That is one of the fears that might its just tiktok but other apps could come to bring up to the president is, come under scrutiny and before you know it maybe we have a more fragmented internet, not just globally where the internet looks very different in china versus the United States. But within the United States users and creators have less options but that speculative and it really is a matter to be watched. Host talk about those other companies. Is her sense of waiting in the wings should this happen and should should be committed to fill the gap . Guest absolutely. I think its 190 minutes that americans are spending on tiktok every day. That is deathly an opportunity for other social media apps to come and take advantage. Host david is text from atlanta, independent line. Good morning. Caller good morning, pedro. Good morning, maria. I have two questions. The first one is a National Security. Do you think the Chinese Government is actually gathering information on american citizens . And the second question is do you actually think the Chinese Government would allow an American Company to purchase tiktok . Guest to your first question whether the Chinese Government is actually gathering information on americans, in 2022 forts did investigation that showed american journalists were being spied on and tracked by the app. And beyond that we know that the app tracks are movements. The videos that we watch, for how long we watch them. We dont know whether or not the Chinese Government is using that information for anything, but the fear is that they could. And so that is really what the impetus for lawmakers to act here. Answer your second question, with the Chinese Government allow another American Company to buy tiktok . No. I very, very highly doubt that. And even if tiktok they decide to find different Parent Company, the algorithm which is what makes the app so powerful and useful for other people is probably not going to be sold because the Chinese Government would intervene in that sense. The algorithm is what makes the app. That is what recommends a video, what keeps on app for longer time because its going what we enjoy watching. So a sale of tiktok without the algorithm would not be very attractive to any buyer. Host we have a view of this is the Company Operates this is based on u. S. Laws so why band tiktok and make comparisons one of further about x or facebook . Guest said tiktok is abiding by u. S. Laws. Its Parent Company is in beijing, it is based in beijing, and the argument is a Chinese Government could just force the company to hand over data regardless of where it is stored. Whenever it wants. What was the second question . Host why not make the same kind of analogies for x or facebook . Guest great question because we live in a country that does not have a federal privacy law unlike European Union and many other developed countries around the world. One of the criticism lawmakers faced when they were pushing forward this law so forcefully and finally were able to get it through congress, which tax laws are very rarely passed, was that we still dont have come have an address the root of the issue which is lack of a privacy law. One of the bill that is not got as much attention as a tiktok ban is actually this one of a champion by chairwoman Cathy Mcmorris rodgers and frank malone which would ban data breakers data brokers from sony are Sensitive Information to any foreign country that we deem adversaries. That is also another important measure here because American Companies are also using our data and selling. Host are there the otr countries as concerned about National Security or privacy what comes to tiktok like the United States . Guest yes. There are many countries now that have banned the app for federal employees and for users. Thats pretty widespread. Government employees. As far as a ban for all people of that particular country, its much greater. We knew india has to but not many others. Host maria kure joining us for this discussion from axios about this band of tiktok. Lets hear from north carolina, independent line. Good morning. Caller good morning. My question is more or less on a National Security phase but more on [inaudible] that comes to the use and addiction and also depression. I understand those people are concerned about National Security risks [inaudible] about the youth and how its affecting Mental Health tragic you were cutting out a little bit but i think i got the gist of it is whats been done about the addiction aspect of this and youth Mental Health. This isnt going to address that issue because we know that once tiktok does not prevail in court and it is eventually removed from the u. S. Market, there are many other social Media Companies out there. Another issue that congress is working toward his passing laws that would address this Mental Health issue and giving parents more controls, putting more responsibility on the shoulders of companies to be responsible in the products theyre pushing on minors. We will see if that clears congress. Host visit from connecticut, stephen, independent line. Caller a couple of things. One, Data Collection [inaudible] tip the scales. Another one is algorithmic intelligence to, say, drive certain events subtly. The classic operations baker of certain events not to tip their hand or tip the scales in subtle events. And, of course, collect like, like facebook or an American Company [inaudible] not to influence how we say or think, but for sales. Chinese intelligence is not to sell me a car or something. Thats my thoughts. Guest the difference between Data Collection, algorithmic intelligence . Host caller, are you there . Caller yes, can you clarify what you want our guest to answer . Caller