Transcripts For CSPAN2 U.S. 20240703

Thats our job, is to take votes, to try to make legislation better and to offer improvements to it, and that means amendments. Look, i understand in the house of representatives things operate a little bit differently. Youve got 435 people over tlchlt its a lot harder to have that. This is why weve always bragged about our status as the worlds greatest deliberative legislative body. On paper we are. Historically we certainly have been. Today we are not. Were kidding ourselves, were delusional if we want and expect the American People to believe otherwise. Heres the food news the good news, we still are that entity on paper, as it is envisioned, as its created, as its established and outlined by the constitution. We still are that entity, with our own rules, our own precedence, and our own customs. But alas, the best rules, the best constitutional provisions will amount to dead letter if we ourselves refuse to exercise our own rights and our prerogatives. The muscle of legislative procedure begins to atrophy with nonuse, especially deliberate, willful, chronic nonuse. Always, ultimately, to the benefit of the firm, to the benefit of a small handful of senators, and to the exclusion, to the effective disenfranchisement of everyone else. Most importantly, those who elected us to do a job that were neglecting, that were outsourcing to third parties, sometimes third parties in the executive branch of government. Sometimes its individual senators within our own ranks, within our own body, our own Party Leaders within our respective legislative chambers. Mr. President , heres my closing plea i hope, and i humbly ask my senators, and i have great affection for the presiding officer and consider him a dear friend, even though he and i dont agree on every political issue, we have different positions on everything from the consumption of meat to whether i waited too long to shave my head. But the presiding officer and i are good friends, ntas even though we have and even though we have different ideas on things, we both agree on the fact that the senate could do a better job, and would be doing a better job, if we were voting more on his amendments, on my amendments, on the amendments of anyone else who wants to file. Sure, it thanks a little more time perhaps, sure, it requires a little bit of effort, but that way were doing our job, and not everything we want will always pass. Yeah, that way the law firm of schumer, mcconnell, johnson and jeffries wouldnt able to control us as much as it does. It wasnt intended to be that way. Were intended to make laws, not it other lawmakers, or oligarchs who stand in for others while the muscle continues to atrophy. In short, the next Senate Republican and democratic leader, regardless of who holds the majority, i hope including and especially the next majority leader of either political party, i certainly hope he or she, whoever holds that position, will plot out course that is different than the one weve been on for the last few years, and plot out a course that allows and encourages and enables each and every senator to do his or her job. Were all going to work better if everyone is allowed to do his or her job, and that means the leader needs to stop filling the tree, reflexively, consistently, instinctively every time, boxing out rankandfile members. I get it, there are times when the Majority Party may see fit to do that, and those decisions have to be made in real time. But i dont think it should be done often. I dont think it should be done for light or transient reasons. It should be the rare exception, rather than the norm. Regardless who the next majority leader is, and to which party that leader may belong, its not as though were hopeless, passive observers, subjects to be added acted upon here. No. We can be part of this process. Wherever, whenever there is an effort to lock out amendments, to fill the tree, and exclude individual rankandfile members from the amendment process, any 41 senators, republicans, democrats, or a combination of the two, can respond to that by opposing cloture and prohibiting the process from resulting in bringing debate to a close, unless or until each senator is allowed the opportunity to offer and call up and make pending their amendments. Thank you, mr. President. I yield the floor and float the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call the clerk ms. Baldwin. Favors a hamas victory over israel. It is just that simple. The president is only in bolding hamas. Why would they release hostages when joe biden gives them exactly what they want, survival without releasing hostages. He is also emboldening iran. Here is what he has done since october 7. Sanctions for israelis in an arms embargo on israel. Relief at the end of an arms embargo on iran. Some people say joe biden is doing this for his reelection. Which would be bad enough. It would also, i have to add, be grounds for impeachment under the democrats trump ukraine standard only with joe biden, it is true. It is worse than that. Joe biden and israel heading democrats are using electoral concerns as a pretext to do what they have always wanted to do bier that own government to Nuclear Radiation, to nuclear testing, to Nuclear Waste. Why is Congress Failing to act again . Well, because the house doesnt want to vote on it. The house doesnt want to vote on the radiation bill as part of the faa. The house doesnt want to vote on the radiation bill as part of anything. The house just doesnt want to vote at all. The only problem with that, mr. President , is theres only one Month Remaining before this vital program, this commitment that this nation has made to the working people of this nation, to the veterans of this nation who have served this country, before this commitment runs out, before it goes dark, before people exposed to Nuclear Waste by their own government get nothing. We have one month to. And the house has not acted. So i am here again to remind this congress again why it is vital, why it is a moral imperative that congress, the house in particular, act without delay. So, let me once more remind the house and all those listening of just a few of the stories of the good americans who have given their health and in many cases im sad to say their lives in an effort to help this countrys nuclear program, and as a result of what this country, what this government, what the military did in pushing forward with a nuclear program, including uranium processing and mining without telling and informing the American People of what they were doing. Let me start in the state of missouri. I could start in any number of states, because this was a nationwide effort that stretches all the way back to the manhattan project, and now most of america has seen that movie about dr. Oppenheimer which won all of those awards, and thats fine, im sure dr. Oppenheimer deserves all the credit, but lets just be clear that the real people who won not just the second world war, the people who won the cold war, the people who have fought and won every conflict that this nation has been involved in, the people who are truly responsible and get the credit for the success of the Nations Nuclear program and military writ large with the working peopling of this country people of this country, no the featured that that movie, won awards or questioning getting plaud its, but dying because of the radiation their own government exposed to them. In st. Louis, the government opened a uranium processing site in the 1940s at the height of the manhattan project. St. Louis was a socalled secret city, because it wasnt known it was a site for uranium processing. That went on for years. When the government closed down the site, they did it didnt dispose of the nuclearaway. Instead, they allowed that waste to leak out of trucks to transport it, set it in barrels in the parking lot, exposed to elements for years. Eventually, this he dumped it or some of it in a public landfill. You heard that right. Our government dumped Nuclear Waste in st. Louis into a public landfill where, by the way, it still is. All these years later, it hasnt been cleaned up. As for the rest of it, the Nuclear Waste that sat in barrels exposed to the element, neg gently trans transported in truck, it ran off into creeks, the soil and pollute the air. Because of that, for 50 years and running, the people of st. Louis and st. Charles, right next next door and the entire region have been subjected to nuclear radi radiation, in their homes, in their creeks, and youth yes, in their schools, and it is still happening today. What has the federal government done . Nothing. Nothing but mislead the people of my state. In fact, mislead is really too nice. Theyve out and out lied to them. The government said for years there was no Nuclear Contamination in Cold Water Creek in the st. Louis area. They said to the people of north county st. Louis, your homes are fine, your schools are fine, youre paranoid, dont worry about it. It turns out that was all a lie. The soil was contaminated. The water is contaminated, as i stand here tonight. And now weve got the army corps of engineers testing underneath peoples basements because thats how deep the Nuclear Radiation waste and contamination has sunk, thats how deeply embedded it is. Really, in the entire region. That story, mr. President , has been repeated over and over, in places from tennessee to kentucky to alaska to new mexico, utah, nevada, wyoming and many other states, in the west, in ohio, in pennsylvania. Now, its a pattern, mr. President , because this governments refusal to take responsibility for what it did is a pattern that continues to this day, and its time to break it. Because of what the government did, people like zoe from st. Louis, she was born, this little girl, with a mass on her ovary. Born with it. Why . Well, because her parents lived right near the creek that has been con tam natived with nuclear ton tam nated for deck contaminated for decades. She had surgery to remove that mass at 3 weeks old. 3 weeks. Shes 5 years old now, and she continues to experience regular complications from this disease she was born with, because of what the federal government did. Shes not the only one, no the by a stretch. Long stretch. Zack visintine was born with a rare brain tumor, one known to be caused by radiation. He had his first surgery when he was 1 week old. He started chemotherapy when he was 3 weeks old. Zack died when he was 6. Why . Well, because his parents lived in that same region of st. Louis, right along that creek that the government poisoned, right along that waterway that the government contaminated, right along that area where the government said for decades totally fine, totally safe, people played in the water, they built their homes right along the creek, schools contaminated. Were built there, it was contaminated and now zacks family is left to mourn. And there is claire. Claires parents grew up in the st. Louis area, and they grew up near another nuclear site, wells spring, just to the west of st. Louis. Claire was diagnosed as a baby with nonhodgkins lymphoma when she was only 2 years old. This is happening not just in missouri. We can talk about the victims of the trenty tests, the trinity tests, original oppenheimer tests, she was eight days old despite the government telling people at the time there was no danger to their lives or property or persons, despite that, the nuclear fallout, the radiation generated a cloud so large nearly the entire state of new mexico was covered and bernice lived just miles from the test site. 44 members of bernices family members have been diagnosed with cancer or radiationlinked diseases. Her mother had cancer three times, three of her brothers have had cancer, her sister has had cancer, and she has a thyroid disease that is radiation induced. Her oldest son died from radiation illness, her daughter died from Thyroid Cancer and 26 additional members of her family died from cancer. What has bernice received from the United States government . An apology . Recognition . Nope. Compensation . Not a dime. Then theres leslie begay, who is a navaho member. And when the time came during the cold war to open mines to mine for uranium, guess who did more mining than any other community in the United States, it was the navajo community. These are patriots. They have served this nation at every hour of need and leslies a prime example. What did leslie get when he went to the Uranium Mines . This is after he served the country. He goes to the Uranium Mines to support this country, did the government warn him . No, did he compensate him for the diseases and cancers he has suffered . No. No. Let he give you one more example. These are young people at jena Elementary School back in the st. Louis area. This picture was taken just a year or so ago. Their school was closed in 2022, closed because testing, independent verified thirdparty testing discovered Dangerous Levels of radiation in dusts on the window sills at the schools, in the dust covering the desks at the school. Why is it . Because jena elementary sets next to the creek that the government poisoned. Not only can they no longer go to school. For months they cannot go to school in their neighborhood. Have they rebuilt the school or cleaned it up . Nope. Have they helped any of these children . No. Its the same story, and i could give you six more examples or 60,000 or 600,000 because thats the minimum number of the good americans who have been poisoned by their government, exposed their their government and the governments negligence to Nuclear Radiation. Now, i will say this, mr. President , the senate did the right thing just a couple of months ago when we finally passed legislation to right this decadeslong injustice, this body finally passed by an overwhelm bipartisan margin legislation to compensate these families, to compensate these good americans, these brave americans, to acknowledge them and their service, to elevate them to the stature that they deserve. These are american heroes, they deserve to be honored, they deserver elevated, they deserve to be compensated, our legislation would do it and this body has passed it and now it waits for action in the house. Now, speaker johnson said upon passage of the senates legislation two months ago, i have his statement in front of me. He said that he would work with to move forward and act on the reauthorization measure. Move forward and act on a reauthorization measure. That was march of 2024. This is may. What has the house done . Nothing. How has the house voted . Not at all. What action has the house taken . None. And in one month one month if the house does not act, this program goes dark. These children are not helped, these gad americans are not compensated. One month to go. So i say again today it is time for speaker johnson to keep his commitment, not to some politician somewhere, its his job to keep his commitment to the American People. Its his job to keep his commitment to the good people of this nation who are waiting for him to act and i will just say that weakness in the face of injustice is not commendable. Vacillation in the face of injustice is not to be praised. Indecision in the face of injustice is nothing to be proud of. There is the time to act and to move. This is the time for the house to keep its commitments and for the speaker to keep his commitments. We need politicians who are less concerned about how long theyll hold their office an how many votes they have and how many votes they have to support them for some election in office and more concern about delivering justice for the American People. Now, ill say this. I know there are some in the speakers party, my party who would urge him to turn back and to reject what this body did in honoring and compensating the American People who so deserve it. I see these remarks today published. Remarks made by the junior senator from utah, senator romney. Heres what senator romney said. He does not like the bill passed by the senate, compensating these americans, he says it costs too much. And he goes on and says that any compensation should be reserved for people, im quoting now, who have been determined to actually be suffering. To actually be suffering as a result of radiation exposure. I have to tell you. I dont understand this statement at all. I do not understand it. I do not understand why its not good enough for these children and their suffering to matter. I dont understand why the thousands and tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of americans poisoned in my state and other states why that isnt good enough for this body to act. We have evidence. We have studies. This has been years of Research Done on the scope of the governments tests, on the scope of the downwind exposure to radiation, on the uranium prosing ton in tennessee processing done in tennessee, ken and and ohio. We know what the facts are and thats why this body finally acted and i would just say to the speaker, it is incumbent now on you to act. Do not turn back and do not listen to those who will tell you to put people last and money first. Make no mistake, the bill for this program has been paid. The bill for this radiation has been paid. Its been paid by the American People. Theyre the ones who are paying the costs. Theyre the ones who are dying. Theyre the ones who are having to forgo cancer treatments, treatments for their children because they cant afford it because their government has exposed them to this radiation neglectly and now theyre paying the cost, its time the government bore its share. This is a time for congress, and the party of which im a member, its a patime for decision. If you want to be the party for working people, stand up for working people. If you want to be the party for those who have fought and died and bled and given themselves for this country, this is the time, this is a test, mr. President , and it is time for my party it rise to it along with the rest of this congress to honor the people who have built this nation. So, yes, mr. President , i am in ennest about it and i do feel a heaviness of heart because the clock is ticking. I know the lives that have been lost we can never get back. I realize that. It doesnt mean we shouldnt act now to help those suffering now. It doesnt mean we shouldnt act to right the wrong. It was wrong for the government to poison the American People, and do nothing about it. We can make it right. The bill the Senate Passed makes it right. It is a moral matter. It is a moral commitment. I call on the house to act without delay. I call on them to do the right thing without hesitation. I urge the speaker, do whats right for the American People. Do whats right for the working people of this nation. If you do, the nation will commend you and stand with you. Courage and the service of justice is what need now. And i urge him. Thank you, mr. President. Thank you, mr. President. Rescue the hostages including american hostages and destroy, to get justice for the worst atrocities against jews since world war ii and prevent the next. Thomas goal is simple. Survive. The leaders in the last four battalions held up in rafa so israel has to defeat hamas and rafa to win. Hamas wins if it survives in rafa. Joe biden has threatened to withhold weapons from israel for fighting and rough rafa. Joe biden favors a hamas victory over israel. It is just that simple. The president is only emboldening hamas. Why would they release hostages when joe biden will give hamas exactly what it wants, survival without releasing hostages. He is also emboldening iran. Here is what joe biden has done since october 7. Sanctions for israelis and in arms embargo on israel. Sanctions relief in the end of an arms embargo on iran. Some people say joe biden is doing this for his reelection which would be bad enough. It would also, i have to add, be grounds for impeachment under the democrats trump ukraine standard withholding forwarded foreign aid. Only with joe biden it is true. I am afraid it is also worse than that. Joe biden and israel heading democrats are using electoral concerns as a pretext to do what they have always wanted to do. To cut israel loose. Remember, a lot of aides who are now joe bidens aids disputed that hamas was even a real terrorist group to begin with. For that matter, joe biden himself threatened israeli Prime Minister more than 40 years ago. With cutting off aid to israel. Begged and humiliated biden warning him not to threaten israel and saying i am not a jewel with trembling knees. Israel is fighting a just and necessary war. Their needs are not trembling. Has Prime Minister netanyahu just said, they will fight alone if they have to but let me assure all of the israelis watching, you will not have to fight alone. You dont have a problem with america, you have a problem with joe biden and Chuck Schumer and the democratic party. The American People will solve that problem for you in six months. Thank you, lindsay, for your leadership on this and all issues that pertain not only to Americas National security interests, but to that of our allies. 72 of americans support the idea that israel needs to take the actions necessary to protect itself and to and rule and reign of hamas a terrorist organization operating not only their but the entire region of the world. That is a much larger percentage of the American People that support what joe biden is doing. As has been pointed out, this is an opportunity for america to stand shoulder to shoulder with our closest ally and to convey to the people of that country that the United States is a reliable ally and we can be counted on. The problem with what is happening is not only does it force people to question our reliability as an ally, it puts israels National Security interest at risk. This is insane what is being suggested by this administration after the congress and huge bipartisan fashion supported over 14 billion to go to aid israel. This administration would decide unilaterally, without any input from congress or anyone else because they dont like the way israel is defending itself against this threat that somehow they will start cutting off the very assistance of the United States congress that we want sent to israel through our ally to make sure they are able to defend themselves and to root out this terrorist organization. The American People support israel. Overwhelmingly as has already been pointed out. They also believe that israel needs to do what is necessary. If that includes going into rafa to root out the hamas rent and that is necessary for their very survival. This is an existential threat for the people of israel. The United States need to have their back. The republicans here in the United States senate have their back and we will do everything we possibly can to make sure that joe biden, notwithstanding his statement of the last few days here, does what the American People and the United States congress have said we need to be doing to support our strongest ally in the world. Senator collins. Well, first, thank you so much for your leadership. Lets review a little bit of recent history. As the senator it was the administration that put together a supplemental funding request to provide weapon systems, ammunitions, equipment and other means of assistance to israel. Congress repeatedly, by overwhelmingly bipartisan margins sup forwarded that funding. Stop forwarded assisting our closest ally in the middle east, israel. What did the administration do without any consultation over the weekend, the administration decides to halt the delivery of essential weapons to israel. They did not inform the appropriations committee, they did not inform the formulations committee, they did not inform the Armed Services committee. It was a unilateral decision. Yesterday during the defense appropriations subcommittee hearing, many of us questioned the secretary about the decision made secretly over the weekend without consultation with congress. He said that it was not a final decision. If you pause, if you halt the delivery of weapon systems that israel needs to defend itself and to win the war against a terrorist group that is dedicated to its distraction, that is a decision. Thank you. Thank you very much. I put out a press release on this earlier today. The nonpartisan weapon sales process has kept a domestic political squabble out of this for a long, long time. It is been in place for about half a century and it has worked really, really well. The administration has stepped outside of those boundaries now with what they are doing here without any notifications to us. Look, we have a situation here where the Congress Passed funding, the administration about these weapon sales myself and the other three members of congress who closely look at the sales and take that obligation seriously all signed off on it and now in the heat of battle, this administration is saying we will pull this back. This is unprecedented. It will be watched by our enemies. It will be watched by our allies and it is not helpful to the United States security. What the administration claims to be doing is reducing the Collateral Damages when israel goes into rough rafa. Going in or without anyone elses help. What is the system that they have held up . It is the kit instead of general bombs. They are doing exactly the opposite of what they say they are trying to do. This is simply a nod to the far left. Trying to have a foot on each side of the fence which it can deal. Within two hours of the president s announcement last night hamas that they were withdrawing from negotiations on hostages and on a ceasefire. What the president has done is handed a great victory. It will invigorate the fighting that they are doing in gaza and it will stop the negotiations that have been ongoing. What have i learned, it took almost two hours to withdraw. It means they had bad internet. I think they would have withdrawn the moment they heard. We have several other speakers. I just want to emphasize one thing. This is all about them trying to take over the war from israel. Ive got one message for israel. Dont let them do it. Thank you, everybody for coming out today. Thank you for your leadership on this. I just returned from israel on tuesday morning. The senator and i had traveled through the region through the middle east and over and over we heard from regional leadership about how important it is for america to step up their leadership. There is a void of leadership in the white house today. And if anything, there is no leadership but in place of that appeasement. And we see joe biden doing that. What we saw and what we heard and what we were traveling through the middle east is our Service Members, our Service Members are under attack. They are under attack from iran, from iranian proxies throughout the middle east and our citizens are being held captive. We cannot forget that there were over 40 americans killed on october 7 and the attack perpetrated when they went into israel. We have eight americans that are being held by hamas. Three of whom we know are deceased. Five, god willing are still alive. The last thing that we need is a president who waffles on his support to israel. So much for that ironclad support. His words, not mine, joe bidens ironclad support of israel. Folks, he is lying to israel and he is lying to all of you. It is not ironclad. He is withholding weapons that are needed by our closest friend and ally in the middle east and israel. We already have these mouthpieces here at home. We have seen them all on these liberal campuses out there supporting and saying they are hamas. Our own students at liberal colleges. We do not need the president stepping into that arena as well the president is a tool, folks. He is a tool. In this case, he is a propaganda tool. Hamas is using him and he is allowing it. He is turning his back on israel so our message today should be to remember mr. President , hamas created the humanitarian disaster in gaza. Hamas knew exactly what would happen when they attacked on october 7. They knew that israel would respond and that they would strive for victory and the destruction of hamas. They knew that. This is not israels fault. This is irans false. It is not israels fault. So, we do not need joe biden being a mouthpiece for hamas. We certainly do not needed in our white house, we need new leadership. The National Security policy of joe biden and the democrats is precisely backwards. For three and a half years joe biden and the democrats have undermined and weekend our friends and allies and they have set billions of dollars to our enemies. It is exactly opposite what you would be doing if you are actually focused on u. S. National security interest. Lets look at our enemies. Tragically, joe biden has been the greatest friend they have ever had on planet earth. Tragically joe biden has been the greatest friend to hamas and hezbollah then there is on planet earth. What are the facts . Under the biden presidency, this administration has flowed more than 100 billion into iran. 6 billion in ransom for five americans. A policy which many of us set up a time would only lead to more americans being taken hostage and we saw tragically on octobey right. 10 billion of funds in iraq that the Biden Administration wanted to flow and then over 80 billion in oil. When joe biden came into office the Trump Administration with the active support of all of us had vigorously imposed Oil Sanctions and it cut irans oil exports from 1 Million Barrels a day down to about 300,000. The iranian economy was in shambles. Joe biden came in like the calvary coming to the rescue. And he immediately stopped enforcing Oil Sanctions. What happened, the oil sales went from 300 barrels a day to now more than 2 Million Barrels a day. Every one of those barrels is a gift from joe biden and the democrats. That is over 80 billion. Mind you, this is from the same administration that does everything they can to kill oil and Gas Production in america while allowing a theocratic pilot told. Mobs chant death to america and death to israel. Joe biden is said here is joe biden seems like a good idea. What happened with that 100 billion . 