yes. I think chinese intelligence which is tiktok on the American Population . There are laws that they can collect that they want in china. Guest if you speak with lawmakers here, their concern is the algorithm is so powerful it sucks you into a feedback loop of the content you are already engaging with an your kind in this loop perpetually. I mention the amount of minutes americans are spending on the app on average. Thats a lot of time. That could of course create a quick chambers and reinforce beliefs you already have an limit discourse on the other side. This is one of the concerns lawmakers had in the context of the israelhamas war, where they felt the app was suppressing pro is really speech. On other side of that though you have people saying that was just a reflection of the actual discourse happening among young people in the United States right now, and that is what the conversations were reflecting. It has the algorithm is very powerful, and its not unlike other algorithms and other apps necessarily. Its unique for tiktok but you also have powerful algorithms in other apps that influence the way we think, the legislation was put forth and part of her concerns about disinformation or misinformation from platforms primarily tiktok tragic that was also another concern was more at americans than ever are getting their news from social media and that includes tiktok. Thats an issue that exist again not just with companies that have ties to china but also American Companies. Host a larger question from iq in california asking you why social media platforms like tiktok should be treated like publishers . Guest thats a a great question. It comes down to the content and who is moderating that content. Platforms moderate their own content but its really as the users that are deciding what goes on there, and then they art necessarily liable for that. And so that is Online Publishers are that are liable for the content they decide to publish. One of the biggest debates has always been sure would make these platforms liable for the content that is under platforms . The idea has always been that we shouldnt because that could lead to companies deciding what we see him but we dont see and it would be better to be left to the hands of americans. That is another active debate on capitol hill is how to handle that liability question. Host this is from kevin in Minnesota Independent line. Caller good morning. I remember this going on a couple years ago when President Trump said he was going to ban tiktok unless they gave us like 10 billion in the treasury. What happened with that . Guest right. The tiktok efforts under former President Trump did really go anywhere. They were held up in court and we know now that he made some statements on the campaign trail today to talk about the corporate Transparency Act, or in d. C. We call it the swamp speak the cta act. The cta is, to me, one of the worst examples of Big Government overreach that ive seen since ive gotten to washington over three and a half years ago. Thats saying a whole lot, since our country is 34 trillion in debt. The cta was signed into law in 2021 as part of the physical year 2021 ndaa. Simply put, the corporate Transparency Act is an outright attack on the 32 million Small Businesses in this country. This includes farmers, restaurants, gyms, lawn service companies. The cta specifically targets working americans with an llc and failure to comply could put you in jail for up to two years per violation plus slap on 10,000 per violation. Thats quite a penalty. I dont know about you, but i have plenty of friend and family members who have an llc. Its just part of the way the u. S. Economy works. Capitalism. Small business and llc owners play a huge, a huge role in supporting this country and our way of life. I can tell you, most Business Owners have no idea that this law exists, none, not one bit. The corporate Transparency Act requires individuals with substantial control over a company or an equity position of 25 to disclose personal data with treasury, financial crimes enforcement network. Now, thats a long name. Its better known as fincen in swamp talk. Most americans have no idea what it is, and theyd never heard of it before. The cta will impact Small Businesses across the nation, in addition to millions of citizens who use llc to invest in real estate or protect their assets, which millions of americans do. My state of alabama is home to over 400,000 Small Businesses. Now, Small Businesses are the backbone of alabamas economy, making up more than 99 of the business community. Providing jobs to nearly half of alabamas working population. But it isnt just alabamans who will be impacted. Over 32 million businesses across america are estimated to be affected by this overreaching Big Government swamp law. Hardly anybody knows about it. Its a wellkept secret. But it affects farmers, lawyers, accountants, Business Owners who are directly and seriously impacted. Under this law, millions of small Business Owners are required to report personal details to the federal government. Business owners or anyone who qualifies for this massive government overreach must disclose their name, their date of birth, their address, scan their governmentissued photo i. D. To the Treasury Department by the end of this year. Anytime this information changes, updated information must be submitted to fincens database within 30 days. So if you move, you have to let the federal government know within 30 days that you changed your address. Failure to file an fincen could lead again to two years jail time and 10,000 fine per violation. By the way, i find it ironic were currently voting on legislation crashing down on social Media Companies, like