90 of the funding comes from iran. 90 of the funding comes from iran. October 7 was a very real way funded by money given by joe biden and the democrats to iran and hamas and hezbollah. Hundreds of millions of dollars to gaza even though millions of us that if you send it to gaza it will go to hamas to be used for terrorism. They knew that. They agreed with that. Highly likely the money would go to hamas for terrorism. You know what they did . They waived the antiterrorism laws and said send it anyway. Where are we now . Where we are now is the Biden Administration is sending money right now to gaza. Many of us said if you send the money to gaza it will be seized by hamas. What happened . The first shipment came in and immediately seized by hamas exactly like we said but they are combining it. With blocking weapons to israel. The Biden White House has been the most antiisrael administration this nation has ever seen, literally from day one. Undermining israel every step of the way. When october 7 happened, when hamas death squads were murdering 1200 innocent civilians, raping women and little girls, while the attacks were happening the Biden State Department set out a tweet at three in the morning saying israel must not retaliate. There should be no military response. That tweet was disgraceful. I called it out at three in the morning and they deleted the tweet within minutes. The next date the secretary of state sent another tweet. I just talked with the Turkish Foreign minister, we agree israel must not retaliate, must not strike back. I called that out again and they deleted it again. Where are we today . Yesterday joe biden said i made it clear if israel goes into rafa, i am not supplying the weapons, we will not supply the weapons in the artillery shells. I will point out joe biden in the democrats lied to the American People on the supplemental funding bill. That was just voted, they claimed it was to provide military funding to israel. We now know they were lying. It was instead to get money to gaza and thomas and everywhere else except israel. We should have sent this military aid six months ago. Six months ago many of us went to the senate floor to force a vote on emergency military aid in november. Every single democrat voted no. A Straight Party line vote. The final observation. With joe biden, what he is doing is not new. He had spent decades attacking and undermining israel. Yes, it is true that the radical left wing of the democratic party, the pro hamas team is on the rise, is on campuses in the democrats are terrified of them. All of that is true. Yes, it is true they are terrified they will lose michigan unless they given to the pro hamas wing of the democratic party. But understand these sediments are not new for joe biden. In 1982, when, by the way, i was 11 years old, in 1982, joe biden was a senator from delaware and he confronted israels Prime Minister. During his Senate Foreign Relations Committee testimony. You know what joe biden was doing in 1982 . Same thing hes doing in 2024. He threatened to cut off aid to israel in 1982. The Prime Minister dont threaten us with cutting off your aid. It will not work. I am not a jew with trembling knees. I am a proud jew with 3700 years of civilized history. Nobody came to our aid when we were dying in the gas chambers and ovens. Nobody came to our aid when we were striving to create our country. We paid for it. We fought for it. We died for it. We will stand by our principles, we will defend them and when necessary, we will die for them again with or without your aid. Even though joe biden wants to abandon and even though the democrats in the senate in the house apparently support him and wanting to abandon israel, america does not and we should not let him. We should stand together and say america stands united with israel and hamas should be utterly destroyed. Amen. He is good. He is really good. Senator cruz, what that reminds me of is the National Security policy schizophrenic National Security policy. You hit on a lot of the points. Senator graham, i am honored to stand here with you. Ive never been more honor to stand with this group of soldiers here fighting for this safety and wellbeing of israel. I have often said dont watch, ive often said watch what joe biden in the democrats do. Dont watch what they say, watch what they do. This is senator schumer novembel mall. We will not rest until you get all of the assistance you need. We will not rest until you get all the assistance you need. They tabled standalone funding for israel. Six times the democrats have voted against standalone funding for israel. I would ask leader schumer wheres the outrage today. He would not rest until israel get the help they need, where is his outrage today . April 17, wall street journal, joe biden. I quote him. Now is not the time to abandon our friends. The house must pass an urgent legislation for ukraine and israel. April 14 the president of the United States is saying this is urgent. This week has several people have reference, joe biden said never again. Never again to the Holocaust Survivors and jewish americans. Here he is saying one thing but he does another. His words are empty. This is why he has no respect on the world stage. He now holds aid up to israel with zero transparency and zero two congress. This is what makes him so very weak and why our enemies do not fear us and our allies do not respect us anymore because he has schizophrenic policy. He wants to help israel but he is bowing to a handful of votes in michigan. He cannot read this needle. Political aspirations ahead of National Security policy. That is why it seems schizophrenic to me and Many Americans as well. At the end of the day, we do not know where joe biden stands. I dont know where he stands on this issue. He says one thing it does another. Does he stand with israel or does he stand with thomas . Does he stand with the antiamerican protesters writing across American College campuses all of his actions are saying that he stands with hamas. Again, i am honored to be up here today and i just want our friends in israel to know that as for me and my family we are standing with israel. Thank you. Only 49 of us. [laughter] welcome to joe bidens america. Tuesday morning i left and flew back. My staff picked me up and on our way to see George Washington university. I walked on that campus. I stood in front of a statue of George Washington. The statue of the founder of our country was wrapped in a palestinian flag, his head was wrapped in a blackandwhite checkered scarf. Spraypainted, vandalized it said genocide and then there was a white board leaned up against the bottom of the statue. Now, keep in mind, this is ground zero of the pro hamas encampment. As im looking at the statue of George Washington, i am seeing tense as far as you can see with this pro hamas encampment. And on that whiteboard, it said, no zionism. Later that day, by the way, when i was on campus, i chatted with some of the jewish students, one of the rabbis there is i was afraid to even walk on their campus. Later that night, these pro hamas protesters went to the University Administrators and the president s home and called for the beheading of some of the administrators and leaders. I did not think i would live to see the day of this going on on our university campuses. Joe biden did nothing. The lethal aid that joe biden said he wanted to provide biden objectively favors a hamas victory over israel. Its just that simple, end of quote. Which sounds rather amusing, given the fact that for the last 40 years, theres probably been nobody here in washington, d. C. , more strongly supportive of israel than joe biden as a senator and a president. We all know that President Biden has been very clear about his opposition to an attack on rafah for many, many months, and for good reason. An offensive a Major Military offensive in rafah would worsen an already horrendous humanitarian catastrophe in gaza. And, mr. President , i am not quite sure i know a little bit about politics, but im not quite sure who my republican colleagues think they are speaking for when they attack the president. The truth of the matter is that the American People republicans, democrats, independents, progressives, conservatives, moderates are increasingly sick and tired of the massive destruction that is now taking place in gaza. Thats not Bernie Sanders opinion. Thats what poll after poll after poll shows. And what those polls show is that the American People want an immediate ceasefire, and they do not want more u. S. Military aid going to the war machine of the rightwing extremist netanyahu government. Let me just take a second to mention a few of the polls that are out there showing where the American People are on this issue. Just this week a few days ago a data for progress poll showed that 70 of voters, including majorities of democrats, republicans, and independents, support the u. S. Calling for deescalation and a ceasefire in gaza. Deescalation is not a massive assault on rafah. And a majority of voters, including 68 of democrats and 55 of independents, support suspending all u. S. Arm sales to israel until it stops blocking u. S. Humanitarian aid from entering gaza. April 14, Politico Morning Consult poll 67 of americans support the u. S. Calling for a ceasefire. April 18 cbs news poll 60 think the u. S. Should not send weapons and supplies to israel, and those are from my democratic colleagues, disproportionately among democratic supporters. An april 10 poll, economist 37 support decreasing aid to israel, just 18 support an increase. Over all 63 support a ceasefire. 15 oppose. So im not quite sure where my republican colleagues are coming from and who they think they are representing. Let me just take a moment to tell you why the American People are opposed to more military aid to the netanyahu government. Mr. President , almost 35,000 palestinians have already been killed in the sevenmonth war and more than 78,000 have been wounded. Over twothirds of whom are women and children. Twothirds of whom are women and children. And as we speak right now, according to humanitarian organizations, hundreds of thousands of palestinian children face the possibility of malnutrition and starvation. No, the American People do not want to see an increase in destruction in gaza. They want to see an end to this horrific war. Mr. President , as im sure you know, the netanyahu government has already destroyed the civilian infrastructure of gaza. There is virtually no electricity, virtually no clean water, and raw sewage is running through the streets spreading disease. Mr. President , the housing infrastructure of gaza has been demolished. Over 60 of the Housing Units have been damaged or destroyed, including 221,000 Housing Units that have been completely decimated, leaving more than one Million People homeless, almost half the population of gaza. The Health Care System has been systematically annihilated. Health care. At a time when you have tens of tens of thousands of people who have been injured. 26 out of 36 hospitals in gaza have been made inoperable and more than 400 Health Care Workers have been killed. The educational system in gaza has been virtually destroyed. Every one of gazas 12 universities have been bombed, 56 schools have been destroyed, 219 have been damaged, and 625,000 children have no access to education. And some of my republican friends think this is not enough violence, this is not enough destruction . They want netanyahu to go into rafah and kill more people, make it impossible for humanitarian aid to get out to starving people. Maybe some of my republican colleagues think thats a good idea. I do not believe that the American People agree with them. Mr. President , last year at this time the population of rafah was about 300,000. Today it is about 1. 3 million. Nerd, the population in other words, the population has quadrupled, quadrupled in a sevenmonth people with people who have been driven out of their homes throughout gaza now landing in rafah. And that is why an attack on rafah would make an unspeakable humanitarian disaster even worse. 1. 3 Million People, including 600,000 children, are sheltering in that area. That means there are some 50,000 people per square mile. It is enormously densely populated. This is also rafah where the vast majority of humanitarian aid is received and distributed and where most of the few remaining medical facilities are located. In other words, mr. President , at a time of massive humanitarian destruction throughout gaza, an attack on rafah would not only greatly add to the death toll, it would severely hinder the ability of humanitarian aid to get through to desperate and starving people. Mr. President , let me conclude by saying this the United States does and should stand by its allies, but our allies must also stand by the values and the laws of the United States of america. Thats what an ally is. Mr. President , we must now use all of our leverage to make, to prevent the catastrophe in gaza from becoming even worse. And that means holding all, holding back all offensive military aid, including billions in recent funding, until the netanyahu government withdraws from gaza, restores humanitarian aid to people who are now facing star starvation, ends the disastrous war and stops killing palestinians in the west bank. The United States of america must not be complicit in this atrocity. And with that, mr. President , i yield the floor. Mr. Schumer mr. President , the presiding officer the majority leader. Mr. Schumer mr. President , in a few moments i will make a unanimous consent request on a bill on Airline Slots sponsored by senators warner and kaine. And im here for the sake of fairness. Fairness. There are very strong feelings on both sides of this issue. It is not partisan, but rather different people have different opinions. The proper and fair and only right thing to do is have a vote and let the body decide. I yield to the senator from virginia, the senior senator from virginia, to explain his amendment. Mr. Warner mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from virginia. Mr. Warner mr. President , i thank the majority leader for making this u. C. Request. Ive been in this body since early 2009. This issue which we are debating about, called slots at dca is a perennial. People feel very strongly on both sides. Theres never been a time since ive been in the senate that there was not either a bipartisan agreement to resolve this issue before it came to the floor or a debate on the floor which resulted in a vote. Sometimes its part of the states, virginia and maryland that dont want additional slots. Weve been successful. Sometimes weve not. But each and every time there has been a vote. As a matter of fact, if we look over at the proceedings on this bill in the house, the managers of those bills thought they had some sense of what should be included in or not included in, in the slot debate. But the house of representatives actually had a vote. And to the surprise of the managers of the bill, slots were completely eliminated from that piece of legislation. Now im not going to sit here and rehash all of this stat statistics. What is clear, though, is that the single busiest runway in the United States of america is not at dfw, its not in new york, its not in stem cell, its its not in seattle, its not in atlanta. It is at national airport. An airport original constructed for 15 million passengers with three runways which allows distribution of those flights, now because of the lack of turbo planes and prop planes, we have an airport that handles 25 million passengers last year. 90 of all that traffic on a single runway. My friend who dont agree with this, and as the majority leader said, its not a partisan issue. It comes on both sides. Have said no, no, senator warner, youre wrong. This wont add to delay. It wont add more cancellations. It was a oneoff a few weeks ago when two airplanes came within a few hundred feet of a collision. It wont add any additional safety concerns. So in an effort to try to meet folks halfway, we have amended the original kaine amendment which said lets just have an upordown vote on slots, and said no, lets allow the five slots if and only if the secretary of transportation certifies that no additional safety concerns will be raised. The traveling public wont be impaired. There wont be any additional cancellations. There wont be any additional delays. All things the opposition have said add these slots, theres no problem. Well, lets not have Congress Weigh in on something that, frankly, we dont have the expertise to weigh in on in the first place. Lets give it to the secretary of transportation to make that determination on passenger safety, on cancellations, on delays. Lets let the professionals make that decision. Thats what our amendment does. And again, im going to yield now to my friend, the fellow senator from virginia, senator kaine, and again thank the majority leader for making this request mr. Kaine thank you, senator warner. I want to also thank the majority leader. Mr. President , i have spoken on this issue and dont want to rehash the deep concerns i have about the excessive delays that already exist at reagan national, the excessive cancellations that already exist at reagan national, the excessive need to put planes into Holding Patterns particularly in a city with very restricted airspace at reagan national. I deeply oppose the jamming of more flights on to this runway and i pose that it was done with oppose it was done