tiktok and facebook, for storing peoples personal data. And meanwhile, the federal government is doing the very exact thing that weve been discussing here on this floor for months and months. Why does the federal government need this information in the first place . Well, the goal of the cta was to crack down on shell Companies Used to commit crimes. Thats what this was meant for. But the reality is criminals, theyre not going to file with fincen. Thats not going to happen. Criminals dont go by the law. Instead, this will be used to go after hardworking americans. In recent years weve lost over 150,000 farmers in this country. You heard that right. Just in the last few years, 150,000 farmers have gone out of business. They cant keep up with joe bidens highpriced economy. Its not happening. Theyre not making any money. Theyre selling out. And now the cta is going to squeeze them for every last cent. We need farmers in this country. We need Small Businesses. Where joss does joe biden think our food comes from, by the way . Its sad. Few in washington, and most outside the beltway, have no idea this law actually exists. I continue to say, we have a law thats not been advertised. People hadnt pushed it. Its out there, and its just hanging. They have no idea that this law exists, plus they dont have the idea that the criminal penalty is there and its a very high price. To no ones surprise, Large Businesses with powerful listen to this point, with powerful lobbyists, got a carveout in the law, and they do not have to comply with cta. Thats right. If they had a very good lobbyist and theyre a big business, they dont have to comply with this law. Companies like black rock, facebook, amazon, they dont have to comply with this, because the federal government is too busy going after your local neighborhood restaurant. Or your daughters favorite nail salon. Or your familys dentist. Or your local farmer. While the little guy has to struggle with all this red tape, llcs with more than 20 employees, and greater than 5 million in revenue, do not file with fincen. Thats right, its only the small guy. Only the small person trying to make a living. Yet another win for the swampy special interest groups, while hardworking americans, who pay their taxes, theyll suffer. The few small Business Owners aware of the ctas existence want to make sure they are compliept, but they have compliant, but they have few places to turn. Accounting and law firms do not want to take on the responsibilities of filing with these complaints, and many industry professionals are unaware of the penalties if you fail to file. The irs announced hes using american tax dollars to hire 84,000 new irs agents to go after everyday taxpayers. 84,000. Now, if you remember, President Biden promised were not going to go after anybody who makes less than 400,000. Yet another lie from 1600 pennsylvania avenue. Now some of these agents will target small Business Owners who fail to disclose their information to fincen, not to mention prosecutors who will use this cta to target conservative Business Owners. Sadly the irs has a history of singling out certain taxpayers based on their religious and political beliefs. Have we forgotten lois lerner, who is living off her taxpayerfunded pension but should have been prosecuted . In an america where justice is becoming less equal by the day, and prosecutions have been used to target political opponents, the cta is just another way that this administration can use the federal government to go after conservatives and christians. To add insult to injury, fincen has done little to nothing to educate americans on the cta and the harsh consequences if you dont comply. Its almost like they want americans to be ignorant about the new law so they can punish them for not complying. This is completely unfair. This is not the american way. Youd expect this from communist china, but this is not going to happen on our watch. Next week im introducing the repealing big brother overreach act to overturn the cta in its entirety. America used to be the land of freedom and opportunity. Under joe biden, the American Dream has become a nightmare for many small Business Owners and farmers. My bill would provide millions of Small Businesses and entrepreneurial americans with regulatory and compliance relief. They need a break. They dont need more regulations. They need less. My bill would also remove a weapon used by rogue prosecutors whod love to punish republicans, and joe bidens irs that are openly targeting conservatives every day. Its past time we start standing up for our farmers, our store owners, llc holders and Small Businesses who are the heartbeat of this america. Im proud to be joined in this effort by congressman Warren Davidson of hof who is filing a companion bill in the United States house of representatives. If Congress Fails to act on this legislation, millions of americans, small Business Owners, could be in for a rude awakening next year. I look forward to leader schumer bringing this bill to the floor and helping millions of small Business Owners and helping them that are counting on us to take on this huge government overreach. Mr. President , i yield the floor. A senator mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from arkansas. Mr. Boozman im hur to honor senator im here to honor senator david pryor from arkansas who passed away on april 28. He was a dedicated Public Servant who dedicated his life to making arkansas better. His trademark motto arkansas comes first was not only a sign on his desk. It was a mission he pursued relentlessly with passion and a formidable intellect. Senator pryor represented arkansas in this chamber for three terms, but Public Service at any level is something