with no involvement from virginia. Were not on the Commerce Committee. So the only way we have to have an impact on this is to have an amendment on the floor. And we may win it or we may lose it, but this is our hometown airport. Its all being done without us. And the only impact we have is to be able to to do something on the floor. And so the proposed amendment that i introduced was simply to strip the slots, to follow the advice of the faa, to follow the advice of the metropolitan washington airports authority, to follow the advice of people who know what theyre doing so as to avoid a potential catastrophe. Im not going to get that amendment. Im not going to get that amendment. So instead what senator warner has done together with our maryland colleagues is proposed a compromise. We will accept the five slots. Five slots are equal to ten flights. If as senator warner indicates, the secretary of transportation says with respect to each slot it will not increase delay, it will not raise the risk of cancellation, it will not risk passenger safety. We should all want that not only for the airport that the Capital Region uses, but for all airports, not increasing delay, not increasing safety risk, not increasing cancellation risk. So thats what this amendment is. We want to vote on our amendment about our hometown airport, and weve offered a compromise to protect safety and the convenience of passengers. And i would hope that my colleagues would see fit to allow the home state senators in whose territory this airport is to at least have an amendment vote. And with that, i yield back to the majority leader. Mr. Schumer mr. President. Let me reiterate, for the sake of fairness, its only the right thing to do, to allow a vote. We dont know what the outcome will be. But it is very fair to have a vote. Therefore, i ask unanimous consent that the only amendment in order to the cantwellcruz substitute amendment number 1911 as modified be warner amendment 2057, and that at a time to be determined by the majority leader in consultation with the republican leader, the senate vote on the amendment. Further, upon disposition of the warner amendment, all postcloture time on substitute amendment 1911 as modified and as amended, if amended, be considered expired and awful remaining amendments be withdrawn. Upon disposition of the substitute amendment 1911, as modified and amended, if amended, the cloture motion with respect to the underlying bill be withdrawn, that the bill as amended, if amended, be read a third time and the senate vote on passage as amended with a 60vote affirmative threshold required for passage, with two minutes for debate prior to each vote, all without further intervening action or debate. The presiding officer are there any objections . Mr. Cruz mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from texas. Mr. Cruz mr. President , reserving the right to object. Let me say, i appreciate the passion of my colleagues from virginia. Ive served with both of them for 12 years. Senator kaine and i were elected together in 2012. He and i worked together on many issues, and i anticipate we will Work Together on many issues going forward. On this issue, he and i see the issue very differently. This bill before the senate is a bill that moved forward the right way. It moved forward frankly the way i wish a lot more legislation proceeded in the senate. This bill proceeded through regular order. It began in committee. The Commerce Committee took it up. We had a series of markups scheduled over several months. In the process of drafting this bill, we solicited the input initially of every senator on the Commerce Committee, and every single senator, democrat and republican, has priorities reflected in the underlying bill, that were adopted. After the bill came out of the Commerce Committee, we solicited the input of every other senator, those not on the Commerce Committee, for their ideas, their priorities for their respective states. This bill contains over 200 member priorities from democrats and republicans reflecting the different needs and the different priorities of our 50 states. In addition to all of those, this week we added nine more amendments in a managers package when the majority leader laid down the substitute earlier this week. This is an amendment that reflects the consensus view of this body, which is why i anticipate shortly we will see an overwhelming bipartisan vote passing the faa bill. Now, on the question of slots, in the committee initially an amendment was offered by senator raphael g. Warnock, a democrat from georgia, to expand the number of slots at d. C. Reagan airport by 28 shorts. That was 28 slots. That was an amendment that had a lot in its favor, but also prompted furious lobbying on the other side. Ultimately what the committee did is work to seek common ground, work to seek a compromise. Senator warnocks amendment of 28 slots was not adopted. Instead, what was adopted was an amendment i drafted working hand in hand with the chairman of the committee, senator cantwell, that went down from 28 slots to merely five slots. Now, several arguments have been raised against creating any additional slots at reagan. One argument is pointing to the recent near miss at dca reagan as evidence that no additional flights can go into or out of reagan. However, it is worth noting that the faa experts have recently clarified that this near miss had absolutely nothing to do with traffic on the runway. That it was unrelated issues that produced the near miss. I might knows i might note, those include what this underlying bill addresses, which is ensuring we have sufficient air Traffic Controllers to monitor the traffic and protect safety. Another argument used by opponents of adding new flight to reagan is the argument that dca was originally designed to accommodate 15 million passengers annually, then in 2023 it served 25. 5 million passengers. That argument fails to acknowledge that dca made significant investments to increase capacity, including adding more gates and expanding terminals. Opponents of additional flights have also claimed that dca is overburdened by its current flights, and that dca flights are already delayed. That argument omits the fact that dca has a better ontime arrival rate than either dulles or bwi. It has the best ontime arrival rate of the three airports in this immediate vicinity. I would note the most voracious opposition to this amendment comes from lobbying on behalf of United Airlines, and the reason is not complicated to ascertain. United has a near monopoly position at Dulles Airport, and united understandably wants to preserve its monopoly profits. Five new flights into and out of reagan would provide additional competition that would lower the price of tickets. Its not surprising that United Airlines doesnt want tickets to go down, they want to continue charging monopoly prices. I will point out for the people of virginia, the people of maryland, and the people of d. C. , limiting supply, allowing united to reap monopoly profits and raising prices is not a good outcome. And for that reason, this bill as drafted, with the new flights, will benefit the people of virginia, the people of maryland, and the people of d. C. Indeed, in a recent poll 67 of northern virginians support adding flights to dca. This bill improves competition and in terms of the joan all traffic there are of the overall traffic there are 800 slots at d. C. Reagan. When this bill is adopted, it will go from 800 to 805. So it is a small, reasonable increase. I would also point out dca reagan is the only airport in the country that has federal slot control and a restriction on long haul flights. This is in no other airline in the country, and theres a long protectionist history why this one airport is subject to threes restrictions. I want to make one final point. In addition to being a benefit for everyone going to our Nations Capital or from our Nations Capital, a benefit that impacts the entire country, americans from all 50 States Travel to washington, d. C. , to our Nations Capital, whether its school kids coming to tour the capitol, whether its families coming to the smithsonian, whether it is people coming to the Holocaust Museum or the Lincoln Memorial, whether its people coming to see the cherry blossoms, everyone coming to and from d. C. Will benefit from this provision, but theres also a very particular benefit to my home state of texas, and that you believy is near and that understandably is near and dear to my heart. This issue first came to my attention about three years ago, and it came to my attention because a delegation from san antonio came to my office. That delegation included business leaders, it included Community Leaders, it included elected leaders in san antonio, most of whom are democrats. And to a person, they were deeply, deeply dismayed that the city of san antonio does not have even one direct flight to dca reagan. Now, san antonio is today the seventh largest city in america. San antonio is the second largest city in texas. San antonio has a higher population than dallas, texas. San antonio also has an enormous military population. Indeed, the citys nickname is military city usa. Theres an enormous population of active duty military and veterans who live in san antonio. Dca reagan is right next to the pentagon, and its right next to arlington memorial cemetery. I can tell you, the community of san antonio is united on a bipartisan basis that san antonio deserves a direct flight to and from reagan, that it will save money for residents of san antonio, generate jobs for residents of san antonio, and that it is only fair for residents of san antonio that they be able to come directly to reagan. As a result of this bill the senate is preparing to vote on, san antonio is going to win a major bipartisan vote to get that flight. And my final observation, senator warner said in the past a bipartisan compromise had been reached on this issue. I would note that happened here too. This bill voted out of committee was a bipartisan compromise. It was a compromise negotiated between me, the Ranking Member on the committee, and senator cantwell, the chairman of the committee, a republican and a democrat, and this provision was added to the bill and voted out of the committee unanimously, every democrat voted for it, every republican voted for it, because it is a reasonable provision that benefits consumers and is fair. Therefore, mr. President , i object. The presiding officer the objection is heard. The majority leader. Mr. Schumer i note the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call the clerk ms. Baldwin. Serts. Quorum call quorum call at the florida took about the pressing matter of americans held hostage for wrongly attained in the positive recent development to make sure that when they are released in free beer welcomed home in a positive and meaningful way. Today they are somewhere between 30 and 40 americans wrongfully detained and a they range all over from the background to the countries in which they are held. Ive met repeatedly with rachel and john who are the parents of an american israeli attending a Music Festival in israel when he was attacked, badly injured, kidnapped by hamas terrorist and drag to gaza where he is still today ryan corbin has been held in afghanistan for years and ngo worker of ducted by the taliban. Or held in china narcotics trafficking charges the sentence upheld recently but not yet imposed in kevin gershkovich the wall street reporter currently in prison in russia whose mother ill met with recently and who i joined with his family and continuing to for his release. There has recently been a positive step forward and how we welcome home these hostages. First president i have to tell you something disturbing about how we have long welcomed home home jason, the Washington Post reporter who was taken prisoner in iran and ultimately served a year and a half 544 days in prison in tehran before he was released and i want you to guess what was the first thing jason got from the u. S. Government when he returned home. It was a tax bill with fines and penalties for his failure to file and pay his taxes on time. Jason came to meet with me and recounted to me that when he pointed out to the irs that it was front page news in the Washington Post that he was unjustly imprisoned of corsican pays taxes on time but they said that like to help you Congress Needs to act in order for us to stop imposing tax penalties on american hostages. So today im here to celebrate my dear friend republican senator and i might ground have introduced in the senate has passed a bill with a catchy name. It declares unanimously and we have to await how section. This is the latest in the number of actions. There is now a National Hostage and wrongful detainee bill recognized by bill was passed in the Senate Authorization bill last year signed into law by President Biden. We are also working on legislation to repair their Credit Scores of those who were wrongfully imprisoned. As you can imagine if you spend years in prison in russia or in iran were being held captive in afghanistan or in gaza and you are making payments on your bills your credit score suffers so senator tillis and i are next hoping to move the fair credit for american hostages act act. Met let me conclude by saying this we have to do more together to deter hostagetaking, to restore to United States those who have been wrongfully detained, to cooperate across our government. Im grateful the Biden Administration has increased its focus on the urgent issue in 47 wrongfully detained americans have been brought home so far under the American Administration that frankly all of us should be working together to hold in our prayers and thoughts those who are hostages those who are wrongful detainees and to Work Together as senator rounds and i have in recent weeks and as the congress as a whole will in the coming days. Thank you madam president. Madam president with the senator yield for a question . Madam president i have a great deal of respect for the senator from delaware and we have worked well together on the Judiciary Committee and operated in good faith even though we sometimes have differences of opinion. I know he spends a lot of time thinking about National Security and Foreign Relations affairs and he has traveled the world and knows more leaders from Different Countries around the world than i ever will but i do know that since he shares the concerns about the status particularly of the american citizens who are hostages in gaza i would like to get some idea from him what his thoughts are about the administrations paused on weapons delivery to gaza, to israel and let me predicate this by saying i remember back when the course we were concerned about al qaeda and fallujah where the marines fought a battle and unfortunately anytime theres a conflict theres going to be civilian casualties. Obviously the goal is to minimize those casualties. Likewise in places like most were isis made its last stand in iraq and id just like to get some idea from the senator if he would please be so kind as to share with me what his thoughts are about what israel is supposed to do in rafah. Obviously to satisfy the concerns about civilian Collateral Damage but also in a way that allows israel to eliminate terrorist threats. Madam president i appreciate the opportunity to speak on what is a pressing concern for many of us but i will reflect on my and personal meeting with Prime Minister netanyahu and the defense minister in israel. It was part of the visit i made to a number of countries in the region but i spoke directly to this and i believe what i am saying also reflects the views of the administration. Of course the United States stand strongly behind israel in its defense and security that secretary of defense austin when asked the same question about what it might mean that there were pauses or reviews and what that might mean. Just yesterday he said the administration in the United States remains an ironclad commitment to retain an ironclad commitment to israels security and defense has just demonstrated few weeks ago when we worked together with israel, with the uk and france in the southeast and with jordan to provide their defense against 300 missiles and drones launched at israel by iran. What is it that we are saying to rafah. What i said to the Prime Minister was you dont just have the right to defend the israeli people against hamas. You have the obligation. After october 7 you have to restore a sense of security and deterrence against this terrorist organization that massacred more civilians 1200 people of a wide range of backgrounds, the worst day for jewish for the holocaust and many held captive by hamas from a dozen different languages and countries. You have to go after them. Youre going to rafah to go after these four remaining battalions and you have to secure gaza and make certain hamas does not reemerge as a fighting force that can ever threaten israel again. And given that there are a million civilian refugees who have flown down to the bottom of gaza and they are up against the border of egypt and given egypt will not allow any into egypt you have to provide a pathway for civilians to leave rafah before you go and at scale with the Bombing Campaign and ground campaign, to minimize civilian injuries and death. If there are 10,000 or so hamas fighters remaining in rafah and the multiplier to use a term has been 21 civilian deaths for every hamas fighter killed to contemplate 20 or 30,000 more civilian deaths in rafah, its to contemplate a outcome but its not acceptable to leave hamas in control of a segment of gaza and capable of returning so that is what im hoping and expecting israel will do, to relocate all of the civilians in rafah north in gaza, screen them so none of the leaders of hamas or the fighters of hamas escape, to provide for humanitarian aid and shelter in another part of gaza and then to go in and scale get into the tunnel to secure the reach of the hostages of possible and finish the job. That is difficult but in my view its doable and for us to ignore the consequence of using american weapons as scale and heavily concentrated place where theres a million refugees there because they were told to move south and the idea was carried out and justified campaigns against hamas over the last six months would be to undertake a tragic loss of life. Madam president i would be inclined to yield unless the senator has a question. Madam president i appreciate the comments from my friend and colleague from delaware. I am reassured by his commitment to making sure that israel will have the capacity to eliminate the terrorist threat which is of course an existential threat. How mosques a proxy of iran wants to wipe israel off the map. This is not a conflict of choice. Its an existential fight by the israeli people and the course no one wants any civilian casualties and Collateral Damage and from the news reports that i read and see it looks to me like the israelis are trying to provide a safe passage for many of the refugees who left the senator said that move south but now they are up against the hard border of egypt with no or else to go. My hope is as he said, that they will be given safe passage if they can to some someplace where they wont be in harms way again for me the bottom line is we have to give israel the flexibility they need to eliminate threats. They would ask for nothing less if it were off as it has been in places like mosul and fallujah in the past so i appreciate the senator for responding and again i am reassured by his comments but i hope, i hope we never are so or so full of hubris that we think we can dictate or micromanage a conflict in a foreign country thousands of miles away when they are in a fight for their lives. So thank you very much. I appreciate my colleague. May i extend my remarks briefly and then conclude. There is another path one which a Bipartisan Group of us have worked hard for and i hope is still possible. This password which i discussed directly with Prime Minister netanyahu was given reallife. Just to three weeks ago when iran attacked israel and israels defense against these iranian missiles and drones primarily provided by Missile Systems and israeli jets but also by the cooperation and assistance of the saudis the jordanians the americans. Theres another path forward where ending hamas in gaza and the region is a joint project. The saudis, the egyptians the jordanians and there is an and to the arabisraeli conflict. It was exactly that process that helped precipitate the hamas attack. Hamas is a terrorist organization dedicated to eradicating israel and killing that the timing of the october 7 attack was very closely aligned to win the final next step in saudi israel reconciliation was about to move forward. They have been determined to prevent peace. There is a way forward whereby hamas may be eliminated from having any role in gaza and the west bank and in the future of the region like a Regional Cooperation which could be facilitated by achieving peace and that is also much to be hoped for. With that madam president i yield the floor and i thank my colleague. Mr. President the senate is im glad we are here even if belatedly. Our nation depends on a safe efficient and Robust National Aviation System in the bill before us today will help strengthen aviation safety, dress the Pilot Shortage and improve Airport Infrastructure all of which will contribute to a better experience for the traveling public. Im particularly pleased that my proposal to create and enhance Qualification Program for respective Airline Pilots was included in the bill. The United States is facing a serious Pilot Shortage which has resulted in reduced air service at airports around the country. This has real impact on the flying public particularly for those in rural states like south dakota and small Regional Airports seeing the greatest reduction in flights. To help address the shortage and improve the quality of Pilot Training senator sinema and i introduced a proposal to create enhanced Qualification Program for prospective Airline Pilots. Her proposal was a direct response to a recommendation from the air Carrier Training Aviation Rulemaking Committee a body of industry labor and safety representatives who meet regularly and are the auspices of the faas office of aviation safety was recommended the implementation of such a program to create a pathway for pilots obtained intensive training. While the United States has stringent requirements for a number of flight hours respective Airline Pilots must complete before obtaining a pilots license the quality of that cockpit time is almost less than optimal preparation for flying commercial jets. To better prepare pilots for airline jobs are proposal will implement an enhanced Qualification Program designed in audited by the faa and administered by air carriers that will give us and aspiring pilots with training with experts intensive training in the air carrier environment where prospective Airline Pilots will be flying is something that is largely missing from the training that getting the chance to work closely with seasoned pilots will help turn out highly qualified pilots who are better prepared for flying commercial jets. The conditions of programs uses similar training whos proven to you has resulted in extensive use by the military and will give Airline Pilots exposure to the cockpits of the jets they will be flying and allow them to experience what its like to handle challenging and dangerous situations in those cockpits. For obvious reasons standard Flight Training hours dont involve flying in the perilous weather conditions and dealing with things like fires for engine failure. Simulators training efforts offers a prospective Airline Pilot the chance to deal with all the situations and more and deal with them again and again until their response to the situations is finetuned. Mr. President are proposal is a winwin. It will turn out better prepare pilots and it will help address the Pilot Shortage by making training more excess of all. Im very pleased it was included in the bill before us today. Im also very pleased that senator klobuchars Aviation Workforce Development act and the recruitment acts which i cosponsor was included in the bill. This measure will help address workforce challenges across the Aviation Industry by expending resources to help recruit and train pilots, Aviation Manufacturing workers and mechanics. Finally with Rural Air Service once again in mind im very pleased with my provision to allow communities to receive multiple Small Community air Service Development Program Grants for the same project was included in the legislation before us today. It will help make it easier to expand sorely needed air service to Rural Communities. The bill includes language providing small airport with more flexibility to use aip funding for terminal improvements which will be crucial for enabling rural airports to expand access if Construction Costs continue to rise. Mr. President on another topic the legislation before us today includes my bipartisan increasing competitive smooth for american act with senator warner which will streamline the approval process for beyond visual line of sight drone flights and clear the way for drones to be used for commercial transport of goods across the country. The wider deployment of drones as the potential to transform the economy with opportunities for transportation and agriculture that will benefit states like south dakota. My bill will help ensure the United States remains competitive in a growing industry increasingly dominated by countries like china. And please that legislation i cosponsor with senator duckworth to help improve the flying experience for individuals who use mobility aid is included in the final legislation that we are considering. No bill is perfect. I believe the legislation before us today will make Real Progress toward a safer and more reliable Aviation System and an improved flying experience for the american public. Im grateful to all those who contributed to getting this bill to the floor today. The chairman of the Commerce Committee i know how much work goes into the process of drafting and moving in the faa reauthorization bill and i want to thank the chair and the Ranking Member and all of their staff and i predict they want to thank Ranking Member ted cruz for his tireless efforts in getting this bill to the finish line in ensuring that we ended up with a strong piece of legislation. His work to ensure that we have strong staffing mandates for air Traffic Controllers as well as efforts to reduce backlogs and improve the faas efficiency deserve particular recognition. I also want to thank senators moran and duckworth for their leadership at the subcommittee on aviation operations and innovation. Mr. President as i said final passage of the faa reauthorization act has been a Long Time Coming but today is finally here. I look forward to seeing this bill enacted into law in the very near future. Mr. President i yield the floor and i suggest the absence of a quorum. Mr. Schumer mr. President. The presiding officer the majority leader. Mr. Schumer mr. President , i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Schumer after months of painstaking work the faa reauthorization is passing the senate today. Aviation safety has been front of mind for millions of americans recently and this faa bill is the best thing congress can do to give americans the peace of mind they deserve. Passing this faa bill preserves critical funding for airport security, training for more air Traffic Controllers and safety inspectors at manufacturing plants. Passing faa means avoiding costly delays to Airport Infrastructure projects. Passing faa means avoiding the furloughing of over 3,000 federal employees. Im especially proud that this faa bill keeps in place the 1,500 hour rule for Airline Pilots which i promised would not be weakened. Thank you to chair cantwell. She worked so hard on this bill and to Ranking Member cruz for their work to finish this bill. Thank you to all my colleagues on both sides of the aisle who contributed making this bill stronger. Without everyone working together and being willing to reach consensus, this very difficult bill would not have gotten done. So i know of no further debate on the substitute amendment number 1911 as modified. The presiding officer if there is no further debate the question is on the amendment 2041. Mr. Schumer i withdraw 2040. The presiding officer the amendment is withdrawn. Mr. Schumer i withdraw 2026. The presiding officer the amendment is withdrawn. The question is on 1911 as modified. Mr. Schumer i ask unanimous consent that following the disposition of the substitute, the cloture motion with respect to the bill h. R. 3935 be withdrawn, and that the bill as amended if amended be read a third time and that the senate vote on passage of the bill as amended, if amended, 60 vote affirmative threshold required for passage and 2 minutes for debate required without intervening action or debate. The presiding officer is there objection . Without objection. The question is on the substitute amendment 1911 as modified. All those in favor say aye. All opposed say no. The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it. The amendment is agreed to. Under the previous order, the bill for a third time. The clerk calendar number 2011, an act to amendment title 45, United States code to reauthorize and improve the federal Aviation Administration and so forth and for other purposes. The presiding officer there will be two minutes of debate equally divided. Mr. Schumer i yield back that time. The presiding officer the question occurs on passage of the bill, as amended. Is there a sufficient second . There appears to be. The clerk will call the roll. The clerk ms. Baldwin. Vote mr. Barrasso. Mr. Bennet. Mrs. Blackburn. Mr. Blumenthal. Mr. Booker. Mr. Boozman. Mr. Braun. Mrs. Britt. Mr. Brown. Mr. Budd. Ms. Butler. Ms. Cantwell. Mrs. Capito. The clerk mr. Cardin mr. Carper. Mr. Casey. Mr. Cassidy. Ms. Collins. Mr. Coons. Mr. Cornyn. Ms. Cortez masto. Mr. Cotton. The clerk 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. The clerk mr. Graham. Mr. Hagerty. Ms. Hassan. Mr. Hawley. Mr. Heinrich. Mr. Hickenlooper. Ms. Hirono. Mr. Hoeven. Mrs. Hydesmith. Mr. Johnson. Mr. Kaine. Mr. Kelly. Mr. Kennedy. Mr. King. Ms. Klobuchar. Mr. Lankford. Mr. Lee. Mr. Lujan. Ms. Lummis. Mr. Manchin. Mr. Markey. Mr. Marshall. Mr. Mcconnell. Mr. Menendez. Mr. Merkley. Mr. Moran. Mr. Mullin. Ms. Murkowski. Mr. Murphy. Mrs. Murray. Mr. Ossoff. Mr. Padilla. Mr. Paul. Mr. Peters. Mr. Reed. Mr. Ricketts. Mr. Risch. Mr. Romney. Ms. Rosen. Mr. Rounds. Mr. Rubio. Mr. Sanders. Mr. Schatz. Mr. Schmitt. Mr. Schumer. Mr. Scott of florida. Mr. Scott of south carolina. Mrs. Shaheen. Ms. Sinema. Ms. Smith. Ms. Stabenow. Mr. Sullivan. Mr. Tester. Mr. Thune. Mr. Tillis. Mr. Tuberville. Mr. Van hollen. Mr. Vance. Mr. Warner. Mr. Warnock. Ms. Warren. Mr. Welch. Mr. Whitehouse. Mr. Wicker. Mr. Wyden. Mr. Young. The clerk senators voting in the affirmative bennet, butler, cantwell, cortez masto, cramer, cruz, daines, fischer, grassley, hawley, lankford, markey, ricketts, risch, schmitt, schumer, scott of south carolina, sullivan, tester, thune. Senators voting in the negative cardin, kaine. Mr. Kelly, aye. Mrs. Capito, aye. Mr. Whitehouse, aye. The clerk mr. Rubio, aye. Ms. Klobuchar, aye. Mrs. Shaheen, aye. The clerk mr. Johnson, aye. Mr. Wyden, aye. The clerk mr. Marshall, aye. Mr. Merkley, aye. Mr. Schatz, aye. The clerk mr. Cassidy, aye. The clerk mr. Boozman, aye. The clerk mr. Hickenlooper, aye. Mr. Ossoff, aye. Mr. Mullin, aye. Mrs. Murray, aye. Mr. Crapo, aye. Mr. Booker, aye. The clerk