he learned from the example of his family. His father and grandfather were both sheriffs and his mother was the First Arkansas woman to run for elected office. That was a Good Foundation to start from and the unique skills he possessed to persuade and lead were tools he effectively used throughout his career. Those who worked with him described him as genuine and fair and were in awe of his ability to make real meaningful connections whether on the floor of the senate with colleagues from across the aisle or the folks in small arkansas towns. Every interaction with david pryor conveyed that he cared and that he wanted to help. That posture certainly worked to his advantage over decades in public life. Voters elected pryor to the state legislature in 1960 and in consent years they trusted him to be in subsequent years they trusted him to be u. S. Congressman governor and senator. It was his honesty and hard work that demonstrated to arkansans that he was trust wore trust worthy. In the senate he advocated for seniors where he focused on Prescription Drug pricing and nursing home abuse. He championed the taxpayer bill of rights to protect the hardearned money of arkansans and all americans. He also served as a Senate Liaison between the senate and the white house when another former arkansas governor, bill clinton, was president. When senator pryor left elected office in 1997, he didnt slow down. His commitment to Civic Engagement and the wellbeing of arkansas never faded as he took on a number of roles including as the fulbright distinguished fellow of law and Public Affairs in the university of arkansas and then also university of arkansas system trustee and founding dean of the Clinton School of Public Service. David pryor was an avid story teller much he relished in the occasion to teach a memorable lesson or simply reminisce. He established the center for oral and visual history. I will always appreciate the history the example he set even from afar. He was a great role model for mean and so many other arkansans as we were growing up. I first met david pryor after i was elected to serve the people of the Third District of arkansas. He was a true southern gentleman who reached across the aisle and offered his assistance to help me navigate washington. He understood the importance of working together and was willing to share his wisdom with anybody because it was another opportunity to support our state. He also passed the drive to Public Service down to his children. I was honored to serve along his son mark and know that we are immensely proud of the pryor family. Senator pryor leaves behind a legacy of Public Service rich with accomplishments that made a difference in the lives of arkansans and people all across our country. He modelled statesmanship and stewardship so incredibly. We celebrate everything he represented in serving the people of arkansas. I yield to my friend from arkansas and colleague senator cotton. Mr. Cotton thank you. I join with senator boozman to honor former senator david pryor, great arkansan, statesman and dedicated Public Servant. David pryor first entered Public Office in the Arkansas State house of representatives when he was only 26 years old. Not even six years later, fellow arkansans elected him to the congress where he served in the house for six years. In 1972, he narrowly lost a race for senate against a longtime democratic incumbent, having pushed the race into a runoff. But the grace and magnanimity he showed in defeat that year led him directly to victory two years later when he was elected governor in 1974, and after two successful terms in the Governors Mansion he was elected to this body in 1978. He served here with distinction for 18 years. Over the course of this storied political career, david pryor won an impressive 12 elections and served the people in Public Office for more than 30 years. He was a reformer who opposed segregationist policies of his own party, championed the interest of seniors and farmers and was respected by friend and foe alike. He fought for better conditions in our nursing homes, lower Prescription Drug prices for our sick, and the taxpayer bill of rights to give relief to the average american. He led arkansas through recession and recovery and left an enduring legacy on our state government. And throughout his time in political office, he kept a plaque on his desk with three simple words arkansas comes first. An example that continues to inspire me and senator boozman and all of those who serve the natural state. After leaving the senate, he didnt just retire or fade quietly away or tend to his own private affairs. Rather he continued to serve others. He supported the university of arkansas. He established the david and Barbara Pryor center for arkansas oral and visual history, and he contributed to a series of academic and humanitarian ventures. David pryor leaves behind a loving family, including his wife barbara of 66 years, three sons including mark, who also served in the senate for 12 years; and two sisters. My prayers and the prayers of so many arkansans are with the whole pryor family during this moment of their grief. But david pryor also leaves behind a grateful state. When he retired from the senate, he said arkansas owes me nothing, and i owe arkansas everything. I would submit thats not quite right. Our state does owe david pryor quite a bit. It owes him a debt of gratitude for a life well lived, committed to Public Service and inspiring so many others. He fought for what he believed would make arkansas better. And for that, we will remember the life and legacy of david pryor with fondness, respect, and gratitude. Thank you. I yield the floor. The first is the right to free speech and make