ms. Hirono, aye. Mr. Durbin, aye. The clerk mr. Carper, aye. The clerk mr. Scott of florida, aye. The clerk mr. Rounds, aye. Mr. Warner, no. Mr. Moran, aye. Ms. Smith, aye. Mr. Heinrich, aye. Mrs. Blackburn, aye. The clerk mr. Young, aye. The clerk mr. Reed, aye. Mr. Graham, aye. The clerk mr. Tillis, aye. Mr. Budd, aye. The clerk mr. Van hollen, no. The clerk mr. Casey, aye. The clerk ms. Lummis, aye. Ms. Collins, aye. The clerk mr. Murphy, aye. The clerk mr. Peters, aye. Mr. Paul, aye. The clerk ms. Murkowski, aye. Mr. Tuberville, aye. The clerk mr. King, aye. Mr. Brown, aye. Mr. Cornyn, aye. Vote the clerk ms. Hassan, aye. The clerk mr. Mcconnell, aye. The clerk mrs. Gillibrand, aye. Mr. Wicker, aye. The clerk ms. Ernst, aye. The clerk ms. Baldwin, aye. The clerk mr. Fetterman, aye. The clerk mr. Blumenthal, aye. The clerk ms. Hydesmith, aye. The clerk mr. Vance, aye. The clerk mr. Hoeven, aye. Ms. Rosen, aye. Ms. Warren, aye. The clerk mr. Kennedy, aye. Mr. Welch, aye. The clerk mr. Padilla, aye. The clerk mr. Cotton, aye. The clerk mr. Lee, aye. Vote the clerk mr. Sanders, aye. Mr. Lujan, aye. Mr. Coons, aye. The clerk ms. Duckworth, aye. The clerk mr. Warnock, aye. The clerk ms. Stabenow, aye. Vote vote vote reserving the right to object too. I appreciate the passion of my colleagues. I have served with both of them for 12 years senator kaine and i both were elected together in 2012. He and i have worked together on many issues i anticipate we will Work Together many issues going forward. On this issue he and i see the issue very differently. This bill that is before the senate, as a build move for the right way. It move forward away i wish a lot more legislation proceeded in the senate. This bill proceeded through regular order. It began in committee. The Commerce Committee took it up. We did a series of markups scheduled over several months. In the process of drafting this bill we solicited the input initially every senator on the Commerce Committee and every Single Center democrat and republican has priorities that are reflected in the underlying bill that were adopted. After the bill came out of Commerce Committee we solicited the input of every other senator those not on the Commerce Committee for their ideas, their priorities for their respective states. This bill contains over 200 member priorities from democrats and republicans reflecting the different needs the different priorities of our 50 states. In addition to all of those, this week we added nine more amendments than the managers packet with the majority leader laid down the substitute earlier this week. This is an memo that reflects the consensus view of this body which is why i anticipate shortly we will see an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote passing the faa bill. On the question of slots, the committee initially on an amendment was offered by senator raphael warnock, a democrat from georgia to expand the number of slots at d. C. Reagan airport by 28 slots. That was an amendment that had a lot in its favor but it also prompted furious lobbying on the other side. Ultimately, with the committee did, was work to seek common ground. Work to seek a compromise under warnocks amendment of 28 was not adopted instead what was adopted was an amendment that i drafted working handinhand with the chairman of the committee, senator cantwell i went down from 28 slots and really five slots. Now, several arguments have been raised against creating any additional slots at reagan. One argument is pointing to the recent near miss at dca at reagan as evidenced no additional flights can go into or out of reagan. However, it is worth noting the faa experts have recently clarified this near miss had absolutely nothing to do with traffic on the runway. It was unrelated issues that produce the near miss i might note those unrelated issues include with this underlying bill addresses which is insured with sufficient air Traffic Controllers to monitor the traffic and protect safety. Another argument used by opponents of adding new flights to reagan. The argument dca was really designed to accommodate 15 million passengers in lean 233 is served 25. 5 billion passengers. With that argument fails to acknowledge is dca has made significant investments to increase capacity including adding more gates and expanding terminals. Opponents of additional flights have also claimed that dca is overburdened by its current flights the dca flights are already delayed. While what that argument of minutes is a fact dca has a better ontime arrival rate than either dulles or bwi has the best ontime arrival rate of the three airports in this immediate vicinity. I would note the most voracious opposition to this amendment comes from lobbying on behalf of United Airlines. The reason is not complicated to ascertain united has a near monopoly position at Dulles Airport united understand what y was to preserve its monopoly profits. Five new flights into and out of reagan airport would provide additional competition. Competition would predictably lower the price of tickets. It is not surprising United Airlines does not want tickets to go down they want to continue charging monopoly prices. I will point out for the people of virginia and the people of maryland and the people of d. C. Limiting supply, allowing united to reap monopoly profits and raising prices is not a good outcome. And, for that reason this bill as drafted with the new flights will benefit the people of virginia, the people of maryland and the people of d. C. And a recent poll 67 of northern virginians support adding flights. To dca. This bill improves competition and in terms of the overall traffic there are right now 800 slots at d. C. Reagan. When this bill is adopted go from 800 to 805 it is a small reasonable increase. I also point out dca reagan is the only airport in the country that is a federal slot control and a restriction on longhaul flights this restriction is in no other airline in the country and there is a long protection as history as to why this one airports is subject to these restrictions. I want to make one final point. In addition to being a benefit for ever going to our nations capitol or from our nations capitol a benefit that impacts the entire country. Americans from all 50 states of travel to washington d. C. To our nations capitol whether it is school kids coming to tour the capitol part with its families coming to the smithsonian but whether its people coming to the Holocaust Museum or the Lincoln Memorial part with its people coming to see the cherry blossoms. Everyone coming too and from d. C. Will benefit from this provision but theres also a very particular benefit to my home state of texas and that understandably is near and dear to my heart. This issue first came to my attention about three years ago. And it came to my attention because a delegation from the city of san antonio came to my office. That delegation included business leaders. Included Community Leaders and include elected leaders in san antonio. Most of whom are democrats. And they were deeply deeply dismayed the city of san antonio does not have even old one oh one directflight to dca reag. Now, san antonio is today the seventh largest city in america. Sand and terences second largest city in texas and instead has a higher population in dallas, texas. San antonio also has an enormous military population. Indeed the citys nickname is military city usa. There is an enormous population of activeduty military and veterans who live in san antonio dca reagan is right next to the pentagon. Its right next to arlington memorial cemetery. I can say the community of san antonio is united on a bipartisan basis that san antonio deserves a direct flight to and from reagan. That it will save money for residents of san antonio but it will generate jobs for residents of san antonio it is only fair for residents of san antonio they be able to come directly to dca reagan as a result of this bill that the senate is preparing to vote on, san antonio is going to win a major bipartisan vote. To get that flight. My final observation senator warner said in the past lay bipartisan compromise had been reached on this issue. I would note that happens here too. This bill that was voted out of committee it was a bipartisan compromise its a compromise that was negotiated between me, the Ranking Member on the committee and senator cantwell the chairman of the committee, a republican and a democrat. This provision was added to the bill and voted out of the committee unanimously but every democrat voted for it every republican voted for because it is a reasonable provision that benefits consumers and is fair. Therefore mr. President i object. This issue which we are debating about slots that dca is a perennial people feel strongly on both sides. There is never been a time since ive been in this senate there is not either a bipartisan agreement to resolve this issue before it came to the floor or a debate on the floor which resulted in a vote. Sometimes its part of the states of virginia and maryland that do not want additional slots. We have been successful but sometimes we have not but each and every time there has been a vote, and in fact if you look at the proceedings on this bill in the house managers of those bills thought they had some sense of what should be included in not included in in the slot debates. Past representatives actually had a vote the surprise of the managers of the bill, slots were completely eliminate from that piece of legislation i am not going to sit here and rehash all of the statistics. What is clear the single busiest runway in the United States of america is not at dfw. It is not it at you know it. It is not in seattle. Not in atlanta, is it national airport. An airport originally constructed for 15 million passengers with 31 runways to allow distribution of those flights now, because of the lack of turbo planes and prop planes we have it airport that handles 25 million passengers last year. 90 of all that traffic on a single runway. My friends who do not agree with this and as the majority leader said its not a partisan issue. It comes on both sides of said no, no you are wrong this will add to delay it will add more cancellations there is a one off a few weeks hooked two airplanes came within a few hundred feet of a collision. Will allen and the additional safety concerns in an effort to try to meet folks halfway, we have amended the written rent rt which set of have up or down vote on slot said no, lets allow the five slots if and only if the secretary of transportation certifies that no additional safety concerns will be raised the traveling public will not be impaired there will not be any additional cancellations there will not be any additional delays all things the opposition is that at the slots there is no problem. Well, whats not having congress away in on something that frankly we do not have the expertise to weigh on and on in the first place lets give it to the secretary of transportation to make that determination on passenger safety. On cancellations. On delays. Lets let the professionals make that decision. That is what our amendment does and im again going to yield mice to the federal per senator kaine. Now to talk about conger. David. David, welcome to the program. Youre up against the friday deadline for reauthorization of the faa. What does that mean . What is a need to be reauthorized why is it separate from Everything Else . Congress establish a procedure to re improve agencies every few years to give them a chance to take a deep dive into that policy. In the case of the faa safety, consumer issues, air Traffic Control. All the functions of the faa. Over the past year about the house and senate have been working pretty hard to get this done. If passed may 10 does not reauthorize the faa would lose the ability to conduct some operations brick collect ticket taxes it would be a really bad thing of the agency is not reauthorized. It has already been temporary reauthorized several times over the past Years Congress has been working to complete the fiveyear reauthorization. Where does this legislation stand now . How far along as it gotten . The house passed a bill overwhelmingly last year the senate got bogged down initially over a Pilot Training issue the socalled four corners the chairs of the house and Senate Committees and the Ranking Members of the parties reached a bipartisan agreement about a week ago. That bill is expected to be a largely what gets approved by both houses there still a lot of debate over some lastminute amendments as extraneous bills that members would like to attach to that that are popular. Cracks that have nothing to do with the airlines or safety or anything like that kuester. Right this is an election it is not so many trains leaving the station a lot of members want to attach their bill that is been languishing to this. Became airline safety. Remind us why this has become such a big deal with those issues where they have come up . Is a lot of issues the one people have most recently thought about boeing 737 max nine mid air emergency in january. A door plug which is a piece of the fuselage that is attached to the plaintiff in certain configurations of blue out of this Alaska Airlines playing at 16000 feet to cause a lot of concern about the faa oversight of boeing and boeings quality and Manufacturing Processes theres also been a number of near miss near collisions on airport road is most notably about a year ago in austin, texas where South West Point that explained him at one or feet of one another from colliding into each other. Then the third issue was an outage of the system which is notices to air emissions notices pilots get. If you recall year ago january the system shutdown require the United States to ground all commercial departures for the First Time Since 911 for about two hours. Theres a number of safety issues as well as a shortage of air Traffic Controllers. What causes that is it air Traffic Controllers not paying attention or how does that happen . Is a number of factors in the case of the southwest incidents most likely the fault of air Traffic Control he made a mistake and allowed the southwest plane to depart to hunt down the runway on actually in that case the ntsb is going to have a hearing soon you had to planes basically going to one another at the southwest plane taking off for the fedex plane about to land the copilot saw a single light in the fog is a result aborts in the landing. And basically avoided a massive tragedy to quick speaking of a boeing for some the front page of business and finance section of the wall street journal says of boeing has probed a new overwork 787. It says faa regulators have opened a new investigation to boeing after the jet maker recently disclosed its employees may have skipped some inspections on 787 dreamliners falsified records the latest quality issue at the manufacturer. Whats going on a boeing right now . Like we said after the january incident involving alaska and potentially most troubling part was when the door plug was removed a missing four 14 volts and blew out there were no records at boeing of the removal of the door plug and removal of those bolts that raised serious questions about boeings quality and Manufacturing Processes of the result they took a precedent set up banning boeing from increasing production of the 7 30 seven max. From this incident since then boeing has really encourage employees to report any problems, whistleblowers and so on. An employee basically noticed the person believed another plane not following procedures boeing investigated and found found outwhat of these required7 dreamliner is not being done. The records were being falsified that the test had been completed. Boeing takes us with swift action because of misconduct faas begins investigating it does raise questions for other tests. What assurances does the public have the required test boeing is doing are actually backed been done . Lets us take a a portion of ted cruzs Top Republican on the senate Commerce Committee about safety provisions of the faa bill. I am proud to say that our bill includes numerous crucial safety provisions. Such as requiring 25 hour cockpit voice recorders in all commercial aircraft. The safety upgrade will allow the National Transportation safety board and the faa to Vital Information needed drink accident investigations. This became abundantly clear after the cockpit voice recorder and the Alaska Airlines flight was lost. Because of an outdated two hour requirement. That is unacceptable and it should never happen again with this bill it will not happen again. In response to recent runway surface incidents this bill establishes zero tolerance runway safety policy. It prioritizes projects that improve surface surveillance. It establishes a Runway Safety Council requires a timeline and an action plan to actually get better or runway and tarmac incursion technology installed at airports that need them. Air Traffic Controller shortages have plagued airports across the country including in my home state of texas. Putting travelers safety at risk. This legislation aims to relieve the strain on air Traffic Control by directing the faa to hire the maximum number of air Traffic Controllers hopefully aiding the many facilities that have been understaffed for far too long. A lot there, what stood out for you . There is a lot. First of all on air Traffic Controllers center cruz is right we are about 3000 lower than target 10 fewer controllers in 2012 despite the fact the faa is hiring a lot of controllers i think 1500 prior 1800, this year the year ending date is not enough to basically increase the number and significant terms its sort of catching up with attrition. Controllers are working a mandatory six date weeks, 10 hour workdays. Controllers are really overstressed. Weiser shortage . Is a longrunning problem the faa over multiple administrations did not do enough to catch up there is a dispute over the proper number of staffing in certain facilities. This problem has festered for years as a result theres not enough controllers. Theyre working too many hours. The faa is going to set mandatory arrest time and as senator cruz said, theres a lot of near misses as a result of air Traffic Controller errors. One of the issues is to increase technology to have systems on the airport runway to ensure that if a controller or pilot makes a mistake there is an alert in the cockpit and the control tower through technology on the ground to ensure they dont result in a fatal incident. Will be taking your calls start calling in our lines are r regional this time. If youre eastern or central time zones two 2027488000. If you are in a mountain or pacific time zones 2027488001. You can also talk to us via text or on facebook and asked. The legislation does not increase the retirement age for pilots from 65 67 but what is that . What is going on . Is that in line with other International Countries . The International Body that sets aircraft regulations has a 65. Some countries do allow 67 the vast majority do not. There was a big push especially in the house to get the 67. Ultimately what we have seen recently as there has been a slowdown in the need for pilots. Some airlines invented furlough pilots in part because back to boeing they are having trouble delivering the number of planes that airlines are expected to get as a result airlines like southwest are cutting some expected flights and asking pilots to work fewer hours. I think that took some of the steam out of the the retirement age from 65 67. As mosers a big fight over Pilot Training. After the last major fader commercial airplane crash in february 2009 there was a big boost in the required training for pilots to 1500 hours. There is a push to lower that make it more in line with what other countries require. That effort failed thats one of the reasons the senate took so long to get back to this bill. Once those two issues got off the table it was really left a couple outstanding issues and biometric screening by tsa adding a few additional five additional flights at d. C. Eight. Whether to change the recent. I want to ask you the Consumer Protections. What is the bill currently . The bill is very similar to what the Administration Proposed in that if your flight is canceled or delayed by more than three hours for a domestic for , six hours for National Like the airline has to refund your money is very important to the refund only applies if you opt not to take the play if you flight to tulsa you are there in your flight gets delayed you can get your money back they are not getting home from tulsa unless you buy another ticket. So the question becomes the administration wants it to be mandatory. Your flight gets delayed they have to give you your money back within seven days. The question becomes in the senate bill you have to ask for the refund the airline has required a very visible buttons on their website you can ask for the money. The question is what do we deal with passengers who dont want the refund they want another flight. The question, does the legislation make it easy or excuse me does he Administration Bill for the airlines to get you on the next flight is very technical but in that language into airline if you do not respond to gated email say have a flight to months from now your flight gets changed from 2 00 oclock until 8 00 this would trigger the automatic refund provision if you do not respond to the air when the question becomes do they have to automatically refund you the money or can they put you on another fight if you dont respond . Its a small bucket of people we are talking about that would be impacted. It comes down to the debate whether it should be automatic or should you ask for it too. Too. Weve got calls lined up for you. I wanted to ask you about the minimum seat size. Congress has declined to weigh in on that. He tried it last him in 2018 he directed the faa to set minimum seat sizes if they determined poses a risk to safety. This safety risk is not because were crowded in the seat we get might get a blood clot its about evacuation standards. Are the seats too small . Are we too crowded in for people to properly evacuate the flight in not the flight, and the case of some sort of emergency on the ground the plate is on fire but have you got a get off the plane or you were in the water the faa opted not to do that. Again in this case the faa has to certify why its not setting minimum seat set most interesting at dashboard we disclose to the public the minimum seat sizes by airline. It does not look like from a regulatory endpoint congress is not going to set a number so far the faa has shown no interest in setting a specific number in terms of the minimum seat size. A wonderful legroom is going to be an issue . You would expect that to be a safety issue for people to get out of the row. Absolutely sucks about the size, the pitch and how to get across like center deck talks about how realistic are the standards . Are there no testing procedures . It is a test versus a real emergency how would we all act which you make sure to leave your laptop behind as you are supposed to if there is an evacuation . Talk to george in st. Louis, missouri good morning george. He has come a interesting conversation for thank you for taking my call parent going to start out with a little slogan used to go if it aint boeing i aint going. And now it is completely reversed. People see what type of airline they are flying and if its a boeing they dont want to go. Theres a lot of blame going around. Mr. Schumer mr. President. The presiding officer the majority leader. Mr. Schumer i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 579. The presiding officer the question is on the motion to proceed. All those in favor say aye. All opposed no. The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it. The motion is agreed to. The clerk will report the nomination. The clerk nomination, department of state, courtney diesel odonnell of california to be United States permanent representative to the United Nations educational, scientific, and Cultural Organization. Mr. Schumer i send a cloture motion to the desk. The presiding officer the clerk will report. The clerk cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of executive calendar number 579, courtney diesel odonnell of california to be United States permanent representative to the United Nations educational, scientific, and Cultural Organization signed by 17 senators as follows. Mr. Schumer i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Schumer i move to proceed to legislative session. The presiding officer the question is on the motion. All those in favor say aye. Opposed no. The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it. Mr. Schumer i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar 570. The presiding officer the question is on the motion. All those in favor say aye. All opposed no. The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it. The motion is agreed to. The clerk will report the nomination. The clerk nomination, the judiciary, Sanket Jayshukh Bulsara of new york to be United States district judge for the Eastern District of new york. Mr. Schumer i send a cloture motion to the desk. The presiding officer the clerk will report. The clerk cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of executive calendar number 570, Sanket Jayshukh Bulsara of new york to be United States district judge for the Eastern District of new york signed by 17 senators as follows. Mr. Schumer i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Schumer i move to proceed to legislative session. The presiding officer the question is on the motion. All those in favor say aye. Opposed no. The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it. The motion is agreed to. Mr. Schumer i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 460. The presiding officer the question is on the motion. All those in favor say aye. Opposed no. The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it. The motion is agreed to. The clerk will report the nomination. The clerk nomination, the judiciary, Seth Robert Aframe of New Hampshire to be United States circuit judge for the First Circuit. Mr. Schumer i send a cloture motion to the desk. The presiding officer the clerk will report. The clerk cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of executive calendar number 460, Seth Robert Aframe of New Hampshire to be United States circuit judge for the First Circuit signed by 17 senators as follows. Mr. Schumer i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Schumer i ask unanimous consent the mandatory quorum calls for the cloture motion filed today, may 9, be waived. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Schumer i yield the floor. Mr. Cruz mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from texas. Mr. Cruz mr. President , im very pleased that the senate has tonight passed this vital legislation. The house of representatives should next week take it up and quickly pass it and send it to the president s desk for signature. This legislation is a strong, bipartisan, bicameral bill that includes hundreds of priorities for senators and representatives, both republican and democrat. This bill gives the faa the safety tools it needs at a critical time to help bring new Aerospace Technologies to market. I want to take a moment to recognize the staff who have spent countless hours hammering out this legislation. This was no easy task. As i stated earlier, this bipartisan product was the result of many, many months of hard work, late nights. There were many times it appeared this bill was not going to make it over the finish line, and the hard work of the staff is a big part of the reason we are where we are tonight. I want to thank my staff for their tireless efforts to get this bill passed into law, many thanks to simone perez who is next to me and has not slept in about six months. I will note she broke her footsteping on a dump truck of her young son, but i personally said she got the foot boot from kicking liendz quarters behind quarters hindquarters. Since the presiding officer is a pastor, i will speak in a way that would be appropriate in front of a pastor. I want to thank duncan, andrew miller, matt, anna hagan, mel liz today braid, christian mcmullin, leah mckinney, o m. R. I. Saran and aaron wrights. Im thankful to chairman cantwell and her staff. The chair has worked tirelessly as well and her staff. We have worked hand in hand navigating issues, some passionate. We went back and worked out a compromise. They had been terrific partners with us and i look forward to our committee continuing to produce strong bipartisan products in the near future and the weeks and months ahead. I would be remiss if i also didnt thank senators moran and duckworth who serve as the leaders on the aviation Safety Operations and innovation subcommittee. I appreciate both senator moran and senator duckworth and their staff for working clabively with us collaboratively with us on this bill. I would like to thank Senate Legislative counsel, specifically john gettchris, ruth ernst and c. J. Murphy who worked long hours and late nights to make this bill happen. And now, mr. President , i look forward to going to Ronald Reagan national airport, getting on an airplane and flying home to texas. I yield the floor. Ms. Cantwell mr. President , i, too, with a partisan to the thanks our colleagues for their hard work and their overwhelming support for the passage of this legislation. This legislation will now hopefully go to our house colleagues on the consent calendar on tuesday and then very shortly after that to the president s desk. This is historic bipartisan, bicameral legislation that not only invests in the federal Aviation Administration but the National Safety transportation board for the next five years. It is a record reauthorization to make sure that our safety regulators and our safety investigators make aviation the safety Gold Standard of the world. This bill not only provides those authorizations, but i believe it helps give consumers the right kind of refunds for tickets after three hours of delay. It also puts the right safety people on the job, both at our air Traffic Controller system and at the faa oversight of manufacturers. By assuring that we have the safest Aviation System in america, we are investing in our economy. Aviation contributes more than 5 to our gdp, 1. 