their voices heard. Second is the rule of law. Both must be upheld. An authoritarian nation reit sounds for squash them. American people are hurt. Peaceful protests is the best tradition how americans respond to consequential issues. Score political points. This isnt a moment for politics, its a moment for clarity so let me be clear. Peaceful protests in america. Private protests are not protected. Properties destroyed are not peaceful. Breaking windows, shutting down campus. None of us is a peaceful protest. Not peaceful protest. The senate must never be in disorder. No matter what right. The right to protest but not the right to cause chaos. The right to get an education. The right to walk across campus safely with copy fear of being attacked. Should be no based on any campus or in america were antisemitism, theres no base for speech. His homophobia and palestinian americans, it simply wrong. No place for this in america. Its unamerican. I understand people have strong feelings and convictions. In america, respect but that doesnt mean this. That means no violence and no destruction. I will always be just as strong as standing up for the rule of law. Thats my responsibility to you, the American People and the application of the constitution. Thank you very much. Abridging freedom of speech for the press or the right of the people is fully assembled and address grievances in the constitution of the United States but let me take this opportunity to remember i relate colleagues, john the whisper is harold role in the civil rights movement. I know it is congressman lewis and others decades after they did but i would remind my colleagues that mr. Lewis was arrested 45 times participating occupations and protests. Fortyfive times protesting segregation and racism. I also remind my colleague the lunch counter helped lead to the desegregation of the south in the United States for impact occupation young black and white americans anglican . Base got a businesses demanding an end to racism and segregation that existed at that time. Further, as i hope Everybody Knows have decades protest against the homophobia and transfer Energy System away from fossil fuel to save this planet. Protesting injustice and expressing our opinion is part of our american tradition. Talk about america being a free country whether you like it or not, the right to protest is what American Freedom is all about. The u. S. Constitution. Let me also remind you 60 years ago student demonstrators exact same building Columbia Universitys campus taking place right now. Across the country students and others including myself joined Peaceful Demonstrations in our position to the war in vietnam. Those demonstrators were demanding an end to that work and maybe, just maybe tens of thousands of american lives and cap must be enemies lives mightve been saved the government at that time wasnt. Senator from oklahoma. Mr. Lankford is the senate in a quorum call . The presiding officer no, we are not. Mr. Lankford thank you. This week the senate began consideration of the faa reauthorization bill. It is an incredibly important piece of legislation that this body takes up every few years to evaluate the safety of our National Airspace. Theres a lot of aspects in it. What some people not know that this is not only important to our National Airspace and safety, but it is important to oklahoma. Oklahomans are passionate about our airspace. We love to fly and have a long heritage of flying in our state. But it is it also the unique relationship that faa has with the state of oklahoma. There are only two faa centers outside of washington, d. C. , one is in oklahoma. If you have been on a flight lately and it took off and landed safely, you can thank the folks in Oklahoma City. That center that has functioned for 70 years provided a lot of the Vital Services for the faa for all seven decades. They were established in 1958, home to thousands of great federal employees that serve our nation every day to keep our airspace safe, but they do it in ways people sometimes dont see. I will give an example of that. The center houses a lot of different components and a lot of back Office Things for different agencies. They are on 1100 acres of land in Oklahoma City, and as you go through the complex, you think there is a lot going on here. The civil airspace medical institute is housed in Oklahoma City. It takes care of the medical certification, the research, education, Occupational Health wing for the faa. They conduct all the research and studies on the Human Element of flight there. Thats safety for pilots, flight attendants, passengers, how to handle pressurization all of those things, they do that in Oklahoma City every day. It is home to the only faa academy. They handle the first 60 days of the air Traffic Control training before a student is placed in the field. When you take off and land, any of these xhaun indication with air any of their communication with air Traffic Control, it is likely those folks were trained in Oklahoma City. The Oklahoma City air Traffic Control training has geared up to take on as many people as the nation needs for air Traffic Control. This particular bill encourages maximizing as many people as possible actually getting through air Traffic Control training. The academy in Oklahoma City is well prepared to step up to the challenge of that. They have space, they have great trainers that come in from all over the country to do the training there, they are fully capable and have had a great curriculum that they have been able to train folks that serve our nation every single day. The faa reauthorization bill expands that capacity in Oklahoma City rightfully so and they are fully able to do it. They set a new minimum hiring target for the air Traffic Controllers so the maximum number of individuals go through the academy. Advanced air mobility is another element that is there at the Mike Monroney aeronautical center. While a lot of folks talk about the future, research is happening on the ground in Oklahoma City. There are a lot of aspects of this bill that continues to be able to make our airspace the safest airspace in the world. Lets keep it that way. Lets continue to learn what we can and to be able to advance the future of aviation in the United States. I look forward to the debate that will begin officially later on today and will continue through next week or, quite frankly, until the senate is finished on the debate on this bill because its important that we get the faa bill done in the days ahead. With that, i yield the floor. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call contains netanyahu issued a statement in which he equated criticism of goods government numeral war Palestinian People antisemitism. You are protesting or disagree with what was government doing you are an antisemite. As an outrageous statement the leader clearly trying to do something i have to tell you American Media that us deflect attention away from river policies that is government pursuing and gaza which has an unprecedented humanitarian solemnity as clear as i can be. It is not antisemitic for pro hamas to say in almost seven months netanyahu government killed 34000 needs limited more than 77000. 70 of homes are women and children. 5 of the people in gaza have been killed or injured 70 of whom are women and children. It is not antisemitic to say that the Government Campaign more than 221,000 Housing Units in concentrated 60 of housing in gaza have been damaged or destroyed leaving more than 1 Million People home. About half the population. It is not antisemitic to show what you have done in terms of housing and gaza. It is not antisemitic to understand netanyahus government annihilated gazas healthcare. Hospitals out of service killing more than 100 healthcare workers at a time. 77000 company and need medical care. It systematically destroyed the Healthcare System in gaza. It is not antisemitic condemn netanyahu government for the destruction causes 12 universities. Twelve universities all destroyed. Not antisemitic to say that nor is antisemitic to make the. That 56 other schools have been destroyed and hundreds more damaged. Today 625,000 children in gaza have no opportunity for an education. Its not antisemitic to say that. It is not antisemitic note the government has obliterated presence civilian infrastructure, virtually no each electricity i know virtually nothing more in gaza and sewage is keeping out onto the streets. Its not antisemitic to say that. Mr. President , its not antisemitic debris with virtually every humanitarian organization that functions in the gaza area. The government in violation of american law is unreasonably blocked humanitarian aid into gaza and have created the conditions under which hundreds of thousands of children gaza face malnutrition. It is not antisemitic to look at photographs children starting to because theyve not been able to get the food its not antisemitic to agree american officials and un officials could be in the not very distant future. Antisemitism is a vile disgusting form of bigotry epstein unspeakable to many millions of people for hundreds of years including my own family but it is outrageous and that is disgraceful to use the charge antisemitism to distract us from a moral policies extremist races government is pursuing. Furthermore, it is she politics to use the charge of antisemitism for the attention indictment he is facing in israeli courts. Bottom line, it is not antisemitic to hold netanyahu and his government accountable for their actions. Its not antisemitic, precisely what we should be doing because among other things, we are the government in the world that has supplied over a period of years and most recently billions of dollars in order for him continue. She would also say while there is walltowall coverage, i mentioned it is not vote for College Campuses that are extremely upset about Government Support and funding and i would say last week the senate voted to give netanyahu another billing dollars of military aid to continue his work. Disagree with that decision. It is the American People. A season are. Weapons and supplies to israel supporting those who think. Disproportionately higher among the democratic community. 37 support create support. 15 oppose. Its not just protesters on College Campuses upset about u. S. Government policy. Increasingly the American People want an end to u. S. Complexity and disastrous taking place doesnt right now. People of the United States democrats republicans do not want to be blessed for hundreds of thousands of children. Now maybe idea would ask consent that the quorum call be vitiated. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Casey and would also ask consent to speak as if in morning business. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Casey thank you, mr. President. I rise today to speak against antisemitism and to speak about efforts were undertaking here in the senate to combat antisemitism. We see it throughout our society, including on College Campuses. And my friend from South Carolina, senator scott, and i have worked on legislation not just this year but for nanny years on this issue. We introduced together the antisemitism awareness act and have been trying to get that passed into law. The significant rise in antisemitism across the country on College Campuses has made me and i know so many other members of the house and the senate in both parties increasingly concerned regarding the safety of jewish students on campus. Students, of course, have the right to peacefully protest. But when it crosses a line, either into violence or discrimination, then we have an obligation to step in and stop that conduct. I stood on this floor in late 2022 to speak about this subject, antisemitism in america. And the exponential rise were seeing in the years leading up to that point in time to 2022. I spoke in particular about the hateful antisemitism that led to the murder of 11 pittsburghers at the tree of life synagogue. At that time we were calculating the numbers as being much higher for 2020, 2021, and going into 2022. But after october 7 when a terrorist band of terrorist, hamas, went into israel and killed 1200 innocent civil yans, since that date civilians, since that date the rise in antisemitism across the country and across the world has increased even beyond what we thought were exponentially high numbers in 2022. The Antidefamation League has tracked the highest number of antisemitic incidents ever in the United States in 2023. These numbers have undoubtedly continued to rise with the ongoing campus protests. There were over 8,800 instances including 21 77 cases of vandalism and 161 assaults. We cannot tolerate any form of antisemitism, abroad or here at home in america, on College Campuses, in the workplace, at our schools, wherever we find it, we have to take action against it. To address the 140 increase just imagine that. 140 increase in antisemitic incidents compared to last year, ive introduced several bills aiming to strengthen civil Rights Enforcement against antiaccept tichl. Antisemitism. The antisemitism awareness act i made reference to earlier, working with a bipartisan set of senators would mandate the department of education considers a widely accepted definition of antisemitism in carrying out its enforcement actions. The department of education has an office of civil rights. That office is empowered to conduct these investigations. And we have to provide more funding, by the way, for that office to do these investigations. They are badly, badly underfunded right now. But senator scott and i have worked together on this antisemitism legislation for almost a decade now, since 2016. I want to thank our colleagues in the house who passed the antisemitism awareness act of 2023. Yesterday with a vote of 32091. However, one finding in the house bill is different from my and senator scotts bill, and the Biden Administrations countering antisemitism strategy. That the use of antisemitism definitions impairs enforcement. Taking this finding out is important because other definition, of antisemitism also help to address this terrible problem. But whats even more important is passing this bill today with the unique opportunity that we have. In the senate we must take up this bill and pass it and pass it today. The hotline to all Senate Offices went out today. But objections on both sides of the aisle prevented us from bringing our bill to the floor. We must bring to the floor and pass it today. But thats not all that is needed to counter discrimination and harms on College Campuses. The office, as i mentioned earlier, the office responsible for enforcing antidiscrimination laws, the department of educations office of civil rights, is is and ill say it again, is badly, severely underfunded. Thats why im leading the showing up for students act, which would double the funding for the office of civil rights to investigate incidents of harassment and discrimination, including antisemitism on College Campuses nationwide. In the months following the terrorist group hamas attack on israel, the office for civil rights has seen more than a more than 1,300 increase in compliance related to discrimination and harmed based upon shared ancestry, including acts of antisemitism at schools across the United States. This shows no signs of abating. We must meet the moment and ensure that students can learn free from antisemitism, free from discrimination, and all all forms of hate. We must pass the antisemitism awareness act today to ensure that jewish students on campuses or any else in our or anywhere else in our society are protected against discrimination. And i would yield the floor and note the absence ill withdraw that. I yield the floor. The presiding officer the question is on the motion to proceed. 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. The clerk mr. Blumenthal. Mr. Booker. Mr. Boozman. Mr. Braun. Mrs. Britt. Mr. Brown. Mr. Budd. Ms. Butler. Ms. Cantwell. Mrs. Capito. Mr. Cardin. Mr. Carper. Mr. Casey. Mr. Cassidy. Ms. Collins. Mr. Coons. 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. The clerk mr. Lujan. Ms. Lummis. Mr. Manchin. Mr. Markey. Mr. Marshall. Mr. Mcconnell. Mr. Menendez. The clerk mr. Marshall. Mr. Mcconnell. Mr. Menendez. The clerk 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 baldwin, blackburn, boozman, braun, britt, cantwell, capito, casey, cornyn, cortez masto, crapo, cruz, daines, durbin, ernst, fischer, grassley, hagerty, hassan, heinrich, hoeven, hydesmith, king, lankford, markey, mcconnell, moran, mullin, murray, ossoff, paul, peters, risch, romney, rosen, rubio, schmitt, scott of florida, sinema, smith, stabenow, tillis, wyden. Senators voting in the negative cassidy, kaine, kennedy. Ms. Purr c ms. Murkowski, aye. The clerk mr. Graham, aye. Mr. Van hollen, aye. Mr. Barrasso, aye. Mr. Manchin, aye. Mr. Brown, aye. Mr. Hickenlooper, aye. Mr. Cardin, no. Mr. Van hollen, no. Mr. Young, aye. Mr. Marshall, aye. Mr. Padilla, aye. Mrs. Shaheen, aye. Ms. Hirono, aye. The clerk mr. Coons, aye. Mr. Vance, no. Mr. Lee, no. Mr. Ricketts, aye. Mr. Merkley, aye. The clerk mr. Tuberville, aye