9 trillion of economic activity, and it supports over 11 million jobs. And if you ask me, the best way to the middle class is get an aviation job, coming in as workingclass, leaving at middleclass, as many manufacturing jobs in my state represent. Our bill invests in the growth and wellbeing of that aviation workforce to try to continue to thrive by making education investments in controllers, machinists, engineers, mechanics, pilots, flight attendants, baggage handlers, maintenance workers and all those who are the backbone of the aviation economy. I want to thank my colleague and partner in this, senator cruz, the Ranking Member of the Commerce Committee, for everything hes done to help pass this landmark legislation. It really was a bipartisan effort, and his efforts were instrumental in helping us get this legislation over the goal line. I, too, want to thank many of our colleagues. He mentioned our two colleagues, the chair of the subcommittee, senator duckworth, and senator moran, who both played a long and terrific advocacy role on very key sections of this bill, including essential air service and expanding the aviation workforce in our country. I want to thank House Transportation Infrastructure Committee chairman graves and Ranking Member larson from my state for their leadership and dedication to making this a bicameral product and certain will i making it bipartisan. And certainly making it bipartisan. I also want to thank President Biden, secretary buttigieg and administrator whitaker as we moved through this legislation and senator schumer for helping us get this bill to the last phases here and over the goal line. I also want to thank senator schumer and thune, duckworth and sinema for helping to negotiate key provisions of this bill related to Pilot Training. Nearly 3 million passengers fly in and out of our airports and making sure that we have the safest skies by the faa doing its job is exactly why we needed this bill. This bill implements new Safety Improvements in that workforce and codifies, as i mentioned, strong Consumer Protections like refunds. And it provides direction and resources to build and welltrain faa workforce. I want to thank the hard work of senators casey and fetterman, including in this bill that helps the faa require airlines to have a secondary cockpit barrier to ensure that safety and security of our flight deck is there. I want to thank senator klobuchar for advancing the aircraft runway traffic and landing technologies to prevent near misses, a conversation that has been very much part of this debate. The air Service Technology helps prevent, close quotes calls and at only 34 aircrafts, this bill was about expanding that as soon as possible because the ntsb said that was one of their numberone recommendations. Our bill will now require the deployment of this technology that will help prevent runway close calls at medium and largehub airports. Building on the aircraft certification and accountability program, we help provide for significant improvements in the design process so the public is more informed and we also directed the faa to require Training Programs for those organizational design authorities these are the oda units that oversee the manufacturer. This involves understanding the Safety Management system and we know how important the Safety Management system is according to our Expert Review Panel to implement into law. We authorized money for the next five years to boost the faas programs in safety, in factory inspections, and implemented a revised model that really helps us with our air Traffic Controller system. So critical because right now we need more air Traffic Controllers and we need them to be rested on the job. This bill also includes an important safety provision from senator schatz, a helicopter safety bill which brings standards to the commercial air tour systems in hawaii. And another major safeguard in safety is senator baldwins provision with senators welch and capito called the global Aircraft Maintenance Safety Improvement act, which helps oversee the safety inspections at our overseas airports. There are nearly 1,000 faa certified moonlit nance and repair stations outside the United States and they need to make sure that they have the proper oversight. This helps raise those Safety Standards worldwide. Specifically you these technicians are now required to go with background checks, alcohol testing, and foreign repair stations are now subject to surprise inspections. As i mentioned, the ntsb authorization is critical, and i want to thank my colleague, senator lujan, for his leadership on helping get this in the bill. But also one of the numberone requirements why we wand wanted to get this done with the in the in the is one with the ntsb is one of their key recommendations in this statute is is a 25hour cockpit voice recording requirement that was also championed by senators blumenthal and wyden. This means when accidents happen, the ntsb will no longer be stifled by not getting the recording. They will have this recording and it will be required to be held for more than 25 hours. I mentioned the workforce issues, which to my state are paramount. We need to continue to train and skill the best workers and certainly that means air Traffic Controllers and aviation safety inspectors. We also, besides the increase for air Traffic Controllers to help deal with the staffing gap, we are making sure that they have the best technology to work with as well. And our colleague, senator klobuchar, duckworth, moran, thune, peters, and kelly helped us to recruit and retain the next generation of workforce. So i cant thank all my colleagues enough. As mentioned and much discussed, congress is setting for the first time in statute a refund standard for consumers to get a refund on nonrefundable tickets after three hours of delay in the United States. And for six hours on an international flight. These statutory rights are a big win for consumers. Passengers can just reject vouchers, alternative flights, and get a hasslefree refund. I want to thank senators markey and vance on their provision of the bill that says you cannot charge families extra dollars to sit next to each other. And the fact that they are championing, as senator markey and schatz did, a new office at the department of transportation to make sure that airlines receive fines if they dont adhere to those provisions. I also want to thank senator duckworth. I cant thank her enough, not just as the Ranking Member of the committee, but also for her key leadership on so many aspects of this bill. Not only is she a pilot, but she understands the needs of handicapped individuals and made sure that this legislation did a better job of training and skilling people at our airports. Shes had a true champion of the provisions of this bill dealing with wheelchair damage on flights and ensuring that passengers can safely evacuate a plane, if necessary. We will be forever grateful for your many leadership provisions of this legislation. I want to just finally say senators tester, fischer and sullivan also worked on essential air service and infrastructure financing improvements to make sure that our airports in Rural Communities continue to grow, and senators peters, baldwin and warnock for championing additional federal resources to help airports dispose of harmful chemicals and replace them for firefighters. My colleague from texas mentioned the great investments in nextgeneration tax breaknologies, senators hickenlooper, rosen, moran, thune, and wicker advancing Drone Technology so that the United States can compete on a world stage and providing nextgeneration research for Companies Like universal hydron and zero row avia. Who are making great products. Also senators thune and warner for the creation of a regulatory path for drones to operate beyond the visual line of sight. That means, yes, were going to move forward on how drones are going to start delivering Home Products to us, and i thank them for their hard work. And senator rosen for her hardwork on a hard work on a Grant Program so that states and local governments using u. S. Manufactured drones that are used in repairing and fixing critical infrastructure. And senator blackburn for her leadership that the faa is not funneling any drone funding to american adversaries. So you can see, mr. President you were part of this process. I thank you for your leadership, certainly in expanding capacity airports and getting more flights but also for your great contributions in this legislation on pfas and many other things. This was a committee process. It really was the way the senate is supposed to work. It really was bipartisan and bicameral and lots of people got their issues addressed. And they got their issues addressed because we had great staff who were willing to accommodate and work hard and implement those legislative ideas. So i want to thank from our team the staff director of the Commerce Committee, lila helms, melissa port he, Rachel Devine who came back six or seven months ago to rejoin the congress and literally we would not have this bill today if Rachel Devine had not rejoined the effort to work on the hill. I thank you, rachel, for your hard work and detain indication. And dedication. I want to thank alex simpson and gigi slays, she has been at this so long. She knows every detail of this bill. And i so appreciate it. Doug anderson, lou chia mastrcelo, and amber willette, trisha enright, james burgess, drew hamill and megan tirey for helping us through many phases of this. I also want to thank the detailee from the faa Airport Office rob hawks and sammy rose who isous in over at the faa. Rukia hasam for their hard work. I us will want to thank senator cruzs team because in all of these negotiations, it was critical to not only have a great understanding of faa issues but our colleagues and their priorities and continuing it im not saying the republicans came up with more amendments but it certainly felt like that for a long time. It felt like yall had a lot we had a pilot on our side. You had a few pilots on your side. So we processed a lot of amendments. So i, too, want to thank brad grant, nicole, simone, andrew miller, hana hagan and leah mckenna for their work and Matt Weissman and ben rowsside. And laura bates. Weve been through a lot. We have been through a covid crisis and how to manage our Aviation System while we were in that crisis. Coming out of the covid crisis when we may not have had everything correct in the order of how to keep flights and regain the capacity where we were at. And we certainly know that we have had safety issues and concerns that we need to make a big investment. This legislation is that investment. In Safety Standards, in protecting consumers, and advancing a workforce and technology that will allow the United States to be the Gold Standard in aviation. I thank my colleagues, mr. President. I yield the floor. And i and i suggest the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call the clerk ms. Baldwin. Quorum call mr. Schumer madam president. The presiding officer the majority leader. Mr. Schumer i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to legislative session, be in a period of morning business, with senators the presiding officer majority leader, were in a quorum call. Mr. Schumer i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Schumer i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to legislative session and be in morning business with senators permitsed to speak up to ten minutes each. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Schumer i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of h. R. 8289, which was received from the are the house and is at the desk. The clerk an act to extend authorizations for the airport improvement program, to extend the funding and Expenditure Authority of the airport and airway trust fund, and for other purposes. The presiding officer is there objection to proceeding to the measure . Without objection. Mr. Schumer i further ask that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Schumer madam president , just for the information of senators and everyone else, that was the extension that came over from the house and so make sure that the faa will be in Continuous Service and there will be no gap. Earlier tonight we passed the full authorization faa bill. And that, of course, will make things permanent, but because of the gap because the house is not here, we had to pass this. Before i get into the rest, i just want to say, madam president , you and the chair have done such an amazing job on these bills. They are not easy bills. They have many crosscutting issues involving almost every member of the senate, and these days its harder than ever with so much polarization and procedural objection. So its an amazing task that you have accomplished. And i think america and your state of washington owe you a debt of gratitude. And now, i ask unanimous consent that the committee on banking and housing and urban affairs be discharged from further consideration of s. 2825 and the senate proceed to its immediate consideration. The presiding officer the clerk will report. The clerk s. 2825, a bill to award a congressional gold medal to the United States army dust off crews of the vietnam war and so forth. The presiding officer without objection, the committee is discharged and the senate will proceed. Mr. Schumer i ask unanimous consent that the cornyn substitute amendment at the desk be considered and agreed to, the bill as amended be considered read a third time and passed and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Schumer i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the consideration of h. Con. Res. 83 which was received from the house and is at the senate desk. The presiding officer the clerk will report. The clerk h. Con. Res. 83 authorizing the use of the Capitol Grounds for the National Peace officers Memorial Service and the National Honor guard and pipe band exhibition. The presiding officer without objection, the senate will proceed. Mr. Schumer i ask unanimous consent the concurrent resolution be agreed to, and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Schumer madam president , i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of s. Res. 683 committed submitted earlier today. The presiding officer the clerk will report. The clerk s. Res. 683 supporting the designation ever the week of april 29 through may 3, 2024, as National Specialized instruction stahl support instructional support personnel appreciation week. The presiding officer without objection, the senate will proceed. Mr. Schumer i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Schumer i yield the floor. Mr. Schumer madam president , i understand there is a bill at the desk. I ask for its first reading. The presiding officer the clerk will report. The clerk will read the title of the bill for the first time. The clerk h. R. 710, an act at the require a Citizenship Question on the decennial census and so forth. Mr. Schumer i now request forea second reading and in order to place the bill on the calendar under the provisions of rule 14, i object to my own request. The presiding officer objection is heard. The bill will be read for the second time on the next legislative day. Mr. Schumer i ask unanimous consent that the senior senator from hawaii be authorized to sign duly enrolled bills or joint resolutions from may 9 to may 13. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Schumer finally, i ask unanimous consent when the senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned to convene for a pro forma session only with no business being conducted on friday, may 10, at 6 30 p. M. Further, that when the Senate Adjourns on friday, it stand adjourned until 3 00 p. M. On tuesday, may 14. That on tuesday, follow the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed. That upon the conclusion of morning business the senate proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the odonnell nomination. Further, that the cloture motions filed during todays session ripen at 5 30 p. M. On tuesday. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Schumer if there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order. The presiding officer the Senate Stands adjourned until Senate Stands adjourned until approving a fiveyear reauthorization bill for federal Aviation Administration programs. The legislation now goes to the house for final approval. The current funding set to expire this friday at midnight senators also approved a oneweek extension until may 17th to give the house more time to take up the measure. As always, follow coverage of the senate when lawmakers return, right here on cspan2 will will the world has changed. Today a fast reliable Internet Connection is something no one can live without so wow is there for our customers with speed, reliability, value and choice. Now more than ever it starts with great internet. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee held confirmation hearings for state Department Nominees Including ambassador at large for Global Health security and diplomacy as well as u. S. Ambassadors to shell, mount novi and sri lanka. This is about 20 minutes